[38] The habit is, of course, pointed to as proof of the indolence of the legendary Talleyrand. The more candid observer would be disposed to refer it to his lameness. We know that Talleyrand had to keep a heavy ironwork about his foot and wear a heavy thick-soled boot. One can easily understand his preference for lying in bed or on a couch. [39] Mr. Holland Rose claims to have shown that the officials of the English Foreign Office were co-operating in the Cadoudal conspiracy. [40] In one letter, for instance, he tells how the Spanish Minister at Paris had died and left him 60,000 francs to settle on his god-daughter. “I found,” he adds, “that she had a more sacred title to his interest than that.” [41] Rogers, hearing this from Talleyrand, asked Lucien if he knew of it. Lucien said he did not; but he added with a laugh that he knew his brother had once had a similar fit when an actress declined to be honoured by him. [42] He relieves his narrative here by telling how the courier arrived from Paris, and Napoleon interrupted his triumph to read his correspondence. There was a letter from Mme. de Genlis, and Napoleon fell into a violent storm of anger and mortification in the midst of his glory as he heard of the irrepressible chattering about him of the Faubourg St. Germain. [43] Towards the close of his “Memoirs” (Mein Anthiel an der Politik,” vol. vi.) he again emphatically denies that “zwischen mir und ihm, weder direct noch indirect, sowohl was die Nassauischen als die Zahlreichen andern Fürstern betrifft die ich in den Rheinbund aufnehmen liess, zu irgend einem Handel, Bedingung, oder Bieten gekommen sei.” [44] See Demaria’s “Benevento sotto il Principe Talleyrand.” [45] I give the quotation with a becoming hesitation, because, though Mr. H. Rose says “it is difficult to see on what evidence this story rests,” Professor Sloane says the words are “reported by Napoleon himself.” [46] “Aus dem Eheleben eines Bischofs.” [47] Such as the following: “His Majesty, who may justly regard himself as the most powerful of living Christians, would feel his conscience aggrieved if he paid no attention to the complaints of the German Churches, which the Pope has neglected these ten years. As Suzerain of Germany, heir of Charlemagne, real Emperor of the West, and eldest son of the Church, he desires to know what conduct he ought to pursue for re-establishing religion amongst the peoples of Germany.” What he wanted, the bishops and cardinals knew but dared not suggest, was a sanction of the secularisations. [48] She refused this when he married Mme. Grand. Talleyrand, with great delicacy and generosity, continued to pay it, unknown to her, through his brother!