s of anything
_mechant_; nor has he anything of that eye whose bend doth awe the
world. The true expression of his countenance is a pleasing
melancholy, which, whenever he speaks, relaxes into the most
agreeable and gracious smile you can conceive. To this you must add
the appearance of deep and intense thought, but above all the
predominating expression a look of calm and tranquil resolution and
intrepidity which nothing human could discompose. His address is
the finest I have ever seen, and said by those who have travelled
to exceed not only every Prince and Potentate now in being, but
even all those whose memory has come down to us. He has more
unaffected dignity than I could conceive in man. His address is the
gentlest and most prepossessing you can conceive, which is seconded
by the greatest fund of levee conversation that I suppose any
person ever possessed. He speaks deliberately, but very fluently,
with particular emphasis, and in a rather low tone of voice. While
he speaks, his features are still more expressive than his
words."[180]

In contrast with this intellectual power and becoming simplicity of
attire, how stupid and tawdry were the bevies of soulless women and
the dumb groups of half-tamed soldiers! How vapid also the rules of
etiquette and precedence which starched the men and agitated the minds
of their consorts! Yet, while soaring above these rules with easy
grace, the First Consul imposed them rigidly on the crowd of eager
courtiers. On these burning questions he generally took the advice of
M. de Remusat, whose tact and acquaintance with Court customs were now
of much service; while the sprightly wit of his young wife attracted
Josephine, as it has all readers of her piquant but rather spiteful
memoirs. In her pages we catch a glimpse of the life of that singular
Court; the attempts at aping the inimitable manners of the _ancien
regime_; the pompous nullity of the second and third Consuls; the
tawdry magnificence of the costumes; the studied avoidance of any word
that implied even a modicum of learning or a distant acquaintance with
politics; the nervous preoccupation about Napoleon's moods and whims;
the graceful manners of Josephine that rarely failed to charm away his
humours, except when she herself had been outrageously slighted for
some passing favourite; above all, the leaden dullness of
conversation, which