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 Staël (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, salonnière, literary and social critic, and follower of Rousseau, she became keenly involved in the opposition to Louis XVI. Volume 1 addresses Madame de Staël'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.