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Catastrophe Theory
 Catastrophe
Theory
Second Edition

Domenico P. L. Castrigiano
Sandra A. Hayes
Technische Universitát München
Zentrum Mathematik
Garching, Germany

40 Computer-generated Graphics by Frank Hofmaier

93 Solved Exercises

Advanced Book Program

CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
Boca Raton London New York

CRC Press is an imprint of the

Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
A CHAPMAN & HALL BOOK
First published 2004 by Westview Press
First edition published by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1993.

Published 2018 by CRC Press

Taylor & Francis Group
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Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

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Copyright © 2004 by Taylor & Francis Group LLC

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To the future
 Contents

F orew ord ix

P refa ce to the First E dition xi

P refa ce to th e Secon d E d ition xv

1 N on degen erate C ritical Points: T h e M orse L em m a 1

2 T h e Fold and the C u sp 35

3 D egen erate C ritical P oints: T h e R e d u ctio n L em m a 57

4 D eterm in a cy 65

5 C od im en sion 113

6 T h e C lassification T h eorem for G erm s o f C od im en sion

at M o st 4 129

7 U n foldin gs 145

8 Transversality 169

9 T h e M a lgra n gc M a th er P repa ra tion T h eorem 177

10 T h e Fundam ental T h e o re m on U niversal U nfoldings 197

11 G en ericity 211

12 Stability 237

A p p e n d ix 251

R eferen ces 255

N o ta tio n In d ex 258

S u b je ct In d ex 260
vii
Foreword

Dlolmlelnliclol l P. l L. l Castrigiano l anld l Sandra l Al. l Hayes l have l written l whlat l is l ve

probably the best book on the market for an introduction to catastrophe the­
ory. I am very much obliged to the authors for putting so much emphasis on
what most contemporary scientists consider, if they are strictly mathematicians,
as just a part of the theory of local singularities of smooth morphisms, or, if
they are interested in the wider ambitions of this theory, as a dubious method­
ology concerning the stability (or instability) of natural systems. The former
category can but find cause for satisfaction in the authors’ presentation. Two
steps leading to the pure theory are very clearly marked. The first, relatively
formal, concerns local algebra and is dominated by Nakayama’s Lemma. The
second, functional in aspect, appears when one introduces the germs of the dif-
feomorphisms generated by integration of local vector fields. Difficulties arise
here which cannot be dodged, all of them centered on the Malgrange-Mather
preparation theorem; the real jets have to be complexified, which requires an
extension theorem like Nirenberg’s. It is striking to realize that it took two
or three centuries for the following question to be asked: When is a germ of
a function C x equivalent (via local diffeomorphisms of source and target) to
its development limited to a finite order k? It will remain one of the essential
historical achievements of catastrophe theory to have set this progress in motion.
On the controversial question of applications, the authors very wisely keep
to examples that are indisputable because drawn from exact natural sciences —
“rational” mechanics, geometrical optics, . .. But if we remain in the scientific
realm of what the physicist Wigner so happily called the “unreasonable efficiency
of mathematics in natural sciences,” then catastrophe theory holds little interest
per se, since every result can be numerically computed by means of equations
furnished by some existing theory. The situation is a little less simple if we
consider systems depending on parameters where there reigns an opposition
between slow and fast time, and where the precision of an asymptotic evolution
is to be controlled. The theory of structural stability of differential systems
on a manifold comes into play here, a theory in which very few general results
are available. My general idea could be formulated as follows: If we consider
an unfolding, we can obtain a “qualitative” intelligence about the behavior of
a system in the neighborhood of an unstable equilibrium point. This idea has
not enjoyed much credit with orthodox scientists, no doubt because for them
only numerical exactness allows prediction, and therefore efficient action. We

IX
X Foreword

must observe then, that the domain governed by the exactness of laws dear
to Wigner rests, in the last analysis, on analytic continuation, which alone
permits reliable extrapolation of a numerical function. Now we should see that
the theory of singularity unfolding is a particular case of a general theory of
the analytic category, namely, the theory of “flat deformations of an analytic
set.” Algebraists now tell us that in the theory of flat local deformations of
an analytic set, only the hypersurface case has a smooth unfolding of finite
dimension. So that if we wanted to continue the scientific domain of calculable
exact laws, we would be justified in considering the instance where an analytic
process leads to a singularity of codimension one (in internal variables). Might
we not then expect that the process (defined for example as the propagation of
an action) be diffused (in external variables) and subsequently propagated in the
unfolding according to a mode that is to be defined? Such an argument allows
one to think that the Wignerian domain of exact laws can be extended into
a region where physical processes are no longer calculable but where analytic
continuation remains “qualitatively” valid.
I shall take no further these venturesome considerations. But I am sure
that readers will find, in this book by D. Castrigiano and S. Hayes, a way
into recently charted mathematical territory that can, without exaggeration, be
called fundamental. The whole of qualitative dynamics, all the “chaos” theories
talked about so much today, depend more or less on it. The book Catastrophe
Theory seems the best way of acquiring this indispensable culture.

René Thom

The inventor of Catastrophe Theory, Professor René Thom, passed away on

October 25, 2002, at the age of 79 in Bures-sur-Yvette.
Preface to the First Edition

An international workshop on “Modeling Processes of Structural Change in

Social Systems” organized by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Starnberg, Ger­
many, in 1986 was the original impetus for our interest in Catastrophe Theory,
a branch of analysis used to model such phenomena. It was a novelty for us to
hear social scientists dealing with this theory; there are only very few branches
of pure mathematics that have ever been of direct service to the humanities.
Another striking aspect of the workshop was that many of the social scientists
were former physicists.
As mathematicians, we wanted afterward to see the proofs of the theorems
applied. According to the maxim “What better way to learn, than to teach,”
we decided to hold a course on Catastrophe Theory at the Technical University
of Munich. Fortunately, at that time we were able to invite René Thom to
come to Munich to speak on “Some Aspects of Bifurcation Theory or the Way
to Chaos” and “Aristotelian Physics and Catastrophe Theory.” During that
same year, we also had the pleasure of having E. C. Zeeman as our guest, who
gave brilliant talks on “Stability of Dynamical Systems” and “Applications of
Catastrophe Theory to the Social Sciences,” as well as I. Stewart, who spoke on
“Whatever Happened to Catastrophe Theory?,” “Catastrophes, Singularities
and Bifurcations,” and “Dynamics with Symmetry,” bringing us up to date
on recent applications in the natural sciences. An interdisciplinary seminar on
applications to physics, medicine, economics, and sociology accompanied our
course and was a challenging new experience for everyone involved.
A surprising feature of Catastrophe Theory is its elementary nature— an
aspect emphasized in this book by presupposing only a good background in
calculus of several real variables together with a little algebra and linear algebra;
the theorems needed from calculus are even included in the Appendix (Implicit
Function Theorem, Existence of Solutions of a Differential Equation, Derivative
of a Limiting Function, Rank Theorem, Green’s Theorem). It is our impression
that there is no textbook aimed at advanced undergraduate students with the
primary intention of giving a direct, complete proof of Thom’s classification
theorems for the so-called elementary catastrophes and for versal unfoldings,
and we have attempted to fill this gap. This entailed a lot of cross-referencing,
a new development of part of the material to avoid using manifolds and Lie
groups, and a clarification of some ambiguous points in the standard proofs.
Catastrophe Theory is an intriguing, beautiful field of pure mathematics,

