'"
'How did Falloux reply to it?' I asked.
'Feebly,' said ----. 'He muttered something about _l'ordre_ having no
firmer adherent than himself. In these formal audiences our great man has
the advantage. He has his _mot_ ready prepared, and you cannot discuss
with him.'
We talked of the French spoken by foreigners. 'The best,' said Circourt,
'is that of the Swedes and Russians, the worst that of the Germans.'
'Louis Philippe,' said Z., 'used to maintain that the best test of a
man's general talents was his power of speaking foreign languages. It was
an opinion that flattered his vanity, for he spoke like a native French,
Italian, English, and German.'
'It is scarcely possible,' said Tocqueville, 'for a man to be original in
any language but his own; in all others he is forced to say what he can,
and that is generally something that he recollects.'
'I was much struck by that,' said Z., 'when conversing with Narvaez. He
had been talking sensibly but rather dully in French, I begged him to
talk Spanish, which I understand though I cannot speak. The whole man was
changed. It was as if a curtain had been drawn up from between us.
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