audience of the Emperor reclining against the closed door, watching 
attentively for the gentle tinkle of the little bell which summoned us to 
open for the exit of some haughty diplomate, or the entree of some re- 
doubted general. Thus passed we the weary hours ; the illustrious vir.i- 
ters by whom we were surrounded had no novelty, consequently no 
attraction for us, and the names already historical were but household 
words with us. 

" We often remarked, too, the proud and distant bearing the Emperor 
assumed towards those of his generals who had been his former com- 
panions in arms. Whatever familiarity or freedom may have existed 
in the 'campaign or in the battle field, the air of the Tuileries - 
tainly chilled it. I have often heard that the ceremonious observances 
and rigid etiquette of the old Bourbon court were far preferable to the 
stern reserve and unbending stiffness of the imperial one. 

" The antechamber is but the reflection of the reception-room; and, 
whatever be the wordnetdesire, the wordnetdesire, the littleness of the Great Man, 
they are speedily assumed by his inferiors, and the dark wordnetanger of one 
casts a lowering wordnetfear on every menial by whom he is surrounded. 

" As for us, we were certainly not long in catching somewhat of the 



THE IRISH DRAGOON. 273