resting-place of Marshal Duroc, Duc de Frioul, and General Bertrand, who were, in turn, the emperor's dearest and most intimate friends.

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Duroc was born in 1772, at Pont-à-Mousson, and killed by a stray ball at the combat of Wurschen, the 22nd May, 1813. From the 18th Brumaire until his death he was constantly attached to the person of Napoleon. He was named Grand Marshal of the Palace in 1804. He lingered twelve hours after having received his death-wound, and during this long agony received a visit from the emperor. 'My whole life has been devoted to you," said the dying man; "and I only regret that I am about to lose it, because it might still be of service to you." "Duroc," replied Napoleon, "there is another world after this, and there it is that we shall one day meet again." A striking proof of the profound feeling of friendship which united these two men, in spite of the distance which a throne placed between them, is to be found in the fact of the idea entertained by Napoleon, in 1815, of asking permission to reside in England under the name of Colonel Duroc.

General Foy has characterised in the following manner the relations which existed between the Emperor and his Grand Marshal of the palace: "No other person was ever the depositary of so many and such important political secrets. The peculiar turn of his mind, remarkable rather for the justice of its views than for their comprehensiveness, his irreproachable demeanour, and, more than all, the force of habit, had placed him on a footing of confidential intimacy. Had a prince of Napoleon's character been capable of having a favourite, the relations subsisting between him and Duroc would have been looked upon in a very different light."

Bertrand was born at Châteauroux, and first served in the engineers, in which corps he obtained all his grades up to that of general of brigade. In 1805, he was named aide-decamp to the emperor, and became Grand Marshal of the palace after Duroc's death. He followed Napoleon to the island of Elba, and subsequently to St. Helena, where he performed the sad duties of closing his eyes for ever.

These reasons are most decidedly sufficient to justify the honour which France has shown these two faithful servants by laying their ashes near those of the great man whom they loved so well. Thus do the two Grand Marshals of the palace, who, during their lifetime, watched over the safety of the emperor's person, appear even after their death to be entrusted with the care of guarding his tomb.

It is in the masonry supporting the altar and the baldaquin, already described, and at the foot of the two flights of stairs leading from the dome to the vestibule, that the doorway opens into the crypt. It is closed by bronze gates, as simple in their style as they are severe. The ornaments consist of three superposed coffers of unequal size. The one nearest the bottom contains the imperial N. The smallest, in the middle, displays the thunderbolt, while the largest, occupying the upper portion of the gate, represents the victorious standard, twined with laurels, and surmounted by the eagle and the

ment, is a mosaic rosette, whose centre is occupied by the imperial N. Two other mosaics, representing the eagle and the star of the legion of honour, are let into the flag-stones of the passage which extends from the last step to the opening of the crypt.

The obscurity which reigns in this vast corridor, the sepulchral silence, and even the feeling of cold which seizes on every one beneath these massive vaults, announce most plainly to the visitor, already greatly moved, that an imposing sight awaits him beyond the last doorway.

A dim, uncertain light, admirably adapted for pious reflection, envelopes the sarcophagus in a veil of faint violet colour, the rays of which being caught in their passage by the slightest projection in the sculptures, tinge the marble of the caryatides with warm and mellow tints. This artificial light is obtained by means of the violet muslin curtains worked with silver, with which the windows of the cupola have been hung until such time as coloured glass can be substituted for that at present in use.

The crypt consists of a circular gallery, about six or seven feet broad, and of a round central space formed by twelve arches with a marble balustrade, breast-high, connecting them with each other, and separated by twelve caryatides about fifteen feet high. Lastly, there is a small funeral apartment intended for a reliquary, and opening into the gallery by a bronze door. The sarcophagus occupies the middle of the crypt, its extremities being turned towards the two doors.

THE GALLERY.

The gallery is paved with marble mosaics of various colours.

The outer wall is divided into twelve compartments, each of which corresponds to one of the arches. The door of the crypt and that of the reliquary occupy two of these compartments; the ten others contain ten marble bas-reliefs. Twelve bronze lamps, suspended from the ceiling of the gallery in such a manner, that a straight line drawn through the centre of one of the arches would likewise traverse the centre of the lamp hung opposite to it, are intended for the illumination of the tomb during the celebration of all religious ceremonies.

