I I SI  k  I(If) Oi'R(I)N a'LI  i  A  a(T       a IH  L            I   0',>1 ()  m. N1 () J,  I H- a H,-L












'~I~~~~~~v i                             ~:~  - 
-%,
x~ ~~~
~i~?~  ~~~~~~~~ —-~
iI~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ax,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,
MARIE-THE~R ESE-CHARLOTTE.
MAladame -Royale: afterwardsq, 9~uhessee dI'Angoulerne.)




,4is tlfes~l       u izffcriug-fqi;    M-eatli
THE  CAPTIV ITY
OF THE ROYAL FAMILY IN THE TEMPLE.
BY  A, DE  BEAUCHESNE,
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY W.  HAZLITT, ESQ.
2]IBETLLISTHED WITH VIGNETTES, AUTOGRAPHS, AND PLANS.
VYoLiuE I F
NE7' YXORK.
I.ARP ER & BROTHERS, PUBLIS IERS,
329 &  331 PEARL STREET,
FRANCKLIN SQUARE.








CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
BOOK ELEVENTH.
LOUIS XVII. SEPARATED  FROM  HIS MOTHER.
PAGE
21sT JANUARY-3D JULY, 1793 —........................ —--   1
BOOK TWELFTH.
SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.
3D JULY, 1793-19TH JANUARY, 1794 -.....          66
BOOK THIRTEENTH.
SOLITUDE OF LOUIS XVII.
30TH NIV6SE-9TH THERMIDOR, 2D YEAR (19TH JANUARY-27TH
JULY, 1794) -------- —. —.-. —-.-........ —----  173
BOOK FOURTEENTH.
LAURENT APPOINTED KEEPER TO THE CHILDREN  OF LOUIS XVI.
10TH THERRMIDOR, YEAR 2 (28TH JULY, 1794).. —.. —-...... 213
BOOK FIFTEENTH.
GOMIN COLLEAGUE OF LAURENT.
18TH BRUMAIRE-9T11 GERMINAL, 3D YEAR (8TH NOVEMBER,
1794-29TH MARCH, 1795).-..-.-............... 235




Vi                    CONTENTS.,
BOOK SIXTEENTH,
GOMIN AND LASNE.
PAGE
11TH GERMINAL, 3D YEAR (TUESDAY, 31ST MARCH, 1795)-...... 283
BOOK SEVENTEEEENTH.
LAST DAYS, AGONY, AND DEATH.
15TH FLOREAL-22D PRAIRIAL, 3D YEAR (4TH MAY —10TH JUNE,
1795.-.-..... ——.. —-.. 301
BOOK EIGHTEENTH.
THE  CEMETERY  OF SAINTE-MARGUERITE.
FRIDAY, 10TH MARCH, 1837.........     338
BOOK NINETEENTH.
MARIE-THERESE LEAVES THE TEMPLE.
27THi FRIMAIRE, 4TH YEAR (18TH DECEMBER, 1795) -.......... 362
BOOK TWENTIETH.
DEMOLITION OF THE TEMPLE TOWER.
CONCLUSION-.. —-. -.-.............. 436
APPENDIX.
DOCUMENTS AND CONFIRMATORY PAPERS... -........ 455




LIST  OF ILLUSTRATIONS, FACBSIMILES, &c.
PAG E
FRONTISPIECE, PORTRAIT OF M(ARIE-THERESE-CHARI,OTTE, D-)
CHESSE D'ANGOULEME.
THE SEAL OF LOUIS XVI                   ---                24
SIGNATURE OF THE DAUPHIN TO HIS DEPOSITION AGAINST HIS
MOTHER-.  ------- ---- 128
SIGNATURES OF THE DAUPHIN AND MARIE-THERESE, APPENDED TO
THE INTERROGATORIES APPLIED TO THE LATTER   ----      132
SIGNATURES OF THE DAUPHIN AND MADAME ELIZABETH APPENDED
TO THE EXAMINATION OF THE LATTER - ----       —.    133
THE LAST LETTER OF QUEEN MARIE-ANTOINETTE —--        -— 138
-SIGNATURES OF THE DAUPHIN ANTD SIMON TO THE DECLARATION
MADE BY THE FORMER —--- 154
PORTRAIT OrF GOMIN —----------           ----------       236
A LETTER FROM GOMIIN TO M. DE BEAUCHESNE                  239
A ROYALIST PROMISSORY NOTE -----------             --   263
PORTRAIT OF LASNE- - -                                    285
CERTIFICATE OF LASNE OF THE DEATH OF LOUIS XVII. ---— 290
THE DAUPHIN'S SWORD —---- ------ -- --- — 298
OFFICIAL REGISTER OF THE DEATH OF LOUIS-CHARLES CAPETT  333
PLAN OF THE CEMETERY —                                    357
H6TEL. DU CORBEAUT, HUNINGHUE -..-.... ——..........  414
APARTMIENT OF MA-DAM4.E ROYAL.E     HUNINGHUE-.E         418




Vlli    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, FAC-SIMILES, ETC.
PAGE
CHATEAU OF M. REBER, NEAR BASLE.               422
SALOON WHERE MADAME ROYALE WAS DELIVERED UP BY FRANCE
TO AUSTRIA                                        423
MADAME ROYALE'S NARRATIVE OF HER DEPARTURE FROM THE
TEMPLE AND JOURNEY TO HUNINGHUE ------------------- 434
SKETCH OF A GUILLOTINE, FROM THE WALL OF THE ANTE-ROOM OF
THE CHAMBER OCCUPIED BY LOUIS XVI. IN THE TOWER OF
THE TEMPLE --—..                                 438




LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH,
BOOK ELEVENTH.
SEPARATED FROM HIS MOTHER.
21ST JANUJARY —3RD JULY, 1793.
Louis XVIIo. proclaimed King-Declaration of the Count de ProvenceManifesto of the Prince de Conde —The young King acknowledged by
England, Sardinia, Spain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia-Proclamationu of the chiefs of La Vendee-Deorees of the Convention-The
Temple on the morning of the 21st January- The royal family obtains
mourning dresses-Lepitre and Toulan-The Queen resumes the education of her son-Plan for escape-Jarjayes and Ricard-Struggle
between the lMountain and the Gironde —The Queen refuses to be saved
apart from her family Letters-Flight of Dunmouriez-Tison and his
wife-tRumlours-Proposition of Robespierre —Searches at the Temple
Illness of Eouis XVII.-Fall of the Gironde-Failure of a new
plan for escape-Decrees-Separation of Marie Antoinette from her
ALTHOUJGIH the Revolution had declared royalty for ever abolished, although it had sought to hill royalty on a scaffold, yet
the Revolution, on the  I1st January, 1793, at twenty minutes
past 10 in the morning,-that is to say, at the moment when
the head of Louis XVI. fell,-had gained bhut one point in
the opinion of those who, despising the blows of mere force,
respected only the authority of right; and this one point was,
that the King of France was called Louis XVIT instead of
Louis XVI.
I                       A




2                 LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 11.
Louis XVII. proclaimed.
The death of Louis XVI. had filled  every  heart with
horror. Entire Europe took part in the funereal grief of
France.  Monsieur the Count de Provence was at H:amm, in
Westphalia, when, on the 28th January, he received intelligence of the regicide. He instantly proclaimed the accession
of his nephew, under the name of Louis XVII., and declared
that he himself assumed the titl6 of Regent of the kingdom
until the majority of the young King.*
* The following is the declaration thus made:
"Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, son of France, uncle of the King,
Regent of the kingdom, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:
"Penetrated with horror on learning that the most criminal of men
have just filled up the measure of their numerous offences by the commission of the extreme of outrage, we first invoked the aid of Heaven to
enable us to surmount the sentiments of our profound grief and the impulses of our indignation, in order that we might apply ourselves to the
accomplishment of the duties which, under circumstances so grave, present
themselves foremost in order of thlse which the immutable laws of the
French monarchy impose upon us:
" Our dearly beloved and most honoured brother and sovereign lord,
the King Louis, sixteenth of the name, having died on the 21st of the
present month of January, under the parricidal steel which the ferocious
usurpers of the sovereign authority in France directed against his august
person:
" We declare that the Dauphin, Louis Charles, born on the 27th day of
the month of March, 1785, is King of France and Navarre, under the
name of Louis XVII., and that, by right of birth, as well as by the provisions of the fundamental laws of the kingdom, we are, and shall continue
to be, Regent of France during the minority of the King, our nephew
and lord:
" Invested, in this quality, with the exercise of the rights and powers
of the sovereignty, and of the supreme administration of royal justice, we
assume the. charge of the same, as we are bound to do, in acquittal of our
obligations and of' our duties, to the effect that we may employ ourselves,
with the aid of God and the assistance of good and loyal Frenchmen, of
all the orders of the kingdom, and of the recognised powers of the sovereign allies of the crown of France:
"Firstly: To the liberation of the King Louis XVII., our nephew;
Secondly, of the Queen, his august mother and guardian; of the Princess,
his sister, Madame, our dearly beloved niece; of the Princess Elizabeth,
his aunt, our dearly beloved sister: all detained in the harshest captivity
by the chiefs of the factions; and, simultaneously,. to the re-establishitment
of tiie mogarchy on the unalterable bases of the Constitution; to the re



T938.]        SEPARATED  FROM  HIS MOTHERS                      8
Proclamations by the Regent.
Under the same date appeared also two other official acts
of the Regent, the one, letters-patent, nominating the Count
formation of the abuses which have been introduced into the system of
public administration; to the re-establishment of the religion of our
fathers, in the purity of its worship, and of canonical discipline; to the
re-integration of the magistracy, for the maintainance of public order and
the dispensation of justice; to the restoration of Frenchmen, of all orders,
to the exercise of their legitimate rights, and the enjoyment of their invaded and usurped properties; to the severe and exemplary punishment
of crime; to the re-establishment of the laws and of peace;-in a word,
to the accomplishment of the solemn engagements which we have undertaken, conjointly with our dearly beloved brother, Charles Philippe de
France, Count d'Artois, with whom are conjoined our dearly beloved
neplhews, grandsons of France, Louis Antoine, Duke d'Angouleme; and
Chlarles Ferdinand, Duke de Berri; and our cousins, princes of the royal
blood, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Conde; Louis Henri Joseph de
Bourbon, Duke de Bourbon; and Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon, Duke
d'Enghien; pursuant to our deliberations, addressed to the late King, our
brother, on 11th September, 1791, and other acts emanating from us,
to which acts we adhere, and shall invariably adhere.
"' To which end, we enjoin and order all Frenchmen and subjects of
the King to obey the commands they shall receive from us in the King's
name; and the commands of our dearly beloved brother, Charles Philippe
de France, Count d'Artois, whom we have nominated and appointed Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, whenever our said brother and LieutenantGeneral shall issue such commands in the name of the King and of the
lerelget of France.
"This our present declaration shall be notified to all whom it shall
concern, and be published by all the officers of the King, military or
ma;gisterial, to whom  we will give commission and charge that the said
declaration have all the notoriety that it shall be possible to give it in
France, for the present, and until it shall be addressed in the ordinary'orm to the courts of the kingdom, so soon as they shall have resumed the
exercise of their jurisdictions, to be by them notified, published, registered,
and executed.
" Given at IHamm, in Westphalia, under our ordinary sign manual and
seal which we shall use in all acts of sovereignty until the seals of the
kingdom, destroyed by the factions, have been renewed, and under the
countersign of the ministers of the state, the Marshals de Broglie and de
Castries.
(Signed) " Louis STANISLAS XAVIER,
"Regent of France.
"The ML~ARSaHAL DUKE DE B1ROGLIE,
"The MARSHAL DE CASTRIES.
"s This 28th January, 1793, first of the King's reign."




4,LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.               [BOOK 11.
Proclamation of the Venddanas
d'Artois Lieutenant-General of the kingdom;  the other, a
letter addressed to the French refugees.*
Thousands of copies of these documents, printed  at Paris
by Crapart, were distributed throughout France.
In the Bocage, and in all the western districts, the news of
the King's death created a profound consternation, mingled
with an indignation  that was soon to develop  itself in heroic
efforts.  In a few months afterwards, on the 11th Jlay, 1793,
the chiefs-of the Vend6an army,-La Rochejacquelin, d'Elbl e,
and' Cathelineau,-sent forth in a proclamation, dated from
Parthenay, the following declaration:
66 We, commanding  the Catholic and royal armies, have
taken up arms solely for the purpose of sustaining the religion
~of our fathers, of restoring to our august and legitimate sovereign, Louis XVII., the splendour and the stability  of his
throne and his crown, and we have no other object than the
public good."
~ "Proclamation to the French Refugees.
"It is with sentiments of the most profound grief that I inform you of
the fresh loss we have sustained in the King, my brother, Whlom the tyrants
who have so long been desolating France have just immolated to their
impious fury. This horrible event imposes upon me new duties: I hasten
to fulfil them. I have assumed the title of Regent of France, which the
right of my birth confers upon me, during the minority of the King, Louis
XVII., my nephew, and 1 have confided to the Count d'Artois that of Lieutenant-General of the kingdom.
"Your attachment to the religion of our fathers, and to the sovereign
whom  we now deplore, renders it superfluous in me to exhort you to redoubled zeal and fidelity towards our young and unhappy monarch; to
redoubled ardour to avenge the blood of his august father.  lf4 in such a
calamity, it is possible for us to receive any colsolation, it is presented to
us in the resolution to avenge our King, to replace his son on the throne,
and to restore to our country that ancient constitution which can alone
make her happy and glorious.
"Our titles are changed, but our union is, and will ever continue, the
same, and we will labour with more ardour than ever to fulfil that which
we owe to God, to honour, to the King, and to you.
(Signed)  "Louis STANI:SLAS XAVIER.
"28th January, 1793,"




1793.]      SEPARATED FROM  HItIS MOTHER.                5
Manifestation by England.
Intelligence of the fatal event reached, in Swabia, the camp
of the Prince de Cond6, where the reply to that sanguinary
challenge was vehement shouts of "Long live Louis XVII. i"
The illustrious chief of the emigrant army had a service for the
repose of the soul of the decapitated  King celebrated in the
church of the- Franciscans, at Villingen. He himself pronounced
a funereal oration, of which the eloquence was richly supplied
by the heart, and of which the praise was as richly supplied by
the tears of the whole auditory. Then, on quitting the church,
he proclaimed, at the head of the army, and in presence of
the French refugees, the royalty of Louis XVII., and the
rege.ncy of Monsieur.*  The tears of all were yet flowing
when the cries of " Long live the King!" burst forth.
The Regent hastened to notify the death of Louis XVI. to
all the courts of Europe.  That of England, the first informed
of the fatal event, had not awaited this diplomatic notification
to go into mourning. The arrival of the intelligence in London
at once created general stupefaction.  The Theatre Royal, in
which that evening two pieces were to, have been performed,
was closed by command of their Majesties.   The French
ambassador, the Marquis de Chauvelin, immediately received
his passport, which he made use of the next clay, quitting
England near about that anniversary on which, by public
mourning and solemn expiation, the English nation still
protests against the regicide of the 30th January, 1649.
United by so many bonds with the House of France, the
iing of Sardinia himself communicated his grief to his
people, adding that, if they preferred to adopt the French laws,
he was ready to lay down the sceptre and the crown. He did, in
fact, abdicate immediately afterwards, but the spontaneous and
unanimous cry arose: "Long live our good King!" and the
* This proclamation, the original of which; long preserved in secret by
faithful hands, was not deposited among the National Archives until 1830,
will le found in the Appendix. (Document No. I.) It has never before, I
believe, been printed.




6              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 1i
Manifestation by Spain, &c.
nmonar.ch, thus crowned a second time by the public sympathy,
was led back to his palace in triumph.
Spain received with the most vivid indignation, the intelligence of the crime committed upon the chief of the House of
Bourbon. The ambassador, Bourgoing, had orders to quit Madrid
forthwith, and he traversed the Spanish territory amid cries of
vengeance rising from every side.
Austria and Prussia experienced equal grief. The Emperor did not restrain his tears. The "Berlin Gazette" of the
5th February, has this announcement:
" On information received of the judicial assassination
committed upon the person of H. M. the King of France, the
court, in order to manifest the deep affliction with which it is
filled, at the so unmerited fate of a monarch, blessed for all
eternity, has, of its own motion, gone into mourning for the
space of four weeks."
After having borne the fearful tidings to the Emperor of
Germany, the Duke de Richelieu had transmitted it to the
Empress of Russia.  St. Petersburg was not less moved than
Vienna.
If I have deemed it my duty briefly to describe the impression produced upon Europe by the regicide, it is because, from
the depths of all the hearts thus painfully affected, there
arose the most vivid sympathy for the son of the just man who
had been immolated: the name of the Dauphin was on all
men's lips, as that of Louis XVI. was in their tears. Catherine II. immediately recognised the accession of the boy-king,
and nominated the Count Romanzoff her minister-plenipotentiary with the Regent of France, who, on his part, accredited
to her the Count Esterhazy, as ambassador from Louis XVII.
The royalty of the infant prisoner, while recognised by
almost all the powers, constituted in France the hope of
the friends of order, the rallying word of all those who conspired against republican oppression. Thus the government
of the Convention derived uneasiness, alike from the spirit of




1793.j      SEPARATEJD FROM HIS MOTHIEiR,               7
Proceedings of the Convention.
the people at home, and from the attitude of the powers abroad.
On the 5th February, it ordered the suppression of all ensigns
of royalty from the coinage of the republic; on the 6th, it
placed a sum of ten millions of francs at the disposition of the
minister of the interior for the relief of the poor; on the 8th,
it suspended all proceedings against persons charged with the
massacres committed in the prisons on the 2nd and 3rd September, 1792,-this was in perfect keeping: since virtue had
become a crime, crime of necessity was innocent!-on the
9th, it ordered the executive power *to march against the
enemy all the battalions of the departments which were then at
Paris; on the 1 1th, it granted an amnesty to all persons imprisoned in conseciquence of the insurrection with regard to
provisions; and, on the 13th, it decreed the general organisation of the republican armies.
These political measures, adopted as a mode of at once
rallying friends within, and intimidating foes without, did not,
in every instance, effect their object.  On the 18th, Lyons
rose in insurrection, to the cry of "Long live the King! "
and burned the tree of liberty in its squares. On the 19th,
the Empress of Russia sent forth an ukase, banishing from her
states all Frenchmen who should refuse to sign a declaration,
containing an abjuration of the seditious and impious prlnciples introduced into France, and an oath of fidelity and
obedience to the King Louis XVII., to whom the crown had
accrued in due order of succession.  The same ukase enjoined
all those who should submit to this measure to abstain from
any sort of communication with France, until order and legitimate authority should be re-established there.
Matters abroad grew more and more complicated.  The
Convention, on the 24th of the same month, decreed a levy of
three hundred thousand men. No doubt the crime of the
21st January was universally condemned; but the French
ideas, notwithstanding,, were at work throughout Europe,
creating, at once, terror in kings and sympathy in peoples.




.8            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOOK 11I
Agony of the Royal Family.
While the Catholic and royal army of La Vendee, the army
of Conde, the Count de Provence, and Europe, were thus proclaiming the son of Louis XVI., under the name of Louis
XVII., the young Prince himself was mourning his father, in
the arms of the royal widow, under the bolts of the prison of
the Temple, whither we are now recalled by our subject, and
where so much martyrdom is yet to be accomplished.
After the cruel separation on the night of the 20th January,
the Queen had scarcely sufficient strength to undress the royal
infant, and put him to bed.  She had then thrown herself, in
her clothes, on her own couch, where, throughout the night, her
daughter and her sister, stretched on a mattrass in her room,
heard her trembling with mental agony and cold.*
Next morning the royal family rose before day-break.
The drums were beating in all the sections of Paris.  The
tumultuous movement without was distinctly heard in the
tower, where a wife, a sister, and children, were awaiting oncemore to emabrace him whom they were destined never again
to behold. At a quarter past'six the door had been opened,
and a book had been taken away for the King's mass; this
had been a beam of hope,-the prisoners had thought they
were about to be led to a last interview. They were soon undeceived.  Each minute seemed to mark ages on the prison
clock. Augmented noise announced the moment of departure.  Language is powerless to  describe  the agonizing
scene which then presented itself!  Poor heart-rent women,
essaying a last effort to arouse sterile pity,-a child escaping
from their arms, and rushing suppliant, wild, frantic, to the
municipal officers,-to the guards,-from one to the other, —
embracing this man's knees,-clasping that man's hand,and exclaiming:'6.Let me pass, gentlemen! let me pass!"
"Where do you want to go?"  6To speak to the people, that
*Narrative of Marie-Thlrmse-Charlotte.




17993.-     SEPARATED FROM HIIS MOTHER                     9
Affliction of the Royal Family.
they may not kill my father!  In the name of God, let
me pass i"
The jailers were deaf: it was their business to be so. But
-the prayer of innocence and of filial piety was assuredly heard oe
God!  God did not, indeed, grant it to the child to save his
father, but judged him worthy to inherit his martyrdom!
About tenl o'clock  the  Queen  urged  her children to
take  some nourishment; they declined.  A few moments
afterwards they heard the discharge of fire-arms, and shouts
of joy.' Madame Elizabeth, raising her eyes to Heaven, exclaimed: "The monsters! they are satisfied now!"  Marie
Therese, at this exclamation, sent forth piercing shrieks; her
young brother burst into tears; the Queen, her.head bowed
down on her bosom, her eyes haggard, sat plunged in a stupor
of despair, the counterpart of death itself.  The public criers
soon informed thelm that the King had ceased to live.
The Dauphin, ever since the morning, had taken posses
sion of his mother; he kissed her hands, which he bathed wit}.
tears; he essayed to Console her by his caresses rather than
by words.  "Let these tearsh flow," said the mother; "thbl
torture is for them who survive l"
In the afternoon the Queen wished to see Clery, who had
remained up to the last moment in the tower with Louis XVI.
Last words, last adieus,-she was eager to lose no word of
them.  She claimed the last legacy of her royal husband, the
precious legacy which Clery had just notified to the council
of the Temple, and of which we shall have occasion to speak
further on.  She demanded mourning attire from  the same
council, who replied that they would refer the matter to the
Commune.  The Commune deliberated thereon.
The Tisons applied to the espionage of calamity the entire
activity of an inflexible and blind hatred.  The anguish of
that featal day was not to end with the day, itself.  It was two
o'clock in the. morning; more than an hour since the close of
prayer  had announced the time for repose.  But repose hadt




10            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK ll1
Affliction of the Royal Family.
not come to those three poor ladies. As an act of obedience
to the Queen, the young Marie Therese had laid down, but she
could not close her eyes, while her royal mother and her aunt
conversed and lamented, mingling together their tears and their
inconsolable sorrows, beside the bed of the Dauphin, who
slept tranquilly. The child's slumber smiled; the joyous innocence of his age was radiant on his charming features. " IHe
is now just of the age his brother was when he died at'Meudon: happy they of our House who departed first. They
were spared the sight of the downfall of their family!"'
Astonished to hear voices at so late an hour in the chamber
of Marie Antoinette, the woman Tison rose, and knocking at
the door, inquired the meaning of this nocturnal conversation.
Her husband followed her, after having awakened the municipals on duty. Partially opening the door, Madame Elizabeth
said to them, with exquisite gentleness: "Pray let us weep
in peace!"  The inquisition set on foot against affliction was
withdrawn, disarmed by that angelic voice, and the conspiracy
of tears was not denounced.
Next morning, the Queen said to her son, as she embraced
him: "My child, we must turn our thoughts to God."
"I Mamma, I have turned my thoughts to God; and, whenever I
recall the thought of God, the image of my father presents
itself before me."
On the i2nd January, the Queen's feebleness was extreme;
nothing could appease her anguish.  Exhausted by three
nights of utter sleeplessness, she could scarcely endure the
light of day, that light which her royal husband no longer
beheld. Life or death had become alike indifferent to her.
She sometimes gazed on her children and her sister with a
look of pity, so mournful, so despairing, that they on whom
she looked shuddered beneath that gaze; there reigned around
her a silence as of death; all seemed holding in their breath,
all were weeping, their tears redoubling whenever their eyes
chanced to meet.




1493.]         SEPARATED  FROM  HIS MOTHER.                      l
Illness of Madame Royale.
Madame Royale had been for some days indisposed; her
legs were swollen, and in an alarming state. Grief aggravated
the malady, and for several days her poor mother could obtain
no professional assistance for her.*  "Happily," writes Marie
Thdrese herself, with a touching simplicity, " grief augmented
my malady  to  such  a degree as favourably to  divert my
mother's mind from  her despair."   Marie Antoinette passed
whole nights at her daughter's bedside, superintending everything, and herself applying the remedies prescribed by M.
Brunier, who had, at length, obtained permission to enter the
tower.   The continuous occupation of the mother served to
divert the grief of the widow.  Madame Royale's nurse in
vain solicited permission to wait upon her.1t
The mourning dresses were granted on the 23rd January;+
* The rumour of this illness transpired inl Paris. We read in the
6' Moniteur Universel," of Thursday, 24th January, 1493:
"' Commune de Paris.
"22nd.-It is reported in the public places, and in the patriotic
societies, that the daughter of Louis is dead, that the wife of Louis has been
transferred to the Hotel de la Force at the Conciergerie.  The councilgeneral authorises me to contradict these rumours. The daughter of Louis is
not ill; and the persons whom a decree confines in the Temple, will remain
there so long as that decree remains in force.
"REAL, First Substitute."
]t "Commune de Paris.-Sitting, of Friday, 25th January.
"' The citizeness Laurent, assuming the title of nurse to Madame Premiere, demands permission from the council to see her foster-daughter, who
is imprisoned in the Temple, and offers to remain with her until otherwise
directed:
"The council-general passes to the order of the day, seeing that the
council knows no person called Madame Premiere.": " Commune de Paris. —Sitting of Wednesday, 23rd January, 1493.
" The council-general heard read a decree of the council of the Temple,
referring it to the council-8 neral to decide upon two requests made by
Antoinette:
"The first, for mourning of a very simple character for herself, her
sister, and her children. The council-general decrees that this request
shall be complied with.
"' The second, that Cl6ry may be placed with her son, as he was in the
first instance. Upon this request the council-general passes to the order of
the day."




I2              LOUIS THE -SEVENTEENTHI.   [.Boor t3.
New Commissaries.
on the 27th a portion of them was brought -to the Temlple.'
On seeing for the first time her children clothed in black, the
Queen said to them: " My poor children, with you'tis for a
long time only; with me,'tis for ever."  They burst into
tears, but their mother wept not,-her tears were exhausted.
What gloomy days, what agitated nights, now passed on!
Marie Antoinette's heart seemed bursting whenever she looked
on her children.
She said one day to Madame Elizabeth: "I did not, perhaps, heretofore, give the King all the advice I might have
given him, to save him; but I shall rejoin him on the scaffold!
Oh, yes, my sister! I, too, shall mount the scaffold!"
The prisoners of the Temple had only learned from  the
street-criers that the murder of the King had been consummated; no newspaper had entered that prison; no detail had
been brought by the municipal officers. The eyes, filled with
tears, which had silently questioned the mandatories of the
Commune, had received from them  no reply.  They knew no
episode of the execution: they linew  the martyr crowned,
but they knew not all the splendour of his crown; neither did
they know  of the testimonies of public sympathy which had
been manifested towards him after his'death.t
At length, after an'interval of several days, on Wednesday,
6th February, there re-appeared at the Temple two commissaries of the Commune, who, wholly dissimilar from  their:olleagues, had already created, by their zeal and their devoion, a title to the confidence and affection -of the royal family;
* See Appendix. (Document No. IT.)
+ "A deputation of the'Society of the Defenders of the Republic, One
and Indivisible,' invites the council-general to stspend tJie representation of
the piece entitled,' La Chaste Suzanne,' to which the.valets of the ci-devant
court repair in crowds, and indecently applaud tile incivic allusions and
sentiments which are frequent in that piece.
"The council-general refers this denunciation to the dlepartment of
police.
" Sitting of the council-general of the Commune, 26th Januarvy, 1793."




1793.]       SEPARATED FIIOM HIS MOTHER. R
Coalition against France.
these were Lepitre and Toulan, of whom we shall have repeated occasion to speak.  It was a moment deeply painful,
alike to them  and to the hearts so cruelly assailed, whose
still bleeding wounds their presence, from associations, seemed
to re-open. Questions and answers were broken with sobs;
the newspapers which gave an account of the dismal immolation were read with that poignant avidity of grief which
seeks to know all the circumstances best calculated to supply it
with nourishment.
Ever since the morning of the 21st January, Marie Antoi-.
nette, notwithstanding the offer which had more than once
been made to her, had refused to descend for the purpose of
walking, so that she might not have to pass before the door of
the King's apartment, or incur the chance of meeting in the
garden General Santerre, who sometimes attended to inspect
the guard. She feared she should faint at the sight of the
man who, on the 21st January, had come to lead Louis XVI.
to execution, and who had given the signal for that beating of
the drums which had drowned his last words.  She remained
pertinaciously in her chamber, and if at a later period she
found the need of air for her. children, rather than for herself,
she sought permission to ascend with them to the summit of
the tower, the battlements of Which were closed in with
planks.
The massacres of September and the scaffold of the 21st
January had, in lowering the moral power of France, probably
raised in a still greater degree the idea of her physical power.
Her force seemed multiplied by the passions which animated
her, analogous with that vapour in ebullition which raises up
mountains. Less esteemed byEurope, she had become, per:
haps, more dreaded.  With Piedmont, Prussia, and the Empire, -which were already at war with her, Spain, Holland, and
England, soon combined, and revolutionary France thus found,herself blocked up. on all quarters, like a townl under close
siege




14             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK fl.
Lepitre and Toulan.
Without losing sight of the Temple, the dictators of anarchy were occupied in contending for-in snatching from each
other-the shreds of the power they had overthrown.  They
troubled themselves very little about the groans that might
issue from the towers of the Temple, or the ray of hope that
might glide into them; they knew their guard sure, the bolts
inflexible, and this sufficed for them.  It was beneath the
shadow of this security that some of the municipals, of whom
we have had occasion to speak in connection with the trial of
Louis XVI., were enabled to display the respectful compassion
they felt for the royal woes; profoundly affected, both by the
magnanimous character of lMarie Antoinette and by the angelic
gentleness of her children, they modified, as much as in them
lay, their harsh functions, and endeavoured by all the means
in their power to render them less repulsive to misfortune,
and more innocent in the eyes of God himself.  Their
politeness, their deference, their attentions, were in striking contrast with the annoyance and brutality of their colleagues.  The names of Lebceuf, Vincent, Moelle, Jobert,
merit to be preserved, in memory of a noble sensibility,
manifested at a time when it was so dangerous to have sensibility at all.
With Lepitre and Toulan, of whom we have already made
special mention, it was deemed not enough to reconcile their
rugged mission with sentiments of humanity, and the respect
due to misfortune; they converted their assigned part of
espionage and barbarity into a mission of peace and charity.
When the period arrived at which the Queen could contemplate the object of her grief,-if not with lighter regret, at
least with somewhat more tranquility and resignation, —M.
Lepitre conceived the idea of offering to her a consolation
derived from the very source of her sorrows; he presented
to her, on Thursday, 7th February, a funereal melody, which
he had written on the death of her royal husband, and
which Madame Clry, an accomplished amateur on the piano



17938.         SEPARATED  FROM  HIS MOTHER.                    15
Lepitre's poem.
forte and harp, had set to music.*  He resumed his service
at the Temple on the 1st March, three weeks after he had
presented his composition to the royal family, when he received
for that composition the reward which most deeply touched his
heart; the Queen invited him into the apartment of Madame
* This modest composition, which derives a touching interest from the
circumstances under which it was written, and the words of which are
placed in the mouth of the young King, runs thus:FILIAL PIETY.
I see thee weep! my parent dear!
In thy fixed gaze of tenderness,
I mark affection's trembling tear
Mingling with those of fond distress;
Thine inmost soul I seem to see,
Thou grievest for thine offspring's pain;
But, since'tis borne in. part by thee,
Can he be weary of his chain?
II.
Thy bright example, sainted Sire!
Makes that an honoured weight to bear;
Oh! with thy virtues him inspire,
Who can of them alone be heir!
Lost is the crown those virtues graced,
O'erturned the throne thy son should fill;
Yet happiness he still may taste,
For he is near his mother still!
IlI.
A day may come when, sorrow o'er
(Thus whispers hope), her son perchance
May make that dear one blest once more,
And thus avence himself on France!
Those whirlwinds which destruction spread,
May feel the Lord's controlling power;
The tempest bows the lily's head,
But injures not our emblem flower!
IV.
To mercy's God let us complain,
Oh! would his mercy set us free!
The memory of the captive's chain,
Would doubly sweet make liberty.




10               LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                 [BOOK 11.
Lepitre's poem.
Elizabeth, where the young Prince sang the melody, accompanied by his sister.  "Our tears flowed thickly," says M.
Lepitre,* "and we preserved a mournful silence.  It were
impossible adequately to depict the scene before me!  The
daughter of Louis at the harpsichord, her august mother
seated beside her, her eon on her lap, her eyes filled with
tears, her emotion scarcely permitting her to direct the hand
and voice of her children; Madame Elizabeth, standing beside
her sister, mingling her deep sighs with the sorrowful accents
of her august nephew."
The voice of the young Prince had no great comlpass, but
its tone was exceedingly sweet. The Queen joyfully cultivated
in her son this nascent talent, concurrently with the other
studies already progressing under her care.  Solely occupied
with her children, she was grateful to Heaven for the repose
which her enemies left her for the accomplishment of her
maternal task.  She was, in this respect, fully supported by
MB'adame Elizabeth.   These two sisters,-these  two tender
mothers, let us designate them,-amid their own calamities,
the deeply painful appreciation of which was maintained by
constantly recurring outrage, derived some consolation from
Then (sweet, in prospect, it appears),
From those loved eyes, with weeping dim,
Thy sofi should kiss away tlie te[ais
Maternal fondness sheds for him.
TO TMADAIME ELIZABET1H.
Thou, who with angel softness strove,
To close the'i wounds thou couldst not held 
Thy sweet reward is in the love
LOur hearts for thee must ever feel!
Dwell with my parent!.'Twas the prayer"'1Thy brothler's dying lips expressed;
Hler children, happy in thy care,
Shall seem with two fond mothers blessed I' Quelqutes o14ivenirs, ou Notes Fideles stir mon Service aU'Temple
4.c., depuis le 8 D&:embre, 1792, jusqu'aoz  26 Mars, i 793," 8vo,, Paris
Nieolle, 18 14.




793.g]       SEPARATED  FROM  HIS MOTHER.                  17
Training of the young King.
their love for their two children,-lthough this very love, perhaps, rendered still more poignant the sense of their own
perils,-their daughter, her soul already conscious of regret
and of anxiety, but already, also, vigorous, resigned, and courageously commencing its sublime apprenticeship to misery;
her little, brother, giving animation to all about him wvith his
smile and his cheerful voice.  The solicitude of the Queen and
of Madame Elizabeth towards this child comprehended every
care; the hope they had entertained that C16ry would he
permitted to resume his service with the young King had
vanished.* The two instructresses supplied, from the resources
they possessed within themselves, the absence of the materials
of education; with the exception of the elementary notions of
Latin, which they could not develop in their pupil's mind, he
resumed, under their guidance, all the lessons which he had
previously been pursuing under the direction of his father:
writing, geography, history, each had its assigned hours.  As
to education in the higher sense of the term, never was child
blessed with a better school, never had child presented to him
nobler exhortations, more loftily generous counsels, more magnanimous examples. The pardon of injuries, enjoined by the
dying father, was daily practised by the two instructresses, ever
ready to excuse their persecutors, to represent them as misled,
less by the dictates of the heart than by the frenzy generated
from the fever of revolution.  At the readings in the history
of France, which constituted one of their royal pupil's daily
exercises, they took occasion to extol each noble action, each
fine instance of clemency and heroism, and to stigmatize each
example of injustice and tyranny.  More than once did the
lessons of the two Princesses arouse emotion in the hearts of
i Commune of Paris.  Sitting of Thursday, 28th Pebruary, 1793.
"The council-general decrees that Cltry shall quit the Temp  within
twenty-four hours; that he shall deliver up to the commissaries of the
Temple the effects that have been under his charge; and that his salary
shall be paid to him up to the day of his quitting the Temple, wherec2
teca0d shall be made in the register of the Commune."




18             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH             [BOOK 11o
Project of escape.
the commissaries, who were alike astonished at their observations
and at the earnest endeavour of their pupil to appreciate and
apply them. This moral education extended to the recreations
of the boy; his childish sports were made to have their utility,
and to be suggestive of salutary reflections.
Although the ranks of the friends of the Queen and her
son were thinned by emigration; although noble hearts or
feeble minds,-it is not our function to judge them, —thought
fit to follow into foreign lands the princes of the royal family,
preferring the certain evils of exile to the eventuality of death
at home; others, with perhaps higher inspirations, remained,
as Pliny beside the volcano, at the risk of being suffocated by
the flames.  In the very midst of the conflagration, fear couldnot suppress in these devoted souls sympathy for fallen, unhappy royalty.  The women, more especially, whose impulses
are ever generous, righteously incensed by such harsh op.
pression, protested against it in their chambers with prayers,
and, when so called upon, with their dying breath on the
scaffold. The old sentiment of French loyalty was still to be
found, as we have seen, even in the commissaries placed in
charge of the Temple. Amongst these history will.preserve the
name of Toulan, who, a thorough republican, was gained over
to the royal cause by witnessing the patience and courage of
the captive Queen of France. It was he who conceived the
project of effecting the escape of this princess and her children
from the Temple. He submitted his plan to the Queen, who,
pleased with. its daring, would not, however, adopt it, without
the previous sanction of a grave and able man, who had
worthily fulfilled several secret and important missions which
Louis XVI. had confided to him,-the Chevalier de Jatjayes,
a lieutenant-general, husband of one of the Queen's ladies, and
who, in the hope of being useful to his benefactors, had not
quitted the perilous abode of Paris. Marie Antoinette sent
Toulan -to this general officer, who received the trusty messen
ger witl full confidence, and examined his plan with intelligent
attention.




1793.]      SEPARATED FROM HIS MOTHER.                 19
Project of escape.
After two protracted conferences, the possibility of success
having been established, it became indispensable to admit into
the secret of the enterprise another commissary of the Temple.
But who, among the municipals, would be found sufficiently devoted to sacrifice his life for the royal family? Our readers have
already named him: the perilous honour appertained of right
to Lepitre.  In a third conference, at which Lepitre was
*present, the basis of the plan was adopted; M. de Jarjayes
undertook to have male attire prepared for the Queen and
Madame Elizabeth, and the two municipals were to convey this
attire secretly into the tower. The two Princesses were, in
this disguise,-heightened by the addition of the tri-coloured
scarf,-to quit the tower, furnished with the pass-cards carried
by the commissaries and all other persons who had access to
the Temple.  So far, everything seemed clear enough, and of
ready execution; but the escape of the two children presented
difficulties that seemed insurmountable.  Louis XVII., in
particular, was so closely watched, that it was almost impracticable to effect his deliverance. An idea, however, occurred:
the genius of devotion is a great worker of miracles. There
was a worthy man, named Jacques, who came every morning,
we know not whence, to clean the lamps, and again every
evening to light them.  He was usually accompanied and
assisted in his work by two children, of about the same age
and size with the royal children.  Prudence precluded the
admission into the secret of this stranger, who, in the execution
of his subordinate functions, silently obeying his orders, never
exchanged a word with the persons employed in the Temple,
to whom, consequently, he had remained almost wholly unknown.  But this plan presented itself:-Jacques was in
attendance at between five and six o'clock in the evening; and
his last lamp was lighted, and he himself departed from the
Temple when, at seven o'clock, the sentinels were changed.
After his departure, then, and the change of sentinels, a man,
dressed like him, was to pass, by favour of an admission card,




20             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK I o
Project of escape.
the first gate-keeper, and, on reaching the Queen's apartment,
his tin-box under his arm, was to be soundly rated by Toulan,
for not having come himself to trim his lamps, and for having
sent his children to do his work for him.  The two royal
children were then to be handed over to him, scoldingly, and
the pretended lamp-man and his young apprentices were then
to quit the tower, and proceed to the corner of the Boulevard,
where they would find M. de Jarjayes waiting to receive
them.
This plan adopted, it became necessary to associate with
it another confidant, worthy of admission into this holy copspiracy, and of playing the exceedingly important part of
lamp-lighter. Toulan proposed a friend of his own, a discreet
and courageous man, who, on being accepted himself, accepted
with enthusiasm his share of danger and of devotion.  This
new confederate, equally resolute with the chiefs of the design,:was an inspector of the national domains, named Ricard.
Toulan was to have special charge of all the arrangements
for the escape from the tower'; Jaljayes, of all those for flight,from the French territory. The latter had, for this purpose,
secured three cabriolets, which, at a fixed place and hour, were
to be ready, with vigorous horses.  The Queen and her son
were to get into the - first of these carriages, driven by M. doe
Jarjayes; Madame Royale, into the second, driven by Lepitre;
and Madame Elizabeth, into the third, driven by Toulan,
Ricard, his part,acted, and his disguise laid aside, was to
return home, no one being in a position to suspect the suce
cessful share he had taken in an event which would occupy
the attention of Paris, of France, of Europe, while his col
leagues would reach the frontier with the precious charge they
had achieved by their liberating zeal.
Everything seemed to assure the success of the enterprise:
the requisite money was provided, the passports ready, signed
by Lepitre himself, as president of the passport department in
the section of police, every arrangement made, every- incident




C703.@]     SEPARATED FROM  HIS MOTHER.                 t1[
The escape frustrated.
duly calculated, so that the pursuit of the fugitives might not
commence until many hours after their departure.
It was at first proposed to direct their steps to La Vendde,
where insurrection was already on foot; but, it was considered,
on mature reflection, that this would only be an asylum in a
camp, and that, while on the one hand, the presence of the
royal family would communicate a powerful impulse to the
enthusiasm of the royalist army, it would, at the same time,
create for that army fresh difficulties.  M. Jarjayes pointed
out these objections to the Queen by the medium of Toulan,
and Marie Antoinette, influenced by maternal love more than
by ambition, and who was anxious to save the head rather
than the crown of her son, at once adopted them.  It was
then determined to proceed to the coast of Normandy, a route
shorter and less impeded with obstacles; arrived there, Jar.
jayes had provided the means of transit to England, in a vessel
which lay at his disposal off a point of the coast near Havre,
In short, all the means best calculated for frustrating the
mischances of fate were taken; but that sad fatality which was
precipitating into the abyss the old House of France, was more
ingenious'than all the precautions of man, more potent than
all his efforts.  Had Toulan and Jarjayes been intrusted with
the conveyance of the royal family in the journey to Varennes,
I have no doubt they would have placed it beyond danger; but
others, equally devoted perhaps, though less intelligent or
less able, had the management of that fatal -affair; and so,
for some time past, had all things befallen this family, marked
with the seal of calamity,- the enterprise that was to destroy
it, was carried into- effect; that which would have saved its
never took place.
The circumstance which prevented it was this: the 8th
March was the day fixed upon for the escape;, on the 7th,
there was, in Paris, an almost universal rising, excited, on the
one hand, by-the scarcity of provisions, and, on the other, by
the intelligence, just received, of the rapid- progress of the




22             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK I1.
Proceedings of the Convention.
foreign armies.  After a battle on the Rhcer, where they had
been compelled to abandon their entrenchments, the French
had evacuated Aix-la-Chapelle, and raised the siege of Maestricht, leaving more than four thousand of their number dead
on the field. After another battle, not less sanguinary, the
Austrians had retaken Liege.  The blood of France, when
she is wounded at her extremities, flows back to the heart.
Paris was aroused, excited, and infuriated, under the two-fold
apprehension of invasion and of famine, by the Mountain, who
had resolved to massacre, in the Convention itself, the Gironde,
and all who opposed their projects, more especially that of
the creation of a revolutionary tribunal to try all conspirators
without appeal. The extremity of the circumstances called
for extreme men; the Mountain, who appreciated the situation,
determined to profit by it. Forewarned in time, the menaced
deputies did not attend the sitting of the evening of the 9th
March, at which the decree in question was voted. In the
same sitting, the Convention ordered the appearance, at its
bar, of Generals Stingel and Lanoue, charged with treachery
in the rout of Aix-la-Chapelle. Envoys of the National Convention passed through the departments, loudly proclaiming
the fresh perils of the country. Each section set loose its
agitators, who daily, hourly, beset the council of the Commune
with vehement demands for the closing of the barriers, in
order to prevent the departure of the suspected,-that is to say,
of all who desired to withdraw themselves fromr the action of
sanguinary laws and domiciliary visits, or to avoid the contingent imposed on the city of Paris in the levy of three hundred
thousand men, ordered on the >4th February.  Despite all
clamours, and all menaces, however, the council contented
themselves with suspending the issue of foreign passports,
declaring that, until the Convention should otherwise decide,
the barriers should remain open, the law prohibiting, under
pain of death, their being closed, except by order of the Convention; and Pache, mayor'of Paris, and General Santerre




1193.]      SEPARATED FROM HIS MOTHER.                 23
Impediments.
having made that same day a satisfactory report, at the bar
of the Convention, on the situation of the capital, the barriers
remained open.
The excitement of the populace, however, had awakened
all the solicitude of power, all its watchfulness. Whenever
anything stirred about it, its uneasy attention became at once
directed to the Temple.  The enterprise of Toulan could not,
therefore, be essayed on the day which had been assigned for
it; too many hostile eyes, too many jealous ears, were on the
watch in and around that state prison.
The succeeding days were characterized by the same
movement out of doors, and presented, consequently, the same
danger.  On the 12th March, General Dumouriez, whose
conduct was also regarded by the populace as treasonable, was
denounced by the section Poissonniere to the avenging justice
of the Convention.  On the 13th, for the first time, La Vendee, which had been long in a state of fermentation, openly
raised its head, and uttered that cry which, with its echoes,
was destined frequently to disturb the slumber of the dictators.
Moreover, Toulan and Lepitre's turn of service at the tower
not recurring for several days, any attempt at escape was inevitably suspended.
When he entered the tower on the 8th, Toulan had found
the royal family deeply agitated. Since the preceding evening,
the thousand clamours of the great city had been confusedly
sounding around the Temple; the prisoners knew not'the
cause of this tumult, and they were fearful that some calamity
had occurred, compromising the noble friends who had devoted
themselves to their deliverance. The *presence of Toulan
re-assured them, and the joy of learning that no one had become involved in peril for their sake, more than compensated
for their grief at finding their captivity prolonged.  "I should
have deeply regretted to leave this place," said the Queen to
him, "without removing, also, several articles that are extremely precious to me, as the bequest of one who was very




24               LOUIS THiE SEVENTEENTH.                 [BOOK 11.
The King's wedding-ring and seal.
dear to me while he lived, and whose memory, now that he is
gone, is sacred.   I speak of the wedding-ring and the seal
which the King always wore, and which he charged Clery to
deliver to me, with his sister's hair, and that of my children."*
Toulan -made no definite reply; but he knew that the municipal officers had required from Clery, when he was restored
to liberty in February, restitution of the effects which the
council of the Commune had left in his care on  the 21st
January, and that these effects, among which were those of
which Marie Antoinette had spoken, had been placed, under
seal, in the late King's apartment.  Next day, before quitting
the Temple, Toulan brought to the royal widow  the articles
she so earnestly desired; he had skilfully managed to procure
other articles, somewhat resembling them, and these he had
as skilfully substituted for the originals, which he had removed
* The ring was of gold, and, on opening it, presented this inscription 
"M. A. A. A., 19 Aprilis, 1770, jour des fianqailles, de Vienne, de MarieAntoinette, Archiduchesse d'Alutriche, et de Ltouis-Ausguste, Dauphi n de
1F'rance."  The unhappy prince had, ever since his marriage, worn it, and
when he relinquished it for the first time, on the morning of the 21st
January, he charged Cldry to deliver it to his wife, and to tell her, from
him, that he had parted from it with pain. He parted from it, in fact,
only at the moment of parting friom life.
The seal was a silver ring, with three openings, one of which exhibited an engraving of the shield of France, another the letters LL, and the
third the head, helmetted, of the Dauphin.
The hair, separately enclosed in four small papers, was enveloped in
one larger paper, on which was written, with the King's own hand  " Hair
of my wife, of my sister, and of my children."




17,;. J      SEPARA'rED  FROM  I-llS MOTHER.            25
New projects of escape.
from under seal.  Assuredly, the Queen of France, in all the
splendour of her glory at Versailles, could not have been
served with equal zeal and ability; the devotion of the heart
performs greater miracles than selfish interest, or the unmeaning adulation of the courtier which says to queens, when, inl
the hour of their prosperity they make a request: " If it be
possible, it is done; if impossible, it shall be done."
The system of intimidation developed itself in every direction.  On Thursday, 14th March, the Convention ordered
the revolutionary tribunal to try, par contunzace, as they did
not appear to defend themselves, the brothers of Louis XVI.;
on the 18th, it decreed the demolition of the chateaux of the
emigrants, and the partition of the national property   Still,
Jarjayes and Toulan would not abandon their noble project.
They watched in silence, with incessant and anxious attention,
for the moment wherein to carry it into execution. Unhappily, each day brought with it some event which infused fresh
vigilance into the guard of the Tower, and especially into the
surveillance of the royal infant. It would have been imprudence-madness, in fact-to have attempted an escape, which
had become almost impracticable. The virtuous conspirators
did not allow themselves to be blinded by their vast desire to
accomplish a good action; they calmly resolved to confine their
enterprise within the limits of the possible, and to concentrate their ideas of deliverance upon the Queen and Madame
Elizabeth, whose exit from the Temple presented difficulties
of a less insurmountable character. But how induce these two
mothers to  separate themselves both from  their beloved
children? The very attempt indeed could not be made.
The devotion of Madame Elizabeth is well known: her soul
was too beautiful, too lofty, not to forget itself when any other
interest presented. Hers was the purest expression of that
single-hearted candour, of that holy affection, which Raphael
bas given to the mother of Jesus-an angelic grace, a Christian serenity, that never occurred to the imagination of antiIT                      R




26             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.          [BOOK 11.
Devotion of Madame Elizabeth and Toulan.
quity. She employed the entire eloquence of her love to persuade her sister that it was her duty to profit by the resources
which still remained at her disposal for escaping from her
enemies; she impressed upon her that her very life might be
endangered by her stay, whereas the lives of her children and
that of her sister were under no peril. She even ventured, as a
conclusive inducement, to whisper in her ear all the rumours
current in the city, which, though stamped with popular exaggeration in their details, but too truly represented the public
animosity that had been excited against the Queen. M. de
Jajayes, himself, conveyed to Marie Antoinette his earnest
supplications that she would concur in the execution of the
new project, every feature of which was carefully explained to
her by Toulan. In that new plan it was still the faithful
Toulan, and, this time, Toulan alone, who undertook to effect
the exit of the royal prisoner from the tower, and to conduct
her to a secure retreat, where she would meet Jarjayes. The
latter, on his part, had taken measures which seemed to place
that august head beyond the reach of assault. The tender
entreaties of Madame Elizabeth, the fervent zeal of Toulan,
at length produced their effect upon the Queen, who approved
of the plan, and consented to conform to it. The day fixed
upon at length approached. On the evening preceding it, the
mother and the aunt were seated beside the bed of the sleeping King. Madame Royale was also in bed, but the door of
her chamber was open, and the young Princess, intent upon
the mournful and meditative air which her mother had worn
throughout the day, had not yet closed her eyes. Thus it was
that she heard the words which at a later period she repeated.
Resolved upon the sacrifice demanded at her hands, the
Queen, as we have said, was seated beside her son's bed.
"God grant this child may be happy!" she exclaimed.  " He
will be so, my sister," replied Madame Elizabeth, pointing to
the open, candid, gentle, yet proud features of the King,
who seemed to smile as he slept. " Youth is brief as joy,"




1793.]      SEPARATED FROM HIS MOTHER.                 27
The Queen's self-devotion.
murmured Marie Antoinette, in heart-breaking tones; " happiness comes to an end as everything else." Then rising, she
walked to and fro in the chamber: "And you, my dearest sister! when, and how, shall I see you again?  No! It's impossible!  It's impossible!"  The youthful Marie Therese
did not, at the time, comprehend these words, the meaning of
which was explained to her afterwards: the Queen had made
up her mind not to avail herself of the door which Toulan had
undertaken to open for her on the morrow.  IHIer resolve was
irrevocable: love for her children was more potent than all
other considerations-than the prayers of her sister, than the
instinct of her self-preservation, than the promise she had
given to the devotion of her courageous friends. But, reproaching herself, as for a breach of faith, for that promise
given, and which she would not observe, she felt that she
owed reparation to the generous hearts who had resolved to
imperil themselves for her.  Next morning, the municipal
Toulan presented himself, full of emotion at the idea of the
great action he deemed himself about to accomplish. So soon
as it was possible to speak with him, Marie Antoinette said to
him: "You will be angry with me; but I have reflected.
There is nothing but danger in this: better death than remorse." Later, she said to- him these words, which Toulan
recalled to mind as he ascended the scaffold on the 30th
June, 1794: "I shall die unhappy if I have not first an opportunity to prove to you my gratitude."  "And I, Madame,
unhappy indeed, if I have not first been able to prove to
you my devotion."
Alas! towards these noble hearts justice was impartialdevotion and gratitude obtained the same recompense.  There
was, at that period, a place at which all the virtues assembled together-the scaffold!
The Queen desired also to thank M. de Jarjayes, and to
explain to him the motives of her refusal. She wrote to him
with her own hand this note, which she charged Toulan to




28              LOUIS  THE SEVENTEENTHI.              [BOOi 11.
The Queen's letter to Monsieur.
transmit to him,-a memorable note, which  M. ChauveauLagarde was the first to publish, in his " Note Historique sur
les Proces de Marie Antoinette et de Madame Elisabeth:"
"We have had a pleasant dream: that is all. But there
has been this great gain to me from it, that it has furnished
to me a fresh proof of your entire devotion towards me. My
confidence in you is boundless.  You will ever find in me
firmness and courage; but the interest of my son is my sole
guide.  However great my happiness in quitting this place, I
cannot consent to separate from him. I could feel no enjoyment apart from  my children, and this idea leaves me without
even a regret at my resolution."
The Queen, as if filled with a sinister fore-knowledge, said,
further, to Toulan: "As matters are now proceeding I may,,at any moment, be deprived of all communication with others.
There are the wedding-ring, the seal, and the packet of family
hair, for the recovery of which I am indebted to you alone   I
request you to place them  in the hands of the Cheval er de
Jarjayes, entreating him  to convey them to Monsieur and to
the Count d'Artois, with the letters which my sister and I have
just written to our brothers."
* The Queen's letter to Monsieur ran thus:
" Having a faithful being on whom we can rely, I avail myself of him
to send to my brother and friend this deposit, which can fitly be confided
only to his hands. The bearer will acquaint you by what miracle we have
obtained possession of these precious pledges. I reserve to myself the
pleasure of one day telling you the name of him who has been so useflul to
us. The impossibility under which we have hitherto laboured of communicating with you, and the excess of ouri miseries, makes us feel still more
acutely our cruel separation: may it not be much longer protracted! I
embrace you, meanwhile, as I love you, and that, you know, is with my
whole heart.
At the foot of this lette  A.rie Th e wrote thee two line
At the foot of this letter Marie ThrBse wrote these two lines;




l7'93.]        SE;I'!;AITION  FROMi HIS  MOTHER.                 29
Transmission of the wedding-ring and seal.
Intrusted with these commissions towards the end of
March, it was not until the first week in May that M. de Jarjayes was enabled to convey them  to their destination: the
seal and the packet of hair to Monsieur; the ring and the hair
of Louis XVI. to the Count d'Artois.*
"I am  charged, for my brother and myself, to emErace you with my
whole heart.
6M. T."
The following is the letter from the Queen to the Count d'Artois:
"Having at length found means to confide to our brother one of the
only pledges that remain to us of the being whom  we all cherish and
deplore, I have thought that you would be pleased to possess something
that had belonged to him: keep it, in token of the tender friendship with
which I embrace you —heartily! heartily!
"M. A.,"
Madame Elizabeth wrote to Monsieur:
" I enjoy, by anticipation, the pleasure you will experience in receiving
this pledge of friendship and of confidence. To be once more with you,
and to see you happy, is all I desire.  You know how deeply I love you. I
embrace you with umy whole heart.
"E. Mo."
And to the Count d'Artois thus:
"' What happiness for me, my dear friend, my brother! to be thus able,
after so long an interval, to express to you the sentiments that fill my
heart! How I have suffered in thought for you! A time will come, I
hope, when I shall be able to embrace you, and to tell you that never will
you have a trier or tenderer friend than I: you know it, I hope.
"E. M."
* The mission was thus fulfilled:
M. de Jarjayes first repaired to Tours, where the King of Sardinia
detained him, employing him about his person, and forwarding, by extraordinary courier, the despatches with which 3M. de Jarjayes was intrusted.
In reply, Monsieur wrote, with his own hand, a letter to M. de Jarjayes,
dated Hanovtr, 14th May, 1793, in which he thuls expressed his feelings:
"You have placed in my hands the most precious possession I have in
the world, the only real consolation I have experienced since our misfortunes,  Their letter, and the other pledge of their friendship, of their




30                LOUJIS''1E SSEVETITEENTIE.           [BOOIt 11.
New regulations.
This month of March, that was now closing, had witnessed
the uprising against the progress of the revolutionary government of a powerful opposition, the leaders of which sat in the
National Convention, and  commanded the national armies.
The kings who were making war against France were
dividing amongst themselves the finest provinces of Poland;
the excited people arose; the torches of civil war were lighted
in our departments; the wound made by the regicide of the
21st January grew daily wider and deeper.
On the 1st April the south yielded to the appeal of the
west, and the acclamations of Beaucaire answered the cannons
of Sables-d'Olonne.  Oln the same day fresh measures of precaution were taken by the Commune.* On the 2nd of April,
confidence, have filled my heart with the most soothing feelings. I quite
approve of the reasons which induce you to remain in Piedmont. Continue to serve our young and unhappy King, as you have served the brother whom I shall deplore to ay latest hour."
* Municipality of Paris.
Extract from the Register of the Deliberations of the Council-General,
of the 1st April, 1793,'year 2 of the Republic.
" On the requisition of the attorney-general of the Commune,
" The council-general decrees:
"1st. That no person on guard, or otherwise, at the Temple shall design any object whatever there. If any one is detected contravening this
decree he shall be instantly arrested, and brought before the council-general, executing, in this particular, the functions of governor.
"2nd. The commissaries of the council, on duty at the Temple, shall
hold no private conversation whatever with the persons under detention,
and take upon themselves no commission whatever for them.
" 3rd. The said commissaries are, in like manner, forbidden to make
any change or innovation in the regulations heretofore observed in the direction of the interior of the Temple.
" 4th. No person employed in the service of the Temple shall enter the
tower.
"5th. That there shall be always two commissaries with the prisoners.
"6th. That neither Tison nor his wife shall quit the tower, nor couemunicate in any way with any person whatever outside.
"7thl That no commissary of the Temple shall send or receive letters
until they have been previously read to the council of the Temple.
"8th. When the prisoners walk on the platform of the tower, they




1793.1       SEPAlRATED FROM  111IS MOTHER.                  31
Flight of Dumouriez.
a decree of accusation was launched against General Paoli,
commandant in  Corsica; and, on  the  3rd, another decree
granted 300,000 livres to whomsoever should deliver up the
infamous IDumouriez, dead or alive.  Dumouriez had hoped to
play the military dictator in the terrible crisis which hourly
grew  more alarming.  But,! twice defeated, driven from Holland, which he had just before conquered, and then from Belgium, he was losing his army; and, in  the Assembly, he
was losing the support of the two  influential parties-the
Gironde and the Mountain-by the unequivocal manifestation
of his intention to establish a constitutional monarchy in favour
of the Orleans family. The Convention sent commissaries to
his camp, charged to signify to him the order to present
himself at its bar: the commissaries were Camus, Bancal,
Quinette, and Lamarque, accompanied by Beurnonville, minister at war.  Dumouriez arrested them, and handed them over
to the Austrians.  After this proceeding he had no other alternative than, by flight, to avoid the fate which awaited him.
On the 4th April he took refuge within the Austrian lines,
and next day was followed thither by Generals Valence and
Orleans, junior, by the two Thouvenots, and by a portion of
the hussars of Berchigny
shall always be accompanied by three commissaries, and by the officer in
command of the post, who shall watch them scrupulously.
" 9th. Conformably with the preceding decrees, each member of the
council who shall be nominated to serve at the Temple, shall be referred to
the consideration of the council-general, and upon the objection, without
any reason assigned, of any one member of that council, such nominee
shall be rejected.
" 10th. Lastly, the department of public works shall to-morrow execute the works mentioned in its decree of the 26th of March last.
(Signed)     "]PACHE, Mayor.
" COULOMBEAU, Registrar."
"This extract is correct.
"C OULOMBEAU, Registrar."
"Copied from the Register.
" YON."




32              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.               [BOOK 11.
Conduct of the Convention.
Intelligence of these events no sooner reached Paris than
decrees of the Convention doubled the guard at the Temple.created a committee of public safety, Saturday. Oth Aplit.
and placed the whole family of the Bourbons under:arest.
Already, on 27th  March, Robespierre had proposed  tlleir
banishment from the territory of the republic, with the excel)
tion of Marie Antoinette, who was to be brought before thle
revolutionary tribunal, and of the son of Capet, who was to
remain under detention in the tower of the Temple: the Convention had passed to the order of the day on Robespierre's
motion, but, circumstances now appearing to enforce it, it was
renewed, with aggravated features, and at once adopted.
The possessor, for some days past, of two letters whicl he
had received from  Monsieur the Count de Provence, Santerre
feared he should compromise himself by keeping them secret
any longer, and, accordingly, on Sunday, the 7th, he forwarded
them  to the Convention, and gave intimation of them to the
council-general of the Commune.  In these letters, addressed:
"A lMonsieur le Conmcmandant-Gener'al de la Force Arm&ne  de
Paris," the Prince declared that he himself was Regent of the
kingdom, and that his nephew had been King since the 21st
January, the day on which a criminal blow  had decapitated
Louis XVI.f  These two letters were not read to the As* Decree of the National Convention.
" 4th April, 1793, year 2 of the French Republic.
"The National Convention decrees that the council-general of the
Commune of Paris shall forthwith double the guard at the Temple.
" Verified,
"DELEDOY, Examiner of Votes."
"Compared with the original by us, President and Secretary
of the National Convention.
"DELMAS, President.
"MELLINO, Secretary."
" Paris, 5th April, 1793, year'  2 of the Republic."
t After long research and investigation, iwe are convinced that these two
letters were merely reproductions of the two political documents which we




1793.]        SEPAIAI'AT1I,) F1,ZOM  II  it MOTHlER.          38
Misery of t.he Queen.
se'mbly in public sitting; their probable influence on public
opinion was too sensibly apprehended; and Santerre was censured for having mentioned these communications, in the difficult circumstances under which the factions then were. More
far-sighted men, however, saw  no political unshilfulness in
that which was really the profound calculation of prudence and
of fear.
The agitation that was up-stirrin.g France and Europe did
not distu.rb the dull interior of the tower of the Temple, and
the young King, who was recognised abroad, and proclaimed
in some districts of the national territory, remained merely
an unhappy and unfortunate prisoner, ignorant of all that was
being done in his name.  His mother, herself, knew but very
little of what was passing around.  The profound grief of the
royal widow was varied only by her sufferings from  the cruel
treatment to which, as a prisoner, she was subjected by her
jailers. The affliction of the woe-stricken Queen was changed
in its nature, but affliction was still visited upon her.  Every
form of anguish was depicted on her emaciated features, and
yet, at times, a faint smile would rise for a moment to her
lips, as she looked on her children, the potent and sacred
bonds- which still attached  her to this earth.  Beside her
bloomed the clear, fresh features of a young girl, already rehave printed at the commencement of this chapter. Corresponding cirmlars were, at this period, distributed throughout the provinces. We read
in the Journal des Debats et des Decrets, No. 210, p. 25 1, in the report of
the sitting of the National Convention, of 14th April, 1t93:
"The commissaries sent into the departments of La Moselle and La
Mleurthe write word that their mission is almost completed; the recruiting
was effected with the greatest activity, &c.
"To their letter is subjoined a judgment of the criminal tribunal,
causing to be burned by the public executioner a declaration of the heretofore
Monsieur, calling himself' Regent of the Kingdom of France,' and letterspatent of the heretofore Count d'Artois, describing himself as' LieutenantGeneral of the Kingdom.'' The Assembly applauded the conduct of the judges of this criminal
tribunal, and ordered honourable mention to be made thereof."




3.1            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [Boo    I 11.
Tyranny of Tison.
sembling, in spiritual development, those Christian virgins
who grew around the martyrs and confessors of old,-already
worthy to be to her mother a friend. In her ear sounded
the soft voice of a boy-child, seeking her heart.  Lastly,
Madame Elizabeth was there,-fit sister of Louis XVI.! —a
mother to his children; the best and most holy of friends:
who, wearing Heaven in her heart and in her eyes, soothed
the most cruel pangs with the balm of her words, and with
her angelic gaze re-assured the soul.
Tison and his wife fulfilled, without intermission, the
odious part so aptly intrusted to them.  The Dauphin  as
though he had thoroughly divined their character, had conceived for them an aversion which, notwithstanding his mother's
recommendations, he could not conceal from them. Having
been one day severely reprimanded by Vincent, the municipal
on duty, the two Cerberi conceived that some complaint on the
part of the Dauphin had procured for them  this rebuke. In
the evening, after Vincent's departure, they burst into the
Queen's apartment, and proceeded to abuse the royal boy,
whom they objurgated as spy and informer, epithets which so
exactly applied to themselves.  "No member of my family is
capable of striking people in the dark," said Marie Antoinette;
"nor I of permitting it."  This remark struck home; the
odious pair withdrew, launching, as they went, insult upon the
Queen, curses on her son. The boy protested against them
with energy, with indignation.  "They are in anger," said
Madame Elizabeth to him, gently; "pardon them."  The
word pardon was heard by Tison, who rushed back in perfect
fury: " Pardon them!" cried he; " a flue idea! We are come
to a pretty pass! Do you forget- that it is the-people alone who
have the right to pardon? He you call King had no son big
enough to defend him, and he has left none strong enough to
revenge him."
Tison's fury did not stop there. A fresh municipal, acting
under his influence, went up and reprimanded the prisoners,




1793.]      SEPARATED FROM HIS MOTHER.               35
New arrangements,
informing them that the virtuous citizens who had been placed
in charge of them knew perfectly well what their duty was,
and how to perform it. Thenceforward, during the conferences, Marie Thdrese and her mother remained almost constantly in the turret, in order that the boy might not fall
into any involuntary indiscretion. With the exception of the
petty annoyances to which their vulgar keepers subjected
them, the prisoners now enjoyed a repose and liberty which
had hitherto been withheld from them. The violent political
agitation which had marked the commencement of March
had subsided. Paris was calm; at all events on the surface:
the constituted authorities answered for its tranquillity; and
the daily visits he paid to the Temple convinced Santerre
of the rigid security of that state-prison, and of the inutility
of maintaining so numerous a guard there. He, accordingly,
proposed to the council of the Commune to reduce the guard
to one hundred men and a company of artillery. The proposition, however, happening to be made at an inopportune
moment, was not adopted.  He also proposed to victual
the men on service at the guard-house, so that they might
remain all day at their post; and the council of the Commune,
accordingly, granted three francs per diem for this purpose to
every soldier on duty who should apply for it; but the decree
was not acted upon. The registers of the Commune, indeed,
present numerous instances of decrees which remained inoperative; sometimes the measures adopted on the previous day
were formally recalled, in other cases they simply remained
without effect.
As to the diminution of the guard, the commandant of the
armed' force of Paris, so far from  having his proposition
adopted, was emphatically invited to apply still greater activity,
still closer heed, to the service confided to him.
The newspapers were not the only reading which had its
impression on public opinion. An old book, —rare, notwithstanding the seven or eight editions it had gone througlh




36              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENENTH.            [BOK 1
" The Mirabilis Liber.'
between 1498 and 1524, during the religious and political
troubles which then desolated France and Europe, -suddenly
issued from the obscure shelf of a book collector, and arrested
public attention as containing predictions full of singular
analogies with the leading events of the Revolution.  This
curious book, printed in Gothic type, and in two parts, one
in Latin the other in French, is entitled' "Mirabilis Liber,
qui prophetias revolutionesque, necunon res mirandas preteritas,
presentes ac futuras, aperte demonstrat.'"%  Some dreamers,
who sought to give this book a pious origin, attributed it to
Saint Cesarius, bishop of Arles, who died in 544; others,
assigning to it a less ancient date, considered it the production of
Jacques de Nostre-Dame, father of the Michael, who, under the
name of Nostradamus, became so celebrated for his prophecies.
This Provencal family, who were converts from the Hebrew
faith, claimed to be of the tribe of Issachar, renowned for its
gift of prescience.  However this may be, these prophecies,
becoming the subject of general conversation, attracted to the
national library men of credulous hearts or inquiring minds.
Charged with having-in the execution of their duty-communicated this seditious volume to readers, several keepers of the
library were arrested, and dismissed from their appointments.
The learned Van Prait was obliged to conceal himself: his
prodigious memory had rendered him a suspected person: it
swas imputed to him that, of necessity, he must have sympathies
with periods in all the books with which he was acquainted:
the living catalogue of a great library could not be other than
a conspirator.
The following was the most compromised and the most
compromising passage in this singular book: "Juvenis capti-,a-tus qui recuperabit coronam lilii —— fundatus, destutet filios
Bruti." —" The young captive, who will recover the crown of
*" The wonderful book, which manifestly displays prophecies and revolutions, and also marvellous things, past, present, and to come,"




1793. 1       SEPARATED  FROM  HIS MOTHER.                   37
New alarms.
the lily-established on the throne, will destroy the sons of
Brutus."
In combination with these predictions, accepted alike by
hope and by fear, and which superstition diffused amongst the
people, came rumours which were not less calculated to keep
the attention of the Jacobins on the alert: it was said that
since the desertion of Dumouriez his army had dispersed,
merely for the purpose of veiling that general's plan; but that
it was prepared, at any time, suddenly to assemble, at the very
gates of Paris, to carry that plan into execution, the object
being the deliverance of Louis XVII. and the restoration of
constitutional royalty.   Utterly absurd as these statements
were they excited men's imaginations, and directed public
attention towards the Temple. This was equivalent to pointing
out victims to the executioner.  But, though the populace was
eagerly impatient for a new  tragedy; though the section of
Finisterre (Faubourg Saint-Marceau) called upon all the other
sections of Paris to demand collectively from  the Convention,
that the trial of the wife and sister of Capet should forthwith
commence, and that sure measures should be taken to prevent
the son of the tyrant from ever succeeding to his father;*
although Marat supported with all; his influence these vociferous demands, no fresh measure was decreed by the Convention with reference to the prisoners in the Temple.  On an
* " A deputation of the section of Finistbrre announced that there had
been discovered at Chantilly, in the ci-devant palace of the traitor Conde,
2,200 marks of silver, and the correspondence of that wretch with Marie
Antoinette and Elizabeth.
"They demanded that the sections of Paris and the cantons should
assemble and draw up an address to the Convention for the trial of these
three celebrated criminals, and for having measures adopted so that the
son of Capet may not succeed his father, or participate in his crimes.
"The council-general approved of the wise measures proposed by
the section of FinistBrre. and invited the deputation to take part in the
sitting,"
(Sitting of the council-general of the Commune, Wednesday,
27th March, 1793.)




L38            LOUIS THE'I-   SIVE:NI'TEENTII    [nBOOK 11.
Position of the factions.
animated discussion between the Mountain and the Gironde
the advantage remained with the latter; and in a speech,
wheikein is discernible a certain degree of interest in the son
and daughter of Louis XVI., Gensonne went so far as to
demand that the municipality of Paris should be declared
responsible for their safety. These words of a man who had
voted for the King's death, and who seemed to compassionate
the wretchedness of the King's children, necessarily irritated
the jailers of the tower, and already marked the speaker out
to the blow of his adversaries.*  The antagonisms in the
Assembly became more and more inveterate, and the discussions fiercer and more fierce between those who represented
the various shades of revolutionary opinion. There was ain
immense tumult in the Convention on Tuesday, 9th April,
in reference to the decree made by the section of Bon-Conseil
for a decree of accusation against the deputies marked by
public opinion as traitors to the country.  The Mountain
raved at the Gironde, and the Gironde at the Mountain.  On
Saturday, 13th April, a decree was launched against Marat
himself, charged with having preached massacre and pillage,
and with having said that a triumvirate was needed for France.
Acquitted on the 18th by the revolutionary tribunal, "'the
Friend of the People" was crowned with oak, and borne in
triumph to the Convention, where he resumed his wonted seat.
Robespierre and Danton were reconciled, and embraced each
other, each fully determined to strangle the other at the earliest opportunity; a common hate uniting them, meanwhile,
against the Gironde, whom they desired to crush, as we see
wolves banding together in the forest to hunt one common
prey,-there is this difference: the prey once brought down,
the wolves divide it among them; the revolutionists contend
for it, and tear it from one another.
(G-ensonn6 was one of the twenty-one Girondists who were led to the
scaffold on 31st October, 1793.




1.793.1      SEPARATED FROM  HIS MOTHER.                  39
Denunciation by Tison.
All this time Tison was performing in the tower his part
of spy, precursive to that of denouncer.  Though secretly
wrought, the web of Toulan's construction had not been so
completely hidden that all its threads had escaped the ob'servation of the Argus of the Temple: or rather, wholly distrusted
as he was by the moderate municipals, and having never been
admitted into the least approach to their confidence, it was
from instinct, rather than from observation, that suspicion had
arisen in his mind. Since the removal of Toulan and Lepitre
he had fully comprehended that, for the more effectual accomplishment of his charge, he must, in some way or other,
thoroughly make himself master of all that was saying and
doing about him, and that his only means of effecting this
object was to gain the confidence of the commissaries: the
downright ruffian turned hypocrite. Rugged as before with
the rugged among the keepers whom the Commune placed in
the Temple, with the new-comers, whom he did not as' yet
know, he was all pliancy; with the well-meaning he affected
general compassion, with those who fairly manifested the sensibility of their hearts he affected to be in ecstacies with the
gentle graces of the young prisoner. When the iknave thought
he had insinuated himself into some minds, had penetrated
some hearts,-although he had as yet only vague suspicions, —
he hastened, in concert with his -wife, to write, on Friday, 19th
April, to the council of the Temple: " That the widow and the
sister of the last tyrant had gained over several municipal
officers; that by these officers they were made acquainted with
all the events that took place, received from them the public
papers, an'd, by their means, kept up a correspondence with
their friends "a  In proof of the latter statement, the woman
* The following is an account of what passed in the council-general of
the Commune, on the occasion of this denunciation:
"One of the commissaries of the Temple read a report draw.n up at the
Temple, in presence of the mayor, of the attorney-general of the Commune,
and of the comnmissaries on dtuty.
"''This report contains two declarationsl, malde, the one by T'isont, on




40                 LOUIS  THE  StEVE          X     H.             oi 11
I)emmciation by Tison.
Tison  sent down  to  the council a candlestick which  she had
taken  from   the  chamber of Madame  Elizabeth, and  pointed
out to the  municipal officer a drop of sealing-wax which  had
fallen on it.   In point of fact, the Princess had, that morning,
given to Turgy, as he himself relates,* a sealed note for the
Abb6 Edgeworth, her confessor.
Next; day, IIbert proceeded  to the  tower, not in  the day
time, during which the royal family were in a continual state of
household service at tlhe Temple, the other, by Anle-Victoire I3anudet, wife
of Tison, also employed in the service of the Temple.
" It results, from these declarations, that several members of the eoun
cii, viz., Toulan, Lepitre, Brunot, Moelle, Vincent (builder), a:ndl thl
physician of tile Temple, are suspected of having furnished thll:.   with
wafers, sealing-wax, pencils, paper, and, in a wordl, of having given thleml
the materials afln the means of secret correspondence.
"rTonllanl anld Vinceint 1demandefd that forthwith comnnlissaries slh-sll
be appointed to place sealls on everythinig in their abo(les.:' In consequence, the cotuncil-gleneral nominatedl Cailleux alt llerl'l!e
to proceed forthwith to the abode  of citizen Toulan and( seal his papers
"Nominated, in like nlmanner, Faianne and Souard to proceed fi,"thlwith to thie abode of citizen Vinicent, and affix seals on his papers, excep)tilit
those having reference to the commission of the wounded of the 10thi
August, whereof he has charle.
"The four commissaries wrere directed to call upon the police magcistrate of the section in which they were to operate, to assist them  in their
proceedings.
"As to thle suspected citizens who were ahsent, viz., Lepitre, Moelles,
Brunot, and the physician, the council-general decreed that tile police,
should forthwith seal up all their papers.
"And, on the requisition of the attorney-general of' tile Commune, thl,
council-general nominated Follope, Minier, Louvet, and Benoit, to prtee, lI
forthwith to the Temple, to institute there whatever researches they should
thik fit, alnd also to search the persons of the said prisoners.
"Also, that the said commissaries should remove the seals placed on
tile apartment of the defunct Louis Capet, in order to make all necessary
seal'ch tlelre also.
" Illert, deputy-syndic, was nominated with the other commissaries
to) )psellte these searches."
(Sittinglll of 20th Aplil, 1793.)
Pr"'aFal ents Historiques suor Ie Capliviti    de irs Famille Royale."  By
Tur',y: tl),llish'l tby Elkard, in the a.tle)wndlix to his "lAiheoires Historiques
sur rLouis X VII.," 3rd edition.




1793.]        SEPARATED FROM  HIS MOTHER.                  41
The royal family searched.
anxious excitement, but after ten o'clock at night, the hour at
which they were wont to expect, at least, privacy and freedom
firom  interruption.  In coming upon them thus unawares, he,
doubtless, hoped to detect them  in the very fact of secret
mtachinations and clandestine correspondence.  The woman
Tison, who was sent for to search the Princesses, found on the
Queen nothingb but a red morocco pocket-book, in which were
writtenl, with pencil, some addresses, and on Madame Elizabethl notlhing but a stick of sealing-wax, which had been used,
and some box-wood powder in the same paper.  These discoveries, insufficient as they were, creating the hope of more,
the search was prosecuted with redoubled ardour.  The younlg
Prince was asleep:  the commissaries of the Commune roughly
pulled him out of bed, in order to search it; his mother folded
him, half-perishing with cold, in her arms.  They searched
the mattrass, the bedding, his clothes, but found nothing whatever; we are wrong: the labour of the commissaries was not
fruitless; in searching among the effects of Marie-Therese
they made a fresh discovery.  "They took from  me," says
Madame Royale, in the narrative she has left of the captivity
in the Temple, " a sacr-cceur, and a prayer for France."  A
prayer for the country which had left her father to die: an
image of the heart of a God who died to save mankind! These
were the objects which the envoys of the Revolution found on
the person of the- orphan of the Temple, faithful to the instructions of the immortal Testament.  The visit, commenced
at a quarter to eleven at light, did not terminate till two
o'clock in the morning.*
* Extract from the report drawn up by the commissaries appointed to
make a close search in the apartments of the prisoners detained in
the tower of the Temple.
"This day, 20th April, 1793, at a quarter to eleven in the evening, in
execution of the decree of the council-general, we, the undersigned, proceeded to the tower of the Temple, where, at the hour above-stated, we
-.qcended to the apartments of Alarie Antoinette, wi(low Capet, and of her




42               LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 1i.
The royal family searched.
Three days afterwards, Tuesday, 23rd April, the commissaries returned to the charge: deputed to remove the seals
placed on the apartment of Louis XVI., they  made further
researches in the apartments of the surviving prisoners. The
stick of sealing-wax, so far confirming Tison's statement, had
inspired  them  with the hope of making other discoveries;
but they found  only a hat, which Madame  Elizabeth  had
children, to commence the examination of the furniture and the search of
persons, as follows:
"first, upon entering the chamber of the said widow  Capet we
searched the furniture, amongst which we found nothing suspicious: only,
on a night-table there was a small book entitled'Journee du C/iretien,'
in which was a figure, coloured red, representing, on one side, a heart in
flames, pierced with a sword, and encircled by stars, with. this legend:'Cor Marie, ora pro nobis;' on the other, a crown of thorns, and a cross
above the heart, with this legend:' Cor Jesus, miserere nobis.' We found,
further, a printed pamphlet of four pages, entitled:' Consecration de la
France au sacr6 coeur de, Jesus;' it commences with these words:'0,
Jesus Christ!' and we remarked therein the following passages:'All the
hearts of this kingdom, from the heart of our august monarch down to
the poorest of his subjects, we unite in the band of charitable desires, to
offer them unto thee altogether. —Yes, heart of Jesus i we offer unto thee
our whole country, and the hearts of all thy children.-O, Holy Virgin!
they are now in thy hands; we give them to thee, in consecrating ourselves
to thee, as to our protrectress and mother; now, we supplicate thee, offer
them to the heart of Jesus.-Ah! presented by thee, he will receive them,
he will pardon them, he will bless them, he will sanctify them, he will save
all France, he will cause the revival there of holy religion. So be it! So
be it!'
" In the pockets of Marie Antoinette was a red morocco pocket-book, in
which we saw nothing worthy to be noted, except a piece of ass skin, on
which was written, in pencil, the following:'Brugnier, quai de l'Iorloge,
No. 65,' with other names and addressess of various persons whom the
prisoners might require, Also, in the same pockets, a case rolled up, containing a steel pencil-case, without a pencil.
"We searched the chamber occupied by Elizabeth-Mlarie, sister of the
late Capet, where we found nothing of a suspicious character, except that
in a casket we discovered a stick of red sealing-wax, which had been used,
and some box-wood dust, in the same paper. At about two o'clock in the
morning we completed the present report, in presence of the said ladies,
who have signed the same with us.
(Signed)      "MARIE-ANTOINETTE, ELIZABETII-3ARII_,
BENOIT, &c."'




1793.]          SEPARATED  FROM  HIS  MOTHER.                     43
The result of the search.
preserved as a memorial, it having belonged to the King, her
brother.*
The municipal officers, whom Tison and his wife had
denounced,-Toulan, Lepitre, Brunot, Moelle, and Vincent,were suspended from  their functions, as charged with seditious
respect, aMd suspected of anti-revolutionary sympathies towards
the royal family.  The press, with malignant exaggeration, pretended that the son of Louis XVI. was treated as a king by his
mother, his aunt, and his sister; that every morning they paid
* Extract from the report drawn up by the said commissaries, 23rd
same month.
"AWe, the commissaries named by the council-general of the Commune.
of Paris to remove the seals placed on the apartment of Louis XVI.,
proceeded, &c.
"We declare that the books, among which we notice'Horace,' the'Imitation de Jesus-Christ,' the' Constitution Franqaise,' and the' Breviaire
de Paris,' have been delivered over to the charge of the porter, as also the
furniture; thirty-three louis, a gold watch, the shoe and garter-buckles
(also of gold), the crosses of various orders, with their hooks, have been
deposited in the office of the registrar of the Commune, and will be melted
down, so that no rallying-token may be left to tyranny, no relic to superstition; the ribbons were burned in the tower.
" Further researches were made in the prisoners' apartments, but there
was found no vestige of any correspondence with persons abroad, or of any
connivance between the prisoners and the six members of the council inculpated by Tison's report; only, in Madame Elizabeth's room there was
discovered, in a box under the bed., a hat belonging to Louis. Upon asking
hler who gave her that hat, she replied that she had it fromn her brother,
who had given it to her when they lived together in the little tower, in
order, as he said, that she might have something to keep that had belonged
to him; and she added that, on this account, the hat was precious to her.
It was observed to her that people seldom keep a hat as a pledge of tenderness, but she persisted in her reply.
"Notwithstanding this explanation, the commissaries add that they
are still of opinion that the hat must have been brought back to the tower,
since, upon inspection of the register of purchases, it is clear that
Louis XVI. had but one hat, which accompanied him to the place of
execution. This hat, attesting the existence of some exterior correspondence, has been deposited in the office of the council of the Temple, with
the promise made that it shall be returned to Madame Elizabeth, who
solicited this favour with urgent entreaties."
(See Appendix (Document No. III. ), for a further report on the
subjtect by the police.)




44             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENrTH.           [BOOK 11.
Fresh persecutions.
their formal homage to him as such, and that, in short, he received from them all the honours theretofore rendered to royalty.
It is probable that these rumours originated with an
information laid before the authorities by Jacques-Claude
Bernard, a malevolent perversion of a scene which passed in
the Temple, and in which he had performed an odious part.
This scene is thus related by Turgy:
" When the young King took his place at table they used
to give him, as a child, a seat higher than the rest, and furnished with a cushion. One day, when this seat was occupied
by a municipal, named Bernard, who had been a curate of the
Hospital of La Pitie, they placed the child on one of the ordinary chairs.  This chair was so low that the young King
could scarcely reach what was on his plate, but no one ventured
to disturb Bernard, who was noted for his coarse ill-temper.
Tison coming in, I made a sign to him, which he understood.
He asked the municipal to let the child have the chair which
he generally used, and offered the man himself another.
Bernard roughly refused, saying, before the Queen and the
Princesses: " I never saw chair or table either given to prisoners; straw is good enough for them."
Hebert acted as the accuser of Toulan and Lepitre, and,
papers in hand, maintained that they had been servilely complaisant. if not accomplices in guilt.  The names of these two
exceptional persons, who had been guilty of compassion and
humanity, were, therefore, erased from the list of commissaries
appointed to guard the Temple tower, and they were replaced
l)y colleagues of tried severity.
A National Guard who, while on duty, had amused himself
ill making a plan of the tower, was arrested and condemned to
secret imprisonment.  Masons were about the Temple again,
employed in building a transverse wall, with a double wicket
in front of the ex-palace;* they also cleared the environs of
* See the sitting of the council-general of the Commune of Paris of
26th March, 1793.




1793.]       SEPARATED FROM HIS MOTHER.                 40
Royalist testimonies.
the }Rotunda and of the old  chapel of the rubbish left
there by the houses recently demolished, and made a road
all round to facilitate the passing of patrols.  Close blinds
were put to all the windows which had not yet received
thern.*
What brought the suspicions of the council-general to a
climax was that, in addition to the rumours of public opinion,
and the denunciatory articles published in the newspapers.
testimony of a yet more striking character was borne to tile
son- of Louis XVI.: his royalty was proclaimed from  the
scaffold itself by men who died as they proclaimed it. The
"Courrier Francais" of Tuesday, 31st April, 1793, contained
the following article:
"Boucher, a dentist, condemned by the revolutionary tribunal, displayed upon the scaffold a degree of rage which
can only be attributable to the fanaticism  of royalty; after
hearing his sentence, he  cried out several times:' Vive
Louis XVII.!  To the Devil wi.th the Republic!'  Wh.en
he reached the place where he was to suffer, he addressed
the numerous spectators who surrounded the scaffold as follows:'Is it not a very curious thing to see a man perish
for having said a king was necessary? Yes, you do need one!
Vive Louis XVII.!' Then turning to the executioner,' Guillotine me!' said he to him.  Thus died this unfortunate man,
a victim to his anti-revolutionary frenzy."
The authorities now kept eye and hand on the Temple
more carefully than ever.  Precautions the most minute were
taken to prevent any communication with the prisoners from
without, and all comfort was at an end for them.
As a climax of misery the young Prince fell ill in the
beginning of May. A municipal officer, on arriving that day
* "Decree of the Temple council, dated 24th April, ordering repairs to
the windows in the apartment of the late Louis Capet, and in that of
Madame Elizabeth.
(Signed)   " FIP'EAU, TANCHOU, and ARTHUR."




46              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.              [BOOK 11.
Illness of the young King.
at the tower, took pleasure in informing the Queen that the
constituted bodies of Paris had just made a decree for raising
a corps of twelve thousand citizens, destined to march against
the rebels of La Vend6e.  Without showing any emotion at
this intelligence, or dwelling on it at all, Marie Antoinette
replied quietly: 6" If you could induce the council-general, Sir,
to send M. Brunier, the usual medical attendant of my
children, to me, I should feel greatly indebted to you.'  The
municipal acquainted the council with this request.*   Her
maternal entreaties were at length attended to; but M. Brunier
was not the person sent to the tower.  The motive of the
Commune for making a different choice deserves to be preserved in history:-" After hearing a letter from the commissaries of the Temple read through, which announces that little
Capet is ill, the council-general decrees that the physician-inordinary of prisons go and attend little Capet; as it would be
an inljury to equality to send him any other."t
M. Thierry, physician to the prisons, received an order in
consequence to repair to the Temple. He examined the young
invalid attentively, and, at the Queen's entreaty, hastened to
consult with M. Brunier, in whom  she had every confidence.
She had great cause to be satisfied with the zeal, assiduity,
and attention shown by M. Thierry. The illness lasted several
weeks, during which the, doctor came daily to the Temple, and
X Extract from the register of the deliberations of the council-general
of the 9th May, 1793, 2nd year of the Republic, and 1st from the
death of the Tyrant.
"The council-general, after deliberating on the illness of the son of the
late Capet, just announced to them, and on the demand of Marie Antoinette
for a physician to attend him:
"Decrees, that the commissaries on duty to-day at the Temple be
heard on the subject.
(Signed)       "PACHE, Mayor.
"DORAT-CUBIERES, Secretary-registrar,
"Exact extract;
"COULOMBEAU, Secretary-registrar."
t Sitting of Friday, 10th May.




1793.]        SEPARATED  FROM  HIS MOTHER.                    47
Position of the factions.
during which Marie Antoinette and her sister-in-law never left
the pillow  of their dear child.  After his convalescence, his
wardrobe, which had been very much neglected since his
coming to the Temple, was renewed.*
This illness, though it had been serious,+ had not occupied
the public mind, which was absorbed in the struggle that had
arisen in the heart of the Convention: it was inevitable that
such a struggle must take place. Good or bad, there must
always be oneo directing influence in society; now, as there were
several, each desired to have the upper hand. The Gironde
had the majority in number in the Assembly, and were certainly
favoured by the greater part of the departments; but the
Mountain  was supported by the terrible Commune of Paris
and the revolutionary population of that capital, to say nothing
of their being less scrupulous and considerably more audacious.
The whole discussion might be reduced to the question, whether the Gironde was to kill the Mountain in a regular, or
the Mountain the Gironde in a revolutionary, way.  In fact,
the sceptre of that period was the handle of the axe: men
governed solely by the headsman's arm.The Girondists, who could talk better-than they could act,
and who, besides, had not all their forces on the battle-field,
e.See Appendix. (Document No. IV.)
+ The symptoms re-appeared the next month. We read in the register
of the deliberations of the council-general of the Commune, of Saturday,
11th June, 1703:
"The Temple council states that the son of the prisoners has had a
rupture, and submits. the proposition of the doctor who has visited him
that he be attended by: citizen Pipl6, trussmaker.
"The council-general decrees, that citizen Pipl6, trnssmaker to the
prisons, visit the son of Marie Antoinette.
" Also decrees, that the trussmaker to the prisons be informed of this,
in order that he may repair to the Temple without the least delay.
"DESTOiURNELLES, Vice-president.
"D ORAP-CUBIERES, Secretary-registrar."
t The following letter, which has never been published before, supports
what we have said:




48               LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 11.
Isolation of the prisoners.
were necessarily destined to be conquered. Their defeat was
the inevitable result of their situation, and of the line of policy
they had pursued. They had not taken the head of Louis XVI.,
but they allowed it to fall; now, whoever once draws back in
revolutionary matters must always recede.  There was but one
more thing to ask of them, after receiving the head of that
King whom  they had abandoned-their own heads, and their
adversaries did not make them wait long.
Of these stormy debates, these threatening commotions,
the prisoners of the Temple now heard no more.  No, newspaper reached them, no news was told them; the voice of the
great city died away at their gates, as did the victorious cries
of the Vendean army; they knew nothing, either, of the execution by guillotine of Generals Miasinsky and Phil. Devaux,
accomplices of Dumouriez, or of the departure of Santerre
"' Commune of Paris.
"Paris, 6th May, 1793, 2nd year of the French Republic, one and
indivisible.
"(On pressing business.)
"An abuse has been complained of to me, citizen administrators, to
which I have to direct your attention and your feelings of humanity.' After the public executions of condemned criminals, the blood of tIhe
sufferers remains on the spot where it was shed. Dogs come and lick it up,
while crowds of people feast their eyes on this spectacle, which excites their
minds to ferocity. MIen of a milder character, whose sight is more easily
offended, complain of being thus obliged to walk through human blood
aga.inst their will.
"You will feel that such an abuse ought to be promptly put down. I
sent for the executioner of condemned criminals, but he assured me that he
(lid not deserve any reproach on the subject, since, by the wording of the
law, he is only charged with the execution, and has no control over its
consequences.
"Therefore, as you are intrusted with the repairs, construction, &c.,
of the instrument which is used in public executions, I beg you will direct
the carpenter appointed to that business to make some arrangement, in
order to prevent any trace of blood remaining after an execution.
"I trust in this matter to your love of order and good morals.
" CHAUMETTE. -
"Attorney-general of the Commune."'
"To the President of the Directory of Paris."




