GAY, MARIE FRANcOISE SOPHIE, Madame, 1776-1852, daughter of M. Nichault de Lavalette (who was attached to the household of Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII.) and of Francesca Pcretti, a Florentine lady. Under the guidance of her father, she received a very careful education. In 1793, she was married to M.Liottier, an exchange broker, but was divorced from him in 1799, and shortly afterwards married M. Gay, receiver-general of the department of the Roer or Ruhr. This union brought her into more intimate relations with many distinguished personages whom she had previously known; and her circle of acquaintainces gradually extended, until her salon came to be frequented by all the distinguished litterateurs, musicians, actors, and painters of the time, among whom she made herself remarked by her beauty, her vivacity, and her sprightly wit tempered by fine tact and genuine amiability. Her first literary produc tion was a letter written in 1802 to the Journal de Paris, in defense of Madame de Stael's novel Delphin ; and in the same year she published her first novel, Laura d'Estell, anony mously. Leonie de Mantbreuse, which appeared in 1813, is considered by Sainte-Beuve
her best work; but Anatolie, which appeared in 1815, has perhaps a higher reputation. These and several of her other works, amongst which may he specially named Les Salons celebres, possess interest beyond their intrinsic merit, on account of their purity and elegance of style, for their portraitures of French society especially during the period of the directory and the consulate, and of many of the distinguished personages whose intimacy she enjoyed. Madame Gay wrote several theatrical pieces which won con siderable success. She was also an accomplished pianist and harpist, and composed both the words and the music of a number of romances.
GAY,,,WINci;.wowrir ALLAN, b. Mass., 1821; a landscape painter, pupil of prof. Robert "Weir at West Point and of Constant Troyon in Paris. His pictures of New England scenery arc highly esteemed.