Life in the Tuileries under the second empire

Chapter I Page

The palace of the Tuileries under previous sovereigns — Proclamation of the Second Empire — The Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie — Napoleon I. and Josephine — Ball given by Prince Schwarzenberg on the marriage of Napoleon I. with Marie-Louise — Tragic fate of the Princess von der Leyen — Her daughter married to" the Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie — Exile after the fall of the First Empire — Prince Eugene de Beauharnais — Queen Hortense — Napoleon III. in his youth — His friendship for the Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie — When President of the French Republic he summons the Comte and his son to the Elysee — Their opposition to his marriage with Eugenie de Montijo overruled — Court of the Empress Eugenie 1

Chapter II

My position at the Tuileries — The family de Tascher de la Pagerie — First opportunities of seeing the Empress — Her wonderful beauty — The color of her hair — An evening with the Empress in her private circle — Unseasonable interruption — Etiquette and its annoyances — Court obligations — Gilded chains 13

Chapter III

Regulations of the palace — The detectives — Inconveniences of the palace — The painting-room of Mademoiselle Hortense de Tascher — Pasini, the artist — Apartments of the Empress — View on the garden of the Tuileries — What it

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was then — Description of the various rooms — Audiences granted by the Empress — High mass on Sundays — The Emperor's demeanor — The sermon — Etiqu ette — The wardrobe regions above the apartments of the Empress — "Pepa,"the Empress's Spanish maid — The jailer's daughters — Anecdote of the Emperor — The privy-purse of the Empress 29

CHAPTER IV Daily life of the Court — Duties of the ladies in waiting

— Charities of the Emperor and Empress — The Prince Imperial — Drives of the Empress — A rheumatic chamberlain — The evenings at the court — Dinner — The "service d'honneur" — Etiquette — Habitual simplicity of the Empress in her morning-dress — Her usual evening toilet — The mechanical piano — Sudden wish of the Empress to dance the "Lancers" — Mademoiselle de Tascher summoned to teach the figures — Difficulties caused by petty court jealousies — Late hours of the Empress — Anecdote of the Emperor — His amiable disposition in private life — Impulsive nature of the Empress 42

CHAPTER V The Emperor's drives — His opinion of mankind in general

— The special police attached to the Emperor's person — Alessandri, the detective — The Orsini attempt on the Emperor's life — Impression at the Tuileries — The return of the Emperor and Empress — Letter from the Marquis of Waterf ord — My life at the Tuileries — Games of chess with the Archbishop of Bourges — Costume balls — Banquet on the marriage of Prince Napoleon with the Princess Clotilde of Savoy — The ball — A waltz of the Emperor with the Princess rendered impossible — Costume of the Empress . . 52

Chapter VI

The Palais-Royal — The imperial family — Unpleasant relations — Prince Jerome — Prince Napoleon — Princess Mathilde — Pierre Bonaparte — His sister Letitia — Prince

CONTENTS vii

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Napoleon's speech in the Senate — Scene with the Emperor

— Ball at the Hotel d'Albe — The Empress and the page — Special invitation sent to me by the Empress — Princess Mathilde and Princess Clotilde — Contrast — The dresses of both — Intended costume of the Empress — Objections — The Empress and the paste-board horse — The Due de Morny — His character — His marriage — Madame de Morny — u The White Mouse" — Scene with the Due de Dino — Comte Walewski — His character and appearance

— Comtesse Walewska 62

Chapter VII

Princess Clotilde — Her religious fervor — Her daily life — Her court — Evenings at the Palais-Royal — Ennui of the Empress Eugenie — The camp at Chalons — Enmity of the aristocratic Faubourg St. Germain — Persistent criticisms ; irritation of the Empress — The Comte de Chambord and the Comtesse de Tascher — -The great official balls at the Tuileries — The " Centgardes " — The soldier with sugar-plums in his boot — The Empress and the sentinel — A wager — Etiquette of the balls — The balcony of the " Salle des Marechaux " — Clever answer of Mademoiselle de Montijo — Costume balls — The police — The fancy quadrilles — Taglioni 78

Chapter VIII

The police force during the Empire — Story of M. de Saint- Julien — A robbery — A fascinating detective — A mysterious sign — Dinner parties at the palace — The imperial table during Lent and on Fridays — Lent concerts — Auber

— Mario — Patti — Alboni — The national tune composed by Queen Hortense — The Emperor's dislike of music — The mechanical piano — -The " Stabat Mater" performed in the chapel — The supposed excessive devotion of the Empress . 89

