culties, to make herself a famous name, and to acquire by her own labour an immunity from the assistance of friends or relatives, and an ample fortune. The lesson of her life is Labour: and the promise of a life of labour is Independence; or, if this is not attained, at least dependence may be avoided.

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132

MADAME GUYON.

¡HERE is not a more interesting period in the his

tory of France than that which is called "The Augustan Age." The Frenchmen of to-day know little of the France of that day. There was then no Rue Rivoli, no Magdalen Church, no Place de la Concorde -the Garden of Plants, the Tuileries, the Louvre, the Invalides, the Panthéon, the Boulevards, were all unfinished. The Huguenots had been subdued, and Richelieu had been all powerful. Then came, in answer to the prayer of his mother, Anne of Austria, the birth of Louis XIV.-that king who was to say, "I am the State ;" who should sit in the place of God even, and make laws for the conscience! Wonderful it all seems now! The one man-the grand monarch -absorbing in himself an entire nation; the most licentious, priest-ridden, and yet most magnificent monarch. Singular that at that most debased period, when humanity might well be said to mourn, there were men living who lit up the age with god-created genius, who sent forth scintillations of light and thought, which were caught up by men of succeeding periods, and which will bless the world while the world continues to exist. But, even more singular still, while that age could enumerate amongst its

possessions Molière, La Fontaine, Racine, Corneille, Massillon, Bossuet, Bourdaloue, Bridane, Fénélon, Arnaud, and Pascal, it had, in a simple, unassuming girl, one whose piety would become distinguished as a mark of eminence amidst the churches, whose zeal and devotion should not only form a striking contrast then, but whose life and character form a strong contrast now to the lives of too many who had and have taken upon themselves the name of

"Christian."

Jeanne Marie Bouvières de la Mothe was born on the 13th of April, 1648. Her childhood was marked by sickness, and also by imitations of the nuns with whom she frequently came in contact. As other children are fond of dressing and playing with dolls, she was fond of dressing herself in the habit of a nun; she had heard of martyrs, and longed also in her childishness to die for her religion. Her companions, to humour her singular notions, placed her on her knees on a white cloth, flourished a sabre over her head, as if intending to strike it off. The little girl's courage failed her, subjected to this trial, when her schoolfellows received her with boisterous laughter. Her undisciplined thoughts and knowledge were mainly owing to the want of affection in her mother, who almost entirely committed her to the care of servants; and when suffered to be in her company, she was treated coarsely and unkindly. She was thus, from her earliest years, inured to pain and sorrow. The

result of this was that as she grew up she manifested considerable irritableness of disposition; and from fear of punishment and chiding, so terrible to her delicate nature, she prevaricated and became insincere. When ten years old, however, she accidentally found a Bible, which, she afterwards said, "I spent whole days in reading, giving no attention to other books or other subjects from morning to night; and, having great powers of recollection, I committed to memory the historical parts entirely." Other books fell in her way that had not so happy an influence. The life of Madame de Chantal excited her unhealthily to numberless humiliations and austerities. As this woman had written on her bosom with a red-hot iron the name of Jesus, the little girl of twelve must needs endeavour to imitate her, by sewing on her breast, with a large needle, a piece of paper, upon which was written the name of Christ! But these early impressions soon gave place to more worldly ones. As she grew up she contracted a passion for light tales and romances, which she frequently sat far into the night to read. These excitable tales left an impression which she lamented her life long. They dissipated soberness of judgment, and prepared her for a life of frivolity, upon which she immediately entered, when she was taken to Paris in 1663. Here, by her beautiful person, sparkling wit, great readiness and power of conversation, and agreeableness of manner, she made a considerable impression; and, as a matter

of course, forgot her vows, her prayers, and her resolutions.

When she was scarcely sixteen years of age, a dark chapter of her life opened. At that time it was settled that she should marry the wealthy M. Guyon, who was twenty-two years her senior, and whom she had only seen three days before her marriage! That marriage was in every sense an unhappy one: it certainly did not deserve to be otherwise, only that the wife deemed it no part of her duty to oppose the wishes of her friends. Doubtless M. Guyon's desire was to obtain a beautiful wife, and the desire of her friends to obtain for her a rich husband. Both, in these respects, were gratified; and, as is usual in such cases, misery resulted. The causes of her sorrows Her mother-in-law, who was a vul

were numerous.

gar, hard-hearted woman, penurious, sordid, and passionate, contracted from the first ill-will towards her, which she vented upon every opportune occasion, proving herself to be a person of a singularly contracted and narrow mind. Her husband, who was the fitting son to such a mother, loved his wife as strongly as his petulant nature permitted. When she was ill, he would not be comforted: and if his mother complained of her, he exploded in a fit of passion ; and yet, strange to say, he constantly exercised harshness towards her at the instigation of his mother! Worse still a designing girl, who tended M. Guyon's gouty leg, was permitted to exercise her spleen