oice, which was
compared with that of Catalani. She was much impressed by the noble
behavior of Madame Recamier at the time of her husband's bankruptcy;
and, by her delicate attentions, secured the most grateful love in
return. Their earnest and faithful affection lasted until death. A
novel, entitled "Une Passion dans le Grande Monde," in which Madame
de Stael and Madame Reeamier are the two chief characters, was left
for publication by Madame de Boigne at her death. It was published in
1866.

One of Madame Recamier's sweetest friendships was with the
accomplished and charming Elizabeth Foster, Duchess of Devonshire,
the fame of whose exquisite loveliness traversed the earth. The
duchess said of her friend, "At first she is good, then she is
intellectual, and after this she is very beautiful," a striking
compliment, when spoken, in relation to an admired rival, by one who
was herself so dazzlingly gifted. The order of precedence in her
charms, however, was differently recognized by men. They were subdued
successively by her beauty, her goodness, her judgment, her
character. The Duchess of Devonshire had known all the romance and
all the sorrow of life. Her experience had left upon her a melancholy
which attracted the heart almost as quickly as it did the eye, and
lent to her something pensive and caressing. Although a Protestant,
she had formed, during her long residence in Rome, an entire
friendship with the Cardinal Consalvi, who was the prime-minister and
favorite of Pope Pius VII through his whole pontificate. These two
beautiful women, as soon as they met, felt, by all the laws of
elective affinity, that they belonged to each other. The death of the
Pope was followed, in a few months, by that of his minister and
friend. During the illness of Consalvi, Madame Recamier shared all
the hopes, fears, and distresses of the duchess. And when the fatal
event had befallen, and the cardinal was laid in state, and the
romantic and despairing woman would go to look on her dead friend,
she accompanied her, deeply veiled, through the crowd, and knelt with
her, amidst the solemn pomp, in tears and prayer, beside the
unanswering clay. The duchess was struck to the heart by this
irreparable loss. All that a devoted sympathy could yield to soothe
and sustain, she received from Madame Recamier. And when, soon after,
unable to speak, she lay dying, she silently pressed the hand of this
faithful friend, as the final act of her exist