xi
xii Preface to the First Edition

which deserves to be more accessible to beginning students as well as to non­

specialists who want to understand the mathematics involved. It is a natural
introduction to bifurcation theory and to the rapidly growing and very popular
field of dynamical systems.
There is no question that most of the material in this book can be found in
some form elsewhere. After studying the known proofs of Thom’s theorems, we
felt our task was to minimize technicalities and maximize rigor without sacri­
ficing insight. To increase comprehension, the book contains many examples,
a large number of exercises and their solutions, an abundance of figures, and
computer-generated graphics of the elementary catastrophes. The figures and
graphics were produced by Stephan Haas, a student who participated in both
the course and the seminar.
In everyday language, a catastrophe refers to an unexpected disastrous event,
e.g., an earthquake, stock market crash, or heart attack. The unexpectedness is
because the conditions surrounding the event change slowly and continuously.
Nevertheless, a sudden discontinuity— a radical jump— occurs, overthrowing the
existing order. This is also the essence of the mathematical theory, where not
only are unstable critical points of smooth functions classified but also their
embedding in stable families.
Thom’s celebrated theorem on the 7 elementary catastrophes classifies de­
generate critical points of smooth functions up to codimension at most 4. In­
siders know that the classification can be extended to include codimension at
most 6, but this classification is not easily accessible. Here the classification for
codimensions 5 and 6 is treated in detail in the exercises to Chapter 6 and their
solutions along with a classification for the case of codimension 7 with corank 2.
It is also shown in the exercises to Chapter 6 that no further finite classification
is possible by giving examples of unimodal catastrophes in the codimension 7,
corank 3 case and in the codimension 8, corank 2 case.
The proof of Thom ’s classification theory for degenerate critical points uses
Morse’s Lemma and the Reduction Lemma. Here both of these lemmas fol­
low from a local diagonalization of symmetric matrices of smooth functions
(Lemma (36) of Chapter 1), and we think the resulting conciseness is an im­
provement over the usual proofs.
Another new feature concerns Mather’s necessary condition for determinacy,
which is shown to follow from a Linearization Lemma (37) proved in Chapter 4.
This lemma addresses a general property of curves in transformation groups
and clarifies an ambiguous point in Mather’s original proof as well as in all
other known proofs (see the remark in Chapter 4 after (32)). An interesting
consequence of this lemma is a general lifting property for curves in orbits of
transformation groups.
Two other aspects of this book that we consider improvements are a sharper
estimate for the codimension than the usual bound (see Theorem (19) and
Exercise 10 of Chapter 5) and the use of a criterion for the equivalence of germs
to calculate determinacy (Lemma (22), Chapter 4).
Regarding the organization of this book, in Chapter 1 the first step is taken
toward classifying critical points of smooth functions. First the functions of
Catastrophe Theory xm

one variable are completely treated, then the nondegenerate critical points of
arbitrary smooth functions. The methods employed demonstrate the crucial
role of the Taylor expansion for such classifications. In Chapter 2 the notions
“catastrophe” and “stability” are explained in order to give an idea what the
entire theory is about at an early stage. The first two elementary catastrophes,
the fold and the cusp, which motivate the further development, are introduced.
A basic reason for being able to achieve a finite classification is the Reduction
Lemma, which is proved in Chapter 3.
Chapter 4 is devoted to the question of when a smooth function / is de­
termined locally by one of its Taylor polynomials, meaning that every other
smooth function with the same Taylor polynomial coincides with / locally up
to a smooth coordinate change. In this chapter, Mather’s sufficient condition for
determinacy as well as his necessary condition are proved (Theorems (24) and
(38)). These conditions are algebraic, and the bit of ideal theory needed is devel­
oped from scratch. The examples included in the text illustrate the practicality
of these conditions. A characterization of finite determinacy (Theorem (39)) also
narrows the determinacy down to just two possible values. Then Lemma (22)
can be used to decide which value holds (see Exercise 4.13).
Chapter 5 treats the codimension of a smooth function / . The codimension
gives the minimal number of parameters needed for a versal unfolding o f / . This
is the context in which some linear algebra comes to bear. After showing that
finite determinacy is equivalent to having a finite codimension (Corollary (8)),
two lower bounds for the codimension are proved. The first is in terms of deter­
minacy (Corollary (9)); the second is with respect to the corank (Theorem (19))
and is essential to classify the 7 elementary catastrophes.
The machinery developed up to this point, together with the classification of
cubic forms on R 2, now allows the proof of Thom’s Classification of the Seven
Elementary Catastrophes to be given in Chapter 6. This concludes the first
part of the investigations.
Chapter 7 presents an introduction to the real goal of Catastrophe Theory—
to classify smooth functions according to their behavior under perturbation or,
in other words, to find their versal unfoldings. The fundamental theorem on
universal unfoldings, which achieves this goal, is explained in Chapter 7, and
the theorems needed to prove this are contained in the remaining three chapters.
Transversality, another notion from linear algebra, is the topic of Chapter 8;
it is the major ingredient necessary to determine whether a smooth function
possesses a versal unfolding or not and also to construct it (Lemma (2)). This
notion is introduced in a pragmatic and direct way.
The Malgrange-Mather Preparation Theorem is proved in Chapter 9. The
presentation here is derived basically from Golubitsky and Guillemin, Stable
Mappings and their Singularities [GG]. This is the most difficult part of the
proof of Thom’s Fundamental Theorem on Universal Unfoldings. However, the
result actually needed is easy to understand and is given in (1). Taking this for
granted, the reader may omit Chapter 9.
In Chapter 10 it is shown that a smooth function has a versal unfolding
exactly when it is finitely determined (Theorem (7)) and a criterion (6) for
XIV Preface to the First Edition

versality is proved using transversality. This gives an explicit method for con­
structing versal unfoldings. The culmination of the theory is the classification
of versal unfoldings (8). Normal forms for the universal unfoldings of functions
of codimension less than 7 are given in Chapter 7, Table 1, and in Exercise 7.6.
The authors have developed and tested the material in this book in three
different courses on Catastrophe Theory. If the Malgrange Mather preparation
theorem is assumed, the remaining chapters can be covered in a 12-week course
meeting four hours weekly; the exercises were treated in problem sessions held
two hours a week. On the basis of this experience, we know that it is possible
to offer advanced undergraduate students the opportunity to learn this mathe­
matical theory. Actually, a course on Catastrophe Theory is a natural extension
of a good calculus course. The subject inspires and motivates students, making
teaching all the more pleasurable.
Aside from the original papers, in particular Thom’s more philosophical than
mathematical work Stabilité Structurelle et Morphogénése [Tl], the literature
which we highly recommend to the reader are Trotman, The Classification of
Elementary Catastrophes of Codimension < 5 [Tro], Wasserman, Stability of Un­
foldings [W], Brocker and Lander, Differentiable Germs and Catastrophes [BL],
Poston and Stewart, Catastrophe Theory and Its Applications [PS], Martinet,
Singularities o f Smooth Functions and Maps [M], and Demazure, Bifurcations
and Catastrophes [D].
In concluding, we are happy to finally have the opportunity to acknowledge
the students of our courses whose interest motivated us— Stephan Haas for the
arduous and time-consuming task of producing the computer-generated graph­
ics, Stephan Sautter for correcting the manuscript, and last but not least to
thank Maria Jarisch for the excellently typed manuscript.

