Long live our well-beloved King!” The Rue Saint Denis, the Rue du Roule, the Rue Saint Honore, presented a picturesque spectacle.  The merchants of these business streets had converted the facades of their houses into an exposition of the rich tissues of their shops, and the cortege was thus to traverse a sort of bazaar.  What a pity if the rain was going to spoil so many fine preparations!  By a good luck, on which every one congratulated himself, the weather in the morning ceased its gloomy look, and a merchant of the Rue Saint Denis inscribed on his balcony these two celebrated lines,—­

    “Nocte pluit tota, redeunt spectacula mane,
    Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet.”

At 1 P.M. a salvo of one hundred and one guns announced the arrival of the monarch at the barrier of La Villette.  The Prefect of the Seine addressed him an allocution and presented him the keys of the city.  The King responded:  “I feel a great satisfaction in re-entering these walls.  I always recall with lively emotion the reception given me eleven years ago when I preceded the King, my brother.  I return here, having received the holy unction that has given me new strength.  I consecrate it all, and all that I have of life and all my resources, to the happiness of France.  It is my firm resolve, gentlemen, and I give you the assurance of it.”

The cortege then took up its march.  It was formed of a squadron of gendarmerie, several squadrons of the lancers and cuirassiers of the royal guard, the mounted National Guard of Paris, the staff of the garrison and of the first military division, a numerous group of general and superior officers.

The Count d’Haussonville wrote on the subject:—­

“I was in the cortege, and as the staff of the National Guard followed pretty close to the royal carriage, I had occasion to note how far below what had been hoped was the reception at the gate of La Villette, where a triumphal arch had been erected.  Some groups, plainly soldiers, after the discourse of the Prefect of Paris and the response of the King, uttered some huzzas that found no echo.  When we approached the boulevards, the public warmed up a little.  The windows were lined with women, of whom the greater number waved their handkerchiefs in sign of welcome.  Around Notre-Dame, whither the cortege proceeded on its way to the Tuileries, the crowd was enormous behind the line of soldiers charged with restraining it.  There was nothing offensive in their remarks; neither was there any emotion or sympathy.  The magnificence of the equipages and the costumes, the beauty of the military uniforms, particularly of the corps D’ELITE, such as the Hundred Swiss and the body-guard, were the only things spoken of.  The spectators sought to guess and name to each other the prominent persons.”

During the passage the King received bouquets offered him by the market men and women, as well as by a number of workmen’s corporations preceded by their banners.  At the entrance of the Cathedral he was congratulated by the Archbishop of Paris at the head of the clergy.  A te Deum was sung and the Marche du Sacre of Lesueur was played.  Then the King returned to his carriage and directed his course to the Tuileries.