120 The Admirable Crichtox. 



most thorough knowledge of the Cabala. His memon- is so 

 astonishing that he knows not what it is to forget ; and, when- 

 ever he has once heard an oration, he is ready to recite it again 

 word for word as it was delivered. Latin verses, whatever the 

 subject or the measure proposed to him, he produces extempore ; 

 and, equallv extemporaneously, he \A-ill repeat them backward, 

 beginning from the last word in the verse. His orations are un- 

 premediated and beautiful. He is also able to discourse upon 

 political questions with much solidity-. In his person he is ex- 

 tremelv beautiful ; his address that of a finished gentleman, even 

 to a wonder; and his manner, in conversation, the most gracious 

 that can be imagined. A soldier at all points, he has for two 

 years sustained an honourable command in the wars of France. 

 He has attained to great excellence in the accomplishments of 

 leaping and dancing, and to a remarkable skill in the use of 

 ever>- sort of arms, of which he has already given proof. He 

 is a remarkable horseman and breaker of horses, and an admir- 

 able jouster (or tilter at the ring). His extraction is noble; 

 indeed, bv the mother's side, regal, for he is allied to the Royal 

 familv of'the Stuarts. Upon the great question of the proces- 

 sion of the Holv Ghost he has held disputations with the Greeks, 

 which were received mth the highest applause, and in these con- 

 ferences has exhibited an incalculable mass of authorities, both 

 from the Greek and Latin fathers and also from the decisions of 

 the different councils. The same exuberance is shown when he 

 discourses upon subjects of philosophy or theolog}-. in which he 

 has all Aristotle and the commentators at his fingers' ends. 

 Saint Thomas and Duns Scotus, with their different disciples, 

 the Thomists and Scotists, he has all by heart, and is ready to 

 dispute, "in utramque partem," which talent he has already ex- 

 hibited with the most distinguished success, and indeed such is 

 his facility- upon these subjects that he has never disputed unless 

 upon matters which were proposed to him by others. The Duke 

 and his consort were pleased to hear him, and upon doing so 

 testified the utmost amazement. He also received a present from 

 the hands of his Serene Highness. In a word, he is a prodig>- of 

 prodigies; insomuch so that the possession of such various and 

 astoni°shing talents, united in a body so gracefully formed, and 

 of so sanguine and amiable a temperament, has given rise to 



