a patron of Joseph Bridau, the romantic painter, who was despised by the bourgeois [A Bachelor’s Establishment.]; she felt a liking for Lucien de Rubempre, whom, indeed, she came near marrying; though this circumstance did not prevent her from aiding the poet’s mistress, Coralie, the actress; for, at the time of their amours, Felicite des Touches was in high favor at the Gymnase.  She was the anonymous collaborator of a comedy into which Leontine Volnys—­the little Fay of that time—­was introduced; she had intended to write another vaudeville play, in which Coralie was to have made the principal role.  When the young actress took to her bed and died, which occurred under the Poirson-Cerfberr[+] management, Felicite paid the expenses of her burial, and was present at the funeral services, which were conducted at Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle.  She gave dinner-parties on Wednesdays; Levasseur, Conti, Mesdames Pasta, Conti, Fodor, De Bargeton, and d’Espard, attended her receptions. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] Although a Legitimist, like the Marquise d’Espard, Felicite, after the Revolution of July, kept her salon open, where were frequently assembled her neighbor Leontine de Serizy, Lord Dudley and Lady Barimore, the Nucingens, Joseph Bridau, Mesdames de Cadignan and de Montcornet, the Comtesse de Vandenesse, Daniel d’Arthez, and Madame Rochegude, otherwise known as Rochefide.  Canalis, Rastignac, Laginski, Montriveau, Bianchon, Marsay, and Blondet rivaled each other in telling piquant stories and passing caustic remarks under her roof. [Another Study of Woman.] Furthermore, Mademoiselle des Touches shortly afterwards gave advice to Marie de Vandenesse and condemned free love. [A Daughter of Eve.] In 1836, while traveling through Italy, which she was showing to Claude Vignon and Leon de Lora, the landscape painter, she was present at an entertainment given by Maurice de l’Hostal, the French consul at Genoa; on this occasion he gave an account of the ups and downs of the Bauvan family. [Honorine.] In 1837, after having appointed as her residuary legatee Calyste du Guenic, whom she adored, but to whom she refused to give herself over, Felicite des Touches retired to a convent in Nantes of the order of Saint-Francois.  Among the works left by this second George Sand, we may mention “Le Nouveau Promethee,” a bold attempt, standing alone among her works, and a short autobiographical romance, in which she described her betrayed passion for Conti, an admirable work, which was regarded as the counterpart of Benjamin Constant’s “Adolphe.” [Beatrix.  The Muse of the Department.]

[*] It was perhaps at Chelles that Mademoiselle de Faucombe became
    acquainted with Mesdemoiselles de Beauseant and de Langeais.

[+] Delestre-Poirson, the vaudeville man, together with A. Cerfberr
    established the Gymnase-Dramatique, December 20, 1820; with the
    Cerfberr Brothers, Delestre-Poirson continued the management of it
    until 1844.