From Tait's Edinburgh Magazine. NAPOLEON AT FONTAINEBLEAU.

mongers.

barren!"

|of Fontainebleau. Its masses of granite resembling colossal heads of druids, peeping forth from the shade, speak of times long anterior to the voForests are supposed to constitute the exclu- luptuous triumphs of Diana of Poitiers, whence sive domain of romance writers; even as lakes date the meretricious splendours of the palace; have been appropriated by poets and ballad- and the Galerie des Cerfs, which witnessed the The Schwarzwald and the Odenwald wanton murder of Christina of Sweden's Monextend their gloomy shades through many a hor-aldeschi, or the Galerie de Henri IV., where rification in three volumes, or even five. Sher- Sully pleaded in vain a remission of Biron's senwood and Needwood, with the connivance of the tence of execution, are things but of yesterday, Minerva press, have bid us Stand and deliver" compared with the Gordes d'Apremont, or the till we trembled at the very sight of a furze crags of the Mont-Aigu. bush; while twenty romancers have made us as The palace of Fontainebleau, indeed, in spite sick of "The New Forest," as a season at South-of every emendation perpetrated by every prince ampton. Since Sir Walter's "Ivanhoe" present- succeeding the brother-in-law of our own bluff ed the world with a view of forest scenery, more Harry, retains a most antique and quaint appearpicturesque than the sketches of Gilpin, or the ance; yet antiquated as it is, its peaked roofs and realities of Hobhima, we have been favoured overhanging bartizans are a world too modern with such a tedious infinity of copies, that we for the mossy frame of sylvan verdure with verily believe we could travel from Dan to Beer- which the picture is encircled. Pious anchorites sheba, (i. e. from Sand-pit Gate to Fern Hill,) have sanctified themselves in the recesses of the in the lordly shades of Windsor, and find "all forest, as the hermitages of the Weeping Rock, and of La Madelaine, remain to attest; and herNevertheless, there does exist a forest for mits might fast and pray there still without much which we must admit an especial predilection; molestation from the children of this world. within the limits of civilisation-no entrench- Charles X., had he been inclined to emulate ment on the property of Fenimore Cooper-no the example of the Corsican, and execute his section of the ground of Himalaya Fraser,-nay! abdication in the palace of the Fountain of Fine within a morning's drive of a capital city; yet Water, or Fontaine Belle Eau, might have repossessing features as wild and characteristic as tired thereafter to one of its sylvan lodges, Rosa might have delighted to paint, or Ariosto and ended his days as holily as Charles V., in to depict, as the rendezvous of some half-chival- his peevish cell of St. Just. The royal forest rous, half-magic encounter. The forest of Fon- might have formed an appropriate retreat for the tainebleau, still savage in its scenery as when repentance of a sovereign-lordly, lofty, gloomy, the crusader king, St. Louis, was wont to term worthy to overshadow the spirit of the bloodit "Ses déserts chéris," still lonely as when stained Roi de la Mitraille! Napoleon, who loved it with a similar predilecIt was during the brilliant ascendency of Nation, used to prick forward in advance of his poleon, however, that Fontainebleau attained its officious court, to enjoy his reveries in its haute highest pitch of dignity,—at the period when a futaie, is now depopulated even of the super-vicar of God was brought captive to its gates, fluity of game, which, during the ascendency of and kings and princes yielded tribute to the footthe elder Bourbon princes, and the hunting days stool of its warrior-sovereign,-or as Béranger of the booby-hero of the Trocadero, was supposed describes it,to threaten it with extinction. Were all the "L'époque où, fécondant l'histoire, royal forests of France equally devastated, the Sa grande épée, effroi des nations, office of grand verderer would become a sinecure; Resplendissante au soleil de la gloire, for, unless when that equivocal compeer of the En fit sur la France rejaillir les rayons!" Montmorencys and St. Simons, the Duc de Stackpoole, contrives to unite with his own pack It was to afford a fitting asylum to Pius VII., of stag-hounds the meutes of two or three neigh- when he visited France to place the imperial bouring nobles, to get up a chevy chase, griev-crown upon the brows of the hero of Marengo, ously resembling the Epping hunt, the ancient that the palace of Fontainebleau was raised oaks of Fontainebleau forget the very echo of a reveillée! The tumult of hounds and horns, however, is of rare occurrence; and during the summer season, not a soul is stirring in the forest, unless some botanical student from the Pays Latin, with his wallet on his shoulder and his herbal in his hand; or some disciple of Camille Roqueplan or Isabey, standing rapt and inspired among the rocks of Franchard, or the precipices of La Salle, to dash into his book of studies the light outline of some weeping birch, or hint the solemn grandeur of that kingly stem, -unique even among oaks,-le bouquet du Roi. Yet even these metropolitan loungers, and the cockney hunting-train of a Birmingham duke, are incapable of deteriorating the venerable grace

