“Art. 1. Considering—that it is good for the people to read good poetry:
“Art. 2. Considering that few people can write it;
“Art. 3. Considering that he is one of the few, the Prince President has written the following work. Respecting which
“It is Decreed—That any person within France found without a copy, warranted to have been duly paid for, shall be liable to summary trial and deportation, with the confiscation of all his goods and chattels.
“Done at the Elysée, this first of April.
“Louis Napoleon.
“Countersigned,
“De Maupas.”
This is about as reasonable as many of the President’s decrees; for a tyranny like Louis Napoleon’s defies the powers of the coarsest caricature to reach the depth of its unnatural absurdities.
From the mass of trash which composes the volume, we extract the following clever parody of Tennyson’s “In Memorium:”