Many, many thanks to @derevko and @intheheightsandfluff for all their work on the french! This post is because of them.
As many people know, the University of Virginia houses a collection of Angelica Schuyler Church letters.
This online exhibit, which is based on a 1996 exhibit they had in their physical library, has descriptions of many letters written to her.
Of most import for the purposes of this post is a letter written by Talleyrand (stealer of portraits) to Angelica soon after his arrival in America. Talleyrand and Angelica were great friends in Europe and she sent Eliza many letters about him.
Here’s a link to the letter and the description UVA gives of the letter. Their description:
Letter of the Marquis de Talleyrand to Angelica Church
Philadelphia. May 11, 1794
Talleyrand has left France and has taken the opportunity to renew his friendship with Angelica’s father, Philip Schuyler. He has met Mr. Hamilton, who speaks too much of “grandes personnages,” and notes too little of the beauty of his wife, Angelica’s sister Elizabeth. In a coy compliment, Talleyrand reports that Elizabeth’s beauty resembles her sister’s, but that his own lack of English prevented a comparison of their character: “If she is spiritual, amiable, and has your sensibilité, then there is the resemblance.”
That’s really not what he said.
Here’s a translation of the part about the Hamiltons:
Almost every day, I have seen M. Hamilton ; he is accurately described in England as a most deserving man; his conversation on all the events of the envoy and on the great characters playing a part in it surprised me. He knows the envoy like a well observing man who has never left it, even though he has never been there.
Your sister, whom you had told me is so similar to you, does not look like you at all, at least physically; if she is spiritual [witty], amiable, sensible, then she is in those ways similar to you, but I cannot vouch for these myself because she only spoke English to me and I did not have as good a translator with me as when I met your father.
So, let’s break this down, shall we?
1. He’s not saying it’s a bad thing Hamilton knows all these people! He’s saying it’s impressive! Hamilton is well read and educated!
2. Talleyrand says nothing about Ham and Eliza’s relationship or what Ham does or does not notice about his wife?
3. He also says nothing about Eliza’s looks, besides that she doesn’t look like Angelica. He’s like “well, you and your sister don’t really look alike, so it must be in your personalities, but I couldn’t get to know her because of the language barrier.”
So there’s a lot going on and some interesting stuff (like Angelica telling people she and Eliza were similar!), but nothing about Ham’s obsession with famous people or not noticing Eliza.
And because I can’t not take this guy to the fucking cleaner every chance I get, Chernow, who does not source, basically relied on UVA’s description (or someone else using that description) in his book, rather than doing any work himself, saying:
Talleyrand confess to only one complaint about Hamilton: that he was overly enamoured of the grand personages of the day and took too little notice of Eliza’s beauty.
No, Chernow, that’s absolutely not what he said.
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