1703.]         SEPARIATED  FROM  HIS  MOTHER.                     49 
Santerre's letter.
with numerous levies for the army of the west,* or of the defeat of the republican army at Fontenay-le-Pele (Fupontenayle-Comte), by those rude and simple inhabitants of the Bocage,
whom a great man, some years later, called the " giants of La
Vendee."
* Santerre had left Paris on Sunday, 19th May, as we are informed by
the register of the sittings of the council-general of the Commune. Some
days afterwards he wrote the following letter from Orleans:
"Still at Orleans, 26th May, 1793, 2nd year of the Republic.
"Citizen Mayor,
"I have to give you an account of my operations and observations.
"The road, for a republican, is as fine a sight as can be desired; we
see the vehicles that were used to convey crime carrying virtue now;
no longer serving oppressors, but, in good truth, the defenders of the
republic.
" When we see soldiers coming front the north, short of everything, and
yet all content as those of Paris, and all the people receive one because one
has the same principle as they, and may have served one's country perhaps
a little, we can fear no disaster, and nothing can mar our enjoyment.  As
you perceive, I have seen that you were sent for to the bar.
" You will be, perhaps, surprised to know that I am still at Orleans.
I have orgainised the troops here, and set out this morning.  This town,
which, like cur own, has an excellent municipality and a virtuous mayor,
has, however, some vexatious circumstances in its organisation. No longer
has it the Prieurs, the Bourbotes, and Juliens, in its bosom. In their stead;
it has four men who hold no communion but with aristocrats and wealthy
persons.  One Manuel is member for the department.
" It has an excellent popular society.
"Citizen Giot, of the arsenal, and member of the society of Paris, ha,,
like myself, been present at several sittings, in which we have advocated
republican principles, and consoled our friends a little in reference to the
fears they entertained lest the aristocracy might raise their heads and join
the sections of Fraternity and the grenadiers of the National Guard of
Paris, who are to be inserted in the bulletin.
"Where are we then, republicans?
" We are setting out to join the body of the army, and, with such soldiers as the republic has, we shall be able to realise the presage of the
president of the Commune-' Veni, vidi, vici!'
"Be so good, citizen mayor, as to assure the whole Commune of my
gratitude; it is to them  I owe the happiness of serving my country. I
will be fiee, and a republican, or I will die content.
"Your friend,
" SANTEREiE."
IT CT




50             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK il.
Efforts of the Mountain.
However, on the 31st May, they heard so great a noise
outside that they imagined the whole neighbourhood must be
in flames; the call to arms, the alarm guns, and the tocsin,
shook the walls and awoke the echoes of Paris. At L'Abbaye,
at Saint-Lazare, and all the state-prisons, the prisoners sent
forth lamentable shrieks, thinking they heard the cut-throats
of September already at their doors. Madame Elizabeth interrogated the municipals as to the cause of the tumults, one of
whom naively replied: " It is the commission of Twelve that
occasions all this stir."  In fact, the revolutionary city was in
great disorder; a commission of twelve deputies, whose duty
it was to search out all conspiracies set on foot against libertyv,
was loudly accused of carrying on a most iniquitous system of
inquisition against the best patriots.  This was the subject
worked upon with unparalleled ardour by the supporters of
Robespierre, who was desirous of arriving, by means of an
insurrection, at the dictatorship.  Several arrests had taken
place in the very neighbourhood of the Temple, and had put
the whole quarter in a ferment, every one crying out that the
most zealous defenders of liberty were being taken to prison.
The decree by which this commission had been formed, made
on the 18th May, repealed on the 27th, and once more established on the 28th, —so rapid were the changes at this critical
period,-excited a general' insurrection, which called out the
whole of the disaffected population, closed the barriers of
Paris, and produced a "decree of accusation against all deputies unfaithful to the charge they had received from  their
constituents, in order to seize traitors and discover conspiracies
formed to ruin the republic:" so fertile-was this day,-which
gave the pre-eminence to the M-ountain, in denunciations
against the royal family, and all persons suspected of being
their active agents, or secret partisans. H:rault de Sechelles,
one of whose maxims it was, that "' the force of the people and
of reason was one and the same thing," applauded this triumph,
as was natural, and manifested his approval by revealing a




1793.]       SEPARATED FROMI HIS MOTHER.               51
Fall of the Girondists.
piece of information given him in confidence about the month
of March, by Lullier, attorney.general of the department of
the Seine.  In presence of Robespierre and his other colleagues, who were employed with himself in modelling the
Constitution of 1793, he declared he had been told by Lullier
that, " from the reports made to him, in virtue of his oflice, he
had been acquainted with the real existence of certain plots in
favour of the son of Louis XVI., not only in the departments,
but in the very Convention itself; that the anti-revolutionary
party, already very numerous, only waited till it should attain
the degree of strength necessary to carry off the heir of the
Capets from the Temple; and lastly, that Danton, proclaimed
Regent, with the Constitution of 1791 in his hand, was to bring
forward the young constitutional monarch, surrounded by the
representatives of regenerated France." The Gironde was
attacked exactly in the same manner as Louis XVI. had been;
calumny first made the breach by which insurrection entered,
and Pache, who was to the Gironde what Petion had been to
the King, allowed it to pass.  The majority in the Convention
abandoned their leaders, to earn the pardon of the MIountain
for having supported them, and under the guns of Ronsin
they passed whatever decrees were required of them. The
Convention experienced among themselves the same terror
that they inspired without,-bowed down as they were by
the yoke of the Mountain, coalescing with the Commune of
Paris, who had the disposal of the revolutionary forces formed
by so many sudden changes in the capital.  In consequence of
this the arrest of thirty-two members was voted, among whom
figured  Vergniaud, Lanjuinais, Gensonne, Petio', B1rissot,
Barbaroux, Louvet, Buzot, and the ministers Lebrun and
Clavidre.  The fall of the Girondists produced a profound
sensation of alarm throughout France.  They were, compared
with their adversaries, the last representatives of moderate
opinions, and, now that they no longer had the object of overturning monarchy, they were trying to restore some ideas of




652            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           LBOOK 11.
Michonis.
order and authority, which their position as a government
rendered necessary. It was easy to comprehend, therefore,
that, when they fell, men with extreme theories would take their
places, and the Girondists were regretted in proportion to the
fears entertained of their successors. But the movement, first
excited by themselves, would not now stop before anyone, nor
for anyone.
The month of June passed in as violent a state of agitation as that which had preceded the events of the 81st MIay:
the boats loaded for the provisioning of Paris were stopped in
their progress and given up to pillage; the shops were continually menaced with despair and famine; at night, armed men
scoured the streets to seize the miserable people pointed out
by Robespierre. Men trembled for what they held most dear;
two friends, two relations, did not meet now without astonishment at seeing each other again, at being free-and alive!
And, thenceforward, the friends of the Queen were fully convinced that there was no safety for that Princess save in
flight.
Among those members of the municipality who had been
spared in the denunciations just mentioned was AIichonis, who,
no less decidedly a royalist, but more skilful in dissimulation
than Lepitre and Toulan, had passed through circumstances
the most difficult without compromising himself, and had
always vindicated his conduct from  the suspicion that had
arisen of his sentiments; more fortunate in this respect than
his colleagues, whose names had been struck out from the list
of the Temple commissaries.  When on duty at the tower,
Michonis gave Marie Antoinette information of what had just
occurred, endeavouring to re-assure her concerning the intentions of the Mountain, who, he said, although victorious, would
not venture to bring her to trial; and on his adding that the
Emperor would, in all probability, demand her: " What does
it matter to me'" replied the Queen, with an accent of calm
and settled grief; "at Vienna I should be but what I am




1793.]       SEPARATED FROM tNIS MOTHEBL.                53
The Baron de Batz.
here, — what I was at the Tuileries; my sole wish is to be reunited to my husband, when Heaven shall deem me no longer
necessary to my children."
A  few days afterwards, Michonis engaged in a plot to
carry off the mourning widow from her prison. Baron de Batz
was again at the head of this dangerous enterprise.  The incessant search after him ever since the attempt of the 21st
January, had not driven from Paris this intrepid servant of a
cause that misfortune had rendered so noble, and which,
besides, presented the allurement of danger,-irresistible to all
generous spirits.  The obstinate struggle maintained by this
man against the fearful power that oppressed the nation, is
one of the marvels of those times.  Everywhere present,
though nowhere to be seen, as skilful in laying his own snares
as in avoiding those of the enemy, he had the most prudent
agents at his devotion, and the most active spies in his pay. His
words were even more insinuating than the arguments of his
purse were persuasive, and with admirable address he had
gained over several members of the Convention, who, if circumstances did not allow of their rendering him any useful assistance, at least remained faithful to him by preserving inviolable
silence upon his affairs.  Unwearied in conspiracy, no sooner
had his enterprises failed than he began again with renewed
ardour, and fearlessly remained in a town where a price had
been set upon his head.  His name was the signal for serious
measures being taken, and the strictest possible search being
made   The trackless conspirator had many impenetrable
places of r-efuge in Paris and its environs; but his most usual,
and, perhaps, securest retreat, was in the house of Cortey, a
grocer in the Rtue de la Loi, whose reputation for civism had
recommended him  to the suffrages of his fellow-citizens, by
whom he had been chosen captain in commland of the National
Guard of the Lepelletier section.  Cortey also enjoyed the
friendship of Chretien, a member of the revolutionary tribunal,
whose influence was all-powerful in the committees of that




5.4             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 11.
Plan of escape.
section.  It was in consequence of his recommendation that
Cortey was appointed one of the officers of the post to whom
the guard of the Temple was intrusted, whenever a detachment
from  their battalion formed part of the armed force there.
Sheltered by the revolutionary renown of his host, and concealed in his house, Baron de Batz confided his plans to
him and Michonis, and, in concert with them, took all the
measures relating to their execution.  The first time that
Cortey was on guard at the Temple after this disclosure, Batz
desired him to include him, under a fictitious name, in the list
of the men whom his company furnished to the post, in order
that, by being thus introduced into the tower, he might, as a
preliminary step, be enabled to form an exact idea of the locality.  The officer yielded to his desire, and having put him
down on the roll of the men on duty, under the name of
Forget, he thus gave him admission into the Temple, where
he mounted guard.  It was also necessary, for the execution of
the plan agreed upon, to wait until Cortey's turn on guard
should coincide with Miclhonis's turn on duty.  The mutual
understanding of the two authorities was indispensably requi
site, and several days passed- before the captain and the civil
commissary were on duty together.  Batz took advantage of
this delay to secure, conjointly with his host, the assistance of
thirty men of the section, whose sentiments either one or the
other had discovered, whose character they had had cause to
appreciate, or whose discretion they had tried.  The goodnature of Cortey seduced some, while the flattering words of
I3atz persuaded others.  Michonis, with his customary prudence, did not appear in person in this dangerous recruiting;
however, he reserved as bold a part for himself when he took
upon him to direct everything within the tower.
The expected day arrived; the officer and the municipal
were on duty at last together.  Cortey entered the Temple
with his detachment, among whom figured De Batz, under his
assumed name. The officer of the post arranged the turns of




J193.]       SEPARATED FROM HIS MOTHER.                5)
Discovery of the plot.
duty in the manner most favourable for the success of the enterprise; twenty-eight men on whom he could depend were to
be on patrol or sentry from midnight until two o'clock, A.M.:
while the civil commissary, on his part, lwas to take his measures for being on guard himself in the apartment of the royal
family at the same hour.  The men on sentry on the staircase
of the tower vwere to wear above their uniforms ample military
cloaks; Michonis was to take this extra clothing from them,
and dress the Princesses in it, who, under this disguise, and
with arms in their hands, were to be incorporated with a patrol,
in the midst of whom the child-king would be concealed. The
sentries on guard in the court-yards who were acquainted with
the secret would be silent, if the night turned out bright or
the lamps not discreet. Cortey was to command the numerous
patrol in person, and have the great gate of the Temple opened
for them, a prerogative which, during the night, belonged only
to the officer commanding the post.  Once without the walls,
the safety of the royal family was certain; carriages were
placed ready in the Rue Charlot to ensure a rapid flight: by
this street the patrol would pass, and was then to leave the
prisoners together with De Batz, Michonis, Cortey, and several
others who, like them, had entered on this forlorn hope.
The day, which had passed over without any sign of bad
weather, seemed to give hope of a favourable night.  It was
half-past eleven o'clock.  Michonis had been on duty some
time in the apartment of the prisoners, and his colleagues
were resting or playing in the council-room, with the exception
of Simon, who had left the tower about an hour before.  All
the men who were to enter upon their turn of duty at midnight
were at their post, when suddenly Simon arrived, and, noisily
entering the guard-room, he roughly ordered the roll of all
the men present to be called.  " I am most happy to see you
here," said he to Cortey; " I should not be easy without your
presence."  M[. de Batz saw that all was discovered, and the
thought came into his head to blow Sirnon's brains out, and to




;56            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [Boor 11.
Discovery of the plot.
attempt the escape by force. But speedily mastering his first
impulse, he reflected that the explosion of fire-arms, by
causing a general stir, would ruin his enterprise, and probably
aggravate the sad condition of the royal family; he reflected
that the posts on the staircase and on the tower were not yet
in his possession, and that the very men around him, on whom
he might rely for passive co-operation, would, perhaps, fail
him if the question became one of a struggle, and, after all,
of almost c.ertain death. Batz remained immoveable; after
the roll-call, Simon went up to the tower, and displayed an
order from  the council-general, commanding Michonis to give
over his charge to him, and instantly repair to the Commune.
Michonis heard it without surprise, and unhesitatingly obeyed.
He met Cortey in the outer court: I" What is the meaning of
all this?" said he to him.  " Be easy," replied the captain, in
a low voice;  "Forget is gone."
The head of the post had not, indeed, lost a minute.  As
soon as Simon had left him to go up to the tower, he had, on
pretence of a noise in the next street, sent out a patrol of eight
men, who were but seven in number when they returned.
The coolness of Batz and presence of mind- of Cortey had
saved the lives of all.
Simon had not been idle; he had instituted a strict search
in the apartment of the Princesses, in the towers, and in all
the out-buildings within the enclosure; he had examined all
the men on duty: but all his inquiries were fruitless. Nothing
at all suspicious was visible within the Temple bounds, where
all was as quiet as usual. Ashamed of the useless alarm he
had occasioned, Simon then doubled the number of men on
duty, endeavouring to give weight to an idea of danger in
which he no longer himself believed, by the precautions he
deemed it prudent to take.
We, will now relate all that had occurred, according to the
account given by Simon.  A gendarme on duty at the Temple
had, at about nine o'clock  that evening, found a paper




1'793.]        SEPARATED  FROM  HIS MOTHER.                     57
The plot discovered.
without any address, lying on the pavement before the great
gate, within  the second fold  of which  were written  these
words: " /Iichonis will betray you this evening:-Watch!"
The gendarme having opened the paper gave it to Simon, the
only one of the six commissaries with whom he was personally
acquainted.* Simon repaired with this note in all haste to
the council-general, who ordered him to relieve his colleague,
and desire him  to  repair without delay to  the bar of the
Commune.
Obedient to the summons, M/lichonis had to undergo a most
* It is as well to call the attention of our readers here to the circumstance,
that the number of municipals sent to the Temple varied several times.
At first four were sent; then eight, at the time when the trial of Louis XVI.
was going on; six, subsequent to the 21st Janlary; afterwards eight again;
then four; and then three. The number varied according to the importance
of circumstances.
It became so difficult at times to find. commissaries to go to the
Temple, that it was necessary to have recourse to rigorous measures, in
order to overcome the resistance made by the recusants. Tihe denunciation
an(l arrest of the citizens thus reluctant were not long sufficient for the
purpose required, and the council-general found itself' compelled to take
the following resolution, under date 12th September, 1793:' The council-general decrees, that whenever one of its members whose
name has been inscribed for the duty of going to the Temple shall refuse to
obey, two gendarmes be directed to proceed to his house, and bring him
to the Temple by force.
"Also decrees, that the present resolution be stated in the letter of
summons."
It was not long before this measure had to be enforced.  "On Wed.nesday, 18th September, 1793, the council decrees, respecting Forestier,
the strict execution of their former decree, bearing that whenever a melmber refuse to go to the Temple, on being summoned to do so, he be con veyed
thither by two gendarmes.
"Decrees, in consequence thereof, that two gendarmes go aDnd bring
Forestier."
Agreeably to the same decision two gendarmes broughtMunicipal SoulBs, 26th September;
Municipal Mourette, 3rd November;
Municipal Gilbert, 21st November;
Municipal Follope, 13th December, 1793; and
IMunicipal Laurent, 21st January, 1794, &c.




58             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOR 11.
The emigrant3.
rigid examination.  He answered all questions skilfully; reifuted, with authoritative honesty of manner, the testimony of
an anonymous paper, forged by some political adversary; and
also,-which wras indeed the case,-represented Simon to be
his personal enemy.  The open countenance and apparent
candour of the accused had already won him an acquittal fromn
his supposed crime, when next evening, his adversary of the
previous night having given an account of the meagre results
of his mission, the council-general remained impressed with
the conviction, that although Simon, with his restless temper,
might be capable of imagining a conspiracy, Michonis, with his
frank disposition, was quite incapable of forming one.
Disappointed in his attempt, Simon looked higher for
some one to appreciate his zeal. He informed Robespierre of
the written warning he had received, and of the secret intelligence constantly conveyed to him; he depicted the Temple to
him  as a den of daily plotting, a focus of constant discord.
Robespierre was but too well disposed to listen to these denunciations; every day several members of the Convention were
pointed out to him  as nursing the hope of raising the flag
of royalty once more.  At length the report of an attempt
to carry off the prisoners was circulated; a circumstance
that strengthened this opinion was, that the committee of
public safety had received intelligence that a number of
emigrants had re-entered France, from various points on the
frontier, in the last two or three weeks.  It was said that
people who risked their heads by returning, would not venture
to do so unless actuated by some powerful motive, and this
motive was supposed to be found in the formation of a plan for
the deliverance of the royal family.  On the 21st June, 1793,
the committee ordered vigorous investigations to be made,
of which Henriot himself was the principal agent at the
Temple.  They caused to be republished the decree of the
123rd October, 1792 (moved by Osselin, deputy of Paris),
which condemned to death every emigrant convicted of having




1793.]       SEPARATED FROM HIS MOTHER.                 59
Progress of alarm.
set foot again on the soil of France; every Frenchman con
victed of having assisted any person wishing to emigrate in his
flight, or any emigrant in his return; and lastly, every citizen
convicted of having given shelter to an emigrant.  Next day,
22nd June, a new decree was promulgated, that every man
provided with a passport, by which it appeared that; he had
taken an oath to Louis XVII., should be arraigned before
the revolutionary tribunal.  To this measure were added very
positive threats against anti-revolutionary persons, and the
agitators loudly expressed their indignation and hatred of
traitors and aristocrats.
The alarm of the republicans was well-founded, for there
was conspiracy everywhere: it was in the souls of Christians,
regretting, their fanes deserted and their God proscribed; it was
in the hearts of royalists, mourning the death of their King and
the captivity of his son; it was in the horror inspired by brutal
laws; it was in the blood that had been shed, crying for vengeance-in the blood still to be shed, crying in sad presage of
the future; it was in the intestine struggles of jealous and
rival factions, and even in the antagonism of ambitious men,
mutually accusing each other of a retrograding spirit, in order
to send each other to the scaffold.
The name of the young King was always brought forward
as the hope, and the excuse for recrimination, of the royalist
and revolutionary conspirators.  It was ever for or against
him  that all the plots, more or less obscure, of that period
were formed.  Parties disputed on both sides for his fiail
existence; it was against him that all denunciations, ill or
well-founded, were directed, still increasing his misfortunes.
On the 30th June, some municipal officers of the Pont-Neuf
presented themselves to the committee of public safety, and
deposed that a plan had been formed for the re-establishment
of monarchy; that it was evident that this plot had num.erous ramifications in the south and west, and that, in every
section of~ Paris, soeie trusty associates were labpurjilg to




60              IOUIS THE- SEVENTEENTH.          [BnooK 11.
Rigorous measures of the Convention.
gain over the majority, on pretence of restoring order and
re-assuring well-intentioned persons; that General Dillon, in
concert with several other general officers who were ready to
second him, was to take the command of the insurgent army,
which, after spiking the alarm-gun, and overpowering all the
guard-houses, was to re-assemble on the Place de la Re'volution with the guns carried off from the different posts, and
march thence in two columns,-one by the Boulevards on the
Temple, whence they would take the young King; and the
other on the Convention, where they would cause him to be
proclaimed King of France, under the regency of Marie
Antoinette during his minority. Lastly, to give their revelation a more positive character, they added that all the agents
armed in this revolution were to be formed into the privileged
guard of the monarch, and to receive medals suspended by a
white watered ribbon.
In consequence of these street rumours, converted into
formal denunciations without attempting to inquire into their
truth, the committee of public safety signed, on the 1st July,
an order for the arrest of General Dillon and his supposed accomplices; and then another decree, the tenour of which was
as follows:"The committee of public safety decrees that the son of
Capet be separated from his mother, and committed to the
charge of a tutor, to be chosen by the council-general of the
Commune."
These two measures, sanctioned by the Convention, were
carried out on the 3rd July.
It was about ten o'clock at night; the royal child was in
be.d, and sleeping soundly. His bed had no curtains; but a
shawl, ingeniously disposed by his mother's hand, prevented
the light from falling on his closed eyelids, and disturbing the
calm smile of his gentle face. They had sat up rather later
than usual that evening.  The Queen and her sister were
busy mending the clothes of the family, and Marie-Thdrese,




1*793.X        SEPARATED  FROM  HIS MOTHER.                    61'
Removal of the young King.
sitting between them, after having read a few pages of the
"Dictionaaire Historique,"* had, to finish the evening, just
opened the " Semnaine Sainte," which Turgy had found means
to convey to Madame Elizabeth, towards the end of March,
1793.-f   Often when the young girl made a pause, either after
a chapter of the work on history, or at the end of a psalhn in
the prayer-book, or in turning over a leaf, her mother would
raise her head, let fall her work upon her lap, and, looking
towards the bed, would listen to the calm breathing of her
other child: and thus the evening passed away.
Suddenly the tread of many feet sounded on the staircase;
the locks and bolts were moved, the door opened, and six
municipals made their appearance in the room.  "We are
come," said one of them  brutally, "to acquaint you with al
order from  the committee, that the son  of Capet be separated  from  his mother and family."   At these words, the
Queen rose up, pale with the suddenness of the shock. " Take
away my child from  me! " she cried; "No, no-it is not
* This work, which had been demanded by the prisoners on the 14th
June, was placed at their disposal on the 23rd:"Friday, 14th June, 1.793, 2nd year of the French Republic.
"On demand of the commissaries on duty at the Temple, the council
decrees that Baron, librarian, furnish, on receipt of this order, the following
books:
"'Dictionnaire Iistorique,' 4 vols. 8vo.
"Nos. I. II. III. and IV. of the' (Euvres de Voltaire.'
" SILLANS, CAZENAVE, FOUCAUX."
" We, members of the council-general of the Commune, on duty at the
Temple, acknowledge the receipt of four volumes, entitled,'Dictionnaire
Historique,' and' Euvres de Voltaire,' which have been brought to the
tower.
"Temple council, this 23rd June, 1793, 2nd year of the French
Republic, one and indivisible.
"MENNESSIER, Member of the Temple council.
" 1)ANGE."
- "'Historical F]ragments on the Captivity of the Royal Family.'  By
Turgy: published by Eclkard, at the end of the third edition of his " Historical Mfemoirs of Louis XVIT.-'




62             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BnOIK 11.
Removal of the young King.
possible! " while Marie-Therese stood trembling at her mother's
side, and Madame Elizabeth, her two hands resting on the
sacred volume, looked on and listened, with an anguished
heart, but without shedding a single tear.  "Gentlemen," said
the Queen, striving with all her might to check the feverish
shudder that shook her voice, " the Commune cannot think
of separating me from my son; he is so young, so weakly,
he needs my care so much! "  " This decree has been made
by the committee," replied the municipal; " the Convention
has ratified the measure, and it is our duty to carry it out
immediately."  "I never can resign myself to such a separation," cried the unfortunate mother; " in the name of Heaven,
do not lay this terrible trial upon me! " and her two companions mingled their prayers and tears with hers. They were
standing, all three, before the child's bed; they defended the
approach to it, sobbing and clasping their hands; no lamenting
could have been more touching, no supplication more humble
than theirs! The scene might have softened the hardest heart
-but what effect was it likely to produce on the envoys of
the Commune?  " What is the use of all this disturbance? "
said they; " we are not going to kill your child.  Give him
up with a good grace, or we shall use means to take him:"
and they already began to use force. As they approached the
bed, the substitute for a curtain, violently shaken in the
struggle, became unfastened, and fell on the young Prince's
head.  He awoke, and seeing what was going forward, he
threw himself into his mother's arms, crying out, "Mamma!
Mamma! do not leave me! " And his mother, pressing his
trembling form to her bosom, soothing, and defending him,
cllcng with all her strength to the bed-post.  "Let us not
fight with women," murmured one of the commissaries, who
had not yet spoken; "citizens, let us call the guard;"
and he turned, accordingly, to speak to the porter, who
was standing in front of the door.  "Do not do that," said
Madame Elizabeth; " in Heaven's name, do not do that! We




1793.1       SEPARATED FROM  HIS MOTHER.               63
Removal of the young King.
must, indeed, submit to what you require o.f us by force, but
give us time to breathe. The child needs sleep, and he will
not be able to rest anywhere else. He shall be given up to
you to-morrow morning.  Let him at least sleep here to-night,
and allow him  to be brought to this room every evening."
No answer was vouchsafed to these words.  "Promise me. at
least," said Marie Antoinette, " that he shall remain within
the tower, and that I be permitted to see him every day, if
only at meal —times."  " We have no account to give thee, and
it is not thy place to question the intention of the country.
God! thou art very miserable because thy child is taken
from thee! Ours are forced to go every-day, and have their
heads broken by the bullets of the enemies that thoue hast
drawn to our frontiers."  "My son is too young to ser'te his
country yet," replied the Queen, mildly; "but I hope,-God
willing!-that he will one day be proud to devote his life to
her."
Meanwhile she was dressing him, and, although she was
assisted by the two Princesses, never did a child's toilet last
so long.  Every article of clothing they put on him was
turned about in every direction, passed from hand to hand,
and bathed in tears.  By this means, the moment of parting
was delayed for a few seconds; but the municipals began to
lose patience.
At length the Queen, concentrating all the remaining
strength in her heart's core, sat down upon a chair, drew her
son before her, laid her two hands on his little shoulders, and
calm, motionless, and composed in her distress, without shedding
a tear, or heaving a sigh, she said to him in a sad and solemn
tone: " My child, we are about to part. Remember your duty
when I am no longer present to remind you of it. Never forget
the good God who tries your faith. nor your mother who loves
you. Be good, patient, and straightforward, and your father
will bless you from Heaven above!"  She said, kissed her son
on the forehead, and gave him in charge to his jailers. The




64               LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.               [BOoK 11.
Grief of the captives.
poor child rushed once more to his mother, embraced  her
knees, and caught hold of her dress, which he held with all
his might.  " My son, you must obey, you must!  ".  Come,
come! I hope you are not going to preach any more," said one
of the commissaries; "it must be owned you have greatly
abused our patience."  "You might have dispensed with your
lessons to him," said another, violently dragging the young
Prince out of the room.  "Don't trouble yourself any more
about it," continued a third; "the nation, aliways great and
generous, will provide for his education!"  And the door was
closed once more.*  Ah! then came tears and sobs, and cries
of despair, and gnashing of teeth!  The poor mother, in the
paroxysm of her grief, rolled herself on the deserted bed of
her child.   She had resumed  all her royal dignity, for a
moment, in the presence of those ravishers of her treasure;
all her maternal gravity before her child, whom she was blessing
for the last time; but that terrible effort had exhausted the
energy of her character and the power of her reason.  Never
was despair greater than theirs!  The three captives looked at
each other, embraced each other, but were unable to utter a
single word.  This separation seemed, by the loss of their
* We give an extract of the register of the Temple relating to the
seizure of the Prince, to which we shall merely add, that the reader will
judge how ironical is the expression "consideration."  The following is
the report:
"On 3rd July, 1793, at half-past nine o'clock, P.m., we, the commissaries on duty, entered the apartment of the widow Capet, to whom we
made known the order of the committee of public safety of the National
Convention of the 1st inst., desiring her to conform to it. After various
entreaties to the contrary, the widow Capet at length determined to give
upher son to us; he was taken into the apartment indicated by the decree
of the council of to-day, and given into the keeping of Simon, who has
charge of him. We may observe, moreover, that the separation was
carried on with all the consideration that could be expected in such
circumstances, the magistrates of the people having shown as much kindness as was compatible with the severity of their functions.
(Signed)       "EEUDE, GAGNANT, ARNAUD, VERON,
CELLIER,'and DEVEZE.".




1793.]       SEPARATED  FROM  HIS MOTHER.                  65
Marie Antoinette's last affliction.
child, to prognosticate all other kinds of misfortune. It is true,
that these noble remains of the royal family had long been
pursued, hourly, by agonising recollections and melancholy
thoughts; but united and, as it were, sheltered by their mutual
affection, they softened each other's grief by kind words, and
fortified their courage by pious thoughts; and this angelic
child by the vivacity of his spirits, the charm of his tenderness,
and the graces of his age, had thrown a sort of halo of joy and
hope around their darkest days:-a mother always hopes when
she is near her child's cradle.
From  that moment all illusory expectations were dispelled
front the mind of Marie Antoinette.  Her Christian principles
had taught her to submit to all former sacrifices, her queenly
pride had sustained her so as to enable her to bear all humiliation without a murmur; but, in her sad conjectures as to the
future, her mother's heart had never once conceived the idea
that she could be separated fronom her children.




BOOK TWELFTH.
SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.
3RD JULY, 1793-19TH JANUARY, 1794.
Louis XVII. committed to the care of Simon-The household of SimonThree witnesses-The chil(l's request-Simon's sentiments —First
outrage-Resistance of the Dauphin-Instructions given to Simon by
the Convention —Death of Mflarat-Lou's XV I 1. weears mourning tjir
him —Walks on the tower- Simon and his wife served by Ilouis XVII.
-The Prince dressed in the carmagnole and red cap —The Queen
and Tison-M-Iarie Antoinette sees her son-She is transferred to the
Conciergerie-Revolutionary festival — lemark of the Dauphin-His
songs and lamentations heard in the upper story of the tower —The
young King, becoming ill, is attended by Simon's wife —ll. Le 13ceuf/Maugin's tavern-Fine observation of' the Dauphin to Simon —Ildbert
at the Temple-Tison confined in the turret-New decrees —Moral
and physical loss of strength of the Dauphin-Testimony against his
mother obtained from him —lie is confronted with his sister and then
with his aunt-Trial of the Queen-I-ler condemnation-Her deathAccount of an eye-witness-A  wager-The billiard table —BarelleMore depositions by the Dauphin —The cage arranged-Conspiracy of
the canaries-Simon's foot-b)ath- Simon's %i eariness-Doctor NaudinThe Dauphin's gratitude-Brutality of Simon-His departure from
the Temple-Reflections.
ESCORTED by six commissaries and a porter, the young King
was conducted to that part of the tower formerly occupied by
his father.  There -a host was in attendance, who appeared to
have been a long time waiting there. The room was illlighted; the municipals spoke for a few moments with this
man, gave him  some instructions in a low tone of voice, and
then retired. The child found himself alone in the presence




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.             67
The Simons.
of Simon, whose features he did not perhaps immediately
recognise, but the easy gait, gruff and short way of talking,
and insolent gestures of this new personage, soon told him
who his master was.
Our researches have enabled us to devote a page to the
dark biography of Simon, our information coming directly
from  three persons who were privately acquainted with both
himself and his worthy helpmate, and who, throughout this
chapter, have furnished us with many details collected by
them at that -period, and almost day by day, from the very
mouth of the woman Simon, concerning what passed in the
interior of the Temple.
The personal appearance of Simon may be described in a
few words, as follows: fifty-seven years old, he was above the
middle stature, of a square, robust make, tanned complexion,
coarse face, had black hair, coming down to his eyebrows, and
thick whiskers.
He was a working shoemaker, occupying a small apartment on the first floor, looking out on the back of that narrow
house in the Rue des Cordeliers (Rue de l'Ecole de Medecine),
which is now numbered 16, between the Ecole de M6edecine and
the house with a carriage entrance, where Marat resided, now
numbered 20. Long after this period, more than one orphan
of'93 could never pass between these two houses without being
struck with rage and horror, so many recollections were connected with the thresholds of those two fatal dwellings!
The woman Simon, named Marie-Jeanne Aladame, was
about the same age.  She was very little, very fat, and very
ugly; her complexion, like her husband's, was naturally very
brown, and their occupation did not tend to whiten it.  She
usually wore a cap tied with a red ribbon. and a blue apron.
She was a woman from the country, without any education,
and had been long a servant in the house of 3Madame S Ejn,
who kept a wine shop in the Rue des Cordeliers, at the
corner of the Rue de Touraine, who had settled upon her a




68               -LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 12.
The Simons.
a small annuity.*   She  afterwards  entered the service of a
certain old Madame Fourcroy, who lived in the same house
with Simon, and who died there  at the age of eighty years
and upwards, bequeathing a sum  of fiftv  crowns to her servant.
On this, Simon, being doubtless tempted by the two legacies
received by his neighbour, made her his wife.
They had been but a short time married when the Revolution broke out.I   The woman Simon, notwithstanding her
age, often talked about her wish to have children, or rather, I
ought to say, her regret at not havina any.
Simon had not the reputation, in his house, of being illnatured; he was rough, but he was accommodating in the affairs
of his trade, and carried this disposition into his behaviour to
* Madame Sdjan, mother of Sejan, the organist, and of the Abbe Sdjan,
chaplain-in-ordinary to their MIajesties Louis XVIIT. and Charles X.
The wife of Simon died at the Incurable Hospital (for women), Rue de
Sevres, on the i0th June, 1819, when the little income above alluded to
reverted to the family of Sejan, ill the person of Madame Weiss, whose
maiden name was Sejan.
- We give their marriage certificate; they were married in the parish
of Saint-Cosme, the church belonging to which was situated at the corner
of the Rue des Cordeliers and the Rue de la Harpe.
"On the 20th May, 1788, after the banns had been three times published in this parish, without any objection being made, the requisite
papers havingo been examined, and having   been betrothed the evening before,
were married before us, and received the nuptial benediction:-Antoine
Simon, of age, widower of Mlarie-Barbe Hoyan, and a master shoemaker, and
Marie-Jeanne Aladame, also of age, eldest daughter of Fiacre and Reine
Genevibve Aubert, both of the Rue des Cordeliers, in this parish.  Their
unmarried condition and place of residence were certified to us,-on
the husband's side by Louis Houette, currier, Cour du Commerce,
in the parish of Saint-Sulpice., and Jacques le Roy, citizen of Paris,
Rue des Quatire-Vents, in the parish of Saint-Sulpice; and, on the wife's,
by M. Jacques Sjlan, barrister in parliament, prior of Hostung, ex-canon
of the church of Saint-Louis du Louvre, and professor in the University of
Paris, Rue Saint-Jacques, in the parish of Saint-Etienne du Mont, and by
HIenri Delamare, formerly a grocer, and ex-ehurchwarden of this parish,
where he resi(les, in the Rue des Cordeliers, and by Ren4 Lormeau, grocer,
also of this parish, Rue des Cordeliers, signing with ourselves as follows:
"SIMON, ALADAME, LEROY, IIOUETTE, J. SEJAN, DELAMARE,
MAER, LORMEAU."




1793.];SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.               69
The Simons.
his neighbours.  Some young girls of the neighbourhood, who
went as apprentices to a certain Madame Dablemont, residing
on the third floor of the same house, never failed, as they
descended the staircase and passed before Simon's door in the
evening, to sing him the' Shoemakers' Song," and he was
never affronted at their jocosity.  But he was far from carrying
this forbearance and moderation to the club of the Cordeliers,
of which he was one of the most ardent members. Once
covered with the red cap. the shoemaker's brain involuntarily
heated; the frenzy of political passion carries people so far,
that this man, who was patient enough with the children of the
populace, displayed unparalleled violence and harshness to the
unfortunate descendant of kings.  Marat had often remarked
him as one of the most attentive citizens at his conferences
beneath the trees- of the section, under the shade of which he
was in the habit of declaiming to the people.  Having entered
into some communication with him, he valued him as a steadfast sans-culotte, and easy tool.
The woman Simon, on her side, had had an opportunity of
displaying her patriotic zeal.  The church of the Cordeliers,
turned into a barrack, had been appropriated to the Marseillais
wounded on the 10th August, and the citizeness had dressed
their wounds.
Therefore, when the question arose about providing a tutor
for " little Capet," Simon wvas called to the notice of the councilgeneral by Marat.  The candidate was also supported by Robespierre, who had more than once, but most especially in the
business about Michonis, had occasion to remark the patriotism of
Simon. Thus, the two political fathers of this man were Robespierre and Marat: he was destined to show himself worthy of such
a double parentage.  The woman Simon went up to Madame
Dablemont's room, and said to her: " I am going to have a
good place; they are coming for me in a coach, and perhaps
something better still!' She was, in fact, carried in triumph
that same day to the HOtel de Ville, for the women had their




70            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 12.
The three witnesses.
ovations also  and, two days afterwards, Simon installed himself at the Temple tower.  HIis salary, like that of Tison,
was five hundred francs a month; but when this sum was
granted him by the council-general of the Commune, he was
enjoined by that body never to leave his prisoner, and not to
leave the tower on any pretence whatever.
He was not even permitted to walk in the garden, except
with his pupil at the hour appointed by the municipals. He
was faithful to his engagements: the man suited the work, and
th.e work suited the man.
Before proceeding further, we shall say a few words about
the three persons whose information, religiously collected, has
served us as a clue to this hitherto unexplored labyrinth; viz..
the widow Crevassin, Mademoiselle Menager, and Mademoiselle Seme16.  The first had been an early friend of the womnan
Simon, of whom she did not lose sight until her death, and
whom she survived many years. She said to me once, in the
depth of her misery and deserted old age,  ~lMarie-Jeanne
was more fortunate than I, she died at the hospital."
Mademoiselle Me'nager was a household servant, like the
woman Simon, whom she knew when the latter was in place.
She was long in the service of Count Saur, senator; and kept
up a constant communication with Marie-Jeanne during her
residence at the Temple, and subsequently to that period.
She had a wonderful memory for facts and dates.
Mademoiselle Semdle was one of those young workwomen,
who, going to work as an apprentice in the apartment of
Madame Dablemont, was in the habit of singing the "Shoemakers' Song" as she passed Simon's door. During the resi
dence of the latter, together with his wife, at the Temple, she
still continued to visit their former dwelling, whither the
womnan Simon also went from time to time, on the days when
she was allowed to go out; for she was a welcome guest there,
and the people of the house used every means to attract hei




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                   71
Commencement of the new tyranny.
to come, in order to hear the news that only she was capable
of giving.  Mademoiselle Semele, who was younger than the
other two apprentices, and their superior in intelligence and
education, had preserved notes of the stories told by the
woman Simon, which have been of great service to me.  The
statements of these three women have greatly assisted me in
clearing up many points in this dark phase of the Dauphin's
life, in distinguishing truth from  falsehood in the reports
collected by contemporaries, and in completing the authentic
documents doposited in the registers of the Commune and in
the National Archives.
It was half-past ten o'clock at night when Simon's future
pupil was brought to him.  It will readily be comprehended
what poignant recollections must have been recalled to the
young Prince's mind, by the apartment where he had seen his
father for the last time.  It has not been given to us to know
how that first night passed, nor by what scenes the frightful
struggle between the child and his destroyer began.  We only
know that the child wept long, that he remained for hours
seated on a chair in the darkest corner of the room, and that
Simon had great difficulty in gaining a few brief answers to
fhe questions that he imperiously put to him, swearing and
smoking his pipe as he spoke.
The next morning, the woman Simon arrived;* she came,
a faithful companion to such a man, for the purpose of installing herself with him at the Temple, and assisting him  in his
duties as tutor; and the nation, always great and generous,
made no opposition to the help thus offered in the liberal
education of the son of Capet!
* An annual salary of three thousand livres was alloted to her, as is
shown by the register of the council-general of the Commune of Paris:'On motion of one of its members, the council-general decrees that
Simon and his wife remain in attendance on little Capct, with the same
allowances that Tison and his wife had, when they waited on the father
Capet."




72             LOUIS THEE SEVENTEENTH.         [BOOK 12.
Commencement of the new tyranny.
Oh! Simon!-husband and wife!-You have a great task to
perform; you are right in setting to work together! So much
good counsel has been given to your pupil, so many examples
of virtue have been shown before him, so much affection,
gentleness, and charity have been sown in his young mind, that
you have much to efface before you can inscribe your ideas there.
The young Prince remained two days without accepting
any other food than a morsel of bread. His new situation, of
which he could not comprehend the cause, plunged him into
the depth of despair.  Sometimes he mourned in silence;
sometimes through his large tears there shot a gleam of indignation, and angry words were heard amid his moans.  "I wish
to know," said he, in an imperious tone, to the municipals;
-"I wish to know what law it is by which you are ordered
to separate me from my mother and keep me in prison.  Show
mre the law, I wish to see it!"
The municipal officers stood confused before a child of
nine years old, who struggled beneath their authority, finding
kingly words to express his indignation.  But Simon the
orator came to their assistance, silencing his pupil with the
air of a pedagogue: " Hold thy tongue, Capet; thou art only a
reasoner!"
The captive child had his eyes constantly turned towards
the door, whither they were drawn by irresistible attraction;
he knew that he could not pass the threshold without the
consent of his jailer, but his eager glance sought the entrance
every time he heard the noise of the bolts, and the grating of
the keys in the locks. Often he remained motionless, and
then a tear rolled down his cheek: a sad recollection- -a
thought of his mother-had struck his youthful heart.
Meantime two days had passed, during which he had
attempted to act independently and according to his own will.
At length he resigned himself to go to bed with a good grace,
and next morning he dressed himself of his own accord, without being ordered to do so. He wept no longer, but he did




1793.]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                73
Simon's insulting demeanour.
not speak at all.  "' Ah, ha! little Capet!" said his master to
him; " so you are dumb, are you?  I shall have to teach you
to talk myself, and to sing the'Carmagnole,' and cry' Vive la
RBpublique!' Ah! you are dumb, are you?"' If I were to
speak out what I think," said the royal child, "you would
call me mad; I am silent, because I should say too much if
I spoke."  "Oh, Oh! Monsieur Capet would have too much
to say,-that smacks strongly of the aristocrat; but it does
not do for me, do you understand?  You are young, and
therefore you are excusable; but 1, who am your master, I
ought not to let you remain in your ignorance; I must bring
you on, give you new ideas!"- There was, at first, in the
manner in which he was treated by Simon, a singular mixture
of very open disdain and studied severity. He considered his
pupil only as a creature criminal by birth, as a mere child of
no consequence whatever; but around that child there was, as
it were, a winning reflex of serenity, a perfume of the atmo,
sphere of royalty, that sometimes aroused against the Prince all
the hateful susceptibilities of the cobbler.
Yes, it was especially because he was a dignified child,
whom one would have remarked in the street, and loved in a
foreign land; one of those children vwho attract one's notice and
affection; a gentle creature, towards whom hatred seemed
impossible, and whose look, disarming anger and cruelty,
seemed to silence every breath of passion, that love alone
might reign in his presence; yes, it was this especially, that
rendered Simon so pitiless.  His petty self-sufficiency could
not long accommodate itself to the little airs of severe dignity
displayed by his victim; and besides, the mind of the
patriot was too well-pleased with this entire subjection of the
sovereign race for his unbounded vanity to admit of a single
atom of pity, for a child on whom he deemed it his mission to
avenge the long oppression of the people.
Still, to show that he was invested with both attributes of a
master, —the power to punish and the power to reward,-Simon,
I1.                   D




74            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTHE             [BOOK 12.
Personal outrages.
in a moment of generosity, or because he deemed it his interest
to do so, made his pupil a present of a Jews'-harp, which is a
favourite instrument with the little Savoyards. " Your she-wolf
of a mother and bitch of an aunt play on the piano," said he,
6" and you must accompany them on the Jews'-harp.  What a
fine row that will make!"  The child felt that there was a
mockery in the' gift, and he would not mingle insult with his
amusements; he pushed the Jews'-harp aside, and declared
that he would not play upon it. This refusal was considered
as at once an act of rebellion and ingratitude, which aroused
the wrath of Simon, and drew down on the descendant of
Louis XIV. the first blows he had ever received.
Two days afterwards an almost similar scene occurred:
the child did not yield. His energy, not yet mastered by
bodily exhaustion, led him to revolt still more, to assume a
prouder bearing in proportion as he was menaced.
These acts of insubordination brought on the Prince, not
only the most abusive -verbal reprimands from Simon, but
also the most brutal treatment.  "You may punish me if I
fail to obey you," cried the child; "but you ought not to beat
me, do you hear? You are stronger than I."' I am here
to command you, animal! Mfy duty is just what I please to do;
and —ive la Liberte —l'Egalite! "
On Sunday, 7th July, 1793, the report was circulated in
Paris that the conspiracy formed by General Dillon had, notwithstanding the arrest of that general and of his principal accomplices, been entirely successful; that theson of Louis XVI. had
been carried off from the tower, that he had been seen on the
Boulevards, and had been carried in triumph to Saint-Cloud.
Crowds hastened towards the Temple, eager to assure themselves of the truth. The Temple guard, who had not seen
Louis XVII. since he had been given up to Simon, replied
that he really was no longer in the Tower; and from that
time g   popular falsehood gained ground and strength contin




1793o]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.               75
Inspection of the young King.
In order to put a stop to this rumour, which excited everyone, a numerous deputation from the committee of public
safety, repaired in all haste to the Temple, in order to make
an official report of the presence of the royal child in that
place.  Chabot and Drouet formed part of this deputation, and
signalized their zeal in noisy manifestations.  The moment
they reached the Dauphin's, or more properly speaking, Simon's
room, they ordered him to bring down the " tyrant's son" that
instant into the garden, in order that he might be seen by the
guard coming on duty. Then, assembling in the council-room,
and-closing the doors, they made inquiries as to the manner
in which Simon acquitted himself of his duties, and followed
the secret instructions that had been given to him.  There,
nearly the same scene was repeated that took place on the
day (3rd July) when the shoemaker-tutor had gone to those
who had appointed him in order to ascertain his future
powers. Simon's, simple mind had not at first comprehended
the pitiless instructions of the committee; he had thought,
seriously, that the sole thing required of him was to make
little Capet a good little citizen, to efface the stain of his royal
origin from his brow, and to shade it with a red cap instead
of a crown, His frankly revolutionary intelligence had only
enabled him to comprehend the stupid aim of transforming
the son of Tarquin into the son of Brutus! Still, from the
vague instructions laid down for him, he had at last conceived
a misgiving as to the ultimate destiny of his pupil.  In the
manner of people of his stamp he roundly questioned the intentions of the superiors now visiting him, and addressed to
them  the following plain inquiries: "Citizens, what do you
decide about the wolf-cub?  He has been taught to be insolent,
but I shall know how to tame him. So much the worse if he
sinks under it! I don't answer for that. After all, what do
you want done with him? Do you want him transported?"
Answer:-" No." "Killed?" —-" No." "Poisoned?"-" No."
"But what, then?"  Answer: " We want to get rid of him!"




76            LOUIS TRHE SEVENTEENTH.           [.BOOK 12o
Inspection of the Queen.
And this was the secret thought of the Revolution, which
we shall see perseveringly pursued and carried out for the
space of two years; a thought, clear enough, though veiled in
the foregoing dialogue, unique in history, and which has been
transmitted to us in a manuscript note of S'nart's, who adds
these words: "IIe was neither killed nor transported.  But
they got rid of him."
From the time he had been taken down into the garden,
the Prince had never ceased crying loudly fox; his mother;.
some of the men on guard were trying to quiet him, when,
showing them  Simon, who was coming out of the tower, with
several persons employed about the establishment, he replied
indignantly: "6 They will not, they cannot, show me the law
which orders. that I should be separated from my mother!"
Astonished at his firmness, as well as affected at his filial
distress, some of the men on guard began to question the tutor,
the latter merely replied: "The wolf-cub is hard to muzzle;
he would like to know the law, like yourselves; he is always
asking the reasons of things, as if reasons were made for him!
Come, come, silence Capet! or I'll show the citizens how I
work you when you deserve  it."  The unhappy  prisoner
turned again to the municipals, loudly claiming their protection; but the energetic appeal he addressed to them had no
other effect than to compromise him, and give weight to
Simon's assertions.
The commissaries of the Convention, after their conference with the latter in the council-room, went ip to the apartment of Marie Antionette, while the tutor rejoined his pupil in
the garden. Their visit to the Queen of France resembled
a police search in a haunt of robbers. Their scrutinising
glances examined every corner of the room, and the smallest
article left at the disposal of the prisoners.  At length, Drouet,
taking up the conversation, said: 1" We are come to see if you
want anything, and that you have nothing superfluous."  "I
want my Son," said the Queen; "it is really too cruel to




I7'/3.]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DATJPHINo                 77
Report of the committee of public safety.
separate him so long from me."  " Your son does not want for
attention; he has been assigned a patriot tutor, and you have no
more reason to complain of the manner in which he is treated
than of that in which you are treated here yourself." " I c-omplain of but one thing, Sir, and that is the absence of a child
who had never before left me. It is now five days since he
was torn from me, and I have not been permitted to see him
once, although he is still ill,* and has need of all my care; it
is therefore impossible for me to think that the Convention
will not acknowledge I have just cause to complain."
Poor mother! She was bewailing her not having seen her
son for five days! Oh! how many days must pass before the
16th October comes!-that day of mercy! —when she will again
be permitted to look on him from Heaven above; but, A! in
what a state!
Returning to the Convention, the commissaries relieved
the minds of their colleagues as to the reports that had so
violently agitated public opinion. Drouet expressed himself
as follows: "Some evil-disposed or senseless persons have
been pleased to spread a report that Capet's son had escaped,
and had been carried in triumph to Saint-Cloud; although
they were convinced of the impossibility of such an escape,
your committee of public safety directed us,-Maure, Chabot,
Dumont, and myself,-to make an official report of the presence
of the prisoner.  We repaired to the Temple accordingly; and,
in the first apartment, found Capet's son, quietly playing at
draughts with his Mentor.  We then went up to the women's
apartment, and found there Marie Antoinette, her daughter,
and sister, all three enjoying perfect health.  There are persons
who still make it their delight to spread reports among foreign
* We have before us the accounts of the medicines furnished to Marie
Antoinette, her children, and sister, at the Temple, during the months of
May, June, and July, by citizen Robert, apothecary authorised by the
Commune, and under the direction of citizen Doctor Thierry, by which
we see that, during the whole of the month of July, t'ere were medicines
furnished daily for the son of Marie Antoinette. (See Document No. V.)




78             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.              [BoOR  12.
Increased severity.
nations, to the effect that they are ill-treated; while from their
own confessions, made in presence of the commissaries of the
Convention, it appears that nothing is wanting to their
comfort."*
It will be seen that Drouet said nothing of the complaints
made by Marie Antoinette, relative to the cruel separation from
her son.  The cries of a child, the tears of a mother; that
secret and mutual sympathy that passed from the garden to
the tower, and from the tower to the garden; that bond of
love and sorrow, that drew the widow to the orphan so
closely, and the son to his mother,-all this was passed over
in silence I They merely said: "The child was playing
quietly at draughts with his tutor, and there was nothing
wanting to the comfort of his mother, and aunt, and sister."
From that day forth the master redoubled his severity
towards his pupil. The tender age, the innocence and grace
of the prisoner, were unable to disarm the inflexibility of the
jailer. On the contrary, the pure complexion of the child,
his clearness of eye, his beautiful hair, his little well-formed
hand, the air of nobility impressed on all his features, his
distinguished manners and refinement of mind,-all that dignity
and grace, that seemed a reflection of royalty itself, did but inflame against him the coarse passions of the Simon establishment. That worthy pair would take offence, as much from
personal vanity as from their political sentiments, at a mere
attitude, a gesture, or a word that was at once a criticism on
their own peculiar manners and the living tradition of aristocratic feeling. Their envious spite, implacable as deadly hate,
taught them thus to find a pleasure, and-might I be allowed to
say so?-a duty, also, in degrading their pupil to their own level,
and in effacing every peculiarity in the scion of royalty that
might betray his ancient race and early education.
The events that occurred in public affairs had also a great
* Sitting of the National Convention of Sunday, 7th July, 1793.
(Moniteur of Tuesday, 9th July, 1/93.)




iJ93.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                 79
Death of Marat.
influence on the conduct of Simon towards the child, to whom
he stood in the capacity, not merely of keeper, but also of
tutor, director, and companion. On the 12th July, when he
heard of the capture of the town of Conde by the Austrian
army, he threw himself upon him. crying out in his fury:
" D-d  wolf-cub, you are half an Austrian, and therefore
deserve to be half murdered! "*
Two days afterwards, on the 14th, Simon's wife returned
to the apartment, looking quite scared; she had just heard of
the death of Marat, who had been assassinated in his bath by
a young girl the night before. Simon could not at first believe
that such an event could have occurred; his astonishment
equalled his wrath, and his grief equalled his indignation.
Marat had that sort of popularity, derived, not from universal
esteem, but from  the very vices of humanity. When the
breath of envy inspires the wicked, the poor, and the mean9
the wicked are pleased to see the just fall victims; the poor,
to see the rich stripped of their wealth; and the mean, to see
the mighty degraded to the dust.
For the first time Simon left his prisoner in charge of his
wife and a commissary, and went down for a moment to the
guard-house and council-room, the only places where, without
going out of the tower, he was likely to obtain information as
to the facts.  The news was known by all; it occasioned a
great sensation in the tower; but nowhere, perhaps, and to no
other person, did it give so much pain as to the Jacobin shoemaker, whose protector, neighbour, and political model, Marat
had been.  Simon went up stairs; he was in a state of excitement, which soon exploded in swearing and blows.  He had
taken advantage of his going out to send Lefevre for some
wine and brandy, and he himself drank, and made his wife
drink also. 1" And yet," he exclaimed," to-day is the anniversary
0 The expressions employed by Simon are reproduced in all their
coarse virulence, in order the more emphatically to convey the sad realities
of this melancholy, but instructive story.




80            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 12.
Death- of Marat.
of the taking of the Bastile!" Then, unable to rest, his brain
thoroughly heated, his face flushed with drink, and his pipe in
his mouth, he dragged his pupil and Marie-Jeanne up to the
platform of the tower, where he waited to breathe a little fresh
air, and catch, in the rumbling noise of the great city, an echo
of the distant and confused homage paid to his expiring idol.
"Capet, do you hear those noises down there? It is -the
groans of the people round the death-bed of their friend.  I
did intend to have made you leave off your black clothes tomorrow, but you shall keep them on now. Capet shall wear
mourning for Marat. D-d viper that you are, you don't look
distressed at all; you are glad of his death! " And so saying
he laid his hand heavily on the Prince's head, driving it
violently down upon his shoulders.  " I did not know the person who is dead,"replied the child; "but do not think that
I am very glad of it; we do not wish for the death of anyone."' Ah! sue do not wish, don't we! Do you pretend to talk to
aus in the style of your tyrants of fathers?" " I said we in the
plural," said the child; "'for my family and myself,"  Appeased by this grammatical excuse, which a master ought at
least to pretend to understand before his pupil, the smoking
demagogue walked up and down quietly for a moment, sending puffs from his pipe in every direction, and repeating
again and again, with a Satanic laugh, the phrase which he
was charmed to have devised: "Capet shall wear mourning
for Marat!"
I should not wish to be reproached with giving too many
details and anecdotes, too many of those little facts and incidents, till now unknown, that passed in that part of the tower.
In the vast picture of the Revolution, exhausted by our fathers,
there is one little corner, into which, by means of my researches, and of meetings with certain persons, which seemed
almost miraculously brought about, 1, and only I perhaps,
have had the sad, the harrowing  good fortune to have
been able to penetrate. I consider it as an act of conscience




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                   81
Funeral of Marat.
towards the public, to throw the same truthfuil light on this
mysterious struggle between a child and his jailer, by which
I myself have been enabled to comprehend it. A detail, of little
importance in itself, becomes sometimes the very essence of a
history; it is through little circumstances that we interest
ourselves in great. ones; and while the monster city, a prey
to various contradictory feelings, is throbbing at the recital of
that murder,-equal in audacity to those of antiquity,-and
which has made known to the world the name of Charlotte
Corday, the reader will, I hope, pardon me for having mentioned the little isolated scene passing on the top of the
Temple tower.
On the following Wednesday, 16th July, the funeral of
Marat took place; it was celebrated with much polnp, the
National Convention being present in-a body, as were also the
constituted  authorities and popular societies.  Under such
solemn circumstances, it was a subject of bitter regret to
Simon that he could not leave his post; and he was continually envying the good fortune of his wife, who, though she
had already seen the public show of Marat's body,* was also
able to have the comfort of being present at his obsequies.
The whole day long he walked up and down his room like
an imprisoned tiger. Although condemned by his duties to
be absent from the funeral solemnities, he joined it in thought
at least, and in costume, having put on, for that day, his fine
red cap with the cockade, and his tri-coloured scarf. At length,
his -wife arrived, and the narration began; but the account of
a ceremony from which he had been forced to be absent, and
which in his eyes did not sufficiently discharge the debt of
* It is well known that the remains of Marat lay in state in the
church of the Vieux-Cordeliers, and that this man, after his death, became
the object of a sort of idolatry among the demagogues. The monster was
likened to the Saviour of the world, and Litanies were published, in which
these words were introduced: "Heart of Jesus, pray for us i Heart of
Marat, pray for us!" This production was the work of citizen Brochet,
member of the revolutionary committee.




832            LOUIS THtE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 12,.
Admirable fortitude of the young King.
popular gratitude, was far from pleasing to him.  "It is very
surprising," exclaimed he, again and again, in the course of
the evening; " It is very surprising that Marat should be
laid in the Cordeliers' vault, whereas Lepelletier was buried
at the Pantheon!"  Some days afterwards, on the 5~nd or
f23rd July, when he heard of the terrible check sustained by
the republican army on the 18th, near Saumur, Simon fell
into a passion, the effects of which were borne by the poor
bruised body of his unfortunate pupil. "It is your friends that
are cutting our throats'" and the blows fell faster and faster.
It was of no use for the child to say, " It is not my fault!"
the pitiless jailer took hold of him by his hair, and shook his
head so as almost to dislocate his neck.  The child stifled his
lamentations, large tears rolled down his cheeks, but no cry of
distress escaped him, so much did he fear that such a cry
might be heard in another part of the tower, and occasion
suffering as great as his own. Oh! this is praise that we
ought not to deny him! The fear of giving pain to his family
inspired him with heroic courage; it taught him to overcome
his nature: of a hasty disposition, as he was, he had the glory
of becoming patient by his thought for others.
His heart had long been a stranger to gaiety, the roses of
health had faded from  his cheek; his bodily powers were as
much fatigued as his mental faculties were discouraged; he
slept less than he had formerly done, and the strength of both
body and  mind were becoming exhausted in an unequal
struggle, and in inconsolable sorrow; but the instinct of what
was right and good still maintained its empire in his breast.
Simon made him go down into the garden every day, in
compliance with the orders given by the members of the
committee of public safety, at the time of their visit of the
7th July.  He also sometimes took him up to the top of the
tower, but this latter walk, which had not been prescribed by
the committee, he only took for his own private pleasure,
when he was tired of his life as a prisoner, and wished to take




i$703.]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.               83
Total neglect of the King's education.
the air, and smoke freely.  The child followed him thither,
like a dog tamed by blows, and with bowed head, not daring to
meet his master's eyes, in which he was sure to find nothing
but hate and menace.
I have not mentioned that, under the new regulations,
appointed by Simon, books and pens were laid aside; but my
readers will have understood that instruction went for nothing
in the novel mode of education practised by such a tutor.
The idleness to which the active faculties and quick intelligence of the child were condemned, became a constant source
of weariness and grief, inaction causing his mind to revert
continually to the saddest thoughts and most painful recollections.  The day after that on which her son had been
taken from her, the Queen, having learned that at least he
had not to leave the tower, had begged that his lesson-books,
copy-books, and playthings might be taken to him.  His
papers were thrown in confusion into a corner, his books were
used to light Simon's pipe, and his playthings, either broken
or imperfect to begin with, were left in the dust, with the
exception of a clapper, with which the Prince could amuse
himself alone, and the foot-ball which he usually carried
with- him into the garden, —I say nothing of the Jews'-harp,
for he would not even touch that. Together with revolutionary
lyrics, patriotic choruses, sanguinary jests, and fashionable
oaths, it was all that was necessary- to occupy little Capet's
hours of study and recreation.  The rudiments of education,writing, history, geography, the adventures of Telemachus, and
Lafontaine's fables,-could only have served to cultivate his
mind, and this to ennoble his heart.
It was now a fortnight since the Queen had seen her son,
the son his mother. And the Queen did not know into what
hands her child had fallen; she knew not that he had been
taken from her only to destroy at once his bodily strength,
and moral purity, and intellectual life. Her anxious fears on
that head went very far, but they stopped short of the fearful




84               LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 12,
Degrading services.
truth; she did not suspect that it was the wish of those in
office to lead her son by every degree of shame to the adoption,
not only of brutal habits, but of revolutionary opinions and
ignoble sentiments, and even to sing the regicide songs of his
jailers, who had received the mission to debase by oppressing
him.
Simon, as has been seen, made him serve him; he obliged
him by dint of blows to descend to the vilest occupations and
most humiliating household details.  Hastening to give him a
costume in the fashion of the day, he took away his mourning,
to which he was doubly attached,-first because his mother had
touched it, and also because it was in- this dress that he had
passed his last months with her: it was another fragment of
the past forsaking him, to be replaced by the revolutionary
uniform.* In fact, among the summer clothes ordered by
X Little Capet's bill, by order of the Temple council.
(The French aune is about 3ft. 10in. English measure.)
To Bosquet, Tailor,
2nd year of the French Republic, one and indivisible.
frs.    s.
51 aunes nankeen, for vest, waistcoat, and trowsers, at 9frs..    49  10
Lining for the back and sleeves of the waistcoat and vest, and
for the trousers..........   15 
Making..........                                 16   0
24th September, 1  aune of Louviers cloth, for a little coat, waistcoat and trousers, and lining for the front of the coat, at 90frs. 120   0
Silk sleeve linings, pockets and back......         10   0
Buttons......... 10 0
Making and trimmings............ 12   0
1 aune of Louviers cloth for a little coat, waistcoat, and trousers,
and facings for coat, at 90frs...........  135   0
Back, sleeves, and pockets....          8   0
Lining for the waistcoat........  6   0
Lining for the breeches..........    8   0
Making..................                            16   0
Buttons for the coat and waistcoat...                     10 0
Total 415  10
Correct, and received the articles stated in the above bill by the cornmmissaries of the council.
"LEFEVRE, Commissary of the Commune."
(National Archives, Case E, N'o. 0207.)




170a3.1    SIMON, TUTOtR OF THE DAUPHIN.              85
The red cap.
Simon for his pupil, was a little coat of red cloth, made in the
carmagnole shape, and which, together with trousers of the
same colour, and the red cap, was to constitute the classic
uniform of the Jacobins.  "If I make you leave off mourning for Marat," said Simon to the Prince, "at least you shall
wear his livery; that will befit his memory."   However,
to make the uniform complete, the scailet cap was wanting.
In the permission demanded by the master to have a coat of
fine cloth made for his pupil, he had forgotten the head-dress;
he was now to supply this important omission.  The cap
arrived, and Simon wanted to adorn the prisoner's head with
it immediately; but in this he met with an opposition he did
not expect; the child's resistance was indomitable, and blows
had no effect in shaking it. He had become the servant of
his jailers, he had borne a thousand affronts, endured a thousand privations which only affected himself; but he absolutely
would not put on his head the head-dress of his father's
murderers.  Simon gave in, at last, tired with scolding and
beating, and mollified by his wife's saying to him: " Come, let
him  alone, Simon, he will be less obstinate another time;
he'll come to reason." This was not the only time that this
woman interfered in the disputes; but then she had good
cause to be pleased with the child.  One day, as she was
giving her former mistress., Madame S6jan, an account of what
passed at the Temple, she said: "The little fellow is a very
amiable and charming child; he cleans and polishes my shoes
for me, and he brings me my foot-stove to my bed-side when I
get up!"  Alas! you remember who engaged his attention,
who was the object of his endearing kindness in days gone by!
The morning nosegay, gathered daily from the parterre at
Versailles, and laid on the dressing-table of a mother,-the
most charming of women, the most dignified of queens, —was
now replaced by the foot-stove laid by the royal child at the
feet of the wife of Simon the cobbler!
On the other hand, when she had imparted this confidential




86             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 12.
Progress of degradation.
intelligence: "But, Marie Jeanne," exclaimed old Madame
Sejan, " it is infamous of you to suffer the son of your.King to
serve you in that manner."
3Marie-Jeanne, in whom the organ of self-intcrest was more
developed than any o.ther, considered that, by giving her an
income, her former mistress had purchased a right to say anything to her. Notwithstanding this remonstrance, she continued to visit Madame Sejan; only she made no alteration in
her conduct.  She was not brutal by nature, but she was
mean; she did not likie the child to be beaten, but she was
very willing that his mind should be debased: "Let him
alone, Simon, he'll come to reason!"
Yes, he will come to reason! will come-by dint of gross
injuries, threats, and suffering-and alas, it must be owned,
with the help of wine! My God! what reason!
Ere that great day, now near at hand, arrives, prepare his
mind and head to receive that emblem of sanguinary anarchy
as becomes it!  His honest amiable heart was assailed on
all sides, confused by the most perfidious insinuations, disturbed by the most odious influences, and accustomed by slow
degrees to the most revolting expressions, while his charming
head was deprived of its most beautiful ornament.  The
woman Simon cut off that splendid hair, whose soft shade
gleamed so beauteously, and whose pearly waves rippled on
the whiteness of his transparent skin.  His hair, besides,
had been guilty of many offences, for it had been the pride of
his mother, and was like a last diadem reposing on his royal
brow.
Just as the scissors had completed this sacrifice, the commissary on duty came into the room, followed by Meunier and
Vandebourg, who were bringing up the dinner.  The commissary looked on with a satisfied air at what was passing;
but the good-hearted Meunier cried out at once: "Oh why
have you hacked about his hair, that so became him, in
this manner?"  " I There," replied the governess, " don't you




31793.]    SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.               87
A mother's anxieties.
see that we are playing at the game of the King despoiled?"
And all, with the exception of Meunier, began to laugh round
about -the shorn lamb, who bowed his enslaved and dishonoured
head, as that of one of those early Merovingian princes who were
shaven in order to degrade them. The child remained sad and
cast down the whole day.  I know not whether the raillery
heaped upon him, the novel sensation of his head being shaved,
or the very want of sleep came to the assistance of two glasses
of bad wine, that he was forced to take in the course of the
evening; but, however it might be, the unfortunate boy, completely overcome, yielded at last. Simon proclaimed his victory by crying, " Capet, after all you are a Jacobin 1" and the
red cap shone on the forehead of the grandson of Louis XIV.
The first step was taken. Next day the shame of being
shorn. and a few slight blows on his bare temples, sufficed to
induce him to accept his new head-dress, the only one left
him. Fortunately his mother was ignorant-of his fate. That
poor mother, who never failed to interrogate the jailers, keepers,
and municipals, about his welfare; all answered her that she
had no occasion to be uneasy about her son, for that he was in
good hands, and the greatest care was taken of him. These
assurances were not, however, such as could fully tranquillise
the heart -of a mother, so fond, so sorely tried, so justly suspicious. She must see her child to be at rest. She implored
to have him restored to her, besieging every one with the most
heartrending supplications.  The municipals confined themselves to the reply that the measure had been judged necessary
by government, and that it was requisite to comply. Weary
of appealing to the justice of the commissaries, Marie Antoinette
had recourse to the pity of Tison.  What will not a mother
do to gain information of her child! Marie Antoinette was not
yet a mother when some of the courtiers, in order to prevent
her from supporting the petition of a poor mother, imploring
pardon for her son, under sentence of death for having fought a
duel, represented to her that she had addressed herself to




88              LOUIS THE SEV1;NTEENTHI.            [BOOK 12,
Remorse of the Tisons.
Madame Dubarry in the first instance, the Dauphiness said:
"She did very right; nothing can degrade a mother; in her
place I would have embraced the knees of Zamore."  Now
Zamore was a little Indian, whose business was to bear the
train of the favourite. Therefore, when the Queen had become
a mother, it is not surprising that Marie Antoinette should
have entreated Tison's aid.  Tis-on was not deaf to her
grief. Placed about the Princesses in the character of a spy,
the greatness of their character, and their sublime resignation
had, in the end, seduced him from his first principles. IIe
had been their enemy at the outset, but now very little was
wanting for him  to become their accomplice.  His wife disavowing all her former ideas more entirely than he, and at an
earlier period, threw herself one day at the Queen's feet,
exclaiming, regardless of the presence of the municipals:
"Madame, I beseech your majesty's forgiveness! I am the
cause of your death, and of that of Madame Elizabeth!"
The Princesses raised her kindly, and tried to soothe her, but
the nervous affection from which she was suffering continued
a long time, and becoming ill, not merely did the Princesses
grant her pardon, but they loaded her with kind attentions.' Yes, I pity them," said she, one day to Meunier; " they are a
generous family, whose loss cannot be replaced to the poor.
If you could see them as near as I do you would say there
was nothing so great on earth. Those who have seen them at
the Tuileries, as you have done, have seen nothing at all; you
should see them as I have at the Temple."
This poor woman's remorse deprived her of her senses *
She fell into frightful convulsions; a nurse was provided
*" The commissaries of the Temple write that the citizeness Tison's brain
is affected, as is proved by the certificates of Doctors Thierry and Soup6.
"The council-general, after hearing tlie statements of the mayor and
attorney-general of the Commune, decrees:
" st. That citizeness Tison be attended within the Temple, but not in
the tower.
"2nd. That she have a private nurse.




1793.1       SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIIN.
-Remorse of the Tisons.
her,* and she was carried into a room in the palace. Several men
were needed to keep her down.t  Six days afterwards, she was
taken to the H6tel-Dieu,t and was never seen again in the
Temple.  A woman belonging to the police was placed about
her, in order to catch anything that might drop from  her in
her delirium relating to the royal family.~
As we have said, the conversion of the wife had been followed by that of the husband. In the hope, therefore, of
earning absolution for his past offences, Tison sought to atone
for them by an entirely novel course of proceeding.  He made
himself acquainted with everything that might be interesting
to the Queen; he gave her almost daily accounts of her son,
"3rd. The council leaves to the Temple officers the plan."
(Council-general of the Commune, Sitting of the 29th June, 1793.)
"The Temple council states the measures adopted respecting the illness
of citizeness Tison.
" The council-general adopts these arrangements."
(Sitting of the 1st July, 1793.)
* Municipality of Paris.
Extract from the register of the deliberations of the Temple council.
" And on the same day we made inquiries immediately for a nurse to
be appointed for the time being. We were told of the person now appointed, Jeanne-Charlotte G-ourlet, usually residing at the Temple. We
accepted her, and desired her to take the discretion oath, directing her not
to hold any communication with any one, which she accordingly promised,
and made declaration that she did not know how to sign her name.
"An exact copy,
"MERCIER, DUPAUMIER, QUENET, MACE, Commissaries.
"Seen and approved by the council-general of fhe Commune, this lst
July, 1793, 2nd year of the French Republic, one and indivisible.
"DORAT-CUBIERES.""
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6206.)
t Turgy' s narrative.
here is a letter from the commissaries on duty at the Temple,
accompanied by a certificate from the surgeons and physicians, stating
that citizeness Tison, whose mind is affected, requires to be conveyed to a
private house, established for those suffering from that sort of disease,
The council-general decrees that she be transferred to'the HItel-Dieu, and
attended there at the expense of the Commune.
(Council-general of the Commune, sitting of the 6th July, 1793.)
~ Marie-Therbse's narrative.




90             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH,            [BaOK 12.
Maternal watchings.
but took good care not to inform her of the shameful treatment
to which he was subjected, and of which he himself had a
complete abhorrence.  He spoke of Simon without describing
him, and was particularly careful not to remind the Princesses
that he was the -same municipal who had always affected to
employ the most insulting language to the King, as well as to
themselves.  He told them that the child went down into the
garden every day, that he played with his foot-ball there, that
sometimes, even, he was taken up to the platform of the tower,
and that he had every appearance of being in health; but
when the royal hearers sought to enter into more minute
details about his education, Tisoni prudently left off speaking,
alleging that he could not know what went on within the apartment. It will be readily understood with what satisfaction
these accounts, meagre and imperfect as they were, were
received, and how eager the Princesses became to hear more.
The discovery of his ascending to the platform  inspired them
with a hope to which they gave themselves up with frenzied joy.
First they went up a little winding stair, leading from the
wardrobe up to the attics.  At the head of this little staircase
there was a loophole, made in the thickness of the wall, and
by this means the Queen and Madame Elizabeth could see
the poor child from turret to turret, as soon as he appeared on
the platform. It was but a glimpse, a passing vision; nothing
could be distinguished, no opinion formed from that apparition,
fugitive as the flight of a thought that crosses our imagination,
and it required a mother's eyes to recognise the child in this
manner.  Madame Elizabethi, in her correspondence with
Turgy, makes mention of this circumstance, " Tell Fide'le,"*
she wrote, "for my sister wished you to know, that we see the
little one every day from the window on the wardrobe stair;
but do not let that prevent your sending us news of him."t
* Toulan.
+ This note, which was preserved by Turgy, was published in his
"Historical Fragments relating to the Temple."




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN                91
Maternal watchings.
This first, but very insufficient, ray of comfort gave them the
idea and hope of a still greater happiness.
The walk on the platform was divided for the prisoners on
the two floors by wooden partitions, so arranged that they
could see each other through the cracks, and though certainly
from a distance, still much nearer than from the little staircase, and for a longer time, which. was the great object.
Henceforth the mother, aunt, and sister, had but one thought,
that of making their walkl upon the tower coincide with that
of " the little one," as they called him in their tender converse.
" We went up to the tower very often," says Madame Royale,
in her narrative, " because my brother also went there,
and my mother's sole pleasure was to see him pass by, through
a little crevice."  But to choose the hour for their walk on the
platform was not in the prisoners' power: the time when the
Queen, her daughter, and sister, were permitted to go up was
fixed by the municipals, and the caprice of Simon determined
the moment of the day when the child came up to take the
air. It was, therefore, only by a lucky chance, or by the conniving pity of commissaries well-disposed to the royal family,
that the presence of the prisoners on one side of the partition
that divided the walk on the platform could be made to
coincide with that of the child on the other side. It was no
matter; as Madame Royale tells us,-they always went up;
they were not sure that the young Prince would,-but he might
come. How many long hours were thus passed in watching
for the child to come! With ears pressed against the partition
of planks, the poor recluses, attentive and hushed to silence,
listened for the least movement on the stair, and anyone may
imagine how their hearts beat when they heard the sound of
footsteps coming up. How many times were they disappointed
in their impatient anxiety! The sound that echoed along the
winding stair was made by the sentinels posted on every floor,
or, perhaps, by the municipals going their round.  Notwithstanding so many fruitless attempts, however, the Queen was




92             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 12
Terrible revelation.
not discouraged: no, though always disappointed, hope never
quits the heart of a mother. At length, on Tuesday, 30th
July, Marie Antoinette did catch a glimpse of her child once
more; but that shadow of joy so long looked for, for which she
had prayed to Heaven with so much fervour, Heaven granted
in such form  that it became a withering blight upon her
soul. Yes, her child did pass by; he passed before the eyes
of his mother, who was able to turn a momentary, inquiring
look upon her son; he had left off mourning for his father,
he had the red cap on his head, and with him was the
insolent municipal who had distinguished himself by heaping
the most brutal insults on herself, and on Louis XVI. As
fate willed it, too, Simon, who had just heard of the capture
of Valenciennes by the Duke of York, was at the moment
in a paroxysm of fury, which discharged itself, as usual, on
the royal child, whose progress he was harassing with oaths
and blasphemies.  Thunderstruck  with what she had seen,
the unfortunate Queen threw herself, without uttering a word,
into the arms of her sister in law, who had witnessed the
cruel scene with her, ani both drew apart young Marie
Te'rese, who was hastening also to the partition, and whose
feelings they determined to spare; giving each other, as if
struck with a mutual idea, an electric glance to counsel that
all should be concealed from her. "It is of no use to wait
any longer," said they aloud; "he will not pass by to-day."
And they moved towards the other side of the platform. But
in a few minutes tears forced their way into the poor mother's
eyes; she turned aside to hide them —and to go back and
watch for her child. She saw him, accordingly; some little
time afterwards he passed slowly by with a bowed head:
his master was not there swearing,- and she heard not a word.
This silence was almost as distressing to her as Simon's
abusive language had been. She remained in the same place,
standing motionless and mute; there Tison found her, at,whose approach she raised her head, leaning on her hands,




1'98.]:   SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              93
Maternal misery.
and exclaimed: "Ah! you have deceived me!"''"No,
Mada-me, I have not deceived you, for all that I told you
was true. Only, out of consideration, I did not like to tell
you everything.  Now that I. have no longer anything to
hide, I will for the future tell you faithfully whatever I shall
be able to discover."
Thenceforth the Queen and Madame Elizabeth knew the
deplorable condition of the Dauphin: they learned that he was
only spoken to with oaths, only commanded by threats, and
that they wanted to force him  to sing obscene couplets and
regicide songs: they also learned that the heroic child resisted
still, and that as yet blows had not extorted compliance. These
details were not told to Madame Royale, as Madame Elizabeth
anxiously requested Tison and his wife, and all who, from compassion, gave them news of the Dauphin, not to let his sister
know any painful circumstance connected with these accounts.
This was, perhaps, the most distressing period of the long
trials of Marie Antoinette. To hear that her child was ill, and
be unable to nurse him; to hear that he was miserable, and
be unable to console him; to hear that he was in danger, and
be unable, alas! to aid him; and to know, perhaps, that his
innocent mind was weakening, and be unable to support him!
Is there any suffering of a mother to be compared to this? It
seemed to her as if her child was being hourly torn from her,
and that she was powerless to retain him,-as if he was being
poisoned and she could not defend him: " My presentiments
did not deceive me," she said to her tender sister-in-l'aw; " I
knew quite well that he was suffering. Were he a hundred
leagues away, and unhappy, my heart would tell me he was
so. I had been suffering, agitated, tremnbling for two days
before; it was the tears shed by my poor child, far from me,
that I felt falling back upon my heart. I care for nothing
now! —God has forsaken us!-I dare not even pray!"  Here,
suddenly struck with repentance for her last words:' Forgive
me, my God! " she resumed, clasping her hands in prayer;




94            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BooK 12.
Maternal misery.
"and you, my sister, forgive me too! I believe in you as I
do in my own self; but I am too miserable not to dread some
new misfortune is approaching. My child! my child! I feel
by the anguish of my own heart that his is failing him."
That evening young Marie Therese said to her aunt, "1 Good
Heaven, how sad my mother has been to-day! "  Madame
Elizabeth tried to raise her spirits by a few encouraging words,
and the young girl said her prayers, and was soon fast asleep;
but her mother-and aunt were awake; they were long awake
that night; they walked up and down, recalling to each other's
minds all the gloomy past, to dwell lovingly on the thoughts,
and words, and kind-hearted actions of their lost child; they
traversed the humble asylum where they had seen him for so
many long days-notwithstanding privation, and imprisonment,
and insult-so bright, so light-hearted, so affectionate, and
sometimes laughing so gayly, studying, singing, and praying.
They remembered that, whenever he saw them sad and ill,
the poor child had known how to summon back some sparks
of his own lively humour to cheer and divert them. They
could not restrain their despair, and tears began again to
flow.
On the next day, and the day following, they went up on
the tower again, where they spent many long hours; but
nothing was to be seen. Ah! why had that cruel revelation
been made to them?  Marie Antoinette saw not her child on
either of those days, nor was she ever to see him again; and
she was now to carry with her from the Temple a new and
most bitter source of distress and uneasiness, and tears more
bitter still than any she had shed before.
For several days a great agitation had been visible; men's
passions were becoming more and more inflamed against
the prisoners in the Temple, and the feeling had displayed
itself in the heart of the council-general by violent manifestations. There was a great famine; and the punishment of
death, decreed against monopolisers by the National Con



1793.]       SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                 95
Public excitement.
vention, had brought no alleviation to the sufferings of the
people.*   To the checks sustained in the north, the west
responded by the victories of La Vendee, where, at the Pont
de Cc, the republican army was completely routed; in the
south, Lyons, always in commotion, was now in a great ferment,
and on the eve of a bloody collision of parties; while Toulon
and Marseilles saw the threatening fleet of England hovering
round their ports.  Everything seemed to forebode to the
leaders of anarchy that their tyrannical power was bending
towards its ruin.  They felt the necessity of striking some
great blow.  The blood of Louis XVI. was still reeking: they
deemed it better not to leave it time to cool.
On Thursday, Ist August, Barrere presented a report to
the Convention, relating to the combination of all Europe
against the liberty of France.  "The committee," said he,
"has  just obtained proofs that England has paid agents
in our cities, ports, and throughout the country, who have
orders to set on fire our magazines and arsenals, and to incite
women and refractory priests to assassinate the patriots;
already have these wretches in part effected their horrible
purpose. Dubois-Cranc6 writes us word that Pitt has transmitted to Lyons four millions in specie; and we know that,
from a fleet of twenty-four English ships, stationed in one of
our southern ports, a vessel has been despatched thither under
pretext of holding a parley."
The orator, continuing to heap together many most absurd
and incoherent scraps of intelligence, as food for popular
passions, read a letter, found at Lille, addressed to an Englishman, without any signature, but attributed to the Duke of
* "A deputation from the Cordelier Society demands that the commissaries on duty at the Temple always keep their hats on.
"The council will pass to the order of the day, as every one of its
members is sufficiently aware of the respect due to himself not to uncover
before such individuals as those confined at the Temple."
(Council-general of the Commune,, sitting of the 19th July, 1793.)




B-.           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 12.
Barrere's denunciations.
York, or one of that prince's most confidential agents. The
person to whom it is addressed is mentioned under the title of
"My lord."  Almost all the personages who figure in this
letter are spoken of by the initial letters of their name only,
excepting La 1Marlitre, whose name is given at full length.
It appears that several of our generals were in the conspiracy,
and that one branch of the alleged plot was to burn up the
forage of our armies, throughout the towns belonging to the
republic on one and the same day.  The writer recommended
that republican assignats should not be credited, that all such
as did not bear the royal effigy should be refused acceptance;
that means should be taken to raise the price of bread, to form
monopolies of all necessaries, and to buy up candles and grease
at any cost, so as to raise them to five livres the pound.  "I
beg you will not be sparing of money. We hope that the assassinations will be carried on prudently; women, or disguised
priests, would be the people most fit for this business. Send
50,000 livres to Rouen, and 50,000 livres to Caen."
Barrere then read some of the declarations made, as he
stated, by Charrier, leader of the rebels of Lozere, and
s" which seem to be connected with the English writer abovementioned.  It will be seen that Bourbon (the ex-duke) was
to be commander-in-chief in the north; that the Spaniards
made a feint of attacking Perpignan, only to make sure ot
Bellegarde; that the sole object of Savoy, in alluring us into
her mountain passes, was to destroy us there; and that a
landing was to be effected at Cette, or at some other port in
the Mediterranean."
Barrdre then cited "to the bar of nations and of history,
that English people, who boast of their love for liberty,
and who wish to poison us with that royalty superstitiously
adored by themselves; that people whom  avarice inspires to
commit so many sins,-politics, so many crimes."  He cited
to the same bar: "The government of Britain, that knows
no spring of action save gold, that has in itself the tarif




1793.]       SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                   97
Decrees against the royal family.
of men, orators, and legislators." He summoned thither Pitt,
the minister-" that young slave of a monarch in his dotage;
the man who made himself a name solely by the baseness of
his intrigues and vices. Is it our forgetting the crimes of
the Austrian," he cried; "our indifference as to the family of
Capet, that has thus misled our enemies?  Well! it is time
to root out every branch of royalty!"
Last of all, Barrere read a letter, giving an official account
of the capture of the town of Valenciennes, which had been for
several days threatened by the army of the enemy.
At the end of this alarmist report, which would appear
simply ridiculous if we did not perceive the object proposed,
the National Convention adopted, without deliberating on them,
several important measures,* from  which we select those connected with our subject.  It was once more to fear that they
had recourse, in order to complete their crime.
1st. Marie Antoinette is sent to the tribunal extraordinary;
she will be immediately conveyed to the Conciergerie.
Snd. All the members of the Capet family will be banished
from  the territories of the republic, with the exception of
the two children of Louis Capet, as also of those members of
that family now under the hand of the law.
3rd. Elizabeth Capet will not be banished until after the
trial of Marie Antoinette.
* Among the measures was that directing the transfer, by posts, of the
garrison of Mayence into La Vendee, and for that purpose placing three
millions at the disposal of the minister of war; and that appointing General
Houchard to the command of the armies of the north and of the Ardennes,
in lieu of Custines.
iouchard, who was serving under Custines, had denounced his chief,
in order to obtain his situation, and had accused him of having been
the cause of the loss of Mayence. Custines laid his head on the scaffold
in consequence.
Houchard, notwithstanding some brilliant successes, was, in his turn,
denounced by Hoohe, and sentenced to death on the 15th November,
1793.
The army were devouring each other, as well as the Convention!
TI,                   E




9'8            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.          rBOOK 12.
Removal of the Queen.
4th. Those members of the Capet family who are not under
the sword of the law shall be -expelled the country after the
trial, if absolved.
5th. The expenses of the two children of Louis Capet will
be reduced to what is necessary for the food and maintenance
of two persons.
6th. The tombs and mausoleums of the ex-kings, in the
church of Saint-Denis, and in the temples and elsewhere,
throughout the whole extent of the republic, will be destroyed
on the I 0th August next.
The first measure was carried out immediately. At two
o'clock on the morning of the Ist August the Princesses were
awakened, in order to hear read to the Queen the decree which
directed her being transferred to the Conciergerie. "' She heard
the decree read through without emotion, and without uttering
a single word. But Madame Elizabeth and Madame Royale
hastened to beg that they might be allowed to go with the
Queen, which was refused. During the whole time that the
Queen was packing up her clothes, the municipals never left
her; she was even obliged to dress before them. Her pockets
were demanded, and she gave them; they searched them,
and took everything they contained, though there was nothing
of consequence in them. They tied them up in a parcel to
be sent to the revolutionary tribunal, and told the Queen
that it would be opened before her there, leaving her only
her pocket-handkerchief and smelling-bottle.  She departed,
after having embraced her daughter, exhorting her to keep up
all her courage, and recommending her to take good care of her
aunt, and obey her as a second mother. Then she threw herself into her sister's arms, recommending her children to her.
The young Princess was so much shocked, and her grief at
parting with her mother was so intense, that she had not power
to answer. Madame Elizabeth having said a few words in the
Queen's ear, the latter departed without venturing to give




17'98.]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.               99
Removal of the Queen,
another look on her daughter, least she should lose her self
command.  She was obliged to stop at the foot of the tower in
order that the municipals might make out a report of the transfer
of her person.  As she passed out she struck her head against
the gate, from not stooping; and when she was asked whether
she had hurt herself:'Oh, no!' said she,;'nothing henceforth can hurt me.' She got into a carriage with a municipal
and two gendarmes."
I shall add nothing to this account, left us by Marie
Therese.*  I will not even attempt to describe the last look
turned by Marie Antoinette to the door of her son's room, as
she went down the stairs.  What a departure!  What a
moment! The poor mother knew that she was going, never to
return, and she was leaving her son,-whom  she could not
embrace for the last time,-in the hands of Simon.
On the same day, Friday, 2nd August, when the Queen
was imprisoned in the Conciergerie, Chaumette recollected the
royal child, and sent him some toys, among which was a little
guillotine, like those which, under permission of the police of
the period, were worked in the streets, at the expense of poor
little birds, by the vagabond jugglers, as a rehearsal of the great
sanguinary drama performed in the public squares, in which the
victims were men. This mode of outraging a child, by giving
him as a plaything a model of the instrument of his father's
death, and of that preparing for his mother, was certainly novel.
It might have pleased some revolutionary fancy, but on that day
there happened to be certain commissaries at the Temple who
had no taste for it, and one of them threw the ill-omened plaything into the fire, so that it never reached the child. On.
that day, also, there appeared a decree from the National Convention, placing a sum of fifty millions of francs at the disposal
of the committee of public. safety; and another, ordering
the directors of the Paris theatres to have the tragedies of
"Brutus," "William Tell," and " Caius Gracchus," performed
* Narrative of the Captivity of the Royal Family in the Temple.




100             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOKE l2
Horrible device.
three times a. week, as an amusement given, gratis, to the people,
and paid for out of the national treasury.*
Barrere, after having enumerated all the bloody days of
the Revolution in an enthusiastic strain of panegyric, had said:
"The republic must strike England, Austria, La Vendee, the
Temple, and the Bourbons, on one and the same day."
Thus it will be seen that the Queen's death was already
announced, even before her trial began. The trial could not
yet be commenced; it was necessary to invent a foundation to
uphold the structure, and such a foundation was soon found.
The same corrupt spirit that had conceived the idea of enervating and debasinga child to the level of a beast, took pleasure,
and hardened itself, in the thought of making the most tenderhearted of children the accuser of the most excellent of mothers,
and of thus employing the moral destruction of the former
to bring about the judicial murder of the latter.  But Simon
had many battles to fight before he could gain that point.
On Wednesday, 7th August, 1793, Simon's wife went to
see the tragedy of "Brutus," and she came back wild with
enthusiasm.  She gave them  an account, after her manner,
both of the plot of the piece, and of the performance of the
actors. Simon was greatly charmed, and began to laugh at his
wife's narration; but, suddenly perceiving that his pupil had
* We give the exact terms of this decree.
"' Article lst.-Beginning from the 4th instant, aild up to the 1st September next, will be represented, three times a-week, in those theatres oi
Paris appointed by the municipality, the tragedies of' Brutus,'' William
Tell,' and' Caius Gracchus,'- and other dramatic pieces which depict the
fortunate events of the Revolution, and the virtues of the defenders of
liberty; one of these performances will be given weekly, at the expense of
the Republic.
"Art.icle 2nd. —Every theatre in which plays tending to deprave the
public mind, and revive the disgraceful superstition of royalty, shall be
closed, and the directors arrested and punished according to the rigour of
the law.
" Article 3rd.-The execution of this decree is intrusted to the municipality of Paris."




1193.1      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                101
Anniversary of the 10th August.
turned away his head with an indifferent air, and with a very
evident intention not to listen. " D —d wolf-cub i" he exclaimed;
" you won't listen then to the citizeness, when she is instructing
you and enlightening your ignorance! You wish then to remain
an idiot, and son of a tyrant for ever! " " Every one has parents
whom he ought to honour," replied the child, with angelic calmnness and a feeling purely filial; but this very mildness made
the furious tutor's blood boil, and, with a back-handed blow and
a kick, he sent the Christian child, who had been guilty of
honouring his father, ten paces off, flat on the floor, while
a storm of sarcasms pursued him to the other end of the
room.*
Simon always made his pupil pay for the anti-revolutionary
movements that broke out in different parts of the country.
On Tuesday, 6th August, Montbrison having risen in arms, to
the cry of " Five Louis XVII.!" it will be seen how this
seditious cry was responded to within the Temple tower three
or four days afterwards.  "Wife, I present to you the King of
Montbrison!" said the master, ironically, taking off the child's
republican cap; " I am going to anoint him for you: consecrate
him, and put incense before him!" and he rubbed the child's
head and ears roughly, puffiing out of his pipe into his face;
and, pushing him towards Marie-Jeanne, he exclaimed: " Come
on, wife; in your turn present your compliments to his majesty."
The Convention had fixed on the anniversary of the 10th
August to proclaim the sanction given by the people to the
new constitution of the republic. A solemn festival, under
the direction of David, the painter, was held at Paris, on that
* The newspapers and playbills of the day gave notice of the perform~
ance as follows:Wednesday, 7th August 1793.
THEATRE DE LA NATION.
This day,-" By and for the people!" —" Brutus," a tragedy, by Vol4
taire, anti " Le Babillard, "a comedy in verse, one act, by Boissy.
To commence at O o'clock.




102            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BooK 12,
Anniversary of the 10th August.
day, with a pomp reminding one of the ceremonies of pagan
antiquity.  In token of the ancient bond between agriculture
and legislation-typified in ingenious Greece, by Ceres being
appointed legislatress of societies,-each member of the Convention carried a bouquet of blades of corn aind fruit in his hand.
The regicide Assembly, preceded by- the Declaration of the
Rights of Man and the constitutional edict, joined the festival
in a body, and, on the spot where the blood of Louis XVI.
had been shed, they sang and listened to hymns in honour of
liberty, saluting the instrument of death at the same time.
Eight white horses, adorned with red rosettes, drew a triumphal
car loaded with garlands and crowns, in which was the funeral
urn intended as a receptacle for the ashes of citizens who had
died in the cause of regenerate France. The relations of these,
their foreheads wreathed with flowers, walked beside the triumphal car, to the sound of warlike music, and, enveloped in
clouds of incense, rising from numerous golden censers. The
popular societies opened the procession, with their banners
bearing the emblems of vigilance; and then came the primary
assemblies -with their pikes, the weapons of liberty against
tyrants. Five times, in the space it traversed between the Place
de la Bastile and the Champ-de-Mars, did the mighty procession pause in its progress, and, at every resting-place, monuments recording the principal acts of the Revolution were
presented to the view.  About half-way along the Boulevards,
a triumphal arch had been erected to the heroines of the 5th
and 6th October, 1789, on the four sides of which were inscriptions recording the results of those events, whilst the women
themselves figured amid the monuments of "their glory!"
seated on their gun-carriages, as had been the case on the road
from Versailles.* The procession halted before them; Herault
de Sechelles, president of the Convention, harangued them,
placed a crown of laurels on the head of each, and gave each a
a See the "Allmanach Historique," 1793, p. 188.




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.             103
Firmness of the young King.
fraternal embrace; after which they joined the procession,
which then proceeded on its way amid loud acclamations.
This fete was perhaps the most showy and pompous that
ever stirred up the great revolutionary city.  Simon experienced a feverish feeling.of regret that he was unable to enjoy
it, and cursed the stern dignity of his charge, which made him
as much a slave as his prisoner.  From early dawn the sound
of the cannon had roused the ancient echoes of the Templars'
keep. Festive days commence early. Simon and his wife were
up in a moment, and awaking the royal child, the keeper commanded him to cry "' Five la  epu3blique!"  The child, whose
eyes were but half-open, did not at first -know what was wanted,
or what was the meaning of the cannon, the sound of which
reached his pillow together with his tutor's injunctions.  He
got up and dressed himself in silence, when Simon, placing
himself in front of him, with his arms folded, repeated his commands authoritatively.  "Come, come, Capet! bo-day is a great
day, and thou must cry' Five lz RctpubliWue!'"  The child
made no reply, and went on with his toilet.  "To whom did I
speak just now?" asked the master, with an oath.  "ID-d
King of MlIontbrison, thou shalt cry' Vive la R4publique!' or —"
and the sentence was finished by his attitude and gesture
much more eloquently than could have been done in words.
The Prince raised his head, looked resolutely at his master,
and said to him firmly: " You may do whatever you like, but
I nsever will cry,' ive -la Rpublique'  A reflected gleam
of royal authority must -have seemed, as it were, to irradiate
the childish brow as the boy spoke, for Simon himself, on
seeing him so noble, and proud, and handsomie, experienced
a sudden feeling of astonishment, almost of respect; no act
of violence was put in practice to enforce the obedience of
his rebellious pupil on this occasion, but he confined himself
to saying: "Everybody shall know your behaviour!" And,
accordingly, that same day, every person living in the Temple,
together with all who happened to be on duty there, were




104           LOUIS THIE SEVENTEENTH.          [BOOK 12.
Mental torture of the victim,
made acquainted with this act of insubordination, which some
called an act of great decision.
Simon seldom controlled himself in this manner.  The
very next day his political frenzies betrayed him  into new
transports of passion. Reading aloud the account of the last
day's festival, he was thrown into ecstacies of admiration by the
description of these wonders, and obliged his pupil to stand up
and listen to the speeches made at each stopping-place by the
president of the Convention. The child had listened throughout to the address to the drunken rioters of Versailles, who
had been transformed into heroines, with a tolerably good grace;
but when he came to the speech pronounced on the Place do
la R6volution,-beginning with these words: "Here fell the axe
of the law on the tyrant's head! Perish, too, those shameful signs
of a slavery that despots have sought to re-produce under every
imaginable form; may flames devour them, so that nought be left
immortal save the sentiment of virtue which has effaced them!
Justice! Vengeance! Ye tutelary deities of all free nations,for ever and ever add the execrations of all the human race
to the name of that traitor, who, on a throne raised for him
by the generosity of a magnanimous people, basely betrayed
them!"-the child could not restrain his emotions, he turned
his back upon his master, and went to the recess of the
window, there to hide his face and his tears. Simon came
up to him again, dragged him violently back to the table by
the hair of his head, ordering him, under pain of beating, to
remain standing before it, silent and attentive. The child,
with his eyes fixed on his moistened handkerchief, appeared
to be listening, without shrinking or murmur.'The Jacobin
reader observed him  with defiant attention, watching his
movements at every expression capable of agitating him, IHe
read the concluding paragraph of the harangue pronounced at
the last stopping-place, the Champ-de-Mars, over again, laying
a great stress on each of these words: "Let us swear to defend the Constitution to the death: the Republic is eternal!"




793, ]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              105
Noble conduct of the youn. King.
Notwithstanding the provocation given by his master, the
pupil had remained calm, and had not displayed any excitement; but this quiet, resigned attitude was still displeasing,
or, at least, was not entirely satisfactory.  6You understand,
do you, Capet?' Let us swear to defend the Constitiution to the
death: the Republic is eternal!'"  The child made no reply,
and did not raise his head, which was resting on the handkerchief in his hand.  " D-d wolf-cub!" exclaimed Simon, in a
fury; 4 you would not cry' Five la Retpublique!' yesterday, but
you see very well, idiot, that the Republic is eternal.  Come,
you are to say with us-the Republic is eternal i"  Saying this,
he had taken hold of him by his two shoulders, and was shaking
him with all his might, to wrest from him the required sentence. 1" There is nothing eternal," said the child; and immediately a furious arm lifted him up and threw him upon his
bed, with an oath that shook the very walls of the room.
"Let him  alone, Simon," said his wife; "he is blinded, that
little fellow, he has been brought up amidst abuses and lies;'
while Simon, walking up and down the room, gesticulated, with
his journal in his hand, trying to find a vent for the overflowing of his wrath in the agitation of his limbs.  Some few
moments afterwards, he stopped beside the bed of the young
Prince, who was crying bitterly.  "It is your own fault," he
said; " if I treat you so, you have well deserved it."  "I was
wrong," said the child, his voice raised higher than usual by
his sobs; " I was wrong; God is eternal, but none but He!"
We relate these scenes as they have been told to us, the
words just as they have been many times repeated to us,
certain that if the lips through which they have passed have
involuntarily varied their form, they neither invented nor
altered their meaning.
During the celebration of the Saturnalia, in which the emblems, insignia, and attributes of royalty were burned, and on the
same day when the heroines of the 6th October were crowned,
the heroes of the 10th August and of September, carrying




106            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [(BOOK 12
Contrasts.
out the sacrilegious will of the Convention, had repaired to the
ancient abbey of Saint-Denis, had destroyed the mausoleums
that religion had raised, and scattered to the winds the royal
dust that twelve centuries had respected,-the work of destruction, planned against the living, turned also against the
dead. Inviolable sepulchres were violated; ransacked tombs
were given up to spoil and mockery; bones long stiffened by death
were broken up with the hatchet, to be thrown or swept up
together pell-mell into a hole, like a heap of common dust;
and the Convention loudly applauded the account that was
given of these disgraceful insults showered on the revered
remains of Charles V., Saint-Louis, Louis XII., Henry IV.,
and Louis XIV.
Simon, on his part, who never missed an opportunity of
impressing the idea. of equality on the descendant of the
"'great Kings," had extraordinary pleasure in  acquainting
him-and indeed was cruelly eager to do so —with the insults
to the remains of his ancestors, perpetrated by "national
justice."  The child began to cry, not that he could very
well understand this profanation, but still, doubtless, he comprehended that.they had, as it were, tried to slay the great
men of his race over again.
The sacrilege  committed at Saint-Denis was repeated
througliout France.  The rage of the breakers of images fell
everywhere on the sacred edifices; the, fallen fragments of
emblazoned monuments bore the marks of their mutilation by
an iconoclastic populace.  And as at that period of wild fancy
and enthusiasm the most incredible contrasts must necessarily
meet, beside those barbarians who were thus blindly destroying
the annals of their country, heroes were setting out to defend
her soil; in snow, over ice., exposed to torrents of rain and
grape-shot, they marched bare-foot, bread-less, a victorious army,
sympathising with the vanquislhed, exciting  among other
nations the enthusiasm they felt themselves, and beginning
their long career of victory with so much the more ease,, that




1g03&]       SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                   107
latercommunication of news.
the common people thought they were bringing them  liberty
beneath their sheltering tbanner!
Madame Elizabeth and Madame Royale had not been
long in procuring news of the Queen; the devoted assiduity of
M. Hue had succeeded in establishing a communication between
the Conciergerie and the Temple tower; he had met with an
auxiliary in the person of the woman appointed to take charge
of Marie Antoinette, a. certain Madame Richard, who passes
by the name of " Sensible," in the secret correspondence of
Madame Elizabeth.   This woman, being authorised by the
administrators of police to -come to the  Temple for some
bottles of water from Ville d'Avray,* and for various articles
required by the Queen, became the connecting link between the
twob dungeons.   Among the things that the Queen had asked
for, were her knitting-needles, and a pair of stockings which she
had begun to make for her son.  These articles were eagerly
given by the Princesses, but the municipals pretended that it
was to be feared that the Vwidow Capet would make use of the
needles only to put an end to her life, and that, consequently,
they ought not to add them  to the articles sent.  The unfor* The Queen never drank anything but water, and her stomach could
not bear any but the water from Ville d'Avray. During her captivity at
the Temple they had never failed to bring her some from that spring every
day.
+ " Department of Police.-Commune of Paris.
"5th August, 1793, 2nd of French Republic, one and indivisible.
"We, administrators of the department of police, after conference held
with citizen Fonquier Tinville, public prosecutor of the revolutionary tribunal, beg our colleagues, members of the council-general of the Commune,
forming the Temple council, to send two bottles of water front Ville d'Avray
daily to widow Capet, detained in the Conciergerie house of justice, from
the provision of the said water brought to the Temple every day.
" We also beg them to send to the widow Capet three linen handkerchiefs out of the wardrobe used by her in the Temple, as also whatever else
she mazy ask for, by citizeness Richard, porter at the Conciergerie, and to
have each bottle of water sealed with the seal of the council-general.
" BAUDRAIS, MARINO."
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6206.)




1'08            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             oe0K 1L.
Conduclt of the young King.
tunate Queen was thus disappointed in the hope of being able
to work; but at least she had news of her daughter alnd
sister *
Alas'! what comfort could this news have been to her?  No
alteration had taken place in the apartment she had quitted at
the Temple, except that her departure had left the most frightful void there, with the most painful anxieties and gloomy
presentiments.  And with respect to her son, the constant
object of her fondest solicitude, it was fortunate that the messenger from the Conciergerie was unable to tell her anything
about him. What, indeed, could the Queen have heard, that
would not have increased her grief and terror?  Day by day
Simon became more and more hard and cruel towards him.
He was no longer a docile clhild, directed by a sign from hbis
father, a word from his mother; he was now a slave continually struggling with a despot. The slave always bowed his neck
to the yoke as long as he was only attacked in his independence and personal tastes; but the moment he was outraged in
his affectionate feelings, he held up his head again, and opposed
the despot; and this was precisely what most irritated the
fiend. At that period, the police were in the habit of distributing, or selling, in the streets, pamphlets and songs against
"Madame Veto!" against the' "Austrian she-wolf!"  It was a
prefatory step to the Queen's trial. These writings, preserved
by Simon for his odious purposes, poisoned the atmosphere of
the room where filial piety was tortured every moment, both in
the hallowed memory of a father who had perished on the
scaffold, and in the sacred thought of an absent mother.
" Come along, Capet,' said his master to him  one day, giving
him some infamous verses against his mother; " here is a new
* Deprived of her knitting-needles, the Queen pulled out the threads of
an old suite of hangings, and, and, with the help of two ends of pens, she knitted
a sort of garter, which M. Bault, keeper of her prison, carefully preserved,
and gave to M. Hue to present to Madame Royale, who received it with
religious veneration.-(" Last Years of the Reign of Louis XVI.")




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              109
Aggravated cruelty of Simon.
song, which you must sing to me,"  From the hand that gave
the paper, the child naturally took it with distrust; he glanced
his eyes over it, and though he. did not quite seize its meaning, his heart told him clearly enough that his fears were
just. He laid down on the table, without uttering a word,
the obscene song, which, while it puzzled his mind, was a
revolting insult to his tenderness. Simon rose up in wrath,
as was his custom after a refusal of obedience, and said, in an
imperious tone: -' I thought I said you must sing."  "I never
will sing such a song," replied the child, with a haughtiness of
resolution, which served only to increase the passion of his
angry tutor. " I declare to you that I will kill you, if you
don't sing." He caught up an andiron at the word " Never!"
which was the sole reply given by the filial determination of
the youthful martyr; the iron flew from his hand, and the
noble child would have fallen a victim had he not avoided the
blow by his address.
Every true heart that reads these lines must feel what I
must have suffered in tracing them.  It must be remembered
that it is, unfortunately, only from the most undeniable sources
that I succeeded in obtaining the materials of this narration,
which I never would have given except in its pure and sad
simplicity.
Simon, in the Temple tower, acted as the true agent and
exact representative of the Mountain members of the Convention.  He was too deeply imbued with their ideas not to carry
them out faithfully in all his actions. After the Queen's departure, he studied more and more strenuously the means of
fortifying his talent in the art of depraving his pupil. Perhaps he had received orders to take measures, in order speedily
to arrive at the object I have stated.  He changed the mode
of living of his royal scholar; he obliged him to eat more than
usual, and to drink a great deal of wine; he allowed him, to
take but little exercise, shortened the time of his recreation in
the garden, and put a total stop to his walks upon the tower.




