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the hardy, vigorous, independent mind that must always have distinguished one who has passed without loss of honor through so many revolutions, and is still as good-humored and kind as all his friends have uniformly found him. . . . .
The Duchess de Grammont had a soiree for the Liberals every Saturday night, to which I always went before going to the Tuileries, in order to see and hear both sides together.
The persons who came to it were merely a part of those who went to Mad. de Broglie's, and it was generally rather dull. . . .
I went more frequently to the Duchess de Broglie's than anywhere else.
She has the same tender, affectionate character she had when I saw her watching over her mother's failing health, the same openhearted frankness, and the same fearless independence of the world and its fashions, that has always distinguished her. . . . . I have seldom seen any one with deeper and more sincere feelings of tenderness and affection, and never a Frenchwoman with so strong religious feelings; and when to this is added great simplicity and frankness, not a little personal beauty, and an independent, original way of thinking, I have described one who would produce a considerable effect in any society.
In her own she is sincerely loved and admired. . . . .
These were the houses to which I went most frequently, and the persons I best knew at Paris, excepting my countrymen. . . . . Humboldt, I think, I saw, either by accident or otherwise, nearly every day, and of all the men I have known, he is, in some respects, the most remarkable; the man on whom talent and knowledge have produced their best and most generous effects. . . . .
The last day I was in Paris, Mad. de Broglie made a little dinner-party for me, to which she asked Humboldt, Forbin, De Pradt,1 Lafayette, and two or three other persons, whom I was very glad to see before leaving Paris.
It happened too to be Monday night, and therefore I passed the remainder of the evening in her salon, upon which my latest recollections of Paris rest, for I left her hotel about one o'clock, and a very short time afterwards was on the road to Calais.2
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1 The Abbe de Pradt, who, as Mr. Ticknor elsewhere says, ‘of all others in French society, is said to have the most esprit in conversation.’
2 Among the smaller souvenirs of this visit in Paris are notes from the Duc de Broglie and from Humboldt to Mr. Ticknor, which have a pleasant flavor and hints of character. M. de Broglie says—
M. de Humboldt writes thus:—
J'espere vous voir ce soir, chez le D. de Broglie. Veuillez bien en tout cas, me marquer en deux lignes si vous pouvez vous charger du paquet.
Boston, J. R. Osgood and company, 1876.
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