532 The Life, Character, and [Nov. 



power as of talent, his veneration scarcely extended itself to those the 

 more nearly allied to the chief of the new government. " She has the 

 head of Cromwell, on the shoulders of a pretty woman/' was the 

 description given of the ex-queen of Naples ; and when it was observed 

 to him, " Here is a princess of the blood," the laconic comment of 

 " d'Enghien !" expressed no less his distaste of the new-born dignity than 

 it did, . as we may hope, that foul blot on the reign of Bonaparte, of 

 which his enemies strove to render him partially responsible. It is not, 

 however, the only instance in which the courtesy of the prince towards 

 the fair sex was of a questionable nature ; for, when a murmur of 

 applause arose in the imperial saloon, on the presentation of Madame de 

 Lucchesini (the lady of the ambassador of Prussia), as her elevated 

 form, dark but commanding features, and majestic bearing, impressed 

 the spectators, the remark, " We have something better than that in the 

 imperial guard," proved that, in that instance at least, Monsieur le 

 Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres included grace and beauty within the 

 scope of his department. 



Nor was he at all more favourable to the scores of newly concocted 

 dignitaries, who had been so suddenly required to cast aside the 

 homely uniform of the Consular establishment, to invest themselves 

 with the gorgeous costume of the imperial court, which sate with better 

 grace on his own form than on his less sophisticated colleagues, who 

 had not the precedent of the courts of the two last Louis to appeal to 

 for instruction or example ; and, as he contemplated the awkward 

 assumption of novel dignity by the minister of justice, he could not 

 help observing, " I know no greater ass than Maret, if it be not the 

 Due de Bassano." " Princes and lords are but the breath of kings," 

 was probably then present to his mind, as it was to that of Brogniart, 

 the celebrated architect of Bonaparte, who, on being Consulted by his 

 master as to appropriate residences for the newly created Archi Chance- 

 lier, Archi Tresorier, and other Arches, simply observed, " Sire, it 

 would be much more difficult to create an architect." If the observation 

 were dictated by the vanity of the Parisian Nash, it had the merit of 

 spirit and of truth, and Bonaparte had equally the sense to feel that his 

 times were more exigent than those of Cosmo di Medici, who asserted 

 that, " with three ells of broadcloth I make a gentleman ;" while, in 

 the absence of morality in those who surrounded him, the semblance 

 of decency was at least of value. The Regent Duke of Orleans could 

 even, in his day, turn with contempt from the profligacy he so 

 largely abetted, and bitterly declare that " the Court is a vile place 

 very vile greatly below the national level." It was scarcely entitled 

 to more of respect during the reign of his royal ward, when it was 

 decided that " to be a perfect courtier one must dispense with honour 

 and feeling." With more virtuous feeling and a better taste, Louis XVI. 

 was obliged to accept the impure legacy bequeathed him by his grand- 

 father, of a corrupted court an administration de bonis non; while the 

 Revolution had liberally set all classes, at once, free from the restraints 

 of vulgar prejudice, and the slightest regard for religion and virtue, 

 wherever they partially existed in France ; and, however little practised 

 in either, the policy if not the feeling of Napoleon dictated a reform of 

 manners, and the re-establishment of moral observances. " Monsieur 

 de Talleyrand must marry !" was the imperative mandate, that rather 

 ludicrously, announced the auspicium melioris cevi. Monsieur, as then 

 circumstanced in domestic life, proved an obstacle to the better 



