File:The women of the salons, and other French portraits (1901) (14589775798).jpg

Identifier: womenofsalonsoth00hall (find matches)
Title: The women of the salons, and other French portraits
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Hall, Evelyn Beatrice, 1868-1919
Subjects: Women Salons
Publisher: London, New York (etc.) Longmans, Green, and co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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imates of Madame Geoffrin remarkedone day in her Salon that everything was perfect chezelle except the cream. What will you ? said Madame. I cannot changemy niilkwoman. Why not ? Because I have given her two cows. Voila, says a biographer, le rare et le delicat.The incident was, indeed, quite characteristic of thewoman whose motto was Donner et parflonner, whohad a tact that was almost genius, and a heart so kind,tender, honest, and generous that there is not one ofthe Salonieres upon whose memory it is pleasanter tolinger. Marie Therese Rodet was born at Paris in 1699.She was, says one authority, the daughter of a valet dechambre of the Dauphine; while another has it thatthe valet was of Dauphigny. Everybody is agreed thather origin was entirely obscure and bourgeoise. Herparents died when she was in her cradle. She wasbrought up, but not educated, by a shrewd and illiterateold grandmother, who had a theory that if a woman isa fool learning will only accentuate her folly, and that 40
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MADAME GEOFFRIN 41 if she is clever she will do well enough without it.There is something to be said for this idea. At fifteen Marie married a M. Geoffrin, who was alsobourgeois, enormously wealthy, and a lieutenant-colonelof the National Guard. They had a daughter, after-wards the Marquise de la Ferte-Imbault. M. Geoffrindied. With the exception of one famous visit to theKing of Poland at Warsaw, Madame never left Paris,even for a day. She held there the Salon which hasmade her famous, and died there full of years andhonour in 1777. This greatest of all the Salonieres had, therefore, nohistory. That is, if outward events make a history.But there are some people who could write the incidentsof their life on a thumb-nail, and who yet have knowngreat emotions, exercised wide influence, and left behindthem a more lasting reputation than many kings anddynasties. Perhaps Madame Geoffrin was one of these. There are so few records of the early part of herlife, that what she was in her brief

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