have his own way, and thus was authorised the construction
of the toy which formed a communication between the Louvre and the
Institute. But no sooner was the Pont des Arts finished than Bonaparte
pronounced it to be mean and out of keeping with the other bridges above
and below it. One day when visiting the Louvre he stopped at one of the
windows looking towards the Pout des Arts and said, "There is no
solidity, no grandeur about that bridge. In England, where stone is
scarce, it is very natural that iron should be used for arches of large
dimensions. But the case is different in France, where the requisite
material is abundant."

The infernal machine of the 3d Nivose, of which I shall presently speak
more at length, was the signal for vast changes in the quarter of the
Tuileries. That horrible attempt was at least so far attended by happy
results that it contributed to the embellishment of Paris. It was
thought more advisable for the Government to buy and pull down the houses
which had been injured by the machine than to let them be put under
repair. As an example of Bonaparte's grand schemes in building I may
mention that, being one day at the Louvre, he pointed towards St. Germain
l'Auxerrois and said to me, "That is where I will build an imperial
street. It shall run from here to the Barriere du Trone. It shall be a
hundred feet broad, and have arcades and plantations. This street shall
be the finest in the world."

The palace of the King of Rome, which was to face the Pont de Jena and
the Champ de Mars, would have been in some measure isolated from Paris,
with which, however, it was to be connected by a line of palaces. These
were to extend along the quay, and were destined as splendid residences
for the Ambassadors of foreign sovereigns, at least as long as there
should be any sovereigns Europe except Napoleon. The Temple of Glory,
too, which was to occupy the site of the Church of la Madeleine, was
never finished. If the plan of this monument, proved the necessity.
which Bonaparte felt of constantly holding out stimulants to his
soldiers, its relinquishment was at least a proof of his wisdom. He who
had reestablished religious worship in France, and had restored to its
destination the church of the Invalides, which was for a time
metamorphosed into the Temple of Mars, foresaw that a Temple of Glory
would give birth to a sort of paganism incompatible with the ideas of the
age.

The recollection of the magnifi