To appreciate the importance of Mme. de Maintenon’s position and the revolutionary effect which her attitude produced upon the customs of the time, one must remember with what she had to contend.  Hers was a period of passion and adventure—­a period which was followed by sorrow and disaster.  The novels of Mlle. de Scudery, which were at the height of their popularity, had over-refined the sentiments; the chevaleresque heroes and picturesque heroines turned the heads of young girls, who dreamed of an ideal and perfect love; their one longing was for the romantic—­for the enchantments and delights of life.  In this stilted and amorous atmosphere, Mme. de Maintenon preserved her poise and fought vigorously against the fads of the day.  The young girls under her care were taught to love just as they were taught to do other things—­with reason.  Also, she guarded against the weaknesses of nature and the flesh.  “Than Mme. de Maintenon, no one ever better knew the evils of the world without having fallen prey to them,” says Sainte-Beuve; “and no one ever satisfied and disgusted the world more, while charming it at the same time.”

Mme. de Maintenon’s ideal methods of education were not immediately effective; there were many periods of hardship, apprehension, and doubt.  Thus, when Racine’s Esther (written at the request of Mme. de Maintenon, to be presented by the pupils at Saint-Cyr) was performed, there sprang up a taste for poetry, writing, and literature of all kinds.  The acting turned the girls’ thoughts into other channels and threatened to counteract the teachings of simplicity and reason; no one ever showed more genuine good sense, wholesomeness of mind, and breadth of view, than were displayed by Mme. de Maintenon in dealing with these disheartening drawbacks.

In endeavoring to impress upon those young minds the correct use of language and the proper style of writing, she wrote for them models of letters which showed simplicity, precision, truth, facility, and wonderful clearness; and these were imitated by them in their replies to her.

She wished, above all, to make them realize that her experience with that social and court life, for which they longed, was one of disappointment:  that was a world apart, in which amusing and being amused was the one occupation.  She had passed wearily through that period of life, and sought repose, truth, tranquillity, and religious resignation; to make those young spirits feel the fallacy of such a mode of existence was her earnest desire, and her efforts in that direction were characterized by a zeal, energy, and persistence which were productive of wonderful results.  That was one phase of her greatness and influence.

But Mme. de Maintenon was somewhat too severe, too narrow, too strict,—­one might say, too ascetic,—­in her teaching.  There was too little of that which, in this world, cheers, invigorates, and enlivens.  Her instruction was all reason, without relieving features; it lacked what Sainte-Beuve calls the don des larmes (gift of tears).  Hers was a noble, just, courageous, and delicate judgment; but it was without the softening qualities of the truly feminine, which calls for tears and affection, tenderness and sympathy.