Now the plate of Ch. Amb. Caffarelli, given on page 121, is a little
puzzling; it is evidently of the First Empire period, and bears the
toque of a Baron; whilst the second quarter on the shield shows the
arms assigned in Napoleonic heraldry to a Préfet, namely: “De gueules à
la muraille crénelée d’argent, surmontée d’une branche de chêne du
même.” _Armorial Général de l’Empire Français_, 1812.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF M. DUBUISSON, 1805.]
In the _Dictionnaire des Girouettes_ mention is made of a Caffarelli (no
Christian name) who was created a Count of the Empire, and Grand Eagle
of the Légion d’Honneur by Napoleon. The king afterwards created him
Chevalier of the Order of St Louis, and Commandant at Rennes; whilst in
1815 he again reverted to the service of the Emperor. There was also a
Baron Caffarelli who bore similar arms, but he was Bishop of Saint
Brieux, whilst on this plate no ecclesiastical emblems are shown. He,
too, was a member of the Légion d’Honneur.
To which of these two this plate belonged I cannot decide, nor is the
matter of the first importance.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF LUCIEN BONAPARTE, PRINCE OF CANINO. BROTHER
OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.]
One plate may be named which forms an exception to the monotonous
regularity of the heraldic style under the First Empire; it is that of
Antoine-Pierre-Augustin de Piis, a dramatist. His monogram hangs on a
palm tree, each branch of which bears the name of some well-known
singer,--Panard, Favart, Collé, etc., whilst beneath are the titles of
the vaudevilles he had himself written. Another artistic little plate of
this period is that of M. Dubuisson, dated 1805, on page 130.
[Illustration: EX-LIBRIS IMAGINAIRE DE NAPOLÉON I.]
Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, younger brother of Napoleon, resided
some time in England, but died at Viterbo in 1840. His son, Charles,
Prince of Canino, distinguished as a naturalist, died in 1857, and it is
not easy to decide to which of the two this quiet, unpretentious little
Canino plate belonged.
The books of the first Napoleon were sumptuously bound, but he used no
book-plate. Monsieur L. Joly, in his _Ex-Libris Imaginaires_, furnishes
one such as might well have been used by the great soldier and
law-maker. An imperial eagle casts a thunder-bolt, which illuminates the
peaks of the Alps; below are seen the emblems of war, the owl, symbolic
of wisdom, the Cross of the Légion d’Honneur, and the books of the Code
Napoléon.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF JOACHIM MURAT.]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VIII.
THE RESTORATION, AND LOUIS PHILIPPE.
On the abdication of Napoleon, Louis XVIII. was placed on the throne of
his ancestors, and reigned over France by the Grace of God and the Holy
Alliance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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