ou prove that?" said
somebody, sneeringly. "Yes," said Duclos; "and I will tell you how. The
great Conde, you will allow, was no fool; and the Duchesse de Longueville
is cited as one of the wittiest women that ever lived. The Regent was a
man who had few equals, in every kind of talent and acquirement. The
Prince de Conti, who was elected King of Poland, was celebrated for his
intelligence, and, in poetry, was the successful rival of La Fare and St.
Aulaire. The Duke of Burgundy was learned and enlightened. His Duchess,
the daughter of Louis XIV., was remarkably clever, and wrote epigrams and
couplets. The Duc du Maine is generally spoken of only for his weakness,
but nobody had a more agreeable wit. His wife was mad, but she had an
extensive acquaintance with letters, good taste in poetry, and a
brilliant and inexhaustible imagination. Here are instances enough, I
think," said he; "and, as I am no flatterer, and hate to appear one, I
will not speak of the living." His hearers were astonished at this
enumeration, and all of them agreed in the truth of what he had said. He
added, "Don't we daily hear of silly D'Argenson,

[Rene LOUIS d'Argenson, who was Minister for Foreign Affairs. He was the
author of 'Considerations sur le Gouvernement', and of several other
works, from which succeeding political writers have drawn, and still draw
ideas, which they give to the world as new. This man, remarkable not only
for profound and original thinking, but for clear and forcible
expression, was, nevertheless, D'Argenson la bete. It is said, however,
that he affected the simplicity, and even silliness of manner, which
procured him that appellation. If, as we hope, the unedited memoirs left
by Rene d'Argenson will be given to the world, they will be found fully
to justify the opinion of Duclos, with regard to this Minister, and the
inappropriateness of his nickname.]

because he has a good-natured air, and a bourgeois tone? and yet, I
believe, there have not been many Ministers comparable to him in
knowledge and in enlightened views." I took a pen, which lay on the
Doctor's table, and begged M. Duclos to repeat to me all the names he had
mentioned, and the eulogium he had bestowed on each. "If," said he, "you
show that to the Marquise, tell her how the conversation arose, and that
I did not say it in order that it might come to her ears, and eventually,
perhaps, to those of another person. I am an historiographer,