George Ticknor, Life, letters and journals of George Ticknor
George Hillard, Ed.

December 19.—In the evening I went to Count Moleas, at the Hotel des Affaires Etrangeres, where, as on the evening when I was presented, I found his large saloon full of the foreign ambassadors, and the great notabilityes of the country. As the Chamber of Deputies began its session yesterday, there were many of them present, not a few who came for the first time; and the way in which the old huissier, seventy years old, who has stood at the door of all the ministers from Bonaparte's time, announced these different individuals, was often amusing. He evidently did it sometimes in a tone which, but for his gray hairs, would have been impertinent, since it distinguished the rank of those who entered, if they were Frenchmen. I found a good many persons whom I knew. . . . . Among the new acquaintance I made, the most agreeable were Koenneritz, the Saxon Minister, and Mignet, the author of the ‘History of the French Revolution’; a man of about forty, evidently full of talent and striking qualities.

December 22.—I went this afternoon to see Mignet and Rossi, certainly two of the most distinguished persons I have yet become acquainted with in Paris; and talked with them, of course, on political subjects, or subjects connected with politics and history.

In the evening I went with Count Circourt, and made my first visit to Thierry, the author of the admirable history of the Normans. It is rare to see so striking an instance of the triumph of intellectual power and moral energy over personal infirmities.

He is about forty years of age; but fifteen years ago he lost his sight entirely, and for the last eight years has been paralyzed in his lower extremities, so as to be incapable of moving himself at all. But after his blindness was upon him, and after the paralysis was already begun,—but not so far advanced as it is now,—a lady of intellectual habits and accomplishments, and of an eligible position in society, became attached to him and married him, from a desire to devote herself to his happiness, which she has done faithfully and cheerfully for seven years . . . . . He, meanwhile, has gone on with his difficult studies as if no infirmity had befallen him.

Under the auspices of the government he is employed in collecting manuscript materials from all parts of France for a history of the tiers état, and is, besides, engaged in a historical work on the Merovingian race. He has published, too, his letters on the Communes, and many reviews, and other single articles on the same difficult and obscure subjects; all written with great felicity of manner, and