"Do your duty, sir," she said, "I assure you that although our friend
can argue, he knows no more about the truth than you and I."

The key to Mademoiselle de l'Enclos' character is to be found in her
toleration and liberality. Utterly unselfish, she had no thoughts
beyond the comfort and, happiness of her friends. For them she
sacrificed her person, an astounding sacrifice in a woman, one for
which a multitude have suffered martyrdom for refusing to make, and
are cited as models of virtue to be followed. Yet, notwithstanding her
strange misapplication or perversion of what the world calls "female
honor," her world had nothing but the most profound respect and
admiration for her. It requires an extremely delicate pencil to sketch
such a character, and even then, a hundred trials might result in
failing to seize upon its most vivid lights and shades and bring out
its best points.

Standing out clearly defined through her whole life was a noble soul
that never stooped to anything common, low, debasing or vulgar.
Brought up from infancy in the society of men, taught to consider them
as her companions and equals, and treated by them as one of
themselves, she acquired a grace and a polish that made her society
desired by the proudest ladies of the court. There is no one in the
annals of the nations of the earth that can be compared to her. The
Aspasia of Pericles has been regarded by some as a sort of prototype,
but Aspasia was a common woman of the town, her thoughts were devoted
to the aggrandizement of one man, her love affairs were bestowed upon
an open market. On the contrary, Mademoiselle de l'Enclos never
bestowed her favors upon any but one she could ever after regard as an
earnest, unselfish friend. Their friendship was a source of delight to
her and she was Epicurean, in the enjoyment of everything that goes