Mirabeau

Potpourri

“FROM his earliest years Gabriel de Mirabeau’s life was overshadowed by his father’s malevolence. All that was perverse in the Comte de Mirabeau, all his extravagance in revolt . . . may be traced back to that poisoned source in his childhood.”The perversity and extravagance of the aristocrat-writer-statesman who helped to instigate the French Revolution make Mme. Vallentin’s full-dress biography a stormy and strongly colored narrative. Though lacking stylistic distinction, it is industriously researched and packed with fascinating material.