We have, in the former part of this chapter seen one literary female an inmate of the Bastile, we must now contemplate in the same situation another, of equal talents, but with a more sullied character. The second of these females was Madame de Tencin, sister of the cardinal of that name. Though, like most Frenchwomen of that period, it is probable that Madame de Staal did not preserve an inviolate chastity, she certainly paid more respect to appearances than was paid by Madame de Tencin, and was less stimulated by mere animal passion. “I shall paint only my bust,” Madame de Staal is said to have replied, when she was asked how, in her Memoirs, she would contrive to speak of her love affairs; with respect to Madame de Tencin, it may be doubted whether, at least while she was moving in the circle of the court, she would have hesitated to delineate a whole-length likeness of herself. Tencin was a name derived from a small estate; the family name was Guerin. The lady in question was born in 1681, and her father was president of the parliament of Grenoble. She was placed in the convent of Montfleury, near Grenoble, where she resided for five years. If credit may be given to the statements of St. Simon and others, her conduct while she wore the veil was anything but pious and decorous. The consequence of one of her amours is said to have rendered it indispensable for her to leave the convent, of which she was already tired. Her great object was to shine in Paris, and this she accomplished. Through the interest of Fontenelle, who took a great interest in her, she obtained a dispensation from the Pope, and she then gave full swing to her pleasures. She became the mistress of the ultra profligate Dubois; and the scandalous chronicles of the time charge her with having joined in the orgies of the regent and his companions, and prostituted her talents by the composition of obscene works. With Law, the Mississippi projector, she was intimate, and she and her brother appear to have profited largely by speculations during that period of national madness. It is one pleasing feature in her character, that she was more anxious to establish her brother than herself.