D'ALEMBERT. 437 



gre la scene de ses enchantemens ; ce talent n'etoit 

 d'une femme vulgaire. Ce n'etoit pas avec les niaiseries 

 de la mode et de la vanite que tons les jours durant 

 quatre heures de conversation, sans langueur et sans 

 vide, elle savoit se rendre interessante pour un cercle 

 de bons esprits." (Marmontel, Vol. II.) 



In the society of this attractive person, D'Alembert's 

 evenings were all passed; and during the twelve years 

 that elapsed between her quarrel with Madame du 

 Duffand and her decease, he lived more constantly, of 

 course, in her company, as he occupied the same 

 lodgings. His mornings, after he quitted his study, 

 were generally spent at Madame Geoffrin's ; and the 

 circle which he met at both those houses was nearly 

 the same, except that Madame Geoffrin's was acces- 

 sible to the better class of statesmen, according to her 

 maxim that the protection of her favourites the men 

 of letters and of science was well worth purchasing at 

 this price ; but for this use to which her benevolence 

 knew how to turn them, she declared that after nine 

 o'clock none but men of genius should find her door 

 open, as far as her own taste was concerned. 



The habits of French society, so entirely unlike our 

 own, assemble in very small numbers, the same persons 

 almost every evening at the same houses. The master 

 or the mistress, generally the latter, hardly ever leaves 

 home at the hours consecrated to this refined and agree- 

 able intercourse, or only does so on stated nights, sel- 

 dom more than one in a week. It is not easy for those 

 who have never experienced the charms of this kind of 

 society to understand its merits. Far from becoming 

 dull or monotonous, in consequence of the sameness of 

 the persons who compose it, this very circumstance it 

 is that gives so much comfort and even enjoyment to 

 the intercourse. The intimacy of a family circle is 

 kept up, and the interest which each takes in the 

 others becomes a powerful incentive to bestowing 

 mutual confidence, while it gives a pleasurable feeling 



