diously respectful toward him, as that of Charlemagne, whom he was pleased to call his predecessor, could have been towards Leo.-On the 2d December, the ceremony of the coronation took place in the ancient cathedral of Notre Dame, with the addition of every ceremony which could be devised to add to its solemnity."* "The emperor took his coronation oath as usual on such occasions, with his hand upon the Scripture, and in the form in which it was repeated to him by the pope. But in the act of coronation itself, there was a marked deviation from the universal custom, characteristic of the man, the age, and the conjuncture. In all other similar solemnities, the crown had been placed on the sovereign's head by the presiding spiritual person, as representing the Deity, by whom princes rule. But not from the head of the Catholic church would Bonaparte consent to receive as a boon the golden symbol of sovereignty, which he was sensible he owed solely to his own unparalled train of military success. The crown having been blessed by the pope, Napoleon took it from the altar with his own hands, and placed it on his brows."+ "The northern states of Italy had followed the example of France through all her change of models. They had become republican in a directorial form, when Napoleon's sword conquered them from the Austrians; had changed to an establishment similar to the consular, when that was instituted in Paris by the 18th Brumaire; and were now destined to receive as a king him who had lately accepted and exercised with legal authority the office of their president. On the 17th March, a deputation ob * Sir Walter Scott's Life of Napoleon, vol. v. pp. 158, 159. † Ibid. tained an audience of the emperor, to whom they intimated the unanimous desire of their countrymen that Napoleon, founder of the Italian republic should be the monarch of the Italian kingdom. He was to have power to name his successor.' "The senators of the Italian republic sent in their humble petition that their president might be pleased to do them also the favour to be crowned as their 'king at Milan. The emperor proceeded to that city accordingly, and in like fashion, on the 26th May 1805, placed on his own head the old iron crown, said to have been worn by the Lombard kings, uttering the words which according to tradition they were accustomed to use on such occasions, "God hath given it me. Beware who touches it." In every thing it was the plan of Napoleon to sink the memory of the Bourbon monarchy, and revive the image of Charlemagne, emperor of the West."I On the conquest of Italy by Theodoric, the imperial power was no longer dominant over Rome, and the authority of the emperor at Constantinople ceased in Italy. The sun shone not for a third part of the day, and the night likewise. But Charlemagne was the restorer of the western empire; and in every thing it was the plan of Bonaparte to revive the image of Charlemagne emperor of the West." The pope, whose toe the successors of Charlemagne had kissed, and the bridle of whose horse they had led, stood at the steps of Napoleon's throne, travelled, like a vassal at the command of his lord, and officiated at his coronation, that the form of imperial inauguration might be observed; but no hand except his own put the golden crown *Sir Walter Scott's Life of Napoleon, vol. v. p. 170. Ibid. upon the head of the emperor. He was next installed as king of Italy—and thither he went, to be crowned its monarch. And as formerly he had threatened to be a second Attila, while the region of waters was, like Attila's, his allotted sphere of action-so in the act of placing the crown of Italy on his head, as soon as the symbol of the sun was there his badge, he took up in his lips the very word of the Revelation of Jesus Christ concerning him; and out of his own mouth, whenever the crown of Italy was on his head, he supplied an illustration, that he who is higher than the highest regarded him, and that power was given him to execute still farther the just judgment of God. While he placed on his head the old iron crown, he uttered the words, "God hath given it me."* The first thing that is said of the sun on which the vial was poured, is power was given unto him. On this important point it may not be superfluous to adduce more direct and repeated testimony— that of the school-fellow, the secretary, and the companion of the more solitary hours of Bonaparte. 66 Setting aside the means, it must be acknowledged that it is impossible not to admire the genius of Bonaparte, his tenacity in advancing towards his object, and that adroit employment of suppleness and audacity, which made him sometimes dare fortune, sometimes avoid difficulties which he found insurmountable, to arrive, not merely at the throne of Louis XVI., but at the re-constructed throne of Charlemagne."+ "Bonaparte had a long time be *It has been stated, but I do not recollect on what evidence or on what occasion, that Bonaparte, after his exile in St. Helena, having been presented with a Bible, pushed it carelessly aside, saying, that he "knew all about it." How differently would he have regarded it, if he had known, that all his glory and his fall were written in one verse, of which too his first words, as king of Italy, were a literal illustration. † Bourrienne's Memoirs of Bonaparte, vol. iii. pp. 37, 38, 8vo. ed, fore spoken to me of the title of emperor, as being the most appropriate for the new sovereignty, which he wished to found in France. This, he observed, was not restoring the old system entirely, and he dwelt much on its being the title which Caesar hadborne."* "The year 1804 teemed with great events, and it would be difficult to find in history so many circumstances exercising so great an influence on the destinies of Europe, crowded together within the short space of twelve months."+" Bonaparte was crowned king of Italy, May 1805. The old iron crown of the kings of Lombardy was brought from the dust in which it had been buried; and the new coronation took place in the cathedral of Milan, the largest in Italy, with the exception of St. Peter's at Rome. Napoleon received the crown from the archbishop of Milan, and placed it on his head, exclaiming, Dieu me l'a donnée, gare à qui la touche.' This became the motto of the iron crown, which the emperor founded in commemoration of his being crowned king of Italy. By this measure Bonaparte completed the assimilation between himself and Charlemagne." Power, in the words of the prophecy and in his Own WAS GIVEN unto him. Twelve years before he was seated on the imperial throne, his name was unknown in Europe; eleven years only had elapsed since his first military service in Corsica; within a still shorter period he had sought to transfer his services to the sultan; and now he was possessed of power unequalled in Europe, and before which almost all its kingdoms successively fell, till scarcely any career of conquest ever equalled his own. The *Bourrienne's Mem. pp. 70, 71. † Ibid. p. 173 myriads of Xerxes and Darius, of Alaric and Attila, would have been as flocks of sheep to wolves, compared to the masses of Napoleon; and, contrasted with his, their motions would have been those of a sloth, compared to the eagle flight of Napoleon. The naval war of Britain mocked all comparison on the ocean; and it may perhaps be said, that, as to intrinsic power, none on earth, under the command of one man, equalled that of Napoleon. As his conquests spread, he drew forth armies under his banners from conquered kingdoms. And war for a long season became the occupation of Europe. France was a military school: scarcely was a man to be seen in the fields; they were left to be cultivated by the women. The vast annual conscription was often anticipated, till men, far from the prime of life, were called forth by thousands. Military glory was, in France, the rage of the day. And they who but shortly before had beheaded their king, and drenched their country with blood in the cause of liberty, were little else than the worshippers of a Corsican despot, who a little time before, would have been proud of the charge of a single cannon, but who speedily exercised an authority and power over France and Europe, which passed the wildest dream of the most ambitious of their kings. But the power that was given him was neither inactive, nor wasted in vain. The first vial which he poured out was local; and he flew only from river to river, where these were closely crowded. But when he had reached a throne, and held an empire as his own, like the scorching sun that shines at once on half the world, his power was felt over Europe, whose kingdom became his prey. All power of government cenetred in himself. He had no divided empire over France or Italy, as he strove to have none throughout the world. "In reading the history of this period we find," says Bour |