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    228 MADAME RECAMIER.

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    «¦ The Father Of Madame Recamier Was Jea...

    guide , confidant , and consoler of men and women of all shades of political opinion , of all diversities of characterhabit , and feeling * .

    , And what we study is not themselves , but the reflection in them , of the divinity they worshipped . It is she whom we seek through the

    letters addressed to her ; it is the subtle and indefinite j > ower "which called forth such tender reverence and faithful friendship that we

    would fain discover and analyse . But in vain;—there is nothing to define the influence she exercised save what it produced ; and it is

    only from the variety of character on which it was _iised that we can form any conjecture as to the force and complexity of her own .

    Take her friends separately , and we shall see nothing but an infatuation more lasting than usual , but not marvellously uncommon . We

    need have no wonder which could not be solved by her being a clever and amiable woman , peculiarly graceful and fascinating . But

    when we look at the number of those whom she dragged at her chariot wheels , we must _supxDose she possessed something beyond

    these ordinary attributes ; but what it was , and how exercised , we can but try to guess or to imagine . Relations and strangers , princes

    and philosophers , statesmen and poets , artists and manufacturers , diplomatists and recluses , the prosperous and the unfortunate , the

    worldly and the pious , the old and the young , men and women , swell the list—not of her conquests only , but of her home circle , and

    not of that only , but of her intimate relations during her long life , through all its vicissitudes , and from the radiant and beautiful dawn

    of her youth , when she first took a brilliant and critical society by storm , till the honored and lamented close which is within the

    recollection of us all . And yet , though she gave , of necessity , always an inadequate

    return to the feeling she inspired , and though she had preferences , and did not attempt to conceal them , all her friends were satisfied ,

    content , or resigned ; no murmurs or jealousies disturbed the calmness of her reign . It appeared as though permission to adore was

    the height to which even the most enthusiastic of her votaries aspired . To other sources of dispute was added the fact , that many

    of her friends were of widely different political creeds , yet zealous and earnest in defence of their _sejDarate causes ; some adhering to

    the successful , others to the losing side ; and even where they were serving the same dynasty , separated by petty ministerial squabbles

    and jealousies , which any momentary want of caution on her part might have hopelessly aggravated . Was this result obtained by her

    talent and art , or was it a mere reflection of the pure serenity of her own character ?

    But we can go even beyond this ,. Pier unsuccessful rivals—those who saw at their very firesides the name of Juliette Recamier held

    dearer than their own ; those who loving with all the strength of their natureyet saw her reigning in the heart which of right

    be-, longed to them , —neither marvelled nor complained ; nay , in a

    measure , shared in the enthusiasm she excited ; asked her for the first

    228 Madame Recamier.

    228 MADAME RECAMIER .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1860, page 228, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121860/page/12/