A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Sevigné, (Marie de Rabutin)
She was left under the tuition of an amiable mother, who took particular care of her education, and to instil into her mind the sound principles of of religion and virtue. She was taught very young the Latin, Spanish, and Italian languages, and soon read with facility the best authors in each. She was married, in 1644, to the Marquis de Sevigné, by whom she had a son and one daughter; he was naturally inconstant, and frequently neglected her, which as she tenderly loved him gave her great affliction, aggravated by his untimely death, for he fell in a duel, in 1651.
Madame de Sevigné had now no other care or views than the education of her children, the advancement of their fortune, and their future happiness. She was left a widow at the age of thirty-five, possessed of sufficient charms to engage her admirers; but nothing could ever induce her to think of a second marriage. Charles, Marquis de Sevigné, her son, distinguished himself by his military talents, his engaging manners and elegant address; and her daughter did not appear with less advantage, inheriting all the amiable qualities of her virtuous mother. Mlle. de Sevigné was married to Francis, Count de Grignan, Lieutenant-general of the King's forces and governor of Provence. Mde. de Sevigné flattered herself, that by marrying her daughter to a nobleman of the court, she should have been able to pass the remainder of her life near her beloved child; but Monsieur de Grignan received an order from the King to repair to Provence, where he was always obliged to command in the absence of the Duke de Vendome. This circumstance greatly chagrined Madame de Sevigné, and caused much inquietude both to her, and the Countess de Grignan, her daughter, who were obliged to make frequent and long journies to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing each other. This separation has, however, been the cause of much entertainment to the public; and as most of Mde. de Sevigné's letters are still extant, they will do her head and her heart honour, and give her readers both pleasure and instruction, as long as any body lives who can relish fine sentiment, wit, humour, and refined taste.
The last journey she made into Provence was in 1694, when she was present at the marriage of her grandson, the Marquis de Grignan, with Mademoiselle de Saint Amant. Soon after, Madame de Grignan had a long and dangerous illness, which so deeply affected her mother, as to disturb that repose so necessary to support old age, and she fell ill of a fever, and after lying fourteen days, died at the age of seventy, under the roof of her beloved and afflicted daughter.
She was acquainted with all the wits and learned men of her time. It is said, she decided the famous dispute between Perrault and Boileau, concerning the preference of the ancients to the moderns, thus: "the ancients are the finest, and we are the prettiest." She left a valuable collection of letters; the best edition of which is that of 1754, at Paris, in 8 vols. 12 mo. "These," says Voltaire, "are filled with anecdotes, written with freedom, and in a natural and animated stile; are an excellent criticism upon studied letters of wit, and still more upon those sublime fictitious letters, which aim to imitate the epistolary stile, by a recital of false sentiments and feigned adventures to imaginary correspondents."