ot
known to the general public. Let it suffice, then, to say that our
journey through Arras, Valenciennes, Mons, Brussels, etc., resembled a
triumphal progress. At the gate of each town the municipal council
presented to his Majesty the wine of honor and the keys of the place.
We stopped a few days at Lacken; and being only five leagues from Alost,
a little town where my relatives lived, I requested the Emperor's
permission to leave him for twenty-four hours, and it was granted, though
reluctantly. Alost, like the remainder of Belgium at this time,
professed the greatest attachment for the Emperor, and consequently I had
hardly a moment to myself. I visited at the house of Monsieur D----, one
of my friends, whose family had long held positions of honor in the
government of Belgium. There I think all the town must have come to meet
me; but I was not vain enough to appropriate to myself all the honor of
this attention, for each one who came was anxious to learn even the most
insignificant details concerning the great man near whom I was placed.
On this account I was extraordinarily feted, and my twenty-four hours
passed only too quickly. On my return, his Majesty deigned to ask
innumerable questions regarding the town of Alost and its inhabitants,
and as to what was thought there of his government and of himself. I was
glad to be able to answer without flattery, that he was adored. He
appeared gratified, and spoke to me most kindly of my family and of my
own small interests.

We left the next day for Lacken, and passed through Alost; and had I
known this the evening before, I might perhaps have rested a few hours
longer. However, the Emperor found so much difficulty in granting me
even one day, that I would not probably have dared to lose more, even had
I known that the household was to pass by this town.

The Emperor was much pleased with Lacken; he ordered considerable repairs
and improvements to be made there, and the palace, owing to this
preference, became a charming place of sojourn.

This journey of their Majesties lasted nearly three months; and we did
not return to Paris, or rather to Saint-Cloud, until November. The
Emperor received at Cologne and at Coblentz the visits of several German
princes and princesses; but as I know only from hearsay what passed in
these interviews, I shall not undertake to describe them.

CHAPTER XIX.

Nothing is too trivial to narrate concerning great men; for posterity
sh