. A life of Napoleon Boneparte:. the imperial crown was placed, liftedit, and put it himself on his head; then taking the crown ofthe Empress in his hands, he descended the steps to the placewhere Josephine was kneeling. With a gesture at once sogentle and so proud that it impressed the whole splendid au-dience, he put the crown upon her head, while the Pope pro-nounced the orison: May God crown you with the crownof glory and justice; may He give you strength and couragethat, through this benediction, and by your own faith and themultiplied fruits of your good works, you may attain thecrown of
. A life of Napoleon Boneparte:. the imperial crown was placed, liftedit, and put it himself on his head; then taking the crown ofthe Empress in his hands, he descended the steps to the placewhere Josephine was kneeling. With a gesture at once sogentle and so proud that it impressed the whole splendid au-dience, he put the crown upon her head, while the Pope pro-nounced the orison: May God crown you with the crownof glory and justice; may He give you strength and couragethat, through this benediction, and by your own faith and themultiplied fruits of your good works, you may attain thecrown of the eternal kingdom, through the grace of Himwhose reign and empire extends from age to age. As the last words of the prayer died away the cortegeturned from the high altar and proceeded slowly down thenave to the point where the throne had been placed. At thetop of a staircase of some twenty-nine steps was a largeplatform, on which a sumptuous arm-chair, richly decoratedwith embroideries and golden symbols, had been placed for. 384 THE QUESTION OF SUCCESSION 385 Napoleon. To the right of this seat, and one step lower,was a smaller chair, with similar decorations, for Emperor and Empress mounted the steps and seatedthemselves. They were followed by the Pope, who blessedthem, and then, kissing the Emperor on the cheek, turned tothe assembly, and pronounced the words, Vivat imperatorin (Eternum. The Te Dcum, the prayers, the reading ofthe Scriptures, the offering, followed; and then, the massfinished, the oath taken. Napoleon and Josephine descendedand attended by their suites, left the cathedral, and enteredtheir carriage. The ceremony, from the time of leaving theTuileries, had taken five hours. It three and a halfhours more before the long procession was ended and theywere back again in the palace. That night Napoleon and Josephine dined alone, the Em-press wearing her crown, at her husbands request, so pleasedwas he with the grace and dignity with which sh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnapoleo, bookyear1901
