"'
'One man,' said Z., 'who enjoys a great European reputation, I could
never think of as a serious adversary, that is Lamartine.
'He appeared to me to treat the sad realities of political life as
materials out of which he could compose strange and picturesque scenes,
or draw food for his imagination and his vanity. He seemed always to be
saying to himself: "How will the future dramatist or poet, or painter,
represent this event, and what will be my part in the picture, or in the
poem, or on the stage?"
'_Il cherchait toujours a poser_.--He could give pleasure, he could give
pain--he could amuse, and he could irritate,--but he seldom could
persuade, and he never could convince. Even before the gate of the Hotel
de Ville, the most brilliant hour of his life, he owed his success rather
to his tall figure, his fine features, attractive as well as commanding,
his voice, his action--in short, to the assemblage of qualities which the
Greeks called [Greek: hupokrisis] than to his eloquence.'
'Was not,' I said, 'his contrast between the red flag and the tricolor
eloquent?'
'It was a fine bit of imagery,' said Z., 'and admirably adapted to the
occasion.
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