from the degradation into which it had fallen at the period of the first revolution; and its reparations were completed, in order to adorn, with becoming splendour, the prison of the same spiritual prince, when, eight years afterwards, he was installed there in durance, with the view of intimidating the vicegerent of christendom into the cession of his temporal sovereignty. There, too, Charles V. abode in temporal seclusion, after abdicating the government of Spain and the Indies to the imperial conqueror. Fontainebleau appeared to have been transformed into a sort of regal Salpetrière, for the reformation of offending potentates.

But if an especial suite of apartments became consecrated to this important purpose, the main

body of the building (which has been compared | of the insatiable invader of thrones and dominby English travellers to a rendezvous of palaces, ions,-sported on painted pinions in the sunshine rather than a single and seperate edifice) was of Napoleon's glory, so long as it was permitted still occupied as the imperial residence of the to irradiate their remarkable destiny. most brilliant court of modern Europe. Thither, every autumn, the emperor repaired, as to a favourite hunting seat; and the days seemed come again when Louis XIV., gliding with histrionic dignity through the stately saloons of Versailles, the palace of his own creation, made it his pride to be accosted by his courtiers with intercessions for the honour of "following the court in its ensuing journey to Fontainebleau ;" an event which, at one time, constituted one of its chief enlivenments. Brilliant, however, as was that scene of the eighteenth century, when Moliere commemorated the sojourn of his royal patron by the production of the "Tartuffe," and Racine, by bringing forward some tragic chef d'œuvre, the Cours des Fontaines exhibited a still gayer pageant, when crowned by the unparalleled cortège of courtiers, which enabled the Emperor of France to create an antechamber for the kings that waited at his levee! The two Henrys of France and the first Francis may have added to the regal edifice the splendid galleries still bearing their names; but it remained for the son of a Corsican notary to form the Antechambre des Rois! Beautiful women-and the most beautiful among them were the nearest kindred of Napoleon,-men of renown-and the most famous were those who had confronted danger nearest to his person,—thronged the antique saloons of Fontainebleau; the golden bees embroidered upon whose canopies of velvet seemed distinctive of a new era in the history of the government of the country. The whole scene presented a gorgeous masque of mimic majesty, -chivalrous as the court of Francis I., magnificent as that of Louis le Grand, and a thousandfold more animated than either.

Nor were their capacities of enjoyment ever more liberally taxed than at Fontainebleau. There, the emperor, luxuriating in momentary relaxation from the toils of sovereignty, and giving access only to those ministers with whom it was indispensable to be in immediate communication, indulged less eagerly in the recreation of the chase, than in the pleasures of unrestrained intercourse with such persons as really shared his confidence and affection; and the calumniated Napoleon was a man of warm and strong affections. Those who approached nearest his person, and who have not yet betrayed him by manufacturing a book at his expense, admit that he was the honestest man and le plus bon homme of all the imperial court; or, to borrow the expression of his brother Jerome, mieux que tout ce qui l'entourait." Though notoriously the victim of Josephine's coquetry during their early days of marriage, how fervent and honourable is the affection poured forth by the husband, in the correspondence between them published by her daughter Hortense!-what truth-what simplicity, in every expression!-what nobleness of purpose in every counsel imparted! While the finical and minaudière ex-marchioness addressed herself to the task of conciliating the French nation by the graces of her smile and the richness of her laces and cachemires, he was bidding her be "generous but economical:"-economical of her money, which was the people's-of her tenderness, which ought to have been his; and of her time, which she was too apt to bestow upon every obsequious courtier and gossiping dowager. How patient, too, did he show himself under the thwartings occasioned by the intriguing spirit of his brothers!-how blinded by his affection for his sisters!-and when enlightened by the officious jealousy of Josephine, how susceptible to their shame-how gentle in their condemnation! Above all, how doatingly-how thoroughly—a

