A vast
number of white columns stretched down the avenue, each bearing a bronze
buckler on which was written, in gold letters, one of the victories of
the Emperor, and each decorated with enormous imperial flags. On these
columns golden eagles were placed; and the newspapers did not fail to
remark the ingenious position in which the royal birds had been set:
for while those on the right-hand side of the way had their heads turned
TOWARDS the procession, as if to watch its coming, those on the left
were looking exactly the other way, as if to regard its progress. Do not
fancy I am joking: this point was gravely and emphatically urged in
many newspapers; and I do believe no mortal Frenchman ever thought it
anything but sublime.
Do not interrupt me, sweet Miss Smith. I feel that you are angry. I can
see from here the pouting of your lips, and know what you are going to
say. You are going to say, "I will read no more of this Mr. Titmarsh;
there is no subject, however solemn, but he treats it with flippant
irreverence, and no character, however great, at whom he does not
sneer.
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