Dames and Daughters of the French Court (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from Dames and Daughters of the French Court

Near by under the shade of the beech trees two abbés are seated, the one a thrifty gentleman en gaged with counters and accounts, the other, younger than the first, an easy-going, visionary soul, who leans back in his arm - chair with hands clasped behind his head, dreaming idly.

There comes upon these two staid abbés an inter ruption in the pleasing form of a small, debonair, young gentleman, dandling on silken hose and red heeled slippers, a bundle of books beneath his arm. He talks a moment with the abbés, and the one looks up from his accounts and the other stops his dreaming to laugh at some tale which the young man is telling.

Quickly, however, the young man turns from the abbés and leaves the shade of the beech trees for the sunshine of the terrace.

Mother, mother beautiful, he calls, will you not join us? We are all impatient for the reading and for you.

Yes, yes, my little son, in a moment, she answers. Yet she tarries longer than a moment in further converse with the gardener.

Madame's little son, who is in truth no less a personage than the Baron de Sevigne, looks from his mother to the abbés, makes a motion of comic resignation, and returns to the shade of the beech trees.

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Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Dames and Daughters of the French Court

Much has been written about French women. Innumerable volumes pay homage to them as "Salonists," "Queens of Society," "Celebrated Women." One might almost say that there is no end to the literature that treats of these certainly very charming subjects. Here and there a writer, notably Sainte Beuve, has told of them so appreciatively, so ultimately, that to speak after such authority seems almost an impertinence.

However, it is sometimes pleasant to meet old friends in a new guise, even though the new guise be ever so simple and unpretentious. It is with this thought in mind that I venture to offer these "Dames and Daughters of the French Court."

It may seem that there is an incongruity in the title. Perhaps it is not as dames and daughters, those terms of eminently domestic flavor, that one naturally thinks of French women. Nevertheless, in spite of their salons, their social triumphs, and their literary and artistic successes, these French women really were dames and daughters as we understand the words.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.