Chapter I. Youth. PAGE

Precocious Talents Manifested — Mlle. VigÉe's Father and Mother — Death of Her Father — A Friend of Her Girlhood — Her Mother Remarries — Mlle. VigÉe's First Portrait of Note (Count Schouvaloff) — Acquaintance with Mme. Geoffrin — The Authoress's Puritanical Bringing-up — Male Sitters Attempt Flirtation — Public Resorts of Paris Before the Revolution 3

Chapter II. Up the Ladder of Fame.

Tedious Sojourn in the Country — Social Amenities in Paris — Mlle. VigÉe Becomes Mme. Lebrun — Prognostications of Unhappy Wedlock — On the Ladder of Fame — Singularities of Oriental Taste — Marie Antoinette as a Model — Painting the Royal Family — How Louis XVIII. Sang — The Princess de Lamballe 16

Chapter III. Work and Pleasure.

Impressions of Flanders — The Authoress's Election to the French Royal Academy of Painting — Her Devotion to Work — Social Pleasures — A Tale of an Artist's Extravagance — Calonne and Calumny — M. Lebrun Allows His Wife Naught Per Cent. of Her Earnings — A Dramatic Constellation — The Incomparable Mme. Dugazon 32

Chapter IV. Exile.

A Gallic Maecenas — Anecdote Concerning Beaumarchais — The Duke de Nivernais — Mme. Du Barry Sketched in Words — And Painted in Oils — Rumblings of the Revolution — Mme. Lebrun's Fearsome Journey to Italy — Renewed Artistic Activity at Rome — Easter Sunday at St. Peter's — Fascination of the Eternal City — Vanities and Violences of Its People 47

Chapter V. Neapolitan Days.

Naples — A Sleepy Ambassadress — The Remarkable Life of Lady Hamilton — Being the Story of a Frivolous Flirt Fond of Beer — More Royal Models — Excursions to Posilippo — Mlle. Lebrun Writes a Novel at the Age of Nine — The Queen of Naples Sits to the Authoress — The Wedding of the Doge of Venice with the Sea 63

Chapter VI. Turin and Vienna.

A Queen Who Refused to Be Painted — A Four-Course Dinner of Frogs, Frogs, Frogs and Frogs — Villeggiatura — French Refugees at Turin — Their Heartrending Plight — Vienna — News of the "Awful Murder" of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette — Barefoot Princess Lichtenstein — Inducements to Visit Russia — Journey Thither via Dresden — The Sistine Madonna 74

Chapter VII. Saint Petersburg.

Arrival at St. Petersburg — The Beautiful Grandduchess Elisabeth — Catherine II. Receives Mme. Lebrun — And Is Most Gracious — Petty Court Intrigues — A Visit to Count Strogonoff — Hospitality of the Russians — An Ambassador as Gardener — Princess Dolgoruki and Her Hideous Admirer — The Extravagances of Potemkin — His End 83

Chapter VIII. Life in Russia.

Painting Russian Royalties — Festivities at Court — The Pangs of Waiting for Dinner — "To Keep Warm, Spend the Winter in Russia" — The Hardiness of Its Common People — Who Are Well Suited with Serfdom — And Remarkably Honest — The Quaint Ceremonial of Blessing the Neva — Various Social Customs 96

Chapter IX. Catherine II.

Surroundings of St. Petersburg — Patriarchal Unconventionalities — An Artillery Repast — The Greatness of the Second Catherine — Who Lit Her Own Fire and Made Her Own Coffee — And Was Sworn at by a Chimney Sweeper — Other Domestic Amenities in the Career of an Empress — The Suit of Gustavus IV. — Catherine's Death — Humiliating Funeral Incidents 109

Chapter X. The Emperor Paul.

Accession of the Emperor Paul — His Arbitrary Rule — His Civility to the Authoress — A Man Who Did Not Know the Emperor's Address — Paul's Kindness to Foreigners — His Fear of Assassination — His Personal Appearance — The Empress Maria — Vagaries of a Half-Mad Emperor — A Noble Prelate 119

Chapter XI. Family Affairs.

Poniatowski, Last King of Poland — His Amiable Character — The Authoress's Faculty of Presaging Death — Poniatowski the Nephew — Mme. Lebrun Received as a Member of the St. Petersburg Academy — Her Daughter's Untoward Marriage — Resulting in Estrangement Between Mother and Child 131

Chapter XII. Moscow.

Journey to Moscow — A Bad Smell and Its Origin — First Impression of Moscow — Another Impression, Oral and Unpleasing — The Kremlin — Steam-and-Snow Bathing — Society — Luxurious Prince Kurakin — An Impossible Duologue — Examples of Russian Cleverness — Determination to Return to France 142

Chapter XIII. Good-by to Russia.

Departure from Moscow — News of the Death of Paul — Particulars of His Assassination — Et tu Brute? — Paul's Presentiments of Peril — His Successor Not an Accomplice in the Crime — Alexander I. a Popular Monarch — An Order from an Imperial Customer and Model — Farewells to Friends — Among Them Czar and Czarina 154

Chapter XIV. Homeward Bound.

First Station, Narva — The Cataract — Riga — Hardships of Travel a Hundred Years Ago — Obdurate Custom-House Officials — A Summons to Potsdam — The Loveliest and Sweetest of Queens — Her Ugly Children — An Ambitious Cook — The Journey Continued — "Remember Your Jewel-Case" — Modelling in Dirt for a Pastime — Likewise Sewing — Home Again 164

Chapter XV. Old Friends and New.

Paris After the Revolution — Renewing Old Acquaintances and Forming New Ties — Rival Beauties: Mme. RÉcamier and Mme. Tallien — Mme. Campan — An Englishwoman's Slip of the Tongue — Some Distinguished Foreigners 173

Chapter XVI. Unmerry England.

London — Its Historic Piles — And Dull Sundays — And Taciturn People — Pictures by Sir Joshua Reynolds — His Modesty — How to Dry Pictures in a Damp Climate — The Artistic View of a Certain Popular Beauty — The Prince of Wales — His Alleged Attentions to Mme. Lebrun — The Authoress Lectures an Unfriendly Critic — News of One of Napoleon's "Atrocious Crimes" 182

Chapter XVII. Persons and Places in Britain.

English Palaces — And Scenery — Suburban Princes — Richmond Terrace — An Eccentric Margravine — The Charm of the Isle of Wight — The Britons a Stolid Nation — Their Indifference to Rain 192

Chapter XVIII. Bonapartes and Bourbons.

Back in Paris — The Devotion of Mme. Grassini — Capricious, Exacting Mme. Murat — Aspects of Christian Warfare — "Kill All Those People!" — Louis XVIII. Enters the Capital — The Barrenness of Napoleon's Victories — His Successor's Attainments — Bourbon Characteristics — The Authoress Loses Her Husband, Daughter and Brother — Conclusion 200