Note 11 — Front matter

They were both married women and the wives of actors, who joined Molière's company at the same time. At this period, and indeed for long afterwards, actresses bore officially the title of "demoiselle," as did all women other than the wives of the nobility, or of ennobled citizens, or daughters of noble parents who had married citizens: these were styled "dame" and "madame." Thus, we find Colbert, before he rose to fame, "offering a coach to Mademoiselle, his wife;" the mother of La Bruyère described in a legal document as a "demoiselle veuve"; while La Fontaine, in his correspondence, invariably refers to his wife as "Mademoiselle." People spoke also of la Du Parc, la de Brie, la Béjart, la Molière, and so forth, a custom which has continued to this day. This la, which appears so contemptuous, was not the exclusive property of actresses or of women of the people. Madame de Sévigné and Saint-Simon employ it for ladies of the fashionable world, but, by preference, for those of medium virtue: la Beauvais, la Montespan, &c.; and eighteenth century writers frequently make use of it in referring to the mistresses of Louis XV.: la Châteauroux, la Pompadour, la Du Barry. Nowadays, however, it is no longer a term of contempt; "it has become a particle which confers nobility and immortality on great singers and tragédiennes, if the race is not extinct."—M. J. Noury, La Champmeslé, p. 94.