ed for eighteen years. In 1791 she returned to Paris, where,
poor and forgotten, she died in 1803.

An actress or a singer who left a greater reputation through her wit,
the promptness and malignity of her repartee, and her extravagance,
than through her voice was Sophie Arnould, the pupil of Mlle. Clairon.
She was the daughter of an innkeeper; her first success was won
through her charming figure and her flexible voice. Some of the ladies
attached to the court of Louis XV., having heard her sing at evening
service during Passion week, had induced the royal chapel master to
employ her in the choir. There, and by the warm eulogies of Marmontel
during one of his toilette visits to Mme. de Pompadour, the attention
of the _maitresse-en-titre_ was called to her beauty and vocal charm.

Her debut was made with unusual success, but she afterward eloped with
the Comte de Lauraguais, who had made a wager that he could win the
beautiful artist. After her reappearance at Paris her career became a
long series of dissipations and unprecedented extravagances. She was
as witty as she was licentious, and many of her _bons mots_ have been
collected. It was she who characterized the great Necker and Choiseul,
on being shown a box containing their portraits: "That is receipt and
expenditure"--the credit and debit. She was one of the few prominent
women who died in favor and in comfortable circumstances.

The lowest and most depraved of this licentious class of women was
Mlle. La Guimard, the legitimate daughter of a factory inspector of
cloth. In 1758 she entered the opera as a ballet girl, but very
little is known of her during the first years of her career except in
connection with her numerous lovers. In about 1768 she was living in
most sumptuous style, her extravagances being paid for by two lovers,
the Prince de Soubise, her _amant utile_, and the farmer-general, M.
de La Borde, her _amant honoraire_.

At this period she gave three suppers weekly: one for all the great
lords at court and of distinction; the second for authors, scholars,
and artists; the third being a supper of _debauchees_, the most
seductive and lascivious girls of the opera; at the last function,
luxury and debauch were carried to unknown extremes. At her
superb country home, "Pantin," she gave private performances, the
magnificence of which was unprecedented and admission to which was an
honor as eagerly sought as was that of attendance at Versailles.

There