‘You have no dreams and no illusions, Talleyrand,’ said he.  ’You are always practical, cold, and cynical.  But with me, when I am in the twilight, as now, or when I hear the sound of the sea, my imagination begins to work.  It is the same when I hear some music—­especially music which repeats itself again and again like some pieces of Passaniello.  They have a strange effect upon me, and I begin to Ossianise.  I get large ideas and great aspirations.  It is at such times that my mind always turns to the East, that swarming ant-heap of the human race, where alone it is possible to be very great.  I renew my dreams of ’98.  I think of the possibility of drilling and arming these vast masses of men, and of precipitating them upon Europe.  Had I conquered Syria I should have done this, and the fate of the world was really decided at the siege of Acre.  With Egypt at my feet I already pictured myself approaching India, mounted upon an elephant, and holding in my hand a new version of the Koran which I had myself composed.  I have been born too late.  To be accepted as a world’s conqueror one must claim to be divine.  Alexander declared himself to be the son of Jupiter, and no one questioned it.  But the world has grown old, and has lost its enthusiasms.  What would happen if I were to make the same claim?  Monsieur de Talleyrand would smile behind his hand, and the Parisians would write little lampoons upon the walls.’

He did not appear to be addressing us, but rather to be expressing his thoughts aloud, while allowing them to run to the most fantastic and extravagant lengths.  This it was which he called Ossianising, because it recalled to him the wild vague dreams of the Gaelic Ossian, whose poems had always had a fascination for him.  De Meneval has told me that for an hour at a time he has sometimes talked in this strain of the most intimate thoughts and aspirations of his heart, while his courtiers have stood round in silence waiting for the instant when he would return once more to his practical and incisive self.

‘The great ruler,’ said he, ’must have the power of religion behind him as well as the power of the sword.  It is more important to command the souls than the bodies of men.  The Sultan, for example, is the head of the faith as well as of the army.  So were some of the Roman Emperors.  My position must be incomplete until this is accomplished.  At the present instant there are thirty departments in France where the Pope is more powerful than I am.  It is only by universal dominion that peace can be assured in the world.  When there is only one authority in Europe, seated at Paris, and when all the kings are so many lieutenants who hold their crowns from the central power of France, it is then that the reign of peace will be established.  Many powers of equal strength must always lead to struggles until one becomes predominant.  Her central position, her wealth and her history, all mark France out as being the power which will control and regulate the others.  Germany is divided.  Russia is barbarous.  England is insular.  France only remains.’