Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-02-23
Ancient and Modern WOmen-Some.
thing about their Fascinations
and Surroundings.
Pleasant Treatment Of a Pleasant
Theme-Classic Names and
Familiar Names

what good end, ara not always apparent,
but the fact and the magnitude are IN
doubted.
Mime. de Pompadour probably furnishes
the most notable example that can be found
in any kge or country of what an education
intended merely for show, in conjunction
with woman's tact, can accomplish. OF
obscure parentage, she was adopted and ed
ucated by rich fnancier, and married her
cousin, LIE Norway rElioles, who was said
to be a man of whom sny woman might
be proud, and who loved her deVotedly. She,
however, left her husband to enjoy the
royal favor of Louis XIV, who made her
the Marquis de Pompadour. She became
the close friend and political adviser of the
King; the undcubted Premier of France
appointing ministers, ambassadors, gener-
ais, and maintaining correspondence with
foreign courts. The Royal Council con-
vened in her boudoir. Maria Theresa, for
political ends, addressed her as sEnd couS-
tpe." Her extravaganza knew no limit;
she lightened the Kings treasury during
her short reign over $l50,000,000. She
died at about 45, at the zenith of her DOW
or. This woman acquired and held her in
tiuence by sheer force of what might be
called surface fascination, her education
having been of the ornamental type, ex-
pressly confined to music, elocution and
drawing. She possessed great beauty of
face and figure, and cultivated dress as a
fine art. In temperament cold, heartless
and smbitiousO every grace of face and
| person was made subservient to some sell
fish purpose. Her chief power undoubt.
| ly lay in the skilfGl handling of her forces
TO meet the demands of the vacilating
King.
Among the women famous for beauty,
wit and want of modesty in the time of
Louis XIV, Ninon de rEnclos was the
most notorious. Though openly depraved
she was not entirely excluded from the
higher ranks ofsOciety. The young son of
Madame de Sevigne was said TO have been
as enamored of Ninon when she was 81
years old as was his father in bis youth.
She is said to have preserved her beauty
and appearance of youth to the last.
Madame de Stael was one of the French
women who did not rule society or fasci-
nate by her beauty or vices. She amused
herselfat the early age of eleven by writing
comedies and tragedies. She was the first
leader of society both during and after the
Empire. Her fine mind: popularity as an
authoress and unwillingness to Join his par
ty incurred Napoleon's hatred, and be never
ceased in bis prosecutions of her so long as
he had the power TO annoy. Banished
from Paris by order Of the Emperor, she
was an exile for ten years, and friends who
visited her were exiled. The last four years
of her life were the most brilliant of her
career. The RestorstioDists hailed with
eagerness the return of the talented daugh-
ter of the Minister of the last Of the Bour-
bons; the newspapers were delighted to
have few words from the author Of GO
rinne." Her rooms were thronged with
the representatives of political and literary
liberty of the day. Wellington, Chateau
BRAND, Lafayette, Butcher, came to her as
to the center of political movement. Cano-
va represented art, and Madame Recamier
still radiant at six and thirty-beauty.
Hers was the reign of intellect.
Madame Recamier was the greatest beau
ty in France during the Empire. Among
the earliest tributes to her beauty were
those Of the two BoDapartes-the Emperor
and his brother Lucien. The first eight
years OF the present century were the period
OF Madame Racamier's reign as social SOW
ereign. Refusing to become member Of
the Emperor's household, and becoming
too attractive feature in the Paris salons,
she was also banished. Canova, the great
sculptor, once attempted to give her pleas
ant surprise by displaying two busts secretly
modelled after her likeness; but the beautiful
work Of Canova was not good enough for
the vain Frenchwoman, and she could not
conceal her chagrin even before the great
artist. Madame Recamier was not a woman
Of profound mind. She was a great firt,
and she lived to enjoy life. But her society
was composed as much of literary and po-
litical celebrities as of the merely fashion
able people of Paris. The probable secret
of her later success, socially, lay as much
in that charm of manner, and perfect ease
and grace in conversation, naturally &C
quired in five and twenty years of continued
good society as in her beauty. Another
element of her influence was that apparent
sympathy for the opinions and feelings of
others which led her to treat everyone as if
they were of the utmost importance to her;
q manner which brought her many friends,
even among men and women vast
ly superior to her in intellect.
1t is curious phase in the history of this
fit that the older she grew the more de-
voted bees me her admirers. Chateau BRAND,
verging on so, infrm, tottering, and with
one foot in the grave, offered Madame Re-
camier his hand, ana she nearly 20, and
wholly blind, had the good sense to refuse
him. She died of cholera in 1919.
Montsg1 House., London, is one Of the
landmarks Of modern society. To Mrs. Mon
tagu's entertainments crowded the scholar
and the politician, the wit, the critic, the
orator. 1t was at the meetings of the liter
ati ~ THE ho,eA hat ho (thlna
stocking" so long applied to literary women,
originated. 1t arose from remark upon
the stockings of DR.. Stillingfeet-that
learned divine being an oddly and sloven.
A foreigner present cried: "Les bas bleus,"
and the society was afterward known as the
Blue Stockings, ds2oting that the full dress
then in the evening was to be dispensed
with. No English woman has ever 30 com
pletely succeeded in deceivipg men and
women from the triVialities OF society to
the disquisition Of literature and science as
did Mrs. Montsgu. She was clever as a
writer. Her essay on Shakespeare was
pronounced by Beattie the most elegant
piece of criticism in our language or any
other. Mrs. Montsgu was the Madame
du Deffand of London. And her fame as
the queen of society rested not only on her
intellect, her essays, her conversational
talent, but also on the solid basis of being
the best dinner-giver in London.
Sidney lady Morgan was born on ship
bord between Ireland and England. Her
father was an actor, singer, and the man
ager of theatre. Such was the origin of
one whose life presents an instance of what
unassisted women can do to raise them
selves as high as they choose in the scale of
society-upon even slender stock of ed
ucation-with energy and talent. She
wrote Irish novels, and wrote for the peri
odicals. She used to relate how enchanted
she was when, for some tale, the editor sent
her two guineas, her first earned money.
Those two guineas, she said, were the
source Of all her scribbling. She learned
the art of society in Paris, and she never
forgot it. Born amid actors, learning first
her letters, probably from a Playful, she
lived to 81, to figure in the most elegant
neighborhood OF. London, among the most
lettered, the most famous, and the most ar
istocratic society in the world. She had
fund of Irish drollery, which was never
ouenched till the death of her husband.
She died in 1859, and with her ended those
few remaining literary cliques, the like of