e Prussians and Russians
withdrew from the town. Milhaud arrived with the main body of Murat's
forces; in Napoleon's name the Prussian Government was dissolved, and
its officials were superseded by native Poles. Hence Hoffmann was left
without employment. He and his colleagues divided the contents of the
treasury between them to prevent its falling into the hands of the
French; this secured them from want for the present. Careless about the
future, and revelling in the luxury of untrammelled freedom, Hoffmann
was now perfectly happy. The excitement was like rich wine to his
brilliant fancy; he never had enough of it. He spent all the livelong
day in running about seeing and hearing the many remarkable things to
be both seen and heard. And the little, restless, energetic man was
like quicksilver; he was everywhere. He specially loved to frequent the
theatres, where, before the curtain rose, conversations might be heard
carried on in ten or a dozen living tongues at once. Pushing his way
through the motley throng, he penetrated to every part of the house,
busy gathering all sorts of rich observations, and storing up a most
varied assortment of experiences; and nothing escaped his falcon eye or
remained unnoticed by his keen perception. Many and exquisite were the
humorous anecdotes he picked up, the gestures he copied, the tricks and
eccentricities he caught, the extraordinary characters he understood
and fathomed at a glance; and these experiences he afterwards retailed
to his friends, to their unbounded delight.

But amid all the tumult of the French occupation of the city, the
evenings at the Musical Ressource still went on the same as ever.
Hoffmann indeed, in order to escape the burdens of billeting as well as
from motives of economy, took up his residence in one of the attics of
the Ressource, where, though somewhat straitened for accommodation (for
he had his wife, a niece aged about twelve, and a little baby daughter
with him), he was as happy and contented as he well could be. He had
the rich library of the Ressource at command, and his own piano stood
in one of its rooms; and "that was all he wanted to make him forget the
French and the future." Early in 1807, he took advantage of a
favourable opportunity and sent his wife and the two children to her
friends in Posen; Hitzig also, and his family, and most other friends,
left Warsaw in March of that year: thus Hoffmann was left almost alone.
Soon afterwards he wa