st momentous and exciting period of modern times.
Her relations with influential and illustrious men of successive
revolutions were intimate and confidential; and though the _role_ she
played was but negative, the influence she exerted has closely connected
her with the political history of her country.

But interesting as her life is from this point of view, in its social
aspect it has a deeper significance. It is the life of a beautiful
woman,--and so varied and romantic, so fruitful in incident and rich in
experience, that it excites curiosity and invites speculation. It is a
life difficult, if not impossible, to understand. Herein lies its
peculiar and engrossing fascination. It is a curious web to unravel, a
riddle to solve, a problem at once stimulating and baffling. Like the
history of the times, it is full of puzzling contradictions and striking
contrasts. The daughter of a provincial notary, Madame Recamier was the
honored associate of princes. A married woman, she was a wife only in
name. A beauty and a belle, she was as much admired by her own as by the
other sex. A coquette, she changed passionate lovers into lifelong
friends. Accepting the open and exclusive homage of married men, she
continued on the best of terms with their wives. One day the mistress of
every luxury that wealth can command,--the next a bankrupt's wife. One
year the reigning "Queen of Society,"--the next a suspected exile. As
much flattered and courted when she was poor as while she was rich. Just
as fascinating when old and blind as while young and beautiful. Loss of
fortune brought no loss of power,--decline of beauty, no decrease of
admiration. Modelled by artists, flattered by princes, adored by women,
eulogized by men of genius, courted by men of letters,--the beloved of
the chivalric Augustus of Prussia, and the selfish, dreamy
Chateaubriand,--with the high-toned Montmorencys for her friends, and
the simple-minded Ballanche for her slave. Such were some of the
triumphs, such some of the contrasts in the life of this remarkable
woman.

It is hard to conceive of a more brilliant career, or of one more
calculated from its singularity to give rise to contradictory
impressions. This natural perplexity is much increased by the character
of Madame Recamier's memoirs, published in 1859, ten years after her
death. They are from the pen of Madame Lenormant, the niece of Monsieur
Recamier, and the adopted daughter of his wife. To her Madame R