theatre presented an array of genius and talent hitherto unequalled.
Talma and Mademoiselle Mars were in the very zenith of their fame, and
obtained a large share of Bonaparte's favor, whose tastes were eminently
dramatic. In a word, a new era had commenced, and every class and walk,
every condition of man, seemed resolved to recompense itself, by the
pursuit of pleasure, for the long and dark night of trouble through
which it had passed.

While, therefore, the Court of the First Consul partook of such
features as those, the circle of Josephine possessed attractions
totally different. There, amid her intimate friends, all the charm and
fascination of French society held sway. Each evening saw assembled
around her the wittiest and most polished persons of the day,--the gay
and spirited talkers who so pre-eminently gave the tone to Parisian
society: the handsomest women, and the most distinguished of the
litterateurs of the period, found ready access to one whose own powers
of pleasing have left an undying impression on some, who even still can
recall those delightful moments.

Such were, in brief, the leading features of the Court then held in the
Tuileries; and such the germ of that new order of things which was so
soon to burst forth upon astonished Europe under the proud title of The
Empire.

CHAPTER XXIII. A SURPRISE.

I WAS sitting one evening alone in my quarters, an open volume before
me, in which I persuaded myself I was reading, while my thoughts were
far otherwise engaged, when my comrade Tascher suddenly entered the
room, and throwing himself into a chair, exclaimed, in a tone of
passionate impatience,--

"_Pardieu!_ it is a fine thing to be nephew to the first man in France!"

"What has happened?" said I, when I perceived that he stopped short
without explaining further.

"What has happened!--enough to drive one mad. Just hear this. You know
how fond I am of Paris, and how naturally I must wish to be near the
Tuileries, where I have the _entree_ to my aunt's soirees. Well, there
was a vacancy occurred yesterday in the huitieme hussars,--a corps
always stationed here or at Versailles,--and as I am longing to have a
cavalry grade, I waited on Madame Bonaparte to solicit her interest in
my favor. She promised, of course. The General was to breakfast with
her, and it was all settled: she was to ask him for the promotion, and
I had not a doubt of success; in fact, if I must confess, I told two or
thre