Madame de Maintenon has herself recited, in a memorable letter,[144] the reasons of that reform which modified so profoundly the character of Saint Cyr:—
“The sorrow I feel for the girls of Saint Cyr,” she said, “can be cured only by time and by an entire change in the education that we have given them up to this hour. It is very just that I should suffer for this, since I have contributed to it more than any one else.... The whole establishment has been the object of my pride, and the ground for this feeling has been so real that it has gone to extremes that I never intended. God knows that I wished to establish virtue at Saint Cyr, but I have built upon the sand. Not having, what alone can make a solid foundation, I wished the girls to be witty, high-spirited, and trained to think; I have succeeded in this purpose. They have wit, and they use it against us. They are high-spirited, and are more heady and haughty than would be becoming in a royal princess. Speaking after the manner of the world, we have trained their reason, and have made them talkative, presumptuous, inquisitive, bold ... witty,—such characters as even we who have trained them cannot abide.... Let us seek a remedy, for we must not be discouraged.... As many little things form pride, many little things will destroy it. Our girls have been treated with too much consideration, have been petted too much, treated too gently. We must now leave them more to themselves in their class-rooms, make them observe the daily regulations, and speak to them of scarcely anything else.... Pray to God, and ask Him to change their hearts; and that He may give to all of them humility. There should not be much conversation with them on the subject. Everything at Saint Cyr is made a matter of discourse. We often speak of simplicity, and try to define it correctly ... and yet, in practice, the girls make merry in saying: ‘Through simplicity I take the best place; through simplicity I am going to commend myself.’ Our girls must be cured of that jesting turn of mind which I have given them.... We have wished to shun the pettiness of certain convents, and God has punished us for this haughty spirit. There is no house in the world that has more need of humility within and without than our own. Its situation near the Court; the air of favor that pervades it; the favors of a great king; the offices of a person of consideration,—all these snares, so full of danger, should lead us to take measures directly contrary to those we have really taken....”
235. The Part played by Madame de Maintenon.—Whatever may be the opinion respecting the tone of the educational work at Saint Cyr, there cannot be the least doubt as to the admirable zeal of Madame de Maintenon, and her indefatigable devotion to the success of her favorite undertaking. The vocation of the teacher was evidently hers. For more than thirty years, from 1686 to 1717, she did not cease to visit Saint Cyr every day, sometimes at six in the morning. She wrote for the directresses and for the pupils counsels and regulations that fill several volumes. Nothing which concerns “her children” is a matter of indifference to her. She devotes her attention to their meals, their sleep, their toilet, as well as to their character and their instruction:—
“The affairs we discuss at Court are bagatelles; those at Saint Cyr are the more important....” “May that establishment last as long as France, and France as long as the world. Nothing is dearer to me than my children of Saint Cyr.”
It is not tenderness, it is well known, that characterizes the soul of Madame de Maintenon; but, at Saint Cyr, from being formal and cold, which is her usual state, she becomes loving and tender:—
“Forget nothing that may save the souls of our young girls, that may fortify their health and preserve their form.”
One day, as she had come to the school, as her custom was, to consult with the nuns, a company of girls passed by raising a cloud of dust. The nuns, fearing that Madame de Maintenon was annoyed by it, requested them to withdraw. “Pray, let the dear girls be,” replied Madame de Maintenon; “I love them even to the dust they raise.” Conversely, as it were, the pupils of Pestalozzi, consulted on the question of knowing whether they were willing always to be beaten and clawed by their old master, replied affirmatively: they loved him even to his claws!
236. Her Pedagogical Writings.—It is only in our day that the works of Madame de Maintenon have been published in the integrity of their text, thanks to the labors of Théophile Lavallée. For the most part, these long and interesting letters are devoted to education and to Saint Cyr. These are, first, the Letters and Conversations on the Education of Girls.[145] These letters were written from day to day, and are addressed, sometimes to the ladies of Saint Cyr, and sometimes to the pupils themselves. “We find in them,” says Lavallée, “for all circumstances and for all times, the most solid teaching, masterpieces of good sense, of naturalness, and of truth, and, finally, instructions relative to education that approach perfection. The Conversations originated in the consultations that Madame de Maintenon had during the recreations or the recitations, either with the ladies or with the young women, who themselves collected and edited the words of their governess.”
After the Letters and Conversations comes the Counsels to Young Women who enter Society,[146] which contain general advice, conversations or dialogues, and, finally, proverbs, that is, short dramatic compositions, designed at once to instruct and amuse the young ladies of Saint Cyr. These essays are not admirable in all respects; most often they are lacking in imagination; and Madame de Maintenon, though an imitation of Fénelon, makes a misuse of indirect instruction, of artifice, and of amusement, in order to teach some moral commonplaces by insinuation. Here are the titles of some of these proverbs: The occasion makes the rogue; Women make and unmake the home; There is no situation more embarrassing than that of holding the handle of the frying-pan.