When endeavouring to sketch the character of Bonaparte, I ought to have noticed his taste for monuments, for without this characteristic trait something essential is wanting to the completion of the portrait.  This taste, or, as it may more properly be called, this passion for monuments, exercised no small influence on his thoughts and projects of glory; yet it did not deter him from directing attention to public improvements; of a less ostentatious kind.  He wished for great monuments to perpetuate the recollection of his glory; but at the same time he knew how to appreciate all that was truly useful.  He could very rarely be reproached for rejecting any plan without examination; and this examination was a speedy affair, for his natural tact enabled him immediately to see things in their proper light.

Though most of the monuments and embellishments of Paris are executed from the plans of men of talent, yet some owe their origin to circumstances merely accidental.  Of this I can mention an example.

I was standing at the window of Bonaparte’s’ cabinet, which looked into the garden of the Tuileries.  He had gone out, and I took advantage of his absence to arise from my chair, for I was tired of sitting.  He had scarcely been gone a minute when he unexpectedly returned to ask me for a paper.  “What are you doing there, Bourrienne?  I’ll wager anything you are admiring the ladies walking on the terrace.”—­“Why, I must confess I do sometimes amuse myself in that way,” replied I; “but I assure you, General, I was now thinking of something else.  I was looking at that villainous left bank of the Seine, which always annoys me with the gaps in its dirty quay, and the floodings which almost every winter prevent communication with the Faubourg St. Germain; and I was thinking I would speak to you on the subject.”  He approached the window, and, looking out, said, “You are right, it is very ugly; and very offensive to see dirty linen washed before our windows.  Here, write immediately:  ’The quay of the Ecole de Natation is to be finished during next campaign.’  Send that order to the Minister of the Interior.”  The quay was finished the year following.

An instance of the enormous difference which frequently appears between the original estimates of architects and their subsequent accounts I may mention what occurred in relation to the Palace of St. Cloud.  But I must first say a word about the manner in which Bonaparte originally refused and afterwards took possession of the Queen’s pleasure-house.  Malmaison was a suitable country residence for Bonaparte as long as he remained content with his town apartments in the little Luxembourg; but that Consular ‘bagatelle’ was too confined in comparison with the spacious apartments in the Tuileries.  The inhabitants of St. Cloud, well-advised, addressed a petition to the Legislative Body, praying that their deserted chateau might be made the summer residence of the First Consul.