“La Paroisse,” of Mme. Doublet de Persan, was the salon of the sceptics and was under the constant surveillance of the police.  All the members arrived at the same time and each took possession of the armchair reserved for him, above which hung his portrait.  On a large stand were two registers, in which the rumors of the day were noted—­in one the doubtful, in the other the accredited.  On Saturday, a selection was made, which went to the Grand Livre, which became a journal entitled Nouvelles a la Main, kept by the valet-de-chambre of Mme. Doublet.  This book furnished the substance of the six volumes of the Memoires Secrets, which began to appear in 1770.

Besides these salons of the nobility, there were those of the financiers, a profession which had risen into prominence within the last half century, after the death of Louis XIV.  According to the Goncourt brothers, the greatest of these salons was that of Mme. de Grimrod de La Reyniere, who, by dint of shrewd manoeuvring, by unheard-of extravagances, excessive opulence in the furnishings of her salon, and by the most gorgeous and rare fetes and suppers, had succeeded in attracting to her establishment a number of the court and nobility.

The salon of M. de La Popeliniere belonged to this class, although he was ranked, more or less, among the nobility.  There were the weekly suppers of Mme. Suard, Mme. Saurin, the Abbe Raynal, and the luncheons of the Abbe Morellet on the first Sunday of the month; to the latter functions were invited all the celebrities of the other salons, as well as artists and musicians—­it was there that the famous quarrel of the Gluck and Piccini parties originated.  The Tuesday dinners of Helvetius became famous; it was at them that Franklin was one of the favorites; after the death of Helvetius, he attempted in vain to put an end to the widowhood of madame.  No man at that time was more popular than Franklin or had as much public attention shown him.

There were a number of celebrated women whose reputations rest mainly on their wit and conversational abilities; they may be classed as society leaders, to distinguish them from salon leaders.

Chapter X

Social Classes

The belief generally prevails that devotion and constancy did not exist among French women of the eighteenth century; but, in spite of the very numerous instances of infidelity which dot the pages of the history of the French matrimonial relations of those days, many examples of rare devotion are found, even among the nobility.  Love of the king and self-eliminating devotion to him were feelings to which women aspired; yet we have one countess, the Countess of Perigord, who, true to her wifehood, repels the advances of the king, preferring a voluntary exile to the dishonor of a life of royal favors and attentions.  There is also the example of Mme. de Tremoille; having been stricken with smallpox, she was ministered to by her husband, who voluntarily shared her fate and died with her.