e." 0 the
grievous bitterness of past illusions! Madame Necker consoled herself
for the enmity of the court and for the impotence of that beneficence
which had been her dream by undertaking on her own account a difficult
reform, that of the hospitals of Paris, scenes, as yet, of an almost
savage disorderliness. The sight of sick, dead, and dying huddled
together in the same bed had excited the horror and the pity of Madame
Necker. She opened a little hospital, supported at her expense and under
her own direction, which still bears the name of Necker Hospital, and
which served as a model for the reforms attempted in the great public
establishments. M. Necker could not deny himself the pleasure of
rendering homage to his wife's efforts in a report to the king; the
ridicule thrown upon this honest but injudicious gush of conjugal pride
proved the truth of what Madame Necker herself said. "I did not know the
language of this country. What was called frankness in Switzerland
became egotism at Paris."

[Illustration: Necker Hospital----432]

The active charity of Madame Necker had won her the esteem of the
Archbishop of Paris, Christopher de Beaumont, a virtuous, fanatical
priest; he had gained a great lawsuit against the city of Paris, which
had to pay him a sum of three hundred thousand livres. "It is our wish,"
said the archbishop, "that M. Necker should dispose of these funds to the
greatest advantage for the state, trusting to his zeal, his love of good,
and his wisdom, for the most useful employment of the said funds, and
desiring further that no account be required of him, as to such
employment, by any person whatsoever." The prelate's three hundred
thousand livres were devoted to the internal repairs of the Hotel-Dieu.
"How is it," people asked, "that the archbishop thinks so highly of M.
Necker, and even dines with him?" "0!" answered the wicked wags, "it is
because M. Necker is not a Jansenist, he is only a Protestant."

Notwithstanding this unusual tolerance on the part of Christopher de
Beaumont, his Protestantism often placed M. Necker in an awkward
position. "The title of liberator of your Protestant brethren would be a
flattering one for you," said one of the pamphlets of the day, "and it
would be yours forever, if you could manage to obtain for them a civil
existence, to procure for them the privileges of a citizen, liberty and
tolerance. You are sure of a diminution in the power of the clergy.