Word: maintenon
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...writing among the ladies of the period. Most of them wrote about the trivialities of Court life and paid floods of compliments to the King and the "reigning mistress ;" few ventured upon criticisms. Those letters of de Scudéry, de Sévigné, de Grignan or de Maintenon were obsequious in character, unless they engaged in abstract discussion of the Arts or turned to the contemplation of Nature, which was the rarest of expedients. The letters of de Maintenon (widow of the poet Scrarron) were naturally centred upon the King and in them can be seen the depths...
...letters have for many years been invaluable to historians. In a letter to the Duchess of Hanover she says: "You may be sure that I am very much annoyed with the King for treating me like a serving wench. That would have been all right for his precious Maintenon.* She was born for that sort of treatment but I was not." Most people found it dangerous to write of their Sovereign in such terms even in private letters, which were always liable to be opened by the notorious Louvois and their contents communicated to the King...
...openly practiced. The King, indeed, set an example to the Court by his amours with the beautiful La Valliére and later with Madame de Montespan. But after the Queen's death and after the King had fallen a victim to the wiles of Madame de Maintenon, the whole Court became devout, and the courtiers remained libertine in Paris and became devout at Versailles. All this Madame's letters show most clearly...
Racine wrote the tragedy of Athalie for the demoiselles de St. Cyr. Under the direction of Madame de Maintenon, the girls of this school had already produced a play of Corneille. After this Madame de Maintenon requested Racine to write a play for the school. He complied, but his "Andromaque" was not quite suitable for her purposes, and soon afterwards he wrote "Esther," a tragedy drawn from Holy Writ. Inspired by his biblical material Racine wrote "Athalie" his masterpiece, but owing to the intervention of the spiritual advision of the school, the first performances of the play were stripped...
Professor de Sumichrast introduced his subject by a short history of the Convent of Saint Cyr where the masterpieces of Racine were acted under the supervision of Mme. de Maintenon. When Athalie was first produced, instead of arousing the enthusiasm which Racine had so confidently hoped for it, it seemed to fall flat, the truth being that it was so far superior to the standards of the times that it was beyond appreciation; it was a play written for posterity...