11 APOTHEOSIS (1819–1830)
Electoral success meant fame for Constant, of that he could be sure: he
was as aware of his strengths as he was of his personal weaknesses, and
the greatest of them was his skill with the French language. Apparently
without effort he could produce polished, elegant and highly persuasive
prose—rhetoric in the best sense of the word, not vacuous but tightly
argued and carefully constructed with the aim of convincing the reader or
listener. (Adolphe is, of course, among other things, the putting forward of
a strong case for the defence.) Political success was also inevitably to
reduce the time that he had for longer projects and force him to
concentrate on journalism and pamphlets. But even Constant’s
contributions to the Minerve became less numerous as his time was filled
with preparing for debates, carrying out the necessary research and writing
his speeches.
There is an interesting pen-portrait of Constant at about this period of his life written
by an American who had lately settled in France, Augustus Lucas Hillhouse (1791–1859)
and published for the first time by C.P. Courtney in 1985:
Mr Constant is of a sanguine complexion with white eye-lashes &
brows & reddish flaxen hair. His features are not bold, except his
high & noble forehead which gives an expression of greatness to
his physiognomy. He lisps very much, is not uncommonly fluent in
conversation, & is unassuming in his demeanour.
While he was gone into his closet to fetch me a book upon
England I had leisure to examine his apartment. A folding paper
screen surrounded his table, on wh[ich] & on the desk & secretary
books & papers were heaped in disorder. I noticed on the table a
pile of blank cards, & others written on one side: in another part of
the room an amanuensis was copying a heap of these cards upon a
sheet of paper: I suspect that it was the manuscript of some work of
Mr Constant, & that this is his manner of composing.^1Hillhouse’s succinct and valuable observations complement what is
known from other sources about Constant’s appearance, manner of
Apotheosis 241