representatives. To be agreeable was the cardinal aim in the
lives of these women. To this end they knew how to use their
talents, and they studied, to the minutest shade, their own
limitations. They had the gift of the general who marshals his
forces with a swift eye for combination and availability. To
this quality was added more or less mental brilliancy, or, what
is equally essential, the faculty of calling out the brilliancy
of others; but their education was rarely profound or even
accurate. To an abbe who wished to dedicate a grammar to Mme.
Geoffrin she replied: "To me? Dedicate a grammar to me? Why, I
do not even know how to spell." Even Mme. du Deffand, whom
Sainte Beuve ranks next to Voltaire as the purest classic of the
epoch in prose, says of herself, "I do not know a word of
grammar; my manner of expressing myself is always the result of
chance, independent of all rule and all art."

But it is not to be supposed that women who were the daily and
lifelong companions and confidantes of men like Fontenelle,
d'Alembert, Montesquieu, Helvetius, and Marmontel were deficient
in a knowledge of books, though this was always subservient to a
knowledge of life. It was a means, not an end. When the salon
was at the height of its power, it was not yet time for Mme. de
Stael; and, with rare exceptions, those who wrote were not
marked, or their literary talent was so overshadowed by their
social gifts as to be unnoted. Their writings were no measure of
their abilities. Those who wrote for amusement were careful to
disclaim the title of bel esprit, and their works usually reached
the public through accidental channels. Mme. de Lambert herself
had too keen an eye for consideration to pose as an author, but
it is with an accent of regret at the popular prejudice that she