Chapter IX

" The Empress's Mondays " — Orders worn by ladies — The court train — The " Salut du Trone," or grand court obeisance — The inclosed garden at the Tuileries — " Bagatelle "

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— The court leaves Paris — Fontainebleau — "La Regie"

— Inconvenience of living in a palace — Housewifely care of the Empress — A siege in the apartments — A prince left at the door — St. Cloud — Villeneuve l'Etang — Furniture embroidered by Josephine — A collation with the Prince Imperial — Anecdotes — A " Te Deum" wanted 98

CHAPTEE X

The great review — Canrobert — MacMahon — The Zouaves

— The flag with the ribbon and cross of the Legion of Honor — Violent rush of the crowd — I owe my life to Robert de Tascher — Court starvation on gala days Ill

Chapter XI

Paris in the early days of the Second Empire — Diplomatic changes after the Italian war — A great name — A young ambassadress — Eccentricities of the Piincess Metternich — Her imprudence and morbid curiosity — Anecdotes — A "real" Empress — Practical joke on a lady in waiting — Dispute with Madame de Persigny — Why the Princess Metternich could not yield to her — Count San dor — His strange exploits — Practical joke on his old housekeeper — Imperial hospitality at Compiegne — -Dresses required for the week's visit — Daily life of the visitors — Kindness of the Imperial hosts — Five o'clock tea in the private apartments of the Empress — Evenings — Questionable diversions provided by the Princess Metternich — Exaggerated reports — Personal description of the Princess Metternich — General Fleury 116

Chapter XII

" Golden Wedding " of the Comte and Comtesse de Tascher de la Pagerie — Curious story of a lost ring — Marriage of my elder pupil — Prince Maximilian von Thurn und Taxis

— Death of the Comte de Tascher — Kindness and affectionate attentions of the Emperor and Empress during his last illness — Sorrow of the Emperor — The Count laid out in state — Effect on the Empress — Her nervous condition —

CONTENTS ix

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Her private sorrows — She begins to interfere in political matters — Our home life after the death of the Comte de Tascher — Home evenings — "Weekly receptions — Ambassadors Extraordinary from Oriental lands — -The Persian Ambassador — The Embassy from Siam — Reception at Fontainebleau — The hair-dresser Leroy 131

Chapter XIII

The little Prince Imperial — The Emperor's excessive indulgence — Vain efforts of the Empress "to bring up that child properly " — The Empress and the pony — The Emperor and the orange — Amiable disposition of the Prince — His efforts to "earn money for the poor" — General Frossard's military discipline — Anecdotes — The "honor of the uniform" — The Prince takes the measles — Seriously ill — Nursed by the Empress with the greatest maternal devotion 144

CHAPTER XIY

The military element in Parisian society — Pelissier and Canrobert — Anecdotes of the former — How he treated a coward — A defective omelet and its consequences — His uncivilized manners — His marriage — The Duchesse de Malakoff — Canrobert — His marriage — Madame Canrobert — Pretensions of the marshal checked by the Emperor — An apparently ill-assorted but happy pair — Honorable character of Canrobert — MacMahon — Castellane — Magnan — Bosquet — Characteristic anecdote of the Emperor — Vaillant — Randon — Three inappropriate Christian names — Bazaine 151

Chapter XV

Monsieur Thouvenel — A French ambassador at Constantinople — A night spent in Oriental luxury — Its questionable delights — A parrot's reprimand to an ambassador — Monsieur Thouvenel, Minister of Foreign Affairs — Policy of Monsieur Thouvenel — Opposition of the Emperor and Empress — The Emperor's speech on opening the Legisx CONTENTS

PAGE

lative Assembly — Feeling of the nation — Thouvenel obliged to resign — The child and the Emperor — Generosity of the latter — Petition of a Legitimist lady — Plain speaking — Chivalrous conduct of the Emperor — His noble nature. . . . 160

CHAPTEE XVI

Clouds in the sky of the Empire — The Mexican war unpopular — " L'Empire, c'est la paix ! " — Financial difficulties — Extravagant tendencies of the Emperor — The yacht built for the Empress — ■ The Hotel d'Albe built and destroyed — Expenses of Compiegne and Fontainebleau — Costly artistic mistakes — The Emperor's lavish generosity — Too many improvements in Paris — Spanish preferences of the Empress — She goes to bull-fights — The Empress goes to Spain —Death of the Due de Morny 168

