Chateaubriand, who hated all that could replace him
and smiled at all that could make him regretted, had had
the kindness to tell him sometimes, by Mme. Récamier's
fireside, "that he hoped he would be his successor;" which
prompted M. de Noailles to dash off a big book in two
volumes about Mme. de Maintenon, at the commencement of
which, on the first page of the preface, I was stopped by a
lordly breach of grammar.

This was the state of things when I concluded to go to
the Academy.

The session which was announced to begin at two
o'clock, as usual, opened, as usual, at a quarter past three.
And at half past three--

At half past three the candidacy of Monsieur the Duke
do Noailles, *replacing* Chateaubriand, was irresistibly
acclaimed.

Decidedly, I ought to have gone to the Assembly.



March 26, 1850. Tuesday.


I had arrived early, at noon.

I was warming myself, for it is very cold, and the ground