Meissonier, his life and his art . which the men keptdrinkinw all ni^ht. And in the morning; it was found to be full ofcorpses! Many of the dead were stripped. I was struck by the beauty ofone body, naked to the waist,—an admirable torso. The sin ofdestroying such a beautiful form ! I groomed Coningham myself. When I received permission tojoin the staff, I had only seen the Emperor once, in 1855. I had hada black fancy uniform made for the Italian Campaign. The Emperortold me afterwards that he took me for an English attache. In my jouth, at Grenoble, I was present (though I turned my headaway
Meissonier, his life and his art . which the men keptdrinkinw all ni^ht. And in the morning; it was found to be full ofcorpses! Many of the dead were stripped. I was struck by the beauty ofone body, naked to the waist,—an admirable torso. The sin ofdestroying such a beautiful form ! I groomed Coningham myself. When I received permission tojoin the staff, I had only seen the Emperor once, in 1855. I had hada black fancy uniform made for the Italian Campaign. The Emperortold me afterwards that he took me for an English attache. In my jouth, at Grenoble, I was present (though I turned my headaway at the last moment) at a double I learnt Englishfrom a young man who intended to take orders, and who thought itright to accustom himself to everything ; so he took two or three ofhis pupils, myself among the number, to see this sight. The scaffoldwas a verv large one. I remember one of the condemned men gotaway, and ran round the guillotine ; the impression of horrors such asthese never fades. . 28o MEISSONIER. SKETCH MADE AT THE INSTITLTE. ROBERT FLEl KV. But the horror of violent death never struck me so forcibly as oncein 1848. One morning, in the gray dawn I saw a group of men. driving a struggling prisonerbefore them, come out of astreet which has now beenpulled down, near the H6telde Ville. He was a tall, fineyoung man, a splendid fellow,full of strength and life. Thegroup was close to us, whensuddenly the prisoner wasstruck by a bullet which laidhim low. I can still see thatswift, terrible passage out oflife into death. For one mo-ment his hands twitched athis sides, then all was over,and he was carried away a limp body, a mere human rag that flut-tered as it was borne along. What a fuss have we here about alove story and a suicide! That iswhat we have come to ! Two pistolshots constitute an event! Formerlypeople died more easily. Nowadayshuman life has come to be lookedupon as sacred, and that idea en-genders cowardice and stifles selfsacrifice. It is cu
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