Some of Ninon's Lovers
Notwithstanding her love of pleasure, and her admiration for the
society of men, Ninon was never vulgar or common in the distribution
of her favors, but selected those upon whom she decided to bestow
them, with the greatest care and discrimination. As has been already
said, she discovered in early life, that women were at a discount, and
she resolved to pursue the methods of men in the acceptance or
rejection of friendship, and in distributing her favors and
influences. As she herself declared:
"I soon saw that women were put off with the most frivolous and unreal
privileges, while every solid advantage was retained by the stronger
sex. From that moment I determined on abandoning my own sex and
assuming that of the men."
So well did she carry out this determination that she was regarded by
her masculine intimates as one of themselves, and whatever pleasures
they enjoyed in her society, were enjoyed upon the same principle as
they would have delighted in a good dinner, an agreeable theatrical
performance, or exquisite music.
To her and to all her associates, love was a taste emanating from the
senses, a blind sentiment which assumes no merit in the object which
gives it birth, as is the case of hunger, thirst, and the like. In a
word, it was merely a caprice the domination of which depends upon
ourselves, and is subject to the discomforts and regrets attendant
upon repletion or indulgence.
After her first experience with de Coligny, which was an abandonment
of her cold philosophy for a passionate attachment she thought would
endure forever, Ninon cast aside all that element in love which is
connected with passion and extravagant sentiment, and adhered to her
philosophical understanding of it, and kept it in its proper place in
the category of natural appetites. To illustrate her freedom from
passionate attachments in the distribution of her favors, the case of
her friend Scarron will give an insight into her philosophy. Scarron
had received numerous favors from her, and being one of her select
"Birds," who had always agreed with la Rochefoucauld that, "There are
many good marriages but none that are delicious," she assumed that her
friend would never entangle himself in the bonds of matrimony. But he
did and to his sorrow.
When Ninon had returned to Paris after a long sojourn with the Marquis
de Villarceaux, she found to her astonishment that Scarron had married
the amiable but ignoble Mademoiselle d'Aubigne. This young lady was in
a situation which precluded all hope of her ever attaining social
eminence, but aspiring to rise, notwithstanding her common origin, she
married Scarron as the first step upon the social ladder. Without
realizing that this woman was to become the celebrated Madame de
Maintenon, mistress of the king and the real power behind the throne,
Ninon took her in charge and they soon became the closest and most
affectionate friends, always together even occupying the same bed.
Ninon's tender friendship for the husband continued in spite of his
grave violation of the principles of his accepted philosophy, and when
he was deserted, sick and helpless, she went to him and brought him
cheer and comfort.
Ninon was so little imbued with jealousy that when she discovered a
liaison between her own lover, Marquis de Villarceaux and her friend,
Madame Scarron, she was not even angry. The two were carrying on their
amour in secret, and as they supposed without Ninon's knowledge, whose
presence, indeed, they deemed a restraint upon their freedom of
action. The Marquis considered himself a traitor to Ninon, and Madame
Scarron stood in fear of her reproaches for her betrayal. But Ninon,
instead of taking either of them to task, as she would have been
justified in doing, gently remonstrated with them for their secrecy,
and by her kindness reassured both of them and relieved them from
their embarrassment, making them understand that she desired nothing
so much as their happiness. Both the Marquis and his mistress made
Ninon their confidante, and thereafter lived in perfect amity until
the lovers grew tired of each other, Madame Scarron aiming higher than
an ordinary Marquis, now that she saw her way clear to mounting the
social ladder.
It was perhaps due to Ninon's kindness in the Villarceaux episode,
that enabled her to retain the friendship of Madame de Maintenon when
the latter had reached the steps of the throne. The mistress of
royalty endeavored to persuade Ninon to appear at court but there was
too great a difference in temper and constitution between the two
celebrated women to admit of any close relations. Ninon made use of
the passion of love for the purpose of pleasure only, while her more
exalted rival made it subservient to her ambitious projects, and did
not hesitate with that view to cloak her licentious habits beneath the
mantle of religion, and add hypocrisy to frailty. The income of Ninon
de l'Enclos was agreeably and judiciously spent in the society of men
of wit and letters, but the revenues of the Marchioness de Maintenon
were squandered on the useless decoration of her own person, or
hoarded for the purpose of elevating into rank and notice an
insignificant family, who had no other claim to such distinction than
that derived from the easy honesty of a female relation, and the
dissolute extravagance of a vain and licentious sovereign.
