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12 Frenchman's perfection of himself. One proof of a great man is fitness for the circumstances in which he is placed. That talent may reasonably be doubted which is never exercised; but no one could be more suited to his station than Louis. He possessed the genius of representation,—a genius especially requisite among a people who require to be both excited and impressed. His ambition was but the then voice of the nation carried into action—his wars were the public will; change was only brought about by the humiliation of defeat. His tastes were magnificent—such as belonged to the monarch of a rich and great country; and a more enlightened age would have added utility. His original character was generous and high-minded, though tried in after-years by the too severe ordeal of constant gratification and unvarying success, whose certain result is selfishness.

We cannot understand what we have never experienced; and we need pain, were it only to teach us sympathy. It is a good lesson of mortal instability; and we should be sorry to lose the touching spectacle of the noble firmness with which the aged King met the defeat and disasters which overwhelmed him in his old age. But, for his own sake, Louis's misfortunes should have