him from insulting with his presence a Christian pontiff.  In the summer of 1799, when the Minister was in a momentary disgrace, De Lalande was at the head of those who imputed to his treachery, corruptions, and machinations all the evils France then suffered, both from external enemies and internal factions.  If Talleyrand has justly been reproached for soon forgetting good offices and services done him, nobody ever denied that he has the best recollection in the world of offences or attacks, and that he is as revengeful as unforgiving.

The only one of our great men whom Pius VII. remained obstinate and inflexible in not receiving, was the Senator and Minister of Police, Fouche.  As His Holiness was not so particular with regard to other persons who, like Fouche, were both apostate priests and regicide subjects, the following is reported to be the cause of his aversion and obduracy: 

In November, 1793, the remains of a wretch of the name of Challiers—­justly called, for his atrocities, the Murat of Lyons—­were ordered by Fouche, then a representative of the people in that city, to be produced and publicly worshipped; and, under his particular auspices, a grand fete was performed to the memory of this republican martyr, who had been executed as an assassin.  As part of this impious ceremony, an ass, covered with a Bishop’s vestments, having on his head a mitre, and the volumes of Holy Writ tied to his tail, paraded the streets.  The remains of Challiers were then burnt, and the ashes distributed among his adorers; while the books were also consumed, and the ashes scattered in the wind.  Fouche proposed, after giving the ass some water to drink in a sacred chalice, to terminate the festivity of the day by murdering all the prisoners, amounting to seven thousand five hundred; but a sudden storm prevented the execution of this diabolical proposition, and dispersed the sacrilegious congregation.

LETTER XX.

Paris, August, 1805.

My Lord:—­Though all the Bonapartes were great favourites with Pius VII., Madame Letitia, their mother, had a visible preference.  In her apartments he seemed most pleased to meet the family parties, as they were called, because to them, except the Bonapartes, none but a few select favourites were invited,—­a distinction as much wished for and envied as any other Court honour.  After the Pope had fixed the evening he would appear among them, Duroc made out a list, under the dictates of Napoleon, of the chosen few destined to partake of the blessing of His Holiness’s presence; this list was merely pro form, or as a compliment, laid before him; and after his tacit approbation, the individuals were informed, from the first chamberlain’s office, that they would be honoured with admittance at such an hour, to such a company, and in such an apartment.  The dress in which they were to appear was also prescribed.  The parties usually met