Chapter XVII

Evenings in the apartments of the Duchesse de Tascher — Madame Ristori, the tragic actress — How a stage queen ate asparagus — Her conversation — Sixteen thousand pounds of luggage — ■ Danger in a glass of lemonade — Rec- • itations — The real dress of Queen Mary on the scaffold — Madame Ristori's impersonation of Mary Stuart — The evil eye — The value of stage bouquets as a mark of public enthusiasm — Leopold von Mayer — How he played the piano with his fists — He plays before the Sultan — Death of the Archbishop of Bourges — The Papal Nuncio — Prince Chigi — Djemil Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador — Marriage of Hortense de Tascher to the Comte de l'Espine 180

Chapter XVIII

I leave the Tuileries — Opinion in the provinces — The Empress severely judged — Exaggerated reports — Intimacy with Metternich and Nigra — Why the Emperor disapproved — Opinion expressed by the Due de Tascher on the Empress, before her marriage — Outbreak of the cholera — Her admirable conduct — How an Empress " stands fire " —

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Nature and education of the Empress Eugenie — The Empress Augusta of Germany — The Empress Eugenie visits charitable institutions — Mile. Bouvet — The Empress visits the poor — Goes to Belleville and other dangerous places — Excellent intentions not always wisely carried out — Successful interference in the Penitentiary for Juvenile Offenders 188

Chapter XIX

Hints in the papers on the Emperor's health — The cost of a crown — Visits to provincial towns — Uncomfortable luxury — The true color of the Empress's hair — The great exhibition — Death of the Emperor Maximilian — Death of the Due de Tascher and of the Duchesse de Bassano — The Empress goes to the opening of the Suez Canal — Effect on the Mohammedan population — The Emperor and Prince Imperial at Compiegne — My visit to the Tuileries in 1870 — Physical condition of the Emperor — The plebiscite — Testimony of Lord Malmesbury — I leave Paris with sad forebodings — The palace of the Tuileries when I next saw it . . 200

Chapter XX

Apathy of the Emperor — The party of the Empress — A consultation of medical and surgical authorities on the Emperor's health — An operation declared necessary — The Hohenzollern incident — The Emperor unwilling for war — The scene at St. Cloud related to Lord Malmesbury by the Due de Gramont — The Emperor yields — His sad forebodings — The Empress appointed Regent — The Prince Imperial goes with his father to join the army — The " baptism of fire " — First reverses — The Empress returns to Paris — The Emperor's health gives way — He is urged to return to Paris — Opposition of the Empress — The Emperor sends the Prince Imperial to Belgium — The Emperor goes to Sedan against his will — The Prince Imperial receives orders to go over to England, where he meets his mother at Hastings 212 xii CONTENTS

Chapter XXI Page

MacMahon leads the army to Sedan — Despair of the Emperor — He vainly seeks death — He gives np his sword to the King of Prussia — Telegram to the Empress — Confusion and treachery around her — The Princess Clotilde comes to share her danger — The ambassadors of Austria and Italy offer their protection — She goes with them, followed only by Madame Lebreton — The Empress and Madame Lebreton left to their fate in a hackney-carriage . 224

Chapter XXII

The Empress applies to Dr. Evans hi her distress — Leaves Paris in his carriage — A perilous journey — The arrival at Trouville — Sir John Burgoyne and his sailing-yacht, the Gazelle — Consents to take the Empress over to England — A perilous undertaking — Tremendous storm — Safe arrival at Ryde — The Empress meets her son at Hastings — Hires a furnished country house at Chiselhurst — The Emperor a prisoner at Wilhelmshohe — His patience and kindness .... 234

Chapter XXIII

The Emperor in England — Visit of Lord Malmesbury — His impression of the interview — The Commune in Paris — What the leaders really were — Burning of the Tuileries — How effected 243

Conclusion

The Empress and her son settle at Camden Place, Chiselhurst — The Emperor joins them after the peace — First dif&culties — Education of the Prince Imperial — Woolwich — Hopes of a restoration of the Empire — The Emperor's health — His unexpected death — The Prince receives a large number of Imperialists on his coming of age — Passes his examination satisfactorily at Woolwich — His life at Chiselhurst — Difficulties — Hopes — He determines to join the English army in South Africa — His departure — His reckless bravery — He is killed in a reconnoissance — Particulars of his death — -Announcement of the news to the Empress — Her journey to Zululand — Her present life .... 251

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Eugenie Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

The Tuileries from the Place du Carrousel 8

General Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie; Princess Amelie von der Leyen, Comtesse de Tascher de la Pagerie ; and Due de Tascher 16

Empress Eugenie wearing a Spanish Mantilla 32

Napoleon III. and the Empress Eugenie 40 •

Garden Front op the Tuileries 48 -

Prince Jerome and Princess Mathilde 56

Prince Napoleon and Princess Clotilde 64 •

Due de Morny and Duchesse de Morny 72

Comte de Walewski and Prince Napoleon 80 .