1 10           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 1A.
The young King's illness.
These new regulations had a sad effect on the health and moral
condition of the child; he became fat, and stopped growing.
Before he had fallen under the discipline of Simon he had
never drunk anything but water; he had an utter aversion to
wine, and the violence done to his taste and habits by his taking
this beverage at first produced nausea and insupportable sickness, and ended by making him quite ill. At last he was
attacked by a violent fever.  Simon, yielding to the advice of
his wife, did not apprise the government of this disease.
Marie-Jeanne, who, like most women of her class, pretended
to know certain remedies for the illness of children, wished to
prescribe for the young Prince after her own fashion; she went
with one of her friends, a certain Madame Crevassin, to procure one of those innoxious drugs which usually produce
neither good nor bad effect; but the medicine, being administered at a Wrong time, acted perniciously; the fever rose
higher, and kept the invalid four days burning and coughing in
his bed. However, he was restored to health at length; his
good constitution having carried him through, notwithstanding bad remedies and worse treatment.
I said he was restored to health, but, rather, I ought to
have said to ill-usage. The excesses that had made him ill
were renewed as soon as he was well again: the same perseverance in making him eat beyond measure, and drink till he was
intoxicated, and, when his reason was thus obscured, the same
eagerness to make use of his aberration of mind to induce him
to utter horrible oaths and sing infamous songs.
In those days fear often imposed silence on the pity of
those men who had hearts susceptible of its emotions.  The
commissaries who did not loudly applaud the conduct of
Simon, dared not express their disapprobation.  A  great
number of them, I do not doubt, were moved with compassion,
but they had breathed the air of the street,-they had seen the
guillotine erected, and they were silent.  Still, —we say it to
the uraise of humanity,-still there were some among them




l79s.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                111
Denunciation of Lebutf.
who had the courage to avow their sentiments; of these was
M. Lebeouf, who never attempted to disguise his sympathy
and compassion for the misfortunes of which his municipal
functions made him  a witness.  One day, the 19th August,
Simon, as was his custom, was being served at table by the
young Prince.  Simon was drunk; and, being displeased with
the manner in which the royal child obeyed his orders, or
interpreted his intentions, he very nearly put out one of his
eyes with a blow  with a napkin.  M. Leboeuf came in while
this was going on, and just as he was opening his mouth to
express his astonishment and disapprobation, before he had
time to speak: " See here!" exclaimed the tutor; "see here,
citizen! how awkward the d-d wolf-cub is in waiting at table!
They want to make a king of him, and he is not fit for a
servant! Come, sit down, and drink along with us; he must
wait upon you also.  Come along, come! don't be either afraid
or ashamed!"  At these words M. Lebceuf raised his head
indignantly: " I am not afraid," said he to Simon, in a firm tone
of voice; " are not you ashamed of yourself?"  And as Simon
did not rightly understand what he said, he went on: "Yes,
I repeat it; are you not ashamed to ill-use a child like this?
You exceed your orders; it would be a calumny against the
government to believe it capable of sanctioning your brutality!"
Simon made no reply, but the shaft rankled in his heart, it
lacerated his wounded pride.  He knew very well that it was
no calumny against the government; and he carried his complaint to the authorities. Lebceuf was denounced to the
council-general;* he sought to excuse himself; but a few days
afterwards, the attorney-general of the Commune desired "the
* "Lebceuf has been denounced because he, being at the Temple,
complained of the too republican kind of education given to little Capet,
and because he wished' the tyrant's son: to be brought up like Telemachus,
who: was the son of a sans-culotte king.-"
(Council-general of the Commune of Paris; sitting of Wednesday,
28stlh:August. 1793.)'




112              LOUIS THE SEVENTEE'-THf.            [BOOK 12.
Denunciation of Leb(euf.
council to purge from their body all friends of kings and
queens, and have them  arrested that same evening."*  He
accused Lebceuf of having conducted himself in a vile manner, when  on duty in  the Temple, and of never having
borne  the character of a republican there.  He reproached
him "in particular that-he had reprimanded the patriot Simon,
to whom the education of Capet's son was intrusted, and that
he had not been pleased at his being brought up like a sansculotte."  Lebceuf, who was present at the sitting, began: to
speak in his defence.  He said, that " from  his profession,]l he
did not like to hear improper songs, and that he had testified
his disapprobation to citizen Simon, who had often taken a
pleasure in repeating such before little Capet, whom he
wished should receive an education more consistent with good
morals."  Chaumette, as a general measure, demanded that,
"all members of the council, convicted of moderate opinions,
be immediately dismissed, and that they be brought before
their respective sections, who should be acquainted with the
decree made concerning them."t  Lebenuf, and several of his
* "The council passes to the order of the day upon a letter of citizen
Lebceuf, relating to the accusation preferred against him yesterday."
(Council-general of the Commune of Paris; sitting of Thursday,
29th August, 1793.)
+ He was a schoolmaster.
+ Sitting of the council-general of the Commune of Thursday, 5th September, 1793.
This sitting of purification gave occasion to a strange scene, which
marks the period. Jacques-Claude Bernard, who had taken Louis XVI.
to the scaffold, accused himself of the crime of having been a priest, which
produced the following incident:
"Bernard, beginning to speak, observed that there existed, in the
heart of the council, a citizen, who, though a good patriot, had upon
him the original stain of priesthood.  The attorney of the Commune
interrupted Bernard, who wished to speak- of himself. lie observed that
the priest had never been guilty of the crimes of his order, that he had
fulfilled his duties to nature and society by taking a wife, and giving
citizens tohis country. He thought he ought not, therefore, to be considered
as a priest, or included in the proscription affecting that class of citizens.
The civic mention of Bernard's proceeding was called for, but, from:




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              113
Madame Elizabeth's devotion.
colleagues-Mlichonis, Leger, Frdmont, and Mace-were arrested; but this time the prison did not open the way to the
scaffold. The council-general, who perceived that they were
about to be decimated, as the Convention had been, prudently
took up the defence of their members, who were acquitted.
Tison, who had remained at the tower with his daughter,
continued to give Madame Elizabeth whatever information he
could procure, and, among other news, gave her the details
which I have related; but the Princess would not believe
them, so far beyond all human wickedness did the barbarity of
Simon appear to her to be. But this remaining delusion was
soon forcibly destroyed. - For several days Simon had raised
his voice so loud that his oaths and blasphemies reached her ears,
and, more shocking still, these oaths and blasphemies were
often followed by the plaintive cries of a feeble child, though
he tried to suppress them with all his might. Now too well
assured of her nephew's fate, the Princess could no longer even
seem to doubt it before her niece, from whom she had concealed it previously, but who recognised her brother's lamentations, and distinguished his voice, mingling with that of his
master, Simon, in the songs of the 4 "Marseillaise" and " Carmagnole."   "We heard him  every day," she says, in her
narrative of the captivity of the Temple, " singing the' Carmagnole,' and other horrible songs with Simon. The Queen,
fortunately, did not hear them, for she was gone,-it was one
suffering spared her by Heaven!"
The young girl's grief was profound.  Nothing but Madame
Elizabeth's words could have had power to comfort her.  Who
can tell with what self-denial, and devotion, and solicitude,
Madame Elizabeth fulfilled the duties to her niece imposed
on her by the absence of the tenderest of mothers! Herself
modesty, the latter opposed its being given; but Bernard being unsupported in his opinion, the civic notice was decreed."
(Council-general of the Commune of Paris; sitting of Thursday,
5th September, 1793.)




114             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 12.
Visitation of the Queen.
disposed toe accept every sacrifice, with what ingenious precaution and delicate art did she turn aside the cup of bitterness
from  beings  she  cherished!  Her  persuasive  tenderness
softened every evil to make it bearable; her pious enthusiasm
directed every sorrow to Heaven to make it meritorious. It
was in her holy school, —a severe training for a hard life,-that
young Marie-The6rse learned those lessons of religious courage
and masculine heroism that raised her heart to the level of
the greatest dangers, and her mind above the most grievous
misfortunes.
To the distress occasioned by knowing the child to be in
such a state, and in such training, was afterwards to be added
the grief of being unable to learn anything as to the destiny
of the Queen.* As long as the means of communication were
* She was treated as if she had been found guilty even before she was
tried. We give the report of the visit made to her by the administrators of
police, in the name of the nation, to get possession of those articles from
which we seldom part but with life:
" Department of police.-Commune of Paris.
"' 10th September, 1793, 2nd year of the French Republic, one and
indivisible,
"We, administrators of the department of police, in virtue of the
orders of the committee of public safety of the National Convention, under
date of yesterday, repaired to the Conciergerie house of justice, where, on
reaching the room occupied by the widow Capet, we summoned her, in the
name of the law, to give up her rings and jewels to us, which she immediately did; they consisting of a gold ring, which opens, in which she made
declaration that there was some hair, and on which there were various
initials; another ring with a stone and an amulet; another with a pivot,
enamelled, having a star on one side, and the letters T and L on the other,
which she said also contained hair; another, in the form of a little collar,
intended for the little finger; a gold repeater, which shows the date of the
month, manufactured by Breguet, No. 46, Quai de l'Horloge, Paris,
marked R. A., and then A. M., together with another hand of which we
do not know the use, on a steel chain with a branch, with a gold seal that
opens, one part of which represents an A and an M; another seal of steel,
engraved with two flambeaux, and the motto "Amour et Fiddlite," and
havi-ng letters on the sides like an almanack; a gold locket, suspended
from a little chain, also of gold, used as a necklace, which locket contained




193.]        %SIMON, TUTOR OF THE  DAUPHIN.                    11 5
Visitation to the Queen.
in her hands, Madame Elizabeth  had sent her news of her
children. These accounts, as will readily be believed, were
some hair, plaited together, and an open-worked button, which appeared
to us to be of silver.
" Having read which list through to her, she said it contained truth,
and persisted in her statement, and signed with us; the two citizens of
gendarmerie on duty about her person, and citizeness Harel, also on duty;
citizen Leblanc, chief of the central office; Le BussiBre, secretary of the
police department; and citizeness Richard, wife of citizen Richard, porter
to the said house of the Conciergerie; and, after said reading, we perceived
that it had been stated that the watch marked the date, whereas it should
have been said that it had a second-hand.
(Signed)
"M TARIE-ANTOINETTE, DES FRENNES, GILBERT, HEUSSEE,
Administrators, LEBLANC, LA BUSSIERE, RICHARD, and HAREL.
" And immediately afterwards, we, the administrators named above,
repaired to the domicile of citizen Richard, porter, which havitig reached,
we desired citizens Des Frennes and Gilbert, gendarmes, and citizeness
Harel, to withdraw immediately, with all their effects, from the room
occupied by the widow Capet, where they have kept guard till now, which
they instantly obeyed; and we also desired them  to remain in the
said house of justice until after we had made our report to our colleagues. We also enjoined citizen Richard, porter, to take all measures
and precautions towards the said widow Capet that are usually employed with such as are kept in close prison; and we have also enjoined the commandant of the post of gendarmerie, summoned before us for
the purpose, to put a man on duty immediately at the door of the
said widow Capet, on the outer side, who shall be directed not to permit
any person whatsoever to approach the said door, except the citizen-porter
and his wife; and another man on duty in the cdurt-yard near the windows
of the said room, occupied by the widow Capet, who shall be directed not
to permit any person to approach within a distance often paces, and not to
permit any person whatever to speak or hold any communication, on any
pretence whatsoever; which directions were immediately given, and the
men posted according to the report of the said citizen-commandant of the
guard, and the brigadier on duty at the reserve-guard, which directions
the said citizen-commandant engages to have renewed each time the men
are. relieved, and to have repeated to those who take their places.
"This being read through to them, they said it contained truth,
that they would obey the contents, and they signed with us.
(Signed)
"DE BUSNE, LEBLANC, HAIMEL, GILBERT, DES FRENNES,
RICHARD, LA BUSSIERE, and HEUSSEE, Adrm-inistrators.
"Copy agreeable to the original,
" N. Fi I0OIDU1'E."




116             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOE 12,
Mode of intercommunication.
worded so as to calm the anxieties of the unfortunate mother.
Madame Elizabeth tried to inspire her with a confidence that
she did not herself feel concerning the Dauphin, and against
which  the echoes of the tower would have protested; for
seldom did a day pass over without an oath or a plaintive cry
being heard from Simon's room.
The guard set upon the tower became more and more
strict. The municipals, continually on the watch, were per.
petually making  searches there.   The prisoners had preserved some pencils and a few  sheets of paper, concealed
in a corner beneath the papering of thile Queen's room, but,
on the night when Marie-Antoinette was taken to the Conciergerie, Madame Elizabeth had destroyed them all, fearing
to compromise her, which made the correspondence with
Turgy exceedingly difficult. But what will not be achieved
by the genius of captivity?  There were no walls sufficiently
high, no doors sufficiently thick, to prevent two sorrowing
spirits from  holding converse and sympathising communion
with each other, from  the Temple prison to the dungeon of
the Conciergerie.
Sometimes it was in the form of requests from the Queen
for articles she had left at the Temple,* and of which she
* "Citizen colleagues, Marie-Antoinette has begged me to send her
four chemises, and a pair of shoes, without any number, of which she is in
pressing need.
"I hope you will be so good as to give them to the bearer of this paper.
"I am, with fraternal salutation,
I" MICHONIS."
"Conciergerie, 19th August."
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6206.)
"Commune of Paris.
"Citizens and colleagues, the police administration, on the demand
made to us by widow Capet for various articles of clothes, desire you
to look through whatever clothes may remain in the Temple for the
use of the widow Capet, in order to know whether such articles are
necessary for her, and whether there are such in the wardrobe at




1]'93,1     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              117
Efforts to soften Simon.
said she was in the most pressing need; at other times it was
the secret correspondence carried on by means of Turgy.
Madame Elizabeth attempted to work another miracle, but
it was an impossibility-to engage Simon to lessen the brutality
of his manners, and the ruffianism of his words. She addressed
her complaints to every municipal whose physiognomy and
deportment gave the slightest indication of feeling, and entreated them  to intercede with the pitiless tutor: almost
all of them thought her complaints were unjust or exaggerated,
and rejected them with disdain, or only replied by praising the
very man against whom they were directed; others, less
bigoted, but unfortunately timid, saw clearly enough what
the conduct of Simon in the tower was, but knowing his high
credit, did not dare to make any objection. Only one of them,
whose name was Barelle, was not inexorable, for he was a
father; he listened kindly to the grievances of Madame
Elizabeth, and was courageous enough to make a few observations to the hard-hearted master, whose oaths he had heard
himself when he was with the Princesses. Although these
observations were made in the form of polite and most courteous advice, they were very ill taken; there are some rugged
tempers which are only irritated by fair words. Simon threw
all the blame upon his pupil, and attributed the reprimands
he was sometimes forced to make use of entirely to his
indocile character.  Reader, do you not seem to hear Cain
complaining of the brutality of Abel?  "Besides," added the
master, "' I know what I am about, and what I have got to
do.  In my place you would go perhaps even faster."  These
words have been reported exactly as they were spoken.  Were
they the private and spontaneous reflection of an accused person
the Temple, and, in case there may be any, they be sent directly, because
it will be more convenient than buying new.
"M ENESSIER, CAILLIEUX.
"Administrators of police.
"26th September, 1793, 2nd year of the Republic, one and indivisible."'
(National Archives, Case Es, No. 6206.)




118             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOOK 12.
Tison's daughter.
defending his own conduct, or the involuntary indiscretion of
an accomplice betraying himself? However that might be, the
interference of Barelle had no other effect than to increase
the rigour of Louis XVII.'s captivity, and to render the fierce
disposition of his guardian more irritable still.
On the 26th August, Tison's daughter left the Temple;
she asked to see little Capet before she went. Had Madame
Elizabeth suggested this step to her, that she might thus hear
some news of her nephew; or did the y;oung girl herself wish
to say adieu to the charming child, whom, notwithstanding the
early influence of her parents, she had never been able to look
on without emotion?  The second explanation seems to me
the more probable.  Not only was her request denied her, but
it was the cause of her being subjected to the most minute
examination, both of her person and of the parcels she was
carrying to her mother at the Hotel-Dieu.* Simon was immediately acquainted with this step, and with the refusal that
followed it.   " They did exceedingly well indeed," he exclaimed, with an oath, 1" not to let the young citizeness come
here: she had nothing to see, nothing to do, and nothing to
say here,-had she, Capet?" added he, raising his voice, and
fixing on his slave a despot glance that demanded approval of
his words. " They did very right," replied the child, trembling; "still I should have had many things to ask her
about."  "Tell me what they were, this moment," returned
Simon.  "I should have asked after my mother and sister,
and aunt; it is so long since I saw them!"  "Bah! have
done, mill you, with your d-d family; it is longer still that
they have been our oppressors. They would see something
* "We desire the citizens in command of the armed forces to allow the
daughter of citizen Tison to pass out, with a parcel in a towel, containing
some old shoes and a packet of old gauze, which we imspeotod at the
Temple, this 26th August, 1793.
"'N. GUERIN, ARNATJD, LUBIN, PAQUOTTE, Commissaries."
" Municipality of Paris,"




1793.]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              119
Proclamation of the King at Toulon.
to find fault with even here if they were to come down.
The best thing you've got to do is to forget them, and above
all not to bother me about them."  These sharp words fell
on the child's heart cold as the steel of a sword; he was
silent, and his filial tears alone protested against the insults offered to the tomb and the prison-house.  He was
still, for he saw burning in his master's eyes the bitter rancorous feelings and choleric propensities that had been kindled
by the imprudent advice of Barelle. The sovereign-cobbler had
revealed himself to view in all the omnipotence of his rights,
as an absolute monarch insulted by opposition, and fully resolved never-again to allow criticism to penetrate his realm.
On Friday, 6th September, the commissaries on duty informed him that the city of Toulon had opened her port to the
English on the 28th August, had proclaimed the Constitution
of 1791, and the royal rights of Louis XVII. Among these
municipals was M. Binet, partner to Maugin, a publican,
whose house, situated in the Boulevard du Nord (No. 67), was
the rendezvous of all the drinking patriots in the neighbourhood. His sign-board had at first borne the head of Henry IV.,
with these words:'"The good King;" his brandy, wine, and
cider, having sold perfectly well under the auspices of the
grey-beard and white feather. Some years past the features
of the Bearnaise monarch had been slightly altered, and under
the new head the painter had written, in letters of gold: " The
Great Voltaire." The great Voltaire had been succeeded, a
few days previous to the present circumstance, by " Maratthe Friend of the People."  It will be seen that citizens
Maugin and Binet progressed with their age, and did not remain behind in the march of ideas. They were acquaintances
of Simon, who, at the time of his marriage, used to go sometimes with Marie-Jeanne to drink at "The Great Voltaire."
"Let, us see the King of Toulon!" exclaimed Binet, as he
came into the room.  "You mean the King of Montbrison "
swas Simon's reply.  "No; the King of Toulon!"  "The




12U0           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 12.
Maugi'ns tavern.
King of La Vendee," said another municipal.  "Citizens,"
replied Simon, authoritatively; " at least he shall never be
King of Paris;" and his fatal arm, extended towards the
young Prince, seemed devoting his head to every malediction
on earth. Explanations were given, and the occurrences in
the south and west related in full detail.  "There is something
in the air, though," resumed Binet; "it would be very funny if
that young monkey did become King somewhere!"  The
child's eyes sparkled for a moment with a sudden flash of hope,
but a blush immediately afterwards overspread his brow, as if
he'was ashamed of his own boldness.
The master had sent the child to sit down on the foot of
his bed " till further orders." The discussion grew animated,
every one directing a sanguinary jest at the son of Louis " the
shortened one! "
The child did not stir from the place where he had been
ordered to remain during the whole conversation, which lasted a
long while, and the concluding words of which were: " The republic is eternal! " Simon, looking at the absent child, repeated
very loudly, with malevolent meaning:  "The republic is eternal! the republic is eternal! " And, as Binet was retiring with
his colleagues, he added: "'Citizen Binet, tell Maugin that
there will be no occasion ever to change his sign-board again."
"So much the better, citizen," replied Billet, " for it is tiresome
and expensive to send for the painter every two years."
After their departure Simon walked up and down a very long
time, exchanging some' sentences on politics with his wife,
in which apprehensions for the future were partly visible
through their republican enthusiasm.   The child had not
dared to stir; on his countenance, altered though it was,
were still to be recognised some few traces of French vivacity;
but it was a vivacity which wanted the blithesome scenes of
other days to give it life and motion. Besides, he had understood the news brought in by the commissaries, and be knew
from experience what he had to expect from such intelligence.




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                12T
Vulgar brutalities.
IHe had heard Simon exclaim that, if ever the Vendeans came
to Paris, he would smother the wolf-cub sooner than give
him  up to them.  He remained, therefbre, still and silent,
fearing if he made the least sound or movement that he
would draw down on himself a storm of wrath.  Simon went
up to him, and dragged him by one of his ears to the table
in the middle of the  apartment.  A  moment afterwards
he said to him: " Capet, if the Vendeans were to set you
at liberty, what would you do to me?"  "I would forgive
you," replied the child.  The soul of Louis XVI. must
have bounded with joy to see his royal heir so well disposed
to receive the injunctions of his will; and Marie Antoinette
would have recognised her beloved child if, from the depths
of her dungeon, she could have heard words so agreeable
to the sentiments she had ever endeavoured to instil into
him, and which some days afterwards she was to recommend
to him in that last letter, interrupted by the headsman's hand.
Clemency here below is a foretaste of heavenly things: the
dead, who have entered into the designs of Providence, love not
revenge.
On Satuarday, ~21st September, Hebert made his appearance at the tower, together with Grenard, Lelievre, Camus, and
Jonquoy, municipal officers; he brought a decree from  the
Commune, commanding that the Princesses should be kept
in more rigid confinement, and that the person who waited on
them should be withdrawn.  "( In all the prison-houses," said
he to them, " the prisoners have no one to wait on them; the
exception made in your favour is an offence to public justice
and morality; equality should reign in prisons, as in all other
places.  For the future, Henriot and the water-carrier only
shall have the right of entrance here." *'The following is the account given in the council-general of the
Commune of the business of the day.
"The deputy-attorney-general of the Commu  proposed, as a measure
of security agreeable to equality, that the whole kitchen-establishment of
IT                   F




122              LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                [ooOK 12.
Vulgar brutalities.
Hebert, with his party, went down into Simon's room.  It
will be seen that the object of his visit was more the little
prisoner than the captive ladies. He had a long conversation
with Simon, looked at the child without speaking to  him,
took leave of the master with the words: c "Very soon," and
withdrew.
No official order or direction was given on that floor;
"Very soon," is the sole portion of the visit that we have heard
of: a farewell word, simple and common enough, but which,
under these circumstances, seems frightfully significant!
Hetbert was obeyed: Tison, in disgrace, was sent back to
the turret, where he was kept in confinement; the Princesses,
for the future, were to make their bed and sweep their room
themselves; their door was not to be opened, except to take
in their food; they were never more to look on a human face,never more to hear a human voice. The terrible visitor they
had just received proposed measures calculated to render yet
more rigid the regulations of their prison-house.   The two
following decrees were carried by the Temple committee:
"Municipality of Paris.
", 22nd Sep., 1'793, 2nd year of the French Republic, one and indivisible.
"' The Council, taking into consideration that the greatest
economy ought to prevail, and be observed, makes the following decree:
the Temple be reduced, and all the servants and valets discharged, and
that the prisoners confined there be treated exactly in the same manner
as the prisoners in other places of confinement; and that, on. the same
evening, a committee be named to carry this decree into execution at the
Temple. His proposal was-unanimously adopted.
"The members named for the committee were: Grenard, Lelievre,
Camus, and Jonquoy.
" The same measures were adopted with respect to the widow Capet;
the council decrees that the food of the said Capet be reduced to the bare
necessaries of life, that, out of regard to equality, she be treated indiscriminately like the other prisoners, and have no attendants but those
connected with the prison; also that this decree be sent to the porter of
the Conciergerie."-(Archives of the HMtel-de-Ville.)




1793.1:~,lr).'ru t')R OF THE  DAUPHIN.                123
Vulgar brutalities.
"1st. That, from  this day forward, the use of poultry and
pastry at every table be abolished.
"2nd. That the prisoners have but one kind of food for their
breakfasts.
"3rd. That they have only some broth, boiled beef, and one
other dish for their dinner; half-a-bottle of common wine to be
allowed to each of them.
" 4th. At supper to have two dishes."
The second decree directed:'" st. That, from this day forward, no waxlights be allowed
within the tower; the prisoners to have tallow-candles only,
and that no tapers be burnt, except in the office of the
council.
" 2nd. That the use of silver and china be prohibited, and
that pewter forks and spoons and common earthernware only
be henceforth served.
"  IALLARD, ROBIN, TONNELIER, VERON.
" Commissaries on duty at the Temple."
On the 24th September, a more particular search than any
of the former was made in the prisoners' room.*   The new
* "One of the commissaries appointed by the council-general to search
the prisoners' room at the Temple, and take away all articles of luxury,
gives this account of his proceedings:
"He says that the commissaries had taken away and put under seal
all the china they had found.
" Ile added that, in a cupboard belonging to Elizabeth, they found two
rouleaux of forty gold pieces, each piece of gold of the value of twenty-four
livres, which the said Elizabeth declared had been given to her to keep by
the widow Lamballe, at the period of the 10th August, 1793, and that
these same gold pieces had been confided by another person to the care of
the widow Lamballe.
"The council decrees, that the above-mentioned gold pieces, as also
the thousand crowns, found at the time of Capet's death, and the decorations he wore on his person, be deposited in the national treasury, and
appoints the commissalries here named as commissaries for this purpose.




124              LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTHI                  [BOOK 12.
Vulgar brutalities.
regulations, prescribed by the decrees we have just given, had
been carried out with intense zeal. Not only were all delicacies in eating put a stop to, but stable-sheets of yellow longcloth were substituted for white, dipped-candles for wax, pewter
for silver, and earthenware for china.
This recrudescence of spite did not confine itself to the
living: it attacked him who was no more! The council-general
decreed that the wardrobe of Louis XVI., which  had been
under seal hitherto, should be burnt at the Place de Greve.*
"On demand of the attorney-general of the Commune, the councilgeneral decrees that the bed, coats, and whatever else was used in the
lodging, or for the clothing, of Capet, be burnt at the Place de Grave next
Sunday.  The commissaries named for this purpose are Grenard, Lelievre,
&c.
LUBIN, Vice-president.
" DORAT-CUBIERES."
(Sitting of Tuesday, 24th September, 1793.)
* "Council-general of the Commune of Paris.
"The secretary-registrar gives his account of the burning of Capet's
wardrobe, which took place yesterday, Sunday, 29th inst.
" On Sunday, 29th September, 1793, 3rd year of the French Republic,
citizen Camus, the commissary appointed on purpose by the council- general,
having had the wardrobe of the late Capet brought to the depQt of the
secretary's office in the common hall, I found that it was sewed up in a
cloth, and sealed in six places; after having seen that the seals were perfect
and entire, I opened.the packet and found ca follows:'' A hat, a broken tortoise-shell box, a1 little parcel of list and whi-te
ribbons, six coats of cloth, silk, and soft velvet, a cloth over-coat, eight
vests of cloth, soft velvet, silk, and linen; ten. pairs of small-clothes ditto,
two white dressing-gowns, under waistcoat of wadded satin, five pairs of
pantaloons, nineteen white vests.
"Which articles I had conveyed to the Place de Grbve by the officemessengers, after having previously had them certified by citizens PierreJacques Legrand and Etienne-Antoine Souard, commissaries, who repaired
to the said place with myself, where I found a pile of wood prepared, on
which. all the articles were arranged, and -the commissaries having set fire
to them, they were reduced to ashes, pursuant to the decree of the councilgeneral.
(Signed)
"LEGRAND, SOUARD, Menlbers'of the Commune.
"COULOMBEAU, Secretary-registrar."
(Sitting of Monday, 30th September, 1793.)




1.793.]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAIUPHIN.            125
Simon's efforts at corruption.
The royal child did not as yet feel the changes passing in the
tower; he was provided with coarse yellow sheets, certainly, but
his food remained the same, the favour in which Simon was held
shielding a state of life which was common to both.  The
pupil was thus exempted from  a measure which, falling on
him, would affect the master also.  The latter understood the
obligations which this proceeding laid him under; he knew
that they were indulgent to the Jacobin only on condition that
the Jacobin should be more hard upon the Prince. It was only
by increased severity that he could prove he was not ungrateful,
-and his gratitude was excessive.  Sometimes he measured
out to his victim his portion of food parsimoniously, and gave
him water only; sometimes he forced him to eat enormously,
and drink a great deal of wine,-excess succeeding to fasting,
and drunkenness to privation of necessaries. After having worn
out the stomach, the master tried to wear out the heart. Ah!
how rightly had the poor child done, to prepare himself
for resignation beneath his parents' eyes! Certainly, robust
as it was, if his nature had remained as quick and excitable
as it had been at Versailles, these daily combats, great
and little,-sword-cuts.and pricks with a pin, —would undoubtedly have driven him mad.  All Simon's efforts were
more than ever directed to bend the young plant to imbibe
his corruptive lessons, to give false ideas to his heart, and
to poison his mind. The Revolution had not done enough in
establishing herself in the Louvre, while her flag floated over
our deserted palaces. No; she must instil her ideas and
principles into the head and heart of the descendant of Saint
Louis; she must fill his mind with the anarchy that reigned
in the streets; must stifle the most generous nature with
demoralisation the most odious; far from pure air and sunlight,
must wither the noblest flower in the most fetid atmospherein short, must make an accomplice of a child: crime must
find support in innocence!




126            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.          LBOOK 12.
Preparations for the Queen's trial.
Young Louis was already much changed. The heedlessness of his age had disappeared entirely; a dreamy veil covered
his countenance, once proud and determined, and his large blue
eyes, which God had, as it were, illumined with the golden
reflection of the light of royal lines, now rested on the ground,
languid and almost inanimate..No emotion was now to be
seen, like a breath of life, upon his face, which remained calm
and unmoved. He could take no amusement now in anything.
His body was unequal to the valour of his heart.  His courage
was ready to endure all, but his strength was not sufficient.
Like the lily, the ancient emblem of French nationality, he
had carried his charming head high; but that head was
beginning to droop on the stalk.
Still, the name of his mother was yet held dear and sacred
in his heart.  On the 12th' Vendcmiaire, 2nd year (3rd
October, 1793), Simon, adding the most insulting epithets
possible to her name, wanted the child to repeat it after
him.  The child allowed himself to be beaten, but would
not do so.  To blows, which had not overcome resistance,
Simon added irony and sarcasm.  This wretched man was
not a father; he knew  not that there is nothing more
divine than filial and maternal love, and that to mock at this
is to mock at God himself. Yet the heart of the victim had
not now its former purity and clearness, and, unknown to
himself, the pictures, recollections, and lessons of the past
were now reflected there only in unconnected fragments, like
the light at the bottom of a lake ruffled by a tempest, and into
which muddy waters have just discharged themselves.
The Convention was eager to see the trial of Marie Antoinette fairly begun, and at their back, pushing them on, was
the impatient Commune, more implacable still.
On the 3rd October, the following decree was passed:
" The National Convention, on the proposition of a mem



793. J      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN                    127
Preparations for the Queen's trial.
ber, decrees that the revolutionary tribunal proceed without
delay or interruption to the trial of the widow Capet."*
But the materials for the trial were wanting; and FouquierTinville himself, whose conscience, as public accuser, was
neither difficult nor scrupulous, replied in the following terms
to the decree of the Convention:t
"Paris, this 5th October, 1793, 2nd year of the Republic,
one and indivisible.
"' Citizen President,-I have the honour to inform  the
Convention that the decree passed therein on the 3rd instant,
directing that the revolutionary tribunal proceed without delay
or interruption to the trial of the widow Capet, was conveyed
to me this evening. But, up to this day, no papers whatever
relating to 5Marie Antoinette have reached me; so that, however desirous the tribunal may be to carry out the decree of the
Convention, they are unable to obey this decree until such
papers are forwarded to them."-'
* "Revised by the inspector; signed Joseph Becker; collated with the
original by us, the president and secretaries of the National Convention.
" Paris, 4th October, 1793, 2nd year of the French Republic, one and
indivisible.
(Signed)     "L. J. CHARMLIER, President.
"PONS (Verdun), P. JAGOT, Secretaries."
(National Archives, iron chest.)
t This note, the copy of which was sent to the Convention on the 5th
October, is preserved in the National Archives (iron chest); it is written
in Fouquier's hand.
+ Three days afterwards the members of the committee of public
safety were still searching for papers to prove the guilt of the Queen:
"Paris, 7th day of the 2nd decade of the 1st month, 2nd year of
the French Republic (17th Vendemiaire, 2nd year; 8th
October, 1793).
"The members of the committee of public safety to their colleague,
citizen Rabaud-Pommier.
"Citizen, our colleague, we beg you will acquaint us with all the information relating to the widow Capet, that you, as having been secretary to
the committee of twenty-one, empbyed in drawing up the accusation ot




128&            LOUIS- THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 12.
Testimony obtained from the Dauphin against his.mother.
Materials were preparing at the Temple!
On the morning of the 13th Vende.miaire, 2nd year (4th
October, 1793), Simon, who had received his cue from Hsbert,
the head of the plot, through citizen Daujon, municipal officer,
informed Chaumette that little Capet was ready to reply to all
questions that might be made to him in the cause of justice.
The mayor and the attorney-general of the Commune determined to repair to the Temple, accompanied by two members
of the council-general.* Notice was given to Simon to hold
himself in readiness for the next day but one.  On the 13th
Vend6miaire (6th October), Pache and Chaumette arrived at
the tower with their escort.  Their entrance into  Simon's
room was at first an alarming circumstance to the young
Prince, who, having been made intoxicated before the time,
was beginning to recover himself, and whlose brow was insensibly losing the passing flush raised by the brandy he had been
forced to swallow.  The brightness of his eyes was fading by
degrees, and his head was sunk on his breast, sad and unmoved.
as before; but, driven to extremities, tracked and harassed like
a poor gazelle, worn out with fatigue, he yielded at length
he would never have resisted so much had their object been to
take him  to the scaffold.  Heussde, administrator of police,
read an interrogatory prepared beforehand, and, if we may
believe a contemporary account, drawn up by IDaujon, in which
the child replied as was desired; and then they made him sign.
it, as they desired it should be signed. The Revolution triumphed; it had imbued the son's lip with the poison of the
calumny with which the mother's honour was to be slain. We
give the trembling signature by which they pretended to accuse
Capet, were able to collect; or to inform us where the papers and documents,
on which the labours of that commission were based, have been deposited.
"Salutation and fraternitv."
* " The council-general appoints Laurent and Friry to co-operate with
the citizen mayor, the attorney-general of the Commune, and the commissaries already appointed to go to the Temple."
(Sitting of the 4th October, 1793.)




a,~~~~~~~~~~~~1s~~~~
a. F~~~~~~~~%
%.Z 
a r







1793.]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.               123
Atrocious conspiracy.
the Queen, and which really accuses only those who guided, or
rather misdirected, the child's hand.
We shall state hereafter to what subject the interrogatory
applied, below  which this signature appeared,-at least, as
far as history may say it.  In fact, it relates to a crime that
surpasses imagination, and which, by its extraordinary nature,
almost attains the vantage ground of impunity. The hand of
justice is stayed by sacred modesty: to stigmatize it, we should
be obliged to relate it.
Hebert had arrivel dulring the sitting; he had the pleasure
of seeing his plan carried out, as well as that of signing his
name, together with Chaumette, who was his friend rather than
his chief; with Pache, mayor of Paris; with Friry, Laurent,
and Seguy, commissaries at the Temple; with Heussee, administrator of police; and Simon.
Those who had sought these poisoned weapons at the
Temple bore them  in triumph to the committee of public
safety.  There they found Daujon, no doubt anxious to know
how the paper of which he had been the author had succeeded,
and to what high degree of esteem  and confidence, he was to
be raised by such an act of devotion.  lHe received much congratulation en the subject.  A member of the committee said
to him: " Flow the devil, citizen, hast thou  been able to
collect so many things and fix them  so cleverly'?  "I read
them  in public opinion," replied Daujon; 1"they are as clear
as the sun1."
Still the Queen's enemies understood the necessity of supporting the testimony of a captive child, whom it was easy to
induce to say anything that was wanted, by more serious witnesses.  On the next day, 16th Vendemiaire, 2nd year (7t.h
October, 1793), Chaunmette and Pache came again to the
Temple, accompanied by David (a member of the committee of
public safety), and surrounded by municipals, among whom
was Daujon.  They hoped, by the help of ambiguous and
captious questioning, to draw from the daughter and sister of




130            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOrK 12.
Atrocious conspiracy.
Louis XVI. some words, which, slkilfully interpreted, might
mlake them  accomplices in all the calumnies heaped upon the
Queen. Among t'hese calumnies, the most absurd, as well as
the most abominable of all, is that of which we have already
spoken   Modesty cannot name it, nor virtue understand it;
neither can indignation mete out its full measure of repro
bation.  Yet it is this calumny that the revolutionary ima
gination invented to attack Marie Antoinette in all that is
most sacred-her honour as a wife: and in all that is most
holy-her love as a mother! It is enough for us to say, our
hearts swelling with indignation, and with a flush on our brow,
that the Revolution sought to transform the best of mothers
into a Messalina, and her saintly child into the pupil of her
debaucheries, the accomplice of her orgies, the betrayer of her
crimes! Let them not tell us now that Marie Antoinette fell
by the headsman's hand; no, it was not the executioner that
slew her, the Queen of France died like the old monarchy of
France beneath the pen of a pamphleteer, —we will not calumniate the headsman!
It was to support these monstrous assertions, already
signed by her son, that testimony was now to be demanded
from the sister and daughter,-by men who called themselves
representatives of the city of Paris, of justice, and of the
nation! Pache, Chaumette, and David, on their arrival at the
tower, established themselves in the council-room, and ordered
that the young MIarie Therese should be brought down.  This
unexpected order filled the two Princesses with astonishment
and terror; they clung to each other, imploring that they
might not be separated. Being, however, obliged to obey, the
young orphan went down, and God only knows what passed at
that hour in the hearts of aunt and niece.  For the first time
since she had been confined in the Temple, Madame Elizabeth
found herself alone! Was thn.e last object of her tender solicitude removed for ever?  Up to the present time, those who
had once gone down had returned no more; the father had




1793.1      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              131
Atrocious conspiracy.
found the executioner below, and, worse still, the son had
found Simon. What was in store for the young girl who had
just passed the fatal threshold? The mind of Madame Elizabeth lost itself amidst the most alarming fancies and the most
cruel conjectures; but it was not in her nature to guess a deed
without a parallel in the annals of any nation, and she would
certainly have accused the echoes of the tower of falsehood,
could they have borne to her what was being said in the
council-room at that moment. Scarce, indeed, could she believe
it, when she was doomed to hear it with her own ears.
At the foot of the staircase, Madame Royale had met with
her brother, and she was about to embrace him when Simon
hastily tore him away from her. The child was coming out of
the room, where David had asked to see the son of his former
benefactor again, in order to hear from his own lips that he
acknowledged what he had been forced to sign the day before
as correct and true.  The unhappy child had made a sign in
the affirmative, and on his master's order had replied: " Yes."
His sister was admitted. Pache was the first to interrogate
her, concerning the understanding between her parents and
foreign princes, which he accused her of having known.  The
young girl's answers were so concise and firm that the commissaries pushed these introductory questions no farther, and
Chaumette began at once on the subject which was the true
object of the examination. Mlarie Thb6rse heard him at first
without understanding him at all; then suddenly a flush rose
to her face, and Chaumette's words becoming more horribly
clear and more clearly horrible, they stirred up with indignation all the filial and Christian blood of the saintly child. She
replied at first only by her tears, and then by a most positive
denial; but when Chaumette persisted in his statements with
cynical perseverance, the word " Infamous!" broke from the lips
of Madame Royale, to repel his insinuations.  " Chaumette,"
she says, in her narrative, "interrogated me upon a number of
shameful things, of which my mother and aunt were accusecd




132            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 12
Atrocious conspiracy.
I was struck dumb with horror, and was so indignant that,
notwithstanding all my terror, I could not refrain from saying
that it was infamous. Notwithstanding my tears they persisted
very long; they were things that I could not well understand,
but what I could comprehend was so horrible that I wept with
indignation." The cry of outraged nature did not disarm the
shameless accusers; they thought then of subjecting her to a
most painful confrontation, and most cruel contradiction: they
had young Louis-Charles brought in again, crouching under
the domination of his master, and for nearly three hours they
made her virgin innocence suffer, in presence of a brother of
eight years old, the disgraceful trial of an examination which
brought the brother and sister in antagonism to each other on
this melancholy subject. Below the interrogatory is a signature traced by a trembling hand: it is preceded by that of
Madlame Royale, and followed by those of their examiners, as
the reader will perceive by the subjoined fac-simile.
This atrocious scene, which began at noon, was not over
until three o'clock.  Marie Therdse ardently demanded to be
reunited with her mother.  Chaumette replied: " That is not
possible; retire, and say nothing to your aunt, whom w,-e are
going to send for also."  And, under the escort of three municipals, the young virgin returned to her chaste cell,-like a
white swan, whose purity is sullied by muddy waters, plunges
again into- the crystal waves of a quiet lake.
Still dumb with indignation and terror, Madame Royale
lhad scarce time to throw herself into the arms of her aunt ere
the latter was torn from her, and obliged to depart, without
knowing what was going on, nor what there was to hope or
fear. She was interrogated in her turn, and the same long
tissue of infamous accusations made against the Queen was
unrolled before her.  Madame Elizabeth replied, as.her niece
had done, to all falsehoods by truth, to all perfidious assertions
by the most noble frankness, and to all scurrility with,an
a.lenplt of contempt.  Her formidable examiners rsoon saw that








No












1793.]      SIMON, TUI'ItOR  OF THE DAUPHIN.             133
Atrocious conspiracy.
it would be in vain for them to seek the equivocal phrase they
had been unable to obtain from the simplicity of a young girl,
not yet fifteen, from the presence of mind of her aunt; and,
after the lapse of an hour, they sent her away, weary and
ashamed that they had not been able to seize on some word
that they might be able to distort to a wrong meaning.  But,
with strange pertinacity, ere they closed their search, they
confronted the young King with Madame Elizabeth, and put
the virtue of his aunt to the blush before him, as they had
done the innocence of his sister. The Dauphin's signature is
to be seen at the foot of the examination, together with that of
Madame Elizabeth.
At length the trial was over. When she had reached her
room again, " Oh, my child!" exclaimed Madame Elizabeth,
extending her arms to her niece.  Silence alone could express
the confusion and embarrassment of both; a flush was on their
brows, and tears fell from their eyes: for the first time they
shunned each other's glances. For a moment they held each
other in a close embrace, and then, falling on their knees, -they
offered their humiliation and sorrow to the God of the humble
and afflicted.
Divine wisdom  had suggested to Marie The'rse and her
aunt answers which disconcerted the machinations of wicked
men; they were obliged to fall back upon, and. hold to, the
report fabricated (at least so it has been said) by Daujon, and
adopted by H6bert.  Still, their visit was not unproductive of
results; for the minds of the poor captives remained troubled
with the images with which their chaste imaginations had been
sullied.  Turgy, who had found means to retain his employment within the Temple, was sent awav,* and forbidden to
re-enter the tower.
* The Commune had made a decree a month bef re to expel Turgy,
Chr6tien, and Marchand, from the Temple, and not only them, lbut, all
pelrsols suspecte(l of inlcivism.
"A. dlecree of the Temrple council read, demanding Atlat several iudi



134             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 12.
Letter to Turgy.
The following is the last note written to this faithful
servant by Madame Elizabeth:
"Quarter past two o'clock, 11th October, 1193.
" I am  much distressed.  Take care of yourself till tlhe
time when we shall be more fortunate, and able to reward you.
Take with you the comfort of having served good and unhappy
masters.
" Recommend Fidele (Toulan), not to expose himself too
much for our signals (by means of a horn). If by chance you
should see Madame Mallemain, give her an account of us, and
tell her that I think of her.
" Adieu, faithful subject and worthy man; may God, whom
you so faithfully serve, support and comfort you in whatever
you may have to endure i"
M. Hue was arrested on the 13th.  Thenceforward it became impossible for Madame Elizabeth to learn anything that
viduals now employed in this house, and who were formerly attached to the
ex-Count d'Artois, be replaced:
" The council-general confirms these arrangements, and decrees in consequence that citizens Piquet and his family, porters; Rockentroh and his
family, keepers of the linen; Baron, porter; Gourlet and his wife, turnkeys; Quenel, messenger; Chr6tien, Marchand, and Turgy, men-servants;
citizeness Leclerc, wife of a gendarme, ex-outrider to the Count d'Artois;
the wife and children of Salmon, his ex-footman; and the Ango (ex-butler)
family, in number four persons; be expelled.
" The council-general, on the proposition of the Temple council, decrees
that the enclosure wall be continued up to the ex-palace, above the
stabling.
"The council-general appoints Beauvalet, Cresson, Courtois. and
Remy, to the duty of replacing the Temple turnkeys.
" The council-general decrees that citizeness Tison be paid in proportion to her salary, her discharge to date from this day.
"The Temple council desires that six commissaries instead of four
be appointed for Sunday and Monday, in order to accompany the men
who are to mend the stoves in the prisoners' rooms.
"The council-general adopts this proposal."
(Council-general of the Commune of Paris; sitting of the
14th September, 1193.)




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                 135
The Queen's trial.
was passing; intelligence from without, communication within,
all failed her at once, and she heard no more of the Queen.
Let us not regret this privation. cruel as it was for her
These unceasing anxieties spared her a greater grief: the trial
of Marie Antoinette was about to begin.  For nearly two
months and a-half that she had been confined in a damp
dungeon at the Conciergerie, the Queen had been expecting
her trial.  Feeling her last sufferings beforehand, she had
ceased to live without enjoying the repose of death.* On the
14th October the proceedings were opened. Fouquier-Tinville
read to the accused a libel, that, in his jargon, he styled her
deed of accusation. The Queen of France replied to all with
heroic calmness.  But now  came idbert, who brought the
calumny he had prepared in the Temple examination against
the widow  Capet.   The royal accused kept silence, full of
mournful majesty; but Hebert having added that he had an
authentic document in his possession which proved the facts
he asserted, she turned on him a glance which brought a flush
to his cheek, and excited a movement in the Assembly.
Fouquier dared not make use of this document. The terror
he usually inspired was experienced by himself on that day;
he feared that this absurd and abominable mode of accusation
might overstep his object, and, by its very excess of malevolence,
become favourable to the accused.-   He merely ordered the
registrar to read the document, and then, turning towards
Marie Antoinette, he only said: "' What have you to reply to
* "Presagio malorum jam vita exempta, anondum tamen morte adquiescebat."-TAcIT. Ann. Lib. XIV.
f- " It is well known that Robespierre, on learning the details of this
sitting, accused H4bert of having drawn up so libellous an accusation in
order to excite the people in that Princess's favour, by making her an
object of interest."-" Dictdes de Napoldon."
The same Robespierre, on hearing that Fouquier-Tinville wanted to
put up the scaffold in the very room where the tribunal sat, in order to
her being tried, condemned, and executed in the same sitting, cried out:
"Wretch! would you then demoralize the punishment?"




.136             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOOK 12.
The Queen's trial.
tee testimony of this witness?"  The Queen continued to
preserve a majestic silence; but, some time afterwards, one of
the jury having begged the president to take notice that she
had made n.e answer to the facts adduced by citizen Hebert,
the royal accused, with one glance, struck terror into the souls
of accusers, witnesses, ald judges.  "If I made no reply," she
cried. "it was because nature refuses to answer such an accusa
tion brought against a mother.  I appeal to all mothers who
may be present here!"  And this last cry, wrung from her in
her insufferable and holy grief, moved the coldest and most
inimical hearts in the whole room.
The tribunal, in this iniquitous trial, had feigned a respect
for forms by deridingly giving the Queen tiwo advocates, officially appointed,-MM. Chauveau-Lagarde and Tronson du
Coudray, —and by summoning witnesses, as if it were incumbent
upon the judges to seek for, material evidence or moral convictions.  Among these witnesses several were to appear again
as accused themselves a few days afterwards; they might have
bought their lives by calumniating  the Queen, but, placed
between the scaffold and their conscience, they knew how to
die.  Manuel proved, by his attitude and replies, which were
full of propriety and reserve, that remorse may sometimes be
sufficiently acute to atone for former crime.  Bailly, —who by
a single word* was soon to win other glory than that wlhiltl
science had procured him,-paid reverence to truth, and deelarl  I
that " The facts contained in the indictment, and to whi; 1i
the declaration of youn.g Louis Charles referred, were entire y
false."'.And when the Count de Ia Tour du Pin, ex-nminister of
war, was asked by the president if he knew the accused: "Ah!
yes," he replied, moved with respectful grief, and bowing -low
before his unfortunate Queen; 66 Ah! yes; I have the honour of
* Bailly was executed at the Champ-de-Mars, 10th November, 1793.
As his limbs, chilled by the rain and cold, were involuntarily shaking, one
of the witnesses of his death said to him: " Thou: art trembling, Bailly''
"Yes," replied the old naln, calmly; " but it is with cold."




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              137
The Queen's trial.
knowing Madame." Some days later the scaffold had requited
the repentance of Manuel, the frankness of Bailly, and the
respect of De la Tour du Pin.
Still, Chauveau-Lagarde tried to combat the accusation
made against his royal client by reasoning; he spoke noble
words, which the journals of the epoch, fortunately for his life,
but unfortunately for his glory, dared not repeat. He declared
that —" In this extraordinary trial, posterity would see that if
there were anything difficult for the defender, it was not to
find decisive answers, but to meet with a single serious
objection."
Then, having cut to pieces all the heads of the accusation,
he ended by saying, "that he thought he had kept the engagement he had laid himself under, by showing most clearly that
nothing could equal the apparent gravity of the accusation,
unless perhaps the ridiculous nullity of the proofs."
History has left us no account of the speech of Tronson du
Coudray; but it seems to prove its worth by informing us that
he was arrested, together with Chauveau-Lagarde, when the
sitting was over. It is doubtless true that the greatest orators
of France would not have saved the Queen from the fate. to
which she was doomed; but still it is to be regretted that, at
this solemn moment, no voice should have protested against
the proceedings, in the name of the honour of France and
universal justice.
The daughter of Marie Therese had not belied her birth
one single moment; she had listened to all with calmness,
and refuted all with conciseness. After hearing all the witnesses, she had warned the tribunal that not one among them
had advanced a single positive fact against her.  And when,
after the declaration of tile jury and speech of the public accuser, the president asked her if she had anything to add:
"Nothing in my own defence," she said; c" but much for your
remorse to feel.  I was a queen, and you have dethroned me;
I was a wife, and you have murdered my husband; a mothert




138            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 12.
The Queen's trial.
and you have torn my children from me: I have nothing left
but my blood,-take it then; hasten to shed it, that you may
quench your thirst therewith."
The counsel for the defence were asked in their turn if
they had any observation to advance upon the verdict of the
jury.  M. Chauveau-Lagarde said nothing.  "I have nothing
to say," replied Tronson du Coudray, sadly, like a man who
feels the uselessness of any other effort in favour of a victim
condemned beforehand; "nothing, citizen president; the declaration of the jury being precise, and the law formal, I declare that my duties with respect to the widow Capet are over."
The judges and members of the committee of public
safety prolonged the duration of the sittings beyond measure,
and scarcely allowed the Queen time to take a little refreshment. Did they fear that she might die too courageously?
Were they trying to do with the mother what they had accomplished with the son?  By weakening her bodily strength, did
they hope to shake the firmness of her character, and extinguish the pride of her lofty bearing?
They did not succeed. On entering her prison for the last
time the victim threw herself, dressed, on her pallet, wrapping
the blanket round her feet, for she had suffered a good deal
from cold. Heaven sent her some hours of peaceful sleep;
and then she wrote to her sister that last admirable letter (the
fac-simile of which is here presented), in which were poured
out, with all her tears, her religious sorrows and her anxieties
as a mother.
"I have to speak to you on a subject most painful to my
feelings. I know the child must have occasioned you much
distress; but forgive him, sister, thiink of his age, and how
easy it is to make a child say whatever one wishes, even what
he does not himself understand."
Our readers will feel that the poor mother was afraid that




~~C.          7.,7.          4n"g-~~-"-.':/,',.,,~, <,,~,,/, ~J~.n -. ~d ~ n
Y/z;;.*:gu):?v (M';  y                4"bB 1,~,W.''ju — V/'-I -- 02., —'"a_ L/PM,.1..3   ~,~'''  "
f      ~Z~    tt S                 4A -~'    ~. f> 7g
if".)p1eVna          1,ZaQ~ //,1.71/P:
— 2 72t v  ~?'.  t ~?/z f ~ l.-?'    "O  z
-;3> 0ryz 71zaI#J    tZJ        //.do,/ 9i?,21/) 17,a',r  y47B  it' 
5P /              -- ~A/'-"//' -
m ton~f r 7? 47/109 4(o 2fPf; v                                  o2.'~$2?B~N7 ij2)Ic cXC-:                   7,,f7r v,J7/2a;t 7- 7gT 74 1' -/
-yorw2Cw  ag2;k4-    wr <t             75 a//',V ~'a
gt3'7? fh2 f   t7?#V1 41Q) f7 /1 9    Q
27%(CJC   g 44?   Pw             )f?. )<l/o 41 -r 2 —, - -            r
O-2i,.'r'S. 1C/)r4
-r 2vvv    c~;;  a2cA/'/V(  16 jicd7 29"'l" Mt   O r
Id~?d.1;a,..__. ~-"' —— "- —, —----
J2/pTcl  rP,xu            g, affi,X 3 S \ns




f'        L,    C 4t.:    G.14t- e-   -   / 
~ l#;^, gZ:,  ~.7  at    ~.~ a~,'g.oAf'.,,. 6  g,"   ~.
~,s4~'~~~~cl C7 //d  7trvwL;)Cso..  -7  a rb,e-~-'..'t'o  2L..'. A'  9     /('
~,~,e;sa~  2.s  ~ ~ ~~,;~.:,,,99,A~e             r  t-a.c
Ctew| z       Wcex;a    Ae.ri5 c-   a P el
/"`~ bc~~n~k~h~~kZip, "za9/r- /L zai9re, 6AP-    rt;OF
te 61'e-<>c~ 4,9 Af                ineO
U~Pf (7sC z'/%0 dic,c nzc cp~ tqzx   tewst2t r
6z~vc~uraw[5<        /~at~wS~set4#>[4' fttt voea-             t
-fkow ffaw           ca$vU7    1/                e e, 9,c/4 9 C  &
6140444?Alf ec&4-14e,       4     C -#rv cra e   Pelt  AcB4
e;  4                          or;  era I />v67  t f;)<<Ze X8t' 
4,       U('oeWq  4911"A"'C1~4~L~'7~pa~;~tr  Ig~s~ ~tc~c, ~3c~~c,  c~c ~tz~~ rstrtZ~s Ba~ I-~i —~4~Q~~  ~aP~ Jo;~~     ll~4 -   9~cl~~e~~~P~w
c~cbae~-~a~ l~e~ d~I    lc~Ef~~;lJore~,~~~en~~;q2~~~~:                 i~~ld (




t9~
N ba
S     e 
A.~N
k    n_
lb 0. k N...     i
ltJ    
9.F,",
f  0
17-  \l
"N




(2' lanslatl2o7..)
ilte  Kast getter of   tneenm  Mlatrie ~nltoinette.
"16th December, half-past 4 in the morning.
"It is to you, my sister, that I write for the last time. I have been condemned, not to a shameful
death-death is only shameful to criminals —bit to rejoin your brother: like him, innocent, I hope to
manifest the same firmness as he in these last homents. I am calm as one is when the conscience reproaches one with nothing. I am profoundly grieved to quit my poor children, you know that I existed
only for them; and you, my good, tender sisteri you, who have in your friendship sacrificed everything
to be with us, in what a position do I leave you! I have learnt from the pleadings that my daughter is
separated from you. Alas! the poor child, I dare not write to her, she would not receive my letter; I
do not even know whether this will reach you; receive here for them both my benediction. I hope that
one day, that when they are older, they may be able to rejoin you, and be happy in your tender care.
Let them both keep in mind that which I have never ceased to inculcate upon them, that principle, and
the exact execution of one's duties, form the first basis of life, that their mutual friendship and confidence
will constitute its happiness; let my daughter feel that, at her age, she should aid her brother with the
counsels which her experience, greater than his, and her friendship may inspire her with; let my son,
on his part, render to his sister all the attention, all the services that friendship may suggest. Let
them both, in a word, feel, that in whatever position they may be placed, they will never be truly happy
unless they are united. Let them take example from us, and reflect how greatly in our misfortunes
our friendship has been our consolation, while in happiness one enjoys it doubly when shared
with a friend, and of friends, where shall we find tenderer or dearer than the members of our own fanily? Let my son never forget the last words of his father, which I emphatically repeat:' that lie never
seek to avenge our death.' I have to speak to you on a subject which is sorely painful to my heart. I
know how much trouble that child must have given you, forgive him, my dear sister, think of his age,
and how easy it is to make a child say what one wishes him, and even what lie does not comprehend.
I only trust that a day will come when he will appreciate more fully all your goodness and tender affection for both of them. I have still to confide to you my last thoughts, which I should have wished to
write at the commencement of the trial; but, besides that I was not permitted to write, the prlogress of
the trial has been so rapid that I should really not have had time.
" I die in the Catholic, Apostolical, and Roman religion, the religion of my ancestors, the religion in
which I have been brought up, and which I have always professed. Having no spiritual consolation to
hope for, not knowing whether there still exist here priests of that religion, and feeling that the place
wherein I am would expose them too dangerously, were they once to enter it, I sincerely implore pardon
of God for all the faults I may have committed since my birth. I hope that in His goodness He will
deign to receive my last prayers, and those which I have long been offering up to Him, that He will
please to receive my soul into His mercy and goodness. I ask pardon of all those I knew, and of you,
my sister, especially, for all the trouble that, without knowing it, I may have caused you. I pardon all
my enemies the evil they have done me. I bid here adieu to my aunts, and to all my brothers and sisters. I had friends; the thought that I am about to be separated from them for ever, and of their
trouble, is one of the deepest regrets that I bear with me in dying; let them know at least that, up to
my last moment I thought of them.  Adieu, my good and tender sister, may this letter reach you!
Think always of me; I embrace you with my whole heart, and those poor dear children! Oh, God I
how agonising it is to quit them for ever! Farewell! Farewell! My remaining moments I shall occupy solely with my spiritual duties. As I am not free in my actions, they may perhaps bring me a priest,
but I here protest that I will not say one word to him, and that I will treat him as wholly and entirely
a stranger."




1793.)       SINION, TUTOR OF THE  1D)AUPHIN.               189
The Queen's religious cares.
the odious words which had been put into the mouth of her
simple child, might-fall on the agonised heart of Madame
Elizabeth, and might be even turned against herself as an
object of calumny. The Queen, addressing her son, added the
following words: " Let my son never forget the last words of
his father, which I repeat to him  here, on purpose that he
may remember them:'Never let him  think of avenging our
death, —I forgive all my enemies the injuries they have done
me.'"
It is well known that there  exists a story, founded on
the most respectable testimony, according to which it appears
that the Conciergerie was opened to admit a priest who had
not taken the oath of conformity, and who came to console the
Queen in her last sorrows, and strengthen her in her last
struggle.  The Abbe Magnin, who was afterwards cure of
Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, was admitted into the Conciergepie
under the name of M. Charles, and into the Queen's chamber
by one of those holy maidens whose devotion acknowledges no
obstacles.
There is in existence an attestation signed by him, and
couched in the following terms: " I certify besides, that in
the month of October, 1793, I had the honour of being: admitted into the Conciergerie with Mdlle. Fouche several times,
in order to confess the Queen Marie Antoinette there, to say
mass, and to give her the sacrament."*
* This declaration is in the possession of Baron Hyde de Neuville, who
expresses himself' as follows, in a letter written in reference to the " Girondins," by Lamartine, and which is to be found in the " Etudes Critiques
sur les Girondins," by M. A. Nettement: "I have more than mere oral
evidence that the Queen took the sacrament in her dungeon. Precious
documents have been intrusted to me. I have in rny possession letters
fiom Madame Bault, wife to the keeper of the prison. In one of these she
says that Abb6 Magnin' had courage to penetrate, through numberless
dangers, the prison of that illustrious Princess, in order to bring her the
consolations of religion.' I have also a declaration, made by a very honourable man, a friend of M. Bault, in which he expresses himself as follows:'One evening, towards the end of September or beginning of




140              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOIO 12.
The Queen's execution.
On the W55th Yendemiaire, 2nd year (16th October, 1793),
at five o'clock  in  the  morning, the roll-call was beaten
through all the sections of the city, and at seven o'clock the
whole of the armed force was on foot. Guns were placed at
the entrances of the bridges, and in all the squares and crossings
from the Palais-de-Justice to the Place de la Revolution.*
The approaches to the Conciergerie, and the broad steps
leading up to the parliament-house, were thronged with curious
spectators; others were to be seen at the windows, on the
bars and balustrades, on the cornices, and even on the roofs.
At eleven o'clock the officials came to take the Queen to
the scaffold.  She was found, they say, talking with a constitutional priest,-t admitted to her, as she had foreseen would be
the case, by order of the Commune. The Queen had not given
him time to complete his first sentence. H-Ie had begun:
" Your death is about to expiate-"  " Yes, sir, my faults,
but not a single crime." After this interruption, the conversation changed in its tone. As the priest was exhorting her
to have courage: "s Ah, sir!" replied the Queen; " I have
been serving my apprenticeship to it for several years; and it
will not be at the very moment that is to terminate my misfortunes that I shall be seen to fail."
We have before us the unpublished account of an eyewitness,- who, together with several friends —royalists like
himself, and, like himself, dressed so as to avoid suspicionfollowed the Queen from the Conciergerie to the foot of the
scaffold, in the vague hope that some signal might be given to
October, as I was vith M. Bault, I saw a person come in, whose appearance was very remarkable and greatly attracted my attention. Mdlle.
Bault, who waited on the unfortunate Queen, told me that it was M. Charles,
confessor and spiritual comforter to the Queen.' I have other declarations
and certificates proving the same fact."
* "History of the Last Reign of the French Monarchy," Vol. II.,
p. 342.
f M. Girard, cure of Saint-Landry.
t Viscount Charles Desfossez.




1793.]       SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                  141
The Queen's execution.
save the Queen from the executioner's grasp.  VWe give this
faithful and interesting narrative, in which we have altered
nothing, only reserving to ourselves the task of completing it
by furnishing further details.
" At the moment when the doors of tho entrance-arch
were opened the fatal cart was dragged several paces off.
There were detachments from all the sections under arms; that
of the Gravilliers, my own, one of the most revolutionary, was
well selected, and posted near the vehicle. The crowd in the
court-yard was not very great, for no one had been allowed to
pass in for above an hour before. I thought I could observe
a sort of silent curiosity that augured well on the faces of all
around: at so solemn a time one often thinks one sees what
one wishes to see. I was close to the right wheel of the cart,
sufficiently near to observe all the details; very dirty and
muddy it was, with a plank for a seat, with no hay or straw
upon it; a white horse, sturdy and strong, a step behind; and
a man, with a stern and sinister countenance, at the horse's
head.  A  slight movement of impatience was beginning to
show itself; the troops were under arms; a superior officer of
the National Guard, on horseback-it was Grammont, an
actor belonging to the Com6die-Frangaise*-gave the word of
command.  Everyone turned towards the gates; the wicket
opened, and the victim, pale, but queenly still, appeared;
behind her came Sanson, the executioner, holding the ends of
a thick rope which bound back the elbows of the royal con.
demned.  She moved forward the few steps necessary to
reach the step, to which a little ladder, of four or five
bars, had been attached, The executioner, who was showing
* Grammont belonged to the Moontansier Theatre. He was guillotined,
together with his son, General Dillon, Chaumette, and Lebrasse, whonm
we mentioned in Vol. I., p. 390; and the register of his death is as follows:" Nourry Grammont, ex-actor at the Montansier Theatre, afterwards adjutant-general of the revolutionary army, aged forty-two, native of La
Rochelle (Lower Charente), resident at Paris, Passage des Petits-PVres,
section of William Tell.




142            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 12.
The Queen's execution.
the Queen where she was to put her foot, was followed by an
assistant. Sanson went to give his hand to support the Queen:
the Queen —it was indeed herself —turned her head gravely,
made a sign in the negative, and having ascended without
aid, was about to sit down facing the horse, when the two
executioners showed her that she was to take the opposite
place, while the priest got into the car. These arrangements occupied some time.  The executioner-and this circumstance struck me forcibly-took very evident pains to hold
the cords very slack.  He placed himself behind the Queen,
leaning against the side-bars of the cart, and his assistant at
the farther end, both standing, with their three-cornered hats
in their hands. Leaving the courtyard, the car proceeded
slowly through an immense crowd of people who threw them
selves before it, but offered no insult, and uttered neither
cries nor murmurs. It was not till they had proceeded a long
way, and had reached the entrance of the Rue Saint-Honore,
that any clamour was heard. The priest spoke little, or not
at all. I had time to examine the Queen and her dress. She
had on a white petticoat above, with a black one under it, a
kind of white night-jacket, black ribbon on her wrists, a
neckkerchief of plain white muslin, and a cap with a small
piece of black ribbon; her hair was quite white, and cut
close all round her cap.  She was pale, but a slight flush
was visible on her temples; her eyes bloodshot, and her eyelids motionless and stiff. This portrait of her, as well as all
the rest of the description, I wrote when I went home. When
they reached the'Jacobin' gate-it was then a passage-the
Queen had not yet spoken to the priest; only, fr'om time to
time, the latter laid his hand on the left arm of the victim,
who showed, by some motion, the suffering occasioned her by
the pressure of the cords. On the arcade surmounting the
gate of the Passage des Jacobins, there was a large bill stuck
up, bearing this inscription:' Manufacturer of Republican weapons for overthrowing tyrants.' I thought the Queen had not




F1798.]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DATJPHIN.                148
The Queen's execution.
been able to read it easily, for she turned round suddenly to
the priest, as it seemed, to ask him a question; he held up
for a moment a little ivory crucifix, from which he had never
moved his eyes.  At the same instant Grammont, who had
still accompanied the cart, held up his sword, brandishing it
about in every direction; and then, rising up in his stirrups,
cried out in a loud voice some words which I was unable to
catch; then he turned again towards the death-cart, saying,
with horrid oaths,' There she is, that infamous Antoinette!
She is done for,  my friends!' Some drunken vociferations
followed. I slunk into the crowd, on a sign concerted with
my friends: we were forced to abandon all hope of saving the
Queen."
Thus the men who had swelled the crowd in the hope of
lending their best assistance to any attempt in favour of the
victim, were obliged to retire with averted heads, that they
might not be present at her execution. There are but few
details remaining for us to give in order to complete an account
most sadly true.
Louis XVI., who had been tried as king, had been conveyed to the scaffold in a carriage; his widow, tried merely as
a citizen, was obliged to go in a cart, seated on a board. But
the royal condemned one, clothed in white, like the martyrs to
the Christian faith in olden times, her hands bound behind
her back, went to her doom dignified, and still looking compassionately and calmly on the tumult that surrounded her. The
houses on her way were shut up and silent; in the Rue SaintHonor6, nearly opposite the Oratory, a little child, held up by
his mother, bowed his head before Marie Antoinette, and
kissed his hand to her.-  At this sight, so new to her, the
* The expression, in French, bears a double sense, and no one above
the dregs of the people would use it in the presence of a woman.TRANSLATOR.
+ "' Secret Memoirs, 0e. on the Mitsfortunes and Death of the Queen of
France," by M. Lafont d'Aussonne, 1825i.




14~4            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 12.
The Queen's execution.
Queen coloured with emotion, and her eyes filled with
tears.
The victim was not destined to meet with insult except
at certain points, where a multitude, rendered fanatic by
their hatred, had been collected for the purpose.  Thus,
opposite Saint-Roch the procession halted, in obedience to a
sign from  Grammont,* that the multitude thronging  the
church-steps might insult the Queen at their leisure. A.
hundred yards further on, as we have seen, the cries were redoubled before the Passage des Jacobins. The Commune of
Paris did not wish a Queen of France to pass through her
capital without pomp, and without an escort; they therefore
despatched to this festival all that crowd of drunken women,
covered with rags, and with the red caps on their heads, who
were enrolled and paid for the purpose of accompanying the
victims, pointed out by the revolutionary tribunal, to their death,
pursuing them with imprecations, and throwing mud at them,
and uttering howls and cries of " Bravo!" at every fall of the
fatal cleaver. And it was this troop of furies that saluted the
daughter of the Ce.sars with the names of Medicis, Fredegonde, and Messalina, calling for her blood to drink, in justification of the horrible name bestowed on them by the Commune —" the Blood-lickers of the Guillotine."
She was still a Queen in the Temple prison; still a Queen
on the rude pallet, the straw chair, and wooden stool at the
Conciergerie; still a Queen on the cart that bore her to
the scaffold.  A sort of dignified greatness seemed always
shining round her. The august victim looked on, to the end,
with calmness at this abused people; no expression of hate
altered the serenity of her glance, which, loosed from things
of earth, seemed to take a wider and higher range.  "Alas!"
said she, " my sorrows will soon be over, but yours are only
beginning."  When she reached the place where the blood of
* " Secret Memoirs, &c., on the Misfortunes and Death of the Queen
of France," by M. Lafont d'Aussonne, 1825.




149..3    SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              145
The Queen's execution,
Louis XVI. had been shed, she ascended the steps of the
scaffold with a firm tread, turned her gaze for a moment with
mournful meaning on the Tuileries, prayed fervently, raised
her eyes to Heaven, and then, turning towards the executioner,
"Make haste!" she said; and bowing her head, she received
the fatal blow.*
The prisoners at the Temple remained in ignorance of the
murder of the Queen. The municipals on duty, the keepers,
and the servants employed in the tower, were charitably discreet
enough not to acquaint them with this piece of news. Simon
knew about it, but he did not speak of it either; he knew
that the head of Marie-Antoinette was doomed to the executioner's hand, but he was not aware on what day the executioner was to claim  it.  On the morning of the 16th
October, he thought he heard a slight disturbance without;
the rappel had been beaten, and a confused noise announced
some unusual stir to be going on in that populous city. His
impatient curiosity drove him up to the platform, which was
the point of observation whence he was in the habit of
trying to catch some passing scenes, or at least some words,
of the great drama then enacting.  He dragged his pupil
thither with him, and his wife followed. I ought to have
mentioned before an episode which occurred some two or
three days previously, and which could not have occurred
except in times like these.  The prisons were so full, and
the lists of the public accuser so overstocked with criminal
affairs, that it was impossible to be very careful, or to devote
much time to proving the identity of the condemned. Two
persons were going to the scaffold by mistake, instead of
two others who bore the same name; the latter protested
against the error, and went to their doom accordingly. This
fact, which so clearly shows what the tribunals and what the
* See, in 1No. VI. of the Documents, the inventory made two years
later, when the seals on the rosewood chest of drawers, with a marble top,
which contained everything that had: belonged to the Queein were removed.
%II                   G




146            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 12.
The bet.
accused at that period were, had been the evening before
the theme of the two Simons; and when the child was
asleep, the ex-Jacobin cobbler, resuming his subject, said:
"At least, when La Veto goes to the guillotine no one will
take her place, and there will be no mistake. There are not
two of her name and place."  " She will not go to the
guillotine," replied his wife.  " And why not "  " Because
she is still beautiful, and because she can talk, and will soften
her judges."  "' Justice is incorruptible!" was the answer of
the sententious Simon; and there the matter rested.
I know not why the woman had imagined that the Queen
would not be put to death. Whether she wished she might
be acquitted, or feared she might not be condemned-at all
events she did not think that she would have to ascend the
scaffold.  Simon, on his part, had a clearer political view;
he had sought revolutionary inspiration at the very fountainhead, and he knew what to think concerning the fate reserved
for Marie Antoinette. When they reached the top of the
tower, they heard the troops returning to quarters.  Simon
resumed the discussion of the night before in veiled language,
saying to his wife: " I should not be surprised if all this
bustle were found out to relate to the person we were talking
of last night." "' I am sure it does not," returned Marie
Jeanne; " they would not have treated her with so much ceremony."  Then a bet was laid between Simon and his wife as
to the death of the Queen of France, the loser engaging to
pay for and provide certain glasses of brandy, intended to
cheer the quiet evening. The commissaries on duty soon
appeared on the platform, and - Simon learned from them that
his presentiments were just; he asked them, aside, for some
information on the subject, and then, approaching his wife:
"Thou hast lost thy bet," said he.  "What bet?" asked the
royal child, ingenuously, as he rolled about his foot-ball in the
narrow corridor that served as a walk.  " The bet is no business of thine, but if thou art good thou shalt have a share."




1793.]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHtIN.o           1147
A family quarrel.
And that same evening, accordingly, the son of Mario
Antoinette raised to his lips some of the brandy with which
his jailers were drinking themselves drunk, on the occasion of
his mother's death.
These details,-I have stated the source from which I
drew them,-cost me much to write; but it is my duty to give
them in all their frightful simplicity, for it seems to me that
this little picture of private life shows the familiar manners
of the Temple tower better than any historical painting. The
evening which, between drinking and smoking, had been prolonged to a late hour, ended by a little quarrel. Simon's
angry humour, which had been restrained for several days,
was greatly excited in the course of this orgie; and, for once,
it did not burst on the head of the poor innocent, who had
already taken refuge in sleep.  The drunken husband was
enraged at his prudent and economical wife, whose saving disposition had reduced the amount of the bet; and the rage of
the drunkard, disappointed in his desires, to which he had given
the rein, and in his unsatisfied longing, betrayed itself in reproaches and abuse. His words were loud enough for Madame
Elizabeth to hear; and the Princess naturally supposed that
the harsh voice, whose tones she recognised, was addressing
itself to the usual victim. This thought occupied her mind
almost the whole night long; and, hearing nothing more,
either the next day or the day after, and having no means of
learning anything, she went up to the top of the turret, by the
little staircase we have elsewhere mentioned, and kept watch
at the little window. On the second day her hopes were
crowned with success: the master and pupil appeared on the
platform, and stood still for a moment in full view of the
patient watcher,-so much so, indeed, as to leave her uncertain
whether she had herself been seen, or whether she was to attribute solely to chance the look which both turned towards her.
Some days previous to the death of the Queen, a circumstance had occurred at the Temple, which had greatly inflamed




148            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTHI.           [BOOK 12.
The billiard-table.
the sufficiently irritable temper of Simon. Although his ire
usually expended itself on one devoted head, yet his wife was
not without experiencing its effects occasionally. His colleagues,
the members of the council, could not but perceive it also,
though they only performed the duties of commissaries within
the tower by turns. Simon's wife had, therefore, said to the
latter: C "My husband does not know what to do with himself.
These. three months he has been kept in prison along with
the wolf-cub; he must not go out, he has no work to do, and he
cannot play;  he will become quit;11 with it all, if this goes on.
There used to be a billiard-table in one of the rooms of the
Temple palace, when the late Capet d'Artois lived there, and
we ask your permission to have that old billiard-table, which
was sent back to the furniture store of the Temple when the
tyrant came to live here, brought into the tower."  The municipals, who saw at once the advantage they might themselves
derive from this idea of Simon's wife, thought it admirable.
However, one of their number, more cautious than the rest,
was afraid lest the measure they had adopted might not be
approved of by their successors.  "They will profit by it in
their turn," replied Simon's wife: "the country ought, indeed,
to do something for citizens who do everything for her." These
words won the day; the billiard-table was carried in, and put
up in one of the rooms of the tower, which, on that occasion
was hung with a new paper.*
This billiard-table was to be, alternately, a source of short
recreation and additional suffering to the child-prisoner. Among
the commissaries there were a few who showed some interest
in him, and took pleasure in playing with him and teaching
him to push about-the billiard-balls; one in particular, Barelle,
a mason by profession, who was a simple, uneducated man, but
possessed a kind heart, amused himself with diverting the
child, whose sad destiny he pitied.  His colleagues at last
began to joke him on the subject, and as he was a person of no
consequence, and his talents were held in very low estimation,




1793.]     SIMION, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.            149
Barelle.
the members of the committee would say to him, jestingly,
as soon as he arrived at the Temple, "Come along, Barelle;
go and see thy good little friend! "  Barelle did not wait for a
second bidding, and the child, grateful for marks of affection
to which he was so little accustomed, always received him with
renewed delight. Barelle had rendered him one inestimable
service; he had several times got the daughter of the Temple
washerwoman introduced into the billiard-room  where the
Dauphin was, on the days when her mother used to bring the
clean linen back to the tower.* This little girl was eight years
old, and whenever she came the little captive King and the
washerwoman's daughter had long games of play together,
round about the billiard-table.  Only think, reader, the son of
Louis XVI. had not played with a child of his own age since
his walks to the house of Madame de Leyde! Therefore he
had a real affection for the good Barelle, who took pains to
please him, while all others around him seemed to vie which
should annoy him most. He used to calculate beforehand, and
inform Simon of the time when this commissary, an exception
to the general rule, was likely to return. One day the child
obtained his master's permission to keep a chicken for Barelle,
who, according to his reckoning, ought to come on that day,
but there was some delay, and the commissary did not come
to the Temple till two days afterwards. As soon as he
appeared, the young Prince ran to meet him, and offered
him his chicken.  Barelle hesitated to accept it, but Simon,
who witnessed the scene, said to the municipal, " Come, come,
take it! he has kept it for you these two days;" so saying, he
wrapped the chicken up in a sheet of paper, and Barelle put it
in his pocket, saying to the son of Louis XVI.: "Ah! my
poor little man, I should be very glad to be able to carry you
away like that in my other pocket, and get you out of this place!"
* See, in Document No. VII., the bills of the citizeness Cloiiet washer.
woman to the Temple.




150           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOOK 12.
Brutalities.
Alas! among so many municipals there were scarcely any
but Barelle who showed a liking for the child; and it was
not long before the brutality of the other municipals made this
billiard-table, which had at first procured him some amusement,
a source of renewed suffering and vexation.
It might have been hoped that this new kind of recreation,
occupying the leisure moments of the master and his colleagues,
would become, as it were, a time of truce, during which the
slave might breathe in peace; but this was a very rare exception.
Most frequently, as soon as the child entered the room, he
became an object of ridicule and annoyance for every one of
the jailers and municipals. Under pretence of showing him
how to play, they all wanted to catch hold of him, play off
their jokes, and shower their nicknames upon him. If his
gentleness and the pretty ways that still remained to him
succeeded in disarming them one day, on the next the municipality was represented at the Temple by their most brutal
members. It was useless for him not to defend himself, and
make but few complaints, for fear of irritating them,-he could
not escape from their rough play, and the fancy they had for
taking him up into their arms, and throwing him about, amid
the stench of pipes, tossing him from one spot to another,
from arm to arm, to be shaken and suffocated again and again.
Yes! he had all that to bear; young as he was, he had to
endure clouds of tobacco-smoke and the fumes of wine, and
even to be spit upon, as smoking drunkards'did upon the head
of Charles I., before the headsman took it up.  Things came
to such a height that citizen La Bazanerie,* commanding the
armed force of the Temple guard-house, and Coru, steward at
the Temple, who did not like such cruel games, fearing that
their responsibility might be compromised by the dangers to
which the young prisoner was exposed amid these orgies,
a A carpenter by trade, Rue Fontaine-au-Roi, Faubourg du Temple,
and chef-de-bataillon in that section.




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                1
The two Princesses.
thought it a part of their duty to give an account of these
proceedings to the council-general of the Commune; and the
billiard-table was taken down and put back in the store-room.
Madame Royale, who had been confronted with her brother in
that scene on the 7th October (which we have already described,
though imperfectly), knew, as did her aunt, that the young
Prince was excessively altered; but the child's ideas and language were much more changed than his countenance, and it was,
doubtless, that moral change which had most painfully struck
his aunt and sister. The two Princesses themselves were more
to be pitied than ever. Every voice around them was silent, and
every face sought to deceive them. Since Tison's confinement
and the arrest of M. Hue, there was for them neither sympathy
within nor communication from without. Bowing resignedly
beneath the hand of God, they submitted to His will, and no
longer inquired what was passing in the world. They did not even
know that, from the time of the Queen's death (of which they
were uninformed), the question had been mooted as to the expediency of removing them from that prison, where at least they
were permitted to weep together.  Chaumette had represented,
more than once already, that this house of confinement was a
special, exceptional, and aristocratic refuge, contrary to the
feeling of equality presiding over the system of government and
the- regulations of the state-prisons; but, some days after the
Queen's last sufferings, he thought proper to give in a more
official statement* of his opinions on that head, and "brought
before the council-general of the Commune the absurdity of
keeping three individuals in the Temple tower, whose maintenance occasioned enormous expense, and much charge for
servants."   The Commune acknowledged the justice of their
* "The attorney-general of the Commune complains of the expense
occasioned by the detention of those individuals confined in the tower. He
demands, and it is desired by the council, that, in the next- decade, the
Assembly proceed in a body to the Convention, in order to desire that
the prisoners in the Temple be sent to the common prisons, and treated




152             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             rBOOF, 12.
The two Princesses.
attorney's proposal, and resolved to repair in a body to the
Convention, in order to demand that the prisoners at the
Temple should be conveyed to the common prisons, and their
food reduced to the regulation fare of all the other prisoners.
More cautious than the municipality, the committee of public
welfare did not adopt the measure -proposed without examining
into it.  They sent for Chaumette, and heard his arguments,
which they rejected, after deliberating upon them, and maintained the privileges attached to that rigid prison, of which
the revolutionary Commune were seeking to deprive the descendants of the very monarchs who had freed the communes.
Repulsed in this quarter, the municipality of Paris endeavoured to obtain their revenge in another direction; they
made another and a most rigorous search throughout the
apartments in the Temple, in the hope of discovering some
papers or matters which might compromise Madame Elizabeth,
but they found nothing that could even serve as a pretext
for an accusation.  No matter, there were no obstacles they
were incapable of surmounting, in order to bring about their
designs, and once more they had recourse to the unfortunate
orphan, in order to obtain weapons that might be turned
against the second mother they had determined to wrest from
him.  But Simon and his wife were much more embarrassed
this time, than they had been in the plot formeed against the
Queen. They wanted the instruction and advice of HeIbert;
like ordinary prisoners, and that the said individuals be tried without any
delay."
(Council-general of the Commune, sitting of the 26th Brumaire, 2nd
year, 16th November, 1'793.)
This resolution was renewed five days afterwards:
" The council-general decrees that, on the next quintidi, the members
repair in a body to the Convention, in order to demand to be released fromn
the Temple guard, and that the prisoners detained there be conveyed to
the common prisons, and directs Legrand to draw up a petition to that
effect."
(Sitting of the Commune, of the Ist Frimaire, 2nd year, 21st November,
1793.)




79s.,]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              1b8
Plot against the Princesses.
they had. not even the advantage of Daujon's pen, and in the
report which they, unassisted by others, directed to the municipals, betrayed the absence of such skilful associates. We
give the document, which, on this occasion, was more absurd
than disgusting, under date of the 5th Brumaire, 2nd year
(26th October, 1793):" Commune of Paris.*
"' The 5th day of the 2nd month of the 2nd year of the Republic, one
and indivisible; eight o'clock, rP..
"' Citizen Simon came to the Temple council in order to
report a conversation which he had had with little Capet, by
which it appeared that a certain member of the Commune
had held some correspondence with his mother.  Simon not
wishing to name this member before, as a preparatory step,
the council had themselves taken the boy's declaration, the
council named two of their members, citizens Follope and
Figuet, to interrogate little uapet.  They went up immediately into the room, where, in presence, of Simon's wife, they
turned the conversation on various subjects, and leading it
imperceptibly to the members of the Commune, he said:"' That one day, Simon being on duty in his mother's woom,
together with Jobert, the said Jobert had given her two notes
on that day, without Simon's seeing it, which trick had made
those ladies laugh a great deal, more especially because they
had eluded the vigilance of Simon, but that he, the deponent,
had not seen the notes, only that the ladies had told him
about the matter.'
"The above-named commissaries having gone down to the
council-room, they read- this present declaration there; upon
which Simon stated that it agreed with that made verbally to
him by little Capet.
* This document is deposited in the National Archives (iron chest).




154           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH,           [BOOK 12.
Plot against the Princesses.
"This present declaration having been read to little Capet,
he still persisted in it, and signed his name.
" And, before signing, little Capet said that his mother
was afraid of his aunt, and that his aunt was the person who
carried out plots the best ",W I?6 6tzo9e em
The young Prince's signature, the last of his we possess, is
here faithfully transcribed, as well as a few words in Simon's
hand, which accompanied it. By comparing the weak unsteady
characters in which the son of Louis XVI. signed his name to
this document with his former writings, of which we have
given a specimen, Vol. I., page 198, we may judge of the retrograde movement made in his education, under the tutelage of
Simon.
The Commune was sensible enough not to take up such a
story seriously, and modest enough not to make use of it without
fortifying it with new declarations; and, on the 13th Frimaire
following (3rd December, 1793), a second report was fabricated, in which Simon again brought forward the most innocent,




8193.]      $SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                      155
Plot against the Princesses.
and yet the most terrible, accuser that ever appeared in history.*
This new paper presented scarce any better proof or guarantee than the preceding one had done, and the councilgeneral of the Commune recoiled from  the idea of supporting
* We give this report:-'"On this day, 13th Frimaire, 2nd year of the Republic, one and
indivisible, we, commissaries of the Commune on duty at the Temple, on
being informed by citizen Simon that Charles Capet had some facts to
state, which it was of importance to the safety of the republic should be
known, repaired at four o'clock in the afternoon to the apartment of the
said Charles Capet, who made declaration as follows:"'That, for about a fortnight or three weeks past, he has heard the
prisoners knocking every day consecutively between six and nine o'clock;
that since the day before yesterday this noise was made later, and lasted a
longer time, than on any of the preceding days; that this noise seemed to
come from the place answering to the heap of firewood; that besides, from
the step accompanying the noise, the prisoners during this time left the
firewood heap, which he pointed out, and moved to the window-seat in
their bedroom, which gives room for supposing that they are in the habit
of hiding something in those vindow-seats; he thinks it might be false
assignats, but is not sure of this, and they might be passing them through
the window to send to some one.'
"' The said Charles farther made declaration that, at the time he was
with the prisoners, he saw a bit of wood with a long ribbon and a crooked
pin attached to it, by which he supposes they might have communicated, by
letter, with the late Capet.
"' And further, Charles Capet remembers his having been told, in case
he went down with his father, that he was to remind him to go every day,
at half-past eight o'clock, P.M., into the passage leading into the turrets
where there was a window looking from the prisoners' apartment.
" Further, Charles Capet made declaration to us, that he was firmly
persuaded that the prisoners had some understanding or correspondence
with somebody.
" F'urther, he declared that he had heard a letter read, in which it was
stated that Clery had proposed the means of correspondence, presumed by
the deponent, to the late Capet; that Capet had replied to Cl6ry that it
was not practicable, and that this answer was made to Cl6ry solely that he
might entertain no suspicion of such a correspondence.
" Declared that he had seen the prisoners very uneasy, because one of
their letters had fallen into the court-yard.
"Citizen Simon having been asked if he knew of the above-mentioned
noise, he replied that, being a little hard of hearing, he had perceived
nothing of the kind; but his wife confirmed the statement of Charles Capet
respecting the noise.




;156          LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.              [BOOR 2.,
Conspiraey against the Piincesses
a capital accusation by such flimsy piretexts.  One circumstance, however, strikes me in the business; it is Siemon's
refusal to join his wife and the Dauphin in the first deposition
contained in the report, referring to the noise heard in the
Princesses' apartment. The pretext he alleges of his deafness,
as a reason for not having heard this noise, would seem to be
a scruple of conscience which would reasonably astonish one
in such a man, if one did not see that it was rather the result
of cool calculation on his part, in order to give more weight to
his other assertions, especially to that next following, in which
he says, that, "Ifor abot a week, Charles Capet had been
most anxious to make his declaration to the members of the
council."
Tormented by his jailers and the commissaries, the unforo
tunate child knew not the serious nature of the evil reports
they obliged him to make, —knew not how heavy were the blows
they directed against his family.  His poor mother, when
about to die, had entreated Madame Elizabeth to forgive him
but Madame Elizabeth had nothing toforgive; she knew the
source from whence came all these perfidious suggestions, and
did not impute them to the child.  His words might occasion
her death, but not excite the least resentment on her part.
We have said that, ever since the 2lst September, Tison
had been confined in the turret. Repentant and resigned, he
accepted his disgrace, and bore his captivity in silence, as an
expiation of his past conduct. Still, being uneasy about his
wife and daughter, of whom he had heard nothing, he petitioned
to be released on the 10th December.  Hebert argued against
his request, alleging that, were he set at liberty, the govern"The said citizen Simon told us that, for about a week, the said Charles
Capet had been very anxious to make his declaration to the meumbers of
the council.
"This having been read to the said deponents, they acknowledged its
truth, and signed, the day and year above-mentioned.
(Signed) "CHARLES CAPET, SIMON, SIMON (Wife), REMY,
SEGUY, ROBIN, SILLANS."




1793.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              157,
Plot against the Princesses.
ment would lose all the information he was capable of giving,
with regard to Madame Elizabeth   Before deciding upon his
petition, the committee of public welfare ordered the petitioner
to be strictly examined. The interrogatory having produced
no charge against the sister of Louis XVI., the committee, far
from granting a favour which had not been purchased by a false
accusation, ordered Tison to be placed in secret confinement,
and his food reduced to the barest necessaries! of life. This
news did not exactly distress Simon, who looked upon Tison as
a traitor, but it made him uneasy, or at least led him to reflect
on his own position. He asked himself what would probably
be his own reward, after having spent months, perhaps years,
in the rigid task imposed upon him. Although he had confidence enough in the protection of his chiefs, and the stability
of their power, the general spectacle of vicissitudes so common
in those stormy times, and the particular example of his
neighbour Tison, necessarily caused him  some disquietude.
Notwithstanding the advantages and liberal remuneration, which,
in his eyes, compensated for the tiresome nature of his position, and made him an object of envy with his colleagues, he
began to be disgusted with his captive life, which rendered
him a complete slave at the present time, and of which the
future was so uncertain. Incessant beating and ill-treatment,
which had been heaped upon his pupil, had indeed already
altered his health in a very evident degree; but the struggle
might be prolonged fbr some years yet, so difficult is it to
wear out life at that age! Simon could not look forward to the
termination of his labours at a period sufficiently near to be
sure of the reward.  The countenance of the victim, once so
smiling, now indeed bore the impress of profound melancholy;
his complexion, once so fresh and rosy, was become dull and
yellow; his features were changed; his limbs had exceeded in
length their natural proportions, and his back was imperceptibly becoming bent, as if bowed down beneath the heavy
burden of the day. He passed sleepless nights on his pillow,




158            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 12.
The artificial calary.
tormented perhaps by the thought that he had signed a paper of
contents unknown, and perhaps fatal.  Who knows what was
his remorse? But the struggle threatened to be obstinate and
long, inasmuch as all resistance on the part of the child had,
so to speak, entirely ceased.  Seeing that every word and
action drew down either a rebuke, an ironical remark, or blows,
he became shy; he hardly ventured to reply yes or no to the
most simple question. He was like one mute, like one deaf; he
doubted his past life, he doubted himself; he asked himself
whether it were not just that he should be the slave of Simon;
whether the Jacobin Simon were not his master lawfully.  So
that, having no longer even an excuse for inflicting punishment,
the tutor, retarded in his progress by blind obedience on
the part of his pupil, and thwarted in his design by a mechanical submission, was obliged to invent occasions for brutality:
being no longer able to punish, he was reduced to the necessity
of becoming an assassin.
the misfortunes of that innocent being, and the degradation to which his noble nature was subjected, did not fail, however, to inspire some compassion, and call forth some remonstrances in his favour, even within the Temple precincts. Some
of the persons employed there, among others, Gourlet, one of
the turnkeys, and the faithful Meunier, who had won the good
will of the rude demagogue by the zeal with which he performed his duties, attempted the difficult and dangerous enterprise of coming to the assistance of the little martyr.  In the
Temple store-room there was a certain curiously constructed
bird-cage, the works of which set in *motion a little artificial
canary. The bird was fixed on a perch in the middle of the
cage, and could not leave its place; but the wheels by which it
was worked enabled it to flap its wings, spread out its tail,
move its head, and, what was yet more wonderful, sing the
" King's March "  ieunier and Gourlet induced Simon to ask
the Temple council for this plaything for his prisoner; but
they were not ignorant {that the consent of Sijmon himself was




1~93.]       SIMvON, TUTOR OF THIE DAUPHIN.                159
The artificial canary.
more difficult to obtain than that of the municipals.  However,
his own curiosity coming to the assistance of their exhortations,
the master did not deny to his pupil an amusement in which he
himself would have his share, and he took the step that had
been proposed to him; it was completely successful, the commissaries on duty for the day happening to be very moderate
in their opinions, for representatives of the Commune. The
cage was taken out of the dusty store-room, and having been
repaired by a watchmaker, was brought to Simon's room.* The
magic bird greatly pleased young. Charles, who, at first sight.
took it for a real canary-bird; his enthusiasm rose higher still
when he found it was a masterpiece of art; but, if his surprise
was greater, his pleasure was less, and he soon looked with
indifference on the little bird he had at first thought to be
alive, unhappy, and a prisoner like himself, and which proved
to be only the inanimate rival of the flute-player of Vaucanson.
The reason was, that he no longer recognised in it that precious
characteristic of a creature capable of suffering and pleasure,
bringing "life into contact with life, and reminding man of
his fellow-man," according to Terence's beautiful expression.
The good-hearted Meunier went round the neighbourhood
of the Temple, looking for tame canaries to amuse the Dauphin,
for by this ancient royal name it was that the citizens of Paris,
from  old habit, still called the son of their decapitated King.
Meunier's wishes were attended to in several houses which had
* "I beg the citizen commissaries of the national treasury to pay
to citizen Bourdier, watchmaker, the sum of three hundred livres, the
amount of his bill, for repairing a bird-cage at the Temple, in Nivise
last, according to the said bill and the certificate of the same, 22nd of that
month.
" Which sum of three hundred livres is to be included in the list of distributions fiom the 1st to the 9th Germinal next, and the ordinance transmitted immediately to the national treasury.
"Paris, 26th Ventase, 2nd year of the Republic, one and indivisible
(16th Mlarch, 1794).
"Minister of the Interior."
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6'207.)




