The Portland daily press., 1874-12-04
From the Springfield (Mass.) Republican. ]
The Life Of q Modern Phryne.

[From the Springfield CIass.) Republican,
The Life Of q Modern PhrYne.
1t is curious and not altogether unprofit-
able study, that of the chapters in history
that never could have been written but for
some woman, born to enslave men, and full
filling her mission. The moralists have
treated it often, with conclusions just enough
in the main; and our New England lyceum
has been astonished with picturesque lee
ture on the emotional charms of these
women, from Cleopatra down to NinOn de
PEnclos. We shall inevitably learn one thing
from the survey, and that is, that, besides
the physical beauty and passion, the graces
of intellect and the wreck of principle, they
all had that audacious fire called genius. In
ages that have denied everything to women,
such women have ruled; in ages that made
CULTS impossible between classes in society,
such women have mounted from slums to
thrones. Ambition never meets more bril-
liant rewards than those Of distinguished
courtesan. Phryue, the unveiling of whose
bosom made the grave judges of Athens ac-
quit her in trice of imp;ety-for how could
such charms offend the gods ?-was type of
her class in all ages; women who blind JUS
tice with beauty, and even faunt its gifts in
the very face of heaven.
Since the story of her life, told by Lola
Montez, there has been no exposure of the
Phryne sort so singularly frank and unblush-
ing as this of 'Maria Monks Daughter" as
Mrs. st. John Eckel chooses to entitle her.
self in order to draw attention to her book.
For Maria Monk in her brief day was notori-
GUS, because of her lawful disclosures" con-
cerning her personal sufferings while an in
mate OF the Hotel Dieu Nunnery at Montreal
-sufferings which were quite fictitious, as an
investigation speedily showed. She sank in
to life of squalor, in the lowest quarters of
New York, where this daughter was born,
and she died in a criminal maniac's cell on
Blackwelfs Island. The girl after this event,
however, had an opportunities for reputable
life; grew to young womanho0d in her aunt's
home in Connecticut village, found kind.
ly guardian, who sent her to Monson Acad-
emy, and then to a fashionable school in
New York city. In 1857 she made the ac-
quaintance, at school reception, of Ten
nessee gentleman, who had been consul in
South America, and seven months after this
meeting married him.
Marriage is the honorable aim ofmany
young girPs hope; it was but the starting-
point for hers. At twenty years of age she
was flung into the feverish atmosphere of
life at Washington, and learned two things
simultaneously-the inefficiency of her hus-
band and her own power over men. Both
combined to determine her career. They re-
turned from Washington to New York, PEN
niless, but to the awakened Mrs. Eckel that
was not a matter of anxiety. She was now
the head of the family. Through the favor
Of Fernando Wood she got Mr.. Eckel a place
rooms in hotel, and their evening recep-
tions became more brilliant than ever. She
played upon the weakness of men; obtained
place for one friend and contract for
another, and In short time," says she,
''my income far exceeded my husbands sal.
ary." She became, in short, one of those
sirens who bewitch men that have favors to
grant, and make commerce of their influence
with men that want favors. Something in
this life, however prosperous, disagreed with
the husbands peace of mind, and estrange-
ment followed. All the better for her, for it
gave her liberty for broader operations in
contract-getting, and-for it was then the
frs. years of the war-blockade-runn
Then her husband opportunely died, and
Mrs. Eckel, in the irreproachab!e position of
young widow, went to Paris, purpOsing to
enter the meretricious Court of Napoleon III,
as more than one American woman did, and
not to the honor of the country.
In that cosmopolitan city of the cardianl
sins, Mrs. Eckel blossomed into full splendor
as queen of social intrigue. She went to
offered Ste. Geneyieve at her shrine costly
gift for the qualification of three ambitions
to be presented at court, to have plenty OF
money, and the first men of the Empire at
her feet. We must presume that the votive
offerings were paid, for these wishes were all
attained. She was presented at court in silk
and tulle, with pearls and diamonds; supped
at the table with "their majesties," and was
complimented on her beauty and dress by
Hr:.:.l.. l a., %Hot I'll =;
umph. There were casual engagements OF
marriage; there was season of delight un-
der the sprotectiOn" of Duke de Morny, Ma
poleon's potent half-brother, who gave her
| the entree even to Eugene's "petit bals." !"
So that, Sin fact" she says, 81 had every
thing my own way, and was enjoying life to
my hearts content" l' '' , -
1t was in the midst of this frivolous glory
in the lusts of the world, ten years ago, that
tragic event occurred; the death of William
L. Dayton, then our Minister to Paris, in
| Mrs. Eckeps apartment in the Hotel du
Louvre. He had parted from his son that even
Ing, in full health; shortly after o'clock he
was a corpse. Apoplexy was the explana-
tion given the public, but the Partisan epithet
suggested something else. The chapter in
which Mrs. Eckel recites the events of that
evening is one of the strangest in her whole
strange record, but while it intimates enough
to base conjecture upon, it leaves the mystery
| uncleared. Had the woman a heart, she
could hardly have passed through the trial
| she but half describes, and have been so brief
| ly impressed. But that sentimental organ
would have been very much in her way, had
she possessed it, and in month she had re-
acted from her nervous prestration, and was
| at a ball in the Tuilleries with new lover n
There was something Of i'll luck in the oc-
currence, however; there must have been,
| for finally we find her failing in an ambition.
| She lay siege to the title, as well as the love,
| of Viscount in the Emperor's household /;
| he became daily visitor, and once, when i'll
| ness kept him in his room, she drove off
| straghtway to visit him, and shocked him by
the impropriety-on fears fatally to Cloves
young dream" for, although she got ''con-
verted'' to please him, and ladies ''of the
Faubourg st. German" accepted her as sis
ter in the Church, the old Viscount finally
dropped into the role of the fatherly friend.
Nothing was left her but religion. She
therefore underwent much instruction, was
baptized, and "asked God for six fayors: For
| my sisters conversion, tor my brothers con-
version, that Mrs. Dix might be my friend,
that Mrs. Ronalds might stop abusing me, for
future happiness, that might have power to
help the poor.' She says she got the friend
ship of the wife of General Dix, who had sue
ceeded Mr.. Dayton as Minister, by the wav
but Mrs. Ronalds Goes not appear to have
pretermitted her enmity, for scandals did not
cease. After while size relapsed into inf
deity, but only briefly. She has returned,
| thOrOuQhlv reDentant. tn this countrv hnilt a