The Second Funeral of Napoleon
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place; and if by chance some straggling vagabond, loitering in the
sunshine out of doors, dares to laugh or to sing, and disturb the
sanctified dulness of the faithful;--quick! a couple of big beadles
rush out and belabor the wretch, and his yells make our devotions
more comfortable.

Some magnificent religious ceremonies of this nature are at present
taking place in France; and thinking that you might perhaps while
away some long winter evening with an account of them, I have
compiled the following pages for your use. Newspapers have been
filled, for some days past, with details regarding the St. Helena
expedition, many pamphlets have been published, men go about crying
little books and broadsheets filled with real or sham particulars;
and from these scarce and valuable documents the following pages are
chiefly compiled.

We must begin at the beginning; premising, in the first place, that
Monsieur Guizot, when French Ambassador at London, waited upon Lord
Palmerston with a request that the body of the Emperor Napoleon
should be given up to the French nation, in order that it might find
a final resting-place in French earth. To this demand the English
Government gave a ready assent; nor was there any particular
explosion of sentiment upon either side, only some pretty cordial
expressions of mutual good-will. Orders were sent out to St. Helena
that the corpse should be disinterred in due time, when the French
expedition had arrived in search of it, and that every respect and
attention should he paid to those who came to carry back to their
country the body of the famous dead warrior and sovereign.

This matter being arranged in very few words (as in England, upon
most points, is the laudable fashion), the French Chambers began to
debate about the place in which they should bury the body when they
got it; and numberless pamphlets and newspapers out of doors joined
in the talk. Some people there were who had fought and conquered
and been beaten with the great Napoleon, and loved him and his
memory. Many more were there who, because of his great genius and
valor, felt excessively proud in their own particular persons, and