160           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH~            [BOOK 12,
The canaries.
been pointed out to him, and the heads of which most eagerly
and willingly placed their whole stock of birds at his disposal.
He returned, accordingly, with some ten or a dozen canariesall delightfully tame and charming.  Their lively ways and
warblings greatly enlivened the dull room, where, from within
his cage, the imperturbable automaton still repeated his eternal tune, the "King's March."  "These, at least, are real
birds!" exclaimed the child, with glee; and taking them up, he
kissed them  one after the other. Among their number he
observed one more tame, or I should rather say, more attentive,
more affectionate, which, at his least summons, would come
and perch on his finger, and appeared to take pleasure in his
caresses; the child became very fond of it, he would give it
grains of millet to eat out of his hand, taking a great deal of
interest in it, and that he might more easily distinguish it when
it flew away among the others, he fastened a bow of pink
ribbon to its leg. But it was quite as easy for him to recognise
it by another peculiar characteristic; he had only to call it and
it would come that very moment, fluttering round his head, and
alighting on his shoulder, thence take its place on his finger
But this delightful source of amusement, which had been
agreed to and authorised, I cannot tell how, by some miraculous
piece of condescension on Simon's part, was not, alas! of any
long duration. The frail structure of consolation and pleasure
was destined to crumble into dust, on the occasion of a visit of
inspection made by the commissaries on duty, on the 29th
Frimaire, 2nd year (19th December, 1793); just as they came
in, the seditious automaton was going through his guilty per-'
formances, and the Prince's favourite was replying, by a brilliant
thrill of warbling, to the sham notes of the factitious songster.
No more was needed to devote the wooden bird and his associate,
to proscription.  The rosette attached to the leg of the canary,
was also regarded as an aggravation of the crime. "What is
the meaning," exclaimed one of the municipals; "what is
the meaning of that seditious song, and the pink ribbon




1~98.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              1 ]
The " Conspiracy of the Canaries."
adorning a privileged bird, like a decoration?  That savours of
aristocracy, and denotes a distinction which republicans cannot
tolerate." So saying, he caught hold of the poor little bird,
and tore off its "orders."  Thrown violently out of his hand,
the canary spread its wings, and broke the shock it received by
being thus precipitated against the wall; it fell, but soon rising
again on its wing, with a plaintive song joined the warbling
band of its companions. The frightened child had not lost
sight of his feathered friend; a cry escaped him when it fell,
but he uttered no word in its favour, knowing well that he
had no resource but to suffer this additional severity, which,
for once, had been left by Simon to his colleagues to commence. Will it be believed that a report was made of this
illicit amusement, which the commissaries of the Commune
immediately prohibited.  All the birds, alive or imitation,
were comprised in the condemnatory decree; and this affair
was known, within the Temple, under the title of " the Conspiracy of the Canaries;" so true it is, that at this period there
was a most unheard of mixture of the odious and the absurd.
The Revolution seems to have invented and laid down the
fundamental rules of those modern dramas, in which laughter
is mingled with sobbing, and the grotesque is allied with the
horrible. Human nature was subjected to a despotism of a
most atrocious kind.   Knowledge, virtue, nobility, wealth,
talent, youth, glory —all were trodden under foot.  But, most
assuredly nothing was more rigorously proscribed or more
outraged than common sense. In reading the follies of that
period, one feels as if one were gasping for life in an evil
dream; one almost doubts the vitality of the human understanding. In the great tragedy then performing, giant efforts
were mingled with the farcical humours of a buffoon; everything was made up of weeping, and laughter, and blood.
Judicoial irregularities, faults in grammar, errors in common
sense, and excesses against morality,-all followed in the train
of that formidable Convention, which levelled everything, and




162            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 12.
The foot-bath.
opened a clear field to the coming time.  It was on this very
day, the 19th December, 1793, that the young native of
Ajaccio, whose face was seen for a moment on the day of the
6th October, 1789, gave the signal of his future fortune
beneath the walls of Toulon.  Paris, always eager for novelty,
had turned her eyes towards the south; and, entirely engrossed
with events passing in the bright face of day, hardly paused
to inquire how the son of Louis XVI. was struggling ineffectually, in a gloomy tower, amid fatal influences that
compassed him around like an invisible network.  It seemed
as if the last sigh of Louis XVII. was destined to pass unheard, stifled by the noise of Bonaparte's first gun.
Although the blame attached to the introduction of the
bird-cage into the tower did not fall directly on Simon,
he nevertheless considered that he should have to bear his
part in it, and became very much irritated on the subject;
the more so, because he had not forgotten that his billiardtable had been taken away from him.  His ill-humour turned
to rancour against the unfortunate child, whose mission it was
to bear the brunt of his revenge. The morning after that day
he took a fancy to bathe his feet, and thought fit to be waited
on at his toilet as he was served at table; he consequently
ordered the child to warm him some linen at the fire, to dry
his feet. Trembling in presence of the all-powerful despot, the
unfortunate child obeyed his mandate with more zeal than
address, and let fall a towel, which narrowly escaped being
burned. The master remained with his feet in the water, but
swearing and shouting, and foaming with rage, he showered
curses upon the awkward servant, whom he could not reach
with his arm. A minute afterwards, thinking that his wrath was
appeased, the descendant of monarchs approached to wipe the
shoemaker's feet,-thus imitating, though he knew it not, those
most Christian kings, who, following the example of the Divine
Master, wiped the feet of the poor, in the holy solemnities of
Maundy-Thursday.  But the poor used to withdraw, blessing




1193.]       SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.                  163
Simon's brutality.
the sublime humility of royal greatness, which received a new
lustre from  the alms it bestowed; whereas, the shoemaker
sent the royal child six feet off on the floor, by a kick from the
brutal foot his little hands had just dried I The martyr lay
still, as if crushed by the blow, but the villain had not done
with him, flinging himself upon him, he struck him  with his
fist, kicked him, and called him  by names -odious to himself and insulting to his father and mother; he poured forth
upon him  a stream  of oaths, such as his spleen, elevated by
wine or political frenzy, could alone have inspired; then he conmmanded the sufferer to rise, and, as he had still some little life left
in him, he was obliged to do so. I make no comments on facts!
Day by day the disposition of the jailer grew more intractable, his passions becoming envenomed by solitude. Idleness,
seclusion, and ennui, added more and more virulent irritability,
more impatient bitterness to a character naturally violent.
Brooding over his recollections, he passed in review, over and
over again, certain incidents, the importance of which he exaggerated in his fancy.
In the month of October, he had asked permission for his
wife and himself to walk in the court-yard and gardens belonging to the Temple, and the council-general, to whom the matter
had been referred by the Temple council, had denied his request
in terms sufficiently harsh.*
* Extract from the registers of the deliberations of the Council-general.
"Commune of Paris, 16th October, 1793.
"25th day of the 1st month, 2nd year of the French Republic, one and
indivisible.
"Committee of the Temple.
"On a statement made by citizen Cellier, in the name of those members
of the council on duty at the Temple yesterday, to the effect that they had
granted Simon and his wife a ticket for walking in the court-yard and
gardens, accompanied by a member of the council, each being required to
return it when they come back to the tower, but that they had reserved the
right of submitting their resolution to the council in order to obtain their
approbation of the same 




164             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.              [BOOK 12.
Simon's annoyances.
On the 12th Brumaire (2nd November), he had expressed
a wish to go to his residence, in the Rue Marat,* in order to
get some articles of furniture of which he stood in need, and
he had been authorised to do so, only on condition of his being
accompanied by two commissaries of the Commune.
When called upon to appear as a witness before the revolutionary tribunal, he had only been permitted to repair thither
escorted by two municipals.
And lastly, on 7th Nivose (27th December), he had asked
the favour of being allowed to be present at the national f6te
in honour of the capture of Toulon, which was to be celebrated
in the next decade; and " the council-general passed to the
order of the day, deciding that Simon, being at the Temple,
should remain at his post."
From that time forth he thought his credit declining, but
this was not the case; he was a man too worthy of his superiors,
and too well adapted to the confidential business they had
intrusted him with.  But he felt his dignity lowered in the
eyes of the persons employed labout the tower, and wounded
by the loss of the amusements which had beguiled the hours
of his captivity-the billiard-table and the canaries. At the
same time, his movements wore the air of constraint more
and more. The Roman laws, in their expressive conciseness,
called the person condemned to imprisonment for life "the
slave of penalty" (servus-.pcena): Simon was the slave of his
functions, and the captive of his wardenship. His position,
which had formerly been so flattering to his pride, was beginning to appear less enviable in his eyes, and nothing but
"The council passes to the order of the day, proceeding on their former
decree, which directs that Simon have no ticket; and orders this present
decree to be sent with the least possible delay to the Temple committee.
(Signed)      "LUBIN, Vice-president.
" DORAT-CUBIERES, Secretary-registrar.
"Correct copy;
"'METTOT, Secretary-registrar."
* The Rue des Cordeliers was so called after the death of MaraLt




17o93.J    SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHTN.              165
Illness of Simon's wife.
the emoluments attached to it could now have induced him to
continue to hold it.
The mode of life in the tower was not better suited to his
wife; accustomed to the coarsest labour, she was at first very
well pleased to be waited upon in her turn, imagining, like
others of her class, that to do nothing was all that was required
to make her a great lady; but her health, no longer supported
by the incessant activity of her previous life, was sinking
beneath the weight of excessive obesity. Indeed she became
so ill as to require the assistance of medicine, and the worthy
M. Naudin, a surgeon, belonging to the Hotel-Dieu, who lived
in the neighbourhood, was called in to attend her on the 7th
Nivose, 2nd year (27th December, 1793). He prescribed for her,
and promised to come again next day. As he was going out,
he passed through the room where Simon was at table, with
the municipals and the royal child, who, although pressed on
all sides, refused to sing some impious verses which they
required of him. The appearance of the doctor aroused the
feeling of insulted authority in the master's vain mind, and
what the commissaries had entreated as a favour, he now demanded with violence. The pupil replied, as he often did in
similar circumstances, by his tears.  Simon threw  himself
upon him, and lifting him off the ground by the hair of his
head:   I'D —d viper!'" he exclaimed; "I have a mind to
crush you against the wall! " M. Naudin ran to the child,
end snatched him out of the jailer's arms, exclaiming, in the
energy of his indignation: "Wretch! what are you going to
do? " Thunderstruck by this address, the jailer gave no reply:
it is but justice to say that he did not understand it. At first
it had been to please his colleagues, and then by way of honouring the doctor's entrance, that he had wished the child to sing.
In his own opinion, therefore, his wrath was quite legitimate,
provoked as it was by the disobedience of his pupil, and
quite proper, for it showed his regret at not being able to be
agreeable to his company. As to his brutal behaviour, that was




166           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 12.
Touching incident.
nothing new. The further it was carried in circumstances such
as these, the more reasonable and well-timed did it appear
to the eyes of this man, in whom all sense of morality was
extinct.  The feeling, therefore, which had prompted the
doctor's exclamation entirely escaped him, so completely was
such language foreign to him.  The municipals themselves
were not struck by it, one of them merely contenting himself
with saying: "Citizen Naudin, you have always something to
say to make one laugh! "
The worthy doctor kept his word, and came again next day
to see the invalid. It will readily be believed that he was
attracted to the tower by another interesting motive. What
was his surprise and emotion when, as he was passing from one
room into the other, the little prisoner held him back with his
hand, and presenting him  with two pears, which had been
given him for his supper the night before, said to him, in a
tone of heartfelt sincerity: " Yesterday you proved to me that
you take an interest in me, and I thank you for it; I have
only these to show you my gratitude, and you will give me great
pleasure by accepting them." The old man caught the child's
hand, and pressed it between his own; he accepted respectfully
the gift of indigent royalty, but it was only by a tear that
he could express his gratitude, for his emotion had deprived
himn of the ipower of speech. But what are words in comparison with such a tear!
Thus, amid the decline of his strength, physical and moral,
we see that the son of Louis XVI. had preserved the feeling
of gratitude. The heart of this child was so nobly gifted that
one friendly word re-animated it, as dying embers resume their
refulgence when the ashes by which they have been covered
no longer impede the contact of the air. He had never forgotten
his mother's injunctions.  Sometimes, too, he remembered
them in his dreams, and thus it happened that his jailer
surprised him once in the middle of the night (14th
January, 1794), on his knees, with clasped hands, praying to




I9L4.]      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              167
Brutality of Simon,
God in a dream, full of religious fervour. Simon awoke his
wife, in order to show her the superstitious somnambulist,
whom he was about to chastise with severity, and then took
up a pitcher of water and poured it on the child's head, at the
risk of occasioning him a mortal illness by this icy bath in a
winter night.
Seized with a fit of shivering, the child stretched himself on his bed without uttering a cry; but, thoroughly
awakened, either by this first sensation, or by the dampness
of his couch, he got up and sought refuge on his pillow,
the only plank of safety that remained dry. There he sat
down, trembling with cold. Simon got up and half-dressed
himself, although his wife begged him tolie still; and the
child, benumbed with suffering, awaited the issue of a scene
so threatening to himself.
Simon caught hold of his arm, and shaking him violently:
"I'll teach you," he cried, "to say your paternosters, and to
get up in the night like a monk of La Trappe! " And as the
child did not understand what he meant, the jailer, whose; blood
always took fire at -the idea of an obstacle, or suspicion of
resistance, flew into a violent passion.  He armed himself
with his great hob-nailed shoe, and, in the paroxysm of his
frenzy, rushed upon his victim, and struck him on the face,
when the child stopped his arm, by holding up both his hands,
saying: "What have I done to you, that you should want to
kill me? " " To kill you, wolf-cub! as if I wanted to kill you!
as if I ever did want to do so! Oh! the viper! it does not
know, then, that if I were once to catch hold of its neck, it
would never scream again! " And with his muscular arm he
threw back the panting victim on his bed, which was running
with water like a stream, and on which he drew up his
limbs without uttering another word, trembling with cold and
terror.
Satisfied with his triumph, the jailer went to his bed again.
The triumph was great, indeed! From that night the child




lag           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 12.
A change in the captive.
was completely exhausted.  His eyes, which formerly turned
upon his master, anxiously following his movements, were now
always fixed on the ground; he no longer sought to discover
what was about to happen.
Formerly his tearful glance addressed a silent prayer to
his jailer; now his look was turned aside, and remained immovable. The captive seemed to have neither power nor will;
he had ended by submitting to his fate. HIe had long maintained an opposing will, but the spring was broken at last;
he felt his chain, he owned himself a slave, and stood in the
attitude of a guilty being before his judge.
The judge was hard by nature as well as by duty. His
disposition had become more rancorous still from seclusion and
idleness. At the commencement he was only a coarse, violent,
vain man, fanaticised by revolutionary passions, and more
brutal than wicked, but his fright-fal office had perverted him.
So that,'in his violence, now no longer called forth by disobedience, no longer justified by any sort of resistance, there was
a mechanical inclination disposing him constantly to petty acts
of authority, a causeless irritability, encouraged by his recolletion of the odious engagement into which he had entered.
At the very time when, by his obedience and resignation, the
unfortunate child might have had some hope of being safe
from his attacks, he would suddenly rush upon him, his
cruel nature being unexpectedly aroused by an impatience for
which there was no apparent motive.
But it was not the will of God that all should yet be
accomplished!
On the 13th Nivose, 2nd year (2nd January, 1794), the
municipal body passed a decree, which, conformably with
article 8, section 3rd, of the law concerning provisional government, prohibited the duties of a member of the council-general
being performed by any person holding a paid office  under
government.  Simon, tutor to Capet, and Cortu, steward of
the Temple, were affected'by this measure.




1C4.1      SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPIIN.               169
Resignation of Simon.
On the very next day Coru repaired to the - Etel-de-Ville,
and made declaration before his colleagues that he gave up his
situation, in order that he might remain a member of the
council. His disinterested conduct was applauded, and a civic
mention of his name was decreed him.  "Then," says the
report of the sitting, "there arose a debate on the question
as to whether citizen Simon, member of the council, who has
the right of option, should be required to make his choice, notwithstanding the mission intrusted to him. This debate ter'
minated by passing to the order of the day, on the ground that
the law is precise on the matter."
Coru's proceeding rendered the resignation of Simon inevitable. In fact it was not possible for the latter to show himself
less disinterested than his colleague, nor less desirous of the
marks of esteem he had won.
On the 16th Niv6se (5th January), he informed the councilgeneral that he wished to resign a situation so richly paid, in
order to resume the gratuitous duties to which he had been
called by the suffrages of the people. The council made the
same arrangements with respect to him that they had made
with Corn, granting him a civic mention of his name in the
report, and that it should be inscribed on the list of the
candidates for the salaried situations in the gift of the
Commune.
On the 19th Nivose (8th January), the council-general of
the Commune sent five of their members to the committee of
public welfare, in order "to ask their advice concerning the
nomination of the citizen who should succeed citizen Simon
as guardian to little Capet."
On the,27th Niv6se (16th January), these commissaries
announced to the council-general that the committee of public
welfare regarded the situation held by Simon as useless, and
were of opinion that the members of the council ought alone
to superintend the prisoners in the Temple.
The council-general decreed, accordingly, that four of their
I!           H




170            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.              [BOOK 12.
Farewell of the Simons.
members, commissaries on guard at the Temple, should, for
the future, have the immediate charge of the prisoners in the
Temple tower.
On the 30th Nivo6se, 2nd year (19th January, 1794), a great
noise was heard in the tower; it was Simon and his wife
breaking up their establishment, and taking leave of all the
people employed about the Temple.*  The farewell address
of the master to the pupil was just such as might have been
expected,-an insult, a blasphemy.  The woman had said to
the child: "Capet, I don't know when I shall see you again! "
"' Oh! the toad! " rejoined Simon; "he is not quite squashed
yet, but he'll never get out of the hole, even if all the
Capuchins in Heaven make it their business to get him out! "
As he spoke he pressed his hand on the head of the young
prisoner, who, silent, and with eyes cast down, received unmoved this last malediction of his jailer.t
Such was this man during his short, yet long, tyranny.
All the activity of his faculties, restrained by the captive life
he led, overflowed in bitter and brutal bad-humour on the
unfortunate child it tortured. For him it was an amusement,
which he made a task; a necessity, which he made a duty.
Condemned to devote all his time to him, he showered upon
him, in the name of the republic, emphatic and imperious
words, or frightful menaces, or cruel punishment; this was
his business as well as his pleasure.  He took great delight
too in frightening him, and, on the days when he had drunk
a little more than usual, the terror with which he loved
~ Marie-Jeanne Aladame, Simon's wife, died at the Hospital for Incurables, 10th circuit, Rue de S&vres, on the 10th June, 1819. We shall see
hereafter in what manner Simon died.
+ Next day, the report of the sitting of the Commune contained the
following "A commissary on guard at the Temple informs the councilgeneral that Simon and his wife have given up little Capet into the keeping
of the Temple commissaries, and have required a formal release from their
trust. The council-general decrees, that Simon and his wife be relieved
from the care of little Capet."




1794.]     SIMON, TUTOR OF THE DAUPHIN.              171
Simon characterized.
to inspire him was what most of all enlivened his heavy
intoxication.
He knew that nothing could appear more charming and
delightful to the chiefs he served, than to avenge themselves
upon the child for the remorse occasioned them by the murder
of his father: he knew that the victim was not to be killed,
and yet —that it must die!
With his whole heart, therefore, did he identify himself
with that policy, which had said: I will make him vegetate
in some obscure corner of a prison where he will die in silence;
where every sort of means, save only murder, shall be employed to rid me of his life! No; it is not a dream! A man
was actually found capable of shutting himself up with a child,
having taken upon himself the task of injuring him, of attacking
his health to weaken his mind, and weakening his mind to injure
his heart; a man capable of withdrawing himself from  the
world, under an engagement with his fellow-men, and a fell
determination on his part-in which he never faltered-to
make sport of the tears of a child, to seek pleasure in his
sorrows, to delight in his cries, to-make his terrors a necessity,
his degradation a duty; a man capable of sucking out his
heart's best blood without exhausting it,-never completing
the murder, but ever recommencing the attack. Yes,-such
a man was found to crown that era of crime with a crime more
frightful still! A hired assassin, he had not himself conceived
this wickedness which surpasses the most hideous fancy of the
human heart, but, during nearly seven months, he executed it
with a zeal and coolness that astonished even those who had
commanded the deed. " He is a man of admirable character,"
said Chaumette, one day; "he is inflexible and always the
same in his conduct." Yes! Simon was always inflexible and
always the same in his conduct! Never man in any situation
had shown himself so exemplary, so excellently fulfilling the
duties of his charge! Others go to their counter, their desk,
their faction, their ship, their plough, —he went to his victim!




172            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH            [BOOK 12
Simon characterized.
Never did he leave his post of wrath and vengeance.
Brooding, with a jealous eye, over his incessant labour of corruption and death, he was there, day and night, employed in
killing by inches a frail and innocent creature. After having
tormented him  the whole day, he lay down peacefully at
night, like a man who has well performed his day's work, and
with the firm resolution of beginning again next morning; and,
on the following day, he tried some new means of giving pain
to the same poor victim; after which he went to his rest, again
to obtain fresh vigour for another attempt.
I know that, as history grows old she becomes indulgent,
and that it is enough for a man to be seen fanatically convinced
on any subject for claims to be made in his favour, by bringing
forward extenuating circumstances. There is no sort of pedestal that she has not erected for the Cromwells and the Syllas;
yet Tiberius had assuredly not less genius than Robespierre,
though I do not see that Tacitus has glorified him.
How great soever this extravagance, I do hope that the
mania for finding excuses may never think of picking this vile
name —Simon!-out of the filthy sewer to which it is rightly
consigned, for the purpose of washinga it clean in the face of
day: Oh! let there be neither grace nor mercy shown to him!
May this wretched malefactor-whose hand was dyed as deep
a red as is the headsman's axe —may he never be removed
from unanimous and universal execration!




BOOK T HIRTEENTH.
SOLITUDE OF LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTII.
30TH NIVOSE —9TH']THERMIDOR, 2ND YEAR (19TH'
JANUARY-27TH JULY, 1794).
Simon has no successor-Louis XVII.'s door is sealed and'grated-Absolute
isolation-Ennui and fear —Hebert and- his partisans guillotinedDanton-Chaumette-Trial anid execution of Madame Elizabeth —
The Reign of Terror-Catherine Theot-The municipals: nocturnal
visits-Inexpressible sufferings of the young King-Steps taken by
5M. le Monnier-Appearance of France on the 9th Thermidor.
WE have seen the sufferings to which Louis XVII. was subjected under the authority of Simon; we have seen with what
firmness and resignation he bore them, until he bent, so to
speak, benleath the weight of human woe-until the destruction of his physical powers had resulted in the overthrow of
his mind: in this frightful struggle, we have often seen the
assassin conquered by the victim.  Yet this excess of misery is
only the beginning; all that this noble and unfortunate child
has endured already is as nothing compared with what will
come on him hereafter. He has, as yet, had only men to
contend with, but he is now to struggle against abandonment
and silence, against the weariness Qf solitude and the phantoms
of fear.
The committees decided that Simon should not have any
successor. He was a person so difficult to replace! Chaumette
and Hibert, who had the direction of everything concerning




174            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           rBOOK 13.
Solitary confinement.
the Temple, agreed to this resolution, by which no intermediate
power was appointed between the Temple tower and the municipal authority.
They declared that they would seek in the material strength
of inanimate objects the safety denied them  by the absence
of a permanent keeper; and the next morning (lst Pluviose,
r2nd year, 20th January, 1794), they restricted the prisoner's
habitation to a single room; the child was sent into the back
chamber, which had been Clery's, and subsequently that of
Simon's wife, during her illness. The door of communication
between the ante-room and this room* was cut down, so as to
leave it breast high, fastened with nails and screws, and grated
from top to bottom with bars of iron. Half-way up was placed
a shelf, on which the bars opened, forming a sort of wicket,
closed by other movable bars, and fastened with an enormous
padlock. By this wicket his coarse food was passed in to little
Capet, and it was on this ledge that he had to put whatever he
wanted to send away.  The system of solitary confinement,
of which the strongest natures now complain, was, as is seen,
invented by that revolutionary genius which exhausted every
source of suffering, and it was invented to be employed
against a child. Although small, his apartment was yet large
for a tomb. What had he to complain of?  He had a room
to walk in, a bed to lie upon; he had bread, and water, and
linen, and clothes! But he had neither fire nor candle. His
room was warmed only by a stove-pipe, the stove being placed
in the outer room; it was lighted only by the gleam  of
a lamp suspended opposite the grating; through the bars
of which also it was that the stove-pipe passed. All these
arrangements were made on the 1st Pluviose, and were
completed that same evening by the light of lanterns; and,
whether by an atrociously cruel calculation, or a fatal coincidence, the royal orphan took possession of his new prison on
* See Plan, Vol I., page 264.




1794.]               HIS SOLITUDE.                   175
Solitary confinement.
the anniversary of the day on which his father ascended the
scaffold (21st January, 1793).
But there was neither date nor anniversary for him; year,
month, and week,-all were confused together in his mind; for
time, like a lake whose waters lie sleeping and still, had ceased
to flow with him.  His days were only marked by suffering;
one was not distinguished from another, for he suffered every
day.
Still he had not contemplated with terror either the alteration made in his domicile, or the solitude in which he was
confined.  Since the time that his ill-fortune, by separating
him from his mother, had for ever closed the careless period of
his childhood; the Prince had not known a single moment's
peace. Alas! perhaps he thought himself now safe from men.
He felt free at last in his prison, like a young deer escaped
from the hunter's dogs into the hollow of a valley. Perhaps
he thought his solitude was only a transition to a happier state
-how can we tell?-an improvement due to an influence which
might afterwards restore him to his mother and to liberty.
Hope comes so quickly to those who have not had a long experience of life, and who, thanks to their age, are yet young
in misfortune.!
We are now entering upon a period of suffering which will
be difficult for us to describe; of dull, gloomy, monotonous
misery, without that pompous show which so often surrounds
the misfortunes of kings.
Who shall ever tell the sufferings borne in secret for more
than six months in this dungeon?  Who shall ever tell the
inward struggles of that young mind, and the unseen anguish
that tore the heart which Heaven had framed so full of courage
and mildness?  Yes, for upwards of six months (from  the
20th January to the 27th July, 1794), the fresh air of Heaven
never penetrated into this chamber: and the light was dim that
entered through the grating and shutters, the thickness and
solidity of which were the objects of constant watchfulness on




176              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTII.              [nooxt 13.
Solitary confinement.
the part of the council.*  The victim  did not even see the
parlsimonious hand that passed  his meagre food through a
sort of turning wheel made in the grated door, nor the careless
hand that sometimes left him  without a fire in very  cold
wveather, and sometimes, by plying it with too much fuel made
his prison a furnace.  He heard no sound but that of bolts.
Only, as the day closed in, a stern voice would call to him to
go to bed, because they would not give him any light.
HIe was obliged to sweep his room himself, if he wished to
keep it at all clean; but, unfortunately, his strength, weakened
as he was by ill-usage, bad food, and want of exercise, would
not long allow of his fulfilling this employment.
Already sufficiently advanced to interrogate his own sensations, sufficiently intelligent to understand his position, we may
judge of the sufferings of this poor little being, struggling thus
in the obscurity of his prison with monsters, whose powers
and whose numbers he was alike unable to guess!  For every
evening, as it seemed to him, it was a new  voice which
* Commune of Paris.
Extract from the deliberations of the Temple council.
"Paris, 2nd Niv6se, 2nd year of the Republic (22nd December, 1793).
"On this day, 2nd Niv6se, at three o'clock in the afternoon, there presented themselves at the council, citizens LUpine, Lelievre, and Langlois,
on duty yesterday at the Temple, who acquainted us with a conference they
had held this morning with the citizen mayor, regarding the delay in the
carrying out the decree of the council-general about the shutters to be
put up in Simon's room, on the second floor, from which it appears that
every obstacle is removed, and the Temple council on duty to-day, in conjunction with that on duty yesterday, have decreed, that citizen Coru,
steward to the Temple, be immediately directed to send for a workman, in
order to carry out the decree of the council-general, and that a copy of the
minutes be given to citizen Coru.
"TTONNELL1ER, LEVASSEUn, LECHEINARD."
This affair of the shutters had formerly occupied the council-general
and theTemple council, and at the dates of the 14th and 15th Decembier,
1793, we find two decrees "to restore the shutters against the windows
of the rooms occupied by Simon and little Capet, and make them such as
they were before a part was taken away."




17t4.]               HIS SOLITUDE.                    177
The young King's misery.
ordered him to go to bed. He was as if in the midst of some
frightful dream; his spirit floated in a void, surrounded by
anxieties and fears. Solitude weighed upon his heart like a
weight of lead. Deprived of all work, all play, of every object
that might occupy his time, every word that might arouse his
ear, how very long were his days!  Still, while day lasted, he
had a feeble light to cheer his deserted room.  To see!-it is
to live, to think, to possess, to defend one's-self! But at night!
-at night!-when that appearance of life which is supported
by a gleam of light ceases, when darkness and silence come
to separate man from the world without, and shut him in with
himself! Oh! it was then, above all, in those long hours which
preceded sleep, that bitter reflection came upon him, and the
painful fever of thought; and then fear!-fear as constant as a
shadow, as dark as the night! —fear, with its vague threatenings
and intangible phantasmagoria! —fear, abounding in excitement
and sudden starts and perils!  Many a fancy then passed
through his mind, such as perhaps his most inveterate foe
would scarce believe.
Many days, many nights, passed by: not a word, not a
murmur was heard from the prison.  Still he did not understand why they wished him ill; he did not understand why they
injured him; he felt, deep within his heart, his desertion, his
degradation, and his misery, and he did not seek to explain
them to himself: he accepted his sorrows without irritation
against that mysterious association which had made him an
orphan.  The trap-door opened every day, but he never asked
for mercy or pity.  He doubtless thought sometimes of his
father, but without an idea of avenging his death; he thought
of his Maker, but asked from Him nothing but his aid.  In
his young breast was nought but love and mercy, and none but
God heard his sighs!
Mieanwhile Robespierre and Danton, perceiving that Hebert
and his partizans were endeavouring to exalt the authority of
the Commune of Paris above that of the Convention, united,




178              LOUIS THE' SEVENTEENTH.                 [BOOK 13e
Downfall of the IHbertists.
notwithstanding their mutual antipathy, to ruin their common
enemies. Heibert and the HIebertists were suddenly arrested,
and were condemned to death on the 4th Germinal, 2nd year
(24th nMarch, 1794).* The ruling party in the  Convention
* The official warrants for execution, and the registers of their deaths,
give their names in the following order:1.-Jacques-Rened Hibert, substitute of the national agent of the Commune of Paris, aged 35, a native of Alenqon, department of Orne,
residing at Paris, Rue Neuve-de-l'Egalite.
2.-Charles-l'hilippe Ronsin, before the Revolution a man of letters,
then a commissary at war, intendent commissary, assistant to the
minister at war, general in the revolutionary army, aged 42 years,
a native of Soissons, department of Aisne, residing at Paris, No.
27 Boulevard Montmartre.
3.-Antoine-Franqois Momoro, bookseller and printer, and administrator
of the department of Paris, aged 38 years, a native of Besangon,
department of Doubs, residing at Paris, No. 71 Rue de la Harpe.
4.-Franrois-Nicolas Vincent, ex-clerk to the attorney-general, afterwards
member of the Commune, and secretary-general of the war department, aged 27 years, a native of Paris, residing there, Rue des
Citoyennes, section of Mutius Scaevola.
5.-Michel Laumur, ex-lieutenant-colonel of marines, and colonel of
infantry in the 6th regiment of the army of the north, and brigadiergeneral, aged 63 years, a native of Paris, residing there, No. 42
Rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs.
6.-Jean-Conrad Kock, banker, aged 38 years, a native or Ulm, in
Holland, inhabiting France since 1787, residing at Passy, near
Paris, and also at Paris,No. 314 Rue Neuve-de-l'Egalitd.
7.-Pierre-Jean Proly, merchant, afterwards editor of a paper, aged 42
years, native of Brussels, living in France since 1782, residing at
Paris, No. 7 Rue Vivienne.
8.-Francois Desfieux, wine-merchant of Bordeaux, aged 39 years, a
native of Bordeaux, residing at Paris, No. 20 Rue des Filles-SaintThomas.
9.-Anacharsis Clootz (Jean-Baptiste), a man of letters, ex-deputy in the
National Convention, aged 38 years, a native of Cleves in Belgium, 27 years living in France, residing at Paris, No. 563 Rue
Mesnard.
10.-Jacob Peyrera, tobacco-manufacturer, aged 51 years, a native of
Bayonne, department of the Lower Pyr6nees, residing at Paris, No.
413 Rue Saint-Denis, section of Bon-Conseil.
11.-Marie-Annfe-Cathlerine Latreille, aged 34 years, a native of MontreuilBelley, department of the Rhone-et-Loire, six months resident at
Paris, Rue et Maison Bussy, wife of Questineau.




1794.1                   HIS SOLITUDE.                         179
Downfall of the H6bertists.
pretended that a plot had been formed between Madame la
Comtesse de Rochechouart and Hebert, for the escape of the
12.-Jean-Antoine-Florent Armand, medical student, aged 26 years, a
native of Chaylac, department of Ardbche, one-year resident at
Paris, Rue et.Maison Bussy.
13.-Jean-Baptiste Aucard, employed in the search committee of the
department of Paris aged 52 years, a native of Grenoble, department of Isere, residing at Paris, Rue des AIauvais-Garqons-SaintGermain, ex-journeyman glove-cutter.
14.-Frdd6dric-Pierre Ducroquet, ex-hairdresser, wig-maker, and perfumer,
and since commissary for monopolies, aged 31 years, a native of
Amiens, department of the Somme, residing at Paris, No. 2 Rue
du Paon, section of M{arat.
15.-Armand-Hubert Leclerc, head of division in the war department,
aged 44 years, a native of Cany, department of the Lower Seine,
residing at Paris, No. 10 Rue Grange-Batelibre, and formerly
keeper of the records in the bishopric of Beauvais.
16.-Jean-Charles Bourgeois, ex-cabinet-maker, employed in the war
office, and commanding the armed forces of his section, aged 26
years, a native of Paris, residing there, Rue des Sans-Culottes
(formerly Guisarde), section of Mutius-Scoevola.
17.-Albert Mazuel, once a shoemaker, then an embroiderer, afterwards
aide-de-camp to Bouchotte, minister at war, commanding a squadron of the revolutionary cavalry, temporary commandant of the
Ville-Affranchie, aged 28 years, a native of Commune-Affranchie.
18.-Antoine Descomble, once a grocer's shopman, aged 29 years, a native
of Besanqon, department of Doubs, residing at Paris, No. 21
Rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie, section of the Droits-deI' Ilomme.
19.-Pierre-Ulric Dubuisson, a man of letters, appointed commissary at
various periods, aged 48 years, a native of Laval, department of
Mayenne, residing at Paris, No. 1447 Rue Saint-Honord.
"Examined tihe extract of the sentence of the revolutionary criminal
tribunal, and the report of execution, dated the 4th instant.
(Signed)    "WOLFF, Registrar's Clerk.
"13th Germinal, 2nd year of the Republic.
"CLAUDE-ANTOINE DELTROIT, Public Officer."
The "Moniteeur" of the 5tht Germinal, 2nd year, said that, "The
woman Questineau, having declared herself to be with child, obtained a
reprieve."  Notwithstanding this we see her name among the victims.
The "Moniteur" adds:"Citizen Taboureau, of the section of Marat, was the only person
accused who was acquitted."




180            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.               [3ooK 13.
Fresh proceedings.
royal family; that HEbert, as a reward for joining this plot,
had already received one million, paid by the allied princes,
and that another million would be bestowed on him after the
successful issue of the enterprise.  Further, it was said, the
traitor, struck by fear, had himself denounced the conspiracy.
Couthon, the worthy friend of Robespierre, accused Hdbert
loudly at the tribune of the Convention.  "An attempt has
been made," said he, " to send a letter and a packet of fifty
gold louis to the children of Capet in the Temple; the object
of this was to facilitate the escape of Capet's son, as, the conspirators having formed the plan of establishing a council of
regency, the child's presence was necessary in order to the
installation of the regent. Tremble, wretches, who wished to
give a master to Frenchmen I- Your last hour has come-you
shall perish!"*
It will be seen that the frail and deplorable existence of
little Capet still disturbed the lives of the tyrants. Their
dictatorship became more and more threatening from day to
day.  The slightest sign of compassion for the children of
Louis XVI. was regarded as a crime.  On the 7th Germinal
(27th March), that is to say three days after the execution of
Heibert, a motion was made for renewing the committee of
seven members of the council-general of the Commune, who
were specially charged with the superintendence of the Temple.
Cressend, of the section of Fraternite, was proposed; but his
appointment was opposed, and he was accused of having ven_
tured to pity the fate of little Capet, and to have rather acted
as a spy upon his colleagues than kept watch over the prisoner.
Such an imputation, as may readily be conceived, gave rise
to warm debates, the result of which was, to exclude Cressend
from the council, and to send him immediately to the adminis
tration of police.t
* Sitting of the 26th Vent6se, 2nd year (16th March, 1M94).
f- "A member brought several very serious accusations.againlst Cressend,
of the section of Fraternit6, a member of the council proposed to be sent to




1.794.]               HIS SOLITUDE.                      181
Cressend.
In the course of the next month a similar exclusion took
place. Another commissary, whose behaviour had been such
as to induce Madame Royale to recommend her brother to his
notice, made an attempt to reason against the solitary imprisonment, privation of fresh air, and abandonment of the
son of Louis XVI.: he was immediately dismissed from the
council. At that era of liberty, to be excluded or dismissed
from any situation, as a matter of course transferred the delinquent into the class of suspected persons; from  this there was
but one step to the prison-one step from  the prison to the
revolutionary tribunal-and the revolutionary tribunal was invariably the approach to the scaffold.
However, Cressend and his accomplice did not pursue this
fatal path; their examination had indeed proved that they were
two men of a character but slightly revolutionary, but their colleagues, from motives of personal interest, hesitated to enter
upon a system of internal proscriptions, which from one day
to another might attack the proscribing persons themselves.
The two dismissed members were not put in prison; and
their exclusion from the council was actually the means of saving
their lives, for their former colleagues, members of the Commune, were some time afterwards borne by the events of the
9th Thermidor to that avenging scaffold, ascended in turn by
the various oppressors of France.
Hebert's death had given a taste for blood, and the heads
of the Mountain began to devour one another; the ambitious
seemed to rise to power only to pass straight on to the scaffold.
When a man rises so rapidly he does not descend,-he falls!
the Temple. He said that citizen Cressend had taken upon him to compassionate the fate of little Capet, and had made a list of the members of
the council on guard at the Temple. After debate, and on motion of several
members, the council decreed that citizen Cressend be excluded from the
council, and that he be immediately sent to the police department, with
the written proofs, and that seals be affixed to his papers."
(Council-general of the Commune, sitting of the
7th Germinal, 2nd year; 27th March, 1794.)




182              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 18.
Downfall of the Dantonists.
On the 16th Germinal, 2nd year (5th April, 1794), Danton
was sent to his doom as an agent-(who would believe it?)employed for the re-establishment of royalty!  Robespierre
gave him fourteen companions in death;* but this numerous
* We give the names of these fifteen men, in the order in which they
were written in the report of their execution, and in the official certificate
of their death.
1.-Philippe-Franqois-Nazaire Fabre Deglantine, formerly a man of letters,
and a deputy in the National Convention, aged 39 years, a native
of Carcassonne, residing at Paris, Rue Ville-1'Evdque.
2.-Joseph Launay, a lawyer, and deputy in the National Convention
aged 39 years, a native of Angers, usually resident at Antwerp and
*at Paris, No. 5 Boulevard Montmartre.
3.-Franrgois Chabot, formerly a capuchin monk, and representative of
the people, aged 37 years, a native of Saint-Geniest,.department of
Aveyron, residing at Paris, No. 19 Rue d'Anjou.
4.-Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoist Desmoulins, a man of letters, aged
33 years, a native of Guise, district of Vervins, residing at Paris,
Place du Theatre-Francais.
6 —Jean-Frangois Lacroix, soldier, captain of militia, afterwards a lawyer,
and deputy in the National Convention, aged 50 years, a native
of Pont-Audemer, department of the Eure, residing at Paris, No. 6
Rue Lazare.
6. —Pierre Phelippeaux, a lawyer, and deputy in the National Convention,
aged 35 years, a native of Ferriere, department of the Oise, residing
at Paris, No. 3 Rue de l'Echelle.
7.-Claude Bazire, a clerk of the state archives of Burgundy, commandant of the guard, and deputy in the National Convention,
aged 29 years, a native of Dijon, department of C6te d'Or, residing
at Paris, Rue Saint-Pierre-Montmartre.
8. — Marie-Jean Hdrault de Sdchelles, deputy in the National Convention,
aged 34 years, a native of Paris, residing there, No. 14 Rue Bassedu-Rempart.
9.-Georges-Jacques Danton, deputy in the National Convention, aged
34 years, a native of Darcy-sur-Aube, department of the Aube, residing at Paris, Rue et Section de Marat.
10.-Marc-Rene  Sahuguet Despagnac, ex-abbh&, horse-dealer, aged 41
years, a native of Brie, department of the Correze, residing at
Paris, near the old barrier, Rue de I' Universite.
1 1.-Simon Kotloo Junius Frey, army contractor, aged 36 years, a native
of Bruyen, in Moravia, residing at Paris, No. 19 Rue d'AnjouSaint-Honor6.
12.-Andr6-MIarie Gusman, aged-41 years, a native of Grenada, in Spain,
naturalised in 1751,




1794.]                  HIS SOLITUDE.                       183
Danton.
retinue was not enough for the great founder of the revolutionary tribunal, who cried out, as he was borne along on the
headsman's cart: " I am dragging Robespierre after me! Robespierre is following me!"  Four months had not passed away
ere the prophetic words of Danton were fulfilled.
Danton is one of the most striking, victims to that law of
retaliation which it is sometimes the will of Providence to apply
to mankind.
Oni the 5th July, 1793, Danton had established the revolutionary tribunal, and on the 5th April, 1794, the revolutionary tribunal sent Danton to his death.
This tribunal, in conformity with the peculiar rule introduced by Danton, had the right of commanding the accused
to be silent, when such silence suited the judges; and when
Danton was accused and wished to defend himself, the tribunal
forbad him  to speak, agreeably with the law Danton himself
had made.
Danton had said on several occasions: " All will go well
as long as people say Robespierre and Danton; but woe to me
if they ever say Danton and Robespierre! In revolutions," he
also exclaimed, " authority devolves to the greatest scoundrel!"
"A very striking singularity" said Riouffe,* " is that Danton,
13.-,Emmanuel Frey, aged 27 years, a native of Bruyen, in Moravia, residing at Paris, No. 19 Rue d'Anjou-Saint-Honor&..
14.-Jean-F'r6d6ric Deiderinchen, barrister in the court of the King of
Denmark, aged 51 years, a native of Luxembourg, state of Holstein,,in Denmark, residing at Paris, Rue des Petits-Augustins.
15.-Frangois Joseph Westermann, ex-aide-de-camp to Dumouriez, afterwards general of division, aged 38 years, a native of Motzeim,
department of the Lower Rhine.
"Examined the extract from the sentence of the revolutionary
criminal tribunal, and from the report of the execution,
dated the 16th Germinal.
(Signed)   "LECRIvAIN, Registrar.
"Paris,'th Flor6al, 2nd year of the Republic.
"CLAUDE-ANTOINE DELTROIT, Public Officer."
* "Mrmoires d'un Detenu, pour server a I'Histoire de la Tyrannie de
Robespierre." Page 93. Paris, Anjubault, 3rd year.




184               LOUIS THE  SEVF:NTE;NTr-.               [BooK 13.
Execution of Chaumette and others.
Hebert, Chaumette, and  Robespierre, all happened  to  be
brought into the same dungeon, though not at the same time.
So much labour, dissimulation, extravagance, and crime, resulted in winning for them four feet of earth at the Conciergerie,
and a plank on the Place de la Revolution!"
The prediction of Danton was repeated some days afterwards, on the 24th Germinal (13th April), by Chaumette, who
was also sent to the scaffold by Robespierre, in company with the
young widow of Camille Desmoulins, Arthur Dillon, and some
others, for whose accusation another crime had been inventedthat of " the conspiracy of the prisons."*  " The enemies of the
* This batch was composed of: —
1.-Philibert Simon, deputy in the National Convention, a native of
Reumilly (Mont-Blanc), residing at Paris, Rue Traversidre-Honor-.
2.-Arthur Dillon, ex-general of division, aged 43 years, a native of
Braywick, in England, residing at Paris, No. 38 Rue Jacob.
3.-Jean-Baptiste Gobel, formerly bishop of Paris, aged 67 years, a
native of Thann, department of the Upper Rhine, residing at Paris,
No. 13 Quai de l'Egalit6, Ile de la FraternitY.
4.-Jean-Michel Beysser, brigadier-general of the army of the west,
aged 40 years, a native of Ribeauviller, in Alsace, department of
the Upper Rhine, usually resident at Lorient.
5.-Gaspard Chaumette, national agent of the Commune of Paris, formerly
attorney-general of the said Commune, aged 31 years, a native of
Nevers (Nievre), residing at Paris, Rue de l'0bservatoire, at the
Visithandines, and previously in the Rue du Paon, section of Muarat.
6.-Ma:rie-Mlarguerite-Franqoise Goupile, aged 38 years, a native of Paris,
and residing there, Rue Neuve-de-l'Egalit4, Cour des Forges,
widow of RHbert.
Z.-Jean-Baptiste-Ernest Bucher, commandant of the National Gtuard of
3tesnil-Saint-Denis, aged 43 years, a native of Amiens, department
of the Somme, residing at MesniI-Saint-Denis, district of Versailles,
department of the Seine-et-Oise.
8. —Marie-MIarc-Antoine Baras, formerly administrator of the Toulouse
district, aged 30 years, a native of Toulouse, department of the
Upper Garonne, and residing there.
9.-Jean-Jacques Lacombe, living on his means, aged 33 years, a native
of Cajac (Lot), residing at Paris, at the Maison Garnie des Frangais, No. 30 Rue de Thionville, section of Marat.
10.-Jean- Maurice-Fran ois Lebrasse, lieutenant of gendarmerie attending
the tribunals, aged 31 years,. a native of Rennes, department of
Ile-et-Vilaine, residing at Paris, No, 27 Rue Jacques.




1794.]                   HIS SOLITUDE.                           185
Execution of Chaumette and others.
Revolution," said the victors of the day, "seem  to revive from
their ashes; they appear again and again, like the polypus, beneath the mutilating instrument." And that very fear of royalty
11. —Anne-Lucile-Philippe Laridon Duplessis, aged 23 years, a native of
Paris, residing there, Rue du Thiatre-Frangais, widow of Lucie.
Simplice-Camille-Benoit Desmoulins.
12.-Antoine Duret, adjutant-general of the army of the Alps, aged 44
years, a native of Roanne-en-PForez, residing at Montbrissey, department of the Loire, at the time of his arrest at Feure.
13.-Guillaume Lassalle, naval officer, aged 24 years, a native of Boulognesur-Mer, department of the Pas-de-Calais, residing at Paris, Maison
de France, Rue Neuve-de-':Egalit.  -
14.-Alexandre Nourry Grammont, an officer in the revolutionary cavalry,
and formerly employed in the var-office, aged 19 years, a native
of Lirnoges, department of the Upper Vienne, residing at Paris,
No. 3 Passage des Petits-PNres, section of Guillaunne Tell.
15.-Nourry Grammont, formerly an actor belonging to the Montansier
theatre, afterwards adjutant-general of the revolutionary army,
aged 42 years, a native of La Rochelle (Lower Charente), residing
at Paris, Passage des Petits-Pbres, section of Guillaume Tell.
16.-Jean-Marie Lepallus, judge of the revolutionary committee of Feure,
26 years old, a native of Matour, Charonne district, department of
the Sadne-et-Loire, usually residing at MNardor, department of
the Rhbne-et-Loire.
17.-Jean-Frangois Lambert, turnkey of the LuxemLourg prison, aged
25 years, a native of Boisne, department of the Loiret, residing at
Paris, Rue de la Convention.
1 8. —iMarie-Sdbastien  Brumeau Lacroix, member of the revolutionary
committee of the section of Unity, aged 26 years, residing at Paris,
Rue du Colombier.
i9.-Edme Rameau, priest, aged 41 years, a native of Auxerre, department
of Yonne, residing at Paris, Rue Sauveur.
20.-Louis-Guillaume-Andr6 Brossard, secretary to the revolutionary committee of the town of Pdrigueux, aged 32 years, a native of Tdrascon, department of the Dordogne, residing at P1rigueux.
21. —Etienne Ragondet, formerly a horse-dealer, commandant of the battalion of the section of the Rdpublique, and inspector of the army
waggons, aged 46 years, a native of Paris, residing at Capy, near
PNronne, department of the Somme.
"Examined the extract of the sentence of the revolutionary criminal
tribunal, and the report of the execution, dated the 24th Germinal.
(Signed)    "LECRIVAIN, Registrar.
"  th Formal, 2nd year of the Republic.
"CLAUDEt-ANTo INE DELTROIT, Public Officer.'"




186              LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 23.
New rigours.
only proved the moral existence of royalty: the shadow of a
child, shut up within four walls, was sufficient to disturb the
repose of the anarchists and excite the hopes of the Vendeians.
Although Chaumette and H6bert had disappeared from the
councils of the Commune, the Temple was more than ever
subjected to the strictest investigations and  severest regulations.* Madame Elizabeth could now no longer obtain any
account of her nephew; Madame Royale no more pronounced
her brother's name without encountering a silent refusal to
* This rigour was sometimes carried to a ridiculous extremity, and displayed itself daily by several new decrees. We give two documents, which
will give some idea of those which we do not quote.
" Commune of Paris.
"19th Pluvi6se (7th February, 1794), 2nd year of the French Republic,
one and indivisible.
"' Extract from the register of the deliberations of the council-general.
"The Temple council gives notice that citizen Langlois brought a
bottle, holding about half-a-pint, sealed with a seal formed of several letters
which we could not make out, and on which was a label, with the words,' Broth for Marie-Therkse.'
"The said Langlois having been questioned as to what orders he had
had to bring such broth, stated that for about four or five months he had been
in the constant habit of bringing it without hindrance or opposition.
" The Temple council, taking into consideration that no medical officer
has ordered the broth mentioned above, and Capet's daughter and her
aunt enjoying perfect health, as the council of this day has ascertained:'Considering that it can be only from a kind of habit, and quite
unnecessarily that the use of this broth has been persisted in, and that it is
at once the interest of the republic and the duty of the magistrates to put a
stop to abuses of all kinds, as soon as they are informed of them:
i "Decrees that, from this day forth, the use of all medicaments that
may be brought to the Temple for any person whatsoever be suspended,
and the matter referred to the council-general of the Commune, to decide
definitively as may appear best to them. 
"The council adopts the decree of the Temple council in its fullest
extent.
(Signed)    "LUBIN, Vice-President.
"DoRAT CUBIERES, Deputy, Secretary-Registrar.
"Exact copy:
"DORAT CUBIERES, Deputy Secretary-Registrar."
6 The secretary-registrar informs the council that, in execution of one of
their previous decrees, he has purchased two ivory thimbles for the Temple




1794.]j                 HIS SOLITUDE.                       187
Execution of M. de Malesherbes.
answer, or an insulting reply. Terror was on all sides. From
the scaffold,-their bloody fortress, —the minority commanded
the whole nation to be silent, bad liberty bow the knee, and
humanity veil her face and submit to laws of blood.  The
prisons, on one occasion, had been cleared to their innermost
recess; and now, if they were filled once more by suspicion,
the headsman's hand was quite equal to clearing them again.
The  Collot d'Herbois, Lebons,  Saint-Justs, and  Carriers,
will bear terror and death into the great cities; and the bloodstain that fell on one square in Paris will spread and spread
until it covers the whole of France.  The guillotine, taking its
place in the public squares amid a lake of blood, its indefatigable blade will fall and rise and fall again unceasingly,
between its two pillars and its moistened grooves.  Magistrates
and generals, clergy, common people, nobles, citizens, peasants,
young girls in the spring-tide of their lives, old men tottering
on the verge of the grave,-all perished together in the harvest
of death, a population of martyrs following the pilgrim path
pursued by their King and Queen.  The sublime task that
M. de Malesherbes had accomplished had just received its
reward on the scaffold,* 3rd Floreal, 2nid year (22nd April,
prisoners; and that he will carry the gold thimble to the mint to-morrow,
in order that its value may be distributed according to the directions of the
council.
"The council-general acknowledges the declaration of the secretaryregistrar."
(Council-general of the Commune, sitting of the 8th Germinal,
2nd year; Friday, 28th March, 1794.)
* The registers of the revolutionary tribunal give the names of his
companions in misfortune (armong whom we find those of his daughter, his
granddaughter, and grandson) in the following order:
1. —Jacques Duval Despr6menil, ex-member, aged 48 years, a native of
Pondich6ry, residing at M6riffou, commune of the Armuee, department of the Lower Seine.
2.-Jacques-Guillaume Thouret, ex-constituent, ex-president of the abrogatory tribunal, aged 48 years, a native of Pont-l'Evjque, department of Calvados, residing at Paris, No 21 Rue des PetitsAugustins.




188                LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                 [BOOK 13.
Effect of the massacres.
1794).  I do not like to hear it said that France, attacked by
the rest of Europe, owed her triumph to her excesses!  No!
it was not the massacres of September that saved liberty from
destruction, not the executioner's hand that called into life
the heroism  of our armies; let us not lie to history, nor calumniate patriotism.  On the contrary, to be just, we ought to say
to the dictators of that period: " The exploits of France.against
a foreign foe may barely atone for your crimes against your
fellow-citizens; her victories were multiplied in vain, they could
3.-Isaac-Rend-Gui Lechappelier, ex-member, aged 39 years, a native of
Rennes, department of the Ile-et-Vilaine, residing there, and also at
Paris, Rue Montmartre.
4. —ranpois Hell, formerly attorney-general syndic of the states of
Alsace, grand bailiff of Landres, and administrator of the department of the Upper Rhine, aged 63 years, a native of Keseinheim,
in the above department, residing at Paris, Rue Helv6tius.
5.-Chretien-Guillaume Lamoignon Malesherbes, ex-noble, and ex-minister to the tyrant, aged 72 years, a native of Paris, residing at ialesherbes, department of the Loiret.
6.-Antoinette-3Marguerite-Thberse Lamoignon Malesherbes, a native of
Paris, residing at Malesherbes, department of the Loiret, widow of
Lepelletier Rozambo.
7. —Aline-Thirese Lepelletier Rozambo, aged 23 years, a native of Paris,
residing at Malesherbes, department of the Loiret, married to
Chateaubriand.
8.-Jean-Baptiste-Auguste Chateaubriand, ex-noble, and ex-captain of
cavalry, aged 34 years, a native of Saint-Malo, department of the
Ile-et-Vilaine, residing at Malesherbes, department of the Loiret.
9.-Diane-Ad6laide Rochechouart, ex-noble, aged 62 years, a native of
Paris, residing there, Rue Grange-Bateliare, widow of Duchatelet.
10. —Batrix Choiseul, ex-noble, aged 64 years, a native of Lun6ville,
residing at Paris, Rue Grange-Batelisre, wife of Grammont.
ilI. —Victoire Boucher Rochechouart, ex-noble, aged 49 years, a native of
Paris, residing there, Rue du Mont-Blnc,'widow of Pontville.
12.-Louis-Pierre Mousset, carpenter, and formerly attorney-general of the
commune of Donnery, aged 42 years, a native of Saint-Marceaud' Orleans, department of the Loiret, residing at the said Donnery.
"Examined the extract of the sentence of the criminal revolutionary
tribunal, in date of the 3rd instant.
(Signed)             "LECRIVAIN, Registrar.
"13th Florual, 2nd year of the PRepublic.
"CLAUDE-ANTOINE DELTEOIT, Public Officer."




17>9i.]              HIJS SOLITUDE.                   189
Madame Elizabeth.
not equal the number of your assassinations, and her glorious
standard had not folds enoug-h to hide the political disgrace with
which you polluted the country."
Ever since the death of the Queen, the two august prisoners
had been in a state of total ignorance as to how matters went
without the Temple tower. As I have said, they could not
even learn what passed immediately beside them, in the room
of the young orphan: they lived on their recollections and
fears, mingled but very slightly with hopes for the future, but
entirely submissive to the will of GOD. It is to this state
of pious resignation that we owe the beautiful prayer of Madame
Elizabeth, preserved to us by history. Her devotion to her
brother had induced her to remain at court in former times,
but she had lived there only to take her part in tribulation
and weeping.  And now Madame Elizabeth employed all the
persuasion of tenderness, all the sublimity of religion, all the
consolation of feeling and sympathy, to form the mind and
heart of her royal niece, of whom the headsman's hand had
made her the second mother.
The storm she had expected to close or vary her lot was
soon to burst upon her.
On the 20th Floreal, 2nd year (9th May, 1874), towards
seven o'clock in the evening, the usher Monet repaired to the
Temple, accompanied by citizens Fontaine, adjutant-general of
artillery of the Parisian army, and Saraillee, aide-de-camp to
General Henriot. He presented a letter from Fouquier-Tinville,
public accuser to the revolutionary tribunal, to the members of
the council, Mlouret, Eudes, Magendie, and Godefroi, requiring them to give up the sister of Louis Capet into the hands
of the persons above-mentioned.*
The Princess was preparing to go to bed when she heard
the bolts drawn, and hastily threw on her dress. " Citizeness,
come down stairs directly, thou art wanted," said her ill-omened
* Report of the removal of Elizabeth-Marie Capet to the Conciergerie.




190             LOUIS THE SVENTEEENTH.             [Boon 13.
Trial of Madame Elizabeth.
visitors to her roughly.   "Will my niece remain here?"
"That is no business of thine; she will be attended to afterwards."  Madame Elizabeth embraced the young orphan, and
said to her, to calm her anxiety, " Be composed, I shall come
up again!"  " No, thou wilt not come up again," replied commissary Eudes,* "Itake thy cap, and come along."   She
obeyed, and raising Madame Royale, who was failing into her
arms, she bad her "have courage and firmness, to hope ever in
God, to make use of the true principles of religion imparted to
her by her parents, and to be faithful to the last exhortations of
her father and mother." The aunt and niece remained for a
moment locked in each other's embrace; then the aunt, tearing
herself away from the arms that held her fast, moved with a
rapid step towards the outer door, saying again, " Think of
your God, miy child! " And Madame Elizabeth was gone.
She was conducted into the council-room at the foot of the
stairs, and there, while the warrant of her discharge from the
jailer was being drawn up, her pockets were searched, and she
was loaded with insults.  In a heavy rain she crossed the
garden and the outer court-yard, then being placed in a
hackney coach, with the usher of the tribunal and the two
officers, was driven to the Conciergerie. Here she underwent an
examination by Gabriel Deliege, vice-president of the revolutionary tribunal, cand next day was brought before her judges,
accused of being an accomplice in the crimes of her family.
Chauveau-Lagarde, who was appointed to the office of defending her, observed that there were neither any documents nor
any witnesses for the trial; and that, in a case. where there was
no legal element of conviction whatever, there could be no
legal conviction. He concluded as follows:-" She, who at the
court of France was deemed the most perfect model of every
virtue, cannot be the enemy of Frenchmen."  Dumas,t who
* Guillotined on the 11th Thermidor, 2nd year (29th July, 1794).
+ lRen&-Fran9ois Dumas, put out of the pale of the law and guillotined,
10thl Thermidor, 2nd year (28th July, 1794).




1794.]                  HIS SOLITUDE.                       191
Execution of Madame Elizabeth.
presided over the tribunal, rose up indignantly, and violently
reproached the counsel for the defence for " corrupting public
morality."  All the formulae were abridged, and the useless
discussion was soon closed, in which all conference between
the accused and her counsel had been prohibited, and the
sentence of death was pronounced. Twenty-four other persons
had been associated with her in her coming fate.* When she
was taken to them, Madame Elizabeth's touching resignation
edified them all.  In the tumbril that took them  to execution she exhorted and consoled them. On reaching the foot
of the scaffold, the women, among whom were Madame de
Senozan, the venerable sister of M. de Malesherbes, and the
widow of M. de Montmorin, formerly minister for foreign
affairs, begged her permission to embrace her, which she
grunted, encouraging them  with-her usual kindness.  It is
* We think it right to give the names of all those who had the glory of
sharing the martyrdom of Madame Elizabeth; it is but just that these victims should keep in history the place they held beside her on the scaffold.
1.-Elisabeth-Marie-H41bne Capet, sister of Louis Capet, aged 30 years,
a native of Versailles, department of the Seine-et-Oise, residing at
Paris.
2.-Anne Duwaes, aged 55 years, a native of Keisnith, in Germany,
residing at the Montagne-du-Bon-Air, department of the Seine-etOise, widow of Laigle, ex-marquis.
3.-Louis-Bernardin Leneuf Sourdeval, ex-count, aged'69 years, a native
of Caen, department of Calvados, residing at Chatou, department of
the Seine-et-Oise.                           o
4.-Anne-Nicole Lamoignon, aged 76 years, a native of Paris, residing
there, widow~of Sfenozan, ex-marquis.
5.-Claude-Louise-Angdlique Bersin, ex-marchioness, aged 64 years, a
native of Paris, residing there, the wife of Crussol d'Amboise,
living separated from him.
6.-Georges Folloppe, apothecary, ex-municipal officer of the Commune,
aged 64 years, a native of Ecalalix, near Yvetot, residing at Paris,
Rue et Porte Honor6.
7.-Denise Baurd, aged 52 years, a native of Paris, residing there, No.
674 Rue Florentin.
8.-Louis-Pierre-Marcel Letellier, surnamed Bullier, formerly employed
in the clothing department for the troops, aged 21 years and a-lalf,
a native of Paris, residing there, No. 674 Rlue Florentin.




192               LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                 [BOOK  14.
Execution of Madame Elizabeth.
said that on this day, as the number of the condemned was
considerable, a bench had been placed for them to sit upon.
The victims rose, one by one, when their names were called,
9. —Charles Cressy Champmilon, ex-noble, and formerly a naval officer,
aged 33 years, a native of Courton, near Sens, department of Yonne,
residing there.
10.-Th6odore Hall, manufacturer and merchant, aged 26 years, a native
of Seuzy, department of Yonne, residing there.
I 1.-Alexander-Frangois Lomenie, ex-count, and ex-colonel of the chasseur regiment called that of Champagne, aged 36 years, a native of
Marseilles, residing at Brienne, department of the Aube.
12.-Louis-IMarie-Athanase Lomenie, ex-minister of war and mayor of
Brienne, aged 64 years, a native of Paris, residing at Brienne,
department of the Aube.
13.-Antoine-Hugues-Calixte Montmorin, second lieutenant in the 5th
regiment of mounted chasseurs, aged 22 years, a native of Versailles, department of the Seine-et-Oise, residing at Passy.
14. —Jean-Baptiste Lhoste, agent and steward to Megret de Serilly, aged
47 years, a native of Forgare, residing at Paris.
15.-Martial Lomenie, ex-noble, and coadjutor of the bishopric in the
department of Yonne, aged 30 years, a native of Marseilles, residing
at Sens.
16.-Antoine-Jean-Frangois Megret de S6rilly, formerly treasurer-general
at war, and afterwards a farmer, aged 48 years, a native of Paris,
residing at Passy, near Sens.
17.-Antoine-Jean-Marie Megret Detigny, ex-noble, and formerly assistant
brevet-major to the ex-regiment of French Guards, aged 46 years,
a native of Paris, residing at Sens.
18.-Charles Lomenie, ex-knight of the orders of Saint-Louis and Cincinnatus, aged 33 -years, a native of Marseilles, residing at Brienne,
department of the Aube.
19.-Frangoise-Gabrielle Tanneffe, aged 50 years, a native of Chadieu,
department of the Puy-de-Ddme, residing, in the house of Megret
de Serilly, at Passy, department of Yonne, widow of Montmorin,
minister for foreign affairs.
20.- Anne-Marie-Charlotte Lomenie, aged 29 years, a native of Paris,
residing at Sens and Paris, No. 18 Rue Georges, section of MontBlanc, divorced wite of the emigrant Canizy.
21. —Marie-Anne-Catherine Rosset, aged 44 years, a native of Rochefort,
department of the Charente, residing at Sens, wife of CharlesChristophe Rosset Cercy, ex-naval officer, an emigrant.
22. —Elizabeth Jacqueline Lhermitfe, aged 65 years, wife of the ex-count
Rosset, ex-noble, and formerly lieutenant-colonel of carbineers, an
emigrant.




19 0A.]               HIS SOLITUDE.                      193
Madame Royale.
and as they passed before Madame. Elizabeth all bowed low
before they ascended the scaffold.  Madame Elizabeth was
the last.
The gates of the Temple had closed again upon the young
Marie-Therese, who was doomed henceforth to struggle alone
against distress and iniquity. The hours were now to strike upon
the ear of the sister in solitude, as had been the case with
her brother since the 20th January, 1794; but the sister still
saw  either the  spy who watched her or the turnkey who
brought her food; whilst her poor little brother, cut off from
all communication with humanity, like the leper of the middle
ages, knew not even the countenances of the wretches who
used to wake him up at night, or who by day would bring him
food to give him strength for further endurance.
While Madame Elizabeth was at the guillotine, Madame
Royale asked the municipals what had become of her; they told
her she had gone out to take  the air.  Madame Royale
renewed her entreaties to' be united to her mother again, as
they had separated her aunt from her; they replied that they
would talk it over.
Next day, that is, on the 22nd Floreal (11th May), she
received a visit from  Robespierre.  Not one word did she
address to him; she merely handed him a paper on which she
had written the words:"My brother is ill.  I wrote to the Convention for per23.-Louis-Claude Lhermitte Chambertrand, ex-canon of the cathedral
of Sens, ex-noble, aged 60 years, a native of Sens.
24.-Anne-Marie-Louise Thomas, aged 31 years, a native of Paris, residing at Passy, in the department of Yonne, wife of Megret S6rilly.
25.-Jean-Baptiste Dubois, servant to Megret Detigny, aged 41 years, a
native of Merfit, district of Reims, department of the Marne, residing in the house of the said Megret Detigny.
"'Examined the extract of the sentence of the criminal revolutionary
tribunal, and report of the execution, dated 21st Floreal.
(Signed)     "LECRIuAIN, Registrar.
"CLAUDE-ANTOINE DELTROIT, Public Offieer."
T~, ~




194             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.              [BOOK 13,
More massacres.
mission to go and nurse him: the Convention has made no
reply, and I now repeat my request."
After having given this paper she turned away her head,
and began to read again. Frightful events were following each
other without intermission; blood was flowing in every city;
mourning had entered every house. But the terrible occur~rencies passing noisily in the streets stifled sobs and groaning.
To depict those days of misery unexampled in history, the
voice of the people could find no name so apt as that of
"Terror."  The slightest suspicion of attachment to royalty
sufficed to open the prison and prepare the block.  Yet royalty
still possessed some friends ready to devote themselves to her
interests; but an inexplicable sort of fatality accompanied all
their plans, which were always ill-formed, or disconcerted, or
betrayed. M. le Baron de Batz was one of the most indefatigable, active, and skilful of these praiseworthy conspirators.
His plots, like his person, escaped the investigations of the
Commune.  Furious at being unable to  retaliate  on this
invisible enemy, Robespierre at least avenged himself on his
shadow, round which he assembled a multitude of victims
destined to the headsman's axe. A report was made to the
Convention by Elie Lacoste, on the 26th Prairial, 2nd year
(14th June, 1794), in the joint names of the committees of
public welfare and general safety. This report, which was
as long as it was incoherent,* handed over to the revolutionary
tribunal numberless victims,t strangers to each other, different
* See the " Coneuration de Batz, on la Journde des Soixante," published
in 1'795. 8vo.
+ We give their names as they appear in the official statements of their
execution and decease. Among these fifty-four victims there were three
young men of from 17 to 23, and three young women of from 18 to 20
years of age.
1.-Henry Admiral, aged 50 years, a native of Auzolet, department of
Puy-de-Dfme, residing at Paris, No. 4 Rue Favart, formerly a
servant, afterwards attached to the ex-royal lottery in the capacity
of a clerk.




1794.]                   HIS SOLITUDE.                        195
More massacres.
in position, rank, and opinion, and yet accused by the committees of having acted as accomplices; condemned to death
2. —Frangois Cardinal, tutor and schoolmaster, aged 40 years, a native
of Bussiire, department of the Upper Marne, residing at Paris,
No. 7 Rue de Tracy.
3. —Pierre-Balthasard Roussel, aged 26 years, a native of Paris, residing
there, No. 70 Rue Helvetius.
4.-Marie-Suzanne Chevalier, aged 34 years, a native of Saint-Sauvan,
department of Vienne, residing at Paris, No. 47 Rue Chabannais,
wife of Lamartiniere, from whom she has been separated three
years.
5.-Claude Paindavoine, aged 53 years, a native of LUpine, department
of the Marne, residing at Paris, No. 19 Rue Neuve-des-PetitsChamps, porter to the ex-lottery house.
6.-Aimde-C4cile Renault, aged 20 years, a native of Paris, residing
there, Rue de la Lanterne, daughter of Antoine Renault.
7.-Antoine Renault, paper and card maker, aged 62 years, a native of
Paris, residing there, Rue de la Lanterne, section of the Cite.
8.-Antoine-Jacques Renault, stationer, aged 31 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, Rue de la Lanterne, son of Antoine Renault.
9. —Edme-Jeane Renault, formerly a nun, aged 60 years, a native of
Paris, residing there, No. 698 Rue Babylone.
10.-Jean-Baptiste Portebceuf, aged 43 years, a native of Thoire, department of the Lower Seine, residing at Paris, No. 510 Rue HonorS.
lI. —Andre Saintanac, student in surgery, employed in the military hospital of Choisy-sur-Seine, aged 22 years, a native of Bordeaux,
department of the Bec d'Ambes, residing at the said Choisy, and
previously at Paris, in furnished lodgings, Rue Quincampoix.
12 -Anne-Madeleine-Lucile Parmentier, aged 52 years, a native of Clermont, department of the Oise, residing at Paris, No. 510 Rue
HonorS, wife of Alexandre Lemoine Crecy.
13.-Frangois Lafosse, head of the detective police of Paris, aged 44 years,
a native of Versailles, department of Seine-et-Oise, residing at
Paris, No. 32 Rue du Faubourg du Temple.
14.-Jean-Louis-Michel Devaux, clerk, aged 42 years, a native of Doulans, department of the Somme, residing at Paris, Rue Barbe,
section of Bonne Nouvelle.
15.-Louis-Eustache-Joseph Potier (Delille), aged 44 years, a native of
Lille, department of the North, residing at Paris, Rue Favart,
printer, and member of the revolutionary committee of the Lepelletier section.
16.-Fran)ois-Charles-Virot Sombreuil, ex-governor of the Invalides, aged
74 years, a native of Insishain, department of the Upper Rhine,
and residing at the national establishment of the Invalides.




196             LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                [BooKS 13.
More massacres.
6by amalgamation, and in a mass," to use the expression of
Fouquier-Tinville, they were executed on 29th Prairial, and year
17.-Stanislas Virot Sombreuil, aged 26 years, a native of Lechoisier,
department of Upper Vienne, residing at Passy, ex-captain of hussars, and ex-captain of the National Guard of Poissy.
18.-Jean-Gret Henoc Rohan Rochefort, ex-noble, residing at Rochefort,
department of the Lower Charente.
19.-Pierre Laval Montmorency, ex-noble, aged 25 years, a ndtive of
Paris, residing there, Rue du Bac.
20.-Etienne Jardin, aged 48 years, a native of Versailles, department of
the Seine-et-Oise, residing at Paris, - Rue Cadet, director of military transportation since the Revolution, and formerly huntsman to
the tyrant.
21.-Charles-Marie-Antoine Sartine, ex-master of requests, aged 34 years,
a native of Paris, residing there, Rue Vivienne.
22.-Barthdlemy Constant, gendarme, aged 42 years, a native of Grasse,
department of Var, residing at Paris, No. 185 Rue du Faubourg
Martin.
23.-Joseph-Henry Burlandeux, peace-officer, aged 39 years, a native
of Saullier, department of Var, residing at Paris, No. 64 Rue du
Faubourg Martin.
24.-Louis-Marie-Fran~ois Saint-Mauris de Montbarey, ex-prince, and
-ex-soldier, aged 38 years, a native of Paris, residing there, No. 49
Faubourg Honore.
25.-Josepll-Guillaume Lescuyer, musician, aged 46 years, a native of
Antibes, department of Var, residing at Paris, No. 16 Rue PoissonniOre.
26.-Achille Viart, formerly a soldier, aged 51 years, a native of —-- in
America, residing at Mariac, department of Bee d' Ambes.
27.-Jean-Louis. Biret Tissot, servant to the woman Grandison, aged 35
years, a native of Paris, residing there, Rue Mesnard.
28.-Theodore Jauge, banker, aged 47 years, a native of Bordeaux, department of Bee d'Ambbs, residing at Paris, Rue du Mont-Blanc.
29.-Catherine-Suzanne Vincent, aged 45 years, a native of Paris, residing there, Rue Mesnard, wife of Gryois.
30.-Frangois-Augustine Santuare, aged 40 years, a native of the Isle of
Bourbon, in Africa, residing at Marefosse, department of the Lower
Seine, wife of Despremenil.
31.-Charles-Armand-Augustin Depont, ex-noble, aged 49 years, a native
of Paris, residing there, Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs.
32.-Joseph-Victor Cortey, grocer, aged 37 years, a native of Symphorien,
department of the Loire, residing at Paris, Rue de la Loi.
33.-Frangois Paumier, formerly wood merchant, aged 39 years, a native
of Aunay, department of the Nievre.




1794.]                   aHIS SOLITUDE.                          197
More massacres.
(17th June, 1794), as guilty of attempting the re-establishment
of royalty.
34.-Jean-Fran9ois Deshayes, aged 68 years, a native of Herserange,
department of the Moselle, residing at Lugon, shopkeeper, and
member of the committee of observation in that place.
35. —Francois Augustin Ozanne, peace-officer, aged 40 years, a native
of Paris, residing there, Rue de la Vieille-Monnoie.
36.-Charles-Frangois-Ren6 Duhardaz  Dauteville, ex-noble, aged 23
years, a native of Mans, department of the Sarthe, residing at
Paris, No. 20 Rue Basse-du-Rempart.
37.-Louis Comte, merchant, aged 49 years, a native of Varennes, department of the Sabne-et-Loire, residing at Paris, Grande Maison
de France, Rue Thomas du Louvre.
38.-Jean-Baptiste Michonis, lemonade-seller, and formerly administrator
of police, a native of Paris, residing there.
39.-Philippe-Charles-Elysi e  Baussancourt, second-lieutenant of carbineers, aged 27 years, a native of Vitry-le-Frangais
40.-Louis Karadec, agent, aged 45 years, a native of Lisieux, department
of Calvados, residing at Paris, Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple.
41.-Thbodore Marsan, aged 27 years, a native of Toulouse, department
of the Upper Garonne, residing at Paris, No. 95 Rue de Ci]ry.
42.-Nicholas-Joseph Egree, brazier, aged 40 years, a native of Chateau.
Cambresis, department of the North, residing at Suresne, department of Paris.
43.-Henri Menil-Simon, ex-captain of cavalry, aged 53 years, a native of
Buley, department of the Nievre, residing at Vigneux, department
of the Seine-et-Oise.
44.-Jeanne-Frangoise-Louise Demier Sainte-Amarante, aged 42 years,
a native of Saintes, department of the Charente, residing at Cercy,
department of the Seine-et-Oise.
45.-Charlotte-Rose-Sainte-Amarante, aged 19 years, a native of Paris,
residing at Cercy, department of the Nievre, wife of Sartine.
46.-Louis Sainte-Amaranthe, aged 17 years, a native of Paris, residing
at Cercy.
47.-Gabriel-Jean-Baptiste Briel, ex-priest, aged 56 years, a native of
Montier-sur-Faulx, department of Mont-Blanc, residing at Aicueil,
and previously at Paris, Rue Helvetius.
48. —Marie Grandmaison, formerly Buret, ex-actress at the ThEatre des
Italiens, aged 27 years, a native of Blois, department of the Loireet-Cher, residing at Paris, No. 7 Rue Mesnard.
49. —Marie-Nicole Bouchard, aged 18 years, a native of Paris, residing
there, No. 7 Rue Mesnard.
50.-Jean-Baptiste Marino, painter in porcelain, administrator of police,
aged 37 years, a native of Sceaux, district of the Bourg de l'Egalit&,
residing at Paris, Rue Helvetius.




198              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 13.
Catherine Theot.
Two days before, that is, on the 27th Prairial, Vadier had
made another report about the affair of Catherine Theot,* called
the " Mother of God," a mere fanatical prophetess of the period,
whom he represented as a serious conspirator, but there was
no real plot against the tyrants but the existence of a child;
and Robespierre might have exclaimed in this affair, as in the
preceding (and he would have been right): " Chimerical conspiracies to conceal the real ones."
Barrere had said to Vadier: "The Mother of God will not
give birth to her divine word!" and Vadier had rejoined:
" The egg the hen sits upon will have no germ! "
Alas! this prophecy was to be but too accurately fulfilled;
but the oracular words of the ancient sibyl were to be accomplished as truly, when she said that the Supreme Being would
rule thle universe alone, confounding the pride of vain and
51.-Nicholas-Andr6-Marie Froidure, ex-administrator of police and municipal officer, aged 29 years, a native of Tours, department of the
Indre-et-Loire, residing at Paris, No. 91 Rue Honore.
52.-Antoine-Prosper Soulks, ex-administrator of police and municipal
officer, aged 31 years, a native of Avisse, department of Marne,
residing at Paris, No. 38 Rue Taranne.
63.-Franqois Dange, ex-administrator of Police, aged 47 years, a native
of Chesey, department of Cher-et-Loire, residing at Paris, No. 36
Rue de la Roquette.
54.-Marie-Maximilien-Hercule Rossay, calling himself Count of Fleury,
aged 23 years, residing at Paris.
"Examined the extract of the sentence of the Revolutionary Tribunal,
and the report of the execution, dated the 29th Prairial.
(Signed)      "LECRIVAIN, Registrar.
" Paris, the 9th Messidor, 2nd year of the Republic.
"' CLAUDE,-ANTOINE DELTROIT, Public Officer."
* And not Theos, as her followers called her, purposely substituting for
the common name o Theot the Greek word The'os which signifies the Divinity. This visionary, whom they called the " Christian Religion," and the
"Mother of God," held her conventicle meetings at her residence, No. 1078
Rue Contrescarpe, section of the Oratory, up three pair of stairs. Villate,
in his " Mysteries of the Mother of God Unveiled," describes her as follows:-" This mother Thiot, tall and meagre, almost transparently thin,
like the sibyl of Cumra."




I191.]               HIS SOLITUDE.                    199
Position of the young King.
ignorant man, leading armies to victory, levelling mountains,
drying up seas, -fortifying the simple and the just;" they were
speedily to be fulfilled when she declared that, "the National
Convention, like the proud oak -tree, would be blasted at its
head by the thunder-storm!"
Amid the black and roaring waves of the revolutionary
ocean we have not lost sight of that little fair head, once beaming with innocence and peace, but now robbed of its glory and
given up to all the horrors of captivity, for he had not the
good fortune to be assassinated like his father and mother.
His father and mother will reign through ages yet to come
by the terrible magnificence of their misfortunes, as they
reigned a few brief moments upon earth in the splendour of
fortune.  The story of their long sufferings will be echoed
throughout all ages, in the history of every nation will it be
named with universal indignation, and their martyr-death be
compensated by the worshipping admiration of posterity.
But, for their child there was neither throne, nor splendour,
nor power, nor renown: his misery was but the silent misery
of the dungeon. He might only speak to walls, or men more
impenetrable still.  Like the victims of ancient fatality, he
struggled in his impotence beneath the wrath of an angry
Deity.  His bed-a palliass and a mattrass, deluged with his
tears, and which his enfeebled arms soon ceased to stir; his
food,-a sort of watery soup, with some fragments of bread in
it, of which he received two little portions a day, with a morsel
of beef, a loaf, and a pitcher of water: it is seen that the
wolf-cub was treated almost like a dog! The commissaries of
the Commune, who were renewed daily, and who prowled
about the door of his kennel, were almost all men of that
ignoble caste which the breath of revolution had raised to the
surface of society. Those who were more stupid than wicked,
as is frequently the case in popular commotions, acquired a
degree of excitement and violence which was not in their
nature, and grew more irritable at the sound of their own




200            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 13
Growth of cruelty.
voices; and it is thus very intelligible how, in times of confu
sion, the populace often arrive-ere they well know what
they are about, by progressive fury-at the commission of the
most cruel folly and the most unheard of crimes.  Some of
the municipals, surprised at the bearing and mute resignation
of the child-prisoner, would occasionally deviate for a moment
from their:prescribed part; but, curbed in their weaknesses by
civic remorse or fear, they themselves soon began to vociferate,
in order to acquire the power of fulfilling their mission\. As
they saw men denounced in the name of humanity, and murcered in the name of fraternity, they could not but say to
themselves that it must be simple and just to imprison in the
name of liberty. By contemplating outrages the most atrocious,
they learned to venture on them themselves. And then-it
was the tyrant's son who was committed to their charge, and
for whom they were responsible, life for life; for the councilgeneral had determined that the responsibility which formerly
rested on Simon, should be laid henceforth on the commissaries on duty at the Temple. The food, the health, nay, the
existence of the child, mattered but little to them; the whole
of their vigilance was put into action with respect to his body
alone, and was limited to watching his person, alive or dead.
They were intrusted with a body by the Convention, alive or
dead it mattered little to them; so long as it represented
him, they would have made no cavil at receiving a corpse at
the close of the day. The commissaries who were not cruel
by nature became so from  fear; at nightfall they would
cause Gourlet or Baron to open the room next the Prince's
dungeon; they would then look through the grating to see what
the unfortunate child was about, and cry out to him to go to
bed, because they would not give him any light.  The victim
would stretch himself on his pallet, and his guards would then
disappear. But this was not the last noise made by the agents
0 the Convention during the night; the fear of losing a deposit
confided to them that same day, and which they must give up




4794.]              /HIS SOLITUDE.                   201
Growth of cruelty.
on the next, and the terrible responsibility resting upon them,
kept them in a state of constant uneasiness, and subjected their
victim to continual torment. We may also state that the irregularity in relieving the municipals added to the sufferings of
the young prisoner. It was not, in general, until an advanced
hour of the night that the new commissaries were appointed
by the council-general, so that they did not arrive at the
Temple before midnight.  Then the new comers had to be
certain of the presence of the captive, in order to discharge their
predecessors from their trust. Preceded by a turnkey, they went
up together to the kennel of the wolf-cub; it was a matter of in
difference to them whether he was asleep or awake: if he were
awake, they brought him only fear; and if asleep, fear and loss of
rest together. A pitiless voice suddenly called to him, to make
sure that he had not been carried off. If on some occasions,
plunged in that forgetfulness which is given by sleep, he delayed a moment in replying, an arm, moved by disquietude,
would open the turning wicket with a great noise, and a terrible voice would cry: "Capet! Capet!  Are you asleep?
Whereareyou?  Young viper, getup!"  The child, waking
with a start, got out of bed; and came, trembling all over,
with his feet colder than the damp boards along which he
dragged them.  "I am here, citizens," he would answer, in a
gentle voice.  "Come here that I may see you..!"." Here I
am; what do you want with me?"  I" To see you," replied the
Cerberus, turning his lantern on the opening.  "All right!
Get to bed!-In!-Down!"
Two or three hours afterwards the enormous keys grated
harshly again, and the iron door moved on its hinges: it was the
turn of some commissaries who had been delayed, and who, no less
zealous or as curious as the first arrivals, wished to see the
prisoner; thus bringing disturbance to a rest that was just
commencing again, and terror to an imagination that was
beginning to grow calm.  The child was again obliged to get
up and be inspected.  In the course of the visit made by the




202            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.          [BOOK 13
Reflections.
municipal on guard, together with those whom they were re^
lieving, the conversation was sometimes prolonged; a hundred idle questions were exchanged between the colleagues,
bringing on a long interrogatory, in the course of which the
child,-half naked, bathed in the perspiration of sleep, and
frozen by the night-air,-was forced to endure brutal words
which disturbed his mind, cruel language which wounded his
heart, and even the dangerous light of the lantern, which,
turned full on his pale countenance, dazzled his poor suffering
eyes, which had not seen a single ray of sunshine for so long a
time, almost to blindness. And sometimes, too, a threatening
gesture, or a Satanic laugh from a distance, greeted the return
to bed of that frail phantom of a king, sunk into his last
degradation, and not yet old enough to die-the headsman
would have spurned him!
So much suffering weakened the body of the unfortunate
Prince even less than it revolted his heart, and he took a
firm resolution to ask nothing more, and make no reply for the
future to the authors of his own misery and the misfortunes of
his family.
Perhaps a sort of bitter satisfaction succeeded his former
terror; perhaps he looked forward to a future so darkly coloured
that from the bottom of his heart he thanked the Almighty for
shortening his sufferings.  It is certain that he uttered
no complaint, and crossing his two poor little hands on his
breast, he seemed awaiting the fate that Providence should destine for him. More than once, doubtless, as he lay down on
his pallet, did the thought occur, with a feeling of joy, that he
might never rise from it again. What revelation, Oh! my
God! hadst Thou made to a child through his sufferings, to
bring the thought of death before his mind?  And what
crime had that poor little innocent committed, that Thou
shouldst have so long delayed to send him that great liberator
whom we call Death? It is because, before Thine eternal existence, all days are equal; the hours that passed so cruelly




L7r94.]              HIS SOLITUDE                     203
Sufferings of the young King.
with this child-martyr were not really longer than those that
brighten for children who are happy.   Or rather, it is
because by the mystery of reversionary suffering, the innocent expiates the sins of the guilty.  A  truly Christian
philosopher has said, with much good sense, to those who
asked why and for whose sake the innocent suffer in this
world: "For yours, if you like!"*  Often, from neglect, they
delayed to bring him his meagre fare when he was in most
pressing need of it: no matter, he made no reproach, and expressed no wish on the subject. But then, pressed by hunger,
he would sometimes eat more and faster than usual, and it
is evident how much his health must have suffered in consequence.
Meantime, days had gone by, and days, and weeks, and
months had followed. The want of fresh air, abandonment,
and solitude, had emaciated his body, weakened his mind,
and dried up his heart. In those poor eyes-that grief had
hollowed, and darkness and lassitude had worn-tears arose no
longer.  His weakened hands could scarcely raise the common
earthenware plate that held his food, or the pitcher of water,
heavier still, which was brought up daily by a boy from the
kitchen (with orders, under pain of death, to hold no communication with the prisoner), and deposited on the shelf of
the wicket.
It was a long time since the child had left off sweeping
his room; he never tried now to move the palliass of his bed; nor
did the idea of ever lifting his mattrass occur to him; besides
which, his failing strength would not have allowed of his doing
so. He could not change his sheets, dirty as they were, or
his blanket, which was hanging in rags; he could not change
his linen, could not repair his torn clothes, could not wash or
keep himself clean. Soon he ceased to take off his torn trousers
and ragged jacket.  His exhausted strength condemned him tc
* Count Joseph de Maistre, " Soirees de St. Pdtersboury."




204             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.              [BOOn 13.
Sufferings of the young King.
a depressing state of inaction.  Sometimes his glance was
turned upon the wicket-looking, watching-at once desirous
and fearful of hearing a human voice; then he gave himself
ap again to that sleepy idleness, full of sudden starts and
terrors: lie stretched himself, all dressed as he was, on his
nard couch, and slept there the greater part of the day, thus
preparing for himself a sleepless night, which the visits of his
keepers were to disturb yet more.
Such-at least as far as we canjudge from a closed historysuch were the days and nights of the young King throughout
his long and solitary confinement.  Who, indeed, would affirm
they did not even surpass in misery the idea we have tried to
form of them? Who knows-horrible to think of!-whether he
did not even more than once regret Sitnon?  Alas! it was in
vain that his poor mother had prayed to God to give her child one
day of happiness for all the days of misery she herself had
passed!  God had decided otherwise; but the wrath of God
is merciful, the son will not to be separated long from his
mother; he, too, may say: " I shall go to her, but she will not
return to me!"*
Unhappy child! since he had left his family no friendly
voice had reached his ear; no friendly voice, by night or by
day, had spoken at his bed-side, to ask after his sufferings, and
give him encouragement. Oh! it would have been too great
a consolation! It is but a gentle evil that draws around our
couch the beings whom we love.
During those long nights, full of terrors, as well as through
the long hours of twilight that were his day, he heard nothing
but the sound of bolts and the voices of his enemies, as they
spoke from the shade without.  Often he would spring up in
his bed, and holding back his long hair with his trembling
"Asndro a lei, ma ella non ritornera a me."
The inscription placed by Byron on the tomb of his daughter Allegra,
who died at Bagnacavallo, in Tuscany, 22nd April, 1822, at the age of
five years.




179~4.]            HIS SOLITUDE.                     205
Sufferings of the young King.
hand, would thus bare his pale, emaciated cheek; and while a
cold sweat streamed from his temples, and his horror-stricken
eyes remained fixed and distended, his arm would be stretched
out before him, as if to repulse some threatened attack. Then,
the phantoms he had conjured up disappearing, he would lie
down again with a burning fire in his breast.
In this agonised suffering the strength of his mind was
wearing fast away. Was it the hope of his enemies, that
torment of such long continuance would lead to despair, and
that terror so violent would end in madness?
Sometimes, without sleeping at all, he would lie for whole
hours, weighed down beneath the thick, damp air, amid the
fetid, poisonous atmosphere that lay so heavily on his labouring
breast.  He wept no longer; there were no more tears in his
seared eyes; but his burning lip and parched palate vainly
implored a drop of water. He tried to raise himself from his
bed and could not succeed; with much suffering, and very
slowly, he dragged himself towards the wicket, crawling along the
cold floor, that sent an icy thrill through his suffering body;
and more than once his strength failed in enabling him to
reach even the pitcher containing the water that was given to
him. What unknown sufferings there may have been of which
I can say nothing! Who knows the bitter anguish that child
must have endured at sight of the pitcher he could not reach?
How many days of life would he not have given for a drop of
the water that was so near him?
Sometimes, but this was rare good fortune, his illness
entirely absorbed him; his haggard eye saw nothing, and his
ear heard no longer; a complete stupor seized upon him, and
made him  forget even his thirst-even his life! Then, his
blood beginning to flow again, and enabling him to leave his
couch, and drag himself to the pitcher of water, renewed in
him also the power to feel thosb two great misfortunes incidental to mankind —misery and desertion!
And -against so many evils had he not the consolation of




206            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [nooK 13.
S iferings of the young King.
prayer?  Alas! he had found Heaven so long deaf to his
supplicating voice, that perhaps he had come to think there
must be some barrier between himself and God!
Thus from  day to day his energies were leaving him; his
soul sank within him, overcome by grief; his limbs grew stiff;
his oppressed breathing was barely sustained; his mind was
troubled, and the excess of his sufferings in some - degree
robbed him of consciousness.
He had neither the strength nor even the will to raise
any cry from the recesses of this tomb, that violence had
opened for him before the time. Gladness and tears, prayers
and despair-all was over: there was nothing; there was but a
decaying body, and an intelligence all but extinguished. He hid
his head in his hands, as though he sought to avoid the light,
or give free course to his sobs. He saw the storm above his
head, the abyss beneath his feet-but that was all. He took
no heed now of the tumultuous feelings of his heart, he sought not
to know when the thunder-bolt that was to destroy him would
fall. In his complete prostration he had no longer the power
of thought to measure his sufferings, nor energy to bear them;
his instinct, like his strength, barely sufficed for his wants.
Remains of his food lay scattered over the floor, or cov'ered
his bed.  His room was infested by rats and mice; attracted
by the noisome smell of the apartment, as well as by that of
the: bread and meat provided for the little prisoner, these
animals had made holes in the corners of the corridor communicating with his room, and had established themselves there;
they had propagated to a frightful extent, and would come out
to share the victim's food, who, in order to keep them off, would
throw them a part of the bread and meat that was given him.
To the rats and mice were added great black spiders, such as
are seen in dungeons; and these unwelcome guests would
run over the child's bed the whole night through, so that its
occupant was often obliged to give up the field to them, and,
rising, would take his seat upon his chair, and pass the rest of




1794i ]              HIS SOLITUDE.                   207
Sufferings of the young King.
the night in it, with his elbows resting on the table.*  Everywhere there was dust, and dirt, and filth; putrid vapours poisoned
the atmosphere of this fetid room, the windows of which had
not been opened for nearly six months; damp sheets, that were
like anything but sheets; a mattrass in such a state as cannot
be described; and-as a climax of misery-vermin, engendered
by so much filth, surrounded on all sides the heir of so many
monarchs, who could neither get rid of them nor defend himself
from their attacks.  " Everything is alive in that room," said
young Caron (the cook's assistant), one day, as he took away
the crockery, and glanced into that frightful jail. Yes, everything was alive, except the boy they were killing there by
inches, and murdering in detail.  This beautiful child, so
admired at Versailles and at the Tuileries; the charming
creature, who so delighted the loving pride of his mother, now
in Heaven! Look at him! He would not recognise himself if
he saw himself in a mirror-his form is scarcely human-it
is something that vegetates-a moving mass of bones and skin!
Orders given in a loud tone, severe menaces, were now required to rouse this poor tottering little being from his lethargy,
and make him bring to the wicket the earthenware dish and
the jug, presented to him,-by a generous nation!-as to a dog
in his kennel. Exhausted by the effort required to perform
this act of obedience, he dragged himself slowly and painfully
back to his pallet, where once more he sank down, a victim
to the anguished pain that tortured him and the vermin that
preyed on his flesh. No, never could any state of misery have
been conceived, more desolate, more lonely, more threatening,
more horrible, than this!
And all that I here relate is true! These troubles, insults,
and torments, were heaped on the head of a child! I show
them to you, like indeed to what they were, but far short of
the reality! To represent them in all their horror and shame,
* "Louis XVII.," by Sinien Desporaux, 1817




208            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 13.
Sufferings of the young King.
it would be necessary to employ the pencil of Tacitus, and the
satirical force of Petronius; or, better still, the moaning voice
of Job, lamenting in dust and ashes, and crying: "My soul
prefers death-death, to the life of a dead man!" or saying to
the worm of the sepulchre: "Thou art my brother!" and to
corruption: " Thou art my mother and my sister!"
I can understand Louis XVI., his kingly death, the martyrscaffold; the Christian doctrine of expiation explains to me
the sacrifice of the righteous.  But how is it possible to
understand that any one could take pleasure in the slow persecution of a child-in withering him perseveringly-counting
his tears, drop by drop-and killing him by humiliations and
sorrows alone?
Cowardly and cruel men! Why did you not take a knife
at once to sacrifice the lamb? Oh! why did you not spread
the same bloody net over that little head with which you enveloped his family? Why did you stop half-way in that
frenzy of murder? It would have been better to drink that
last drop of royal blood, than to mingle it with gall, and venom,
and poison; it would have been better to smother the child,
as was done by the emissaries of Richard III. in the Tower of
London, than to degrade and sully his intellect by that slow
method of assassination, which killed the mind before it slew
the body. He should have been struck a year or two before;
his little feet should have been aided to mount the rude steps
of the guillotine! Ah! if she could have known the fate you
were-reserving for him, the daughter of Maria Theresa would
have asked to take her child in her arms; she would have
shared her last victory with him, and the angels of God would
have prepared at once the crown of the martyred and that of
the innocent victim! Alas! history is fain to regret for Louis
XVII. the scaffold of his mother!
Forgive me, reader.  I wished to remain cold and impassive-such was my promise; but, as I listened to the simple
and mournful accounts given me by my informants, I was not




1794.]               HIS SOLITUDE.                  209
M. le Monnier.
always able to restrain my tears and my reprobation.  I try
to write without anger or hatred, but it is not in my power to
write without a feeling of indignation, or to trample on my
heart, because I am relating the history of men who had
neither heart nor feeling.
Without knowing positively what was passing in the
Temple tower, the public were aware that the Dauphin's
health was visibly declining, and that, languid and melancholy,
he could neither stand nor sit from weakness.  But no one
without could form an exact idea of the unfortunate Prince, or
of the unclean couch on which he was forced to lie. Still,
there were some compassionate spirits that were moved to pity.
M. le Monnier, a noble-hearted man, and a physician of considerable skill, had come from his retirement at Montreuil to
petition for the dangerous honour of visiting the son of Louis
XVI., and attending him professionally. The regicides forgave
his boldness, but disregarded his proposal; the physician to
the last King might yet have saved, or at least prolonged, the
life of the royal child; but their infernal intentions would
have met with opposition from his zeal and knowledge, and
they were, therefore, resolved not to admit any member of
the profession into the tower until they could do so with im
punity.  It was their settled purpose not to think it time to
pay any attention to the invalid until they were well assured
that aid would come too late.
Meanwhile, France was ravaged by famine; revolts were
threatening the government on all sides; while revolutionary'
passions were agitating the streets, and hastening the mortal
work of poverty.
Eleven thousand four hundred aristocrats were crowded
Together in the palaces and convents of France, transformed
into prisons.
In front of every house was suspended a label, proclaiming
the Republic, one and indivisible-or death! On every door
was written a list of the inhabitants of the house,-a means of




210               LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 18.
Lists of the population.
information, if knowledge was required; a table of proscription,
if they wished to kill their victims.*
* The Commune of Paris had thus ordered the execution of this
measure, on the 6th April, 1793.
" The council-general, taking into consideration the negligent manner
in which the citizens execute the law, concerning the lists on the outside of
the houses of the names of all the individuals residing there:
"Decrees, that the following instructions be printed and posted, and
that the police commissaries of every section be ordered, under their own
responsibility, to carry out the said law:m' Instructions relating to the list that is to be made of all the citizens
inhabiting Paris, and put up on the outside of every house.
"' 1st. At the top is to be placed the name of the proprietor, if he resides
in the house, or if not, the principal tenant, if there be one, or of the
house-agent.
"' 2nd. To be divided into floors in the following manner 
GROUND-FLOOR.
N. N.
ROOM BETWEEN THE fLOORS.
FIRST-FLOOR, &c.
"' The list must give uninteruptedly the names of all those persons
living on the same floor, even every individual of each separate tenement.
"'Example:'' Such a floor. {Citizen such-a-one, his wife, so many children of
both sexes, then the servants.
"' It will be necessary to give the first or baptismal names, the surname, sex, and age, of every person. The principal name to be given must
be that usually borne by the individual, by which he is generally known,
and not his family name, if he be publicly called by another.
"'The position of every individual must be exactly defined, and if he
have no employment this must be stated, for the title of "citizen" is too
vague a description, if indeed it be one at all.
"' The list must be written legibly, put up in the most prominent place
outside the house, in such a manner that every one may be able to look
through it with ease, and without losing a single name.
"' No person must be omitted. A single omission is an infringement
of the law, and subjects the delinquent to severe punishment.
"',Every time that any change takes place, mention must be made of it
in the list, either by striking out the names of the persons who have left the
house, or by adding those newly come, and even the temporary tenants ol
the house.
"' All mistakesshall be laid to the account of the proprietors, principal




1794.]                  HIS SOLITUDE.                         211
Universal agitation.
In the streets people avoided recognition, or, if they spoke,
exchanged but a few words in a low tone, and walked quickly
along, unless, as the crier shouted out the names of the condemned, they stood still for a moment, to catch the name of a
friend, a'relativc-perhaps their own!
The night was as full of trouble as the day.  Arrests were
made by torch-light; your servants might have denounced you
to the sections, while those of other people served their masters,
who had lost all, without asking for wages.
The guillotine, always at work, cut off heads without
number.   The  blood  that flowed, far from  quenching  the
thirst of the tyrants, did but increase it the more. There
were no kings left to throw  as a sacrifice to the  sphynx of
revolution, and the terrified nation found itself face to face
with the sombre enigma of its existence.   Civilisation and
barbarism sought each other out in darkness, to wrest from
each other their mutual secret, —a horrible struggle, like that
of the two men shut up together in a cave with poniards, who
saw each other by the lightning-fire of their eyes alone!*
tenants, or house-agents, and shall be severely punished; for it is not allowable for this measure to remain unexecuted, or eluded, or turned into derision.'
"I The council-general decrees, that a copy of the list be revised by the
Committees of the sections.
" That the commissaries of police verify the correctness of the said lists,
and take the measures necessary for preventing their being removed or
defaced."
(Council-general of the Commune, of Paris, Saturday, 6th April, 1'793.)
* Amid so many sacrifices, sadness of countenance had become a crime,
and gaiety a duty.  In the sitting of the 25th Ventose, 2nd year (15th
March, 1794), Barrer6 said:
"Go to-day into the streets of Paris, you will recognise the aristocrats
by their lengthened visage."
"Yes," added Couthon, "in times of revolution every good citizen
should be a physiognomist; it is in a man's countenance that you will re.
cognise a conspirator, an accomplice of traitors, placed under laws of justice;
such people have haggard eyes, a frightened look, a sad and downcast
expression.  Good citizens seize these traitors and arrest them!"  (Loud
applause.-(" Moniteur," 26th Ventbse, 2nd year; 16th March, 1L794.)




212            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            rB0ooI 13,
Reflections.
All was tumult, confusion, disorder, and rage; one must
have lived in those days of mad and bloody excitement to
form any idea of the state of things.  "You will read these
things one day," our fathers said to us, "but you will not
believe them!"
Political intelligence was confined to some reflective minds
that thought apart, or some crafty heads that stirred the
multitude.  The rest had no longer any confidence in themselves, and looked on inactive, as if bowed down beneath the
hand of God.  A whole people, trembling and resigned, awaited
their doom,-like those Indians, who, when the tiger appears,
throw themselves on the ground, lying motionless at its feet,
till the roaring beast selects its victim.
Yes, the patience of the oppressed in those horrible times
seems a phenomenon as inexplicable as the wickedness of the
oppressors.  The latter, by dividing into parties, were doomed
to'labour for the preservation of humanity; timid crime conspired against threatening crme, and the 9th Thermidor
arrived!




