An accomplished biographer of figures ranging from Talleyrand to Cardinal Newman, Charlotte Blennerhassett (1843-1917) originally published this three-volume study in German. Reissued here is the English translation of 1889 by J. E. Gordon Cumming. Madame de Stael (1766-1817), an intellectual in Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, was ranked by Auguste Comte as among the ‘great men’ of the era. A novelist, salonniere, literary and social critic, and follower of Rousseau, she became keenly involved in the opposition to Louis XVI. Volume 1 addresses Madame de Stael’s life up to the Revolution, examining her ancestry, family and views on marriage, slavery and politics. Volume 2 addresses her life after the Revolution, examining the ascent of Napoleon, her exile to Switzerland and her celebrated visit to England. Volume 3 includes an account of her friendships with Goethe and Schiller, her travels in Italy and her return to Paris after Napoleon’s defeat.