against this nobility of yesterday;
and a thousand expressions of the new ladies were quoted, which
presumed little acquaintance with good manners. And certainly there
is nothing so difficult to learn, as the kind of politeness which is
neither ceremonious nor familiar: it seems a trifle, but it
requires a foundation in ourselves; for no one acquires it, if it is
not inspired by early habits or elevation of mind. Bonaparte himself
is embarrassed on occasions of representation; and frequently in his
own family, and even with foreigners, he seems to feel delighted in
returning to those vulgar actions and expressions which remind him
of his revolutionary youth. Bonaparte knew very well that the
Parisians made pleasantries on his new nobility; but he knew also
that their opinions would only be expressed in vulgar jokes, and not
in strong actions. The energy of the oppressed went not beyond the
equivoque of a pun; and as in the East they have been reduced to the
apologue, in France they sunk still lower, namely, to the clashing
of syllables. A single instance of a jeu de mots deserves, however,
to survive the ephemeral success of such productions; one day as the
princesses of the blood were announced, some one added, of the blood
of Enghien. And in truth, such was the baptism of this new dynasty.

Several of the old nobility who had been ruined by the revolution,
were not unwilling to accept employments at court. It is well known
by what a gross insult Bonaparte rewarded their complaisance. "I
proposed to give them rank in my army, and they declined it; I
offered them places in the administration, and they refused them;
but when I opened my anti-chambers, they rushed into them in
crowds." They had no longer any asylum but in his power. Several
gentlemen, on this occasion, set an example of the most noble
resistance; but how many others have represented themselves as
menaced before they had the least reason for apprehension! and how
many more have solicited for themselves or their families,
employments at court, which all of them, ought to have spurned at!
The military or the administrative careers are the only ones in
which we can flatter ourselves with being useful to our country,
whoever may be the chief who governs it; but employments at court
render you dependant on the man, and not on the state.

Registers were made to receive votes for the empire, like those
which had been opened for the consulship for life; even all