every one was as much sovereign as the titular one. The
expression, "the Court of King Petaud," became a synonym for
everything that was disorderly, ridiculous, and disgusting.

"Oui, je sors de chez vous fort mal edifiee;
Dans toutes mes lecons j'y suis contrariee;
On n'y respecte rien, chacun y parle haut,
Et c'est tout justement la cour du roi Petaud."

(MOLIERE, "Tartuffe," Act i. Sc. 1.)--EDITOR.]

Young Ramail had been in the Tuileries gardens since noon. The crowd was
already very large at that hour, but it seemed altogether engrossed in
the doings of an individual who was knocking down a gilded eagle on the
top of the gate. "Mind," said Ramail, "that was at twelve o'clock, or
somewhere thereabouts; and I do not think that the sitting at the
Chamber began until at least an hour later. If the Republicans say, in
days to come, that the Empire was virtually condemned before they voted
its overthrow, they will, at any rate, have the semblance of truth on
their side, because there were at least two thousand persons looking on
without trying to prevent the destruction of the eagles by word or deed;
and two thousand persons, if they happen to agree with them, are to the
Republicans the whole of France; while two millions, if they happen to
differ from them, are only a corrupt and unintelligent majority.

"But I was wondering," he went on, "at the utter ingratitude of the
lower and lower-middle classes. I feel certain that among those who
stood staring there, half owned their prosperous condition to the
eighteen years of Imperialism; yet I heard not a single expression of
regret at the brutal sweeping away of it.

"I may have stood there for about an hour, a score of steps away from
the gate before the swing bridge, when, all at once, I felt myself
carried forward with the crowd; and before I had time to look round, I
found myself inside that other gate. There were about five hundred
persons who had entered with me, but in what manner the gate gave way or
was opened I have not the vaguest idea. We went no further; we stopped
as suddenly as we had advanced. I turned round with difficulty, and
looked over the heads of those behind me; sure enough, the gates were
wide open and the crowd at the rear was much denser than it had been ten
minutes before. Still they stood perfectly still, without bringing any
pressure to bear upon us. T