THE SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

WE have perused the latter portions of the Autobiography of' LAVALLETTE with much eagerness and delight. The stay is a ro- mantic one, told with great animation. In the various incidents of his apprehension, condemnation, escape, and subsequent experience, there is a vast deal to interest the feelings and gratify the curiosity. The history of his evasion from prison must always be considered as one of the most glorious chapters in the history of woman. The anecdotes of NAPOLEON, whose aid-de-camp LAVALLETTBE was, and into whose intimate confidence he was admitted, are also interesting, and, when taken in connexion with others, important. The history. of the fall of NAPOLEON and the restoration of the. Bounnows is enriched with several important particulars, more especially as relates to the part M. TALLEYRAND took in than measure.

The first volume, which relates to the history of the Revolu- tion and to the rise and early progress of BONAPARTE, is, in com- parison with the second, written in a vague style, which did not answer our expectations; we have, however, been fully rewarded for our perseverance, by the animated details of the latter por- tion. There are many extraordinary references in it to cha- racter and motives, which require sifting before the history of that time can be said to he written.

After the Hundred Days, LAVALLETTE was selected as a vic- tim, partly because victims were in request, and partly because, having assumed his old place of Director of the Post-office before NAPOLEON'S return from Elba, he was a ready mark of calumny. It is not the men who are most guilty who are condemned in cri- tical times, but those whose positions or actions can be most easily perverted, and in reference to whom public opinion may be most easily deluded. A great deal of instruction may be derived from these works of the Empire. We advise all students of revolutions to collect and study them. No man of intellect can pass through their pages without feeling a strong rush of commentary rise upon his thoughts. After all, however, it is the individual history of these volumes which most captivates the attention. We would erect a statue to Madame LAVALLETTE. Ladies, if they were accustomed to look. to their separate glory, would immortalize, not the wish or the will to self-sacrifice, which may be common—but the self-power, the i nerve, the glorious subjection of the mere body to the impulses of the generous affections, in that admirable woman. Poor humanity! it is weak—for a time the intellect triumphs, but it is at a dread- ful expense. Madame LAVALLETTE never recovered from the agony of her suspense, from the over-tension of all the nerves of her frame, on the eventful occasion of her husband's escape. Her husband glosses over her condition, but the fact is, her intellects. were long deranged. The value of this work induces us to indulge more copiously in extract than we are accustomed to do. We shall commence with that which we consider the most interesting portion of LAVAS,- LETTS'S life, his imprisonment and evasion. But first, we will give the account of his marriage: it will show that long courtships are not necessary to love or friendship. The match was an Imperial one, but not the worse that the wooing was confined to a space of five minutes. " All my comrades had obtained advancement; the General wished to reward me also ; but, not willing to expose himself to a refusal front Government, he determined to bring about a marriage between me and Mademoiselle Beauharnais. One day, when I had accompanied him to the Treasury, to expedite the sending off of the sums that were required at Toulon for the fleet, he ordered his coachman to drive along the new Boulevards, that he might have at his leisure a conversation with me. I cannot make a major of you,' he said ; 'I must therefore give you a wife :—you shall marry Emilie de Beauharnais. She is very handsome, and very well educated. Do you know her ?'—' I have seen her twice, But, General, I have no fortune. We are going to Africa : I may be killed—what will become, in that case, of my poor widow? Besides, have no great liking for marriage.'—' Men must marry to have children ; that is the chief aim of life. Killed you certainly may be. Well, in that case she will be the widow of one of my aides-de-camp—of a defender of his country. She will have a pension, and may again marry advantage- ously. Now she is the daughter of an emigrant, that nobody will have : my wife cannot introduce her into society. She, poor girl 1 deserves a better fate. Come, this business must be quickly settled. Talk this morn- ing with Madame Bonaparte about it : the mother has already given her consent. The wedding shall take place in eight days ; I will allow you a fortnight for your honeymoon. You must then come and join us at Tou- lon on the 29th.' (It was then the 9th.) I could not help laughing all the while he spoke :—at last I said : I will do whatever you please. But will the girl have me ? I do not wish to force her inclinations." She is tired of her boarding-school, and she would be unhappy if she were to go to her mother's. During your absence, she shall live with her grand- father at Fontainebleau. You will not be killed; and you will find her when you come back. Come, come t the thing is settled. Tell the coachman to drive home' "In the evening, I went to see Madame Bonaparte. She knew what was going forward, and was kind enough to show some satisfaction, and call me her nephew. ' To-morrow' she said, we shall all go to St. Germain. I will introduce you to my niece. 'Yon will be delighted with her: she i3 charming girl 1' "Accordingly, next day„the Qom!, MaclamatAllift*wallienca. 444 added to all the misery of suspense. After all, she could coolly foot and to stoop lest the feathers of my bonnet should catch at the top feel her husband's pulse to ascertain whether he was fit for the of the door. I succeeded ; but, on raising myself again, I found myself enterprise : her own was in a fever, and yet she seemed calm. in the large apartment in the presence of five turnkeys, sitting, standing,

