s,
however, depended upon the disposal of her husband, which was easily
arranged by Louis, who ordered Le Normand d'Etioles from Paris, thus
securing her from any harm from him. The brothers De Goncourt write
thus of her talents:

"Marvellous aptitudes, a scholarly and rare education, had given to
this young woman all the gifts and virtues that made of a woman what
the eighteenth century called a virtuoso, an accomplished model of
the seductions of her time. Jeliotte had taught her singing and the
clavecin; Guibaudet, dancing; Crebillon had taught her declamation and
the art of diction; the friends of Crebillon had formed her young mind
to _finesse_, to delicacies, to lightness of sentiment, and to irony
of the _esprit_ of the time. All the talents of grace seemed to be
united in her. No woman mounted a horse better; none captured applause
more quickly than did she with her voice and instrument; none recalled
in a better way the tone of Gaussin or the accent of Clairon; none
could tell a story better. And there where others could vie with her
in coquetry, she carried off the honors by her genius of toilette, by
the graceful turn she gave to a mere rag, by the air she imparted to
a mere nothing which ornamented her, by the characteristic signature
which her taste gave to everything she wore."

To please and charm, Mme. d'Etioles had a complexion of the most
striking whiteness, lips somewhat pale, and eyes of an indescribable
color in which were blended and compounded the seduction of black
eyes, the seduction of blue eyes. She had magnificent chestnut hair,
ravishing teeth, and the most delicious smile which "hollowed her
cheeks into two dimples which the engraving of _La Jardiniere_ shows;
she had a medium-sized and round waist, perfect hands, a play
of gestures lively and passionate throughout, and, above all, a
physiognomy of a mobility, of a changeableness, of a marvellous
animation, wherein the soul of the woman passed ceaselessly, and
which, constantly in process of change, showed in turn an impassioned
and imperious tenderness, a noble seriousness, or roguish graces."

In September, 1745, she was formally presented to the queen and
court as the Marquise de Pompadour, and, in October, was installed
at Fontainebleau in the apartments formerly occupied by Mme. de
Chateauroux, who had just died. Her position was not an easy one,
for all the superb jealousy and hateful scorn which the aristocracy
cherished against