rs, he never lost his mild
and amiable temper.... The most striking feature of his handsome and
delicate appearance was uncommonly large and beautiful eyes. He never
entered a drawing-room without exciting the curiosity and sympathy of
the ladies."

While the sheets of Motley's history were passing through the press in
1856, he paid a visit to Bismarck at Frankfort:

"When I called," says Motley, "Bismarck was at dinner, so I left my
card, and said I would come back in half an hour. As soon as my card
had been carried to him (as I learned afterwards) he sent a servant
after me to the hotel, but I had gone another way. When I came back I
was received with open arms. I can't express to you how cordially he
received me. If I had been his brother, instead of an old friend, he
could not have shown more warmth and affectionate delight in seeing
me. I find I like him better even than I thought I did, and you know
how high an opinion I always expressed of his talents and
disposition. He is a man of very noble character, and of very great
powers of mind. The prominent place which he now occupies as a
statesman sought _him_. He did not seek it or any other office. The
stand which he took in the Assembly from conviction, on the occasion
of the outbreak of 1848, marked him at once to all parties as one of
the leading characters of Prussia....

"In the summer of 1851, he told me that the minister, Manteuffel,
asked him one day abruptly, if he would accept the post of ambassador
at Frankfort, to which (although the proposition was as unexpected a
one to him as if I should hear by the next mail that I had been chosen
governor of Massachusetts) he answered after a moment's deliberation,
yes, without another word. The king, the same day, sent for him, and
asked him if he would accept the place, to which he made the same
brief answer, 'Ja.' His majesty expressed a little surprise that he
made no inquiries or conditions, when Bismarck replied that anything
which the king felt strong enough to propose to him, he felt strong
enough to accept. I only write these details that you may have an idea
of the man. Strict integrity and courage of character, a high sense of
honor, a firm religious belief, united with remarkable talents, make
up necessarily a combination which cannot be found any day in any
court; and I have no doubt that he is destined to be prime minister,
unless his obstinate truthfulness, which is apt to be a
stumbling-block f