The literary style called préciosité ("preciousness") arose from the the lively conversations and playful word games of les précieuses the witty and educated intellectual ladies who frequented the salon of the marquise de Rambouillet, a Parisian refuge from the dangerous political factionism and coarse manners of the royal court during the minority of Louis XIII. One of the central figures of the salon, Madeleine de Scudéry, wrote voluminous romance novels that were suffused with feminine elegance, exquisitely correct scruples of behavior and Platonic love that were hugely popular with a largely female audience, but scorned by most men. The salon is a 17th century French idea, a gathering of stimulating and attractive people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, consciously following Horaces definition of the... Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet (1588 - December 2, 1665), better known simply as Madame de Rambouillet, was a society hostess and a major figure in the literary history of France. ... Louis XIII (September 27, 1601 – May 14, 1643), called the Just (French: le Juste), was King of France from 1610 to 1643. ... Madeleine de Scudéry (November 15, 1607 _ June 2, 1701), often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer. ...

The précieuses are remembered through the filter of Molière's one-act satire of them in Les précieuses ridicules, (1659) a bitter comedy of manners that brought Molière and his company to the attention of Parisians, after years of touring the provinces, and attracted the patronage of Louis XIV, and which still plays well today. The two provincial young ladies reject the suitors proposed by their father as insufficiently refined, only to fall in love with the suitors' valets, disguised as wits. In the provinces, the young ladies' Parisian pretensions were worth mockery, and in Paris, their puffed-up provincial naiveté and self-esteem were laughable, and Molière pleased all possible audiences. Molière, engraved frontispiece to his Works Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known as Molière (January 15, 1622 – February 17, 1673), was a French theatre writer, director and actor, one of the masters of comic satire. ... Les Précieuses ridicules (1659) is a one-act satire of the Précieuses, written by Molière. ... Events May 25 - Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth. ... The comedy of manners satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration, or an old person pretending to be young. ... Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715) reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death. ...

References

• Howard, Patricia, "Quinault, Lully, and the Precieuses: Images of Women in Seventeenth-Century France." in Cecilia Reclaimed: Feminist Perspectives on Gender and Music ed. Susan C. Cook and Judy S. Tsou, editors, pp 70-89. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994.