and not always an Emperor in his ward-out interest. The writer pays a visit to the youthful hero. robe. (6 Are you afraid?' said the Emperor to him (Tascher). 'No, sire,' replied the young man. Do you think you will be killed?' 'No, sire.' And if you thought so, what would you do?' 'I should still go, though not with such confidence.' Go then; nothing will happen to you." -p. 200. At the battle of Eylau, the 4th of the .line was almost entirely destroyed. When the Emperor reviewed them the next day, he seemed much affected. He appeared to be looking for young Tascher, whom he could not see, and asked after him with much solicitude; they told him he was slightly wounded. He sent for him, and appointed him under-captain of artillery, His state of suffering and deprivation did not astonish him. He said to the young man,-' For a Creole it is rather hard, is it not Tascher? But you have done your duty; I am content; and your evil day is now passed. What is it you are in want of now? Have you shirts?" 'No, sir; I have only the one which I have worn these last ten days.' 'I cannot give you any,' said the Emperor, for I have none; but you are going to Warsaw, where you shall have money to buy some.'"-p. 201. If Eylau could produce this catastrophe, we can understand the diminution of respect and subordination attendant on more fatal fields, and especially from the harsh and brutal temper of Augereau. After the defeat of the Au trians on the Mincio, in 1814, Tascher was sent with verbal orders to Lyons, to Marshal Augereau, whom, after some difficulty, he found in bed. He communicated to him the Em. peror's directions to march headlong upon Maçon, and crush the corps of the Prince of Homburg at once. ""Have you the orders written down? demanded the marshal. No,' replied Count Tascher; 'but as aide-de-camp to Prince Eugene, I am empowered to deliver verbal ones, and I repeat to you the Emperor's own expression,-that you are to march upon Mâçon, and cut to pieces the ill-disciplined troops which are station in that direction.' 'I am not a corporal, to be made to march in this way,' cried Marshal Augereau in a passion, and 1 know what to do.'"-p. 204. We find a few anecdotes of the young Napoleon scattered here and there; and to those who feel interest in his apparent destiny and early fate, and recal the spirited resistance of that daring child to quitting Paris with his mother, the following in. stance of his military taste may not be with "When I arrived, the young king was standing behind a chair; a look from Madame de Montesquiou informed me that it was a punishment: I took the hint, and did not go to him till after I had chatted some time with her. When I approached him, he concealed behind the chair his face, red and bathed in tears, which his fine curly locks covered at every slight motion of his head. Sire, will you not say how do you do to Mademoiselle Cochelet, who is come to see you?' said Madame de Montesquiou. 'Your majesty does not remember me, then?' said I, trying to take his hand. He drew it quickly back, and said in a voice smothered with sobs,-'She will not let me see papa's soldiers!' and his tears fell fast again. Madame de Montesquiou then told me, that the prince's greatest pleasure was to see the guard relieved at the Place du Carrousel; but that having been naughty a few moments before, she had said he should not see them; that the moment he heard the drums, his despair and passion had been so great, that she had been obliged to have recourse to the extreme punishment of putting him behind a chair in a corner."-p. 212. The departure of the empress from Paris was no less displeasing to the Queen Hor tense, who seems to have displayed considerable feeling and spirit on the occasion of the dangers that menaced that capital. 'I am disgusted with the weakness of which I have just been witness," said she to us. "Would you believe it? They are going! Is it thus that one loses for pleasure's sake, both France and the Empe ror! Ah, in great events, women only have courage! I feel that I am the one who will suffer the least from the loss of all this grandeur; but I am indignant when I see so little energy, where so much is wanted. When fortune has raised us up, and the destiny of a country depends on ours, it is our duty to keep ourselves in the exalted station in which we have been placed."-p. 219.. "Count Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely, a colonel of the National Guard, asked to speak with the queen, and expressed to her the discouragement inspired by the departure of the empress and king of Rome. The queen said to him, I cannot, unfortunately, replace them; but I doubt not the Emperor will arrange so as to be here again shortly; Paris must hold out, and if the National Guard will defend the capital, tell them that I and my children will remain in it "—p. 227. "In fact, at that time, every one spoke with praise and admiration of the firmness which the queen had just evinced.”