corner,
as if listening to them.... At length Mme de Stael came in. "I am
late," she said; "but it is not my fault. I was invited to dine
at----, and was obliged to go." A great many of the guests were come:
all were looking for the hero of the evening--we had seen him only as
part of a show, now we wanted to hear him converse. At length he
entered. The nobleness of his figure and simplicity of his manners
produced a most agreeable impression on us. His pride, as it ought,
has nearly the grace of timidity. Mme de Stael, impressed by a style
and manner so little like that of our countrymen, said: "He carries
his glory as if it were a nothing." Then, by a quick recall of
patriotism, she whispered in my ear: "One must admit, however, that
nature never made a great man at less expense." It seemed to me that
the whole man was portrayed in these brief remarks.

'You would suppose, after this _debut_, that we had a very pleasant
evening: you shall judge. The Duke had not reached the end of the
salon, when the Abbe de Pradt fastened on him, and actually forced him
to listen for at least three-quarters of an hour, while he expressed
his ideas--the ideas of the Abbe de Pradt!--upon military tactics.
Conceive the wrath of Mme de Stael, and the annoyance of everybody
there! M. Schlegel said, that he could fancy he was listening to that
rhetorician who pronounced a discourse on the art of war to Hannibal.

'This remark did not make amends for the nuisance of hearing in good
French what we all knew before, when what we wanted was to listen to
new things, in a foreign accent. Among the very few words which the
English general was allowed to put in, I caught one sentence which
struck me. While the abbe took breath, or coughed, the warrior had
just time to tell us, that the most awful day in the life of a
commander is that in which he has gained a battle; because, before
having passed a night on the ground, and being assured on the morrow
of the departure of the enemy, the conqueror cannot even know whether
he is not conquered.

'Everything has its cost in this world, and if every man told us his
secret, we should see that the most dazzling triumphs are paid for at
their full price. However that may be, I thought there was sense and
good taste in the Duke's remark. It seemed as if he tried to make us
forgive him for exciting our curiosity so much.

'Many people went away discouraged by the bad manners of M. de Pradt.
The hero hims