One of her most successful efforts in amusing him was the reading of "Les Memoires d'Outre-Tombe" to a select and admiring audience at the Abbaye. He first read them in private to Madame Recamier, who passed judgment upon them, and they were then read aloud by M. Charles Lenormant. This device worked like a charm; everybody applauded, and the author was content. The personal interest attached to the chief parties concerned, no doubt, made these readings very delightful. But it would now be impossible for any reader to be enthusiastic about the Memoirs themselves. Out of France it would be difficult to find a more egotistical piece of self-portraiture. Chateaubriand is not quite so ostentatious in his egotism as the Prince de Ligne, who headed the chapters in his "Memoires et Melanges," "De moi pendant le jour," "De moi pendant la nuit," "De moi encore," "Memoirs pour mon coeur"; still he parades himself on every possible occasion, and not always to his own advantage. His conduct in passing himself off as a single man in an English family who were kind to him during his exile, thereby engaging the daughter's affections, is entirely inexcusable. That a person of Madame Recamier's good judgment did not perceive the discredit that must attach to such revelations is only to be accounted for by supposing her blind to Chateaubriand's follies. But with all her partiality, it is still surprising that she should have given her sanction to his deliberate and cold analysis of the character of his parents, and his equally heartless and selfish reflections on his marriage.