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    382 MADAME -SWETCHINE.

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    — I .— In Our Last Number We Reviewed Th...

    ages should have given the dignity of real chiefdom to the monarch , investing him with that blended power of affection and of sway

    which no arguments as to the wisdom of creating such a potentate could procure . But beyond these limits , to which her Russian

    education naturally bound her , Madame Swetchine had an aversion for everything arbitraryviolentor hypocritical ; she held it an

    offence against the conscience , of , humanity and the moral life and durable prosperity of nations .

    Mixing with people of all parties during thirty years of the most changeful political complexion , the peculiar tolerance of her intellect

    was often in itself a cause of collision with more vehement and onesided minds . Accustomed to weigh the most important social

    questions on all sides , and even seeking to penetrate to the very heart of every problemshe had sometimes to suffer lively reproach and

    , temporary alienation from those whose views were less clear , and whose sentiments were less charitable , and who could not

    comprehend how equity may in certain cases be superior to what seems superficially just . " Justice follows the letterapplies the lawand

    , , may become pharisaic if pushed too far ; equity , more liberal and magnanimous in qualityand more Christian in essence , wasin the

    , , eyes of Madame Swetchine , the highest policy of great souls . " Petty resentments exhausted themselves before the calmness of

    her being *; her salon became a sort of neutral . ground where passion was hushed , and sentiments and ideas met fairly face to face . One

    only reproach had power to touch and wound her , when it was occasionally said to her" You are a foreignerand you cannot feel

    this or that as we do . " , , Her guests did not go to her for elanthough she herself possessed

    plenty of spirit . God alone bestows , mental and spiritual energy , and she did not' try to excite it in others ; she rarely ever _g-ave a

    counsel relative to particular cases , nor did she seek confidences . She was accustomed to say" God only blesses our replies , _" and

    , this expressive sentence reminds one of La _Sceur Rosalie , who sought no one , yet to whom all flocked . Those who look for the means by

    which Madame Swetchine exercised and carried into the most diverse spheres an influence whichfor thirty yearswas ever on the

    increase , at an epoch also peculi , arly unfavorable , to all sustained influence , are amazed to discover that she neither sought nor combined

    any means whatever . Even her conversation could hardly be said to be effective . Her natural timidity was never overcome ; when

    first she began to speak it was in uncertain and almost obscure phrases ; it was necessary for her feelings to be excited , or her

    mind keenly interested , before she spoke well , and even then it was neither novelty of diction , nor the utterance of striking remarks ,

    which constituted her originality , but perfect truth manifesting itself equally in the style as in the thought .

    Madame Swetchine ' s house was kept with great care , though

    without luxury of any sort . She never gave _soirees nor dinners ,

    382 Madame -Swetchine.

    382 MADAME -SWETCHINE .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1860, page 382, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081860/page/22/