MARQUISE DE MADELEINE DE SOUVRE

SABLE (1599—1678)  French writer, was born in 1599, the daughter of Gilles de Souvre, marquis de Courtenvaux, tutor of Louis XIII., and marshal of France . In 1614 she married Philippe Emmanuel de Laval, marquis de Sable, who died in 1640, leaving her in somewhat straitened circumstances . With her friend the comtesse de St Maur she took rooms in the Place Royale, Paris, and established a literary salon . Here originated that class of literature of which the Maximes of La Rochefoucauld are the best-known example . The Maximes of the marquise de Sable were in fact composed before those of La Rochefoucauld, though not published till after her death . In 1655 she retired, with the comtesse de St Maur, to the Convent of Port Royal des Champs, near Marly, removing in 1661, when that establishment was closed, to Auteuil . In 1669 she took up her residence in the Port Royal convent in Paris, where she died on the 16th of January 1678 .