travels.  His services had now recommended him to the Government, and he was sent to Corsica.  There again I met him, as my regiment formed part of the force in the island.  He was high on the staff, our intercourse was renewed, and he was regarded as a very expert diplomatist.  A few years after, I found him in a still higher situation, a favourite of De Choiseul, and managing the affairs of the Polish confederation.  On his return to Paris, such was the credit in which he stood, that he was placed by the minister of war at the head of a commission to reform the military code; thus he has been always distinguished; and has at least had experience.”

Even this slight approach to praise was evidently not popular among the circle, and I could hear murmurs.

“Distinguished!—­yes, more with the pen than the sword.”

“Diplomacy!—­the business of a clerk.  Command is another affair.”

“Mon cher Chevalier,” said the old Marquis, with a laugh, “pray, after being in so many places with him, were you with him in the Bastile?” This was followed with a roar.

I saw my friend’s swarthy cheek burn.  He started up, and was about to make some fierce retort, when a fine old man, a general, with as many orders as the marquis, and a still whiter head, averted the storm, by saying, “Whether the chevalier was with M. Dumourier in that predicament, I know not; but I can say that I was.  I was sent there for the high offence of kicking a page of the court down the grande escalier at Versailles for impertinence, at the time when M. Dumourier was sent there by the Duc d’Acquillon, for knowing more than the minister.  I assure you that I found him a most agreeable personage—­very gay, very witty, and very much determined to pass his time in the pleasantest manner imaginable.  But our companionship was too brief for a perfect union of souls,” said he laughing; “for I was liberated within a week, while he was left behind for, I think, the better part of a year.”

“But his talents?” was the question down the table.

“Gentlemen,” said the old man, “my experience in life has always made me judge of talents by circumstances.  If, for example, I find that a man has the talent exactly fitted for his position, I give him credit for all—­he had the talent for making the Bastile endurable, and I required no other.  But there were times when graver topics varied our pleasantry, and he exhibited very various intelligence, a practical experience of the chief European courts, and, I am sorry to say, a very striking contempt for their politics and their politicians alike.  He was especially indignant at the selfish perfidy with which the late king had given him up to the ignorant jealousy of the minister, and looked forward to the new reign with a resolute, and sometimes a gloomy determination to be revenged.  If that man is a republican, it is the Bastile that has made him one; and if he ever shall have a fair opportunity of displaying his genius, unless a cannonball stops his career I should conceive him capable of producing a powerful impression on Europe.”