Upon an easel rested a portrait that had just been brought back from the framer; it was waiting for the name of the original to be painted on the frame. It was a portrait of the emperor, painted by Manzaisse. To find, in 1829, a portrait of the emperor in the palace of the first prince of the blood royal was such a novel species of boldness that I could do nothing but wonder at it. "What do you think of that portrait?" asked the Duc d'Orléans. "I am "not very fond of the paintings of M. Mauzaisse, monseigneur." "Ah, true, I forgot you were a romanticist in painting and in literature. You admire the painting of M. Delacroix?" "Yes, monseigneur; also of M. Delacroix, M. Scheffer, M. Granet, M. Decamps, M. Boulanger, M. Eugène Devéria--oh! we allow a wide margin!" "Excellent! I am aware you know all about these gentlemen--but that is not to my present purpose. This is a portrait which I have just had painted for my gallery; and there is nothing wanting, as you see, except the insertion of the name. Ought I to put _Bonaparte?_ It would look like affectation only to recognise the First Consul. Ought I to put _Napoléon?_ It would seem an affectation to call him emperor; that was the point on which I wished to consult Vatout." "But," I replied, "it seems a very simple matter to me; put _Napoléon Bonaparte_, monseigneur." "Yes; but that still implies the emperor.... Napoleon, if my memory serves me correctly, was unjust to your family and you have no love for him, I believe." "Monseigneur, I must confess that where that great man is concerned I share Madame Turenne's opinion of him, that of admiration." "He was a great man; but there were two terrible blots on his character--one was a crime, the other a fault--his assassination of the Duc d'Enghien, and his marriage with Marie-Louise." "Does monseigneur pardon his usurpation?" "I did not say so." "Monseigneur knows the _Médecin malgré lui?_" "Yes, I admire it immensely." "Well, in the _Médecin malgré lui_ Sganarille remarks that there are fagots _and_ fagots." "Meaning, I presume ...?" "That there are usurpations and usurpations." "Bah!" "Yes, monseigneur." "I do not understand your meaning." "I mean to say--and you who are so fair-minded, monseigneur, will readily understand me--that there is a usurpation which substitutes one dynasty for another dynasty by the instrumentality of violence, breaking up all the roots of the old dynasty throughout the country, all the interests connected with it, leaving raw open wounds for long enough among the aristocracy and the middle and lower classes, which are slow to heal; and there is the usurpation which purely and simply substitutes one man for another, a green bough for a withered branch, and popularity for unpopularity--that is what I mean, monseigneur, by my two usurpations." The Duc d'Orléans laughingly lifted up his hand, as though to stop me; but he let me finish, all the same.