BOOK FOURTEENTH.
LAURENT APPOINTED KEEPER TO THE
CHILDREN OF LOUIS XVI.
10TH THERMIDOR, YEAR 2 (28TH JULY, 1794).
Visit of Barras to the Temple-Nomination of Laurent-Biographical de.
tails-Execution of Robespierre and Simon-Installation of LaurentInquiry sought by him-Some members of the committee of public
welfare visit the young King-His state-Laurent's attention to his
prisoner-Surprise of the latter-Walks on the platform-A bouquet
of flowers-Double uneasiness of the Convention-Laurent asks, and
obtains a colleaguie.
ON tle day after the 9th Thermidor, at six o'clock in the
morning, Barras, who had been one of the principal actors on
that day, repaired to the Temple, with several members of the
committees and deputies of the Convention, in grand costume.
Having been appointed commander-in-chief of the armed force
-which on the day before had repulsed that commanded by
Henriot, and had taken Robespierre and his principal agents,
established at the HOtel-de-Ville, prisoners-Barras went with
his escort to show himself at all the great military posts of
Paris, and to receive from the troops their oath of fidelity to
the National Convention. He stopped at the Temple post,
doubled the guard there, and ordered the municipals to remain
there permanently, and keep strict watch.
Among the numerous escort surrounding the new com.
mandant of the troops of Paris was citizen Laurent, a member
of the revolutionary committee of the Temple section    "I




214              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BooR  14.
Laurent and Barras.
shall want to talk with you," said Barras to him; " come and
see me when we have returned."
Laurent was punctual at the rendezvous. " We have disposed
of you without consulting you," said the dictator to him.  "Independently of the municipals who relieve each other every day
at the Temple tower, and keep watch over its safety, it will
be well for the government to have a permanent agent there,
worthy of entire confidence.  The committees, on my propo.
sition, have just appointed you keeper to the children of the
ex-king; they depend on your zeal and patriotism.  You will
receive your commission to-morrow."
* We give the two decrees of the committees of public welfare, and
general safety, appointing Laurent keeper to the tyrant's children, and
regulating his salary:"Extract from the register of the decrees of the committees of public
welfare and general safety of the National Convention, 11th day of
the month Thermidor, 2nd year of the French Republic, one and
indivisible.
"The committees of public welfare and general safety declare that
citizen Laurent, member of the revolutionary committee of the Temple, is
appointed provisionally to the guard of the tyrant's children, prisoners in
the Temple. The two committees recommend him to keep the strictest
watch.
(Signed)    "BILLAUD-VARENNES, B. BARRERE, VADIER..DUBARRAN, C. A. PRIEUR, CARNOT, ROBERT LINDET, COLLOT D'HERBOIS, AqMAT, LOUIS (of the
Lower Rhine), VOULLAND, ELIE LACOSTE, MOYSE
BAYLE, DAVID, LAVICOMTERIE, JAGOT, and
(Extract       RHULH.
signed)    "ELIE LACOSTE, VADIER, B. BARRERE, BILLAUD
VARENNES, COLLOT WD'HERBOIS, and DUBARRAN.
"Certified as correct, and conformable to the decrees of the committees
of public welfare and general safety, now in my hands:
"LAURENT, appointed guardian to the children of Capet."
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6208.)
"National Convention.
"C ommittee of general safety and superintendence of the National
Convention.
" 22nd Vendgmiaire, year 3 of the French Republic, one and indivisible.
6"The Committee of general safety decides that commissary Laurent,




1Si4.]                     LAURENT.                          215
Description of Laurent.
Laurent came from St. Domingo, where he had some land.
He was a little man, a warm  partizan  of equality  aboat
thirty-five years of age, and unmarried; his democratical principles, which had attracted him to France, had brought him
forward, and gained him the esteem of Barras.  His republican
tendencies had been strengthened by reading all the pamphlets
of the period, and by his regular attendance at the clubs. In
other respects he was, like his protector, a clever and well.
educated man, with very refined manners; but his ardour for
the new opinions excluded all impartial appreciation of the
past, and, in his sympathy with the people, he would acknowledge nothing great that had not sprung from them. He lived
with his mother and two young sisters in the Rue de la FolieMericourt, in a neighbourhood where, at that period, there
were more gardens than houses. Laurent had a passion for
flowers, and devoted all the time he could spare from political
affairs to his greenhouse and his parterre.
At four o'clock, the hour when Barras, followed by his escort,
was completing his tour, another procession, much more numerous, was passing through Paris, amid cries of joy, and the maledictions of the people; it was the tumbril that bore Robespierre
and his satellites,*-among whom  was the cobbler Simon,appointed as guard over the tyrant's children, shall be rewarded by a
monthly salary, at the rate of six thousand livres a year, to be paid by the
commission of civil administration, police, and tribunals; which sum shall
be charged by the above commission on the funds placed at their disposal.
"The representatives of the people, members of the committee of
general safety.
(Signed)    "GOUPILLEAU (of Fontenay), BENTABOL, MATHIEU,
LE VASSEUR (of the Meurthe), MONMAYOU, REVERCHON, CLAUZEL, BOUIDON (of the Oise), LESAGESENAUX."
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6208.)
* We give the names as they are given in the report of their execution,
and warrant for their death:I.-.Maximilien Robespierre, aged 35 years, a native of Arras, residing
at Paris, Rue Saint-Honore, section of Piques.




t6               LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                 [1B00o  1K.
Execution of Robespierre.
to execution. Robespierre had on the same coat which he
wore on the day of the fete of the Supreme Being; and Simon,
2.-Georges Couthon, aged 38 years, a native of Orzay, department of
Puy-de-IDme, residing. at Paris, Cour de Manage.
3.-Louis-Jean-Baptiste-Thomas Lavalette, aged 40 years, a native of
Paris, residing there, No, 320 Rue Honord.
4.-Frangois Henriot, aged 35 years, a native of Nanterre, near Paris,
residing at Paris, Rue de la Clef.
B.-Ren6-Frangois Dumas, aged 37 years, a native of Jussey, department
of the Upper SaSne, residing at Paris, Maison de Convenance, Rue
de Seine-Germain.
6.-Antoine Saint-Just, aged 26 years, a native of Lis6, department of
the Nievre, residing at Paris, No. 3 Rue Caumartin.
7.-Claude-Franqois Payan, aged 27 years, a native of Saul-les-Fontaines, department of the DrOme, residing at Paris, Rue de la
LibertY, section of Marat.
8.-Jacques-Claude Bernard, aged 34 years, residing at Paris, Rue
Bernard, section of Montreuil.
9.-Adrien-Nicolas Gobeau, aged 26 years, native of Vincennes, department of Paris, No. 530, Rue de la Chaise, section of Croix-Rouge.
(0.-Antoine Gency, cooper, aged 23 years, a native of Reims, department
of the Marne, residing at Paris, Rue de l'Oursine, Faubourg Marcel.
Il. —Nicolas-Joseph Vivier, aged 50 years, a native of Paris, residing
there, Rue Germain-Museum.
12.-Jean-Baptiste-Edmond Lescot-Fleuriot, artist, aged 43 years, a native
of Brussels, residing at Paris, at the Mairie.
13.-Antoine Simon, shoemaker, aged 58 years, a native of'I'royes, department of the Aube, residing at Paris, No. 32 Rue Marat.
14.-Denis-Etienne Laurent, aged 32 years, a native of Paris, residing
there, No. 13 Rue Git-le-Cceur.
15. —Jacques-Louis-Fr6deric Wouarn&e, aged 29 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, No. 10 Rue de I'Hirondelle.
16.-Jean-Etienne Forestier, founder, aged 47 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, Rue du Platre-Avoye.
17.-Augustin-Bon-Joseph Robespierre, a native of Arras, residing at
Paris, Rue Florentin.
18.-Nicolas Guerin, receiver, aged 52 years, a native of Beaumont-surOrne, department of Calvados, residing at Paris, No. 50 Rue du
Faubourg Montmartre.
19.-Jean-Baptiste-Mathieu Dhazard, hairdresser, aged 36 years, a native
of Paris, residing there, No. 101 Rue Honord, section of the Gardes.
Fran aises,
20.-Christophe Cochefer, upholsterer, a native of Gonesse, department of
Seine-et-Oise, residing at Paris, No. 413 Rue Merry.




$94~.]                      LAURENT.                            217
Execution of Robespierre.
the same carmagnole he had had at the Temple, while he exercised his functions as tutor there.  There was an immense
21.-Charles-Jacques-Mathieu Bougon, aged 57 years, a native of Tourvile, department of Calvados, residing at Paris, No. 64 Rue Lazare,
section of Mont-Blanc.
22.-Jean-Marie Quenet, wood dealer, a native of Commune-Affranchie,
residing at Paris, No. 78 Rue de la Mortellerie.
"Examined the extract of the sentence of the revolutionary
tribunal, and of the report of the execution, dated the
10th instant.
(Signed)  "NEIROT, Registrar's Clerk.
" TRIAL, Public Officer."
The batch of victims next day was more considerable; the victors, who
hId first struck their most redoubtable enemies, had lhad time to name a
great number, and to attaint the greater part of those members of the
Commune who had long prevailed against the Convention. The reader
will find the names of several of the Temple commissaries in the following
list: —l.-Bertrand Arnaud, aged 55 years, a native of Tigne, department of
Mont-Blanc, residing at Paris, No. 4 Rue Favart.
2. —Jean-Baptiste Crdpin Taillebot, mason, aged 58 years, a native of
Jouy-le-Peuple, department of Seine-et-Oise, residing at Paris,
Rue du Fauburg-du-Temple.
3.-Servais-Beaudoin Boullanger, jeweller, aged 38 years, a native of
Liege, residing at Paris, No. 59 Rue Honor&.
4.-Prosper Sijas, clerk, aged 35 years, a native of Vir, department of
Calvados, residing at Paris, No. 21 Rue Grange-Batelitre.
&.-Pierre Remy, toyman, aged 45 years, a native of Chaumont, department of the Upper Marne, residing at Paris, No. 595 Rue Louis,
section of Indivisibilitd.
6.-Claude-Antoine Deltroit, miller, aged 43 years, a native of Pontoise,
department of Seine-et-Oise, residing at Paris, No. 21 Rue de la
M6gisserie.
7. —Jean-Guillaume-FranQois Vocannu, mercer, aged 37 years, a native
of Germain-de-Montgommery, department of Calvados, residing at
Paris, Rue du Monceau.
8. —Claude Bigant, painter, aged 40 years, a native of Paris, residing
thlere, No. 5 Rue des Boulangers-Victor, section of the SansCulottes.
9.-Jean-Charles Lesire, farmer, aged 48 years, a native of Rosay, department of Seine-et-Marne, residing at Paris, Quai de l'Union,
section of Fraternit6.
10.-Jean-Baptiste-Emmanuel Legendre, aged 62 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, No. 515 Rue de la Monnaie, section of the Mus&urm.
IrT.r




218                LOUIS  THE  SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOI; 14.
Execution of Robespierrc.
crowd of people in the streets, who pursued the fatal tumbril
with  thunders  of imprecations.   A  man, decently  clothed,
1 1.-Jean-Philippe-Victor Charlemagne, schoolmaster, aged 26 years, a
native of Paris, residing there, No. 92 Rue de Clery.
12.-Pierre-Nicolas Delacour, notary, aged 37 years, a native of Beauvais,
department of the Oise, residing at Paris, Rue Neuve-Eustachlle,
section of Brutus.
13. —Augustin-Germain Jobert, merchant, aged c50 years, a native of
Montigny-sur-Aube, department of the CSte-d'Or, residing at Paris,
Rue des Precdheurs.
14.-Pierre-Louis Paris, aged 35 years, a native of Paris, residing there,
No. 27 Rue des Carmes, section of the Pantheon.
15.-Claude Jonquoy, toyman, aged 44 years, a native of Massiae, department of Cantal, residing at Paris, No. 15 Rue Jean-Robert, section
of the Gravilliers.
16.-R-ende-Toussaint Daubancourt, trunk-maker, aged 53 years, a native
of Paris, residing there, No. 23 Rue des Petits-Champs, section of
the Halle aux Bles.
17.-Jean-Baptiste Vincent, builder, aged 36 years, a native of MoutierSaint-Jean, department of the C6te d'Or, residing at Paris, Rue
de Clery, section of Bonne-Nouvelle.
18. —Martin Wichterich, shoemaker, aged 45 years, a native of Cologne,
residing at Paris, Rue de Lappe, section of Popincourt.
19.-Pierre Henry, lottery office-keeper, aged 48 years, a native of Riz,
department of Var, residing at Paris, Rue Antoine, section of'In'divisibilitY.
20.-Jean Casenave, tradesman's clerk, aged 38 years, a native of Belleville, near Paris, residing at Paris, Rue d'Orleans, section of
I'Homme-AruiT.
21.-Jean-Louis Gilbert, pastrycook, aged 43 years, a native of Luzancyla-Marne, department of Seine-et-Marne, residing at Paris, No.
52 Faubourg Denis, section of the North.
22.-Pierre Girod, mercer, aged 27 years, a native of Paris, residing
there, No. 10 Rue des Deux-Ponts, section of Fraternite, hlusband
of Antoinette-Adelaide Rominira.
23.-FranGois Pelletier, wine-dealer, aged 33 years, a native of Cheminon,
department of the Marne, residing at Paris, Rue du Faubourg.
Denis.
24. —Nicolas JArosnme, turner, aged 44 years, a native of Paris, residing
there, No. 213 Rue Jacques-la- Boucherie.
25.-Jean-Baptiste Cochois, tradesman's clerk, aged 53 years, a native of
Paris, residing there, Rue de 1'Egalite.
9,6.-Jealn-L6onard Sarrot, painter, aged 31 years, a native of Paris, reraiding there, No. 45 Rue du Faubourg-Franciade.




1784.]                      LAUREPNT.                            21 9
Execution of Robespierre.
forced his way through  the crowd, and seizing hold of one of
the bars of the cart, contemplated for some moments, in silence,
27.-Ren6 Grenard, paper-maker, aged 45 years, a native of La Garenne,
department of Seine-et-Oise, residing at Paris, Rue et Section
deg Piques.
28.-Jacques Lasnier, lawyer, aged 52 years, a native of Bezoir-Lafdrikre,
department of Seine-et-Marne, residing at Paris, No 286 Rue du
Four-Germain.
29.-Marc-Martial-Andrd Mercier, bookseller, aged 43 years, a native of
Paris, residing there, No. 188 Rue Neuve-des-Capucines, husband
of Anne de By.
30. —Jean-Pierre Bernard, steward, aged 38 years, native of La Chalade,
department of the Meuse, residing  at Paris, Rue GermainMuseum.
31. —Etienne-Antoine Souars, aged 56 years, a native of Abervilliers,
called les Vertes, district of La Franciade, residing at Paris, No. 32
Rue des Vieuf-Augustins.
82.-Dominique Mettot, general agent, aged 45 years, a native of Nancy,
department of La Meurthe, residing at Paris, at the Maison
Commune.
33.-Louis-Joseph Mercier, joiner, aged 40 years, a native of Sacy-le.
Grand, department of the Oise, residing at Paris, No. 14 Rue des
Trois-Pistolets, section of the Arsenal.
34.-Jean-Jacques Baurieux, clockmaker, aged 45 years, a native of Dartois,
department of the Bouches-du-:Rh6ne, residing at Paris, No. 19 Rue
du Faubourg-Honor6.
5. —Antoine Jametel, aged 54 years, a native of Moissy, department of
Seine-et-Marne, residing at Paris, No. 18 Rue de ia GrandeTruanderie, husband of Louise-Pauline Noiseux.
36.-Ponce Tanchou, engraver, aged 32 years, a native of Bourges, department of the Cher, residing at Paris, No. 42 Cloitre NotreDame, husband of Jeanne-Marie Beliaz.
37.-Marc-Louis Desvieux, aged 44 years, a native of Paris, residing
there, Rue Montorgueil.
38.-F-rangois-Auguste Paff, cap-maker, aged 41 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, Rue de la Joaillerie, section of Arcis, husband of
Catherine-Franqoise Bourgain.
39.-Jacques-Mathurin Lelievre, engraver, aged 40 years, a native of
Paris, residing there, No. 252 Rue Martin.
40.-Louis-Franqois Dorigny, carpenter, aged 36 years, a native of Bruyere,
department of Aisne, residing at Paris, No. 17 Rue Popincourt.
41. —Pierre-Alexandre Louvet, painter, aged 33 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, No. 52 Rue des Blanes-MIanteaux, husband of
Frangoise LiUd&.




220                LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 14.
Execution of Robespierre.
the hideous spectacle presented by Robespierre, covered with
blood and dirt, his jaw shattered, one eye out of its socket, and
42.-Jean-Jacques Lubin, painter, aged 29 years, a native of Paris, residing there, No. 24 Rue de ]a Revolution.
43. —Jacques-Pierre Coru, corn-seller, aged 63 years, a native of Noof,
department of Orne, residing at Paris, No. 229 Rue Antoine.
44.-Pierre-Simon-Joseph Jault, artist, aged 30 years, a native of Reims,
department of Marne, residing at Paris, No. 371 Rue Claude.
45.-Jean-Baptiste Bergot, currier, aged 56 years, a native of Paris, residing there, No. 11 Rue Frangaise.
46.-Jacques-Nicolas L umiire, musician, aged 45 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, No. 4 Rue Thibautode.
47.-Jean Paquotte, sculptor, aged 48 years, a native of Troyes, department of Aube, residing at Paris, No. 1114 at the ex-abbey of SaintGermain.
48.-Jacques-Nicolas Blin, professional writer, aged 63 years, a native of
Aubanton, department of Aisne, residing at Paris, No. 37 Rue
Paul.
49.-Marie-Franqois Langlois, stationer, aged 37 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, No 196 Rue Jacques.
50,-Jean-Nicolas Langlois, locksmith, aged 49 years, a native of Rouen,
department of the Lower Seine, residing at Paris, No. 38 Rue
Georges.
61.-Jacques Moine, clerk and book-keeper, aged 39 years, a native of
Commune-Afrianchie, residing at Paris, No 78 Old Rue du Temple.
52.-Jean-Baptiste Chavingny, clerk, aged 55 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, No. 43 Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre.
53. —Charles Huant Desboisseaux, aged 39 years, a native of Paris, residing there, Rue de la FraternitS.
54.-Andr6 Marcel, mason, aged 53 years, a native of Rosny, department
of Seine-et-Oise, residing at Paris, Faubourg Martin.
55.-Martial Gamory, hair-dresser, aged 46 years, a native of Gufret,
department of La Creuse, residing at Paris, Rue du Coq-Honore.
56.-Pierre Haener, printer, aged 52 years, a native of Nancy, department of La Meurthe, residing at Paris, No. 34 Rue Martin.
57.-Pierre-Jacques le Grand, lawyer, aged 51 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, No. 5 Rue d'Enfer, in the Cite.
58.-Pierre-Ltonr Lamiral, fruiterer, aged 38 years, a native of Paris, residing there, Rub Beauregard, section of Bonne Nouvelle, husband
of Marie Grain.
59.-Jean-Pierre Eudes, stone-cutter, aged 31 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, No. 38 Rue des Juifs.
60.-Edme-Marguerite Lauvin, aged 60 years, a native of Vezelay, department of Yonne, residing at Paris, No. 23 Rue GeofWrey-Lasnier.




1794.]                      LAURENT.             - L221
Execution of Robespierre.
hanging  on his cheek.  This person addressed no words of
insult to the dying man he looked upon; he only said to him,
with a calm and solemn voice: "Yes, there is a God!"*
61.-Pierre Damez, engineer, aged 37 years, a native of Laferta-sur.
Ourk, department of Aisne, residing at Paris, No. 26 Rue de la
Harpe.
62.-Denys Dumontier, tailor, aged 51 years, a native of Paris, residing
there, Rue de la Poterie.
63.-Jean-Claude Girardin, fan-maker, aged 48 years, a native of Paris,
residing there, No. 28 Rue Transnonain.
64.-Jacques-Louis Cresson, cabinet-maker, aged 49 years, a native of
Paris, residing there, No. 38 Rue des Deux-Ecus.
65.-Franqois-Laurent Chatelin, professor of drawing, aged 43 years, a
native of Nancy, department of La Meurthe, residing at Paris, No.
98 Rue Quincampoix.
66.-Joseph Alavoine, tailor, aged 63 years, a native of La Verribre, department of the Oise, residing at Paris, Grands Piliers de la
Tonnellerie.
67. —Pierre-Frangois Devaux, gardener, aged 53 years, a native of Goupillere, department of Calyados, residing at Paris, Rue Plumet,
section of the Bonnet-Rouge, husband of Elizabeth-Charlotte Dive.
68.-Claude Benard, aged 28 years, a native of Paris, residing there, Rue
Boucher.
69.-Jacques Morel, writer, aged 55 years, a native of Vandceuvre, department of Aube, residing at Paris, No. 559 Rue du Marcheaux-Poirees.
70.-Nicolas Naudin, joiner,'aged 35 years, a native of Ville-sur-Yon,
department of La Moselle, residing at Paris, No. 5 Rue Charlot.
71.-Joseph Ravel, surgeon, aged 48 years, a native of Tarascon, department of Bouches-du-Rh6ne, residing at Paris, No. 38 Rue Antoine.
"Examined extract from the sentence of the criminal
revolutionary tribunal, and from the report of
the execution, in date of the 11th instant.
(Signed)    "NEIBOT, Registrar's Clerk (as far as JameteIs
the 35th on the list).
6'DucrAY, Registrar's Clerk (from  Tanchou,
the 86th, to the end).
~ 21th Thermidor, 2nd year of the Republic.
"TRIAL, Public Officer."
* These were not the only words which Robespierre was enabled to
distinguish amid the curses that resounded fiom every lip.  The people
having obliged the cart to stop before the house he had occupied in the
Rue Saint-Honore, a woman, young and well-dressed, said to him, in a




222             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 140,
Lamurent's accession to office.
I know not whether these words recurred to Laurent, on
the night of the 11th Thermidor, when he took possession of his future charge at the tower; but, it is certain that
the exaggerated nature of his political opinions had not extinguished every sentiment of humanity in his heart, and that,
as we shall hereafter see, he gave many proofs of his com.
passionate feeling for the unfortunate child committed to his
keeping.
Laurent had arrived at the Temple in the evening. The
municipals had received him in the council-room on the groundfloor, and it was not until two o'clock in the morning that they
conducted him  to the apartment of little Capet: the visit to
his sister was deferred till the next day.
Laurent had been apprised of the manner in which the
prisoner was treated, but he was far from  having formed an
exact idea of the state in which he was to find him: he had
not supposed that the retirement of Simon and his wife would
have added to the misery of his situation.  What, therefore,
was his surprise, when on reaching the entrance-door his
senses were assailed by a noisome smell issuing from the
grating of the royal orphan's room; and what his terror, when,
peering through the wicket into the dungeon, one of the municipals called loudly for Capet, and no Capet replied! After
having been many times summoned, there came at last a feeble' Yes!" in reply, but unaccompanied by any movement on the
part of the speaker. No amount of threatening could make
the victim  rise and come to the wicket, and it was, therefore,
at the distance of twenty feet from him, and by the light of a
tone of ferocity that contrasted strongly with the gentle cast of her features:
Monster, your death overwhelms me with delight! Why can you not
die a thousand times over? Descend to hell with the curses of all mothers
and wives on your head!"  After saying this, she retired, sobbing bitterly.
This house in the Rue Saint-Honor6, where Maximilien Robespierre
occupied a humble room on the first floor, over the court-yard, bears the
number 398. The ground-floor was let to Duploy, a joiner, whose daughter
Marianne had found favour in the sight of the deputy of Arras.




Pot.dj;LAURENT.                       223
Inspection of the prisoner.
candle turned upon his pallet, that the commissaries presented
the heir of the valiant race, who for eight centuries had filled
the first throne of the universe, to his new keeper! Laurent
was obliged to accept the charge of the son of Louis XV1 in
this manner; however, he conceived that his responsibility was
concerned in pointing out the condition in which he was given
up to his keeping, and next day he addressed a request to
the committee of general safety, that an examination should
be made.  The visit he had paid to his prisoner on the
following morning, had made him feel more strongly still
that such a step was necessary.  On looking through the
wicket he had been seized with a feeling of unmingled horror,
which had wrung his heart: the immobility and silence of the
child had not given way, even when kindly addressed in gentle
tones.  Philosopher and revolutionist as he was, Laurent had
felt his whole being stirred by a feeling of religion in presence
of such a spectacle!
His official request was attended to two days afterwards,
13th Thermidor, 2nd year (31st July, 1794); several mem
bers of the committee of general safety, accompanied by somc
municipals, repaired to the tower to examine into the state o)
the prisoner. They called to him, but he answered not; they
then ordered the room  to be opened; one of the workmen
attacked the bars of the wicket so vigorously that he was able
to put his head in, and seeing the unfortunate child, he asked
him why he had not replied; the child was silent.  In a few
minutes the door was removed, and the visitors entered the
room.  Then was there seen the most horrible spectacle that
it is given to man to conceive; a hideous spectacle, the like of
which can lever be presented again in the annals of a civilized
people, and on which the very murderers of Louis XVI. could
not look without a mournful pity mingled with terror! In a
dark room, from which exhaled an odour of corruption and
death, on a' dirty unmade bed, barely covered with a filthy
cloth and ragged pair of trousers, a child of nine years old was




224             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 14.
Inspection of the prisoner.
lying motionless, his back bent, his face wan arld wasted with
misery, and whence had fled that ray of sparkling intelligence
which encircled it in days gone by; on his features, so delicate
in form, was now to be seen nothing but an expression of most
mournful apathy and most complete inaction, which seemIed to
evince profound insensibility. His discoloured lips and hollow
cheeks had a sort of greenish tinge in their ghastly paleness;
even his blue eyes, enlarged by the thinness of his face, but
from which all brightness was gone now that they no longer
reflected the azure light of heaven, seemed to have taken a
greyish, greenish tint in their dull immobility.  His head
and neck were fretted by purulent sores; his legs, thighs, and
arms, lank and angular, were lengthened disproportionately at
the expense of the upper part of his body; his knees and
wrists were covered with. blue and yellow swellings; his feet
and hands unlike in appearance to human flesh, were armed
with nails of an immense length, having the consistency of
horn; on his- little temples, the beautiful fair hair, once destined to wear the crown of France, and now, to her shame,
given up to the attacks of vermin, was stuck fast by an
inveterate scurf like pitch; his body also was covered with
vermin; bugs and lice crowded together in every fold of his
ragged sheets and blanket, over which great black spiders
crawled, Such was the appearance of that emaciated child,
who had no longer the power to preserve a heart-a heart' once
so loving and so noble! —and who was wasting away in that
pestilential chamber, to which the Augean stables would have
been a cleanly spot-an enviable abode!
At the noise made by opening the door, the child had
started with a nervous motion; he turned his head but slightly,
scarcely glancing to see who was coming in, and trembling
in silence like a sparrow  in view  of the hawk.  Many
questions were put to him, but he answered none of them;
a look —vague, uncertain, expressionless-xwandered over the
countenances of his visitors: at that moment he would




1794.]                  LAURENT.                      225
Laurent's kindness.
not have been taken for mad, but, alas! for an idiot.  Surprised
at finding his dinner almost untouched on the little table, one
of the commissaries asked him  why he did not eat?  This
question met, at first, with no better reception than tile others,
but as it was several times repeated by the oldest man in the
deputation, who had approached him, and whose grey hair,
respectful manner, and paternal accent he had remarked:
"No, I wish to die! " said he, in a calm and determined tone,
which evinced., by the total want of all emotion, that he deemed
his sufferings irremediable, his misery inconsolable, and his
sorrows hopeless.  These were the only words that could be
extorted from  him  in this cruelly memorable visit, which
merely resulted in some trivial orders; from which, however, Laurent knew how to extract something in favour of his
prisoner.
Indeed, we may say it, to the high praise of Laurent, his
political principles had not made him renounce his feelings as.
an honest man.  While among the persons employed about
the tower and the numerous municipals who succeeded each
other there daily, there was not one who did not fear death
more than crime, he, Laurent alone, was not withheld from acting by the fear of compromising himself.  Men like Pilate
abound in revolutions; they raise the cross on Calvary, and
wash their hands, praying that the blood of the righteous fall
not back on their heads: serving the furious wrath of all powers
yet standing, and deserting the cause of all fallen greatness,
these men do not make revolutions themselves, but they fall
in with all. Laurent was not one of those cowards who see
the good and let the evil be done, — who prefer their life to
their conscience, and their repose to truth; he pitied the victim,
and had the courage to do him good.
At first it was not without much difficulty, and with the
assent of the deputies appointed to the examination, that he
succeeded in getting leave for Caron to go for some lukewarm
water to bathe the child's sores. The commissaries hesitated




226            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 14.
Laurent's kindness.
to consent to it, so fearful were men at that period that pity
should be denounced as a crime.
The grated door and wicket were not put up again, the
old door was hung as it had been in Simon's time, and the
number of dosser-like coverings of the windows diminished,
in order to change the air and give more light. The room
was purified.  While this was being done, the invalid had
been carried into the room once occupied by the King his
father, and had been laid, for a time, on the iron bedstead
to the left of the entrance.  The Prince's look was almost
inanimate, and he took no heed of what was passing around
him.  Laurent had another bed brought in, on which he
laid the child; he changed his linen, gave him a bath, and
sent for Mother Mathieu to cut his hair and comb it out.
Mother Mathieu was a fat, good kind of woman, who managed
Peire Lefevre's tavern.  This was not all: the disease he
had in his head and neck called for particular attention,
and, at Laurent's request, a municipal, who had been a surgeon, used to come from time to time to examine and bathe
his sores. His wardrobe was in a state of most absolute poverty,
and, also at Laurent's request, a tailor was authorised to
make him a complete suit of clothes. This suit was made of
fine cloth of a dark slate colour, and consisted of pantaloons,
a round waistcoat, and a jacket of the same colour.
The unfortunate child could not at first understand these
marks of interest. He had imbibed so great a fear of mankind
that, notwithstanding the shocking misery in which he was
dying, he had not been able to see without terror that his
prison door was opened, and that a man was allowed to have
free access to him; but this first impulse had been succeeded
by a feeling of surprise, almost of stupor, when he saw that
this man came to him with open arms, and a compassionate
expression in his face. " Why do you take such care of me? "
asked the child of him one day, surprised at his attentions;
and when Laurent answered him kindly: " I thought you did




1794.]                 LAURENT.                       22~
Laurent's kindness.
not like me," said he, and his heart melted within him, while
a tear, which he tried to conceal from his keeper, gathered in
his eyes.
Laurent himself, on his side, had but ill-judged this tender,
nervous, ductile nature.  He learned from  day to day by
what misery the spring of confidence had been dried up in
him. He then understood all that lie must have endured
and suffered before he could have arrived at that extreme
point of hopeless weariness and wild sadness. He saw, at
last, what decision of character there was beneath that apparent coldness, what sensibility lay concealed beneath that veil
of inaction.
The Dauphin's head was extremely tender, and Mother
Mathieu could not pass the comb through his hair, nor the
surgeon apply an ointment, without occasioning him the most
acute suffering.  The pain was sometimes so excessive, that
whatever effort the child might make to stifle them, some
smothered moans, or a monosyllable uttered in the most heartrending tone, would, in spite of himself, escape him; and, as
soon as the first agony of the pain was a little abated, he would
feel a sort of grief and shame at liaving been overcome, and
having allowed a cry that acknowledged himself defeated to be
heard. One day, when he had failed in this respect, he called
the surgeon, who was about to withdraw, back by a sign, and
said to him, in.a soft voice: " Thank you! Thank you, sir!
and forgive me!" laying a significant emphasis on the last
words.
The custom adopted by Simon of giving the Prince no
other name but Capet, a custom  pursued by the municipals
and all the other persons employed at the Temple, was
abolished by Laurent.  From  his first entrance into the tower
the latter had called him " M. Charles," and, from that time,
commissaries and keepers too called him by this name.  Only
some called him " Charles," and " thou,"' and others said "M
Charles," and "' you."  These last, as will readily be believed,




~28            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 14,
Laurent's kindness.
were considered more favourably by him; the being called
"thou" had always been accompanied with the hardest treatment and coarsest insult.  A silent and accurate observer, a
single word was sometimes sufficient to direct him in his
feelings and conduct-with respect to the commissaries. Although
the fall of Robespierre had given a little breathing time to
France, it must not be supposed that she had been entirely
freed from that'"liberty" which some years afterwards made
her cherish the dictatorship.  No, tyranny was less bloody
than before, but it was as dark as ever, and the -victors of the
9th Thermidor were scarcely superior in character to the vanquished: it was a civil war between the patrons of the guillotine.
The Convention preserved the same spirit, and hatred, and
terror that had influenced them before.  The face of the
child-king, like a living reproach, looked out menacingly
upon them from the gloom of his dungeon.  The co mmittees,
constantly disputing among themselves, multiplied their spies
and satellites. The same uneasiness, the same precautions,
were at. work outside the tower; the only difference was, that
there was a little less suffering within.  Laurent himself,
ardent republican though he was, had been involuntarily seized,
if not with affection, at least with profound pity for the
tyrant's son. The necessity he was under of leaving him, as
had been the case before, in continual solitude, was painful
to him, for he knew how injurious this abandonment (required
by the hateful calculation of those in power) was to the bodily
and mental state of the child.  He was allowed to enter his
room only at meal-times, and then under the constant watch of
a municipal. However, he sometimes obtained permission to
take him up to the top of the tower for a walk. Laurent represented this measure to them as indispensable for the prisoner's
health, and when they happened to be men of an easy dis.
position or kind nature they did not hesitate to give their
assent.  The first time that this favour was granted him was
in the evening, and Laurent taking the child by the arm




1794.)                  LAURENT.                      92 9
Reflections from the summit of the Tower.
brought him  upstairs.  The platform of the tower, as I have
elsewhere observed, formed a sort of gallery, that went entirely
round the square, between the roof which rested upon it and
the battlements, the spaces between which, being covered with
blinds, prevented the person walking there from  seeing or
being seen. It was a delightful evening. On a tree in the
garden the nightingale was singing her sweetest song to the
retiring sun; but what were nightingale, and verdure, and
sunlight, without liberty?  And what were liberty without
one's country? Alas! if the noble child was indeed free,
where could he now find a place to rest his feet? The troubled
waters of revolution covered all the land of his forefathers;
and all around the prison, where suffering was at work, lay
the sovereign city, where men are talking at once of pleasure
and war, of love and crime-the city where laughter was
mingled with weeping-the city where embraces and accusations met-the city where man amused and guillotined each
other!  Of all the broad domains of his fathers he had not
even to himself the narrow space he walked on, and it would
have been more easy for him to enter into-Paradise than to
leave this place, for there was but one gate open from  the
prison for him-and that was death! From the platform  he
could see nothing but the sky, and he did not try to see anything more. Sometimes he heard the cries of water-carriers and
itinerant vendors as they passed in the neighbouring streets; he
heard the distant sound of carriages rolling along upon the pavement; he heard the voices of happy unfettered men to whom life
is sweet, and who look upon the sun whenever they like-all
those clamorous cries that spring from the breasts of the free,
and the bird-like tones of the children of the people, passing down
below, whistling as they went by, and stopping to buy a cake
at the corner of the street.  But all these sounds, this happiness, were like a mockery to the poor child, robbed, betrayed,
and a captive, and made him feel his misery the more; these
confused and indistinct murmurs of the great city brought less




9230          LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [oOKn 14.
Improved Diet.
amusement than uneasiness.  The stirring life without was
like the voice of an enemy menacing him, after having persecuted his father and mother.  And yet, for nearly three years
the little prisoner had not had so much pleasure.  The air he
breathed revived the slight remains of life and warmth in his
breast; nature was not an accomplice in the guilt of mankind.
He was soon obliged to go in again. I know not whether the
ray of sunshine that had fallen on that poor young head had
refreshed the idea it once cherished; whether the breeze of
Heaven, inhaled by that parched breast, had restored a feeling
of youth to his heart; but as the child went down, he stood
still before the door on the third floor, which he had not
observed as he ascended the stairs, and pressing the arm of his
conductor he leaned against the wall, turning upon the door
a, look at once most mournful and most eager. Laurent drew
him away, in order to prevent the recurrence of the recollections that crowded thick upon his mind. The child turned
round again and again, to repeat his farewell to the door,
which in his fancy doubtless still divided him from his mother,
and he was pursued by that painful feeling even into his own
room.  His meagre supper was brought to him immediately,
but he scarcely touched it with hand or lip. He was silent as
usual, but his glance seemed ever wistfully consulting the
eyes of his keeper, who soon retired,'leaving him to the weary
solitude of his imprisoned situation, and the anguish of his
recollections.
I mentioned his supper.  The catastrophe of the 9th
Thermidor had modified the regulation fare of the prisoners;
with respect to this, the decree of the 22nd September, 1793,
was to be still observed,-a plate of vegetables for breakfast,
broth, boiled meat, and one other dish for dinner, and two
dishes for supper. It is true that this was food sufficiently
abundant, but how was it dressed? On what sort of crockery
served up; and with what kind of knife and fork was it to be
eaten? Henry IV.'s wish, of the "chicken in the pot" to the




1'b94. ]                LAURENT.                      231
Glimpses of enjoyment.
meanest of his subjects, was not to be realised for the last of
his children!
Notwithstanding the care that had been taken of him,
ever since the arrival of Laurent, the young Prince remained
excessively weak, and almost entirely silent. His features
still bore that expression, at once mild and energetic, which
would seem to have been the principal characteristic of his
ancient race; but if an observer watched his face for any time,
he was struck with the unvarying languor of his eyes and
mouth.  Solitude was completing the work which ill-usage
had begun.
However, Laurent obtained leave several times to take
him up to the top of the tower. One day, about noon, before
his dinner, a regiment happened to pass by, with their drums
and music.  The child did not know,-did not now know what
it was! He pressed his keeper's arm nervously with one hand,
while the other was raised, as if to make a sign for him to
listen.  The drums had left off beating near Saint Elizabeth,
and the band was playing alone when the regiment passed
the Temple; the child started, his countenance grew animated,
and brightened little by little. Alas! it was the first harmonious sound he had heard. for years! But this pleasure was
of short duration, and in a few moments was quite lost amid
the confused murmurs of the city.
Another time, when, with his keeper and the municipal on
duty, he was again enjoying a few moments of liberty on the
top of the tower, the Prince's eyes were not fixed on the sky as
they almost always were; they were turned upon the ground,
that is, upon the platform  and battlements.  At first his
companions could not make out what he was looking for, so
small and unobservable was what he sought. The objects of
his search were some poor, sorry little yellow flowers, springing up accidentally, unfavoured by any depth of soil, and
dragging on a miserable semblance of existence in the cracks
of the stones.  These flowers, withering like himself, and




232            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [u,0oi Ji4
The prisoner's bouquet.
almost as unfortunate, wanted earth, sometimes moisture,-but
yet they lived on! The Prince gathered them  up with an
eager hand, trying to make them into a bouquet, a difficult
task, so short and slight were their stalks.  Flowers! his early
pleasure.! Alas! like himself, how faded! Music and flowers,
his two great delights at Versailles and the Tuileries, of which
he had found a wan and diln reflection  on the tower of a
prison!  With infinite patience and attention he collected
these blades of grass and flowers, and made them up like a
bouquet, which he was careful to carry away with him when the
time for his going in arrived. As in going down stairs he
drew near the room  on the threshold of which, as we have
said, he had stood still on the day of his first promenade, he
directed all his little remaining strength to slacken the pace
of his keeper, and make him stop quite still when they found
themselves opposite to the door.  "Thou art mistaking the
door, Charles," cried the municipal, who was walking behind
them.  "No, I am not mistaking it," replied the child softly,
as, conducted by his keeper, he entered his cell, pensive and
pre-occupied.  These were the only words that escaped him
in the course of that day. Do not imagine that his little collection of flowers became an amusement to him in his solitude;
he bad dropped them all on the threshold of the door where
he had stood still for a moment.  I tell the simple fact —I add
no word of commendation; there are some tender and delicate
feelings which cannot be touched upon without profaning them.
Poor child I! he knew that his father was no more; but his
mother, his aunt, his sister —where were they? Hie may have
thought them near hint still.
And yet, in that prison, there was only his sister who was
not either a stranger or an enemy to him.  The look and the
blessing of his mother, which he vainly sought, could never
more reach him save from heaven; and he was denied even
the melancholy consolation of receiving from his sister those
last caresses which his mother, when she left the Temple for




1794.]                   LAURENT.                     233
Conflicting views of the Convention.
the Conciergerie, had pressed on her daughter's brow, as the
only inheritance she had to share between her two children.
The prospects of the men in power were growing more and
more gloomy.  The higher classes had been levelled by the
guillotine; but the middle class of men was now coming
forward, ready to fight for existence.  Becoming more and more
numerous, the friends of public tranquillity were attempting a
return to monarchy. The name of Louis XVII. was whispered
about-a word of hope to the ears of the oppressed, of defiance
to the oppressor.  Nothing therefore was talked about but
conspiracies: perhaps the poor child conspired himself, with his
prison bars and bolts, his iron doors; he did conspire, alone
and in silence, with patience and resignation.
The tyrant-masters of France, fearing at once the agitation
which this royal name might excite at home, and the support
it might find in foreign courts, considered it as a constant
leaven of intestine discord, but also as a pledge of essential
importance to their safety.  Some were anxious to get rid of
its existence, as an element of intestine commotions, while
others wished to preserve it as a hostage for their political
security.   Thus, the Convention was always wavering, and
its perplexity great, whenever there was any question to decide
respecting the fate of the son of Louis XVI.
" And I, too," said Duhem, in the sitting of the Qnd
Sansculottide, 2nd year of the Republic, one and indivisible
(18th September, 1794) —"  and I, too, have long been anxious
to know why, in the very midst of us, there yet exists a rallying
point for the aristocracy.  As if a people, who have had the
courage to acquire liberty for themselves by sending their
tyrant to the scaffold, ought to preserve among them still a
)ranch of the old stem, a presumptive heir of royalty! I ask
vwhether such an instance is to be met with in the history of
any nation of antiquity-I mean among those who have had
the same courage and energy with ourselves?  But this is a
question of sovereignty, and therefore ought to be deeply studied.




2SA           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOOK 14.
Laurent asks for a colleague.
ILet the committees, then, take into consideration whether we
shall not do well to eject far from us, not only these scions of
royalty, but also the whole of that infernal family of Capet, with
all who adhere to them.  We have, so to speak, two separate
nations in France-the royalists and the republicans. You will
have neither peace nor security as long as one of those nations
has the power of agitating and tormenting the country."
Duhem's proposal remained, and could but remain, without
result, so much was the fear of a continuance of anarchy at
Paris balanced by that of putting a powerful weapon into the
hands of foreign powers. The leaders of the committees, unshackled by either of these fears, hoped soon to avert both
dangers at once, and watched with an eager eye the gradual
wasting of a life, for which opposite parties were anxiously
contending in the face of day, while they were noiselessly and
leisurely extinguishing the spark in the dark vault of a prison.
Laurent exerted himself in vain to destroy this pernicious
influence; but what could he do?  Himself constantly watched,
he was not at liberty to follow the impulse of his good wishes,
and the feeling of interest inspired by his young prisoner.
The excessive slavery to which he was condemned by his
functions began also to be wearisome to him, and it was not
without a feeling of profound ennui and tender regret that he
thought of his deserted garden and forsaken club.
He had already complained several times to the commissaries of this slavish restraint, which had in the end conquered
Simon (who, however, was not alone), and which would
certainly wear him out at last, unless government would come
to his assistance, and give him a colleague to relieve him in
his incessant duties as overseer. Strange, indeed! the child was
still struggling against the solitude and inaction which had
conquered two grown men!
Towards the middle of October, Laurent addressed himself
directly to the committee; and he had soon the satisfaction of
seeing his request granted.




BOOK FIFTEENTH.
GOMIN, COLLEAGUE OF LAURENT.
18TH  BRUAMAIRE-9TH  GERMINAL, 3RD YEAR
(8TH NOVEMBER, 1794-29TH MARCH, 17'95).
Nomination of Gomin —His biography-His sentiments on entering the
tower-His first communication with Louis XVII. —Details concerning the interior arrangements of the Temple-Flowers given to the
Prince-The sententious Delboy-First words of the child-King to
Gomin-Courageous article in a newspaper-Protest of the committee
of public welfare-Diplomatic step in favour of the prisoners in the
Temple-Deliberations of the' Convention, as to their fate-Cruel expression of municipal Cazeaux-The child's firmness of dispositionHis improvement in health checked-Commissary Leroux and the
14th of tyrants —Cards given to the young King-Debierne the toyman-The child's health grows worse-Report of the council-general
of the Commune to the committee of general safety-Committee
appoinfted to examine the Prince-Statement of Harmand (member
for La Meuse)-Appreciation o'f this statement-No improvement is
made in the Temple regulations-Affectionate attentions of Gomin-A
dove at the Temple.-The child's thoughts always turned to his
mother-Sinister foreboding of municipal Collot-Laurent leaves the
Temple.
By a decision of the.18th  Brumaire, 3rd year (Saturday,
8th November, 1794), "The committee of general safety
on the presentation of the administrative committee of police,
adopts and selects citizen Gomin to be attached to the Temple
guard, and directs the section of police to summon him to his




236             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             rBOOK 15.
Gomnin.
post."*  Having been sent for next day to this latter committee, the new agent was informed of his appointment, couched
in the terms we have  mentioned.   He wished to excuse
himself, but he was made to understand that he had not the
power to refuse, and that he must repair to his post immeGOMIN, IN 1840,
diately: "The carriage, is waiting for you."  Gomin got into
it accordingly, very uneasy at the unexpected duties laid upon
him, but leaving no object of anxiety behind him; his father
and mother were dead, he was not married, and he had no
relations, excepting some aunts, who were then absent from
* Terms of the decree, which bears the signatures of Garnier (of
the Aube), Alathieu, IHarmand, Bentabolle, Reubell, Barras, Monmayou,
and Rdlverchon.




1o94.]           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                   287
Gomin.
Paris.  Gomin was born on the 17th January, 1757.*  He
was the son of an upholsterer in the Ile Saint-Louis.  The
house where the father kept his shop, and whither the emissaries of the Revolution went for the son, is situated opposite to the church of Saint-Louis, and now bears the number
38. Gomin was not at first aware to what influence he owed
his nomination: in his own neighbourhood he enjoyed the
reputation of being a mild, quiet man, having nothing to recommend him to those in power, to whom his moderate sentiments could only have rendered him an object of suspicion.
He learned afterwards that 3MI. le Marquis de Fenouil, who
had resided in the lie Saint-Louis, and who was personally
acquainted with him, had, by means of certain intrigues, pretending to be patriotic, which he had succeeding in forming and carrying on with considerable art, contributed strongly to an appointment which was favourable to the royalist party.
I enter into these details because I am anxious to make
my readers acquainted with this man, to whom I am indebted
for a number of interesting anecdotes connected with the
latter part of the Dauphin's life, in many of which he had
some share.  He was a man of straightforward character and
prudent disposition, who, %eneath the official reserve indispensable to his duties, concealed a loyal heart, timid it is true,
but of exquisite sensibility. I knew him very well in the last
years of his life, and that man, who had grown old amid the
storms of faction, preserved, at the age of eighty, the memory
and activity he possessed at thirty.  He had seen all his
political illusions vanish, as is usually the case; and as they
gradually disappeared the impressions of the earlier part of his
career revived more strongly, accompanied by their tardy regrets
and melancholy reminiscences. The intense feeling of curiosity which at first induced me to seek him out, soon turned
to real affection when I came to know him better.  I felt, as
* He died at Pontoise, 17th January, 1841.




288             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           (BOOK 15.
Gomin's account of himself.
I listened to him, how much he had suffered, and attached
myself to him cordially; and my sentiments towards him were
amply repaid by the confidence he reposed in me, in revealing
to me all the old troubles that had once preyed upon his mind,
and laying open his conscience to my view.
And here I will give a transcript of his inward struggles,
his moral reflections, at the time of his appointment: "Being
forced to obey," he said to me, " I accepted the office, but not
in the calm and natural tone of a heart at ease. Oh, no! the
secret fear and silent uneasiness lest some evil should result
to myself from it agitated my mind.  In fact, the sight of a
scaffold near at hand for me produced the effect I state. I
was afraid, and I obeyed.
" I had a great feeling of pity for that family,-for those
children. I knew the virtue of the elder members, the innocence of the younger, the misfortunes of all; and a struggle
arose in my mind to conceal from myself the fact, that I
myself both could and ought to help them.
"Thus I was quite unable to regulate my thoughts and
feelings, so as to express them  freely before God and my
conscience.
" Still, fear did not always conte in the way to prevent my
better judgment and harden my heart, I was prudent, but
I was yet a man. I should have become suspected if I had
been thought capable of doing good; but I should have been
a monster in my own eyes, if I had not paid my unfortunate
charge every attention not incompatible with my office.
" Oh! why did Heaven give me a nature so much disposed
to compassionate suffering, and such inadequate means of doing
good? The love I cherished in my heart grew to be a fund
of anguish; for pity without beneficence is a cruel trial indeed.
" I have felt regret, almost remorse; it has increased with
time, for the further removed we are from the period of the
Revolution, the more sensibly do we feel its odious character.
God, in His mercy, has been pleased to grant that this regret




.> ~,n,t   t To           Ar-ir-A'a          -
rl4ri9l/7' pn  *   -      4V'4 1W9fJ.U"~211a ~1~1f




_e&tir onj) of      lonlin
KSEE:PER OFt''THS CHILDREN O05' I.LO!IS 2 XVI. AT T'HEI T'E'IMIPIl..
Paris, 23d April, 1840.
"Monsieur de Beauchesne,
4 Nothing can be more true than what youl have just written, as t.
tlle last mloments of the Dauphin, his conversations, and his death. YouI
itave also exactly rendered all my sentiments, and I thank you. for it
withl: all my heart.  IReceive t:he assurance of my respect and gratitulld(
"t.: havet( thle I!Iur to be,;;our  dev(-ot.e  servant,
";GOMIN



1794.]           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                   289
Gomin's accession to office.
should be of service to me. He gave me fifty years on earth,
after the death of my dear and innocent prisoner, that I might
appear before him absolved by the very duration of my regret."
Such were the sentiments I read in the heart, or caught
from the lips of the good and gentle-hearted Gomin.  He
himself, after he had been made acquainted with all that part
of this work which was borrowed from his reminiscences of the
past, thanked me, not only for the correctness with which I had
related them, but also for the justness done to him throughout.*
And now I hope my reader, to whom  Gomin is no longer a
stranger, will be able to form an idea of the agitation of his
mind on repairing, 9th November, 1794, from the section of
police to the state prison of the Temple.  He was accompanied by an agent, who observed silence the whole way. He
presented himself with his warrant to the commissary, who
noted his entrance on the registrar, as well as to Laurent, who
received him  as his assistant.  It was night, and the two
keepers went up stairs together, accompanied by the commissary (named Buisson, the younger), to see the prisoner.
Gomin was much agitated at ascending for the first time
that staircase, down which the King had passed to the scaffold, and the at sight of those doors and gates of iron, still
closed upon his orphan children. I will say nothing here of
his first visit to Madame Royale; the numerous details given
me by Gomin and Lasne, respecting the captivity of that
Princess, will find room hereafter. When they reached the
second floor, the first room of which, as I have said, was
used as an ante-room, Laurent asked his colleague if he had
ever seen the Prince Royal before.  "I have never seen
him," replied Gomin.  "In that case," said Laurent, " it will
be some time before he will say a word to you."  They then
opened the door of the second room, which had been Clery's
bed-chamber.  On an iron bedstead, placed in the corner to the
* We give opposite a fac-simile of the testimony of Gomin.




40o            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 15.
Installation of the officers.
left, lay the royal child.  At the noise made by the first
entrance of the visitors, he raised his little head, which was
covered with a white cotton night-cap.  The first sight of him
was melancholy enough to rend one's heart: the leaden hue of
his complexion, and his languid appearance, betrayed his long
sufferings; his face was well filled out, and his eye very bright,
but in his features, and even in the brilliancy of his glance,
there was, as it were, the seal of suffering and death, impressed
by the bodily and mental agony he had endured. After casting a look round the room, the keepers withdrew.
Gomin established himself on the ground-floor, with Lau
rent.  Their chamber, as I have said, was called the councilroom, and there were three beds in it, one for Laurent, one for
Gomin, and the third for the member of the civic committee,
sent alternately from every section in Paris to the Temple,
in order to perform the duties of commissary there for twentyfour hours.
The following is the manner in which the installation of
the municipal officer was performed at that period. Arriving
at noon, he received from him whom he replaced, the instruction of the committees of the Convention, respecting the duties
he would have to perform in the guardianship of both prisoners,
as well as the injunction not to let the brother and sister meet,
or take their walk at the same time.
When the last commissary was gone, and the keepers had
taken the new one to see the prisoners, a note was made in the
register of the Temple of the transaction, which was signed
by the person entering upon the office.
All the keys of the tower were kept shut up in a cupboard
in the council-room.  This cupboard had two locks of different
sizes, to which each keeper had one key. Thus, one depended
on the other, and the turnkey on both.
Since the death of Louis XVI., the garrison of the Temple
had consisted of one hundred and ninety-four men of the
National Guard, and fourteen of the artillery of Paris.




I'9 d]          LAUREI T AND GOMIN.                  241
Arrangements of the day.
In order to have always half the men on duty, the keepers
never gave tickets of leave for more than half the number.
No one could go either out or in without a ticket signed by
both the keepers.
Beside the National Guard appointed to this post, there
were four or five gendarmes.  Every evening the keepers dispatched a bulletin of all that had passed in the preceding twentyfour hours to the committee of general safety, section of police.
The appointment of Gomin as assistant was of great service
to Laurent, who, till that period, had been almost as much a
slave as Simon, and had been obliged to give up his tastes and
habits; the arrival of a colleague afforded him an occasional
opportunity of returning to his flowers and his club, but in other
respects it made little difference in the established order of
things. The routine of the day continued just as it was before. About nine o'clock every morning the two keepers and
the commissary usually went up together into the Dauphin's
room, accompanied by Gourlet. The latter dressed the Prince,
and while the child was at breakfast, made his bed and swept
the room, in presence of his superiors.
The breakfast, consisting of a cup of milk, or of fruit, was
brought in by Caron, the kitchen assistant.
When the room was arranged, and he had taken his breakfast, the Prince was left alone until dinner-time, that is, about
two o'clock.  The keepers then went up again, accompanied by
the new civic commissary.  The dinner consisted of soup, a
small piece of boiled meat, and a plate of dry vegetables,
usually lentils. The child was then left alone till eight o'clock
in the evening.
When the evening came, one of the keepers, generally
Gomin, went up with Caron or Gourlet, to light the lamp
which was placed in the front room, and which lighted the bedroom through a glass window.
Suapper was brought at eight o'clock, and was the same
with the dinner, except that there was no boiled meat.!I                      L




242             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOOK 15.
Anecdotes.
After this the child was put to bed, and left alone until
nine o'clock next morning. It will be seen that, if the regulations of the Temple were not sensibly modified, the daily
routine at least had been much simplified since the 9th
Thermidor.
And day after day passed in this manner: the monotony
and cruel uniformity being varied only by some slight occurrences and trifling episodes, which we will now relate from
authentic sources.*
Gomin, as we have seen, had not wished for the office
given him, and his appointment took him by surprise; but
he was much more distressed when he had had an opportunity
of seeing accurately in what condition the royal orphan was.
Having been admitted to his room in the evening, he had been
unable, at his first visit, to form any clear idea of his real state,
but the next day it overpowered him.  Laurent told him,
notwithstanding, that he himself had found him  in a much
more shocking condition. Gomin, had he been master of his
own proceedings, would have tendered his resignation; but his
fear, that by this very step he might become a suspected
person, retained him in a situation where he was forced to see
so much evil, and where he was able to do so little good.
When the commissary happened to be a good sort of man,
the keepers always obtained from him some little concession
in favour of the prisoners; for instance, they would tell him
it was customary for them to walk upon the platform, or they
would pass a little time with young Capet in the afternoon.
It was in this manner that Gomin, having learned that the
child had always had an affection for flowers, on the third day
of his entrance upon offce, 21st Brumaire, 3rd year (Tuesday,
11th November, 1794), took advantage of the good nature of
the municipal on duty (named Bresson, No. 1 Rue Montorgueil),
* The notes from which these anecdotes were compiled were given me
by Gomin, whose memory being, very exact in the main, can only have
erred, if at all, with respect to the chronological order.




1794.1           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                   243
Delboy.
to bring into his room four little pots of flowers, which he had
himself selected, and which were in full beauty. The sight of
the flowers produced a magical effect on the countenance of
the child. surprised at a proof of affection, so new to him, after
having experienced so many proofs of aversion, joy moistened
the eyes, long dry from hopeless grief, and he wept: those
tears of happiness came from his very soul, as the rain falls
from Heaven!
Flowers! it was so long that he had been deprived of
them!  He hovered about them, half-mad with delight; he
clasped them in his two hands to inhale their perfume; he
devoured them collectively with his eyes, then examined them
separately, one after the other, and after having looked a long
while, ended by picking one! Ah! then he turned upon Gomin
a look of most profound melancholy: he thought of his absent
mother, and his heart was pierced with sorrow.  Poor child!
there are no more flowers for her! and never will it be your
fortune to lay one on her grave!
On the 24th Brumaire, 3rd year (14th November, 1794),
six days after Gomin's entrance into the Temple, there came a
commissary, named Delboy (residing No. 145 Rue de la
Lune).  His manner was blunt, and his speech brief.  He
had everything opened for his examination with almost brutal
dispatch, but under this disagreeable and arrogant outside
there was soon visible a certain elevation of sentiment, which
very greatly astonished the keepers and the prisoner.  "Why
this bad food?  If they were at the Tuileries we might indeed
contend against their having any food; but here, in our own
hands, we should show clemency towards them-the nation is
generous! Why exclude the light? Under the reign of
equality the sun shines for all, and they ought to be allowed
their share of it.  Why prevent them from seeing each other
under the reign of fraternity?"
At this last exclamation the Prince had opened his eyes
very wide, and he watched every motion of the vehement




244            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 15
Delboy.
visitor, whose expressions were so strong a contrast to his
manners.  "Would you not like, my boy,-would you not be
very glad to go and play with your sister?  I don't see why
the nation should recollect your origin if you forget it yourself."
Then, turning towards Laurent and Gomin, he went on: 6" It
is not his fault that he is the son of his father-he is nothing
now but an unfortunate child, therefore do nlot be hard upon
him; the unfortunate belong to humanity, and the country is
the mother of all her children."
And when, in the course of dinner, the conversation turned
upon preventive arrests: " There are some people who are not
suspected," exclaimed the sententious commissary, " for they can
do nothing but mischief; there are others who are hypocrites,
and do mischief without making any noise about it-such
were the inventors of the air-gun!"
He was absent almost the whole evening. Next day, as
he took leave of the two keepers, he said to them, " How shall
we meet again?  We follow paths which do not cross each
other; but it is all the same, for good patriots can always find
one another out again; men of mind change their opinionswarm-hearted men preserve their feelings. We are not Septembrists: greeting and fraternity!"
Nothing can give an idea of the effect produced upon the
men in office at the Temple by the appearance of this strange
commissary, who had the manners of a sans-culotte with the
feelings of true chivalry; a kind of rough philanthropist, imbued in some degree with the cynicism of a Diogenes, and a
little of the charity of a Felnlon; who seemed to reverence
power, whether of God or man, to honour weakness as much
as strength, and misfortune as well as merit.
Ever on the watch for favourable opportunities to improve
thile state of his captive charge, Gomin preferred a request on
that day, that the lamp, which partially illuminated the Dauphin's room should be lighted at twilight, a thing which had'
been long neglected, nld which the child was very anxious




1794.]           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                  245
Anecdotes.
about.  From  that time forth it was always lighted at
nightfall.
It had been expressly forbidden to allow of any meeting
taking place between the children of Louis XVI. Mathieu had
signified this prohibition in the most formal manner. For this
reason no notice was taken of the philanthropic observations
of the philosophising Delboy. Since their separation on the 3rd
July, and their being confronted together on the 7th October,
1793, Madame Royale had not once seen her brother. However, on the 3rd Frimaire, 3rd year (23rd November, 1794),
she caught sight of him on the stairs at the moment when she
was returning to her room with Laurent, and when Gomin,
accompanied by the commissary on duty (named Alavoine),
was coming out of the Dauphin's room, bringing the child,
whom he was taking up to walk on the terrace; but she was
not allowed to embrace him, or even to speak to him.
Laurent's prediction was justified by the event.  From
the time of Gomin's entrance into the Temple, although days
and days had passed since then, he had been unable to obtain
a single word yet from his prisoner.  The poor child had
borne so much cruelty from mankind that he feared the whole
species: his new keeper tried to reconcile him with the world.
Accustomed to penetrate with sympathising kindness into the
hidden things of that lamentable destiny, he did not, alas! do
for him all he might have wished to do, but at least he did
all he could. Little by little, therefore, the child began to
view him with less uneasiness, and at last he became quite
communicative. The first word that escaped his lips was an
expression of gratitude: it was always a heartfelt sensation
that loosed his tongue.  "It was you who gave me some
flowers-I have not forgotten it," said he, in a tone of gratitude,
and with eyes of winning softness.
From the time of Laurent's arrival, and particularly since
Gomin had entered the Temple, a faint colour had begun to
suffuse his cheeks, and restore a little of that smiling beauty




246            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 15~
Courage of the " eourrier Universel."
which brightens the brow of youth. One would have thought
that the poor young Prince's heart was about to expand to
hope, just as his friends began to hope for him again.
The " Courrier Universel" of the 6th Frimaire, 3rd year
(26th November, 1794), a paper edited by Nicolle, Bertin the
elder, and Poujade, contained the following lines, which were
copied into all the periodical papers of the period:" The son of Louis XVI. will also profit by the revolution
of the 9th Thermidor.  It is well known that this child had
been abandoned to the care of Simon, the shoemaker, a worthy
myrmidon of Robespierre's, in whose punishment he was a
sharer. The committee of general safety being of opinion that
a human being ought not to be degraded below the level of
humanity, because he happens to be born the son of a king, has
just appointed three commissaries, men of probity and intelligence, to replace the late Simon. Two of these are charged with
the education of the orphan, and the third is to take care that
he be not, as in former times, deprived of the necessaries
of life."
This bold article, composed with the idea of reviving the
hopes of the royalist party, caused a panic in the camp of the
men in authority; they dispatched a warrant to bring before
them the three editors of the " Courrier Universel," and, in
the sitting of the Convention of the 12th Frimaire (2nd December), Mathieu, member of the committee of general safety, read
the following report:"Citizens! I come, in the name of the committee of
general safety, to give a most formal denial to the calumnious
and royalist article inserted a few days ago in some public
papers, and copied with a sort of ostentation, to say the least,
extremely reprehensible. Tile committee is therein represented
as having provided tutors for the children of Capet, confined
in the Temple, and as having shown a degree of care almost
paternal to secure their existence and education.
"Here is the article and the journal, of which the other pe




1T9g4.]          LAURENT AND GOMIN.                   247
Report of the committee.
riodicals have only been the too docile echoes." Then, having
read those lines which we have mentioned, out of the " Courrier
Universel," he added:
" The first duty of the committee, in order to discard this
fable of royalty, is to present to the Convention a simple
account of all the measures taken by them to ensure the proper
fulfilment of the Temple service, and the guard kept over the
tyrant's children.
"s At the period of the 9th Thermidor, a new keeper had
been appointed to the Temple by the committee of public
welfare.  Since then the committee of general safety have
deemed a single keeper not enough.  A citizen of tried republican principles was demanded accordingly from the administrative commission of police of Paris. One having been named
by this latter body, he was attached to the first to fulfil that
duty; and as in the eyes of prejudiced and suspicious rmen,
the permanent residence of two individuals together, holding
the same appointment, might suggest the idea that they would
in time become seduced from their duty, in order to complete
and ensure the safe confinement of the tyrant's children, the
committee decreed that, every successive day, one of the civic
committees of the forty-eight sections of Paris, should furnish
a member to perform the duties of keeper there for twenty
four hours, in conjunction with the two permanently remain
ing at that post.
" The committee has considered these measures as necessary
to deprive the fabulous recital of all appearance of truth, and
the malevolence of others of all pretext for complaint or commotion.
" The committee of general safety has consulted with the
military committee on matters concerning the military service
of the post. It has been visited by several representatives,
and both committees have satisfied themselves that the duties
are performed with care and punctuality.
"By this statement it will be seen that the committee of




248,      LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH              [BOOK 15.
lReport of the committee.
general safety has had no other view  than to arrange the
groundwork of a duty which has been committed to their
charge; and that any idea of bettering the condition of Capet's
children, or giving them tutors, was completely foreign to their
intentions.  The committees and the Convention know how
to take the heads of kings, but they know not how their
children are brought up.
"If royalty sought to raise her voice she would be crushed
immediately.  The committee, in order to put such a thing
out of the minds of the friends of public order, and prevent
conspiracies, which too frequently result from the weakness of
governments, declares that, under these circumstances, they
have taken measures against the guilty; and that, faithful to
their principles, they will know how to make the laws and the
government respected, and prevent them  fromn exciting any
perfidious pity for the last remains of our tyrant's race,-an
orphan child for whom it would seem that a brilliant destiny
is imagined by speculative persons.
" It is now several days since a report has been in circulation, that the repudiated assignats were beginning to re-assume
their credit; that an attempt was made to give them  a kind of
value in public opinion. There is no doubt that all these
reports,-some referring to those offshoots of an abhorred race,
others to promissory notes withdrawn from  circulation,-are
intended to contribute to the same object, and afford mutual
support to each other.  By this means the public spirit was
relaxed, and public opinion began to fluctuate; but, in spite of
all such manceuvres and scheming, national credit will be
strengthened on the most solid basis, public tranquillity maintained, and the son of Capet, as well as the assignats bearing
his effigy, will continue to be repudiated."'
Not a voice was raised in the "'free" Convention in
"Maoniteur Universel," of the 14th Frimaire, 3rd year of the Republic (4th December, 1794).




1794.1           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                   249
The " French Spectator."
defence of two unhappy and innocent children.  Several deputies, who had been proscribed on the 31st May, had indeed
some time before resumed their seats inl the Convention: but
the cruelty of Mathieu's language met with a cowardly acquiescence in their silence.
We have thought it incumbent upon us to give the whole
of this important document, because it appears to us to convey
a correct idea of the young King's real position, subsequent to
the 9th Thermidor. Robespierre's successors, as will be seen,
had no more intention of opening the gates of the Temple than
he had himself.  The leaders of the Revolution were indeed
changed, but not the path they pursued. The new dictators
were continually agitated by the samre terrors, and haunted in
their omnipotence by the vision of royalty enshrined in the
form of a child. All that breathed beneath their iron sway
seemed, in their eves, to be conspiring against them; every
word, every writing, every motion which indicated some slight
remains of life in the social body, was -constantly brought
before their anxious scrutiny. Twenty-six days after Mathieu's
report, Duhemr in his turn denounced, before the national
tribunal, a work which had just come out, under the title of
"The French Spectator, during the Revolutionary Government,"
and which expressed a wish that the people should be individually consulted as to the constitution of 1793.  "One of
two things," said the author; " either the majority of the nation
is for the republic or. against it. If, as we may presume, it be
in its favour, you give the very important proof to the whole of
Europe that you have been only following the wishes of the
nation, and have been but the organs of its will. If against:
it, the Convention have only to reproach themselves. with
having fallen into a mistake, the more excusable because it
originated in popular enthusiasm  and a certain sublimity of
idea. And they will win for themselves yet greater glory by
giving up their own private opinions as a sacrifice to the wishes
of the nation, with which they will thus have made themselves




250            LOUTS THE SEVENTEENTH.               [BOOK 1i
New fears of the Convention.
acquainted."  Duhem, who had called Louis XVI. the greatest
of traitors, and who, in consequence of his hatred to the name,
regarded the royal blood of his son as the greatest imaginable
disgrace, did not fail to see in this composition an able method
of overthrowing the constitution, by means of the people,
which must have originated in the imagination of a royalist.
This denunciation not only resulted in the author of the
pamphlet* being called before the revolutionary tribunal, but
it also gave rise to very animated debates in the Convention.
Lequinio, deputy for Morbihan, who, when he voted for the
King's death, had expressed his regret that the safety of the
state did not admit of his being condemned to the galleys for
life, sprang to the tribune, and exclaimed:
"For some days past it must have been manifest to every
one, that the perfidious designs of royalist and evil-disposed
persons have been resuming their former activity. You never
will silence the royalists until you deprive them of their
remaining hope. I mean the last descendant of the corrupt
race of tyrants now at the Temple.  I demand that your
government committees take measures, and propose the proper
means, for purging the soil of liberty from the sole vestige of
royalty remaining upon it."+
The demand of Lequinio was sent to the committees.
The opinions of these latter, as we have said, were divided
upon this grave question, which the more astute-(is that the
word we should use?) —were in great hopes of deciding with
time, the accomplice of death; but, in the sitting of the 19th
Nivsose, 3rd year (8th January, 1795), Barras having made
a motion, to celebrate by a fete the anniversary of the day on
which "the last tyrant-king had  expiated the crimes with
* MI. de Lacroix ex-professor at the Lyceum, who pleaded his own
cause with talent, and was acquitted.
+ Sitting of the Convention of the 8th Niv6se, 3rd year (Sunday,
28th December, 1794). —" Moniteur Universel," 10th Nivose, 3rd year
(30th December, 1794).




n195.]           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                  261
Interposition of foreign powers.
which he had stained lhis character upon the scaffold," a
member of the Convention, whose name is not mentioned in
the "Moniteur," took advantage of the excitement produced
in the Assembly by the remarks of Barras, to request that the
report of the committees on the family of Capet should be read
on the day after the fete. This measure also was clamorously
adopted.
While parties at home were in commotion around the prison
of the child-ling, foreign princes, allied to him by blood, and
friends at heart,.were making every effort to deliver him from
the miseries heaped upon him.
Spain demanded the liberation of the prisoners in the
Temple, as the preliminary condition of peace, and their acknowledgment of the republican government. It was stated
that, not only his Catholic majesty, but also the King of Sardinia, would never consent to any connection with the French
republic, until they had obtained satisfaction on a point, based
on the strongest sentiments of nature.
Tuscany was negociating for the same object.  The conmmittee of general safety found themselves- much embarrassed;
they abstained from  all reply, and recommended the same
reserve to their envoys. "Too much hurry might be considered as a species of advance, and a great nation should never
make such where her existence is threatened."
This haughty behaviour to foreigners may be seen in all
the public acts of the period. The revolutionary government,
cruel and pitiless at home, displayed something of the Roman
pride and roughness in their conduct towards the enemy.
Simonin, a government commissary, who had been sent to
Madrid to treat for an exchange of prisoners, had listened to
the following proposals, which he transmitted to the government.
6" The King of Spain is disposed to treat of peace on the
following terms: 1.-Spain will recognise the French republic. 2.-France will give up the children of Louis XVI. to
his, Catholic 5Majesty.  3rd.-The French provinces bordering




~25e2          ELOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 15
Report as to the young King.
on Spain will form an independent state for the son of Louis
XVI., which he will govern as King of Navarre."
The committee of public welfare immediately recalled that
agent in the following terms: "' Simonin to be recalled instantly: he compromises the dignity of the French people."
The unguarded step of the King of Spain was thus injurious to the son of Louis XVI., instead of serving him; it
marshalled the feeling of national pride on the side of the Revolution, and furnished a plausible exuse for a cruel refusal.
The committees of public welfare, general safety, and legislation, united, kept their engagement to bring before the Convention, on the 3rd Pluviose, 3rd year (22nd January, 1795),
their deliberations on the subject mooted by Lequinio; and
Cambaceres, in their name, reac.the following report"Till now, prudence had avoided the question about to be
treated. But now, circumstances appear to demand that it be
entered into, as well to disappoint criminal hopes and destroy
perfidious mnanceuvres, as to fix public opinion irrevocably.
There are but two courses to pursue with regard to the
individuals alluded -to- either to banish them entirely from
the dominions of the republic,' or to keep them  in confinement. If they be detained in custody, you have to fear
their being a constant cause of disorder and commotion.  If,
on the other hand, they be banished, will not such a proceeding be putting a pernicious deposit into the hands of our
enemies, which may become a continual source of hatred, vengeance, and war?  Will it not be giving all cowardly deserters
of their country a rallying point and head? If the course of
events or the success of our arms had brought into your hands
the son and heir of your last monarch, what would you have
done with this offshoot of royalty?' Would you have given him
back to his friends?  No, certainly not  ( (Cries of'No! No!'
from  all sides.) An enemy is much less dangerous when he
is in our own power than when he passes into the hands of
those who support his cause, or who'have joined his party.




1795.]           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                   258
Report,as to the young ]King.
Suppose Capet's heir to be among our enemies, you would veWv
soon hear that he was present at every point where our legions
meet with foes to fight; even when he had ceased to exist, he
would be said to have been discovered in every direction, and
a chimerical fancy of this sort would alone suffice for a long time
to nurse the guilty hopes of Frenchmen, vwho are traitors to
their country.  Whether this last remaining representative of
Capet be banished or kept in confinement, calumny will always
seek to blacken your motives of action; it may just as plausibly
be said, that you are preserving the life of these scions of
royalty. in order to raise the throne of France once more, as
that you are giving them up into the hands of your enemies to
provide them with another weapon to use against the republic.
Follow, therefore, the path prescribed by wisdom and energy.
Wisdom  commands you to have confidence in yourselves, and
energy demands that you strike down every foe to liberty.  Tell
your fellow-citizens that the revolution of the 9th Thermidor
was effected to strengthen the republic, by establishing it on
the immortal basis of every virtue.  On reason, therefore, as
well as on public interest, is founded the advice of your com,
mittees.  There is but little danger in keeping these members
of the Capet family in confinement; and there would be much
to be apprehended were they to be set at liberty. The expulsion of tyrants has almostalways led the way to their subsequent restoration; and had Rome imprisoned the Tarquins
she would have had no occasion to fight against them."
The advice of the -government was unhesitatingly adopted.
All the ablest members of the committees were aware that the
Convention had thus votedlfor the Dauphin's death.
Laurent and Gomin learned this decision from the newspapers, which, although it secured them  the continuance of
their situations, was very little satisfactory to them, both
having enough without it to live upon, and both finding themselves in a position they had not wished for; one had accepted
it to avoid displeasing Barras, the other not to compromise




LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 15.
A day's change.
himself-the former held it from affection, the latter from
fear.
Days passed over their heads and that of their prisoner
without bringing any new incident.  A few domiciliary visits,
which were things of too frequent occurrence to excite much
attention, had been the sole interruptions to the monotony of
their existence.
On the 6th Pluviose, 3rd year (Sunday, 25th January, 1795),
the weather was very stormy; the wind swept violently down
the chimneys of the upper floors, and the rooms appropriated
to the brother and sister were filled with thick smoke.  "It
is better for them to feel cold than to be stifled," was Laurent's
remark, and the fires were accordingly put out.  "If the
citizen commissary has no objection," added Gomin, " might
we not bring the little boy down, for to-day, into the room
where we are ourselves?"  " I have no objection," replied
Cazeaux. And for the first time since his imprisonment,
the orphan was allowed to sit down elsewhere than in his
dungeon.  He passed half of the day in the council-room, and
dined with the triumvirate appointed to guard him.  Children
are fond of change, and the unfortunate no less so; thus
the descendant of monarchs p3ssessed in himself a double
incentive to enjoyment, being favoured as he was with an opportunity of sharing the meal of his jailers.  At first he
behaved with that tranquil serenity which, throughout his
misfortunes, had constantly surrounded him like a halo of
light. Nothing is so pleasing to me, in the demeanour of a
suffering creature, as that quiet steadfastness of mind, that
brave frankness and unvarying mildness, which seem like a
foreshadowing of future existence among the spirits of the just
made perfect.
Seeing him thus composed, Cazeaux said: " You told me
he was very ill, but he does not seem so.  Was it to excite an
interest in him, that you have represented him as almost dying?"
t"Not dying," replied Gomin; "but, whatever you may says




1195.]             LAURENT AND GOMlN.                 255
Energy of Laurent.
citizen, this child is not at all well."  "Oh, he is well enough;
there are so many children worth much more than he who are
worse in health! There are so many who die that are more
necessary to the world!" The Dauphin turned his fallen
countenance aside, and looked vaguely at the wall, as if trying
to escape from those with whom he was.  Gomin was silent.
Laurent came to the assistance, not only of his colleague, of
whose weakness he felt ashamed, but also of his poor prisoner,
whose calm and resigned attitude distressed him. "s It is true
that the child is a little better than he was, but his knees and
wrists are much swollen, and he suffers a great deal with them;
if he makes no complaint it is because he is brave, and feels
that he is a man; don't you, M. Charles?" he added, looking
at him, with an expression that seemed to say: " Come, come,
do not fret yourself; you know that I am here, and that I love
you."
On hearing this last expression-" M. Charles," old Cazeaux knitted his thick brows.  "I thought the word Monsieur
was no longer French," said he.  "If it be but little in use,"
replied Laurent, " the hand, of the people has not, I imagine,
erased it from  the dictionary.''  "The word, which is displaced everywhere, is more than improper here," returned the
municipal; " what name, then, would you reserve for tyrants,
if you give that of Monsieur to an infant like that?"  "I
gave it without attaching any importance to it," replied Laurent, sensible of the danger attending the prolongation of such
a subject. The dispute was over for the time; but between
these two men, one of whom was of a lofty nature, and the
other of mean understanding, there was something more serious
than a disagreement as to forms-two principles were at variance!
The Girondist, Laurent, was desirous to secure the triumph of
liberty without laying aside the forms of refined civilisation;
while the Jacobin, Cazeaux, was'disturbed by the mere shadow
of the past, anxious that barbarism should sweep away even the
politeness of ancient times beneath its avalanche of terror.




2.56           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            CBOO1 16,
Brutality of Cazeaux.
This little discussion took place just as they sat down to
dinner. The dinner was the best the prisoner had' seen since
the new dietary system had been applied to the Temple as well as
to the other prisons.  He was quietly eating his share with
Bome relish, before the virulent outburst of the municipal; but
from that moment, notwithstanding the encouraging glances of
Laurent and Gomin, he was present, indeed, at his masters'
dinner, but he was quite inactive, and refused everything
offered to him.  A cake, covered with a crust of powdered
sugar, a rare dainty, which he had not seen for a very long
time, found him cold and insensible to its appearance; he even
affected not to pay any attention to it.  Sometimes he would
nibble at a little crust of bread, and sometimes, leaning against
the back of his chair, his eyes would wander over the furniture,
or towards the windows. The commissary observed his proceedings.  "If he is too sulky to take anything," said he,
"6 how  is it you allow such conduct, citizens?  As he won't
eat here, he might have been left to swallow smoke abovestairs."
The keepers tried to excuse their young guest, by saying
he never ate much.  "At least, then, he must drink," resumed
Cazeaux; "and drink to the welfare of the republic;" and
with these words, he poured some wine into the child's glass.
A useless proceeding: the latter deigned to. look neither at the
glass nor at the bottle.  " It is said that Simon used to be
rough to him  sometimes.  I dare say he was, if," continued
Cazeaux, "your Monsieur Charles was tile same with him
that he is just now. I must confess, citizens, there is no amount
of patience that could hold out against such a phlegmatic
temper. How can you put up with such whims?"
The meal was over. The child's glass was untouched, but
the bottles had been drained by the commissary and keepers.
The former, a little calmed by the satisfaction of his appetite and the transporting charms of coffee and brandy, had
left off directing his attacks against little Capet.  But still, in




1795.]           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                   267
Ment 11 anulish.
order to answer his being quite safe from them, the keepers
thought it best to make him  go up again to his room, where
there was neither fire nor smoke.  Good-natured Gomin had
saved a piece of the cake, which he laid on the table for him
when he withdrew.
Next day, the bit of cake was still whole; and when the
keeper good-naturedly reproached him for not having eaten it,
"I would have taken it from  you with great pleasure," said
he; "but that man had cut it, and it came from his dinner;
and I will take nothing from  him, this no more than his
wine!"  I had these details from  Gomin's own mouth, and
I give them exactly as I received them. Before they be condemned as puerile, it should be remembered that we are speaking of a child who for six months bad endured the shocking
tyranny of Simon; for seven more bad been subjected to
solitary imprisonment, more trying still; and, after suffering all
this, had honest indignation enough to resent an affront, and
boldness enough to repulse it.
The contact with this demagogue commissary had, moreover, left a deep impression on the young Prince's imagination;
and two days afterwards Gomin was painfully surprised' to
bear him repeating to himself, in a low tone, the sentence,
" There are so many who die that are more necessary to the
world!"  Did the unfortunate little one see in those words
a sort of anathema, a fatal prophecy?  However, it is certain
that from that day his fever increased, his improvement in
health was checked, and the swellings on his wrists and knees
grew larger.  Struck with this ricketty tendency, his keepers
began to fear he would become crippled from  inaction, and
therefore begged permission to take him into the garden for a
ittle exercise, but they could not obtain it.
They neglected nothing that could be of service to their prisoner, but, before they could effect anything, it was necessary
that the good-will of the commissary on duty should answer to
their own; they had also to fear denunciation, witfh which they




258           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOOK 15.
Resolution of the captive.
had been more than once threatened by several subordinate
agents. For these reasons they could not venture upon any
step of themselves, and they displayed but little courage in
their attentions, unless they were at least secure of the assistance of the commissary.
In order to save the child from a solitude, as fatal in
its effect upon his mind as upon his body, they used to
bring him down into the council-room occasionally, where at
least he was able to find some little amusement. It was easy
to see by his pre-occupied and timid air, the first day this
favour was again granted him, that the recollection of Cazeaux
was still fresh in his mind.  Full of affection for his keepers,
especially for Gomin, to whom he now willingly confided his
troubles, nothing could overcome his suspicious aversion for all
visitors from without, whether they came in the name of the
Convention or in that of the municipality.  Whether emissaries of the sovereign people or of the Commune, their approach
occasioned him  the most acute terror, and their voices, rougt,
or merely imperious, filled him  with apprehension.  Never
could they extract a single word from him.  More than once
did some of these visitors employ entreaty to wring from
him a reply, but he looked upon them with a fixed eye, and
answered not.  Others often had recourse to menace, but for
them he had not even a glance; his head bowed upon his
breast, or turned aside, had no expression for them but a
silent demonstration of indifference or contempt; and often,
as they withdrew, did they vent their wrath in furious imprecations against the lion-cub, who, stricken as he was, and exhausted
by the hunter's blows, still preserved at least the spirit of the
royal blood that flowed from his wounds,
I can appreciate and honour those men who embraced the
revolutionary side with the sole view of benefitting the publis,
who sought to keep it pure from all excess, and who, under the
very axe of the executioner, still believed in the triumph of
liberty. I esteem the perfect conviction and courage which




]1795.]          LAURENT AND GOMIN.                   259
Leroux.
seem to atone in some measure for injustice and cruelty.
Such philosophers may indeed have deceived themselves, in all
good faith, unwittingly; but what shall we say of those wretches
whom they had in their train,-though certainly not in their
pay,-and whose stupid or savage instinct corrupted their
principles in trying to explain them? It is because philosophy
alone, and opposed to religion, is no sufficient check upon the
passions of the mass; and its noblest maxims become dangerous, brutal, and sanguinary, when transferred by the populace
into the street.
On the 5th Ventose, 3rd year (23rd February, 1795),
there appeared at the Temple a commissary, a man of a very
full habit, with a short neck, and very red in the face; his
name was Leroux (21 Rue Vieille-MonnIoye); he was one
of the old Terrorists, still regretting the incorruptible Robespierre, and hoping to see the "entrails of the last priest
strangling the last king!"  As soon as he was installed he
demanded to have a thorough examination made of the whole
building of the Temple. "I came here once when the tyrant
was alive," said he, " but I was not able to see anything in
detail, and I want to know how the plucked wrens look in their
cages." He was taken up to the top of the tower, and, as he
went down again, was first admitted into the apartment of
Madame Royale. The Princess was busy sewing, and she did
not lay aside her work, on which her eyes were fixed.  " Don't
folks get up here, before the nation?" exclaimed Leroux. The
rough question addressed to her by the emissary of the Commune made no alteration in the calm dignified demeanour of
the young girl, who continued her work in silence.  Leroux
endeavoured to punish her indifference by attacking the furniture, which he affected to examine with the most minute
scrutiny.  Marie-Therese paid no attention to these inquisitorial proceedings, which added to the annoyance of the sensi
tive democrat, who muttered, as he left the room, " She is
as proud as the Austrian!'




260           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTHI-I.          [BOO   5.
Brutality of Leroux.
When he entered the Dauphin's room, there was no sort of
injurious epithet he did not make use of in speaking of him
and his parents.  The expression, "son of the tyrant,"' in
particular, came every moment to his lip, and was uttered
with a harshness which roused even poor Gomin.  " He is the
son of the tyrant, if you will," said he, " but he is not the less
ill and unfortunate."  " Ill!" replied Leroux; " what's that to
us?  Where's the harm?  Are sons of tyrants not to be ill,
like everybody else? Unfortunate, say you? As to that, citizens,
would anybody say he don't deserve it?"  "He did not deserve
to be so himself," said Laurent; " he bears the punishment of
his birth; but, to be just, his origin is no fault of his."  "Your
manners are terribly relaxed, my friends, for republicans!
Ah i it is no fault of his to be born on purpose to devour the
sweat and blood of the people! It is not the less true that
monsters should be smothered in the cradle. Let the Revolution alone, and there will soon be neither poverty, nor mourning, nor slavery on earth!"
His companions were silent, but at the bottom  of his heart
Gomin replied: "And yet when I see a poor man in the
street, I say to myself it is the Revolution that put those rags
on his back; when I see a child in mourning, I say it is the
Revolution that made him an orphan; when I see a church in
ruins, I say it is the Revolution that has expelled our God!"
-" One is very comfortable in this arm-chair," said Leroux,
who, being excessively fat, was tired with his exploring, and
had taken possession of the most roomy piece of furniture in
the apartment. " Shall we remain here?" said Laurent, hastening to make a proposal, which, if accepted, would be a change
for the prisoner. " Very willingly; but we must have wine and
cards."
Cards and wine were brought accordingly; cards to serve
for a game at picquet, and wine to drink to the death of tyrants.
At the end of every game the drinking re-commenced.  Whenever Leroux had to count kings, he said: " Three of tyrants,




J795.]            LAURENT AND GOMIN.                  261
Brutality of Leroux.
fourteen of tyrants, or congress of tyrants; it is the only game
where tyrants are worth anything." Then, pursuing his insipid
lest, he called the queen " citizeness," and the knave " courtier."
Poor Gomin had not asked to stay in the Prince's room, so
much did he fear the effect the manners and conversation
of the Jacobin commissary might produce upon his invalid; but
he saw with pleasure that the child, at last, had not only got
used to the silly expressions of the demagogue player, but was
even paying a considerable degree of attention to the game, all
his good wishes beino in favour of his guardians.  The little
painted figures passing through their hands seemed to interest
him, and Gomin resolved to procure him that amusement for
himself
However, the games he had lost and the wine he had
drunk had by degrees increased Leroux's bad humour; he was
one of those cross-grained, savage beings, who are rendered passionate and ungovernable by wine and ill-humour; the rage he
had worrked himself into destroyed what little reason he ever had,
and he got up, swearing and storming, tore the cards to pieces,
and —drinking, drinking, drinking on-he gave utterance to
the most outrageous frenzy that had ever yet disturbed the
echoes of the Temple. The child looked on intently, and
trembled in every limb.  At last, however, the keepers sueceeded in drawing the staggering clubbist into the council-room,
where he could swallow his wine at his leisure, and forget his
ill-luck.
Once more I must ask pardon of my readers for represent
ing things as they were, and displaying them in their shameful
nudity.  These details are sad, and vulgar, and disgraceful;
but how can they be concealed or modified.  The statue loses
in height when the pedestal is raised i!
The Dauphin's room  was peaceful once more; even the
remains of the cards had been taken away, in order that the
storm just passed might leave no trace of its fury in the solitudeo it had disturbed.




f262           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.              [BOOK 15
Kindness of Debierne
But next day, after Leroux was gone, the royal child found
two large packs of cards, perfectly new, upon his table, which
the kind attention of Gomin had deposited there privately,
when the new commissary paid his visit to the prisoner.
Very soon, however, the keepers found they had no cause
to fear this municipal, who, on the contrary, amply atoned for
the cruel jests of his predecessor.  Htis name was Debierne,
a toy-man, residing at the sign of the "Maid of Orleans,"
in the Rue d'Arcis.  He was an excellent man, and, from
the first, showed much interest in the Prince.  Not only did
he consent to a walk on the platform, but, of his own accord,
he asked to spend great part of the day with the prisoner.
Gomin had never felt so much at ease with any former member
of the civic committees; his habitual timidity gave way to confidence, and he ventured upon a few words, which, being eagerly
seized upon by Debierne, led to unrestrained confidence on
both sides, and a mutual sympathy. They did not separate
next day without a promise of meeting again.
Accordingly, four days afterwards Debierne returned to
the Temple.  On being informed that some one was asking
for him, Gomin went to the quarters of Lienard, the steward,
where, in such circumstances, the keepers were allowed a
private room to chat freely with their visitors.  Debierne, with
a smiling face, produced several little playthings for the Prince,
among others, an ivory cup-and-ball.
He brought, too, some good&n ews, which encouraged Gomin
to hope that there would soon be a popular movement, and
the Prince escape to La Vendee.   "Matters are going on
well," said Debierne to him; "the Vendeans, who were in
want of money, have just had some notes engraved, payable
at the royal treasury after the peace.*  In a little while they
X In the nomenclature of the royal money of France we find mention
made-between Louis XVI. and Napoleon —of:
" Louis XVII. (1793 —1795)
"' The monetary monuments connected with the reign of Louis XVII.




1795.)]           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                     268
Fac-simile of Royal paper money.
will be worth more than assignats!" Gomin's kind heart~opened
to this hope with lively joy, mingled with terror.
cint L              N A  6   cv<
Ap D E PAR LE R O0 
MB ON pour Ia somme de CENTLIV. *
portran t in&ere.t aquitre, et dem' ponur 
~ c e' nt),,./qu'c* rebn6ourtfement quifetra o
effectue  aur kle treor Royal, a & paix. 
10 roo 1C4                       C oi ENT LIVT.I
Debierne was not the only person from without who had
communication with Gomin.  The Mlarquis de Fenouil had a
confidential valet, named Doisy, who, from time to time, under
pretence of long acquaintance, used to come and see that good
man, not so much to give him  news of La Vendee as to ask
after the state of the young King.
His condition had become very distressing.  Since the day
of Cazeaux's visit, 6th Pluvi6se (25th January), the child had
appeared to be absorbed in the most gloomy melancholy; a
mournful atony had seized upon him.  It was very difficult to
consist of assignats of 100, 400, 500, and 1,500 francs, issued by the heads
of the Catholic and royal armies of La Vendee, as also notes emanating from
the same source, payable at the royal treasury."-"New Numismatic
nlanuaLL" by Barth6lemy, page 75, published by Roret,




0-4            LOUIIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [Booe l15.
Aggravated illness of the young King.
draw him from the chimney-corner, and induce him to go up
on the tower.  His strength indeed did not admit of his
walking, and more than once Laurent and Gomin carried him
in their arms. In a few days the disease had made a most
alarming progress.  A municipal, who was a surgeon, and had
been employed to attend the young invalid, made a report to
the council of the Commune, and the latter judged it expedient
to acquaint the authorities.  Accordingly, on the 8th Vent6se
(,)6th February), several civic commissaries repaired to the commnittee of general safety, to inform them of " the danger to the
prisoner's life."  When interrogated as to the nature of this
danger, the municipal officers replied that little Capet had
swellings at all his joints, particularly at his knees; that it was
impossible to extract a word from. him, and that, always either
sitting, or in a recumbent position, he steadily refused to take
any sort of exercise.
When interrogated as to the time from which this obstinate
silence and systematic inactivity might be dated, they said
ever since the 6th October, 1793, that day of disgraceful
memory, when Simon had induced the son of Marie-Antoinette
to sign the horrible interrogatory invented by Hebert, and
compiled, as is said, by Daujon.  This was not, strictly speaking, correct.  The unfortunate child might indeed have felt
regret, but not remorse, for having put his name to a paper
which he could not understand, but which, from  his natural
suspicions, he had good cause to consider, on reflection, as a
very alarming circumstance.  Still, even if from that time forth
his countenance had become more serious, his bearing more
sad and melancholy, and his answers more reserved and brief,
he had not at least quite lost the use of all language; and, as
we have said, it was not until after the reign of Simon, and
under the lonely and hidden oppression of the municipals, that
the victim, exhausted with so many insults, had resolved to
ask no more questions and give no more answers.
tHowever this might be, after having heard the commis



VJa,]5 5JLAURENT AND GOMIN.                          265
Harmand.
saries of the municipality, the committee of general safety
directed Harmand (of the Meuse), one of its members, who
was attached to the police section of Paris, to proceed to the
Temple, with two of his colleagues, and satisfy himself as
to the real state of the case, and make out a detailed report
of everything relating to the son of the last king. This
step was taken next day, on the 9th Vent6se (Friday, 27th
February).
In giving the account left us by Harmand of his visit to the
Temple, we must observe that the draft of it was not made
known till 1814, at a time when Louis XVIII., established
on the throne, had just appointed the author prefect of the
Upper Alps.  Harmand, on the trial of Louis XVI. in the
Convention, had voted for immediate banishment; he was a
good kind of man, a foe to violence and sanguinary measures,
and I have no doubt that the sentiments expressed in his
account did really exist at the time in his heart; but still we
know from Gomin, who was an eye-witness of the visit of the
27th February, 1795, that the deputy Harmand, who had less
boldness, and therefore less influence than his two companions,
spoke but little in the course of the interview, and that almost
all the questions he attributes to himself were addressed to the
young prisoner by Mathieu, author of the report made to the
Convention on the 2nd December preceding, and who, as we
have seen, had already come more than once to give orders
respecting this state-prison, which was in some sort placed
under his special charge.
Besides, it is easy to recognise in the account given by
-Iarmand, —of the kindness and attention he paid to the " only
son of his King, his King himself,"-that his language, exag
gerated throughout, bears in no degree the colouring of the
period, and that his political opinions of 1814 had had considerable effect on his narrative of 1795, This precaution
taken, we will enter the Temple with him.
" My heart had flown thither," he says; "but, as I had not
II.                  M




266            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [3BOOK 15.
Harmand's narrative,
voted for the King's death, and the prejudices attached to the
opposite opinion were then in full force, I deliberated for a time;
and my knowledge of the place not allowing me to doubt that if,
on my return from the Temple, I made a report favourable to
the illustrious prisoners, I should be heard with prejudice on
the part of my listeners, injurious to the captives as well as
to myself-and being incapable of making any other —I begged
that some members of the committee should be granted me as
colleagues.; "Messieurs Mathieu and Reverchon were accordingly appointed, both being also members of the Convention, and I
hope that what I am about to say will give no offence to. either
of them.
"An involuntary want of memory has prevented my re'
membering the exact date of our visit to the Temple; but the
following are the facts:
" We reached the doors, whose dreadful bolt shut in the
innocent son-the only son-of our King, our King himself.
"The key grated harshly in the lock, and the opening
door displayed to our view a small and very clean ante-room,
with no other furniture than an' earthenware stove, which communicated with the next room by an opening in the partitionwall, and which could only be lighted through this ante-room.
The commissaries told us that this precaution had been taken
in order not to leave fire in the way of a child.
" This other room was that of the Prince, and contained
his bed; it was fastened on the outside, and had to be opened.
This display of keys and bolts brought a sadness to the mind,
the more painful because reflection, far from dissipating, did
but increase it.
"The Prince was sitting beside a little square table, on
which were scattered a good many playing-cards; some were
bent into the shape of boxes and trunks, and others built up in
castles. He was busy with these cards when we went in, and
he did not cease his occupation.




1795.]           LAURENT AND GOMINo.                    67
Harmand's narrative.
"lHe was dressed in a new coat, like a sailor's jacket, of
slate-coloured cloth.  His head was bare; the room clean and
well-lighted.  The bed was made on a wooden-bedstead, without
curtains; the bedding and linen seemed to be good and
handsome.  His bed was behind the door, to the left of the
entrance; further on, on the same side, was another bedstead
without bedding, placed at the foot of the first; a closed door
between the two comumunicated with another room which we
did not see.
"The commissaries told us that this bed* had been that
of Simon, a cobbler, who had been appointed by the municipality of Paris, prior to the death of Robespierre, to wait
upon and guard the-young Prince in his room.  It is but too
well known with what atrocious cruelty that monster acquitted
himself of both duties.
" It is well known that this wretch amused himself in the
most cruel manner at the expense of his prisoner's sleep; that
without any regard for his tender age, when sleep is so necessary, he would call him up several times in the night,
shouting to him:' Capet! Capet!' The Prince would answer:' Here I am, Citizen.'' Come near me, so that I may touch
you,' replied the tiger, and the lamb drew near him accordingly. The execrable assassin would put one leg out of bed,
and with a kick, directed as far as he could reach, he would
hurl his victim to the ground, crying:' Go to bed, wolf-cub!'
Oh, Heaven! will Divine vengeance be satisfied with the life
this monster forfeited in company with Robespierre?
"This has been stated before; but I relate it now because
the commissaries gave us an account which makes me still
shudder whenever I think of it.  After these terrible preliminaries, I approached tihe Prince.  Our movements did not
*'"This bed had been removed a long time before: I never saw it.
Laurent, and some others employed about the Temple, told the visitors
that Simon had really slept in the same room as the Prince, and showed
them the place where his bed had stood that was all." —GOMIN.




268            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 15o
Harmand's narrative.
appear to make any impression upon him. I told him that the
government,-too late apprised of the bad state of his health,
and of his refusal to take air and exercise, or to answer the
questions addressed to him on the subject, or the proposals
made to him of taking remedies and receiving the visits of a
physician, —had sent us to him to inform  ourselves as to the
facts, and, in their name, to renew all the above-mentioned
proposals; that we hoped they might be agreeable to him, but
that we should be obliged to have recourse to advice, nay, even
to rebuke, if he persisted in silence and in his refusal to take
exercise; that we were authorised to procure him the means
of extending his walks, as well as to offer him any objects of
amusement or diversion that he might wish to have, and that
I bogged he would tell me if this were agreeable to him.
"While I was thus expressing myself, he looked fearfully at me, without changing his position, and listened apparently with the greatest attention, but not one word did
he reply.
" I then repeated my offers, as if I thought he had
not heard me, particularising  them  something after this
manner:
"' Perhaps I expressed myself ill, or you did not understand
me, sir; but I have the honour to ask you whether you would
like to have a horse, a dog, some birds, or playthings of any
kind; one or more companions of your own age, whom we will
present to you for your approval before installing themn with
you.* Would you like now, this minute, to go down into the
garden or up on the tower? Would you like to have some
sugar-plums or cakes?' &c. In vain did I repeat everything I
could think of as agreeable to his age. I received not one
word in reply, not even a sign or a gesture, although his head
was turned towards me, and he was looking at me with a
strange fixedness in his eyes, which expressed the utmost indifference.
* L Not a single word of this was said." —GoreIN.




1795.J           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                   269
Harmand's narlative.
" I then thought proper to take a more decided tone, and
ventured to say:'Sir, obstinacy like this at your age is a fault
which is utterly inexcusable; and it is the more surprising as
our visit is evidently intended to ameliorate your condition,
and give you attendance and proper remedies for your health.
How do you think we shall be able to do this if you still refuse
to answer, or say what you would like? Is there any other
way we can propose it? Be so good as to tell us, that we may
do so.'  Still the same fixed look, the same attention, but not
a single word.
"I resumed:' If your refusal to speak, sir, compromised
only yourself, we should wait,-not without distress, but more
resignedly, —until you were pleased to do so, because we should
conclude that your situation could not be very uncomfortable as
you did not care to change it; -but you do not belong entirely to
yourself, all around you are responsible for your person and
condition. Will you compromise them? Will you compromise
us? For what answer can we give the government, whose
organs we are. Be so good as to answer me, I beg, or we
shall end by commanding you.' Not a word, and still the
same fixed look.
"I was in despair, and so were my colleagues; that look,
indeed, had such an expression of resignation and indifference
that it seemed to say:' What is it to me?  Complete the
sacrifice!', I repeat it, I could do no more; my bosom swelled with
grief, and I was ready to burst into tears of bitter anguish;
but, after taking a few turns up and down the room, I recovered myself so far as to determine upon trying the effect of
command; which I did accordingly, stationing myself quite
close to the Prince, at his right hand, saying:' Sir, be so good
as to give me your hand!' He gave it, and passing mine
along it to the shoulder, I felt a tumour on the wrist, and
another at the elbow.  It seemed that these tumours were
not painful, for the Prince showed no sign of suffering.




270            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 15.
IIarmand's narrative.'Thes other hand, sir.' He gave it, but there was no swelling
upon it.' Allow me also, sir, to touch your legs and knees.'
He rose accordingly.  I found the same kind of enlargement at the knees.
"Standing thus, the young Prince had the appearance of
being ricketty, and imperfectly formed. His legs and thighs
were long and lean, his arms the same; his bust very short,
and his chest raised; his shoulders high, and cramped together;
his head very fine in all the details, his complexion colourless;
but clear; his hair long and fine, chesnut-colour, very well kept.' Now, sir, be good enough to walk.' He did so immediately,
going towards the door between the two beds,* and immediately sat. down again.' Do you think that is taking proper
exercise, sir; and do you not see, on the other hand, that this
indolence is the sole cause of your disease, and the dangers
with which you are threatened? Be so good as to believe in our
zeal and experience. You can have no hope of regaining your
health unless you submit to our advice and requests; we shall
send a physician to you, and we hope you will answer his
questions. Make a sign at least that you make no objection.'
Not a gesture, not a word.' Sir, be so good as to walk again,
and for a little longer time.  Silence, and no compliance.  He
remained upon his seat, with his elbows leaning on the table;
his features underwent no change, displayed not the slightest
emotion, and there was no more surprise in his eyes than if
we had not been there, and I had said nothing.  My colleagues did not speak. We looked at each other in astonishment,
and we were about to communicate our conclusions to each
other, when the Prince's dinner was brought in.
"Another distressing scene-it is necessary to hlave witnessed it to form  any idea of it; a pot of red clay contained
a black broth, with lentils; in a plate of the same material
was a little morsel of boiled meat, also black and shrivelled,
* "As I have said, there was only one bed in the room."-Gomiz.




