He has now taken up Sansculotteism. Repulsed with scorn and
disgust by the rich and the educated, he has thrown himself on the poor
and ignorant The passions with which he likes to work are envy,
malignity, and rapacity.
'I do not believe that he feels them. He is what is called a good-natured
man. That is to say, he likes to please everyone that he sees. But his
selfishness is indescribable.
'No public interest stands in the way of his slightest caprice. He often
puts me in mind of Nero. With the same indifference to the welfare of
others with which Nero amused himself by burning down Rome, he is amusing
himself by pulling down Paris.'
N.W. SENIOR.
* * * * * *
[We left Tocqueville on the following day with great regret The same
party was never to meet again--the only survivors are Madame de Beaumont
and myself and the Beaumonts' son, then a very intelligent boy of ten
years old.
One day my father and I visited the little green churchyard on a cliff
near the sea where Tocqueville is buried. The tomb is a plain grey stone
slab--on it a cross is cut in bas-relief, with these words only:--
ICI REPOSE
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE.
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