whichever side you view it, and
in whatever accumulation, only a foul, sordid, and degrading thing.
The fact is, that this great Mirabeau was a mixture of divinity and
dirt; that there was no divinity whatever in his errors, they were
all sullying dirt; that they ruined him, brought down his genius to
the kennel, deadened his fine nature and generous sentiments, made
all his greatness as nothing; that they cut him off in his prime,
obviated all his aims, and struck him dead in the hour when France
most needed him.

'Mirabeau's life and fate teach, to my perception, the most
depressing lesson I have read for years. One would fain have hoped
that so many noble qualities must have made a noble character and
achieved noble ends. No--the mighty genius lived a miserable and
degraded life, and died a dog's death, for want of self-control, for
want of morality, for lack of religion. One's heart is wrung for
Mirabeau after reading his life; and it is not of his greatness we
think, when we close the volume, so much as of his hopeless
recklessness, and of the sufferings, degradation, and untimely end in
which it issued. It appears to me that the biographer errs also in
being too solicitous to present his hero always in a striking point
of view--too negligent of the exact truth. He eulogises him too
much; he subdues all the other characters mentioned and keeps them in
the shade that Mirabeau may stand out more conspicuously. This, no
doubt, is right in art, and admissible in fiction; but in history
(and biography is the history of an individual) it tends to weaken
the force of a narrative by weakening your faith in its accuracy.

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

CHAPTER COFFEE-HOUSE, IVY LANE,
'_July_ 8_th_, 1848.

'MY DEAR SIR,--Your invitation is too welcome not to be at once
accepted. I should much like to see Mrs. Williams and her children,
and very much like to have a quiet chat with yourself. Would it suit
you if we came to-morrow, after dinner--say about seven o'clock, and
spent Sunday evening with you?

'We shall be truly glad to see you whenever it is convenient to you
to call.--I am, my dear sir, yours faithfully,