398 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



the scene given in an article by a shrewd contemporary observer, 

 Pictet de Rochemont, a brother of de Saussure's friend and 

 successor in his Chair of Philosophy. 



' In the presence of Mme. de Stael, Mme. Necker showed no in- 

 feriority. Their styles were different, their force equal. Nothing 

 could be more admirable or more piquant for those who had the good 

 luck to be admitted than the conversations in which the two cousins 

 each displayed in turn her own skill and showed off the other's wit 

 in the discussion of the most interesting topics. 



' Mine, de Stael was generally the assailant, and always without 

 plan, never knowing what she was going to say, but always saying it 

 in the best way possible, and growing the more vivacious as the argu- 

 ment, the calm force, and the perfect fairness of Mme. Necker drove 

 her more and more to the use of all her weapons. Then Mme. Necker 

 also got animated, and called on the resources of close reasoning and 

 her superior judgment. It was a hand-to-hand fight, where shrewd 

 and rapid blows followed one another without a pause. If on one 

 side the fire of eloquence flashed out more freely, on the other a more 

 compact argument resisted its onset. As a rule, the serious yet lively 

 debate ended hi an unexpected jest. So in the tricks with light we call 

 fireworks, when the dazzled eyes begin to weary of a revolving sun, a 

 brilliant jet suddenly shoots up and loses itself in a shower of sparks.' l 



Mme. de Stael died in 1817. In 1820 Mme. Necker-de 

 Saussure wrote a notice, Sur le Caractere et les Ecrits de Mme. 

 de Stall, which was admittedly the work of a friend, and rather 

 an apology than an impartial biography. The author was at 

 pains to analyse Mme. de StaeTs natural gifts and impulsive 

 character, rather than to explain or apologise for the vagaries 

 of conduct into which they led her. She told the truth, but not 

 the whole truth. Yet her portrait satisfied contemporary critics. 

 One of them wrote to her, ' We have lived with Mme. de Stael 

 for several days ; the book is herself.' 



The best part of life for Madame Necker-de Saussure was over 

 with her friend's death. In later years deafness gradually cut 

 her off from the pleasures of society and drove her to find a resource 

 in literature. But her loss was, as far as posterity is concerned, her 

 gain. She had already in 181 4 translated J. E. Schlegel on Dramatic 

 Literature. Between 1828 and 1838 she composed L'Education 



1 See Mme. de Stael et la Suisse, p. 452. 



