Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/299

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 257 of the streets of Paris.* It would seem that his chap; theatric bent had led Prince Louis to expect from la- this ride a kind of triumph, upon which his fortunes would hinge ; and certainly the unpopu- larity of the Assembly, and the suddenness and perfection of the blow which he had struck in the night, gave him fair grounds for his hope ; but he was hardly aware of the light in which his personal pretensions were regarded by the keen laughing people of Paris. The moment when they would cease to use laughter against him was very near, but it had not yet come. Moreover, he did not bring himself to incur the risk which was necessary for obtaining an acclaim of the people, for he clung to the streets and the quays which were close under the dominion of the troops. Upon the whole, the reception he met with seems to have been ueither friendly nor violently hostile, but chilling, and in a quiet way scornful. It seems that after meeting this check his spirit suffered collapse. Once again, though not so hopelessly as at Strasburg and Boulogne, he had encountered the shock of the real world. And again, as before, the shock felled him. Nor was it strange that he should be abashed and despond- ing: obeying his old propensity, he had prepared and appointed for the Austerlitz day a great scenic greeting between himself on the one hand, trying to get the people in the streets to cheer. — Note to ilh Edition, IS'.':;. VOL. T. R
 * Fleury rode in front of the cortege, waving his sword and