the many distinguished foreigners who found their way into this
pleasant circle was her early lover, Gibbon. The old days were far away
when she presided over the literary coterie at Lausanne, speculated upon
the mystery of love, talked of the possibility of tender and platonic
friendships between men and women, after the fashion of the precieuses,
and wept bitter tears over the faithlessness of the embryo historian.
The memory of her grief had long been lost in the fullness of subsequent
happiness, and one readily pardons her natural complacency in the
brilliancy of a position which took little added luster from the fame of
the man who had wooed and so easily forgotten her.

This period of Mme. Necker's career shows her character on a very
engaging side. Loving her husband with a devotion that verged upon
idolatry, she was rich in the friendship of men like Thomas, Buffon,
Grimm, Diderot, and Voltaire, whose respectful tone was the highest
tribute to her dignity and her delicacy. But the true nature of a woman
is best seen in her relations with her own sex. There are a thousand
fine reserves in her relations with men that, in a measure, veil her
personality. They doubtless call out the most brilliant qualities of
her intellect, and reveal her character, in some points, on its best and
most lovable side; but the rare shades of generous and unselfish feeling
are more clearly seen in the intimate friendships, free from petty
vanities and jealous rivalries, rich in cordial appreciation and
disinterested affection, which we often find among women of the finest
type. It is impossible that one so serious and so earnest as Mme. Necker
should have cherished such passionate friendships for her own sex,
if she had been as cold or as calculating as she has been sometimes
represented. Her intimacy with Mme. de Marchais, of which we have so
many pleasant details, furnishes a case in point.

This graceful and vivacious woman, who talked so eloquently upon
philosophical, political, and economic questions, was the center of a
circle noted for its liberal tendencies. A friend of Mme. de Pompadour,
at whose suppers she often sang; gifted, witty, and, in spite of a
certain seriousness, retaining always the taste, the elegance, the
charming manners which were her native heritage, she attracted to her
salon not only a distinguished literary company, but many men and women
from the great world of which she only touched the borders. Mme. Nec