CHARLOTTE ROSE DE LA FORCE was the daughter of François de Caumont,
Marquis de Castel-Moron, and granddaughter of Jacques de Caumont, Duc
de la Force, whose escape from the massacre of St. Bartholomew is
celebrated in the _Henriade_ of Voltaire, and who afterwards greatly
signalized himself by his exploits during the reign of Henry IV. and
Louis XIII. She was born in the Castle of Casenove, near Bazas, in
Guienne, about 1650, and died in Paris in 1724. Her mother, Marguerite
de Vicof, was Dame de Casenove, and daughter of the Baron de Castelnau.
Mademoiselle de la Force would therefore appear to be maternally
connected with Madame de Murat. She is said to have been married, in
1687, to Charles de Brion; but that the marriage was declared null and
void ten days afterwards. She was the author of several memoirs and
romances, and of an Epistle, in verse, to Madame de Maintenon; but is
best known by her fairy tales, _Contes des Contes_, though only one of
them has, to my knowledge, appeared previously in English. That one is--