versation they were distinctly stimulating. It is
quite possible that they stimulated the intellect to the exclusion of
the more solid qualities of character, and that they were the source
of a vast amount of affectation. It was the fashion to have esprit,
and those who were deficient in an article so essential to success were
naturally disposed to borrow it, or to put on the semblance of it. But
no phase of life is without its reverse side, and the present generation
cannot claim freedom from pretension of the same sort. It is not
unlikely that in expanding the intelligence they established new
standards of distinction, which in a measure weakened the old ones. But
if they precipitated the downfall of the court they began by rivaling,
it was in the logical course of events, which few were wise enough to
foresee, much less to determine.

It is worthy of remark that this reign of women, in which the manners
and forms of modern society found their initiative and their models, was
not a reign of youth, or beauty, though these qualities are never likely
to lose their own peculiar fascination. It was, before all things, a
reign of intelligence, and ascendency of women who had put on the hues
of age without laying aside the permanent charm of a fully developed
personality. It was intelligence blended with practical knowledge of
the world and with the graceful amenities that heightened while half
disguising its power. The women of the present have different aims. They
are no longer content with the role of inspirer. Their methods are more
direct. They depend less upon finesse, more upon inherent right and
strength. But it is to the women who shone so conspicuously in France
for more than two hundred years that we may trace the broadened
intellectual life, the unfettered activities, the wide and beneficent
influence of the women of today.

CHAPTER XVII. SALONS OF THE REVOLUTION--MADAME ROLAND

_Change in the Character of the Salons--Mme. de Condorcet--Mme. Roland's
Story of Her Own Life--A Marriage of Reason--Enthusiasm for the
Revolution--Her Modest Salon--Her Tragical Fate_

The salons of the Revolution were no longer simply the fountains of
literary and artistic criticism, the centers of wit, intelligence,
knowledge, philosophy, and good manners, but the rallying points of
parties. They took the tone of the time and assumed the character of
political clubs. The salon of 1790 was not the salon of 1770. A new
generat