udoir furnished
by X. in sky-blue satin. The N's were scratched off the Louvre. The
bridge of Austerlitz had abdicated, and was entitled the bridge of the
King's Garden [du Jardin du Roi], a double enigma, which disguised the
bridge of Austerlitz and the Jardin des Plantes at one stroke. Louis
XVIII., much preoccupied while annotating Horace with the corner of his
finger-nail, heroes who have become emperors, and makers of wooden shoes
who have become dauphins, had two anxieties,--Napoleon and Mathurin
Bruneau. The French Academy had given for its prize subject, The
Happiness procured through Study. M. Bellart was officially eloquent.
In his shadow could be seen germinating that future advocate-general of
Broe, dedicated to the sarcasms of Paul-Louis Courier. There was a false
Chateaubriand, named Marchangy, in the interim, until there should be a
false Marchangy, named d'Arlincourt. Claire d'Albe and Malek-Adel were
masterpieces; Madame Cottin was proclaimed the chief writer of the
epoch. The Institute had the academician, Napoleon Bonaparte, stricken
from its list of members. A royal ordinance erected Angouleme into a
naval school; for the Duc d'Angouleme, being lord high admiral, it was
evident that the city of Angouleme had all the qualities of a seaport;
otherwise the monarchical principle would have received a wound. In
the Council of Ministers the question was agitated whether vignettes
representing slack-rope performances, which adorned Franconi's
advertising posters, and which attracted throngs of street urchins,
should be tolerated. M. Paer, the author of Agnese, a good sort of
fellow, with a square face and a wart on his cheek, directed the little
private concerts of the Marquise de Sasenaye in the Rue Ville l'Eveque.
All the young girls were singing the Hermit of Saint-Avelle, with words
by Edmond Geraud. The Yellow Dwarf was transferred into Mirror. The Cafe
Lemblin stood up for the Emperor, against the Cafe Valois, which upheld
the Bourbons. The Duc de Berri, already surveyed from the shadow by
Louvel, had just been married to a princess of Sicily. Madame de Stael
had died a year previously. The body-guard hissed Mademoiselle Mars.
The grand newspapers were all very small. Their form was restricted,
but their liberty was great. The Constitutionnel was constitutional.
La Minerve called Chateaubriand Chateaubriant. That made the good
middle-class people laugh heartily at the expense of the great writer.
In jo