again with as much surprise as pleasure. ' I believe,' she said, ' it is however, took my right hand ; end the jailer, coming down the stairs of better to take our child with us. 1 shall make her do with more docility his apartment, which was on the left hand, came up to me without what I want.' She was dressed in a pelisse of merino richly lined with hindrance, and, putting his hand on my arm, said to me, ' You are going; fur, which she was accustomed to put on over her light dress on leaving a away early, Madame.' He appeared much affected, and undoubtedly ball-room. She had taken in her reticule a black silk petticoat. ' This is thought m wife had taken an everlasting leave of her husband. It has

quite sufficient,' she said, ' to disguise you completely.' She then sent my been said, that hat my daughter and I sobbed aloud : the fact is, we scarcely daughter to the window, and added in a low voice, ' At seven o'clock pre- dared to sigh. I at last reached the end of the room. A turnkey sits cisely you must be ready ; all is well prepared. In going out you will there day and night, in a large arm-chair, and in a space so narrow, that take hold of Josephine's arm. Take care to walk very slowly ; and when he can keep his hands on the keys of two doors, one of iron bars, and the you cross the large registering-room, you will put on my gloves and cover other towards the outer part, and which is called the first wicket. This your face with my handkerchief. I had some thoughts of putting on a man looked at me without opening his doors. I passed my right hand 'veil, but unfortunately I have not been accustomed to wear one when I between the bars, to show him I wished to go out. He turned, at Come here ; it is therefore of no use to think of it. Take great care, last, his two keys, and we got out. There my daughter did not mistake when you pass under the doors, which are very low, not to break the again, but took my right arm. We had a few steps to ascend to come to feathers of your bonnet, for then all would be lost. I always find the the yard ; but, at the bottom of the staircase there is a guardhouse of turnkeys in the registering-room, and the jailer generally hands me to gendarmes. About twenty soldiers, headed by their officer, had placed any chair, which constantly stands near the entrance-door ; but this time themselves a few paces from me to see Madame de Lavallette pass. At it will be in the yard, at the top of the grand staircase. There you will last, I slowly reached the last step, and went into the chair that stood a be met after a short time by M. Baudus, who will lead you to the cabrio- yard or two distant But no chairman, no servant was there. My daughter let, and will acquaint you with the place where you are to remain con- and the old woman remained standing next to the vehicle, with a sentry at reeled. Afterwards, let God's will be clone, my dear. Do exactly all I six paces from them, immoveable, and his eyes fixed on me. A violent de- tell you. Remain calm. Give me your hand, I wish to feel your pulse. gree of agitation began to mingle with my astonishment. My looks were Very well. Now feel mine. Does it denote the slightest emotion ?' I directed towards the sentry's musket, like those of a serpent towards its could perceive that she was in a high fever. ` But above all things,' she prey. It almost seemed to me that I held that musket in my grasp. added, ' let us not give way to our feelings—that would be our ruin. I At the first motion, at the first noise, I was resolved to seize it. I felt gave her, however, my marriage-ring, and on the pretence that if I were as if I possessed the strength of ten men ; and I would most cu.. stopped in my journey to the frontiers, it would be advisable not to have tainly have killed whoever had attempted to lay hands on me. This any thing about me by which I might be known. She then called my terrible situation lasted about two minutes, but they seemed to me daughter and said to her, ' Listen attentively, child, to what I am going as long as a whole night. At last I heard Bonneville's voice saying-to me, to say to you, for I shall make you repeat it. I shall go away this even- • One of the chairmen was not punctual, but I have found another.' At ing at seven o'clock instead of eight ; -Jou must walk behind me, because the same instant, I felt myself raised. The chair passed through the vou know that the doors are narrow - but when we enter the long regis- great court, and, on getting out, turned to the right. We proceeded to tering-room, take care to place yourself on my left hand. The jailer is the Quai des Orfevres, facing the Rue de Harley. There the chair accustomed to offer me his arm on that side, and I do not choose to take stopped ; and my friend Baudus, offering me his arm, said aloud, ' You it. When we are out of the iron gate, and ready to go up the outside know, Madame, you have a visit to pay to the President.' I got out, and staircase, then pass to my right-hand, that those impertinent gendarmes he pointed to a cabriolet that stood at some distance in that dark street. of the guard-house may not stare in my face as they always do. Have I jumped into it, and the driver said to me, ' Give me my whip' I looked you understood me well ?' The child repeated the instructions with won. for it in vain ;—he had dropped it. ' Never mind,' said my companion. derful exactness. She had scarcely finished when St. Roses came to us. A motion of the reins made the horse start off in a quick trot. In pass- He had got introduced under the pretence of accompanying Madame de ing by, I saw Josephine on the Quai, her hands clasped, and fervently Lavallette home ; but his real aim was to see me once more, for he was offering up prayers to God. We crossed the Pont St. Michel, the Rue de not in our confidence. His presence would have been a great restraint la Harpe, and we soon reached the Rue de Vaugirard, behind the Odeon upon us. I took him therefore aside, and said to him, `Leave us now, theatre. It was not till then that I breathed at ease. In looking at the ray friend. Emilie has as yet no idea of her misfortune. We must let driver of the cabriolet, how great was my astonishment to recognize

her continue in her ignorance. Come back at eight o'clock ; but do not come in if the sedan-chair is no longer there. In that case, go imme- Count Chassenon, whom I was very far from expecting to find there. diately to her house, for she will be there.' ble-barrelled pistols, well loaded; I hope you will make use of them.?

