coteries where blazed the great wits of the age, among whom she too would shine and dazzle and inspire.  She was not without heart, as her warm and lasting friendships attest; but the animating passion of her life was love of admiration, which was only equalled by a craving for sympathy that no friendship could satisfy,—­a want of her nature that reveals an ardent soul rather than a great heart; for many a warm-hearted woman can live contentedly in retirement, whether in city or country,—­which Madame de Stael could not, not even when surrounded with every luxury and all the charms of nature.

Such a young lady as Mademoiselle Necker—­so gifted, so accomplished, so rich, so elevated in social position—­could aspire very high.  And both her father and mother were ambitious for so remarkable a daughter.  But the mother would not consent to her marriage with a Catholic, and she herself insisted on a permanent residence in Paris.  It was hard to meet such conditions and yet make a brilliant match; for, after all, her father, though minister, was only a clever and rich Swiss financier,—­not a nobleman, or a man of great family influence.  The Baron de Stael-Holstein, then secretary to the Swedish embassy, afterwards ambassador from Sweden, was the most available suitor, since he was a nobleman, a Protestant, and a diplomatist; and Mademoiselle Necker became his wife, in 1786, at twenty years of age, with a dowry of two millions of francs.  Her social position was raised by this marriage, since her husband was a favorite at court, and she saw much of the Queen and of the great ladies who surrounded her.

But the marriage was not happy.  The husband was extravagant and self-indulgent; the wife panted for beatitudes it was not in his nature to give.  So they separated after a while, but were not divorced.  Both before and after that event, however, her house was the resort of the best society of the city, and she was its brightest ornament.  Thither came Grimm, Talleyrand, Barnave, Lafayette, Narbonne, Sieyes,—­all friends.  She was an eye-witness to the terrible scenes of the Revolution, and escaped judicial assassination almost by miracle.  At last she succeeded in making her escape to Switzerland, and lived a while in her magnificent country-seat near Geneva, surrounded with illustrious exiles.  Soon after, she made her first visit to England, but returned to Paris when the violence of the Revolution was over.

She returned the very day that Napoleon, as First Consul, had seized the reins of government, 1799.  She had hailed the Revolution with transport, although she was so nearly its victim.  She had faith in its ideas.  She believed that the people were the ultimate source of power.  She condoned the excesses of the Revolution in view of its aspirations.  Napoleon gained his first great victories in defence of its ideas.  So at first, in common with the friends of liberty, she was prepared to worship this rising sun, dazzled by his deeds and deceived by his