It was, perhaps, that the personages of the drama, less perfect in their parts, were more attentive to the getting up of the piece-it was, perhaps, that their physical and moral impulses, unsubdued by the influence of the indolence di-father! vine of royal nature, betrayed a stronger and Meanwhile, amid all his policy,-all his tact, more vivid temperament; but certain it is, that all his dexterous appeals to the national vanity never were fetes so brilliant-never courts so of the French, in the pomp and splendour of his stirring, as those presided over by Josephine, and court,-it was, in truth, with a view of gratifying graced by the charms of the Reine Hortense, and the predilections of the empress and her female the Princesses Pauline, Elisa, and Caroline, the train,-the Mesdames Junot, Maret, Marmont, sisters of Napoleon. The Bourbons might, and Duchâtelet, Regnault, St. Jean d'Angley, Vismay, exhibit their household splendours as cere- conti, and others, that the halls of Fontainemoniously as they will; but those levees of up-bleau were occasionally illuminated for the disstart kings-those quadrilles of plebeian queens those carrousals of parvenu knights, whose were in reality the meed of valour,-exspurs ceeded all preceding pomps, as well as any that At the close of one of these festivals,-a ball may have subsequently supplied their place. given preparatory to the departure of the emperor They rode, they danced, they dressed, they curt- for a new campaign, a fête, (no offence to the sied, they congeed, as if they could not too Montmorencys, the Noailles, or the Grammonts,) strenuously exercise the privileges of the great- as graceful and brilliant as the more legitimate ess so singularly thrust upon them; and, spurred courts of Fontainebleau ever witnessed, the gay by reminiscences of the sordid penury with circle was dissolved, the lights extinguished, and which their youth had been environed-or, per- the ushers and chamberlains, having paraded the aps, by a prescience of the utter ruin ultimately state apartments to ascertain if all was safe, had o be called down on their heads by the ambition | retired in their turn to rest. Nothing remained

play of masks and festivals; and its forest causeways leveled and made smooth, to admit their participation in the pleasures of the chase.

"Bah!" again interrupted the emperor,-never so completely" le petit caporal," as with a military map before him, and a perspective of triumph opening from its indications.

in evidence of watchfulness but the captain of the guards yawning at his post, the numerous sentries en faction in the various quadrangles of the palace, with here and there a light streaming from the windows of some vestibule or staircase, "That his eminence has fallen a victim to such as in the abode of even the most frugal and poison," continued Constant, satisfied that it was self-secure of sovereigns,-of a citizen king, for his business to persevere in his relation. instance, gives evidence that there must be no "To poison?" ejaculated Napoleon, turning night within the purlieus of a palace-that per-round short on the valet-de-chambre. petual vigil is indispensable to secure the safety “To poison?” reiterated Fain. "Poisoned in of an anointed head!

"The bishop of Meaux, sire, is with his eminence."

"A bishop!-why not a physician ?—Where is Corvisart,-where is Ivan ?".

the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau !—a prince of All was quiet, save the tinkling of the Foun- the Holy Roman Church-the nuncio of the pope tain of Ulysses in the great court, and the harsh-poisoned!-Quelle horreur !” croaking of the frogs in the adjoining lake; when, "This becomes serious," said the emperor, on a sudden, a slight tumult became perceptible coolly. "Who is with him?-Who has been sent in the Cour de la Fontaine; and a few strag- for?" glers, in complete dishabille, were seen hurriedly traversing the corridors leading to the Aile des Princes. Sentries were challenged, and gates unclosed! The stir and bustle increased. Corvisart, the emperor's favourite physician, had been hastily summoned from his bed;-what, what could be the matter? Was Josephine, whom often already a remote hint of the premeditated repudiation had thrown into hysterics, again attacked with migraine? Had Madame Mère fasted too long over her beads? Or was the Princess Borghese suffering from some of her imaginary heart-aches or head-aches? Vain toil to guess! Some hundred or so of young and fanciful beauties just then lodged under the peaked roofs of Fontainebleau, were enough to afford practice and perplexity to Galen and all his sons!

"And the almoner of her imperial majesty," continued Constant, "is about to administer" "Extreme unction, no doubt! when an emetic might prove the cardinal's salvation!"

"Meanwhile, if your majesty will permit me to observe," said the aide-de-camp, abruptly, “this unfortunate event may lead to most calamitous conclusions. Cardinal Caprara possesses the personal regard and confidence of his holiness; and his mission in France, bearing references, might possibly arise."

