The Portland daily press., 1875-10-16
Recent Publications.

light lustre, which however, sufficed to turn
gifted, the powerful, the eminent men of that
time as the numberless waves follow the moon.
In her salon were to be met most of those that
were best worth the meeting; there Chateau
BRAND read his works, Rachel recited the trag-
edy of ''Polyeucte'' in presence of magnates of
the church and state and grave and learned
conversations alternated with those full Of ele.
gance, grace and esprit In gossippy, anus
ing book by Nine. Ancelot is given curious
and detailed account of the social arts Of Nine.
Recamier, her batteries, her Jfnesse; her fruit
less efforts to induce Mr.. Guizot to become
one of the lions of her famous evenings;
her transparent courtesies to his sister, her in
effectual offerings of cakes to his poodle; her
disappointment at not being able to secure so
brilliant an ornament for the cnterIe of which
she was the central figure.
This volume Of her letters, edited By her
niece, Nine. Lenormant, and translated by
Miss Isaphene M. Luyster-forms an exceed
ingly interesting key to the volume of mem
oirs already placed before the public by these
ladies. The letters of Nine. Recamier evil
dence that the social charm for which she was
noted had foundation in real loveliness aud
sensibility to emotions of friendship and af-
fection. The witty Nine. de Borgne writes to
her "Well am convinced-if it were possible
to define the influence you exert-that this
same goodness of heart has greater power than
all your other more brilliant advantages, and
gives them an additional force" The tender
ness that Nine. Recamier showed for her niece;
the sincere esteem that her friends all expert
enced for her AID which is displayed in their
correspondence with her; the delicacy and
sympathetic kindness of her own expressions
prove that apart f,om the destinations of the
queen of society there was the truer and deeper
charm of the woman's nature. Nine. Recam-
ier had, however, no taste for domestic details;
although her biographer writes that she pos
sessed the feminine art, or rather instinct, OF
giving charm to the most cheerless lodging by
the sxiful arrangement of a bouquet, shawl
draped for table cover, or left carelessly hung
over the arm of a sofa. The conditions of life
that surrounded her moulded her facile nature,
and 10 dffusing its charm over many it
gained perhaps in brilliance-but lost, necessa-
rily, something of its womanly worth and fin
est instinct. With her, as indeed with most Of
the cultivated and elegant French women of
that time, the salon was the object of exist
ence. To Americans accustomed to seek their
comfort and satisfaction in the home, and TO
whom social life, outside of the inner circle of
lntimates is often rather an obligation and an
exceptional occurrence than a component
part of the daily pleasure of life, the salon is
not;easily understood. Its existence in our
country would be an anomaly. an impossible
ty. In attempting to outline this social pow
er it seems to vanish from vision. To the
straightforward American mind its airy fiat
teries take the shape Of falsehoods; its aims,
its fats dccompHs, seem trivial and unworthy.
Imagine, if one can, the Partisan salon trans
ferred to our capital-a boan,ot worth ballot,
breath at once creating compliment and in
fating the currency. 1t is with pardonable
touch of national pride that one recognizes, in
spite of many political crhdities and
errors, the sense Of the dignity of
to ends that characterizes our conn-
try. But it is less as a political than as a
social power that the Partisan salon-of which
that of Nine. Recamier was TYPICAL had its
chief significance. The salon became to its
mistress the all-engrossing thought; to render
it brilliant above its rivals, her last ambition.
In the days of the Empire, that period Of
superb bombast, the salon was at its zenith
Everything partook of the theatrical the
world. by which one understood Paris, was "a
stage and all the men and women" consum-
mate comedians. Action, thought, sentiment,
were exaggerated, wore the rouge, assumed
the poses of the theatre. The intimate social
life of the family was lost in the brilliance of
the salon; the traits, essentially womanly, that
should have frightened home and thrown their
little beams from behind the safe seclusion,
gave eclat to its unsatisfying successes. What
griefs we're inflicted, what wrongs were done
in the name of society-cannot be countedi
1t is an irony of The vocabulary that affords
but oae name for the hearthstone where clus-
ter the feet of happy children-and for the re-
ception room Of the Opera, where the light,
impatient heels of the coryphees tap the gded
marble in awaiting the next act Of the ballet
So much for the dark side of the picture
drawn less as a condemnation, even partial Of
the Partisan salon, than as protest against
any attempt to naturaize in America an imita-
ton of it. To import the salon would be as i'm
possible as undesirable-it would lose its subtle
aroma, its delicacy, its point Translated into
our direct Auglo.Saxon speech and manners, it
would show all its worst traits and be utterly
fat, stale and Improbable. What was Mrs
Leo Hunter but an ambitious naaitresse de salon.
without the grace of the French woman?
Judge from the bewilderment and disapproval,
mingled with pity and disgust, Of the senator in
the dodge Club" how such amenities would
be received by the honest American politician,
unused to diplomatic batteries. Nevertheless
it is very pleasant to read these letters of Mme
Recamier; to observe the power that she had
over SO pany and so varied friends; the gen.
uine esteem with which they addressed her;
their confidence that responded to her SYM
patby-n all this, beneath the ambitions and
insincerities, the jealousies and feuds Of the
salon, we dsceIn the real woman. Her niece,
Nine. Lenormant, writes of her with true en-
thusiasm, in a graceful, animated style, leav-
ing, however, the correspondents. for the most,
to speak for ITSELF The translator has ac-
quilted herself exceedingly well, and the vol
une VIII prove an acceptaOie alu VaiuaOe
addition to tho light department of social
science.
EIGHT COUSINS; or The Aunthlll. By Louisa M.
Alcott. Published by Roberts Bros For sale by
Loring, Short & Harmon.
A story from Miss Alcott's pen is sure to
be eagerly read, not only by the young people
for whose benefit her books are especially de-
signsd-but as we'll by those of maturer years
whose fresh interest in all that concerns the
best happiness Of children responds to Miss
Alcott's lively aud eninently sensible express
sion. She is genuine reformer at heart, and
by no means visionary or Impractical one;
she rightly believes that her mission as clear
sighted, healthy-souled woman is to point out
to young girls how to become powerful helpers,
within the natural limits of their gracious
province of the worlds work-wherein all
must make or mar. Added to this strong de-
sire to advise and cheer, is the emlnently prac-
teal ald breezy quality of Miss Alcotts writ
ing, which like fresh breath "sweeps the cob
webs from the" perpexed brains of little maid
ems
"That ponder and onder,
THINKING not knO wing of what