D'Aulnoy

D'Aulnoy, MARIE CATHERINE JUMELLE DE BERNEVILLE, COUNTESS, was born about 1650, and died in 1705. She wrote many tedious and long-winded romances long consigned to safe oblivion. Of these may here only be mentioned Hippolyte, Comte de Douglas (1690). Equally worthless are her historical memoirs. But her fame rests securely on her Contes des Fées, which are written in a simple, bright, and charming style, not altogether unworthy of the inimitable master, Perrault. The White Cat, the Yellow Dwarf, Finette Cendron, and Le Mouton have for two centuries been naturalised in the nurseries of Europe, and are still familiar figures in pantomime.