Mademoiselle Beauharnois[7] is a fair girl of sixteen or seventeen, and, without being remarkably beautiful, is extremely interesting. Her manners are modest; and her dress simple, and in good taste. Madame le Clerc[8] is a very pretty little woman, and much admired at Paris. Excuse this digression, into which I was led by naming the preparatory rejoicings of the preceding evening. I proceed to the _fête_ itself. The 18th of brumaire, that long expected day, began in clouds of rain. The Parisians were _au désespoir_. Every body predicted, that the vast preparations, which had been made for this jubilee, would be thrown away; that the illumination would fail; in short, that the whole would be an “_affaire manquée_[9].” Those who ventured into the streets, notwithstanding the torrents of rain, heard, on every side, “_quel mauvais temps! quel malheur! vraiment c’est terrible—c’est affreux. La fête auroit été si belle, si ce diable de pluie n’avait pas tombé_[10].” The morning passed away without the faintest hopes of better weather, and in mutual condolences on the loss of the _beau spectacle_, which had been promised for this day. The rejoicings were to begin at four o’clock. About three the weather suddenly changed, the clouds dispersed, the sky became serene. It happened that this took place precisely at the moment, when the first consul appeared at the window of the palace, and every body agreed, that the favourable change was solely produced _par la bonne fortune de Bonaparte_[11]. Indeed, it is not without some reason that this prejudice is entertained by the public, and that Bonaparte has, on more occasions than one, appealed to his good fortune. Great and transcendant as are the talents of that extraordinary man, they are not more remarkable than the singular concatenation of fortunate circumstances, which have uniformly attended his progress through life. Possessed of the former, unaccompanied by the latter, he would have probably become a distinguished character, but he never could have reached that summit of grandeur, where he is at present so securely seated.