It is for this reason that we have been at great pains to present his picture, sketched as it were by his own hand.

A few general remarks are, however, necessary.

It is the historian's duty to fix upon one plain and definite canvas the chameleon colors in which the subtle Cardinal produced his own image.

Almost any theory concerning his character might be laid down and sustained by copious citations from his works; nay, the most opposite conclusions as to his interior nature, may be often drawn from a single one of his private and interminable letters.

Embarked under his guidance, it is often difficult to comprehend the point to which we are tending.
The oarsman's face beams upon us with serenity, but he looks in one direction, and rows in the opposite course.