Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 1

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[239] modest, unaffected, and almost conversational; the latter loud-voiced, rhetorical, and ambitious in his delivery. In personal appearance the contrast was great. Jouffroy looked every inch the scholar; Lerminier more like a disciple of Anacreon. His hair was sleek and long, not unlike Nicholas Biddle's, and his size and general appearance reminded me very much of the bank-president. He appeared to be about thirty-eight years of age. Like Jouffroy, he had a large and attentive audience, notwithstanding the lecture-room was uncomfortably cold; and (mirabile dictu) there was a considerable number of ladies in the room. I have since been told that his lectures always attract ladies, many or few. His subject, according to the programme, was the history of comparative legislation; but he was occupied this morning in considering the effect of the conquest of the North of France by the Normans upon the conquerors themselves, since they received Christianity and feudalism from the conquered. His enunciation, though it appeared to be distinct, was so rapid as to make it difficult for me to follow him. His manner was animated, and even excited in the extreme; and frequently, by way of additional emphasis, he gave the desk before him a bang with his hands in time with his voice. There is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous; and the eloquent and absurd are often separated by thin partitions. Had I been left this morning to my own unassisted judgment, I should have been in great doubt how to regard Lerminier,—whether as an eloquent lecturer or a vapid declaimer. Foelix, the editor of the Revue Étrangere, has told me that he was nothing better than a charlatan; and I must confess that what I heard this morning has not disturbed this opinion. I shall keep my mind open with regard to him, and hope to hear him repeatedly after I shall be better able to understand him.

Jan. 17 (Wednesday). Called on the Ticknors and Walshes,¹ and attended to some little affairs in the city, and thus exhausted the day. So much for the distances of Paris! In front of the Theatre Italien, which was burnt, was the funeral of an unfortunate who was destroyed in the conflagration. The house which contained his remains was covered, at the lower part of it, with black cloth; and a hearse was in waiting with black plumes nodding on the top and horses decorated with black. Mourning carriages were also in attendance. In the street were several persons—I took them for hired mourners—dressed in black, with cocked hats and deep weeds. They were engaged in smoking pipes and enjoying jokes, as if they were to assist at a wedding and not at a funeral. I observed to-day the ruins of the building. Its walls and beautiful portico still stand, apparently strong and unaffected by the fire which destroyed the interior of the building. I do