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tarily his, the court etiquette prevented him from advancing far to meet her, as the place of her reception had been fixed at Soissons,-however, he broke through restraint, so far as to advance four leagues beyond Soissons, when he found that he had arrived there before her, and their equipages met on the road. The Emperor alighted-threw himself into the chariot of the Princess-there was silence for a time, which she first broke, by saying, Sire, your portrait has not flattered you." "Napoleon was now forty-one. In his youth he had been very thin, of an olive colour, the form of his countenance long, and his eyes sunk,-altogether an unpleasant physiognomy. The fulness which he had acquired, with the increase of years, gave a greater roundness to his features; his skin had become whiter, his eyes had acquired lustre, and there was an air of nobleness and much expression in the play of his countenance."

For the first three months after his marriage, the Emperor was almost constantly with the Empress, day and night. The most urgent affairs could scarcely draw him away for a few moments, although naturally so much addicted to labour, and in the habit of wearying out his ministers, by keeping them at work for eight or ten hours at a time: now there was no getting him to attend to business. "Napoleon (says Madame Durand) was gay, familiar in his closer intercourse: he was fond of pulling ears, pinching checks, which he used often to practise on Marshal Duroc, Berthier, Savary, and many of his aides-de-camp. I have seen him assisting at the toilette of the Empress, tormenting her, pinching her neck and her cheek. If she seemed teazed, he would take her in his arms, embrace her, call her grosse bete,' and the peace was made." "One day, as he entered into one of the Empress's apartments, he saw a young lady sitting there, with her back turned towards the door. He made a signal to those in the room to be silent, and advancing softly behind her, he clapped his hands upon her eyes. She could not think of any one, but a M. Bourdier, a respectable old man, the Empress's head physician, who could permit himself to use such a familiarity, and not doubting but that it was he, 'give

FOL. V.

over, M. Bourdier,' she cried, don't you think I know your great ugly hands?' (The Emperor's were remarkably handsome.) 'Great ugly hands,' repeated the Emperor, restoring her the use of her sight, you are really difficult to please.' The poor young girl was so confused, that she was forced to take refuge in another chamber.-On another occasion, having accidentally trode on the foot of the lady who was assisting the Empress at her toilette, he uttered a loud cry as if he himself had been hurt. 'What is the matter?' said the Empress. Nothing,' he replied, with loud bursts of laughter, I only trode on Madame's foot, and I roared out to prevent her doing so, and you see I have succeeded.''

The establishment of the Empress was almost as much under shackles as that of an eastern haram. The Emperor was not at all jealous, but he seemed to think that the wife of Cæsar ought to be put out of the possibility of suspicion, and so there were apartments within apartments, and one set of ladies after another, and not a single man admitted without an express order from Napoleon himself. He was ridiculously scrupulous indeed about these observances. There were many jealousies, of course, among the attendants of the Empress, but Madame Montebello acquired the ascendancy in her favour. When Napoleon, as might be expected, became less constant in his attentions to his young wife, she stood in need of a female friend, and this lady, a woman of character, gained her confidence. She accordingly became a great object of hatred to most other ladies of the court. Even the mother and sisters of the Emperor complained of her influence. She showed, however, at the time of the Empress's confinement, that she was not unworthy of her attachment; for nine days and nights she scarcely ever quitted the apartment, and fulfilled, to her suffering mistress, every office of duty and affection. We must give in detail the account of the birth of the young Napoleon. It was a moment of deep interest, and presents an impressive contrast between the lively agitations, the hopes, and the exultation of the Emperor of France, and the joyless, hopeless, lazy-pacing hours of the exile of St Helena.

