CHARRIERE

charriere, agnes isabelle emilie de (1740-1805), swiss author, was dutch by birth, her maiden name being van tuyll van seeroskerken van zuylen. she married in 1771 her brother's tutor, m. de charriere, and settled with him at colombier, near lausanne. she made her name by the publication of her _lettres neuchateloises_ (amsterdam, 1784), offering a simple and attractive picture of french manners. this, with _caliste, ou lettres ecrites de lausanne_ (2 vols. geneva, 1785-1788), was analysed and highly praised by sainte-beuve in his _portraits de femmes_ and in vol. in of his _portraits litteraires_. she wrote a number of other novels, and some political tracts; but is perhaps best remembered by her liaison with benjamin constant between 1787 and 1796. her letters to constant were printed in the _revue suisse_ (april 1844), her _lettres-memoires_ by e.h. gaullieur in the same review in 1857, and all the available material is utilized in a monograph on her and her work by p. godet, _madame de charriere et ses amis_ (2 vols., geneva, 1906).