eception such as she gave to the
corps diplomatique. It would have been a most original thing to do; the
recollection of it would have been more delightful even than the most
vivid recollections of that very wonderful week.

In those days, France was still looked upon as the first military power
in Europe. Her soldiers were probably not superior to those who fell in
the Franco-German war, but their prestige had not been questioned. They
were also more sightly than the ill-clad legions of the Third Republic,
so the review was a very splendid affair. At its termination, her
Majesty repaired to the Invalides, to the tomb of Napoleon, which,
though it had been begun, as I have incidentally stated, under the
premiership of M. Guizot in 1846-47, was not finished then, and only
officially inaugurated nearly six years afterwards.

My ticket for the review had been given to me by Marshal Vaillant, the
minister for war, and the only Marshal of the Second Empire with whom I
was, at that time, intimately acquainted; though I became on very
friendly terms with Marshals MacMahon and Lebrun subsequently.

I will devote, by-and-by, a few notes to this most original
soldier-figure--he was only a type in some respects; meanwhile, I may
mention here an anecdote, in connection with this visit of the Queen,
characteristic of the man. The governor of the Invalides was the late
King of Westphalia, Jerome Bonaparte. It was but natural that he should
have been chosen as the custodian of his brother's last resting-place.
It was equally natural that he should feel reluctant to meet at that
tomb the sovereign of a country which, he considered, had tortured that
brother to death. Consequently the last survivor of the elder
Bonapartes, the one who had also fought at Waterloo, foreseeing, as it
were, this pilgrimage on the part of her Majesty, had, a fortnight or so
before the date of her intended visit, gone to Havre, whither he had
been ordered by his doctor on account of his health, and whence he only
returned when the Queen of England had left France.

The deputy-governor of the Invalides was, perhaps, not considered
sufficiently important to do the honours to so illustrious a visitor,
and Marshal Vaillant was sounded whether he would undertake the
functions. He declined. "Je n'ai pas l'honneur, sire," he said,
"d'appartenir a votre illustre famille et personne sauf la famille d'un
grand homme a le droit d'oublier les souffrances que ses ennem