Mlle. De Launay--Clever Portrait of her Mistress--Perpetual
Fetes at Sceaux--Voltaire and the "Divine Emilie"--Dilettante Character
of this Salon

CHAPTER XI. MADAME DE TENCIN AND MADAM DU CHATELET An Intriguing
Chanoinesse--Her Singular Fascination--Her Salon--Its Philosophical
Character--Mlle. Aisse--Romances of Mme. De Tencin--D'Alembert--La Belle
Emilie--Voltaire--the Two Women Compared

CHAPTER XII. MADAME GEOFFRIN AND THE PHILOSOPHERS Cradles of the New
Philosophy--Noted Salons of this Period--Character of Mme. Geoffrin--Her
Practical Education--Anecdotes of her Husband--Composition of her
Salon--Its Insidious Influence--Her Journey to Warsaw--Her Death

CHAPTER XIII. ULTRA PHILOSOPHICAL SALONS--MADAME D'EPINAY Mme. De
Graffigny--Baron D'Holbach--Mme. D'Epinay's Portrait of Herself--Mlle.
Quinault--Rousseau--La Chevrette--Grimm--Diderot--The Abbe
Galiani--Estimate of Mme. D'Epinay

CHAPTER XIV. SALONS OF THE NOBLESSE--MADAME DU DEFFAND La Marechale
de Luxenbourg--The Temple--Comtesse de Boufflers--Mme. Du Dufand--Her
Convent Salon--Rupture with Mlle. De Lespinasse--Her Friendship with
Horace Walpole--Her Brilliancy and her Ennui

CHAPTER XV. MADEMOISELLE DE LESPINASSE A Romantic Career--Companion
of Mme. Du Deffand--Rival Salons--Association with the
Encyclopedists--D'Alembert--A Heart Tragedy--Impassioned Letters--A Type
Unique in her Age

CHAPTER XVI. THE SALON HELVETIQUE The Swiss Pastor's Daughter--Her
Social Ambition--Her Friends Mme. De Marchais--Mme. D'Houdetot--Duchesse
de Lauzun--Character of Mme. Necker--Death at Coppet--Close of the Most
Brilliant Period of the Salons

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

CHAPTER XVIII. MADAM DE STAEL Supremacy of Her Genius--Her Early
Training--Her Sensibility--A Mariage de Convenance--Her Salon--Anecdote
of Benjamin Constant--Her Exile--Life at Coppet--Secret Marriage--Close
of a Stormy Life

CHAPTER XIX. SALONS OF THE EMPIRE AND RESTORATION--MADAME RECAMIER A
Transition period--Mme. De Montesson--Mme. De Genus--Revival of the
Literary Spirit--Mme. De Beaumont--Mme. De Remusat--Mme. De Souza--Mme.
De Duras--Mme. De Krudener--Fascination of Mme. Recamier--Her
Friends--Her Convent Salon--Chateaubriand Decline of the Salon

CHAPTER I. SALONS OF THE SEVEN