time. I have been here a week. Day after to-morrow I shall be at Boulogne
for a tolerably brilliant festival. Send me word by the messenger what you
mean to do, and when you shall have finished your baths. I am much
satisfied with the army and the fleet. Eugene is still at Blois. I hear no
more about Hortense than if she were at the Congo. I am writing to scold
her. Many kind wishes for all."

Napoleon reached Aix-la-Chapelle September 3. The Emperor Francis had, on
the 10th of August, assumed the Imperial title accorded to his house, of
Emperor-elect of Germany, Hereditary Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia
and Hungary. He had then given orders to M. de Cobentzel to go to Aix-la-
Chapelle to present his credentials to Napoleon. Napoleon received the
Austrian diplomatist very kindly, and was soon surrounded by a multitude
of foreign ambassadors who came to pay their respects. He re-established
the annual honors long before paid to the memory of Charlemagne, went down
into the vault, and gave the priests of the Cathedral convincing proofs of
his munificence. The Empress was shown a piece of the true cross which the
Carlovingian Emperor had long worn on his breast as a talisman. She was
offered a holy relic, almost the whole arm of that hero, but she declined
it, saying that she did not wish to deprive Aix-la-Chapelle of so precious
a memorial, especially when she had the arm of a man as great as
Charlemagne to support her.

From Aix-la-Chapelle, Napoleon and Josephine went to Cologne, then to
Coblentz, then to Mayence, travelling separately. The Emperor left Cologne
September 16 at four in the afternoon, and reached Bonn a little before
nightfall, to start again the next morning. The town pleased her very
much, and she was sorry she could not remain there longer. She stayed at a
fine house with a garden opening on a terrace that looked out over the
Rhine. After supper she walked on the terrace. The delight of the people