imposed, retarded any movement of natural reconstruction.  Outside the
military organization, things were stiff and starched and solemn.  High
and low were situated in circumstances that were different and
strange.  The new soldier aristocracy reeked of the camp and battle-
field; the washer-woman, become a duchess, was ill at ease in the
Imperial drawing-room; while those who had thriven and amassed wealth
rapidly in trade were equally uncomfortable amidst the vulgar luxury
with which they surrounded themselves.  Even the common people, whether
of capital or province, for whose benefit the Revolution had been
made, were silent and afraid.  Of the ladies' /salons/--once numerous
and remarkable for their wit, good taste, and conversation--two or
three only subsisted, those of Mesdames de Beaumont, Recamier and de
Stael; and, since the last was regarded by Napoleon with an unfriendly
eye, its guests must have felt constrained. 

At reunions, eating rather than talking was fashionable, and the
eating lacked its intimacy and privacy of the past.  The lighter side
of life was seen more in restaurants, theatres, and fetes.  It was
modish to dine at Frascati's, to drink ices at the Pavillon de
Hanovre, to go and admire the actors Talma, Picard, and Lemercier,