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"It was seven in the evening, when the Empress felt the first symptoms of her approaching labour. Dubois, the accoucheur, was then sent for, who never quitted her from that moment. She passed the whole night in pain, having beside her Madame de Montebello, Madame de Luçay, and Madame de Montesquieu, who was appointed governess of the infant about to be born; besides the two first ladies in waiting, Durand and Ballart, two chambermaids, and the nurse, Madame Blaise The Emperor, with his mother, his sisters, and Messrs Corvisart and Bourdier, was in an adjoining apartment, and came free quently into the chamber to learn how the Empress was going on. Her pains, which had been feeble throughout the whole night, entirely ceased at five in the morning. Dubois informed the Emperor he saw no pro spect of an immediate delivery, who then dismissed every body, and went himself to his bath. Dubois, and the ladies whom I have named, remained in the chamber. All the rest were assembled in the dressing

room.

"The Empress, worn out with fatigue, slept about an hour, and was then awoke by violent pains, which continually increased, but without bringing on the desired crisis, and Dubois had now the painful certainty that her delivery would be difficult and dangerous. He went to the Emperor, who was still in the bath, and begged him to come and encourage the Empress by his presence, and he did not conceal from him his fears that he should not be able to save both the mother and child. Think only of the mother,' cried Napoleon with eagerness, bestow your whole attention on her.'

"Napoleon, after having ordered all those who ought to be present to be called, hurried to the Empress, he embraced her tenderly, and exhorted her to have patience and courage. The physicians, Cor visart and Bourdier, and Yran the surgeon, now arrived, and assisted in supporting Maria Louisa. The feet of the child presented themselves, and Dubois was obliged to have recourse to his instruments to dis engage the head. The labour continued during twenty-six minutes, and was extremely severe. The Emperor could not reinain more than five minutes, he let go the hand of the Empress, which he had held within his, and retired into the dressing room as pale as death, and appearing quite bewildered. Every moment he sent in one of the women for intelligence. At length the child was born, and as soon as the Emperor was informed of it, he flew to his wife, and pressed her in his arms. Cambaceres was then introduced, whose duty it was, as Arch Chancellor of the empire, to certify the birth and sex of the child. He was followed by the Prince of Neuf

chatel, who, though he had no official right to be there, came through zeal and attachment. The infant remained for seven minutes without giving any sign of life; Napoleon cast his eyes on him for an instant, and believed he was dead, but he said not a word on the subject, giving his whole attention to the Empress. A few drops of brandy were put into the mouth of the child, he was gently patted all over with the palm of the hand, and covered with warm napkins; and at last he uttered a cry, and the Emperor flew to embrace a son, whose birth was to him the summit of felicity, and the last gift of Fortune, who was so soon to abandon him.

“This scene passed in presence of twenty-two persons, whom it is proper to name here, to confirm the authenticity of these details. They were the Emperor, Dubois, Corvisart, Bourdier, and Yran; Mesdames de Montebello, de Luçay, and de Montesquieu; the six first ladies in waiting, Mesdames Ballart, Deschamps, Durand, Hureau, Nabusson, and Gerard; five cham. ber maids, Mademoiselles Honoré, Edward, Barbier, Aubert, and Geoffroy; the nurse Madame Blaise, and two young wo men of the wardrobe. I say nothing of Cambaceres nor the Prince of Neufchatel, as they only came in after the birth of the infant. These circumstances demonstrate the absurdity of the story of a supposititious child. This could not have been managed in presence of so many witnesses; besides, it should be remembered, that on the one side of the chamber was the dressing-room, filled with persons in the service of the Empress, and on the other, several apartments, occupied by a crowd of ladies and gentlemen of the court, who were waiting with impatience for intelligence of the important event.

"It was known throughout Paris that the Empress was in labour, and from six in the morning the garden of the Tuilleries was crowded with people of all ages and conditions. Orders had been given that twenty-one guns should announce the birth of a princess, and that a hundred and one should be fired to celebrate the birth of a successor to the throne. At the sound of the first gun, the multitude, whe had before been noisy and tumultuous, maintained the most profound silence, which was only interrupted by those who in an under tone, counted the numbers one, two, three, &c. but when the twentysecond was heard, their enthusiasm burst out at once, in cries of joy, vivats and tossing of hats in the air, which contributed almost as much as the sound of the cannon to spread the news into all the quarters of Paris, Napoleon, placed behind a curtain at a window of the Empress's chamber, enjoyed the spectacle of the general transport, and appeared to be deeply moved by

it; and with his cheeks bathed in tears, he flew once more to embrace his son." To be continued.)

