The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-12-16

the rehned elegance of her manners, and the
RESERVATIONS of her conversation. I" La Refine
Americdane' was title which had been grant
ed her IN Parisian salons, and an introduction
TO her had been at home the very acme of am
bltlon to the young social aspirant Thus she
had become power in her own right, and was
authorized TO WELD an undisputed sceptre wher-
ever she listed. Thus, too her advantages for her
after object were many and superior
When, upon Mr.. Fleming's death, she had
retired from society, she simply retired, did not
acahdrd~ Though she had ceased to lead,
she had not excluded herself from the leader
ship. For a time the war was over. and the
army reduced to a peace establishments but
the battalions and squadrons still existed en-
cadre, and only needed new levy to reassume
their commanding front. Mrs. Fleming no
longer took an active part in the ofairs of beau
monde; she had retired to her quiet country
home; but she was still recognised, for she
still preserved her relations with all whom she
thought worthy to be invited thither. Those
who merit.d her esteem, either for brilliancy of
talent and manners, superiority of thought, or
other such elements of command, were still
members of her select coterie, still drank in the
charms of her beauty and esprit These and
their families she gathered around her, and in
troduced to Jasper claiming for them with him
him with them the place she expected him
eventually to fll-her place, so to speak-the
leadership in bedu-monde.
Hence, when in the splendor of her still I'M
impaired beauty and the quiet empressement of
her refined manners, she re-entered society for
the purpose of securing to Jasper that place
which she deemed rightly his, these devoted
followers iocked around her. proclaimed her.
and swore fidelity to the heir. Once again she
reigned by common consent. 1t was return
from Elba-the old Guard were ready to die by
the eagle and the Conscripts were filled with
the same enthusiasm that inhamed the veterans
But, to carry out the figure it was noticed that
Fouche gave in but a very lukewarm adherence,
and that Talleyrand fed the Court altogether,
and renewed his plots. C'est d dire--she had
rivals, enemies, because she had overthrow
those who had welded the sceptre during her
retirement. She could not have been woman
of character, and be without enemies Mortal
enemies they were, too, and dangerous the
more SO, because of Mrs. Fleming;s proud Sc
curity and supercilious disdain.
This brings us to another element in her
character. Mrs. Fleming was the very woman
most calculated to have enemies. Your ear
nest, proud, pronounce danes are never popu-
lar, in the broad sense of the word. They
reign, but it is only because no one is capable
of rivalling them they are loved with intense
devotion, but only by those who are worthy of
having that love returned they are honored by
all who can appreciate the reaetive benefit of
that honor and they are hated by all who
have failed successfully to rival them; by all
who have failed to win their approving smile ;
by all who have been dismissed from their favor
And the reader may be sure that Mrs. Fleming's
haters were many. AS Queen of Society, she
had reigned at once by divine right of exalted
beauty that right by which bare-bosomed
Phryne asserted her innocence before the gray
bearded judges of Thespiae, and by election
for supremity of attainment and she had in
consequence never been called upon to exer-
else those little arts, by means Of which less
exalted personages are wont to elbow their way
towards the front rank. She had never stopped
to the minor means of popularity, nor could she
have successfully exercised them, even had it
been necessary for her to do so. One could
not expect 1t OF her; so large, so grand, was
she, that to see her occupying herself with the
cajoleries, the wire-pullings, and log-rollings
the batteries and masked batteries of smile and
courtesy, which inferior placehunters resorted
to, would have been somewhat like seeing the
free, perfect, sweeping lines of Mother Ewes
contour " cribbed, cabined, and confined" with
in the lacingS of modern bellies corsage She
swept on, those who won her smiles never for
getting them, those who failed to win them
never torgiving her. In her earnest straight
forwardness she was too severe; she resorted
to no medium process either she adopted
with fervor, or she rejected with disdain, follow
ing ever her instincts, and rarely deceived by
them. To be scorned by her was, to most
persons, to be ineradicably branded with a
shame stamp, which, however invisible to the
outsider ever throbbed and burned upon the
Il Il
oblivion And on Mrs. Fleming's return to
society," there were many of this class, bagne-
marked on the sensitive epidermis of their own
consciousness, who moved near her. and hated
her with hate proportioned to their sense of
the slight Her disdain was passive and her
self careless of them; their maEgnity was
active, and themselves energetic for her humili-
alton. And thus, while she regned undSputed,
they plotted undsturbed.
Prominent among these enemies we shall
characterize two persons who were most ad-
mirably qualified for efficient hatred one,
soi-disante rival for the social sovereignty; the
other, degraded favorite.
Mrs Morninglory was a leader in society,
who possessed advantages almost equal to those
of Mrs. Fleming, and had also the further good
fortune of having "come out nearly ten years
later She was--Mrs. Brownings Lady
Waldemar:
Glow they told
Those slabaster shoulders and bare breasts
On which the pearls, drowned out Of sight in milk
Were lost, excepting for the ruby clasp.
They spill, The amaranth- velvet bodice down
To the waist. or nearly, with he sudaciOus press
Were half so white. but if it were perhaps
ThA breast were closer covered, and The sight
Less aspectsble by half TOO -
Have you not seen such? There have been
many generals who have marched to conquest
by hazarding all their resources upon move,
and thus defeating more careful antagonist,
who dares not send his forces to the front,
though his reserves twice outnumber those of
his conqueror Mrs. Morninglory acted upon
a similar principle. She was beautiful, and
she took care to wear her beauty in public.
She was brilliant, and she exercised her bril-
liancy to its full compass. Her aim was con-
quest, and she burned her ships behind her,
the better to achieve it. What use is there in
the possession of personal charms, except one
can fascinate by means of them? Dress is not
the jewe-case but the diamonds setting. 1t
is not meant to conceal, but to develop, to
heighten, to perfect What avails charm, if
it is not made accessory to power, and what
better use of power than to make it react for
the exalting of these charms Thus Mrs. Morn
inglory reasoned, and thus she acted. Tread
ing with utmost care and incest tact upon the
boundary line that divides the immodest from
the modest, striking in conversational brillian-
CIV, fascinating by the exercise of her full-blown
and admirably -paraded beauty, and by that
abandon and freedom of manner which is so
magnet-like when properly brought to bear,
she trumphantly led in society, and wore the
queenly tiara. But her power was power of
conquest, and to be sustained with difficulty;
not a power admitted, and naturally attendant
unop presence She was an artificial queen