of the line, and which was to be covered with fifty-five feet of water.  On this brilliant journey the Empress received her share of the enthusiasm of the inhabitants, and in return, at the different receptions which took place, gave a graceful welcome to the authorities of the country.  I dwell purposely on these details, as they prove that joy over the birth of the King of Rome was not confined to Paris alone, but, on the contrary, the provinces were in perfect sympathy with the capital.

The return of their Majesties to Paris brought with them a return of rejoicings and fetes on the occasion of the baptismal ceremony of the King of Rome, and the fetes by which it was accompanied were celebrated at Paris with a pomp worthy of their object.  They had as spectators the entire population of Paris, increased by a prodigious crowd of strangers of every class.

At four o’clock the Senate left its palace; the Council of State, the Tuileries; the Corps Legislatif, its palace; the Court of Cassation, the Court of Accounts, the Council of the University, and the Imperial Court, the ordinary places of their sittings; the municipal corps of Paris and the deputations from the forty-nine good towns, the Hotel de Ville.  On their arrival at the Metropolitan Church these bodies were placed by the master of ceremonies with his aides, according to their rank, on the right and left of the throne, reaching from the choir to the middle of the nave.  The diplomatic corps at five o’clock took their place on the platform erected for this purpose.

At half-past five cannon announced the departure of their Majesties from the Tuileries.  The Imperial procession was dazzlingly magnificent; the fine bearing of the troops, the richness and elegance of the carriages, the brilliant costumes, made up a ravishing spectacle.  The acclamations of the people which resounded on their Majesties’ route, the houses hung with garlands and drapery, the banners streaming from the windows, the long line of carriages, the trappings and accouterments of which progressively increased in magnificence, following each other as in the order of a hierarchy, this immense paraphernalia of a fete which inspired true feeling and hopes for the future-all this is profoundly engraved on my memory, and often occupies the long leisure hours of the old servitor of a family which has disappeared.  The baptismal ceremony took place with unusual pomp and solemnity.  After the baptism the Emperor took his august son in his arms, and presented him to the clergy present.  Immediately the acclamations, which had been repressed till then from respect to the ceremony and the sanctity of the place, burst forth on all sides.  The prayers being ended, their Majesties, at eight o’clock in the evening, went to the Hotel de Ville, and were there received by the municipal corps.  A brilliant concert and a sumptuous banquet had been tendered them by the city of Paris.  The decorations of the banquet hall showed the, arms of the forty-nine