f
women, to the reading of new books."

Nearly every large establishment kept open house, dining from twenty
to thirty persons every day. They dined at one, separated at three,
were at the theatre at five, and returned with as many friends as
possible--the more, the greater the reputation for hospitality and
popularity. Under such circumstances, the mother had no time for the
daughters, nor were the conversations at those dinners food for
young, innocent girls--and innocence was the first requirement of a
marriageable young woman.

The great convents were the Abbaye-aux-Bois and Penthemont, where the
daughters of the wealthiest and highest families were educated. In
those convents or seminaries, strange to say, the young girls were
taught the most practical domestic duties, as well as dancing, music,
painting, etc. Such teachers as Mole and Larrive gave instruction in
declamation and reading, and Noverre and Dauberval in dancing; the
teaching nuns were all from the best families. The most complete
costumes, scenic decorations, and other equipments of a complete
theatre were supplied, special hours being set aside for the play.
However, much intriguing went on there, and many friendships and
lifelong enmities were formed, which later led to serious troubles.

Often, from the midst of a group of young girls of from ten to fifteen
years of age, one would be notified of her coming marriage with a man
she had never seen, and whom, in all probability, she could not
love, having given her heart to another. If it turned out to be an
uncongenial marriage, a separate life would be the result, and, while
still absolutely ignorant of the world, those young married women
would fall prey to the charms of young gallants or men of quality, and
a liaison would follow.

The difference between a liaison of the seventeenth century and one
of the eighteenth led to one essential difference in the standards
of social and moral etiquette; in the former period, a liaison meant
nothing more censurable than an intimate friendship, a purely platonic
love; the lover simply paid homage to the lady of his choice; it was
an attraction of common intellectual interests and usually lasted for
life; in the eighteenth century, a liaison was essentially immoral,
rarely a union of interests, but rather one of passions and physical
propensities. Such relations developed and fostered deceit, intrigues,
infidelity, and rivalry, one woman endeavoring to all