zot as a father -- His
correspondence with his daughters -- A story of Henry Muerger and
Marguerite Thuillier -- M. Guizot makes up his mind not to live
in Paris any longer -- M. Guizot on "natural scenery" -- Never
saw the sea until he was over fifty -- Why M. Guizot did not like
the country; why M. Thiers did not like it -- Thiers the only man
at whom Guizot tilted -- M. Guizot died poor -- M. de Lamartine's
poverty did not inspire the same respect -- Lamartine's
impecuniosity -- My only visit to Lamartine's house -- Du Jellaby
dore -- With a difference -- All the stories and anecdotes about
M. de Lamartine relate to his improvidence and impecuniosity --
Ten times worse in that respect than Balzac -- M. Guizot's
literary productions and M. de Lamartine's -- The national
subscription raised for the latter -- How he anticipates some of
the money -- Beranger -- My first acquaintance with him --
Beranger's verdict on the Second Republic -- Beranger's constant
flittings -- Dislikes popularity -- The true story of Beranger
and Mdlle. Judith Frere 249

CHAPTER XIII.

Some men of the Empire -- Fialin de Persigny -- The public
prosecutor's opinion of him expressed at the trial for high
treason in 1836 -- Superior in many respects to Louis-Napoleon --
The revival of the Empire his only and constant dream -- In order
to realize it, he appeals first to Jerome, ex-King of Westphalia
-- De Persigny's estimate of him -- Jerome's greed and
Louis-Napoleon's generosity -- De Persigny's financial
embarrassments -- His charity -- What the Empire really meant to
him -- De Persigny virtually the moving spirit in the Coup d'Etat
-- Louis-Napoleon might have been satisfied with the presidency
of the republic for life -- Persigny seeks for aid in England --
Palmerston's share in the Coup d'Etat -- The submarine cable --
Preparations for the Coup d'Etat -- A warning of it sent to
England -- Count Walewski issues invitations for a dinner-party
on the 2nd of December -- Opinion in London that Louis-Napoleon
will get the worst in the struggle with the Chamber -- The last
funds from London -- General de Saint-Arnaud and Baron Lacrosse
-- The Elysee-Bourbon on the evening of the 1st of December -- I
pass the Elysee at midnight -- Nothing unusual -- London on the
2