Domenico P. L. Castrigiano
Sandra A. Hayes
Preface to the Second
Edition

Catastrophe Theory-- -a beautiful mathematical theory with many controversial

applications- -was introduced in the 1960s by René Thom and is an area of
continual interest. Indeed, new applications of this theory to a wide range of
fields including biology, economics, and chemical kinetics attest to its permanent
usefulness for practical modelling. Catastrophe Theory is also fundamental to
the rapidly expanding area of dynamical systems, treating in particular the
phenomena of bifurcation and chaos.
For these reasons this new edition of the book Catastrophe Theory was
indispensible, primarily because the presentation of the theory is easily com­
prehensible and complete. Thom himself considered the book unique, since its
approach is pragmatic, the material self-contained, and the style is as elemen­
tary as possible, presuming only knowledge of calculus and linear algebra at an
advanced undergraduate level in order to be accessible to a wide audience.
Perhaps more important, however, this edition includes two new chapters on
the genericity and the stability of unfoldings.
In Chapter 11 it is shown that Thom’s classification of the versal unfoldings
of germs o f codimension at most 4 pertains to a generic set, i.c., such unfoldings
form an open and dense subset of the set o f all unfoldings with at most 4 param­
eters (see (38)). Roughly speaking, almost all unfoldings with a maximum of 4
parameters are classified by Thom ’s theorem. It is only after proving this gener­
icity that the relevance of Catastrophe Theory becomes evident. Surprisingly
enough, however, a proof has never appeared before in any textbook.
Stability of an unfolding means a certain kind of persistence under the in­
fluence of small perturbations. The main result (12) in Chapter 12, which
completes the theory of unfoldings, is that stability and versality imply each
other. Thus, Catastrophe Theory reveals in a mathematically rigorous man­
ner the true complementary nature of the seemingly unrcconcilable notions of
versality and stability, that is preserving identity in spite of development. This
result has also never been available in textbook form and certainly enhances the
depth of the theory.
Many sources were utilized for the conception of Chapter 11, but mainly
Martinet, Singularities o f Smooth Functions and Maps [M] and Trotman, The

xv
XVI Preface to the Second Edition

Classification o f Elementary Catastrophes o f Codimension < 5 [Tro]. The pre­

sentation of stability in Chapter 12 is derived basically from Wassermann, Sta­
bility o f Unfoldings [W].
The original chapters have been revised and new material is included. Most
important is the incorporation of the theorem on the uniqueness of the residual
singularity (4.48), which is needed for the classification of critical points. Until
now, no proof of the uniqueness was available in the literature, except for a rough
sketch by Thom in Stabilité Structurelle et Morphogénése [Tl] using a result
from an extensive theory developed by Tougeron [Tou]. The proof presented
here due to Frank Hofmaier [H], a young colleague at the Technical University
of Munich, does not require additional tools and has not been published before.
The material is still self-contained. Only Sard’s Theorem, which enters the
proof of the Flmdamental Lemma on Transversality (11.18) and which is not
a standard result of calculus, is not proved but an appropriate version of it is
presented in Appendix A.6.
I am greatly indebted to Frank Hofmaier, who produced the computer­
generated graphics and assisted me permanently in preparing this edition. Spe­
cial thanks are due to Professor David Chillingworth for his critical reading of
the new chapters.

Domenico P. L. Castrigiano

It is a particular pleasure for us to thank our publisher Holly Hodder. She is a

dynamo, and we greatly appreciate her co-operation and courtesy. Thanks also
go to Jeffrey Robbins, who encouraged us in the early stages.

Domenico P. L. Castrigiano Sandra A. Hayes

Chapter 1

Nondegenerate Critical
Points: The Morse Lemma

The most basic notion of Catastrophe Theory is introduced in this chapter,

namely, that of a critical point of a smooth function. This notion is also
referred to in the standard literature as a singular point or a singularity. An
essential distinction is made by dividing these points into two classes—the non­
degenerate and the degenerate critical points. The degenerate ones are
more difficult to handle and will be discussed in later chapters, whereas the
nondegenerate critical points can be completely treated here.
The main theorem about nondegenerate critical points is Morse’s Lemma,
which classifies all such points. Roughly speaking, the Morse Lemma states
that locally around a nondegenerate critical point a smooth function of n real
variables x \ , . . . , x n can be transformed to a simple standard form by changing
coordinates. There are exactly n + 1 such forms, and these are the quadratic
forms
- x \ ----------x 2
s + x2
s+1 + ■■■+ x l,
where s = 0 ,1 ,. . . , n. To each function corresponds exactly one canonical
quadratic form.
The proof of Morse’s Lemma given here is based on the Taylor expansion
of a smooth function, on the classification of quadratic forms on R " , and on
a lemma locally diagonalizing a symmetric matrix of smooth functions. This
lemma also plays a central role in proving the Reduction Lemma in Chapter 3.
The classification of quadratic forms follows immediately from Sylvester’s Law
of Inertia, which will also be proved here for the sake of completeness.
The treatment of nondegenerate critical points in this chapter is an indis­
pensable first step toward classifying degenerate critical points. Moreover, it
exemplifies the content of what follows. The fundamental theme of Catastrophe
Theory, the classification of critical points of smooth functions, is illustrated here
by a simple case, and the central role the Taylor expansion plays in achieving
this classification becomes apparent.

1
2 Nondegenerate Critical Points: The Morse Lemma

Definition and Convention. Let U be an open subset of R n. A func­

tion / : U •R is smooth if it has derivatives of arbitrary order. To avoid
boring repetitions, / will always denote a smooth function defined on an
open subset U of R n.

If k is a nonnegative integer, then the fcth derivative of / at a point p in U

will be denoted by D kf(p), where D° f (p) := f(p) and D 1/ ^ ) := Df (p) . For
functions of one variable, the usual notation for derivatives will also be used, i.e.,
fip), f ( p ) , f " ( p ), •■•, f [k)(p)- The fact that a function / is smooth is expressed
in coordinates by saying that all partial derivatives of / of arbitrary order exist
at every point p £ U. The notation D kf ( p ) as well as (dkf / d x k)(p) or dkf ( p )
means the ith partial derivative of / at the point p of order k for k G N and
i = 1 For k = 1 we simply write A / ( p ) or (df/dxi)(p) = dif(p);
moreover, set D®f(p) := f(p). Recall that Df(p) is the linear map R ” —> R
given by (j/i,. . . , yn) D i f ( p) y i H------- f D nf { p) y n. The gradient of / at p is
the row vector (D 1f ( p ) , . . . , D nf(p)) in R ” . Frequently, Df(p) will be identified
with this vector.
A geometric picture of a smooth function emerges after its critical points are
determined, since that is where the function can change its behavior.

Definition. A point p € U is called a critical point of / if the derivative

Df(p) of / at p vanishes.

If a smooth function has no critical point, then it looks locally like the projection
onto the first coordinate, as will be proved later.

E xam ple (1). / : R™ —> R, f [ x i , . . . , x n) : = x\, has no critical point.

The next two examples show smooth functions with exactly one critical point,
which is at the origin.
Chapter 1 3

Example (2). For / : R -» R, f [ x ) := x 2 ( f ( x ) := - x 2), the critical

point is a minimum (a maximum).

Example (3). For / : R —> R, f ( x ) := x 3, the critical point is a sad­

dle point.

The critical points in the last examples are all isolated.

Definition. A critical point p £ U of / is called isolated if there is a

neighborhood V of p in U such that no other point in V is critical.

Critical points are not necessarily isolated:

Example (4). / : R —>■R, f ( x ) := exp(—l/x) for x > 0 and f ( x ) := 0

for x < 0, is smooth with the nonpositive axis as the set of critical points.
4 Nondegenerate Critical Points: The Morse Lemma

It will be shown that a smooth function of one variable looks locally like Exam­
ple (2) around a point p if p is a critical point that is nondegenerate. Before we
introduce this notion, recall that the Hessian matrix of / is the matrix

of all second-order partial derivatives of / at p, where D i Dj f {p ) is the mixed

partial derivative

of / at the point p with respect to the jth and the ¿th coordinates. This
n x n symmetric matrix can be canonically identified with the second derivative
D 2f(p) of / at p. The Hessian matrix is used in elementary calculus to determine
whether a critical point is a maximum, a minimum, or a saddle point.

