I was lodged on the first floor, in apartments formerly occupied by Prince de Lambesc, the grand equerry. I had a very large bedroom and an immense sitting-room, looking on the Avenue of Paris and the Place d'Armes. I was at first surprised that they should have treated the last-arrived pupil so well; but I soon learnt that nobody would have these rooms, on account of their immense size, which made them truly icy, while very few of the officer-pupils could afford a fire. Fortunately I was not reduced to that point; I had a good stove set up, and with a large screen I made a little chamber in the vast room. I was able to furnish this tolerably, though they only provided us with a bed, a table, and two chairs, which was little enough for the vast space of my quarters. However, I settled myself very comfortably, and when spring came round my rooms were charming. You must not suppose that though we were called pupils we were treated as schoolboys; we were left free, even too free. We were commanded by an old colonel, M. Maurice, whom we hardly ever saw, and who never interfered. Three days a week we had ordinary riding-school under the celebrated riding-masters Jardin and Coupe, and we went to it whenever we thought fit. In the afternoon, an excellent veterinary, M. Valois, gave lessons in horse-doctoring, but the pupils were under no compulsion to study with diligence. The other three days were devoted to the military side; in the morning regulation riding-school, under the only two captains of the school, and in the afternoon lectures by them on the theory. As soon as the exercises were over we saw no more of the captains, and every pupil went where be pleased. It required a considerable wish to learn if one was to get on in a school so slackly kept, and yet most of the pupils made good progress, from fear of not being equal to their duties when they returned as instructors to their regiments. Still the work that they did fell very far short of what is now done at the school of Saumur. As for their general conduct, so long as they caused no disturbance within the establishment, they were left to do what they liked. There was no roll-call, they went out when they pleased, took their meals when they pleased, slept out, and even went to Paris without asking leave. The non- commissioned officers had rather less liberty; two pretty strict drill-sergeants looked after them and compelled them to be in barracks by ten o'clock. As each of us wore the uniform of his regiment, the school, when assembled, presented a curious though interesting spectacle; for when on the first day of each month we were passed in review in order to check our pay-sheets, every uniform of the French cavalry might be seen. As we belonged to different corps, and were only brought together for the limited time of our courses it was impossible for the camaraderie which makes the charm of regimental life to exist among us. Our numbers, ninety in all, were too great for the establishment of much intimacy; there were sets, but no close friendships; nor did I feel any need for close society with my new comrades. Every Saturday I went to Paris, where I passed all Sunday and a good part of Monday with my mother. At Versailles there were two old friends of hers, the Comtesses de Châteauville, with whom I used to pass two or three evenings a week. My other evenings I employed in reading, of which I have always been fond; colleges may set a man on the road of education, but he must finish it himself by reading. What a delight it was in the middle of a severe winter to return to my rooms after dinner, make a good fire, and there, intrenched in solitude behind my screen, with my little lamp in front of me, to read till eight or nine o'clock! Then I used to go to bed to save firewood, and continue my reading till midnight. In this way I read over Tacitus, Xenophon, and nearly all the classical Greek and Latin authors; I went through the history of Rome, of France, and of the principal states of Europe. Thus my time passed very agreeably, divided between my mother, my school exercises, a little good society, and my beloved books.

I was at Versailles when the year 1803 opened. As spring came on my daily life was somewhat modified. All the officer-pupils had horses of their own; and I devoted a part of my evenings to long rides in the noble woods about Versailles, Marly, and Meudon.

During May, my mother had the satisfaction of seeing her eldest brother, M. de Canrobert, released from the Temple; while the other two, M. de l'Isle and M. de la Coste, were struck out of the list of émigrés, returned to France and came to Paris. The eldest of my mother's brothers, M. Certain de Canrobert, was a man of good parts and a most amiable disposition. He entered the service very young as sub-lieutenant in the Penthièvre infantry regiment, and distinguished himself in the Corsican war. At the conclusion of this he returned to France, obtained the Cross of St. Louis at the completion of twenty-four years of service, and retired with the rank of captain on marrying Mademoiselle de Sanguinet. He became father of a son and a daughter, and was living happily in his manor of Laval de Cère when the Revolution of 1789 broke out. Being threatened with the scaffold, he was compelled to go abroad. His goods were confiscated and sold, and his wife with her two young children put in prison. My mother obtained permission to go and visit her, and found her in a cold damp tower, suffering from fever, of which her little girl died that very day. By dint of going to one person and another with her petition, my mother obtained her sister-in-law's release; she died, however, a few days later of the illness caught in the prison. My mother took charge of the little boy named Antoine; he was in due course sent to college, then to the Ecole Militaire, of which he was one of the best pupils. Finally, this worthy half-brother of Marcellin de Canrobert became an infantry officer, and died bravely on the field of Waterloo. My uncle was one of the first émigrés who under the Consulate obtained leave to return to France. He got back some portion of his property, and married a daughter of an old family friend, M. Niocel. The second Madame de Canrobert became mother of our excellent and brave cousin Marcellin de Canrobert, 1who has so often distinguished himself in Africa, and is today colonel of Zouaves. How proud would his father have been of such a son had he not died too soon to witness his success!

M. Certain de l'Isle, second brother of my mother, was one of the handsomest men in France. The Revolution found him a lieutenant also in the Penthièvre regiment. He followed the example of nearly all his comrades and went abroad, in company with his youngest brother, M. Certain de la Coste, who served in the King's bodyguard. After leaving France the two brothers never separated. At first they withdrew to Baden, but their repose was soon disturbed by the French armies passing the Rhine. As, in pursuance of a decree of the Convention, every émigré who fell into their power was shot, my uncles were obliged in all haste to push farther into Germany. Want of money compelled them to travel on foot, which soon knocked up poor la Coste. They found great difficulties in getting lodging, for everything was occupied by Austrian soldiers. La Coste fell ill, but, with his brother's support, reached a little town in Wurtemberg, where they entered a wretched inn and found a closet and a bed. At daybreak they saw the Austrians depart, and learnt that the French were about to occupy the town. La Coste, unable to move, bade de l'Isle provide for his own safety and leave him to the protection of God. De l'Isle declared in so many words that he would not abandon his dying brother. Meanwhile two French volunteers presented themselves at the inn with a billet. The landlord showed them to the closet occupied by my uncles, informing these that they would have to go elsewhere. It was truly said that during the Revolution French honour had taken refuge in the armies. The two soldiers, seeing la Coste apparently at the point of death, not only declared to the landlord that he should stay with them, but also demanded a large room on the first floor with several beds, where they established themselves with my two uncles. In an enemy's country the conqueror is the master. The landlord obeyed the two French volunteers, who, during a fortnight that their battalion was quartered in the town, took infinite care of MM. de la Coste and de l'Isle. They made them share the good meals which, according to the practice of war, their host was obliged to furnish; and this comfortable diet, together with the rest, restored la Coste to a measure of health. At parting, the volunteers, who belonged to a battalion from the Gironde, wishing to give their new friends a means of passing through the French columns without being arrested, took from their uniforms the metal buttons bearing the name of their battalion, and attached them to my uncles' civilian clothes, enabling them thus to pass themselves off as belonging to the commissariat. With this new-fashioned passport they traversed all the French cantonments without arousing any suspicion. They reached Prussia, and established themselves in the town of Halle, where M. de l'Isle found opportunities of giving lessons. They lived there peaceably till 1803, when my mother succeeded in getting them struck off the list of émigrés, and after twelve years of exile my two uncles returned to France.