f not so famous, was as
influential and fascinating to its frequenters as that of Madame
Recamier. Unlike as they were, they have often been compared. The
Recamier salon, with its slightly intoxicating perfume of elegance,
was infinitely more easy, more agreeable; the Swetchine salon, with
its bracing atmosphere of sanctity, was more earnest, more religious.
Though personal nobleness was honored in both, polished fashion
predominated in one, devout principle in the other. The presiding
genius of the former was the perfection of the best spirit of the
world; the presiding genius of the latter was the perfection of the
best spirit of the Catholic Church. The guests of Madame Recamier
went to the Abbaye-aux-Bois to please and to be pleased, to exchange
eloquent thoughts, to breathe chivalrous sentiments, and to enjoy an
exquisite grace of politeness never surpassed. The guests of Madame
Swetchine went to the Rue Saint-Dominique to take counsel on the
affairs of the higher politics, the interests of the nation, and the
welfare of the Church; to enjoy a community of faith and aspiration,
to refresh their best purposes, and to learn how more effectively to
serve the great ends to which they were pledged. There, liberty of
opinion and speech was unlimited, and a refined complacency aimed at;
here, loyalty to certain foregone principles and institutions was
expected, and a tacit spiritual direction maintained: but in both
were found the same delightful moderation, repose, and gracious
forbearance; the same reconciling skill; the same indescribable art
of ruling and leading while appearing to obey and follow.

These illustrious women were perhaps equal in the interest they
awakened, and the sway they exercised over their friends; but there
was a great difference in the secret of the charm which they
severally possessed. There is nothing more disagreeable in a
companion than pre-occupation, if it be pre-occupation with self;
nothing more fascinating, if it be pre-occupation with you, or with
something of universal authority and attraction. The spell of Madame
Recamier lay in her irresistible personal beauty, grace, and
graciousness; that of Madame Swetchine, in her unquestionable
greatness and goodness and simplicity. Each was marvellously self-
detached and kind to everybody. But Madame Recamier was an unoccupied
mirror, ready to reflect upon you what you brought before it; Madame
Swetchine, a mirror pre-occupied with the lovel