s Marivaux had reason to know as well as any of them,
and, had it not been for her efforts, he would never have belonged to the
French Academy. Her judgment of the literary productions of her friends
was most unprejudiced and judicious, so that whatever met with an
enthusiastic reception in her salon was reasonably certain of success in
the world.

After the death of Mme. de Tencin, in 1749, Marivaux frequented the
_mercredis_ of the _bonne maman_ Geoffrin, and, through friendship for
her, sustained the candidature of Marmontel for the French Academy.[24]
However, he must have felt ill at ease in company with the philosophers
and encylopedists who gave dignity to her salon, and, with his love of
admiration, must have sighed for the days when he shone so brilliantly in
the circle that surrounded Mme. de Lambert or Mme. de Tencin; and, perhaps
in sheer desperation, was led to seek in the salons of the brilliant but
discontented Mme. du Deffand, of that poet too highly valued by her
contemporaries, Mme. du Bocage, and of the actress Mlle. Quinault
_cadette_, that form of _preciosite_ for which his mind was suited, and
which he never found again, because he had outlived the fashion.

Marmontel, in describing the society that frequented the salon of Mme.
Geoffrin, mentions d'Alembert as "the gayest, the most animated, the most
amusing in his gayety,"[25] and goes on to say that Marivaux, too, "would
have liked to have this playful humour; but he had in his head an affair
which constantly preoccupied him and gave him an anxious air. As he had
acquired through his works the reputation of a keen and subtle wit, he
considered himself obliged to constantly display that turn of mind, and
was continually on the watch for ideas susceptible of contrast or
analysis, in order to set them off against each other or to put them
through a test. He would agree that such a thing was true up to a certain
point or under a certain aspect; but there was always some restriction,
some distinction to be made, which he alone had perceived. This labor of
attention was hard for him, often painful for the others; but sometimes
there resulted from it happy observations and brilliant hits. However, by
the anxiety of his glances, one could see that he was uneasy about the
success that he was having or might have. There never was, I think, a more
delicate, more tender, and more apprehensive _amour-propre_; but, as he
carefully considered that of others, th