"
Such was the disposition of the great writer, always content with
himself, discontented with others. The crowd of royalists, far
from showing themselves sceptical and morose, as he was, was about
to attend the ceremony of the morrow in a wholly different mood.
It had long been ready with its enthusiasm, and awaited with
impatience mingled with respect the dawn of the day about to rise.
XIV
THE CORONATION
Sunday, the 29th of May, 1825, the city of Rheims presented, even
before sunrise, an extraordinary animation. From four o'clock in
the morning vehicles were circulating in the streets, and an hour
after people with tickets were directing their steps toward the
Cathedral, the men in uniform or court dress, the women in full
dress. The sky was clear and the weather cool.
Let us listen to an eye-witness, the Count d'Haussonville, the
future member of the French Academy:--
"Need I say that the competition had been ardent among women of
the highest rank to obtain access to the galleries of the
Cathedral, which, not having been reserved for the dignitaries,
could receive a small number of happy chosen ones? Such was the
eagerness of this feminine battalion to mount to the assault of
the places whence they could see and be seen, that at six o'clock
in the morning when I presented myself at the Gothic porch built
of wood before the Cathedral, I found them already there and under
arms.
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