ion of a few patches of good oaks, the remainder is little better
than underwood and dwarflings.

We went into the heart of the forest to see an old Hermitage now
inhabited by a keeper and his family. They had been visited by Cossacks,
but had received no injury whatever; on the contrary the poor woman
related with all the eloquence of Truth and the French animation that
from their own soldiers they had suffered all that cruelty and rapacity
could devise--indeed, the house and gardens bore evidence to the
facts--window shutters pierced with bullets, broken doors, furniture
gone, and above 800 francs' worth of honey destroyed out of pure
wantonness--in short the poor people seemed quite ruined. I received a
similar account in the town. Fontainebleau is a dull, melancholy-looking
place, with a very extensive ugly palace--interesting only from the late
events. Scarcely a soul appeared about; we crossed the large court in
which Buonaparte took his last farewell and embraced the Imperial
Eagles, called by some loyal French "The vile Cuckoos." Our hostess was,
I presume, a staunch imperialist, who thought she could not shew her
zeal for the Emperor in a stronger manner than by imposing on
Englishmen. She began by asking 16s. for a plate of 8 little wretched
mutton chops; we resented the imposition, although the sudden appearance
of 4 or 5 officers of the imperial guard almost rendered it doubtful
whether we ought to act too warmly on the defensive, as they seemed to
patronise our hostess; however, we refused to pay and retired unimposed
upon.

The imperial guard here are supposed to be particularly attached to the
Emperor, and of course averse to Englishmen, but I was agreeably
surprised to find three out of the four really something like gentlemen
in their manners; we entered into conversation, which I managed as
dexterously as I could, manoeuvering between the evil of sacrificing my
own opinions on one side, and of giving them offence on the other; it
was a nice point, as I perceived a word beyond the line of demarcation
would have inflamed them in a trice. One happened to differ with another
on a political point, which produced a loud and rapid stamping with the
feet, accompanied by a course of pirouets on the heel with the velocity
of a dervish, which fully proved what might be effected on their tempers
had I been disposed to try the experiment. They called themselves the
Ex-Imperial Guard. On retiring I shook hands with