an honourable peace.  De B. expressed his regret that peace had not been made at Chatillon.  “I never could put any confidence,” said Napoleon, “in the good faith of our enemies.  Every day they made fresh demands, imposed fresh conditions; they did not wish to have peace—­and then—­I had declared publicly to all France that I would not submit to humiliating terms, although the enemy were on the heights of Montmartre.”  De B. remarked that France within the Rhine would be one of the finest kingdoms in the world; on which Napoleon, after a pause, said—­“I abdicate; but I yield nothing.”  He ran rapidly over the characters of his principal officers, but dwelt on that of Macdonald.  “Macdonald,” said he, “is a brave and faithful soldier; it is only during these late events that I have fully appreciated his Worth; his connexion with Moreau prejudiced me against him:  but I did him injustice, and I regret much that I did not know him better.”  Napoleon paused; then after a minute’s silence—­“See,” said he, “what our life is!  In the action at Arcis-sur-Aube I fought with desperation, and asked nothing but to die for my country.  My clothes were torn to pieces by musket balls—­but alas! not one could touch my person!  A death which I should owe to an act of despair would be cowardly; suicide does not suit my principles nor the rank I have holden in the world.  I am a man condemned to live.”  He sighed almost to sobbing;—­then, after several minutes’ silence, he said with a bitter smile—­“After all they say, a living camp-boy is worth more than a dead emperor,”—­and immediately retired into the palace.  It was the last time De Bausset ever saw his master.

* * * * *

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

* * * * *

APRIL FOOLS.

  This day, beyond all contradiction,
  This day is all thine own, Queen Fiction! 
  And thou art building castles boundless
  Of groundless joys, and griefs as groundless;
  Assuring beauties that the border
  Of their new dress is out of order;
  And schoolboys that their shoes want tying;
  And babies that their dolls are dying. 
      Lend me, lend me, some disguise;
      I will tell prodigious lies: 
      All who care for what I say
      Shall be April fools to-day.

  First I relate how all the nation
  Is ruined by Emancipation: 
  How honest men are sadly thwarted;
  How beads and faggots are imported;
  How every parish church looks thinner;
  How Peel has asked the Pope to dinner;
  And how the Duke, who fought the duel,
  Keeps good King George on water-gruel. 
      Thus I waken doubts and fears
      In the Commons and the Peers;
      If they care for what I say,
      They are April fools to-day.