He is a man of great experience and of extreme readiness of mind; add to which, I never knew a man more assiduously devoted to his work; and it is worthy of remark, that at the very time he was engaged in taking part in all the most active and violent questions of government, he found leisure to write more than twenty volumes upon the history of his own times. His positive determination not to allow any of his manuscripts to see the light during his lifetime, and even to forbid too early a publication of them after his death, is a sure pledge of the perfect independence of men and circumstances, with which he has devoted himself to so great a work. This constant habit of occupation, and study of facts, enlarges the ideas, and nothing gives a more exalted tone to the minds of statesmen. In the present day we are apt to throw ourselves into political life without any preliminary study; and because we know how to write a few sentences, or that we have uttered a few words at the tribune, we consider ourselves equal to the task of governing a country. Far different is the English method! Political life among our neighbours is a great duty, an entire and constant devotion to the subject; history, diplomacy, administration, in fact every thing must be learned by a public man who aspires to the honour of the ministry, or to a confidential situation for the service of his country. M. Pasquier had attained his sixty-eighth year at the time he was invested with the dignity of chancellor of France, he had been president of the chamber of peers ever since the revolution of July. This elevated situation was well suited to a Pasquier, the descendant of a family which had held magisterial office for the last two centuries, and the present chancellor answers perfectly to the idea his ancestors had formed of the office he holds. There are few men in modern times who, like the magistrates of old, devote a certain portion of their leisure hours to study and to writing; all their country residences and their thick forests are redolent of their recollections and their learning; such are Malesherbes, Baville, and Champlâtreux. M. Pasquier's private life is very simple; he inhabits the apartments of the _petit château_ at the Luxembourg, leaving the great palace to M. Decaze. No person is easier of access; he speaks rapidly, and apprehends and resolves questions with admirable perspicuity; his habits are very industrious, and reading is his favourite occupation; there is no time thrown away with him, for he contrives to make even his visits a matter of business.