1668. | 
white kerseymere waistcoat and breeches; 
military boots; a cocked hat, witha small: 
cockade, placed on the very rim, a sword 
and the order of the legion of honour, 
suspended by ared ribbon from his bution- 
hole. I should inform you, that no per- 
son enters his cabinet but his-pages, and 
those only when he is present ; and when 
he departs, he takes the key in his pocket. 
His library is fitted up in the English 
taste, and rather plain than otherwise; 
it is decorated with marble busts of great 
men, among which you find those of the 
late regretted Mr. Fox, and the immor- 
tal Nelson, The emperor had a great per- 
sonal esteem for Mr. I’ox, and treated him, 
while that illustrious patriot remained in 
Paris, with the mostconciliating actention, 
Tam told that he has remarked that Mr, 
Fox was to Great Britain, what Cassan- 
dra was to the Trajans, always telling 
truths, but, unfortunately, never believed. 
I carried my curiosity so far, as to take 
measures to learn what books this ex- 
traordimary character was fond of perus- 
ing, and found that Ossian’s Poems, (well 
translated into Italian), the works of New- 
ton aud Leibnitz; Smith, on the Wealth 
of Nations; the works of Montesquieu: 
Tacitus, Guiccardini, &c. formed the 
~ deading articles with which he amused 
or informed himself in his Jeisure hours ; 
afsuch an active mind can be supposed 
to have any leisure. 
_ Yo indulge the curiosity of those na- 
tives and foreigners, whose rank and ta- 
‘Tents do not entitle them to an introduc- 
-tion at court, he takes an airing every 
- Sunday evening in the gardens of St. 
Cloud, with the empress, the imperial fa- 
iily, and his marshals: and I have ob- 
served that his attendant Mameluke is 
uniformly behind his person; and I was 
told that he sleeps at the entrance of his 
apartment, or tent, when he is on duty 
from the capital, 
It cannot be denied that he is in- 
debted for a great portion of his success, 
both in the cabinet and the field, to that 
judgment which he has displayed iv se- 
lecting his ministers and officers, all of 
whom have been advanced for their indi- 
vidual merit. Hehas sometimes listened 
to the recommendation of distinguished 
persons, in filling up civil vacancies of 
little importance, but never any other, 
Marshal Augereau is the son of a vro- 
cer at Paris; Marshal Lefebvre is the 
son of an inn-keeper. General Van- 
eamme was a taylor in Brabant, and a 
_ dfonraty Mac., No. 168. 
A View of Modern Paris. 
105 
great majority of the rest were of the 
same description, 
Napoleon endeavours, by every spe- 
cies of artificial attention, to acquire and. 
retain the good will of hisarmy. He ne- 
ver suffers an officer to strike a soldier, 
on any pretence whatever: their punish- 
ments are through the medium of shame, 
privations,or death. In England, the ci- 
tizen and soldier run parallel in their in- 
terests; but in France, the soldier is pa- 
rainount in authority to the citizen: and 
this partiality is perhaps necessary in a 
government, which owes the acquirement 
and consolidation of its power to the zeal 
and fidelity of the national armies. 
Iiis ambition is boundless, and seems 
to swell and extend in proportion as it is 
opposed! fit is asked, has he any po- 
litical enemies in France? I would an- 
swer, truly, many: but the well-connect- 
ed systein of his government precludes 
all opposition to his‘will, and even those 
enemies are becoming less every day, as 
the brilliancy of his career neutralizes the 
enmity of those who deprecate his power, 
by making their national vanity a party 
to his personal renown*. 
His consort Josephine is supposed to 
be forty-five years old, though, in the 
Court Calendar of France she is said to 
have been born in 1768, whichis only mak- 
ing her one year olderthan Napoleon, who 
was born on the 15th of Angust 1769. 
This lady is tall, with a well made per- 
son, and an expressive countenance. It is 
said, that when questioned as to the an- 
cestry of Napoleon, when he became 
First Consul of France, she quickly re- 
plied, “ That his father was Mars, and 
his mother was Fortune,” 
With the situation of the rest of the 
Napoleon family, the world are pretty 
wellacquainted. They know that Lucien 
(who is reported to be a man of ability 
De Ee NIRS EEE ORE NS SEs re ee AY SMEG 
* The revenues of France amount to be- 
tween thirty and forty millions sterling; and 
the subjects pay, in the aggregate, about 33 
percent. The taxesare chiefly levied on win- 
dows, individuals, door-ways, sign boards, fur- 
niture, working patents, as no one is permitted 
to manufacture in any way, without a patent 5 
custom-house duties, which are now so incon- 
siderable, as npt to pay tlie salaries; post- 
horses, lodgers, &c. &c. 
The sum total for the annual consump. 
tion of fod in Paris, according to the last Cale 
culation, amounts to 258,640,000 francs, 
each trance being about ten-pence halfpenny 
in value. One-sixth part of the population 
of Paris are classed as paupers. 
and 
