The Governor had paid a visit to the Grand Marshal, and in a vague manner given him reason to expect some reductions at Longwood. He had stated, with some simplicity, that it had been expected at London that the permission which had been offered us to return to Europe would have greatly diminished the Emperor’s domestic circle. He had also said, without being well understood by the Grand Marshal, that, if we had any private property, we might avail ourselves of our own money, by drawing upon our own funds, as I had already done. His government, he said, had never intended to allow the Emperor more than a table for four persons daily at most, and company to dine once a-week. What a statement! Is it possible that he meant to insinuate that, with respect to us, we ought to pay for our maintenance, and contribute, for the future, to the expenses of the establishment? Let it not be thought incredible: we daily learn here to believe that there is nothing impossible.
The Emperor, afterwards, reverting to a book which he had been reading, and in which there was a story of an Irish lady, respecting whom Goldsmith had abused him violently, recollected well, he said, that, being at Bayonne at the chateau de Marrach, when the city of Bourdeaux gave him a fête, he saw, by the side of the Empress Josephine, a charming face of the most perfect beauty, with which he was forcibly struck. The impression she had made did not pass unperceived. It had been anticipated and brought about designedly. “God knows,” said the Emperor, “with what intention. She was a Miss ——, afterwards Madame ——, a new reader to the Empress Josephine, whom she attended to the chateau de Marrach, and might very possibly have had great success. She already occupied my thoughts, when M. de Lavalette, who was at the head of the secret department of the post-office, destroyed the charm. He sent, direct to me, a letter addressed to this young lady. It was from her mother, or her aunt, an Irishwoman, and contained minute directions for the part she was to play, and particularly urged her by all means to contrive to secure such a living pledge as might prolong her empire, or at least secure her great influence. On reading this,” said the Emperor, “all illusion vanished. The coarseness of the intrigue, the turpitude of the details, the style, the hand which had written the letter; but, above all, her being a foreigner, produced immediate disgust; and the pretty little Irish girl was, in fact, as Goldsmith says, put into a post-chaise and suddenly packed off to Paris. And here I find,” continued Napoleon, “a libel imputing this to me as a crime, when, in fact, it was much rather a virtue in me; an act of continence, of which I might, perhaps, boast with much more reason than the famous Scipio. But this is the way in which history is written.”
After dinner, when we were debating what we should read, the Emperor said that, since we confessed we had not wit enough to relate each his tale or story, we ought at least to be condemned to choose, by turns, our evening’s reading; and he began by naming for his part, the poem De la Pitié, by the Abbé Delille. He thought the verses good, the language pure, the ideas pleasing; nevertheless, he observed, it was destitute of imagination or warmth. It was, undoubtedly, superior in versification to Voltaire; but still far beneath our other great masters.
Saturday, 29th.—The Emperor breakfasted in the garden, and invited us all. After breakfast he took an airing in the calash. He was in good spirits, and rallied us all in our turns. One he complimented on the beauty and elegance of his apartments, another on the sums which the Governor had paid for him, and which would soon be increased by a handsome stock of child-bed linen; me he congratulated on the taste which the Governor seemed to have for my bills of exchange, which had induced his Excellency to wish the rest to draw bills likewise. He laughed, and was highly amused with our remarks on each other. The weather suddenly changed and obliged him to return home.
After dinner, the Emperor read some passages of Milton, translated by the Abbé Delille. He thought the versification very inferior to the poem De la Pitié; and, in fact, it was a work prescribed to the author, written during his emigration, whilst at London, and published by subscription.
During the whole of our morning’s ride, the conversation turned on our kings and their mistresses: Mesdames de Montespan, de Pompadour, Dubarry, &c. The principle was warmly discussed, opinions differed, and were obstinately defended. The Emperor amused himself with fluctuating alternately from one opinion to another. He concluded, however, by deciding in favour of morality.
POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE COURT OF LONDON DURING OUR EMIGRATION.—GEORGE III.—MR. PITT.—THE PRINCE OF WALES.—ANECDOTES.—THE NASSAUS.—REMARKABLE DIGRESSION OF NAPOLEON TO HIS OWN HISTORY.
Sunday, 30th.—The Emperor desired me to be called early in the morning to breakfast with him; he was sad, gloomy, and unable to converse; he could not find words. Chance having produced the mention of London and of my emigration, the Emperor said, by way of fixing on a subject, and finding something to occupy his attention, “You must have seen in London, the Court, the King, the Prince of Wales, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, and other great personages who figured at that time? Tell me what you know of them. What did people think of them? Give me an historical sketch.”—"Sire, your Majesty forgets, or perhaps was never precisely informed of the situation of an emigrant in London. I doubt whether we should have been received at Court; the good old George III. was deeply concerned for our personal misfortunes, but he was extremely reluctant to avow us in a political sense. And if we could have been received there, our means would not have enabled us to appear. I did not therefore go to Court. I have, however, seen most of those whom your Majesty mentions, and I have also heard much said of them.
"I have seen and heard the King several times in the House of Lords, and been very near him; the Prince of Wales in the same place, and also in company in the metropolis. Besides, it is not in London as in France; we do not find there that immense distance between the Court and the mass of the nation; the country is so crowded, information so general, education so equal, affluence so common, and the sphere of activity so rapid, that the whole nation seems to be in the same place and on the same plane; whilst, in looking at this assemblage, which might deserve to be called distinguished, one is tempted to ask, Where is the people? which is, in fact, the question that Alexander is said to have asked at the time of his visit to London. It follows then, that having seen many people of all classes, conditions, and opinions, I must have imbibed some notions approaching in all probability very near the truth. Unluckily, I was then little solicitous about observing and collecting information; and I am likewise fearful that the lapse of so much time may now confuse my memory.
"George the Third was the honestest man in his dominions; his personal virtues made him an object of profound veneration; an extreme morality, and great respect for the laws, were the principal characteristics of his whole life. He came to the throne at twenty years of age, deeply enamoured of a charming young Scotch lady, of one of the first families in the country, it was much feared that he would marry her; but it was sufficient to remind him that it was contrary to law, and he instantly consented to marry the person who should be chosen for him. This was a princess of Mecklenburg. In his grief, he thought her very ordinary, and in fact she was so; nevertheless George III. remained all his life an exemplary husband; he was never known to be guilty of the least infidelity.