Fresh successes had just crowned the arms of Napoleon. After some unfortunate hesitation, Prussia had cast herself headlong into the Russian alliance; and, after her subsequent defeat at Jena, the peace of Tilsit had laid the foundation of a temporary truce, for treaties with Napoleon could only possess that transitory character. Metternich received orders from his court to endeavour, by means of a respectful deference, to conciliate the favour of the great sovereign. The almost magical influence which Napoleon had obtained over the mind of Alexander at Tilsit had excited great apprehensions at Vienna: an interview was about to take place at Erfurt, and the probable consequences that might result from it were a source of serious alarm to Austria. Metternich was constantly seen at the Tuileries. He was the representative of a very ancient European court; himself a man of good birth, and with aristocratic manners, every thing was in his favour, and he was perfectly successful in his mission. At the court of Napoleon there existed much formality, a tone of society combining at once a degree of constraint with the blunt manners of the camp. It was a mere collection of puerile ceremonies; and a man of good family enjoyed an incontestable superiority there from the good taste and ease communicated by education, and the constant habit of society. The ambassador was then thirty-four years of age, his countenance was noble and intelligent; he went to all the court entertainments, and attracted universal attention by the elegance of his equipage and his expensive habits. Young, brilliant, gifted with a ready wit and an easy flow of language, with a slightly emphatic manner of speaking, Count Metternich had the reputation of being a successful gallant, and highly in favour with the Parisian ladies.