begged of her to defer the
passage for a short time, till the fogs had cleared away, and
discovered all the beauty of the surrounding shores. She replied
haughtily and angrily, "Je veux faire ce que je veux--allez toujours."

M. le Baron M----n, whom we knew at Paris, told me several delightful
anecdotes of Josephine: he was attached to her household, and high in
her confidence. Napoleon sent him on the very morning of his second
nuptials, with a message and billet to the ex-empress. On hearing that
the ceremony was performed which had passed her sceptre into the hands
of the proud, cold-hearted Austrian, the feelings of the _woman_
overcame every other. She burst into tears, and wringing her hands,
exclaimed "Ah! au moins, qu'il soit heureux!" Napoleon resigned this
estimable and amiable creature to narrow views of selfish policy, and
with her his good genius fled: he deserved it, and verily he hath had
his reward.

We drove after dinner to Copet; and the Duchesse de Broglie being
absent, had an opportunity of seeing the chateau. All things "were
there of her"--of her, whose genuine worth excused, whose
all-commanding talents threw into shade, those failings which belonged
to the weakness of her sex, and her warm feelings and imagination. The
servant girl who showed us the apartments, had been fifteen years in
Madame de Stael's service. All the servants had remained long in the
family, "elle etait si bonne et si charmante maitresse!" A picture of
Madame de Stael when young, gave me the idea of a fine countenance and
figure, though the features were irregular. In the bust, the
expression is not so prepossessing:--_there_ the colour and brilliance
of her splendid dark eyes, the finest feature of her face, are of
course quite lost. The bust of M. Rocca[C] was standing in the Baron
de Stael's dressing-room: I was more struck with it than any thing I
saw, not only as a chef-d'oeuvre, but from the perfect and regular
beauty of the head, and the charm of the expression. It was just such
a mouth as we might suppose to have uttered his well-known reply--"_Je
l'aimerai tellement qu'elle finira par m'aimer._" Madame de Stael had
a son by this marriage, who had just been brought home by his brother,
the Baron, from a school in the neighbourhood. He is about seven years
old. If we may believe the servant, Madame de Stael did not
acknowledge this son till just before her death; and she described the
wonder of the boy on being brou