When the great Sully was disgraced as a minister, and driven into
retirement, he occupied his leisure in writing out his 'Memoirs,'
in anticipation of the judgment of posterity upon his career as a
statesman. Besides these, he also composed part of a romance
after the manner of the Scuderi school, the manuscript of which
was found amongst his papers at his death.
Turgot found a solace for the loss of office, from which he had
been driven by the intrigues of his enemies, in the study of
physical science. He also reverted to his early taste for
classical literature. During his long journeys, and at nights
when tortured by the gout, he amused himself by making Latin
verses; though the only line of his that has been preserved was
that intended to designate the portrait of Benjamin Franklin:
"Eripuit caelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis."
Among more recent French statesmen--with whom, however,
literature has been their profession as much as politics--may
be mentioned De Tocqueville, Thiers, Guizot, and Lamartine,
while Napoleon III. challenged a place in the Academy by
his 'Life of Caesar.'
Literature has also been the chief solace of our greatest English
statesmen. When Pitt retired from office, like his great
contemporary Fox, he reverted with delight to the study of the
Greek and Roman classics. Indeed, Grenville considered Pitt the
best Greek scholar he had ever known.
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