in no small degree to augment my satisfaction. He has been of late often seen and described by those who visited him at Elba. I can only say, that he did not appear to me like any of his portraits, except that one in the saloon of the palace of the legislative body, nor did I ever see any man just like him. His face was of a deadly pale; his jaws overhung, but not so much as I had heard; his lips thin, but partially curled, so as to give to his mouth an inexpressible sweetness. He had the habit of retracting the lips, and apparently chewing, in the manner observed and objected to in our great actor, Mr. Kean. His hair was of a dark dusky brown, scattered thinly over his temples: the crown of his head was bald. One of the names of affection given him of late by his soldiers is “notre petit tondu." He was not fat in the upper part of his body, but projected considerably in the abdomen, so much so, that his linen appeared beneath his waistcoat. He generally stood with his hands knit behind or folded before him, but sometimes unfolded them: played with his nose; took snuff three or four times, and looked at his watch. He seemed to have a labouring in his chest, sighing or swallowing his spittle. He very seldom spoke, but when he did, smiled, in some sort, agreeably. He looked about him, not knitting but joining his eye-brows, as if to see more minutely, and went through the whole tedious ceremony with an air of sedate impatience. As the front columns of each regiment passed him, he lifted the first finger of his left hand quickly to his hat, to return the salute, but did not move either his hat or his head. As the regiments advanced, they shouted, some loudly, some feebly," vive l'Empereur," and many soldiers ran out of their ranks with petitions, which were taken by the grenadier on the Emperor's left hand: once or twice, the petitioner, afraid to quit his rank, was near losing his opportunity, when Napoleon beckoned to the grenadier to step forward and take his paper. A little child, in true French taste, tricked out in regimentals, marched before one of the bands, and a general laugh ensued. Napoleon contrived to talk to some one behind him at that moment, that the ridicule might not reach nor be partaken by him. A second child, however, of six years old perhaps, dressed out with a beard like a pioneer, marching in front of a regiment, strode directly up to him with a petition on the end of a battle-axe, which the Emperor took and read very complacently. Shortly after an ill looking-fellow, in a half suit of regimentals, with a sword by his side, ran from the crowd of spectators, opposite or from amidst the national guards, I could not see which, and rushed directly towards the Emperor. He was within arm's length, when the grenadier on the left and an officer jumped forwards, and, seizing him by the collar, pushed

him farther back. Napoleon did not move a muscle of his body; not a line, not a shade of his face, shifted for an instant. Perfectly unstartled, he beckoned the soldiers to let loose their prisoner; and the poor fellow, approaching so close as almost to touch his person in front, talked to him for some time with eager gestures, and his hand on his heart. The Emperor heard him without interruption, and then gave him an answer, which sent him away apparently much satisfied with his audience. I see Napoleon at this moment. The unruffled calmness of his countenance, at the first movement of the soldier, relaxing softly into a look of attention and of kindness, will never be erased from my memory. We are not stocks, nor stones, nor Tories. I am not ashamed to say, that on recovering from my first surprise I found my eyes somewhat moistened; a weakness that never fails to overpower some persons, when alone and unrestrained by ridicule, at the perusal of any trait of unmixed, heroism, especially of that undaunted tranquillity of mind, which formed and finished the master-spirits of antiquity.

During the review, hearing a movement amongst his staff, he turned round, and seeing that it arose from a very pretty countrywoman of ours, whom one of his aid-de-camps was placing near him, replied to her curtsies with a very low bow.

The last regiment of the national guards was followed ninety boys of the Imperial Lyceum, who came rushing shouting, and running, many of them out of their ranks, w petitions. Then, for the first time, Napoleon seemed delight he opened his mouth almost to a laugh, and turned round to attendants on the right and left with every sign of satisfact These youths wished to fight the last year at the defenc Paris, and they are now again enrolled. The school-b throughout France are enthusiastically attached to the En ror, who has perfected that system of military education, which it is, however, a great mistake to suppose him the ventor. The schools in France were to a certain degree alwa intended to be nurseries of the army. They owe their amelior ation, and adaptation to this great object, originating in the genius of the people, rather than any bent of this or that individual, to the efforts of the republicans, followed up by those of Napoleon. All the young men, with the exception of those amongst the debauched representatives of the noble houses, whose hopes were revived during the restoration, are in favour of Napoleon, at least of the new order of things, in opposition to the re-establishment of the ancient regime. The class of men wanting in France, and supposed to have been melted down in the war, are those of about forty years of age; there is a fine rising generation, and that decidedly against the royal cause.

Silver hairs are suspected by the new court; one of whom talking to me one day, and seeing an old gentleman come in, instantly changed the conversation from politics, observing, in broken English, "Say no more; you guess what his opinions are by the colour of his hair."