While Ninon de l'Enclos was receiving and encouraging the attentions
of the most distinguished men of her time, literati, nobles, warriors,
statesmen, and sages, in her house in the Rue des Tournelles, the
mistress of the sovereign, the dear friend who had betrayed her to the
Marquis de Villarceaux, was swallowing, at Versailles, the adulations
of degraded courtiers of every rank and profession. There were met
together there the vain and the ambitious, the designing and the
foolish, the humblest and the proudest of those who, whether proud or
humble, or ambitious, or vain, or crafty, were alike the devoted
servants of the monarch or the monarch's mistress--princes, cardinals,
bishops, dukes and every kind of nobility, excisemen and priests,
keepers of the royal conscience and necessary--all ministers of filth,
each in his degree, from the secretaries of state to the lowest
underlings in office--clerks of the ordnance, victualing, stamps,
customs, colonies, and postoffice, farmers and receivers general,
judges and cooks, confessors and every other caterer to the royal
appetite. This was the order of things that Ninon de l'Enclos was
contending against, and that she succeeded by methods that must be
considered saintly compared with the others, stands recorded in the
pages of history.
After Ninon had suffered from the indiscretion of the lover who made
public the story of the famous pledge given la Châtre, she lost her
fancy for the recreant, and though friendly, refused any closer tie.
He knew that he had done Ninon an injury and begged to be reinstated
in her favor. He was of charming manners and fascinating in his
pleading, but he made no impression on her heart. She agreed to pardon
him for his folly and declined to consider the matter further. Nor
would she return to the conversation, although he persisted in
referring to the matter as one he deeply regretted. When he was
departing after Ninon had assured him of her pardon, she ran after him
and called out as he was descending the stairs: "At least, Marquis,
we have not been reconciled."
Her good qualities were embalmed in the literature of the day, very
few venturing to lampoon her. Those who did so were greeted with so
much derisive laughter that they were ashamed to appear in society
until the storm had blown over.
M. de Tourielle, a member of the French Academy, and a very learned
man, became enamored of her and his love-making assumed a curious
phase. To show her that he was worthy of her consideration, he deemed
it incumbent upon him to read her long dissertations on scientific
subjects, and bored her incessantly with a translation of the orations
of Demosthenes, which he intended dedicating to her in an elaborate
preface. This was more than Ninon could bear with equanimity--a lover
with so much erudition, and his prosy essays, appealed more to her
sense of humor than to her sentiments of love, and he was laughed out
of her social circle. This angered the Academician and he thought to
revenge himself by means of an epigram in which he charged Ninon with
admiring figures of rhetoric more than a sensible academic discourse
full of Greek and Latin quotations. It would have proved the ruin of
the poor man had Ninon not come to his rescue, and explained to him
the difference between learning and love. After which he became
sensible and wrote some very good books.
It should be understood that Ninon had no secrets in which her merry
and wise "Birds" did not share. She confided to them all her love
affairs, gave them the names of her suitors, in fact, every wooer was
turned over to this critical, select society, as a committee of
investigation into quality and merit both of mind and body. In this
way she was protected from the unworthy, and when she made a
selection, they respected her freedom of choice, carefully guarding
her lover and making him one of themselves after the fitful fever was
over. They were all graduates in her school, good fellows, and had
accepted Ninon's philosophy without question.
Her lovers were always men of rank and station or of high talents, but
she was caught once by the dazzle of a famous dancer named Pécour, who
pleased her exceedingly, and who became the fortunate rival of the Duc
de Choiseul, afterward a marshal of France. It happened that Choiseul
was more remarkable for his valor than for his probity and solid
virtues, and could not inspire in Ninon's heart anything but the
sterile sentiments of esteem and respect. He was certainly worthy of
these, but he was too cold in his amorous desires to please Ninon.
"He is a very worthy gentleman," said she, "but he never gives me a
chance to love him."
The frequent visits of Pécour excited the jealousy of the warrior, but
he did not dare complain, not knowing whether things had reached a
climax and fearing that if he should mention the matter he might help
them along instead of stopping them. One day, however, he attempted to
goad his unworthy rival into some admission, and received a response
that was enough to settle his doubts.
Pécour was in the habit of wearing a costume much resembling that of
the military dandies of the period. Choiseul meeting him in this
equivocal garb, proceeded to be funny at his expense by putting to him
all sorts of ironical and embarrassing questions. But Pécour felt all
the vanity of a successful rival and was good natured. Then the Duke
began to make sneering remarks which roused the dancer's anger.
"Pray, what flag are you fighting under, and what body do you
command?" asked Monseigneur with a sarcastic smile.
Quick as a flash came the answer which gave the Duke an inkling into
the situation.
"Je commande un corps où vous servez depuis longtemps," replied
Pécour.