"I embraced him, and forced him out of the door. But there soon ' No, indeed, I will not compromise you." Then I shall set you the ex- came another visitor; it was Colonel Briqueville, whose wounds had kept ample, and wo to whoever shall attempt to stop your sight.' him at home for above two months. He had not expected to see my wife, " We entered the new Boulevard, at the corner of the Rue Plumet : and he soon perceived that his presence might be intrusive, though lie there we stopped. I placed a white pocket-handkerchief in the front of was not yet acquainted with the whole extent of my horrible situation. the cabriolet. This was the signal agreed upon with M. Baudus. During So great was his emotion, that I was afraid it would become contagious. the way, I had thrown off all the female attire with which I was disguised, ' Leave us,' I whispered to him : ' this is the last time I see her. One and put on a dicky great-coat with a round silver-laced hat. M. Baudus moment's weakness may kill her.' At last we remained alone. I looked soon joined us. I took leave of M. de Chassenon, and modestly followed at Emilie ; I thought of all the obstacles I should find in my way, and my new master. It was eight o'clock in the evening; it poured of rain; which would overwhelm us. A fatal idea crossed my mind: ' suppose,' the night was extremely dark, and the solitude complete in that part of said I, ' you were to go to the jailer and offer him one hundred thousand the Faubourg St. Germain. I walked with difficulty. M. Baudus went :francs if he will shut his eyes when I pass : he will perhaps consent, and on more rapidly, and it was not without trouble that I could keep up we shall all be saved' She looked at me for a moment in silence, and with him. I soon left one of my shoes in the mire, but I was, neverthe- then replied, '.Well, I will go' She went out and came back after a few less, obliged to get on. We saw gendarmes galloping along, who were minutes. I already repented the step I had made her take. I was sensible undoubtedly in search of me, and never imagined that I was so near then. how useless, how imprudent it was. But when she returned, she said to Finally, after one hour's walk, fatigued to death, with one shoe on, and .me calmly, ' It is of no use. I drew from the jailer but a few words, and one off, we arrived in the Rue de Grenelle, near the Rue de Bac, whereld. these were sufficient to convince me of his honesty, therefore let us think Baudus.stopped for a moment. ` I am going,' he said, ' to enter a noble.so more of it. man's hotel. While I speak to the porter, get into the court. You mall

I, went in an open carriage to St. Germain, and stopped at Madame Cam- table, an old nurse of ours, Madame Dutoit, who had accompanied Jose. pan's. The visit was a great event at the boarding-school : all the young phine, came in very ill. Madame de Lavallette had left her in the reg.is: girls were at the windows, in the parlours, or in the court-yard, for they tering-room, intending to send her after me when I should be gone ; but had obtained a holiday. We soon entered the gardens. Among the forty the heat of the German stove and her emotion had made her so ill, and young ladies, I sought anxiously her who was to be my wife. Her cou- she had so long insisted on seeing me once more, that the turnkey let her sin, Hortense, led her to us, that she might salute the General, and em- in without the permission of the jailer. Far from being useful to us, the brace her aunt. She was, in truth, the prettiest of them all. Her sta- poor woman only added to our confusion. She might lose her presence ture was tall, and most gracefully elegant ; her features were eharming ; of mind at the sight of my disguise ; but what was to be done? The first and the glow of her beautiful complexion was heightened by her confu- object was to make her cease her moanings, and Emilie said to her in s sion. Her bashfulness was so great, that the General could not help low but firm voice, ' No childishness. Sit down to table, but do not eat; laughing at her ; but he went no further. It '.vas decided th It we should • hold your tongue, and keep this smelling bottle to your nose. In less breakfast on the grass in the garden. In the mean while I felt extremely than an hour you will be in the open air'

uneasy. Would she like me? Would she obey without relue.:ance ? This "This meal, which to all appearance was to be the last of my life, was abrupt marriage, and this speedy departure, grieved me. When we got terrible. The bits stopped in our throats ; not a word was uttered by any up, and the circle was broken, 1 begged Eugene to conduct his cousin of us, and in that situation we were to pass almost an hour. Six and into a solitary walk. I joined them, and he left us. I then entered on three-quarters struck at last. ' I only want five minutes, but 1 must speak the delicate subject. I made no secret of my birth, nor of my want of to Bonneville,' said Madame de Lavalette. She pulled the bell, and the fortune ; and added : ' I possess nothing in the world but my sword, and valet-de-chambre came in ; she took him aside, whispered a few words to the good-will of the General ; and I must leave you in a fortnight. Open him, and added aloud, ' Take care that the chairmen be at their posts, for your heart to me. I feel myself disposed to love you with all my soul; I am coming. Now,' she said to me, ' it is time to dress'

