HEROINES OF FRENCH SOCIETY
HEROINES OF
FRENCH SOCIETY
IN THE COURT, THE REVOLUTION
THE EMPIRE, AND THE RESTORATION
By
Mrs. Bearne
Author of “A Queen of Napoleon’s Court,”
“Early Valois Queens,” etc., etc.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
31 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET
MCMVII
(All rights reserved.)
THIS BOOK
IS DEDICATED
TO
ANNA AND KATE
IN the histories of the four women whose livesare here related, I have tried, as far as ispossible in the limited space, to give an idea of thevarious ways in which the Revolutionary tempestat the close of the eighteenth century and theeventful years which preceded and followed it,affected, and were regarded by, persons of thedifferent parties and classes to which they belonged.
The characters of the four heroines form asstrong a contrast as their circumstances, principles,and surroundings.
In Mme. Le Brun, the most gifted of all, we seea beauty, a genius, and a woman unusually charmingand attractive, thrown, before she was sixteen,into the society of the magnificent, licentious courtof Louis XV. Married to a dissipated,bourgeoisspendthrift, for whom she had never cared; soughtafter, flattered, and worshipped in all the greatcourts of Europe; courted by fascinating, unscrupulousmen of the highest rank, without theprotection of family connections and an assured[viii]position; yet her religious principles, exaltedcharacter, and passionate devotion to her art,carried her unscathed and honoured through alife of extraordinary dangers and temptations.
She emigrated early, and far from being, as inmost cases, a time of poverty and hardship, herexile was one long, triumphant career of prosperity.
Owing to her brilliant success, to the affectionand friendship which surrounded her wherever shewent, to her absorbing interest in her art, the delightfulplaces and society in which she spent hertime, and also to her own sunny, light-heartednature, her long life, in spite of certain seriousdomestic drawbacks and sorrows, was a very happyone. Her wonderful capacity for enjoyment, herappreciation of beauty in nature and art, the greatinterest she took in matters intellectual and political,her pleasure in the society of her numerous friends,and her ardent devotion to the religious androyalist principles of her youth, continued undiminishedthrough the peaceful old age whichterminated her brilliant career.
With the same religious and political principles,the conditions of life which surrounded the Marquisede Montagu were totally different. A contrastindeed to the simple,