e Thelusson, as companion, a Swiss lady, named
Curchod, the same who had the fortune to excite in the bosom of the
historian Gibbon, for the first and last time, the passion of love.
There is, however, no undue praise in the following description which
he has given of her: "The personal attractions of Mdlle. Curchod were
embellished by the virtues and talents of her mind. Her fortune was
humble, but her family was respectable. Her mother, a native of
France, had preferred her religion to her country. Her father, with
the moderation of a philosopher, was content with a small salary and
laborious duty in the obscure lot of minister of Cressy, a small
village in the mountains of Switzerland. He bestowed a liberal and
even learned education on his only daughter. She surpassed his hopes
by her proficiency in the sciences and languages; and in her short
visits to Lausanne, the wit, the beauty, and the learning, of
Mademoiselle Curchod were the theme of universal applause. The report
of such a prodigy awakened my curiosity; I saw and loved. I found her
learned without pedantry, witty in conversation, pure in sentiment,
and elegant in manners." After the death of her father, she supported
herself and her mother by teaching young ladies at Geneva; from whence
she removed to Paris.

The character of Necker gained her admiration, her respect, and her
love. She married him; and, from that time, the great business of her
life was to make him happy. To divert him after the cares of business,
she sought to make her house agreeable. She had not the light and gay
manners of a Parisian lady, but she had a native grace and sweetness,
and a solidity of talent, which caused her society to be sought for by
the learned and intelligent, and her drawing-rooms to be filled with
the _beaux esprits_ of Paris.

Her only daughter, Anne Louisa Germaine, born in 1766, became her next
object of solicitude. She wished that her education should be perfect;
she wished her to know every thing, and thought that her mind could
not be stored with too many words and facts; she introduced her, even
in infancy, to the brilliant circle of her own friends, and learned
men were almost her only companions. It was therefore with a transport
of delight that the child received, at the age of eleven, a young
girl, whom her mother wished her to make her companion, and who
afterwards described her thus: "She spoke with a warmth and facility
which were already eloquent,