Definition. A critical point p € U of / is nondegenerate if the Hessian

matrix D 2f (p) of / at p is invertible. Otherwise the point p is called
degenerate.

For one variable, a point p is a nondegenerate critical point if and only if f'{p) =
0 and f " ( p) yf 0 holds. Therefore, the only nondegenerate critical points in this
case are isolated extrema, as in Example (2). On the other hand, there are
isolated extrema that are degenerate:

Example (5). The following functions / : R —> R have the origin as an

isolated degenerate critical point.

- X X X

} ( x ) = X3 f ( x ) = X4 f (®) = - a :4
J
Chapter 1 5

— X - X

f{x ) = X5 f ( x ) = X6 f { x ) = - X6

Notice that degenerate critical points need not be isolated, as Example (4)
shows. In contrast to the one-dimensional case, nondegenerate critical points of
functions of more than one variable are not necessarily extrema. This can be
seen by the origin of the hyperbolic paraboloid, which is a saddle point:

Example (6). / : R 2 —> R, f { x , y ) : = x 2 — y2, has only the origin as a

critical point; this is nondegenerate but not an extremum.

Nondegenerate critical points of functions of several variables are always iso­

lated, however, just as in the one-dimensional case. This results from the In­
verse Function Theorem, as will be shown in (30). As a matter of fact, it will
follow from the Morse Lemma that in a neighborhood of a nondegenerate criti­
cal point, every smooth function of two variables looks either like Example (6)
or like an elliptic paraboloid:
6 Nondegenerate Critical Points: The Morse Lemma

E xa m ple (7). For / : R 2 -> R , f( x ,y ) := x 2 + y2 ( f { x ,y ) := - x 2 - y2),

the critical point is nondegeneratc and a minimum (a maximum).

Examples of degenerate critical points of functions of two variables are given be­
low.

E xam ple (8). For / : R 2 —►R , f ( x , y) := x 2, the set of all critical points
is the y-axis, and every critical point is degenerate.

E xa m ple (9). / : R 2 —> R , f ( x , y ) : = x 3 + y3, has just the origin as a

critical point, and this is degenerate.
Chapter 1 7

The graph of the next function is referred to as the monkey saddle.

Example (10). / : R 2 —> R , f ( x , y) : - x 3 — x y 2, has just the origin as a

critical point, and this is degenerate. See left figure below.

E xam ple (11). / : R 2 —> R , f { x , y ) := x 2y + y4, has just the origin as a

critical point, and this is degenerate. See right figure above.
 Nonclcgcnérale Critical Points: The Morse Lemma

The seven examples.

( 12)

(see (5),(9),(10),(11)) are basic to Catastrophe Theory; their critical points are
called the 7 elementary catastrophes. At the heart of Catastrophe Theory are
two theorems. The first theorem is René Thom’s celebrated classification of
degenerate critical points of those smooth functions f of n variables whose so-
called codimension is at most 4. The classification of the universal unfoldings
of critical points is the second major theorem of Catastrophe Theory; these
notions are defined in Chapter 7. The main goal of this book is to give a
complete proof of these two theorems. The first classification theorem states
that after a smooth change of coordinates, / is the sum of two functions P and
Q of different variables: P is one of the seven preceding polynominals (12) in one
or two variables up to a change of sign, and Q is a nondegenerate quadratic form
in the remaining n —1 respectively n —2 variables. The seven standard universal
unfoldings in the second classification theorem are referred to as the fold, cusp,
swallowtail or dovetail, butterfly, elliptic umbilic, hyperbolic umbilic,
and parabolic umbilic (see Table 1, Chapter 7).
In order to classify quadratic forms on R ” , Sylvester’s Law of Inertia will be
proved. For this purpose, a coordinate-free formulation is appropriate, so that
an arbitrary n-dimensional real vector space V will be considered instead of
R ". Recall that a symmetric bilinear form on V is a function F : V x V —>
R satisfying

F{x,y) — F(y,x) and F(x, y + az) = F(x, y) + aF ( x, z)

for all x , y , z e V, and a £ R. It is positive definite on a subspace X of V if

F { x , x ) > 0 for all nonzero x in X and negative definite on a subspace Y of
V if F(y, y) < 0 for all nonzero y in Y ■ Clearly, in this situation X fl Y = {0 }
holds, and for the subspace N := {x £ V : F ( x , y ) = 0 for all y £ V } oí V,
called the degeneracy space of F,

(13) ( X © Y) n N = {0 }

is valid. To verify this, note that F ( x + y ,x - y) = F ( x , x ) - F { y , y ) vanishes

for x 6 X and y € Y if and only if x = y = 0. Moreover, F = 0 if and only if
N = V.

Example (14). The classical example of a symmetric bilinear form on R "

is the (Euclidean) scalar product
n

for x = ( x i , . . . , x „ ) , y = (y1, . . . , y n), which is positive definite on R ” .

More generally, let C = {cij)i<i,j<n be a real symmetric matrix and let Cy
Chapter 1 9

be the vector with the ith component X )j=i cijVj f°r 1 < i < n . Then

F ( x , y ) : = (x , C y ) = ^ c^y,
i,j = 1

is also a symmetric bilinear form. Every symmetric bilinear form on R " is

of this type.

S ylvester’ s Law of Inertia (15). Let F : V x V —> R be a symmetric

bilinear form on an n-dimensional real vector space V. Then there are
integers r and s with 0 < s < r < n that are uniquely determined and a
basis b i , . .. ,bn oí V such that for any vector x = xxb\. + •■•+ x nbn in V

(16) F { x , x ) = - x \ - ------ + --------Vxl

holds, where r = 0 means F = 0. If y = yib\ H------- b ynbn is another vector

in V, then

(17) F(x, y) = - x i y i ----------x sys + x s+1ya+i ~\---------b x ryr

follows from (16).

P roof. Equation (17) follows immediately from Equation (16) due to the
polarization identity,

(18) F ( x , y ) = \{F{x + y , x + y) - F ( x , x ) - F(y,y)}.

To prove (16), consider the degeneracy space N of V . If N = V, then the

theorem is trivial, because r = s = 0 follows. Assume therefore that N V.
Let IT be a complement of N in V; i.e., W © N = V. Set r := dim IT.
Then r > 0 holds. By induction, b\,. . . , br in IT and £ i , . . . , e r € { —1,1}
will be defined so that

(19) F(pi, bj) — Eidij, 1 < i,j< r,

is valid, where <5^ is the Kronecker delta symbol. The b\,. . . , br are then
automatically linearly independent and constitute a basis of W.
Start by choosing w € W with F(w, w) ^ 0. Such a choice is pos­
sible, since otherwise F would vanish on W x IT by (18). This would
imply the contradiction N = V, since F ( x + w, x! + w') = F(x, x' + w') +
F( w, x' ) + F{w,w') = F ( w , w r) for all x,x/ G N and w,w' G IT. Define
i>i := \F(w,w)\~1^2w. Then E\ := F(bi,b\) is either —1 or 1.
Proceeding inductively, let 1 < k < r and assume that b\,...,bk £ W
and £i,...,£fc G { —1,1} have already been defined, satisfying (19). Let
B := (bi,. . . , bk) be the subspace of W spanned by b i , . . . , bk and consider
the subspace B° := {w £ IT : F(w, b) = 0 for every b £ B } of IT.
It will be shown that y £ B° exists with F ( y, y) ^ 0. In this case,
bk+ 1 := \F(y,y)\~1/2y and 6l t . . . , bk together with £ i , ... , e k and £fc+i :=
10 Nondegenerate Critical Points: The Morse Lemma

F(bk+i, bk+i) satisfy (19). To verify the existence of such a y G B°, note
that for w G W the vector
k

w° := w — ^ 2 ejF(bj ,w)bj
3= 1

lies in B°. Furthermore, w° ^ 0 if w G W \B, so that B° ^ {0 } follows.

