Letter to Thomas Gray (1766) [ ]
… know six or seven with very superior understandings; some of them with wit, or with softness, or very good sense. Madame Geoffrin, of whom you have heard much, is an extraordinary woman, with more commo n sense than I almost ever met … un tel has had madame une telle. The Duc de Nivernois has parts, and writes at the top of the mediocre, but, as Madame Geoffrin says, is manque par tout; guerrier manque, ambassadeur manque, homme d'affaires manque, and auteur manque—no, he …
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