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Monthly Review of Literature, 



cers ; and among them one Marescot, be- 

 fore whose assailments, the citadel of her 

 virtue for the first time fell. The rest of 

 the campaign she accompanied her hus- 

 band, dressed in men's clothes, for which, 

 through life, she seems to have had an 

 extraordinary propensity, and used them 

 upon numerous occasions, where neither 

 concealment nor convenience called for them 

 and was present at the siege of Valmy,in 

 the thick of shells and balls. At Saint 

 Menehould, she was pestered by Bournon- 

 ville's attentions ; but he had no success ; 

 she was disgusted with his impudence ; 

 besides, he was but an ugly fellow, and she 

 had not yet forgotten Marescot. 



Hearing of her mother's illness, she flew 

 to attend her ; and, on her recovery, with- 

 drew with her, to escape the reproaches of 

 the Dutch ladies, who were all royalists, 

 to a country-seat near Leyden, where, by 

 her husband's desire also, she made a very 

 long stay ; but at last she rejoined him ; 

 and with him accompanied the French 

 army in their triumphant entry into Am- 

 sterdam ; and was instrumental, by her 

 happy tact, in persuading the ladies to at- 

 tend a republican i"6te given expressly to 

 conciliate their kind regards, and, through 

 them, those of their husbands. 



At Amsterdam, she receives the assi- 

 duities of Grouchy, and some degree of 

 intimacy follows M. Van M. her husband, 

 being too much occupied with public and 

 military affairs to attend to her himself, 

 and having too much confidence to distrust 

 her ; but so public, and obvious, and open 

 to remark, was her conduct, that, though 

 the husband could not see, her mother 

 heard of it, and expostulated roundly with 

 her on the subject but all in vain. While 

 this intimacy with Grouchy lasts, through 

 her influence with him she saves the lives of 

 two emigrants. Grouchy hesitated " You 

 once said, you would give your life for a 

 smile from me has it lost all its value ?" 

 Grouchy could resist no longer ; he seized 

 her hand, and, covering it with kisses, 

 snatched up a pen, and signed the safe- 

 conduct. " A smile was his recompense" 

 adds the lady. 



At Bois le Due, she and her vigilant 

 husband visit her maternal uncle, Baron 

 Vanderke, whose house was immensely 

 large ; and part of it was given up to 

 Pichegru, then commander-in-chief. While 

 there, Maria, her cousin, confides to Madame 

 her love for Moreau ; the connexion be- 

 tween them had long passed the bounds of 

 propriety ; the young lady had evaded the 

 vigilance of her parents, and had, night 

 after night, ventured through their very 

 chamber, and that of several servants, to 

 visit Moreau, and had had many narrow 

 escapes, and numerous frights. Our he- 

 roine was shocked and this is said by 

 her with the utmost natvetesA the dis- 

 closure, and she resolves to undertake her 

 reparation, She accordingly calls upon 



Moreau ; tells him she knows all that her 

 cousin, though no longer perhaps entitled 

 to claim to be his wife, could not consent 

 to be a mistress ; and that the only means 

 of saving her from exposure and disgrace, 

 was his forthwith quitting the country. 

 Moreau, in reply, expresses his deep re- 

 grets, and readiness to do all then in his 

 power to rescue her from the "fnusse po- 

 sition" into which he had thrown her ; and 

 though she had rather been the seducer 

 than he, offers to marry. The coldness 

 perhaps the reasonableness of the offer- 

 made with perfect sincerity struck to the 

 earth the warm-hearted Dutch girl she 

 refuses the unwilling hand, and Moreau 

 finds some pretext for removal. 



Our heroine's beauty and fascinations 

 coquetry she disclaims, if by a coquette 

 be meant one insatiable of admiration, and 

 holding out hopes which she never means 

 to gratify draw towards her the attentions 

 next of Pichegru, who was not at all a lady's 

 man ; and one day she received a request 

 from him, very cautiously conveyed to her, 

 for a private interview. Expecting, as a 

 matter of course, a declaration of love, he 

 was immediately admitted ; but, to her 

 surprise, the object was only to solicit an 

 introduction to some lady known to her, 

 and suspected of keeping up a close cor- 

 respondence with the Austrians and emi- 

 grants. Madame penetrates his purpose, 

 and evades compliance. Pichegru had al- 

 ready begun to be treacherous to the 

 republic. 



Accident at last disclosed to the husband 

 her former intrigue with Marescot a pec- 

 cadillo, which the obliging cornuto was in- 

 clined to overlook ; but the lady, in the 

 high-mindedness of her romance now the 

 discovery was made could no longer bear 

 her own reflections she could not, nor 

 would not, any longer delude so excellent 

 a creature he could no longer regard her 

 as any thing but his mistress ; she makes 

 a full disclosure of all her offences, and, 

 in spite of all remonstrances, takes wing, 

 arid abandons at once her home and the 

 relics of her reputation, and flies to Moreau, 

 whose conduct towards her cousin had 

 struck her with admiration. She tells him 

 the whole story ; he advises urges her not 

 to renounce the advantages of her position 

 in society not to reject the indulgence 

 of her husband, but return to her duty. 

 She, however, is resolute in her purpose ; 

 and the matter ends by Moreau's taking 

 her under his own protection, and her ac- 

 companying him to Kehl, where he had 

 been directed to supersede Pichegru. After 

 suffering no little hardship and privation, 

 at the end of the campaign she returned 

 with him to Paris, where Moreau, being 

 very coolly received by the Directory 

 chiefly from declining to betray Pichegru 

 resigns his command, and retires with 

 Madame to Passy. At Paris she acciden- 

 tally comes in contact with Madame Tallien 



