talent. During these
years, while he was under the influence of madame, appeared _Merope_,
_Alzire_, the _Siecle de Louis XIV_, etc.

Mme. du Chatelet was the one great _femme savante_ of that century. In
the preface to her _Traduction des Principes Mathematiques de Newton_,
Voltaire wrote: "Never was a woman so _savante_ as she, and never did
a woman merit less the saying, _she is a femme savante_. She did
not select her friends from those circles where there was a war of
_esprit_, where a sort of tribunal was established, where they judged
their century, by which, in recompense, they were severely judged.
She lived for a long time in societies which were ignorant of what she
was, and she took no notice of this ignorance. The words precision,
justness, and force are those which correctly describe her elegance.
She would have written as Pascal and Nicole did rather than like Mme.
de Sevigne; but this severe firmness and this tendency of her _esprit_
did not make her inaccessible to the beauties of sentiment."

Maupertuis, the astronomer, wrote: "What a marvel, moreover, to have
been able to combine the fine qualities of her sex with the sublime
knowledge which we believe uniquely made for us! This enterprising
phenomenon will make her memory eternally respected."

Chapter IX

Salon Leaders--(Continued)

Mme. Necker, Mme. d'Epinay, Mme. de Genlis: Minor Salons

It seems strange indeed that in a century in which the universal
impulse was toward pleasure, and sameness of personality was
visible everywhere, the types of great women showed such an absolute
dissimilarity. The contrast between the natural inclinations of Mme.
Necker, the wife of the great minister of finance, and the atmosphere
in which she lived, makes the study of her a most interesting one.
Born in Switzerland, the daughter of Curchod, a poor Protestant
minister, "with patriarchal morals, solid education, and strong
good sense," this moral and stern woman was thrown into the midst of
depraved elegance, refined licentiousness, and physical debauchery.
Sincere, chaste, enthusiastic, and essentially religious, she remained
so amidst all the corruption and physical and mental degeneracy of the
age.

Critics have made much ado over her marriage, a union of pure love and
mutual inclinations, amidst the marriages of mere convenience and the
gallant liaisons, such as those of Mme. du Deffand and _le President_
Henault, and Mme. d'Epinay and Grimm.