Alexandria Gazette

Costly curled paper.—I seldom paid a visit to the minister, Talleyrand, without remaining at least two hours in conversation with him. One day he carried his admiration of my ringlets so far, that in playfully twisting and turning them with his fingers, he at last reduced them to a state of " most admirable disorder;" this he proceeded to repair, and the hand that signed treaties of peace for France, purchased a truce with me on terms that proved that some little value was set on the cession of hostilities between us. The minister took the curls one by one carefully put them in papers, and arranged them under my hat, with a request that the edifice of my friseur might remain undisturbed till my return home. At a single glance I perceived that the curl papers used by Talleyrand were bank notes of 1000 francs each, and with a degree of patience which could be equalled only by his gallantry, I repassed the ringlets through my fingers, and as one solitary straggler had escaped his notice, I observed to him "one more papillote, and then your Excellency's task is finished. Madame A.'s Memoirs.