sex. She was the feminine dictator of beauty. 'As I was one of those who had been instrumental in saving her life previous to the ninth Thermidor, I had remained on a footing of intimacy with her, not to be interrupted by my accession to the Directorate. Those who, in all the relations of life, consider only the means which can procure them access to those in power, believed that Madame Tallien, having possibly granted certain favours, consequently exercised a certain sway over me, and appealed to her, some under the cloak of passion, others under that of devotion, friendship, enthusiasm, or admiration. Madame Tallien did not abuse this position to any too great extent, seeking, it is true, in all this a happy way of supplementing her fortune—a very small one at the time, and one she was compelled to share with her husband, who possessed none, either because he had earned little money, or from the reason that he had run through it quickly. Madame Tallien might, therefore, busy herself in good earnest to pick up the money she judged necessary for her maintenance; but it must be admitted that money, in the case of Madame Tallien, was not the main object, but the means of obtaining the pleasures she was fond of or which she procured for others. I must in this connection point out a distinction which the acquaintances of Madame Tallien and Madame Beauharnais agreed on establishing between these two gentlewomen, to
