cert of warm eulogies which have run through many generations....
She has disarmed Tallemant himself. This caricaturist of the seventeenth
century has been pitiless towards the habitues of her illustrious house,
but he praises her with a warmth which is very impressive from such a
source."

The modern spirit of change has long since swept away all vestiges of
the old Rue Saint-Thomas-du-Lourvre and the time-honored dwellings that
ornamented it. Conspicuous among these, and not far from the Palais
Royal, was the famous Hotel de Rambouillet. The Salon Bleu has become
historic. This "sanctuary of the Temple of Athene," as it was called
in the stilted language of the day, has been illuminated for us by the
rank, beauty, and talent of the Augustan age of France. We are more or
less familiar with even the minute details of the spacious room, whose
long windows, looking across the little garden towards the Tuileries,
let in a flood of golden sunlight. We picture to ourselves its draperies
of blue and gold, its curious cabinets, its choice works of art, its
Venetian lamps, and its crystal vases always filled with flowers that
scatter the perfume of spring.

It was here that Mme. de Rambouillet held her court for nearly thirty
years, her salon reaching the height of its power under Richelieu, and
practically closing with the Fronde. She sought to gather all that was
most distinguished, whether for wit, beauty, talent, or birth, into an
atmosphere of refinement and simple elegance, which should tone down all
discordant elements and raise life to the level of a fine art. There
was a strongly intellectual flavor in the amusements, as well as in the
discussions of this salon, and the place of honor was given to genius,
learning, and good manners, rather than to rank. But it was by no means
purely literary. The exclusive spirit of the old aristocracy, with its
hauteur and its lofty patronage, found itself face to face with fresh
ideals. The position of the hostess enabled her to break the traditional
barriers, and form a society upon a new basis, but in spite of the
mingling of classes hitherto separated, the dominant life was that of
the noblesse. Woman of rank gave the tone and made the laws. Their code
of etiquette was severe. They aimed to combine the graces of Italy with
the chivalry of Spain. The model man must have a keen sense of honor,
and wit without pedantry; he must be brave, heroic, generous, gallant,
but he must also p