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Biography of a Modern Woman in the Age of the Sun King.

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Biography of a Modern Woman in the Age of the Sun King.
The Memoires of the Dutchess Mazarine 'Hortense Mancini]...Together with the Reasons of her Coming into England, "Written in French by her Own Hand, Done into English by P. Porter." Attributed to Abbe Saint Real. London: William Cademan "at the Popes-Head...," 1676, 4 x 6 1/2, 130 pp. + Errata leaf, original plain full calf. Apparently first edition, with initial license leaf. A charmingly composed - and quite engaging account of her experiences in high society in the era of Louis XIV, his 73-year reign the longest in European history. "His court the most magnificent in Europe, French letters and arts in their golden age"--Webster's Biographical. "I know the chief Glory of a Woman ought to consist, in not making her self to be publickly talked of...I am descended from one of the most Illustrious Families of Rome; and that my Ancestors these three hundred years have held a Rank so eminent and considerable, that I might pass my days happily, though I had never been Heiress to the first Minister of France...But he was not the only man I had the ill Fortune to please. An Italian Eunuch, Musician to the Cardinal, was accused, for having a Kindness for me...He was also jeered for being in love with the beautiful Statues that were in the Palace M(azarin)...." Sicilian-born Giulio Mazarini (Mazarine) rose rapidly to Cardinal, then Prime Minister of France, his diplomatic policies paving the way for Louis XIV's successes. A patron of Balzac and Descartes, he engaged in other activities: "Whenever he had an opportunity he destroyed a feudal castle, and by destroying the towers which commanded nearly every town in France, he freed such towns...from their long practical subjection to the neighboring great lord..."--Britannica, 1958 ed., vol. 15, p. 129. Hortense, this book's author, was said to have been the most attractive of Mazarine's nieces who came to England in 1670, opening a salon for liaisons, gambling, and witty conversation. Spine perished, boards detached, covers and tips much scuffed and worn, first two leaves loose, early and late leaves with edge browning and toning, else satisfactory. Very scarce. Wing S 355. Esdaile, English Tales and Romances p. 299. Mish, English Prose Fiction 1600-1700, p. 52.