The Miserable World

Chapter 46 Part One (45)
M.Delalot was a personage.Legitimacy had just asserted itself by cutting off the hand，then the head，of Pleignier，of Carbonneau，and of Tolleron.The Prince de Talleyrand，grand chamberlain，and the Abbe Louis，appointed minister of finance，laughed as they looked at each other，with the laugh of the two augurs；both of them had celebrated，on the 14th of July，1790，the mass of federation in the Champ de Mars；Talleyrand had said it as bishop，Louis had served it in the capacity of deacon.
In 1817，in the side-alleys of this same Champ de Mars，two great cylinders of wood might have been seen lying in the rain，rotting amid the grass，painted blue，with traces of eagles and bees，from which the gilding was falling.
These were the columns which two years before had upheld the Emperor's platform in the Champ de Mai.They were blackened here and there with the scorches of the bivouac of Austrians encamped near Gros-Caillou.Two or three of these columns had disappeared in these bivouac fires，and had warmed the large hands of the Imperial troops.
The Field of May had this remarkable point：

that it had been held in the month of June and in the Field of March（Mars）.In this year，1817，two things were popular：

the Voltaire-Touquet and the snuff-box a la Charter.The most recent Parisian sensation was the crime of Dautun，who had thrown his brother's head into the fountain of the Flower-Market.
They had begun to feel anxious at the Naval Department，on account of the lack of news from that fatal frigate，The Medusa，which was destined to cover Chaumareix with infamy and Gericault with glory.Colonel Selves was going to Egypt to become Soliman-Pasha.The palace of Thermes，in the Rue de La Harpe，served as a shop for a cooper.On the platform of the octagonal tower of the Hotel de Cluny，the little shed of boards，which had served as an observatory to Messier，the naval astronomer under Louis XVI.，was still to be seen.The Duchesse de Duras read to three or four friends her unpublished Ourika，in her boudoir furnished by X.in sky-blue satin.
The N's were scratched off the Louvre.
The bridge of Austerlitz had abdicated，and was entitled the bridge of the King's Garden[du Jardin du Roi]，a double enigma，which disguised the bridge of Austerlitz and the Jardin des Plantes at one stroke.
Louis XVIII.，much preoccupied while annotating Horace with the corner of his finger-nail，heroes who have become emperors，and makers of wooden shoes who have become dauphins，had two anxieties，——Napoleon and Mathurin Bruneau.The French Academy had given for its prize subject，The Happiness procured through Study.
M.Bellart was officially eloquent.In his shadow could be seen germinating that future advocate-general of Broe，dedicated to the sarcasms of Paul-Louis Courier.There was a false Chateaubriand，named Marchangy，in the interim，until there should be a false Marchangy，named d'Arlincourt.Claire d'Albe and Malek-Adel were masterpieces；Madame Cottin was proclaimed the chief writer of the epoch.
The Institute had the academician，Napoleon Bonaparte，stricken from its list of members.
A royal ordinance erected Angouleme into a naval school；for the Duc d'Angouleme，being lord high admiral，it was evident that the city of Angouleme had all the qualities of a seaport；otherwise the monarchical principle would have received a wound.In the Council of Ministers the question was agitated whether vignettes representing slack-rope performances，which adorned Franconi's advertising posters，and which attracted throngs of street urchins，should be tolerated.
M.Paer，the author of Agnese，a good sort of fellow，with a square face and a wart on his cheek，directed the little private concerts of the Marquise de Sasenaye in the Rue Ville l'Eveque.All the young girls were singing the Hermit of Saint-Avelle，with words by Edmond Geraud.
The Yellow Dwarf was transferred into Mirror.
The Cafe Lemblin stood up for the Emperor，against the Cafe Valois，which upheld the Bourbons.The Duc de Berri，already surveyed from the shadow by Louvel，had just been married to a princess of Sicily.
Madame de Stael had died a year previously.
The body-guard hissed Mademoiselle Mars.The grand newspapers were all very small.
Their form was restricted，but their liberty was great.
The Constitutionnel was constitutional.La Minerve called Chateaubriand Chateaubriant.
That t made the good middle-class people laugh heartily at the expense of the great writer.In journals which sold themselves，prostituted journalists，insulted the exiles of 1815.
David had no longer any talent，Arnault had no longer any wit，Carnot was no longer honest，Soult had won no battles；it is true that Napoleon had no longer any genius.No one is ignorant of the fact that letters sent to an exile by post very rarely reached him，as the police made it their religious duty to intercept them.
This is no new fact；Descartes complained of it in his exile.
Now David，having，in a Belgian publication，shown some displeasure at not receiving letters which had been written to him，it struck the royalist journals as amusing；and they derided the prescribed man well on this occasion.What separated two men more than an abyss was to say，the regicides，or to say the voters；to say the enemies，or to say the allies；to say Napoleon，or to say Buonaparte.
All sensible people were agreed that the era of revolution had been closed forever by King Louis XVIII.，surnamed'The Immortal Author of the Charter.'On the platform of the Pont-Neuf，the word Redivivus was carved on the pedestal that awaited the statue of Henry IV.
M.Piet，in the Rue Therese，No.4，was making the rough draft of his privy assembly to consolidate the monarchy.
The leaders of the Right said at grave conjunctures，'We must write to Bacot.'
MM.
(End of this chapter)