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE GREAT

FREDERIC.

THE crimes of Napoleon have been punished by a living death. A very singular book has come into our hands, relating to the last hours of the great King of Prussia. It is written by Zimmermann, who was called, in the year 1786, to attend him as a physician. Full of a ridiculous German admiration of the philosophic monarch, although the author himself was a religious man and a Christian, he lets us see, at the same time, with much naïveté, that such a terinination of existence as he describes (the king thought it was to be an eternal termination) was but a poor catastrophe for a hero and a legislator. We shall give our readers a quotation from it, which we think will both interest and instruct them. There is a good purpose to be served in shewing the base uses to which all human grandeur must return, especially when no brighter radiance gilds its close. At the same time, the King of Prussia, in this mortifying picture, does not appear without the occasional flashes both of his genius and his magnanimity. The contrast of great ness and littleness was never certain ly put in a more glaring light. From the sublime to the ridiculous there is, indeed, but one step.

"I entered the apartment of the king, whom I found sitting in a large elbow chair, with his back turned towards that side of the room by which I had entered. He had on his head a large hat, very much worn, ornamented with a plume of feathers equally ancient; and his dress consisted of a surtout of sky blue satin, all bedaubed, and tinged of a brownish yellow colour before, with Spanish snuff. He wore boots; and rested one of his legs, which was very much swelled, upon a stool; while the other hung down to the floor. When he perceived me, he pulled off his hat, in a very polite and affable manner; and in a mild tone of voice said, I return you many thanks, sir, for your kindness in coming hither, and for the speed with which you have performed your journey.' I was perfectly sensible that my journey had not been performed with very great dispatch; but, reflecting that his majesty could not be ignorant that, in the dry sea

"Zim. Very well-he is always active, lively, and full of spirits.

"Fred.I love the Duke of York as

tenderly as a father can love a son. "Zim.-The Duke of York is fully sensible of the value of the good opinion which your majesty entertains of him.

"Fred. You see I am very ill.

"Zim. Your majesty's eye is as good as when I had the honour of seeing you here fifteen years ago. I observe not the least diminution in that fire, and vigour, with which your majesty's eyes were then

animated.

“Fred.-Oh! I am grown very old, and I find myself extremely ill.

"Zim.-Germany and Europe are not sensible of your majesty's age and illness. "Fred. My occupations go on in their usual train.

Zim.Your majesty rises at four in the morning, and by that you prolong and double life.

“Fred.—I do not rise; for I never go to bed-I pass the whole night in this easy chair, in which you now see me.

"Zim. Your majesty wrote to me, that for seven months you have found great difficulty in breathing.

"Fred. I am asthmatic, but not dropsical.-You see, however, that my legs are much swollen.

"Zim.-Will your majesty permit me to examine your legs a little closer?

"Mr Schoening being called to pull off his majesty's boots, I kneeled down, examined his legs, the swelling of which extended as far as the thighs and held my tongue.

Fred. I have no dropsy.

"Zim.-A swelling of the legs is often joined with an asthma. Will your majesty permit me to feel your lower belly?

"Fred. My belly is big, because I am, troubled with flatulencies. There is certainly no water in it.

"Zim.-It is, indeed, distended, but it is not hard. May I take the liberty of feeling your majesty's pulse?

"His pulse, which was full and strong,

indicated a considerable degree of fever; he was much oppressed, and coughed almost without remission.

Zim. Your pulse is not weak. "Fred. It is impossible to cure me. "Zim. But your majesty may at least be relieved.

Fred. What would you advise me to do?

"Zim. At present nothing.I will go immediately and learn from your valet de chambre the whole history of your disorder, and read all that your majesty's physicians have written on the subject; after which I shall have the honour of telling you my sentiments.

