rt read in her
correspondence that she had been the mistress of Guibert for sixteen
years, he was disconsolate, and retired to the Louvre, which was
his privilege as Secretary of the Academy. He left there only to go
walking in the evening with Marmontel, who tried to console him by
recalling the changeableness of humor of Mlle. de Lespinasse. "Yes,"
he would reply, "she has changed, but not I; she no longer lived for
me, but I always lived for her. Since she is no longer, I don't
know why I am living. Ah, that I must still suffer these moments of
bitterness which she knew so well how to soothe and make me forget!
Do you remember the happy evenings we used to pass? What is there now?
Instead of her, when coming home, I find only her shadow! This Louvre
lodging is itself a tomb, which I enter only with fright."

Mlle. de Lespinasse died of grief for a lover's death, but she left
a group of lovers to lament her loss. In many respects she was not
unlike Mlle. de Scudery; exceptionally plain, her face was much
marked with smallpox, a disfigurement not uncommon in those days; her
exceedingly piercing and fine eyes, beautiful hair, tall and elegant
figure, excellent taste in dress, pleasing voice and a most brilliant
talent for conversation, combined to make her one of the most
attractive and popular women of her time. As previously stated, she
was the only female admitted to the dinners given by Mme. Geoffrin to
her men of letters.

Mme. du Deffand's friend, _le President_ Henault, left the following
portrait of Mlle. de Lespinasse: "You are cosmopolitan--you are
suitable to all occasions. You like company--you like solitude.
Pleasures amuse, but do not seduce you. You have very strong passions,
and of the best kind, for they do not return often. Nature, in
endowing you with an ordinary state, gave you something with which to
rise above it. You are distinguished, and, without being beautiful,
you attract attention. There is something piquant in you; one might
obstinately endeavor to turn your head, but it would be at one's own
expense. Your will must be awaited, because you cannot be made to
come. Your cheerfulness embellishes you, and relaxes your nerves,
which are too highly strung. You have your own opinion, and you leave
others their own. You are extremely polite. You have divined _le
monde_. In vain one would transplant you--you would take root
anywhere. In short, you are not an ordinary person."

The salon of Mlle.