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The Passing of Talleyrand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Extract

In looking through some old papers, the present writer one day unearthed a contemporary account of the Coronation of William IV in 1831, and in it occurred the following rather striking passage:—

‘Two men only were received by those present with marked attention. One was the Duke of Wellington, the other was that living wonder Prince Talleyrand, a man whose equal had not appeared for centuries. The ex-Bishop of Autun, bending beneath the load of four-score years, his long snowy locks floating thickly over his cheeks, was led slowly up the platform between two of his suite. No sooner had he appeared, than a universal hush took place, all eyes were turned upon him, and every peer and officer seemed to move forward, as if by resistless impulse, to gaze on and welcome him.’

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1924 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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References

1 Blennerhassett, Talleyrand, 2 vols, 1894.

2 The chief authorities are the Duchesse de Dino (Chronique de 1831–62, 4 vols, 1909–10), Mgr. Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans (Life of, by the Abbé Lagrange, 2 vols, 1885), and— most fully of all—Bernard de Lacombe (Vie privée de Talleyrand, 1910).

3 Castellane, Marquis de, Hommes et Choses de mon Temps, 3rd edition, 1909.