ht, for the whole is to be in bronze with
gilt trappings. He is to stand upon an elevated pedestal, which is
already completed. The height will be about 60 feet, nearly as high as
Alderley Steeple. The castle will hold water; the inside is to be a
room, and the staircase is to be in one of the legs. The porter who
showed it was exceedingly proud of the performance, and when I expressed
my astonishment at Buonaparte's numerous plans and the difficulty he
must have been at to procure money, looking cautiously about him, he
said, "Oh, mais il avoit le don d'un Dieu," and then grasping my arm
with one hand and tapping me on the shoulder with the other, and again
looking round to see if then the coast was clear, he added, "Mais il n'y
est plus, ah, vous comprenez cela n'est-ce pas," and then casting a look
at his Elephant he concluded with a sigh and a mutter, "Superbe, ah,
pardi, que c'est superbe!"

Kitty has been dressing herself _a la Francaise_, and we have been
purchasing a large box of flowers, which we hope to show you in England,
if the Custom House officers will allow us to pay the duties, but we
hear most alarming accounts of their ferocity and rapacity. They will
soon, it is said, seize the very clothes you have on, if of French
manufacture; if so, adieu to three pairs of black silk stockings and as
many pocket handkerchiefs, to say nothing of a perfect pet of an ivory
dog which I intend to present to your Mama, and to say nothing of five
perfect pets for Maria and you four eldest girls of the family of
Harlequin and Punch, to be worn on your necklaces during the happy
weeks. They are of mother of pearl about an inch high, the most comical
fellows I ever beheld. It is necessary that I should tell you of the
presents, because if they are seized, you know I shall still be entitled
to the merit of selecting them. We have bought a few books. A thick
octavo is here worth about four or five shillings, and the duty is, we
understand, about one shilling more. One is a life of the Duke of
Marlborough. Buonaparte said it was a reflection upon England not to
have a life of her greatest Hero, and therefore he would be his
biographer; accordingly he set his men to work and collected the
materials. Report speaks favourably of it, but I have been so busied in
looking and walking about that I shall not be surprised if I find that I
have almost forgotten to read upon my return!

_Edward Stanley to Louisa Stanley._

TUESDAY M