Napoleon III., Empress Eugenie, and Prince Imperial. 96

Marshal Canrobert and Marshal MacMahon 112-

Empress Eugenie, 1863 128

The Prince Imperial .... 144

Due de Malakoff and Duchesse de Malakoff 152

xiii xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Marshal Castellane and Marshal Randon 160.

Duchess of Alva and Children 176 •

The Rue de Rivoli during the Burning of the Tui-

LERIES 192-

Gallery of Peace, Ruins of the Tuileries 208 •

Ruins of the Hall of the Marshals, Caryatides of the Throne on the Right 224-

Ruins of the Vestibule of the Tuileries 240

The Pavilion of Flora after the Fire . 248

The Prince Imperial, in Artillery Uniform 272

LIFE IN THE TUILERIES UNDER THE SECOND EMPIRE

LIFE IN THE TUILERIES UNDER THE SECOND EMPIRE

Chapter I

The palace of the Tuileries under previous sovereigns — Proclamation of the Second Empire — The Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie — Napoleon I. and Josephine — Ball given by Prince Schwarzenberg on the marriage of Napoleon I. with Marie- Louise — Tragic fate of the Princess von der Leyen — Her daughter married to the Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie— Exile after the fall of the First Empire — Prince Eugene de Beauharnais — Queen Hortense — Napoleon III. in his youth — His friendship for the Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie — When President of the French Republic he summons the Comte and his son to the Ely see — Their opposition to his marriage with Eugenie de Montijo overruled — Court of the Empress Eugenie.

THE beautiful palace built by Catherine de Medicis, and afterward enlarged by the succeeding royal owners, was not, at first, a favorite residence of the French kings. With the exception of a short period during the minority of Louis XV., it was not permanently inhabited by the Court before the French Revolution, at which time Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were forcibly brought there from Versailles ; being detained in a sort of captivity till the fatal insurrection of August 10, 1792, when the mob broke into the palace and massacred the Swiss guards, while the royal family took refuge in the Legislative Assembly, whence they were taken as prisoners to the Temple tower.

When Napoleon Bonaparte became First Consul, and while Emperor, he preferred the Tuileries to the immense palace of Versailles, which, in those days of slow conveyances, was at an inconvenient distance from Paris, and ordered the apartments to be prepared with great magnificence for the requirements of his Court.

Louis XVIII. followed his example after the restoration of the Bourbons ; the Tuileries palace was splendidly furnished and ready for occupation, while Versailles, having been pillaged and much injured, could only be made habitable at great expense. Napoleon said sarcastically on this occasion : " If Louis is wise, he will use my bed-chamber, and sleep in my bed, for it is a good one." The King was wise, and unconsciously followed the ironical advice.

The court was now definitely established at the Tuileries, which was inhabited, after the fall of Charles the Tenth, by Louis Philippe and his family, during the whole of the latter's reign.

After the revolution of 1848, and the flight of Louis Philippe, the mob again broke into the palace of the Tuileries, where the royal apartments were pillaged. The throne, carried in triumph by the populace, was burned; total destruction was feared, but was happily prevented by the Provisional Government, who declared the Tuileries national property.

From this time the palace remained uninhabited till the coup oVetat of Louis Napoleon, then President of the French Republic. In January, 1852, Napoleon removed from the Elysee to the Tuileries, which, a few months later, on December 2, 1852, he solemnly reentered as Emperor, passing under the triumphal arch of the principal entrance, adorned with the inscriptions : " Vox Populi, vox Dei ! " " Ave Caesar, Imperator ! "

And yet people will talk seriously of the "Will of the nation " ! Could any one who witnessed the wild enthusiasm of the first days of the Second Empire doubt its sincerity I And yet what a fall after eighteen years of prosperity !

