the range of the sad accidents which happened at the fête given by my Ambassador, the Prince de Schwarzenberg. I cannot tell you how sensible I am of the marks of interest you were good enough to show him on that occasion, and of your personal efforts, as noble as they were courageous, to arrest the progress of such a disaster. The Count de Metternich and Prince de Schwarzenberg cannot find words warm enough to express their profound gratitude for so much goodness and anxiety, and I pray your Majesty to receive the expression of all I felt when reading their reports." (Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

The ball at the Austrian Embassy produced a deep feeling of sadness. The resemblance of the calamity which overshadowed the fêtes on the occasion of the marriage of Marie Antoinette forty years previously, came into every mind. This ball, followed without any warning by a horrible catastrophe, the magnificent room crumbling into ruins, the burning debris-were they not all presages? Was not the great Empire to give way in the same manner? And that fire which suddenly burst forth amid a night of rejoicing and triumph-was not that a herald of that far more terrible fire, the burning of Moscow? But nations forget. Sombre presentiments nearly always disappear rapidly. The Empire was then so glorious that a passing storm did not seem to trouble the radiant serenity of the Imperial star. A few days

after the catastrophe it was no longer remembered. All the world, even the enemies of France, allowed themselves to be fascinated by the prodigious brilliancy of the fortune of a man whose existence was the strangest and most miraculous ever enshrouded in a

romance.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE PREGNANCY OF THE EMPRESS.

NAPOLEON and Marie Louise became more and more attached to each other. The Empress wrote to her father: "I assure you, dear papa, that the Emperor has been much calumniated. The more intimately one sees him, the more one appreciates and loves him." The satisfaction felt by Napoleon was still more keen when he was assured that his young wife was pregnant. He redoubled his care, attention, and forethought for her, never reproaching her, and never addressing her except in terms of praise or tenderness. The following passage from the Memoirs of the Prince de Metternich proves how anxious the Emperor was at this juncture to prevent his companion being crossed in any way: "In the summer of the year 1810," says the celebrated Minister, "Napoleon one day asked me to stay after his levée at St. Cloud.

It

When we were alone, he told me in an embarrassed tone of voice that I could render him a service. concerns the Empress,' he said; she is young and inexperienced, and she does not yet know the customs of this country or the disposition of the French people. I have placed the Duchess de Montebello by her side; she is just what is required, but she is occasionally careless. Yesterday, for example, when walking in the Park with the Empress, she presented one of her cousins to her. The Empress spoke to him, and she was wrong. If she allows young people and cousins to be presented to her she will speedily become a prey to intrigue. Everybody in France invariably has a favour to ask. The Empress will be besieged, and without being able to do good will be exposed to a thousand annoyances.' I told Napoleon that I shared his views, but that I did not quite understand his motive in making me the recipient of his confidence. Simply,' said Napoleon to me, 'because I wish you to speak to the Empress on the subject.' I expressed my surprise that he did not undertake the task himself. The advice,' I said to him, 'is good and prudent, and the Empress is too clever not to appreciate it.' 'I prefer,' interrupted Napoleon, 'that you should undertake the task. The Empress young and might suppose that I wanted to play the morose husband; you are her father's Minister and the friend of her childhood, and what you would say

is

would make more impression upon her than anything I could tell her."

Napoleon displayed the greatest regard, not only for his wife, but also for his father-in-law, of whom he never spoke except in terms of the warmest sympathy. When, before returning to Vienna, M. de Metternich had a farewell audience at Saint Cloud towards the end of the month of September, 1810, Napoleon begged him to convey to the Emperor Francis the most positive assurance of his friendship and attachment. "Let the Emperor rest assured," he said, "that I am anxious only for his happiness and prosperity. Let him put aside all idea of encroachment on his Monarchy on my part. It ought to increase, and quickly, through our alliance. Assure him that whatever is said to the contrary is false. I prefer him on the throne of Austria to any of my brothers, and I no longer see any ground for difference between us.”

In the beginning of July the doctors were still doubtful as to whether the Empress was pregnant, but there was great hope that she was so, and Marie Louise wrote to her father: "God grant that it may be true! The Emperor will be so happy." On the 27th of July, the matter being almost a certainty, she wrote again to her father: "I can assure you, dear papa, that I am not in the least afraid of the event, which will be such great happiness." On the 15th of August the doctors announced positively that the young Sovereign was in

T