friendship and sympathy.  According to Sainte-Beuve, it was she who, by aid of her friends in England, procured asylum for him with Hume at Wootton.  When Rousseau’s rashness brought on the quarrel which set in commotion and agitated the intellectual circles of both continents, Mme. de Boufflers took his part and remained faithful to him, securing a place for him in the Chateau de Trie, which belonged to the Prince de Conti.

All who came in contact with her recognized the distinction, elevation of esprit, and sentiment of Mme. de Boufflers.  With her are associated the greatest names of the time; being perfectly at home on all the political questions of the day, she was better able to converse upon these subjects than was any other woman of the time.  When in 1762 she visited England, she was lionized everywhere.  She was feted at court and in the city, and all conversation was upon the one subject, that of her presence, which was one of the important events of London life.  Everyone was anxious to see the famous woman, the first of rank to visit England in two hundred years.  She even received some special attention from the eccentric Samuel Johnson, in this manner:  “Horace Walpole had taken the countess to call on Johnson.  After the conventional time of a formal call had expired, they left, and were halfway down stairs, when it dawned upon Johnson that it was his duty, as host, to pay the honors of his literary residence to a foreign lady of quality; to show himself gallant, he jumped down from the top of the stairway, and, all agitation, seized the hand of the countess and conducted her to her carriage.”

No woman at court had more friends and fewer enemies than did Mme. de Boufflers, because “she united to the gifts of nature and the culture of esprit an amiable simplicity, charming graces, a goodness, kindness, and sensibility, which made her forget herself always and constantly seek to aid those about her.”  She made use of her influence over the prince in such ways as would, in a measure, recompense for her fault, and thus recommended herself by her good actions.  She was the soul of his salon, “Le Temple.”  The love of these two people, through its intimacy and public display, through its constancy, happiness, and decency, dissipated all scandal.  Always cheerful and pleased to amuse, knowing how to pay attention to all, always rewarding the bright remarks of others with a smile, which all sought as a mark of approbation, no one ever wished her any ill fortune.

The last days of the Prince de Conti were cheered by the presence of Mme. de Boufflers and the friends whom she gathered about him to help bear his illness.  The letter to her from Hume, on his deathbed, is most pathetic, showing the influence of this woman and the nature of the impression she left upon her friends: 

“Edinburgh, 20th of August, 1776.