THE BAS-RELIEFS.

The ten bas-reliefs, due to the chisel of Mons. Simard, are destined to perpetuate, under the form of allegories, the remembrance of the grand institutions and of the most important acts of the Emperor Napoleon's reign. Counting them from the entrance, and commencing at the right hand, they represent, in the following order: The Institution of the Legion of Honour, Public Works, Encouragement of Commerce and Industry; Establishment of the Cour des Comptes;* Foundation of the University; the Concordat; Promulgation of the Civil Code; Foundation of the Council of State; Organisation of Public Administration; and Pacification of Civil Troubles.

THE LEGION OF HONOUR,

The general arrangement and dignity of composition displayed in this bas-relief, are in perfect keeping with the character of the subject. According to the idea which presided at its establishment, the Legion of Honour was an essentially democratic institution, although it seemed to confer a kind of aristocratic privilege, and form, as it were, the base of a new order of nobility. It consecrated the principle of the equality of all in the eyes of national gratitude, and the fitness of every citizen to earn for himself a splendid reputation by the brilliancy of his merit and the services he might have rendered his country.

It is this idea which the artist has endeavoured to embody. Napoleon, standing up, crowned with laurels, and having merely an antique peplum thrown over his shoulders, is distributing recompences to the magistrates, scholars, artists, and warriors, who are crowding round him in attitudes at once noble and modest. A legend let into the stone at the bottom of the bas-relief has these words, taken from the Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène :

* Audit Office.

"J'ai excité toutes les émulations, récompensé tous les mérites et reculés les limites de la gloire."

PUBLIC WORKS.

"Partout où mon règne a passé, il a laissé des traces durables de son bienfait."+

Such are the words which serve as an inscription, and which have furnished the subject for this bas-relief.

Napoleon, who is seated, and whose head is surrounded by a crown of rays, is stretching forth his two arms towards tablets bearing the names and purposes of the various monuments and works of public utility executed during his reign and by his order. Architecture and Civil Engineering, with their attributes, the compass and square, are holding the tablets. Two Glories are seated on the steps of the throne to the right and to the left.

In endeavouring to give his composition a monumental character in accordance with the idea suggested by the subect, the artist may, perhaps, with some justice, be accused of being rather heavy and obscure.

ENCOURAGEMENT OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.

Napoleon, seated upon a throne in an attitude full of calm majesty, is resting his hands upon two tablets, which bear the names of two grand institutions-the Code of Commerce, and the Quinquennial Exposition of the Products of French Industry-founded expressly to protect commercial transactions, and give a greater impetus to industry.

Vulcan personifying Industry, and Mercury as the god of Commerce, each bearing his respective attribute, the hammer and the caduceus, are raising up and supporting two towns, Paris and Lyons, kneeling at the foot of the throne.

There is a great deal of grandeur about this composition, which is, at the same time, both simple and elegant.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COUR DES COMPTES.

Napoleon is seated on his throne, his body is naked, his legs only being covered with long drapery. His physiognomy is severe and his look implacable. He is stretching a protecting hand over Truth, Justice, and Order, who are placed on his right. The figure of Truth is simple, and the expression of her features one of candour; she is presenting her mirror with mild assurance. Justice is impassible, whilst Order, represented as a beautiful young female, at the foot of the throne, is inscribing in a book, with arithmetical impartiality, the sum of the expenses and of the receipts. The emperor is repelling with his left hand, and with a gesture of indignation, the affrighted figures of Illegality and Peculation, while Falsehood, whose mask has fallen off, is kneeling down terrorstricken, with her head bent and her face concealed by her two hands.

This bas-relief is the best conceived and the finest of all the ten. The dramatic movement of the composition and the happy opposition of the two groups impart to it a character of grandeur which is not met with to so great an extent in the other subjects, although several of them are very remarkable, and display the most extraordinary talent. At the bottom of the bas-relief are the following words, which sum up, in a clear and concise manner, the end and the utility of the institution it commemorates : "Cour des Comptes, décret du 16 Septembre, 1807.-Je veux que par une surveillance active, l'infidélité soit réprimée et l'emploi légal des fonds publics garanti."

