This instance of abnegation is the more worthy of record that it formed a marked exception to Laplace's usual course.
With the memory of Tilsit still fresh in men's minds, it was not unnatural that to cynical men of the world like Metternich he merely seemed to be disguising " under the language of evangelical abnegation " vast and perilous schemes of ambition.
He set duty above everything, had in the highest degree a reverence for honour, and placed his indomitable courage at the service of everything that was beneficial with an abnegation that nothing could tire.