New-York tribune., 1901-12-08

DIE pllsu. .,S,d6prine anticipation In the dead OF
them the blind woman sat up ana trled 10 oc-
cupy her brain mechanically by making verses.
II tbe morning there would be at least life. STIR,
movement the preparation Tor the company
of the evening. But the nlsntS-not an nv ere
nrecepts of the preachers are so avn SCI
MN as the latter end of this Marquse
| 1s NOT this the very echo of Thackeray. the
| uora,ist-tbe swing of his sentences. his own
particular pet method? Truth to tell, the reader
will rive MANY a smile of recognition on the
ray as he marches through these agreeaDie
,.ras so often does this echo come to his ear
If is there pardie; but the whole IL is
not offensive.
Manv nages are devoted to the hysterlcal,
emotional Lespinasse and to that hght lIiS0-
| Ious cfarmer and writer of memoirs, Madame
| dEpinay. beguiling little bundle OF seii-Ih-
| dulgeut seIf-deceiving earthiness ana Sen'i-
| mentality was the D'Epnay-and how the saseS
and poets and philosophers fOcked to her pretS
little feetl pleasanter figure for conteInpia-
| ton is that of the gentle motherly Madame
! Geoffrin who deserved sydney Smiths descrlp-
| ton in nothing save the pleaSdntneSS Oh heI
| suppers. She good but not priliiaht' hot
even well educated: she was a bourSeolSe' 'ie
| daughter of a valet de chambre, the wife OF
a rich manufacturer of ices There IS no dls-
| tinction here. get her salon was thronSed by the
most distinguished people in France, sought pY
all the visiting celebrities. like Gibbon, Hume
and Horace Walpole. She knew how to listen.
| how to call out the best in others. and her
womany sympathy. kindness and good sense
We're never failing. Here woman OF
the old regime who did not make a business
and object If amusement, but who could
| draw wit out of fool" goodness from the
corrupt. Most re aders will doubt remember
that rretty story told of Madame. who found
herself tate-a-tete for whole long winter even
ing with worthy and insufferable old bore
| of an abbe What was to be done? Yawn in
each others faces? Die of tristesse and ennui
under a mask of social smiles? Madame, in
spired by the desperate situation set herself to
work 10 make the bore amusing; and succeeded
so well that when he left her she gave him a
little compliment his 'bonne conversation
| Madame said he. Il only the instrument
on which you have played beautifully This
was the key at once her character and to
her social success" She delighted in giving to
| the needy and it is said Of her that she IS
| the most generous woman in history
OF another Saloniere of the period. as respect
able. but much Cleyerer than the Geoffrln-
Nine Necker-Mr Tallentyre has much to say
He has not much patience with her early affec-
tion for his egotistical fiat, f1abby. unwhOesome
! looking Gibbon-and it is hard indeed to deter
mine what the beautiful and intellectual little
daughter of the Swiss clergyman, Curchod.
/ found TO love in the pompous and selfish boy
, who certainly not great then, though he
was 10 bccome so. The she finally married
made her happy C1obon never could have
done: and a relaxation for the famous fnan-
cer she started her salon. OF all those hoStesSeS
she the only who learned as well
as lovely OF Madame Necker's daughter Ger
| maine cur author writes with evident enjoy
/ ment, and surely woman of her day was
more interesting than this same brilliant. eXcit-
! able ugly. power loving Madame de Statl-
| Corinne Of the black eyes and the beautiful
| hands Flashing talker that she was. she was
| often exas?eratins in her vanity and impatu-
! osity. After her visit to Germany, one said 10
! her Madame, You did not understand Goethe,
and you Will never understand him. and she
| replied Monsieur, understand every thing that
/ is worth understanding: that which l don't un-
| derstand is nothing" She asked Fichte to give
| her an account lin fifteen minutes or So OF
| that famous system which il had taken him
| all his life and genius to evolve The disgust
| of tho moor man may be imagined. He had not
spoken for ten minutes when she interrupted
| hirn-'It is enough; l comprehend L compre-
| bend perfectIy'-and told him little anecdote
| from 'Munchausen's Travels to illustrate the
| theory of T. and me-" Sir James Macintosh
called her the most active. combative and
| voIuble of all the human beings L ever met;
| to Byron her society was ''an avalanche There