the prefect of the police, Dubois, were so active that the chief consul, the hero, and the deeds and the family of the hero, swallowed up every lesser object. The Virgin Mary was indeed become a very insignificant personage. Had this hero been true to himself and to France, honours like these never could have existed: but honours infinitely greater would have been paid.

"On the billet d'entrée, or ticket, it was said the ceremony of the consecration would begin at eight 'clock; and I took care to be in the church at six. Instead of order, such as might become a place in which men pretend to fall in silent adoration before omnipotence, confusion like that of building a booth for the hustings, just as an election is about to begin, or rather that of the building of Babel, was exceeded.

"About seven o'clock, there was a morning mass; and, while it was celebrating, not only were the motley crowd walking, talking, laughing, singing, praying, kneeling, crossing themselves, and exhibiting any thing or every thing, except symptoms of common sense, but the workmen were at the most active period of preparation. The bewildering compound and tumult of sounds exceeded all belief: here the deep sonorous voices of the priests; there the babbling of idlers; in one place men hanging pictures, in another raising the canopy for the cardinal Caprara; in a third tressels and heavy benches, thrown from the shoulders, thundered in the choir. The clang of twenty hammers, the beating of the drums on the outside of the open doors,

the blowing of the serpent, the sudden blast of the full organ, and, as the fundamental base to all this harmony, the stunning reverbera tions of the great bell of Nôtre Dame*, combined in this morning hymn to the Deity.

"Soldiers, as usual, with their bayonets fixed, were the guardians of good manners. Two of them seized a man of wretched appearance by the collar; and, fearing he had been detected in pilfering, I inquired of what he had been guilty? Oh,' said one of the men that had seized him, the foolish fellow says that we soldiers ought to take off our hats in the church.'

"At this time, a sermon after morning mass was preaching; while the church swarmed with people of all ranks and conditions, numbers of whom were so dirty that the parish of St. Giles, on a Saturday night, scarcely has their equal. Á porter, with his hat on, his crochet at his back, and loaded with green curtains that were still to hang, made his way by calling and pushing through the circle of hearers. Several men came, immediately under the preacher's eye, to carry away the tressels; which formed the inner boundary of his congregation. The great bell still tolled, the drums continued to beat, and the soldiers marched through the church; but neither preacher nor hearers were intent enough on their devotion to notice the least disturbance, at a succession of incidents, any one of which an English congregation would have considered as so indecent that it would have excited, if not confusion, at least the most indignant feelings.

"All this was on the outside of

the

the choir, in the principal aisle; be yond which none but workmen, and their superintendants, were permitted to pass.

"All sects, of all religions, pagan, mahometan, or christian, sometimes consider anger as a very pious passion: but that which will excite anger, in one country, in another will be regarded with unconcern. In catholic churches, contestation is a common event: the people will dispute for places, and concerning the propriety or impropricty of personal behaviour, in nearly the "ame tone, be it the church or the playhouse.

"I and others, who had tickets for the choir, stood waiting in the aisle, till the gentlemen with their guns and bayonets should please to admit us. At length, some eight or ten were suffered to pass.

"A lady next presented her blue billet, but was refused: the officer informed her, the ladies were to sit in the galleries; for which she ought to have procured a yellow billet. The lady was not so to be answered: she urged the privileges of her sex, the incivility of denial, her friends, the respectable channel through which she procured the billet, with a thousand other excellent arguments, and the contest instantly became hot. The officer began to doubt, and went to inquire more precisely; but ordered admittance to be denied till he should return.

"During his absence, the buissier, or Swiss as he is vulgarly called, came, and ordered the soldiers to let men enter, but not women.

The soldiers replied, they must wait for their commander: on which the Swiss, with all the importance of his office, which on such a day elevates him to he does not exactly

know what height, answered It is I who command here! Enter, gentlemen!'

"So authorised, the crowd needed not to be again told: they press ed forward, and the hesitating soldiers, taken by surprise, did not present their bayonets.

"When we entered the choir, the men were still at work; decoration had yet much of its task to perform: but this was not in the least an impediment to devotion; church ceremonies were repeating in one of the aisles before the image of the Virgin. I know not of what kind they were, but I imagine, it being her festival, they were hur rying over her share in the performance, that they might attend to the grand act of consecrating the uncle of the citizen first consul.

"The patience of the French, on occasions like these, is strangely in contrast with their general temperament and manners. After waiting four hours, the first escort of clergy made its appearance: it brought the bishop of Ajaccio, Sebastiani-Porta; another bishop, whose name I could not learn; and Bernier, bishop of Orleans, famous, as I have been informed, for having made the peace of La Vendée, and for having been highly instrumental in the concordat.

"These were the three dignitaries of the church, appointed to aid and instruct monsieur Fésch, the new archbishop, in the pantomime part he that day had to act; and of which, in various instances, it was evident he was ignorant.

"The procession of these men was not, however, the signal for the show to begin. I have already said that the entrance ticket stated the hour of eight: the time at which they really began was half-past ten

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"To describe the whole of this insufferably tedious and dull ceremony would, perhaps, without the aid of the ritual in which it is detailed, be impossible for any man on earth: for I imagine it is not often enough repeated, by any individual, for him to be tolerably acquainted with it, without first studying his part with the most minute attention. This was evident from various trifling occurrences; such as when one man happened to remember something that another had forgotten; and by the mutual information they afforded each other. "An English protestant, whether of the established church or a dissenter, would think it strange indeed that, in the midst of prayer and holy devotion, several men should several times strip themselves, that they might be clothed after a different fashion.

"The cardinal, who had the honour to consecrate the uncle of Bonaparte, was partially dressed, undressed, and dressed again: he had two tiaras, which he wore alternately; one of gold, loaded with embroidered ornaments.

"Monsieur Fésch had a man, who exactly resembled a tailor that had brought home a new suit of clothes, who helped him while he three times changed his costume: the last time, he had white silk stockings with coloured clocks, white satin shoes publicly put on, a white fillet bound round his forehead, a white band thrown across his shoulders, and a book, or rather by its appearance the cover of a book, the mere binding, laid on the back of his head.

"The assisting bishops occasionally changed their caps and other ornaments; till, had I dared, I could most willingly have exclaim

ed aloud- What busy, what lunatic brain was it, that first imagined all these fooleries? At the age of their invention was the world one vast bedlam? And what are the present people, among whom they exist, or by whom they are revived?' There are thousands, it is true, in Paris, who laugh or grieve when they see such things repeated: but there are tens of thousands to whom they still appear most admirable.

"What the nature and the sense of decorum are, even among the highest classes, in this country, the following facts may tend to eluci

date.

"During the ceremony, the legate washed his hands; which, as I was told by a person who pretended to know, was no part of the ritual.

"He had six footmen, in liveries richly laced, who came into the choir and lolled or stood where and how they pleased.

"Several of the bishops, who were finally present, came one at this time, another at that, after the ceremony had begun.

"There were repeated disputes, concerning whether men should or should not remain where they had placed themselves; all of which were settled by some military officer. These officers walked backward and forward, and put on the hat or took it off, entirely as they pleased.

"When the ceremony was about one-third over, madame Bonaparte and her maids of honour entered, and seated themselves in the gal lery.

"The archbishop of Paris and his cohort did not arrive till at least an hour later.

"During mass, the pron:ur, or per

son