78 MEMOIRS OF 



painted for them took place in the Louvre, and 

 every body was more or less interested. The 

 juries sat, the judges pronounced sentence ; and 

 because the Comparative Anatomy proceeded 

 from one of the latter, though it received the 

 pi'aise due to it, the prize for this subject was 

 awarded to another work. Delay took place, 

 and the Emperor deemed a revision of the judg- 

 ment necessary. During this revision M. Cuvier 

 was in Italy, and advantage was taken of his 

 absence to change the sentence, and recommend 

 the prize to be bestowed on him. The greatest 

 freedom was given to discussion, in the idea that 

 all would be strictly confidential on the part of 

 the government ; when, to the astonishment of 

 every one, the whole of the reports given to the 

 Minister of the Interior was pubhshed in the 

 Moniteur. Could any thing be better calculated 

 to accomplish the desires of his Imperial Ma- 

 jesty? No sooner did the affair languish, and 

 people cease to talk of it, from the conviction 

 that all was done, than he set the whole capital 

 in a turmoil of bickering and dispute ; for every 

 one had either his own cause, or that of his pro- 

 tege to defend. The result proved it to be one 

 of those master-strokes of policy of which Napo- 

 leon was so capable ; and what was his intention 