—p. 230. But even in this crisis of emergency petty | posed to their sentiments in general, that feelings and jealousies held their sway over sovereigns and princes are not different meaner spirits. from other men in their feelings. Abstractedly this may be true, like the proposition. of our glorious poet, that, . . they announced the Countess Bertrand; I was not aware that she was accompanied by the Princess d'Eckmuhl, who remained in the carriage; when therefore the queen allowed me to admit the countess Bertrand, she did not imagine that another lady was with her; but afterwards I learnt that the princesss was angry with the queen for not admitting her, whilst she received the Countess Bertrand."-p. 225. The danger however was too great to be repelled by the scanty means then left to Paris; notwithstanding the successful resistance of the three glorious days of July, 1830, against an armed force, which has been sometimes absurdly quoted as illustrating the practicability of defence in 1814, the formidable array of the allied forces rendered that or any other opposition more brilliant than effectual. "Night approached; Count Regnault desired to be introduced; I was present. Your majesty,' said he, 'I am come to give you your promise back. Although The National Guard are disposed to do their best, it is impossible to defend Paris. I have just assured myself of that fact. You must not expose yourself and your children to be taken prisoners; and, I re. peat to you, Paris cannot hold out; all the generals assert the same."-p. 231. Hortense retired to the Petit Trianou, where she listened deeply affected to the cannonade. The following instance of af fection for her fellow citizens is somewhat touching, but might be termed decidedly French. The mind however grows, by constant alarm, blunted to the general feel ings of nature; and sometimes in the very depths of real and unquestionable affliction, catches by reaction at any source of consolation even in the shape of resignation to the worst it had previously dreaded; as in the case of David mourning for the son of Bathsheba. 66 "The fighting has ceased,' said she, "no matter what has happened; we may breathe more freely now, because we need not fear that they are killing our dear Parisians,' "-the harmless beetle that we tread upon In corporeal sufferance feels a pang as great As when a giant dies." Both, however, are erroneous in fact: the finer organization of the nobler being, and the infinity of nerves and consequently of nervous susceptibility, must render a violent death of the latter far more painful the one pang of an infinitely inferior insect, throughout all its stages of approach than with but a single pair of nerves. Since as we descend the scale we find that portions, such as limbs, and even bodies and heads, and eyes, are reproduced without apparent pain or suffering from loss of the previous part, and even that some, as the Dragon-fly, without a reproduction of the lost half of its body, will as freely perform the functions of life and enjoyment as before, we feel certain that the poet's assertion is, philosophically speaking, erroneous. And by the same analogy we may observe, in the case of the more elevated members of the human race, that feelings unknown to inferior stations, such as that of love and protection towards subjects, is a component part of their nature. Why is it, otherwise, that the public vices of royalty are held by mankind in greater abhorrence than those of individuals, when the temptation, which in all other cases we willingly allow for, is so much greater for them than for the rest of mankind? To refer it to example merely is only proving, not denying, this proposition; for it is little more than saying in other words that they ought to have a greater recollection for mankind than other men. the lowest class of which are furnished At Rambouillet, from the Kings Joseph and Jerome, the Queen learned of the capit ulation of Paris. Here is a slight sketch of some of the ex-ministers. "As to ourselves we remained in the first saloon, where all the ministers were; every one of them had a peculiar countenance. I remember particularly General Clarke, minister of war, who had an air of great pre-occupation and depression. Instead of giving orders for the regiments which were retreating, he seemed to be falling asleep in his chair. Count Daru was walking up and down, meditating; the Duke of Gaete, who always wore powder, this time seemed to have laid on even It is a favourite and vulgar cry of the more than usual in order to look spruce; levellers of social distinctions, and admitted Count Decres, who was very fat, seemed often as a truth by those even who are op-light and cheerful enough to sing us a "I could not but observe how little selfishness there was in all that she felt; for whilst quitting Paris she had said to the empress, her sister: 'If you abandon the capital, you lose your crown.'"