flame that rendered it impossible to gaze upon her
steadily; the smallness, the shape, the turn of her mouth, and, the
beauty of her teeth were incomparable; the position and the regular
proportion of her nose added to her beauty such an air of dignity, as
inspired a respect for her equal to the love that might be inspired
by her beauty; the rounded contour of her face, produced by a becoming
plumpness, exhibited all the vigour and freshness of health; to complete
her charms, her glances, the movements of her lips and of her head,
appeared to be guided by the graces; her shape corresponded to the
beauty of her face; lastly, her arms, her hands, her bearing, and her
gait were such that nothing further could be wished to complete the
agreeable presentment of a beautiful woman."

[Note: All her contemporaries, indeed, are in agreement as
to her marvellous beauty; here is a second portrait of the
marquise, delineated in a style and manner still more
characteristic of that period:--

"You will remember that she had a complexion smoother and
finer than a mirror, that her whiteness was so well
commingled with the lively blood as to produce an exact
admixture never beheld elsewhere, and imparting to her
countenance the tenderest animation; her eyes and hair were
blacker than jet; her eyes, I say, of which the gaze could
scarce, from their excess of lustre, be supported, which
have been celebrated as a miracle of tenderness and
sprightliness, which have given rise, a thousand times, to
the finest compliments of the day, and have been the torment
of many a rash man, must excuse me, if I do not pause longer
to praise them, in a letter; her mouth was the feature of
her face which compelled the most critical to avow that they
had seen none of equal perfection, and that, by its shape,
its smallness, and its brilliance, it might furnish a
pattern for all those others whose sweetness and charms had
been so highly vaunted; her nose conformed to the fair
proportion of all her features; it was, that is to say, the
finest in the world; the whole shape of her face was
perfectly round, and of so charming a fullness that such an
assemblage of beauties was never before seen together. The
expression of this head was one of unparalleled sweetness
and of a majesty which she softened rather by disposition