The Second Funeral of Napoleon
Page: 26

sympathize with the train of mutes and undertakers, however deep may
be their mourning. Look, I pray you, at the manner in which the
French nation has performed Napoleon's funeral. Time out of mind,
nations have raised, in memory of their heroes, august mausoleums,
grand pyramids, splendid statues of gold or marble, sacrificing
whatever they had that was most costly and rare, or that was most
beautiful in art, as tokens of their respect and love for the dead
person. What a fine example of this sort of sacrifice is that
(recorded in a book of which Simplicity is the great characteristic)
of the poor woman who brought her pot of precious ointment--her all,
and laid it at the feet of the Object which, upon earth, she most
loved and respected. "Economists and calculators" there were even
in those days who quarrelled with the manner in which the poor woman
lavished so much "capital;" but you will remember how nobly and
generously the sacrifice was appreciated, and how the economists
were put to shame.

With regard to the funeral ceremony that has just been performed
here, it is said that a famous public personage and statesman,
Monsieur Thiers indeed, spoke with the bitterest indignation of the
general style of the preparations, and of their mean and tawdry
character. He would have had a pomp as magnificent, he said, as
that of Rome at the triumph of Aurelian: he would have decorated the
bridges and avenues through which the procession was to pass, with
the costliest marbles and the finest works of art, and have had them
to remain there for ever as monuments of the great funeral.

The economists and calculators might here interpose with a great
deal of reason; for, indeed, there was no reason why a nation should
impoverish itself to do honor to the memory of an individual for
whom, after all, it can feel but a qualified enthusiasm: but it
surely might have employed the large sum voted for the purpose more
wisely and generously, and recorded its respect for Napoleon by some
worthy and lasting memorial, rather than have erected yonder
thousand vain heaps of tinsel, paint, and plaster, that are already