Upon making her social debut, she immediately became one of the leaders about whom all the gallants gathered.  She formed a fast friendship with Mme. de Sable, Mme. de Rambouillet, Mme. de Bouteville, and Mlle. du Vigean.  Her beauty, which was quite phenomenal, soon became the subject of poetry.  Voltaire wrote: 

  “De perles, d’astres et de fleurs,
  Bourbon, le ciel fit tes couleurs,
  Et mit dedans tout ce melange
    L’esprit d’un ange! 
  L’on jugerait par la blancheur
  De Bourbon, et par sa fraicheur,
  Qu’elle a prit naissance des lis.”

[The heaven made thy colors, Bourbon, of pearls, of stars, of flowers, and to all this mixture added the spirit of an angel.  One would judge by the whiteness and freshness of Bourbon that she was born of the lilies.]

In 1642, at the age of twenty-three, she was married, against her will, to M. de Longueville who was, after the princes of the blood, the greatest seigneur of France; he was old and indifferent, and enamored of another woman, while she was young and full of hopes, ambitions, and love.  His conduct, being anything but correct, immediately set the young wife, with her instincts of refinement and principles and habits of the precieuses, against her husband.  The advent of a rival in the person of Mme. de Montbazon, one of the most noted beauties of the day, made the state of affairs even more unpleasant, the humiliation being so much keener because it was on account of her charms that Montbazon was preferred to the wife.  The latter’s fate was a cruel one; she could not respect her husband, and, for her, respect was the only road to love.  She continued to live at the Hotel de Longueville and to attend all court functions, where, through her beauty, she early became the object of much attention from the young lords, among whom Coligny seemed to impress her more than any other.

About this time occurred the deaths of Richelieu and Louis XIII., and the Importants, flocking to Paris to regain their rights and to share in the spoils of the new regency, began to make themselves felt.  The leaders expected great favors from Anne of Austria who had been forced into obedience by the cardinal, but she was a great disappointment to them.  A born lady of leisure, she was only too glad to be relieved of the arduous duties of government, and this her minister, Mazarin, quickly proceeded to do; his first object was to crush the influence of the Importants, who were very powerful in the salons, society, and politics.

The house of Conde declared in favor of Mazarin, but at first this did not affect Mme. de Longueville, whose kindness of heart and indifference to politics and intrigues were generally known.  Probably, she never would have taken a part in the Fronde had it not been for the rival who had been seeking, by every possible means, to injure her reputation—­a design which Mme. de Montbazon well-nigh accomplished