to us of nothing but crosses; and that impression, that bonds and afflictions awaited me, was scarce ever absent from me. I come then, oh my sovereign Love, to sacrifice myself to thy will. Thou knowest what crosses I have had to bear from my own relations, what an universal decry I am under: and yet, through all this persecution, thou dost not fail to gain souls to thyself in every place, and at every time; and I think myself overpaid for all my troubles and pains, were they only to procure the salvation and perfection of one soul. It was in this place, oh God, that thou wast willing to erect a theatre of thy will and works by the cross, and the good to be done to souls thereby,

END OF PART SECOND.

THE

LIFE OF LADY GUION.

PART THIRD.

FROM HER RETURN TO PARIS.

CHAPTER I.

Of the plots contrived to ruin F. la Combe, and to

F

involve M, Guion in his fall. A counterfeit saint and her husband employed herein.

11. F. la Mothe tries, but in vain, all the means imaginable, one while to induce F. la Combe, another while M. Guion to quit Paris; in order that their flight may cause them to pass for guilty.

III. F. la Combe is imprisoned in the Bastile, and hardly treated. An order is obtained also for imprisoning M. Guion.

IV. She is seized with a grievous malady before her imprisonment, and grievously teased in it.

v, Her imprisonment in a convent, and hardships powing upon her on all sides. A letter full of falsehoods is forged, as of her writing, to serve as a pretext for the justice of her imprisonment. She denies it to be hers, and shews its inconsistencies.

VI. She refuses to accept deliverance, being offered her on terms not consistent with a good conscience. Her consent required to a mar riage of her daughter, which for good reasons she refuses.

VII. New falsehoods about her invented, and spread, to prejudice both the king and people in general against her. Through her close imprisonment she falls dangerously ill. The necessary relief is denied her.

VIII. After much hard usage, Providence appears on her side. Mad. Maintenon, having all her prejudices against her removed, intercedes for her: and the king orders her to be set at liberty,

IX. Her enemies demand of her, before her release, several captious signatures, which she refuses. Her first aequaintance with Abbe Fenelon, afterwards Archbishop of Cambray.

x. Of her inward condition. Her Apostolic state, or Mission for the help of souls, described, &c.

XI. She retires into a community. F. la Mothe severely rallied by a great woman for his vile forgeries and false accusations of M. Guion, Marriage of her daughter, with whom she resides two years and a half; after which she takes a small house for herself. Her conferences with Abbe Fenelon. Her edifying visits at St. Cyr. Her conferences with two noted citizens of Paris.

XII. She enters upon a more retired way of life; yet finds it an insufficient shelter from calumnies and persecution.

1. The Duke of Chevreuse brings her acquainted with the
Bishop of Meaux, who reads the foregoing history of her life, and ac-
knowledges the good impressions it had made on his mind. She puts
into his hands all her writings, and clears up to him many of the diffi-
culties which he had pretended to find therein.

xiv. A farther account of the said Bishop and his remarks, Obser-
vations on her own disposition.

IV. The said Bishop offers her a certificate. She acknowledges
his kindness, but does not accept of it. Fresh calumnies against her
gaining ground, she writes by the Duke of Beauvilliers to Mad.
Maintenon to request an appointment of commissioners for her exam-
ination; but without effect. Death of one of her best friends.

XVI. Violence rising on every side, she perceives that some others
are aimed at beside herself, particularly Abbe Fenelon, of which she
apprises him, The Bishops of Meaux and Chalons with Mons.
Tronson are agreed upon to examine her writings. Remarkable ex-
tract of a letter she wrote to them.

XVII. The Bishop of Meaux, having promised the condemnation of
M. Guion, labours for it. He forbids the Duke of Chevreuse to be
present at the trial. Yet after all, he can make nothing out against
M. Guion.

XVIII. She offers to go to live for some time in any community
within his diocese. He, glad of the offer, proposes to her that of St.
Mary's. Going thither, she had like to have perished in the snow by
night. A strange declaration and signature demanded of her by the
Bishop. The honourable character given of her by the Prioress and
the Religious of that community.

XIX. The Bishop of Meaux, at last gives M. Guion a good certifi-
cate, by which he displeases Mad. Maintenon. He repents of having
given it to her. At length her enemies obtain an order from the King
for her being arrested, though sick, and put in prison.

xx. Why she chuses to suppress the most grievous of her persecu-
tions, and the hardships of a ten years imprisonment, after having re-
cited far less things.

XXI. Of her interior dispositions toward the last part of her time.
An affectionate salutation of her children in the faith, and prayer for
them, Remarkable conclusion.

Supplement to her own account of her Life, taken out of that of the
Archbishop of Cambray,