vivid recollections of the scene, because 1 should have too much to say.
Picture to yourself, then, ten thousand cavalry superbly mounted,
defiling between two rows of infantry equally imposing, each body
covering a distance of nearly half a league. Then think of the number of
the equipages, of their magnificence, the splendor of the trappings of
the horses, and of the uniforms of the soldiers; of the crowds of
musicians playing coronation marches, added to the ringing of bells and
booming of cannon; then to all this add the effect produced by this
immense multitude of from four to five hundred thousand spectators; and
still one would be very far from obtaining a correct idea of this
astonishing magnificence.

In the month of December it is very rare that the weather is fine, but on
that day the heavens seemed auspicious to the Emperor and just as he
entered the archiepiscopal church, quite a heavy fog, which had lasted
all the morning, was suddenly dissipated, and a brilliant flood of
sunlight added its splendor to that of the cortege. This singular
circumstance was remarked by the spectators, and increased the
enthusiasm.

All the streets through which the cortege passed were carefully cleared
and sanded; and the inhabitants decorated the fronts of their houses
according to their varied taste and means, with drapery, tapestry,
colored paper, and some even with garlands of yew-leaves, almost all the
shops on the Quai des Orfevres being ornamented with festoons of
artificial flowers.

The religious ceremony lasted nearly four hours, and must have been
extremely fatiguing to the principal actors. The personal attendants
were necessarily on duty continually in the apartment prepared for the