but that is not sufficient. If this marriage does not please you, repose a " A part of my room was divided off by a screen, and formed a sort of full confidence in me ; it will not he difficult to find a pretext to break dressing-closet. We stepped behind the screen, and, while she was it off. I shall depart ; you will not be tormented, for I will keep your dressing me with charming presence of mind and expedition, she said to secret.' me, ' Do not forget to stoop when you go through the doors; walk slowly " While I was speaking, she kept her eyes fixed on the ground; her only through the registering-room, like a person exhausted with fatigue' hi answer was a smile, and she gave me the nosegay she held in her hand. less than three minutes my toilet was complete. We went back to the I embraced her. We returned slowly to the company ; and eight days room, and Emilie said to her daughter, ' What do you think of you, afterwards we went to the municipality. The following day, a poor priest, father ?' A smile of surprise and ineredulitfescaped the poor girl : ' I are who had not taken the oaths, married us in the small convent of the serious, my dear—what do you think of him V I then turned round, and Conception, in the Rue St. Honore. This was in some manner forbid- advanced a few steps : ' He looks very well,' she answered ; and her head den, but Emilie set a great importance on that point : her piety was fell again, oppressed, on her bosom. We all advanced in silence towards gentle and sincere." the door. I said to Emilie, ' The jailer comes in every evening after you

We now come to one of the results of this hasty affair. Let us are gone. Place yourself behind the screen, and make a little noise, as if

ou some piece of furniture. will think it is , and will

see the after conduct of the lady who consents by the expressive y go owere to again.moving i3y that means I shall gain a fewHe minutes, whichI are abso. offer of a flower. The following is the narrative of the escape. lutely necessary for me to get away.' She understood me, and I pullet' Let it be remembered that Madame LAvALLErrs was hardly re- the bell. ' Adieu l' she said, raising her eyes to Heaven. I pressed her Covered from childbed—that she was worn down with beseeching arm with my trembling hand, and we exchanged a look. If we had em.. the Court, with lying in wait for the King, with sitting on the braced, we had been ruined. The turnkey was heard; Emilie flew behind the screen ; the door opened ; I passed first, then my daughter, and lastly steps of the apartment of the Duchess D'ANGOULEME, with Madame Dutoit. After having crossed the passage, I arrived at the door thrusting or insinuating herself into the bureaus of the Ministers, of the registering-room. I was obliged, at the same time, to raise my added to all the misery of suspense. After all, she could coolly foot and to stoop lest the feathers of my bonnet should catch at the top feel her husband's pulse to ascertain whether he was fit for the of the door. I succeeded ; but, on raising myself again, I found myself enterprise : her own was in a fever, and yet she seemed calm. in the large apartment in the presence of five turnkeys, sitting, standing,

and coming in my way. I put my handkerchief to my face, and was " At five o'clock, Emilie came, accompanied by Josephine, whom I saw waiting for my daughter to place herself on my left hand. The child, again with as much surprise as pleasure. ' I believe,' she said, ' it is however, took my right hand ; end the jailer, coming down the stairs of better to take our child with us. 1 shall make her do with more docility his apartment, which was on the left hand, came up to me without what I want.' She was dressed in a pelisse of merino richly lined with hindrance, and, putting his hand on my arm, said to me, ' You are going; fur, which she was accustomed to put on over her light dress on leaving a away early, Madame.' He appeared much affected, and undoubtedly ball-room. She had taken in her reticule a black silk petticoat. ' This is thought m wife had taken an everlasting leave of her husband. It has

