This little book is at once one of the most comical and one of the saddest ever written, being a kind of biographical dictionary of the political turncoats of the period embraced between the years 1790 and 1815. It contains notices of all the leading Frenchmen of the day, with extracts from their political writings and speeches, more especially those containing allusions, complimentary or the reverse, to the heads of the Government. Now, when we consider that during that quarter of a century France experienced a number of sudden and violent changes in her political constitution, going from the extreme of absolute Monarchy to the utmost licence of Republican liberty, it will easily be recognized that this book contains instances of the most astounding weakness of character and political vacillation ever chronicled. Starting from 1790, when the Government was Royalist, indeed an absolute Monarchy, in 1792 it became Republican, under the Convention, and later, in 1795, under _le Directoire_. 1799. The Consulate. Napoleon First Consul. 1804. Imperial. Napoleon Emperor. 1814. Royalist again. Restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, Louis XVIII. 1815. The Hundred Days. Flight of the Bourbons, restoration of Napoleon. 1815,} Deposition of Napoleon; return of Louis July.} XVIII. Each of these changes, as it occurred, was hailed with rapturous applause, and with that form of gratitude which consists in a lively sense of favours to come. Now, as this dictionary contains the names of nearly all the eminent Frenchmen of the period, it follows that there are many in it whose book-plates are of interest, concerning whom a few extracts may be given, taken from the second and enlarged edition, published in Paris in 1815. No month is named, but evidently it appeared soon after the final downfall of Napoleon, as it mentions the marriage of the Turncoat Fouché, Minister of Police, in July, 1815, and that the king (Louis XVIII.) signed the marriage contract. The two plates here introduced (they belonged to Turncoats) show the stiff and formal heraldry of the Empire, and the characteristic toque. The De Portalis family were rich bankers at Neufchatel in the time of the first Napoleon. This particular member of the family married a _Dame d’honneur_ of the Empress Josephine, and was created a count of the Empire, and an officer of the Légion d’Honneur, as is shown by the title and star on his book-plate. He was associated with the Casimir-Periers in founding the Bank of France, and died enormously wealthy. [Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF COUNT J. M. PORTALIS.] His name occurs in the _Dictionnaire des Girouettes_, but without any special circumstances; he simply accepted favours and titles from whatever hand they came, royal or imperial, with equal condescension.