Ninon de L’Enclos
A Model of Refinement and Elegance
1616 – 1706 A.D.

Ninon de L’Enclos, born in Paris, 1616, died there in 1706 at the age of 90.

Her father, a gentleman of Touraine, trained her by precept and example to a life of pleasure. She was skilled in accomplishments, and when an orphan at the age of 15 manifested precocious shrewdness in managing her property, which she so disposed of as to speedily double its value.

Being beautiful, witty and fond of cultivated society, she soon became popular in Paris, where she fixed her residence, her favors being sought by many of the most eminent men of the time.

She was remarkable for being neither avaricious nor extravagant, and appears never to have depended on any man for pecuniary aid.

Distinguished women courted her society, and Mme. de Lafayette, Mme. de Sully, and Mme. Scarron (afterward de Maintenon) were among her friends and visitors. Christina of Sweden, during her residence in France, was warmly attached to her, and wished her to take a place in her court, but Ninon preferred independence. The great Condé and La Rochefoucauld were among her most favored admirers, and the most celebrated poets sang her charms.

She was regarded as a model of refinement and elegance in her manners, and although she led a life of pleasure far into old age, she preserved her beauty and fascination almost to the last.

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Reference: Famous Women; An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women By Joseph Adelman. Copyright, 1926 by Ellis M. Lonow Company.