Preparations were made, real or simulated, for a Descent upon England. Thomas Paine was consulted by B. 8. who was then in the house of Talma, and he wrote the following notes and instructions. Letter at Brussells.--The Ça-ira of America.--To the Consul Lépeaux.* * This paragraph is in the writing of Madame Bonneville. "B. 8." means Bonaparte, and seems to be some cipher. All of the pieces by Paine mentioned are missing; also that addressed "To the Directory," for the answer to which see p. 296 of this volume. Chancellor Livingston, after his arrival in France, came a few times to see Paine. One morning we had him at breakfast, Dupuis, the author of the Origin of Worship, being of the party; and Mr. Livingston, when he got up to go away, said to Mr. Paine smiling, "Make your Will; leave the mechanics, the iron bridge, the wheels, etc. to America, and your religion to France." Thomas Paine, while at our house, published in Mr. Bonneville's journal (the _Bien Informé_) several articles on passing events.* * The following words are here crossed out: "Also several pieces of poetry, which will be published hereafter, with his miscellaneous prose." A few days before his departure for America, he said, at Mr. Smith's [Sir Robert] that he had nothing to detain him in France; for that he was neither in love, debt, nor difficulty. Some lady observed, that it was not, in the company of ladies, gallant to say he was not in love. Upon this occasion he wrote the New Covenant, from the Castle in the Air to the Little Corner of the World, in three stanzas, and sent it with the following words: "As the ladies are better judges of gallantry than the men are, I will thank you to tell me, whether the enclosed be gallantry. If it be, it is truly original; and the merit of it belongs to the person who inspired it." The following was the answer of Mrs. Smith. "If the usual style of gallantry was as clever as your new covenant, many a fair ladies heart would be in danger, but the Little Corner of the World receives it from the Castle in the Air; it is agreeable to her as being the elegant fancy of a friend.--C. Smith." [Stanzas missing.'] At this time, 1802, public spirit was at end in France. The real republicans were harrassed by eternal prosecutions. Paine was a truly grateful man: his friendship was active and warm, and steady. During the six years that he lived in our house, he frequently pressed us to go to America, offering us all that he should be able to do for us, and saying that he would bequeath his property to our children. Some affairs of great consequence made it impracticable for Mr. Bonneville to quit France; but, foreseeing a new revolution, that would strike, personally, many of the Republicans, it was resolved, soon after the departure of Mr. Paine for America, that I should go thither with my children, relying fully on the good offices of Mr. Paine, whose conduct in America justified that reliance.