-p. 237. vaudeville; this was most certainly, to show his courage; but we felt no inclination to laugh." "I was astonished to see these ministers so demoralized, thinking of nothing but flight, caring for no one but themselves, and taking no measures to render this catastrophe less cruel; I felt more security in being with the queen, than with those who seemed to have entirely abandoned their duty."-p. 240. The lady's remarks are reasonable enough; the meanness and abject fear displayed on these occasions are also illustrated by the subsequent observation of Count Nesselrode, whom Mademoiselle de Cochelet met in returning to Paris just afterwards. 66 ...... These were M. de Nesselrode's own words. 'Ah! how many mean and vulgar men have presented themselves to me, said he to me. 'It is a necessary evil: but it is painful to have so sad a knowledge of human nature.' And he was then talking of Frenchmen! As to the Empress Maria Louisa, nothing is yet decided about her,' added he; they are waiting for her father, and she will then be at liberty to go with her husband."-p. 273. It may not be generally known that in the course of the revolutionary war, and during the latter part of the time when Spain was siding with France against us, so high was the national credit of England in the former country, that, having no means of safely transmitting, as previously, the galleons with cargoes of dollars from the American colonies to the mother-country, since the British flag swept the seas, the Spanish merchants were accustomed to entrust their specie to the hostile British cruisers to be brought to England; and they drew their bills from Cadiz, &c. upon London for the amount. The advantage to both countries, and go. vernments even, was great. A somewhat similar confidence, on a small scale, seems to have been reposed in Mademoiselle de Cochelet, for it is a curious circumstance that in the invasion of Russia by Napoleon, Mademoiselle de Cochelet, who had several intimate friends amongst the Russian ladies, was requested to take charge of their jewels lest they should fall into the hands of the French invaders; and they were sent to her to Paris for this end. She now, when the tables were turned, returned to Paris in order to save these from foreign seizure, and place them in the hands of the Count de Nesselrode to be restored to their owners. They had been deposited in the palace of Queen Hortense; the following passage is a striking testimonial from the mouth of an enemy of the discipline and order of the allied troops, and of the Swedes in particular. The fair reader gives the fact without comment, or the slightest praise of the modera tion displayed by the military occupants. "On my arrival, I found the Queen's palace invaded by the Swedes; they had not, however, presumed to take possession of her apartment. She had left in her book-case all her papers and correspondence. She had not locked them up, for her family letters were kept in large bandshe was never in the habit of doing so; all boxes. The foreigners might easily have possessed themselves of all her papers; but precisely because they were not locked up, they did not think of it; the floor, on which her apartment was, was inhabited; nevertheless nothing was touched but the books, and but few of them were afterwards missed."-p. 269. The following is curious, and striking, if true. "Madame, 66 I have just now seen M. de Nesselrode again; he inquired much after you; the Emperor of Russia occupies the Elysée-Napoleon. The Count has told me of a report which is being circulated of a violent scene between the Empress Maria Louisa, and the two kings her bro thers-in-law. They wanted to take her by her; but she resisted, and they even say force into the carriage, in order to remove that the King of Westphalia struck her. She called for assistance: and it was general Caffarelli, commander of the guard, who saved her."-p. 283. Another letter gives the following :— "They assure me that the Emperor said, when talking with the Empress Josephine: 'She was right; I have suffered for having quitted her." The talents and amiability, not less than the personal charms of Hortense, appears to have made her many friends; amongst them, Alexander himself. "One evening, whilst alone, I was much surprised at receiving a visit from the Emperor Alexander. I was so embarrassed, that I did not know what to say. 'I am what will be most expedient for the Queen: come,' said he, 'to talk with you upon I cannot get anything from her. To believe her, one would think that she was a heroine of romance. I am sure she imagines that she can live upon air, without money.' I laughed. Why, in fact, said I, she has never felt the value of money, ignorant of how much is necessary in orexcept in giving it away; and she is really der to live suitably. Well,' said the Emperor, 'I came on purpose to advise with 6 you on the subject; I never saw so interesting a woman: she deserves to be happy. She shall be as my sister, that I may feel no scruple in obliging her. Your queen is so self-willed! But I understand her. She thinks it more consonant with her dignity to receive nothing: she will not see a friend in me; and I am a sincere I feel for her as a brother.'"