son that Lavalette had changed his dress, and that
he had remained there the night before he quitted Paris. The
consequence was that Sir Robert Wilson, Bruce, and Hutchinson, were
tried for aiding the escape of a prisoner; and each of them was
condemned to three months' imprisonment: the under-gaoler, who had
evidently been well paid for services rendered, had two years'
confinement allotted to him. I went to see Sir Robert Wilson during his
stay in the Conciergerie--a punishment not very difficult to bear, but
which marked him as a popular hero for his life. A circumstance I
remember made a strong impression on me, proving that, however great
may be the courage of a man in trying circumstances, a trifling
incident might severely shake his nerves. I was accompanied by a
favourite dog of the Countess of Oxford, who, not being aware of the
high character of Sir Robert, or dissatisfied with his physiognomy, or
for some good canine reason, took a sudden antipathy, and inserted his
teeth into a somewhat fleshy part, but without doing much injury. The
effect, however, on the General was extraordinary: he was most earnest
to have the dog killed; but being certain that the animal was in no way
diseased, I avoided obeying his wishes, and fear that I thus lost the
good graces of the worthy man.

DUELLING IN FRANCE IN 1815

When the restoration of the Bourbons took place, a variety of
circumstances combined to render duelling so common, that scarcely a
day passed without one at least of these hostile meetings. Amongst the
French themselves there were two parties always ready to distribute to
each other "des coups d'epees"--the officers of Napoleon's army and the
Bourbonist officers of the Garde du Corps. Then, again, there was the
irritating presence of the English, Russian, Prussian, and Austrian
officers in the French capital. In the duels between these soldiers
and the French, the latter were always the aggressors. At Tortoni's,
on the Boulevards, there was a room set apart for such quarrelsome
gentlemen, where, after these meetings, they indulged in riotous
champagne breakfasts. At this cafe might be seen all the most notorious
duellists, amongst whom I can call to mind an Irishman in the Garde du
Corps, W--, who was a most formidable fire-eater. The number of duels
in which he had been engaged would seem incredible in the present day:
he is said to have killed nine of his opponents in one year!

The Marqui