Abbé Morellet,[195] an old économiste. Sprightly, altho’ he is turned of eighty.
Molé,[196] a descendant of the great President of that name. We knew him well in England; a mild, gentlemanlike young man, very unlike a young Frenchman.
Chevalier Acerbi,[197] an Italian Cisalpine. He travelled to North Cape, and has published two 4to. vols. of his journey; a clever man, great facility of languages.
Le Chevalier de la Bintinaye, nephew of the ci-devant Archbishop of Bordeaux.
Marquise de Coigny, celebrated for her wit. Her daughter, a charming girl.
M. DE NARBONNE
Narbonne.[198] The scandalous chronicles of the old Court report that he is the son of Mde. Adélaïde of France. He is strikingly like the Bourbons, but depraved as were the manners, it is too repugnant to nature to credit the whole story. His conversation is brilliant, full of lively sallies, and, upon the whole, he is one of the most agreeable persons in society I ever met with. He was Minister of War for a moment just after the King accepted the Constitution. He is attached to Mde. de Staël, who has the most uncontrolled dominion over his opinions and conduct. His person is a more divided property. He used to be Talleyrand’s intimate friend, but Mde. Grand, finding him averse to her elevation, by degrees broke the friendship.
Ségur,[199] son of the Comte, a promising, rising young man, married to Mde. d’Aguesseau’s daughter.
Young Ségur, a flippant lad, vain of having made under McDonald a campaign, which he has written, and of having gone, by order of Bonaparte, with more celerity than was ever done, from Paris to Madrid and back again. Age and some well-directed rebuffs will be of infinite service to him.
Mde. d’Aguesseau.