quite sufficient,' she said, ' to disguise you completely.' She then sent my been said, that hat my daughter and I sobbed aloud : the fact is, we scarcely daughter to the window, and added in a low voice, ' At seven o'clock pre- dared to sigh. I at last reached the end of the room. A turnkey sits cisely you must be ready ; all is well prepared. In going out you will there day and night, in a large arm-chair, and in a space so narrow, that take hold of Josephine's arm. Take care to walk very slowly ; and when he can keep his hands on the keys of two doors, one of iron bars, and the you cross the large registering-room, you will put on my gloves and cover other towards the outer part, and which is called the first wicket. This your face with my handkerchief. I had some thoughts of putting on a man looked at me without opening his doors. I passed my right hand 'veil, but unfortunately I have not been accustomed to wear one when I between the bars, to show him I wished to go out. He turned, at Come here ; it is therefore of no use to think of it. Take great care, last, his two keys, and we got out. There my daughter did not mistake when you pass under the doors, which are very low, not to break the again, but took my right arm. We had a few steps to ascend to come to feathers of your bonnet, for then all would be lost. I always find the the yard ; but, at the bottom of the staircase there is a guardhouse of turnkeys in the registering-room, and the jailer generally hands me to gendarmes. About twenty soldiers, headed by their officer, had placed any chair, which constantly stands near the entrance-door ; but this time themselves a few paces from me to see Madame de Lavallette pass. At it will be in the yard, at the top of the grand staircase. There you will last, I slowly reached the last step, and went into the chair that stood a be met after a short time by M. Baudus, who will lead you to the cabrio- yard or two distant But no chairman, no servant was there. My daughter let, and will acquaint you with the place where you are to remain con- and the old woman remained standing next to the vehicle, with a sentry at reeled. Afterwards, let God's will be clone, my dear. Do exactly all I six paces from them, immoveable, and his eyes fixed on me. A violent de- tell you. Remain calm. Give me your hand, I wish to feel your pulse. gree of agitation began to mingle with my astonishment. My looks were Very well. Now feel mine. Does it denote the slightest emotion ?' I directed towards the sentry's musket, like those of a serpent towards its could perceive that she was in a high fever. ` But above all things,' she prey. It almost seemed to me that I held that musket in my grasp. added, ' let us not give way to our feelings—that would be our ruin. I At the first motion, at the first noise, I was resolved to seize it. I felt gave her, however, my marriage-ring, and on the pretence that if I were as if I possessed the strength of ten men ; and I would most cu.. stopped in my journey to the frontiers, it would be advisable not to have tainly have killed whoever had attempted to lay hands on me. This any thing about me by which I might be known. She then called my terrible situation lasted about two minutes, but they seemed to me daughter and said to her, ' Listen attentively, child, to what I am going as long as a whole night. At last I heard Bonneville's voice saying-to me, to say to you, for I shall make you repeat it. I shall go away this even- • One of the chairmen was not punctual, but I have found another.' At ing at seven o'clock instead of eight ; -Jou must walk behind me, because the same instant, I felt myself raised. The chair passed through the vou know that the doors are narrow - but when we enter the long regis- great court, and, on getting out, turned to the right. We proceeded to tering-room, take care to place yourself on my left hand. The jailer is the Quai des Orfevres, facing the Rue de Harley. There the chair accustomed to offer me his arm on that side, and I do not choose to take stopped ; and my friend Baudus, offering me his arm, said aloud, ' You it. When we are out of the iron gate, and ready to go up the outside know, Madame, you have a visit to pay to the President.' I got out, and staircase, then pass to my right-hand, that those impertinent gendarmes he pointed to a cabriolet that stood at some distance in that dark street. of the guard-house may not stare in my face as they always do. Have I jumped into it, and the driver said to me, ' Give me my whip' I looked you understood me well ?' The child repeated the instructions with won. for it in vain ;—he had dropped it. ' Never mind,' said my companion. derful exactness. She had scarcely finished when St. Roses came to us. A motion of the reins made the horse start off in a quick trot. In pass- He had got introduced under the pretence of accompanying Madame de ing by, I saw Josephine on the Quai, her hands clasped, and fervently Lavallette home ; but his real aim was to see me once more, for he was offering up prayers to God. We crossed the Pont St. Michel, the Rue de not in our confidence. His presence would have been a great restraint la Harpe, and we soon reached the Rue de Vaugirard, behind the Odeon upon us. I took him therefore aside, and said to him, `Leave us now, theatre. It was not till then that I breathed at ease. In looking at the ray friend. Emilie has as yet no idea of her misfortune. We must let driver of the cabriolet, how great was my astonishment to recognize

' What I' I said, ' is it you ?'—' Yes; and you have behind you four dou.

" Dinner was at last brought up. Just as we were going to sit down to find a staircase on your left hand. Go up to the highest story. 60

through a dark passage you will meet with to the right, and at the bottom of which is a pile of wood. Stop thae. We then walked a few steps up the Rue de Bac, and I was seized with a sort of giddiness when I saw lam knock at the door of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Duke de Richelieu. M. Baudus went in first ; and, while he was talking to the porter, who thrust his head out of his lodge, I passed rapidly by. Where is that man going V cried the porter. ' it is my servant.' I quickly went up to the third floor, and reached the place that had been described to me. I was scarcely there, when I heard the rustling of a silk gown. 1 felt myself gently taken by the arm, and pushed into an apartment, the door of which was immediately shut upon me. I stepped on towards a lighted fire, which cast around the room a very faint glimmering. Hav- ing placed ray hands upon the stove to warm myself, I found a candle- stick and a bundle of matches. I guessed that I might light a candle. I did so ; and I examined my new abode. It was a middle-sized room, on the garret-floor. The furniture consisted of a very clean bed, a chest of drawers, two chairs, and a small German stove, of earthenware. On the chest of drawers I found a paper, on which the following words were

written Make no noise. Never open your window but in the night, wear slippers of list, and wait with patience.' Next to this paper was a bottle of excellent claret, several volumes of Moliere and Rabelais, and a basket containing sponges, perfumed soap, almond-paste, and all the little utensils of a gentleman's dressing-box. The delicate attentions and the neat handwriting of the note made me guess that my hosts combined with their most generous feelings, elegant and refined manners. But why was I in the Hotel of Foreign Affairs ? I had never seen the Duke de Richelieu. M. Baudus was indeed attached to that department, but in a very indirect manner. I could not have inspired any interest in the King. Besides, in that case, it would have been more natural to pardon me. If I was there by the connivance of the Minister, what reason could he have ha:1 to violate his sacred duties, belie the loyalty lie owed to his so- s ereign, associate himself with the party of Bonaparte, and protect a cri- minal sentenced for a conspiracy ?"

