esses, yours has many masters. Has
_he_ gained by the exchange? Thus you see it clearly demonstrated, that
not one of the three orders has advanced in happiness by these wonderful
_improvements_ which you so much admire."[26] This is a strange
testimony to the blessings of revolution on a grand scale, and from one,
too, who had been in the midst of it as a prominent actor; but we
suspect it is what most others, in like circumstances, would give were
they candid, and what, after all, is simply true. Let any man of sound
understanding look at France now, and say what she has gained, or the
world through her, from the last outburst of popular fury; which has not
only left her the prey of charlatanism, but made her the victim of the
grossest passions. Talleyrand was, undoubtedly, right in his retrospect,
but his healthy convictions came too late to be of any use.

Of Talleyrand's literary habits little is known that can be relied upon,
but M. Colmache tells as, that "he could neither write nor dictate with
ease"; and that the most trifling productions of his pen caused him as
much trouble as the most elaborate dispatch. This may have proceeded
from fastidiousness in the choice of language, but was, most probably,
attributable to the defects of his education, and to the want of early
practice in composition. We are not told what kind of reading pleased
him, nor whether he was addicted to books; but he was a great admirer of
Voltaire, with whom he had conversed in early life, and whose style, of
its class, is perfect. He always deplored the scantiness of his
classical attainments, and, particularly, his ignorance of the Greek
tongue; and, so far as this volume teaches us, he would not appear to
have been what it is customary to call a learned man. M. Colmache gives
us certain "maxims for seasoning conversation," which, he says, were
Talleyrand's, but which convey to the mind the idea of a lively and
acute, rather than that of a profound thinker. If they want the
bitterness of Rochefoucauld, they have not the point and pith of Bacon,
nor the gravity of Locke. Three of these may suffice as specimens, and
as favorable ones:

"Both erudition and agriculture ought to be encouraged by government;
wit and manufactures will come of themselves.

"Metaphysics always remind me of the caravanseras in the desert. They
stand solitary and unsupported, and are always ready to crumble into
ruin.

"A great capitalist is like a vast lake, u