nature, appears clearly
from the few expressions of her mind which are preserved to us. For
example, she says, "No one knows better than myself how weak our
nature is, unless it has some lofty aim beyond the reach of passion."
And again she says, "Our race is one which must have duties, in order
to form its feelings."

In speaking thus of Auguste Comte, I am not ignorant of his foibles
of character, the morbid side of his ill-balanced mind and heart. But
the unquestionable greatness and nobleness of the man are so much
superior to his weaknesses, and are so much less appreciated by the
public, that I can treat his memory only with reverence, willingly
leaving to others the ungrateful task of ridiculing or scorning him.
He had, no doubt, an exaggerated pride and vanity. But he labored for
truth and his fellow-men with transcendent fidelity. His irascible
egotism made him suffer its own punishment. His lot was lonely and
was painful. The solace of the stainless friendship which Madame
Clotilde de Vaux brought him appeals to my most respectful sympathy.
And it has a lesson which many of those who sneer would be benefited
by appropriating. Let us leave the history with the breathing words
of Comte himself:

"Adieu, my unchangeable companion! Adieu, my holy Clotilde, who art
to me at once wife, sister, and daughter! Adieu, my dear pupil, and
my fit colleague. Thy celestial inspiration will dominate the
remainder of my life, public as well as private, and preside over my
progress towards perfection, purifying my sentiments, ennobling my
thoughts, and elevating my conduct. Perhaps, as the principal reward
of the grand tasks yet left for me to complete under thy powerful
invocation, I shall inseparably write thy name with my own, in the
latest remembrances of a grateful humanity."

When Paul, the Czar of Russia, espoused the Princess Marie de
Wurtemburg, Sophie Soymonof, then in her sixteenth year, and
distinguished for her accomplishments, was chosen maid of honor to
the new empress. Marie was endowed with rare beauty, and surrounded
by seductions and difficulties; but she set such an example of
amiable and solid virtue in her lofty place, that calumny never
assailed her.

A strong affection, based on mutual esteem and tenderness, sprang up
between the empress and her maid. This affection was never
interrupted nor chilled. The fury and puerility, the monstrous pride
and jealousy, of Paul, made him constantly quarrel with