After the confinement of some time in these apartments, LAVAL- LETTE ultimately got out of Paris, by the assistance of our coun- trymen, who have long received the reward of their generous conduct in fame. His wife was brutally treated in prison ; and for twelve years after her enlargement, suffered under an aberra- tion of intellect: melancholy and despondence were the sad effects of her heroic conduct : the instrument had been too highly strung. We believe she still survives, and has recovered from the effects of her malady.

LAVALLETTE, we have already remarked, was much trusted by NAPOLEON; probably no other man had closer opportunities of viewing his real character. We do not, indeed, gather that LA- VALLETTE, though a brave, upright, and perhaps a clever man, was qualified to appreciate and analyze the character of his great chief. His intimacy and his relationship, however, enabled him to see much ; and he has recorded many anecdotes of a character- istic nature. He says that NAPOLEON always turned to him when fortune was adverse—when affected with any unusual calamity he invariably sent for LAVALLETTE. We certainly find them toge- ther in all the crises of NAPOLEON'S fate. LAVALLETTE was with BONAPARTE in the first campaign of Italy; he accompanied him to Egypt as his aid-de-camp; he went to the Council of Five Hundred with him, when NAPOLEON took his first great step to the Dictatorship ; and during the many years he held the impor- tant office of Director of the Posts, was his constant agent and assistant in all his great undertakings. When NAPOLEON went to Elba, he left a considerable portion of his treasure with LAVAL- LETTE ; and on his return he was nearly the first person to whom he gave an audience, and when he fled, to the coast almost the last.

The history of the sum of nearly two millions of francs which NAPOLEON deposited, is curious in itself, and important from its connexion with the history and fate of LAVALLETTE. He tells it thus- " The day before the Emperor left Paris for the fatal campaign of Rus- sia, he kept me with him at the close of the evening; and after giving me all the necessary orders for his journey, he said to me : Go to the Grand Marshal ; he will give you drafts on the Treasury for 1,600,000 francs. You will convert them secretly into gold, which the Minister of the Treasury will procure you the means of doing; and you will wait my orders to send it me' So much gold was difficult to hide. I addressed myself to the keeper of the Ordnance Dep8t (M. Regnier), who was a very ingenious mechanic, and who made for me, in a very clever manner, several boxes which looked exactly like as many quarto volumes. Each of them contained 30,000 francs, and I placed them in my library. When the Emperor came back from the Russian campaign, he seemed to have entirely forgotten the money, and he returned to Germany for the cam- paign of Leipsic without giving me any particular orders on the subject. The only reply he made to my question respecting it was, ' We shall speak of that when I come home.' At last, when, a few months afterwards, he was going to leave Paris for the campaign of France, I insisted on his relieving me from the charge of a treasure, for which I might perhaps riot be able to answer in the midst of the important events that might threaten Paris. Well, then,' he said, hide it at your country seat.' It was in vain that I remonstrated, observing, that the castle of La Verriere, situated on the roadleading from Versailles to Rambouillet, might be plun- dered by stragglers of the enemy ; that my occupation in Paris never per- mitted me to remain long in the country, and that chance and the slightest imprudence might make me lose the money. He would listen to nothing, and I was forced to obey. My steward was an honest and intelligent man. He made, in my presence, during several nights, a hole under the floor of a closet on the ground floor. There we deposited the fifty-four volumes of Ancient and Modern History. Never would any work have been read with more eagerness, nor appreciated nearer to its real value. The inlaid floor was carefully replaced, and nothing was suspected. The taking of Paris threw the Emperor into Fontainebleau. I most ardently wished to share his fate, or at least to receive probably his last orders. But he sent me word by the Duke de Vicenza, that it would be dangerous if I 'were to come to see him ; that he wished use to remain in Paris, where I might act as I pleased ; and that he would let me know at some later period how I was to dispose of his money.

• " That circumstance was one of the motives that made me keep so carefully at a distance from Government. My attachment to the person of the Emperor, the oaths of allegiance I had made to him, my gratitude for his kindness and generosity, made me shudder at the idea of not de-

voting to him the remainder of my life; but, on the other hand, honour forbade me to embrace the party of the Bourbons, when I was placed in the necessity of maintaining a correspondence with him. What punish- ment would I not have suffered and deserved, if the King's Government, after having received my oath, had discovered that I had in my posses- sion a part of Napoleon's fortune, and that I disposed of it according to his orders ? At the time I was makins, those painful reflections, three hundred Prussians occupied the castle of Verriere. Fifteen slept in the. very room where the treasure was hid. These soldiers were far from sus- pecting that they would have had only to have raised with the points of their swords two boards of the floor, to fall upon heaps of gold. They re- mained there nearly two months. During all that time I was in continued agony. I expected every day to learn that all had been discovered. For- tunately the Prussians went away at last, and I was easy, at least in that respect." He afterwards sent 800,000 francs of this sum, by means of EUGENE BEAUHARNOIS, to Elba.

