rinces of the blood were glad to pay her homage. She
became almost as powerful as Mme. de Pompadour, but her influence was
not directed in the same channels.

Her life was a mere senseless dream of _femme galante_, a luxurious
revel, a constant whirl of pleasures, and extravagance in jewelry,
silks, gems, etc. A service in silver was no longer rich enough--she
had one in solid gold. To house all her gems of art, rare objects,
furniture, she caused to be constructed a temple of art, "Luciennes,"
one of the most sumptuous, exquisite structures ever fitted out. The
money for this was supplied by the _controleur general_, the Abbe
Ferray, whose politics, science, duty, and aim in life consisted in
never allowing Mme. du Barry to lack money. All discipline, morality,
in fact everything, degenerated.

She had no rancor or desire for vengeance; she never humiliated those
whom she could destroy; she always punished by silence, yet never won
eternal silence by letters patent; generous to a fault, giving and
permitting everything about her to be taken, she opened her purse to
all who were kind to her and to all who happened in some way to please
her. Keeping the heart of Louis XV. was no easy matter, as the case of
Mme. de Pompadour clearly showed. The majority of his friends and her
enemies endeavored to force a new mistress upon the king; surrounded
on all sides by candidates for her coveted position, Mme. du Barry
managed to hold her own. When the king was prostrated by smallpox, he
sent her away on the last day.

The reign of Mme. du Barry was not one of tyranny, nor was it a
domination in the strict sense of that word; for she was a nonentity
politically, without ideas or plans. "Study the favor of Mme. du
Barry: nothing that emanates from her belongs to her; she possesses
neither an idea nor an enemy; she controls all the historical events
of her time, without desiring them, without comprehending them....
She serves friendships and individuals, without knowing how to serve a
cause or a system or a party, and she is protected by the providential
course of things, without having to worry about an effort, intrigues,
or gratitude."

Her power and influence cannot be compared with those of her
predecessor, Mme. de Pompadour. Modes were followed, but never
invented by her. "With her taste for the pleasures of a grisette,
her patronage falls from the opera to the couplet, from paintings and
statuaries to bronzes and sculpture