e to strangers, unless it be in the
bar-room of some wayside tavern, where one is sometimes obliged, as
elsewhere, to rest awhile, and where the frequenters may be expected
to be not either polite or polished.

The Americans may be said to live at the bar; and yet, in all great
cities, the bar of the hotels seldom exhibits anything to offend a
traveller, who has seen a good deal of the world; nor do I think that
purposed insult or annoyance would be tolerated towards any foreigner
who keeps his temper.

So it is all over the world. I remember, as a young man, in the army
of Occupation in France, when the soul of the nation was ground to
despair, at seeing foreign soldiers lording it in _la belle France_,
that, at Valenciennes, St. Omers, Cambray, and all great towns,
constant collisions and duels occurred from the impetuous temper of
the half-pay French officers, and yet, in many instances, good sense
and firmness avoided fatal results.

I know an officer, who was billeted, the night before one of the great
reviews of the allied troops, in a small country tavern, where an
Englishman had never before been seen, and he found the house full as
it could hold of half-pay Napoleonists. The hostess had but one room
where the guests could dine, and even that had a bed in it; and this
bed was his billet.

He arrived late, and found it occupied by moustached heroes of the
guard, Napoleon's cavalry and infantry _demi-soldes_, who had rested
there to see the review next day, where the battle of Denain was
fought over again with blank cartridge.

They were at supper and very boisterous, but, with the innate
_politesse_ of Frenchmen, rose and apologized for occupying his
bedroom. To go to bed was of course not to be thought of, so he asked
to be permitted to join the table; and, after eating and drinking, he
found some of the youngest very much disposed to insult him. He
watched quietly; at last, toasts were proposed, and they desired him
to fill to the brim. The toast they said, after a great deal of
improvising, was to the health of the greatest man and the greatest
soldier, _Napoleon le Grand!--De tout mon coeur, Napoleon le Grand!_

This took them by surprise; they had no idea that an Englishman could
see any merit in Napoleon.

"Fill your glasses, gentlemen," said the officer, "to the brim, as I
filled mine."

They did so, and he said "_A la sante de Napoleon deux_," which was
then a favourite way with the French Impe