aris for intelligence respecting him, and watched his
course from afar with interest and anxiety. It was not one to
tranquillize her. He had quarrelled with the President of the Council,
Villele; and being also personally disliked by the King, he was
peremptorily dismissed, and he bore this disgrace with neither dignity
nor composure. Turning his pen against the government, he did as much by
his persistent savage opposition, clothed as it was in the language of
superb invective, to bring about the final overthrow of the elder
Bourbon dynasty, as either the stupid arrogance of Charles X. or the
dogged tyranny of Polignac. Yet no man was more concerned and disgusted
than he was at the result of the Revolution of 1830. So far true to his
convictions, he refused office under Louis Philippe, priding himself
greatly on his allegiance to the exiled princes, when neither his
loyalty nor his services could be of any use. The truth is, that, though
Chateaubriand was fond of meddling and making a noise, he had none of
the fundamental qualities of a statesman. By the inspiration of his
genius, he could seize the right moment for making a telling speech, or
he could promulgate in a pamphlet a striking truth, calculated to
electrify and convince. But he could not be calmly deliberate. Always
enthusiastic, he was never temperate. He was the slave of his
partialities and prejudices. Harriet Martineau, who for keen analysis
and nice discrimination of character has few equals among historians,
characterizes him as "the wordy Chateaubriand," and Guizot says of him,
"It was his illusion to think himself the equal of the most consummate
statesmen, and his soul was filled with bitterness because men would not
admit him to be the rival of Napoleon as well as of Milton." It was this
bitterness with which Madame Recamier had to contend, for his literary
successes did not console him for his political disappointments, and his
temper, never very equable, was now more variable and uncertain.

After an absence of eighteen months she returned to Paris. She apprised
Chateaubriand of her arrival by a note. He came immediately to see her,
and was rapturous with delight. No word of reproach passed between them,
and he fell at once into his old habits. From this time his behavior was
respectful and devoted. Absence and his disappointments had taught him
the inestimable value of such a friend. She daily became more and more
necessary to him. After his resi