of historiographer of France. He has left behind him, in his own
country, the reputation of a lively writer of the second class, who
addressed the public of his day with fair success, and who, since his
death, has not troubled posterity to take any particular notice of him.

Among the papers left by Duclos, two manuscripts were found, which he
probably intended to turn to some literary account. The first was a
brief Memoir, written by himself, of a Frenchwoman, named Mademoiselle
Gautier, who began life as an actress and who ended it as a Carmelite
nun. The second manuscript was the lady's own account of the process of
her conversion, and of the circumstances which attended her moral
passage from the state of a sinner to the state of a saint. There are
certain national peculiarities in the character of Mademoiselle Gautier
and in the narrative of her conversion, which are perhaps interesting
enough to be reproduced with some chance of pleasing the present day.

It appears, from the account given of her by Duclos, that Mademoiselle
Gautier made her appearance on the stage of the Theatre Francois in the
year seventeen hundred and sixteen. She is described as a handsome
woman, with a fine figure, a fresh complexion, a lively disposition, and
a violent temper. Besides possessing capacity as an actress, she could
write very good verses, she was clever at painting in miniature, and,
most remarkable quality of all, she was possessed of prodigious muscular
strength. It is recorded of Mademoiselle, that she could roll up a
silver plate with her hands, and that she covered herself with
distinction in a trial of strength with no less a person than the famous
soldier, Marshal Saxe.

Nobody who is at all acquainted with the social history of the
eighteenth century in France, need be told that Mademoiselle Gautier had