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attachment, but her intelligence, her cynicism and her esprit made her the centre of attraction of a brilliant circle. In 1721 began her friendship with See also:

VOLTAIRE, FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET DE (1694–1778)

Voltaire, but their See also:

REGULAR

regular See also:

correspondence See also:

DATES

dates only from 1736. She spent much time at Sceaux, at the See also:

court of the duchesse du See also:

Maine, where she contracted a See also:

close friendship with the See also:

PRESIDENT (Fr. president, from Lat. praesidens, post-Augustan Lat. for praeses, director, ruler, from praesidere, to sit in front of, preside)

president See also:

HENAULT, CHARLES JEAN FRANCOIS (1685-177o)

Henault. In Paris she was in a sense the See also:

RIVAL

rival of Madame See also:

GEOFFRIN, MARIE THERESE RODET (1699-1777)

Geoffrin, but the members of her See also:

SALON

salon were See also:

DRAWN

drawn from aristocratic society more than from See also:

LITERARY

literary cliques. There were, however, exceptions. Voltaire, See also:

MONTESQUIEU, CHARLES LOUIS DE SECONDAT, BARON DE LA BREDE ET DE (1689-1755)

Montesquieu, See also:

FONTENELLE, BERNARD LE BOVIER DE (1657-1757)

Fontenelle and Madame de See also:

STAAL, MARGUERITE JEANNE CORDIER DELAUNAY, BARONNE DE (1684-1750)

Staal-See also:

Delaunay were among the habitues.

When Henault introduced D'See also:

ALEMBERT, JEAN LE ROND

Alembert, Madame du Deffand was at once captivated by him. With the encyclopaedists she was never in sympathy, and appears to have tolerated them only for his See also:

SAKE

sake. In 1752 she retired from Paris, intending to spend the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of her days in the See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country, but she was persuaded by her See also:

friends to return. She had taken up her See also:

ABODE (from " abide," to dwell, properly " to wait for ," to bide)

abode in 1747 in apartments in the convent of St See also:

Joseph in the See also:

RUE (Fr. rue, Lat. ruta, from Gr. pur)

rue St Dominique, which had a See also:

SEPARATE

separate entrance from the See also:

street. When she lost her sight in 1754 she engaged Mademoiselle de See also:

LESPINASSE, JEANNE JULIE ELEONORE DE (1732-1776)

Lespinasse to help her in entertaining. This See also:

LADY (0. Eng. hlaefdige, Mid. Eng. ldfdi, lavedi; the first part of the word is hldf, loaf, bread, as in the corresponding hldford, lord; the second part is usually taken to be from the root dig-, to knead, seen also in " dough "; the sense development fr

lady's wit made some of the guests, D'Alembert among others, prefer her society to that of Madame du Deffand, and she arranged to receive her friends for an See also:

HOUR

hour before the See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance of her See also:

PATRON

patron. When this See also:

state of things was discovered Mademoiselle de Lespinasse was dismissed (1764), but the salon was broken up, for she took with her D'Alembert, See also:

TURGOT, ANNE ROBERT JACQUES, BARON DE

Turgot and the literary clique generally. From this time Madame du Deffand very rarely received any literary men. The See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal friendships of her later years were with the duchesse de See also:

Choiseul and with Horace Walpole. Her See also:

AFFECTION (Lat. ad, and facere, to do something to, sc. a person)

affection for the latter, which dated from 1765, was the strongest and most durable of all her attachments. Under the stress of this tardy See also:

PASSION (post-classical Lat. passio, formed from pati, passus, to suffer, endure)

passion she See also:

DEVELOPED

developed qualities of See also:

style and eloquence of which her earlier writings had given little promise. In the See also:

OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

opinion of Sainte-Beuve the See also:

PROSE

prose of her letters ranks with that of Voltaire as the best of that classical See also:

EPOCH (Gr. E7roxij, holding in suspense, a pause, from E1rxav, to hold up, to stop)

epoch without excepting any even of. the great writers.

Walpole refused at first to ac-knowledge the closeness of their intimacy from an exaggerated fear of the ridicule attaching to her age, but he paid several visits to Paris expressly for the purpose of enjoying her society, and maintained a close and most interesting correspondence with her for fifteen years. She died on the 23rd of See also:

SEPTEMBER (Lat. septem, seven)

September 178o, leaving her See also:

dog Tonton to the care of Walpole, who was also entrusted with her papers. Of her innumerable witty sayings the best known is her remark on the See also:

CARDINAL (Lat. cardinalis)

cardinal de See also:

POLIGNAC

Polignac's See also:

account of St See also:

Denis's miraculous walk of two See also:

MILES, NELSON APPLETON (1839— )

miles with his See also:

head in his hands, Il n'y a que le premier pas qui col2te. See also:

DEFINITION (Lat. definitio, from de-finire, to set limits to, describe)

DEFINITION The Correspondance inedite of Madame du Deffand with D'Alembert, Henault, Montesquieu, and others was published in Paris (2 vols.) in 1809. Letters of the marquise du Deffand to the Hon. Horace Walpole, afterwards See also:

EARL

earl of See also:

Orford, from the See also:

YEAR

year 1766 to the year 1780 (4vols.),edited,with a See also:

BIOGRAPHICAL

biographical See also:

SKETCH (directly adapted from Dutch schets, which was taken from Ital. schizzo, a rough draft, Lat. schedium, something hastily made, Gr. oxE&os, sudden, off-hand, axeb6v, near by; Ger. Skizze and Fr. esquisse are from the same source)

sketch, by See also:

MISS

Miss See also:

Mary See also:

Berry, were published in See also:

LONDON

London from the originals at See also:

STRAWBERRY (Fragaria)

Strawberry See also:

Hill in 181o. The See also:

standard edition of her letters is the Cotrespondance See also:

COMPLETE

complete de la marquise du Deffand . . . by M. de See also:

LESCURE, LOUIS MARIE JOSEPH, MARQUIS DE (1766—1793)

Lescure (1865) ; the Correspondance inedite with M. and Mme de Choiseul and others was edited in 1859 and again in 1866 by the marquis de Ste-Aulaire. Other papers of Madame du Deffand obtained at the breaking up of Walpole's collection are in private hands. Madame du Deffand returned many of Walpole's letters at his See also:

REQUEST, LETTERS OF

request, and subsequently destroyed those which she received from him. Those in his See also:

possession appear to have been destroyed after his See also:

DEATH

death by Miss Berry, who printed fragments from them as footnotes to the edition of 1810. The correspondence between Walpole and Madame du Deffand thus remains one-sided, but seven of Walpole's letters to her are printed for the first time in the edition (1903) of his correspondence by Mrs See also:

PAGET, SIR JAMES, BART

Paget See also:

TOYNBEE, ARNOLD (1852-1883)

Toynbee, who discovered a quantity of her unedited letters.

See Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vols. i. and xiv.; and the See also:

NOTICE

notice by M. de Lescure in his edition of the correspondence.

End of Article: DEFFAND, MARIE ANNE DE

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