Amid the general extravagance and corruption of the upper classes of society some attempts were made to preserve the traditions of the famous Hôtel de Rambouillet, _le berceau de la société polie_, where talent, learning, and wit were the qualities that secured distinction, and not pride of birth. Under Louis XIV, this _salon_ was renewed in the fine hôtel of the Marquise de Lambert, in the Ile Saint-Louis,--in modern times restored by Prince Czartoriski,--and in the "Saturdays" of Mademoiselle de Scudéry, one of the greatest literary celebrities that had frequented the receptions of the Marquise de Rambouillet. The Saturdays were a great success, and the example thus set of "having a day" was generally followed; the literary coteries of the _précieuses_--later satirized by Molière--became numerous, and Mademoiselle de Scudéry's receptions were maintained till 1695. Under Louis XVI, in 1780, appeared no less than three social organizations having widely different aims,--the _Société Philanthropique_, the _Société Apollonienne_, which soon changed its title to that of the _Musée_, and the more practical _Société des Mercredis_, which existed for the purpose of encouraging good cooking. But the most distinguished of these reunions, frequented by the higher classes of society, was the _Société Dramatique_ de Madame de Montesson, the mistress of the Duc d'Orléans, who had ended by marrying her with his left hand. In her hôtel in the Rue Chaussée d'Antin, this lady had mounted a theatre, on which she appeared with the prince, and which, from 1770 to 1780, quite maintained the lead in the social diversions of the capital. [Illustration: FAINT-HEARTED. After a water-color by J. Koppay.]