The woman who embodied all the heterogeneous vices of the past nobility and the rising plebs was Mme. Tallien, the goddess of vice and of the vulgar display of wealth.  Her caprices were scrupulously followed, while about her jealousy and slanders were thick.  Then immorality had no veil, but was low, brutish, and open to everyone.  With the accession of Napoleon to absolute power, there was a fusion of the element just described with the remnant of the old regime.  Josephine soon formed a select and congenial social circle, excluding Mme. Tallien and the Directorate adherents.  Evidences of saddening memories of the past and a general gloom were visible everywhere in this circle.  The disappointment of the nobility on returning from their exile was somewhat lessened by the very select bi-weekly reunions in the salon of Talleyrand, and by the brilliant suppers of the old regime, which were revived at the Hotel d’Anjou.

The salon of Mme. de Stael was a political debating club rather than a purely social reunion.  She being an ardent Republican, it was in her salon that the Royalist plot to bring back the Bourbons was overthrown.  In a short time there were a number of brilliant salons, each one showing a nature as distinct as those of the eighteenth century.  Thus, Joseph Bonaparte received the distinguished governmentals and the intriguing women of society at the Chateau de Mortfoulaine; at Lucien Bonaparte’s hotel youth and beauty assembled; at Mme. de Permon’s salon there were music and conversation, tea, lemonade, and biscuits, twice a week.  It remains but to characterize these different ages of French social and political evolution by the great women who, each one of her age, are the representative types.

The woman who, during the Revolution, not only added her name to the long list of martyrs, but who also made history and contributed to the very nature of those days of terror and uncertainty, was Mme. Roland, whom critics both extol and condemn—­the fate of all historical characters.  It would be difficult to estimate this remarkable person and her work without some details of her life.

When a mere girl she showed signs of a tempestuous future; she was seductive, but impulsive, with an inborn love for the common people—­which is not always credited to her—­and for democracy.  These qualities were quickened during her experience at Versailles, for while there for a few days’ visit she saw the pitiless social world in all its orgies, revelries of luxury, and wanton extravagances.  There, also, she contracted that deep-seated hatred for the queen and royalty.