GRIGNAN, May 23, 1696.
You, sir, can understand better than any one the magnitude of the loss
we have sustained, and my just grief. Madame de Sévigné’s distinguished
merit was perfectly known to you. It is not merely a mother-in-law
that I regret; this name does not always command esteem; it is an
amiable and excellent friend, and a delightful companion. But it is
a circumstance more worthy of our admiration than our regret, that
this noble-minded woman contemplated the approach of death, which she
expected from the moment of her attack, with astonishing firmness and
submission. She, who was so tender and so timid respecting those she
loved, displayed the utmost fortitude and piety when she believed that
she ought to think only of herself; and we can not but remark how
useful and important it is to fill the mind with good things and sacred
subjects, for which Madame de Sévigné appears to have had a peculiar
taste, not to say a surprising avidity, by the use she made of these
excellent provisions in the last moments of her life. I relate these
particulars to you, sir, because they accord with your sentiments, and
will be gratifying to the friendship you have borne for her whom we
lament; and at the same time my mind is so full of them that it is a
relief to me to find a man so well disposed as you are to listen to the
recital, and take pleasure in hearing it. I hope, sir, that the memory
of a friend who highly esteemed you will contribute to preserve to me
the regard with which you have long honored me. I prize it too highly,
and wish it too much, not to deserve it a little.