e lifelong friend and
correspondent of Galiani and Voltaire, and the valued confidante
of Diderot, must have had some rare attractions of mind, heart, or
character.

CHAPTER XIV. SALONS OF THE NOBLESSE--MADAME DU DEFFAND

_La Marechale de Luxembourg--The Temple--Comtesse de Boufflers-- Mme.
du Deffand--Her Convent Salon--Rupture with Mlle. de Lespinasse--Her
Friendship with Horace Walpole--Her brilliancy and Her Ennui_

While the group of iconoclasts who formed the nucleus of the
philosophical salons was airing its theories and enjoying its increasing
vogue, there was another circle which played with the new ideas more or
less as a sort of intellectual pastime, but was aristocratic au fond,
and carefully preserved all the traditions of the old noblesse. One met
here the philosophers and men of letters, but they did not dominate;
they simply flavored these coteries of rank and fashion. In this age of
esprit no salon was complete without its sprinkling of literary men. We
meet the shy and awkward Rousseau even in the exclusive drawing room of
the clever and witty but critical Marechale de Luxembourg, who presides
over a world in which the graces rule--a world of elegant manners, of
etiquette, and of forms. This model of the amenities, whose gay and
faulty youth ripened into a pious and charitable age, was at the head
of that tribunal which pronounced judgment upon all matters relating
to society. She was learned in genealogy, analyzed and traced to their
source the laws of etiquette, possessed a remarkable memory, and without
profound education, had learned much from conversation with the savants
and illustrious men who frequented her house. Her wit was proverbial,
and she was never at a loss for a ready repartee or a spicy anecdote.
She gave two grand suppers a week. Mme. de Genlis, who was often there,
took notes, according to her custom, and has left an interesting record
of conversations that were remarkable not only for brilliancy, but for
the thoughtful wisdom of the comments upon men and things. La Harpe
read a great part of his works in this salon. Rousseau entertained the
princely guests at Montmorency with "La Nouvelle Heloise" and "Emile,"
and though never quite at ease, his democratic theories did not prevent
him from feeling greatly honored by their friendly courtesies; indeed,
he loses his usual bitterness when speaking of this noble patroness.
He says that her conversation was marked by an exquisite