“A woman as pious and reasonable as she was, animated always by the noblest intentions, loving her country and always showing sympathy for the poor people—­not merely in words but in deeds as well—­detesting war and loving justice and peace, always moderate and irreproachable in her conduct—­such a woman cannot be the mischievous, crafty, malicious, and vindictive bigot imagined by many writers; she did not encourage such an act, nor would her nature permit to do so....  The prayer she uttered every morning, best portrays the woman and her role:  ’Lord, grant me to gladden the king, to console him, to sadden him when it must be for Thy glory.  Cause me to hide from him nothing which he ought to know through me, and which no one else would have courage to tell him.’ ...  To Madame de Glapion she said:  ’I would like to die before the king; I would go to God; I would cast myself at the foot of His throne; I would offer Him the desires of a soul that He would have purified; I would pray Him to grant the king greater enlightenment, more love for his people, more knowledge of the state of the provinces, more aversion for the perfidy of the countries, more horror of the ways in which his authority is abused:  and God would hear my prayers.’”

This pious woman was weary of life before her marriage, and but changed the nature of her misery upon reaching the highest goal open to a woman.  Marly, Versailles, Fontainebleau were only different names for the same servitude.  When she had attained her desire, she thought her repose assured; instead, her ennui, her disgust of life and the world, only increased; realizing this, she began to direct her thoughts entirely toward God and her aspirations toward things not of this earth—­hence the almost complete absence of her influence in politics.

She was never happy, and that her life was a disappointment to her may be gathered from the following words from her pen:  “Flee from men as from your mortal enemies; never be alone with them.  Take no pleasure in hearing that you are pretty, amiable, that you have a fine voice.  The world is a malicious deceiver which never means what it says; and the majority of men who say such things to young girls, do it hoping to find some means of ruining them.”

Her most intense desire seemed to be to please, and be esteemed—­to receive the honneur du monde, which appeared to be her sole motive for living.  When in power, she did not use her influence as the intriguing women of the epoch would have done, because she did not possess their qualities—­taste, breadth of vision, and selfish ambitions.  Her objects in life were the reform of a wicked court, the extirpation of heresy, the elevation of men of genius, and the improvement of the society and religion of France.  After the death of the king (in 1715), she retired to Saint-Cyr, and spent the remainder of her life in acts of charity and devotional exercises.