Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-07-27

from Henry Grovllle's daryl


Mr.. Greville's most interesting storiei
are about Talleyrand, whom he knew yer,
we'll. "He was very proud of q defini
ton he had made of L'Amour' "Lov'
is reality in the realm of the imagina
tion." 1t does not sound to be proud O
in English. Mr.. de Narbonne was very
tedious, and one day, when driving witt
Talleyrand across the Pont Neuf, was par
ticularly dreary Talleyrand saw maj
yawning Mt distance, and said, "Don'
speak 80 loud, we are overheard" Ma
poleon, according to Tallcyrand, had mo
mcnts in which he played the moralisl
among the ladies of his court. The En-
peror thought the conduct of Marshal Ney
"trop fort" which give one an unholy de-
sire to know what the Marshal could pos
sibly have been doing. Nine, de Genlis
enraged Nine. de Stael (and mo wonder
by saying, "Si Nine, de Stnel await etc
elevee, ellie aurait etc tres superieure.
Talleyrand said that Louis XVIII used tc
cut irreverent Jokes on Sunday afternoon
which was very ungrateful conduct i'll
thai monarch. Otherwise Louis XVIII
was very agreeable and well read, parti-
cularly well acquainted with Horace, and
extremely proud of his beauty and of the
grace with which he took off and put OIL
his hat. In this respect his majesty con.
sidered himself the most accomplished
man in his own dominions. Napoleon,
oddly enough, was very fond of theology.
1t was not 30 much that he was truly
pious or devout believer, but that he
had natural taste for theological study.
His library was peculiarly rich in books
of divinity. He kept three bishops with
whom he used to argue on these serious
and difficult topics. Talleyrand admitted
that he himself was ''not wholly destitute
of religious belief, so open was the mind
of this really clever man. In earlier days
he had some very odd experience Of re.
volutionary society. He was at a meet.
ing of the directors when Barras gave
Carnot the lie; the lie was retorted, not
courteouSly, and Barras replied in the
style of an unpublished coal heavier. 81
had never seen anything like it," said
Talleyrand.
In Paris Mr.. Greville saw Honore de
Balzac "the literary hero of all the ladies'
boudoirs," about whom Talleyrand pre-
tended never to have heard Balzac was
"a singular looking person, fat and I'm.
wieldy, but with a striking head dressed
rather for effect" These were the great
romantic days, and Mr.. Greville went to
Berliozs concert. "Such tintamare
never heard. In company with Talley-
rand, Brougham talked without ceasing,
and in very bad French. Talleyrand ask.
ed whether Fox had not been "tres occupe
de Nine. Siddons ?' Brougham said
"No, the thing was out of the question
Siddons was too grand and great to in
spire love. You might as well have fallen
in love with the sea as with Mrs. Siddons
Perhaps the East India company might
have loved her; rien moins que celia.
The duke of Wellington's remarks Oh
Lord Nelson were interesting. The duke
saw the great sailor but once, in the wait
ing room of the colonial office. Wher
Nelson discovered who the duke was, she
entered upon long story Of his life, ant
talked" (the duke sGid) rather boasting
ly, but it was plain to see that when ht
spoke Of his profession he was man o.
genius. The duke had no doubt that he
was the greatest seaman that ever existed
Peel said he was below par in everything
else The duke said one of the most ex
traordinary things the mighty sailor eve
did was after he was mortally wounded a
Trafalgar. He then told Hardy to Civ,
the signal for the fleet to anchor. "Ht
had observed the gale coming on, and i
was by doing this he saved his fleet near
ly the whole of the Spanish fleet wer'
| lost"