in accordance with the custom of that period, Monsieur le Prince, was a young man, not more than twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, with the eye of an eagle — agl’ occhi grifani, as Dante says — aquiline nose, long, waving hair, of medium height, well formed, possessed of all the qualities essential to the successful soldier — that is to say, the rapid glance, quick decision, fabulous courage.

At the same time he was a man of elegant manners and strong mind, so that in addition to the revolution he had made in war, by his new contributions to its methods, he had also made a revolution at Paris, among the young noblemen of the court, whose natural chief he was and who, in distinction from the social leaders of the ancient court, modeled after Bassompierre, Bellegarde and the Duke d’Angouleme, were called the petits-maitres.