Year: 1869

Brains had triumphed over professional skill
#istellauenns &eadiug.


PRINCE TALLEYRAND.


BY JAMES PARTON.


| In the year 1766, hundred and three Year,
ago, curious scene occurred one winter day, in q
small country village some miles from the city Of
Paris.


A fair complexioned, ruddy boy, twelve years Of
age, with long ringlets flowing down from under
his cap and waving in the wind, was hobbling
along the village street, supported by a crutch.
There was snow upon the ground, but the eager
lad, lame as he was, was going out to set traps
for larks. As he was moving briskly along, be was
oyertaken by his uncle, naval officer on horse.
back, who had ridden that day from Paris, through
the snow and mud, to see his nephew, who had re-
sided in this village for some years under the care
of nurse. Seeing the lad in this plight, hobbling
along with crutch, he was deeply moved, and
went in search Of the nurse and demanded to know
how he had become lame. The nurse explained
the accident, which had happened to him in his
early childhood but her explanation, it seems,
only kndled the wrath of the old sailor the more.
He rebuked her with French vehemence for hel
carelessness and then seizing the boy by the shou
ders, lifted him to the saddle, put spurs to his
horse, and hugging the boy to his heart, he was
out of the village before the nurse could raise hel
voice in rcmonstrance.


The officer dashed away through mud and snow,
and never drew rein till he reached the city, where
he placed the handsome and high-spirited little
cripple in charge of professor better able to take
care of him than Grabbed, careless old woman.
That done, he Immediately rejoined his ship at
Toulon, where, few mouths after, he was drown.
ed, and so never saw again the boy whom he had
rescued from the dirt and ignorance of rustic vii
lage.


That little, fair complexioned cripple was Charles
Maurice Taleyrand- Perigord, heir of noble houses
of France, and afterwards noted as the most subtle
and crafty dplomatist of his age. His father, the
Comte de Talleyrand, an officer Of high rank in the
French army, was absent from home with his
corps and his mother, o woman Of beauty and
fashion, had put the child out to nurse as soon as
he was born, and scarcely ever saw him again until
some time after the scene just described


At Paris his injured leg was inspected and treat
ed by an eminent surgeon, who, after torturing
the poor lad for some time with his experiments,
informed his family that the injury was incurabe,
and that the handsome boy was cripple for life.
Being the eldest son of his father it was his right,
according to the custom of his country and class,
to enter the army, and such had always been the
expectation of the lad But now he was removed
from the college where his uncle had placed him,
and taken to seminary for the education of young
men to the priesthood, where priest in the black
robe of his profession, told him that it was his
younger brother, and not himself, who was to be
the soldier of the family.


"Why so?" he asked, astounded at the intelli.
gence.


Because he is not cripple, replied the priest.
He was also informed that he was destined to
the service Of the church, and was to prepare fol-
the priestly Office. Rage and despair contended
for the mastery within him j; but no passionate OF
rebellious words escaped the young French thor
oughbred. With fury in his eyes, and kind Of
fierce resignation in his heart, be left the room
upon his cruch, and stihed his feelings as best he
could.


Under such auspices as these, Talleyrand began
his career He never slept in his parents house
until he was seventeen years Of age He had
neither father to restrain, nor mother to soften
and ennoble him. IF we look into the early lives
of men and women noted for their want of princi-
pie and moral feeling, we shall generally find that
they passed their childhood as Talleyrand passed
his, remote from those influences which nourish
the better principles of human nature.


A youth about Paris, Talleyrand was noted for
the swiftness with which, as cripple, be could
run, and the dexterity with which he could per-
form gymnastic feats and he showed good deal
of that sharp wit, that acute judgment of charac-
ter, and that curious blending of suppleness and
PRIDE for which he was afterwards distinguished.


At the Priests college he remained about six
years. He was busy student, though not very
systematic one, and he accumulated vast quanti-
ty of those odds and ends of knowledge which des-
ultory students gather. His injured leg gained
strength with his years, until he could lay aside
his crutch, and he became such an accomplished
gymnast that his family regretted that they had
consigned him to the priesthood. They resolved
in compensation, to push him in society, and make
the church bountiful mother to him. In l774,
when Louis the Sixteenth came to the throne Of
France, Talleyrand was twenty years of age; and
it was at the coronation of that hapless king that
he made his first appearance in the great world.


1t is impossible for an American, unless he has
made the France of that day his particular study,
to comprehend how this young Able de Perigord,
as he was called, could have lived the life he did
during the next few years. He was priest but
he performed no priestly Office. He was an abbe,
without having any monks or monasteries under his
actual charge. He had taken the vows which are
exacted of all Romish priests, and yet he was the
most notoriously icentious young man in Paris.
His amours were the theme Of every scandalloving
tongue; but he appears to have received no rebuke
from his ecclesiastical superiors nor did his con-
duct make him less welcomed in society or at
Court More than that, his family procured for
him several bene6ces, for which he performed no
duty whatever, but continued always to live the
! life of man of fashion.