French literature is especially rich in a class of biographic
memoirs, of which we have few counterparts in English. We refer
to their MEMOIRES POUR SERVIR, such as those of Sully, De Comines,
Lauzun, De Retz, De Thou, Rochefoucalt, &c., in which we have
recorded an immense mass of minute and circumstantial information
relative to many great personages of history. They are full of
anecdotes illustrative of life and character, and of details which
might be called frivolous, but that they throw a flood of light on
the social habits and general civilisation of the periods to which
they relate. The MEMOIRES of Saint-Simon are something more: they
are marvellous dissections of character, and constitute the most
extraordinary collection of anatomical biography that has ever
been brought together.
Saint-Simon might almost be regarded in the light of a posthumous
court-spy of Louis the Fourteenth. He was possessed by a passion
for reading character, and endeavouring to decipher motives and
intentions in the faces, expressions, conversation, and byplay of
those about him. "I examine all my personages closely," said he--
"watch their mouth, eyes, and ears constantly." And what he heard
and saw he noted down with extraordinary vividness and dash.
Acute, keen, and observant, he pierced the masks of the courtiers,
and detected their secrets. The ardour with which he prosecuted
his favourite study of character seemed insatiable, and even
cruel.
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