Nearly two months later, on January 22, 1853, the new Emperor convened all the great functionaries of the state in the throne-room of the Tuileries. There he announced his intended marriage,— a marriage in opposition to all the traditions of his predecessors — a circumstance which, with his characteristic adroitness, he contrived to present as having great advantages over ordinary princely unions. All were astonished. No one, however, had any time for opposition, if such had been intended ; for only a week after the official announcement had been made to the representatives of the nation, the civil marriage took place at the Tuileries, preceding, according to custom, the religious ceremony, which was celebrated on the following day at Notre Dame. The young Empress, who had remained at the Elysee during the interval, then returned in state to the Tuileries, and appeared, in her white robe and veil, on the fated balcony of the "Salle des Marechaux," where so many princesses had stood — the last royal bride who would ever be seen there.

The marriage of the ambitious heir of the great Napoleon with Eugenie de Montijo (who, though descended from the illustrious race of Guzman, was not of royal blood) astonished the world, and none more than his most faithful and devoted adherents, among whom were the whole family de Tascher de la Pagerie, his oldest friends and relatives.

The Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie, first cousin to the Empress Josephine, had been called to the court of Napoleon I. when scarcely more than a boy in years, and soon became a great favorite, not only of Josephine, but also of the great Emperor himself, whom he followed in his campaigns, but more especially under the command of his cousin Prince Eugene de Beauharnais, who was the son of Josephine de Tascher de la Pagerie, by her first marriage with the Comte de Beauharnais, guillotined during the French Revolution.

The affection of both Napoleon and Josephine for the spirited and chivalrous young officer survived their divorce; and at the time of Napoleon's marriage with Marie-Louise, the young Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie was betrothed, with the Emperor's approval, to the Princess Amelie von der Leyen, daughter of the mediatized 1 Prince von der Leyen. The marriage took place, but under particularly disastrous circumstances.

It may be remembered that the ball given by the Austrian ambassador, Prince Schwarzenberg, in honor of the imperial nuptials was the scene of a frightful catastrophe. The hangings of the ball-room having caught fire, the flames spread to the whole building, and many victims perished, amongst whom were the Princess Schwarzenberg herself, and the Princess von der Leyen, both in the attempt to save their daughters. The Princess Amelie was dancing with her future husband when the fire broke out ; he at once placed her in safety, returning to seek her mother, who meanwhile had been taken away from the ball-room, but who, like the Princess Schwarzenberg, rushed back into the flames to find her daughter. A burning beam had fallen on her, and, when found, her condition was absolutely hopeless. She was extricated with the greatest difficulty ; the heat around her had been so intense that the silver setting of her diamonds had melted into the burned flesh. Strange to say, a few flowers of a wreath she wore had escaped the flames, and the writer of these pages has often seen them, set in a frame, under the portrait of the unfortunate Princess, in the bed-

1 The mediatized Princes of the Holy Roman Empire had yielded their petty states by the Rhine Treaties, but retained the social rank and privileges of independent sovereigns, with the title of "Serene Highness."

chamber of her daughter. She lived two or three days in fearful suffering, but insisted on the marriage ceremony taking place at once by her deathbed. And in the presence of the dying mother, who had sacrificed her life for her daughter's safety, Amelie von der Leyen was united to Louis de Tascher de la Pagerie.

The fall of the First Empire destroyed the brilliant prospects of the young pair. Louis XVIII. offered an important post at his court to the Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie ; but imbued with the principle expressed in his family motto, "Honori fidelis," he rejected all advances, even from those who, as legitimate possessors, filled the throne of the emperor to whom he had sworn allegiance, and therefore chose to follow his cousin Prince Eugene de Beauharnais, who, having married a princess of Bavaria, had elected Munich as his residence in exile. The sister of Prince Eugene, Hortense (who was separated from her husband, Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland), had accepted the title of "Duchesse de Saint-Leu," and wandered from one place of residence to another with her two sons, the younger of whom was afterward known as Napoleon III.

Louis de Tascher remained on terms of the greatest affection and intimacy with Queen Hortense, and after the death of her brother, Prince Eugene^ he became her most trusted friend and counselor.

