built, at his own expense, a frigate, and by
exertions, military and civil, contributed to the
establishment of the United States; whilst his
friend Mr. Fox in the English House of
Commons laboured with equal zeal to obtain a peaceful
acknowledgment of their claims. M. de
Lafayette had come from the country to Paris to
see Mr. Fox, and to invite him to his house.
He lived about thirty miles from Paris, quite
unconnected with and unconsulted by the
government. Mr. Fox cheerfully agreed to visit
him at La Grange."

Here is a pretty cabinet portrait of Madame
Récamier:

"Madame Récamier gave a déjeûner at
Clichy, to which Mr. Fox and party were
invited, as also most of the distinguished persons
at Paris. We went thereabout three o'clock.
So much has been said of the beauty of the
charming hostess that it would be idle to say
more than that every one was captivated by it.
But still more interesting than her beauty were
her simple and unaffected manners, a genuine
mildness and goodness of disposition obvious in
all she said and did, with as little vanity as it
is possible to conceive in a young woman so
extravagantly admired. She received her
visitors with singular ease and frankness. The
house was pretty, with gardens extending to
the river; in these the company walked till all
were assembled. There for the first time we
saw General Moreau. Mr. Fox addressed
himself to him, and turned the conversation on
Louis the Fourteenth; Moreau on this subject
was dull, and did not give out one spark of
intelligence. Afterwards, at table, he was free
in his discourse about the army; but those who
heard his conversation remarked that he
manifested more want of thought than prudence in
his manner of expressing himself. He was
living in those days about ten or twelve miles
from Paris, and was said to be much devoted to
his wife and to hunting. Eugène Beauharnais,
the viceroy of Italy, was also that day a guest
of Madame Récamier."

Mr. Fox had become "a lion" at Paris. It
was the fashion to ape Mr. Fox; his dress, his
manner of speaking, his dinners, were imitated.
It was the fashion to be a thinking man, and to
think like Mr. Fox; the coxcombs did their
best to model their features, or, at least, the
expression of their countenances, upon his. At
the opera he attracted every eye; he was
followed as a sight through the streets; his
portrait was in the window of every print-shop, and
no medallions had such sale as those which
bore the head of Mr. Fox. The artists alone
felt dissatisfied, for he refused to sit for his
picture.*
* There are two portraits of Mr. Fox at the
historical gallery at South Kensington.

Madame Récamier one day called to take Mr.
Fox out in her carriage; but he hesitated to
accompany her. " ome," said the lady, with
her bewitching smile, "I must keep my
promise, and show you on the promenade. The
good people of Paris must always have their
spectacle. Before you came, I was the fashion;
it is a point of honour, therefore, that I should
not appear jealous of you." So he consented.

An incident occurred at a visit by the first
consul to the Louvre, which affords a fine
subject for an historical painter. In one of the
halls there was a very large and very handsome
terrestrial globe, destined for the first
consul, and very ingeniously constructed. One
of the personages who accompanied Bonaparte,
turning the globe, and putting his hand upon
England, made the unhappy remark that
"England occupied a very small space in the map of
the world." "Yes," exclaimed Mr. Fox; "it
is in that little island the English are born; it
is in that little island they all wish to die; but,"
he added, extending his arms round the two
oceans of the two Indies, "while they live, they
fill the entire globe, and embrace it with their
power." The first consul gave ready applause
to this proud and well-timed sally.

Previous to leaving Paris for La Grange,
Madame Cabarrus, ci-devant Tallien, gave a
sumptuous dinner to Mr. Fox and other
distinguished foreigners. Most of Mr. Fox's friends
were at the dinner; but great was the surprise,
and, indeed, displeasure of some English personages
of political consequence, on finding that Mr.
Arthur O'Connor (exiled for conspiracy) was
one of the guests. Mr. Erskine was extremely
uneasy lest some evil speaker should misrepresent
the matter in England. Mr. Fox treated
it as an unlucky incident which could not be
avoided, and spoke to Mr. O'Connor just as
usual.

On the 1st Vendémaire (September 23rd)
another levee was held, at which Mr. Fox was
present. The ceremony was similar to that
already described. It was the custom to invite
those once presented at a levee to dinner on the
subsequent one. Accordingly, Mr. Fox on this
occasion dined with the first consul.
Bonaparte, he said, talked a great deal. Mr. Fox
was much pleased. After the dinner, which
was a short one, the first consul retired with a
select number to Madame Bonaparte's apartments
in the Tuileries, where the rest of the
evening was spent. Mr. Fox appeared to
consider Bonaparte as a young man who was a
good deal intoxicated with his success and
surprising elevation. He did not doubt of
his sincerity as to the maintenance of peace,
though Bonaparte manifested some irritation
against a part of Mr. Pitt's ministry, as having
instigated, or been privy to, plots against his
life, particularly that of the infernal machine;
he actually named Mr. Windham as one who
had abetted it. Mr. Fox did everything in his
power to disabuse the mind of the first consul
of such an idea, so far as his own positive
contradiction, or, at least, his conviction most
strongly expressed, could go. Bonaparte spoke
a good deal of the probability of doing away
with all difference between the inhabitants of
the two worlds, of blending the black with the
white, and having universal peace.