tion of promenaders
at every step, and enabled them to await without impatience the
illuminations and the fireworks.

The display of fireworks was most admirable. From the Place Louis XV.
to the extreme end of the Boulevard Saint-Antoine, ran a double line of
colored lights in festoons. The palace of the Corps-Legislatif, formerly
the Garde-Meuble, was resplendent with lights, and the gates of
Saint-Denis and Saint-Martin were covered with lamps from top to bottom.

In the evening all those interested betook themselves to the quays and
bridges, in order to witness the fireworks which were set off from the
Bridge de la Concorde (now called Bridge Louis XVI.), and which far
surpassed in magnificence all that had ever been seen.

CHAPTER XXII.

Wednesday, Dec. 5, three days after the coronation, the Emperor made a
distribution of the colors on the Champ-de-Mars.

In front of Ecole-Militaire a balcony was erected, covered with awnings,
and placed on a level with the apartments on the first floor. The middle
awning, supported by four columns, each one of which was a gilded figure
representing Victory, covered the throne on which their Majesties were
seated. A most fortunate precaution, for on that day the weather was
dreadful; the thaw had come suddenly, and every one knows what a Paris
thaw is.

Around the throne were ranged princes and princesses, grand dignitaries,
ministers, marshals of the Empire, grand officers of the crown, the
ladies of the court, and the council of state.

This balcony was divided on the right and left into sixteen compartments,
decorated with banners, and crowned with eagles, these divisions
representing the sixteen cohorts of the Legion of Honor. Those on the
right were occupied by the Senate, the officers of the Legion of Honor,
the court of appeals, and the chiefs of the national treasury, and those
on the left by the Tribunate and the Corps-Legislatif.

At each end of the balcony was a pavilion. That on the side next the
city was styled the imperial tribune, and intended for foreign princes,
while the diplomatic corps and foreign personages of distinction filled
the other pavilion.

From this gallery an immense staircase descended into the Champ-de-Mars,
the first step of which formed a bench below the tribunes, and was
occupied by the presidents of the cantons, the prefects, the
sub-prefects, and the members of the municipal council. On each side of
this staircase were placed