[166] The original has _questionnaire_, a word then already antiquated, and which meant a man applying the _question_ or rack. [167] Roscius seems to have been intended for a portrait of the celebrated actor Michael Baron (1653-1729), whilst the names of Lelia, Cesonia, Claudia, and Messalina probably allude to some of the ladies of the court who intrigued with actors. During the eighteenth century the names of the Maréchale de la Ferté, and of her sister the Countess dʼOlonne (see page 61, note), both of very dissolute manners, were mentioned as having been the originals of Claudia and Messalina, whilst Claudia was also, according to some, a portrait of Marie-Anne Mancini, Duchesse de Bouillon, though it is not probable that La Bruyère intended to allude to her. Bathyllus and Cobus stand for Le Basque, Pécourt, or Beauchamps, dancers at the Opera; Draco is Philibert, a German flute-player of those times; Lelia or Cesonia are supposed to have been a certain widow of the Marquis de Constantin. [168] Is this not an allusion of our author to some nunneries not in very good repute at the time? [169] This applies, it is said, to the Maréchale de la Ferté, mentioned on page 67, note 2, and to the Duke dʼAumontʼs second wife, who died in 1711, sixty-one years old. [170] At the time La Bruyère wrote, nearly every fashionable lady had, besides her father-confessor, a spiritual director, who was her “guide, philosopher, and friend.” Boileau, in his tenth satire, says:— “Mais de tous les mortels, grâce aux dévotes âmes, Nul nʼest si bien soigné quʼun directeur de femmes.” [171] _Placer des domestiques_, in the original; _domestique_ was used for any person belonging to the household of some great nobleman, even if he were himself a noble; it also meant “a household.” [172] A note of La Bruyère says that this refers to “assumed piety.” [173] Those ladies are supposed to have been the Duchesse dʼAumont, already mentioned; the Countess de Lyonne, the wife of a minister of state; the Duchess de Lesdiguières, and the Countess de Roucy. [174] Our authorʼs note says, “A pretended pious woman.” [175] It was then the custom for people who had a lawsuit to go and solicit their judges in person. [176] In La Bruyèreʼs time many ladies had a great reputation for learning, such as Madame de Sévigné, and her daughter, Madame de Grignan, who greatly admired Descartesʼ philosophy; Madame de la Fayette; and a sister of Madame de Montespan, who was Abbess of Fontévrault. Montaigne was of opinion that women had no need of learning, and Molière, in his _Femmes Savantes_, holds the golden mean. [177] Such were, for example, the heroines of the Fronde, who only cared for ambition. Saint Simon in his _Mémoires_ speaks of the Maréchale de Ciérambault, “who only left off gambling whilst at meals;” the Princess de Harcourt, who took usually the sacrament after having gambled until four in the morning; and the Duchesse dʼAumont, whom we have already mentioned.