-p. 317. one. This interest seems to have caused more than one source of disquietude to a cele. brated diplomatist. he had often been the dupe of the coquetry, intrigues, or ambition of the ladies of his court."-vol. i. p. 336. A trifle might have changed the march of fate. "I accompanied their majesties to the machine of Marly; the queen led her eldest son by the hand. The Emperor Alexander had taken the youngest under his protection, Prince Eugene holding his other hand. The precautions which they took for the children, prevented them from tak. ing much care of themselves, and the em".....I know that they are already jea-peror's clothes passed so near to one of lous of your zeal for her; I must tell you the wheels, that he was in danger of being that M. de Nesselrode has even talked of dragged along with it, if the queen, who it with vexation. 'Our Emperor,' says perceived it, had not quickly pushed him he, 'goes much too often to Malmaison; all the ministers as well as the higher ranks away, at the same time uttering a cry which made us start. By this movement, are displeased at it; they fear that there he had time to disengage the flap of his I will be an influence exercised over him coat, without which he must have been dashed to pieces."-vol. i. p. 347. detrimental to the course of policy he has to follow."-p. 318. The fair dames of the Quartier St. Germain appear to have felt strong sympathy with their invaders. On the first Russian prisoners being marched into Paris, they had even incurred some risk of personal danger from the mob, by handing their purses to the captives as they passed. Their interest included even Alexander, who does not seem to have always valued it correspondingly. 666 But,' ,' answered the emperor, did they expect me to sound their feelings? I seek wit and conversation; but I avoid every thing which would assume the empire of affection over me. I see self-love in the case then, and retire.' Having said this, he changed the conversation. The two sons of Hortense, Napoleon and Louis, appear to have been most carefully brought up under her own eye, and her af fection for them was sometimes displayed by a feeling carried almost to extravagance. They appear to some advantage in Mademoiselle Cochelet's Memoirs: for instance: "As they were in the habit of seeing only the kings of their own family, when the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Russia were announced, they immediately asked their governess if they were also their uncles, and if they were to address, them as such? 'No, they were told; 'you must only say sire.' But,' said the youngest, 'are not all the kings our uncles? They were informed that all the kings then present, so far from being their uncles, were come as conquerors. But "I have just dined with the king,' said then,' replied the young Prince Napoleon, he; 'every one eats there with a good ap-if they are the enemies of my uncle the petite, and they remain long at table. Do you know what happened to the Duchess d'Angoulême? They told me, that she had asked the Prince of Bavaria, pointing to the Grand Duke of Baden, 'Is not that the prince who married one of the princesses of Buonaparte? What folly to ally oneself with him!' The Prince of Bavaria did not answer; but it was unpleasant enough to know that he himself was allied in the same manner as the grand duke; and no less so was the Emperor of Austria, who was not far off, and who might have heard the apostrophe." "-vol i. p. 320. "The Emperor Alexander was not a man of ordinary cast, and his feelings in particular were unlike other men's. He was, what many call in derision, sentimental; he felt happy in real affection, and his greatest ambition would have been to be passionately loved for himself alone; it can be easily imagined how painful such a disposition must have been to him in the elevated situation in which he was placed; emperor, why do they embrace me?"-_ vol. i. p. 353. "The young Prince Louis, who usually spoke very little, had listened in silence to the whole of this conversation. The first time that he caught sight of the Emperor Alexander again, he took a little ring which his uncle Eugene had given him, and advancing on tip-toe, that no one might observe him, slipped it into the emperor's hand, and then ran away as fast as he could. His mother called him back, and asked him what he had been doing. 'I had only that ring,' replied he, blushing, and hanging his head in confusion, 'my uncle Eugene made me a present of it, and I gave it to the emperor, beecause he is so good to Mamma.' The Emperor Alexander embraced him, and putting the ring on his watch-chain, said with emotion, that he would always wear it.”