got it, I assure you; and, while you are in this country, I hope you and your better half will favour me with your company at my residence." Count Zenobio was also one of the party.

We could not, however, avail ourselves of his hospitality, as we had a prior engagement; but we frequently met in the evening at Augereau's. Venice was often the subject of our conversation. When we were one day talking of Buonaparte's unprincipled sale of that republic to Austria, "Ma foi," said Augereau, "ce coquin nous a tout trompé! In saving him, the French republic upset itself. Had the Directory but ordered him to be shot on his landing from Egypt, it would have immortalized itself; but it was an unwieldy body, without a head; and that was the reason why Sieyes would not become one of them. I foresee we shall return to what we were; if we do not, indeed, sink into something worse! Buonaparte has deceived us all; and, though he has forgotten the hospitality of the Venetian Republic towards the French, I shall ever feel grateful for the civilities I once received from one of its subjects. Your sorrow at beholding the degraded state of your once happy country does infinite honour, both to your head and your heart."

I record this anecdote, for the purpose of

doing justice to the memory of Augereau: as it evinces feelings, which are but too seldom to be met with in those who have risen above their primitive condition in life.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

VENICE.

THE BUONAPARTE FAMILY IN THE VENETIAN

TERRITORY.

My interview with General Menou......Buonaparte's Preparations at Boulogne for the Invasion of England...... Is called the Arch Drover of Italy......And why......His Interview at Malghera with the Marquis di Solari...... Interesting account of the Inhabitants of the Sette Communi ......Their Language...... Their mode of living...... Produce of the Soil......Their Habitations......Mild Government of the Prefect Solari......Ludicrous Anecdote...... A hint to the Secretary of State for the Home Department......And a Caution to certain Mural Defacers...... The Authoress refuses to betray the interests of her country......And is therefore placed under Surveillance......But escapes from Treviso to Venice......And thence to Malta.

I CONCLUDED the last chapter, with an account of my interviews, with Barras and with Augereau. I shall commence the present, with an anecdote which was related to me by another of Buonaparte's generals.

In the course of my conversations with General Menou, whilst he was governor of Venice, he more than once assured me, that of all Buonaparte's lunatic projects, the notion of invading England, and the idea of seducing Russia, while he was in Egypt, to co-operate with him in the conquest of India, were by far the most preposterous, and the least likely to be accomplished. Menou said, that Buonaparte had been more indebted to the folly of Nelson, in suffering him to get to Egypt, and to the British cruizers in allowing him to land, on his return therefrom, than to any thing that the French nation had done for him; for that if, in both instances, the English fleet had done their duty, he never would have escaped. "Your Rodney, and your Howe, and your Hood, would not," he would say, "have been so complaisant to the French general."

Indeed, that Buonaparte was never serious in his much boasted project of invading this country, may be gathered from the following facts, which took place during my stay at Paris, where I arrived shortly after Lord Nelson had attempted the bombardment of the port of Boulogne. A task, by the bye, of no very easy accomplishment; first, on account of the town itself being beyond the reach of the ships of

war; and, secondly, because no vessel drawing more than three or four feet water, can ever approach near enough for that purpose.

However, the Hero of the Nile did every thing that skill and bravery could accomplish; and the effects of his operations were pretty apparent, from the fact of the few gun-boats in that port, which had been prepared for the invasion of Old England, having been taken out of the water, and drawn upon dry land, and placed in a state of security, for fear of a second Nelsonian attack.

At Paris, the success of the invasion of England was looked upon as a dead certainty. In their mind's eye, the badauds of "ma bonne ville " already fancied they beheld the Corsican making his triumphant entry into their capital, loaded with the treasures of the Bank of England, and followed by the machinery and the manufactures aud the other spoils, of this the modern Carthage-about to be destroyed!

Amongst the number of the duped, was the Venetian patrician Niccoletto Cornara, who ventured to lay a considerable bet, that, on a certain day, Buonaparte would set off on his march from Dover for London. From the experience I had had of the French General's

menacing character, and knowing that, though he had accomplished many great things, he had left still greater ones unaccomplished, I ventured to take the bet; and, the better to convince myself of the real state of things, I determined on setting off from Paris on a visit to the coast, where these weighty preparations were said to be in such a state of forwardness. My love of England, and my knowledge of the character of the brave inmates of her wooden walls, ambitious as I knew Buonaparte to be, would not allow me to give credit to the rumour, that he entertained a serious design of making the attempt; more especially as I well knew that at that very moment, his attentions were directed to the secret movements of the cabinet of Vienna, and that he had just succeeded in getting into his possession a most important despatch, intended for the Austrian Ambassador, Count Cobenzel; and which despatch has, I believe, never been made public,

But to proceed. Scarcely had I, with my husband, proceeded a few paces on the road to Boulogne, before we met a considerable number of troops, with ammunition waggons, retrograding from the field of action, and marching in a totally different direction. In consequence of his knowledge of the above