"
_The Orator_. "This disinterested man, more busied with duty than with
gain,--
_The Critic_. "The less said about that the better."
_The Orator_. "Who made the fortune of others, but did not increase
his own,--
_The Critic_. "Not for want of trying, and that very often in spite of
his conscience and the king's orders."
_The Orator_. "Devoted to the service of his king, whose majesty he
represented, and whose person he loved,--
_The Critic_. "Not at all. How often has he opposed his orders, even
with force and violence, to the great scandal of everybody!"
_The Orator_. "Great in the midst of difficulties, by that consummate
prudence, that solid judgment, that presence of mind, that breadth and
elevation of thought, which he retained to the last moment of his
life,--
_The Critic_. "He had in fact a great capacity for political
manoeuvres and tricks; but as for the solid judgment ascribed to him,
his conduct gives it the lie, or else, if he had it, the vehemence of
his passions often unsettled it. It is much to be feared that his
presence of mind was the effect of an obstinate and hardened
self-confidence by which he put himself above everybody and every
thing, since he never used it to repair, so far as in him lay, the
public and private wrongs he caused.
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