treated her with the
greatest consideration, even asking her to instruct Josephine in the old
customs and usages. Her salon, however, united many elements which
it was impossible to fuse. There were people of all parties and all
conditions, a few of the nobles and returned emigres, the numerous
members of the Bonaparte family, the new military circle, together with
many people of influence "not to the manner born." Mme. de Montesson
revived the old amusements, wrote plays for the entertainment of her
guests gave grand dinners and brilliant fetes. But the accustomed links
were wanting. Her salon simply illustrates a social life in a state of
transition.

Mme. de Genlis had lived much in the world before the Revolution, and
her position in the family of the Duc d'Orleans, together with her great
versatility of talent, had given her a certain vogue. Author, musician,
teacher, moralist, critic, poser, egotist, femme d'esprit, and friend
of princes, her romantic life would fill a volume and cannot be even
touched upon in a few lines. After ten years of exile she returned to
Paris, and her salon at the Arsenal was a center for a few celebrities.
Many of these names have small significance today. A few men like
Talleyrand, LaHarpe, Fontanes, and Cardinal Maury were among her
friends, and she was neutral enough, or diplomatic enough, not to give
offense to the new government. But she was a woman of many affectations,
and in spite of her numerous accomplishments, her cleverness, and her
literary fame, the circle she gathered about her was never noted for
its brilliancy or its influence. As a historic figure, she is more
remarkable for the variety of her voluminous work, her educational
theories, and her observations upon the world in which she lived, than
for talents of a purely social order.

One is little inclined to dwell upon the ruling society of this
period. It had neither the dignity of past traditions nor freedom of
intellectual expression. Its finer shades were drowned in loud and
glaring colors. The luxury that could be commanded counted for more than
the wit and intelligence that could not.

As the social elements readjusted themselves on a more natural basis,
there were a few salons out of the main drift of the time in which the
literary spirit flourished once more, blended with the refined tastes,
the elegant manners, and the amiable courtesy that had distinguished the
old regime. But the interval in which histor