vil service, and in that also their careers were at
the imperial mercy. They were daily and hourly reminded of Napoleon's
greatness, for twenty-four hundred foreigners from the vassal states
of the Empire were scattered among these institutions, where they were
turned into Frenchmen and docile subjects at the Emperor's expense,
while being virtually held as hostages for the good behavior of their
parents. These powerful engines did not work in vain. During the
comparatively short existence of the Empire their product assumed
enormous proportions, and largely modified the temper of society
throughout France. The youth educated by priests or tutors were found
unable to keep pace with their favored contemporaries from the
government schools, and from the first no prophet was needed to
foretell the destiny of private institutions and ecclesiastical
seminaries. Little by little they made way for or became annexed to
the lyceums which one after another were founded wherever needed. The
charges of the latter were, and are, very low; and thrifty fathers
appreciate the fact. The state is at enormous cost to support them;
but public sentiment, preferring indirect to direct taxation, approves
of the expenditure, while crafty statesmen, whether royalist,
imperialist, or republican, employ them to create citizens of the kind
in power at the time.

Throughout the late summer and autumn of 1807 the imperial court was
more stately than ever before. The old nobility became assiduous in
their attendance, and, as one of the Empress's ladies in waiting is
said to have remarked they "received good company." On his return
Napoleon had found Josephine's extravagance to be as unbounded as
ever; but he could not well complain, because, although for the most
part frugal himself, he had latterly encouraged lavishness in his
family. Still, it was not agreeable to have dressmakers' bills flung
into his carriage when driving in state with his consort, and on one
occasion he sent an unprincipled but clever milliner to the prison of
Bicetre for having disobeyed his orders in furnishing her wares to the
Empress at exorbitant prices. The person was so indispensable to the
court ladies, however, that they crowded her cell, and she was soon
released. At St. Cloud, Malmaison, the Tuileries, and Fontainebleau
the social vices of courts began to appear; but they were sternly
repressed, especially high play. By way of contrast, the city of Paris
was at that