Malmaison, at the period of which I speak, was a place of unalloyed happiness, where all who came expressed their satisfaction with the state of affairs; everywhere also I heard blessings invoked upon the First Consul and Madame Bonaparte.  There was not yet the shadow of that strict etiquette which it was necessary afterwards to observe at Saint-Cloud, at the Tuileries, and in all the palaces in which the Emperor held his court.  The consular court was as yet distinguished by a simple elegance, equally removed from republican rudeness and the luxuriousness of the Empire.  Talleyrand was, at this period, one of those who came most frequently to Malmaison.  He sometimes dined there, but arrived generally in the evening between eight and nine o’clock, and returned at one, two, and sometimes three in the morning.

All were admitted at Madame Bonaparte’s on a footing of equality, which was most gratifying.  There came familiarly Murat, Duroc, Berthier, and all those who have since figured as great dignitaries, and some even as sovereigns, in the annals of the empire.

The family of General Bonaparte were assiduous in their attentions; but it was known among us that they had no love for Madame Bonaparte, of which fact I had many proofs.  Mademoiselle Hortense never left her mother, and they were devotedly attached to each other.

Besides men distinguished by their posts under the government or in the army, there gathered others also who were not less distinguished by personal merit, or the position which their birth had given them before the Revolution.  It was a veritable panorama, in which we saw the persons themselves pass before our eyes.  The scene itself, even exclusive of the gayety which always attended the dinings of Eugene, had its attractions.  Among those whom we saw most frequently were Volney, Denon, Lemercier, the Prince of Poix, de Laigle, Charles Baudin, General Beurnonville, Isabey, and a number of others, celebrated in science, literature, and art; in short, the greater part of those who composed the society of Madame de Montesson.

Madame Bonaparte and Mademoiselle Hortense often took excursions on horseback into the country.  On these occasions her most constant escorts were the Prince de Poix and M. de Laigle.  One day, as this party was reentering the court-yard at Malmaison, the horse which Hortense rode became frightened, and dashed off.  She was an accomplished rider, and very active, so she attempted to spring off on the grass by the roadside; but the band which fastened the end of her riding-skirt under her foot prevented her freeing herself quickly, and she was thrown, and dragged by her horse for several yards.  Fortunately the gentlemen of the party, seeing her fall, sprang from their horses in time to rescue her; and, by extraordinary good fortune, she was not even bruised, and was the first to laugh at her misadventure.