Now if F ( y , y ) = 0 were valid for every y G B°, then F would vanish on
B° x B° by (18). Because F ( y , w + x) = F( y, w) — F ( y, w° ) is true for
x G N ,y G B ° , and w G W , the contradiction B° C N would follow.
Consequently, a basis b\, . . . , br of W exists as well as numbers
£ i , . . . , e r. G { —1,1} satisfying (19). After a permutation, one obtains
£ i , . . . , £ s = —1 and ss+i , . . . , e r = 1 with 0 < s < r. Select any basis
br+ 1 , . . . , bn of N. Then f q, . . . , bn is a basis of V and F(i>¿, bj) = 0 for
i — r + 1 , . . . , n and j = 1 , . . . , n, due to the definition of N. Together with
(19), this implies the assertion (16).
It remains to show that s and r are independent of the choice of the basis
b\,. . . , bn of V satisfying (16). For r this is obvious, since r = n — dim N .
The independence of s results from the fact that F is positive definite on
X := (6.s+i,. . . , br) and negative definite on Y := (bi, . . . , bs). To see this,
let b[ , . . . , b'n be another basis of V satisfying (16) with s replaced by s' and
define X ' and Y' analogously to X and Y. Then (X ' © Y) n N = {0 } and
(X © Y') n N = {0 } by (13), and one obtains (r - s') + s + (n — r) < n,
and (r — s) + s' + (n — r) < n , from which s' = s follows.

Restricting a symmetric bilinear form on R n to the diagonal gives a quadratic

form.

Definition. Let C = (cij)ij= be a real symmetric n x n matrix.

Then the homogeneous polynomial of second degree
n
q(x) : = CijXiXj
i , j =1

for x = (.X|, . . . , x n) G R ” is called a quadratic form on R " . It is non­

degenerate if C is invertible and degenerate otherwise.

Using the scalar product notation, one has q(x) = (x , Cx) for x G R " . A
quadratic form q is clearly a smooth function. Notice that

Dq(x) = 2x C and D 2q(x) = 2C.

This implies that C is uniquely determined by q, so that there is a unique corre­

spondence between quadratic forms and symmetric bilinear forms. Moreover, it
follows that the set of all critical points of q is the null space { x G R ” : Cx = 0}
of C. A critical point of q is nondegenerate if and only if C is invertible, which is
equivalent to saying that q is nondegencrate. A nondegenerate quadratic form
has just one critical point, namely, the origin.
Chapter 1 11

Definition. A linear coordinate transformation of R " is a bijective

linear map from R " onto R ” .

According to elementary theorems in algebra, a linear map r : R n —» R n can

be uniquely represented by a real n x n matrix T, in the sense that r ( x ) -- T x
for x e R ” . Furthermore, r is a linear coordinate transformation if and only
if T is invertible. Note that under linear coordinate transformations, quadratic
forms are transformed into quadratic forms.

Classification of Quadratic Forms on R ri (20). Let q be a quadratic

form on R ” . Then there are integers r and s with 0 < s < r < n that
are uniquely determined and a linear coordinate transformation r of R ”
such that
q o T(x) = - x \ ----------x 2 s+1 H-------- t x l
s + x2
holds for x = (aq,. . . , x n) € R n, where r = 0 means q ■
— 0. In particular,
the quadratic form q is nondegenerate exactly when r is equal to n.

P roof. Let C be the real symmetric n x n matrix defining q, i.c., q(x) =

( x, Cx). When one applies (15) to the symmetric bilinear form F ( x , y )
(x,Cy), there are uniquely determined integers 0 < ,s < r < n, and there
is a basis b\,. . . , bn of R n so that for x = |----------£„6n in R n,

«(* ) = - í i ----------£ + £s2+i + ’ •' + &

holds. Denote the standard basis of R ” by e i , . . . , e„, i.e., the ith com­
ponent (efc)j of ek is Ski- Let r : R n —> R " be the linear coordinate trans­
formation given by T(e¡.) := bk, k = 1, . . . , n. Then r satisfies the assertion.

It is worthwhile to look at the following interpretation of this classification

theorem. A quadratic form on R n is defined by a real symmetric n x n matrix,
i.e., by ^n(n + 1) real numbers. Identify the set Qn of all quadratic forms on
R n with the \n(n + l)-dimensional vector space of all real symmetric n x n
matrices. Call two quadratic forms q and q on R " linearly equivalent if a
linear coordinate transformation r of R ” exists satisfying q = q o t . Linear
equivalence obviously is an equivalence relation on Q n. Theorem (20) shows
that there are exactly ^(n + l ) ( n + 2) equivalence classes with representatives

(21) qsr(x) := - x \ ---------- x 2 + x 2

s+1 + ■■■+ x 2
r

for 0 < s < r < n, called the normal quadratic forms. When qcr = qsr
holds, then r is referred to as the rank of q and s as its index. Furthermore,
if one considers just nondegenerate quadratic forms on R n, there are n + 1
equivalence classes with representatives qsn, 0 < s < n.
Note that if C is the matrix defining a quadratic form q on R n and if r is a
linear transformation of R n given by an invertible matrix T, then q := q o r is
defined by the matrix

( 22 ) r ‘ cT ,
12 Nondegenerate Critical Points: The Morse Lemma

where T* denotes the transpose of T. Moreover, the normal quadratic forms qsr
are defined by the n x n matrices

Er- s
°\
0 /
where Ek denotes the k x k identity matrix. The classification of quadratic
forms (20) can be restated in the form that for every symmetric n x n matrix C
there are uniquely defined integers s and r with 0 < s < r < n and an invertible
matrix T satisfying

(24) T tC T = E ar.

The uniqueness means that if S is another invertible matrix with S'C S = E sir>
for integers 0 < s' < r ' < n, then s' = s and r' = r follows. Clearly, s (r) is the
number of negative (nonzero) eigenvalues of C.
We now turn our attention to another essential ingredient for the proof of
Morse’s Lemma— the representation of a smooth function around a critical point
as a homogeneous polynomial of second degree with coefficients that are smooth
functions themselves. Actually, a more general result (28) will be proved that is
of fundamental importance in the algebraic setting considered in later chapters
(see also Exercise 4.18).
Recall that a subset M of R n is star-shaped with center p £ M if for
any x £ M the line segment

{y £ R " : y = p + t(x - p), t £ [0,1]}

joining x and p lies in M . Obviously, every neighborhood of a point p in R ”

contains a star-shaped open set with center p.

T h e o re m (25). Let U be star-shaped with center p £ £/, and let k £ N.

Suppose that the derivatives of / at p satisfy D lf(p) = 0 for l = 0 , . . . , k —1.
Then there are smooth functions

Qi-i.-.ik • E *R, 1 íí fy, - •*i ^

with — gn...jk if ( i i , •••,jk ) is a permutation of (fy, . . . ,ik) such that

n

(26) f(x) = ]T 9h...ik(x )(x ii ~ Ph) ' ' ' {xik ~ P i J

for x € U. Consequently,

9n...ik(p) = D i k. . . D i J { p )

holds for 1 < ¿ i , . . . , ik < n.

