The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-12-23
IseautifaI Isecanassr.

Madame Recamier was one of the queens
of the directory; the daughter of notary,
she aspired TO absolute dominion. Who
was the master of this woman, who was 20
give lessons TO all the men of genius of the
Nineteenth centuryR 1t was Latharpe He
was Voltarian with Bernard the notary,
and converted with Madame Bernard. I
rather think that Madame Recamier did not
take kindly to that sterile pasture OF the
French mind called Le Cours de Litterafsns.
When her mother saw the wing Of ffteen
years budding at the shoulders, of her
daughter she chose her husband. La
tharpe's counsel was doubtless asked, for it
was agreed to accept the evoYc--t.--sS,monial
style-of Nj, Rose hecamier, who hngefvS
among the asphodels Of the filties. Somber
suguries, accumulate about the Snuptials,
which were solemnized the twenty-fourth
of April, l7SS between two sanguinary
storms. The Terror of Madame Recamier
was followed by a Ninth Thermicior, with.
out the intervention of she scaffold ras'Her
marriage WAS meyer more than apparent"
says one of her historians, who oanonizes
tins sanity woman becanss she Was nsser
wife. ishaT5'
M. Recamier, proud OF the beauty of his
quasi-wife, opened his SALON az soon as
the sun of TheTmidor announced the return
of gala days, of festivals, and Atheniau
tolhes, so dear to the sPansians. The vol
cano was still smoking when Madame Re
camier showed her .prettysfoot over the
crater. She was one of those neo-Greeks
who had escaped, fully, clad in their own
modesty, from the ruins of slaughtered
Pompeii. Why does she say in her memoirs
that she remained entirely foreign TO the
society of the directory and had no rela-
tions with the women w1owere its heroines,
Madame Tallien and the rest" Madame
Recamier haunted the saloons of the direc-
tory, and did not dIsdain, all panoplied in
her virtue, to dace cotillion with ma
dame Tallien and the Others" The others
were doubtless Madame dc Beaubarnals and
Madame de Stael a.f 4 rge
Where could Madame Recamier have
shown herself if not in the fashionable sa-
lonSl l know that she took up collec-
ton al st. Roch, and, that the church was
invaded and the chairs broken, and that
the police were called -in.-Total, 90, 900
francs for the poor, and 20, 900 admirers for
her. know that at Longchamps Madame
Recamier, dressed in the style of Aspasia,
almost in peplum with sandals which
showed her feet on y tiger skin, her hair
falling in ringlets over a snowy neck kissed
gently by the March sun. her arms bare, ex-
cept where they were encireled by canoes,
allowed herself to be adOred alta distance
by all the Incroyables and all tue Auseadins
like an idol of Sn ancient temple But il
could hardly have been at ST. Roch or at
Longchamps that she could have gainedthe
name Of the finest dancer of the dlrenturyd
Besides, here is a word from herohistory:
''She was passionately fond OF dancing,dur-
ing several years, and at her debut 10 socie-
ty she made it point Of honor TO arrive at
balls the first and to leave thelast.p III was
Madame Tallien who taught her the ohalmyai
dance, which is one of the virtues of Ma
dame de StaePs Corinne. -,
The woman who danced thus was never
wife, and her admirers cAnonize her for
this. Oh, noble mothers what do you say
OF this sterile prude, who createdJa new,
saloon of Precieses Ridicules-for the ia
nous Abbaye aux Bois was nothing more.
Madame Recamier sat at one side Of the fir,
Nj. de Chateaubriand at the Other, like d
king and queen childless and bored. They
had their court, for they made academjcians,
and all aspirants did homage there. Sainte.
Beuve took me there one evening" i"B 1t
not beautiful, he said as he went out, ITO
see those surviving agesi' At that moment
there passed before US pretty young girl
In all the radiance of twenty years. fare
not youth and beauty beautiful" answered,
pointing to the pretty passer-by. y.s--ArsenS
HouSsdys Paris Letter.. ..,,.,s- lo ssa