ilure in her manner of receiving them. Her keen, practical mind
pierced every illusion with merciless precision. She defined a popular
abbe who posed for a bel esprit, as a "fool rubbed all over with wit."
Rulhiere had read in her salon a work on Russia, which she feared might
compromise him, and she offered him a large sum of money to throw it
into the fire. The author was indignant at such a reflection upon
his courage and honor, and grew warmly eloquent upon the subject. She
listened until he had finished, then said quietly, "How much more do you
want, M. Rulhiere?"

The serene poise of a character without enthusiasms and without
illusions is very well illustrated by a letter to Mme. Necker. After
playfully charging her with being always infatuated, never cool and
reserved, she continues:

"Do you know, my pretty one, that your exaggerated praises confound
me, instead of pleasing and flattering me? I am always afraid that your
giddiness will evaporate. You will then judge me to be so different from
your preconceived opinion that you will punish me for your own mistake,
and allow me no merit at all. I have my virtues and my good qualities,
but I have also many faults. Of these I am perfectly well aware, and
every day I try to correct them.

"My dear friend, I beg of you to lessen your excessive admiration.
I assure you that you humiliate me; and that is certainly not your
intention. The angels think very little about me, and I do not trouble
myself about them. Their praise or their blame is indifferent to me, for
I shall not come in their way; but what I do desire is that you should
love me, and that you should take me as you find me."

Again she assumes her position of mentor and writes: "How is it possible
not to answer the kind and charming letter I have received from you?
But still I reply only to tell you that it made me a little angry. I see
that it is impossible to change anything in your uneasy, restless, and
at the same time weak character."

Horace Walpole, who met her during his first visit to Paris, and before
his intimacy with Mme. du Deffand had colored his opinions, has left a
valuable pen-portrait of Mme. Geoffrin. In a letter to Gray, in 1766, he
writes:

"Mme. Geoffrin, of whom you have heard much, is an extraordinary woman,
with more common sense than I almost ever met with, great quickness in
discovering characters, penetrating and going to the bottom of them,
and a pencil that never fails i