Arago had been a member of the Provisional Government, and had died.

Leverrier took exactly opposite ground, politically, to that of Arago; he stood high with the emperor.
"He took me all over the observatory.

He had a large room for a ballroom, because in the ballroom science and politics were discussed; for where a press is not free, salons must give the tone to public opinion.
"Both Leverrier and Madame Leverrier said hard things about the English, and the English said hard things about Leverrier.
"The Astronomical Observatory of Paris was founded on the establishment of the Academy of Sciences, in the reign of Louis XIV.

The building was begun in 1667 and finished in 1672; like other observatories of that time, it was quite unfit for use.
"John Dominie Cassini came to it before it was finished, saw its defects, and made alterations; but the whole building was afterwards abandoned.

M.Leverrier showed me the transit instrument and the mural circle.