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 The journey taken, and the search made, the emissaries duly
returned. Their report fully satisfied the king that he had been
victimised, by some person or persons unknown, in the gloomy old
mansion—and his marriage with Madame de Maintenon was not
then or ever publicly and officially proclaimed. If he had any
suspicions of her complicity, he made no sign of them; either he
thought her incapable of using such base means of attaining the
desired end, or, on the other hand, he was indulgent to the not
unnatural desire to see published the fact of the honour he had
bestowed on her. At all events, calm and serene, outwardly dignified,
unruffled, Madame Louis Quatorze dwelt on at Versailles, in the
odour of all the sanctimoniousness and decorum the coming of
herself and of Père la Chaise had imparted to the vast place.
Well endowed personally and mentally, and amiably disposed,
Louis was admirably fitted by nature to represent the beloved and
worshipped king who had maintained the spiritual liberties of his
Protestant subjects, when he himself became a Catholic—since, as
he had said, “Paris vaut une Messe.” But though his naturally grand
deportment and the conviction of his own semi-divinity and sense of
great-doing had wrought Louis to brilliant achievements for the State,
apart from the glories of the battlefield, it is more than conceivable
that he was fully conscious of his own inadequate education and
rearing, to which Mazarin’s policy had limited him. Beneath all the
magnificent assumption, the common sense and inner
consciousness of Louis were not likely to fail, as time passed, to
show him that he was but a cipher in the scheme of the universe, an
atom; and under the theological direction of his Jesuit confessor, an
exaggerated estimate of his own sinfulness and imperfections
crushed him into melancholy and self-surrender, till he actually and
honestly imagined that eternal punishment threatened, unless he
humbled himself, as he did to the dust, to follow the instruction of his
Jesuit confessor. Yet Madame de Maintenon herself laments that
“she could never make him understand that humility was a Christian
virtue.” À qui la faute? His most intimate exemplar of the attribute
was one more outwardly shining than profound. There have been
apologists for Madame de Maintenon, and for Père la Chaise, and
for these promoters of the Nantes Revocation they do not seem to
be superfluous, these “Pièces Justificatives,” of the gouvernante of
the Montespan’s children, and later of their father. The Duc de St
Simon, among many other writers, makes less than no extenuation;
while, on the other hand, he describes Père la Chaise as a strong
Jesuit, yet withal neither fanatical nor fawning—and yet more
powerfully still in his favour, he says that although he advised the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he was no party to the merciless
persecution by which it was followed.
Forgetting, or rather ignoring, his own youth, Louis imposed
rigorous discipline upon all about him. The merest peccadillo
incurred possibilities of imprisonment, and only absolute
impeccability being tolerated, pharisaism and hypocrisy were
rampant. The royal children and grandchildren were required, on
pain of utter disgrace, to make weekly confession, and no choice of
a spiritual director was permitted the Grand Dauphin. To Père la
Chaise, and to him alone, was committed the conscience of the
Jansenist Fénelon’s pupil; and at the great annual festivals of the
Church, all the members of the royal family were required to
communicate publicly. The Duchess of Burgundy was sorely rebuked
for a breach of this regulation.
The consideration and deference often only meagrely accorded to
Queen Maria Théresa, was never lacking to Louis’s morganatic wife.
One day, at the camp of Compiègne, on the occasion of a mock
siege, the king stood hat in hand, for more than an hour beside her
carriage door, explaining to her the manœuvres of the troops. Any
reference not entirely and absolutely complimentary to Madame
Louis Quatorze, or to anything connected with her past life, would
rouse him to violent anger. It would have seemed that the two went
in mortal fear of each other.
Such a slip of the tongue helped to bring about the disgrace of
Racine. He had long been admitted on an intimate friendly footing
with the royal family, and having in mind a wish to write a history of
the reign of Louis XIV., he was in the habit of bringing his notes on
the projected work to read to Madame de Maintenon. His honest and
veracious nature would have been untrue to itself if he had failed to
animadvert on the defectiveness of the system of administration in
regard to the people, burdened and suffering as they were under
heavy taxation, resulting from prodigality in high places, and the
enormous expenses of the wars, which, glorious as they were, spelt
ruin for the general population. The sympathy and pity of Madame
de Maintenon were genuinely and deeply stirred by the eloquent
word-picture the poet had drawn of this; and she suggested that he
should draw up a memoir of what he thought could be done for
alleviating the widespread misery and distress. Upon this memoir
Racine fell to work, and when completed, he first submitted it for
Madame’s perusal; but, unfortunately, Louis entering at the moment,
glanced his eye over the manuscript, and his wrath kindled. “As
Monsieur Racine could make excellent verses, he fancied that he
knew everything,” he said. “Not content with being a great poet, he
must needs imagine he could be a minister of State,” and wrathfully
frowning, the king went out. And in addition to this offence, Racine
had stumbled on the almost more heinous crime of stirring up the
memory of Scarron. Louis, in course of discussion with Racine on
the cause of the decadence of comedy, or, rather, the diminution of
the favour with which it had come to be regarded, expressed wonder
that this should be the case.
“Sire,” said Racine, “there are several causes. Since Molière’s
death, no comedy-writer seems, if he exists, to have dared to enter
his field, and the actors have no material. One cannot always play
Molière; and lacking other plays, they find refuge in the detestable
pieces of Scarron, and—”
But Racine never finished that comment. The words froze on his
lips, and silenced by the scarlet flush on Madame de Maintenon’s
face, and the uncontrollable trembling of the king, as if some reptile
had stung him, Racine, recognising his blunder, stammered out
some words which only made things worse. The whilom wife of the
criticised dead play-writer cast furious glances at the tragic poet,
while Louis said, in tones seething with anger—“I have recently seen
certain scribbled comments of yours, Monsieur, in which you make
an attempt to account for the misery suffered by the people during
my rule. Poets are generally wretched statesmen, and, moreover, we
do not permit criticism, direct or indirect upon our authority. Ah,” he
added, when again Racine strove to defend himself, “no excuses.
Remain at home for the future; and direct the course of your studies
into other channels.”
So Racine received his dismissal from Versailles, and soon after,
taking his disgrace to heart, the melancholy, long stolen over him
from ill-health, increased, and aggravated the cruel disease to which
he succumbed after an operation conducted by the unskilful
physician who attended him. The king’s heart softened towards him
during those last days, and he was constantly sending messengers
to inquire after him. Racine was interred in the cemetery of the place
to which his heart had so warmly attached itself—Port Royal; but
after the destruction of the monastery and the Grange, some twelve
years later, his remains were transferred to Paris, and laid in the
church of St Étienne du Mont, beside those of Pascal; and Louis
bestowed a pension of 2000 livres on his widow, and a reversion of it
to her children, till the death of the last of them.
In the death of Madame de Sévigné, Ninon lost another friend.
The troops of enthusiastic admirers of this most delightful woman
and letter-writer would render further endeavour in the way of eulogy
trite and superfluous. To know her in life must have been to
experience an extraordinary satisfaction; but the content is left to
know her through that flow of correspondence—the voluminous
letters touching upon every conceivable topic of contemporary
interest. From descriptions of Court life and its glitter and splendour,
to the hideous details recorded of the prisoner Brinvilliers, or the
terrible tragedy of the Brittany gentleman in the ballroom, or the
skilful gamester, Dangeau, or Picard, the Paris footman who wouldn’t
make hay. “He was not engaged,” he said, “for such work. It was
none of his business—the silly fellow. If you see him, don’t welcome
him; don’t protect him; and don’t blame me. Only look upon him as of
all the servants in the world the least addicted to hay-making.”

