s,
and, which happens but once, in the case of M. de Champagny, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, who is praised for having finished the treaty of Vienna
in one night, and with unexpected advantages;[1283] this time, the
Emperor has thought aloud, is taken by surprise; "ordinarily, he
manifests approbation only by his silence."--When M. de Remusat, prefect
of the palace, has arranged "one of those magnificent fetes in which
all the arts minister to his enjoyment," economically, correctly, with
splendor and success, his wife never asks her husband[1284] if the
Emperor is satisfied, but whether he has scolded more or less.

"His leading general principle, which he applies in every way, in great
things as well as in small ones, is that a man's zeal depends upon his
anxiety."

How insupportable the constraint he exercises, with what crushing weight
his absolutism bears down on the most tried devotion and on the most
pliable characters, with what excess he tramples on and wounds the best
dispositions, up to what point he represses and stifles the respiration
of the human being, he knows as well as anybody. He was heard to say,

"The lucky man is he who hides away from me in the depths of some
province."

And, another day, having asked M. de Segur what people would say of
him after his death, the latter enlarged on the regrets which would
be universally expressed. "Not at all," replied the Emperor; and then,
drawing in his breath in a significant manner indicative of universal
relief, he replied,

"They'll say, 'Whew!'"[1285]

IV. His Bad Manners.

His bearings in Society.--His deportment toward Women.--His
disdain of Politeness.

There are very few monarchs, even absolute, who persistently, and
from morning to night, maintain a despotic attitude. Generally, and
especially in France, the sovereign makes two divisions of his time, one
for business and the other for social duties, and, in the latter case,
while always head of the State, he is also head of his house: for he
welcomes visitors, entertains his guests, and, that his guests may not
be robots, he tries to put them at their ease.--That was the case with
Louis XIV.[1286]--polite to everybody, always affable with men, and
sometimes gracious, always courteous with women, and some times gallant,
carefully avoiding brusqueness, ostentation, and sarcasms, never
allowing himself to use an offensive word, never making people feel
their inferiority and dep