" Each one selected a favorite flower, wrote
a sonnet in its praise, and when all were ready, they stood around
Mademoiselle de Rambouillet in a circle and alternately recited the
poem, the reward for the best one being the favor of some fair lady.
Among those who were drawn to the Hotel Rambouillet by this pleasing
entertainment was the Duke d'Enghien, afterward known as the "Great
Conde," a prince of the highest renown as a victorious warrior. He
was a great acquisition, and the Garland Play was repeated every night
in the expectation that his pleasure would continue, and the constant
attraction prove adequate to hold him. Once or twice, however, was
sufficient for the Duke, its constant repetition becoming flat and
tiresome. He did not scruple to express his dissatisfaction with a
society that could not originate something new. He was a broad minded
man, with a comprehensive knowledge, but had little taste for poetry
and childish entertainments. But the good ladies of Rambouillet,
unable to devise any other entertainment, persisted in their Garland
Play, until the Duke's human nature rebelled at the monotony, and he
begged his friends de Moissens and Saint-Evremond to suggest some
relief.
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