direction of a little French boy, who, I 

 presume, was bnrn in a camp. 



In a conversation with Count Ber- 

 trnnd, which happened to glance on Wa- 

 terloo, he could not hide his sensations. 

 The little he said was in a plaintive tone, 

 lhouj;h expressed with candour, and ac- 

 companied with expressive shrugs of la- 

 mentation. " We fought that day," he 

 «aid, " for the crown of France; liut3rou 

 fi:ained the battle, and we are undone." 

 I alked him whether he had read Marshal 

 Net's letter to the Duke of Otranto, in 

 defence of his conduct on the bloody 

 field. That publication, it appeared, he 

 had not seen; and, when I informed him 

 in what manner the marshal had censur- 

 «d'his master's conduct, and that, in the 

 public opinion, he was thought to have 

 cleared himself from the imputation of 

 erroneous conduct;— " Well, welJ," he 

 replied, •• had I been in the command of 

 Marshal Ney's division, I might, per- 

 haps, have done worse ; but, as I was, I 

 saw much to blame :" but, in comparing 

 Bonaparte with Ney, he cast his eves up- 

 wards tc the heavens, and, suddenly 

 lowering them to the earth, he exclaim- 

 ed, with a very si);nificant action, " In- 

 deed, indeed, the difference is equally 

 great." 



kapoleon's conduct. 

 I renew n>y desultory occupation :— 

 la tAche joumaliere, telle que vous la 

 voitlez. — On tlie first day of his arrival 

 on board, our distinguished passenger 

 displayed rather an eager appetite : I 

 observed that he made a very hearty 

 dinner, which be moistened with claret. 

 He passed the evening on the quarter- 

 deck, where he was amused by the band 

 of the 53d regiment ; when he personally 

 required them to give the airs of " God 

 save the King" and " Rule Britannia," 

 At intervals he chatted in a way of easy 

 pleasantry with the officers who were 

 qualified to hold a conversation with him 

 in his language. I remarked that on 

 tiiese occasions he always maintains what 

 seems rn b« an invariable attitude, which 

 has somewhat of importance in it, and 

 probably such as he had been accus- 

 tomed to display at the Tuilleries, when 

 giving audience to his marshals or offi- 

 cers of state. He never m!>ve» his hands 

 from tlieir tinbiiual places in his dress, 

 but tA apply them to his snufT box ; and 

 it nriick me as a particular circnmstance 

 to which I paid an observing attention, 

 thenvii it ii>ii;hc have been ciiineeted 

 with liis former dignity, — that he never 

 ofiier^ a pinch to any one with wtlOtQ ho 

 wits convex siiig. 

 floMTOLY Mao. No. 793. 



fVarden*s Lettera on Napolton. 595 



On the subsequent day he brealc fasted 

 at eleven. His meal consists of meat 

 and claret, which is closed with coffee. 

 —At dinner, I observed that he selected 

 a mutton cutlet, which he contrived to 

 dispose of without the aid of either knife 

 or fork. 



He passed much of the third day o(l 

 deck, and appeared to have paid parti* 

 cular attention to his toilette. He re- 

 ceives no other mark of respect from the 

 officers of the ship than woold be shewn 

 to a private gentleman, nor does he seein;'*^ 

 to court or expect more than be receiveMxJ 

 He is probably contented with the hn'ai>t 

 mage of his own attendants, whoalwaysii; 

 appear before him uncovered, so that, if 

 a line were drawn round them, it mighc 

 be supposed that you saw an equal space 

 in the palace of St. Cloud. 



He played at cards in the evenings' 

 the game was whist, and he was a loser« ' 

 It was not played in the same way as i» < 

 practised at our card-tables in England %•■ : 

 but I am not quahfied to explain iha ■• 

 varieties. 



TALtEYRAND. i" 



The name of Talleyrand happening t»-'?j 

 occur in the course of conversation with'' 

 our French shipmates, the high opinion 

 entertained of his talents by the Bona- 

 partists was acknowledged without re« 

 serve. On my asking at what period 1x9 

 was separated from the counsels and 

 confidence of Napoleon, it was replied 

 —at the invasion of Spain. I then ob- 

 served, that the reports in England re« 

 specting that circumstance were correct 

 as to time, and 1 presumed were equaUjr .' 

 so as to the cause— his unreserved di»»-< 

 approbation of that bold and adventurous ' 

 enterprize. This met with an instanc .■ 

 contradiction ; wbicli was followed by a 

 most decisive assertion, that the Prince 

 of Benevento approved of the Spanish 

 war, and founded his recotnmendation of 

 that measure on his unalterable opinion^ - 

 which he boldly communicated to the 

 Emperor, that his iife was not secure 

 while a Bourbon reigned in Europe. 



I entered further on this subject with ■ 

 Madame Bertrand, and she actually and ■ 

 most unequivocally asserted, that Tal- 

 leyrand was in secret communication 

 with Napoleon when they were last aC ' 

 Paris, and that he would have joined 

 them in a month. Hin proposed depar- 

 ture from Vienna to take the waters at . 

 Aix-la-Chapelle, was, under the cloak of - 

 indisposition, to conceal his duplicity. 

 " Can you persuade yourself, madame," 

 I said, " that Talleyrand, if be had the 

 inclination, possessed the power t'> iiiilii-> 



4 C CHB8 



