, she wrote, in
the following year, her "Notions d'Histoire a l'usage des Enfants"
(1851). The narrative of her journey in Asia Minor appeared at a later
date in the well-known pages of the _Revue des deux Mondes_.

Having recovered possession of her estates, thanks to the amnesty
proclaimed by the Emperor Francis Joseph, she sought in literary labour
a field for the activity of her restless intellect. Balzac points to
that great female artist and republican, the Duchess of San-Severins, in
Stendhal's "La Chartreuse de Parme," as a portrait of the princess.
Whether this be so or not, she was assuredly one of the most conspicuous
and original figures of the time.

Her chief title to literary reputation rests upon her "Etudes sur
l'Asie-Mineure et sur les Turcs." In reference to these luminous and
eloquent sketches, a critic says: "I have read many works descriptive of
Mussulman manners, but have never met with one which gave so exact and
full an idea of Oriental life." But in the princess's writings we must
not seek for those richly coloured pictures, those highly decorative
paintings in which style plays the principal part--pictures composed for
effect, and entirely indifferent to accuracy of detail or truth of
composition. She never seeks to dazzle or beguile the reader; her
language is direct and vigorous and full of vitality because it always
embodies the truth.

No one has shown a juster appreciation of that strange Eastern
institution, the harem, though it is no easy thing to form a clear and
impartial judgment upon a system so alien to Western ideas and revolting
to Christian morality. A vast amount of unprofitable rhetoric has been
expended upon this subject. Let us turn to the princess's discriminative
statement of facts.

After explaining the many points of contrast between the people of the
East and the people of the West, she continues:--

"Of all the virtues held in repute by Christian society, hospitality is
the only one which the Mussulmans think themselves bound to practise.
Where duties are few, it is natural they should be greatly respected.
The Orientals, therefore, have recognized in its highest form this sole
and unique virtue, this solitary constraint which they have agreed to
impose upon themselves.

"Unfortunately, every virtue which is content with appearances is
subject to sudden changes. This is what has happened--is happening
to-day--in respect of Oriental hospitality. A Mussulman will