s
absolutely as during the monarchy. Barras was supreme. He had his
mistress, or _maitresse-en-titre_, in the beautiful Mme. Tallien,
the queen of beauty of the salon of _la mode_. Ease and dissolute
enjoyment were the aims of Barras, and in these his mistress was his
equal. They gave the most sumptuous dinners, prepared by the famous
chefs of the late aristocratic kitchens, while the people were
starving or living on black bread. She impudently arrayed herself in
the crown diamonds and appeared at the reception given to Napoleon.

The salons under the Empire are said to have preserved French
politeness, courtesy, and the usages of _la bonne compagnie_, but
intolerance and tyranny reigned there; the spirit of intrigue only was
obeyed. From the beginning of the Revolution to the Empire, it may be
said that the streets of Paris from one end to the other were a wild
turmoil of people in fever heat--ready for any crime or cruelty,
anxious for anything promising excitement. Where formerly the elegant
lovers of the nobility were wont to promenade, the rabid populace held
undisputed possession.

These were years, about 1780 to 1800, during which women shared the
same fate with men; and, consigned to the same prisons, ever resigned
and ready to die for principle, they knew how to die nobly. It was
truly an age of the martyrdom of woman--an age in which she lived,
through almost superhuman conditions, at the side of man. She was
all-powerful, triumphant as never before; not, however, through her
intellectual superiority as in the previous age, but through her
courage. There was not one powerful woman standing out alone,
but groups of them, hosts of them. It was during the Directorate
especially that woman controlled almost every phase of activity.

The woman who embodied all the heterogeneous vices of the past
nobility and the rising plebs was Mme. Tallien, the goddess of vice
and of the vulgar display of wealth. Her caprices were scrupulously
followed, while about her jealousy and slanders were thick. Then
immorality had no veil, but was low, brutish, and open to everyone.
With the accession of Napoleon to absolute power, there was a fusion
of the element just described with the remnant of the old regime.
Josephine soon formed a select and congenial social circle, excluding
Mme. Tallien and the Directorate adherents. Evidences of saddening
memories of the past and a general gloom were visible everywhere in
this circle. The