Eight days later we had the reverse of the medal. This time Cinna was played and a comedy the name of which I forget. It was so cold that we had to vacate the theatre after the tragedy. Then the Emperor spent himself in invectives against the poor theatre, which, according to him, was only fit to be burned. M. Fontaine was sent for, and promised to do his best to remedy the defects that were pointed out. In effect, by means of new stoves placed underneath the theatre, a wainscoting that reached to the roof, and steps placed below the benches of the second tier of boxes, in a week the hall was made warm and convenient.

For several weeks, the Emperor occupied himself almost exclusively with buildings and embellishments. The arch of triumph on the Place du Carrousel, from which the scaffoldings had been removed so that the imperial guard could pass beneath it on its return from Prussia, was the first thing to attract His Majesty's attention. This monument was nearly finished at the time, lacking only some bas-reliefs which had yet to be put in place. The Emperor looked at it a long time from one of the windows of the palace, and said, after frowning two or three times, that that mass he saw yonder was much more like a pavilion than a gateway, and that he would greatly have preferred a construction in the style of the portal of Saint-Denis.

After having examined in detail the various constructions begun or continued since his departure, the Emperor one morning sent for M. Fontaine, and having talked to him a long time about what he found to praise or blame, acquainted him with his intentions relative to the plans the architect had furnished for uniting the Tuileries to the Louvre. It was agreed between the Emperor and M. Fontaine that the new wing which was to form the junction should be built in five years, and that a million should be granted yearly for this purpose; that there should be a side wing at right angles, separating the Louvre from the Tuileries, thus forming a symmetrical square in the middle of which an opera house might be built which should be isolated on all sides and communicate with the palace by a subterranean gallery. The gallery forming the entrance court of the Louvre was to be open to the public in winter, and decorated with statues and all the tubbed plants from the Tuileries garden. In this entrance court there was to have been a triumphal arch nearly like that on the Place du Carrousel. Finally, all these beautiful buildings were to be distributed as quarters for the great officers of the crown, as stables, etc. The expenses all this would entail were estimated as in the neighborhood of forty-two millions.

The Emperor successively occupied himself with a palace of the arts including a new building for the imperial library, to be erected on the spot where the Bourse now stands; a palace for the Bourse on the quay Desaix; the restoration of the Sorbonne and the Hôtel Soubise; a triumphal column at Neuilly; a playing fountain on Place Louis XV.; the demolition of the Hôtel-Dieu for the sake of enlarging and embellishing the cathedral quarter, and the construction of four hospitals at Mont-Parnasse, Chaillot, Montmartre and in the faubourg Saint-Antoine, etc. All these projects were very fine, and doubtless in the end he who had conceived would have carried them into effect. He often said that, if he lived, Paris would have no rival in the world in any particular.

It was at this time that His Majesty definitely decided on the form to be given to the triumphal arch de l'Étoile, over which there had been much wavering and consulting of all the architects in the country. M. Fontaine's opinion finally prevailed. Of all the plans presented, his was at once the simplest and most grandiose.

The Emperor also thought of restoring the palace of Versailles. M. Fontaine had submitted to His Majesty a plan for the first repairs, by the terms of which, at a cost of six millions, the Emperor and Empress could have a suitable abode. His Majesty, who wished to make everything beautiful, grand, and superb, but yet with a due regard to economy, wrote at the foot of this project the following note, which is given by M. de Bausset also in his Memoirs:

"The projects concerning Versailles must be well thought over. M. Fontaine presents a reasonable one, the cost of which is six millions; but I find in it neither quarters, nor the restoration of the chapel and the theatre, not such as they should be some day, but merely as they might be for a first service.

"According to this project, the Emperor and Empress would be housed; this is not all: it must be known what could be had for the same sum in the way of quarters for the princes, the grand officers, and officers.

"We must also know where the manufactory of arms could be put, which is always needed at Versailles, where it puts money into circulation.

"For these six millions, six lodgings for princes, twelve for grand-officers, and fifty for officers must be had.

"Then only could one say whether we could inhabit Versailles and spend a summer there.

