doing?"--"Why, Sire, he continues to deserve and obtain public applause."--"I shall see him again with pleasure. Have you been at court?"--"Yes, Sire, I have been presented."--"I am told, they all have the air of upstarts of yesterday; that they know not how to utter a word, or take a single step, with propriety: have you seen them on grand public days?"--"No, Sire, but I can assure your Majesty, that people pay as little regard to ceremony at the Tuileries, as at their own homes: they go thither in dirty boots, common frock-coats, and round hats."--"That must have a very majestic appearance. But how do all those old _thicksculls_ spend their money? for every thing has been restored to them."--"But, probably, Sire, they wish to wear out their old clothes."--"Poor France! into what hands hast thou thrust thyself! And the king, what sort of a countenance has he?"--"He has a tolerably fine head."--"Is his coin handsome?"--"Of this your Majesty may judge: here is a twenty-franc piece."--"What! they have not re-coined louis: I am surprised at this. (Turning the piece over) He does not look as if he would starve himself: but observe, they have taken away _Dieu protege la France_ (God protect France), to restore their _Domine, salvum fac regem_ (Lord, preserve the King). This is as they always were: every thing for themselves, nothing for France. Where is Maret? where is Caulincourt? where is Lavalette? where is Fouche?"--"They are all at Paris."--"And Mole?"--"He, too, is at Paris; I observed him a short time ago at the Queen's."--"Have we any persons hereabout, who were nearly attached to me?"--"I do not know, Sire."--"You must inquire, and bring them to me. I should be glad to be thoroughly acquainted with the spirit of the times, and know something of the present state of affairs. What does Hortense do?"--"Sire, her house is still the resort of men, who know how to appreciate wit and elegance: and the Queen, though without a throne, is not less an object of the respect and homage of all Paris."--"She did a very foolish thing, in exhibiting herself as a spectacle before the tribunals. They who advised her to it were blockheads. Why, too, did she go and demand the title of duchess?"--"She, Sire, did not demand it, it was the Emperor Alexander...."--"No matter, she ought not to have accepted, any more than demanded it: she should have called herself Madame Bonaparte: this name is full as good as any other. Besides, what right had she to have her son made a duke of St. Leu, and a peer of the Bourbons? Louis was in the right to oppose it: he was sensible, that the name of her son was sufficiently honourable, not to suffer himself to change it. If Josephine had been alive, she would have prevented her from engaging in such a foolish piece of business. Was she much regretted?"--"Yes, Sire, your Majesty knows how much she was beloved and honoured by the French."--"She deserved it. She was an excellent woman: she had a great deal of sense. I greatly