eighteenth century called 'robes of
combat,' armed in that toilette in which the eyes of a blind woman
(Mme. du Deffand) see the destiny of Europe and the fate of ministers;
and it is an apparition so beaming, so dazzling, that, in the first
moments of surprise, the greatest enemies of the favorite cannot
escape the charm of the woman, and renounce calumniating her beauty."

According to reports, her beauty must have been of the ideal type of
the time. All the portraits and images that Mme. du Barry has left
of herself, in marble, engraving, or on canvas, show a _mignonne_
perfection of body and face. Her hair was long, silky, of an ashen
blonde, and was dressed like the hair of a child; her brows and lashes
were brown, her nose small and finely cut. "It was a complexion which
the century compared to a roseleaf fallen into milk. It was a
neck which was like the neck of an antique statue...." In her were
victorious youth, life, and a sort of the divinity of a Hebe; about
her hovered that charm of intoxication, which made Voltaire cry out
before one of her portraits: _L'original etait fait pour les dieux!_
[The original was made for the gods!]

In her lofty position, Mme. du Barry sought to overcome the objections
of the titled class, to quell jealousies and petty quarrels; she did
not usurp any power and always endeavored not to trouble or embarrass
anyone. After some time, she succeeded in winning the favor of some of
the ladies, and, when her influence was fairly well established, she
began to plan the overthrow of her enemy, De Choiseul, minister of
Louis XV. She became the favorite of artists and musicians, and
all Europe began to talk and write about this woman whom art had
immortalized on canvas and who was then controlling the destinies of
France. She succeeded, under the apprenticeship of her lover, the
Duc d'Aiguillon, who was the outspoken enemy of De Choiseul, in
accomplishing the fall of the minister and the fortune of her friend.
This success required but a short time for its culmination, for in
1770 he was deprived of his office and was exiled to Chantilly.

Mme. du Barry was never an implacable enemy; she was too kind-hearted
for that; thus, when her friend D'Aiguillon insisted on depriving
De Choiseul of his fortune, she managed to procure for the latter
a pension of sixty-thousand livres and one million ecus in cash,
in spite of the opposition of D'Aiguillon. After the fall of that
minister all the p