"Before this project is executed, the architect who shall be commissioned to carry it out may certify that this can be done for the sum proposed."

Only a few days after their arrival, Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress went to visit the celebrated David, in his studio at the Sorbonne, in order to view the magnificent picture of the Coronation, which had just been finished. The suite of Their Majesties comprised Marshal Bessières, an aide-de-camp of the Emperor, M. Lebrun, and several ladies of the palace, and chamberlains. The Emperor and Empress admired for a long time this fine composition, which unites all kinds of merit; and the painter was very vain of hearing His Majesty name one after the other all the principal personages of the picture, the resemblances being truly wonderful. "How grand it is!" said the Emperor; "how fine it is! how the different objects stand out! what truth! It is not a painting, people move in this picture." In the first place, his eyes being fixed upon the grand tribune in the centre, the Emperor recognized Madame Mère, General Beaumont, M. de Cosse, M. de La Ville, Madame de Fontanges, and Madame Soult: "Farther off," said he, "I see the worthy M. Vien." M. David replied: "Yes, Sire, I wished to render homage to my illustrious master by placing him in a picture the subject of which will make it the most important of my works." The Empress afterward called the Emperor's attention to the happy way in which M. David had seized and rendered the interesting moment in which the Emperor is ready to crown her. "Yes," said His Majesty, looking at it with an interest he did not seek to disguise, "the moment is well chosen, the action is perfectly indicated; the two figures are very good;" and, in speaking thus, the eyes of the Emperor rested on the Empress.

Going on to examine the picture in all its details, His Majesty chiefly praised the group of Italian clergy near the altar, an episode invented by the painter. He would have preferred, however, that the Pope should have been represented in a more direct action, as if giving his benediction, and that the ring of the Empress should have been carried by the cardinal legate.

Apropos of this group, Marshal Bessières made His Majesty laugh a good deal by reminding him of the very amusing discussion that had taken place between David and Cardinal Caprara.

It is known that the great artist had an aversion for draped figures, especially if draped in the modern style. In all his compositions so pronounced a taste for the antique is observable, that it insinuates itself even into his manner of draping living persons. Now, Cardinal Caprara, one of the assistants of the Pope in the ceremony of the Coronation, wore a wig. Having put him in his picture, David thought fit to remove his wig and represent him with a bald head, which was, for that matter, a perfect likeness. The Cardinal, in despair, entreated the artist to give him back his wig; he met with a formal refusal on the part of David. "Never," he said to him, "will I degrade my brush to the painting of a periwig." His Eminence went in wrath to complain to M. de Talleyrand, who was minister of foreign affairs at the time, alleging among other reasons one that appeared unanswerable, namely, that as no pope had ever worn a wig, people would not be slow to credit him with aspiring to the papal throne in case of a vacancy, an intention very clearly indicated by the suppression of his peruke in the picture of the Coronation. Do what His Eminence might, David would never consent to restore him his precious wig, saying that he ought to think himself lucky that nothing else had been taken off him but that.

After hearing the story, the details of which were confirmed to him by the principal actor in the scene, His Majesty also made some observations on the subject to David, using every possible circumspection. They were attentively listened to by this admirable artist, who, bowing, promised the Emperor to profit by his advice.

Their Majesties' visit was a long one. The setting sun at last warned the Emperor that it was time to depart. He was conducted by David as far as the door of the studio. There, stopping short, the Emperor lifted his hat, and by a salute full of grace, signified the respect he paid to so distinguished a talent. The Empress increased the lively emotion by which M. David seemed to be affected, by a few of those charming words she knew so well how to say and to place so appropriately.

Opposite the picture of the Coronation was exposed that of the Sabines. The Emperor, who had noticed M. David's anxiety to get rid of it, gave orders to M. Lebrun, as he was going away, to see whether this picture could not be suitably hung in the grand cabinet of the Tuileries.

But he soon changed his mind when he reflected that the greater part of the figures were represented in nauturalibus, which would have been unfitting enough in a cabinet devoted to great diplomatic receptions, and in which the ministerial council usually assembled.