Further, it is the style of one who observes closely, and visualises clearly. Some of his portraits stand out as if bitten into metal by the burin of an engraver. A good example of the lively force of his writing is the account of his conversation with the Duc de Beauvillier about the Duc de Bourgogne and Vendôme. Though the sentence in which he contrasts the characters of the two commanders runs to nearly five hundred and fifty words, it is not in the least involved. It reads like the outpouring of a brilliant talker to whom intense hate has given a lucidity and a power of just expression which is little short of miraculous. The vividness and the colour which help to make Saint-Simon’s style so arresting are greatly helped by his use of homely but pregnant similes, as when he speaks of Mme de Maintenon as seeing the world _par le trou d’une bouteille_, or describes Mme de Castries as _une espèce de biscuit manqué_. Nor does he shrink from coining a word, if necessary, though doubtless some of his words, which appear unusual to the modern reader, were current in the conversation of his day. It must not be imagined that the interest of the _Memoirs_ is always sustained at the same high level. The minor squabbles about etiquette and precedence, the whisperings of contemporary gossip have not the same relish for the modern reader as they had for Saint-Simon. There are certain genealogical chapters, notably the long one on the Rohan family, which will deter all but the stoutest genealogist. But when these deductions have been made the residue is of unsurpassing interest. “With Shakespeare and Saint-Simon,” says Taine, “Balzac is the greatest storehouse of human documents that we possess,” and the claim which he makes on behalf of Saint-Simon is not exaggerated. WORKS OF SAINT-SIMON _Mémoires_, ed. A. Chéruel, 20 vols. 1856-1858; ed. A. Chéruel and Ad. Régnier _fils_, 22 vols. 1873-1881; ed. A. de Boislisle, 1879-1919, vols. I.-XXX.--vol. XXIX. consists of an index to all the preceding volumes (_Grands Écrivains de la France_). _Écrits inédits_, ed. P. Faugère, 8 vols. 1880-1893. A selection from the _Mémoires_ has been made by C. de Lanneau under the title of _Scènes et portraits_, 2 vols. 1876; 1914. There is another, under the title of _La Cour de Louis XIV_, in the Collection Nelson. There are two English abridged translations, one by Bayle St John, 4 vols. 1857 (and New York, 1902), the other, with notes, by Francis Arkwright, 6 vols. 1915-1918. BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL STUDIES A. Chéruel, _Saint-Simon considéré comme historien de Louis XIV_, 1865; _Notice sur la vie et les mémoires du Duc de Saint-Simon_, 1876. Sainte-Beuve, _Causeries du Lundi_, III (slight) and XV; _Nouveaux Lundis_, X. Taine, _Essais de critique et d’histoire_. G. Boissier, _Saint-Simon_, 1892 (_Les grands écrivains français_). É. Faguet, _Dix-septième siècle_.