1. deffand, marie, marquise du a woman of society, famed for her wit and gallantry; corresponded with the eminent philosophes of the time, in particular Voltaire, as well as with Horace Walpole; her letters are specially brilliant, and displaygreat shrewdness; she is characterised by Prof. Saintsbury as "the typical Frenchlady of the eighteenth century"; she became blind in 1753, but retained her relish for society, though at length she entered a monastery, where she died (1697-1780).
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