His social existence was, in fact, passed entirely during the night. He rose late, and it was near eleven o'clock before he rang for his _valet de chambre_, who brought him his morning gown. He was obliged to lean upon his stick as he walked from one chair to another, until he reached the fireplace; and he breakfasted after the English fashion, making a very trifling repast. Then followed his toilet, which occupied a long time, and was almost public, according to the fashion of former times, when dressing the hair was a perfect operation. His servant put on his cravat, still worn with all the pretension of an exquisite of the Directory, and he then went out for an airing. After dinner, and to conclude the evening, he generally joined some of his old intimate friends, and played a rubber, very late and always very high. He sometimes dozed a little in an easy chair, for he possessed an admirable faculty for closing his eyes, and, perhaps, of indulging in a waking sleep. His conversation was generally brilliant and clever, sometimes very communicative, and he took great pleasure in talking over the events of his life, dwelling with especial delight upon the Congress of Vienna, which had been such a brilliant period for his diplomatic talents. Thus passed his life, full of a feeling of discontent and a constant looking forward to change; nothing was hurried, but he was constantly in a state of expectation, or carrying on one of those vast conspiracies which no one can lay hold of.
At the time of the breaking out of the revolution of July, Talleyrand was deeply irritated against the elder branch of the Bourbons, whom he termed ungrateful and forgetful of his services; and there is no doubt of his having worked industriously towards establishing a new monarchical system. He had a horror of anarchy, power was his element. The time is not yet come when we may venture to tell every thing, but it is an undoubted fact, that Talleyrand was consulted and examined on the 9th of August, and his answer was altogether favourable to the new project. Did not this revolution carry him back in recollection to the period of the Congress of Vienna in 1814, when an arrangement of this kind had been suggested by him as a possible event and a means of solving a difficulty should such occur? Some secret conferences were held on this delicate subject; Talleyrand took upon himself the negotiation with the _corps diplomatique_, and also the duty of setting clearly before them that the peace of Europe depended upon the establishment of a monarchy in France,--a vast undertaking, to which a prince of very superior abilities was willing to devote himself. Talleyrand succeeded in the object he had in view; the despatches of the ambassadors were all in favour of royalty, it was considered as a guarantee of the principle of order in Europe, as an efficacious means of repressing the revolutionary spirit, and maintaining the treaties already concluded--in short, as the strongest opposition to the Propaganda tendency, and the most serious scheme of general conservatism.
