unsellor--the
indispensable element of society. There were three classes of
women--young women, mature women who sought consideration, and old
women who received respect and deference, and who, as arbiters of
culture, upheld the principles already established.

A young man making his debut had to find favor with one of those
classes which decided his future reputation and the extent of his
favor at court, and assigned him his place and grade, upon which
depended his marriage. All education was directed to the one
end--social success. The duty of the tutor charged with the
instruction of a young son was to give a well-rounded, general
education; by the mother, he was taught politeness, grace,
amiability--a part of his training to which more importance was
attached than to the intellectual portion. Whenever a young man was
guilty of misconduct toward a woman, his mother was notified of
the occurrence, on the same evening, and he promptly received his
reprimand. This spirit naturally fostered that rare politeness,
exquisite taste and tact in conversation, in which the eighteenth
century excels.

But where did the young girls receive the education which gave them
such prestige--that consummate art of conversation exemplified in
Mme. de Boufflers, Mme. de Luxembourg, Mme. de Sabran, the Duchess
of Choiseul, the Princess of Beauvau, the Countess of Segur? The sons
were educated in the usages of the _bonne compagnie_ by the mothers,
but the daughters did not enjoy that attention, for, at the age of
five or six years, they were sent to the convent; there the mother's
influence could not have reached them, and they never left the convent
except to marry. The middle class imitated the higher class, and
family life became practically impossible. All men of any importance
had a charge at court or a grade in the army, and lived away from
their families. A large number of women were attached to the queen,
spending the greater part of their time at Versailles; the little time
passed at their homes was entirely occupied in preparation for the
evening _causeries_ at the salons, in reading new books, acquiring
information upon current events, and in superintending the making of
the many necessary and always elaborate gowns; as M. Perey so well
says, "as the toilettes and hairdressing took up the greater part
of the morning, they devoted the time used by the _coiffeur_, in
constructing complicated edifices that crushed down the heads o