fectionate veneration. M. de Maistre said
of her, "More loyalty, intellect, and learning were never seen joined
to so much goodness." The Viscount de Bonald said, "She is a friend
worthy of you; and one of the best heads I have ever met, effect or
cause of the most excellent qualities of the heart with which a
mortal can be endowed." The poet Turquety sent her an exquisite poem,
descriptive of herself and of his feelings towards her. She wrote in
reply, "Before thanking you, I have thanked God for giving your heart
such an impression of me, unworthy of it as I am. The illusion which
arises from affection is another grace, I had almost said another
virtue. Your accent has a persuasive sincerity; and faith, when it is
vivid, believes in miracles." And then she thus delicately indicates
her objection to the publication of the verses: "I condemn this
charming flower to enchant only my solitude; but this is the better
to gather its fragrance, and it will survive me."

An invaluable friendship also existed between Madame Swetchine and
Alexander the Emperor of Russia, one of the most interesting and
romantic characters of modern time, of whom she said to Roxandra
Stourdza, "Already above other men, by his glory; by the influence of
religion, he will be above himself." When the famous mystical Madame
de Kriidener appealed to him, in the name of virtue and of religion,
to be true to his own better nature, he burst into tears, and hid his
face in his hands. As she paused apologetically, he exclaimed, "Speak
on, speak on: your voice is music to my soul." She obtained a great
influence over him. He had likewise an enthusiastic attachment for
Napoleon; and Madame de Kriidener called them respectively the white
angel and the black angel. His sensibility to all generous
sentiments, all thoughts of poetic height and richness, was
extraordinarily tender and expansive. He was often known, in the
overwhelming re-action of his emotions, convulsed with tears, to leap
into his carriage alone, and drive out into the solitary country or
forest. Such were the exalted traits of his character, and his many
beautiful deeds, that Madame Swetchine felt her natural relations of
duty and submission transmuted into those of vivid admiration and
devotion. "I fully sympathize," she writes to her earliest bosom-
friend, "with the vivacity of your admiration for our dear Emperor.
What a happiness to be able to eulogize with truth! Let us hope we
are in th