Among the admirable works that have emanated from the pencil of Lawrence, the reader must have observed a countenance with a melancholy expression, and a high forehead shaded by locks prematurely blanched; the mild intelligent eyes, delicate nose, and firmly compressed mouth, are indicative of a mind of a superior order, but at the age of scarcely fifty years this countenance, whose nobleness and simplicity of expression are remarkable, conveys the idea of a man worn out with the troubles and anxieties of life; and I may almost add, by whom its vanities and illusions are viewed in their true colours. It is a mixture of the Frenchman of noble descent, and of the highest Russian nobility, who live so fast. This portrait was painted by Lawrence at Aix-le-Chapelle, and the original was distinguished during his childhood by the title of Comte de Chinon; in youth he was called Duc de Fronsac, and he finally inherited the title of Duc de Richelieu.
The political systems of all ages are personified by certain statesmen, who were their representatives. Since the commencement of the eighteenth century, France has been constantly placed between two preponderating interests; these are, 1st, an alliance with England, effected during the regency, and overturned by Louis XV. at Fontenoy; then resumed by the treaties of 1783 and 1785; again broken by the convention, with expressions of contempt and violence, in 1793; renewed for a moment under Talleyrand in 1814, when it was destroyed by the personal influence of the Emperor Alexander; and finally restored for a short time in 1833, by the feeble treaty between France, England, Spain and Portugal. 2dly, the Russian alliance, of more modern date, though naturally very suitable to the interests of France. It was first attempted by means of the embassy of M. de Ségur, under Louis XVI.; was restored by Napoleon at Erfurt, until the disastrous campaign of Moscow; resumed in 1815, and supported by the ministries of the Duc de Richelieu in 1816, and M. de la Ferronays in 1828, until Prince Polignac brought back the English system. After the revolution of July the diplomatic projects of Prince Polignac were resumed, with this sole difference, that Talleyrand attempted with the Whigs what the ministers of Charles X. had endeavoured to effect with the Tories.