There was Lacrosse, a Liberal turned Clerical, one of those Conservatives who push order as far as the embalming, and preservation as far as the mummy:  later on a senator.

There was Larabit, a friend of Lacrosse, as much a domestic and not less a senator.

There was Canon Coquereau, the “Abbe of La Belle-Poule.”  The answer is known which he made to a princess who asked him, “What is the Elysee?” It appears that one can say to a princess what one cannot say to a woman.

There was Hippolyte Fortoul, of the climbing genus, of the worth of a Gustave Planche or of some Philarete Chasles, an ill-tempered writer who had become Minister of the Marine, which caused Beranger to say, “This Fortoul knows all the spars, including the ‘greased pole.’”

There were some Auvergants there.  Two.  They hated each other.  One had nicknamed the other “the melancholy tinker.”

There was Sainte-Beuve, a distinguished but inferior man, having a pardonable fondness for ugliness.  A great critic like Cousin is a great philosopher.

There was Troplong, who had had Dupin for Procurator, and whom Dupin had had for President.  Dupin, Troplong; the two side faces of the mask placed upon the brow of the law.

There was Abbatucci; a conscience which let everything pass by.  To-day a street.

There was the Abbe M——­, later on Bishop of Nancy, who emphasized with a smile the oaths of Louis Bonaparte.

There were the frequenters of a famous box at the Opera, Montg——­ and Sept——­, placing at the service of an unscrupulous prince the deep side of frivolous men.

There was Romieu—­the outline of a drunkard behind a Red spectre.

There was Malitourne—­not a bad friend, coarse and sincere.

There was Cuch——­, whose name caused hesitation amongst the ushers at the saloon doors.

There was Suin—­a man able to furnish excellent counsel for bail actions.

There was Dr. Veron—­who had on his cheek what the other men of the Elysee had in their hearts.

There was Mocquart—­once a handsome member of the Dutch Court.  Mocquart possessed romantic recollections.  He might by age, and perhaps otherwise, have been the father of Louis Bonaparte.  He was a lawyer.  He had shown himself quick-witted about 1829, at the same time as Romieu.  Later on he had published something, I no longer remember what, which was pompous and in quarto size, and which he sent to me.  It was he who in May, 1847, had come with Prince de la Moskowa to bring me King Jerome’s petition to the Chamber of Peers.  This petition requested the readmittance of the banished Bonaparte family into France.  I supported it; a good action, and a fault which I would again commit.

There was Billault, a semblance of an orator, rambling with facility, and making mistakes with authority, a reputed statesman.  What constitutes the statesman is a certain superior mediocrity.