For the greater part of Mme. Adam’s life, however, from her birth in 1836 down to 1880, my main authority has been her seven volumes of _Souvenirs_. These living documents, written, many of them, under the immediate impression of the events they record, I have carefully compared with contemporary and more recent writings, indicated by foot-notes throughout these pages. For the quarter of a century and more which has elapsed since the close of Mme. Adam’s _Souvenirs_ I have consulted her numerous other autobiographical works, her contributions to _La Nouvelle Revue_ and to other periodical literature, and also the frequent references to her personally, and to her books, which have appeared from time to time in the French press and elsewhere. I have to thank Sir Sidney Colvin, who frequently visited Mme. Adam at her salon’s most brilliant moment, in the seventies, for generously bringing forth from the rich treasure-house of his remembrance and for permitting me to incorporate in this book valuable recollections which enhance, confirm and complement impressions derived from other sources. Had he lived to see this work completed I should have gladly taken this opportunity to thank another of Mme. Adam’s acquaintances and admirers, M. Elie Mercadier, Director in London of L’Agence Havas. For to his lively talk about _La Grande Française_ and her circle I am indebted for many a striking trait and useful suggestion. WINIFRED STEPHENS. _London, 1917._ FOOTNOTE: [1] “_Celui qui l’a baptisée ‛la Grande Française’ a bien dit._”—Léon Daudet, _L’Entre-Deux-Guerres_, 231 (1915). CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE PREFACE v I. BIRTH, PARENTAGE AND INFANCY. 1836-1839 1 II. CHILDHOOD. 1839-1848 10 III. HER FIRST REVOLUTION (FROM A SCHOOLGIRL’S POINT OF VIEW). 1848 19 IV. FIRST MARRIAGE AND EARLY YEARS IN PARIS. 1849-1858 37 V. HER FIRST BOOK. 1858 51 VI. SALON LIFE DURING THE SECOND EMPIRE. 1858-1863 62 VII. AMONG THE UTOPIANS. 1858-1864 80 VIII. HER PRE-WAR SALON. 1864-1870 97 IX. HER FRIENDSHIP WITH GEORGE SAND. 1858-1870 120 X. THE WAR AND PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF PARIS. 1870 133 XI. THE SIEGE OF PARIS. 1870-1871 144 XII. THE COMMUNE. 1871 158 XIII. GAMBETTA’S EGERIA. 1871-1878 170 XIV. _LA REVANCHE._ 1870-1880 188