We have seen that it was fashionable for Englishmen to run over to France after the conclusion of peace, and Charles James Fox was no exception to the rule; but he had to wait a little, until after the Westminster election, when, on July 15, he was returned head of the poll. He did not long delay the trip, and on July 29 he set out on his journey, accompanied by his wife, the Hon. St. Andrew St. John (afterwards Lord St. John) and a young Irishman named Trotter,[65] who wrote an exhaustive account of their journey. On the 4th of August, Napoleon had been elected Consul for life, a step which might probably tend to consolidate peace, and which rendered his position equal to any other European sovereign. When Fox reached Paris, it was rumoured that this was only preliminary to his taking a higher rank, with the title of Emperor of the Gauls. Just then, Englishmen were in great favour at Paris, and Fox’s arrival created a great commotion. All vied with each other to pay him attention, and it was settled he should be presented to the First Consul at his next _levée_, which took place on September 3. [Illustration] Caricaturists, like poets, must needs be allowed some licence, and Gillray (November 15), in his picture of the ‘Introduction of Citizen Volpone,[66] and his Suite, at Paris,’ draws slightly upon his imagination as to Napoleon’s state at this reception; still the allegorical globes, and the introduction of Rûstan the Mameluke, add a fictitious dignity to the picture. The actual scene, as it was viewed by an eye-witness,[67] is thus described: ‘We reached the interior apartment, where Buonaparte, First Consul, surrounded by his generals, ministers, senators, and officers, stood between the second and third Consuls, Le Brun and Cambacérès, in the centre of a semicircle, at the head of the room! The numerous assemblage from the _Salle des Ambassadeurs_, formed into another semicircle, joined themselves to that, at the head of which stood the First Consul.’ [Illustration] Gillray’s portrait of Charles James Fox is not very much exaggerated. Let us hope that of Mrs. Fox is. This lady, although she was married to Fox on September 28, 1795, was never introduced to his friends as his wife until this journey. She was always believed to be his mistress, Mrs. Armistead.[68] She made him a good and loving wife, and he was very fond of her.