1815, July. Deposition of Napoleon; return of Louis XVIII.
Each of these changes, as it occurred, was hailed with rapturous applause, and with that form of gratitude which consists in a lively sense of favours to come.
Now, as this dictionary contains the names of nearly all the eminent Frenchmen of the period, it follows that there are many in it whose book-plates are of interest, concerning whom a few extracts may be given, taken from the second and enlarged edition, published in Paris in 1815. No month is named, but evidently it appeared soon after the final downfall of Napoleon, as it mentions the marriage of the Turncoat Fouché, Minister of Police, in July, 1815, and that the king (Louis XVIII.) signed the marriage contract.
The two plates here introduced (they belonged to Turncoats) show the stiff and formal heraldry of the Empire, and the characteristic toque.
The De Portalis family were rich bankers at Neufchatel in the time of the first Napoleon. This particular member of the family married a Dame d’honneur of the Empress Josephine, and was created a count of the Empire, and an officer of the Légion d’Honneur, as is shown by the title and star on his book-plate.
He was associated with the Casimir-Periers in founding the Bank of France, and died enormously wealthy.
His name occurs in the Dictionnaire des Girouettes, but without any special circumstances; he simply accepted favours and titles from whatever hand they came, royal or imperial, with equal condescension.
Now the plate of Ch. Amb. Caffarelli, given on page 121, is a little puzzling; it is evidently of the First Empire period, and bears the toque of a Baron; whilst the second quarter on the shield shows the arms assigned in Napoleonic heraldry to a Préfet, namely: “De gueules à la muraille crénelée d’argent, surmontée d’une branche de chêne du même.” Armorial Général de l’Empire Français, 1812.
