The Critic. "True; he was not rash, as was seen when the Bostonnais besieged Quebec."
The Orator. "Great in religion by his piety, he practised its good works in spirit and in truth,—"
The Critic. "Say rather that he practised its forms with parade and ostentation: witness the inordinate ambition with which he always claimed honors in the Church, to which he had no right; outrageously affronted intendants, who opposed his pretensions; required priests to address him when preaching, and in their intercourse with him demanded from them humiliations which he did not exact from the meanest military officer. This was his way of making himself great in religion and piety, or, more truly, in vanity and hypocrisy. How can a man be called great in religion, when he openly holds opinions entirely opposed to the True Faith, such as, that all men are predestined, that Hell will not last for ever, and the like?"
The Orator. "His very look inspired esteem and confidence,—"
The Critic. "Then one must have taken him at exactly the right moment, and not when he was foaming at the mouth with rage."
The Orator. "A mingled air of nobility and gentleness; a countenance that bespoke the probity that appeared in all his acts, and a sincerity that could not dissimulate,—"
The Critic. "The eulogist did not know the old fox."
The Orator. "An inviolable fidelity to friends,—"
The Critic. "What friends? Was it persons of the other sex? Of these he was always fond, and too much for the honor of some of them."
The Orator. "Disinterested for himself, ardent for others, he used his credit at court only to recommend their services, excuse their faults, and obtain favors for them,—"