The Cour des Comptes was founded in virtue of the law of the 16th September, 1807.

The first article of this law runs thus: "The national accounts are kept by a Cour des Comptes."

In 1786, there were in France ten provincial audit offices chambres des comptes) in various parts of the kingdom,

I have excited every kind of emulation, recompensed every kind of merit, and extended the limits of glory.

✦ Wherever my reign has passed, it has left permanent marks of its beneficial influence.

Audit Office, decree of the 16th September, 1807.—It is my will that unfaithfulness shall be suppressed and the legal employment of the public moneys guaranteed by a system of active supervision.

namely, at Dijon, Grenoble, Nantes, Montpellier, Rouen, Pau, Metz, in the sovereignty of Lorraine, and that of Bar.

The unity introduced into the administration of government by the National Assembly was naturally followed by the foundation of a single audit office. However great a nation is, its affairs ought to be, and may be, administered with as much simplicity and regularity as those of an ordinary mercantile firm.

The first thing done was to create an account office (Bureau de Complabilité), the National Assembly, however, reserving the right of scrutinising the accounts, which could only pass after they had been sanctioned by that body.

Under the Constitution of the Year Eight of the Republic, a decree of the consuls enlarged the field of action of this institution, which was definitively simplified and organised by the law of the 16th September, 1807. Subsequently, fresh laws and decrees introduced other changes, which are all summed up in the ordonnance of the 31st May, 1838, headed, "General regulations concerning the public accounts."

It is the duty of the Cours des Comptes to verify the statements of the public expenditure and receipts presented to it by the receivers-general of finance, the paymasters of the public treasury, the registerers of stamps and public domains, the receivers of the excise, the accountant-directors of the post-office, the directors of the mint, the central cashier of the public treasury, and the responsible agent of the Virements des Comptes. It likewise audits the annual accounts of, the colonial treasurers, of the general treasurer of the naval pensioners, of the bursars of the public colleges, of the commissioners of powder and saltpetre, of the accountant charged with the transfer of the Rentes inscribed in the ledger of the public debt, of the accountant of the funds and pensions, of the cashier of the sinking fund and also of the suitors' fund, of the royal printing-office, of the administration of the salt works of the East, and of the receivers of the poor-houses, hospitals, and other charitable institutions, whose incomes attain the sum fixed by the laws and regulations on the subject.

The Cour des Comptes ranks immediately after the Cour de Cassation.

FOUNDATION OF THE UNIVERSITY.

The following words are inscribed upon the legend of this bas-relief:

"Décret du 10 Mai, 1806.-Il sera formé, sous le nom d'Université Impériale, un corps chargé exclusivement de l'enseignement et de l'éducation publics dans tout l'empire.'

The artist has treated this subject in the following manner : he has represented Napoleon seated in an attitude expressing the natural solicitude of the father of a family as well as the wise forethought of the sovereign. In his right hand he holds the sceptre, while with his left he is drawing towards him a youth who is nestling against his body as if to seek a refuge there. The five Faculties, each bearing the attributes peculiar to her, surround the throne, over which tower the busts of Aristotle and Plutarch.

This bas-relief is one of the most mediocre, both as regards its ordonnance and execution. The figure of Science, however is very fine, and of truly antique elegance.

The law of the 10th May, 1806, first decreed the formation, under the name of University, of a body exclusively charged with the education and instruction of all classes throughout the kingdom.

This law was further developed in the decrce of the 17th March, 1808, of which the following are the first provisions:

Public instruction, throughout the whole kingdom, is confided to the University. No school or any kind of estab lishment whatever for imparting instruction can be formed independent of the University, and without the authorisation of its head. No one can open a school or teach publicly, without being a member of the University, and having graduated in one of its faculties. The course of instruction in • Decree of the 10th May, 1806.-A body will be formed, under the name of the Imperial University, charged exclusively with public education and instruction throughout the empire.