Page:Letters of Mlle. de Lespinasse.djvu/47

32 commonplaceness as from studied elegance ; the most perfect harmony existed between thought and expression ; she had a solid education, leaving more to divine than was shown ; a smiling good sense rather than a downright, open gaiety ; and finally, a tact so perfect that she seemed to have the secret of all natures and all susceptibilities. These were her salient traits, her most seductive endowments. D'Alem- bert dwells particularly on this exquisite tact: "What dis- tinguishes you above all," he says to her, " is the art of say- ing to each that which suits him; this art, though little common, is very simple in you ; it consists in never speaking of yourself to others, but much of them." "I have never known," says La Harpe, "a woman who had more natural wit, less desire to show it, and more talent in showing to advantage that of others." And Marmontel adds his word : " One of her charms was the ardent nature that impas- sioned her language and communicated to her opinions the warmth, the sympathy, the eloquence of feeling. Often, too, with her, reason grew playful ; a gentle philosophy allowed itself light jesting."

We can easily comprehend the influence that such qualities of heart and mind must have had on the society of that period. And if we add to this personal influence of Mile, de Lespinasse that (which was very great) of d'Alembert, the recognized leader of the philosophic party, who added to his fame as a learned man a literary renown which made the French Academy choose him as its perpetual secretary, we shall form a correct idea of what the salon of Mile, de Lespi- nasse was — more literary than that of the Marquise du Deffand, more aristocratic than that of the bourgeoise Mme. Geoffrin. The dinners and suppers, which held so great a place in the fame of the Maecenases of that day, counted for nothing in the celebrity of the salon in the rue de Belle-