rse of law? But it is not enough for a
woman to have the reality of virtue--she must have the appearance also;
and every man has a right to be in that respect a Caesar. Already some
indiscretions of Madame Lebrun, which the openness and purity of her
mind could alone render excusable--her portrait drawn without her
husband's knowledge for the Sieur Grimod--a letter from that individual
to the lady, written in a style such as no one would use towards a lady
he respected--had begun to inspire the Sieur Lebrun with a certain
coolness. The whisperings at last, unjust as they were, no doubt, of a
malicious public--the advice of his friends--his own susceptibility,
made it imperative on him to come to a rupture, in which Madame Lebrun
should have been glad to join. And here is the letter he wrote to the
Sieur Grimod:--

_This 15th January 1774._

"There are a thousand circumstances, Sir, which every day make
it a man's duty no longer to see the persons who have
previously been most highly prized. I experience this myself in
declining an acquaintance with you, which in other respects I
greatly valued. You know better than any one else how much I
lose by this step. Madame Lebrun unites her regrets to mine,
and begs me to assure you, and also Madame Grimod, of her
affectionate thanks, ('de ses plus tendres remercimens.') I
have the honour to be, with perfect truth, and for the last
time," &c.

And the Sieur Grimod immediately replied--

"Your letter, Sir, did indeed surprise Madame Grimod and me,
who believed ourselves among the number of your friends, after
the many years we have had the honour to know you. We do not
know the motives for so sudden a quarrel; if you were pleased
with our society, we were no less so with yours. The number of
true friends we retain, does not hinder us from regretting
those we lose, in you and Madame Lebrun, to whom we beg you
will express our regret. We have the honour," &c.

After two such polite epistles, the reader would naturally expect that
the Sieur Lebrun and the Sieur Grimod, with their respective wives,
would toss their heads at each other when they met in the street, and
give the cut direct with the utmost unanimity. But another glance into
the _Memoire_ will soon convince him of his mistake. The Sieur Lebrun
may probably look vastly majestic, and pass the Sieur G