1795.]            LAURENT AND GOMlIN.                 271
Harmand's narrative.
the quality of which was suAfficiently indicated by these appearances; a second plate, filled with lentils, and a third, on
which were six chesnuts, rather burned than roasted; a metal
spoon and fork,-no knife, and no wine. The commissary told
us this was by order of the council of the Commune.
"Such was the dinner of the son of Louis XVI., the heir
of sixty-six monarchs!  Such the fare destined for the innocent captive! Ah! who could contain himself with this scene
before his eyes-with the fact weighing on his mind that it
was the son of a king, an innocent being, forced to live like the
most miserable of his subjects?
"While the illustrious prisoner was making this sordid
meal, my colleagues and I expressed our indignation and
astonishment by a glance at the commissaries of the municipality, and, to spare them our well-merited reproaches in
presence of the Prince, I made themn a sign to come out into
the ante-chamber.  There we spoke as we felt; they repeated
to us that it was by the order of the municipality, and had been
even worse before their time.
6"In the ante-room we gave orders that this abominable
state of things should be changed for the future, and that
they should immediately begin to add some little delicacies
to his dinner, and particularly fruit.  I wished some grapes,
which were then rarities, to be procured for him. This order
having been given, we went back into the room. The Prince
had eaten all his food.  I asked him  if he were satisfied
with his dinner; no answer.  If he would like some fruit;
no answer. If he liked grapes; no answer. A moment afterwards the grapes arrived; they were put upon the table, and
he ate them  without saying anything.'Would you like
some more?' No answer.*
"After this we could no longer doubt that every attempt
* "Something was said of fruit for his dessert, but no grapes were
asked for, and none were brought; besides which, at that period, none
could probably have been found in the neighbourhood."-GoMIN.




2 72           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.              [BOOK 1-5.
Harmand's narrative.
on our part to elicit a reply would be useless. I acquainted him
with our determination, and told him that it was the more
painful to us because we could only attribute his silence to
our having had the misfortune to displease him, and that we
should propose to the government, in consequence, to send
some commissaries who might be more agreeable to him.
The same look, but no reply.' Do you wish us to retire, sir?
No answer.
"This said, we went out of the room.  The first door
being closed, we remained a quarter of an hour in the anteroom, inquiring from each other what we had heard and seen,
and communicating the reflections and observations we had
made on the subject, and also on the moral and physical condition of the Prince.
"From the account which I have just given-anr exact
account, the details of which I have rather curtailed than
extended-everyone can, and doubtless will, make the same
observations and reflections with ourselves, and therefore I
will not repeat them.  I have stated the motives to which the
commissaries attributed the obstinate silence of the Prince.
I asked them  in the ante-room  whether this silence did
really date from the day on which he had been forced, by the
most barbarous violence, to sign that odious and absurd deposition?  They renewed their former assertion on that head.*
"After having related these facts, grievous to all feeling
hearts, I leave it to the consideration of the observers of
human nature. Is it possible that, at the age of nine years,
a child could form such a determination and persist in it? It
certainly admits of a doubt; but I reply, to such as would
doubt or deny, by stating a fact and bringing forward witnesses
whom  I point out, and to whom they may have recourse for
its truth.
* "W e could have made no such assertion, as Laurent did not enter
the Temple until nine months after the scene of the 7th October, 1793, and
myself fbur months after Laurent."-GOMIN.




1795.]           LAURENT AND' GOMINo                273
Reflections.
"Be that as it may, before we left the Prince's antechamber my colleagues and I agreed that-for the honour of the
nation, who knew not of it; of the Convention, who, to say the
truth, were also ignorant of it, but ought to have known it; for
that of the guilty municipality themselves, who knew all, and
caused all these evils-we agreed that we should confine ourselves to the ordering of provisional measures, to be taken
immediately, and that we should make no public report, but
give it in private in the secret committee only. This was
accordingly done."
In this account, given by a republican of his visit to the
tyrant's son, the sentiments appear to be those of a royalist,
and the expressions those of a courtier.  The reader will have
kept in view the times and places; hle will also have felt, on
the one hand, hoiw much exaggeration, and on the other, how
much short-coming, there is in this act of the Revolution, drawn
up for legitimist readers.  But, such as it is, this paper
seemed to me too interesting not to be given at length. The
real situation of the Prince may be seen through this royalist
veil, which almost goes the length of throwing afiezur-de-lis halo
round the Convention.  Besides the errors pointed out by
Gomin there is one more important still, which it is our duty
to indicate, on the authority of this same valuable witness; it
is, that the deputies of the Convention did not order that " this
abominable state of things should be changed for the future."
Notwithstanding the pretended marks of kindness heaped upon
the prisoner, his condition was not much improved; a plate of
fruit was sometimes added to his meals, but the general
regulations of the prison remained the same.
As to the obstinate silence of the Prince during this visit,
which the narrator has made out more remarkable than it really
was, and which produced no actual effect, we have already had
occasion to state our own opinions on the subject.  But
although we have deemed it our duty to contend against the
account given of the motive, to which alone the inflexible




P274          LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BooK 15.
Reflections.
resolution of the young prisoner was attributed, we may say that
this party, this meeting of the commissaries of the Commune
and of the Convention, reminded him of melancholy scenes;
perhaps of that in which they had made an abusive use of some
few words, wrung from his ignorance, by converting them into
poniards directed against his mother. These kind attentions
and good-natured acts of -his enemies must have recalled to his
memory the fruit and liquor lavished upon him by Simon, in
order to obtain the signature which Danjon needed to complete
his work, and Hebert to give credit to his infamous inventions,
by procuring their endorsement from the innocence of a child.
The unfortunate boy, as we have said, had never been able
to look without aversion and terror upon any member of the
Convention and Commune, with the exception of some few
who for a very long time had not been permitted access to him.
Convinced by long experience that he had to pay a hundredfold for any little consolation hitherto offered to him, he
naturally distrusted the cajoling promises of his visitors. His
air of disdain and indifference seemed to say: " For two long
years you have been destroying me, and what are your caresses
to me now?  Finish the sacrifice! "  Of the whole account
given by Harmand, this latter interpretation is the. most
probable.
I know  not what passed in the secret committee, when
the Convention heard the report of their commission which had
been dispatched to the Temple-a report most assuredly
couched in very different terms from that which we have just
given-but it was followed by no favourable arrangements, no
liberal order was given, no physician appointed, no remedy
employed; and the young invalid, deprived of all succour,
moved slowly but surely towards the grave.  M. Harmand
afterwards declared that, having been sent away on a mission,
some days after his visit to the tower, he had not been able to
follow up the execution of the measures he had recommended
to improve the state of the " child King;" but if he actually did




1795.]           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                 275
G-omin's kindness.
display his benevolent intentions on that subject at all openly,
it was very natural for the Convention to send him away from
Paris at that period. The death of the son of Louis XVI. was
resolved upon. Indeed, even though he had not been the legitimate representative of royalty, I doubt whether this child, after
so many misfortunes, could have found grace in the eyes of his
enemies; it belonged to the principles of revolutionary tyranny
to sacrifice, without any examination, those whom they had
unjustly oppressed.
Still full of hope and bright illusions as to the future,
Gomin sought to surround -the Dauphin, not with pleasuresalas! that word was struck out for ever from that miserable
life! —but with increased means of diversion.  His pity for
the victim soon turned to affection, and that affection, which
he was obliged to keep under constant restraint, increased continually amid the silent struggles of his heart.
Sometimes he would go to the Temple library, and having
chosen some book which he thought might interest the child,
would give it to him  open.  "I beg Monsieur to be good
enough to read."   And the -child would begin at the page
pointed out to him with the best grace in the world. His
isolation and sorrows, the privation of books and cessation of
study, had not made him forget what he had learned. He read
very distinctly and correctly, holding the book at a distance
from  him  on his lap or on the table.  It was generally a
volume of Marmontel's " Contes Moraux," or the " Veilldes
dtu Chdteau," or the "Histoire de France."  What bitter
reflections must have been suggested to the mind of that
unfortunate child by reading this latter work, which told him
of the greatness of his country and of his race, so long united
in one common fate!
But, one day, in a tale of Marmontel's, I know not which,
he met with an anecdote that rivetted his attention, and interested him in the highest degree. He read the whole story
eagerly through to the end. Beginning rather it a melancholy




276              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BooK 15.
The dove.
way, this tale concluded, as is usually the case, with the deliverance and happiness of the hero.
Did it lead the child to think of his own destiny?  Did his
meeting with so many sorrows at his very first outset ir. life
make him hope that he, too, the hero of a lamentable story,
might one day live to see better times! 
Already forgetting his own misfortunes in presence of this
imaginary felicity, the poor little reader began to smile for a
moment through his tears, like an'April morning of varying
rain and sunshine.  In these rare moments of pleasure, his
countenance Nwore a look of angelic grace and sweetness; a
little happiness would have restored to him all the beauty
of childhood.
Several days passed away: on the 17th Ventose, 3rd year
(Saturday, the 7th March), the worthy Debierne came again to
see his Temple comrade, and said to him: " Just look here, I
have another plaything to give you."  Saying this, he half
opened his coat, which lapped across over his breast, and a
pretty little turtle-dove put out its head. Gomin was less
grateful for this new attention than he was uneasy at it, as it
was more likely to compromise him than the former, and might
give rise to some trouble with an ill-disposed commissary.
Having no confidence in the one on duty that day, he detersmined to keep the melancholy bird in the council-room until
next morning, and to await a favourable moment for taking it to
its destination. Next day, the countenance and manners of the
new commissary having given him a little courage, Gomin
took up the bird at the dinner-hour, and put it into the turret.
The Prince took but little notice of it.  The sight of a poor
bird, a prisoner and lonely like himself, was not to him either
an amusement or a comfort.  He had formerly been very fond
of animals,* but since his affection for the little bird:given
* Between the two days of the 20th June, and the 10th August, the
Dauphin, whose walks they had been obliged to restrict, had received a
present intended for his diversion; it was a little hare, which had been




1795.]             LAURENT AND GOMIN.                     277
Strictness of regulations.
him in Simon's time had drawn upon him a very painful scene,
this taste had disappeared; besides which, the gradual decay
of his strength produced indifference and apathy in him,
instead pf his former lively and active disposition. The turtledove did not live, and Gomin was not sorry for it, as it might
have caused him to be regarded with suspicion.
One day, the Q5th Ventose (Sunday, 15th March), this
timid but generous guardian, as he was accompanying Debierne
to the second court-yard, on his way out, met Li6nard, and
their conversation turned on the prisoners. The presence of'
Debierne, and the recollection of Delboy's remarks respecting
the food of Louis XVI.'s children, emboldened Gomin to say
to the steward: "AWe are under the reign of equality, why do
they not have the same dinner as we?"' Lienard, without expressing any private opinion, replied: "There is a regulation,
and I must follow it; I have my orders, like a soldier."  " You
are right," returned Gomin, who was afraid of his own shadow,
and wondered at himself for daring to hazard such a question. Debierne seeing his uneasiness, came to his assistance,
and added, but with more courage: "You are riglht, citizen
Lienard; military discipline first, before everything else; what
is conscience compared to a regulation?" Then, as he was
going away with Gomin: "I cannot bear those people," he
said, "' who have the regulation always in their mouths, and
who obey what man has put on paper instead of what God has
put in their hearts. No, no, your old vicar of the Temple*
wonderfully well trained to beat the drum. When the Marquis de Villeneuve
Arifat-who has preserved for us this anecdote-went to the Tuileries to
take leave of the royal family, the Dauphin came up to him smiling, and
said to him in a whisper: "I know you love us," and then showing him
his hare: " He beats the drum for the King. Mly hare is a royalist, but do
not mention it, pray! They would kill him for me!"
* Debierne alluded to the vicar of the Temple, named La Quesnoi,
who, after having taken the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy,
retracted it in the following letter, addressed to Bailly, the mayor:"  MR. MIAYOR,
"Led astray by the love of peace, and my desire of remaining among a




278              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BooK 15.
Gomin's tenderness.
was the man for me-in the time when there was yet a God
and churches!-he did not think he had done enough when he
obeyed the regulation; he obeyed the rule, and retracted the
civil oath he had taken."
Debierne often returned to the Temple, under pretext of
seeing Gomin, his pretended relation. The latter introduced
him  by that title to the council-room.   The devotion of this
worthy man remained unknown: the truest and deepest affection is not always that which makes most noise and show.
The keepers and the commissary did not feel at their ease
and sure of one another, as I have said, unless they took their
measures in common.  Under the incessant control of dark
malevolence union was strength in that place above all others.
The commissary occasionally absented himself; even Laurent
went out almost every evening, most frequently to attend his
club.  When matters had been arranged in this way, Gomin
felt himself sufficiently authorised to follow the dictates of his
own kind heart; he installed himself accordingly in the child's
room, and kept him company till supper-time.
Most usually he played with him  at draughts; the poor
flock who are dear to me, and for whom I shall preserve tihe most tender
affection to the last hour of my existence, I was so unfortunate as to forsake
those true principles which should have been my guide, by taking the oath
prescribed to us on Sunday, the 29th instant. I am still actuated by the
same love of peace, the same feeling of tenderness and affection for my
flock, and would willingly shed the very last drop of my blood, were it
necessary, in order to prove it.  The sacrifice of conscience and religion is
the only one we are never permitted to make. When I returned to myself,
I blushed for my fault. I avow it formally, and I do not hesitate to rejoin
those pastors of the Church from whom I never ought to have separated.
In consequence of this resolution, I have the honour, sir, of announcing to
you that I have this day solemnly retracted, from the pulpit, the oath I had
taken, and which was firmly abjured by the cries of my conscience.
(Signed)    "LA QU ESNOIL"
" I certify the present copy to be exactly conformable to the
original deposited in my office, this 3rd February, 1791.
"BAILLY."
(Archives of the Hatel-de-Ville.)




%795.,]           LAURENT AND GOMINo                  279
Occupations.
little fellow did not understand the game at all, but his good.
natured adversary always contrived to let him win.
Another time they would honour Debierne's toys, his
elegant cup-and-ball, a wayward and punctilious piece of
mechanism, in playing which neither the unskilful will of the
young Prince nor the unpractised skill of the professor proved
successful.
Or else, if the child's strength was equal to such an amusement, they went up to the garret of the great tower, and had a
game at shuttlecock in that vast chamber, the middle of which
was clear. At this game, the young invalid defended himself
to perfection; his glance was true, his hand prompt; his left
hand was always resting on his hip, grasping his trousers,
while his right was armed with the battledore.
One evening, the 22nd Ventose, 3rd year (Friday, 12th
March, 1795), being alone with him,-Laurent and the commissary were at the club, —Gomin, who was always good-natured
when not under restraint, sat down near the Prince, and proposed to read to him, or to play at draughts.
The child, grateful for his kindness, looked searchingly at
him, as if trying to read in his eyes how far it would carry him in
his service; and, feeling no doubt encouraged by his affectionate
look, he rose, and softly moved towards the door, still keeping fixed on his jailer a look at once inquiring and supplicatory.
" You know very well that cannnot be," said the latter to
him, very much disturbed at the idea which had occurred to
the youthful prisoner, and distressed that he might not listen
to his desire. " I want to see her once more," said the poor
child; " let me see her before I die, I beseech you!"  Gomin's
heart was sorely wrung; he took the Dauphin's arm, and led
him back to his place. The child threw himself on his bed, or
rather he fell down on it nearly senseless, and remained quite
motionless.  It seems that, deceived and restored to hope, by
the behaviour of his new keeper, he had felt encouraged to




280            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 15.
Filial disappointment.
believe that some day, if quite alone with him, he might ask
anything from his good-will; and this evening he hail conceived
to be the most favourable opportunity for putting the plan in
execution, that had perhaps been many days formed in the
depths of his heart.  This disappointment was so much the
more acute, his grief so much the more bitter, that the idea he
had formed to himself of Gomin assured him of the success of
his filial plot. The poor guardian was quite at his wit's end, not
knowing for a moment what he could possibly do, his prisoner
lying motionless and colourless before him. At length he felt
his heart beat, and saw his eyes open again; consciousness returned with life, and with consciousness came grief.  "It is
not my fault if I give you pain," said his accomplice to him, in
an undertone,-yes, an accomplice, but he recoiled from being
so openly, or venturing too far,-" it is not my fault, my duty
forbids it; say that you forgive me!"  The child's whole soul
broke forth in cries of anguish. "M. Charles, don't cry so,
they will hear you 1"  He was still immediately, and as Gomin
continued begging to be forgiven, a large tear rolled silently
down his cheek.  He laid his little hand on the shoulder of
his keeper, who, bending over the bed, pressed his other hand
between his own.  " You know very well that the door is shut,
and even were it open, you would not pass through it if you
thought your doing so would sentence me to die:" and the child
slowly shook his head, and opened his eyes, which spoke the
language of melancholy resignation.
This sad serenity, this calm grief, this courageous patience,
had won Gomin's heart, as, eventually, they had gained the
affection of the Tisons and the Toulans: sympathy always inspires those who approach the Bourbon family in their hour of
trouble.
But what could be hoped from  those municipals who,
coming to the tower with prejudices and hatred most inveterate, only passed through the sanctuary of grief? Their revolutionary nature, so far from improving in those few hours




a1'96.]           LAURENT AND GOMIN.                  281
Collot's prophecy.
there, led them, on the contrary, to exercise with arrogance,
the authority with which they were invested for a day. Almost
every one of them assumed the air of a tribune or a consul.
There came one on the 3rd Germinal, 3rd year (Monday, 23rd
March, 1795), named Collot, who aped the prophet, for, after
scrutinising the Dauphin's eyes, he said, with doctoral solemnity:
"That child has not ten decades to live!"  And, as Laurent
and Gomin were alarmed at these words, on account of the
injurious effect they might have on the invalid's mind, he immediately repeated, with atrocious emphasis: "I tell you, citizens, he will be imbecile and idiotic before six decades, if he
be not a corpse!"
At this fatal imprecation, which the municipal pronounced
as his adieu, the child's look remained gentle, and there came
a smile to his lips more poignant than regret, more gloomy
than despair.
Gomlin's voice that day was more tender than ever in
speaking to him.  During the evening, being alone with him
for a moment, he tried to efface the fatal impression left on
his mind by the melancholy interview of the morning.  The
child, as he listened, seemed striving to restrain emotion which
he was unable to master; a tear sparkled in his eyes, and from
his heart, full to bursting, these words escaped, with an angelic
sigh: " Yet I never injured anyone!"
When obliged to leave him at nightfall, poor Gomin with.
drew with a bleeding heart, and an imagination intensely
alarmed by the prophecy of Collot.  What! must this young
intelligence decay: this youthful heart be fettered? What!
would but the grosser part of this delightful child remain, like
the clay of the vase whose perfume has evaporated?  No! all
vill not perish thus: the perfume still remains in the funereal
arn!
Laurent left the Temple on the 9th Germinal, 3rd year
(Sunday, 29th March, 1795).  He did not retire in conse,
quence of any deposition being made against him, but at his




282           LOUIS THIE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 15.
Laurent resigns.
own request; he had just lost his mother, and family affairs
required his presence and attention elsewhere. The news of
his retirement created a kind of sensation in the Temple,
where he was universaily esteemed. There had been some
ill-will shown against Lefevre for some time, and his opponents
being anxious for him to leave, they were the more annoyed at
the unexpected departure of Laurent. More than once already
several persons, mostly belonging to the police, had objected to
the presence of a restaurateur in the inner inclosure of the
Temple.  However, Gomin succeeded in persuading themn that
it was rather advantageous than otherwise to keep him; that
many National Guards, who would otherwise have gone out to
eat and drink, procured all they required there, and that the
guard-house was less deserted in consequence. The opposition
was hushed.
Laurent* took leave of his colleague and the young Prince,
who pressed his hand, and saw him depart with a feeling of
profound regret.
Laurent had begun to forgive him for being the son of a
king, and the child to forgive Laurent for being the agent of
his enemies. The jailer and the prisoner were about to understand each other; and their hearts had just met when they
were forced to part.
* He died at C(ayenne,




BOOK SIXTEENTH.
QGOMIN AND LASNE.
11T  GERMINAL, 3RD YEAR (TUESDAY, 31ST MARCH, 1795).
Nomination of Lasne-Biographlical details-His installation at the
Temple-First visit to Louis XVII.-Order given to Gourlet —Good
understanding between Lasne and Gomin —Their care of, and attentions to, the little prisoner-First words of the Dauphin to LasneWalks on the platform —usic-Coniversationr-Palloy's set of dominoes-Louis XVlI.'s sword-Progress of the disease more and more
rapid.
ON the 11th Germinal (Monday, 31st March, 1795), citizen
Etienne Lasne, the new superintendent of the Temple Guard,
and successor to Laurent, arrived at the tower.  He had been
apprised of his nomination by a message from the police, and,
as he did not immediately obey a summons which was in fact
an order, two gendarmes had gone to take him from his residence, Rue Culture-Sainte-Catherine, and had brought him at
once to his post. Lasne was a house-painter; he had formerly
been in the French Guards, and had entered the National
Guards in 1789.  His trade had made him lknown in his own
neighbourhood, and it was as much in consequence of his
reputation as an artist as of his former military career that he
was, in 1791, appointed captain of -the grenadiers of the PetitSaint-Antoine battalion. He was a very worthy man, who,
though he had not perhaps as much heart as Gomin, had more
firmness. Lasne's appointment had been brought about by
revolutionary influence, as Gomin's was owing to royalist
interest; but both the one and the other belonged to the
moderate party.  Lasne had been arrested on the 9th Thermi



284             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 1G.
Lasne.
dor by the rebel Commune, and set at liberty by the National
Convention.*
As I was very anxious to know everyone capable of giving
me information respecting the life,-so little known, and so
unfortunate,-to which I had vowed to raise a modest and
pious monument in history, I sought out Lasne as I had
sought out Gomin, and as I had wished to see and hear the
three poor women by whose recollections I was enabled to
penetrate into the household of Simon, and thus recover the
traces of one of the most melancholy episodes, almost lost, in
the annals of the Temple.
I recall the scene with emotion even now. I saw Lasne
for the first time on Friday, 16th February, 1837; and the
thought that I was about to enter the presence of the man who
had performed the last sad duties for the son of Louis XVI.,
had held him in his arms as he expired, filled my mind with
melancholy feelings. Lasne opened the door for me himself.
I recognised him by his age, his bearing, his general appearance-grave and stern, like that of a man who had once mixed
in great and melancholy events, which had left ineffaceable
reminiscences behind them.  The room where he received me
* Extract from the minutes of the National Convention, 9th Thermidor,
2nd year of the French Republic, one and indivisible.
"'The National Convention, on a petition from the section of the
Rights of AMan, brought forward by a member, decrees that citizen Lasne,
commandant of the armed force, together with another citizen of the said
section, and citizen Billot, lieutenant of gendarmerie, now in prison on an
order of the rebel municipality, be set at liberty; and intrusts the execution of the present decree, which is not to be printed, to the two committees
of public welfare and general safety.
"Examined by the inspector,
i" S. E. MONNEL.
"Collated with the original by us, secretary of the National Convenl
tion at Paris, 11th Thermidor, 2nd year of the French Republic,
one and indivisible.
" BAR.
"LE VANEUR (of the Meurtl', Secretary."




1i795.]              GOMIN  AND  LASNE.                      285
Lasne.
was adorned with portraits of the royal family, several being of
Louis XVII.  Lasne was five feet seven inches in height, thin,
and very upright, as old soldiers always are, with an open
LASNE, IN 1795.
countenance, and expressing himself with ease and some little
emphasis.* At this period he was in his eightieth year, and
B The life of Lasne presents some peculiar circumstances, which are not
without their interest. The following is a fragment, which I wrote in some
degree from his dictation.
" I was born on the 19th September, 1757, at Dampierre-sur-Doubs,
in the parish of Saint-Pierre, jurisdiction of Besangon. Mly father was
adjutant in the regiment of La Marche.  I came to Paris very young, and
at twelve years old I entered the depot of the regiment of French guards,
the quarters of which occupied the site of the Rue du Helder and the Chaus.se
d'Antin, on the Boulevard des Italiens, opposite the Pavilion d'Hanovre.




286               LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                 [BooK 16.
Lasne.
looking very young for his great age.  It was only by degrees
that I obtained the confidence of this last and solemn witness of
the sufferings of the Temple. I found him sparing of his -words
Some years afterwards I entered the grenadiers of Fourche's company,
under the name of Carette, which was that of my mother. Marshal Biron,
our colonel, being no doubt afraid that my name of Lasnel might subject
me to unpleasant jests, which would have obliged me to unsheath my
sword to ill-purpose, had me put down in the rolls under the denomination
of Etienne Lasne, commonly called Carette.  Jokes, as is well known,
were freely indulged in at the expense of the French guards.  Some called
them the' Pierrots,'2 because of their great buttons, resembling those of
the mountebanks on the Boulevards; others named them the'Ducks of
the Maine,' ever since the time when, being repulsed at an afibir on the
Maine, they had been forced to throw themselves into the river.
"I never quitted Paris but once; it was in 1778.  1 was one-andtwenty. The Marquis de la Moussaye, my lieutenant, selected me to accompany him  in one of his journeys into Britany.  He had left me some
money to discharge his pressing debts at Paris; which done, I set out to
join hinm again. When I had got as far as within two leagues of Lamballe,
I met a coach with the livery of La Moussaye; the coachman asked me if I
belonged to M. le Marquis, and told me that in that case I had only to
follow the carriage and I should find the castle.  I had come a hundred
leagues on fbot, and willingly; but these two last leagues, of which it would
have been so simple and easy to spare me the fatigue by letting me get up
behind the carriage, were more trying to me than all the rest of the way.
I bore that cursed coachman a grudge for a long time, because of his hard
words addressed to the reeking brow of a poor wayfarer.  To add to my
ill-luck, when I reached the gate before the castle the porter barred my
passage, and told me he had orders not to let me in. It was in vain I had
recourse to the name of M. le Marquis, and gave his orders as my credentials,-all was useless, and the porter seemed to me even less gracious than
the coachman.
"I sat down on a post, my mind given up to a thousand disagreeable
conjectures, and I waited anxiously till Heaven should send me my lieutenant to relieve me fiom this unpleasant sort of guard. At length I caught
sight of him; he was dressed as a sportsman: lie appeared very glad to
see me again, but said his mother did not wish me to enter the castle.'You are to go into the town,' said he to me;'you will find yourself a
lodging there to your liking, and I will give you twenty sous a day.''No, no, lieutenant.  I did not come with you on these conditions: our
serjeant-major, Berlier, did not give me leave of absence to be an expense
1 It is pronounced like l'dae-the aSs.-TaANSLATOU.
2 Nickname for any comic simpleton among the peasants.  It also signifies
sparrow.-TRA eSLA TOR.




1795.]                GOMIN  AND  LASNE.                       287
Lasle.
during our first interview, and I was also sparing in my questions.  But when, after a longer acquaintance, he saw that it
was no vain and indifferent curiosity that brought me to him,
to you. If I am of no use to you here, I will go back to Paris,' N. de Ia
Moussaye insisted so much on it that I was forced to yield.  I lodged at
the house of a 3I. Delacroix, at Lamballe,-they were good times then.
For twelve sous a day I had a comfortable lodging, and was excellently
well fed; and, as may be imagined, I did not keep the excess of the twenty
soas, granted me by the liberality of my chief, for my own profit. Besides,
I owed it to his protection that my little talent as a painter turned to
account there, for it was soon called into requisition by several of his
friends in their smoke-dried mansions.  His uncle, M. de la Prov6tr,
intrusted me with the restoration of his house, the woodwork of which
had been painted in olive oil by a Raphael of the country. Madame
de la 1Mirandais summoned me next, and my painting became so much in
vogue, that I was unable alone to satisfy the demands which reached me
from  all parts, and was obliged to have a country-fellow to grind my
colours for me.
"Every Sunday, at eleven o'clock-and the old men of Lambelle will
remember it yet-I assisted at the performance of mass, in uniform. I
was a very good-looking fellow, when under arms, at twenty; one may say
that when one is eighty years old, especially when one's good looks and
good figure have brought one more disagreeables than advantages.
The two Retifs (they were brothers) saw, not without vexation, that a
French guard, standing near the high altar, attracted the notice, during
service, of the pretty women of the place, and their ill-humour' was not
slow in showing itself. One winter evening, coming out of the house of
MI. Blanchandin, who lived at the Mlaltrait gate, I met them  together
a little way from my home; they suddenly stopped and stared, as if they
wanted to bully me. I stood still also, waiting apparently for the hostile
words of which their attitude seemed to be the forerunner.' When you
have looked long enough at me,' said I to them,'perhaps you will speak
to me!' They drew nearer: I drew nearer.'It is pretended you are
a grenadier,' said one of them  to me;'but that is a joke no doubt;
soldiers do not assist at mass!''If you are a capuchin fiiar,' said the
other,'resume your frock; and if you are a grenadier, I will tear off your
grenades.'  You may guess the fever that fired my head, and what bitter
words were prompted by my indignation.  One of' them  raised his stick.,Are you assassins or honest men?' I cried;' an assassin may assault a
man thus, but an honest man gives his adversary time to get a sword. I
ask you for five minutes to go and bring mine.' I ran home, armed myself,
and went back again.  One of the I{etifs, who was a grenadier in the
King's regiment, had also gone to fetch his sword, but he was very long in
r.turnivnp.'I wait at Paris, but not at Lamballe,' said I to his brother,




~88              LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 16.
Lasne.
but a heatfelt interest in, and pious reverence for, the noble
child he had loved so well, and whom  he had seen expire, his
heart opened to me completely.
and I shall not wait any longer.' I made an appointment to meet
them at six o'clock next morning, near the castle, and went home. I
had hardly reached the door when I heard my adversary's voice behind
me, but I did not turn back; and a night's calm reflection made me
approve of my conduct, and even congratulate myself on a delay which
had prevented a duel in the dark, and without witnesses. I confess I did
not sleep at all. I was up with the dawn, and was at the rendezvous
before the appointed hour. There is a little chapel near the place. I
went in, and commended my soul to God in a short prayer.
"I soon saw the two Ratifs coming. They proposed as.. clear field, a
little space hollowed out like a tunnel, the bottom of which presented indeed a smooth and flat surface, but so restricted that there was hardly
elbow-room enough.  I do not know what sort of young-man's vanity
induced me to accept such a field of battle; true it had the advantage of
concealing the combatants fidom indiscreet eyes, but it had also the slight
inconvenience of dooming one of them to almost certain death.
"We were in the month of January; it was freezing as hard as a stone;
the ground was covered with hard, deep snow, which made the approach
to the hole where we were to fight very difficult. Retif went down first;
he was, according to the usual custom, without his coat and shirt, presenting. his breast and arms quite bare to the icy wind that was blowing. He had
three or four scars on his body, and seemed to display them with pride.
I had followed him down into the hollow, and, to get my coat off more
easily, I stuck my sword into the snow before me. Although I had no
lack of courage, was a pupil of MI. Languedoc, serjeant of the guards, and
had carried out a challenge with the master-of-arms of the regiment of
Schomberg, I frankly confess that I was not very much at my ease. The
ground, and there being no witnesses, made me uneasy; but there was no
way of drawing back now, and my only thought was how best to get rid of
the hornet's nest into which I had fallen. I drew my sword out of the
snow, and the point broke off, but I did not perceive it, and I stood on my
guard. We fought a few minutes, and suddenly my opponent's brother,
who was looking on at the struggle from the top of the hollow, cried out:'Take care, brother, his sword is broken!' The combat ceased, and I
asked ten minutes to have my sword ground down. But the first ardour
of the Retifs was gone,-the weather was quite enough to have quenched
it,-and they soon came to making excuses. From  that time forth we
were good friends, and my pompoon-tuft appeared again in peace and in all
its splendour next Sunday at mass. M. le Marquis heard of the affair, and,
to make up for the accident to my sword, he was so kind as to give me
his own; but I had no more need of any during my sojourn in Britany.




1 95.]                GOMIN  AND  LASNE.                       289
Lasne.
On Wednesday, 6th September, 1837, as I was on my way
to Lasne's house, who had been ill, I met him taking advantage
of a gleam of sunshine to walk on the quay of the Ile SaintMy travels ended much better than they had begun, and I returned to
Paris, my pockets filled as they had never been before.
"Excepting on that occasion, I have never lost sight of tile towers of
Notre-Dame, and you see, sir, that I have ended by establishing myself
even nearer to them,-we may say, almost beneath their shade. I lived
thirty years in the Rue Culture-Sainte-Catherine, at No. 7, one of Madame
Lamy's three houses; then, eighteen years in the Rue des Carmes,
No. 341; and am now at No. 14 Rue Regrattiere, my third establishment,
and which will doubtless be my last. I bought this house on the 2nd
June, 1829.
"I left the French guards on the 11th'May, 1782, after the King's
review on the plain of Sablon, the day when the execution of Desrues, who
had been broken alive on the wheel, in the Place de Grdve, was the only
subject of conversation. I had served seventeen years, in the course of
which I had successively inhabited the depot, the barrack in the Rue
Verte, that of La Pepinibre, and finally that of L'Estrapade. When I got my
discharge, my serjeant-major wished me well; he proposed to send me back
to the depot, where he said I would be made a serjeant, but I was im.
patient to be a citizen, and to resume my brush.
"When the year'89 came, I was obliged to assume the uniform of
the National Guard. My profession as a house-painter had made ume wellknown in my neighbourhood; it was also known that I was an old soldier;
and the voices of my fellow-citizens raised me, in'91, to the rank of
captain of the grenadiers of the Petit-Saint-Antoine battalion.
"I was wounded at the Tuileries on the 20th June, on the terrace at
the water-side, where my battalion was stationed. About that period I had
several times an opportunity of seeing M. the Dauphin, and certainly
had no idea that that unfortunate young Prince would one day expire in
my arms.
"I have nothing more to tell you of my residence at the Temple,
and of the long sufferings I witnessed there. All that you have written
respecting His Majesty Louis XVII.1 is most strictly true.
"But my wardenship was not over. If I had seen the brother expire,
the sister was living still; she was living, full of strength and courage.
Madame Royale was up every morning at five o'clock; she was dressed,
her hair arranged, the room swept out, her bed made, as if she had
had hands to serve her. Her resignation and spirit were quite admirable.
"I never went into her room without knocking.
"Soon after she was exchanged, and she went away. I remained a
1 Il speaking of the Dauphin, Lasne always said, "HiMs Majesty.",
TT                        f




290              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.               lBOOK 16.
Lasne.
Louis, where he resided.  He made an appointment with me
for the next morning, saying: "Come early; we will shut
ourselves in together, and I will give you all the information
respecting the Temple that can be interesting to you. To,whom should I give my confidence if not to you?"  He faithfully kept his word, and in this first conversation, or in those
that followed, he called up all his reminiscences for my benefit,
and acquainted me with details which only he could have furnished.
One day I brought him  my album, and begged him  to
write in it, with his own hand, the attestation of the death of
Louis XVII., which he did.*
At this period he received a visit from Gomin, his old
colleague of the Temple tower, whom  he had not seen for
twenty years, and whom  he thought to be dead.  Providence,
which had thrown one valuable witness of the Dauphin's last
sufferings in my way, now sent me another, my friendship with
whom  was to be yet greater, and my connection more useful
still for the work I had undertaken.
Lasne being, as we have seen, brought to his post by armed
fortnight or three weeks longer at the Temple, to give in my accounts to
M. Benezech, minister of the interior. I gave into his charge all that
belonged to the Temple tower, and all that had been left there by the
royal family; he came there one day himself.
" I returned home and resumed my brush, hoping not to be obliged to
leave it any more; but some time afterwards I was informed that I must
go back to the Temple,-that I should have to guard some prisoners, among
others, Sir Sidney Smith, his secretary Wright, and his servant, a worthy
French nobleman, who spoke English and Dutch to perfection, and played
his part as valet admirably well.
"I have told you, sir, all that my memory recalls to me; there are,
doubtless, many interesting circumstances which have escaped me now,
but the little I give you has at least the merit of truth. Many temptations have been offered me to induce me to misrepresent it, but never
will I serve as a stepping-stone for an imposture. A manl of my age ought
not to sell himself, fobr he might not have time to redeem himself,"
Lasne died at Paris 1lth April, 1841, aged eighty-four.
* We give a facsimile opposite.




-IM~tn lge   de Lasnie  raIerru're'r o6                                     P df~i~i~r C~CdL)    6~ 7
-Ila ge ~..d., 
C~Li~f~  c'R~@~T7~~,~;i~L.L~vclogo
01~
Ci~~~~~i~~~~st
Translation.)~C~y
Tceifim onV of F -rn,, CLB13e-ucwlC~ me,,
LAST KEEPER OF LOUIS XVII. AT THE TEMPLE..~~L-i~L                                                                      6~-  ~       EebA.-Tonsieur de Beauchesiie,                                                           CTJ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~k~asg
the towe-~r of the Templ, and that i is only imostors who cn affirm th
scrupulously exact. ~5~atle
~(~h~TonsEeng rd  Fravcatse,
i; As  havealway said and av Captsl in of t  de gre aders, of  t                                                                    6e
honour, and befor God, that thbattalion of the Petit Saint-Antosine
the toer of he Temle, an tha and Cominandant-in-swho    hief ofr the                                                                                                            atM"S4-9~4e,~L
contral-.  I had ften see the   21st'derni-brigad te of the resident 
perfecly remmber te detils whch  r y of Parisyo. Kepr he rehilio
scrupulously exactre  f ra.e ad heony ero
I A T-                   A         +1'  ~al orar h tuh                                                                                        /a-  I  A~dI-L i  ~l~,Pd~                                 ~dL/








1]'95.]            GOMIN AND LASNE.
Lasne enters on his duties.
force, was received and installed at the tower by his colleague
and Lacroix (a gardener), the civic commissary on duty, who
conducted him that same evening to the presence of the captive brother and sister. The stern bearing of Lasne made
them at first think him an additional enemy sent them by the
municipality and committees, but in course of time they
changed their minds with respect to him.
Though Lasne had the care of the children of Louis XVI.
in common with Gomin, yet he took, perhaps, more especial
charge of the Dauphin, while Gomin attended particularly to
Madame Royale. And, indeed, the Princess had a decided
preference for Gomin.  It was he who, by her own request,
was appointed to accompany her to the frontier when she was
set at liberty; and, in 1814, she appointed him porter to the
Chateau of Meudon.
The new keeper was terrified at the state in which he
found the Dauphin.  He had seen the royal child several
times when at the Tuileries, in his little garden, or on the
terrace by the water-side.  "I recognised him perfectly well,"
said he to me; " his head was not changed, it was still beautiful, and just as I had observed it in better times; but his
complexion was dull and colourless, his shoulders high, his
chest contracted, his arms and legs emaciated and weak, and
his right knee and left wrist were covered with enormous
tumours.
The day after his entrance into the Temple, 12th Germinal (Wednesday, 1st April), Lasne wished to enter upon his
duties, by showing to the Prince that he came to him as a
servant, much more than as a jailer.  Gomin accordingly left
to him the care he daily took to wash the child, comb his hair,
and brush his clothes. Though he was frightened at the first
approach of a person whom he did not know, the child still
submitted to his attentions, and examined him attentively, but
~without replying to his questions by a single word.
That day, at the dinner-hour, Gourlet went up into the




29$           tLOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH,           [rBooi   16.
Lasne's humanity.
tower with Lasne, and, according to established custom made
a good deal of noise with his large keys, as he turned them in
the locks, and by shaking the bolts.  Lasne's orderly but
benevolent mind saw an objection to this disturbance, which
was enough to torment a weak head and diseased imagination.
"Why do you affect to make such a clatter?" said he to
Gourlet, as they were coming out of Madame Royale's room.
"d You ought to consider what an impression it must produce
on the minds of these children."  Citizen," returned the
keeper of the keys, " I have been ordered to do so by several
commissaries; others, like yourself, have thought it useless,
which makes me of opinion that it is a matter of indifference."
"' I did not come here," said the keeper, "to be an instrument
of terror. I desire you will make less noise for the future, and
put some oil and grease to these bolts and hinges. I do not
see the necessity either of closing these three doors; the iron
one is useless."
The turnkey conformed to Lasne's directions; but the very
next day, 13th Germinal (Thursday, 2nd April), the commissary on duty (named Lemetayer, 138 Rue Honore), asked him,
as he left the room, why he neglected to lock all the doors.
"C itizen Lasne desired me not to lock them," replied he.
The doors are here to be closed," returned citizen Lemetayer;
" you must conform to the intentions of the Commune and the
orders of the Convention. Do not again forget to fasten all
the bolts, as you did before." Lasne, who was present, said
nothing; he had perceived that to urge it further would be
useless, and would only compromise him.
The new keeper was not long in finding out that the race
of bugs had not entirely emigrated from the tower, notwithstanding the fierce war waged upon them by Laurent.  All the
beds were taken to pieces again, and washed with lye; and
their old green damask curtains cleaned and mendecl.
d We have found the note of the workman  llo did this; it is as
follows:




1795.]              GOMIN AND LASNE.                    298
Amusements.
The two keepers could do nothing against the will of the
commissaries, but they arranged together to give each other
mutually as much liberty as possible. Thus the custom established for the guard of the keys, which rendered each keeper
dependent on the other, was laid aside.  Notwithstanding
their difference of disposition and humour, or rather, perhaps,
in consequence of this very difference, the two colleagues lived
in the most perfect harmony together. Their mutual esteem
made their charge more easy, and allowed them  more independence; internal discipline became less severe in consequence: they had a mutual understanding when to relieve
each other, and to contrive by turns to procure a little leisure
time.  But they always acted collectively in all official pro.
ceedings, and compiled the bulletin they sent every evening to
the committee of general safety together.  "I signed first,"
said Gomin to me, and the name of Lasne always followed, as
an adjective qualifying my name.+
They often joined together also to have a little music.
Gomin's violin had slumbered long,-Lasne's songs woke it
once more, and the voice, with its accompaniment, frequently
enlivened the dull solitude of the tower. Though their talents
were but very moderate, it was a new and extremely pleasant
thing to the prisoner to hear a few notes of poor music sometimes in his room.
Poor Gomin played but indifferently on his violin; but he
was wonderfully well versed in the history of his art.  He
remembered the names of some musical performers, and a few'Memorandum of work done in the Temple tower this 5th day of
Floreal, 3rd year of the Republic (24th April, 1795).
"Viz.,
"For taking down four four-post bedsteads and cleaning them
on account of bugs, and putting up two bedsteads for Charles
Capet and his sister, and the other two for the commissaries;
and mending the green damask curtains....... 36f."
J That is, in reading it, it would sound like Gomin'cdne-Gomin the
ass.-TxRANSLATOR.




294           LOUIS TIIE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOT 16. -
Lasne's assiduity.
technical words, and with their assistance he considered himself
quite a connoisseur. I recollect the enthusiasm with which he
spoke to me one day of Corelli. He informed me how this
great master had given to the violin, and then to the violoncello,-a perfection that was not attained till a later time by
the hautboy, the hunting-horn, and bassoon. He knew Handel's life by heart,-that Handel who played with new fingers,
the unchanging organ of our churches, and the progressive piano
of our drawing-rooms.  One would certainly have listened with
mnuch pleasure to the orator, if the artist had not raised his
bow at every member of a phrase.
However, the benevolent intentions of the two performers
were appreciated with lively gratitude by the invalid prince;
both were compassionate, both did him good with their cotmbined musical talents, while Lasne's disposition and Gomin's
kind heart yielded additional benefit.
But, notwithstanding all his attentions, Lasne had not
been able to extract a single word from the Dauphin during
three weeks that he had been at the Temple.  The child,
grave and sad in his presence, seemed to accept, without appreciating, his care. The new-comer was treated as Laurent
and Gomin had been; but we have seen that the silence of
the royal child was only relative; he had recovered his voice
in the midst of tortures to tell Simon he would forgive him;
he had recovered it in his gratitude to thank Dr. Naudin for
his protection; he had recovered it at length by Laurent's
attentions and Gomin's care; and lastly, he recovered it by
Lasne's good offices, whom, contrary to his usual custom, he
addressed in the singular number (tu, te, toi,-thee and thou),
and treated with familiarity.
From that time Lasne became very assiduous in his attention to him. He went up to his room with the commissary on duty every morning between eight and nine o'clock,
and scarcely left him again during the day, except for the




1705.]               GOMIN AND LASNE.                     295
The dominoes.
purpose of taking his meals.  After supper, according to established rule, he put him  to bed, and retired till the next
morning.
He neglected nothing to procure him a little amusement;
he often took him out to walk for an hour or two on the platform, according to the weather.  The child held him  by the
left arm; he walked with difficulty, and limped as he went:
Lasne supported him as he best could, and the poor child
expressed his gratitude by the only means in his power-a
look, a word, a gesture.
When the weather was bad, the keeper played at cards or
dominoes with the Dauphin, and so it was that, one day, as he
was shuffling the far from  elegant dominoes which they used
at their game, he reminded him of the present which the
young Prince had formerly received at the Tuileries, at a
period when he still enjoyed a shadow of his former fortune.
Lasne, who was at that time a captain in the National Guard,
had witnessed the pleasure of the King's son when, on the
21st May, 1791, the military pupils who composed that little
regiment of the " Royal Dauphin," which the child was so fond
of seeing manceuvre, came to present their colonel with a set
of dominoes, made by M. Palloy, of a block of marble procured
from the remains of the Bastile.* It was a masterpiece of
art; the box was made of a single piece, and the dominoes
were cut, it was said, out of the jambs which  adorned
Delauney'st chimney-piece.  On the reverse of each domino
there was a golden letter, and all the letters together formed
the following inscription: "I Vive le Roi!  Vive la Reine! et
M. le Dauphin!"
* Madame Campan has related this anecdote in her "Mermoires,"
Vol. II., p. 127, in a very incomplete and incorrect manner. The account
given me by Lasne exactly corresponds with that given by A. J. Gorsas in the
" Conrrier des 83 Departements," of the 22nd May, 1791, and from which
HInin in his " Histoire Numismatique de la Reiuolution Franqaise," p. 20,
has corrected the version of Madame Campan.
Gorsas, "' Couprier des 83 Departemeuts," No. 16.




290             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTIH.           [BOoR 16.
The dominoes.
A gleam of pleasure revived in the heart of the young
captive, as Lasne recalled to his mind all the circumstances of
that day.  " When," said he, " the battalions of cadets, joined
with the veterans, reached the palace, the King was absent, and
you were in your garden. The children entered the Tuileries
in a body; after having defiled before the Queen, they repaired
to their colonel's garden.  They there  performed several
manceuvres with admirable precision; and then the son of
TM. Palloy, at the head of the deputation of cadets, presented
the set of dominoes to you, reciting these four lines, which
were written in letters of gold on the box:
"'De ces affreux cachlots, la terreur des Fransais,
Vous voyez les debris transform6s en hochets;
Puissent-ils, en servant aux jeux de votre enfance,
Du peuple vous prouver l'amour et la puissance!' "*
"After this, M. Joly, who spoke for the children, addressed
a compliment to you:' Some young Frenchmen,' he said,' the
future supports of the throne that is destined for you, and which
the wisdom of your father has placed under the unchangeable
empire of the laws, have a vivid pleasure in presenting  you, in a
body, with their love, respect, and homage.  The offering they
make you is but of slight value, but each has added that of his
heart.'  Madame de Soucy then passed an eulogium onr the
present that had been made you, and assured the deputation
that you would never look at it without experiencing a lively
feeling of gratitude.'Oh! that is very true!' you cried.
They made you observe a little accident that had occurred to
one of the dominoes:'It is of no consequence,' you replied;' I shall' not value it less!' Afterwards you- were shown the
portrait of the King, engraved on the consecrated altar-stone of
e "The relies of that frightful hold, the terror of our land,
Behold, transformed to harmless toys, to grace our Dauplhin's hand;
May they, while at your childish play they speed the passing hour,
IRemind you of the people's love, and of the people's power."




795.]       O      GOMTN AND LASNE.                   297
The Dauphin's sword.
the Bastile, and yoli immediately exclaimed:' Ah! there is
my papa-King!''Each of us cherished him in his heart,'
said M. Joly;'you live, like him, for the welfare of all, and,
like him, you will be the idol of the French people.' You
then approached M. Joly, and said to him:'Sir, I beg you to
thank these gentlemen very much from me for their present,
and especially for going through the exercise so well.' The
deputation then retired, and the battalions filed off."
These reminiscences, which cast a reflected light from his
past life upon the child, were very welcome; if they did not
calm his sufferings, they made him forget them, though it were
but for a moment.
While Lasne was talking about the dominoes, and repeating the inscription they bore, the child, with a sickly
smile, in which there was a little gaiety shaded with malice,
pointed with his hand to the walls, which the architect Palloynow designated the patriot Palloy!-had built or heightened, to
strengthen the Temple prison, after demolishing that of the
Bastile!
A gesture, which Lasne could not but interpret, was all
the indignation with which the conduct of Palloy inspired the
child, but he was never weary of hearing of the little regiment
he had loved so much. A last flash of joy lighted up his languid eyes when Laslre, in his capacity of an old soldier, told
him that this regiment manceuvred like a body of picked men,
and that, a:little later, the colonel would have been worthy of
the regiment. At these words the child raised his head again,
and glancing aside, as if-to assure himself that no one could
hear him: "Did you see me with my sword?" said he to him.
The last drops of that heroic blood, transmitted to the' child
from his ancestors, had gathered round the heart whose throbbincgs were so soon to cease, and, inspiring it with this sentiment, put words into his mouth that stirred  the soldierheart of Lasne.  He did in fact recollect having seen the
Dauphin with his little sword at the Tuileiies, and his answer




298              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 1(6.
The Dauphin's sword.
satisfied the child on that head, though he was still anxious
to know what had become of it.
Lasne thought it must have been lost or broken on the
day of the 10th August.  He was mistaken, the sword was
TmIE DAUPHIN'S SWORD.
not lost.   The crown of Louis XVII. was not borne to SaintDenis like those of his ancestors,* for his was not of this world;
but his sword is still in existence. After having long lain in
the medal-cabinet of the royal library, it was sent, in 1848, to
the Artillery Museum,t where it may still be seen, with its agate
handle and silver hilt set with emeralds, resting in a seal-skin
* It was the custom, when a King of France died, to carry his crown to
the abbey of Saint-Denis, and there to lay it up in the treasury of the
church.
f This sword will doubtless find a place in the Sovereigns' Museum,
recently founded at the Louvre.




s795.]              GOMIN AND LASNE.                    290
Gleams of enjoyment.
scabbard, richly ornamented, and bearing this simple inscription:' "Sword of the son of Louis XVLI."-A king without
a crown, who died, and had no tomb! What remains of the son
of powerful kings, whose only battle was with Simon, whom he
conquered by his patience? What-as a final mockery, decreed
by fate-but a sword!
When the sick child was tired of conversation the keeper
sang him some little airs to raise his spirits. The refrain
of the opera of " Richard Cceur-de-Lion" always made him
laugh:
"Et zig et zoo,
Et fric et froc,
Quand les bmufs sont deux aS deux
Le labourage en va mieux," e
His countenance brightened when the singer uttered that
couplet of Sedaine's:
"' O Richard, O mon roi.
L'univers t'abandonne, &c." f
But when Lasne went on to a revolutionary song, he did
not appear to listen; or he shrugged his shoulders, and a slight
pout took the place of his former smile.
A circumstance worthy of notice, and of which we have given
more than one proof, is, that the descendant of Henry IV.,
wasting away in captivity, dying, still preserved the feeling of
his origin, and of his royal right. And this right, thrown aside
as it was, yet dangerous still, seemed in the eyes of his opt
* "And zig and zag,
And fin and fag,
Oxen going two and two
Carry better on the plough."
+ "0 Richard! 0 my king!
Forsaken, shlunned b all, &e."




800            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTIH.           [BOOK 16.
Approach of the crisis.
pressors like the sword of Damocles suspended over their
heads.
Time passed on: the disease that was destroying the child,
the progress of which had at first been slow, though it was
always advancing, began to make more rapid strides. The constitution of Louis XVII., undermined by his long sufferings,
now made but feeble resistance to the inroads of a malady
becoming more and more formidable. The crisis approached.




B300K SEVENTEENTIH.
LAST DAYS, AGONY, AND DEATIH.
1TH FLOREAL-22ND PRAIRIAL, 3RD YEAR
(4TH MAY-10TH JUNE, 1795.)
Report of Gomin and Lasne to the committee of general safety-Desault
appointed to attend upon the child —His first visit and prescriptions
-The Dauphin refuses to take the remedies-Lasne's entreatiesThe name of Louis XVII. in every one's mouth-Political anxieties
of the Convention-Poland-Alarming symptoms in the state of the
Dauphin-Last walks upon the platform-The birds of the Temple
tower —Marie-Therese desires to nurse her brother-Solicitations of
XM. Hue-The Dauphin's gratitude to M. Desault-Inefficiency of the
treatment-M. Bellanger takes a sketch in pencil of the DauphinDeath of Desault —Iumour spread connected with this death-MM. Pelletan and Dumangin take his place-Their opinion as to the state of
the child-M. Pelletan remonstrates with a municipal-Expressions of
Louis XVII.-The invalid conveyed to the litdle tower-Observations
of the municipal H6bert-Conversation of the child with Gomin —The
last night-Morning of the 20th Prairial (8th June)-TEcstasy-Last
wvords-Death-The news carried to the committee of general safety
-Gomin's distress-Visit of the members of the committee-The
Temple guard called into the chamber of death-Autopsy: minutesReport; to the Convention-The news circulated through ParisRegistration of decease-Burial of the Dauphin —Escort, and funeral
ceremonies.
GO.MIN and Lasne thought it necessary to inform the government of the melancholy condition of their prisoner, and wrote
on the register: "Little  Capet is unwell."  No notice was
taken of this account, which was renewed next day in more
distinct terms: "Little Capet is dangerously ill."  Still there
was on word from beyond the walls.  "We must knock harder,"




802            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 16
Aggravated illness of the young King.
said the keepers to each other, and they added, "It is feared
he will not live," to the words, " dangerously ill."
At length, on the 17th Floreal, 3rd year (Wednesday, 6th
May, 1795), three days after the first report, they were acquainted with a decision of the authorities, appointing M. Desault to give the invalid all the assistance of his art, and he
soon arrived. After having written down his name on the
register he was admitted to see the Prince. He made a long
and very attentive examination of that unfortunate child, asked
him many questions without being able to obtain an answer,
and, without giving any opinion as to his state before the commissaries, contented himself with prescribing a decoction of
hops, to be taken by spoonfuls every half-hour, from six o'clock
in the morning till eight in the evening; which amounted to
half a bottle a-day.
M. Desault did not preserve the same silence out of the
tower; he did not disguise the fact, that there had been too
great a delay in sending him to the child. He considered him
as attacked by the germ of the same scrofulous affection of
which his brother had died at Meudon, -but that disease had
scarcely laid its seal on his constitution; it showed itself by
no violent symptom, neither by obstinate opthalmia, nor great
ulcers, nor chronic swellings of the joints. The true disease
of which this child-with his stooping figure, earthy skin, and
tottering gait, old before his time —was dying, was exhaustion;
marasmus, which had reached such a point as to leave no hope
of saving him.  Desault ventured to propose to the authorities
his immediate removal to the country.  He hoped that a
healthy air, together with assiduous treatment and constant
care, might succeed in prolonging his life; but, as may readily
be supposed, the committees did not pay any attention to this
proposal.
Desault came again at nine o'clock next morning; he examined the patient again, and made no change in the prescription, except that, in addition to the former, he ordered the




79q5.]       LAST DAYS-AGONY —DEATH.                 803
Aggravated illness of the young King.
tumours to be rubbed with volatile alkali. As he was about
to withdraw, Gomin asked him whether he ought not to try
to make the child walk in the garden.  "And how?" said
M. Desault; "every movement gives him  pain.  He certainly does require air, but it is country air he needs!"  The
friction prescribed was performed by Lasne.  Louis-Charles
made no objection, besides which he would not have been able
to oppose it; but it was much less easy to persuade him to
take the potion prescribed, and which he had not yet consented to taste.  Either because he was disgusted with life,
or because he was afraid of poison, he remained deaf to all
his keepers' entreaties on the subject. On the first day he
steadily refused to take it. It was in vain that Gomin several
times drank off a glass of that potion in his presence, his ex
ample proved as ineffectual as his words, and he gained nothing
by it.  Next day, Lasne renewed his solicitations.  " Monsieur
knows very well that I desire nothing but the good of his
health, and he distresses me deeply by thus refusing to take
what might contribute to it. I entreat him as a favour not to
give me this cause of grief." And as Lasne, while speaking,
began to taste the potion in a glass, the child took what
he offered him out of his hands.  "You have, then, taken
an oath that I should drink it," said he firmly; " well, give
it me, I will drink it."  -From  that moment he conformed
with docility to whatever was required of him.
Foreign invasion had been repelled by the victorious hand
of the Republic, and the wonderful success of the armies had
driven back the foe far beyond our frontier. But though the
death of Robespierre had put an end to the Reign of Terror,
revolutionary agitation still continued.   slumbers of the
Directory were disturbed by La Vendee:  several moderate
members of the Convention, whose hands were innocent of the
blood of Louis XVII., were employed in carrying on a negociation with the heads of the Catholic and royal army. Charette,
whose resources had entirely failed him, and who was destitute




304            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOX Vt.
State of public affairs.
of the most necessary military stores, eagerly closed with the
overtures made to him by the committees of the Convention;
and an armistice was concluded, the published articles of
which were-that the Vendeans should be allowed the free
exercise of the Catholic religion; that the sequestrations
imposed on the estates of the insurgents should be taken off;
and that the Republican government should re-imburse notes to
the amount of two millions of francs, mostly bearing the head
of Louis XVII., which had been signed and circulated by the
chiefs of the royal army.
It was even asserted that some secret clauses had reference
to the young King's being given up to the armies of Bretagne
and La Vendee, and to the re-establishment of the Catholic
religion throughout France. It may be imagined how warmly
these propositions were contested in the committees.  The
cry of a counter-revolution was raised on all sides. The insurrection of the 1st Prairial, 3rd year (20th May, 1795), was
organised, and armed rioters forced their way to the very heart
of the Convention, demanding " Bread, and the Constitution of
1793."  Under a veil of moderation, the faction which had
crushed Robespierre preserved the same jealous ambition, the
same dark despotism.  Being better acquainted with the real
situation of the Chouans and Vende'ans, they did not enter
into any engagement to give up the heir to the crown into
their hands, and had no serious connection whatever, notwithstanding all that was said, with Baron de Cormatin, majorgeneral in the Catholic royal army of Britany, who was directed
to go to Paris for the purpose of trying to obtain possession
of the children of Louis XVI. Yet further, in order to occupy
men's minds, and to make a diversion from those hopes which
already followed the phantom  of royalty in the west, this
sovereign faction invented, and had repeated by the pen of
Mercier, and by that of several other journalists and deputies,
the report of the approaching nomination of the Dauphin to
the throne of Poland. This report, given to the public with a




13795.]      LAST DAYS-AGONY-DEATH.                (80$
Various reports.
veil of local colouring which made it seem probable, together
with a rumour of numerous couriers having been exchanged
between the courts of Vienna, Berlin; and St. Petersburgfound a thousand echoes in the gazettes of Europe, and spread
with the rapidity of lightning; and men already deemed
they saw the descendant of the old Most Christian Kings
coming forth from the Temple tower, announcing to the
political world that the empire of the Jagellons was rebuilt,
with every guarantee of power and durability, on the new
foundation of hereditary right, and, as the price of his
accession, carrying universal peace among all nations.
And this is what his jailers-fully resolved, as they were,
never to let him leave his prison save as a corpse-promised,
concerning the young and sorrowing martyr. They crowned
him in their journals, placed him on a foreign throne, gave
him as his glorious mission the resurrection of a noble people;
while feeble, miserable, already dying, he had cause to envy
the lot of the little shepherd boy to whom God denies not
health, nor the sun his rays, and whose daily bit of bread
is sweetened by his hunger!
The contradictory reports assigning the Prince, now to La
Vendee, then to Poland, were the general subject of conversation. Being daily brought to the Temple by the civic commis.
saries and the national guard on duty, they gave rise to most
extraordinary interpretations and diversities of opinion, among
which was that of the royal orphan's escaping from the Temple.
One day the commandant of the post asked to see little Capet.
" The National Guard protects the Temple," said he, " and I
wish to see whom it is we are guarding." Lasne, Gomin, and
the commissary did not know what private interest might be
concealed under these words of the officer, and did not comply
with his demand, as they had no orders for doing so.
Another time (6th Prairial, 3rd year; Monday, Q5th May,
1795), Huiyot, a shipwright, the commissary on duty, said, as
he entered the tower, "I am come to pay my court to the King




306            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           ][BOOI 17.
Progress of disease.
of Poland."  The austere countenance of Lasne relaxed at
the ironical tone of this singular courtier.  "If he is King of
Poland," said he, " I do not understand why the Vendeans are
fighting."  " It is but too well understood, citizens," replied
the commissary; "their cause is that of their hearths and of
their altars, of their country and of their God!-but it is an
anti-constitutional, anti-republican cause; and it is impossible
to make any treaty with them."
Yet all the while he was represented as the living standard
of the enemies of the republic, while throughout the provinces
fame had raised him to the throne of Louis XIV., or banished
him to bear the sceptre of Sobieski,-the young descendant of
the kings of France was doomed to misery and suffering on
the pallet of a prison.
The progress of the disease was shown by very alarming
symptoms, his weakness was excessive, his keepers could
scarcely drag him to the top of the tower, the walking hurt
his tender feet, and at every step he stopped to press the arm
of Lasne with both hands upon his breast, as if he felt his
heart sinking within him.
At last he suffered so much that it was no longer possible
for him to walk, and his keeper carried him about, sometimes
on the platform, and sometimes in the little tower adjoining
the large one, where the royal family had lived at first. But
the slight improvement to his health occasioned by the change
of air scarcely compensated for the pain which his fatigue gave
him.
On the battlement of the platform nearest the left turret,
the rain had, by perseverance through ages, hollowed out a kind
of basin. The water that fell remained there for several days;
and as, during the spring of 1795, storms were of frequent
occurrence, this little sheet of water was kept constantly supplied. Whenever the child was brought out upon the platform
he saw a little troop of sparrows, which used to come to drink
and bathe in this reservoir. At first they flew away at his




1795.1        LAST DAYS-AGONY-DEATH,                  807
The sparrows.
approach, but, from  being accustomed to see him  walking
quietly there every day, they had at last grown more familiar,
and did not spread their wings for flight till he came up quite
close to them. They were always the same, he knew them by
sight, and perhaps like himself they were inhabitants of
that ancient pile. He called them his birds; and his first
action, when the door into the terrace was opened, was to look
towards that side, —and the sparrows were always there. As
the Prince passed they rose in the air for an instant, wheeled
about, and alighted again as soon as he was gone by. The
child, leaning heavily on his keeper's left arm, or rather
hanging upon it, with his back against the wall, would remain
motionless a long time together, looking at his birds. He saw
them come and go, dip their beaks in the water, then their
breasts, and then their wings, and then shake their plumage
dry; and the poor little invalid pressed the arm of his guide
with a gesture that seemed to say-" Alas! I cannot do as
much! " Then he would like to see them nearer, and, still with
the help of his guide, would advance a few paces closer, then a
few more, till at last he came so close that, by'stretching out
his arm, he could have touched them.  This was his greatest
amusement. From this platform, enclosed between the battlements and the roof of the great tower, he could see nothing
but the sky, and we can easily understand that he could not
be indifferent to these little creatures; he delighted so much
in their chirping, and he must have envied them their wings
so heartily! 
As her brother's state grew more and more alarming, the
affection of Madame Royale for him increased.  One might
have said that she guessed his danger. She was continually
questioning the keepers and commissaries, without being able
to obtain anything from them but vague words, which, though
intended to re-assure her, only alarmed her the more. Her
entreaties to see her brother, and to be allowed to nurse him,
were always refused.




308           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOR 17.
Progress of disease.
On hearing of the critical state of the Dauphin, M. Hue,
in person, earnestly entreated the committee of general safety
for permission to shut himself up in the tower with the child
of his old master; but this gentleman, who had had the glory
of being mentioned by name in the royal will, was not able to
obtain the comfort of closing the eyes of the martyr's son.
His request was denied on pretence that his attendance would
be useless, as M. Desault visited the child daily, and the commissaries never left him.
Alas! M. Desault,-who had desired a little change of air
for him, without being able to gain his point,-what could he
do for his patient? What could the commissaries do? —the best
intentioned of whom,-only serving one day, and being besides
condemned to follow the instructions of the committees, —were
not of sufficient consequence to authorise any measure of
permanent benefit?  I say nothing of the keepers-they were
worthy men, certainly,-but their good-will and compassionate
zeal were trammelled at every step by the fear of becoming
suspected and thrown into prison. Though the members of
the committee of general safety were changed every month,
they never departed from  the rules laid down by their
predecessors, and adopted the system  which MIathieu  had
announced to the tribune of the Convention, "to remain
averse to all ideas of bettering the captivity of the children
of Capet."
Meantime the bare prescriptions ordered by MI. Desault, to
acquit his conscience of his duty, had been followed for a whole
fortnight without producing much improvement; often the
rubbing had more effect on the keeper's skin than on that of
the invalid.  Still a moral improvement was taking place
in the mind of the royal child. He was touched by the
lively interest displayed by his physician, who never failed
to visit him  at nine o'clock every morning.  He seemed
pleased with the attention he paid him, and ended by placing
entire confidence in him. Gratitude loosened his tongue;




1795.]        LAST DAYS-AG ONY-DE ATH.               309
Progress of disease.
brutality and insult had failed to extort a murmur, but kind
treatment restored his speech: he had no words for anger, but
he found them to express his thanks. M. Desault prolonged
his visits as much as was consistent with his other business,or rather, as long as the officers of the municipality would
permit. When they announced the close of the visit, the
child, unwilling to beg them  to allow a longer time, held
back M. Desault by the skirt of his coat. The secret sympathy that bound the old physician and the young invalid
together betrayed itself almost involuntarily:  the latter
showed it plainly enough in his look, his gesture, his obedience; the former in his care, his attentions, even in his
anxiety. The prisoner doubtless thought of his physician as
his preserver,-the physician of the prisoner as one doomed
to die. Twice when he had left the Temple, the good and
kind-hearted Desault was obliged to retire to his own house, so
much was he hurt by the affecting sight of that deserted child,
whom he could not tend, whom he could not cure, and yet
who seemed, as it were, crying to himn for help!  The child
appealed to him by his affection-the invalid attracted him by
his suffering-and the old man, the physician, had only tears
to offer in reply!
On the 10th Prairial (29th May), M. Desault came as
usual at nine o'clock; the invalid's condition remained the
same, and no change was ordered in the treatment.
On the 11th Prairial (30th BMay), a commissary on duty,
named B3reuillard, who knew M. Desault, said to him, as he
swent down stairs after the visit: " The child will die, won't
he?"  "I fear so; but there may be persons in the world
who hope it," replied M. Desault.  These were the last words
the physician ever uttered in the Temple tower; and, though
he spoke in a low tone, they were heard by Gomin, who was
following B reuillard.
On the 12 Prairial (31st May), the commissary on duty,
when he came at nine o'clock, said he would wait for the




310           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [CBOOK 1'.
The portrait.
physician in the child's room, and was admitted into it ac.
cordingly.  This commissary was M. Bellanger, an artist, and
formerly cabinet-artist to Monsieur, residing at No. 21 Faubourg Poissoniere. He was a worthy man, and the misfortunes of his benefactors had not —in those dark times, Alas 
almost an exception!-destroyed the truthful devotion of his
heart.  M. Desault did not arrive.  MI. Bellanger, who had
brought a portfolio full of his sketches with him, asked the
Prince if he liked drawing, and then, without waiting for an
answer, which indeed did not come, the artist opened his portfolio and spread it before the child's eyes. At first he turned
over the pages carelessly, then he seemed interested, stopping
a long time over each sheet, and when he got to the end he
began it again.
This appeared to mitigate his sufferings, and to divert
his mind in some degree from  the grief occasioned by the
absence of his physician. The artist often had to give him
explanations of the different subjects in his collection; at
first the child had remained silent, but by degrees he listened
with more attention to M. Bellanger, and ended at last by
even answering his questions. As he took the book again
from his hands, M. Bellanger said to him: C" I should very
much have liked, Sir, to carry another sketch away with
me; but I do not wish to do so if it be displeasing to you."
"What sketch?" said the Dauphin.  "A sketch of your face;
it would be a great pleasure to me if it did not trouble you."
s" Would it be a pleasure to you?" said the child, and a most
winning smile completed the sentence with the mute acquiescence he gave to the artist's wish.
M. Bellanger took a sketch in pencil of the child-King's
profile: and it was from this profile that M. Beaumont,
sculptor, a few days afterwards, and twenty years later the
royal porcelain manufactory at Sevres, executed the.busts of
Louis XVII.
On the 13th Prairial (lst June), M. Desault again failed




1i95.]           LAST DAYS-AGONY-DEATH.                          811
Death of Desault.
to come. The keepers wondered at his absence, and the poor
little invalid was much distressed at it.
The commissary on  duty  (M. Benoist, No. 4 Faubourg
Denis), suggested that it would be proper to send to the physician's house, to make inquiries as to the cause of so long an
absence. Gomin and Lasne had not yet ventured to follow this
advice, when, next day, M. Benoist was relieved by M. Bidault
(17 Rue do Bondi), who, hearing M. Desault's name mentioned
as he came in, immediately said: " You must not expect to see
him any more; he died yesterday.*
* The " Moniteur" of the 26th Prairial, 3rd year (4th June, 1795),
devoted to him the following necrological article:
"France and all Europe have just lost citizen Desault, medical officer,
and head of the Hospice de l'Humanit', who was the first in the practical,
as in the instructive branches of the art he professed. His name has
long been celebrated in all countries where surgery is held in honour, and
it will not be forgotten.
"His country is indebted to him for immense works and numerous
pupils. At this moment the republic has not an army of which the most
skilful medical officers were not pupils of Desault.
" Such was the superiority of this great surgeon that posterity-which
has begun, Alas! too soon for him!-will certainly call him a great man.
"Desault was an excellent citizen; he had been persecuted by our
former tyrants, and his death was caused by their last accomplices.  The
day of the 1st Prairial determined the desperate crisis which brought him
to the grave at the age of 49.?
"The following lines were inscribed at the foot of his bust, by one of
his friends, at the very moment of his interment:
"Portes du temple de Melmoire,
Ouvrez-vous! II l'a merite.
I vdcut assez pour sa gloire,
Et trop peu pour l'humanite."2
l In order to understand this allusion to the persecutions suffered by Desault,
we must notice that, on Chaumette's accusation, this illustrious physician had been
arrested on the 28th May, 1793. At the end of three days he was set at liberty,
owing to the complaints of his patients and the entreaties of his pupils. Ever
since his detention a settled melancholy had sunk upon him, which increased with
the calamities of the Revolution. During the night of the 29th May he was attacked
by an ataxic fever, which carried him off on the 1st June, 1796, at the age of
barely 51 years.
2" Oh, open Memory's sacred temple-cate
To him whose virtues highest honours claim!
While all lament and mourn his early fate,
Short though his life-he lived enough for fame I"




812           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOOK 17.
Calumnies.
This almost sudden death, occurring under such circumstances, opened a vast field for,conjecture; one report-which
must seem surprising from  its audacity, or, to speak more
correctly, from its infamous nature-was as follows: persons
ventured to say that, " M. Desault, after having administered
a slow poison to his patient, had been himself poisoned by
those who had instigated the crime."
The whole life of M. Desault, noble as it was, defends him
sufficiently from such a calumny; but, were it necessary to add
material proof to the guarantee of his virtue, I should say that
the mere existence of Lasne and Gomin protests strongly
against so odious a falsehood: for I affirm that I have heard
from their own lips, that the Prince took nothing that was not
tasted by either one or the other, previous to its being given to
him.  Other imaginative persons have not scrupled to assert
that M. Desault had not recognised the graceful, healthy
child —whom he had often admired in better times and in another abode-in the poor little ricketty invalid of the Temple,
and that it was in consequence of- his having expressed his
intention of acquainting government with the imposture that
the physician was poisoned.  This supposition is about as
correct as the former.  M. Desault, who had attended the
royal children of France in former times, never doubted that
his young patient was the Dauphin.  Not only did he recognise him at once by his countenance, but it would have been
impossible for him to attend him a whole week without becoming perfectly convinced of his identity.
People are safe in romancing about the dead. After having
interpreted the death of M. Desault as best agreed with their
particular interests, they sought to strengthen the framework
of their inventions by supporting it with the sudden death of
M. Choppart, who, as they said, succeeded M. Desault in the
care of the royal prisoner. Well, then, we reply that M. Choppart never made his appearance at the Temple tower at all;
and that the drugs were not prepared in his house, but at




14 7o.]       LAST DAYS-AG ONY —DEATH.                813
M. Pelletan.
M. Robert's, and afterwards at B1. Baccoffe's, apothecary, who
lived nearly opposite the Temple.
There was no note found among M. Desault's papers
respecting his visits to the Prince. From the 31st May, the
day before his death, till the 5th June, no relief from beyond
the walls reached the prisoner, and we have seen what assist~
ance he could have from within.  His poor keepers could offer
him nothing but their pity, and that checked by the constant
supervision of a commissary, who was almost always either
timid or positively unfavourable.
At last, on the 17th Prairial, 3rd year (Friday, 5th June,
1795), M. Pelletan, head surgeon of the Grand Hospice de
]'Humanite, was desired by the committee of general safety to
continue the medical treatment of Capet's son.
M. Pelletan repaired to the tower at 5 o'clock, P.M.
" I found the child, " says he, " in so distressing a condition
that I earnestly entreated to be allowed the co-operation of
another member of the profession, who might ease me of a
burthen that I did not like to bear alone."*
All the resources of science, all the sedulousness of compassion every instinct of pity, had been thwarted beforehand
by systematic calculation, and the door was only opened to
physicians when the disease was past remedy.
The poor child bowed his drooping head like a young plant
deprived of air, and whose tender root is being gnawed away
by an unseen but mortal foe.  Still the excess of his misery
had not exhausted his resignation.  There was no sign of
resentment in his sunken eye, or on his wasted cheek; he
suffered without a murmur, he pined away without complaining: the plant was dying on its stem, but, though its brilliant
hues were gone, it still retained its grateful perfume.
Amid the agonising tortures of the disease, which troubled
his senses, which fettered and lrtlced his limbs.' he oftea
* Letter of 31. Pelletan to 3I. L)Lilai:gin, May, 1817.
II.                  0




814            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 17.
Reflections.
raised his eyes to Heaven, as if he would say: "' Thy will, Oh
Lord, be done!"
I am not attempting to force the tribute of a few tears
over his approaching end. I know but too well how common
an event at every age death is, and that it is not without
reason that the cradle and the coffin of man bear the same
form, and are made of the same material.  But the deviation
from the ordinary rule here consists in that battle between
life and death, that struggle which a child is compelled to
maintain against torture.  Infancy is so vivacious that it took
two years to dry up the well-springs of life, to snap the last
sentient fibre: iniquity succeeded! Of all the dreadful crimes
invented by the genius of revolutionary wickedness, doubtless
this is the worst.  Robespierre was only an imitation of
Cromwell; the Convention copied the Long Parliament; and
the scaffold of Louis XVI. stands beside that of Charles I.
But here the similarities in history end.  Richard III., in
Englanld, contented himself with smothering the children of
kingly ancestors.  What a distance there is between the murder in the Tower of London and the tragedy of the Temple
tower!
How simple and common a thing the assassination of the
sons of Edward was, when compared with the slow torments of
the son of Louis XVI.! and, when we think of Simon, Tyrrel
seems worthy of regret!
The physician-sent for form's sake to attend the dying
child, as an advocate is given by law to a criminal condemned
beforehand-ventured, notwithstanding, to act with as much
zeal in favour of the descendant of kings as he would have
shown to the lowest son of the people.  He even went so far
as to blame the officers of the municipality for not having
removed the blind which obstructed  the  light, and  the
numerous bolts, the noise of which never failed to remind
the victim, both of his unhappy orphan condition and his fate
as a captive. That sound, which always caused him an involun



170s5.]       LAST DAYS-AGEONY-DEATH.                    315
M. Pelletan's firmness.
tary shudder, still disturbed him in the last mournful scene of
his unparalleled tortures.  M. Pelletan said authoritatively to
M. Thory, the municipal on duty: " If you will not take these
bolts and casings away at once, at least you can make no
objection to our carrying the child into another room, for I
suppose we are sent here to take charge of him." The Prince
being disturbed by these words, spoken as they were with great
animation, made a sign to the physician to come nearer.
" Speak lower, I beg of you," said he; "I am afraid they will
hear you upstairs, and I should be very sorry for them to know
that I am ill, as it would give them much uneasiness." The
commissary, either because he was himself disposed to make this
concession, or because he was induced to do so bv the influence
of a generous voice, yielded, without making any opposition to
the physician's demand, and all prepared to remove the prisoner
into the room  in the little tower which had formerly served
as a sitting.room for M. Barthelemy.  The child looked on,
while the necessary arrangements for this removal were being
made, with a mingled expression of distrust and satisfaction.
He was carried into the room in Gomin's arms, the child's
hand resting on his shoulder. The poor little boy suffered a
great deal during the removal, and at first there was nothing to
compensate him for this increase of pain, for his eyes were
merely sensible of a radiant light, the very brightness of
which prevented his seeing anything distinctly; all objects
around him were mingled together in a confused mass.  But a
moment afterwards he was well rewarded for this passing
aggravation of his sufferings; he found himself in an airy room,
with a large window free from bars and obstructions,* and decorated with large white curtains, through which the sky and the
* The padt of the Temple tower was entirely isolated; but on that side
which was called the little tower side the windows looked out on the courtyards and the chapel. In one of these court-yards was a guard, called the
chapel guard, which was kept up during the son's imprisonment as it had
been during that of his father.




$16           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTiH.           [nooK 17.
Approach of death.
sun could be seen,-the sky and the sun! the bright rays of
a pure sun coming in at the open window!-what a sight for a
child so long buried in a dungeon!
By degrees the fresh air blew upon his burning head and
reached his labouring breast; the expression of his countenance
changed: distrust left his face, now lighted up by a ray of life.
tie opened his eyes wide, to look about his new abode; and
then, a moment after, he turned them on Gomin with a look
full of gratitude and affection. To know how sweet it is to
live, one must first have languished almost dead with misery
for two whole years!
M. Pelletan had. made no change in the treatment prescribed by:M. Desault, and which was simply a decoction of
hops, and friction; all that he had been able to effect was to
obtain a little air for his patient, and a little light for his
almost sightless eyes. Nothing more could be gained for him
from human art, and he could give him but a ray of sunlight
as his last boon on earth!
And yet, was this comfort really a boon?- With air and
light came back a little life, and with life came the power of
thought; of thought, which must have recalled his sharpest
sufferings and the most cruel truths; thought, bringing back
so many recollections, and so many fears!
From eight o'clock at night till eight o'clock in the morning,
the child remained as usual alone, according to the rules laid
down.
On the 6th June, Lasne, went up into his room first;
he rubbed his right knee and his left wrist, and gave
him a spoonful of mixture, without his making any opposition. Seeing him so well-disposed, and believing him to be
really better, Lasne took him up. At eight o'clock Pelletan
arrived; he felt his pulse, examined his tumours, and made no
alteration in the prescription; he merely said to the child:
" Are you glad to be in this room?"  " Oh, yes! very glad!"
replied the Dauphin, in a weak voice, with a sad but sweet smile,
that went to the hearts of those to whom he wlas speaking.




1795, ]      LAST DAYS-AGONY-DEATH.                 317
M. Dumangin.
At about two o'clock Gomin came up with the dinner, and,
with him, the new civic commissary, named Hebert. The
child, propped up by his bolster, took a little soup, and then,
as if wearied by the exertion, lay down again, after putting a
few cherries on his bed, which fiom time to time his feeble
hand sought for and conveyed to his lips. Citizen Hebert
(he was not unworthy of his name), addressing himself to
Gomin said: "Ah, but citizen, you must show me your order
for moving the wolf-cub."  "We have no written order,"
replied the guardian; 1"but the physician, whom you will see
to-morrow morning, will tell you we only acted in obedience to
his orders."  "And how long," returned Hebert, in a loud
voice, " have the students in surgery governed the republic?
You must ask for an order from the committee; do you understand me?"  On hearing this rough menace, the child let fall
his cherries, and withdrew his debile hand slowly beneath the
bed-clothes.  The happiness of having a well-lighted room
and a little fresh air was too great to be unmingled with
disquietude!
Night came again, —sad, silent night! in which the timid,
dying boy was left a prey to his miserable thoughts and solitary
sufferings.  Who can tell how much he endured through that
long night, while eager hands and hateful tongues seemed
contending with him for the very couch on which the light of
life was waning fast away?
Next day M. Pelletan learned that the government had
acceded to his request for a colleague in the sad charge that
had been intrusted to him. M. Dumangin, head physician of
the Hopital de l'Unite, made his appearance at his house on
the morning of the 19th Prairial (Sunday, 7th June), with the
official dispatch sent him by the committee of public safety.
They repaired together-immediately to the tower.
On their arrival there they heard that the child, whose
weakness was excessive, had had a fainting fit (after tlie
friction, and the usual potion), which had occasioned fears to




818            iLOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [nBOOK 17.
Approach of death.
be entertained that his end was approaching.  He was a little
recovered, however, when the physicians went up at about nine
o'clock, accompanied by H6bert, who stood silent, and seemed
embarrassed during the visit.  Unable to contend with an
ever-increasing exhaustion, they perceived there was no longer
any hope of reviving an existence worn out by so much suffering, and that, henceforward, all that their art could effect
would be to soften the last stage of this lamentable disease.
They expressed great astonishment at the solitary state in
which the child was left during the night and part of the day,
and, as the keepers returned for answer that they were only
following the rules which had been rigorously laid down, the
physicians strongly insisted in their bulletin on the necessity
of giving poor little Capet a nurse.*   The committee of
general safety made a decree next day to authorise the physicians to place some woman, whom they were themselves to
select, in attendance on the child's sick-bed.f  This permission
came very late-so late that the very same day the committee
of general security had to make another decree, which, we
shall see, annulled the first, then, Alas! of no avail!,
The physicians allowed the child, whose throat was on
fire, a glass of sugar-and-water, if he asked again for drink,
and withdrew with a feeling of melancholy impotence. M.
Pelletan's opinion was, that the young Prince would not live
over the next day; M. Dumangin thought the closing scene
not quite so near.
It was agreed between them that M. Pelletan should visit
the child again at eight o'clock the next morning, and M.
Dumangin at eleven.
Hardly had the physicians crossed the threshold when the
* See, in the Justificatory Papers, No. VIII. (Article 5 of the enumeration of facts, tending to prove fi', the heart of his Majesty Louis XVIL
was really preserved).
~.Ibid., Article 6.. Ibid.. Article 7.




1~'05.9]      LAST DAY'S-AGONY —DEATII.               319
Filial tenderness.
tongue of Heubert became loosened, and he broke forth into the
following sudden exclamation, transmitted to us by the keepers:
"I say, citizens, Marat was doctor to the body-guard of Capet
d'Artois; but he was a good friend to the people for all that!"
When Gomin went up stairs again at supper-time, he was
very agreeably surprised to find the invalid a little better; his
complexion seemed clearer, his eyes brighter, his voice stronger.
"Is it you-?" he said at once to his guardian, with a gesture of
pleasure. "Well, you are not suffering so much," said Gomin.
" Not so much," said the child.  " You owe that to this room;
the air circulates freely here at least, and the light enters:
the physicians come to see you, and all this should comfort
you a little."  He looked up at his keeper with a glance of
grievous affliction.  The  eye, so clear a moment before,
dimmed, and then sparkled suddenly again with a bright flash
of light; a large tear had fallen from it, and was rolling down
his cheek.  Gomin asked him  kindly what was the matter-,"Always alone!" he replied; "my dear mother remains in
the other tower!"
Thus we see that all the warmth and tenderness that
unfortunate child had left in his heart, were bound up with the
idea of his absent mother. Filial love had survived all else;
that love was as strong as his will, as profound as his soul.
" Love," the Bible tells us, "is stronger than death."  Whenever reflection overcame the feeling of his sufferings, every
other thought gave way, while his sorely tried heart held
sweet communion with the adored image of his mother.
Gomin resumed: " That's true; you are alone, and it is
very dull; but you have not here before you, as is the case
elsewhere, the sight of so many wicked men, and the example
of so many crimes."  "Oh, I see enough of them," he murmured; "' but," added he, fixing his eyes on his keeper, and
laying his hand on his arm, " I see some good people, too,
and they prevent my being angry with those who are not so."




820            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOOK 17,.
The last day.
On this, Gomin said to him: "N —,* whom you have
often seen here as commissary, has been arrested, and is now
in prison."   "I am sorry for it," said the Prince; (' is he
here?"  "No, somewhere else; at La Force, in the Faubourg
Saint-Antoine."  An ordinary spirit would have deemed itself
avenged, but he had the magnanimity to pity his persecutor.
He paused a long while, and then added, thoughtfully:, I
am  very sorry; for don't you see he is more unfortunate
than me, for he deserves his misfortune!"  These words, so
very simple, and withal so nobly wise, must doubtless seem
surprising in the mouth of a child of barely ten years old 
Yet they are given exactly as he uttered them; and it was
not merely the words that struck his companion most, but
the genuine, simple, touching tone in which they were spoken;
so true is it that there is a sort of precocious wisdom given
by distress, or, to speak in a more Christian spirit, a sort of
inspiration that Heaven grants to those who suffer and are
about to die!
Night came —his last night! —which the regulations of the
prison condemned him  to pass once more in solitude, with
suffering, his old companion, only at his side.  This time at
least, however, death too stood at his pillow.  It was Lasne
again who first entered his room, between eight and nine
o'clock on Monday, 8th June.  Gomin has acknowledged to
us, that for several days he had not dared to go up first, fearing
that he might find the sacrifice complete.
The physicians came, each at his appointed hour.  The
child was up when Pelletan visited him at eight o'clock.  Lasne
had thought him better than he was the day before, but the
physician's account proved to him but too clearly his mistake
The interview  was short.  Feeling his legs very heavy, the
young invalid of his own accord soon asked to lie down.
* Notwithstanding all his efforts, Gornin, who remembered the fact
perfectly well, coutl not recollect the municipal's name; and the registers
of the jail have also failed to give us this piece of information.




1795.]        LAST DAYS-AGONY-DEATH.                  321
The last words.
He was in bed when Dumangin came in, at nearly eleven
o'clock. The child received him  with that invariable mildness which he preserved through all his sufferings, and to
which that physician has borne witness.*
The two bulletins, which left the Temple at eleven o'clock,
gave notice of symptoms alarming for the life of the invalid.
When M. Dumangin withdrew, Gomin took Lasne's place
in the Dauphin's room; he sat down near his bed, but did not
speak lest he should fatigue him.
The Prince never began a conversation, and therefore said
nothing either, but he looked upon his keeper with a glance
of the deepest melancholy.  "How unhappy I am to see you
suffering so much," said Gomin.  " Take comfort," said the
child, " I shall not suffer always!"  Gomin knelt down, that
he might be nearer to him.  The child took his hand, and
pressed it to his lips. The pious heart of Gomin prompted
an ardent prayer-one of those prayers that misery wrings from
man, and love sends up to God. The child did not let go
the faithful hand that still remained to him, and raised his
eyes to heaven while Gomin prayed for him. It is not possible
to describe how truly holy and angelic was this last infantine
look.
It may be asked, perhaps, what were the last words of the
dying boy; for the reader knows those of his father, who, from
the scaffold, which his virtues transformed to a throne, bestowed
his pardon upon his murderers below.  He knows those of his
mother, that heroic queen, who, impatient to leave the earth,
where she had endured so much, begged the headsman to be
quick.  He knows those of his aunt, that truly Christian virgin,
hllo when they removed her dress in order to strike more easily,
besought, with a supplicating eye, in the name of decency, that
they would cover her bosom. And now, shall I venture to repeat
the last words of the orphan?  They have been related to me
* Letter from M, Dumangin to M. Pelletan; Saint-Prix, 1st May,
1847.




822            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 17.
Celestial music.
by those who received his last breath, and I will faithfully inscribe them in this royal " Book of Martyrs."
Gomin, seeing the child calm, motionless, and mute, said
to him: "I hope you are not in pain, just now?"  " Oh! yes!
I am still in pain, but not nearly so much-the music is so
beautiful!"
Now, there was no music to be heard, either in the tower or
anywhere near; no sound from without could reach the room'where the young martyr lay, expiring. Gomin, astonished, said to
him: "From what direction do you hear this music?"  " From
above!"  "Is it long that you have heard it?"  " Since you
knelt down. Do you not hear it?  Listen!  Listen!"  And
the child, with a nervous motion, raised his faltering hand, as
he opened his large eyes, illuminated by ecstatic delight.  His
poor keeper, unwilling to destroy this last sweet illusion, appeared to listen also, with the pious desire of hearing what could
not possibly be heard.
After a few minutes of attention, the child again started,
his eyes sparkled, and he cried out, in intense rapture:
S' From amongst all the voices, I have distinguished that of my
mother!"
That word, as it left the orphan's lip, seemed to relieve
him from all suffering; his knitted brow relaxed, and his look
lighted up with that calm brightness, given by the certainty of
deliverance or of victory.  His eye fixed on an invisible object
-his ear attentive to the far distant sound of one of those
concerts that human ear hath never heard-a new existence
seemed to break in upon his young soul.
A moment after the brightness of that gleam was gone; his
arms were crossed upon his breast, and an expression of sad
discouragement was visible-in his countenance. Gomin looked
close at him, and followed all his motions with a troubled eye.
The child's breathing was not more powerful, but his eye was
wandering, slowly and confusedly, and from time to time it was
turned towards the window.  Gomin asked him  what so in



1 70S5.]    BLAST DAYS-AGONY-DEATH.                 32$
Death of Louis XVIL.
terested him in that direction? The child looked at his keeper a
few moments, and then, as if he had not understood the question, though it was asked him again, made no reply.
Lasne came upstairs again to relieve Gomin, and the latter
went out of the room, his heart very heavy, but not more uneasy
than he had been the day before, for he did not even yet anticipate so sudden a close. Lasne sat down near the bed, and the
Prince looked at him long, with a fixed and dreamy eye. On
his making a slight movement, Lasne asked him how he felt,
and what he would like.  "Do you think my sister could have
heard the music?" said the child; " how much good it would
have done her!" Lasne could not answer. The anguished
glance of the dying boy turned eagerly and piercingly towards
the window. An exclamation of joy escaped his lips-then he
said, looking at his keeper: "I have something to tell you!"
Lasne came close to him and took his hand; the prisoner's little
head leaned on the keeper's breast-who listened, but in vain!
All was said! God had spared the young martyr his last
mortal convulsion of anguish. God had kept to Himself the
knowledge of his last thought.  Lasne put his hand on the
child's healrt. The heart of Louis XVII. had ceased to beat:
the hour was a quarter past two, P.3r.
Lasne acquainted Gomin and Damont, the commissary on
duty, with the event, and they instantly repaired to the chamber
of death.  The poor little royal corpse was carried from the
room into that where he had suffered so long-where for two
years he had never ceased to suffer. From this royal apartment the father had gone to the scaffold, and thence the son
must pass to the burial-ground. The remains were laid out:on the bed, and the doors of the apartment were set opendoors which had remained closed ever since the Revolution
had seized on a child, then full of vigour, and grace, and life,
and health!
Concealing the agitation and sorrow he felt, beneath an
aspect of cold indifference, Gomin repaired to the committee of




.824            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.          [IOOK lt.
Affliction of Gonmin.
general safety; there he saw M. Gauthier, one of the members,
who said to him: " You did very right to take charge of this
mnessage yourself, and promptly; but, notwithstanding your diligence, it has arrived too late, and the sitting is over. The
report cannot be made to-day to the National Convention.
Keep the news secret till to-morrow, and till I have taken all
proper measures.  I will send M. Bourguignon, one of the
secretaries of the committee of general safety, to the Temple,
in order to convince himself of the truth of your declaration."
M. Bourguignon followed Gomin to the tower accordingly.
lHe verified the event, and renewed the exhortation of keeping
it secret, and of carrying on the service as usual.
At eight o'clock in the evening, supper was prepared for,' little Capet." Caron brought it, and Gomin proffered to
take it upstairs himself.  But he went up without the supper,
alone, a prey to affliction the most profound.  This grief,
which he had suppressed for five hours before the public,
broke out into weeping when he found himself beside the
lifeless body of Louis XVII.  Never did the impression
made by this spectacle fade from his memory, or from his
heart; it was still fresh there when I knew  the good old
man in the last years of his life.  He said to me, at the age
of eighty (if these are not exactly his very words, I can say
positively that they are the purport of what he said):  "I had
the courage to go upstairs again, and re-enter his room.  After
closing the door carefully behind me, I timidly raised the
covering, and gazed upon him, and my heart filled with
sad and tender thoughts.  The lines which pain had drawn
on his forehead and on his cheeks had disappeared; the
beautiful curves of his mouth had resumed their sweet look of
repose. His eyes, which suffering had half-closed, were open
now, and shone as pure as the blue Heaven.  One would
have said his last look had rested on some beloved form! His
beautiful fair hair, which had not been cut for two months,




17905.]       LAST DAYS —AGONY —IDEATII.              i2
Gomin's narrative.
fell like a frame around his face, which I had never seen
so calm.  His expression was smiling; it wore the character
which it must have presented in his happier days.
"It was as if, now that men could do more against him,
the calmness of his countenance had returned of itself, and
that the moral grace and candour of his heart shone forth in
his face.
"i There he lies, still and mute, his short life and his long
trials over!  Why did I not pass more time with him in
his prison?  Now it seems to me that I was wrong not to
have had more courage.
"He is dead, and I can make him no compensation; there
lies his poor body, that suffered so much. Where is his young
spirit that suffered even more?  Oh, my God! if Thou art
just, what recompense hast Thou not given to so much patience
-what a crown to so much anguish?
"An hour elapsed, during which-breathless, my eyes
fixed, unable to speak-I stood by his remains. That solemn
hour must have had a great influence over my whole life.
A voice had spoken in my heart, and I resolved to become
a good man.
"Alas!   I did not kneel to pray-I did not join his
little hands-I did not clasp them round the crucifix!  No
Christian sign, no Christian voice, no Christian act, was near
the couch of the last descendant of the Most Christian Kings!
Earth had given him  nought but outrage, and yet at that
moment his half-closed eyes seemed to look so lovingly on
earth, that one might have deemed the poor child enwrapped
in sweet contemplation.
"6I was choking with grief. I withdrew. I thought I
would go up to the platform for air, and tried to ascend the
staircase by two steps at a time.  I could not do it.  Yet I
had not now the sick boy on my arm, whom I supported
there some days before; my strength had failed me. How
wide the terrace seemed that evening! The night was fine




8326           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.          [nBOOK 17.
Visit of the officials.
and clear. I drew near the little basin-the water was dried
up, and the birds were flown.
" I know not how or why the idea. of the coronation of kings
then crossed my mind and agitated my heart, but so it was. At
that time of mourning I involuntarily remembered the birds
which, at the joyous hour of enthronement, are liberated, to wing
their course through the cathedral at Reims; and, suddenly, in
the fever of my grief, something seemed to tell me, that they
too were the birds of a coronation, and that the child had just
been crowned!"
At eight o'clock next morning, 21st Prairial (9 th June), four
members of the committee of general safety came to the tower, to
make sure that the Prince was really dead. When they were admitted to the death-chamrber by Lasne and Damont, they
affected the greatest indifference: "The event is not of the
least importance," repeated they, several times over; "the
police commissary of the section will come and receive the declaration of the decease; he will acknowledge it, and proceed
to the interment without any ceremony; and the committee
will give the necessary directions."
As they withdrew, some officers of the Temple guard asked
to see the remains of little Capet. Damont having observed
that the guard would not permit the bier to pass without demanding its being opened, the deputies decided that the officers
and non-commissioned officers of the guard going off duty,
together with those coming on, should be all invited to assure
themselves of the child's death.
Citizen Darlot (residing at 335 Rue Michel-Peltier, Temple
section), the civic commissary who was to relieve Damont, soon
arrived to take his turn of duty. He was followed by MM.
Bigot and Bouquet, his comrades, whose duties as commissaries
did not require their attendance before the next day and
the day after, but who had now been summoned on extraordinary duty; their comrade Damont, also, who entered the
Temple on the 20th Prairial, (8th June), did not withdraw




1705.]         LAST DAYS-AGONY-DEATH.                       827
Identification of the body.
on their arrival; he remained during the visit he had invited,
and all the officers and non-commissioned officers of the
guard having been assembled in the room where the body
lay, he asked  them  if they recognised it as that of the
ex-Dauphin, son of the last King  of France.  All those
who had seen the young Prince at the Tuileries, or at the
Temple (and most of them had), bore witness to its being
the body of Louis XVII.  When they  were come down
into the council-room, Darlot drew up the minutes of this
attestation, which was signed by a score of persons, Among
them appear the citizens:
Bourgeois, commandant, section of Fid6clit6.
Lucas, adjutant, ditto.
Ratreaux, captain, ditto.
Soguin, lieutenant, section of Droits de l'Ilomme.
Normand, second-lieutenant, section of l'Homme Arm4.
Vuillaume, serjeant, section Des Arcis.
Datmot, }  Civic commissaries.
Bigot, ditto, section of Droits de l'Hommo.
Bouquet, ditto, section of Fidelite.
These minutes were inserted in the journal of the Temple
tower, which was afterwards deposited in the office of the
minister of the interior.*
During this visit, the surgeons intrusted with the autopsy
arrived at the outer gate of the Temple.  These were Duman* "The minister of the interior declares that citizen Lasne, keeper at
the Temple, transmitted to him four registers, on one of which are two
sealed bands, inclosing a case with papers, all relating to the detention
of the ex-King and Queen, of Elizabeth, and of the son and daughter of the
said ex-King and Queen. Also a little sealed packet, of all which he
releases-the said citizen Lasne.
"Also he has given him two copper seals, one of the old municipality,
and one of the commissary-keepers of the Temple.
"Paris, 9th Germinll, 4th year of the French Republic.
"C  BChief of the First Division."'
4' CnXIr&AGNEIxU, Chief of the First Division."




