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Ch. VIII.]
the Emperor Napoleon.
85

tion, and she resisted the inroads of time, to all appearance, by the exquisite taste of her parure."

Napoleon afterwards spoke of the empress Marie Louise with great kindness and affection. He said she would have followed him to St. Helena if she had been allowed, and that she was an amiable creature, and a very good wife. He possessed several portraits of her. They were not very attractive, and were seen to disadvantage when contrasted, as they generally were, with his own handsome and intellectual looking family.

The emperor retired early this evening. He had been in low spirits since receiving his visitor, and after the portraits of the empress Josephine and Maria Louisa had been produced, he appeared absorbed in mournful reflection, and was still more melancholy and dejected for the rest of the evening.

His visitor proved to be a Count Piout-

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