ompany, and I
thought him both timid and reserved; but from what little he said, I
could not possibly judge of his character and capacity. His portrait and
its accompaniments have been presented to me; such as delivered to you by
one of his countrymen, a Mr. M---- (formerly an Ambassador also), who was
both his schoolfellow and his comrade at the university. I shall add the
following traits, in his own words as near as possible:

"More vain than ambitious, Schimmelpenninck from his youth, and,
particularly, from his entrance into public life, tried every means to
make a noise, but found none to make a reputation. He caressed in
succession all the systems of the French Revolution, without adopting one
for himself. All the Kings of faction received in their turns his homage
and felicitations. It was impossible to mention to him a man of any
notoriety, of whom he did not become immediately a partisan. The virtues
or the vices, the merit or defects, of the individual were of no
consideration; according to his judgment it was sufficient to be famous.
Yet with all the extravagances of a head filled with paradoxes, and of a
heart spoiled by modern philosophy, added to a habit of licentiousness,
he had no idea of becoming an instrument for the destruction of liberty
in his own country, much less of becoming its tyrant, in submitting to be
the slave of France. It was but lately that he took the fancy, after so
long admiring all other great men of our age, to be at any rate one of
their number, and of being admired as a great man in his turn. On this
account many accuse him of hypocrisy, but no one deserves that
appellation less, his vanity and exaltation never permitting him to
dissimulate; and no presumption, therefore, was less disguised than his,
to those who studied the man. Without acquired ability, without natural
genius, or political capacity, destitute of discretion and address, as
confident and obstinate as ignorant, he is only elevated to fall and to
rise no more."

Madame Schimmelpenninck, I was informed, is as amiable and accomplished
as her husband is awkward and deficient; though well acquainted with his
infidelities and profligacy, she is too virtuous to listen to revenge,
and too generous not to forgive. She is, besides, said to be a lady of
uncommon abilities, and of greater information than she chooses to
display. She has never been the worshipper of Bonaparte, or the friend
of Talleyrand; she loved