LA VALLIÈRE.

LOUISE FRANÇOISE DE LA VALLIÈRE was made up of feminine tenderness. She was tender unto softness; modest unto diffidence; gentle unto timidity. Her nature was so tender that it divided itself wholly between love of heaven, and love for one sole earthly object. Her love for heaven was trembling adoration; her love for her lover was idolatry. She gave heaven her repentant worship after giving her lover all heart-worship. She was a signal instance of a woman loving a monarch for himself; she loved the man, not the king, in Louis XIV. She was born in 1644; and came of distinguished parentage. Her mother married again; and this second husband, being in the household of Gaston, Duke of Orleans, Mademoiselle de La Vallière passed her early years at the court of that prince, residing alternately at Orleans and at Blois. Her youth was marked by sweetness of disposition and discreet behaviour; and when the king's only brother espoused Henrietta of England, daughter to Charles I., Mademoiselle de La Vallière was placed about her person, as maid of honour. Shining in the midst of a brilliant scene, taking part in the pleasures of a young and gallant court, she won the esteem of all, by her rectitude, her innate love of virtue, her gentle manners, and the sincerity and simplicity which distinguished her. Her personal advantages,