by Barrfere, the Barrère of the Terror, neither more nor less,
who, as we know, loved literature, especially that of senti-
ment. When the Letters appeared there was great emotion
in society, several of the friends of Mile, de Lespinasse being
still alive at that date. They deplored the indiscreet publi-
cation ; they blamed the conduct of the editors, who thus
dishonoured, they said, the memory of a woman until then
respected, and betrayed her secret to all, without the right to
do so. They appealed to both morality and decency; they
invoked the very fame of Mile, de Lespinasse. Nevertheless,
they eagerly enjoyed the reading of the Letters, which far sur-
passed in interest the most ardent romances, being, in truth, a
" Nouvelle H^loise " in action. To-day posterity, indifferent
to personal considerations, sees only the book, and classes it
in the series of immortal paintings and testimonies of passion,
of which there is not so great a number that we cannot count
them. Antiquity gives us Sappho for certain accents, certain
sighs of fire that come to us athwart the ages ; it has given
us the " Phaedra " of Euripides, the " Magician " of Theocritus,
the " Medea " of ApoUonius of Ehodes, the " Dido " of Virgil,
the "Ariadne" of Catullus. Among moderns we have the
Latin Letters of H^loise, those of the Portuguese nun, " Manon
Lescaut," the " Phfedre " of Eacine, and a few other rare pro-
ductions, among which the Letters of Mile, de Lespinasse are
in the first rank. Oh ! if the late Barrfere had never done
worse in his life than publish these Letters, if he had had no
greater burden on his conscience we would say to-day, absolv-
ing him with all our heart, " May the earth lie light upon
him!"
Here is an anecdote which I possess from the original. At the time when these Letters appeared, a brilliant society had gathered at the baths of Aix in Savoie. Some of the party had gone to visit Chambéry ; on their return one of the
