The shaft
is wreathed round and round about with representations of what, as far as
I could distinguish, seemed to be the Emperor's victories. It has a very
rich effect. At the foot of the column we saw wreaths of artificial
flowers, suspended there, no doubt, by some admirer of Napoleon, still
ardent enough to expend a franc or two in this way.
The Hotel des Invalides and Napoleon's Tomb
By Augustus J. C. Hare
[Footnote: From "Walks In Paris." By arrangement with the publisher, David
McKay. Copyright, 1880.]
We emerge from the Rue de Grenelle opposite the gardens to the north of
the magnificent Hotel des Invalides, planned by Henri IV., and begun by
Louis XIV. in 1671, as a refuge for old soldiers, who, before it was
built, had to beg their bread on the streets.
The institution is under the management of the Minister of War, and
nothing can be more comfortable than the life of its inmates. The number
of these is now small; in the time of Napoleon I., when the institution
was called the "Temple of Mars," it was enormous.
On the terrace in front of the building are a number of cannon, trophies
taken in different campaigns.
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