It is curious too, to find a staunch friend of the existing government, who may be said to have been even intimate with the younger members of the royal family, speaking of the Prime Minister with the detestation which these letters again and again express for Thiers.
In a letter of the 19th November, 1840, the writer describes at great length the recent opening of the Chamber by the King.

She enlarges on the intensity of the anxiety felt for the tenor of the King's speech, which was supposed to be the announcement of war or peace; and describes the deep emotion, with which Louis Philippe, declaring his hope that peace might yet be preserved, called upon the nation to assist him in the effort to maintain it; and expresses the scorn and loathing with which she overheard one republican deputy say to another as the King spoke, "_Voyez donc ce Robert Macaire, comme il fait semblant d'avoir du coeur_!" A letter of the 14th March, 1842, is written in better spirits and a lighter tone.

Speaking of the prevalent hostile feeling towards England the writer wishes that her countrymen would remember Lamartine's observation that "_ce patriotisme coute peu! Il suffit d'ignorer, d'injurier et de hair_." She tells her correspondent that "if Lord Cowley has much to do to establish the exact line between Lord Aberdeen's _observations_ and _objections_, Lady Cowley has no less difficulty in keeping a nice balance between dignity and popularity," as "the Embassy is besieged by all sets and all parties; the tag and rag, because pushing is a part of their nature; the _juste milieu_ [how the very phrase recalls a whole forgotten world!] because they consider the English Embassy as their property; the noble Faubourg because they are tired of sulking, and would not object to treating Lady Cowley as they treated Colonel Thorn,[1] viz., establishing their quarters at the 'Cowley Arms,' as they did at the 'Thorn's Head,' and inviting their friends on the recognised principle, '_C'est moi qui invite, et Monsieur qui paie_'" [Footnote 1: Colonel Thorn was an American of fabulous wealth, who was for a season or two very notorious in Paris.

He was the hero of the often-told story of the two drives to Longchamps the same day; first with one gorgeous equipment of _liveries_, and a second time with other and more resplendently clothed retainers.] Then follows an account of a fancy _bal monstre_ at the Tuileries, which might have turned out, says the writer, to deserve that title in another sense.

It was believed that a plot had been formed for the assassination of the King, at the moment, when, according to his invariable custom, he took his stand at the door of the supper-room to receive the ladies there.