and happy did she
appear.

Josephine did many things that later on gradually helped reconcile
Napoleon to a divorce: her pride, her aristocratic tendencies,
extravagance and lavishness; her objection to the marriage of Hortense
to General Duroc on the grounds of humble birth; her religious
tendencies; her difficulty in keeping secrets, which led to highly
tragic scenes between her and Bonaparte; the encouragement she gave
to the jealousies and hatred of her brothers and sisters-in-law,
who maliciously slandered her at every opportunity; and finally, her
barrenness.

Her career after her divorce was honorable, and to-day Josephine is
still held in the highest esteem in France and in the world at large.
Her greatness is not in having been the wife of a great emperor, but
in knowing how to adapt herself to the conditions in France into which
she was suddenly thrust. As a conciliator and a mediator between two
almost hopelessly irreconcilable classes of society, she deserves a
prominent place among great French women.

Chapter XIV

Women of the Nineteenth Century

Among the unusually large number of prominent French women which the
nineteenth century produced, possibly not more than a half-dozen
names will survive,--Mme. de Stael, George Sand, Rosa Bonheur, Sarah
Bernhardt, Mme. Lebrun, and Rachel. This circumstance is, possibly,
largely due to the character of the century: its activity, its varied
accomplishments, its wide progress along so many lines, its social
development, its absolute freedom and tolerance--all of which tended
to open a field for women more extensive than in any preceding
century.

The salon, in its old-time glory, became a thing of the past; and
the passing of this institution lessened, to a large extent, the
possibility of great influence on the part of women. In short, the
mode of life became, in the nineteenth century, unfavorable to the
absolute power exercised by woman in former times. She was now on a
level with man, enjoying more privileges and being looked upon more as
the equal and possible rival of man. It became necessary for woman to
make and establish her own position, whereas, under the old regime,
her power and position were established by custom, which regarded her
vocation as entirely distinct from that of man. The result was a host
of prominent and active women, but few really great ones. Undoubtedly
by far the most important and influential was Madame de Stael, but