I am tall; I am neither fat nor lean; I have a graceful and freely moving figure, and my bearing is natural and easy. My bust is well formed. My hands and feet are not beautiful, but there is great beauty in their flesh, and the flesh of my throat is also very pretty. My leg is straight, and my foot is well formed. My hair is a beautiful ash-blonde. My face is long, and its contour is fine. The nose is large and aquiline. The mouth neither large nor little, but distinctly outlined and of a very agreeable form. The lips are the colour of vermilion. My teeth are not handsome, but neither are they horrible. My eyes are blue, neither large nor small, but brilliant, gentle, and proud, like my mien. I have a haughty, but not self-glorified air; I am polite and familiar, but of a manner to excite respect rather than to attract the lack of it. I am indeed very indifferent about my dress, but my negligence does not go as far as untidiness. I hate that! I am neat, and whether I am laced or loosely robed, everything that I wear looks well. This is not because I do not look incomparably better with tightly fitting garments, but it is because negligence and loose garments sit less ill upon me than upon another, for I may say, without boasting, that I become whatever I put on better than anything that I put on becomes me.... God ... has given me unparalleled health and strength. Nothing breaks me down; nothing fatigues me; and it is difficult to judge of the events and the changes in my fortunes by my face, for my face rarely shows any change. I had forgotten to say that I have a healthy complexion, which is in accord with what I have just said. My tint is not delicate, but it is fair, and very bright and clear.
Before the lessons of experience and evil fortune changed Mademoiselle's handsome face, she was thus vivaciously described by an anonymous contemporary:
This Princess of the blood of kings and of princes is haughty, daring, and of a courage much more like the courage of a man than is commonly found in woman. It may be said with truth that she is an amazon, and that she is better fitted to carry a lance than to hold a distaff. She is proud, enterprising, adventurous, quick, and free of speech. She cannot bear to hear anything contrary to her own opinion. As she has never loved either the King's ministers or her father's ministers, she has avoided them; because had she received them in her home, or frequented their society, civility would have constrained her to show them deference. Her humour is impatient, her mind is active, and her heart is ardently set upon whatever she undertakes. As to dissimulation, she does not know the meaning of the term. She tells what she thinks, careless of the opinion of the world.
She was described in divers ways, according to the impressions of her associates. One said that her manner gave evidence of serious reflection; another called her too vivacious. It was supposed that she had been the first to assert that the soul ought not to be susceptible to love, and therefore her admirers sang to her of the aversion felt by Pallas for the allurements of Venus. Mademoiselle had said:
"Je n'ai point l'âme tendre."
and she had meant what she said, and been glad to have it known that she was heart-free.
She was blamed for her rude manners and for her outbursts of anger. When she declared that she longed to go to war with the soldiers her critics laughed at her pretensions. It was generally believed that her faults were numerous, and that she had few of the qualities considered desirable in woman; but no one ever called her petty, cowardly, or false. La Grande Mademoiselle was never a liar; she never betrayed friend or foe. She was brave and generous; and it was not her fault if when nature placed her soul in the form of a woman it gave her the mien and the inclinations of a man.