“It is the same with her,” says one English commentator. “From the first
letter quoted, to the last; from the proud and merry boasting of the young
mother with a boy, to the candid shudder about the approach of old age,
and the refusal of Death to grant a moment to the dying statesman
Louvois—‘No, not a single moment.’ She loved nature and truth without
misgiving, and nature and truth loved her in return, and have crowned
her with glory and honour.”[9]
 CHAPTER XXVI

Leaving the Old Home—“Wrinkles”—Young Years and Old Friends—“A Bad Cook
and a Little Bit of Hot Coal”—Voltaire—Irène—Making a Library—“Adieu, Mes
Amis”—The Man in Black.

The dawn of the new century did not find Mademoiselle de L’Enclos
in the old home of the rue des Tournelles. One by one the relentless
scythe of Death had cut down all the illustrious men and women of
Ninon’s time. The cercle had narrowed, the music and wit and
joyousness the walls of that salon had so long echoed with, were
silent. If Ninon touched her lute now, it could but stir regret and
sadness for the void. At last, she tells, her beauty had faded, leaving
no traces of it; yet much of the old animation, and even not a little of
the gaieté du cœur, were with her still. The empty salon, and the
“yellow chamber” and the Place Royale itself, once echoing with the
footsteps of her best friends, must have only deepened her regrets.
Of all the friends left her in Paris, there were but two as old, one
indeed older than herself—Mademoiselle de Scudéri. The other lady,
Madame de Sandwich, somewhere of the same age, ever grande
dame, sweet and amiable, and coquette to the last, in the beautiful
old point de Venise and paduasoy silks she adorned herself with.
Both these ladies occupied apartments in the faubourg St
Germain, and, desiring to be nearer to them, Mademoiselle de
L’Enclos disposed of her house in the rue des Tournelles, and took
up her residence upon the quay, in a house facing the Tuileries. The
trio, enjoying their old terms of friendship, interchanged visits, and
dined together, and chatted, sometimes sighing in unison over the
irrevocable delights of the past. Mademoiselle de Scudéri best
preserved her cheery outlook upon the world; but, to be sure, as
Ninon says, never having been beautiful, she had had the least to
lose; for age could not rob her of her mental charms and delightful
wit and fancy. “Time is a coward,” she said one day; “he only flings
his wrinkles, as the Parthians flung their arrows, as they flew by.”
One day, as the three were together, the message of the gentle
lady’s recall came; and they laid her on a couch, and sent for the
medical aid which was not likely to avail much for the ninety-four
years. “Dry your tears,” she murmured on the last breath. “Soon it
will be your turn, and in a better world we shall find again our young
years, and our old friends.”
Yet another pleasant acquaintance shared those twilight days for
Mademoiselle de L’Enclos, never weary of kindly interest and well-
doing where she could bestow it. Fortunately for posterity, Ninon was
afflicted with an atrociously bad cook, and she was often obliged to
go into her kitchen and attend personally to the sauces and the rôtis,
and the rest. One day she was busily engaged in putting together a
partridge pasty for the entertainment of her two friends, who were
coming to déjeuner with her.
Suddenly the kitchen door opened, and a little boy of some seven
to eight years old entered, with intelligent eyes, and a bright smile on
his clean-cut features. Taking off his cap, he said in the politest of
tones—“Will you please give me a few cinders, Madame, since your
fire is alight? Our servant upstairs there has let our fire go out, and
papa forbids me to go to school until I have eaten my soup.”
Ninon wondered who this little son of a most wise papa might be.
He was a small child for going to college, as he told her on further
question, was that of the Jesuit College of Clermont. Then, putting
facts together, she had scarcely need to ask his name; though on
questioning him further still, he told her it was François Marie Arouet.
“The son of the treasurer Arouet, of the Court of Accounts—and
you live on the floor above mine, do you not?”
 “That is so, Madame,” nodded the boy, repeating his request, for
he was in fear of the professor’s wrath if he should be late.
“But you have nothing to put your fire in,” said Ninon.
“Ah! how stupid of me,” said the child, as he stooped down, and
gathered a handful of the cold ashes. “Please put the hot coals on
this,” he went on, holding out the cinder-shielded palms.
So that was the little lad of whom her friend, the Abbé de
Châteauneuf had spoken as the unusually intelligent child of nobly-
born, but poor parents, who were great friends of his. “Bravo!” Ninon
had said to him, as he departed with the fire in his hands, “you will
be a clever man one of these days,”—and the sparks of that fire
kindled to a flame of celebrity which is not likely to die out while the
French language or any modern tongue finds expression.
“You will stifle me with roses,” said he, when, on the representation
of his Irène in the winter-time, seventy-eight years later, the
acclaiming crowds did him homage. The excitement was too great
for him, and in the following May he died. A long life full of literary
activity and of extremes of malice and generosity, stirred by the
environment of the ferment of bigotry and philosophy seething in the
society of the eighteenth century. Very early in his career the young
pupil of Clermont, taking his family name of Voltaire, showed signs of
being no model Jesuit. For the rest, it needs to recall only the
memory of Ninon’s youthful protégé by his fatherly care of the grand-
niece of Corneille, when he heard she was in dire need, or his
defence of the unhappy Calvinist Calas, accused of the murder of his
son, prompted by religious conviction, and judicially murdered by
being broken on the wheel. In the face of this terrible injustice,
Voltaire never rested till he had obtained such reparation for Calas’
afflicted family as money could bestow, from the public treasury of
Toulouse, through the influence of the Duc de Choiseul.
The acquaintance begun in Ninon’s kitchen continued on a very
pleasant footing, and in her will she bequeathed him two thousand
francs with which to begin forming himself a library.
 And so, in serenity and calm enjoyment of the society of the few
friends time had left her of the old years, and of those the present
had brought her, and in acts of generous charity among her poorer
neighbours and to those who should live after, Ninon de L’Enclos
passed away. “It is almost sweet to die,” she said, re-echoing the
sentiment of those dear to her who had gone before, “for there in the
other world we shall meet again those we have loved.”
And watching by her couch, they heard her murmur—“Adieu, my
friends, adieu,” and the faint breath ceased.
“Qu’un vain espoir ne vienne pas s’offrir
Que puisse ébranler mon courage,
Je suis en age de mourir,
Que-ferais-je davantage!”

