damoiselles

On the 17th of May, 1558, the Bishop of Paris reported to parliament that he had given orders to find out "les autheurs des assemblées qui se sont faictes _ces jours icy, tant au pré aux Clercs, que par les rues de cette ville de Paris, et à grandes troupes de personnes, tant escolliers, gentilshommes, damoiselles que autres chantans à haute voix chansons et pseaumes de David en François_."

The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2) Henry Martyn Baird

Minard's well-known immorality ( "d'autant," says La Planche, "qu'il y estoit du tout adonné, et qu'il ne craignoit de séduire toutes les dames et damoiselles qui avoyent des procès devant luy," etc.), others to his equally flagrant injustice, others still to the "Lutherans."

The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2) Henry Martyn Baird

Meanwhile, the three “damoiselles” (for the title of “dame” was reserved then for the women of noble birth) were all talking at once.

III. The Story of a Wheaten Cake. Book VI 1917

The damoiselles were seated, some just inside the room, some on the balcony, on cushions of Utrecht velvet with gold corners, or on elaborately carved oak stools.

I. Showing the Danger of Confiding One’s Secret to a Goat. Book VII 1917

And the damoiselles with an humble countenance, 'les yeulx baissez, regardans quelquefois les assistans avec une pudeur virginale.'

Shakespeare and Music With Illustrations from the Music of the 16th and 17th centuries 1900

As I gazed at the old miniatures, they seemed to live before me, and I saw the nobles in the absurd magnificence of their _étoffes à tripes_, [143] the dames and the damoiselles somewhat devilish with their horned caps and their pointed shoes; clerks seated at the desk, men-at-arms riding their chargers and merchants their mules, husbandmen performing from April till March all the tasks of the rural calendar; peasant women, whose broad coifs are still worn by nuns.

The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2 Anatole France 1884