time living in Paris in the Elysee. He had
continued to reside at the Prefecture of Versailles while the Assembly
was in session, but he came to the Elysee during its recess, and
kept a certain state there. Yet he never would submit himself to
the restraints of etiquette. One who knew him well says:--

"He was _bourgeois_ to the finger-tips. His character was a curious
effervescing mixture of talent, learning, vanity, childish petulance,
inquisitiveness, sagacity, ecstatic patriotism, and ambition. He
was a splendid orator, with the voice of an old coster-woman; a
_savant_ with the presumption of a school-boy; a kind-hearted man,
with the irritability of a monkey; a masterly administrator, with
that irresistible tendency to intermeddle with everything which
is intolerable to subordinates. He had a sincere love of liberty,
with the instincts of a despot."

M. Thiers had during his long life been a collector of pictures,
bronzes, books, manuscripts, and curious relics. His house in the
Place Saint-Georges was a museum of these treasures, but a museum
so arranged that it contributed to sociability and the enjoyment
of his visitors. He had acquired this taste for collecting in his
early days at Aix. During the Commune his house was razed to the
ground, not one stone being left upon another.

When the Commune put forth its decree for this act of vandalism,
Thiers' consternation was pathetic. The ladies of his family did
everything that feminine energy and ingenuity could suggest to
avert the calamity. But when the destruction had taken place, Thiers
bore his loss with dignity. His collections were very fine, but he
had always been afraid of their being damaged, and did not show
them to strangers. When the Commune sent the painter Courbet to
appraise their value, he estimated the bronzes alone at $300,000.[1]
M. Thiers' collection of Persian, Chinese, and Japanese curios was
also almost unique. After the overthrow of the Commune, Madame
Thiers and her sister did their utmost to recover such of these
treasures as had passed into the hands of dealers. Many of these
men gave back their purchases, and none demanded extravagant prices.
A great deal was recovered, and the house on the Place Saint-Georges
was rebuilt at the public cost.

[Footnote 1: Le Figaro.]

It was on the 5th of September, 1872, that the last German soldier
quitted France and the five milliards of francs (in our money a
thousand millions of dollars) had