Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . w in theneighboring city of Aix, which possessedone of the government law schools. There he met a young student one year his senior,—Francois Mignet;with whom, owing partly to the many tastes they had in common,he formed a friendship which was dissolved only by death more thansixty years later. Neither of these two law students cared much forthe law, both of them longed for a literary career; and both of themtherefore soon moved to Paris, the centre of the intellectual life ofthe nation. Thiers made his mark with incredible rapidity,
Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . w in theneighboring city of Aix, which possessedone of the government law schools. There he met a young student one year his senior,—Francois Mignet;with whom, owing partly to the many tastes they had in common,he formed a friendship which was dissolved only by death more thansixty years later. Neither of these two law students cared much forthe law, both of them longed for a literary career; and both of themtherefore soon moved to Paris, the centre of the intellectual life ofthe nation. Thiers made his mark with incredible rapidity, and beforelong was a regular member of the staff of one of the most importantliberal papers, the Constitutionnel; he even became a part ownerof the paper, through the liberality of the German publisher. he wrote on all sorts of subjects, his best articles being on theannual exhibition of paintings known as the Salon. A proposal that came from a sort of literary hack. Felix Bodin,made him determine to write a history of the French Revolution;. Thiers 14822 ADOLPHE THIERS the first two volumes of which, bearing Bodins name by the sideof Thierss, appeared in 1823. This was the beginning of the firstexhaustive history of the French Revolution written by one who hadnot been an eye-witness of the event; and it presented thereforegreater guarantees of impartiality than anything before published onthe same subject. The young writer moreover possessed to a veryhigh degree the gift of telling an interesting story, and of presentingin a clear and simple way that which seemed at first obscure andcomplicated. He could also work fast, so as not to allow the readerto lose his interest in the narrative. The last of the ten volumes ofThierss appeared in 1827, hardlyfour years after the first volumes had been issued. The success of the work at once placed its author in the frontrank of historical writers, at a time when France was extraordinarilyrich in literary talent, a
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