His sons and daughters, who were often invited to stay at Arenenberg, on the lake of Constance

(where she finally resided habitually), were the playfellows of her sons in their childhood, and the friends of Louis Napoleon when, by the death of his elder brother, he became the head of the Bonaparte family, and the representative of what they held to be their rights. The light-hearted girls and merry boys of the de Tascher family brought some life to the too quiet home of Queen Hortense, where the future emperor, always absorbed in thought, was then, as in after life, a gentle dreamer, scarcely roused to a smile by the vivacious ways and lively jests of his young cousins, who, as they afterward acknowledged, could not help, even then, feeling inwardly a sort of awe in his presence, as in that of a superior being.

When the end of Queen Hortense drew near, she summoned the Comte de Tascher to her bedside, to receive her last instructions and hear her last wishes. He it was who attended to all that was needful after her death; who obtained from the government of Louis Philippe the requisite permission to bring back the remains of the exiled queen to her native land ; and who followed them to their last resting-place at Rueil, near Paris. There was, consequently, a strong tie of affection, confidence, and respect between Prince Louis Napoleon and his mother's relative and trusted friend. When his strangely varied fortunes brought him to that supreme position which he had always anticipated in what seemed idle dreams, he immediately called the Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie, and his surviving son, to his bachelor court at the Elysee; the ladies of the family remained, temporarily, at Munich.

The Comte de Tascher had always felt the importance of a suitable marriage for Prince Louis Napoleon, and had greatly exerted himself to negotiate several which he approved, and which had been nearly concluded. One, in the early youth of the Prince, with the Princess Mathilde, his cousin, sister of Prince (Jerome) Napoleon, had been settled by family arrangements, but was broken off, after the failure of the Strasburg conspiracy. Other negotiations, undertaken by the Comte de Tascher personally, in the hope of obtaining the hand of several German princesses, had fallen through, in consequence of the ill-will of their respective courts.

The Comte de Tascher still hoped, nevertheless, that the rising fortunes of the Prince, now President of the French Republic, would finally conquer all difficulties ; but the mere idea that, as Emperor (a destiny which all foresaw), he would marry the beautiful Spanish girl with whom, as President, he flirted at Compiegne, never seriously dwelt in the mind of the devoted friend of early days. When, immediately after the proclamation of the Empire, the intentions of the new Emperor were communicated privately to the Comte de Tascher and his son, they were so painfully surprised that they warmly remonstrated as to the complications which would be added to his already difficult position, by the act of raising to the throne of France a private gentlewoman (however attractive she might be), without consulting the will of the nation. They reminded him that the case of Josephine, to which he referred, was not to be quoted as parallel ; she was more than her husband's equal when she married him, and had risen with him. As the Emperor would listen to no expostulation, they finally declared that if he persisted in his intentions they would leave him and return to Grermany.

At this, the Emperor, who was pacing the room, suddenly turned round, exclaiming with unusual vehemence :

" So, because you look upon me as a drowning man, you will leave me, and refuse to give me a helping hand?"

This was startling and painful ; they were silenced. The Emperor then made a strong appeal to their feelings of old friendship and personal attachment, to induce them not only to welcome his bride, but to accept the two most important posts in her future court. The General Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie was appointed " Grand Master of the Empress's Household," and his son, then called " Count Charles," became First Chamberlain.

The Empress was fully aware of their conscientious opposition to her marriage, which, naturally, caused some constraint at first ; but her own sincere nature soon appreciated the noble and chivalrous character of the old Count, and the honest devotedness of his son, when once they had given their allegiance. The ladies of the family then came to the Tuileries, where apartments were provided for them, and where the Emperor received them on their arrival with the most unaffected kindness, recalling heartily old times and bygone recollections.

The splendor of the First Empire now reappeared at the Tuileries. The Comte de Tascher would have preferred a mere military household for the Emperor, and the strictly necessary number of ladies for the Empress ; but Napoleon III. was determined to revive the court of Napoleon I., with its somewhat obsolete magnificence.

There was a Great Chamberlain, the Due de Bassano, who resided at the palace in the Pavilion Marsan (formerly inhabited by the Due d'Orleans and Due de Nemours, sons of Louis Philippe). The apartments of the Due de Bassano were those which had belonged to the Due de Nemours. The Empress had a " Grand Maitre," the Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie, two chamberlains, an equerry, six ladies-in-waiting (afterward increased to twelve), a "Dame d'honneur," or First Lady, and a " Grande Maitresse," the Princesse d'Essling. The "Dame d'honneur" was the Duchesse de Bassano ; the others were often erroneously called " dames d'honneur " by the uninitiated, but were properly entitled " Dames du Palais," or " Ladies of the Palace."