Swetchine, Madame, a Russian lady, Sophie Soymanof, born at Moscow, who married General Swetchine, and, after turning Catholic, became celebrated in Paris during 1817-51 as the gracious hostess of a salon where much religious and ethical discussion went on; plain and unimposing in appearance, she yet exercised a remarkable fascination over her “coterie” by the elevation of her character and eager spiritual nature (1782‒1857).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Swerga * Swift, Jonathan