With his own hands, too, he crowned Josephine. She was dressed like her husband in flowing robes of purple velvet heavily sown with the golden bee which Napoleon had copied from those found in the tomb of Childéric, father of Clovis, and which he had adopted as the imperial emblem because he wanted one older than the royalist fleur-de-lis. Followed by ladies of the court, her mantle borne by her sisters-in-law, who had been made princesses, Josephine knelt, weeping, before Napoleon, who placed her crown lightly on his own head and then laid it upon that of his empress. David’s famous picture hanging in the Louvre has saved this moment for posterity.
On the night before the coronation the city was plastered by royalist wits with placards which read: “Final performance of the French Revolution. For the benefit of a poor Corsican family.”
A fortnight later the emperor and empress were entertained by the city fathers at a banquet. The Hôtel de Ville had been gorgeously done over for the coronation, the throne room being hung with red velvet sown with the imperial bee. On the return of the distinguished guests to the Tuileries the streets were illuminated, and on the Cité a display of fireworks lighted up the ancient buildings.
The “poor Corsican family” did indeed profit by the successes of its prosperous member. After the coronation the imperial court far exceeded in elegance the court of the Consulate. Many of the ancient offices—Grand Almoner, Grand Marshal, Grand Chamberlain—were revived from the days of the Bourbons; many of them, indeed, were held by members of the old nobility; and it was one of Louis XVI’s former ambassadors to Russia who held the post of Master of Ceremonies, instructing, rehearsing
RUE DE RIVOLI, LAID OUT BY NAPOLEON IN 1802.
and laying down the laws of etiquette for public functions according to the customs of the old régîme.
Soon after the coronation Paris was again deserted of its foreign tourists for once again war was imminent. Napoleon was so sure of the success of his proposed invasion of England that he supplied himself with gold medals inscribed “Struck at London in 1804.” Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar put an end to the usefulness of these medals, and the great fighter turned his attention to other foes than the English. Six weeks later he defeated the combined forces of Russia and Austria at Austerlitz and sent to Paris one thousand two hundred captured cannon which were melted down to make the column which stands to-day in the Place Vendôme.