Note 243 — LETTERS TO MADAME DE GRIGNAN[11] FROM 1671 TO 1690. (continued 6)

It must have been observed that the Marquis de Grignan followed this etiquette with his mother, which was the custom among persons of high rank, and particularly in the southern provinces, where the Roman laws gave fathers an absolute power over their children, which inspired children with more respect than love, and exacted the forms of submission, even in the overflowings of the heart. Madame de Sévigné was averse to this false dignity, the most gloomy mask that love can assume; and it has been seen that she even laughed at her daughter, who, in speaking of her grandfather, had written to her, monsieur votre père. Every one knows the humorous speech of the great Condé, before a man who affected to say Monsieur and Madame in speaking of his relations: “Monsieur my groom, go and tell monsieur my coachman, to put messieurs my horses to monsieur my coach.”