60 ENGLISH OPINION her language, and the power of her wit, all frequently exercised in proclaiming her own impieties. It is a striking proof of the unrelenting rancour of her heart, that a friend of the same class of character *, whom she had formerly loved as much as she could love any -Woman ; one who had been her select companion in her own house fifteen years, but who had quitted her in disgust, and set up a talking house for herself, which drew away some of " the best feathers in her wing ;" on hearing the death of this rival lady, she only ex- claimed, " I wish she had died many years ago, and then I should not have lost D'Alembert !" We learn from her letters, that her splendid societywas composednot merely _ of wits, philosophers, and academicians, but of women of rank, of nobles, and of statesmen, with one of whom she was connected. From those, it must be con- Mademoiselle de l'Espinasse.
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