Note 514 — BOOK X[399] (continued 2)

"It was in the midst of the Days of June that the death occurred of a man who, perhaps, of all men of our day best preserved the spirit of the old races: M. de Chateaubriand, with whom I was connected by so many family ties and childish recollections. He had long since fallen into a sort of speechless stupor, which made one sometimes believe that his intelligence was extinguished. Nevertheless, while in this condition, he heard a rumour of the Revolution of February and desired to be told what was happening. They informed him that Louis-Philippe's Government had been overthrown. He said, 'Well done!' and nothing more. Four months later, the din of the Days of June reached his ears, and again he asked what that noise was. They answered that people were fighting in Paris, and that it was the sound of cannon. Thereupon he made vain efforts to rise, saying, 'I want to go to it,' and was then silent, this time for ever; for he died the next day." (Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville, p. 230).—T.