On the contrary, it bears the name of a victory or of a conquest and reminds one of recent exploits.

Duc de Montebello or a Prince de la Moskowa is equivalent in the imagination contemporaries to a Duc de Montmorency or a Prince de Rohan; for, if the prince or duke of the empire is without ancestors, he is or will be an ancestor himself.

To these prizes coveted by vanity Napoleon tacks on every substantial and pecuniary advantage, in ready money or landed property, not alone large salaries, adjunctive senatoreries, occasional munificent gifts, * a million at one time to General Lasalle, but likewise vast revenues from the extraordinary domain[3349], * 32,463,817 francs a year divided amongst 4970 persons, * pensions from 250 to 5000 francs for all legionaries, * villas, large estates, private incomes, distinct and superb endowments for those of the highest rank, a fortune of 100,000 livres income and more to 34 of these, * a fortune of 450,000 livres in the public funds to Cambaceres, of 683,000 livres in the public funds to Massena, of 728,000 livres in the public funds to Ney, of 910,000 livres in the public funds to Davout, of 1,354,000 livres in the public funds to Berthier, * and besides all this, three "sovereign principalities," Neufchatel to Berthier, Benevento to Talleyrand, and Ponte-Corvo to Bernadotte .-- This last attraction which, in these times of violent and premature death, is of no little account.

Napoleon opens out hereditary and undefined prospects beyond the perspectives of life and of inferior interests.

Each of the titles conferred by him, that of prince, duke, count, baron, and even that of chevalier, is transmissible in direct descent, according to primogeniture from father to son, and sometimes from uncle to nephew, under specified conditions which are very acceptable, and of which the first is the institution of an inalienable majority, inattackable, consisting of this or that income or real property, of bank stock or state securities, from 3000 francs for common chevaliers up to 200,000 francs for the dukes, that is to say, a certain fortune in perpetuity due to the sovereign's liberality, or to the prudence of the founder, and intended to support the dignity of the title from male to male and from link to link throughout the future chain of successive inheritors.