828              LOUIS TIIE  SEVENTEENTH.               [BOOIT 1.
The autopsy.
gin, head physician of the Hospice de L'Unite; Pelletan, head
surgeon of the Grand Hospice de L'Humallite; Jeanroy, professor in the medical schools of Paris; and Lassus, professor of
legal medicine at the Ecole de Sante of Paris. The two last
were selected by Dumangin and Pelletan, because of the connection formerly of M. Lassus with Mesdames de France, and of
M. Jeanroy with the House of Lorraine,* which gave a peculiar weight to their signature.  Gomin received them  in the
council-room, and detained them  until the National Guard,
descending from the second-floor, entered to sign the minutes
prepared by Darlot. This done, Lasne, Darlot, and Bouquet,
went up again immediately, with the surgeons, and introduced them into the apartment of Louis XVII., whom they
at first examined as he lay on his death-bed; but M. Jeanroy,
observing that the dim  light of this room  was but little favourable to the accomplishment of their mission, the commissaries prepared a table in the first room, near the window,
on which the corpse laid, and the surgeons began their melancholy operation.f
* Letter from M. Dumangin to M. Pelletan, previously quoted.
+ The following is the report:
"Report of the examination of the body of the son of Louis Capet,
made at the Temple tower, at three o'clock, A.M., this 21st Prairial.1
"We, the undersigned, Jean-Baptiste-Eegoanie Dumangin, head-physician of the Grand Hospice de L'Unit e, and Philippe-Jean Pelletan, head-surgeon of the Hospice de L'HuTmanit6, assisted by citizens Nicolas Jeanroy,
professor in the medical schools of Paris, and Pierre Lassus, professor of legal
medicine in the Ecole de Sante of Paris, whom we associated with ourselves
in obedience to a decree of the committee of general safety of the National
Convention, dated yesterday, and signed Bergoing, president; Courtois,
Gauthier, Pierre Guyomard; flor the purpose of proceeding together to
examine the body of the son of the late Louis Capet, and verifying its state,
lhave acted as follows:
"Having all four arrived at eleven o'clock, A.M., at the outer gate of the
Temple, we were received there by the commissaries, who admitted us into
the tower. On attaining the second-floor, we found on a bed, in the second' The date of the year is not to be found in any part of this report,




%1395.]         LAST DAYS-AGONY —DEATHI                        829
The autopsy.
While these things were passing at the Temple, AchilleSevestre, the deputy from Ile-et-Vilaine, who had voted for
a suite of rooms there, the dead body of a child, apparently about ten
years old, which the commissaries declared to be that of the son of the
late Louis Capet, and which two of our number. recognised as that of
the child they had been attending for several days. Said commissaries
declared to us that this child had expired at about three o'clock, rP.., the
day before: on which we proceeded to seek for the signs of death, which
we found in the general paleness and coldness of the entire body, the
stiffness of the limbs, the dimness of the eyes, the livid spots common
in the skin of a corpse, and, above all, by decay having commenced in the
stomach, the scrotum, and the inside of the thighs.
"Before proceeding to open the body, we remarked a general want of
flesh, characteristic of marasmus, and the stomach was very much distended
and swollen. On the inner side of the right knee we observed a tumour,
the skin not discoloured, and on the os radius, near the wrist on his left
side, another smaller tumour. That on the knee contained nearly two
ounces of a greyish matter, puriform and lymphatic, between the periostum
and the muscles; that on the wrist contained matter of the same nature,
but thicker.
" When the stomach was opened, there escaped more than a pint of
turbulent serum, yellowish, and very fetid; the intestines were swollen,
pale, and adhering to each other, as well as to the sides of this cavity; they
were covered with a great quantity of tubercles, of various sizes, and whichl,
when opened, were found to contain the same matter as in the external
deposits of the knee and wrist.
" The intestines, when laid open to their full extent, were very healthy
inside, and contained but a very small quantity of bilious matter.  The
stomach was in exactly the same state; it adhered to all the neighbouring
parts, was pale externally, and covered with small lymphatic tubercles, similar
to those on the surface of the intestines; its internal membrane was in a
healthy state, as were also the pylories and cesophagus; the liver adhered,
on its convex side, to the diaphragm, and, on its concave side, to the viscera
which it covers; its substance was in a healthy condition, its size the same
as is ordinarily the case, and the vesicle of the gall moderately full of bile
of a dark green colour. The spleen, the pancreas, the reins, and the
bladder were in a healthy state; the epiploon and the mesentery, destitute
of fat, were found covered with lymphatic tubercles, like those we havejust
mentioned. Similar tumours were scattered over the thickness of the
peritoneum covering the inner face of the diaphragm; this muscle was in
a healthy condition.
" The lungs adhered throughout their surface to the pleura, the diaphragm, and the pericardium; their substance was healthy, and without
tubercles; there were some about the trachea and the oesophagus only.
The pericardium contained the usual quantity of serosity; the heart was




830               LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                   [BOOK 17.
Report on the death.
the death of Louis XVI., and who had said, in speaking of the
Dauphin (13th April, 1794): " This child will never attain his
mzajority!" made the  following report to the National Convention, in the name of the committee of general safety:
"Citizens.-For some time past the son of Capet had been
troubled with swellings on the right knee and left wrist; on
the 15th  Floreal his pain  increased, the invalid lost his appetite, and  was attacked  by fever.  The celebrated Desault,
medical-officer, was appointed to see and attend him, as we
were convinced, by his talents and probity, that he would not
fail to exercise that care which is due to humanity.
pale, but in a natural state.  The brain and its dependant parts were in
most perfect completeness.l
"' All the disorders of which we have just given the details are evidently
the effects of a scrofulous tendency, which has long been in existence, and
to which we should attribute the death of the child.
" This report was made and closed at Paris, in the above-mentioned
place, by the undersigned, at half-past four, P.M., above-named day and
year.
"'J. B. E. DUMANGIN, P. J. PELL;ETAN, P. LASSUS, B. JEANROY."
This report was completed by M. Pelletan in 1817, who made the
following declaration:
"I the undersigned, chevalier of the royal order of the legion of
honour, member of the royal academy of science, professor of the faculty of
medicine, further certify that, after having sawed the skull across, at the
line of the sockets of the eyes, in order to anatomise the skull in the dissection of the body of the son of Louis XVI., as I had been ordered to do,
I replaced the scalp on the skull, and covered it with a few strips of skin,
which I had separated from it, and which I sewed together; lastly, that I
wrapped up the head entire in a cloth or handkerchief, or perhaps a cotton
cap, fixed below the skin or nape of the neck, as is done in similar cases.
All this will be found, if it be true that it has not been destroyed by
putrefaction; but at any rate the scalp of the skull will certainly be found,
wrapped up in the remains of these cloths or cotton cap.
"Paris, 17th August, 1817."       (Signed)      " PELLETAN.9'
1 "Old M. Jeanroy," said Lasne to me, "asserted that, in more than forty
years' exercise of his art, he had never yet seen the brain so much developed in a
child of that age, and that, judging from appearances, Louis XVII. would have
been a man of great decision of character
2 M. Pelletan subsequently declared, that during the operation of dissection, he
put aside the Dauphin's healt, and carried it away, that he might have this sad and
mournful relic of the child-king to convey to the royal family. (See the polemio
discussion on this subject, Document No. VIII.)




1795.]        LAST DAYS-AGONY-DEATH.                     831
Reception of the news of death.
"Still the disease assumed a very serious character.  On
the 16th of this month Desault died, and the committee appointed in his stead citizen Pelletan, a well-known medical
man, and citizen Dumangin, head-physician to the Hospice de
L'Unite, as his coadjutor. Their bulletin of yesterday, at eleven
o'clock, A.M., announced symptoms which gave cause of alarm
for the life of the invalid, and, at a quarter-past two, pmr., we
received the intelligence of the death of the son of Capet.
" The committee of general safety has desired me to
inform you of the event. All is verified, and here are the
reports, which will remain in your archives."*
The National Convention heard this announcement with
apparent indifference. It was part of'their policy not to take
much notice of the Prince's last hour, though it was the
welcome result of a plan they had long pursued.
We return to the Tower. The dissection over, the gentlemen of the profession retired; it was nearly five o'clock.
The news of the death, announced to the Convention, had
already spread in Paris. Several groups had formed on the
outskirts of the Temple, at the doors of houses in that
neighbourhood.  The event was discussed by some fanatics
with joy, but by the mass of the people with pity and commniseration, as they recollected the beauty, the graceful ways,
and the generous heart of the young Prince.  In particular
there was one poor woman who made her appearance in the Rue
Saint-Martin, pale, with dishevelled hair, and holding a few
remains of withered flowers in her hand,t walking very fast,
and uttering groans of distress, Being soon escorted by some
children, who thought the woman intoxicated, she reached the
Temple-gate, by the Rue-Phelippeaux, from  which the sentry
* Sitting of the 21st Prairial, see "Moniteur Universel," of the 23rd
Prairial, 3rd year (11th June, 1795).
t On the breast of an old naval officer, shot at Quibeion, was found a
locket, in which there was a rose, dried up, and almost reduced to powder;
on the reverse was this inscription: "Givenr'y Monseigneur the Dauphin,
Paris, 1st August, 1790."




832             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 17.
Madame Royale.
repulsed her. IHer cries and sobs brought Darques, the porter,
and a gendarme, who asked the unfortunate woman what she
wanted?  "I want to see him  again," she said; " I want to
see the dear child again, who made me sit down in his little
garden at the Tuileries."  And when Darques told her no one
could enter.  " People are always allowed to go to the dead,"
she exclaimed, sobbing; " I want to lay the flowers he gave
me in his coffin!"  Some compassionate people drew her away.
Out of the Temple, every one knew the event: there
was but one person who was not aware of it, and she was
within the tower! It was now reserved for Madame Royale to
learn, at one and the same time, the deaths of her mother, her
aunt, and her brother. The latter was lying dead a few steps
from her, in the very room beneath her own, and his sister
knew it not.  At eight o'clock in the evening, Gomin, who had
not seen the Princess since the morning of the day before, came
into her room, together with Darlot and Caron, bringing her
supper.  Madame was sitting, as usual, on the sofa against
the window; she was writing, and had a book open before
her: it was a volume of Voltaire's "'Thietre," and she was
copying the tragedy of Zaire. I have in my possession the
first two acts of that tragedy, copied in the fastness of the
Temple by the young Marie-Therese.  How is it possible to
read without emotion the following lines, traced by such a
hand, in such a place, on such a day?
"Ma fille, tendre objet de mes dernieres peines,
Songe au moins, songe au sang qui couie dans tes veines;
C'est le sang de vingt rois, tous Chr6tiens comme moi,
C'est le sang des martyrs!"*
Madame did not address the commissaries, whose manner,
apparently cold and reserved, betrayed no emotion; to make
* "'Oh! thou, the tender cause of this my anxious parting pains,
My daughter! think, Oh, think, what blood is flowing in thy veins!
The blood it is of twenty kings, all Christian kings, like me,
The blood of martyrs, &c."




(Translation. )
~CAPET.             WEeclaration of tle  Weath  of Jouii  XWJ.L
OAP]~T.
IJosephe-Jeanne.            Section of the Temple, year 3 of the French Republic, 22nd Prairial, Decease of Louzs-Charles Capet, agc.
+'                ten years and two months, profession, -, Resident at Paris, in the tower of the Temple, son of Louis
2 Conmandant-in-chief of the Sec-   Capet, last King of the French, and of Marie Antoinette1 of Austria.
tion des Droits de l'Homme.                      
+                     The deceased was born at Versailles, and died the day before yesterday, at three o'clock in the afternoon.
N.B. The citizens who have       On the requisition made to us, within the twenty-four hours, by Etienne Lasne, aged, 39, profession,
made this declaration are required,, resident at Paris, Rue et Maison des Droits de l'Homme, No. 41. such declarant calling himself
to register it at the Maison Commune, within 24 hours under the   Keeper of the children of Capet, and by Baptiste Gomin, 38, profession, French citizen,3 resident at Paris,
penalty declared by the law.    Rue de la Fraterniti, No. 39, such declarant calling himself commissary of the Convention for the guard of
3 Commandant-in-chif of the Sec-  the Temple; the present declaration has been received in presence of the citizens Nicolas Lawrence Arnoult and
ion de la FraternitY           Dominique Goddet, civic commissaries of the Section du Temple, in terms of the decree of the Committee of
t                  General Safety, and who have signed with us.
Verified according to the law of the 10th December, 1792,                LASNE,        ARNOUI'T,
by me, commissary of police of the said section,                 GODDET        GOMIN,
DussER-                                                      Commissaries.




XV, ILe~c~ ~p/ ~Wb X~igk.
SECTION Dl G/4s 44dtsc4) Q7
du                    tft4A              vJ:ept1t  &teig    ---,IEztcits de   /i                     6$w
&: at    doe Y3 —-ai- idet'z ans pjrofession, —- -.          domiiTie a      aJ  S
d...     4t.a a.t t                                                                              -c   }.
a.' t         a    S.r a reqsusitioon  nous faite da" sl es Y'ing, -ql.tre he es par             /: --
oetga atsefout, -a ae P'de    a>A         Sp'.: P               4~js             &
r~treittoti sou-t Obfiitge'de 
fai:e dcresser?foeidaa Ie a  deatant a adit tre    tes See Vos V   Qa",' e./ parC  c-s                                 -
LenZ4~a  }onntncrefs o-  af3  de lteures;fins s gprd fes sion        6tomibihd It n 
es             lepres arJcant a dita e a. dtre OI)e /a 6I eD                            Y
su-'x -lei &L vmg t~v        ciec, w m e7
~Conlnaflssaire de Police d5 a sadie eot..t




1795.]3        LAST DAYS- AGONY-DEATH.                 833
Inspection of the body.
still more sure, the good-hearted Gomin had that day avoided
her glance.
On the 22nd Prairial (Wednesday, 10th June), at six
o'clock in the evening, citizen Dusser, police commissary,
accompanied by citizens Arnoult and Goddet, civic commissaries of the Temple section, presented himself at the tower of
the Temple, in order, conformably with a decree issued by the
council of general safety, to proceed to the official verification of
the decease of the unfortunate little Capet, and the interment
of his remains.
They went up with the keepers to the second story of the
tower.  A ray of sunshine gleamed through the window, and
fell on the blood-stained sheet which covered the remains of the
descendant of Louis XIV., now stretched on. a wooden bedstead,
without any mattrass.  The sheet being removed, the victim
lwas seen by the new commissaries, bearing the traces left by
the professional men; the scalpel of science had mutilated that
body, already disfigured by suffering, but it had respected the
pale emaciated face, on which an expression of indescribable
calmness and purity had succeeded to that of pain. His lips, so
far from being contracted by death, wore the appearance of
mildness and serenity; his eyes, not closed by mortal hand, had
closed of themselves; or rather, one might have said, that since
the fatal couch had been deserted by man, an angel had
breathed on that little head, which, youthful and delicate as it
was, had yet borne the crown of thorns like the rest of his
family.
The mortuary register was drawn up: this paper, which
has been up to the present day so little known that its existence might have been denied, seems to us sufficiently interesting to be reproduced here.*
After having signed this document in the next room, the
* We discovered it in the Archives of the Hatel-de-Ville, in 1No. 23
of the register of the police commissaries, Temple section. The only
register of decease hitherto published, is dated on the 24th Prairial;




334              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BooK lT.
The coffin.
commissioners again approached the fatal couch.  I know not
what sentiments may have been awaliened in their minds by a
spectacle so extraordinarily mournful, but they looked on it
for some time, mute and motionless.
At length, breaking this long silence: " Is not all ready?"
asked one of them.  "What is the man that was sent for
about?"   " I am  waiting," replied a deep voice from  the
shadowed part of the room; it was that of the man employed
in interments, who was standing near the door, with a coffin
under his arm.
" Come nearer, and let us make haste."  And the undertaker put down his boards on the floor.  He took the body of
the royal orphan, and laid it naked in the bier, for he who had
been cradled in purple had not a winding-sheet in which to be
interred.  " Stop, here's something to put under his head,"
said the youngest commissary, presenting his handkerchief;
and his colleagues looked on him with a dubious glance, astonished at his weakness, perhaps at his boldness and reverence
for the dead.  This example gave encouragement to the goodnatured Lasne, who hastened to bring a sheet to serve as
its last lines prove that the one we give from the autograph served as its
basis.
"Municipality of Parlis.'" Iegister of decease, 3rd year.
"24th Prairial, 3rd year of the Republic.
" Register of the decease of Louis-Charles Capet, on the 20th instant,
at tlhee o'clock, P.M., aged ten years and two months, native of Versailles,
department of Seine-et-Oise, residing at Paris, in the Temple tower, son
of Louis Capet, last King of the French, and of Marie-Antoinette-JosepheJeanne of Austria, on the declaration made by Etienne Lasne, aged thirtynine, guardian at the Temple, residing, Rue et Section Droits de
l'Homme,-thlis declarant says he is a neighbour; and by Remi Bigot,
aged fifty-seven, a clerk, No. 61 Vielle Rue du Temple, —this declarant says
he is a friend. See the certificate of Dusser, police commissary, of thle
22nd instant.
"LASNE, BIGOT, ROBIN, Public Officer."
(Archives of the H8tel-de-Ville.)




1795.]        LAST DAYS —AGONY —DEATH.                335
The funeral.
a shroud-I would say, a royal mantle-for this last King
of the monarchy; for it is only in this indigent and humiliating winding-sheet that his corse will appear in history. And
the fir planks were fastened down with four nails, while the
sound of the hammer on the coffin of the child shook the floor
of the old room, and awoke the slumbering echoes in the feudal
tower.
The bier was taken down into the first court, laid upon
trussels, and covered with a black cloth. As they left the
threshold of the deserted room, where so much unknown suffering had passed away, poor Gomin said to Gourlet, who was
walking behind the others: " You have no need to shut the
iron door now!" He was right, the prisoner whs free-the
prison was to remain mournful and silent-human depravity
had done its work, and retired!
It was seven o'clock when the police commissary ordered
the body to be taken up, and that they should proceed to the
cemetery. It was the season of the longest days, and therefore
the interment did not take place in secrecy and at night, as
some misinformed narrators have said or written; it took place
in broad daylight, and attracted a great concourse of people
before the gates of the Temple palace.  One of the municipals
wished to have the coffin carried out secretly, by the door
opening into the chapel inclosure; but M. Dusser, police commissary, who was specially intrusted with the arrangement
of the ceremony-to the great satisfaction of Lasne and
Gomin-opposed this indecorous measure, and the procession
passed out through the great gate.  The crowd that was
pressing round was kept back, and,compelled to keep a line
by a tri-coloured ribbon, held at short distances by gendarmes.
Compassion and sorrow were impressed on every countenance. A small detachment of the troops of the line from
the garrison of Paris, sent by the authorities, was in waiting
for the procession, to serve as an escort. They departed. The
bier, still covered with the pall, was carried on a litter, on




830          tLOUIS THE SEVENTEENTHe            [.BOOK 17.
The grave.
the shoulders of four men, who relieved each other two at a
time; it was preceded by six or eight men, headed by a serjeant.
P)usser walked behind, with Lasne and the civic commissary
before-mentioned; Damont, who was on duty the day of the
death, 20th Prairial; Darlot, on duty the 2 lst; Guerin, the 22nd;
and Bigot, who was to have been so next day. With them were
also Goddet, Biard, and Arnoult, whom the Temple section had
appointed to assist Dusser in making the official report of the
decease, and superintending the interment. Then came six or
eight more men and a corporal. They proceeded along the streets
of La Corderie, Bretagne, Pont-aux-Choux, Saint-Sebastien,
Popincourt, and Basfroid, and entered the cemetery of Sainte~Marguerite by the Rue Saint-Bernard. The procession was
accompanied a long way by the crowd, and a great number of
persons followed it even to the cemetery. Those few soldiers
round a little bier attracted the attention of the public, and
called forth questions all along their way. In particular, there
was a marked movement of interest in a numerous group that
hlad formed at the corner of the Boulevard and the Rue Pontaux-Choux, and which was mainly composed of women. The
name of "Little Capet," and the more popular title of Dauphin,
spread from lip to lip, with exclamations of pity and compassion.
Further on, in the Rue Popincourt, a few children of the comn.
mon people, in rags, took off their caps, in token of respect and
sympathy, before this coffin, that contained a child who had
died poorer than they themselves were to live.
The procession entered the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite,
not by the church, as some accounts assert, but by the old gate
of the cemetery. The interment was made in the corner, on
the left, at a distance of eight or nine feet from the enclosure
wall, and at an equal distance from a small house, which subsequently served as a class-room for a Christian school. The
grave was filled up-no mound marked its place-the soil was
restored to its former level —and not even a trace remained of
the interment!  Not till then did the commissaries of police




1795.]        LAST DAYS-AGONY-DEATH.                337
All is over.
and the municipality withdraw. They departed by the same
gate of the cemetery, and entered the house opposite the church,
to draw up the declaration of interment. It was nearly nine
o'clock, and still daylight. The air was clear, and the aureola
of luminous vapour that crowned that lovely evening, seemed
delaying and prolonging the farewell of the sun.
Two sentinels were postod, one in the cemetery, and one at
the entrance-gate, to prevent any person from attempting to
carry off the body of Louis XVII.  This precaution was taken
for two or three nights.
II.                  p




BOOK-   EIGHlTE'ENTHo
rTE CEMETERY OF SAINTE-MARGUERITE].
FRIDAY, 10TH MfARCH, 1837.
Site of the Dauphin's grave: disputes on that subject-Letter of Abbh
Raynaud-Law of the 17th and 18th January, 1816 —Royal edictLetter from the minister of general police-Letter from the prefect of
police —Deposition of the gardener at the Luxembourg-Differences of
opinion; doubt: the royal edict is not carried out-Pilgrimage to thle
cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite —Reflections.
FoR twenty years we have been making constant inquiry into
everything that related to the life and death of the Dauphin,
son of Louis XVI.  Providence vouchsafed to preserve the
lives of two old men, who have thrown a great deal of light on
our investigations, and who have furnished us, as it were, with
hourly bulletins of his last illness.  We would wish to be
enabled to point out, with equal precision, the turf that now
covers his mortal remains.  Unfortunately, however, the intelligence which was our guide in the Temple tower fails us
when we come to the cemetery   Almost all the accounts hitherto
considered as genuine, assert that the remains of the young
Prince were interred  in the common trench.   Yet Lasne
always affirmed the contrary to me, with the emphasis of an
honest man, who has very distinctly seen all that he has seen,
and feels himself entitled to correct an erroneous assertion.
He has assured me that the coffin of Louis-Charles was laid in
a grave by itself, at a distance of eight or nine feet from  the
inclosure and from the school-house.
In whatever way he was buried, however, —by himself, or in




1837.]               THE CEMETERY.                       339
The Abb6 Raynaud.
the common grave,-the spot at least is exactly and indisputably
known. But has it always inclosed the burden intrusted to
it? This is the question that arises, and we cannot answer it
with certainty.
In this trying perplexity, it becomes our duty simply to
place before our readers the various information we have received on the subject, and in the order in which it was collected.
The first document that reached us contradicting the declaration of Lasne, that the young King had been buried in a grave
by himself, was the following letter, addressed to us in the year
1837, by the Abbe Raynaud, who had been curate of SainteMarguerite ever since 1803:
" Paris, 7th November, 1837.
"You do me the honour of applying to me for information
concerning the interment of Louis XVII. in the cemetery of
Sainte-Marguerite.   Having been appointed curate of this
parish,-which  I have never quitted  since, —in  the year
1803, I then became acquainted with Pierre Betrancourt, commonly called Valentin, who had been sexton here from twenty
to thirty years, and with the herein named Decoufiet, for a long
time beadle of the Quinze-Vingts. The details which I am about
to transmit to you, were given me by these two persons, whose
testimony deserves credit on account of their known probity
and piety. They both declared to me, that the Dauphin was
buried in the common trench,* that for one or two nights, the
cemetery was watched by the police and by the military; but
that, on the third night, being relieved from their presence,
they had made search for the coffin, and easily recognised it
by a mark they had made on it with chalk;t but that, in order
* The large grave into which the victims of the Revolution were cast.
Abbe Raynaud is mistaken in making Decouflet a fellow-workman of Valentin's. It will be seen later that Decoufiet was not present at it the interment.
t Decouflet's widow said to me, that, in order to find the coffin more
easily, Valentin perhaps had left some space between those which had been
laid there before and those which followed it.  (Might it not have been
this precaution that gave rise to the idea of a separate grave?)




840              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.              [BOOK 18.
Locality of the grave.
to make still more sure, they had raised one of the boards which
had been badly nailed down, and had seen a child's head, the
skull of which had been opened;* that they had dug another
grave beneath the cemetery gate that looks upon the chapel of
Saint-Vincent-de-Paul,'and had there deposited the young
Prince's coffin, after having made a Maltese cross with laths of
wood on the upper plank of the said coffin.
"4I repeat that I was well acquainted with these two
persons for many years, and never entertained a doubt of their
account being perfectly true; it was given, besides, at a period
when they could have no interested motive for mis-tatement.
" Decouflet, beadle of the Quinze-Vingts, died on the 4th
October, 1824.  I remember that, seven or eight years before,
when there was some talk of digging up the cemetery to search,
M. Quinet, the worthy vicar of Quinze-Vingts, who died some
years ago vicar of Saint-Ambroise, had Decouflet called to
him, and said, gravely and solemnly:'Well now, Decouflet,
it is no jesting matter; mind what testimony you give, for you
will certainly be thrown into a dungeon if you do not speak the
truth.', I I have said it for these twenty years, M. le Cure, and the
search they are going to make will prove it.'
"As to Valentin, he died before the Restoration,+ but he
was so firmly convinced that a time would come when a search
would be made for the remains of the royal child, that, some
hours before his death, he said to his wife:' One day you will
* I remarked to Decouflet's widow, that, after the dissection, the
child's head had been covered up with bandages, which reached below the
chin, and that, therefore, it could not have been possible to see that the
skull had been opened. " Oh! sir," replied she, "the cloth must have
been stained with blood: besides, perhaps Valentin lifted it off." It will be
observed that Decouflet's widow always said perhaps: she knew nothing
except from Decouflet, who had heard nothing except from Valentin.
t On the 4th June, 1809, the body of Pierre Betrancourt, aged sixtytwo years, of No. 37 Rue Saint-Bernard, was brought to the church of
Sainte-Marguerite.




183s.J               THE CEMETERY.                    341
Locality of the grave.
receive something handsome, and be happy; when they find the
Dauphin again, they will reward me in you!'
" This, sir, is the information I have received from  the
fountain-head. I hasten to transmit it to you, because you
take an interest in it; but I also transmit it with confidence,
because, in my opinion, it is of unimpeachable veracity.
"With respect to the measure which at the time prevented the search ordered by Louis XVIII., I am not aware of
the motive which prompted it. It was, I believe, in March or
April, 1816; M. Decazes, minister of police, had directed
M. Angles, prefect of police, to institute an inquest, in order to
discover the remains of the young King. The day had been
fixed for that ceremony, and notice had been given to M.
Dubois, vicar of Sainte-NIarguerite. We were all there at the
appointed hour, with alb, and stole, and surplice, and the cross
at our head, waiting for the delegate of the minister of police,
who was to preside over this inquest.  He never came.  After
several hours' waiting, we received a message from M. Angles,
stating that it was expedient to defer this operation.  We were
vexed at the order; poor Decouflet himself was much disappointed, for the moment was just approaching when he was to
see his assertions verified, and his zeal rewarded. It appears
that some witnesses of the burial did not exactly agree as to
the spot where it occurred, and perhaps the decision which
nullified the effect of the royal order is to be attributed entirely to their contradictory opinions.  But no one could have
been better informed on this subject than Valentin and Decouflet, who had never left the place, and their testimony ought
to have been listened to.
" RAYNAUD, Curate."
Prior to the royal order mentioned by M. Raynaud, the
two Chambers had, on the motion of Chateaubriand, inserted,
on the 17th and [8th January, 1816, a clause in the following
terms, in a law relating to the expiatory measures of the 21st
January:



842               LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                 [BOOK 18.
Monuments decreed.
"There shall also be a monument erected, in the name and
at the expense of the nation, to the memory of Louis XVII.,
of the Queen, Marie Antoinette, and of Madame Elizabeth."*
It was with the intention of carrying out this law that the
King, Louis XVIII., gave orders for search to be made after
* In consequence of this, two royal ordinances, dated 19th January and
14th February, 1816, prescribed the completion of the church of La
Madeleine, in the Faubourg Saint-HonorS, in order to the placing there of
the expiatory monuments voted by the Chambers. Lemot, a celebrated
sculptor, was intrusted with the execution of Louis XVIL's mausoleum.
On the 8th June following, the anniversary of that Prince's death,
Tiolier, engraver-general of coins, presented to Louis XVIII. and the
royal family two medals, struck at the Hatel-de-Paris, and consecrated to
the memory of the royal child. On the ground of each is the portrait of the
young King, with this inscription: "LUDOV. XVII D. G. FRANC. ET NAV.
REX." On the reverse of one is the fatal date which made him at once an
orphan and a King: "xxI JANUARII. MDCCLXXXXIII,"XI entwined with a
martyr's palm and cypress; on the reverse of the other medal is represented a lily, broken by the storm, with the legend: "CECIDIT UT FLOS,"
and this inscription: " VIII. JUNII MDCCXCV."
Some biographers have made mention of an inscription composed by
M. Belloc for the mausoleum of Louis XVII.  We give it here a place;
the monument, was never executed:
Memorize. et. cineribvs
LUDOVICI. XVII
qvem
parentibvs. sanctissimis
infando. fvnere. orbatvm
nvllas. non. tervmnas. perpessvm
in. ipso. fere. vitre. limine. mors. svstvlit
die. VIIi. Jvnii. an. M. DCC. LXXXXV
Vixit. annis. x. mensibvs. II. diebvs. XII
Lvdovicvs. xviii
fecit
fratris. filio. dvlcissimo
ac. svpra. aetatis. modvm. pientissimo
Salve. anima. innocens
qvma. cev. avrevm. Gallire. sidvs
beato. spatiaris. polo
volens. lhanc. patriam. domvmque. Borbonidvm
placido. lvmine. intvetor.
1 So in the original.




183s7]              THE CEMETERY.                     343
Locality of the grave.
the mortal remains of the King, his nephew, in the month of
February, 1816. A few days afterwards, the minister of
general police wrote as follows to M. Angl6s, prefect of police:
Paris, 1st March, 1816.
"Monsieur le Comte,
"4 His Majesty, by his ordinance of the 14th February, has
decided on the site to be occupied by the religious monument
that is to be erected to the memory of Louis XVII.
"' It is now essential, and I have already called your atten
tion to this subject, to discover the precious remains of that
illustrious victim of the Revolution. It is well known that the
young King was interred in the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite,
Faubourg Saint-Antoine, in presence of two civic commissaries
and the police commissary of the Temple section, on the 8th
June, 1795.
"The young King is to be laid in Saint-Denis.  I desire
you will give me an account of the exact measures you have
taken in order to attain this end, and of their results.
I" It will be essential, if the precaution has not already been
taken, to summon the commissaries and other persons who
must have been present at the burial.
"Accept, &c.,
"C. DECAZES,
6The minister of general police."
The prefect of police answered the minister as follows:'" Paris, 1st June, 1816.
"Monsieur le Comte,
"On receipt of your excellency's letter, I directed two police
commissaries, Messieurs Petit and Simon, to gain, in the first
instance, all the information he was capable of giving on the
subject from M. Dusser, ex-commissary of the Temple section,
who was present in that capacity at the interment of the young
monarch.




344            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTHo           [BOOKI 18.
Locality of the grave.
"The result of the information obtained from him by the
commissaries was, that Voisin, now an old man of seventy-five,
and an inmate of the Hospice de Bicetre, was, at the period of
the death of Louis XVII., guide to the funeral processions
of the parish of Sainte-Marguerite, in the cemetery of which
the Prince was interred, and that, consequently, he might be
able to furnish them with information respecting the exact
spot.
" MM. Simon and Petit interrogated this man accordingly, and drew from him some details, which put them in the
way of establishing a system of regular information. He asserted that, on the morning of the day of that melancholy
ceremony, he had dug a single grave, in which the body of the
King was laid; and having gone to the cemetery accompanied
by MM. Simon and Petit, he traced out a space of ground
within which, at a depth of six feet, the King's coffin should,
according to him, be found, made of white wood, and having at
the head and feet the letter D, which he had written with
charcoal.
"The commissaries also saw Bureau, gate-keeper of the
said cemetery for twenty-eight years; he affirmed that, on the
morning of the 1 2th June, 179.5, Voisin had asked him for a
coffin for a young girl, and that in the course of the day he
had learned that it was for the Prince, then called the Dauphin.
He states that Voisin had not dug any private grave, and that
the minutes of the burial in the common trench were written
in the parochial residence.
"Pursuing their inquiries, the commissaries learned from
the present vicar of Sainte-Marguerite that a grave digger,
named Betrancourt, commonly called Valentin, whose widow
was still alive, had taken the body of the young Prince out of
the common trench, and had interred it in a grave by itself.
" The widow of this man was asked if she could give any
information respecting the exact spot of the burial, by confirming what the vicar had said; she directed them to a friend of




183f.]                THE CEMETERY,                      34.
Locality of the grave.
her deceased husband, named Decouflet, beadle of the parish
of Quinze-Vingts, to whom they addressed their inquiries; he
declared that Be'trancourt, commonly called Valentin, had
once, while he was digging a grave in the cemetery of SainteMarguerite, in the year 1802, directed his attention to a place
near the pillar on the left of the church, from which he removed about two feet of earth; this laid bare a stone of the
foundation wall of the church, on which was a cross.  Betrancourt added, that some day there would be a monument raised
there,' For,' said he,' the Dauphin's coffin lies beneath.'
"From  all the information obtained from  these different
persons, and inserted in the minutes drawn up by the commissaries, it appears that, on the 24th Prairial, 3rd year (12th
June, 1795)," the mortal remains of his Majesty Louis XVII.,
inclosed in a coffin of white wood, four feet and a-half in
length, were carried from  the Temple to the  cemetery of
Sainte-Marguerite, at about nine o'clock at night, and laid in
the great common trench; that the minutes of this ceremony
were drawn up at the parochial residence by M. Gille, then a
police commissary; that it is probable the body was removed
from  the common trench; that this operation was performed
in secret, in the course of the same night or of the next, by
Voisin or Valentin: if by the latter, that the ashes of the
young King repose beneath the left pillar of the church door,
as one enters the cemetery; if by the former, that the grave
where he was laid alone may be found within the space designated by Voisin, to the left of the cross that rises in the middle
of the cemetery, as seen by a person having his back to the
church.
"The commissaries who have made the inquest incline to
* It was on the 22nd Prairial (10th June), that the funeral took place,
and not on the 8th June, as has been just before stated in the letter of the
minister of police, nor on the 24th Prairial, as it is here asserted by the
prefect of police. Errors in the dates often occur, even in official documents.  When accounts are contradictory, it requires some trouble to
arrive at the truth.




346               LOUIS T'HE  SEVENTEENTH.               [BOOK 18.
Locality of the grave.
the belief that, if the remains of the young King have not been
confounded with other dead bodies, they are most probably in
the place pointed out by widow Betrancourt, or Valentin, and
Decouflet.
1" The above are the measures taken by me, in order to
carry  out your excellency's views, and  obey  his Majesty's
wishes; and such the state of the researches, and the results
they have produced, in furtherance of the efforts to recover the
mortal remains of that unfortunate young King, Louis XVII.`
"I beg your excellency to accept, &c.
" CO01TE ANGLES.
"The minister of state, prefect of police."' Although the above letter of the prefect of police repeats exactly all
the information obtained for him by his commissaries, we think it expedient to give the whole of their report, in order that none of the documents
concerning this melancholy affair may be wanting.
" Reply respecting the precious remains of Louis XVII.
",To His Excellency the Minister of State, Prefect of Police.
" Monseigneur,
"By your Excellency's letter of the 8th instant, you directed us to
proceed to an examination of MM. iDusser (ex-police commissary), Voisin,
and others, which might lead to the discovery of the remains of the unfortunate young monarch, Louis XVII., who died at the Temple in the
year 1795.
" Having been honoured with so important a mission, we have neglected
nothing that could contribute to its success; though we cannot venture
to flatter ourselves that our discoveries will ultimately satisfy the just
impatience of all good Frenchmen.
"In order to follow the course prescribed by your Excellency, we repaired in the first instance to AT. Dusser, ex-police commissary of the
Temple section, who had conducted the interment; after which we sought
out the residence of NIM. Biard and Goddet, civic commissaries of the
same section, who had been his assistants; and lastly we interrogated
Voisin, who, in his capacity of guide to the funeral processions, had been
occupied in all the matteriof-fact operations of this sad ceremony.
"'L. Dusser states that he gave a more stfikino character to the
funeral procession than was consistent with his own personal safety, and
that, contrary to the directions of the authorities, he had a separate
grave dug; yet he affirms at the same time that he could not at all point




1837.]                 THE CEMETERY,                         847
Locality of the grave.
Thus, as is proved by this letter and the minutes, of which
it contains the import, even those who witnessed the interment
out even whereabouts the said grave was opened. How are we to reconcile this want of memory with the feelings IL Dusser must have had to
induce him to perform for the King's sake a duty which, according to his
own account, might have endangered his life?
"Voisin, an old man of seventy-five, now an inhabitant of the Hospice
de Bicetre, declares that it was he who caused the procession to pass out
by the great gate, instead of the little one, as was wished; that, on its
reaching the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite, the body was laid by him in
a separate grave which he had dug with his own hands that morning;
and, having been taken to the cemetery, he traced out for us a space of
ground about ten feet long by twelve broad, within which, by his account,
the young King's coffin lies, at a depth of six feet, made of white wood and
having the letter D at the head and feet, written on it by himself with
charcoal.
" The gate-keeper of the cemetery, Bureau, who has filled that situation for twenty-eight years, asserted that Voisin came to him  on the
morning of the 12th June 1795, to ask him for a coffin for a young girl,
and that he provided him with one, of four feet and a-half in length; that,
in the course of the day, he had reason to feel convinced it was destined to
receive the young Prince, who was then called the Dauphin; that the
procession arrived at nearly nine o'clock that evening, and he made it
pass through the church; that they went and laid the body in the common
trench; that he saw this himself; that there were no separate graves dug
then, and that it was even expressly prohibited to open any at that time;
that the minutes of the burial were drawn up afterwards in the parochial
residence by Gille, then police-commissary of the Montreuil section, and
signed by MA. Dusser and other functionaries both civic and military.
"A very animated discussion arose in our presence, at the cemetery,
between Voisin and the said Bureau: both became exceedingly warm on
the subject; the former maintaining that he had dug a separate grave in
the place he pointed out, and the other denying that he had, or ever
could by any possibility have done so.
"We put an end to the debate by sending Voisin away, and went with
Bureau to the house of the vicar of Sainte-Marguerite, who, according to
the gate-keeper, had been informed as to the particular spot in the cemetery where the body of Louis XVII. had been laid, after it had been
privately withdrawn from the common trench.
"The vicar told us he had collected some intelligence with respect
to this affair, of which he had spoken to the lKing, Madame la Duchess6
d'Angoul!me and Madame la Marquise de Tourzel; and he suggested to
us that a gravedigger, surnamed Valentin, who had been dead several
years, had withdrawn the body of the young Prince from the common
trench, and had buried it in a particular spot, which he hoped to recognize




848              LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                  [nBOOK 18.
Locality of the grave.
of the month of June, 1795, were far from  agreeing in their
account of the transaction in March, 1816. Voisin and Dusser
again; and that he should wait for orders from his superiors to make such
use of these data as might be jtudged expedient.
"We could not neglect this intelligence, and we therefore examined
the widow of the gravedigger, Pierre BMtrancourt, surnamed Valentin,
who had been firmly attached to the cause of the Bourbons, and was a man
of prudence and courage, and quite capable of exposing himself to danger,
rather than suffer the young Prince's remains to be so shamefully confounded with the other dead bodies.' According to the declaration of BMtrancourt's widow, her husband
had confided to her that, on'the same night in which he was buried, or
on the next (she is not sure which), he had removed the body of the
young -monarch, and laid it in a grave dug partly in the foundation
wall and partly in the cemetery, to the left of the church door, on the
same side with the sacramental altar, but that her husband had not
shown her the exact spot; that there was but one man to whom he had
pointed it out, and that this man was named Decouflet, beadle of the
parish of the Quinze-Vingts.
"We repaired to the house of Deccuflet, and asked him to accompany
us to the cemetery of Sainte-M{arguerite; there he declared to us that
he had formerly been porter to the abbey of St. Antoine, that his attachment to the Bourbon family and his avocations had connected him on
terms of intimacy with the late Betrancourt; that, being with him in
the cemetery one day, in- March, 1802, his friend being at work in the grave
of the late M. Colin, schoolmaster of Picpus, dug away about two feet of
earth near that grave, along the pillar of the church-door, to the left as
you enter the cemetery, and thus laid bare a stone of the foundation-wall
of about a foot and a-half square; that he pointed out to him a cross on
the surface of two or three inches in length, which looked as if it had been
made with a hammer; and that he then said to him: "You see this
place: they will raise a monument here some day, fbr the Dauphin's
coffin lies beneath." He added that he had taken it out from the common
trench, and had placed it in that spot. M. Decouflet does not exactly
recollect whether it was done on the night of the burial, or on the next
night; that his friend recommended him not to tell anyone about it for the
sake of their own security, and that he did not mention it until after the
return of his Majesty, Louis XVIII.
"The result of our inquiries, inserted in the subjoined report is, that
on the 24th Prairial, 3rd year (12th June, 1795), the mortal remains of
his MIajesty, Louis XVII., inclosed;n a coffin of white-wood, four feet in
length, we e conveyed from the Temple to the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite, at nearly nine o'clock in the evening, and laid in the great
common trench; that the minutes of the said ceremony were drawn up




18.37.]                 THE  CEMETERY.                         349
Locality of the grave.
affirmed, as did Lasne, that a separate grave had been selected;
Bureau, Valentin, and all the other witnesses point out the
common trench.'"
by Gille, then police-commissary of the Montreuil section, conjointly with
M. Dusser and other functionaries, at the parochial residence; that it
appears probable that the body was withdrawn from the common trench;
that this operation was performed in secret on that night or the next;
that this last service of a dutiful subject was rendered to the young monarch
by the late Bdtrancourt or by Voisin; that if by B6trancourt, the spot
consecrated to receive the relics of Louis XVII. is beneath the pillar of
the church door, on the left as you enter the cemetery; that if by Voisin,
the separate grave may be discovered within the space he pointed out on
the left of the cross erected in the middle of the cemetery, the church
being at the back of the spectator; that, notwithstanding, it is more
probable that the grave was dug by B6trancourt, for that the opinions of
the man, together with his devotion to the Bourbon family, might have
prompted him to this generous deed; that MI. Dusser scarcely could, under
the circumstances in which he acted, venture to act openly in the presence
of a great number of persons, so as to have the body of the young monarch
laid in a separate grave; that if this step had taken place, as he affirms,
in public, there would have been witnesses enough in the last two years
who would have joined in proving so desirable a circumstance.
" We incline to think that if the remains of the young King have not
been confounded with those of the other dead bodies, they will probably
be found in the place pointed out by Decouflet and the widow Batrancourt;
but, should no trace of them be discovered in the latter spot, then the
assertion of Voisin should be verified.
" EMM. Biard and Goddet could not be consulted, because the former died
at his residence Rue Charlot; and the latter, whose son keeps a cafe
in the Rue Rivoli, has retired to Loret, near Pacy-sur-Eure.
"These, Monseigneur, are the conclusions at which we have arrived,
after the reiterated efforts we have made since our reception of your
orders.
"If we have not succeeded in giving proof of unerring discernment,
at least it is enough for us to have been enabled to display our anxiety to
please you, and our devotedness to the august family of the Bourbons.
"We have the honour to be, &c.,' SIMON.
" PETIT.
"The police-commissaries of the H6tel-de-Ville and Temple districts.
" Paris, la5th March 1816."
* At the period of the Restoration, M. Dusser claimed to be had in
remembrance for his conduct on this occasion. We think it expedient to
reproduce, in this place, the petition addressed by him to the royal governa




850             LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 18.
Dussers memorial.
This is not all; some voices were raised, saying that the
procession and obsequies of Louis XVII., in the cemetery of
ment in November, 1814; it gives us some details relative to the Dauphin's
funeral, but we must observe that this document ought to be read with
caution, as it bears some analogy to the report of Harmand (of the Meuse).
If this latter had a prefecture to keep, the other had the situation of a
police-commissary to gain, and the private views of the petitioner exercise
a retro-active influence on the account given by the official witness of the
obsequies of the Prince.  The paper is as follows:
"Archives of the Httel-de-Ville, case for applications for the
situation of police-commissary.
"Extract of a memoir from M. Dusser to be included in the organization
of the police force, November, 1814.
" Funeral
" On the 24th Prairial, 3rd year, I was commanded by the committee
of general safety to repair to the Temple tower, in order to state
officially the decease of the young and innocent victim who had just
expired. I was also directed to superintend his burial at the cemetery of
Sainte-Marguerite, Fauboug Saint-Antoine.
"This mournful ceremony had attracted a great concourse of people
before the palace-gate of the Temple, and it was wished that the body of the
unfortunate child should pass out without any ceremony by a little door
which opened into the Temple inclosure. I alone opposed this unseemly
measure, and the funeral, in consequence, went out by the great gate.
The compassion and sorrow of the public, which it had been an object
to avoid, were depicted in every face; but, as I had foreseen, there was no
disturbance at all.
"When we reached the place of burial, I took it upon myself to order
that the child should be interred in a separate grave, and not in the common trench; and this order was put in execution, in presence of MM.
Biard and Goddet, members of the civic committee of the Temple section,
who were under the dominion of the same sentiments with myself.
That very evening I was sent for by the committee of general safety,
to give an account of my conduct. Most of the members of the said
committee were furious against me. The severest measures were proposed
-that is to say, my arrest as a royalist, and arraignment before the revolutionary tribunal; but, fortunately for me Louis, member the Bas-Rhin
with whom I was acquainted, having undertaken my defence and quieted his
colleagues, I was sent back to my post, with injunctions to behave far
differently for the future, under pain of rigorous punishment."
Pierre Dusser, police-commissary of the Temple division, sixth municipal circuit of Paris, was called upon, in that capacity, to give an official
report of the death of Pichegru in 1804. He was at that time 43 years
old, and lived at No. 60 Boulevard du Temple.




1837.]               THE CEMETERY.                      851
Charpentier's account of the grave.
Sainte-Marguerite, were only a feint, and that his remains were
really buried at the foot of the tower where his deplorable
destiny was fulfilled.
Then came another deposition, which clashed strangely
with all the preceding assertions.  On the 11th June, 1816,
M. Louis-Antoine Charpentier, head gardener of the Luxembourg palace, presented himself at the prefecture of police, in
consequence of a summons to that effect, and there made the
following declaration:
"On the ~25th Prairial, 3rd year, at about five o'clock in
the afternoon, a person made his appearance at myresidence,
having been sent from the revolutionary committee of the
Luxembourg section, and desired me to repair to the committee
instantly, which I did: there a member gave me orders to
return the same night at ten o'clock, and to bring two of my
workmen with me, as well as a pick-axe and a shovel.' At the
appointed hour we were all three at the committee, where,
after having waited till eleven o'clock, a member with his scarf
on, without giving us any explanation, made us get into a
hackney-coach, which took us to the end of the Rue du Jardindes-Plantes; there he told us to alight and accompany him on
foot as far as the cemetery of Clamart, still keeping perfectly
silent. Here I ought to observe that the whole proceeding
seemed wrapped in impenetrable mystery. The carriage in
which we left the committee was neither preceded nor followed
by any escort whatsoever.
"When we reached the cemetery (it was half-past eleven
o'clock), the person under whose guidance we had started first
sent away a man who had opened the gate for us, and appeared
* The two workmen were terrace-makers, and their names:
1st, Charles, between 50 and 60 years of age, living at Gros-CJaillou.
2nd, Le Roux, aged 55 or 56 years, residing in the Rue Mouffel ard.
M. Charpentier was never acquainted with them, in any way, at all more
exact and circumstantial.
(Taken from the Archives of the Prefecture of Police.)




8S;2           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 18.
Charpentier's account.
to have his dwelling in the cemetery.  He then bade us, I
mean the two workmen and myself, come forward on the right
hand of the entrance, to a distance of only eight or ten feet.
Then he told us that we were to dig a grave at that place,
three feet wide by six long, and six feet deep.  We conformed
to these directions, at least as to the width, but as two workmen could not work together in a space of six feet we were
obliged to give the grave a length- of eight feet. At length
we reached a depth of about six or eight feet, when we
heard the sound of a carriage arriving. At the same moment
we were desired to leave off working, the cemetery gate was
opened, and we saw three members of the revolutionary committee, wearing their scarfs, like the one with whom we had
come, alight. We could each observe at the same time a
coffin, of about eight or ten inches wide, and four and a-half
feet long, which the members of the committee, with the
assistance of the coachman, lifted out themselves, and laid
down at the entrance of the cemetery, after which I and my
workmen were sent out of the burial-ground.  However, shortly
afterwards we were recalled, and were enabled to observe
that, during the interval of our absence, the coffin had been
let down into the grave, and then covered over with five
or six inches of earth.  We were then desiredto fill up the
grave, and, when this operation was complete, to trample on the
surface with all our might. We concluded, from these directions,
that the object was to hide, at least as far as possible, all trace
of the soil having been newly turned up in that place.
"All being now over as far as we were concerned, we were
most strictly enjoined to be silent respecting the operation in
which we had taken a share, We were even told, on this subject, that whichever of us should commit the least indiscretion
would certainly be sought out and punished Lastly, an assignat for ten francs was given to each of my workmen; as for me,
I was promised a reward, which I took care, for many reasons,
not to demand, especially after hearing one of the members of




1837.]               THE CEMETERY.`53
Charpentier's narrative.
the committee say, lau.ghing,'Little Capet will have a long
way to go to find his family again!'
"When he was interrogated as to whether he had not
formerly perceived the importance and interest of such a
declaration, so nearly touching the royal family of the Bourbons, and whether he had ever taken any steps with that
object, Charpentier replied that, towards the month of December, 1814, he had spoken of it to Madame la Marquise de
Soucy, who was to have mentioned it to her Royal Highness
rMadame la Duchesse  d'Angouleme, but that since then he
had heard no more about it; that, subsequent to the month of
January, 1815, he was taken by Madame la Comtesse Dernaultw" to the house of an ecclesiastic, then private secretary to
the minister for the interior, who, notwithstanding the declaration of M. Charpentier, appeared to be impressed with the
opinion that the body of young Louis XVII. had been buried
at the parish of Sainte-Marguerite.  Nevertheless, the private
secretary informed him that he would call the attention of the
minister to the subject.  M. Charpentier does not know what
may have been done in consequence, and affirms that, for his
part, he had heard nothing as to the course taken in that
quarter with reference to the step he had taken.
"In proof whereof he has signed the present declaration,
certifying that it is in every point conformable to the exact
truth.
truth.  CHARPENTIER.
Other testimonies arrived, some agreeing with that of
B6trancourt's widow and Decouflet,+ and others denying all
* Madame Dernault resided at that time in the Rue Neuve-SainteGenevieve.
f We will now give a fragment of a letter which appears to us to be
stamped with a certain character of truth:
"To his Excellency Monseigneur le Comte Decazes, secretary of
state and minister of the department of general police.
" IONSEIGNEUR,
" On the.9th January, 1804 (otherwise the 18th Nivdse, 12th year of




LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 18.
Valmcer's letter to the Comte Decazes.
idea, of substitution.  The dispute between MM. Bureau and
Dusser re-commenced, the latter having on his side Voisin
and Lasne, and the former the indisputable support of an invariable regulation.   Uncertainty having been thus increased
by so mnany various and contradictory reports, the authorities
were completely confounded, and the intended search did not
take place.
the republic), I was having a stone put over my father's grave in the
cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite.
"The common gravedigger came up to me, and I entered into conversation with himl; first, touching the small size of the cemetery in
proportion to the number of bodies deposited there; and afterwards,
respecting the vicissitudes of human affairs. The man confidently declared
to me that the Dauphin (he applied that term himself) had been privately
buried there; that his body, which had been put into the common trench,
had been withdrawn from it by night, and subsequently laid by itself in
the ground, at a short distance from the spot upon which we were then
standing.
"This account redoubled my interest and attention. I questioned him
as to the exact place where he thought the body of his Majesty had been
laid, and he showed it me with the shovel he had in his hand. It was on
ray left, eighteen or twenty feet from my father's grave; that is to say, due
west, as I was facing the north.
" Not content with this explanation, I took him to the ground he had
pointed out to me, and there he again affirmed that this sacred deposit
would be found, the feet turned towards the north, within a circle of from
twenty-five to thirty feet.
" According to this gravedigger, the common trench, where the body
had lain for several days, had a direction due north and south, and ran
along the wall at the bottom of the cemetery, on the left of the entrancegate, from which it was about thirty feet distant.
"Further, according to his account, it is certain that the person
intrusted with this removal (and I suspected it was himself, because he
was very reserved in his conversation, not being acquainted with me) had
effected it secretly, and to avert all suspicion had taken the precaution of
flattening down the little mound of earth usually seen on all the others, for
it was level with the ground in the entire extent.
" The man, whose name I have never known, told his story with such
an air of truth that it entirely convinced me.
"It is with a firm belief that the body of the unfortunate Prince must
be in the place above-mentioned that I ask your Excellency's permission to
enter the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite, and, if time has respected the
grave of my father, I am positive, by placing myself in the same position




1837.]                THE CEMETERY.                       865
Conclusions.
It is not our business either to praise or to blame the
government of that period for the decision which annulled the
effect of the royal order. Their confidence was no doubt shaken
by the contradictory statements, but perhaps these ought not
to have had the effect of thwarting their zeal and preventing
their fulfilment of a duty.  I am  of opinion that satisfactory
results would have been attained by following the directions
given by Voisin, or rather, by attending to the declaration
made by Valentin just before his death, and renewed by
Decouflet in presence of the authorities, whom he readily
accepted as judges of his evidence. It appears to me that
there is no parity of plausibility between the mysterious scene
of Clamart and the official ceremony of Sainte-Marguerite;
between the ipse dixit of Charpentier and his personal opinions
-solely founded on a word, perhaps ill-understood or indistinctly
heard-and the depositions of so many persons who had seen
with their own eyes the mortal remains of the Dauphin placed
in a coffin, and this same coffin conveyed from the Temple
tower to the cemetery of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. As it has
been proved to me that the royal child died in the Temple,
so it has been equally demonstrated that his corpse, wrapped
in a winding-sheet, was placed in a coffin; that this coffin was
neither re-opened nor changed, but that it and its contents were
I was in on the day when the gravedigger confided his secret to me, that
I shall, on the instant, be enabled to point out the exact spot shown me by
him.
"I have the honour to be, &c.,
"PINON DUCLOS DE VALMER,
"t Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, No. 12 Rue Buffaut.
"'Paris, 20 June, 1816."
To this letter is appended this official note:
" The minister of general police has the honour of submitting to M.
the prefect of police a letter from one MI. Pinon Duclos de Valmer, relating
to the place where the remains of the young and unfortunate Louis XVII.
were buried; he is requested to make use of this document if he thinks it
serviceable.
" This 20th June, 1816."




356            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK I8,
The cemetery revisited.
really buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite, and in the
place we have designated.  All the statements agree with
respect to the primitive resting-place; they are only at variance in reference to the removal which the two gravediggers
pretended to have effected. The plan on the next page gives
these various indications.
The above is all the information I have been able to obtain
respecting the interment of Louis-Charles of France.
Few inhabitants of the centre of Paris are acquainted with
the church and cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite. Before I turned
my attention to the drama which forms the subject of this
work, I was even ignorant of the existence of a parish bearing
such a name in Paris. The first time I visited it, Friday, the
10th March, 183'7,-being desirous of seeing the place where
the relics of the last royal victim lay,-was, as I remember,
one of those fine days in the early part of the year which
restore to nature her crown of youth and gladness.  The
fashionable population of the town, leaving their heated winter
rooms, were thronging the Boulevards, to enjoy the genial influence of the sun. The youth of our drawing-rooms, weary of
brilliant lamps and lighted rooms, were seeking to recover, by
change of air, that fresh bloom of their spring-time, endangered,
and all but faded, by late hours and amusements. Filled with
melancholy thoughts I passed rapidly by those idle sons of
earth, the happy of this life, who, in the midst of their gay
walk, had no idea that the man who hastened past them was
bound on a mournful pilgrimage: the subjects of my contemplation were within myself.
From the Rue du Temple to the church of Sainte-Marguerite, I passed on foot along the very same route taken by
the funeral.   Deeply intent on my subject, I pictured to
myself that last ceremony, as Lasne had described it to me,
and the whole of that ten years' story unfolded itself once
more before my eyes  the life, so short, and yet so long; the
road from Versailles to this obscure churchyard, so rapid and




Amo
A. —Spot where the remains of Louis X~II. were buried.
B.-Spot to which they were removed, according to the information left by Valentin.
C,-Spot where they now repose, according to Voisin.
D.-Old entrance-gate of the cemetery.
E.-The light line marks the old inclosure-wall, and the
dark line the site of the present wall, which has been
thrown back several feet. Hence it results that the
grave, which was dug at an equal distance from the
school-house and the first inclosure, is now nearer
the new wall.
I    F.-A small house serving as a school,
il
9~~~~~. 0
~   ~ — IIl~=-~rEI
CHU RCH  OF ST MARCR _.
\e'




858            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.          [BOOK 18.
The cemetery revisited.
so rough! I reached the front of the church, and recognised
the various places exactly as they had been pointed out to me;
on the left, I saw the inclosure wall, and the gate by which the
funeral had entered.  But having got to this gate, which had
not been opened for many a long year to admit the dead, I
was obliged to alter my plan, and accordingly entered the
church.  I am unable to express the emotion I felt; my head
bowed down, I bent my knee almost involuntarily. When I
arose and looked about me, I saw that I was alone in that
hallowed pile.  The trees I caught sight of through the
windows did indeed show me where the burial-ground lay,
but in order to make my way into it I did not know to whom
I could apply, when, turning to the left, in the small chapel of
Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, I espied a little door, which to my great
surprise I found was not locked. I entered the cemetery accordingly, and treading softly on the turf that covered so many heads
and bodies, severed by the scaffold knife, I went straight to the
place that had been described to me: there I stood, my clasped
hands resting on my stick, my eyes fixed on the ground, plunged
in the deepest musing. Oh! it is not in the power of language
frozen by philosophy to analyse that sacred-and mysterious charm
that binds us to a mournful recollection, that affords even a
pleasure amidst painful feelings, and renders dear to us the
most trivial circumstance, the most minute detail, relating to
the affections of the soul. I was unable to stir: a labouring
man, advanced in age, opened the door of the charnel-house,
and came up to me. "It is here, is it not?" I said to him,
striking the turf beneath my feet with my cane; and he, not
understanding these words at all, nor my presence in that
place, asked me what I wanted.  "I was brought here by a
motive of piety," I replied; " I am performing a duty of love.'
"' Then, sir, it must be a love that goes a long way back," said
he, incredulously; " for by your age you could not have had
anyone but a grandfather in this cemetery. The most recent
monument here is older than you are."  " The person in re



18357.1             THE CEMETERY,                    359
The cemetery revisited.
membrance of whom I came," I replied, "never had a monument: not even in this place would wicked men allow him a
name i!" The man understood me then, and the expression of
his features suddenly changed: he took off his hat, looked
respectfully at me, and said: "Yes, sir, it is indeed there
that Louis XVII., King of France, is resting. I beg your
pardon, not to have guessed your meaning sooner; but, in the
course of the thirty years that I have been employed about the
parish church, I have never seen anyone brought hither by the
feeling that prompted your coming."
Entering into confidential and sympathetic conversation
with the old man, I spoke to him of the conduct of the two
gravediggers, but he had heard only very vague reports on that
subject; he did not seem to believe that the body had been
removed from one place to another, and he alway brought me
back to the spot of earth where he had first accosted me, repeating: " It is there-it is indeed there!"
My Prince! the mournful but beloved subject of this work,
thou knowest with what pious love and conscientious fidelity
I have collected the almost obliterated traces of thy sufferings
and death. I wish to complete my work by raising a simple
stone over the place where thou wert laid: our children will
not pass it by without giving thy memory a tear. If I have been
prevented doing more thou wilt forgive me for it, for often have
1 cried: "Where are the forgotten relics of the son of Louis
XVI.?  Has the earth that received them devoured all, to the
last friagment of a bone? There, beside thee, hath been cast
many an unknown victim, martyred for his birth, his honour,
religion, or wealth, and dying obscurely as he had lived unostentatiously and simply. Hath time reduced all alike to dust?
Hath it mingled them with the dust of that pious and heroic
generation, whose remains, forgotten by men, are now covered
with rank grass?
Nothing is more sadly affecting than the appearance of
a deserted churchyard. Alas! in the whirlpool we inhabit,




360            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 18.
Reflections in the cenetery.
scarcely do we notice the numbers of those who fall beside us;
with more reason, then, do we tread with indifference upon the
graves of those who went before.  It is but fifty years since
this cemetery was closed to the dead, and now the living know
the way to it no more. Worldly joys spring up and cover
our regret, like the turf upon the grave. There, not a human
foot has left its print on the thick grass for years; no little
path now leads to some cherished mound. A few trees are
left standing because they are still young, and it would not be
worth their possessor's while to fell them yet. Beneath this
spot the generations of the past succeeded each other rapidly;
for in this narrow world our struggle for room ends not even
with our life, and the dead are moved aside to make way for
the dead.
How often in this fatal spot-amid ruined tombs and shrubs
unpruned, and all but choked with briars and nettles-how
often did I repeat that terrible and too familiar question:
6" Capet, where are you? Get up!" and I went, musing and
sad, from the one to the other of the two graves that the
gravediggers had asserted they had made, and in thought
collected thence the mournful remains of royalty, to be borne
with pomp to Saint-Denis.  Then again I was overpowered
by the stern reality, and I began to regret that royal order,
given as it were merely for shame's sake, and not enforced,
from a sort of indifference as to its results. The men in
power did not sufficiently consider what they owed of consolation to the Dauphin's sister. That holy child of Louis XVI.,
faithful in misfortune as misfortune was constant with her, was
unable, from insufficient or contradictory information, to breathe
one of the prayers, and drop one of those tears, that she had
always ready in sympathy with the unfortunate, on the ground
that had received the remains of her brother.
It seemed as if France had agreed unanimously to forget
this cemetery, and yet,-Royalty, of thirteen hundred years' existence, that began'st at Reims, it was here that thou wert




1837.]               THE CEMETERY.                    361:Reflections in the cemetery.
lost! Here that, while thy dust was being scattered out
of thy tombs elsewhere, the youngest scion of thy stock
crumbled into earth. But thy tombs, empty or defaced, bear
witness still to thy former presence, and thy actions may be
read in story, and the form of thy coffins be seen at SaintDenis.  Nothing has remained of this child: not a royal act:
not a burial-stone!  Heaven, that destined not that youthful
head to any great design, gave it, notwithstanding, a counsellor
-misfortune!  In closing his career thus early, the will of
God was not to justify the name of King in him; but He
made him bear the hardest adversity that could ennoble the
name of a child.  If others need conquests and victories to
gain immortal fame in story, this child has well won his by
suffering like a martsyr-his birth and death would have ensured it without. Yes, I doubt not that his misfortunes will
some day give him a place in our annals, when they are once
repeated by some voice more popular than mine. Still it has
seemed to me that, by admitting me to a knowledge of the
mysteries of that last long illness, Providence laid on me the
task of collecting all the accounts of it remaining. God often
gives a mission to the meanest and the weakest. One ought
not to consider one's powers when fulfilling a conscientious duty.
IX.                   Q




BOOK NINETEENTH.
MARIE-TIHERESE LEAVES THE TEMPLE.
Gomin's account of the daughter of Louis XVI.-Demands and petitions
for the liberation of Marie-Th6rese: re-action ill public opinion-The
condition of the Princess is improved-Negoioations of Austria fors
the recovery of Mada-me iRoyale-Deliberations in the Convention —
A decree passed-Official notes exchlanged-Madame de Chantereine
at the Temple-The Princess hears of the deaths of her familyWalks in the garden-The Temple goat-Demonstrations of sympathy:
M. and Madame Hue-Madame's mode of passing the day at the
Temple-Mesdames de Tourzel-Madame de Mackau- Counter-stroke
of the 13th Vendemiaire at the Temple-Lemaitre condemned to
death-Marie-Thlrese examined-Severe orders-The negociations
proceed with Austria-PM. Carletti-Decree of the Executive Directory
upon the exchange of Marie-Therdse for the prisoners in Austria —M..Bnezech at the Temple-The Directory decides that Madame shall
travel incognito-Preparations for the departure-Conversation of M.
Bbnezech with M. Hue-Madame leaves the Temple-Madame de
Soucy: MI. Ml[chain and Gomin —Marie-Th6rese's travelling journal,
written by herself-Madame at Huningue —The H6tel du CorbeauFinal negociations-Mi. Bacher and Baron de Degelmann-Madame's
farewell to Huningue: her words on leaving France —M. ReberThe Prince' of Gavre-The exchange-Marie-Therbse at BasleHer arrival at Vienna-Presents of the Emperor to the Swiss authoriRies-Present of Madame Royale to Gomin.
AFTER the death of Madame Elizabeth, Marie-The6rse continned to occupy the apartments, on the third floor of the tower,
that had belonged to her aunt and mother.  Nothing had been
altered in her room, the description of which we have given
in the first volume, pages 265 to 267.




1795.]              MARIE-THERE SEo                 3868
Gomin's narrative.
"The evening of my arrival at the Temple," said Gomin,
" Laurent took me to see the prisoners. I will not speak of
what I felt, when for the first time I went up the stairs,
impeded by so many wickets.  When we reached the secondfloor, before an iron door,'There is the brother,' said Laurent to me;' it used to be their father's room.' After this
visit we ascended to the third story, and, as before, found our
way blocked by an iron door;' Here is the sister; it used to
be their mother's room.' We went in: Madame was sitting,
on the sofa, against the window, and seemed busied with
sewing or embroidery; she did not raise her eyes. Laurent
presented me as his colleague; but she answered not a
word.
"I bowed low as I withdrew, and I have since learned
that this departure from the custom of the place had made
the Princess take notice of me from the very first. On subsequent days, when I saw her again, I remained before her,
keeping a respectful silence, and I do not know any occasion
when I addressed her first. During the two or three first days
of my instalment there she did not speak to me; but I
thought I observed that she examined me attentively, and, as
I was afterwards a witness of the marvellous quickness she displayed in discovering the political opinions of certain commissaries, I have no doubt that her glance soon penetrated
my heart too, and discerned its sentiments. A bold step I
took entirely won for me her good graces.  As I was always
the last to leave her apartment —'having acquired the habit of
closing the door myself —one morning, when Laurent and the
civic commissary were already on the staircase, and had their
backs turned, I gave Madame some paper and a pencil, begging
her to write down anything she wished to have. She answered
me for the first time:' Some chemises, and some matches.
"By this means I succeeded in doing her some little service. When times grew gentler, the pencil was rendered less
necessary.  The Princess did not speak to me before the




364            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.          [BOOK 19,
Gomin's narrative.
commissaries, fearful of causing me to be suspected; but while
I was going out after them, Madame came quickly behind
the door, and spoke a few words to me.  It was in this
manner that I learned she had neither shoes nor stockings
left. Laurent and I had not perceived it, because Madame
always took care to keep her dress down, so as to hide her
feet. There seemed to be a favourable opportunity for supplying this want that same day.  We had, as civic commissary, a man whose good intentions I had already noticed.
It was Armand (a lemonade-seller, keeping a cafe, which bore
his name, on the Boulevard du Temple). We arranged with
him, my colleague and I, to present our request to the committee
of general safety. Both our demands were granted; a packet
containing a dozen pair of stockings was sent us, and a person
came with a basketful of shoes from  a shoemaker, whose
shop was situated near Sainte-Elisabeth: Madame selected one
pair, but, being encouraged by me, she took a second. Afterwards, when Lasne was my colleague, we had a little more
liberty.  We were allowed to show more consideration and
deference to the Princess; but it may readily be conceived
how much reserve and prudence were necessary for the part
we had to play; and our own good dispositions were of necessity
subjected to what we supposed were the sentiments entertained
by the commissaries. Some among them were worthy people
enough, but there were also some of a hateful cynicism, who
indulged themselves by addressing the Princess as' Thou,' and
speaking brutally to her.
"Madame has told me that one of these latter said to her:' ITast thou any water?'' I do not know.''And who should
know? Go and see.' Madame habitually gave no answer; she
was always in her place, calm and silent, and frequently her
imposing air checked the insult on a municipal's lips. There
were some among them who took advantage of each little circumstance that occurred to aggravate her situation. Thus one
day they decided to take from her the flint and steel, with the




1795.]                MARIE-THERESE.                        365
Gomin's narrative.
aid of which she procured for herself two things so precious
to a captive-fire and light."*
[One of her most painful recollections was that of the
nightly rounds made by the commissaries throughout the tower.
The gloomy sound of the bolts being drawn, and the threatening
voice requiring the door' of her room to be opened in the middle
of the night, had left a painful impression on her mind. It
was after one of these visits that, having no friendly ear to
which to confide her feelings, she expressed them in some lines
of poetry the original copy of which is in our possession, and
which have the merit of showing the serenity, unmixed with
bitterness, preserved by the young captive amid her trials.]
"Madame knew nothing of the events that had deprived
her of her most beloved relations. HIer young brother, whose
last sigh had not reached her, was often the subject of her
inquiries. The vague answers she received were not such as
* "Commune of Paris.
"1st Thermidor, 2nd year of the Republic, one, indivisible, and
imperishable (19th July, 1794).
"This day, 1st'Thermidor, we, the members of the Commune guard of
the Temple, observed that in one of the apartments occupied by the tyrant's
daughter there had been a very considerable fire, of which we asked the
cause; she replied that, having occasion to wash her feet, she had lighted
this fire to heat the water for that purpose. Observing to her that a chair
had been burnt from being too near the stove, she replied that that had
been done a long time: asking her by what means she had lighted the said
fire, she replied, with a tinder-box and its appendages.
"After this conversation we thought it expedient to take away from
her the said articles for the present, and to refer immediatelyto the citizen
national agent, for him to decide as he judges best as to whether the same
be restored to her or not.
"In consequence whereof we beg the citizen national agent to give
his opinion. immediately, if possible, and to acquaint us with his decision int
the course of the day.' SIMON,
" LELIEVRE,' LECLERC.
"fMembers of the Temple Council."
(Archives de l'HOtel-de-Ville.)




866            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 19.
Gomrin's narrative.
to re-assure her entirely.' Provided they make a good man of
him,' she said one day,' that is all I ask!'
"Moreover, Madame's health had not suffered from her
long captivity; she had become thoroughly developed, as well
in body as in mind, under the breath of misfortune; her height
was good; her features, which had been extremely delicate in
childhood, had formed into beauty; her eyes were large, and her
hair had turned chesnut colour instead of flaxen, which it had
formerly been.  Though women as well as men then wore
their hair cropped (d la Titits) she had kept hers long: she
wore it, without powder, in a knot behind; her dress was of
puce-coloured silk-it was the only one she had; her head-dress
was a handkerchief, tied in a rosette in front. The effect of
this neglige was enhanced by the charm  of early youth, to
which an air of impressive gravity had been given by misfortune."
These words of Gomin supply the void occasioned by the
modest silence preserved by the daughter of Louis XVI., respecting her own private affairs.  "Madame Royale," says the
Marquis de Pastoret,? "has applied only a few pages to
her prison recollections, and those few pages equal the most
pious and touching portions of the writings of the Church.
So early an orphan, perhaps already condemned to death, she
says nothing but what she cannot avoid taking notice of concerning the conduct of others; she excuses, or omits to mention,
all that relates to herself, and if the indignation of her heart
does sometimes rise higher than her will, it is when the
miseries of her mother, or the mortal decay of her brother, was
the subjects of her pen. We must remember that this interesting composition was written by her feeble hand at sixteen
years of age, without the knowledge of her jailers, in a prison
where she had neither fire nor light, and was allowed scarcely
any sleep."
* " Notice sur Marie- Thhrse de France."' Vaton, 1852.




1usT.]               MARIE-THERE SE.                    367
Re-action of public opinion.
Some time prior to the death of Louis XVII. voices had
been raised in favour of the imprisoned son and daughter of
Louis XVI. " A Word for Two lfIdividuals that no one Thinks
about, and yet whlo muost be Thought about some time," wat the
title of a pamphlet * that was eagerly sought after by every
generous heart.
Charette, as we have said, had signed a treaty on the 17th
January, in the little chateau of La Jaunaie, near Nantes, the
secret clauses of which stipulated for the giving up of the
young King and the Princess, his sister, into his hands.  The
republican government had pretended to comply with these
conditions, only desiring that the children of Louis XVI.
should not be given up until the 13th June, 1795; but the
-treaty of La Jaunaie could only be, and really was, nothing but
a truce, which the bad faith of the revolutionary government
employed to serve its own ends!
The honour of continuing the unfinished work of Charette
was claimed by the press.  MM. de Beaulieu and Michaud
(the latter under the name of M. d'Albins) had published
several writings on the treatment to which the unfortunate
children of Louis XVI. were exposed, and. these productions
being widely circulated had excited some compassionate feeling
in the minds of the people.  These honourable writers made
another appeal to all generous hearts, in favour of what yet
remained of the blood of Louis XVI.; the former, in a
"Memoir addressed to the Nation,"t'  and the latter, in a
pamphlet entitled, "The Opinion of a Frenchman,"' succeeded in calling forth the sympathy of many persons, and
this feeling was strengthened by the sad death of Louis XVII.
*. With this motto; "Miseris succurrere disco;" Paris, 3rd year of
the Republic: signed G. P. (Petitain).
f "Pour Marie- Th/rese de Bourbon, fille de Louis XVI."  Paris,
1795.
"Sur la ddtention de Marie-Therise de Bourbon, file de Louis XlVI..
~i-devant roi des Franfais."  Paris, 1795.




868              LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                 [BooK 19.
The Orleans petition.
This re-action in public opinion awas displayed in an act of
importance: on the 30th Prairial, 3rd year (18th June, 1795),
ten days after the death of the Dauphin, a deputation from the
Uity of Orleans presented itself at the bar of the Convention, to petition for the liberation of Marie-Therese-Charlotte
de Bourbon.*
The words pronounced by this deputation were echoed far
and near; opinions at Paris were pretty  generally in their
favour, and public  pity raised its voice loud  enough to be
heard within the Temple walls.  Feeling themselves seconded
from without, the tower keepers addressed various reports to
* The petition was couched in the following terms 
"Citizen Representatives,
"While you have burst the bonds of so many unhappy persons, victims
of a dark and cruel policy, a child of misfortune-deprived of every comfort
and support, condemned to ceaseless weeping, and having to deplore the
loss of all she held most dear-the daughter of Louis XVI., is languishing
still within a horrible prison. An orphan so early, so early steeped in so
much sorrow and misery, how sadly has she not expiated the misfortune of
her illustrious birth! Alas! who would not take pity on such sorrow and
trouble, on her youth and innocence?
"Now  that the voice of humanity may at length be heard in this
place without dread of the assassin's dagger or the headsman's axe, we
have come to petition for her liberation, and that she may be conveyed to
her relations; for who among you would be willing to condemn her to
remain in a place yet reeking with the blood of her family?  Is not her
liberation demanded by every law of justice and humanity?  And what
objection could be raised to it, even by distrust the most restless and
suspicious?
" Come and surround the dungeon pile! Come in pious procession, Oh!
ye Frenchmen! all who can feel for misfortune, and all who have received
favours from that ill-starred house! Come, and mingling your tears with
ours, let us raise our suppliant hands to pray for the speedy release of that
young and innocent creature! Our voices will be heard-you will proclaim
her free, citizen representatives, and all Europe will applaud your decision,
and the day will be a day of joy and gladness to us and to the whole of
France.
"'ROZIER, sen., SING1ELE, TIREMBLAT, FILIATRE, LErEVRE,
CUJAUTRE,  PORCHER, VALLET,   GIBBON,  COSTE,
POTIER DE,MERSAN."




1 795.]               WMARIE-THERESE,                         369
Re-action in favour of the Princess.
the committee of general safety, demanding better food for
the daughter of Louis XVI., more suitable clothing, and a
few books, chosen by herself.  The said committee, by a decision  of the 3rd  Messidor, 3rd  year (20th  June, 1795),
directed the commission of public relief to attend  to these
different requests, and further, to give in a monthly report of
whatever might have been done in execution of this decree.*
On being informed of this decision, Lienard made out a note
of all the articles demanded for the use of Marie-Therese,
and without delay conveyed it to the commission of relief.
This note neither entered enough into detail, nor was it
sufficiently complete; and, besides, it was not signed by the
commissaries appointed to the guardianship of the Temple.t
* "Liberty —Equality.
" The Commission of Public Relief.
" 2nd MAessidor, 3rd year of the French Republic, one and indivisible.
" The committee of general safety,
"Having looked into the reports made by the commissaries appointed
to the guardianship of the Temple, respecting the articles that might be
required by the daughter of Louis Capet:
"The committee of general safety decrees, that the commnission of
public relief shall continue to be authorised to procure the articles demanded by the daughter of Louis Capet for her maintenance, and that she
be likewise supplied wsith books for her own use.
" The said commission will give in a monthly account of whatever may
have been done by it in execution of this present decree, as well of those
relating to the Temple prisoners.
" BOUDIN, L. B. GENEYOIT, Y. FROVERE, C. ALEXANDRE,
HISABEAU, BERGOUIN, IOMOONT.
"Representatives of the people, and members of the
committee of general safety."
"An exact copy.' )ERNICAU."
+ " Liber ty- Equality.
"Paris, 5th Messidor, 3rd year of the French republic, one and indivisible,' The Commission of Public Relief to the citizen commissaries of the
Temple.
"The committee-of general safety, by a decree of the 2nd instant, has




870               LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                 [BOOK l9 
Re-action in favour of the Princess.
"The letter received by us on this subject, on the 5th Messidor
(23rd June, 1795), from M. Dernicau, president of the commission," said Gomin to me, "seemed to imnply, —as did also
the expressions reported by Lienard,-that we might allow
ourselves some latitude in our demands. It was our duty to
consult the Princess, but as she was always extremely  reserved in expressing her wishes, we thought we would double
the number of articles she requested for her toilet. Her surprise and pleasure were great when she found they had
granted her more than she had hoped for, and no doubt
more than she desired.*   Cleanliness, if not luxury in dress,
now became an inmate of her dwelling."
directed us to procure for the daughter of Louis Capet the articles you
have demanded from the said committee.
" This morning an account of said articles was presented to us by
citizen Lienard, but without your signatures. We desire you will give
in to us a detailed statement of whatever articles of food and clothing, or
books, you consider should be provided, that we may be enabled to see that
they be placed at your disposal.
" This statement, so signed by you, citizens, is a necessary preliminary
to our. carrying out the decree of the committee of general safety, which
enters into no details.
-  DERNICAU."
* The list of the articles brought to the Temple is as follows:
Two morning-dresses of coloured taffeta.
Two morning-dresses of nankeen and cotton, lined with Florenee
taffeta.
Six pairs of coloured silk stockings.
Six pairs of shoes.
Two dozen chemises, superfine Holland cloth.
A green silk dress, and a linen ditto.
Besides the new articles, we had everything mended that was capable
of being so, and in particular six white- flannel dressing-gowns, that
Madame used to wear in the morning:This was not all, her instruction and amusement were attended to, as is
proved by the following document:"Office of Civic Hospices of Paris.
"Liberty-Equality.
"Paris, 15th Thermidor, 3rd year of the French Republic,
one and indivisible.''The commission of public relief acknowledges the receipt of the




179.o ]               MARIE-THERESE.                     8371
Proposition to Austria.
Negociations had been entered into with the Conventional
government by Austria, in order to obtain possession of Madame,
who was so closely connected by ties of relationship with the
imperial family.  The Austrian mibnistry proposed a sum  of
two millions as her ransom, but this offer was rejected by the
committees of public welfare and general safety, who, on the
one hand, that they might not appear to be submitting entirely
to public opinion, and, on the other, that they might give a
revolutionary character to the measure they felt obliged to
take, thought it necessary to impose a very different condition
on the liberation of Marie-Therese-Charlotte.  On the 12th
Messidor, 3rd year (30th June, 1795), Treilhard, in the name
of the above committees, expressed himself as follows in the
tribune of the Convention:
"The triumphs of the French people, the hope of all enlightened men, the opinion of the whole world, give sanction
to the republic:...it would be ridiculous to doubt the firmness of
its foundation.   The moment is therefore come when it may
be proper to turn your attention to the daughter of the last
King of the French....The detention of this family, was an imperative duty, and the safety of the state demanded it;...but now
you are too strong to require the continuance of so rigorous a
measure....Your committees therefore propose an act of humanity as the reparation of a great injustice.  By the blackest
and most hateful treachery, a minister of the republic and some
representatives of the people have been betrayed to a hostile
power, and this same power, violating the law of nations, has
arrested some of our citizens, who were invested with the most
sacred of characters-that of ambassadors....By this exchange,,Histoire de France,' by Velley, and the'Mondes,' by Fontenelle, from
citizen Dambreville, keeper of the literary dep6t, Rue Marc, Maison
Montmorency, which have been placed at their disposal by the com.
missioners of public instruction for the use of the daughter of the late Louis
Capet.
To this parcel were added some pencils, paper, Indian ink, and brushym




372              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 19.
Proposition to Austria.
we give up a right to put a stop to injustice....It will be for the
government of Vienna to take these  circumstances seriously
into consideration, and decide between their attachment to ties
of blood, and the desire of prolonging an odious and useless
revenge.
6 It has not appeared to us that this affair should become
a subject of negociation; it will be enough for you to enter into
mutual explanations, and the French generals shall be directed
to  transmit your decision to the generals of the Austrian
forces. "*
The draught of a decree, in accordance with this speech, was
presented by the reporter, and adopted in the same sitting.t
* "Moniteur," of the 15th Messidor, 3rd year (3rd July, 1795).
i." The decree directing that the daughter of the last King of the French
be given up to Austria, when the representatives of the people, and other
persons imprisoned by order of the latter government, are set at liberty.
" 12th Messidor, 3rd year (30th June, 1795) of the Republic, one and
indivisible.
"The National Convention, after hearing the reports of their committees of public welfare and general safety, declares that, at the same
moment when the five representatives of the people, the minister, the
French ambassadors, the principal prisoners given up to the Prince of
Coburg by Dumouriez; the postmaster Drouet, taken prisoner on the
frontiers of Flanders; and the ambassadors, Maret and Semonville, arrested
by the Austrians in Italy; together with the persons of their suite, given up
to Austria, or arrested and detained by her orders, are restored to liberty,
and have reached the borders of the territory of the republic, the daughter
of the last King of the French will be given into the hands of the person
deputed by the Austrian government to receive her, and the other members
of the Bourbon family now detained in France, will also be at liberty to
quit the territory of the republic.
" The National Convention orders the committee of public welfare, to
take all the measures that may be judged expedient for the notification and
execution of this present decree.
"The National Convention decrees that this report be printed, distributed, and inserted in the' Bulletin.'
(Examined, and signed)   "6 ENJUBAULT.
(Compared, and signed)
"J. B. LOUVET, from the Loiret, President.
"'MARIETTE, and J. DELECLOI, Secretaries."




1795.)                 MARIE-THERESE.                         373
Reply of Austria.
Pichegru, who was at the head of the army of the Upper
Rhine, was directed to communicate to the Austrian general,
Stein, a proposal for an exchange, till then unexampled in
the annals of diplomacy.   The Emperor, who, under other
circumstances, would have looked upon it as inadmissible, accepted it from  regard for his young cousin, adding the offer of
extending  the  exchange  to  the  prisoners of war of both
nations *
* This document was conceived in the following terms:
"3My Aulic council of war has given me an account of your report of
the 13th instant, and of the paper transmitted to General Stein by General
Pichegru, relating to the Princess Marie-Therese, my cousin, daughter of
Louis XVI., and to the other Princesses of the Bourbon family. Under
any other circumstances, the conditions on which the liberty of the members of that unhappy family still remaining in France is made to depend,
would certainly have been inadmissable; but, as it is but too true that,
amid the violent catastrophes succeeding one another in the French Revolution, I ought to consult nothing but my tender affection for my cousin,
and the interest I take in the Princes and Princesses of the Bourbon
family, and thinking only of the dangers with which they are constantly
surrounded, my intention is that you should let the French general know
that I am willing, on the whole, to accede to the proposition he has
made me.
" But there is another proposition that I should consider expedient to
add to that contained in the paper transmitted to General Stein, and its
oblject is to effect an exchange of the numerous prisoners of war on each
side, which, notwithstanding my reiterated demands, has, as yet, met with
an obstinate refusal.
" How careful soever-notwithstanding the far from mild treatment of
my soldiers, now prisoners in France-I have ordered my people to be of
the French prisoners in my dominions; though they are settled in provinces
where provisions are abundant, are regularly paid in the coin of the realm,
and are supplied with every assistance demanded by religion and humanity,
and due to misfortune; they must yet experience many trials inseparable
from their condition: to which is added the feeling that they are abandoned in a distant land by those for whom they fought; that they may never
more look upon their own family; that they are punished for their want of
success, and the chances of battle; and that their condition as prisoners,
which till now has been considered as an additional claim on the interest
of those for whom they sacrificed themselves, seems, in their case, to be
but a motive for the ingratitude of their country.
"I do not wish to have this forgetfulness of the law of nations, that
perpetuates the captivity of so many unfortunate victims of war, laid to my




3574              LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOm  19.
Reply of Austria.
The first overtures for this negociation were made at Basle,
in the month of August; it was carried on slowly and with
charge; and with much greater reason still should I try every means to
set free my faithful soldiers, now detained in a country where it must be
seen that they are likely to experience to a yet'greater extent, the troubles
from which the inhabitants themselves have not been able to escape.
" You will give me in an account, without delay, of the answer you receive on this subject, in order that, upon your doing so, detailed arrange.
ments may be entered into for the carrying out of the proposition made by
General Pichegru, and which, as I imagine, cannot, give rise to any
difficulty."
This note of the Emperor was transmitted to Pichegru by General
Clairfait, and by him transmitted to the committees, who, after deliberating upon it, directed one of their number to frame the following decree:
"The committee of public welfare of the National Convention, taking
into consideration the letter of General Pichegru, commander-in-chief of
the army of the Moselle and the Rhine, dated the 23rd instant, respecting
the execution of a decree of the National Convention of the 12th Messidor
last, concerning the five representatives of the people, the minister, the
French ambassadors, and the persons of their suite, given up to Austria,
or arrested and detained by her orders, decrees as follows:
"Article I.
"Citizen Bacher, chief secretary and interpreter to the embassy of the
French republic in Switzerland, is appointed commissary, to negociate
an exchange of soldiers in the service of the French republic, made
prisoners of war by the Austrians, for the soldiers in the service of the
Emperor of Austria, made prisoners of war by the troops of the French
republic.
"Article II.
"In this negociation, citizen Bacher will act conformably with the
rules laid down by the laws concerning the exchanges of prisoners of war.
"Article III.
"He will make a formal stipulation, as a preliminary condition, and
sine qud non, that the five representatives of the people, the minister, the
French ambassadors, and the persons of their suite given up to Austria, or
arrested and retained by her orders, be immediately restored to liberty,
and conveyed to Basle, on condition that the French government have the
daughter of the last King of the French also conveyed to Basle at the same
time, and delivered to the person deputed by the Austrian government to
receive her; and that all other members of the Bourbon family, now detained in France, be also at liberty to leave the territory of the republic,
the whole in accordance with the decree of the Convention of the 12th
1Messidor last."




1795.]              MARTE-THERESE.                   875
Appointment of Madame Bocquet de Chantereine.
many difficulties in the, way. Throughout the whole time that
the Convention was in existence, the law of the 12th Messidor
remained unexecuted.  It was reserved for the government
that succeeded it, in virtue of the new constitution that instituted the Directory and the two councils, to conduct this
affair to its final issue.
Meanwhile, manifestations of public sympathy in favour of
Marie-Therese were of yet more frequent occurrence.  The
commune of Dreux had followed the impulse given by the city of
Orleans, by sending commissaries to the National Convention to
demand the liberation of the prisoner in the Temple. If these
various steps did not lead to any immediate results, they had at
least the effect of rendering the condition of the young orphan
a little more supportable. For some time past the keepers
had been allowed to let her go down into the garden. Gomin
presented her with a little dog which had been left with him
by Laurent: " It was a half-bred spaniel," he told me, " red,
and very ugly; his name was as vulgar as his person; he was
called Coco; but his gentleness and affectionate nature made
up for all these faults, and Coco had the honour of sometimes
producing for his mistress some relief from her afflicting
thoughts. He kept her company in her solitude, and followed
her about the garden. Madame's captivity was no longer severe.
For once that I turned the key to lock her door, I turned it
twice to unfasten it, that Madame might come down. During
the latter months she might freely walk about the garden.
There was a certain tree on which we used to put sometimes
pears, sometimes apricots, sometimes peaches.  "That is a
very nice kind of tree," said the Princess to me, one day;
"compliment the gardener well for me upon its productiveness."
It was at this period that, on a demand from the committee
of public welfare, it was decreed that a woman should be placed
about the person of Marie-Therese-Charlotte, to keep her
company, and wait on her. Madame Bocquet de Chantereine
was appointed.  She was a very well-educated person, who




376            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 19.
The Princess learns the extent of her calamity.
understood Latin, spoke Italian extremely well, drew, and
played on the harp.< Her sympathy had been roused by the
misfortunes of the daughter of Louis XVI. As soon as she
learned that it was the intention of the government to give a
companion to the prisoner in the Temple, she hastened to
address a letter to the committees which decided their choice
of herself.
Madame had heard of the death of her father, but she did
not know the fate of her mother and aunt, and she thought
her brother still suffering from illness. Madame de Chantereine took upon herself the mournful task of acquainting her
with the extent of her misfortune.  All cruel uncertainty,
fearful doubts, and terrible suspicions were now to cease in
the heart of the poor young girl, who, till then, had interrogated everyone she saw in vain. At length she had met
with a sympathising woman, who was to let her know the
whole truth.  "Madame has lost both her parents! "  I"And
my brother?  " "You have no brother, now! i". And my
aunt?"  "Your aunt is no more!" "   What! Elizabeth too!
What could they have to reproach her with? " Details were
given to her amid tears and sobs; and thus, at a single stroke,
Madame heard of the loss of all she loved best. The wounds
of her heart now formed but one great wound, and all her
griefs merged into one general grief.  The story of the Temple
was summed up in one word, and the last cry of the Passion
escaped her lips: " It is finished! "
Marie-Therese knew now that she was alone upon the
earth. She who had had courage to acquaint her with her perfect
isolation, thought herself rewarded by the honour of sharing her
captivity and her sorrow. Confidential intercourse under trials
is a holy tie.  Madame de Chantereine did everything in her
power to make her attendance agreeable to the young Princess.
* tIer husband, the son of an old advocate, was employed in the
adtministration of the police.




l'95.   3      ~    MARIE-THRERESE,                    77
Madame de Chantereine.
She knew how to please her by her conversation, to amuse her
with her talents, and touch her heart by her affection. The
feelings she had brought with her to the Temple became contagious there.  When she opened the gates of that fatal pile,
Madame de Chantereine gave access to the atmosphere of
benevolence and justice then circulating in the streets, and
it was inhaled by everyone. Even the municipal commissaries,
now, never appeared before the daughter of Louis XVI. without
taking off their hats.  Affected by this change, Marie-Therese
one morning presented her companion with some lines she
had just written from  her very heart.  Though they were
more particularly  addressed to Madame de Chantereine,
everyone in the Temple was familiar with them; they were
on every lip, they penetrated every heart, they remained in
the memory of everyone. Lasne, in the days of his old age,
dictated them to me himself without omitting a word, before
Gomin, by his will, bequeathed to me the original manuscript
which he had obtained from the Princess.
Marie-Ther6se had found in Madame de Chantereine a companion of lively sensibility rather than of a firm character, and
she treated her with the more consideration that she felt herself stronger than her friend.  Indeed, the new inhabitant of
the Temple was physically as well as morally delicate; she
had several nervous attacks, and Madame was often seen
supporting her with her arm in the walks they took in the
garden together.  Near them  was often to be seen a pretty
mottled goat, as bright as a gazelle, which gave animation to
the solitude of the garden by its gambols, its petulance, and
caprices; it was a present from Madame de Chantereine.  The
graceful little animal, which Lasne and Gomin both liked to
tend, was the occasion of a sort of rivalry between the two
keepers.  The goat was on very familiar terms with Gomin;
it would come to him, and display its attachment to him;
wvhereas it pursued Lasne, and tried to butt at him with its
head with all its might.  Lasne was amused at this at first,




878               LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 19'
Lasne and the goat.
but became rather vexed at it when he saw that Madame had
observed the instinct and antipathies of the goat.  "From
that time," said Gomin to me, " he had a horror of the poor
animal, and it was quite vain for Li6nard and me to joke him
on the subject."  "You appear to be irritated," said Lienard
to him  one day; "but it is nothing in reality.  It is a fable.
I assure you if La Fontaine were still alive he would make
one at your expense, entitled the goat and the ass.-'
As soon as the news spread that Marie-Therese walked about
freely in the garden, M. Hue hastened to hire a room in the
Rotunda, that house near the tower of which we spoke in the
description of the Temple, and which was the nearest point
looking into the inclosure in all the neighbourhood.  From
the windows of this room, on the highest floor, it was possible
to see Madame Royale, and be seen by her. To this garret the
faithful servant of the late King ascended daily to look on the, At this period there was a song published on the dog and the goat
brought up by Marie-Thdrlse in the Temple.  Of the three verses of this
song, characterised by the bad taste of the times, the last alone deserves
to be quoted:" Vous, qui, toujours 6loignus d'elle,
Sur son sort n'avez point g6mi,
Ingrats, voyez son chien fidele,
Et rougissez de votre oubli;
I1 a partage sa rnisdre;
Dans ses fers il l'a su charmer.
Oui, c'est ainsi qu'on peut lii plaire,
Et voila comme on doit l'aimer."''
This sonlg may be found, page 42, in the "Adieux de Marie-.Therise.
Charlotte de Bourbon;" "4Almanach pour l'Alnnie  1796, etc.," by M.
d'Albins (Michaud), Basle, at Tournesen, bookseller, 1796 (Paris, Gueflier),
in I 8mo. Privately printed, and now very rare.
I "Oh ye, ungrateful, far away,
Who heave no sigh of sad respect,
Behold her dog's fidelity
And blush for your debased neglect.
He shared her mournful hours of grief,
And cheered the lonely prison-wall.
Ah! thus may friendship bring relief,
And thus should she be loved of all! "




%795.]                 MARIE-THERESE.                        879
The concert in the Rotunda.
daughter of his master.  Madame Hue, who was an excellent
musician, went thither also, together with Madame Duguerre,
a professional lady from Louvois, whom she accompanied on
the harp, at the hour when the Princess took her walk.aOn the 2Sth Thermidor, 3rd year (15th August, 1795),
Mlarie-Therese's   birth-day, the garret-music of the Rotunda
could not fail to make itself heard.  Madame made her appearance in the garden, and walked there a long time, that she
might show her friends how sensible she was of the mark of
interest they bestowed on her. But the recollections brought
to her mind by that anniversary made her weep. " I was walking at a certain distance behind her," said Gomin to me, "and
behind Madame de Chantereine, and caught but little of their
conversation; but as we crossed each other at a turn in the
garden, I saw Madame wiping her eyes. The music, and, above
all, the presence of Madame, had attracted the attention of the
neighbourhood, and the windows of the Rue de la Corderie were
thronged with people. This singular circumstance was brought
to the ears of the committee of public welfare, and I was sent
* Among other songs, Madame was enabled to hear this verse, which
announced her approaching deliverance, very distinctly:
"Calme-toi, jeune infortunde;
Bient6t ces portes vont s'ouvrir;
Bient6t, de tes fers ddlivrde,
D'un ciel pur tu pourras jouir.
Mais en quittant ce lieu fineste,
Oh rogna le deuil et l'effroi,
Souviens-toi, du moins, qu'il y reste
Des eceurs toujours dignes de toi! "
The above lines are by M. Lepitre, municipal officer, author of the song
on "Filial Piety," which we have given at page 15 of this volume.
l" Unhappy maiden, calm thy woe,
Soon shall ope these gates of steel;
Soon, thy bonds unloosed, thou'lt go
Where purer skies bright life reveal.
But yet, though this abhorred pile
May never claim one faint regret,
Ah! recollect the hearts the while,
That beat for thee within it yet! "




880            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.          [BOOK 19.
Continued devotion of M. Hue.
for two days afterwards.'There are concerts, citizens! It
is an actress rehearsing her part!' The affair was dropped,
but we were obliged to bid adieu to songs and music."
M. Hue had also been privately warned by government,
that although the homage he had already paid to misfortune
would be passed over, an end must be put to such a demonstration for the future.  On the 25th August, Madame came down
into the garden, as she had done on the day of the Assumption.
She thought, no doubt, that the manifestation that had been
made on the Virgin Mary's day would be repeated on Saint
Louis's day, but the concert did not take place. She seemed
disturbed at this. Being afraid that she might attribute this
cessation to some unfortunate event, Lasne let her know,
through Madame de Chantereine, that nothing alarming had
occurred, but that circumstances, and the orders of the committee of general safety, had prevented a concert being given
her that day. Notwithstanding this untoward event, M. Hue's
visits to the Rotunda were as frequent as ever. By means of
one of those signals formerly agre ed upon, which she recollected,
he informed Madame that he wzts intrusted with a letter fox
her; it was from Louis XVIII., and M. Hue succeeded in
introducing it into the Tower. Marie-Therrse sent him one
in reply, which he transmitted to the King.
Since the arrival of Madame de Chantereine, Madame had
become, not more busy than she had been before (for the young
Princess was never idle), but her occupations were more varied,
and her sorrow, if not the less present to her mind, found soma
relief. She was in the habit of writing in the morning; in the
afternoon she read, worked, and drew. Besides the books with
which she had been provided, she asked for several others,
which were placed at her disposal-the works of Racine and
Boileau, the letters of Madame de Sevign' and of Madame de
Aaintenon.  Surrounded by the ruins of a throne, she was yet
anxious to see something of the palmy times of monarchy; and
retired into the past to find an atmosphere of prosperity and




17)si.]                MARIE-THERESE.                       3 81
Madame de Tourzel.
greatness.  Alas! her illusions fled when she laid down her
book!  Sometimes, her pencil in her hand, she went down
into the garden, to trace the outline of the tower where she
had borne so much. Morning and evening saw her at prayerand this was the only religious act which she could accomplish
in her prison. She seemed very sensible of the attachment
constantly shown her, and the better state of thlings that had
succeeded to so many privations.*
Meanwhile Madame de Tourzel was engaged in another
negociation, less important than that we have mentioned before,
but in which she took a lively interest; the aim was, to obtain
permission for herself and her daughter to see Madame Royale.
By a decision of the committee of general safety, dated the
16th Fructidor (Wednesday, 2nd September, 1795), this favour
was granted them three times in a decade.~  The complete form
* "Madame seemed so glad to leave off the old puce silk dress which
she had been always mending up, ever since the time of Robespierre.
Her toilet now was very suitable; in her room, in the morning, she wore
a dressing-gown of white dimity, the rest of the day she was in a nankeen
dress; on Sunday she put on a linen one, and on all the solemn feasts she
adorned herself by putting on a green silk dress. Her beautiful hair,
which was so thick that the women who followed the fashion of the period
pretended that she wore a wig, floated about as it had always done, in a
loose and graceful nigligg, confined by a ribbon, or sometimes by a handkerchief fastened in front.
S GOMIN.'"
f On hearing of the permission to enter the Temple obtained by
lMesdames de Tourzel, Baron de Mackau thought of procuring the same
favour for his mother —who had formerly been under-governess to Madame
-knowing how much she would value it. I-e addressed himself on the
subject, to his countryman, Reubell, one of the five directors, who willingly
agreed to further the accomplishment of his wishes. AI. de Mackau
hastened to communicate the written permission he had just received to his
mother, 24th IFructidor, 3rd year (10th September, 1795), and, without
giving her any explanation, let her have the pleasure of reading it. " Oh l
my son!" cried she, embracing him tenderly; " Oh! my son! 1 am happy,
and I owe it to you!"  Without loss of time she repaired to the Temple.
Madame being informed of her arrival yielded to her own impatience to
see her, and was in her arms before she had crossed the court-yard
" Madame de Mackau," said. Gomin to me, " who was very old, and whose




882               LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                 [BOOK 19.
Madame de Tourzel's narrative.
of this decree was sent them  the next morning.  "I aslted
Gauthier" (de l'Ain), says Madame Tourzel, in her unpublished
memoirs, " whether Madame was aware of the extent of her
losses.  He said he knew nothing at all about it, and all the
way from  the committee,-which was held at the Hotel de
Brionne,-to the Temple, we had the anxious thought on our
minds, that we might, perhaps, have to inform  her that she
had lost all she held dear on earth.
health had been considerably injured by a long imprisonment, seemed
suffering, and could scarcely support herself. She wanted to excuse herself
for not having been able to get to the tower, before the Princess came
down.'How so?' cried Madame, with a heart-felt accent,'how could
I delay the pleasure of embracing you a single seconds'' That is true,'
replied Madame de Mackau, with a grateful smile:' Madame has come
down the steps much faster than I could have gone up them!''It is three
years, a month, and a daly, since I had the happiness of seeing you,'
cried the Princess, again embracing her governess; then taking her
arm, she passed it under her own with grateful affection, and thus assisted
her to walk. Madame de Mackanu bad a large white hat in her hand; she
was trying to make use of it to shade herself from the sun, which annoyed
her a good deal. Madame took possession of the hat, held it up with the
hand she had at liberty, and turned it against the sun, so that Madame
de Mackau should not suffer from it.'Madame is too good to me,'
said Madame de Mackau..'You have been much better to me,' replied
Madame;'I could never repay you but a very trivial portion of the care
you bestowed on me in my childhood!'
"Talking in this manner, they had made several steps forward;
remaining behind, with Lasne and the commissary, and keeping at a respectful distance, I was unable to hear inore. Madame led her venerable
visitor to the bottom of the garden, and made her sit down on a chair
there; but either because Madame de Mackau, being indisposed, could not
bear the open air, or the overflowing confidence that Madame desired to
bestow on her governess at this, their first interview, was disturbed by the
presence of witnesses, though at a distance, we saw her go up to her apartment with her a few minutes afterwards."
It was then that Marie-Thbrese revealed herself to Madame de Mackau
in her true character. Misfortune had failed to efface the signs of greatness
with which Heaven had endowed her. With what happiness and pride did
the old governess delightedly repeat to her children, what dignified majesty
she had found in the daughter of kings, what touching friendship in her
pupil! She had come to the tower to give consolation to a child, and she
found a woman of fortitude there; she had come to preach resignation to
her, and she found an example to follow. " Let us weep," said thy royal




1795.]                 MARIE-THI-ERESE.                        3~ 3
Madame de Tourzei's narrative.
"When we reached the Temple, I gave in my permission
to the two keepers, and asked to see Madame de Chantereine
in private.  She told me that the Princess had been made
acquainted with her misfortune, and was expecting us. Madame
came to  meet us, embraced us tenderly, and conducted us to
her room, where we mingled our tears for all the objects of
her regret.  She spoke on the subject without intermission,
and gave us a most distressing account of the moment of her
orphan; "but not for my parents; their task is done, and they have received the reward; the crown that God himself has now placed upon their
heads can never be taken from them.  Let us pray, not for them, but for
those who occasioned their fall. As for myself, these years, sad as they
were, will not have been without their use.  1 have had time to reflect
before God, and with my own heart, and I am stronger to bear trouble.
I am far from confounding those who have deprived me of all I loved best
in the world with the French nation at large.  I should doubtless be
delighted to leave my prison, but I should prefer the humblest little house
in France td all the honours that elsewhere await a princess so unhappy as
myself!"
It is evident that the heart of Marie-Thbrese had not been embittered
by the long injustice done her by mankind. On the contrary, misfortune
and meditation had raised her above the vicissitudes of the world, though
fate had still in reserve trials, frequent, long, unceasing, but which never
had the power to touch or disturb her.
Mesdames de Tourzel and Madame de Mackau saw the Princess again,
by turns, every three or four days, that is, three times in a decade. They
usually came to the Temple about noon, and did not retire till seven or
eight o'clock. Thus, independently of Madame de Chantereine, Madame
had friends to dine with her at least six times every decade. It was in
the course of one of these conversations, which succeeded each other
regularly during nearly two months, that Madame de Mackau found occasion to appreciate the filial piety of Madame Royale. There was a report
at that time, which appeared to have some foundation in truth, that
Madame was soon to repair to Vienna, for the purpose of espousing the
Archduke Charles. Madame de Mackau said to her: " If such a political
measure should bring back Madame to France, I should rejoice at it."
"Ah!" replied the young girl, " I know no political measure but the last
wishes of my parents; and I will never marry anyone but the Duke
d' Angouldme!"
Marie.Thlerese-Charlotte also received a visit from her nurse, Madame
Laurent, who had more than once asked permission to wait upon her in
the Temple.




