And now, Pam, Section 5
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_05_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
20:07
I did lots of googling of Provence while recording this.
Best,
Barbara
COMPLETE [Solo] The Letters of Madame de Sévigné by Marie de Rabutin-Chantal - dl
Hi Barbara,
Section 5 is PL OK.
Did you find out if Madame's neighbor, M. de Plessis is in the Richelieu branch of the family?
I no longer have the library access to find out.
My best,
Pam
Section 5 is PL OK.
Did you find out if Madame's neighbor, M. de Plessis is in the Richelieu branch of the family?
I no longer have the library access to find out.
My best,
Pam
"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
I haven't had much luck with Mlle du Plessis - but I think she was just one of Mme de S's neighbours "provinciaux insipides ou ridicules" as a French site describes them, in Brittany.
But, who do you think this "Co-adjutor" was? Cardinal de Retz! (The episcopal see of Paris was handed down in his family and he was "co-adjutor" - next in line). You might have already known that. He had been a supporter of the Fronde and resigned his claims to to the see so as to get back into favour with Louis XIV. During his last years he corresponded with Mme de S, "a relative by marriage". He and La Rochefoucauld were personal enemies.
Barbara
Whoa, he was a big big deal in Cardinal Mazarin’s life! An arch-intriguer was de Retz.
Pam
Pam
"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Section 6:
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_06_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
19:18
When Mme de S writes: "...I have taken into my head to almost adore those gentlemen - the postillions who are incessantly carrying our letters backward and forward.....etc ... Kind-hearted people, how obliging it is of them ! What a charming invention is the post, and what a happy effect of Providence is the desire of gain !" were you also put in mind of Jane Fairfax diverting attention from her correspondence with Frank Churchill by raving about what a wonderful establishment the Post Office and how clever the postmen are. And of John Knightley's cool remark that the post office clerks are paid for it, which is the "key to a great deal of capacity"?
Best,
Barbara
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_06_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
19:18
When Mme de S writes: "...I have taken into my head to almost adore those gentlemen - the postillions who are incessantly carrying our letters backward and forward.....etc ... Kind-hearted people, how obliging it is of them ! What a charming invention is the post, and what a happy effect of Providence is the desire of gain !" were you also put in mind of Jane Fairfax diverting attention from her correspondence with Frank Churchill by raving about what a wonderful establishment the Post Office and how clever the postmen are. And of John Knightley's cool remark that the post office clerks are paid for it, which is the "key to a great deal of capacity"?
Best,
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
Section 6 is PL OK.
I didn't remember the passage from "Emma," but apparently Jane Austen remembered Madame de Sévigné:
https://reveriesunderthesignofausten.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/jane-austens-letters-letter-10-sat-sun-27-28-oct-1798-at-steventon-1st-long-letter/
My best,
Pam
Section 6 is PL OK.
I didn't remember the passage from "Emma," but apparently Jane Austen remembered Madame de Sévigné:
https://reveriesunderthesignofausten.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/jane-austens-letters-letter-10-sat-sun-27-28-oct-1798-at-steventon-1st-long-letter/
My best,
Pam
"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Section 7, and the weather in Brittany is awful:
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_07_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
19:18
I hope it's better where you are.
Best,
Barbara
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_07_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
19:18
I hope it's better where you are.
Best,
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
Section 7 is PL OK.
It’s nice here.
Yes, we must improve our minds when we have lost our youth
Pam
Section 7 is PL OK.
It’s nice here.
Yes, we must improve our minds when we have lost our youth
Pam
"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Hi Pam, Section 8
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_08_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
21:54
This section needs footnotes! And, BTW, the date seems to be wrong in the text!
Little Mademoiselle Adhémar is Mme de Grignan's daughter, whom she left behind.
I'll let you remind yourself who Mme Scarron and M. Despréaux are...
Scroll down for the answers if necessary.
Best,
Barbara
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.
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.
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Mme de Maintenon and the famous critic and poet Boileau. They were known by the names of their estates - a surprise to me.
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_08_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
21:54
This section needs footnotes! And, BTW, the date seems to be wrong in the text!
Little Mademoiselle Adhémar is Mme de Grignan's daughter, whom she left behind.
I'll let you remind yourself who Mme Scarron and M. Despréaux are...
Scroll down for the answers if necessary.
Best,
Barbara
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Mme de Maintenon and the famous critic and poet Boileau. They were known by the names of their estates - a surprise to me.
Whoa!
Thanks for that. I would never have figured that out and they are important.
