Page:Works of Heinrich Heine 07.djvu/174

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154
FRENCH AFFAIRS.

very clever (gescheiter) youth, tall, but not stout, extremely well formed, a pale dainty little face, an intelligent and quick glance, a rather aquiline Bourbon nose—he is altogether a fine blonde (Blondin) of ancient noble appearance. He has not the arrogant traits of a Hanoverian rural noble (Krautjunker, French gentillâtre), but a certain air of distinction in deportment and behaviour such as is only found in the most cultivated higher nobility. As this kind daily diminishes in number or deteriorates by misalliances, the aristocratic exterior of the Duke de Nemours is all the more remarkable. I once heard some one say regarding him, "That face will, in the course of a few years, make a great sensation in America."[1]


  1. An intimation that in due time his father and the royal family would be expelled from France.—Translator.