ery article of interior
furnishing, was draped in the sombre hue; she no longer went out and
her house was open only to relatives and those who came to pay visits
of condolence. Unless she married again, she remained in mourning all
her life; but it should not be understood that the veil concealed her
coquetry or prevented her from enjoying her liberty and planning her
future. Then, as to-day, there were many examples of fanaticism and
folly; one widow would endeavor to commit suicide; another lived with
the figure of her husband in wax; another conversed, for several
hours of the day, with the shade of her husband; others consecrated
themselves to the church.

This all-supreme sway of love and its attributes, left its impression
and lasting effect upon the physiognomy of the mistress; in the early
part of the century, the mistress was chosen from the respectable
aristocracy and the nobility; gradually, however, the limits of
selection were extended until they included the _bourgeoisie_ and,
finally, the offspring of the common _femme du peuple_. A woman
from any profession, from any stratum of society, by her charm and
intelligence, her original discoveries and inventions of debauch
and licentiousness, could easily become the heroine of the day, the
goddess of society, the goal and aspiration of the used-up _roues_
of the aristocracy. Under Louis XIV., such popularity was an
impossibility to a woman of that sort, but society under the Regency
seemed to have awakened from the torpor and gloom of the later years
of the monarchy to a reign of unrestrained gayety and vice.

The first woman to infect the social atmosphere of the nobility with a
new form of extravagance and licentiousness was Adrienne Le Couvreur,
who was the heroine of the day during the first years of the Regency.
She was the daughter of a hatter, who had gone to Paris about 1702;
while employed as a laundress, she often gave proof of the possession
of remarkable dramatic genius by her performances at private
theatricals. In 1717, through the influence of the great actor Baron,
she made her appearance at the Comedie Francaise; the reappearance of
that favorite with Adrienne Le Couvreur as companion, in the plays of
Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire, reestablished the popularity of the
French theatre. Adrienne immediately became a favorite with the titled
class, was frequently present at Mme. de Lambert's, gave the most
sumptuous suppers herself, and was co