When that gala day arrives, the members of the Institute appear with clean shirts, dressed in their grand uniform, and neatly shaved. The First Consul receives them, habited in all his paraphernalia, and as gorgeously attired as any Emperor or King in Europe. Every member of the Institute receives 1600 livres (£60 sterling) per annum. Every member has a silver medal with the head of Minerva on one side and his name on the other, which serves as his passport into every place in which the Institute is concerned. The First Consul, who is so fond of stage effect that he will not allow an assembly of grave philosophers to think and act without a uniform, was graciously pleased to command one for the members of the Institute. The State dress consists of a black satin coat, waistcoat, and breeches, embroidered throughout with branches of olive in deep green silk, not _à la Française_. The undress costume is similar, but only embroidered at the collar and cuffs. This regulation was signed and countersigned by the First Consul and the Minister of the Interior. On the 5th Frimaire, year 10, the Institute decreed that on the death of a member the president, the senior of the two secretaries of each class, as well as the members of the section to which the deceased belonged, were, unless prevented by some unavoidable cause, to assist at his funeral. The procession departs from the National Palace of the Louvre at _noon precisely_, in order that the moment it arrives at the late residence of the deceased the funeral ceremony may immediately be despatched. Formerly a hole was dug in the earth and the philosopher’s carcase quickly deposited therein, but since it has become the fashion to be a Christian the old service for the dead is to be revived. The Conservatory of Music are to execute a solemn dirge, and black crape is to be worn upon the left arm. An historical memoir of the deceased is to be made in the course of the year by the secretaries and read at a public sitting of the Institute, when the family of the dead member are to be seated in a distinguished place. The precision with which all these ceremonies are minutely marked out leaves room for regret that it has not been mentioned at what signal from the president the assembly shall begin to cry. I ought, perhaps, to give a list of the members of this Institute, with details of their characters previous to and since the Revolution, and their respective claims to literary pre-eminence. Such a narrative would be interesting, as the greater part of them have rendered themselves less conspicuous in the world of letters than in taking a very active part in some of the most bloody tragedies of the Republic.