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 cracking and crumbling in the
frost, at three days old.
Scarcely one of the statues, indeed, deserves to last a month: some are
odious distortions and caricatures, which never should have been allowed
to stand for a moment.
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