disappointment of the nobility on returning from
their exile was somewhat lessened by the very select bi-weekly
reunions in the salon of Talleyrand, and by the brilliant suppers of
the old regime, which were revived at the Hotel d'Anjou.

The salon of Mme. de Stael was a political debating club rather than
a purely social reunion. She being an ardent Republican, it was in
her salon that the Royalist plot to bring back the Bourbons was
overthrown. In a short time there were a number of brilliant salons,
each one showing a nature as distinct as those of the eighteenth
century. Thus, Joseph Bonaparte received the distinguished
governmentals and the intriguing women of society at the Chateau de
Mortfoulaine; at Lucien Bonaparte's hotel youth and beauty assembled;
at Mme. de Permon's salon there were music and conversation, tea,
lemonade, and biscuits, twice a week. It remains but to characterize
these different ages of French social and political evolution by the
great women who, each one of her age, are the representative types.

The woman who, during the Revolution, not only added her name to the
long list of martyrs, but who also made history and contributed to the
very nature of those days of terror and uncertainty, was Mme. Roland,
whom critics both extol and condemn--the fate of all historical
characters. It would be difficult to estimate this remarkable person
and her work without some details of her life.

When a mere girl she showed signs of a tempestuous future; she
was seductive, but impulsive, with an inborn love for the common
people--which is not always credited to her--and for democracy. These
qualities were quickened during her experience at Versailles, for
while there for a few days' visit she saw the pitiless social world in
all its orgies, revelries of luxury, and wanton extravagances.
There, also, she contracted that deep-seated hatred for the queen and
royalty.

There was, indeed, a long list of suitors for the hand of the
impulsive maiden; but owing to her views as to a husband and her
restless, unsettled state of mind, she could not decide upon any one
of them. To her mother, when urged to accept one, she said: "I should
not like a husband to order me about, for he would teach me only to
resist him; but neither do I wish to rule my husband. Either I am
much mistaken, or those creatures, six feet high, with beard on their
chins, seldom fail to make us feel that they are stronger; now, if the
good