Fred. That is proper-Schoening knows the whole.

"The king then taking off his hat, with much politeness, said, I thank you once more for your goodness in coming hither. -Be so kind as to return to-morrow at three."

"Having returned with Mr Shoening to the private secretary's office, without the castle, I did not disclose my sentiments respecting the king's disorder; but I had no reason to doubt that his case was decidedly dropsical. The state of his breast appeared also to be very suspicious; not only on account of the oppression, which might be owing to some separate cause, and of the water which might be accumulated; but because his majesty's fever and cough made me apprehend an abscess. What I told the king, concerning the little change which I observed in him since 1771, was true; but that, however, said very little. His visage was not only emaciated and thin, but appeared of that pale yellow colour, which always indicates a depravation of the fluids and solids; and which, in the like cases, is always a very unfavourable symptom. His hands were also discoloured and dry; his belly was greatly swelled; and his legs were not only in the same condition, as much as legs could be; but the swelling, as I have already said, extended even to the thighs.

"All the papers concerning the king's state were laid before me, by Mr Schoening. They consisted of a great number of letters, written by Professor Selle to the hussar who acted as his majesty's valet de chambre. This able physician kept up a daily correspondence with him, respecting the state of his majesty's health; but with all the caution and prudence necessary for so delicate a task.

"Mr Schoening then shewed me a correspondence between Mr Selle, the king's first physician, and Mr. Cothenius, his body physician, in which both parties at last displayed a little warmth. I saw, by these letters, that Mr Selle had with great sagacity observed and treated his majesty's case, from first to last. I learned also, that

the king had not taken the remedies prescribed for him, though the best that could be administered, and the most suitable for his disorder, above once or twice; and that he was a sworn enemy to medicines of every kind, except to a digestive powder composed of rhubarb, Glauber's salts, and a few other trifling ingredients, in which alone he had any faith. I learned, too, that no idea could be formed of the excess which the king allowed himself in his food; that his cooks were obliged to season all his dishes in such a manner, as was enough to destroy his stomach; that those which were most difficult of digestion were his greatest favourites; that he was passionately fond of Prussian peas, which are undoubtedly the hardest in the world, and would consequently be considered as coarse even in Lower Saxony and Westphalia; that this regimen was the cause of those complaints and vomitings, which often came upon him after dinner, and of those fits of the colic that attacked him several times every week; and that nobody durst venture to remonstrate with him on this subject: that when his physicians, Selle, Cothenius, Frese, and Theden, had prevailed upon him to try any remedies, he would never deviate from his usual mode of living: that sometimes he would praise a medicine after he had taken the first dose; but after the second, when attacked by his qualms, colic, and vomiting, or when he had passed a bad right, he always blamed the remedy which had been administered to him: that he railed then in a terrible manner against physicians and their art; and that, after having ha rangued the former as the King of Prus sia, he immediately dismissed them; that after he had sent away his physicians, he confined himself wholly to his regimen,” and a few insignificant remedies of his own: that his disorder had by these means increased to such a degree; and that it would probably continue the same to the end.

"Such was the account which I received from Mr Schoening. Every thing that he told me seemed to be stamped with the seal of truth. Of this I had convincing proofs the same day, and for some days following. Though I found little encouragement in Mr Schoening's relation, yet, on account of the favourable reception which I had met with from his majesty, and the trust I had in Providence, whose gracious assistance has, in the course of my life, delivered me from so many dangers, I returned quietly, and contentedly, from Sans-Souci to Potsdam, without anticipating in thought what was about to befal me the same day. I was to visit his majesty at three: at half after twelve, when I was just going to sit down to table, one of the king's chasseurs came to tell me, that his

