59 - LA FAYETTE, Marie Madeleine, Countess of Pioche de la Vergne [Paris, 1634 – id., 1693], French writer.

LA FAYETTE, Marie Madeleine, Countess of Pioche de la Vergne [Paris, 1634 – id., 1693], French writer. Signed autograph letter addressed to Gilles Ménage at the Notre Dame cloister in Paris. April 26 [1655], 2 pages in-4° with address; an earlier copy of the letter is enclosed. A newlywed (February 15) but signing with her maiden name and living in seclusion at her château in Espinasse in the Bourdonnais region. Madame de La Fayette reproaches her mentor and friend for failing to keep his promise to write to her often. “I am tired of being taken for a fool and of leaving you in peace without writing to me over a petty quarrel about a German that you deliberately picked with me just to spare yourself the trouble ofwriting to me regularly. I warn you that I am not falling for this at all, and I am convinced that your sole desire to avoid continuing a correspondence that seems tedious to you—due to the long journeys I make throughout the province—is what caused you to fail to write to me. I tell you as a friend that this is the worst thing in the world, and that your honor demands that you make amends by writing four letters every week.”