L'ENCLOS, NINON DE, was born in 1616, of a noble though not very rich family of Touraine. Her mother wished to make her a nun, but her father, who was a man of pleasure, directed his daughter's ideas in a very different course, giving her very leose notions of morality, and preparing her to be, what she became in reality, a devotee to sensual gratification. She lost both her parents at an early age, and finding herself her own mistress, with a moderate independ ence, she fixed her residence at Paris. Being remarkably handsome and graceful, she was courted by most of the noblemen and wits about court, was very indulgent to all whom she liked, and had a numerous and often renewed succession of favourites. She is said to have been perfectly disinterested in her amours, being herself above want, and having neither ambition nor a passion for hoarding money. Such was the tone of morality in France in that age, that modest women courted her society, which was considered a model of elegance and fashion among others, Madame de la Fayette, Madame de Sully, and Madame Scan-on (afterwards Madame de Maintenon), often visited her. Christina of Sweden, during her residence in France, was much
pleased with her company, and wished to attach her to her little court; but Mademoiselle de l'Enclos preferred her independence. She is said to have retained her attractions to a very advanced age, and to have been the object of a violent attachment at seventy. She was good-tempered and liberal, witty and accomplished. Some of her letters to St. Evremond, which are found in the works of that author, and have been published separately in the Lettrea de Femmes Celebrea,' edited by L. Collin, 1805, are the only authentic memorials of her pen; other works have been attributed to her, which are apocryphal. She died in Paris in 1706, at ninety years of age.