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    MADAME RECAMIER. 235

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

    great a risk , she was compelled to accede to their wishes , with certain precautions and regulations to prevent their visits attracting

    too much notice . Twenty years after , the King of Bavaria met her with undiminished admiration in Rome . Forty years after , the

    Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz wrote to recall himself to her recollectionandin the most humble terms of admiring respect and

    , , devotion , to implore her to send him her portrait . This very _j ) ortrait had been painted about this time ( 1802 ) by

    Gerard for M _* Recamier , and was considered very successful . David had in vain attempted her likeness ; the sketch he made for it is

    in the Louvre . During the peace of Amiens , Madame Reeaniier , in company

    with her mother , made a short visit to London . She there began her friendship with the' future Duchess of

    Devonshire and the Duke of Hamilton . The Prince of Wales , the exiled Duke of Orleans and his young brothers , lost no opportunity

    of showing her attention and admiration ; and the English newspapers were never weary of chronicling the dress , excursions , and

    plans of the beautiful stranger . Madame Reeamier returned to France through Holland , and

    found on reaching Paris that owing to the proclamation of the Empire , and the arbitrary acts which inaugurated it , party feeling

    ran higher than ever in Paris , and double precaution had to be practised by all likely to be considered disaffected . Prudent

    and cautious as Madame Kecamier was in all her social relations , she had no lack of courage when her friends were in danger ,

    or when there was a question of compromising her opinions . She made no secret of her friendship for Madame Moreau at the

    time her husband , General Moreau , was undergoing his trial , pointedly bowed to the prisoner in open courtand did all she could

    , to assist and comfort them when they went into exile . In spite of all this , however , many of the Emperor ' s adherents

    were numbered among her friends and guests , and his two sisters , Elisa and Carolineoften came to see her . Fouche too was

    assiduous in his visits , and Madame Recamier could not repress her , astonishment that amid the multiplicity of his affairs he could so

    often spare the time to come to Clichy . By degrees , however , his object became apparent j at first her want of comprehension , and

    later her determination not to assist him by meeting his proposition half-way , gradually compelled him to proclaim it . Little by little

    he suggested ; proposed , and finally urged her to accept a place at Court . Madame Recamier declinedwith the full consent of her

    husband . Foucheincapable of comprehending , the person he addressedhad fancied , that an allusion to the admiration of the

    Emperor , , and the influence she might therefore obtain over him if she chosewould dazzle her imagination and induce her to accept

    liis offer . , It served only , however , to make still more decided and

    emphatic her refusal to entertain the idea , and Fouche r los 3 ing all

    Madame Recamier. 235

    MADAME RECAMIER . 235

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1860, page 235, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121860/page/19/