Modern Leaders: Being a Series of Biographical SketchesMcCarthy, Justin
History
Modern Leaders: Being a Series of Biographical Sketches
McCarthy, Justin
Biography
What port is there that has not
sheltered his wandering yacht? He has pleasant dwellings enough to
induce a man to stay at home. His Palais Royal is one of the most
elegant and tasteful abodes belonging to a European prince. The stranger
in Paris who is fortunate enough to obtain admission to it--and, indeed,
admission is easy to procure--must be sadly wanting in taste if he does
not admire the treasures of art and _vertu_ which are laid up there, and
the easy, graceful manner of their arrangement. Nothing of the air of
the show-place is breathed there; no rules, no conditions, no watchful,
dogging lacqueys or sentinels make the visitor uncomfortable. Once
admitted, the stranger goes where he will, and admires and examines what
he pleases. He finds there curiosities and relics, medals and statues,
bronzes and stones from every land in which history or romance takes any
interest; he gazes on the latest artistic successes--Doré's magnificent
lights and shadows, Gérome's audacious nudities; he observes autograph
collections of value inestimable; he notices that on the tables, here
and there, lie the newest triumphs or sensations of literature--the poem
that every one is just talking of, the play that fills the theatres,
George Sand's last novel, Rénan's new volume, Taine's freshest
criticism: he is impressed everywhere with the conviction that he is in
the house of a man of high culture and active intellect, who keeps up
with the progress of the world in arts, and letters, and politics. Then
there was, until lately, the famous Pompeiian Palace, in one of the
avenues of the Champs Elysées, which ranked among the curiosities of
Paris, but which Prince Napoleon has at last chosen, or been compelled,
to sell. On the Swiss shore of the lake of Geneva, one of the most
remarkable objects that attract the eye of the tourist who steams from
Geneva to Lausanne, is La Bergerie, the palace of Prince Napoleon. But
the owner of these palaces spends little of his time in them. His wife,
the Princess Clotilde, stays at home and delights in her children, and
shows them with pride to her visitors, while her restless husband is
steaming in and out of the ports of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, or
the Baltic. Prince Napoleon has not found his place yet, say Edmond
About and other admirers--when he does he will settle firmly to it. He
is a restless, unmanageable idler and scamp, say his enemies--unstable
as water, he shall not excel. Meanwhile years go by, and Prince Napoleon
has long left even the latest verge of youth behind him; and he is only
a possibility as yet, and is popular with no political party in France.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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