majesty desired to see me as soon as I had dined. Without dining, I immediately set out and hurried as fast as I could to Sans Souci. In ascending the little hill before mentioned, a coach, in which were Count Luchesini and General Goertz, the king's usual guests at table, crossed the road before me, in its way from the palace. This alarmed me a good deal; because his - majesty, in general, never finished his dinner so soon. On my arrival, I learned from Mr Schoening, that, from morning till noon, the king had coughed without interruption; that he had a violent oppres sion; and that he expectorated a prodigious quantity of blood. On the first view, his majesty's situation seemed to be highly alarming: he could not speak ; coughed very much, and at every fit the blood flowed from his mouth. He could not breathe but after violent and painful efforts. I even thought every moment that my august patient would be stifled: sometimes he could not sit in his easy chair, but was obliged to stand up. All his strength seemed to be exhausted, and his head hung down, resting on his breast. Soon after he suffered himself to drop into his easy chair, where he immediately fell asleep: his face became agitated by convulsive motions; from time to time a rattling noise was heard in his throat; and his pulse was full, quick and strong, but at the same time regular.

6

"I stood a long time near him, before he could utter a single syllable, and before I could speak to him. Every moment he appeared as if about to be suffocated; and the first words which he said were, With all this, I have a violent colic.' Scarcely had I returned an answer, when he again fell asleep, and when the rattling in his throat and the convulsive motions returned. A violent fit of coughing soon roused him from his sleep, and the blood began to flow from his mouth as before. This melancholy scene continued half an hour, when his majesty found himself a little better: I asked permission to prescribe something for his relief, which occasioned the following conversation:

Fred. What do you intend to do? "Zim. To relieve your breast, and stop the spitting of blood.

"Fred. The spitting of blood is nothing; I expectorated fully as much in the war of seven years. What must I do for my colic?

"Zim. You must take a clyster. "Fred. It will soon go off like a pistol shot; but, however, I will try your remedy. What must be done besides ?

"Zim.-Every thing possible must be done, to ease your breast, without irritating the colic. Your majesty must take sal ammoniac with oxymel.

"Fred. Oxymel is of no service to me. What will the sal ammoniac do? "Zim.-It will cool and ease your breast, which is very necessary, and will not irritate the colic.

"Fred.Order some sal ammoniac for me; and afterwards tell me if you are at present well informed respecting my case.

"Zim. I am indeed: but I wish your majesty would be pleased to allow me to send to Berlin for Professor Selle, in order that we may concert a plan for the treatment of your disorder. Selle is better acquainted with your case than any one a since the beginning of it he has judged well, and always given your majesty good advice.

"With terrible looks, sparkling eyes, his head raised up, and a voice such as I never heard in my life, his majesty replied, I expected that plan from you.'

"Żim.-I will afterwards lay this plan before your majesty. At present 1 must endeavour, as much as possible, to relieve the symptoms of the moment.

"All the king's strength appeared to be exhausted by this conversation. He soon after fell into the same state of profound sleep, his head leaning on his breast, and convulsions appeared in his counte nance as before.

His majesty held in one of his hands a white handkerchief, which appeared as if it had been dipped in blood. It was of considerable importance to know whether there was not some pus mixed with the blood. Seeing, therefore, a white handker chief on the table near me, I took it up with one hand, and with the other gently drew towards me that which the king held, when he suddenly awoke, raised up his head, and darted a furious look at me but very luckily he soon dropped his hend again, and fell fast asleep. I then put into his hand, with a little more precaution, the handkerchief I had taken from the table; and on examining that which I took in exchange, I found pure blood with a very little phlegm, but no pus at all. The king remained a long time dozing, and always seemed to breathe with much difficulty. While he was in that state, the sal ammoniac was brought; and Frederic having at length awoke, I said, "Here is the sal ammoniac.' He shook his head, took the salt which I gave him, had a clyster administered, and again slept for an hour but the convulsive motions in his face still continued. During these painful moments, I was the only person with the king, while one or two hussars attended in the anti-chamber. I considered myself then as in an awkward situationstranger, and alone with the King of Prussia, who appeared to be angry with me on the first day of my arrival, before I had