., thus
making herself felt as an influence to be reckoned with in matters
literary and moral.

As Mme. Guizot, she naturally had a powerful influence upon her
husband, shaping his thoughts and theories, for she immediately
espoused his principles and interests. In 1821, at the age of
forty-eight, she began her literary work again, after a period of
rest, writing novels in which the maternal love and the ardent and
pious sentiments of a woman married late in life are reflected. In
her theories of education she showed a highly practical spirit.
Sainte-Beuve said that, next to Mme. de Stael, "she was the woman
endowed with the most sagacity and intelligence; the sentiment that
she inspires is that of respect and esteem--and these terms can only
do her justice."

Mme. de Duras, in her salon, represented the Restoration, "by
a composite of aristocracy and affability, of brilliant wit and
seriousness, semi-liberal and somewhat progressive." Her credit lies
in the fact that, by her keen wit, she kept in harmony a heterogeneous
mixture of social life. She wrote a number of novels, which are,
for the most part, "a mere delicate and discreet expression of her
interior life."

Mme. Ackermann, German in her entire make-up, was, among French female
writers, one of the deepest thinkers of the nineteenth century. A
true mystic, she was, from early youth, filled with ardent, dreamy
vagaries, to which she gave expression in verse--poems which reflect
a pessimism which is rather the expression of her life's experiences,
and of twenty-four years of solitude after two years of happy wedded
state, than an actual depression and a discouraging philosophy of
life. Her poetry shows a vigor, depth, precision of form, and strength
of expression seldom found in poetry of French women.

One of the most conspicuous figures in the latter half of the
nineteenth century is Mme. Adam,--Juliette Lamber,--an unusual woman
in every respect. In 1879 she founded the _Nouvelle Revue_, on the
plan of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, for which she wrote political
and literary articles which showed much talent. In politics she is a
Republican and something of a socialist, a somewhat sensational--but
modestly sensational--figure. She has been called "a necessary
continuator of George Sand." Her salon was the great centre for
all Republicans and one of the most brilliant and important of this
century. In literature her name is connected with the movement called