Immediately after the boys of the Lyceum had passed, he retired to the palace, ran quickly, after his fashion, up stairs, and received his court. They were chiefly military men, and members of the Institute. Amongst the former I saw a general of brigade, whose complexion would have secured him against advancement in the army, and admission into the court, of any of the legitimate sovereigns of Christendom, he was a negro. The reception given to Napoleon on this dreaded day was certainly of a mixed kind. The national guards, all of them shopkeepers, and who have been great gainers by the short peace, consider the return of Napoleon as the signal of war; they did not, therefore, hail him universally nor very loudly. Some regiments, however, shouted loud and long, and raised their caps on their bayonets; and this enthusiasm, I have no doubt, would be expressed by all these armed citizens, if they had as good a chance of a state of peace under the Emperor as under another overnment; for they all cling to his palaces, his walks, his lleries, his columns, his triumphal arches, his bridges, founis, and quays, and all the imperial embellishments of the ital: and, also, they all lament, where they do not hate, the rudence of the royal family and the advisers of the king, ich, to say the truth, I have never heard a single attempt to y or to defend.

he Sunday before this scene Napoleon reviewed the imperiuard, when, as may be easily conceived, the gratification on sides was more apparent and more pure. The soldiers e a loose to their delight, and the Emperor to his satisfacn at their joy: he kissed the eagles of his Elbese guard. The dy before alluded to informed me, that being close to him, she saw his eyes glisten with joy, and heard him say, as he was looking at the grenadiers in front, to Marshal Bertrand-" et, ils ne voudraient pas se servir de tels gens quels bétes !!"* alluding to the conduct of the Bourbon princes, with a reference to this magnificent corps.

Y

As to Napoleon's reception at the Français, it is impossible to give any idea of the joy by which he was hailed. The house was choaked with spectators, who crowded into the orchestra. The play was Hector. Previously to the rising of the curtain the airs of La Victoire and the Marseillaise were called for, and

*«And they did not wish to be served by such a retinue-what beasts!!"

performed amidst thunders of applause, the spectators joining in the burden of the song. An actor of the Feydeau rose in the balcony and sung some occasional words to the Marseillaise, which were received in raptures, and accompanied by the whole house at the end of each verse. The enthusiasm was at its utmost pitch. Napoleon entered at the third scene. The whole

mass rose, with a shout which still thunders in my ears. The vives continued till the Emperor, after bowing to the right and left, had seated himself, and the play was recommenced. The audience received every speech which had the least reference to their returned hero with unnumbered plaudits. The words "enfin il reparoit," and "c'etoit lui,"-Achille,* raised the whole parterre, and interrupted the actor for some moments. Napoleon was very attentive: whilst I saw him, he spoke to none of those who stood behind him, nor returned the compliments of the audience: he withdrew suddenly at the end of the play, without any notice or obeisance, so that the multitude had hardly time to salute him with a short shout. As I mentioned before, I saw the Bourbon princes received, for the first time, in the same place last year. Their greeting will bear no comparison with that of Napoleon, nor will any of those accorded to the heroes of the very many ceremonies I have witnessed in the course of my life. Mr. Talma played Hector in his usual powerful style, and having mentioned the name of this great actor, I cannot forbear adding a story I heard from him, which shews that Napoleon has some ability in turning a kind compliment. At the first meeting between the Emperor and actor since the return from Elba, the former, addressing him with his usual familiarity, said, "so, Talma, Chateaubriand says that you gave me lessons how to act the Emperor: I take his hint as a compliment, for it shews I must at least have played my part well."

At

The intimacy between the master and the scholar has been of long standing: the reputation of the former was established when the latter was scarcely known, and the young officer accepted of admissions for the theatre from his acquaintance. that time one of the principal amusements of the two friends, together with that of a third person, a Mr. Le Noire, afterwards a general, was the relation of stories of ghosts and old castles, into which (the candles being extinguished) the future conqueror of Europe entered with all his heart, and was seriously offended when his companions interrupted him by tripping up his chair, shaking the table, or any other practical pleasantry. It may be of more importance to add, that Napoleon has never

At last he has re-appeared-it is he-Achilles.

dropped the intimacy of his former histrionic patron, nor failed to remember the free admissions and repay his present exertions by an unlimited credit on the imperial purse. The royal vice of ingratitude finds no place in the bosom of an usurper; this baseness belongs to such as are born kings. There is something magical in that power of personal attachment, which is proved by a thousand notorious facts to belong to this extraordinary man; and never had one who wore a crown so many friends, nor retained them so lòng.

LETTER IV.

Paris, April 27.

I SEE that the politicians of England still choose to consider the dethronement of Louis as the effect of a sudden act of daring violence and deep laid treason, and to bewail the lot of seven and twenty millions of honest men, who have been thus transferred from the paternal sway of the best of princes to the iron yoke of a military despot. It is possible, however, that the French are themselves almost as good judges of their own position as the politicians of England, and that the reason why they have submitted to this fatal change of masters is, that they have other opinions than their rival neighbours as to the expediency of the late revolution.

The manner in which the imperial throne has been recovered made me, even whilst in England, suspicious that the stories of the treason and preparatory schemes, by which the design of the ex-emperor was made feasible and finally brought to bear, were devoid, for the most part, of foundation; invented by those friends of the Bourbons who were unwilling to attribute the fall of Louis to his imprudence and their own misconduct; and believed by such as, in spite of all historical deduction, are determined to seek the origin of every great event in deep-laid and widely-organised combinations. It is not to be denied, that there is still a considerable mystery hanging over some of the circumstances which contributed to the success of this wonderful exploit, and that no one appears to know at Paris how far the secret was originally spread, or to what extent any previous conspiracy might fairly be said to prevail. Having taken, however, considerable pains to ascertain the fact, I am come into that persuasion which prevails most generally amongst those who have the reputation of being the best informed; which is, that