, a very extraordinary French lady, who, from a low condition and
, a very extraordinary
French lady, who, from a low condition and many misfortunes, was raised at last to be the wife of Louis XIV. was
descended from the ancient family of d‘Aubigne; her proper name being Frances d’Aubigne. M. d'Aubigne, her
grandfather, was born in 1550, and died in 1630, in his
80th year. He was a man of great merit, a man also of
rank, a leading man among the Protestants in France, and
much courted to go over to the opposite party. When he
perceived that there was no safety for him any longer in
his own country, he fled for refuge to Geneva, about 1619.
The magistrates, and the clergy there, received him with
great marks of honour and distinction; and he passed the
remainder of his life among them in great esteem. Mezeray says, that “he was a man of great courage and boldness, of a ready wit, and of a fine taste in polite learning,
as well as of good experience in matters of war.
”