His eyes are common grey, and have nothing
remarkable in them. I am disposed to think
that the lower part of the face, which is the
most striking in that of Bonaparte, is the most
apt to express a prompt and inexorable disposition.
In performing the honours of the levee,
this was not at all observable; on the contrary,
his smile was extremely engaging, his general
expression very pleasing, and his manners
divested of all haughtiness without manifesting
the least trace of that studied condescension,
which, in persons of great rank, is often more
offensive than arrogance or rudeness."

When the levee was over, a very pleasant party
of English, invited by Lord Robert Spencer,
dined at Robert's, the first restaurateur at Paris.
Amongst others, Kemble was there. On the
following day, Mr. and Mrs. Fox and some of
their friends paid a visit to the celebrated Abbé
Sièyes. He was living in retirement about
twelve miles from Paris, cultivating estates
(national domain) to a considerable extent,
granted him by the new consular government as
a remnneration for past services, an asylum for
the future, and a proper retreat from all subsequent
cares of government.

After the levee, Mr. Fox resumes his
researches among the historical records with
indefatigable zeal. He is surprised at finding how
devoted to his religious opinions was Louis the
Fourteenth; it is evident in all his letters to
Barillon. Thus while he was bribing a monarch
to trample down and debase his own subjects,
he was also urging the restoration of the
Catholic religion, whose precepts forbade the
overthrow or any interference with established
governments.

An account of a dinner at Talleyrand's we
will give in the narrator's own words:

"Some time after the levee, we dined at M.
Talleyrand's, at Neuilly. We went between six
and seven, but did not dine till eight. The
dinner-hour at Paris had become ridiculously
late, and, as in London in fashionable life,
resembled more the Roman supper than what
accords with the modern term dinner. M.
Talleyrand was at Malmaison transacting
business with the first consul, and the dinner waited
for him. He and madame sat at the sides of
the table; the company, amounting to between
thirty and forty (and this, I believe, did not
exceed the ordinary daily number), were attended
by almost as many servants without any livery.
Behind Madame Talleyrand's chair two young
blacks, splendidly habited in laced clothes, were
placed. The master of the feast devoted
himself to a few distinguished persons around him.
On them he bestowed his most choice wines,
and to them he directed all his conversation.
Several émigrés and ex-nobles who had made
their peace with the government, and were
desirous of advancement, or sought relief or
compensation under the new régime, were at
the lower end of the table. They were little
noticed, or, if I said altogether neglected, I
should be more correct. The Due d'Uzeza [ci-
devant], formerly one of the first as well as most
ancient peers of old France, was close to me.
He was now a humble and distressed individual,
divested of title and property, and seeking at
the table of the minister of foreign affairs under
the consular government for notice and assistance.
He had come to Neuilly in a hired one-
horse cabriolet without servant or companion.
He was of a gentle, prepossessing, and rather
youthful appearance, and seemed to bear his
change of fortune with an admirable degree of
philosophy and good humour, and was even
playful upon his own situation, and spoke of
the splendour and elevation of others without
envy.

"Later, Madame Talleyrand's circle
commenced. The corps diplomatique flowed in,
and the minister for the rest of the evening
transacted business with them, taking one aside
at one time to one room, another to another.
Madame Talleyrand maintained a good deal of
state, and was attended, on entering the drawing
-room, by two young females elegantly
clothed in white, burning frankincense as she
advanced. Mr. Fox alternately conversed or
played cards. He, who in the retirement of St.
Anne's Hill, appeared devoted to a rural and
philosophic life, and never played after the
payment of his debts by his party in 1793, was
here the easy man of the world, conversing in
their own languages with Frenchmen, Italians,
and Spaniards, and admired by all as much for
the amiability of his manners as he had long
been for the splendour of his talents. The day
after this dinner, and henceforth frequently, we
dined at Neuilly. The drive home to Paris in
these charming serene nights was not the least
agreeable part of the excursion."

A drawing-room at Madame Bonaparte's
seems to have been somewhat tedious. The
ceremony was short, cold, and insipid. Madame,
the disparity of whose age was ill-concealed by
a great deal of rouge, sat at the head of the
circle richly habited.

Bonaparte, after they had paid their compliments,
came from an inner apartment, went
round the circle, said a few words to the ladies,
and retired. Mr. Fox stayed but a short time,
having paid his compliments to madame. As
she loved plants and understood botany, he
found it agreeable to converse with her on this
subject. She had enriched Malmaison by a
very fine and choice collection of plants.
Lafayette pays a visit to Mr. Fox:
"One day, whilst transcribing and reading
at the office of the Archives, a stranger, of
interesting and graceful figure, entered the room.
He advanced rapidly and embraced Mr. Fox
with a countenance full of joy, while tears rolled
down his cheeks. Mr. Fox testified equal
emotion. It was M. de Lafayette. He had at a
very early age visited London; they had become
acquainted with one another, and they had not
met again till now. Meanwhile, M. de Lafayette,
born under a despotic regime, left all the
luxuries and indulgences which privileged rank
and fortune could afford to cross the Atlantic
and offer his mite of aid to the Americans. He