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184
Hereditary Genius
letters were written. She had a joyous nature, beauty, grace, and wit; nothing
concealed; all open as day. Even while living, her letters were celebrated in the
Court and in society; they were handed about and read with infinite pleasure.
S. Marquis de Sevigne; a man of much ability and courage, who ended a restless
and somewhat dissipated life in the practice of devotion, under the direction of
ecclesiastics. He had not sufficient perseverance to succeed in anything.
US. Bussy-Rambutin; a very excellent soldier, adventurous, rash, and somewhat
dissipated. Would certainly have been made Marshal of France but for his ill-
natured, caustic personalities, which led to his exile, and loss of all hope of
advancement. He was an excellent letter-writer. He was really a man of great
literary power, who improved the French language.
There was a great deal more of sporadic talent in the family of Madame de Sevigne,
but it never elsewhere achieved a full success.
Stael, Anne Germaine de; one of the most distinguished writers of her age. She was
an only child. When quite young, she interested herself vastly in the
philosophy and politics talked at her father's table. Then she overworked
herself, aet. 15, partly urged on in her studies by her mother. After a serious
illness she became quite altered, and was no longer a pedantic child, but full of
abandon and charm. She married twice, and had three children.
G. Charles Frederick Necker, a German legal and political writer, who settled in
Geneva, where a chair of law was instituted for him.
F. Jacques Necker, the celebrated French statesman and finance minister of Louis
XVI. Had a strong natural bias for literature; aet. 18, showed remarkable
aptitude for business; was intensely fond of his daughter, and she of him.
U. Louis Necker, Professor of Mathematics at Geneva. He began by banking in
Paris, and had much success in his speculations, both there and afterwards at
Marseilles, but the troubled state of France determined him to return to
Geneva.
f. Susanna Curchod; Gibbon had wished to marry her. She
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