I have received your letter, in which you seem to reproach me for speaking ill of women.  It is true that I dislike female intriguers above all things.  I am used to kind, gentle, and conciliatory women.  I love them, and if they have spoiled me it is not my fault, but yours.  However, you will see that I have done an act of kindness to one deserving woman.  I allude to Madame de Hatzfeld.  When I showed her her husband’s letter she stood weeping, and in a tone of mingled grief and ingenuousness said, “It is indeed his writing!” This went to my heart, and I said, “Well, madame, throw the letter into the fire, and then I shall have no proof against your husband.”  She burned the letter, and was restored to happiness.  Her husband now is safe:  two hours later, and he would have been lost.  You see, therefore, that I like women who are simple, gentle, and amiable; because they alone resemble you.

   November 6, 1806, 9 o’clock P.M.

When Marshal Bernadotte had driven Blucher into Lubeck and made him prisoner, he sent to inform me of the circumstance; but I was far from, expecting that the prisoner would be confided to my charge.  Such, however, was the case.  After his capitulation he was sent to Hamburg, where he had the whole city for his prison.

I was curious to become acquainted with this celebrated man, and I saw him very frequently.  I found that he was an enthusiastic Prussian patriot—­a brave man, enterprising even to rashness, of limited education, and almost to an incredible degree devoted to pleasure, of which he took an ample share while he remained in Hamburg.  He sat an enormous time at table, and, notwithstanding his exclusive patriotism, he rendered full justice to the wines of France.  His passion for women was unbounded, and one of his most favourite sources of amusement was the gaming-table, at which he spent a considerable portion of his time.  Blucher was of an extremely gay disposition; and considered merely as a companion he was very agreeable.  The original style of his conversation pleased me much.  His confidence in the deliverance of Germany remained unshaken in spite of the disasters of the Prussian army.  He often said to me, “I place great reliance on the public spirit of Germany—­on the enthusiasm which prevails in our universities.  The events of war are daily changing, and even defeats con tribute to nourish in a people sentiments of honour and national glory.  You may depend upon it that when a whole nation is determined to shake off a humiliating yoke it will succeed.  There is no doubt but we shall end by having a landwehr very different from any militia to which the subdued spirit of the French people could give birth.  England will always lend us the support of her navy and her subsidies, and we will renew alliances with Russia and Austria.  I can pledge myself to the truth of a fact of which I have certain knowledge, and you may rely upon it; namely, that none of the allied powers engaged in