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Ch. V.]
the Emperor Napoleon.
39

CHAPTER V.

O that those lips had language! Life has pass'd
With me but roughly since I heard thee last.
Those lips are thine. Thy own sweet smile I see.

Cowper.

NAPOLEON'S CONDESCENSION IN ENTERING INTO, AND PROMOTING THE AMUSEMENTS OF CHILDREN.—HIS BEAUTIFUL HAND.—ANECDOTE OF THE SWORD.—MINIATURES OF THE KING OF ROME AND OTHER BRANCHES OF THE EMPEROR'S FAMILY.—THE GAME OF WHIST.—THE BALL DRESS.

I never met with any one who bore childish liberties so well as Napoleon. He seemed to enter into every sort of mirth or fun with the glee of a child, and though I have often tried his patience severely, I never knew him lose his temper or fall back upon his rank or age, to shield himself from the consequences of his own familiarity, or of his indulgence to me. I looked upon him, in-

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