he
Place de la Bastille; the man was in his right place, but still I needs
must laugh to myself. It may be that such a comic combination brings him
humanly somewhat nearer to our hearts. His good-nature, his _bonhomie_,
acts even on children, and they perhaps understand his greatness better
than do the grown people. And here I will tell a little story about a
beggar which will show the characteristic contrast between the glory of
Lafayette and that of Napoleon. I was lately standing at a street corner
before the Pantheon, and as usual lost in thought in contemplating that
beautiful building, when a little Auvergnat came begging for a sou, and
I gave him half-a-franc to be rid of him. But he approached me all the
more familiarly with the words, "_Est-ce que vous connaissez le general
Lafayette?_" and as I assented to this strange question, the proudest
satisfaction appeared on the naive and dirty face of the pretty boy, and
with serio-comic expression he said, _"Il est de mon pays,"_ for he
naturally believed that any man who was generous enough to give him ten
sous must be, of course, an admirer of Lafayette, and judged me worthy
that he should present himself as a compatriot of that great man. The
country folk also have for Lafayette the most affectionate respect, and
all the more because he chiefly busies himself with agriculture. From
this, result the freshness and simplicity which might be lost in
constant city life. In this he is like one of those great Republicans of
earlier days who planted their own cabbages, but who in time of need
hastened from the plough to the battle or the tribune, and after combat
and victory returned to their rural work. On the estate where Lafayette
passes the pleasant portion of the year, he is generally surrounded by
aspiring young men and pretty girls. There hospitality, be it of heart
or of table, rules supreme; there are much laughing and dancing; there
is the court of the sovereign people; there any one may be presented who
is the son of his own works and has never made mesalliance with
falsehood--and Lafayette is the master of ceremonies. The name of this
country place is Lagrange, and it is very charming when the hero of two
worlds relates to the young people his adventures; then he appears like
an epos surrounded by the garlands of an idyll.

But it is in the real middle-class more than any other, that is, among
tradespeople and small shop-keepers, that there is the most venerati