ing ceremony, not in the practical way that the Pope desired.
And yet it was of the first importance for Napoleon to receive the
holy oil and the papal blessing, for only so could he hope to wean the
affections of royalists from their uncrowned and exiled king.
Doubtless this was one of the chief reasons for the restoration of
religion by the Concordat, as was shrewdly seen at the time by
Lafayette, who laughingly exclaimed: "Confess, general, that your
chief wish is for the little phial."[314] The sally drew from the
First Consul an obscene disclaimer worthy of a drunken ostler.
Nevertheless, the little phial was now on its way.

In order to divest the meeting of Pope and Emperor of any awkward
ceremony, Napoleon arranged that it should take place on the road
between Fontainebleau and Nemours, as a chance incident in the middle
of a day's hunting. The benevolent old pontiff was reclining in his
carriage, weary with the long journey through the cold of an early
winter, when he was startled to see the retinue of his host. The
contrast in every way was striking. The figure of the Emperor had now
attained the fullness which betokens abounding health and strength: his
face was slightly flushed with the hunt and the consciousness that he
was master of the situation, and his form on horseback gained a dignity
from which the shortness of his legs somewhat detracted when on foot. As
he rode up attired in full hunting costume, he might have seemed the
embodiment of triumphant strength. The Pope, on the other hand, clad in
white garments and with white silk shoes, gave an impression of peaceful
benevolence, had not his intellectual features borne signs of the
protracted anxieties of his pontificate. The Emperor threw himself from
his horse and advanced to meet his guest, who on his side alighted,
rather unwillingly, in the mud to give and receive the embrace of
welcome. Meanwhile Napoleon's carriage had been driven up: footmen were
holding open both doors, and an officer of the Court politely handed
Pius VII. to the left door, while the Emperor, entering by the right,
took the seat of honour, and thus settled once for all the vexed
question of social precedence.[315]

During the Pope's sojourn at Fontainebleau, Josephine breathed to him
her anxiety as to her marriage; it having been only a civil contract,
she feared its dissolution, and saw in the Pope's intervention a
chance of a firmer union with her consort. The pontiff comfo