Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-11-07
Thiers's Personal Appearancc.

| Thiers's Personal Appearance
1t is almost as difficult to get a correct
idea of Thiers's personal appearance,
from those who have attempted to de-
scribe him, as of the great Napoleon. We
know that Napoleon, after it had been
taken for granted for half a century
that he was brilliantly handsome, was
described by Michelet as positively
hideous-"a brown, stubby little bar
barian." By-the-way, writer in the
Spectator once spoke of an odd resem-
blance between Thiers and Napoleon,
which he thought he had discovered.
Princess de Lieven thought Thiers fine
looking. for all his short stature and
dumpy figure. "The most brilliant,
lively, and amusing" of all the states
men of the OrIeanist era, she called him.
On the other hand, the cynical Greville
does not conceal the unfiattering result
of his observation of him. 81 dined
with Talleyrand on Friday" he says;
ga great dinner to Thiers, the French
Minister of Commerce. A little man,
about as tall as Shiel, and as mean AID
vulgar looking, wearing spectacles, and
with a squeaking voice. Talleyrsnd
has high opinion of him. He wrote
a history of the Revolution which he
now regrets" Another writer describ-
ing Theirs, says: " In external appear
ance it is impossible To conceive a more
ignoble little being. He has neither
figure, nor shape, nor grace, nor mien;
aud truly, TO use the most unsavOry
description of Cormenin, he looks like
one of those provincial BARRIERS who,
with brush and razor in hand, go from
door to door Offering their SaroRette.
His voice is thin, harsh, and reedy; his
aspect sinister, deceitful, and tricky; a
sardonic smile plays about his insincere
and mocking mouth; and at first view
you are disposed TO distrust so illfavored
a looking dwarf, and TO disbelieve his
Story. But hear the persuasive pygmy,
hear him fairly out, and he greets you
with such pleasant, lively, light, voluble
personal anecdote, ingenious reflections,
all conveyed in such concise, clear, and
Incompatible language, that you forget
his ugliness, his impudence, insincerity,
and dishonesty" Another puzzles us
with a picture in sharp contrast with
the foregoing; I" His small figure is
precisely what you would select as the
most appropriate and exquisite type of
the honest french citizen; his hair,
very fine and of lustrous whiteness,
falls around forehead of large size,
smooth, without wrinkles, whose
brown tint betrays life of travel and
his southern birth, The cheeks are full;
the mouth an unbent bow, ready to Dart
courteous arrows; the eyes, shining
beneaeh the eyebrows, are so lively and
eloquent that they seem TO light up the
spectacles; their expression of attractive
good-nature extends to the smiling
lips"
The impression of the writer, who
has seen and heard Thiers more than
once, is less depreciatory than the first
of these estimates, and less agreeable
than the last. To us he appeared a
short, thick set, square-beaded, brist-
ling g-haired, pugnaciOus little man, with
good deal of sparkle and a good deal
of obstinacy. brimming with irony and
"fight;" nervous, petulaut, uneasy, and
charged throughout his diminutive body
with a seemingly inexhaustible vitality
and foree-a physical trait well fitted
TO his strong, determined, and bellicose
character. Rather German than French
in physiognOmy, he was all Gallic and
all Marseillais in his impetuous vivacity
and demonstrative manner. Most
engaging, no doubt, in conversation
and while talking in the social circle
showing at once his brightest and most
amiable side, it was evident that he
best enjoyed political life, especially
when that life was freely checkered by
pandemonium of strifes of the forum.
To see him in the tribune, with his cup
of coffee or his glass of claret by his
side, his handkerchief in his hand,
and his coal-black eyes glaring out
from beneath the big, square spectacles
which he always affected, was TO see
him when his fullest force and genius
were in play. He was good hater;
and probably never an orator lived who
felt more keenly the luxury of forensic
cambat than Theirs did in his old time
contests with the prim and austere
Guizot, t,-AppIetoRs Journal