urtier and flatterer.

Madame Murat gave a grand fete in honour of Bonaparte at her residence at
Neuilly. At dinner Bonaparte sat opposite Madame Murat at the principal
table, which was appropriated to the ladies. He ate fast, and talked but
little. However, when the dessert was served, he put a question to each
lady. This question was to inquire their respective ages. When Madame
Bourrienne's turn came he said to her, "Oh! I know yours." This was a
great deal for his gallantry, and the other ladies were far from being
pleased at it.

Next day, while walking with me in his favourite alley at Malmaison, he
received one of those stupid reports of the police which were so
frequently addressed to him. It mentioned the observations which had
been made in Paris about a green livery he had lately adopted. Some said
that green had been chosen because it was the colour of the House of
Artois. On reading that a slight sneer was observable in his
countenance, and he said, "What are these idiots dreaming of? They must
be joking, surely. Am I no better than M. d'Artois? They shall soon see
the difference."

Until the middle of the year 1801 the erasures from the emigrant list had
always been proposed by the Minister of Police. The First Consul having
been informed that intrigue and even bribery had been employed to obtain
them, determined that in future erasures should be part of the business
of his cabinet. But other affairs took up his attention, and a dozen or
fifteen erasures a week were the most that were made. After Te Deum had
been chanted at Malmaison for the Concordat and the peace, I took
advantage of that moment of general joy to propose to Bonaparte the
return of the whole body of emigrants. "You have," said I in a
half-joking way, "reconciled Frenchmen to God--now reconcile them to each
other. There have never been any real emigrants, only absentees; and the
proof of this is, that erasures from the list have always been, and will
always be, made daily." He immediately seized the idea. "We shall see,"
said he; "but I must except a thousand persons belonging to high
families, especially those who are or have been connected with royalty or
the Court."

I said in the Chamber of Deputies, and I feel pleasure in repeating here,
that the plan of the 'Senatus-consults', which Bonaparte dictated to me,
excepted from restitution only such mansions as were used for public
establishments. These he would neither surrender nor pa