The deposit, and the consequent connexion which it necessarily kept up with the ex-Emperor, was one of the reasons which pre- vented LAVALLETTE from doing as every body else did—apply- ing to the restored Government for employment and making his terms. He could not accept the confidence of Louis the Eighteenth, while he was in some measure in that of NAPOLEON. He consequently held off, acquired the name of an obstinate adhe- rent, was suspected of corresponding traitorously, and was instantly ready for employment on NAPOLEON'S return from Elba ; nay, he anticipated it, for when he heard of the Emperor's approach, he walked into his accustomed bureau of Postmaster-General, and the Bouibonite Count FERRARD walked out. The old clerks hailed their former chief, and he resumed his place by acclamation. NAPOLEON confirmed his appointment, but for three months would not give him a patent, saying that LAVALLETTE was there by con- quest : " he had conquered the Post-Office." This was afterwards made a great crime : after the Hundred Days, he was tried, not only for conspiring the Emperor's return, but for " usurping the public authority " previous to it. There was a conspiracy to procure the Emperor's return ; and NEY, FOUCHE, and many others were concerned in the plot ; but it had not taken any decided steps when the Emperor landed him- self, without any aid. The most efficient movers were LALLE- MAND and the EXCELMANS. LAVALLETTE declares that he took no part in it, but on the contrary, exhorted them to be quiet, and leave the Emperor to take his own measures. He thus tells us of the manner in which he first learned the news of the Emperor's arrival, and of its effects upon CAULAINCOURT and some of NAPO- LEON'S nearest connexions.

"I was crossing the Tuileries at nine o'clock in the morning, when I perceived on the steps of the gate leading to the Rue de Rivoli, M. Paul Lagarde, late Commissary:general of the Police in Italy. I saluted him with my hand in passing by, and continued my way under the trees, towards the terrace on the water-side. Hearing some person near me, I was going to turn round, when the following words were whispered in my ear :—' Make no gestures; show no surprise; do not stop ; the Emperor landed at Cannes on the 1st of March ; the Count d'Artois set off last night to oppose him.' It would be impossible for me to express the confusion into which these words threw me. I could scarcely breathe from emotion : I continued walking like an inebriated man, and repeating to myself= Is it possible ? Is it not a dream, or the most cruel mockery ?' When I arrived on the terrace on the water-side, I met the Duke de Vicenza, went up to him, and I repeated to him the news word for word, and in the same tone of voice, in which I had just received it. He being of a hasty temper, and accustomed to view things

on the worst side, exclaimed What an extravagance ! How ! to land without troops ! He will be taken ; he will not advance two leagues into France; he is a lost man. But it is impossible ! However,' he added, it is but too true that the Count d'Artois set off hastily last night'

" The ill-humour of the Duke de Vicenza and his fatal forebodings were irksome to me. I left him, to indulge at liberty the joy I experienced: At home I found no one who would share it. Madame Lavallette was dismayed at the news, and drew sad omens from it. I ran to the Duchess of St. Leu, and found her bathed in tears of joy and emotion. After the lapse of a few moments, we began to calculate the immense distance be- tween Cannes and Paris. What will the generals do that command on that road ? What the public authorities ? What the troops ? What effect will the arrival of the Count d'Artois produce ?' It appeared to us as if nothins, could resist the Emperor ; and we concluded that, when once he should arrive at Lyons, all opposition would become impossible. From that moment the Duchess closed her door."

LAVALLETTE'S description of NAPOLEONS entry into the Tuile- ries is highly animated, and marks the enormous strength of the party NAPOLEON had left behind. Six hundred half-pay officers awaited him in the court : like vultures, they had snuffed the scent of battle from afar. The tedium of waiting his arrival was en- livened by an agreeable incident, which diversifies the scene of a great event. " Soon after, the ladies of the household and those of the Empress came to join them. The fleurs-de-lis had everywhere superseded the bees. However, on examining the large carpet spread over the floor of the audience-chamber where they sat, one of the ladies perceived that a flower was loose : she took it off, and the bee soon reappeared. Imme- diately all the ladies set to work, and in less than half an hour, to the great mirth of the company, the carpet again became Imperial."

NAPOLEON naturally enough felt he was but half restored while his wife and child were in the hands of an enemy and a foreign power : he consequently expressed his desire for their return. LAVALLETTE here enters upon a delicate and mysterious question which seems to receive some confirmation from subsequent events.. The authority of CAULAINCOURT carries no little weight with it. " Napoleon had undoubtedly expected that the Empress and his son would be restored to him : he had, at least, published his wishes as a cer- tainty; and it was, in fact, the worst thing the Emperor of Austria could have done. His hope was, however, soon destroyed. About a month after his arrival, the Duke de Vicenza called upon me, and.presented. to me a letter without address, which a courier, Just arrived from Vienna,.

had delivered to him among several others, saying that it had been sent to him by M. de* • •, who had not dared to put the direction on it. I was not intimate enough with M. de * • " to suppose he could have writ- ten to me, so I refused to take the letter. Caulaincourt said: Be not too hasty ; I am convinced it is for you. You would perhaps do well to open it ; for if you persist, I shall give it to the Emperor.' You may do so,' 'I replied ; I have no interests in Vienna, and I wish the Emperor may read it.'

