acity of the principal ruler for shaking hands with any and every
ragamuffin and out-of-elbows brute he meets." Thereupon King Fip shows
his son how to shake hands in every conceivable position--on foot, on
horseback, at a gallop, at a trot, leaning out of a carriage, and so
forth. Grand Poulot is not only eager to learn, but ambitious to improve
upon his sire's method. "How would it do, dad," he asks, "if, in
addition to shaking hands with them, one inquired after their health, in
the second person singular--'Comment vas tu, mon vieux cochon?' or,
better still, 'Comment vas tu, mon vieux citoyen?'" "It would do
admirably," says papa; "but it does not matter whether you say cochon or
citoyen, the terms are synonymous."

I am inclined to think that beneath this rather clever banter there was
a certain measure of truth. Louis-Philippe was by no means the ardent
admirer of the bourgeoisie he professed to be. He did not foster any
illusions with regard to their intellectual worth, and in his inmost
heart he resented their so-called admiration of him, which he knew to be
would-be patronage under another name. They had formed a hedge round him
which prevented any attempt on his part at conciliating his own caste,
the old noblesse. It is doubtful whether he would have been successful,
especially in the earlier years of his reign; but their ostracism of him
and his family rankled in his mind, and found vent now and again in an
epigram that stung the author as much as the party against which it was
directed. "There is more difficulty in getting people to my court
entertainments from across the Seine than from across the Channel," he
said.

The fact is, that the whole of the Faubourg St.-Germain was conspicuous
by its absence from the Tuileries in those days, and that the English
were in rather too great a majority. They were not always a
distinguished company. I was little more than a lad at this time, but I
remember Lord ----'s invariable answer when his friends asked him what
the dinner had been like, and whether he had enjoyed himself: "The
dinner was like that at a good table-d'hote, and I enjoyed myself as I
would enjoy myself at a good hotel in Switzerland or at Wiesbaden, where
the proprietor knew me personally, and had given orders to the head
waiter to look after my comforts. But," he added, "it is, after all,
more pleasant dining there, when the English are present. At any rate,
there is no want of respect. When the F