So, in his own poetic fancy, St Evrémond seemed to hear her say;
for heart and soul he knew her, and understood her. It was in one of
her letters to him, towards the close of her life, that she expresses
regret for what it had pleased her to designate her “philosophy.” “Had
anyone told me in those young days of mine I should live such a life,
I should have hanged myself sooner,” she writes.
One distinguished biographer, prefacing her letters to the Marquis
de Sévigné, testifies to the consideration in which she was regarded
by the personages of high merit and rank, who held themselves
honoured to be admitted to her intimacy and friendship.
And the same biographer goes on to tell of the wonderful tale of
such sort as is apt to cling to persons of celebrity, or more or less
apart from the rank and file of people—the tale of the “Noctambule,”
Ninon’s nocturnal visitant, the little “Man in Black”; but this is
confirmed and best told in the vivid description of his last visit, as it is
handed down to us—
“Paris, 9th April 1701.
 “Ah! my friend, what a terrible fright I have had! Truly I am not
recovered from it yet, and my limbs still tremble at the thought of it. Oh,
these cruel things that return from the past at intervals, to stare you in
the face, and poison the tranquillity of the present!
“I have seen my Man in Black! Do you understand? My Man in Black of
the Louvre ball, the man with the red tablets, and the dozen bottles; the
man who appeared to me seventy years ago. Or, rather, no, it was not
he, since I am living still. But great Heaven! what a resemblance! He
wore, as the first did, a black velvet coat, and breeches, carried an
ebony cane, and had the great black moustache. Oh, I was ready to faint
with terror. You may think me crazed, I daresay, but it is no laughing
matter. Wait while I get my wits together to tell you properly.
“Madeleine de Scudéri, as you know, was taken ill at my house. When
a woman is ninety-four years of age, there is no great chance of her
getting better. Nevertheless, Madame de Sandwich took a coach, and
drove at full speed to a quack doctor, who is very fashionable, and who
is said to have performed many wonderful cures. Presently she returned
with this man. I looked up, to drop back into my chair, crying in
amazement: ‘It is he!—it is the devil! Oh, Heaven!—Heaven! protect me!’
“He turned to the countess.
“‘What is the matter with her? Is it your invalid?’ he inquired.
“‘Mercy!’ I cried, casting myself on my knees, ‘I signed on your tablets,
certainly; but I did not understand that I was selling my soul.’
“‘Ah! Ah!’ said he, ‘you should be Mademoiselle de L’Enclos?’
“‘Yes,’ murmured I, in half-suffocated tones.
“‘You regret having given your signature?’
“‘Alas!’
“‘Calm yourself; I am not the devil I seem to be; and we will come to an
understanding.’
“He approached the couch of the sick woman; but during what had
passed, Madeleine had breathed her last.
“‘I should not have saved her,’ said the Man in Black. ‘Let us go into
another room,’ he added, turning to me; ‘we will settle our little affair.’
“‘Oh, dearest Countess, I implore you do not forsake me!’ I cried, lifting
my trembling hands to Madame de Sandwich.
“‘Excuse me, what I have to say must not be heard by anyone but
yourself, Mademoiselle; for in that case, it would be impossible for me to
arrange the bargain,’ said the Man in Black.
“I was frozen with fear, and I could not put faith in his assurances.
Suddenly remembering that the night before, I had received from my
confessor a reliquary containing a bit of the true cross, I went for it to my
cabinet, and slipped it carefully into my bosom. ‘Be it so, sir,’ I said to
him. ‘Come, I am ready to listen to you.’ Be just to me, my friend. You
have never known me to be a coward. I retain all my faculties; very well,
I swear to you that to be there, alone with such a companion, I had to
summon all my powers of body and soul. After carefully closing the door,
the Man in Black said to me: ‘Mademoiselle, it is the work of an honest
man I am about to accomplish. I do but ask of you to be secret upon the
disclosure I am about to make to you, and I believe you to be too entirely
a woman of honour to do harm to a person whose sole desire is to make
things agreeable to you.’
“This preamble was sufficiently reassuring; but my horror of him was
hardly less intense, and I kept the holy relic close pressed against my
bosom, to ward off the influences of the spirit of evil. The Man in Black
drew forward a chair for me, and seated himself on a stool beside me.
“‘I am not the devil, Mademoiselle,’ he continued. ‘I am not even the
same who once had the honour of paying you a visit.’
“I trembled, but looked at him with a little less terror.
“‘What, sir, you are not—’
“‘No,’ said he, without permitting me to finish my sentence, ‘it was my
father.’
“‘Your father?’
“‘Yes, a Portuguese Jew, who profoundly studied the art of healing. I
bear him a very close resemblance, Mademoiselle.’
“‘It is terrible, sir.’
“‘All the more that I have been careful to wear the same clothes. The
resemblance is my fortune. Countless people have been deceived as
you have been; but your mistake might have grave consequences, and
that is why I disabuse you.’
“I began to breathe more freely. ‘But is this that you tell me really true?’
“‘You still doubt? So much the better. If the most spirituelle woman of
the century has believed in the immortality of the man, what of the
others? I give myself, as you know better than anybody, for some
hundred years of age. My son, in fifty years’ time, will be able to double
that. I have only verbal traditions, he will have written traditions. I shall
bequeath him a great number of secrets, and many family histories. It is
certain that there will not be wanting many persons who, having seen me
in my early life, will take him to be me, as you have taken me for my
father. Only, our fortune having accumulated very largely, I shall wish
him to bear a title. He will be called the Count de St Germain.’
“‘I am overwhelmed with astonishment,’ I said. ‘And what is the use of
this ruse? Why perpetuate such a resemblance from father to son?’
“‘You ask me that?’ he exclaimed. ‘Think what renown and prestige it
gives. Think of the blind confidence reposed in one who has discovered
for himself the secret of not dying. Do you not know that the faith of a
sick person in his physician is frequently the cause of his cure? Have
regard to the moral and mental powers, and the physical ones will most
surely feel the influence. You yourself are a proof of this.’
“‘I?’
“‘Did you not remain beautiful till you were eighty years old?’
“‘That is true.’
“‘Do you know what was in those bottles which were to render your
beauty of such long duration? They contained pure water.’
“‘Is it possible?’
“‘Yes, Mademoiselle, pure water, mixed with a few drops of an
innocuous chemical drug to keep it incorruptible, and to slightly colour it.
The experiment succeeded. My father had no serious intention of making
you think you had made a compact with the devil. Just now, in the idea
that you recognised me, you received a terrible shock. Did he not say
that the hour when you should see him again, you would not have three
days to live?’
“‘He told me so!’ I replied, shuddering.
“‘How old are you?’
“‘Eighty-six years.’
“‘Your arm, if you please.’
“I stretched it out to him; he felt my pulse.
“‘Just so,’ he said; ‘not only will you not die in three days, but I
guarantee you at least five more years, before you need to be thinking of
the other world. Farewell, Mademoiselle. To complete your tranquillity
and peace of mind, I will look for, and send you at once the leaf of my
father’s tablets on which you wrote your signature.’
 “He kept his word. Before an hour had passed, I received the hateful
red leaf, and my heart glowed with satisfaction.
“Here, my friend, in deepest confidence, you have the conclusion of my
adventure with the devil—and of course I like it much better that way;
but, alas! I see things now in a different light from those days.
“Adieu, my dear old friend. Reflect a little yourself, weigh the pros and
cons of it all, and in that other world let us hope we shall not be
separated.
Ninon.”

THE END
 FOOTNOTES:
[1] De Mirecourt.
[2] De Mirecourt.
[3] This anecdote is attributed by St Simon to another source, and
to a much later date; but it truly occurred as here recorded.
[4] “Est animal rubrum, callidum, rapax, et vorax omnium
benificiorum. Mazarin is a misfortune to the queen, her evil
genius, consequently ours. I hate him as I do the devil, and hold
him for what he is, morus nebule, a creature destitute of honour, a
mime in a red hat, and a long-robed charlatan.”
Guy Patin.
[5] Gayot de Pitaval, Causes Celébres.
[6] Du Tillet.
[7] St Simon.
[8] Maître Patelin.
[9] Leigh Hunt.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after
careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of
external sources.
Some accents and hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added,
when a predominant preference was found in the original book.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and
inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg v: ‘a New Aquaintance’ replaced by ‘a New Acquaintance’.
Pg 28: ‘he never put’ replaced by ‘He never put’.
Pg 152: ‘clever women’ replaced by ‘clever woman’.
Pg 186: ‘and Hugenots’ replaced by ‘and Huguenots’.
Pg 214: ‘de Champvalon’ replaced by ‘de Champvallon’.
Pg 214: ‘he was not denied’ replaced by ‘he was denied’.
Pg 228: ‘ont he life of’ replaced by ‘on the life of’.
Pg 261: ‘de Chamvallon’ replaced by ‘de Champvallon’.
Pg 265: ‘shivered ’dAubigné’ replaced by ‘shivered d’Aubigné’.
Pg 293: ‘towards the de Montespan’ replaced by ‘towards de Montespan’.
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