I spent yesterday a very busy and a very entertaining day. On the 15th of every month, the first consul, after the review (the ceremony of which I have described in a former letter), gives audience to the ambassadors and foreigners, in other words, holds his court. As I was very anxious to have an opportunity of seeing, in a private room, and of speaking to Bonaparte, who, whatever his political merits or faults may be, is indisputably one of the most extraordinary men whom the world ever produced, I requested Mr. Jackson, the british minister, to do me the favour of presenting me. My name having accordingly been sent in to the minister for foreign affairs, I drove to the palace of the Thuilleries, at three o’clock, where, in a small apartment on the ground floor, called “la Salle des Ambassadeurs,” the foreign ministers, and their respective countrymen, wait till the first consul is ready to receive them. Chocolate, lemonade, sherbet, and liqueurs, were served round in abundance; and, after an interval of nearly an hour, the doors were thrown open, and we ascended the great stairs of the palace, which were lined with grenadiers, who stood with rested arms on every step. In the antichamber there was an officer’s guard, which saluted us in passing; and after going through four or five very large rooms, in each of which there was on both sides a file of soldiers, we, at last, found ourselves in what would be called, in England, the presence chamber. Here, in a splendid _salon_, stood Bonaparte, between Cambacères, the second consul, and le Brun, the third. They were all three dressed in their grand _costume_ of scarlet velvet, richly embroidered with gold. The generals, senators, and counsellors of state, who surrounded Bonaparte, retired on our arrival, and a circle was instantly formed, the foreigners of different nations ranging themselves behind their respective ministers. The imperial ambassador stood on the right hand side of the first consul; next to him was placed Mr. Jackson; and on the left I perceived _marquis Luchesini_, the prussian minister, and the hereditary prince of Orange, whom he presented this day. In compliment to the latter, Bonaparte, contrary to his usual practice, began the audience on that side. He spoke for some time to the son of the deposed Stadtholder, and seemed anxious to render his situation (awkward and extraordinary as it was) as little painful as possible; but I thought I could remark, in the countenance of this respectable young man, a look which proved that these efforts, though well meant, were ineffectual. In passing by each foreign minister, the first consul received the individuals of their respective nations with great ease and dignity. When it came to Mr. Jackson’s turn, sixteen english were presented; and, after Bonaparte had spoke to five or six of us, he said, with a smile, which is peculiarly his own, and which changes a countenance, usually stern, into one of great mildness, “Je