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    MADAME DE GIRARDIN. 13

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    The From Lives The Social Of Certain Her...

    left without pecuniary resources , employed lier pen , actively and successfullyin the support of her family .

    , An intimate friend of the Princess de Chiniay , and detesting * Napoleon—both on account of the disgrace which she herself had

    been the means of bringing upon her late husband , and of the persistent refusal of the Eniperor to allow her to be presented at his

    court—the handsome widow " threw herself into the ranks of the opposition , " and took an active part in the _poetical intrigues of

    her friend . On the overthrow of Napoleon I . in 1815 , she is said to have been one of a group of Parisian ladies who went out to

    meet and felicitate the Duke of Wellington on his approach to Paris , and who , having presented him with bouquets of violets in token of

    welcome , were received by the conqueror with the stern rebuke , " Ladiesif a French army should ever enter London , all the women

    , of England would put on mourning . " Under the Restoration , Madame Gay ' s productions enjoyed a high

    reputation , and her salon was the rendezvous of themost distinguished artists , writers , and politicians of the day . Chateaubriand , Beranger ,

    Duval , Baour-Loriman , Claude and Horace Vernet , Gerard , Gros , TalmaFleuryMdlle . Duchenoisand a host of others—less widely

    , , , known , but playing a conspicuous part in the Paris of that daywere among the most assiduous visitors of the handsome and

    popular authoress .. Madame Gay was excessively fond of cards ; and card-playing ,

    dancing , and conversation were carried on in her drawing-rooms with equal vivacity ; these soirees usually terminating with the

    reading of verses , the composition of one or other of her guests . Though Madame Gay lived a life which was , in certain of its

    details , decidedly more brilliant than edifying , she seems , from her daughter's earliest years , to have divined the exceptional

    organization of which that daughter was destined to furnish such ample proof in after life , and to have given her the most careful education it was

    in her power to command ; while the interest and expectations of her friends were excited to a high degree by the indications of a

    childhood equally rich in the promise of talent and of beauty ; Delphine ' s earliest literary attempts being made in the shape of

    poetical effusions of her own composition , which she recited at her mother ' s soireesamidst the enthusiastic applause of the friendly

    , critics there assembled . By the time the clever child had fairly entered her teens , she

    was , indeed , as remarkable for her personal grace and loveliness as for her real , though somewhat precocious talent . The threadbare

    simile of _" lilies and roses" might have been invented for her , so pure was her complexion , and so fresh the delicate coloring of her

    cheeks . Large blue eyes , clear , soft , and kindly ; a broad , high foreheadsmooth as marble ; a lovellittle mouth disclosing the

    pearliest , teeth , and gifted with the gayest y and most winning smiles ;

    and a profusion of magnificent golden hair falling in rich curls over

    Madame De Girardin. 13

    MADAME DE GIRARDIN . 13

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1860, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091860/page/13/