_ fhe compofed verfes which {carcely coft her 
any trouble, but that of committing them 
to paper ; fhe followed, inftin@ively, the 
rules of verfification ; and as her very ac- 
tive imagination had been early excited, 
her expreffions flowed from her pen with 
the utmoft eafe and f-eedom. 
In 1769, fhe printed her firft and only 
Colle&tion of Poems, more with the view 
of affording gratification to her friends, 
among whom alone it was diftributed, than 
of obtaining public applaufe. Her model 
ty and. love of retirement are ftrikingly 
difplayed in the following lines, addrefled 
by her to M. de St Juft: on the flattering 
anfwer of Voltaire, thanking her for the 
prefent of her book, fhe fays: 
Je fuis fi bien dans mon obfcurité ! 
Le grand jour nuiroit t:op aux petits riens que 
jaime. 
Le demi-jour fuffit 41a felicité. 
Madame d’Antremont, whofe company 
was now courted on account of ber poeti- 
cal talents, compared: herfelf to a frail 
bark, furrounded with rocks. She was not 
handfome, but her figure was good ; or, to 
ufe her own expreflion, nature had con- 
ftru€ted the edifice well, but had negle&ted 
the front. She was fearful of in{piring 
and ftill more of being infpired with the 
tender paffion. To place herfelf out of 
the’ way of danger, fhe refolved to devote 
her whole attention to the aequifition of 
profound knowledge of every kind. The 
ftudy of German, the richeft of modern 
languages, of Latin, Italian, and Englihh, 
together with mufic, to which fhe was ex. 
tremely attached, occupied all her mo- 
ments. By reading great writers in their 
native idioms, her imagination, occafional- 
ly gay, but always inclined to melan- 
choly, appropriated a portion of their 
beauties, which were naturally transfufed 
into her writings, or, as fhe called them 
her bagatelles. ; 
Theiebagatelles, however; always mani-» 
fefted a mind of an energetic charaéter, 
but at the fame time elegant and delicate. 
Her thoughts are always original, and the 
every where maintains that independence 
of reafon, which fhe derived from the Ef- 
fays of Montaigne. A congeniality of 
fentiment, a kind of polar attraction, 
united her mind with that of this celet rated 
writer ; it was from him that fhe acquired 
fuch a fuperior knowledge of mankind. 
In the interval between her fi ft and fe- 
cond marriage, Madame d’Antremont 
experienced a lofs, which plunged her in. 
to the utmoft afli@tion. After furmount- 
ing great obfacles, the was-on the point 
. 
: MWemoirs of Madame Vist, 
[ April 1 F) 
of being united to a rich relative who 
adored her; when he was taken ill and 
died. By forming a new attachment the 
hoped to mitigate her forrow, and accord= 
ingly gave her hand te M. Bourdic, town- 
major of Nimes, a gentleman as much dif. 
tinguifhed for the amiable qualities of his 
he:rt, as for thofe of a highly cultivated 
and extenfive underftanding. Her heart, 
however, {till continued to mourn the lefs 
of her former unfortunate lover. 
She fought confolation in the charms 
of mufic and poetry. As fhe attached ro 
importance to her productions, fhé was 
not a little furprized to fee fome of her 
pieces inferted, without her knowledce, 
in the Almanach des Mujfes ‘and other 
publications of the day. It is generally 
admitted that many of thefe, if her name 
were not affixed to them, might pafs for 
the performances of Voltaire himf(elf. 
Notwithftanding her great attainments 
and qualifications, Madame de Bourdic 
was totally free from pedantry and often- 
tation. She confidered the agreeable arts 
as the particular province of the female 
mind, and left to the women of Italy the 
higher departments of literature and 
abftra&t fciences. elite 
On this fubjeét fhe ufed to mention, as 
an example, the Inftitute of Bologna, which 
has always had females of very great learn- 
ing among its members. At that place 
Mademoifelle Agnefi, author of a Treatz/e 
on the Differential Calculus, was proteflor 
of mathematics, Colotilda Tambroni held 
leétures on the Greek language, and Laura 
Bafli, who died in 1778, taught natural 
philofophy with.as much eclat as Fourcroy 
derives from his chemica! leétures at Paris. - 
Madame du Boccage in her Letters on Italy, 
{peaks of a public lecture of Laura Bafii, 
at which fhe was prefent ; and adds, the 
afterwards. made, with great precifion and 
politenefs, fomeexperiments on irritability. 
Madame Viot never pafied tne literary 
boundary which fhe had prefcribed fer 
herfelf but twice: the firft time, in her 
Ode on Silence, and the fecond in ber Eulogy 
of Montaigne. ‘The former is replete with 
the moft fublime ideas, and would do ha- 
nour to the greateft lyric poets, both on 
account of the thoughts and the ftyle. The 
latter was compofed on occahon of her re- 
ception into the academy of Nimes, and 
is, in every refpect, worthy of the great 
man whom fhe celebrates. 
In her writings as well as in her con- 
verfation Madame Viot indulged in many 
pleafing fallies. She poffeffed, in particular, 
exiraordinary prefence of mind, which 
enabled 
the 
xe 
a 