"You are right!" cried the emperor, "I should be on the spot! and the more so that the cardinal appears to be surrounded by a tribe of fools, more idiotic, if possible, and old-womanish than himConstant,-my hat. Be in waiting in the library until my return."

But it was not for the sake of any thing in the shape of woman,-no! not even of Madame de Waleska herself, that Constant would have pre-self. sumed to steal down the little circular staircase leading from the emperor's apartment to the Cabinet Topographiques; where, on the eve of his departure for the grand army, he was engaged in investigating a map, pricked out subsequently to the Military Council of the morning, by the hands of Baron Fain, and Baron Bacler d'Aĺbe.

Leaning over a table overhung by a shaded lamp, and covered with maps and plans, Napoleon's attention was engrossed in dictating notes to his aide-de-camp, when a slight knock at the door announced some privileged person; and, with a face foretelling the nature of a tragic volume, the premier valet de chambre made his appearance. "What is the matter, Constant ?" cried the emperor, hastily, apprehending he knew not what from this unprecedented interruption.

66

Sire, with your majesty's gracious permission, I have ventured to intrude, in order". "Bah! Speak out, to the point!-What has happened?"

"Cardinal Caprara, sire, is expiring!"

And having hurriedly traversed the corridor leading from the royal library to a small door opening under the grand staircase of the Fer à Cheval, the emperor hastened across the courts of the two intervening quadrangles with such rapidity, that the sentry at the first post had scarcely carried his hand to his musket to present arms. when his majesty reached the second. All was in confusion round the entrance, and on the staircase leading to the cardinal's apartments. The doors of the ante-chamber stood wide open, and two garçons de bain were squabbling in the saloon; every person in authority having pushed forward to the bedside of the dying churchman.

"Did Caprara sup with me to-night?" enquired the emperor, as he crossed the vestibule, to Fain, who was closely following.

"Your majesty forgets, perhaps, the fête,— the ball-————”`

was present ?-who furnished the repast?"

"True, true!-He was served, then, in his own apartments?" continued Napoleon, addressing a Apres?" enquired Napoleon, calmly insinuat- domestic in the livery of the household, who was ing his forefinger into his waistcoat pocket, and about to scud away on recognising the emperor. regaling himself with a pinch of snuff, as irreve-" Where did his eminence sup to-night?—who rently as if the "apres" of the act of dissolution of a member of the Sacred College could possibly "His eminence supped in his own chamber, fall within the precognition of a valet-de-chambre! sire, attended by his own almoner, on dishes es"Sire! your majesty's goodness will, I trust, pecially prepared by his own domestics," interpardon my officiousness; but I consider it my duty posed the aide-de camp, who had overheard the to acquaint your majesty, previous to the fatal ca-question, and was aware of Napoleon's fondness tastrophe, that for succinct intelligence.

"So much the better!" muttered the emperor, | to reply, that "another time, under such circumtaking breath. "It is probable, then, that there stances, he would show more discretion." may be no poison in the case. He may be dying "Another time, under such circumstances, (if of a surfeit." ever another cook should be found in the palace, But when, in another minute, Napoleon pene- of sufficient ignorance to serve up toadstools as trated into the bed-chamber, there was no mistak- an entremet,) do as I have done now-send for ing the symptoms of the nuncio for those of an Doctor Paulet, who has passed his life à s'enindigestion-churchman or layman-gourmand champignoniser, in studying the nature and proor anchoret-short necked or long-it was no or-perties of mushrooms, and do not interrupt me, till dinary seizure which had rendered his face so the ipecacuanha has done its worst." livid, his lips so black, his nostrils so distended, nay, his eyes so fixed and sightless, that even the entrance of the emperor produced no change of countenance in the moribund!

"Alas! alas! dying without the consolation of the church!" sighed the bishop of Meaux, as he let fall upon the coverlid the hand he had been holding in his own, in the hope of discerning some token of amendment.

"See Doctor Paulet to-night, before he quits the cardinal, that you may be prepared with particulars when you wake me in the morning," was Napoleon's final adjuration, when, having officiated at his master's toilet, Constant was about to retire for the night, to receive the same services from his own valet-de-chambre, leaving the door of the imperial chamber to the guardianship of the faithful Rostan.

