lords, and
ladies. It had activity, authority, the secret doors, veiled and
redoubtable depths of a salon of the mistress of a king. Everybody
went there for counsel, submitted plans, and confided projects to this
lady who had willingly exiled herself from Paris.

The house of M. de La Popeliniere, at Passy, was noted for its unique
entertainment; there the celebrated Gossec and Gaiffre conducted the
concerts, Deshayes, master of the ballet at the Comedie-Italienne,
managed the amusements. It was a house like a theatre and with all the
requisites of the latter; there artists and men of letters, virtuosos
and _danseuses_, ate, slept, and lodged as in a hotel. With Mme. de
Blot, mistress of the Duke of Orleans, as hostess, the Palais-Royal
ranked next to the Temple of the Prince de Conti; it was open only to
those who were presented; after that ceremony, all those who were thus
introduced could, without invitation, dine there on all days of the
Grand Opera. On the _petits jours_ a select twenty gathered, who, when
once invited, were so for all time. The "Salon de Pomone," of Mme.
de Marchais, received its name from Mme. du Deffand on account of the
exquisite fruits and magnificent flowers which the hostess cultivated
and distributed among her friends.

"La Paroisse," of Mme. Doublet de Persan, was the salon of the
sceptics and was under the constant surveillance of the police. All
the members arrived at the same time and each took possession of the
armchair reserved for him, above which hung his portrait. On a
large stand were two registers, in which the rumors of the day were
noted--in one the doubtful, in the other the accredited. On Saturday,
a selection was made, which went to the _Grand Livre_, which became a
journal entitled _Nouvelles a la Main_, kept by the _valet-de-chambre_
of Mme. Doublet. This book furnished the substance of the six volumes
of the _Memoires Secrets_, which began to appear in 1770.

Besides these salons of the nobility, there were those of the
financiers, a profession which had risen into prominence within the
last half century, after the death of Louis XIV. According to the
Goncourt brothers, the greatest of these salons was that of Mme.
de Grimrod de La Reyniere, who, by dint of shrewd manoeuvring, by
unheard-of extravagances, excessive opulence in the furnishings of
her salon, and by the most gorgeous and rare fetes and suppers, had
succeeded in attracting to her establishment a number o