ANECCOTES OF A DETENU. 23 



relating his amorous adventures, in the hearing of Talleyrand, and 

 terminated them by saying that he did not believe he had slept in his 

 bed for the past six months. " He tells the truth, you may rely upon 

 it," said Talleyrand ; " he sits all night on a perch" 



Too Much of a Good Thing. Madame Bacciochi, Napoleon's sister, 

 had invited Fontanes to an evening party, desiring him to bring a 

 few friends with him. " As many beaux esprits as you please," said 

 the princess ; " I am low spirited, and I want them to make me 

 laugh." Half a dozen Parisian wits accepted the invitation, and the 

 evening was spent in what the French term assauts d'esprit. When 

 Fontanes was taking leave, the princess said to him, " Wits, sir, I 

 find are like roses ; one is very pleasant, but too many are overpower- 

 ing they make one's head ache." 



Milord Hom-dy'e-do. Mr. W., a detenu at Brussels, used to wear an 

 enormous shirt-frill, and the French nick-named him " My Lord 

 Jabot." He resided a dozen years in France, and the only correct 

 phrase he was ever known to utter was " Comment vous portez vous? 1 ' 

 He would call a herd of oxen, un troupeau de bouilli. Genders 

 he never could comprehend. You might have knocked him down 

 with a feather, when he was informed that a huge grenadier, with a 

 long bushy beard was called la sentinelle. It was he whom Mathews 

 imitated when he said, lc I have been learning the language these 

 twenty years, and yet that little French brat, who is not taller than 

 my leg, speaks more fluently than I." 



High Life Below Stairs. Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, 

 seemed to anticipate that his reign would be short, and he was deter- 

 mined that it should be a merry one. His revels at the palace at 

 Cassel equalled, and probably surpassed, those of any other cotem- 

 porary crowned head in Europe Great Britain, as Elliston would 

 say, included. A gentleman, with whom I was acquainted, arrived 

 at the palace, bringing dispatches from the grand army. He was 

 dressed in the uniform of a French colonel, and the sentinels of course 

 allowed him to enter without difficulty ; he proceeded through several 

 apartments in which the servants were dancing, drinking, or playing 

 at cards ; he at length came to a large room, the door of which was 

 partly open; shouts of laughter echoed from within. My friend peeped 

 through the aperture, and beheld the monarch almost in a state of 

 nudity, with his eyes bandaged, playing all sorts of wild pranks, 

 hallooing with all his might, and holding in his arms a young and 

 fair damsel whom he had just secured. The lady represented some 

 nymph, or goddess, and like the immortals she was not encumbered 

 with needless attire. My friend deemed it prudent to withdraw. 

 On the following day he called upon the king, who scolded him for 

 not coming into the room. " We were only having a little fun," 

 said the monarch. " The Pagan deities, to get rid of heavenly ennui, 

 would frequently visit our terrestial dames. We transformed our- 

 selves into gods and goddesses ; my saloon was Mount Olympus, and 

 the deities were playing at blindman's buff." 



