iterary style of that
century, the words of Marmontel may be quoted: "He who wishes to write
with precision, energy, and vigor, may live with man only; but he who
in his style wishes to have subtleness, amenity, charm, flexibility,
will do well, I think, to live with woman."

Mme. de Tencin exerted an immense influence upon the men of her
circle, especially socially; for example, she married the wealthy M.
de La Popeliniere to Mlle. Dancourt. She was one of the few really
consummate diplomats; later on, she became less associated with
intrigues, and gave lessons in current diplomacy, with which she was
perfectly familiar. Her counsel to her pupils was to gain friends
among women rather than among men. "For," she would say, "we do
whatever we wish with men; they are so dissipated, or so preoccupied
with their personal interests, that to give attention to them would be
to neglect your own interests."

Every New Year's Day the _betes_ of her menagerie received two yards
of velvet, to make knickerbockers to be worn at her receptions; this
custom was observed up to the last year of the existence of her salon.
Her receptions were among the first of the kind in France. Like the
majority of salon leaders, she was an authoress of no mean ability.
Her novels were widely read at the time--_Le Siege de Calais_ and _Les
Malheurs de l'Amour_. Her memoirs, throwing light upon the intrigues
and plots, social animosities, and general state of the society of the
time, are historically valuable. She died in Paris, in 1749.

Among all the great salons, that of Mme. de Tencin was the only one in
which gambling was indulged in on a wholesale scale; fortunes changed
hands every evening, a large part of the gains always falling to the lot
of the hostess, as a sort of "rake off." She herself was a professional
at the business, and by receiving private information from headquarters,
through her famous friend Law, the _controleur-general_, and her lover
Dubois, she was able to acquire an immense fortune which she distributed
freely among her friends and favorites. Her place among the literary
salon leaders depends mainly upon her endeavors to advance the interests
of the aspiring young authors who were willing to place themselves under
her protection.

After the death of Mme. de Tencin and that of Mme. de Chatelet, who
had received many of the celebrities of the time, there remained but
two distinguished, purely literary and philosophical sal