nd was told that the Marechale de Luxembourg,
Mme. du Deffand, Mme. de Boufflers, and Mme. Marchais were
frequenters, she said: "These four women are so discredited by
manners, and the first two are so dangerous, that for thirty years
they have been the horror of society."

The two portraits by Marmontel and Galiani are interesting, as
throwing light upon the doings of her salon. Marmontel wrote: "Mme.
Necker is very virtuous and instructed, but emphatic and stiff. She
does not know Mme. de Sevigne, whom she praises, and only esteems
Buffon and Thomas. She calculates all things; she sought men of
letters only as trumpets to blow in honor of her husband. He never
said a word; that was not very recreating."

Galiani leaves a different impression: "There is not a Friday that
I do not go to your house _en esprit_. I arrive, I find you now busy
with your headdress, now busy with this duchess. I seat myself at your
feet. Thomas quietly suffers, Morellet shows his anger aloud. Grimm
and Suard laugh heartily about it, and my dear Comte de Greuze does
not notice it. Marmontel finds the example worthy to be imitated,
and you, madame, make two of your most beautiful virtues do battle,
bashfulness and politeness, and in this suffering you find me a little
monster more embarrassing than odious. Dinner is announced. They leave
the table and in the cafe all speak at the same time. M. Necker thinks
everything well, bows his head and goes away."

In summer her receptions were first held at the Chateau de Madrid,
and, later on, in a chateau at Saint-Ouen; the guests were always
called for and returned in carriages supplied by the hostess. It was
in her salon, in 1770, that the plan originated to erect the statue
of Voltaire, which is to-day the famous statue of the _Palais de
l'Institute_.

When, during the stirring times before the Revolution, her salon took
on a purely political nature, Mme. Necker played a very secondary
role. In 1788 she and her husband were compelled to leave Paris; but
being recalled by Louis XVI., Necker managed affairs for thirteen
months, after which he retired with Mme. Necker to Coppet, where, in
1794, the latter died.

Mme. Necker never became a thorough Frenchwoman; she always lacked
the grace and charm which are the necessary qualifications of a salon
leader; intelligence was her most meritorious quality. Her dinners
were apt to become tiresome and to drag. A very interesting story is
told of her by