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182
Recollections of
[Ch. XVI.

borrowed from the heart." He would frequently rail at the island in no measured language; I always defended it in proportionate terms of praise. Sometimes he laughed at my impertinence, and at others he would pinch my ear, and ask me how I could possibly dare to have an opinion on the subject.

The emperor had that great charm in social life, of being amused and interested in matters of triffing import. It seems to me to be an attribute of his countrymen, from which, no doubt, they derive that vivacity and talent de société generally possessed by them, but which, from our inherent reserve and national shyness, would sit awkwardly on us, English. It would be something like the statue of Hercules in the National Gallery stepping from his pedestal and taking Cerito's place in the "Pas de l'Ombre." Napoleon was very fond of extracting from me my little store of knowledge, acquired

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