he erection of
crown-works, triple crown-works, lunettes, &c. &c.; and in less than
half an hour he conceived and settled, under the approbation of his
architect, a definitive plan of defence, that obtained the suffrages
of the most experienced engineers.

A swarm of workmen soon covered the vicinity of Paris: but to increase
the effect, that the fortification of this city would produce both in
France and in foreign countries, Napoleon caused it to be suggested to
the national guard, to join in the work. Immediately detachments from
the legions, accompanied by a number of citizens and federates from
the suburbs of St. Antoine, and St. Marceau, repaired to Montmartre
and Vincennes, and proceeded to the opening of the trenches with
songs. The grenadiers of the guard would not remain idle; and came to
take their part in the labour with their band of music at their head.
The Emperor, accompanied only by a few of the officers of his
household, frequently went to encourage the zeal of the workmen. His
presence and his words fired their imagination: they fancied they saw
Thermopylae in every pass they fortified and, like new Spartans, swore
with enthusiasm, to defend them till death.

The federates did not stop at these demonstrations of their zeal,
empty as they often are; they called for arms, and were angry, at the
dilatoriness with which they were given them. They complained no less
eagerly, that they had not yet been reviewed by the Emperor.

To pacify them, the Emperor hastened to announce to them, that he
would admit them with pleasure to file off before him on the first
parade day.

On the 24th of May, they presented themselves at the Tuileries. Their
battalions were composed in great part of old soldiers and laborious
work people: but some of those vagabonds, who abound in great cities,
had crept in among them; and these, with their jailbird countenances,
and ragged clothes, recalled to mind but too forcibly those murderous
bands, who formerly stained the dwelling of the unfortunate Louis XVI.
with blood.

When Louis XIII., and the arrogant Richelieu, invoked the assistance
of the corporations of arts and trades, they admitted their deputies
to a solemn audience, took them by the hand, and embraced them all,
history says, down to the very cobblers. Napoleon, though in a far
more critical situation, would not humble himself before necessity: he
preserved his dignity, and, in spite of himself, suffered symptoms to