d got wind of the affair, and had bribed various
officials to oppose, or, at any rate, intercept the petition sent by M.
le Duc for the necessary authorization, Prince Wolkonsky, the Minister
of State, acquainted the Czar himself with the affair, and Nicholas,
without a moment's hesitation, granted the request, remitting the tax
which M. le Duc had estimated at about six thousand francs. This took
place at a cabinet council, and, unfortunately for me, the Czar thought
fit to make a little speech. 'What a strange destiny!' he said, rising
from his seat and assuming a solemn tone--'what a strange destiny this
man's'--alluding to Napoleon--'even in death! It is we who struck him
the first fatal blow, by the burning of our holy and venerable capital,
and it is from us that France asks his tomb. Let the French envoy have
everything he requires, and, above all, let no tax be taken.'

"That was enough; the German and French papers got hold of the last
words with the rest; they confounded the tax with the cost of working,
which amounted to more than two hundred thousand francs; and up to this
day, notwithstanding the explanations I and my colleagues offered in
reply to the interpellation of M. de Montalembert, the story remains
that Russia made France a present of the tomb of Napoleon."

From that day forth I often called upon M. Guizot, especially in the
daytime, when I knew that he had finished working; for when he found
that his political career was irrevocably at an end, he turned very
cheerfully--I might say gladly--to his original avocation, literature.
Without the slightest fatigue, without the slightest worry, he produced
a volume of philosophical essays or history every year; and if, unlike
Alexandre Dumas, he did not roar with laughter while composing, he was
often heard to hum a tune. "En effet," said one of his daughters, the
Countess Henriette de Witt (both his daughters bore the same name and
titles when married), "notre pere ne chante presque jamais qu'en
travaillant." This did not mean that work, and work only, had the effect
of putting M. Guizot in good humour. He was, according to the same
authority, uniformly sweet-tempered at home, whether sitting in his
armchair, surrounded by his family, or gently strolling up and down his
library. "C'est la politique qui le rendait mechant," said Madame de
Witt, "heureusement il la laissait a la porte. Et tres souvent il
l'oubliait de parti-pris au milieu du conseil et al