mself a Napoleon and a Vauban rolled
into one, did not entertain Vernet's suggestions with the degree of
enthusiasm to which he thought them entitled; at any rate, from that
time, the mention of M. Thiers' name generally provoked a contemptuous
shrug of the shoulders on Vernet's part. "C'est tout a fait comme
Napoleon et Jomini, mon cher Vernet," said Laurent-Jan; "mais, apres
tout, qu'est que cela vous fait? La posterite jugera entre vous deux,
elle saura bien debrouiller la part que vous avez contribuee a ces
travaux immortels."

[Footnote 34: Laurent-Jan was a witty, though incorrigibly idle
journalist. He is entirely forgotten now save by such men as
MM. Arsene Houssaye and Roger de Beauvoir, who were his
contemporaries. He was the author of a clever parody on
Kotzebue's "Menschenhasz und Reue," known on the English stage
as "The Stranger."--EDITOR.]

Much as Horace Vernet admired his great contemporaries in art and
literature, his greatest worship was reserved for Alfred de Vigny, the
soldier-poet, though the latter was by no means a sympathetic companion.
Next to his society, which was rarely to be had, he preferred that of
Arthur Bertrand, the son of Napoleon's companion in exile. Arthur
Bertrand had an elder brother, Napoleon Bertrand, who, at the storming
of Constantine, put on a new pair of white kid gloves, brought from
Paris for the purpose. Horace Vernet made at least fifty sketches of
that particular incident, but he never painted the picture. "I could
not do it justice," he said, when remonstrated with for his
procrastination. "I should fail to realize the grandeur of the thing."
Thereupon Laurent-Jan, who had no bump of reverence, proposed a poem in
so many cantos, to be illustrated by Vernet. I give the plan as
developed by the would-be author.

1. The kid in its ancestral home among the mountains. A mysterious voice
from heaven tells it that its skin will be required for a pair of
gloves. The kid objects, and inquires why the skin of some other kid
will not do as well. The voice reveals the glorious purpose of the
gloves. The kid consents, and at the same moment a hunter appears in
sight. The kid, instead of taking to its heels, assumes a favourable
position to be shot. It makes a dying speech.

2. A glove-shop on the Boulevard. Enter Napoleon Bertrand, asking for a
pair of gloves. The girl tells him that she has only one pair left, and
communi