“The next and following day I spent in endeavoring to get a sight of them.  I have been very fortunate, having seen the Emperor Alexander no less than fourteen times, so that I am quite familiar with his face; the King of Prussia I have seen once; Marshal Bluecher, five or six times; Count Platoff, three or four times; besides Generals de Yorck, Buelow, etc., all whose names must be perfectly familiar to you, and the distinguished parts they have all acted in the great scenes just past.

“The Emperor Alexander I am quite in love with; he has every mark of a great mind.  His countenance is an uncommonly fine one; he has a fair complexion, hair rather light, and a stout, well-made figure; he has a very cheerful, benevolent expression, and his conduct has everywhere evinced that his face is the index of his mind.  When I first saw him he was dressed in a green uniform with two epaulets and stars of different orders; he was conversing at the window of his hotel with his sister, the Duchess of Oldenburg.  I saw him again soon after in the superb coach of the Prince Regent, with the Duchess, his sister, going to the court of the Queen.  In a few hours after I saw him again on the balcony of the Pultney Hotel; he came forward and bowed to the people.  He was then dressed in a red uniform, with a broad blue sash over the right shoulder; he appeared to great advantage; he stayed about five minutes.  I saw him again five or six times through the day, but got only indifferent views of him.  The following day, however, I was determined to get a better and nearer view of him than before.  I went down to his hotel about ten o’clock, the time when I supposed he would leave it; I saw one of the Prince’s carriages drawn up, which opened at the top and was thrown back before and behind.  In a few minutes the Emperor with his sister made their appearance and got into it.  As the carriage started, I pressed forward and got hold of the ring of the coach door and kept pace with it for about a quarter of a mile.  I was so near that I could have touched him; he was in a plain dress, a brown coat, and altogether like any other gentleman.  His sister, the Duchess, also was dressed in a very plain, unattractive manner, and, if it had not been for the crowd which followed, they would have been taken for any lady and gentleman taking an airing.

“In this unostentatious manner does he conduct himself, despising all pomp, and seems rather more intent upon inspecting the charitable, useful, and ornamental establishments of this country, with a view, probably, of benefiting his own dominions by his observations, than of displaying his rank by the splendor of dress and equipage.

“His condescension also is no less remarkable.  An instance or two will exemplify it.  On the morning after his arrival he was up at six o’clock, and, while the lazy inhabitants of this great city were fast asleep in their beds, he was walking with his sister, the Duchess, in Kensington Gardens.  As he came across Hyde Park he observed a corporal drilling some recruits, upon which he went up to him and entered into familiar conversation with him, asking him a variety of questions, and, when he had seen the end of the exercise, shook him heartily by the hand and left him.  When he was riding on horseback, he shook hands with all who came round him.