" In the evening I was summoned tothe palace. I found the Emperor in a dimly-lighted closet, warming himself in a corner of the fireplace, and appearing to suffer already from the complaint which never afterwards left him. ' Here is a letter,' he said, which the courier from Vienna says is meant for you ; read it' On first casting my eyes on the letter, I thought I knew the handwriting of * • • ' • but as it was long, I read it slowly, and came at last to the principal object. The writer said, that we ought not to reckon upon the Empress, as she did not even attempt to conceal her hatred of the Emperor, and was disposed to approve of all the measures that could be taken against him ; that her return was not to be thought of, as she herself would raise the greatest obstacles in the way of it, in case it should be proposed ; finally, that it was not possible for him

to dissemble his indignation ; that the Empre,,s, wholly enamoured of * *, did not even take pains to hide her ridiculous partiality for that man, who had made himself master of her mind as well as of her person.

The handwriting of the letter was disguised, yet not so much but that I was able to discover whose it was. I found, however, in the manner in which the secret was expressed, a warmth of zeal and a picturesque style, that did not belong to the author of the letter. While reading it, I all of a sudden suspected it was a counterfeit, and intended to mislead the Em- peror. I communicated my idea to him, and the danger I perceived in this fMud. As I grew more and more animated, I found plausible reasons enough to throw the Emperor himself into some uncertainty. How is it possible,' I said, that * * should have been imprudent enough to write such things to me, who am not his friend, and who have had so little connexion with him ? How can one suppose that the Empress should forget herself, in such circumstances, so far as to manifest hatred to you, and, still more, to cast herself away upon a man who undoubtedly still possesses some power to please, but who is no longer young—whose face

is disfigured, and whose person, altogether, has nothing agreeable in it ?' —` But,' answered the Emperor, • • * is attached to me ; and though he is not your friend, the postscript sufficiently explains the motive of the confidence he places in you' The following words were, in fact, written at the bottom of the letter:—' I do not think you ought to mention the truth to the Emperor; but make whatever use of it you think proper.' I persisted, however, in maintainiin,° that the letter was a counterfeit ; and the Emperor then said to me : 'Go to Caulaincourt. He possesses a great many others of the same handwriting. Let the comparison decide between your opinion and mine.'

" I went to Caulaincourt, who said eagerly to me, ' I am sure the letter is from s ' ; and I have not the least doubt of the truth of the particu- lars it contains. The best thing the Emperor can do, is to be comforted: there is nothing to be expected from that side.'

"So sad a discovery was very painful to the Emperor ; for he was sin- cerely attached to the Empress, and still hoped again to see his son, whom he loved most tenderly."

The Emperor now turned his attention to the means of resisting the enemies whom his return from Elba had caused to rise up in every direction. He departed "to gain a victory,"—the indispen- sable commencement, according to his code, of every grand sys- tem of action : lie was willing to listen to all possible good advice, and to pursue the best possible system, but it must be " after vic- tory." The sort of victory he gained is very forcibly depicted in the following brief extract.

" At last I learned the fatal news of the battle of Waterloo, and the next morning the Emperor arrived. I flew to the Elys6e to see him : he ordered me into his closet ; and as soon as he saw me, he came to meet me with a frightful epileptic laugh. Oh ! my God !' he said, raising his eyes to heaven, and walking two or three times up and down the room. This appearance of despair was, however, very short. He soon recovered his coolness, and asked me what was going forward at the Chamber of Representatives. I could not attempt to hide that exasperation was there carried to a high degree, and that the majority seemed determined to re. quire his abdication,. and to pronounce it themselves if he did not send it willingly. Flow is that ?' he said. If proper measures are not taken, the enemy will be before the gates in eight days. Alas!' he added, I have accustomed them to such great victories, that they know not how to bear one day's misfortune ! What will become of poor France? I have done all I could for her.'"

After the Russian campaign, he had in the same manner felt the necessity of gaining a " victory,"—which to his pride seemed the

only starting-point. atisfied with the scene of recommending his wife and child to the National Guards in the Tuileries, which was witnessed with extraordinary enthusiasm, he wanted LAVALLETTE to place some confidence in these ebullitions of loyalty: but the Director of the Posts had just been disappointed in his command of the said Guards, and would not.

" I saw the Eniperor again in the evening : he spoke to me of what had happened in the morning. I told him freely that the disposition of the public mind would remain good as long as the enemy should not come near Paris; • but that it ought not to be put to the test if the enemy ap- proached. He smiled, and, pulling me by the ear accordingto his custom, he said—' You old Roman ! you have no illusions." No, Sire,' 1 replied; but I rest great hopes on this campaign, and a fine victory will do more good than all this morning's enthustasm."Ah l' said he, getting into bed,' it must be gained !' " It was gained—many victories were gained—but all would not do : Europe was upon him, and the inspirations of his military genius went for nothino- These Memoirs of LAVALLETTE, our opinion of the value of which we show by the space we have assigned to them, are now about to be published simultaneously in London and Paris. The author left them behind him, with directions that they should only be published after his death.