the men were the women, who
were universally dazzled by the brilliant hero. Miss Edes-Herbert, an
Englishwoman living in Paris, writes, among other flattering things
about him:--

"Since my last, the famous Paul Jones has dined here and also been
present at afternoon teas. If I am in love with him, for love I may die,
I am sure, because I have as many rivals as there are ladies."

She records that Jones wrote verses for the ladies extempore, and gives
a sample, the sentiments of which are as characteristic of the
declamatory century as of the naively vain Jones:--

"Insulted Freedom bled,--I felt her cause,
And drew my sword to vindicate her laws,
From principle, and not from vain applause.
I've done my best; self-interest far apart,
And self-reproach a stranger to my heart;
My zeal still prompts, ambitious to pursue
The foe, ye fair, of liberty and you:
Grateful for praise, spontaneous and unbought,
A generous people's love not meanly sought;
To merit this, and bend the knee to beauty,
Shall be my earliest and latest duty."

Many of Jones's flowery letters to distinguished women are preserved. On
one occasion he wrote to a certain countess, informing her that he was
composing a secret cipher for a key to their correspondence, and added:
"I beseech you to accept the within lock (of hair). I am sorry that it
is now eighteen inches shorter than it was three months ago."

The only case in which Jones's affections seem to have reached beyond
good nature, common kindness, or gallantry, to the point of love, was
that of Aimee de Thelison. She was the natural daughter of Louis XV.,
and this fact no doubt greatly heightened her interest in the eyes of
the aristocratic Jones. She was a person of beauty and charm, and felt
deep love for Jones. His love for her was of a cool character, which did
not interfere with any of the enterprises taking him so frequently away
from Paris. His letters to her are with one exception hardly love
letters. The warmest words in that exception are:--

"The last French packet brought no letter to me from the person whose
happiness is dearer to me than anything else.... Your silence makes even
honors insipid."

It was while Jones was waiting thus gayly to sail for America, that the
king of France bestowed upon him, in recognition of his services to the
common cause, the Royal Order of Military Merit and a gold-mounted sword
of hono