seemed so narrow that I was tempted to believe double rows of houses
had been built. This was no doubt due to my recent impressions of St.
Petersburg and Berlin, where the streets, for the most part, are very
wide. But what displeased me far more was still to see "liberty,
fraternity or death" written on the walls. These words, sanctified by
the Terror, aroused the saddest thoughts in me touching the past, and
inspired me with some fears for the future.

I was taken to see a great review by the First Consul in the square of
the Louvre. I stood at a window in the museum, and recollect that I
refused to acknowledge the tiny man I saw to be Bonaparte; the Duke de
Crillon, who was beside me, had all the difficulty in the world to
convince me. Here, as in the case of Catherine II., I had depicted
such a famous man in the shape of a giant. Not long after my arrival
Bonaparte's brothers came to view my works; they were very civil
toward me, and said the most flattering things. Lucien, especially,
inspected my "Sibyl" quite minutely, and proffered me a thousand
praises on account of it.

My first visits were to my good old friends, the Marquise de Grollier,
Mme. de Verdun and the Countess d'Andlau, whose two daughters I saw at
the same time, Mme. de Rosambeau and Mme. d'Orglande, both worthy of
their mother in mind and good looks. I likewise went to see Mme. de
Segur. I found her lonely and dejected; her husband had no post, and
they were living in straitened circumstances. Later, when I came back
from London, Bonaparte made the Count de Segur Master of Ceremonies,
which gave them an easy life. I remember how, about this time, going
to see the Countess Segur toward eight in the evening, and finding her
alone, she said to me: "You would scarcely believe I have had twenty
people to dinner. They all went after the coffee." I was, indeed,
rather surprised, because before the Revolution most of the guests you
had to dinner would remain with you until evening, which I thought
much more proper than the new method.

At the same time Mme. de Segur invited me to a large musical party
at which all the notables of the day came together. Here I had
occasion to observe another innovation, which seemed to me no better
than the first. I was astonished, when I entered the room, to find all
the men on one side and all the women on the other--like hostile
forces, you would have said. Not a man came over to our side excepting
the master of the