. Life in the Tuileries under the second empire. ileries was a mere wreck,though beautiful still. The graceful outlines yet re-mained; the stones were not blackened, but red-dened, by the flames, and seemed to bear a weird,lurid glow. The fire had done its work with strangecaprice; here and there, amid the crumbling ruins,a wooden shutter or a piece of drapery had hand of the clock dial still pointed to the fatalhour. Fragments of the velvet curtains embroid-ered with golden bees (the imperial emblem) couldstill be seen in the Salle des Marechaux, andalso, in the apartments of the
. Life in the Tuileries under the second empire. ileries was a mere wreck,though beautiful still. The graceful outlines yet re-mained; the stones were not blackened, but red-dened, by the flames, and seemed to bear a weird,lurid glow. The fire had done its work with strangecaprice; here and there, amid the crumbling ruins,a wooden shutter or a piece of drapery had hand of the clock dial still pointed to the fatalhour. Fragments of the velvet curtains embroid-ered with golden bees (the imperial emblem) couldstill be seen in the Salle des Marechaux, andalso, in the apartments of the Empress, the crimsonhangings of the canopy over her bed. Nothing butthe mere front of the building remained, however,in any shapely form, and the internal destructioncould easily be discerned from the exterior. Stillthis sad memento of civil war and savage passionswas worthy of preservation; it was beautiful withthe sad beauty of the ruins of Heidelberg. The haloof its glorious past seemed still to surround it; but ■ 53 W ~ffW .. - ■ r^ THE PAVILION IF 1 LORA Al Tl K THE FIR! . rui tun conned wing ol the I ouvre. UNDER THE SECOND EMPIRE 249 greater than its beauty was the lesson it conveyedof the consequences of revolutionary anarchy. The two pavilions at the extreme ends of thebuilding have been restored: the Pavilion de Flore,looking on the quay and the Seine; the PavilionMarsan, looking on the rue de Rivoli, where I livedfor so many years! This has been entirely rebuilt;the Pavilion de Flore was less injured, and moreeasily repaired. The whole of the central part of the building, thechapel, the splendid Salle des Marechaux, the apart-ments of the Emperor, Empress, and Prince Impe-rial, have been entirely pulled down, and the spaceon which they stood turned into a garden. Flowers now bloom, and children play, on thespot where Marie Antoinette shed such bitter tears;where Madame Elisabeth tried to save her by thesacrifice of her own life; where Napoleon I. broughthis
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnapoleo, bookyear1895
