La Fayette, MADAME DE,

La Fayette, MADAME DE, the reformer of French romance-writing, was born in 1634, her father being a marshal and governor of Havre. She married the Comte de La Fayette in 1655, and was a member in her youth of the literary circle which met in the Hôtel de Rambouillet. She was the intimate friend of Mme de Sévigné, and in her thirty-third year formed a liaison with La Rochefoucauld, which lasted until his death in 1680. She died in 1693. Her novels Zaïde and the Princesse de Clèves led to a reaction in taste against the fantastic and long-winded romances of such writers as La Calprenède and Mdlle de Scudéry. She had a genuine command of passion and knowledge of character, and in her Princesse de Clèves gave a vivid and faithful picture of the court-life of her day. She committed, however, a curious anachronism in transferring the men and women of Louis XIV.'s age to the court of Henry II.; for example, her Duchesse de Valentinois is Mme de Montespan, the Prince de Clèves is the Comte de La Fayette, and the Duc de Nemours is La Rochefoucauld. Her novels, says Gérueze, were more than a novelty, they were almost a revolution. Her Œuvres Complètes fill 5 vols. (1812; new ed. 1882); of her Mémoires the best ed. is by Asse (1890). See Haussonville's monograph (1891), and Ste-Beuve's Portraits de Femmes.