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Judith de Saussure. The impression left by the few letters and 

 the scattered references available is that of a woman endowed in 

 youth with good looks and high spirits, and through life possessed 

 of much force and independence of character. 1 That she found 

 the home life at Frontenex with her invalid mother and agricultural 

 father irksome ; that she was out of sympathy with the social 

 coteries of Geneva, and never forgave the grievous slight that had 

 been put on her, is obvious. At Montpellier she showed herself 

 ready to take a leading part in society as far as her health allowed 

 her. Though her life as a whole was a detached one, she succeeded 

 in making many friends, both French and English, and in keeping 

 at bay at least one admirer. She sympathised keenly with her 

 brother's scientific pursuits, and was active in taking advantage 

 of any opportunity to help him to add to his collections. She 

 did her best to cheer him in his last illness and to keep alive his 

 memory after his death. 



1 Judith de Saussure is thus described by a contemporary : ' She had a regular 

 profile, with finely modelled features, large deep-coloured eyes which threw up 

 the whiteness of her complexion ; brown hair, which she powdered in her youth. 

 She was short, but had a perfect figure, which she retained to an advanced age.' 

 (Kohler's Madame de Stael et la Suisse, Lausanne, Paris, 1916.) 