Pam
Thanks for that. I would never have figured that out and they are important.
Pam
"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Hi Barbara,
Section 8 is PLOk.
Who knew that Madame de Maintenon was so intellectually on the ball!
My best,
Pam
Section 8 is PLOk.
Who knew that Madame de Maintenon was so intellectually on the ball!
My best,
Pam
"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Section 9:
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_09_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
27:40
It seems to me that this volume contains very detailed footnotes exactly as they appear in the full text of the letters (3 volume’s worth) and also that the footnotes that are needed for context in these selected essays are often missing. Here are two that I would have found helpful. Enjoy!
The Duke de Longueville who was killed, aged 23, was the son of La Rochefoucauld and an old mistress of his, who is the Madame de Longueville of this section.
When Madame de S. referred to De La Rochefault’s “bad” mother (“Mélusine”, the evil fairy, a reference to whom puzzled me in a previous letter) she was referring to Madame de Marans (a relative of his whom he also jokingly referred to as “ma mère”).
Henri Jules, “the duke” (later 5th Prince de Condé) of whom Madame Marans had been the mistress, was mentally unstable, lacked military skills and was in charge of the Rhine front in name only. He later suffered from lycanthropy! Marans herself was a suspect in the Affair of the Poisons. She had got up Mme de S’s nose by speaking slightingly of the beloved daughter (who, by the way, was known by her second name, Françoise, not Marguerite)
Interesting, n’est ce pas?
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_09_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
27:40
It seems to me that this volume contains very detailed footnotes exactly as they appear in the full text of the letters (3 volume’s worth) and also that the footnotes that are needed for context in these selected essays are often missing. Here are two that I would have found helpful. Enjoy!
The Duke de Longueville who was killed, aged 23, was the son of La Rochefoucauld and an old mistress of his, who is the Madame de Longueville of this section.
When Madame de S. referred to De La Rochefault’s “bad” mother (“Mélusine”, the evil fairy, a reference to whom puzzled me in a previous letter) she was referring to Madame de Marans (a relative of his whom he also jokingly referred to as “ma mère”).
Henri Jules, “the duke” (later 5th Prince de Condé) of whom Madame Marans had been the mistress, was mentally unstable, lacked military skills and was in charge of the Rhine front in name only. He later suffered from lycanthropy! Marans herself was a suspect in the Affair of the Poisons. She had got up Mme de S’s nose by speaking slightingly of the beloved daughter (who, by the way, was known by her second name, Françoise, not Marguerite)
Interesting, n’est ce pas?
Hi Barbara,
Thank you for the additional notes. Most illuminating.
We hear from Port Royal and from Arnaud, the leader of that hotbed of Jansenism.
At 10:23, I hear omission of "Letter 27," not critical, but you do read off the letter heads.
My best,
Pam
Thank you for the additional notes. Most illuminating.
We hear from Port Royal and from Arnaud, the leader of that hotbed of Jansenism.
At 10:23, I hear omission of "Letter 27," not critical, but you do read off the letter heads.
My best,
Pam
"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Merci, Pam. The more of these letters I read the more confusing I find the complex relationships. Thanks for the info about Arnauld.
I'll get out my copy of Nancy Mitford's "The Sun King"... it's well indexed.
Barbara
Section 10:
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_10_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
24:40
I don't know how people unacquainted with history would be able to follow these extracts! I am grateful to have such an historically informed PL!
But were you aware the the Count de Guiche was the most glittering and dissipated star in the homosexual (occasionally bisexual and often heroic) retinue of Monsieur? That Vivonne, de Montespan and Thianges (other stars of Versailles) were siblings? Wikipedia says of de Guiche that "he covered himself in glory when he swam* across the Rhine, and the whole army followed his example".
Best,
Barbara
*Do you think that it might have been his horse that did the actual swimming and that it was the cavalry that followed him....
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/letters_10_sevigne_128kb.mp3
M:S
24:40
I don't know how people unacquainted with history would be able to follow these extracts! I am grateful to have such an historically informed PL!
But were you aware the the Count de Guiche was the most glittering and dissipated star in the homosexual (occasionally bisexual and often heroic) retinue of Monsieur? That Vivonne, de Montespan and Thianges (other stars of Versailles) were siblings? Wikipedia says of de Guiche that "he covered himself in glory when he swam* across the Rhine, and the whole army followed his example".
Best,
Barbara
*Do you think that it might have been his horse that did the actual swimming and that it was the cavalry that followed him....