k of that subtle social sense which makes the
discussion of these things superfluous, not to say impossible.

It was the wish of Napoleon to reconstruct a society that should rival
in brilliancy the old courts. With this view he called to his aid a few
women whose names, position, education, and reputation for esprit and
fine manners he thought a sufficient guarantee of success. But he
soon learned that it could not be commanded at will. The reply of the
Duchesse d'Brantes, who has left us so many pleasant reminiscences of
this period, in which she was an actor as well as an observer, was very
apt.

"You can do all that I wish," he said to her; "you are all young, and
almost all pretty; ah, well! A young and pretty woman can do anything
she likes."

"Sire, what your Majesty says may be true," she replied, "but only to
a certain point. If the Emperor, instead of his guard and his good
soldiers, had only conscripts who would recoil under fire, he could not
win great battles like that of Austerlitz. Nevertheless, he is the first
general in the world."

But this social life was to serve a personal end. It was to furnish an
added instrument of power to the autocrat who ruled, to reflect always
and everywhere the glory of Napoleon. The period which saw its cleverest
woman in hopeless exile, and its most beautiful one under a similar
ban for the crime of being her friend, was not one which favored
intellectual supremacy. The empire did not encourage literature, it
silenced philosophy, and oppressed the talent that did not glorify
itself. Its blighting touch rested upon the whole social fabric. The
finer elements which, to some extent, entered into it were lost in the
glitter of display and pretension. The true spirit of conversation was
limited to private coteries that kept themselves in the shade, and were
too small to be noted.

The salon which represented the best side of the new regime was that
of Mme. de Montesson, wife of the Duc d'Orleans, a woman of brilliant
talents, finished manners, great knowledge of the world, fine gifts of
conversation, and, what was equally essential, great discrimination and
perfect tact. If her niece, Mme. de Genlis, is to be trusted, she had
more ambition that originality, her reputation was superior to her
abilities, and her beauty covered many imperfections. But she had
experience, finesse, and prestige. Napoleon was quick to see the value
of such a woman in reorganizing a court, and