much the fashion to
dwell upon her marvelous beauty, her kindness, and her irresistible
fascination, that she has become, to some extent, an ideal figure
invested with a subtle and poetic grace that folds itself about her
like the invisible mantle of an enchantress. Her actual relations to the
world in which she lived extended over a long period, terminating only
on the threshold of our own generation. Without strong opinions or
pronounced color, loyal to her friends rather than to her convictions,
of a calm and happy temperament, gentle in character, keenly
appreciative of all that was intellectually fine and rare, but without
exceptional gifts herself, fascinating in manner, perfect in tact, with
the beauty of an angel and the heart of a woman--she presents a fitting
close to the long reign of the salons.

We hear of her first in the bizarre circles of the Consulate, as the
wife of a man who was rather father than husband, young, fresh, lovely,
accomplished, surrounded by the luxuries of wealth, and captivating all
hearts by that indefinable charm of manner which she carried with her
to the end of her life. Both at Paris and at her country house at Clichy
she was the center of a company in which the old was discreetly mingled
with the new, in which enmities were tempered, antagonisms softened, and
the most discordant elements brought into harmonious rapport, for the
moment, at least, by her gracious word or her winning smile. Here we
find Adrien and Mathieu de Montmorency, who already testified the rare
friendship that was to outlive years and misfortunes; Mme. de Stael
before her exile; Narbonne, Barrere, Bernadotte, Moreau, and many
distinguished foreigners. Lucien Bonaparte was at her feet; LaHarpe was
devoted to her interests; Napoleon was trying in vain to draw her into
his court, and treasuring up his failure to another. The salon of Mme.
Recamie was not in any sense philosophical or political, but after the
cruel persecution of LaHarpe, the banishment or Mme. de Stael, and the
similar misfortunes of other friends, her sympathies were too strong for
her diplomacy, and it gradually fell into the ranks of the opposition.
It was well known that the emperor regarded all who went there as his
enemies, and this young and innocent woman was destined to feel the full
bitterness of his petty displeasure. We cannot trace here the incidents
of her varied career, the misfortunes of the father to whom she was a
ministering