INTRODUCTION.
By C.-A. SAINTE-BEUVE.
The claims of Mile, de Lespinasse to the attention of posterity are positive and durable. At the moment of her death she was universally regretted, as having, without name, without fortune, without beauty, created for herself the salon most in vogue, most eagerly frequented at an epoch which counted so many that were brilliant. Still, this flattering chorus of regrets given to the memory of the friend of d'Alembert would have left but a vague and presently receding idea of her, if the publication of her Letters, made in 1809, had not revealed her under an aspect wholly different, and shown, no longer the charming person dear to society, but the woman of heart and passion, the burning and self-consuming victim.
This volume of Letters from Mile, de Lespinasse to the Comte de Guibert is one of the most curious and most memorable monuments to passion. In 1820 another volume, under the title of " Nouveaux Lettres de Mile, de Lespinasse," was published, which is not hers ; it is unworthy of her mind and of her heart; being as flat and insipid as the other is distinguished, or, to say it better, unique. I beg my read- ers not to confound that volume of 1820 (a speculation and fabrication of publishers) with the Letters given to the world in 1809, the only ones that deserve confidence, and of which I desire to speak.
These love-letters, addressed to M. de Guibert, were published by the widow of M. de Guibert, assisted in the work
