“On the 28th of January” (says Crabb Robinson in his _Diary_, 1804), “I first waited on MADAME DE STAEL. I was shown into her bedroom, for which, not knowing Parisian customs, I was unprepared. She was sitting, most decorously, in her bed, and writing. She had her night-cap on, and her face was not made up for the day. It was by no means a captivating spectacle, but I had a very cordial reception, and two bright black eyes smiled benignantly on me. After a warm expression of her pleasure at making my acquaintance, she dismissed me till three o’clock. On my return then I found a very different person——the accomplished Frenchwoman surrounded by admirers, some of whom were themselves distinguished. Among them was the aged WIELAND. There was on this, and, I believe, on almost every other, occasion, but one lady among the guests: in this instance FRAU VON KALB. MADAME DE STAEL did not affect to conceal her preference for the society of men to that of her own sex.” COUNT D’ORSAY related of MADAME DE STAEL, whose character was discussed, that one day, being on a sofa with MADAME DE RÉCAMIER, one who placed himself between them exclaimed: “Me voilà entre la beauté et l’esprit!” She replied: “That is the first time I was ever complimented for beauty!” MADAME DE RÉCAMIER was thought the handsomest woman in Paris, but was by no means famed for _esprit_.—_Crabb Robinson’s Diary._ “MADAME DE STAEL was a perfect aristocrat, and her sympathies were wholly with the great and prosperous. She saw nothing in England but the luxury, stupidity, and pride of the Tory aristocracy, and the intelligence and magnificence of the Whig aristocracy. The latter talked about truth and liberty and herself, and she supposed it was all as it should be. As to the millions, the people, she never enquired into their situation. She had a horror of the _canaille_, but anything of _sangre azul_ had a charm for her. When she was dying she said; ‘Let me die in peace; let my last moments be undisturbed’. Yet she ordered the cards of every visitor to be brought to her. Among them was one from the DUC DE RICHELIEU. ‘What!’ exclaimed she, indignantly; ‘what! have you sent away the DUKE? Hurry. Fly after him. Bring him back. Tell him that though I die for all the world, I live for _him_.’”—_Bowring’s Autobr. Recollections_, pp. 375–6. MADAME DE STAEL prepared her _bons-mots_ with elaborate care, some being borrowed.... She was ugly, and not of an intellectual ugliness. Her features were coarse, and the ordinary expression rather vulgar. She had an ugly mouth, and one or two irregularly prominent teeth, which perhaps gave her countenance an habitual gaiety. Her eye was full, dark, and expressive; and when she declaimed, which was almost whenever she spoke, she looked eloquent, and one forgot that she was plain. On the whole, she was singularly unfeminine; and if, in conversation, one forgot she was ugly, one forgot also that she was a woman.—_J. W. Croker’s Note-Books._—[ED.]