Mme. du Châtelet was the one great _femme savante_ of that century. In the preface to her _Traduction des Principes Mathématiques de Newton_, Voltaire wrote: "Never was a woman so _savante_ as she, and never did a woman merit less the saying, _she is a femme savante_. She did not select her friends from those circles where there was a war of _esprit_, where a sort of tribunal was established, where they judged their century, by which, in recompense, they were severely judged. She lived for a long time in societies which were ignorant of what she was, and she took no notice of this ignorance. The words precision, justness, and force are those which correctly describe her elegance. She would have written as Pascal and Nicole did rather than like Mme. de Sévigné; but this severe firmness and this tendency of her _esprit_ did not make her inaccessible to the beauties of sentiment." Maupertuis, the astronomer, wrote: "What a marvel, moreover, to have been able to combine the fine qualities of her sex with the sublime knowledge which we believe uniquely made for us! This enterprising phenomenon will make her memory eternally respected." CHAPTER IX SALON LEADERS--(CONTINUED) MME. NECKER, MME. D'EPINAY, MME. DE GENLIS: MINOR SALONS It seems strange indeed that in a century in which the universal impulse was toward pleasure, and sameness of personality was visible everywhere, the types of great women showed such an absolute dissimilarity. The contrast between the natural inclinations of Mme. Necker, the wife of the great minister of finance, and the atmosphere in which she lived, makes the study of her a most interesting one. Born in Switzerland, the daughter of Curchod, a poor Protestant minister, "with patriarchal morals, solid education, and strong good sense," this moral and stern woman was thrown into the midst of depraved elegance, refined licentiousness, and physical debauchery. Sincere, chaste, enthusiastic, and essentially religious, she remained so amidst all the corruption and physical and mental degeneracy of the age.