“ It may be doubted whether she does not somewhat exaggerate the discomforts of her position and her sense of them. In her lack of illusions she was a child of the 18th century. Sainte-Beuve says that the most fit time for the reading of the Mémoires is the late autumn, under the trees of November. But her book is an extremely amusing one to read, as well as not a little instructive. The humours of the “court of Sceaux” are depicted as hardly any other society of the kind has ever been. ”

“ She refused, it is said, André Dacier, the widower of a wife more famous than himself, and in 1735, being then more than fifty, married the Baron de Staal. Her dissatisfaction with her position had become so evident that the duchess, afraid of losing her services, arranged the marriage to give Mlle Delaunay rank sufficient to allow of her promotion to be on an equality with the ladies of the court. On this footing she remained a member of the household. It was at this time that she became the friend and correspondent of Mme du Deffand. She died at Gennevilliers on the 15th of June 1750. ”