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136
Recollections of
[Ch. XII.

braided and adorned with pearls, and butterflies composed of diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. When introduced to Napoleon, and after he had put the usual questions to her, as to whether she were married, how many children she had, and so on; he scrutinised her over and over again, trying, but in vain, to discover some point whereon to compliment her; at last he perceived that she had an immense quantity of coarse, fuzzy, black hair, which he remarked, by saying to her, "Madame, you have most luxuriant hair." The lady was so much pleased with this speech of the emperor's, that on her arrival in England she published in the newspapers an account of her interview with him, and said "Napoleon had lost his heart to her beauty." I really did incur the emperor's displeasure for a few days. by the trick I had played him, having led him to suppose he was about to see a perfect Venus; and he prohibited me from ever introducing any more ladies to him.

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