Note 656 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
Talleyrand, who gave the fête, wrote: "I spared no trouble to make it brilliant and attractive; although in this I experienced some difficulty on account of the vulgarity of the directors' wives who, of course, enjoyed precedence over all other ladies." (Memoirs of Talleyrand: Broglie's ed., i, 197; also see Sloane: Life of Napoleon, ii, 20; and Lanfrey: Life of Napoleon, i, 254-57.)