the preservation and improvement of his collection.

The late Prince of Benevente (Talleyrand de Perigord) was not a snuff-taker from devotion to the habit, but upon principle. The wily politician used to say, and doubtless Metternich, who was a confirmed snuff-taker, would agree with him, that all diplomatists ought to take snuff, as it afforded a pretext for delaying a reply, with which one might not be ready; it sanctioned the removal of one's eyes from those of the questioner; occupied one's hands, which might else convict one of nervous fidget; and, with one of them, partly concealed that feature least easily schooled into hiding or belying human feelingsthe mouth. If its workings were visible through the fingers, those twitches might be attributed to the agreeable irritation going on above. No wonder that ladies, lawyers, and other "hypocrites deserving praise," countenance a custom more pleasant and profitable than mask or fan, and certainly more becoming than spectacles (which were also recommended by the wary statesman, as excellent veils for the expression of a countenance); but for innocent flames, snuffing is more appropriate.

It is the common belief that Napoleon took snuff by bushels. Some, on the contrary, say his principal valet, Monsieur Constant, asserted that though his master very frequently passed a huge finger and thumbful close to his nose, in order to receive the odour thereof, he never admitted a single grain as an inside passenger, but scattered all when done with on the floor, and over his person. Has Mr. Gomersal (Ducrow's "Bonapartean archetype)," who seems to poke snuff up his nostrils, ever heard of this "historical doubt?" There may be nothing in it. Funny rogues will feed anecdote-mongers with marvels.

One will swear that Moore never sat for his picture; another that he sits once a week; as was said of Garrick, and Mathews cited as authority.

Another Frenchman states that he has seen the Emperor in Council; and that, during the discussion of any weighty matter, he would take handfuls, not pinches of snuff, out of his waistcoat pocket, in which he carried it loose, thus aping Frederick of Prussia, respecting whom we have spoken more fully elsewhere.

There were inconsistencies in the Emperor's character which may be accounted for by the hypothesis that he equivocated with snuff-wast

K

ing more than he could enjoy; he did the like by human property, and human life. Although he was often impoliticly, ungratefully rude, even to women, Josephine included, yet traits of his drollery and good humour were treasured by many. It is fair to infer that, now and then, a little snuff got into his head, by accident; banishing deceit, cruelty, avarice, ambition, for the minute, and reminding this child of Fortune that a cheerful, friendly man is a greater, a more enviable being, than an Imperial conquering despot.

He could not, while in any way under the influence of snuff, fancy himself what an Irish orator called him,

"A sceptred hermit, wrapped in the veil of his own awful originality. Grand, gloomy, and— PECULIAR!"

Napoleon, during his exile at Saint Helena, was supplied by Messrs. Fribourg and Treyer, with a snuff called Robillard.

Ere we take leave of Bonaparte, we would remind the reader of Medwin's "Conversations, &c., of Lord Byron," wherein is the following notice of no common box, but an Imperial," as trunkmakers say.

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"I observe, in the newspapers of the day, some lines of his Lordship's (Lord Carlisle), advising Lady Holland not to have anything to do with the snuff-box left her by Napoleon, for fear

that horror and murder should jump out of the lid every time it is opened! It is a most ingenious idea: I give him great credit for it.'

"He then read the first stanza, laughing in his usual suppressed way,

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Lady, accept the box a hero wore,

In spite of all this elegiac stuff:

Let not seven stanzas written by a bore,

Prevent your Ladyship from taking snuff!'

Our task is well nigh done; and, in conclusion, we sincerely apologise for certain inevitable defects. We found it impossible to keep the divisions of our subject quite clear of one another; but such a topic will excuse an apparent rambling. It irked us to be forced on the repetition of such words as snuff, boxes, &c., &c.; but it is better to admit tautology than to leave one's meaning in doubt.

Sir Lucius O' Trigger says,—

"An affront, handsomely acknowledged, becomes an obligation;" yet some gentlemen of the press (we hope they are not compatriots of the baronet), render the obligation anything but mutual; they turn against an author who acknowledges his defects, the very hint for which they are thus obliged to him; and are particularly severe on faults that it is just possible they might not have discovered, but for the accidental perpetrator's simple frankness.

In the hope, however, that the majority of reviewers will act by modestly asserted merits, as