of history by what terms the unfortunate victims of the Revolution purchased of him their own lives and those of their friends, and it is certain that his friendship and protection were no honor to any woman.  This view of their intimacy is confirmed by Madame Moehl.  In speaking of a rumor current in Madame Recamier’s lifetime, which reflected severely upon her mother, she says that Madame Bernard’s reputation had nothing to lose by this story, and mentions the favors she received at the hands both of Calonne and Barrere.

Juliette Bernard was ten years old when she joined her parents in Paris, where she was placed under the care of masters.  She played with skill on the harp and piano, and being passionately fond of music, it became her solace and amusement at an advanced age.  In her youth dancing was equally a passion with her.  The grace with which she executed the shawl-dance suggested to Madame de Stael the dance-scene in “Corinne.”  It is said that great care was bestowed upon her education; but as it is also stated that long hours were passed at the toilette, that she was the pet of all her mother’s friends, who, as proud of her daughter’s beauty as she was of her own, took her constantly to the theatre and public assemblies, little time could have been devoted to systematic instruction.  There is no mention made throughout her life of any favorite studies or favorite books, and she was, moreover, married at fifteen.

Monsieur Recamier was forty-four years old when he proposed for the hand of Juliette Bernard.  She accepted him without either reluctance or distrust.  Much sympathy has been lavished upon Madame Recamier on account of this marriage, and her extreme youth is urged as an excuse for this false step of her life.  Still she did not take it blindly.  Her mother thought it her duty to lay before her all the objections to a union where there existed such a disparity of age.  No undue influence was exerted, therefore, in favor of the marriage.  Nor was Mademoiselle Bernard as unsophisticated as French girls usually are at that age.  Her childhood had not been passed in seclusion.  Since she was ten years old she had been constantly in the society of men of letters and men of the world.  Under such influences girls ripen early, and in marrying Monsieur Recamier she at least realized all her expectations.  She did not look for mutual affection; she expected to find in him a generous and indulgent protector, and this anticipation was not disappointed.  If she discovered too late that she had other and greater needs, she was deeply to be pitied, but the responsibility of the step must remain with her.  Madame Lenormant says of the union,—­“It was simply an apparent one.  Madame Recamier was a wife only in name.  This fact is astonishing.  But I am not bound to explain it, only to attest its truth, which all of Madame Recamier’s friends can confirm.  Monsieur Recamier’s relations to his wife were strictly of a paternal character.  He treated the young and innocent child who bore his name as a daughter whose beauty charmed him and whose celebrity flattered his vanity.”