gun by Buonaparte, now finishing by Louis;
every stone and step you go marked by some association of one or other
of these periods. As Buonaparte's own power increased, his respect for
crowned heads and authorities increased, I suppose, and so he had put up
_Fleurs de Lys_ himself for the Bourbons in one part of the church, and
he had prepared a vault for himself, decorated above with bees and
statues of the six Kings of France who had the title of Emperor. To this
vault he had made two bronze doors with gold ornaments and gold lions'
heads, one of which flew back with a spring, and discovered three
keyholes, to which there were three golden keys. The Sacristy he filled
with chef d'oeuvres of the best French artists, representing those parts
of the History of France connected with St. Denis and with his own views
of Empire.

The beautiful white marble steps leading to the altar beneath which the
seventh Emperor was to be laid were just finished when Louis XVIII. came
to fill the tomb, which was just prepared, with the bones of Louis XVI.,
to depose the Emperor, to complete the marble pavement, and to extend
the _fleurs de lys_ over the whole church.

And upon the stone which now conceals the entrance to the vault the
Duchesse d'Angouleme always kneels at the grave of her father, for the
fine bronze doors are deposed also, only, I believe, because they were
placed there by Buonaparte, and now they have to get into the Vault by
taking up the stone. We got into the carriage full of Buonaparte,
returned to Paris, and then got out again with the Murrays at Malmaison.
It is the only enviable French house I have seen, and deserves
everything Edward said about it, even without the statues and half the
pictures which are taken away.

We spent three or four hours in the Thuilleries Gardens on Sunday.
Buonaparte must have thought of gilding the dome of the Invalides when
he was walking in the Jardin des Thuilleries, it suits the whole thing
so exactly. A French crowd is so gay with the women's shawls and flowers
that they assimilate well with the real flowers, and are almost as great
an ornament to the Garden. A shower came on just as we were standing
near the Palace, and at that moment the guards took their posts as a
signal the King was going to Mass, so Edward and I followed the crowd to
the Salle des Marechaux (they would not admit Donald because he had
gaiters, and Edward had luckily trowsers), and there we saw Louis XVIII.