"Dying before half the objects of his mission Unhappily, further intelligence on the subject were accomplished!" murmured his eminence's awaited the reveil of the emperor! Two words secretary, who had expected to find his own ser- from Constant would have sufficed to acquaint vices in the affair requited with a full benefice. the world that Paulet had administered an anti"Dying in a foreign country, so far from our dote, and that the cardinal was out of danger; bella Italia!" faltered a poor Neapolitan marmi- but while a page of the household was offering ton of his suite, who had crept towards the room, formal condolences and formal compliments to and was blubbering unheeded on the threshold. the prince of the church, on the part of their im"What was served to the cardinal at supper ?" | perial_majesties, the Duc d'Otrante had arrived enquired Napoleon of the latter, tapping him from Paris, and was about to be admitted to an smartly on the shoulder, ere his own entrance audience of the emperor !-the Duc d'Otrante,was noticed by those administering to the dying the Joseph Fouché,-the minister of police,man, or at least fixing their whole attention on whose name has been damned to everlasting his countenance. fame in France, as the able originator of a system of espionage, unique in the odium of its efficiency; and who was at that period forestalling the desires and projects of Napoleon, by preparing the way for his divorce, and the formation of a more auspicious matrimonial alliance.

"Ahi, ahi !" sobbed the lad, suddenly looking up, and trembling with consternation on perceiving by whom he was so cavalierly accosted. "Madre di Dio !-Sua Maesta !"

"This is a sad affair, sire, of the Cardinal Caprara," observed the chef de police, having completed the transactions which had motived his d'ho-journey from the capital.

"I asked you what was served to his eminence at supper?" persisted the emperor. "Answer • quickly and briefly, for his sake and your own!""Mushrooms, sire !" interposed Fain, who had already obtained from the cardinal's maitre tel, the desired intelligence. Des oronges sautés a l'huile, a l'Italienne, by his own cook."

"Coglioni!" ejaculated Bonaparte, all the Corsican kindling in him at the word. "Not a genuine orange is to be found on this side the Alps! They have poisoned him with some noxious fungus-Des oronges sautés a l'huile !Let Paulet be instantly sent for. It may not yet be too late to try a counter-poison."

"Sad?" reiterated the emperor. "I understood from Constant that Paulet answered for his life?" "I met Dr. Paulet, sire, as I entered the Cour d'Honneur."

"Well ?"

"He assured me that there were no grounds for alarm,-that in a day or two his eminence would be as well as ever"

"But is it proved, sire, that the mushrooms were pernicious?"

"And capable of supping a second time on a And satisfied that a supper of stewed mush-ragout of fausses oronges!-Jackass!" rooms would afford a very natural cause to misgiving Europe for the sudden demise even of a cardinal, the emperor returned to his surveys as speedily as he had quitted thern.

"Proved! You should have seen the cardinal's face!-purple as his stockings! Many an unfortunate gamin has been deposited in the dead room of the Morgue, with twice as much life in his frame! Pernicious!-Nothing but Paulet's skill could have saved him."

"So, then, Monsieur le Drole!" cried he, seizing Constant by the ear as he traversed the bibliotheque, where the valet-de-chambre was in waiting, to enter the topographical study,-" You think proper, it seems, to break in upon my pri- "Your majesty mistakes me. Poisoned, I advacy, because a pampered priest chooses to over-mit him to have been; but my people here assured eat himself?"

And Constant, discovering in an instant from the familiar mode of his imperial majesty's address, that he considered Caprara in no real danger, and was no little pleased to find the case less urgent than he had been led to expect, ventured VOL. XXVI. MAY, 1835.-63

me they have procured evidence that the mushrooms picked and selected yesterday, at the cardinal's own suggestion, during a promenade to the Rocher de Montigny, were of the true and genuine orange species. It seems that his eminence's piqueur, aware of the ridicule incurred during their

stay at Paris, by Caprara's proverbial parsimony, not choosing to be seen entering the palace gates, charged with a pannier of mushrooms, like the baudet of a market-gardener, entrusted them accordingly to the hand of a wood-cutter working near the spot, who engaged to convey them to the cardinal's kitchen. By this individual they were assuredly changed on the road.”

"Bah!" cried the emperor. "Would you and your mouchards have me believe Caprara is a sufficiently great man, to have enemies among the wood-cutters of Fontainebleau ?-Poison a cardinal? They could no more for me!-Besides, the people of these cantons still smack of Bourbon patronage, and are as pious as the prudes of the Faubourg St. Germain. I would warrant every knave of them to kiss the hem of the petticoattail of the smallest member of the sacred conclave. Poison a cardinal! They would as soon think of denying St. Peter!"

