A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Fayette, Marie Madeleine, Countess de
FAYETTE, MARIE MADELEINE, COUNTESS DE,
Daughter of Aymar de la Vergne, marechal-de-camp, and governor of Havre-de-Grace, was more distinguished by her wit and literary productions than by her family. She married the Count de Fayette, in 1655, and removing to Paris, cultivated letters and the fine arts. Her house was the rendezvous for the most distinguished literati in Paris, especially the Duke de la Rochefoucault, Huet, Menage, La Fontaine, and Legrais. The last, when obliged to leave the house of Madame de Montpensier, found an honourable retreat with her. Madame Sévigné, who knew her well, speaks of her as an amiable and estimable lady. Her principal works are the three romances, "Zaide," "La Princesse de Cleves," and "La Princesse de Montpensier;" which were the first romances that exhibited the manners of fashionable life in an easy and natural manner. She also wrote "Memoires de la court de France pour les années, 1688 et 1689," "Histoire d'Henriette d'Angleterre," and "Divers portraits de quelques personnes de la cour." All these works are still esteemed. She also wrote memoirs of other persons which were not published, and were lost by her son, the Abbé de la Fayette. She understood Latin, which she learned in a very short time. Her works are written in an easy and elegant style, which was, at that time unequalled.