ing to
receive him. He began to repent of his imprudent haste, because it would
certainly end by compromising Madame d'Houdetot, and because, moreover,
he had no proof after all that his suspicions had any foundation. He
went instantly to the house of Madame d'Epinay; at his approach she
threw herself on his neck and melted into tears. This unexpected
reception from so old a friend moved him extremely; he too wept
abundantly. She showed no curiosity as to the precise nature of his
suspicions or their origin, and the quarrel came to an end.[300]

Grimm's turn followed. Though they had been friends for many years,
there had long been a certain stiffness in their friendship. Their
characters were in fact profoundly antipathetic. Rousseau we
know,--sensuous, impulsive, extravagant, with little sense of the
difference between reality and dreams. Grimm was exactly the opposite;
judicious, collected, self-seeking, coldly upright. He was a German
(born at Ratisbon), and in Paris was first a reader to the Duke of Saxe
Gotha, with very scanty salary. He made his way, partly through the
friendship of Rousseau, into the society of the Parisian men of letters,
rapidly acquired a perfect mastery of the French language, and with the
inspiring help of Diderot, became an excellent critic. After being
secretary to sundry high people, he became the literary correspondent of
various German sovereigns, keeping them informed of what was happening
in the world of art and letters, just as an ambassador keeps his
government informed of what happens in politics. The sobriety,
impartiality, and discrimination of his criticism make one think highly
of his literary judgment; he had the courage, or shall we say he
preserved enough of the German, to defend both Homer and Shakespeare
against the unhappy strictures of Voltaire.[301] This is not all,
however; his criticism is conceived in a tone which impresses us with
the writer's integrity. And to this internal evidence we have to add the
external corroboration that in the latter part of his life he filled
various official posts, which implied a peculiar confidence in his
probity on the part of those who appointed him. At the present moment
(1756-57), he was acting as secretary to Marshal d'Estrees, commander of
the French army in Westphalia at the outset of the Seven Years' War. He
was an able and helpful man, in spite of his having a rough manner,
powdering his face, and being so monstrously scented