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his convivial qualities, or colloquial powers. These 

 are on all hands represented as having been admirable. 

 He was of a humour peculiarly gay and lively ; he 

 had no impatience of temper in society ; his irritability 

 was reserved for the closet, and his gall flowed only 

 through the pen. Then his vast information on all 

 subjects, and his ready wit, never failing, but never 

 tiring, added to his having none of the fastidious taste 

 which prevents many great men from enjoying the 

 humours of society themselves, while it casts a damp 

 and a shade over the cheerful hours of others all 

 must have conspired to render his company a treat of 

 the highest order. His odd and unexpected turns 

 gave his wit a zest that probably never belonged to 

 any other man's. His writings give us some taste of 

 this ; and there are anecdotes on record, or at least 

 preserved by tradition, of jokes of which they who read 

 his works at once recognise him as the author. When 

 the Dijon academicians presented him with the place 

 of an honorary member, observing that their academy 

 was a daughter of the Parisian body " Eh ! oui :" 

 said he, " eh ! et une bonne fille, je vous en reponds, 

 qui ne fera jamais parler d'elle." When at some family 

 party the guests were passing the evening in telling 

 stories of robbers, and it came to his turn " Once 

 upon a time (he began) Jadis, il y avoit, un fermier- 



general ma foi, Messieurs, j'ai oublie le reste." 



When St. Ange, who plumed himself on the refined 

 delicacy of his flattery, said, on arriving at Ferney, 

 " To-day I have seen Homer ; to-morrow I shall see 

 Sophocles and Euripides, then Tacitus, then Livy :" 

 " Ah ! Monsieur," said his ancient host, alarmed at the 



