re, my want of sympathy with the artificial style of French
tragedy, and perhaps my youthful remembrance of our great tragedian Mrs.
Siddons, made me unjust to Mademoiselle Duchenois, who, although ugly,
was certainly an excellent actress and a favourite of the public. I was
so fond of the theatre that I enjoyed comedy quite as much as tragedy,
and was delighted with Mademoiselle Mars, whom we saw in Tartuffe. Some
years later I saw her again, when, although an old woman, she still
appeared handsome and young upon the stage, and was as graceful and
lively as ever.

Soon after our dinner party at Arcueil, we went to pay a morning visit
to Madame de la Place. It was late in the day; but she received us in
bed elegantly dressed. I think the curtains were of muslin with some
gold ornaments, and the coverlet was of rich silk and gold. It was the
first time that I had ever seen a lady receive in that manner. Madame
Laplace was lively and agreeable; I liked her very much.

We spent a most entertaining day with M. and Madame Cuvier at the Jardin
des Plantes, and saw the Museum, and everything in that celebrated
establishment. On returning to the house, we found several people had
come to spend the evening, and the conversation was carried on with a
good deal of spirit; the Countess Albrizzi, a Venetian lady, of high
acquirements, joined in it with considerable talent and animation.
Cuvier had a very remarkable countenance, not handsome, but agreeable,
and his manner was pleasing and modest, and his conversation very
interesting. Madame de Stael having died lately, was much discussed. She
was much praised for her good-nature, and for the brilliancy of her
conversation. They agreed, that the energy of her character, not old
age, had worn her out. Cuvier said, the force of her imagination misled
her judgment, and made her see things in a light different from all the
world. As a proof of this, he mentioned that she makes Corinne lean on a
marble lion which is on a tomb in St. Peter's, at Rome, more than twenty
feet high. Education was very much discussed. Cuvier said, that when he
was sent to inspect the schools at Bordeaux and Marseilles, he found
very few of the scholars who could perform a simple calculation in
arithmetic; as to science, history, or literature, they were unknown,
and the names of the most celebrated French philosophers, famed in other
countries, were utterly unknown to those who lived in the provinces. M.
Biot