r result; in less than
two months a second edition was called for and published. The spirit
of these poems is that of a deep but undefined religion, presentiments
and fantastic dreams of another world, and the consecration of a noble
and disinterested passion for the beau ideal of his youth, "Elvire,"
separated from him forever by the chilly hand of death. In the same
year Lamartine became Secretary of the French Legation at Naples, and
in 1822, Secretary of the Legation in London--Chateaubriand being at
the time minister plenipotentiary.

But the author of the _Genie du Christianism_, _les Martyrs_, and
_Bonaparte et des Bourbons_, "did not seem to have been much pleased
with Lamartine, whom he treated with studied neglect, and afterward
entirely forgot as minister of foreign affairs. Chateaubriand, shortly
before taking the place of Mons. Decazes in London, had published his
_Memoires_, _lettres_, _et pieces authentiques touchant la vie et la
mort du Duc de Berri_,"[3] and was then preparing to accompany the
Duke of Montmorency, whom, in December 1822, he followed as minister
of foreign affairs to the Congress of Verona. It is very possible that
Chateaubriand, who was truly devoted to the elder branch of the
Bourbons,[4] may at that time have discovered in Lamartine little of
that political talent or devotion which could have recommended him to
a diplomatic post. Chateaubriand was a man of positive convictions in
politics and religion, while Lamartine, at that period, though far
surpassing Chateaubriand in depth of feeling and imagination, had not
yet acquired that objectiveness of thought and reflection which is
indispensable to the statesman or the diplomatist.

[Footnote 3: Memoirs, Letters and Authentic Papers Touching the Life
and Death of the Duke de Berry.]

[Footnote 4: He followed them in 1815 into exile; and in 1830, after
the Revolution of July, spoke with fervor in defence of the rights of
the Duke of Bordeaux. Chateaubriand refused to pledge the oath of
allegiance to Louis Philippe, and left in consequence the Chamber of
Peers, and a salary of 12,000 francs. From this period he devoted
himself entirely to the service of the unfortunate duchess and her
son. Against the exclusion of the elder branch of Bourbons he wrote
"_De la nouvelle proposition relative au banissement de Charles X. et
de sa famille_." (On the New Proposition in regard to the Banishment
of Charles X. and his Family,) and "_De la resto