Note 45 — Chapter XIX · FREETHOUGHT IN THE REMAINING EUROPEAN STATES

Writing to his mother on his first visit to Paris, he takes her, ostensibly as a libre esprit, into his confidence, disparaging Marmontel and Grimm as vain. Joseph II in turn pronounced Gustavus “a conceited fop, an impudent braggart” (Bain, as cited, i, 266). Both monarchs set up an impression of want of balance, and the mother of Gustavus, who forced him to break with her, does the same. ↑