"In the apprehension that an unfavourable view of the affair might reach the court of Rome," said he, "I have already caused this young man, this Guillot, to be arrested. It is a token of respect due to the rank of Cardinal Capiara."

"Respect due to a broomstick!" muttered the Petit Caporal.

"Which motive might perhaps be held insufficient," pursued Fouché; "but that in spreading a net over a minnow, I hope to secure as fine a cocksalmon as ever wagged a fin within the meshes of the police!"

"Aha!" cried Napoleon, who had been traversing the room, and now stopped short opposite the official operative, who might well be called (as Victor Hugo terms our English hangman) "the royal right arm!”

"Within the last six weeks," continued Fouché, a mansion situated near the ferry of Valvin, which your majesty once entertained thoughts of hiring, (but that the situation was scarcely secluded enough for the purpose,) as a residence for Madame de-"

"Nevertheless," pursued Fouché, my agents assert that Cardinal Caprara is detested by the people, as the supposed bearer of his holiness's promise of assent to the project of your majesty's "I know, I know!" hastily interrupted Bonadivorce;" (involuntarily Napoleon turned his eyes parte, vexed to find the organisation of his secret towards the door affording access to his apart-police so admirable, that not even a casual exments, from those of the susceptible Josephine ;) pression of his own could escape its scrutiny. "nor need I remind you, sire, that the extreme "Who lives there now ?" popularity of the empress"

"The English detenu, sire!-Monsieur le General R

"An English family at Fontainebleau? An English detenu―an English general officer? You must have planned this, sir, for my especial an

"I know, I know!" interrupted Napoleon, who was indeed aware that the rumour of his repudiation of Josephine had created a most unfavourable impression throughout the kingdom. But do you pretend to insinuate that the French nation has entered into a conspiracy to poison Ca-noyance! Sacre nom de Dieu!-Have I not exprara, for having been the mere state-courier of Pius VII-Que diable !-Josephine's party must, in that case, be stronger and more redoubtable

than I have ever had cause to think it!"

pressly desired that these people might be kept out of my way? Last year, as we drove near the bridge at Verdun, on our way to Mayence, had not the English prisoners the audacity to greet "The young man pointed out to suspicion as me with hisses, and opprobrious epithets ?" the bearer of the mushrooms from Montigny to "Which offence against your imperial majesthe palace," resumed the Duc d'Otrante, repress-ty's person, half-a-dozen of them are still expiating the sneer of his imperial master, by proceed-ing in the dungeons of Bitche," replied Fouché, ing at once to facts, is one to whom the attention coolly. "But General R- is scarcely to be of my people at Fontainebleau has been previously classed among a tribe of fool-hardy midshipmen, directed, as dangerous and involved in mysterious such as the lads in question. For several years he has resided in all honour and tranquillity at Verdun; and it was but a few months ago that I received an application for a permis de voyage "And yet employed in the public works? Why, for his family, to pass two months at Fontaineunder such circumstances, allow him to be retain-bleau, in order to try the effects of the cure de ed by the inspector of the royal forests ?" Fouché replied only by a smile, manifestly implying, "To keep him under the cognisance of the police."

connections.

"Under surveillance, then?" "Under surveillance."

"True" replied the emperor, replying to this tacit reply. But it might be desirable that your people kept their hands as well as their eyes upon the fellow, instead of leaving him at liberty to spoil the supper and night rest of a prince of the church. Cospetto! These mushrooms may yet chance to figure in a papal bull!"

The breakfast hour was now approaching, the one of all the four-and-twenty when Napoleon was most accessible to familiar intercourse; and Fouché seemed to profit by his increasing goodhumour, in order to push still further the subject under discussion.

raisin for his only daughter, stated to be in the last stage of a decline. There was no plea for withholding from him a favour frequently conceded to English prisoners on parole; especially as your majesty had then announced your intention St. Cloud. A passport was accordingly granted, of dividing the autumn between Rambouillet and and General R- established himself at the Pavilion de Valvin"

"At least, while residing so near the palace, you have placed his correspondence under scrutiny ?"

"More particularly, sire, since the general's lady, who is daughter to a member of the English cabinet, keeps up constant intercourse with her family."

"And has any thing-transpired?" said the