Mlle. de Gournay, fille d’alliance of Montaigne, is a unique character.  Having conceived a violent passion for the philosopher and essayist, she would have no other consort than her honor and good books.  She called the ladies of the court “court dolls,” accusing them of deforming the French language by affecting words that had apparently been greased with oil in order to facilitate their flow.  She was one of the first woman suffragists and the most independent spirit of the age.  In 1592, to see the country of her master, she undertook a long voyage, at a time when any trip was fraught with the gravest dangers for a woman.

She is a striking example of the effect of sixteenth-century sympathy, admiration, and enthusiasm; she was protected by some of the greatest literary men of the age—­Balzac, Grotius, Heinsius; the French Academy is said to have met with her on several occasions, and she is said to have participated in its work of purifying and fixing the French language.  Her adherence to the Montaigne cult has brought her name down to posterity.

M. du Bled relates a droll story in connection with her meeting Richelieu.  Mlle. de Gournay was an old maid, who lived to the ripe age of eighty.  Being a pronounced feministe, she—­like her sisters of to-day—­cultivated cats.  The story runs as follows: 

“Bois-Robert conducted her to the Cardinal, who paid her a compliment composed of old words taken from one of her books; she saw the point immediately.  ’You laugh over the poor old girl, but laugh, great genius, laugh! everybody must contribute something to your diversion.’  The Cardinal, surprised at her ready wit, asked her pardon, and said to Bois-Robert:  ’We must do something for Mlle. de Gournay.  I give her two hundred ecus pension.’  ‘But she has servants,’ suggested Bois-Robert.  ‘Who?’ ’Mlle. Jamyn (bastard), illegitimate daughter of Amadis Jamyn, page of Ronsard.’  ’I will give her fifty livres annually.’  ‘There is still dear little Piaillon, her cat.’  ’I give her twenty livres pension, on condition that Piaillon shall have tripes.’  ‘But, Monseigneur, she has had kittens!’ The Cardinal added a pistole for the little kittens.”

A woman of large fortune, she spent it freely in study, in her household, and especially in alchemy.  Her peculiar ideas about love kept her from falling prey to the wealth-seeking gallants of the time.  She was one of the few women who made a profession of writing; she compiled moral dissertations, defences of woman, and treatises on language, all of which she published at her own expense; while they are of no real importance, they show a remarkable frankness and courage.

Mlle. de Gournay was, possibly, the first woman to demand the acceptance of woman on an equal status with man; for she wrote two treatises on woman’s condition and rank, insisting upon a better education for her, though she herself was well educated.  Following the events of the day with a careful scrutiny and interpreting them in her writings, she showed a remarkable gift of perspective and deduction and an intimate knowledge of politics.  The fact that she was severely, even spitefully, attacked in both poetry and prose but proves that her writings on women were effective.