“And yet,” he concludes, “_all this conversation by no means satisfied me_ of the depth of the Cardinal’s literary acquirements. There was nothing said which gave evidence of more than a superficial acquaintance with English literature; the kind of knowledge which passes current in society, and which is necessarily picked up by one who meets so often with cultivated people of each country. His acquirements in words are certainly wonderful; but I could not help asking myself their use. I have never yet heard of their being of any practical benefit to the world during the long life of their possessor. He has never displayed anything philosophical in his character of mind; none of that power of combination which enables Schlegel to excel in all questions of philology, and gives him a talent for discriminating and a power of handling the resources of a language which have never been surpassed.”[534] Perhaps the reader will be disposed to regard Mr. Kip’s criticism as somewhat _exigeant_ in its character; and to think that, even taking his own report of his conversation with the Cardinal, and of the number and variety of the English and American writers, with whom, and with whose peculiar characteristics, he was acquainted—some of them, moreover—as for example, Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads—a translation from a foreign language—most unlikely to attract a “superficial” foreigner, he was a little unreasonable in refusing “to be satisfied with the depth of the Cardinal’s literary acquirements.” For my part, I cannot help thinking this interview, even as recorded by Mr. Kip, one of the most astonishing incidents in the entire history of this extraordinary man. And I may add to what is here stated of his familiarity with the principal English authors, native and American, that, as I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Gray, of Glasgow, the Cardinal was also intimately acquainted with the national literature of Scotland; that he had read many of the works of Walter Scott and Burns; and that he understood and was able to enjoy the Lowland Scottish dialect, which is one of the great charms of both.