ed variety in her pleasure--new people, new
pursuits, new amusements, new agitations for her hungry mind; she was
too critical to be contented and to put implicit trust in her friends.
An agnostic, always endeavoring to probe into the nature of things,
the possession of a personal, living faith was yet the strongest
desire of her heart; all her life she longed for the peace that
religion affords, but this was denied her, although she had the
spiritual assistance of the most famous of the clergy, attended
church, had her oratory, her confessor, and faithfully studied the
Bible; all was vain--belief would not come to her. The marriage tie
was not sacred to her, which was the case with many of the French
women of the day, but she went further in lacking all reverence for
religious ceremony, though she respected the beliefs of others.

She was all wit and intellectuality. In order to keep her friends from
falling under the spell of ennui, she devoted herself to the culinary
art, and her suppers became famous for their rare dishes. "She is an
example of the type that was predominant in the time--one that had
lived too much and was dying from excess of knowledge and pleasure;
but she sought that which did not exist in that age,--serenity, peace,
faith. She was passionate, sensitive, and sympathetic, in a cold,
heartless, and unfeeling world. She needed variety; being bored with
society, solitude, husband, lovers, herself, nothing remained for her
but to await deliverance by death." This came to her in 1780.

In matters literary, Mme. du Deffand preserved an absolute liberty
and independence of opinion. She refused to accept the verdicts of the
most competent judges; with instinctive attractions and repulsions,
she found but few writers that pleased her. Boileau, Lesage, Chamfort,
were her favorites. She said that Buffon was of an unendurable
monotony. "He knows well what he knows, but he is occupied with beasts
only; one must be something of a beast one's self in order to devote
one's self to such an occupation."

As a writer, she showed remarkable good sense, admirable sincerity,
rare judgment, justness, and precision; depth and charm were present
in a less degree than were other desirable qualities, but she
exhibited excellent _esprit_. She was probably the most subtile, and
at the same time the most fastidious person of the century. The best
portraits of her were written by her own pen; two of them we give, one
written