aster's
cause; he never consciously sacrificed his country to his pride. The
only blame that can be laid to his charge is that he allowed his better
sense to be overruled by a woman; but that woman was the wife of his
sovereign.

He was, above all, a staunch friend to those who had known him in his
early days. "There will be no Auvergnats left in Clermont-Ferrand and
Riom if this goes on," said a witty journalist, seeing Rouher constantly
surrounded by the natives of that particular province, to the exclusion
of every one else. "We'll send an equal quantity of Parisians to
Auvergne; it will do them good, and teach them to work," replied Rouher,
when he heard of the remark. "And in another generation or two Paris
will see what it has never seen before, namely, frugal Parisians, doing
a day's labour for a day's wage, for we'll have their offspring back by
then." For Rouher could be very witty when he liked, and never feared to
hit out straight. He was a delightful talker, and, next to Alexandre
Dumas, the best raconteur I have ever met. It was because he had a
marvellous memory and a distinct talent for mimicry. Owing to this
latter gift, he was unlike any other parliamentary orator I have ever
heard. He would sit perfectly still under the most terrible onslaught of
his opponents, whoever they were. No sign of impatience or weariness,
not an attempt to take a note; his eyes remained steadily fixed on his
interlocutor, his arms folded across his chest. Then he would rise
slowly from his seat and walk to the tribune, when there was one, take
up the argument of his adversary, not only word for word, but with the
latter's intonation and gestures, almost with the latter's voice--which
used to drive Thiers wild--and answer it point by point.

He used to call that "fair debating;" in reality, it was the masterly
trick of a great actor, who mercilessly wielded his power of ridicule;
but we must remember that he had originally been a lawyer, and that the
scent of the French law-courts hung over him till the very end. "I am
not always convinced of the honesty of my cause, but I hold a brief for
the Government, and I feel convinced that it would not be honest to let
the other party get the victory," he said.

He was, and remained, very simple in his habits. He would not have
minded entertaining his familiars every night of the week, but he did
not care for the grand receptions he was compelled to give. He was very
fond of the gam