—vol. p. 355. The sketch of Madame de Staël has the double charm of possessing intrinsic talent and being drawn by a distinguished states- was very animated, and it was droll to see man, and one of the best-qualified to judge of others. her twisting the twig about while gesticulating. One might have thought that a fairy had given her this talisman, and that PORTRAIT OF MADAME DE STAEL, BY M. Pozzo on that little branch depended all her genius."-vol. i. p. 436. DI BORGO. "I expected that Madame de Staël would No one who ever met the distinguished excite great curiosity in London. She woman here described in society, but must belongs neither to the sex one loves, nor to that one esteems. She talks and writes have noticed her inexhaustible powers of con like a man, but has acted all her life like versation, displayed not less in the range of a woman. As she carries every thing to thought than in the ceaseless exertion of her extremes, those who are pleased with her, lungs. It was our fortune once to be premust feel enchanted; those who are not sent at a conversation held by her with an will equally dislike her. The good quali-eminent bookseller of our metropolis, reties, faults, weaknesses, wit and talents of markable for his sound judgment, aud per Madame de Staël, divided into proportion "Good Gods! 'tis like a rolling river, That murmuring flows, and flows for ever." The single monosyllables, affirmatively introduced by our much-enduring interlocu ate doses, would have formed a population spicuous and courteous taciturnity. The of amiable women; but all of them con- lady's flow of language and illustration, and centrated in one individual, have formed she had a point to gain, reminded us strongalmost a monster. If one considers all ly of Gray's simileher qualities in a mass, she confounds the strongest imagination, and awes the most experienced; but to one who comes on her at a moment when she only shows her shining points, she is really astonishing: Do not accuse me of betraying her when I speak of her to you with so much impartitor, seemed only to have the effect of pebbles in the current. In truth amongst the ality. One judges rather than loves her, although she has desired the contrary all phlegmatic English she had the undoubted her life."-vol. i. pp. 416, 417. reputation of "talking to death." Her curi osity was not less remarkable. Pray take my place," said a late English secretary to his friend, in evident alarm as she approach. ed him, "I have forgotten my Catechism." "You will learn it all now, and I shall not soon forget my lesson," replied the other, quitting the spot with equal dismay. The celebrated Madame Récamier is de. scribed by Mademoiselle Cochelet as still young, very lovely, with an air of simplicity; like a girl just come out, but disciplined by a very severe duenna, so much-did her gentle, timid manner contrast with the too masculine confidence of her more brilliant companion. 66 Our fair biographer gives a naif remark on the same subject; and her commencing "Madame de Staêl however was consi- supposition is good-natured at least, if not dered very amiable, especially to her correct, viz. that it was to ascertain the friends, and I am only speaking here of child's capacitythe effect which she produced at first sight | on those spectators to whom she was a "Did you love your uncle?' 'Very stranger. The dark mulatto complexion much, madam.' 'Would you like to make of Madame de Staël, her very original toi- war against him? Yes, if that did not lette, her entirely bare shoulders, either of cause so much mischief. Is it true, that which would have been pretty, but it did he often made you repeat the fable beginnot agree with the other; in fact the tout ning with the words, The reason of the ensemble nearly realised the idea I had strongest is always the best?" He often formed of the authoress of Delphine and made me repeat fables, but not that one Corinne. I almost expected to find one of more than any other.'" these heroines in her who had so well "The young Prince Napoleon, whose drawn their characters, and could scarcely understanding was astonishing, and judg recover from my surprise. After the first ment precocious, answered all she said moment, however, I gave her credit for a deliberately; and when the interrogatory pair of fine and expressive eyes; still it was over, he turned to Madame de Bouseemed impossible to fall in love with such bers and myself and said, 'This lady is a face, and yet I was told that she had very inquisitive; is that what you call often inspired the tender passion."-vol. i. genius ?"-vol. i. p. 440. p. 430. We have the following portrait of an interesting personage. "The prince was placed at the right of the queen, and Madame de Staël at her left. The servant of the latter had placed on her napkin a little twig, which she was "I was struck by the melancholy exin the habit of turning about in her fingers pression of the Empress of Russia's counwhile she was talking. The conversation tenance. Her form was tall and majestic, |