dness of heart in withholding from the public
gaze their nasty imaginary accusations, which are merely the thoughts
of a conceited and putrid mind.

Many and many a poor man, without knowing it, is the innocent victim
of unfounded accusations, hatched and circulated in that subtle,
insinuating way so familiar to the sexless calumniator. The genuine
female traducer is an awful scourge, especially if she be political.
No male can equal her in refined aggressive cunning. She can circulate
a filthy libel by writing a virtuous letter, and never a flaw will
appear to trip her into responsibility for it. And her sardonic smile
is an inarticulate revelation of all she wishes to convey. It is more
than a mere oration. It emits the impression of a bite.

Madame de Stael showed an aptitude for this ignoble aggressiveness
towards Napoleon after she had exhausted every form of strategy to
allure him into a flirtation with her. She was frequently a sort of
magnificent horse-marine who bounced herself into the presence of
prominent individuals, thrusting her venomed points on those who had
been flattered into listening; at other times she was feline in her
methods. Talleyrand and Fouche made use of this latter phase of her
character to serve their own ends. She had a talent which was used for
mischief, but her vulgarity and egotism were quite deplorable. She
would have risked the torments of Hades if she could but have embarked
upon a liaison with Napoleon. She plied him with letters well seasoned
with passion, but all to no purpose. She came to see him at the Rue
Chantereine, and was sent away. She invited him to balls to which he
never went. But she had opportunities given her which were used in
forcing herself upon his attention. At one of these she held him for
two hours, and imagining she had made a great impression, she asked
him abruptly, "Who was the most superior woman in antiquity, and who
is so at the present day?" Napoleon had had enough of her love-making
chatter, so snapped out in his quick practical way, "She who has borne
the most children." The lady's discomfiture may be imagined. It was a
deadly thrust.

This very same lady, who had tempted the ruler of France without
success, made violent love to Benjamin Constant, who was no friend of
Napoleon's at the time. Her letters to him were passionate, and
Napoleon told Gourgaud at St. Helena that she even threatened to kill
her son if Benjamin would do what she wished h