The Baroness d'Oberkirch, being the intimate friend of the Empress of
Russia, wife of Paul I., and the confidential companion of the Duchess
of Bourbon, her facilities for obtaining information respecting the most
private affairs of the principal Courts of Europe, render her Memoirs
unrivalled as a book of interesting anecdotes of the royal, noble, and
other celebrated individuals who flourished on the continent during the
latter part of the last century. Among the royal personages introduced
to the reader in this work, are Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, Philip
Egalite, and all the Princes of France then living--Peter the Great, the
Empress Catherine, the Emperor Paul, and his sons Constantine and
Alexander, of Russia--Frederick the Great and Prince Henry of
Prussia--The Emperor Joseph II. of Austria--Gustavus III. of
Sweden--Princess Christina of Saxony--Sobieski, and Czartoriski of
Poland--and the Princes of Brunswick and Wurtemberg. Among the
remarkable persons are the Princes and Princesses de Lamballe, de Ligne
and Galitzin--the Dukes and Duchesses de Choiseul, de Mazarin, de
Boufflers, de la Valliere, de Guiche, de Penthievre, and de
Polignac--Cardinal de Rohan, Marshals Biron and d'Harcourt, Count de
Staremberg, Baroness de Krudener, Madame Geoffrin, Talleyrand, Mirabeau,
and Necker--with Count Cagliostro, Mesmer, Vestris, and Madame Mara; and
the work also includes such literary celebrities as Voltaire, Condorcet,
de la Harpe, de Beaumarchais, Rousseau, Lavater, Bernouilli, Raynal, de
l'Epee, Huber, Goethe, Wieland, Malesherbes, Marmontel, de Stael and de
Genlis; with some singular disclosures respecting those celebrated
Englishwomen, Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston, and Lady Craven,
Margravine of Anspach.
"The Baroness d'Oberkirch, whose remarkable Memoirs are here given to
the public, saw much of courts and courtiers, and her Memoirs are filled
with a variety of anecdotes, not alone of lords and ladies, but of
emperors and empresses, kings and queens, and reigning princes and
princesses. As a picture of society anterior to the French Revolution,
the book is the latest and most perfect production of its sort extant;
and as such, besides its minor value as a book of amusement, it
possesses a major value as a work of information, which in the interest
of historical truth, is, without exaggeration, almost
incalculable."--_Observer._
"Thoroughly genuine and unaffected, these Memoirs display the whole mind
of a woman who was well worth knowing, and relate a large part of her
experience among people with whose names and characters the world will
be at all times busy. A keen observer, and by position thrown in the
high places of the world, the Baroness d'Oberkirch was the very woman to
write Memoirs that would interest future generations. We commend these
volumes most heartily to every reader. They are a perfect magazine of
pleasant anecdotes and interesting characteristic things. We lay down
these charming volumes with regret. They will entertain the most
fastidious readers, and instruct the most informed."--_Examiner._
"An intensely interesting autobiography."--_Morning Chronicle._
"A valuable addition to the personal history of an important period. The
volumes deserve general popularity."--_Daily News._
"One of the most interesting pieces of contemporary history, and one of
the richest collections of remarkable anecdotes and valuable
reminiscences ever produced."--_John Bull._
THE MARVELS OF SCIENCE,
AND THEIR TESTIMONY TO HOLY WRIT;
A POPULAR MANUAL OF THE SCIENCES.