Mrs. E. de Girardin, medium.

We take the following article from the chronicle of the Paris-Journal, no.

There is no need for comment; it shows that, if all the partisans of Spiritism are mad, as those who, without ceremony, arrogate to themselves the privilege of good sense say so indelicately, we may console ourselves and even feel honored to go to the asylums in the company of intelligences of the temper of Mrs. de Girardin and so many others.

“The other day I promised you the story of Mrs. de Girardin and a celebrated physician. I shall tell it today, because I have obtained permission; it is a rather curious story. We shall remain in the supernatural; we occupy ourselves with it more than ever, we who, by duty of office, take the pulse of Paris and find it slightly feverish. Decidedly, there is in human nature a certain need to know the future and to penetrate the mysteries of Nature. When one sees intelligences such as that of Delphine Gay give themselves over to these practices, which we consider puerile, we cannot refuse them a certain importance, above all when supported by irrefutable testimonies, such as this one of which I speak to you and which you are about to come to know. I refer to the testimony, and not to the physician, understand well. “Mrs. de Girardin had a small planchette and a pencil. She consulted them incessantly. In this way she obtained conversations with many celebrities of History, not counting the devil, who also meddled in them. One night, he himself came to reveal himself to an important personage who was not afraid, for his attribution is to expel him. The great Delphine did nothing without consulting the planchette; she asked it for literary advice, which it never refused; it was even, toward the illustrious poetess, of a magisterial severity. Thus, it repeated to her incessantly that she should write no more tragedies, without the least consideration for the marvelous verses that compose her play Judith and Cleopatra. Who goes to attend the performance of a tragedy? The fanatics of dramatic poetry. What do they seek, in a tragedy? The beautiful verses that move and touch them, and Judith and Cleopatra teem with these thoughts of a woman, expressed by a woman of eminent spirit and heart, whose talent no one contests. In short, the planchette no longer wanted tragedy; it persisted in prose and in comedy; it collaborated in the denouements and corrected the prolixity. “Not only did Delphine confide her literary works to it, but she also recounted to it her sufferings and asked advice for her health. Unfortunately these counsels, dictated by the imagination of the sick woman or by the demon, contributed to taking her from us. She took incredible remedies: toast with pepper, chili peppers and all the extravagances harmful to a nature as inflammable as hers. Proofs of this were found after her death, of which her friends and admirers will never be consoled.

“Everyone knows Chasseriau, also carried off in the flower of age. He made from memory a superb portrait of the beautiful deceased. An engraving was made of it, which today is everywhere. He took the portrait to the doctor in question and asked him if he was pleased. The latter made a few slight observations. The painter was about to agree to these modifications when the two had the idea of addressing the model herself. They placed their hands upon the planchette and Mrs. de Girardin manifested herself almost immediately. One can imagine what her emotion would have been. Questioned about the portrait, she said that it was not perfect, but that they should not retouch it, for they ran the risk of damaging it, the likeness being very difficult to capture when one has no other guide than memory. They asked her other questions; to some she refused to answer, although she attended to others. “They asked the place where she was.

“— I do not want to say it, she retorted.

“And despite all the requests they could obtain nothing in that respect.

“ — Are you happy?

“ — No.

“ — Why?

“ — Because I can no longer be useful to those whom I love.

“She remained obstinately mute while they spoke to her of the other life and gave no information; she did not even say whether she acted thus because it was forbidden to her or by her own will. After a long conversation she went away. The minutes of this session were drawn up. The two witnesses were so impressed that they did not begin the experiment again. The physician could now evoke the one who had assisted him that day and have these two great Spirits on his planchette. How everything passes in this world! And what teachings in these strange facts, if we take them from the philosophical and religious point of view!” [1]

[Mrs. Delphine de Girardin was married to Émile de Girardin, hence the title:

Mrs. E. de Girardin.]