By marrying her daughter to a courtier, Madame de Sevigne hoped to secure her daughter's permanent residence near herself at Paris. The count, however, was deputy-governor of Provence, and received orders, soon after his marriage, to proceed to that distant province, where he continued to reside, with the exception of occasional visits to Paris, during the remainder of his mother-in-law's life. The mother and daughter contrived to pass about half the time with each other, and, in the intervals, to keep up a conversation by means of constant epistolary correspondence, in which the former relates all the amusing gossip which would have been subject of discourse had they been together. To the mother's share of these conversations we are delighted listeners. She speaks of events which in themselves are trifling, and of persons of whom we never before heard; yet she is never tedious. The vivacity of her intellect and the charms of her style give an interest to every thought and act. The task of selecting specimens is a difficult one; all is worthy of transcription; we will take those which throw the most light upon her character and mode of life. The following was written at an estate of her husband's, called "The Rocks," situated on the sea-coast of Brittany, where she delighted to pass her time: she had a love of the country, of nature, and of simple pleasures--a rare taste for a Frenchwoman of that age. Nothing pleased her more than the song of the nightingale, the cuckoo, and the thrush, during the early spring; her writings are filled with her passion for the birds and avenues of "Les Rochers." The letter is addressed, not to her daughter, but to her cousin, De Coulanges.