class="resume">Poniatowski, Last King of Poland — His Amiable Character — The Authoress's Faculty of Presaging Death — Poniatowski the Nephew — Mme. Lebrun Received as a Member of the St. Petersburg Academy — Her Daughter's Untoward Marriage — Resulting in Estrangement Between Mother and Child 131

Chapter XII. Moscow.

Journey to Moscow — A Bad Smell and Its Origin — First Impression of Moscow — Another Impression, Oral and Unpleasing — The Kremlin — Steam-and-Snow Bathing — Society — Luxurious Prince Kurakin — An Impossible Duologue — Examples of Russian Cleverness — Determination to Return to France 142

Chapter XIII. Good-by to Russia.

Departure from Moscow — News of the Death of Paul — Particulars of His Assassination — Et tu Brute? — Paul's Presentiments of Peril — His Successor Not an Accomplice in the Crime — Alexander I. a Popular Monarch — An Order from an Imperial Customer and Model — Farewells to Friends — Among Them Czar and Czarina 154

Chapter XIV. Homeward Bound.

First Station, Narva — The Cataract — Riga — Hardships of Travel a Hundred Years Ago — Obdurate Custom-House Officials — A Summons to Potsdam — The Loveliest and Sweetest of Queens — Her Ugly Children — An Ambitious Cook — The Journey Continued — "Remember Your Jewel-Case" — Modelling in Dirt for a Pastime — Likewise Sewing — Home Again 164

Chapter XV. Old Friends and New.

Paris After the Revolution — Renewing Old Acquaintances and Forming New Ties — Rival Beauties: Mme. Récamier and Mme. Tallien — Mme. Campan — An Englishwoman's Slip of the Tongue — Some Distinguished Foreigners 173

Chapter XVI. Unmerry England.

London — Its Historic Piles — And Dull Sundays — And Taciturn People — Pictures by Sir Joshua Reynolds — His Modesty — How to Dry Pictures in a Damp Climate — The Artistic View of a Certain Popular Beauty — The Prince of Wales — His Alleged Attentions to Mme. Lebrun — The Authoress Lectures an Unfriendly Critic — News of One of Napoleon's "Atrocious Crimes" 182

Chapter XVII. Persons and Places in Britain.

English Palaces — And Scenery — Suburban Princes — Richmond Terrace — An Eccentric Margravine — The Charm of the Isle of Wight — The Britons a Stolid Nation — Their Indifference to Rain 192

Chapter XVIII. Bonapartes and Bourbons.

Back in Paris — The Devotion of Mme. Grassini — Capricious, Exacting Mme. Murat — Aspects of Christian Warfare — "Kill All Those People!" — Louis XVIII. Enters the Capital — The Barrenness of Napoleon's Victories — His Successor's Attainments — Bourbon Characteristics — The Authoress Loses Her Husband, Daughter and Brother — Conclusion 200

APPENDIX

List of Madame Vigée Lebrun's Paintings 215

Index 229

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS