my gratitude, which is only equalled by the admiration inspired in me by your great qualities. The esteem of a great man is the best harvest of the field of honour, and I have always been zealous, sire, of meriting yours." (Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

A still more curious circumstance is that the Bourbons of Spain themselves, the victims of the Bayonne trap, the Princes whom Napoleon had dispossessed, were in regard to him carried to the limits of adulation. Nowhere was the marriage of the Emperor and Marie Louise celebrated with more enthusiasm than at the Castle of Valençay, the residence of Ferdinand VII. The Spanish Prince had a Te Deum sung in the chapel there. He gave a banquet, at which he proposed this toast: "To the health of our august Sovereigns, the great Napoleon, and Marie Louise, his august spouse." In the evening there were splendid fireworks. He chose the moment when his subjects, exposing themselves to every peril and accepting every sacrifice in his name, were strenuously carrying on a war to the death against the French, to beg the Emperor Napoleon to adopt him as his son, and to grant him the honour of being allowed to appear at his Court.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE MONTH OF JUNE, 1810.

Under

THE month of June was entirely taken up with fêtes, each one more brilliant than its predecessor. the Empire things were never done by halves. Battles or fêtes, all were colossal. "Never," said Alfred de Musset, "were there so many sleepless nights as in the days of that man. Never was there such complete silence around those who spoke of death; and yet never was there so much joy, so much life, or so much warlike trumpeting in every Court. Never were there suns more pure than those which dried up all this blood. It was a saying that God made them for this man, and they were called the suns of Austerlitz. But he himself made them with his ever-thundering guns, which left no clouds except on the day following his battles."

The fête given to the Emperor and Empress by the city of Paris on the 10th of June was magnificent. On that day rejoicings took place in the capital. In

the afternoon the Champs Elysées were the scene of public plays; in the squares and side-alleys there were popular dances. The illuminations commenced at night-fall. A troupe of ballet-dancers on an immense stage performed a pantomimic ballet, entitled L'Union de Mars et Flore. The number of performers who took part in it amounted to five hundred. On all sides there were orchestras playing selections of music. A liberal distribution of provisions roused the crowd to exuberant joy From the Arc de l'Etoile to the Tuileries, from the Tuileries to the Louvre, from the Louvre to the Hotel de Ville, the scene was fairylike. The procession of Napoleon and Marie Louise left the Castle of Saint Cloud at eight p.m., and drove along the appointed route by torch-light through a countless crowd. The approach of the Sovereigns was announced in the Capital by the sudden appearance of an aerostat covered with fireworks. At this moment loud cheers rent the air from the Arc de Triomphe as far as the Hotel de Ville. The procession reached that spot at half-past nine. There were nearly a thousand people in the Concert Hall, and nearly three thousand in the Salle des Fastes, the Salle de Saint Jean, and in the semi-circle formed on the square opposite the set firework piece on the left bank of the Seine, the signal for lighting which was given by Napoleon and Marie Louise. This set piece was divided into three partsa military scene, the temple of Peace, and the temple

of Hymen. The first scene represented an attack on two forts, against which skirmishers advanced, throwing rockets to the sound of drum and trumpets. The forts discharged bombs and shells, which, before falling into the river, changed into luminous sheaves. The two forts, when captured, appeared enveloped in flames. Then the vessel, emblem of the city of Paris, made its appearance, and took up a position between the columns of light. The scene then changed, and the temple of Peace became visible, succeeded by the temple of Hymen, a real masterpiece of pyrotechnic art. After the fireworks the Sovereigns passed into the Salle des Fastes, and thence to the Concert Hall, where a cantata, composed by Méhul, with words by Arnault, was sung. After the cantata the ball commenced. Napoleon did not dance, but Marie Louise did. The first quadrille was made up as follows:— The Empress and the King of Westphalia; the Queen of Naples and the Vice-King of Italy; the Princess Pauline Borghèse and Prince Esterhazy; Mdlle. de Saint Gilles and M. de Nicolai. The second quadrille was composed thus:-The Queen of Westphalia and Prince Borghèse; the Princess of Baden and Count de Metternich; the Princess Aldobrandini and M. de Montaran; Madame Blaque de Belair and M. Mallet. The Emperor left his throne and walked through the rooms, saying a word or two to a great many people. Towards midnight he retired with the Empress. At two o'clock

there was a supper, to which fifteen hundred ladies sat down, and the festivities did not terminate until dawn.

On the 14th of June the Princess Pauline Borghèse gave a most brilliant ball at the Castle of Neuilly. At the end of an illuminated grass-plot appeared the Austrian Palace of Laxenburg, and a ballet was danced by male and female performers dressed as peasants from the neighbourhood of Vienna. On the 21st of June there was another very splendid ball at the house of the Minister of War, the Duke de Feltre. But of all the fêtes, the most beautiful, the most original, and the most magnificent was that given by the Garde Impériale in the Champ de Mars and the École Militaire, then called the Quartier Napoleon. Marie Louise was literally enchanted by it. She declared that she had never seen anything so magnificent. Rome in the time of the Cæsars never witnessed such a dazzling sight. For several months previously the public had been watching the preparations for this fête, which were on a colossal scale. Two wings had been added to the École Militaire, which was large enough to hold 8,000 people. The principal court had been converted into a garden adorned with countless orange trees, shrubs, and flowers. The officers of the Garde, models of French gallantry, received the ladies at the entrance of the garden, offered each a bouquet, and conducted them to the galleries leading to the