384            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 19.
Madame de Tourzel's narrative.
p arting with the King, her father, who had loved her so
fondly.
"At her first entrance into the Temple, we had left Madame
weak and delicate, and now, on seeing her again, after three
years of unexampled misfortune, we were much surprised to
find her tall, handsome, and stout, with that noble bearing
which distinguishes her person.  Pauline and I were struck
with her likeness in feature to the King, the Queen, and even
to Madame Elizabeth.  Heaven, that had destined her to be
a model of that courage which, without diminishing true
delicacy of feeling, enables its possessor to perform great actions,
did not allow her to sink beneath the weight of so many sorrows.
Madame spoke of them with angelic mildness, and we could
never perceive in her any feeling of rancour against the authors
of her misfortunes.  Like a worthy daughter of Louis XVI.,
she pitied the French people, and never ceased to love the
country where she had been so unhappy. On my saying to
her that I wished to see her leave France, that she might be
delivered from her frightful captivity, she replied, with an
accent of grief: I It is some comfort for me to live in a country
whose soil covers the remains of all I loved most dearly in the
world;' and then, i~n a voice of piercing sorrow, she added,
bursting into tears as she spoke:'I should have been more
happy in sharing the fate of my parents, than in living to
lament their loss!'
" Madame spoke to us with much emotion of the young
King, her brother, and of the ill-treatment he continually
experienced. The barbarian Simon used to ill-use him, in
order to oblige him to sing the "Carmagnole," and other detestable songs, so as to be heard by the Princesses. Though the
young King had a horror of wine, Simon would force him to
drink it, whenever he wanted to intoxicate him. This had
been done on the day, when, before Madame and Madame
Elizabeth, he made him say all those dreadful things which
were mentioned on the trial of our unfortunate Queen. At




L7945.1             MARIE-THERESE.                    885
Madame de Tourzei's narrative.
the close of this atrocious scene, the young Prince, beginning
to recover his senses, approached his sister, and took hold of
her hand. Perceiving this, the wretch Simon, who envied him
even this slight consolation, carried him off immediately,
leaving the Princesses in consternation at what they had just
witnessed.'" I could not refrain from asking Madame how, with so
much sensibility, and in so melancholy a solitude, she had
been able to bear up against so much misfortune?
" Nothing could have been more touching than her reply,
which I cannot refrain from transcribing:' Without religion, it
would have been impossible for me to do so; that was my sole
resource, and provided me with the only comfort my heart was
capable of receiving.  I had preserved my aunt Elizabeth's
religious books. I read them over; recalled to mind the advices he had given me, trying not to disobey her injunctions,
but to follow them exactly. When she embraced me for the
last time, exhorting me to courage and resignation, she expressly recommended me to request that some female should
be placed about me.  Although I infinitely preferred my
solitude to the companion they would then have given me, my
respect for my aunt's wishes would not allow me to hesitate;
my demand was refused, and I confess I was very glad of it.
My aunt had but too truly foreseen the trials I was destined to
suffer, and had accustomed me to wait on myself, and to require
no one's assistance.  She had laid out my life, so as to employ
every hour of it. The arrangement of my room, my devotions
reading, and work, had each their separate time.  She had
caused me to contract the habit of making my own bed, dressinig my hair, lacing my stays myself, and dressing without any
help.  She had made me sprinkle my room with water to cool
the air, and had, besides, required me to walk up and down as
fast as possible, with my watch in my hand, for an hour every
day, to make up for the want of proper exercise.'
"We were moved to tears by these details, so interesting
I1 I.




386            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOE 19.
Madame de Tourzel's narrative.
on account of their coming from the lips of Madame herself.
We admired the courage of Madame Elizabeth, and her fore.
sight, which extended to everything that could be useful to
Madame.  That excellent Princess was the comfort of her
august family, and especially so of the Queen, who had been
less religious than her sister when they first entered the Temple,
and had been so happy as to learn there to imitate the piety of
that angel of goodness.  Not content with attending to those
whom she loved, she employed her last moments also in preparing the persons condemned to share her fate to appear
before their God, and exercised the most heroic charity up to
the very moment when she departed this life to receive the
reward promised to virtue so exalted, and so sorely tried, as
had been that of this good and holy Princess.  From the time
of her separation from her aunt, Madame had passed fifteen
months alone, a prey to her own grief and melancholy thoughts,
and having no book to read but "La Harpe's Travels," which
she perused over and over again; in want of everything, asking
for nothing, and mending even her shoes and stockings with
her own hands.  She was sometimes visited by the commissaries of the Convention, to whom her answers were so short
and laconic that they did not make their visits very long. It
seemed as if Heaven had set the seal of its protection on her
brow, for they all experienced a sentiment of respect, in which
not one failed for a single instant.
" Notwithstanding all her courage, Madame confessed to us
that she grew so weary of her perfect solitude, that she used
to say to herself:' If they place some person with me who is
not a complete monster, I feel that I shall not be able to do
otherwise than love her.'
" I asked Madame, one day, if she had never been ill during
the time of her perfect solitude:' I was so little taken up
with my person,' replied she,' that I paid very little attention
to it at all!' She then told us about a fainting fit into which
shae had fallen one day, adding such touching remarks con



9g;5. ]           - MARIE-THERESE.                     887
Napoleon Bonaparte-the 13th Vendemiaire.
cerning the slight account in which. she held her life, that it
was impossible for us to hear her without our being deeply
affected."
From the 8th September, the negociations begun at Basle
had been carried on regularly, in consequence of the offer of
mediation eagerly made by the Burgomaster Bourcard, chief of
the regency of the state of Basle, to M. le Baron de Degelmann, minister plenipotentiary to the Emperor of Austria, and
M. Bacher, chief secretary to the embassy of the French
republic.  These two diplomatists, who could not carry on a
direct communication with each other because of the state of
the war, found a most zealous and conciliating mediator between the two parties in M. Bourcard.
Everything appeared to be concurring to effect the liberation
of Marie-Therese, when some fatal circumstances occurred to
delay an act of justice already agreed to on both sides, and -of
which there merely remained to concert the mode of execution.
The Convention was threatened with serious danger. Of the
forty-eight sections composing the National Guard of Paris,
only five were in favour of the republic, and even this was not,
strictly speaking, the same as wishing well to the Conventional
government. On the 13th Vendemiaire, 4th year (5th October,
1795), the forty-three adverse sections had risen and held
meetings, where they deliberated under arms; the, task of putting down this insurrection was committed to the artillery,
which was now first to teach the land of France to echo:back
the name of Bonaparte.  "At the moment;" said Gomin to
me, "when, by Barras's orders, the future dictator was sweeping the steps of Saint-Roch and the street of the Dauphin
with grape-shot, my duty compelled me to enter the apartment
of Madame.  I found her bathed in tears.' I am weeping for
the blood that is flowing,' she said."
The enthusiastic admiration of the Convention for the
man who had just saved it, was so much the greater as its
alarm had been intense; and, in the transport of its grati



888             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 19.
The new constitution.
tude, he was promoted to general of division, and appointed.
to the command of the army of the interior.  Before  dissolving itself, the Convention decreed that two-thirds of its
members should be admitted into the two councils, and that
it reserved to itself the right of electing these persons.  Tho
new constitution was established, and the directorial government installed itself on the 13th Bruinaire, 4th year (4th
November, 1795), in the palace of the Luxembourg.
Changes taking place among the higher powers are always
alarming to individuals in  inferior stations.   Gomin  was
afraid of his royalist sentiments being discovered, and Madame
was herself alarmed lest they should take from her a keeper of
whose attention she could never speak but with the highest
praise.  She did not conceal her uneasiness from  Gomin, who
made it his duty to avert so distressing an event, and he had
recourse to several protectors, whose support did not fail him
in his need.*
*  Equality.         FRENCH REPUBLIC.            Liberty.
War with the partisans                   War with the partisans of the
of terror!                          emigrants and of royalty!
National Convention.
COMMITTEE OF GENERAL SAFETY.,Section of Paris Police.
- s 1st Brumaire, 4th year of the French Republic, one and indivisible.
"We, representatives of the people, and members of the committee of
of general safety, police section, do certify that citizen Jean-Baptiste
Gomin, commissary of the Temple guard, has acquitted himself of the
duties intrusted to him by the committee, with zeal, intelligence, and
probity, and that he -still deserves to be continued in the exercise of his
functions.
"' GAUTHIERI, P. M. DELAUNAI.
"'Representatives of the people, and members of the
committee of general safety."
NOTE.-The heading of this document is remarkable.  The word
"Fraternity" has disappeared, and in the two mottoes opposed to each
other the Directory, inaugurating its double-edged policy, declares at one
and the same time war on "the partisans of Terror," and "the partisans
of Royalty i'




MARIE-THERESEo                     880
Fears of the royalists.
Meanwhile, some royalist agents, who had taken part in
the insurrection, were arrested.  Among their number was
Lemaltre, who, condemned to death on the 17th Brumaire, 4th
year (8th November, 1795), refused to make any confession,
and died with great fortitude and courage. His fellow-prisoners
were condemned, some to transportation, and some to several
years' imprisonment.  This affair had given rise to warm debates in  the  National Convention, because in Lemaitre's
letters several deputies were pointed out as inclined to serve
the royal party.  It is true that the only result of this had
been to prevent Cambaceres from  being named director;
but all these rumours of royalist conspiracies had the effect of
inducing the executive authorities to retrograde towards the
rigorous system, from which they had begun to depart, in the
treatment of Madame, since the death of Louis XVII.
On the 17th Brumaire, 4th year (8th November, 1795),
the keepers of the Temple were sent for to the committee of
general safety.* Etienne Lasne repaired thither immediately;
he was rigidly examined, and severe animadversions were made
upon his conduct.
On the 19th Brumaire (10th November), citizen Leroy,
agent of the police commission, and bearer of an order from
the minister of the interior, presented himself at the Temple,
to receive the declarations of Charlotte Capet and citizen
Bocquet de Chantereine, agreeably to the decree of the Executive Directory,+ bearing the date of the previous evening.
The examination of the Princess and her companion took
place in the council-room, in presence of the Temple commissaries; and the agent of the new authorities was enabled to
convince himself that the two prisoners were in perfect igno.
rance of the movement that had disturbed the whole city. t
* Register-Journal of the Temple tower, of the 17th Brumaire.
f Ibid., 19th Brumaire.
i Next day, the 20th Brumaire (I lth November), the visit of an inspector of the Commune well nigh gave rise to an alarm in the first




800               LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                 [nBOOK 19.
Rigo)urs renewed.
Nevertheless, on the 21st Brumaire, the two keepers of
the Temple received orders not to allow, henceforth, citizeness
Chantereine to leave the Temple, nor citizeness Tourzel to
enter it; all communication between the tower and the exterior
was immediately to cease.r
court-yard.  Citizen Soulas, head-clerk of the dep6t of vehicles belonging
to-the republic, came to examine the coach-houses belonging to the Temple
palace, in order to know how many carriages they would hold.' The old
porter, Darques, who had been acquainted with Soulas, and who had not
seen him for eighteen months, was persuaded, in consequence of something
he had been told, that this person had been guillotined.  What, then, was
his horror when, at about three o'clock, P.M., on a dark November afternoon, there appeared outside the window of his lodge the head of this
same Soulas, pale and haggard (for he was recovering fiom an illness),
and with a voluminous red cravat bound tight around his neck! A
piercing cry escaped from the old man, and grasping at the bell-pull he
rang a hasty peal, which gave notice to those within of the approach of a
superior.  Gomin hastened thither, and found Lienard, Meunier, and several National Guards, who had been attracted to the spot by the cries of
the porter; but the latter had already recovered from his fright, and began
to laugh with the rest when he saw Gomin approach the phantom, and
shake hands with him cordially.
Lasne, who did not like Darque, was delighted at this occurrence; in
the first moment of his being informed of it, he said to Gomin:  " We'll
stick the old fool down in our report; it will be great fun!"  "It would
be very ill-natured," returned his colleague, "and very ridiculous, also, the
more so, as, if it were in our journal, we should have to repeat it in our daily
report to the authorities, and to-day is the very first time we have to cor.
respond with citizen Bbnezech, minister of the interior.'
1 Register-Journal of the Temple tower, 20th Brumaire.
2 Ibid., 20th Brumaire.
* " Commission of Administrative Police, Paris.
"To the commissaries appointed to the Temple guard.
"Citizens,
"We send you the annexed copy of two orders from the Executive
Directory relative to citizenesses Bocquet Chantereine and Tourzel, of the
20th Brumaire (this present month). You will be good enough to conform
to them exactly, and.acknowledge the receipt of them by the bearer.
" HANNOCQUE.
" GUErIN.
"Administrative Commissaries."'




1795. j                  MARIE-THERESE.                          891
Exclusion of Madame de Tourzel.
These measures had been dictated by various political motives.  It was said that Madame de Tourzel was passionately
"Administrative Commission of Police for Paris.'Extract from the register of the deliberations of the Executive Directory.'20th Brumaire, 4th year of the Republic, one and indivisible.
"The Executive Directory decrees that, from this day forth, citizeness
Bocquet Chantereine, attending on Charlotte Capet in the Temple tower,
shall not leave the Temple, nor have any communication with any person
beyond the walls.  In consequence whereof the commissaries appointed to
the guard of the building are forbidden to give entrance thither to any
other person, or to allow citizeness Bocquet Chantereine to leave it.
" The minister of the interior is intrusted with the execution of this
presenlt decree.                { "REUBELL, President.
"P. BAI nAS, Secretary.
" Sent to the ad(ministrative commission of police to be carried into
execution. Paris, this 21st Brumaire, 4th year of tlhe Reptblic.
"'BENEZECH, Minister of the Interior."
"Exact copy,
"- AIIANN OCQUE,'      GUERIN.
"' Administrative Commissaries."' Administrative Commission of Police for Paris.
"Extract from the register of the deliberations of the Executive Directory.
"20th Brumaire, 4th year of the Republic, one and indivisible.'The Executive Directory annuls the permission granted to citizeness
Tourzel and her daughter to see Charlotte Capet, now detained at the
Temple, three times per decade; in consequence whereof the commissaries
appointed to the Temple guard are forbidden to admit the said citizeness
Tourzel.
"The minister of the interior is intrusted with the execution of this
present decree.                  "REUBELL, President.
"P. BARRAS, Secretary."
Lower down we find the following words:
"Sent to the administrative commission of police, in order to its being
carried into execution.  Paris, this 21st Brumaire, 4th year of the
Repubiic.
Republic  BENEZECH, Minister of the Interior."
"Exact copy,
HANNOCQUE.
" GUERIN.
" Administrative Commissaries."




892              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                 [BooK 1O,
Severity towards Madame le Tourzel.
anxious for the marriage of the young Marie-Therese with the
Archduke Charles; she was suspected of favouring the wishes
of Austria on that head, and it was therefore thought expedient
to get rid of her influence in the Temple.
Be that as it may, the orders given were strictly carried
out.  This unexpected severity, which cut off' all connection
between Madame de Chantereine and her family, threw  her
into  such a state of distress that Marie-Therese, becoming
alarmed for her health, insisted on her claiming the performance of the conditions, under protection  of which she had
entered the Temple.*
Towards Madame de Tourzel measures of greater severity
had been adopted.  "On the 8th November," she says, " an
armed force, accompanied by two police commissaries, came to
my house, at about eight o'clock in the morning, with an order
for my arrest: and not finding me there, the two commissaries
established themselves in my room  to wait my return.  I had
gone out early, and was returning again quietly to breakfast,
when the wife of our housekeeper gave me warning of what
was going on.  I turned back, and went to my legal adviser,
* The Temple commissaries transmitted Madame de Chantereine's
letter to the minister of the interior.'l  larie-Thdrbse, more and more
anxious on account of the nervous state in which she saw her, begged
Gomin to acquaint the government with her uneasiness; and the commissaries closed the report of the day, which they sent to the minister of the
interior, in the following terms:
"Citizeness Chantereine, in great distress at the uncertainty of her
situation, implores you, citizen minister, to attend to her letter of yes
terday; she hopes you will be so good as to give her a iew words in
answer."e
The minister made no reply by letter, but he had Madame de Chante.
reine privately encouraged to fear nothing, and her mind being set at rest
by this assurance she tranquilly awaited the coming of a brighter future.
She did justice to the character of Ni. Benezech, and fearlessly applied to
him on another occasion.s
1 Register-Journal of the Temple tower, report of the 22nd Brumaire, 4tl rear.
2 Ibid., 23rd Brumaire.
8 Ibid., 28th Brumaireo




19v.]       ]         MAnIE-THIERESE.                898
Severity towards Madame de Tourzel.
who resided in the Rue des Baigneurs, in order to gain time
to reflect on what was best to be done in my situation. I
knew that the person who had the correspondence of the King
had been arrested, and that he had in his possession a letter
which I had written to his Majesty, enclosing him one from
Madame. I had besides at my house the manuscript written
by M. fHue, who had urged me to take time to read it over.
All this disturbed me and made me uncertain what to do, when
Madame Charost, whom I had found means to acquaint with
the place to which I had retired, let me know that she had
put the manuscript in a safe place.  My mind being thus set
ati rest on that score, and I being unwilling to let it be said
that I concealed myself at the time I had hoped to have
accompanied Madame, I went home again to run the risk of
whatever might befall me there.  As soon as I entered the
house, the police commissaries made out an inventory of my
papers.  I took my dinner quietly, before I repaired to the
Hotel de Brionne, where the committee of public welfare,
which did not open proceedings before six o'clock, held their
meetings.  My two daughters, Pauline and Madame de Cha.
rost, followed me to the committee.  We were kept more than
an hour in the outer room leading to that where I was to be
examined: they did not fail to give me -all the details of the
death of poor Lemaitre, and to add that, henceforward the
greatest severity would be exercised as regarded the royalists,
and even ladies wearing bonnets. *  I was subjected to a crossexamination which lasted more than two hours; and then, at
eleven o'clock at,night, I was taken to the college of tilhe
Quatre-Nations, which had been turned into a prison, where I
remained in solitary confinement.  Three days after this I
was taken before Sieur Violette, justice of the peace. There
I learned that they had shown no more consideration for
* The lower orders in France do not wear bonnets. A servant would
never think of such an article of dress, neither would her mistress allow
it.-TRAsNSLATOR,,




Q9zi -LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                     [BOOK 19.
Resumption of negociations.
Madame than they had done to myself, and that it was in
consequence of her replies tallying exactly with mine that I
was restored to liberty.  The result,-perhaps the object, of
this last piece of tyranny was to prevent my accompanying
Madame to Vienna, and to have- a pretext for informing the
Emperor that I was prevented from accompanying her by the
fact that an accusation was then hanging over my head."
These occurrences at Paris had not put a stop to the negociations carried on at Basle by the diplomatists of France and
Austria.  These two persons had signed some mutual engagements on the 8th October, which seemed to bring the desired
object nearer than before. The Austrian government, who
were now more than ever suspected of a design to marry Archduke Charles to Madame Royale, by which union they might
revive the right they still considered themselves as possessing
to the territory of Alsace and Lorraine, had already brought
the prisoners included in the exchange near to the frontiers of
France. As early as the 18th November, M. Bacher ha;l
been informed by Baron de Degelmann, that the said prisoners
had arrived at Fribourg, in Brisgau, and that, at the first signal, they could proceed in one day to Riehen, a village situated
in the territory of Basle, which was the spot selected for their
being given up to the French negociator.  From day to day,
and from hour to hour, the latter was expecting from Paris
the announcement of the departure of the daughter of Louis
XVI., but that intelligence did not come.  The reason of this
delay was, that the difficulties occasioned by the insurrection of
Vendemiaire and the bloody repression of the same, by which
the Convention had bid adieu to France, was succeeded by
certain obstacles thrown in the way by the unskilful conduct
of the minister of the Grand-duke of Tuscany, the first prince
who had acknowledged the French republic.  This minister,
M. de Carletti, who had been several months accredited at
Paris, had never taken the least step in favour of the liberation of Madame; but recollecting that she was at the Temple,




.7o95.]                  MARIE-THERESE.                            395
M. Carletti.
when the report of her leaving it had become general, he asked
permission to see a princess so nearly connected by the ties of
blood with his court.  His request not being granted, he renewed it, and  his urging it so warmly and  so ill-advisedly
aroused  the suspicions of the Directory, and M. de Carletti
received his passport to leave France.*
* This departure was hailed by the comic writers of the day in the
following stanzas, to the air of Povero di Calpigi:
"Je suis nie natif de Florence,
Je fus six mois ministre en Fralce;
3Mais d ja m'en voila parti;
Povero caro Carletti!
J'avais l'humeur r6publicaine,
Et je m'accommodais sans peine
De tout ce qu'on faisait ici.
Povero caro Carletfi!
Jaclis Acteon sur Diane
Osa porter un ceil profane:
Par des chiens il fut assailli.
Povero careo Carletti!
A cette jeune prisonniere
Mon coeur ne s'interessait guere;
Je n'y songeai pas jusqu'ici.
Povero caro Caletti!
Tout B coup il me vient en fete
D'etre tant soit peu plus honllte:
Comme Acteon je suis puni.
Povero caro Carletti! "l
Thus, after the drama came the little comedy.  The Imprmdence and
awkwardness of a poor diplomatist were punished as they deserved to be;
but they retardethehe liberation of Madame Royale for several days.
" My native Florence sent me here,
Six months since, her minister;
But now I'm forced from France to flee —
Povero caro Carle/ti!
I'm half republican at heart,
So wisely judged a meddling part
Was not at all the one for me,Povero caro Carletti!
When rash Actnon's prying eyes,
Took fair Diana-by surprise,
Hunted down by dogs was he,Povero caro Carletti I




896              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.               [BOOIK 19.
The exchange decreed.
Still, the movement which carried public opinion along
with it, and which, but for the armed violence of the authorities on the 13th Vendemiaire, and afterwards on the 18th
Fructidor, would, in all probability, have led to the restoration
of monarchy, was making itself felt on every side, and the ideas
and interests of men began to turn to the' exiled Prince.  An
entire re-action was visible in public acts and forms.  The
Executive Directory authorised the departure of the captive
from the Temple in the following terms:
"Extract from the register of the Executive Directory of the 6th
day of Frimaire, 4th year of thie French Republic, one and
indivisible (27th November, 1795).
"The Executive Directory decrees that the ministers of the
interior and of foreign affairs be directed to take all measures
necessary to expedite the exchange of the daughter of the last
King of France for the citizens Camus, Quinette, and other
deputies or agents of the republic; to appoint an officer of
gendarmerie, fit and proper for such a duty, to accompany the
daughter of the last King as far as Basle; and to allow her,
from among the persons who had charge of her education, those
whom  she prefers to go with her,
6' To be despatched conformably.
" REUBEL, President,
" By the Executive Directory'.' LAGARaDE, Secretary-Generale
"B'.uEZECH, lM~inister of the Interior."
M. Benezech, minister of the interior, was as prompt irn
the execution of this order as he had been zealous in promoting
For that captive maiden fair,
Not one tittle did I care;
What on earth was she to me?Povero caro Carlelti!
All at once the fancy came,
To be kind to her I name;
Actmeon-like, I'm forced to fleerPovero caro Carletti i"




17B5. i              MARIE-THERESE.                     8 39
Arrangements for departlre.
it.  The very next morning, 7th Frimaire;  4th year (28th November, 1795), he went in person to the Temple, to acquaint
lMarie-Therese with the news of her liberation, and to ask what
ladies she would wish to accompany her.  Madame first of all
named Madame la Baronne de Mackau, and inquired whether
the persons she took with her might without inconvenience
remain with her at the court of Vienna?  "Certainly," replied
M. Benezech, "if the Emperor will allow them; the objec.
tion, if there be any, will not be made by the French government." Encouraged by these kind expressions of the minister,
" I should like very much," added Marie-The'rise, "1 to take
with me also Madame de Tourzel, who was governess to
my brother, and Madame de S6rent, who was lady-in-waiting
to my aunt."  "I hope," rejoined M. Benezech, "that there
will be no difficulty in carrying out Madame's wishes.  I
will go and communicate them to the Directory, and to tha
persons you have named.  But that is not all; there -ad
several other arrangements which belong more especially to
my department, and I wish them to be made so as to accord
with your own desires.  I mean the articles of dress that
you will have to take with you.  To-day, or to-morrow, I wvil
send persons to consult with you on the subject;," and they
will follow your orders.  I shall then take upon myself the
arrangements for your journey."  M. Benezech left Madamo
much affected by the consideration he had shown her.  Next
day, 8th Frimaire, 4th  year (29th November, 1795), two
members of'the administrative commission of police made
their appearance at the Temple, bringing' the Islowing safeconduct, written in the minister's own hand.t.
"Paris, 7th Frimaire, 4th year of the Republic, one and indivisible.
" The Minister of the Interior,
"Authorises the commissaries on guard at the Temple to
* Register-Journal of the Temple tower, of the 8th Frimaire.
+ lbid;




898            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 19
Arrangements for departure.
give admission to citizens Guerin and Houdeyer, members of the
administrative commission of police, and to permit them  to
confer with the daughter of Louis XVI., now a prisoner in the
Temple tower.
"B6 ENEZEC0H."
The Princess was very moderate in the demands she was
requested to make with respect to clothing and jewels. So
long accustomed to the most rigid simplicity, it seemed as if
she could not consent, but with a bashful kind of timidity, to
the composition of the elegant outfit just offered her by the
revolutionary government.  They had long denied her what
was barely necessary, and now they wished to load her with
superfluities.  She, who had mourning to wear for so many dear
ones, would have deemed it a crime to accept of ornaments.
Therefore, while she expressed her thanks in dignified terms
to the messengers of the authorities, she confined herself to
the selection of some few articles of linen and common stuffs,
and some shoes, of which she stood in need. The police
administrators repeated to her again, that she might extend
her demands very much further; and begged her to make her
wishes and intentions on the subject known without restriction to the commissary keepers of the Temple, who might
then make out a statement to which due attention should be
paid; and then withdrew.
Lasne and Gomin began to make out this list.  They
observed to Madame, that now she was free,' and about to
repair to the court of Austria, she would require some ornaments suitable to her rank; but they spoke in vain. "If
they would only allow me," replied she, "to carry away with
me some few tokens that might remind me of that'rank: if I
had given back to me some articles that belonged to my mother
and myself, and which were taken from us a few days after
our arrival at the tower, that is all I ask."
The two keepers made out a list of the articles that were




a 795.q]            MARIE-THERESE.                    89)9
Gomin's kindness.
or might be used by Marie-Therese-Charlotte,* and sent it to
the administrative commissaries of police. But there the line
of their duty stopped. How could they take upon themselves
to give the authorities an intimation which would look like
advice? They did not dare do so. Gomin tried to put the
minister upon the track, from  which he himself was obliged
to recoil.  There was a chest of drawers in the lower room
of the tower, which had been sealed up for a long time.
Laurent had told him formerly that those drawers contained
diamonds, jewels, and various stuffs, which had belonged to
the royal family. Gomin had kept the secret to himself;
he now thought that the time had come to speak of this
chest of drawers, hoping naturally that it might be opened, and
that, if Laurent's account proved true, it would probably
come into the minister's mind to restore the precious relics
that Madame demanded.
In the following terms, therefore, the good keeper made out
the report, according to the daily duty of his colleague and himself, and sent it to the minister of the interior:
"To the Citizen Minister of the Interior.
"10th Frimaire, 4th year (1st December, 1795).
"In consequence of the demand made to us by the members of the administrative commission of police, on their visit
to the Temple, on the 8th instant, we have this day presented
them with a detailed statement of the articles that are, or may
be, furnished for the use of Marie-Therese-Charlotte.
"There is in the lower room. of the tower a chest of drawers
which have been sealed up; we do not know what they may
contain, but we think it our duty to make you acquainted with
this fact.
"We have nothing else to announce to you.  Guard is
carefully kept'over the tower.
* Register-Journal of the Temple tower, loth Frimaire, 4th year.




400              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                EBOOKI 19.
The chest of drawers.
Gomin's innocent stratagem  succeeded in this particular.
The minister, through the medium  of the administration of
police, demanded an explanation.!A   He learned from  them,
by the report given them  by the keepers of the Temple,
that the chest of drawers in question had been brought down
into the lower room of the tower on the 24th Brumaire, 2nd
year (14th November, 1793), and that the seals had been
affixed to them by the members of the Commune on duty that
day.t Citizens Hannocque, Guerin, administrative commissary
of police, and Baron, justice of the peace of the Section du Mail,
came to the Temple by an order from the minister, to proceed
to the removal of the seals, and to make an investigation into
the contents of the drawers.t
But Gomin's success went no further than this.  "The inventory," he told me, "contained many things which Madame
would have been greatly pleased to have; but I do not think
M. Benezech had power to give them  to her.  I have been
assured that his kind intentions were warmly opposed by the
Directory, who were all divided in opinions and wishes.  Notwithstanding the difficulties he met with, the minister of the
interior did not the less pursue his design of having a suitable
outfit prepared for Marie-Therese.~  Benezech did not stop
here; he appealed to the vanity of the Directors, representing
* Register-Journal of the Temple tower, 12th Frimaire.
+ ibid.
+ Register-Journal of the Temple tower, of the 16th Frimaire. A
circumstantial statement accompanied this inventory, which we give among
the documents, No. VI. This breakingo of the seals was heard of beyond
the walls, and, as is always the case, the fact was exaggerated, disfigured,
and said to apply generally.  To put a stop to this report, citizen
Fran9ois, inspector of national domains, came some days afterwards (on
the 19th Frimaire) to verify the seals affixed in the old Temple palace,
and he stated officially that the administrative commission of police had not
encroached on the duties of the commission of domains (Register-Journal,
of the 19th Frimaire).
~ Finding himself opposed by the prisoner herself, he determined to
act without her consent, and made inquiries of the Temple commissaries
for the names and addresses of the seamstresses and dressmakers of the




1795.]                   MARIE-THERESE.                          401
The outfit.
to them  that it was for the honour of the new  government to
prove to Europe, not only that they did not follow in the bloody
track of the past, but also that they knew  how  to unite with a
rigid performance of their duty, the consideration due to the
representative and daughter of those wvho had ruled the land
for so many ages.  He ventured to propose that the  young
Marie-Thdrese should traverse the country in a calash drawn
by eight horses, and accompanied by all the persons shehad
chosen as her suite.
The effect produced by the boldness and novelty of this
proposal may readily be conceived: still, after the first moment
of surprise, the idea of Benezech was seriously discussed; the
very strangeness of the measure gave it a sort of interest.
Some saw in it, not only an example of the generous sentiments
upheld by the new authorities, but also a proof of the indisputably firm foundation of the republic; others and older politicians were apprehensive lest the spectacle of this last reflection
of royalty might, in some measure, excite  the monarchical
tendency of the people, or provoke revolutionary opposition,
person committed to their charge.l  It was not without some difficulty that
the two commissaries succeeded in procuring the following addresses:-2
Citizeness Clouet, seamstress, No. 670, Rue de Lille.3
Citizeness Garnier, dressmaker, No. 730, Boulevard de Babylon.4
Benezech sent for these workwomen, and gave them their instructions
himself, recommending them  to exercise the most careful zeal and the
promptest exactness; but there was no occasion to give them  such an
exhortation; it was enough for them to know for whom  they were to
work. Five days and five nights were taken up in preparing, at their
warehouses, the outfit intended for the daughter of the last King by the
republican authorities.
1 Register-Journal of the Temple tower, 10th Frimaire, 4th year.
2 Ibid., 17th Frimaire.
a Citizeness Clouet was the same whose little girl used to play with Louis
XVII. In Document No. IX. it will be seen that she was at once laundress and
seamstress to Marie-Thdrdse.
4 Mademoiselle Garnier had the title of Marie-Thfrcse's dressmaker, buit
during her imprisonment the Convention had given her another.  Document No. X.




402            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [nooK 19.
The suite.
indignant at the re-action of the government.  According to
them, it would be equally imprudent to exalt the royalist faction
and to challenge republican feeling; their opinion prevailed,
but yet they displayed a conciliatory spirit.  The Directory
decided that Madame should travel incognito as far as the
frontier, but they permitted her to be conveyed on to Basle in a
superb conveyance drawn by eight horses, and it was desired
that the splendid outfit ordered for her by the minister of the
interior should be presented to her in that town. The republic,
it will be observed, was becoming humane: it consented, with
unusual graciousness, to consider the lady, who might never in
its territory be other than a prisoner, as becoming once more
a princess so soon as she touched a foreign soil; and displayed
a kind of fatuity in proving to Austria that the traditions of
ancient courtesy and knowledge of the world were not entirely
lost. But, on the other hand, the republic did not choose to
seem to favour the matrimonial schemes of the Austrian policy,
and decided, in consequence, that Madame de Tourzel should
not accompany young Marie-Therese.
Benezech informed the Princess by word of mouth of
the new arrangements that had been made for her departure.
Madame was to take but one lady with her, which amounted
to an interdiction to Mesdanes de Tourzel, for the mother and
daughter had never been separated, and Madame could never
have seen the one without missing the other.
It had been desired by Austria that those ladies should
accompany Marie-The'rse. The Baron de Degelmann expressed
himself as follows on the subject, in a note sent to M. Bacher
as early as the 7th October:" It will be readily understood that so young a Princess
could not, during so long a journey, be without some companion with whom she is already acquainted, and in whom
she can confide, and it will also be understood that this
companion should be one who would be welcome where she
is going.  The virtues of Madame do Tourzel, and the




1795.]              MARIE-THERESE.                    403
The suite.
general esteem in  which  she is held, would make her
appointment more acceptable to the court of Vienna than
that of any other lady, a stranger to that court. And as
the Austrian government has been very accommodating in
the surrender of several state-prisoners, together with that
of various other persons who had shared their captivity, we
have some reason to hope that the French authorities will
not be less so in a choice, so natural in itself that it has been
anticipated by many."
This request of Austria had met with a favourable reception
at first; the motives for its subsequent rejection have been
stated, and we shall see hereafter in what manner the change
was explained away by M. Bacher.
From the kind expressions employed by M. Benezech himself, Madame had been induced to think she might possibly be
able to take ~Mesdames de Tourzel, de Mackau, and de Serent
with her, and she could not abandon this hope without a
feeling of profound regret.  "This news," she said to MI. Benezech, " is the more distressing to me, because I had another
similar request to make which will probably be no better received.
Still, the proofs of attachment which my family have received
from M M. Hue and Turgy, make me feel it my duty to beg that
these gentlemen may be allowed to accompany me."  " The
question relating to those ladies, and the persons who are to
travel in the same carriage with you, has been already decided,"
replied the minister; "these latter are to be-one of your
ladies, one of the commissaries appointed to guard you, and
an officer of gendarmerie, whose duty it will be to maintain
the strictest incognito about your person. I cannot alter this
decision, but I promise you that, if it depend upon me, M1M.
Hue and Turgy shall be of the party, or at least shall soon
follow you.  We have still to agree upon the choice of the
three persons who are to accompany you —the lady, the commissary, and the officer —and I beg you will name them
yourself"  "Thank you, Sir," said Madame; "my choice is




404             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTIH.             [Boo  19.
The suite,
made at once: I wish to have Madame de Mackau, Gomin,
and M. Mechain."`
The minister immediately acquainted- those three persons
with Madame's selection of them.  M. Mechain was flattered
at being chosen, and Gomin was delighted; but Madame de
Mackau was confined to bed at that time by a severe illness,
which at her age assumed a very alarming character.   She
collected all her strength to express her deep regret on the
subject to her pupil, begging her to allow her daughter,
Madame  de  Soucy, to accompany her instead. Jladame
Royale accepted the offer.  Madame de Soucy did not stop to
consider the fatigue of so long a journey, the separation from
her family, and, alas! from  her dying mother, whlo demanded all her care.  Home, ifriends, country —she left all
for Madame; the thought that she might be of service to her
making her forget the greatness of the sacrifice.  Her sole
request was, that she might be allowed to take'one of her
children with her.
The preparations for the jouarney were carried on with the
privacy demanded by prudence.  The care of the details had
been intrusted by M. Benezech to M. Cadet-Devaux.   The
splendid equipage intended for the Princess was not sent to
Basle, the Minister having discovered, in all probability, that
it would not be accepted  by the Austrian commissaries;
wherefore it was thought advisable to intrust M. Hue with the
outfit, instead of sending it to Basle.
"Madame Royale wishes you and Turgyt to follow her to
Vienna," said the Minister to M. Hue; "Turgy is ill at
present,'and it is not possible for him  to go.  Here is a
decree for you, therefore, drawn up exactly according to form,
* A captain of gendarmerie, who had been very highly spoken of to
Madame.
+ It was not till several months afterwards, and with great difficulty,
that Turgy succeeded in obtaining a passport. Clery, more fortunate in
that respect, joined Madame at Vienna, some days after her arrival there.




1t95.a]              MARItE-THERESE,                  40O
M. Benezech.
which authorises you to accompany Madame -Royale, and even
to remain- with her, without your being liable on account of
this journey to the laws respecting emigrants.  I am  very
glad to have had it in my power to do this for you and Madame
Royale; it has not been my fault that the hour of her release
has not come sooner."
And as M. Hue listened with an air of surprise to the
words which the republican minister uttered with so much
feeling, in reference to the fate of the daughter of Louis XVI.,
to whom he gave no other name than that of Madame Royale:
" This new costume," said M. Benezech, " is nothing more
than a mask. I will reveal to you one of my most secret
thoughts.  It is-France will never recover her tranquillity
until her ancient form of government be restoret. As soon,
therefore, as you can do so without compromising me, I beg
you will make the offer of my services to the King, and
assure his Majesty that I will do all in my power to further
the interests of his crown."
At length the day of her liberation was drawing near. The
minister of the interior had still to make arrangements with
Marie-Therese and her keepers, as to the manner and the time
of her departure.  He wrote to the latter in the following
terms, with his own hand, on the morning of the 25th Frimaire (16th December),
" I give you notice, citizens, that I shall come this evening, at five o'clock, for the purpose of seeing the prisoner
in the Temple, and beg you will let her know it beforehand;
but I also wish to have some conversation with yourselves beforeo
I visit her apartment."*
In the course of this interview every arrangement was
made for her departure, which was fixed for the next day but
one, at half-past eleven o'clock, P.M.
On the 26th'rimaire, Madamre herself made the necessary
* Register-journal of the Temple tower, 25th Frimaire,




406            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.            [BOOK 19.
The release.
preparations for her journey.  She made choice of the clothes
and linen she wished to take with her (very little of either),
and left the rest to be distributed among the persons employed about the Temple; after which she put on the dress
which she had been accustomed to wear on festival days, and,
going into the garden, saluted the persons who had so often
testified their sympathy with her from the windows in the
neighbourhood.  On the 27th Frimaire, 4th year (18th December, 1795), at eleven o'clock, P.M., Benezech left his hotel
in a carriage, directing the coachman to drive to the Rue
Meslay; there he alighted, and, accompanied only by a confidential servant, repaired to the Temple; he gave two taps
at the door, and at this concerted signal the door was opened
by Lasne and the civic commissary, who were expecting
him, and who recognised the minister. The latter took a
paper out of his pocket, which he gave to Lasne, saying:
"This is to save your responsibility." It was the duplicate of
the decree of the 6th Frimaire, which we have given in
page 396; a duplicate he had written before he left his
house, and to which he had added the following:"In execution of the decree of the Executive Directory,
of which the above is a copy, the minister of the interior
declares that citizens Gomin and Lasne have delivered into
his hands Marie-Therese-Charlotte, daughter of the last
King, in perfect health; which transfer was made at eleven
o'clock, P.M., this day; and he further declares that the said
commissaries are duly discharged from  the custody of the
said Marie-Therese-Charlotte.
" BENEZECH.
"Paris, 27th Frimaire, 4th year of the Republic, one and indivisible."
Lasne hastened to acquaint the Princess and Gomin, wno
were waiting in the council-room. The doors of the Tower
were opened, and Madame took leave of Madame de Chana




1795.]              MARIE-THERESE.                    407
The departure.
tereine.  None of the persons inhabiting the Temple showed
themselves, as Marie-Therdse passed, to bid her farewell. The
sentry was under arms, but he had had his orders, and the
guard remained silent and immoveable; only the officer came
forward, and saluted the Princess. The outer gate was opened:
the night was dark, and the neighbourhood of the Temple
silent.
M. Benezech offered his arm to the Princess, Gomin and
the minister's valet-de-chambre following, and carrying a carpetbag and a parcel. Marie-Thbrdse turned her head, and fixed a
long sad look upon the Temple, while her eyes filled with
tears.  M. Benezech tried to say a few words of sympathising
kindness.  "I feel your consideration and attention to me very
much," said the Princess to him; "but at the same hour when
I regain my liberty by your assistance, how can I help thinking
of those who have crossed that threshold before me? It is
now three years, four months, and five days, since yonder gates
closed upon my family and myself, and to-day I have passed
through them once more-the last and the most unfortunate
of all!"
They reached the Rue Meslay, where the minister's carriage
was waiting.  Madame accepted his offer of a seat in it; the
minister took his place, and Gomin followed him. The vehicle, after various turnings, at last reached the Rue de Bondi,
behind the Opera-house (now the theatre -of the Porte St.
Miartin), where the travelling berlin was stationed.  In this
carriage were two persons, Madame de Soucy and an officer
of gendarmerie.  Madame thanked Benezech warmly for
the kindness he had shown her, and took her place in the
berlin; Madame de Soucy sat beside her, on the back seat,
and M. MIechain and Gomin on the front.  To the latter
the minister now gave his warrant, * the officer had his
" Liberty-Equality.
" The minister of the interior appoints citizen Gomin, one of the commissary keepers of the Temple, to accompany, as far as Basle, Marie-Thbrese



40)8             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOIK 19.
The departure.
already.*  A last word was heard from thee berlin, addressed to
the minister-" Farewell, Sir! " and the carriage drove off;
while Benezech, pleased and affected by the good work he
had just completed, once more got into his coach: he looked
at his watch-it was midnight.
From  the moment that Madame's approaching depatture
had been mooted, Meunier and Baron had been taking steps
to enable themni to accompany the Princess, who also wished
to have them  with her, but who feared that obstacles might
arise to prevent their leaving Paris, and their subsequent residence in a foreign land.  M. Benezech had said: " I will undertake to remove any difficulties that may occur relative to
their departure, but I cannot answer for the good-will of Austria,
with whom we are at war.'
At half-past twelve o'clock next morning, Lasne received
the following note in the Temple:
" I am waiting for Baron and Meunier. Send them to my
house immediately: everything is ready for their departure."{
(Signed)    "' BENEZECH.'
Charlotte, now a prisoner in the Temple: and desires he will conform in
everything to the instructions given him by citizen M6chain, to whom
is intrusted the protection of Marie-Thlrese-Charlotte, and her subsequent
exchange.
" Paris, 27th Frimaire, 4th year of the Republic, one and indivisible.
BENEZECH.
"iMinister of the Interior."
* The instructions given to M. WMchain were, to conduct two women
and a man to Huningue; one of these women to pass for his wife, and the
other for his daughter, and the man for a confidential servant. He was
ordered to prevent any stranger from speaking to them in private, and was
to pay particular attention to the younger of the two women, bearing the
name of Sophie, and to attend carefully to everything that might affect her
health.
f Register-Journal of the Temple tower, 28th Frimaire, 4th year.




19. 3]              MARIE-THERESE.                     409
Madame Royale's account of her journey.
An hour afterwards a berlin left the house of the minister
of the interior; in it were M. Hue, Madame de Soucy's little
boy. Meunier, Baron, and a servant-maid. Madame's little dog,
Coco, had not started with his mistress; the fear of his frolicsome gambols and joyous bark, at the time of her setting off,
in the middle of the night, had caused him  to be shut up,
but he was not forgotten, and he found a place in the second
carriage.
Madame Royale travelled under thle name of Sophie. The
strictest incognito had been recommended to her governess and
herself, and the officer in charge of her was to see that they
observed it.  Notwithstanding every precaution, howvever, the
resemblance of the young Princess to the King, her father, and
the Queen, her mother, betrayed her incognito more than once;
and many a compassionate glance and tearful eye were raised
to her in the course of her journey, which was retarded
on several occasions by the want of horses; for the same
Carletti, whose awkward interference had been prejudicial to
Madame's liberation before, was now once more, though involuntarily, to cross her path, and retard her progress.  Having
left Paris a few hours before her, he had unwittingly taken
away the horses, which were scarce in some places, and she
was obliged in consequence to await their return.
But it is Marie-Therese herself who now takes up the
thread of the narrative of her journey, and the reader is presented here with the travelling diary, station by station, written
with ]her own hand.
The following is the account of her journey-simple, and at
the same time circumstantial-written by Madame the day
after her arrival at Huningue.
" I left the Temple at eleven o'clock on the night of the
18th December, without being seen by any one.  At the
outer-gate I found M. Benezech. The street of the Temple
was quite deserted, there being only the man in attendance on M. Benezech   The latter gave me his arm, and
II.                   S




410            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [Boox 19.
Madame Royale's account of her journey,
we walked as far as the Rue Meslay.  There we found his
carriage, which I entered; with him and M. Gomin.  We
made several turns about the streets, and at last reached
the Boulevards in front of the Opera-house, where we found
a travelling carriage, with Madame de Soucy and M. Mechain, an officer of gendarmerie.  I got in with M. Gomin:
M. Benezech left us, At the gates of Paris our passports
were demanded. At the Charenton station the postilions
would not take assignats; they would absolutely be paid in
nothing but the current coin. We had no other adventure
through the night. At nine o'clock, A. M., we alighted to breakfast at Guisnes.  I was not recognised, and we left the place
again at ten. We had no difficulty in procuring horses. At
about two o'clock I was recognised at the Provins station, and
a crowd formed round the carriage. We set off again, but an
officer of dragoons followed us on horseback to Nogent-surSeine, the next station, where I was recognised by the landlady
of the inn; we alighted, and she treated me with great respect.
The court-yard and the street filled with people. As we got
into the carriage again the spectators were much affected, and
showered benedictions on my head.  Thence we proceeded to
Gray, where the mistress of the post-house informed us that
the courier to the ambassador, Ml. Carletti, had told her that
I was to pass through that place, and that I had two carriages.'Ve reached Gray at eleven o'clock, supped there, and went to
bed. Next day, 20th December, we left it, at six o'clock in the
morning. At the first post-house after Troyes we had some
difficulty in procuring horses, in consequence of M. Carletti's
having taken them.  It was the same throughout the day;
MK. Carletti had been before us, and had taken all the horses.
At length, at eight o'clock in the evening, we reached Vandceuvre, where he had stopped.  M. MIechain went to the
municipality to show them the government order, authorising
him to take horses.  We supped, and set out again at eleven
o'clock at night, throughout which we had little difficulty in




1795.]               MARIE-THERESE.                      411
Madame Royale's account of her journey.
procuring horses.  At nine o'clock on the morning of the
21st we reached Chaumont, where we alighted to breakfast,
There I was recognised, and the room  was soon surrounded
by a number of people wishing to see me, but who were
actuated only with a kind intention.  M. Me'chain sent for the
gendarmerie, who did nothing at all; but the municipality
coming up, assured us that we might set off again, and appeased
the tumult.   Notwithstanding all their care, however, I was
surrounded by a great number of people, all showering blessings
upon me all the way to the carriage.  We set out again, and
reached Fay-Billot at eleven o'clock at nlight, having been
often delayed by the want of horses and by the badness of the
roads.  We found no horses at -this station, and were'obliged,
in consequence, to remain there until six o'clock next morning,
when we left it, and reached Vesoul at eight o'clock in the
evening, having only gone ten leagues that day, owing to the
want of horses.  Thence we went to Ronchamp, which woe
reached at four o'clock, P. Ma., and where we could procure no
horses; we were detained two hours there. At Frayet, the
next station, no horses: however, some came at last, after two
hours' waiting.  We reached Befort at eleven o'clock that same
evening, and set out again next day, 24th December, at six
o'clock in the morning.  We encountered a good many other
difficulties on the road, and at length we arrived at Huningue
at nightfall on the 24th December."
For a long time everything had been ready at Basle for
the completion of the exchange, and, in a recent conference
the two diplomatists, intrusted with this negociation, had made
the final arrangements for it, in concert with the Burgomaster
Bourcard,* and in such a manner as to avoid everything dis* Such was the designation given, in the diplomatic papers, to the
head of the regency of Basle. The custom of Gallicising titles, and even
proper names, in official communications with foreigners, was such, that
the name of "Burckhardt" (those illustrious patricians of Basle) is always
given with the French orthograpby, "Boureard," which we have preserved throughout this account.




412              LOUIS TI-E SEVENTEENTIH.               [nooR 10.
Arrival at Huningue.
tressing and painful to Madame's feelings, or insulting to her
dignity, in the ceremony.  M. Reber, a distinguished merchant of Basle, had readily acceded to the request, secretly
made, to lend his country-house, which was situated at a short
distance  from  Porte  Saint-Jean.   This convenient spot, on
the neutral ground of IIuningue, and the road leading thither,
was chosen for the transfer of the Princess, and every pre.
caution was taken to keep off curious eyes.*:  It had been also
arranged that as soon as the news of Madame's arrival at
Huningue was received, the prisoners taken by Austria should
be brought from Fribourg to the village of Riehen, chief seat
of a bailiwick of that name,. belonging to the republic of
Basle, on the right bank of the Rhine.
The Prince de Gavre, commissioner from  the Emperor of
Austria, had arrived at Basle on the 2Oth November, and, in
common with M. Bacher and Baron de Degelmann, had kept
a watchful eye constantly in the direction of France.
At length, on the morning of Friday, the 25th December,
as soon as the town gates were opened, intelligence was brought
them  of Madame's arrival at; Huningue.t
* These details and every other t hat we give in connection with this
episode, concerning the arrival of Madame at Huningue and her passage to
Basle, were either collected by us on the spot, or drawn from deplomatie
correspondence carried on between the two governments.
+ AM. de Degelmaun  immediately wrote to the burgomaster in the
following terms:
"I have the honour of imforming your excellency that the Princess,
daughter of Louis XVI., arrived at Huningue yesterday evening, and that
the transfer will take place at six o'clock to-morrow evening.
"I request the kind offices of your excellency to be so good as to
acquaint NI. Reber with this arrangement, that he may keep his countryhouse open, and have it warmed at the hour I have just mentioned.
"1I. Bacher wishes to hold a conference with me at six o'clock this
evening in presence of your excellency and the bailiff of ielhen.  Will
your excellency deign to accede to this arrangement, and be so kind as to
send for the bailiff'?
"Well knowing your excellency's goodness, I will beg your kind




17oq;5.]         i     MARIE-THERESE.                          413
The exchange.
M. de Degelmann immediately sent an order to Friburg to
have the prisoners, taken by Austria, conveyed to Riehen.
At six o'clock in the evening MM. Bacher, de Degelmann
and Legrand, bailiff of Riehen, met in the cabinet of the burgomaster, and discussed  the measures proper to  be taken  to
guard againstfall accidents and misunderstanding.'
In the course of the next day, M. Bacher repaired  to
Riehen, to verify the arrival, number, and identity of the
prisoners, that Austria was to give up to France.  Having
alighted before the house of the bailiwick, they were given,
to the  number of twenty-one persons, servants included, by
the  officer in  command of the escort, into the care of M.
Legrand, councillor of state, and bailiff of the place, authorised
to receive them under the safeguard of the neutrality of Switzerland.  This magistrate called their names in presence of M.
Bacher, who, having satisfied himself of their indentity with
the persons named, left the place again immediately.
indulgence beforehand, knowing, that I shall have to be very troublesome
both to-day and to-morrow.
"I may add, in' confidence, that to all appearance we shall turn the
town, taking the road of Kaiseraugst, which M. de Neumann is about to
reconnoitre.                   "I have the honour to be, &e.
"Basle, Friday, 25th December."
* The principal question discussed in this conference are enumerated
in the following letter, sent to M. Bourcard next day Iy M. Bacher.
"You have been so obliging, M. le Bourguemaitre, in offering me
your good offices, and a continuation of your kind attention to put a happy
termination to the negociation for the exchange carried on under your
auspices, and conducted so satisfactorily on either side, that I flatter
myself you will not disapprove of an observation which will appear to you
well-founded, as a necessary and suitable precaution, to say the least, even
if it be considered superfluous and useless on any other consideration. It
is as follows:
" It will be scarcely possible to return from Rielhen before eight or
nine o'clock at night, and the way lies through a small wood; as there
will be some valuable articles with the party, emigrants or other persons,
in disouise, might conceal themselves there for the purpose of insulting the
passers-by, or perhaps doing even worse. It may possibly appear to you a
proper precautioa to acquaint Colonli d'Orell that it will be necessary to




414I              LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                 [B0ooI  19.
HItel du Corbeau.
"rWe now return to Huningue.  MIadame had alighted at
the Corbeau inn, and had taken possession of the room  No.
i IF
HIOTEL DU CORBEAU, IHUNINGUE.
have patrols, as well towards the Weiss as towards HMmIi, in order to
prevent any foul play from the emigrants. There might perhaps also be a
detachment of troops posted in the little wood, on the road between Basle
and Riehen.
"' You will readily comprehend, AI. le Bourguemaitre, how vexatious it
would be to Mi. de Degelmann and myself, but still more to the state of
Basle, if any unpleasant circumstance should occur. As it concerns the
inviolability of the Swiss territory, as well as to prevent the commission of
any improper act or misplaced attempt, I have recourse to your good
offices, Sir, as also to those of AI. the head tribune, your colleague, that,
in conjunction with Colonel d'Orell, you may be so kind as to do us this
service of friendship and good neighbourhood; that is, to leave patrols on
duty fiom five o'clock, till half-past eight, P. a., at latest.
" I make a thousand apologies for troubling you, NI. le Bourguemaitre.
Every one at Basle knows that the travellers will be at Riehen this afternoon, and will proceed to Basle this evening. They are to lodge at the
Trois-Rois Hotel.
"'Excuse haste,
"Health and inviolable friendship.
" BACHER.
"C Saturday morning, 26th December " (dated Monday by mistake).




I%95.]                MARIE-THERESE.                        41 5
Madame Royale at Huningue.
10, on the second filoor,-less fatigued by six days' travelling
than affected by the silent homage of respect and emotion
paid to her on her road.  A few minutes after her arrival, she
wrote to her uncle, Louis XVIII., to give him an account of
her leaving the Temple, and of her arrival on the frontier.
She was finishing her letter, at ten o'clock, P.ri., when M.
Hue arrived.  Their meeting was affecting.  When Hue left
the Temple, all the members of Marie Therese's family were
still living, and this was the first time she had seen him since
that separation.  She received him most cordially, expressing
even more esteem and gratitude for his character and conduct
than pleasure at seeing him again.  The little dog, Coco, had
come in with M. Hue, and at sight of his mistress he almost
expired with delight —like the dog of Ulysses.
Marie Thdrese directed the faithful servant of her house to
send her letter to Louis XVIII.*
It was not unknown in the hotel who the young traveller
was, who was lodging there under the name of Sophie.  The
proprietor of the inn, Francois-Joseph Schuldz, did everything
in his power to give her a handsome reception; and his wife,
notwithstanding her being very near her confinement, which
in some degree checked her activity, regarded it as a great
honour to prepare Madamre's supper with her own hands, and
was about to do so when Meunier arrived, and claimed the
privileges of his office.
Early in the morning of the 25th December, as soon as she
heard that Madame was up, the hostess went up to her room
door to inquire how she was.  She was accompanied by two
* M. Hue has stated that this was not the only time he had received
such a charge, and also, that on one of these eccasions, Madame des
sired him, as a mark of confidence, to read the letter intrusted to him.
Faithful to the ineffable traditions of clemency andl Christian charitiy
handed down to her from her whole family, the young Princess, in this
letter to her uncle, speaking of the murderers of her parents, said to him:'She whose, father, mother, and aunt they brought to the seaffold, implores you, on her knees, to grant them pardon and peace I"




416             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [NOOK 194
Madame Royale at I-Iuningue.
fine children, of nine and ten years old, very neatly dressed, and
each bringing a little bouquet of common flowers, which at that
advanced season it had been very difficult to collect.  As
Madame expressed a wish to see them, Madame de Soucy
admitted them to her chamber. " Are they your own children?"
asked the Princess, addressing Madame de Schuldz.  "The
little girl is mine,"*: replied the hostess; "the little boy is an
orphan, a wvard of my husband's, and brought up by us,.E so he
belongs to us also."  The eyes of lMarie Therese filled with
tears as they rested on the young orphan, and she was so
struck with his resemblance to her brother, that she could not
conceal her emotion.  As a relief from the perturbation of her
mind, she went up to the little girl, and taking her by the
hand, asked her some questions.  Delighted with her innocent
answers and her pretty little face: "What would you say," said
she to Madame Schuldz,'" if I were to ask you to let me take
this child away with me?   " Last night and tlhis mornin","
replied the hostess, "I prayed that God would grant your
every wish; how then, could I refuse this-if you were to form
such an one?" "  I ought not to do so," rejoined the Princess;
"it is too cruel to be separated from  one's parents "  The
effort Madame had made to escape from her own recollections
brought them back to her in spite of herself.  She took the
flowers from the children's hands, and said to them: "I thank
you, and must see you again before I go away; you will come
to bid me good bye, will you not?"
In the course of the day M. Mechain received a letter from
M. Bacher, begging him  to inform  Marie-Therese-Charlotte
that he should come, between four and five o'clock next day, to
take her to the Prince de Gavre and Baron de Degelmann,
wvho had been appointed  to receive her, by his Imperial
* Marie Schudlz, wife of Colonel Prdvost de Saint Cyr, who was killed.27th September, 1820, hy a captain of1 his own regiment, at Perpignan.
t Conrad Hafller, who afterardls became a captain in Algeria, and
died at Strasburg, 29th lMarch, 1837.




17;95.]              MARIE-THERESE.                     417
Madame Royale at Huningue.
Majesty.  M. M6chain, in reply, stated that he had communicatedi this intelligence to Marie-The'rese-Charlotte, and that she
was prepared to conform to it. To this missive Gomin added
another, containing a request that any letters addressed to him,
then lying at the Basle post office, might be sent to him. The
Princess and Madame de Soucy were in daily expectation of
receiving accounts of Madame de Mackau, whom they had left
very ill, and it had been agreed that all such letters should be
addressed to citizen Gomin.  To this request M. Bacher very
readily agreed.*
The arrival of two post-chaises at the little town of Huningue had been the theme of all the gossips of the place ever
since the morning.  The mystery sulrounding the travellers
had only confirmed the suspicions of the people, and Madame's
presence at Huningue was considered as not admitting of a
doubt. The rumour spread on every side, and the Hoitel du
Corbeau was surrounded all day by a great crowd of persons,
in consequence of which orders were given to keep the door
shut, and the Princess was desired not to open the window.
She spent the day in taking a sketch of her room, and in
writing the account of her journey, which we have already
transcribed. More than once, however, she went to the window,
and slightly raised the curtains. The police appointed to protect the hotel were very much needed, for there were some
evil-disposed persons among the crowd, though the people in
general sympathised with the Princess.  Two gendarmes kept
the entrance of the house, but their vigilance was in default
in one instance, for a woman, named Madame Spindler, the
wife of a captain of engineers, disguised herself as a maid* "I will send for your letters now at the Basle post-office, citizen, as
well as for any that may arrive hereafter. Dispose of my services as you
please, and depend on my readiness to be useful to you in everything
depending on myself.
" Health and fraternity,
"t  BACHEi4"
"' Mth Nivose, 4th year."




418            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             [BOOK 19.
Gomin.
servant, that she might have an opportunity of seeing the
princess,-an attempt in which she succeeded by carrying a jug
of water up to her room.
While most anxiously attentive to Madame, as he had been
throughout the journey, Gomin was tortured with the thought
APARTMENT OCCUPIED BY MARIE-THERESE AT I-UNINGUE,
that he was serving her for the last time. His agitation of
mind was too evident in his countenance for -Marie-Thdr'se
not to observe it.  "I am much obliged to you for all the
trouble you have given yourself for me, in this journey," said
she to him.  "Alas, MIadame!" replied Gomin, beginning to
weep; " it is all over, now! "  "I will leave you something to
reminid you of it," returned the Princess, profoundly touched;
"and I will preserve the recollection of your kindness for
ever!"  Gomin understood these words of Madame the next
morning.
The inhabitants of Huningue were early in the streets, for
it was reported in the town that Madame was to leave the
place in the morning.  This mistaken idea supported the
curiosity of the spectators for several long hours; but they




1795s.  MARIE-THERESE.                                419
Departure from Huningue.
became tired of waiting at last, and by the middle of the day
the neighbourhood of the hotel was pretty clear.
At half-past four o'clock, P.M., the arrival of the carriage of
the ambassador of the French republic collected the crowd
again before the HMotel du Corbeau; and M. Bacher, who, as
we have related, had just returned from Riehen, alighted from
the coach.
It was reported among the people that the coach and horses
sent by the Directoryl  to convey Madame to the court of
Vienna, had not been accepted by the commissaries of the
Emperor, who had made it a point of honour to provide in a
suitable manner for his cousin's approaching journey.  The
propriety of this measure was acknowledged by the good sense
of the populace, who were not surprised to hear, a few minutes
afterwards, that the daughter of Louis XVI. had refused the
outfit prepared for her by the revolutionary government.' The moment of Madame's departure from  Iuningue wa&
marked by several affecting scenes.  The two children we have
mentioned had come to take leave of her, and the hostess, who
accompanied them, had much difficulty in concealing her
emotion.  The Princess made her a present of a handkerchief for the neck, which she had worn herself; she gave
another to little Marie, and two pocket-handkerchiefs to young
Conrad. Thereupon Madame Schuldz burst into tears. "Come,
come! good mother; do not cry in this way," said MarieTherese to her; "it is a duty to control yourself. When you
are a little composed I will ask you to do something for me."
The hope of being of some use to Madame appeased the good
landlady as if by magic, but her tears began to flow again
when Madame  said  to her: "If you ever have another
daughter, I wish you to let her bear my name."t
* We have previovsly stated that neither the carriage nor the horses
were sent.
+ This daughter was born shortly afterwards, and was named MarieThero~se-Charlotte Schuldz, She is now Madame Sartory. Her father,




420              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.               [BOOn  19,
Departure from Huningue.
Madame Schuldz and the two children  withdrew  from
Madame's apartment as soon as M. Bacher arrived.  The
attitude and words of the republican diplomatist were proper
and respectful.  Madame presented to him  the persons who
had accompanied her, and wished to follow her to Vienna.
" My authority is unfortunately null in that respect," replied
M. Bacher; "the commissaries of the imperial court will
certainly not oppose your wishes, but I do not know whether
all the persons you take with you will be allowed to remain at
Vienna.  It is very evident, however," he added, looking at
Madamne de Soucy, "that no difficulties will be made with
respect to Madailie's continuing with you." We shall see, hereafter, that M. Bacher was mistaken.
At this moment the landlord of the inn, who had just
heard of the satisfaction and gratitude of his wife, came into:the room, and undaunted by the presence of the secretary to
the embassy, the gendarme officer, or the other persons who
surrounded the Princess, he threw  himself at her feet, imnploring her blessing.  Madame gave him  her hand to kiss.
The man's eyes were sparkling with enthusiastic devotion;
the daughter of Louis XVI., in her seventeenth year, was
already regarded by him  as a saint: her youth, tried in the
school of affliction, was become venerable, and it seemed to
himn  that her brows were encircled with the aureola of her
parents' martyrdom.
Then, catching sight of Gomin, who, with his habitual
reserve, kept at a distance, Madame went up to him, and
F. J. Schuldz, died in April, 1828.  His widow, who set much store
by the house, on account of the traditions connected with it by MarieTherese, recommended her children never to leave it.  Circumstances
have proved stronger than their will, but the sentiments of the family
are the same to this day. The traditions of that period are preserved
amonig them with a religious respect, as well as the portrait of Madame,
with this inscription beneath, placed there by 3M. Schuldz:  <'I lodged
here, No. 10, at the Hotel du Corbeau, from  the 24th to the 26th
December, 1795."




17J5.].MkARIE-TTIERESE.                     421
Departure from Huningue.
taking a paper folded ill four, from a small portfolio, she presented it to him.  "I do not know," she said, "whether I
shall be able to speak to you again at Basle, and I wish to
discharge my promise now.  Farewell: do not weep, and have
trust in God always!"
All was now ready, and they went down stairs. M. Mechain
preceded the Princess, and gave some orders to the gendarmes
at the foot of the staircase.  M. Bacher walked beside Madame,
and behind them  came Madame de Soucy and her young son,
and MM. Hue and Gomin, followed by Meunier, Baron, and a
lady's-maid, while Madame Schuldz and the other people of
the inn tried to gain a last glimpse of the daughter of Louis
XVI.  When she reached  the carriage, which was now to
carry her across the frontier, Madame turned her head; the
love of her country, so intimately connected in her heart with
her feeling of the greatness and glory of her family, overcame
the recollection of all her sufferings, and her eyes filled with
tears.  "I leave France with much regret," she said to those
around her; "1 I shall never cease to regard it as my country.'"!
Madame got into the first carriage, together with Madame
de Soucy and MM. Bacher and Mechain, and the other persons took possession of the second. They set off, the Princess
looking long and sadly on the horizon extending before her:
* These words were heard by M. Bacher, for he wrote that same day in
his dispatches to his government:
"I have just seen the daughter of the last King of the French; she
displayed the most acute regret at leaving France; the honours awaiting
her at the court of Austria affect her very much less than the regret of her
country."
In another letter, addressed to the minister of foreign affairs, dated
7th Niv6se, 4th year (28th December, 1795), he said: "The young traveller was asking citizeness Soucy what she might expect to be her destiny
at Vienna. Citizeness Soucy replied that she might, perhaps, espouse an
archduke. To this she ingenuously replied:'You do not think what you
are saying: do you not know that we are at war?' Citizeness Soucy
answered( her:'But perhaps you will be an angel of peace.''On that
conditio(n,' returned she,'I would make such a sacrifice to my country.''




422            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOk 19,
The exchange.
the hour was come at last, when the exchange that had been
agreed upon as the price of her freedom was to be effected,
It had been determined to spare her the melancholy spectacle.
At five o'clock, P.M. (an hour after AM. Bacher), the Prince
de Gavre, followed by six carriages, left Basle, by Porte SaintPaul, for M. Reber's country-house. The gate, which had
closed an hour before, was opened for him; at the same time
Baron de Degelmann left the town by Porte Saint-Jean.
Zaslin, a commissary of police, together with five men of the
Marechaussee, had repaired to the places to which they had been
directed, in order to prevent any disorder, as well as Aide dez  ~l_;f~~-~-~-~-;~;~,~, ~- \  =  — C-_    CZ~L   i=_~;- _\
M. DE REBER'S HOUSE, NEAR BASLE.
camp Kolb, who was to accompany the Princess's coach on
horseback to the frontier. Moreover, as a precautionary measure, and to prevent a crowd, the gates had been closed half an
hour earlier than usual, so that there were scarcely twenty
spectators on the road from Huningue, very few having left
the town in time.
With the exception of those persons who were necessarily
initiated into all secrets, no one knew where the place of
the transfer was to be, and M. Reber had not even told any of
his own family. Notwithstanding this, however, M. Stehelin,




!795.]               MARIE-THERESE.                     428
The exchange.
one of his sons-in-law, could not refrain from hastening to his
father-in-law's- villa, as soon as it struck him that the exchange
might take place there, and he became its spectator.
The representatives of Austria had been at the house of
M. Reber for about half-an-hour, when Marie-Thdrese's carriage stopped at the gate. Though it was open, the horses did
not go in; the Princess alighted in the mud,? and traversed
the damp path on foot, taking M. Bacher's arm. The Austrian
envoys, who were waiting for her at the threshold of the house,
conducted her into the saloon, the Prince de Gavre paying her
a compliment adapted to the circumstances, to which she replied with as much grace as presence of mind.
J               _ 
SALOON WHERE THE EXCHANGE TOOK PLACE.
Immediately afterwards, a formal receipt was given to M.
Bacher, couched in the following terms:
I, the undersigned, in virtue of the orders of his Majesty
the Emperor, make declaration  that I have received the
Princess Marie-Therese, daughter of Louis XVI., from  the
hands of M. Bacher, the French commissary delegated for
that purpose.
"THE PRINCE DE GAVRE."
* Report made to the Burgomaster Bourcard.




424             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.               [BOOK 19.
The outfit.
After receiving this official document, M. Bacher got into
his carriage again, entered  the town by Porte  Saint-Jean,
which was opened for him, and returned in all haste to Riehen,
to free the prisoners still detained there.
There was a collation prepared for Madame in Reber's
country-house; an elegantly furnished table awaited her presence in the saloon.  The Princess took nothing but a glass of
wine-and-water; but, either because she anticipated having to
pass a very loing night on the road, or that she was afraid of
offending by an absolute refusal of everything, she had a loaf
of fine white bread put up in a parcel, and laid in the carriage.
The room next the saloon, on the left, had been reserved
for the private use of Madame. She went in to have her shoes
wiped: M. Hue asked permission to speak with her.  "I
have been directed," said he to her, "by the minister of the
interior, to give Madame two trunks containing the outfit
intended for her -Royal Highness whenever we should reach
the neutral territory of Basle.  Is it Madame's wish that I
should open them?'  " No," replied the Princess; " give
them  to my conductors, MM. Mechain and Gomin, and beg
them  to thank M. Benezech for me; I am  grateful for his
attention, but I cannot accept his offers.
M. Hue executed this order.*
* List of the articles, contained in the two trunks, that were intended
to serve as an outfit for the daughter of the last King of the French:4 dozen chemises.
2 dozen linen handkerchiefs.
2 dozen cambric handkerchiefs.
3 linen dressing-gowns, trimmed with embroidered muslin.
3 cambric dressing-gowns, trimmed with embroidered muslin.
3 dozen toilet towels.
6 dozen wardrobe cloths.
6 fustian petticoats.
6 upper petticoats of English dimity, trimmed with embroidered muslin.
12 pairs of pockets, trimmed with embroidered muslin.
12 side pincushions, filled.
6 toilet pincushions.




1195.J                   MARIE-THERESE.                          425
The outfit.
Coming back into the saloon, Madame told the Prince de
Gavre that she was ready to accompany him, bowed to Baron
12 night-caps, trimmed with lace.
12 night-bands.
12 embroidered linen caps, trimmed with lace.
6 linen neckerchiefs, trimmed with lace.
12 double linen kerchiefs.
1 embroidered linen mantle, trimmed with point lace.
1 embroidered linen mantle, trimmed with English lace.
2 trimmed linen mantles.
2 embroidered and trimmed muslin mantles.
12 night kercliiefs of trimmed cambric.
4 dozen lace frills.
2 dozen fustian rubbing-cloths.
2 dozen muslin rubbing-cloths.
1 English stomacher.
1 point-lace stomacher.
1 book-muslin dress, embroidered with gold.
I linen dress, embroidered in white.
4 pieces of embroidered muslin.
2 pieces of fine plain cambric.
2 pieces of cambric-muslin, for 4 morning-gowns.
1 piece of English dimity, for 2 other morning-gowns.
1 (Iress of rose-coloured velvet.
1 white satin dress, lined with taffeta.
1 dress of glazed mohair.
2 white petticoats of Italian taffeta.
1 pink petticoat of Italian taffeta.
1 piece of plain muslin, for 6 jackets.
1 piece of' embroidered muslin to trim. the jackets.
English dimity to make 6 pairs of stays, with the lining.
12 pairs of white silk stockings.
2 dozen pairs of thread stockings.
2 dozen pairs of knitted socks.
12 ribbon trimmings.
1 pe!ise of wadded tafebta.
1 muff:
1 tippet.
"LE C. GoXNm.
" LASNEe"
On the back was written:
"BARoN, Hormnre de Confiance.
"  IMUNIER, Head-Cook."
"We, Jacques-Justin-Th&obald Bacher, commissary appointed by the




4-26             LOUTS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 19.
The outfit.
de Degelmann, bid adieu to M. M6chain and Gomin, and then,
attended by Madame de Soucy and M. de Gavre, the Princess
government to superintend the transfer of the daughter of the last King of
the French at the Basle frontier, certify that the two trunks intended for
her outfit were, on the 5th Niv6se, 4th year, the day of her journey to
Basle, dep6sited by the Baron Degelmann, envoy and plenipotentiary from
the court of Vienna, with the Burgomaster Bourcard, in order that they
might be conveyed to us; on hearing of which we begged of him, in his
quality of magistrate and head of a neutral state, to retain them in his keeping
till the ultimate decision of the minister of the French republic should be
made known; and, in consequence, the said trunks remained in this neutral
depot till the 7th Germinal, 5th year, on which day they were given up in
our presence, in the same condition in which they were received, to M.
Rodolph Preywerek, conductor of the diligence of Basle, to be by him sent
back to Paris.
"Further, we certify that the two trunks in question ought to contain
the articles enumerated above, according to the declaration made, and the
original list given by Baron de Degelmann at the time of their delivery;
but they were not opened to verify their contents.
"BA CHIEP.
"Basle, 7th Germinal, 5th year of the French republic,
one and indivisible."
Note written from the dictation of the Burgomaster Bourcard.
"The trunks in question were deposited with the Burgomaster Boureard
at the time when the Princess was passing through the city of Basle, with
directions to have them conveyed immediately to M. Bacher, commissary,
which fact was immediately communicated to the said M. Bacher, who
begged that they might be allowed to remain in the neutral store, where
they were placed, until he should have been informed as to what was the
ultimate decision of the French republic with respect to their further
destination.
"The list of the contents of the said trunks was sent with them, and
they remained unopened up to the time when, in exactly the same condition
in which they were originally received, they were transferred to the care of
MI. Rodolph Preywerck, director of the Basle diligence to Paris, by M,
Bacher, in obedience to orders from the minister of the interior."
"Received from his excellency, the Burgomaster Bourcard, two trunks
belonging to the French republic, withdrawn by order of the minister of
the interior and the director of posts and messageries, according to the
notification of the same also made to M. Bacher.' JEAN-RODOLPH P1tEYWERCK.
CBasle, 25th March, 1795."




1795.1]                  ARIE-THERESE.                        4.27
Journey to Vienna.
took her place in an imperial carriage, which was drawn by
six horses.
It was about seven o'clock.  The weather was cold and
clear. The moon was shining very brightly. It had not been
the original intention to pass through the town, but to skirt
the walls outside, and, crossing the river Birsig by the bridge
of Birse, to take the road to Rhinfeld by Augst; but the heavy
rains had swollen the Birsig so much that, by the advice of M.
Neumann, this plan was abandoned.*
Porte Saint-Jean was opened, and the imperial carriage
entered the town, followed by five other coaches drawn by six
and four horses.  In the streets, the persons attracted thither
by curiosity kept at a respectful distance; but at the Pont du
Rhin the crowd began to increase and draw nearer.t  Some
of the more indiscreet among them climbed up on the wheels,
while others turned their lanterns so as to light up the inside
of the carriages; but these were only exceptions, and the progress of the party was not obstructed anywhere. Aide-de-camp
Kolb rode beside the window where the Princess sat, while a
police commissary kept at a short distance behind.  Agreeably
to the request of M. Bacher, there were troops stationed on
patrol before Little Basle, and on the Riehen road,
When they left the town, Kolb put himself at the head of
~ See the letter of Degelmann, cited in the note, page 412.
+ Among the curious spectators who surrounded the carriage, figured
M3. Fesch, Archdeacon of Ajaccio, who had been a refugee at Basle ever
since the Reign of Terror. He had left the family of his sister, Madame
Letitia Bonaparte, at Marseilles, in very embarrassed circumstances, and
had come to Basle, to which city his own family originally belonoed, and
where he hoped to find friends still, with the idea of mendiug his fortune
in that place.
His friends and lhe were in the habit of meeting in the library occupying
the ground-floor of a house just opposite the Swan Hotel, at the corner of
Firmnark and Storche-gasse Strasse. But, on that evening, the uncle of the
yosung General Bonap)arte left his companions in reading and philosophical
discussion, and went to the Pont du lRhin to see the last reflected light of
the royal Bourbon race as it passed by, certainly without any notion, as he
did so, that he himself belonged to the coming dynasty.




428             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.               [BOOK 19.
Journey to Vienna.
a detachment of Swiss troops, sent as Madame's escort to the
frontier; her Royal Highness passed the night at Lauffenburg,
which lies at a distance of seven leagues from Basle, and is
one of the foiur forest towns* belonging to further Austria,
where the suite appointed by the Emperor to attend his cousin
were awaiting her arrival.
Next morning, for the first time since the month of August,
1792, Madame entered a church; for the first time was she
present at Divine service, performed in memory of her parents,
and that in a foreign land!
It was a quarter-past seven o'clock when M. Bacher returned
to Riehen, bringing a certificate of the transfer of the Princess
to the care of the Austrian commissaries.  He presented the
paper to the bailiff, who hastened to inform  the French pri.
soners that they were free.  Cries of " Vive la Reupzblique!"
were heard on all sides; but the voices of Camus and Drouet
were louder than any of the rest.
That same evening they all repaired to Basle, which they
reached at about nine o'clock.  A detachment of Swiss dragoons,
who had accompanied M. Bacher to Riehen, escorted the
prisoners to the entrance of the town. The Austrian officers
who had brought the latter from Fribourg, followed them
willingly to Basle, and alighting with them  at the Hotel des
Trois-Rois, had no scruple in joining their party at the gay
supper by which they celebrated the hour of their liberation.
At ten o'clock, the effects of the state prisoners were given
up to the Burgomaster Bourcard, by the minister of his imperial and royal majesty,{ and at eleven o'clock, M. Bacher
made out an inventory of them.e  At two o'clock in the
morning, Degelmann set out for Lauffenburg.
* Such was the designation of the four Gerranl towns on thie Rhine,
above Basle, in the neighbourhood of the Black Forest, viz., Rheinfeld,
Waldshut, Seckingen, and Lauffenburg.
+ Report made to the Burgomaster Bourcard.
+ Ibid.




1t95.s].MARIE-THERESEE.                                 29
Journey to Vienna.
Thus ended this memorable day, marked by a political
event, which will be preserved in history as another proof of
the instability of earthly things.
For some time the name of lMarie-Therese-Charlotte was
the theme of every tongue in Basle. Congratulatory addresses
were presented to the negociating ministers, and verses were
made in honour of the Prince de Gavre. The arts lent their aid
to these sentiments, and a portrait of the Princess (an engrao
ving of which forms the frontispiece to this volume), appeared,*
published by Charles de Mechel, a distinguished engraver.
Every heart was interested in the event that had just taken
place.  The republic of Basle celebrated the date of it in her
own annals, and, through the medium of its council, passed
the following resolution:
"Decree of the Lesser Council of the Republic of Basle,
30th December, 1795
"Having heard the account of the exchange carried out
last Saturday, of the French Princess, daughter of the very
holy (hochselig), King Louis XVI., against the French ministers
and prisoners detained in Austria, the council decrees:
"' The most grateful thanks of their lordships to his Excellency the Regent, M. le Bourguemaitre Bourcard, for the great
pains and prudent measures taken by him on this occasion.
"As also the thanks and compliments of their lordships
to the Bailiff Legrand, for his services and the trouble he has
taken."
Meanwhile, the court of Austria, already astonished at the
delay, and unable to comprehend what the obstacles could be
that prevented the immediate completion of an affair which
they had hastened, not merely in wish, but also by their
prompt performance of every engagement into which they had
* The marriage desired by Austria, and by Madame de Tourzel, was
looked upon as so certain to take place, that the portrait of Archduke
Charles was engraved as a pendant to the above.




430              LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                 [BooK 19.
Arrival at Vienna.
entered with France, learned, with marked disappointment,
that young Marie-Therese was not accompanied by Mesdames
de Tourzel.*
The Emperor, who had not given up his plan of uniting
the daughter of Marie-Antoinette to her cousin, Archduke
Charles, thought that the presence of Madame de Soucy, who
had been chosen against his Wvishes, might stand in the way of
such an arrangement; and his distrust being further strengthened
by the opinion of some suspicious spirits in his court, it was
decided that she should be sent back to France.
After remaining two days in the chateau of her aunt, the
Archduchess Elizabeth, at Inspruck, Madame Royale arrived
at Vienna on the 9th January. The Emperor received her
with affectionate kindness, and gave her an establishment on
the footing of an archduchess.   The Prince de Gavre was
appointed grand master of the household, and Madame  de
Chanclot grand mistress.  Thus, separated from  her august
pupil, Madame de Soucy soon heard that, for political reasons,
arising from  the war then existing between the two nations,
* Complaints were made by them on account of the delay and alteration in the selection of a companion for the Princess.
M. Bacher replied, on the 11th Nivfse, 4th year (1st January, 1796),
as follows, in the name of his government:
"The delay in the departure of the daughter of the last King of the
French was necessary, and the Executive Directory of the French Republic, would have desired nothing better than to have been able to spare
the state prisoners of France, detained in the hereditary dominions of
Austria, any prolongation of a captivity so little deserved by them.
" The motive for rescinding the nomination of Mesdames de Tourzel,
and substituting Madame de Soucy, to accompany the daughter of the last
King of the French to Basle, was, that the sole object of such an arrangement was to give the latter some lady as a companion who might be
agreeable to her, and in whom she could confide. She herself desired to
have Madame de Soucy, who had brought her up, and, as it was entirely
and solely for her satisfaction that the French government had mentioned
Madame de Tourzel, this object is now gained."l
Austria was not satisfied with this reply.
1 Correspondence relating to the exchange.




1795.]                  MARIE-THERESE.                         431l
Dismissal of Madame de Soucy.
io French subject would be allowed to remain in the service of
Madame.*
* Under this pretext was concealed an insult which was keenly felt by
Madame de Soucy, and she asked for a private audience of the Emperor.
"My cousin is munch attached to Madame, your mother," said his Majesty
to her, "and she has not failed to let me know of your devotion to her
person. I am very sorry, Madame, to be obliged to separate you from my
cousin, but the state of the war between the two nations renders such a
measure necessary."  Then perceiving that Madame de Soucy had a paper
in her hand: "Is that paper for me, Madame?" asked he. " No, Sire, it
is my farewell letter to Madame," replied Madame de Soucy, weeping.
"Intrust it to me, Madame," said the Emperor; "I will give it to my
cousin myself." The letter, however, in compliance with the rigid etiquette
of the German court, passed through the hands of Madame de Chanclot,
and Madame, who was much distressed at being separated from her
governess, sent the following in reply, written entirely in her own hand:
"I received your letter, Madame, from Madame de Chanclot, and am
much affected by it. I will speak to the Emperor about you; hle is very
kind, but you know I always told you on our journey, that I feared we
should be separated in consequence of the war.  This is the case with all
the other French persons who accompanied me. I beg you will try to
console M. Hue, that faithful servant of my father; I am  sure that the
Emperor will not forsake him, and am also sure of your courage. I will
pray for you, and trust you ewill have a prosperous journey.  Say all kind
things to your mother for me. I thank you for the sacrifice you made in
leaving your family and your country to follow my fortune, and will never
forget it. Farewell, and depend upon the constant affection of
" MARIE-THERE SE-C1fAR-LOTTE."
The Emperor allowed M. Hue to remain at Vienna, though, to prevent
the distressing idea of a personal exclusion of Madame de Soucy, he had
decided that all the French attendants who had come with the Princess
should be included in the same measure.  " In consequence of these
arrangements, Meunier, the cook, and Miarin Baron, man-servant, were
sent away by diligence, on the 20th January.  On her part, the Marquise
de Soucy set out with her little boy and lady's-maid, on the 23rd of the
same month, having been provided with whatever could contribute to the
comfort of her journey."' She returned by Basle, as Meunier and Baron
had done, and her unexpected return and stay in that town, gave rise to
various unfavourable reports.2  At length, after completing a duty which
had drawn more than one calumniatory rumour upon her, she arrived at
1 Letter of M. le Baron de Degelmann, of the 1st February, 1796.-Letter of M.
Bacher, bearing only the date of Friday morning.
2 See, p. 483, the article in the " Strasburgischer Welbote."




LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [BOOK 19.
Madame Royale's magnanimity.
France had now  restored to Austria the last remaining
scion of the blood of Marie-Antoinette, the most brilliant arch
duchess she had ever owned.  Austria gave her a most enviable
position, in a most powerful court, and under the care of a
most distinguished monarch; but while she was grateful for
the kind intentions of the imperial family, the young Princess
could not help showing that she desired something more than
the gracious offers made to her.  She had a cousin, proscribed
like herself, whose refuge in a foreign land might be taken
from  him  any day; she had a famnily, over which the fatality
that attended the Stuart line seemed impending; and her sympathy with misfortune, aided by her sentiments of filial submission, had decided the bias of her heart.  Her inclination
led her towards that side where there were griefs to share, and
tears to dry; and, therefore, the allurements of prosperity, did
not detain her long at Vienna, before she asked to be allowed
her share in an exile which was to last a long time, and then
to begin again never more to end.
The Emperor had presumed too much on the pains he had
taken to bring about the marriage, for which he was so anxious.
The dismissal of Madame de Soucy was an act of useless
severity.  When combinations of political ingenuity are employed to control elevated minds and decided characters, the
power that wields them is often mistaken in the result; on the
other hand, when simple benevolence and generosity are the
motives of action, they are almost always successful.
Paris in time to have the melancholy consolation of closing her mother's
eyes.
A few days after her arrival, Madame de Soucy was arrested, and kept
for several months in confinement. Having come from Paris, she had
been suspected at Vienna; and coming from Vienna, was suspected at
Paris; but her heart never changed. Devotion would not be devotion if
it could only compromise you once.
The greatest praise that can be given to Madame de Solcy is, doubtless,
the friendship with which she was honoured by Madame Elizabeth and the
Queen Marie Clotilde, those saintly sisters of their Majesties, Louis XVL,
Louis XVIII., and Charles X.




!o96.]                 MARIE-THERESE.                           4838
Imperial presents.
The negociation at Basle was crowned with several gifts
from  the Emperor;* these acts of munificence were received
with lively gratitude, and called forth more congratulations,
compliments, and adulation, addressed to the donor as well as
to the recipients, than either would have reaped from  the most
serious results of policy the most refined.
Letters of courtesy were exchanged  on the subject; the
rewards thus sent were enumerated in the newspapers, and
their exact value stated, together with the names of those who
had received them; and, by insinuation, they indicated the
persons, who, as it seemed to them, ought to receive rewards
also.+
* Baron de Thugut, minister of state to his Imperial Majesty, wrote
to  I. de Degelmann in the following terms:
" Vienna, 3rd February, 1796.
6" Highly honoured Baron,
"A packet has been sent to your address this evening by the messagerie, containing:
"6 An enamelled gold snuff-box, set in brilliants, and with the initials of
his Majesty, also in brilliants.
"A ring, set in brilliants.
"A gold medal, attached to a gold chain.
" The first is intended for 3I. le Bourguemaltre Bourcard, at Basle,
the second for M. Reber. and the third for Aide-de-camp Kolb, as an
acknowledgment of their attention, and a mark of his  Iajesty's approval
of the same.  You will be good enough to acquaint his Excellency M.
Bourcard, in particular, that his Majesty has availed himself with pleasure
of this opportunity to express his gratitude for the sentiments he has displayed on many occasions, and which your Excellency has frequently had
occasion to praise.
"I have the honour to be, &c.,
"' BARON DrE TIhUGUT.
"To M. le Baron de Degelmann."
f Translation of an article published in the Strasburg " Courier of the
World" (" Strasburgischer WVelbote,") No. 138.
"Dienstags, den 1 ten Marz, 1796.-Primidi, 11th Vent6se, 4th year
(Friday, 1st March, 1796).
" Letter from Switzerland, 26th February.
"Some days since citizeness Soucy returned to Basle from Vienna, on
her way to France. Rich presents had been made her at the imperial
I.L                      T




434               LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                 [BOOK 19.
Gomin's present.
But there was one gift that escaped the profaning eyes of
the press and of the rest of the world. It was that presented
by Madame to Gomin, at the moment of her leaving Huningue. It consisted neither of gold nor of diamonds, yet its
value was far above that of every other, for it came from the
heart, and went to the heart, and therefore was never talked
about. It was a paper, folded in four, on the two first pages of
which was the account of her journey from Paris to Huningue,
which we have given at page 410.  There were a few lines
addressed personally to Gomin on the third page. This proof
of an affection so noble and so holy was never divulged by the
faithful servant.  He preserved it as a sacred treasure, to be
opened  in  secret with a pious hand, and  regarded with a
glistening eye. The paper never left him; folded as it had
been when he received it, he wore it next his heart to the end
of his life, and there it was found on the 17th January, 1841,
when the throbbing of that noble heart was hushed for ever.  It
contained the following lines:
"My journey, notwithstanding my sorrow, was made agreeable to me by the presence of a compassionate being, with
court, but she met with little confidence there, and was treated as though she
had been a spy of the French government. The day before yesterday some
handsome presents arrived from the court of Vienna, intended fobr several
inhabitants of Basle, who have been of service in the transactions relating
to the late exchange. M. le Bourguemaitre Bourcard, who had taken all
the measures necessary for its completion, received a beautiful snuff-box,
set in diamonds, value four hundred louis; Reber, the merchant, a ring,
value about two hundred louis; Kolb, the officer on duty, who escorted the
Princess to the frontier, at the head of a small detachment, a gold chain,
value fifty louis. Everybody asks what will be given by the French government to M. Legrand, bailiff of Riehen, who is a man of integrity and
understanding, and who received the French prisoners exchanged for the
Princess, and kept them in his charge until the arrival of the daughter
of Louis XVI. at Basle."l
1 This letter was very probably written by M. Ochs, first secretauy of state of
Basle, and correspondent of the "Strasburgischer FYelbote." He was afterwards
grand tribune of Basle, and, ultimately, director of the Helvetic republic under
Napoleon.. M. Legrand, —whose praise he sounds,-was a friend of his, and afterwards became his colleague in the directory




43 ~.,e 7,i~~-" ~'~~s ~C ~1  ~r.~~.r olwfu    e.n-a  O  "4:
~l4-te,                                  Ie~~~~-.0 f.  ft  r v"
~>7e.~~~~  ~o, ~,~~~ &..pn
4mnAR oWJ 7-m4A4 1 z 7-      tmw <t
~~tz  cwurotv,mCh7sr p    e P~ hrA  k._.g;~""~~a:-~eni    v,,Ii t,,tw tg tsFa - ""a, S7 




*Sv>Ox~~~~~~~v~~4(44            t4- avt-,fe 4~
4~4 ABEQ           a() d Ca4b  Cr4Le4~t:4dat   # 
~~04~~~~~~1~~k       Z440441 ek~faXW~a*              y
t ie h4      h4  O                       d4a,, -A4
ga_  o, WOhs Cl44A.-l                              PAWr
to~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~s
A d~~~~~~~~od eeJ<Lne P/FcuP ctfos 
4At0IG4w eLA
9  4 H art4 All 6 AuV.i A6aA&
ARMYL~ ~uYlcati~-  L~- w ~PI,6 arezr~p~Hg  A d  Xv/,>>h ~UL.~c. n~l
>X~~~~~~v  atter 9 AA~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1
+  t   g o o d.~~~~~~~~~~~~~w  e   Zav<~eTf~h~C
FACE {$~~~~~"dw"4 rbsX CXma.he p"4G"'9t4 d
~(~Uit~_    6cbys~tof L  c+~3    An 4/sss*~L~tSe  LB(L &. As
li-~ J;~ aM-ai E~Crk&tCL4w  -e~~~,               u   ~~~~-~




LU Y~~y~y~ jnlm~4kC4U1440L - /a4*&  YI4,hcLA on4tw J
I'd~La~r c~y~o m  &D  Al- b en  Hi *L 
iv~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* ty a tQ, 
2'2wre:C-~~~~~~~~en~peua LIZ  ##iaw/At
Ja-;                  C    a    t
>r~6L l-a;L//e<   Ucair~lmooks (D Aft —'7., us"..rg. anr
~-'3,L~ti~-,~I ~RJ17~L~~~~~~lT;~~~2-;~
l~~~~~~~k~~            19a sewYC~tydY~P/;~ s-aq* ~n  ~;~4-LlCl~r~JL
~u~P-Qc~UL~P  lll ~lD~BjlL~~Il~~ am~b  ~
~~~~~i-""~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I/1K-4*~~~e~/-,j~,e;~pp~~~  B~L-;/IU~;e~l~~dnFC!~Imi-m4   (NS4








1796. ]              MARIE-THERESEo                     435
Gomin's present.
whose goodness I had long been acquainted, but who gave me
proofs of it beyond measure, in this journey, by the manner
in which he demeaned himself on every occasion, and by his
activity in my service, though he was certainly not accustomed
to it; it must therefore be attributed entirely to his zeal in
my cause. I have long known him, and this last proof was not
necessary for him  to possess all my esteem, but yet in these
last moments I feel it is increased.  I cannot say more, for
though my heart is deeply impressed with all it ought to feel,
I have no words to express my sentiments.  I will therefore
conclude, by imploring him not to distress himself too much,
and to take courage; I do not ask him to think of me, for I
am  sure he will, and I can answer on my part for doing as
much for him."
These last words of the daughter of Louis XVI. to Gomin
form, at the same time, her last farewell to the Temple-that
abode, the bare remembrance of which harrowed her soul, but
which was still dear to her, since it recalled the thought of all
she had suffered, and all she had lost: the harshness and
inhumanity of some, the devotion and affecting interest of
others.
Here closes the history of the Temple prison: from cap.
tivity, the daughter of Louis XVI passed into exile.




BOOK TWENTIETH.
DEMOLITION OF THE TEMPLE TOWER.
The Temple after the departure of Marie-Therese-The public admitted to
the Temple-Inscriptions, blasphemies, prayers-The revolutionary
government wishes to sell the Temple-Decree of the First Consul to
preserve it as a property belonging to the State-Demolition of the
Temple tower resolved on-Pilgrimages made to the Temple-Decree
of the Emperor, appointing the Temple palace to be a residence for
the minister of public worship-A convent established there at the
Restoration-Conclusion.
HAYING completed our account of the prisoners confined in the
Temple, it remains for us, ere we close this history, to relate
the end of the Temple itself, hallowed-as were some amphitheatres of the olden time —by the  martyr-deaths it had
witnessed,  The sacrifice consummated there, had attracted
universal attention to that gloomy pile; in consequence of the
respect in which it was held by the public, the prison had
become a sanctuary, and though its chambers were now vacant,
by the death or exile of those who had inhabited them,
they were filled with reminiscences of their departed guests.
Great virtues are like those precious balms that leave an imperishable trace of their former presence in the vase that once
contained them.
Shortly after the departure of Marie-There'se several persons succeeded in gaining admittance to the tower, and eager




17t96.]               MARIE-THERESE.                   43 7
Memorial of the prisoners.
eyes sought out whatever traces of their sojourn there might
hlave been left by the prisoners.
In the apartment of Louis XVI, there were several inscriptions, but none in his handwriting; in that of the Princesses
nothing was to be found in the Queen's hand, or in that of
Madame Elizabeth.  These three martyrss had some hearts
yet remaining round them in whom  they could confide, and
therefore had not made inanimate objects the recipients of
their sentiments.  Marie-Thre'se and her brother, condemned
to perfect solitude, had, on the contrary, sought to turn their
prison Walls into faithful confidants of their most private
thoughts.  In the Dauphin's room, the child's hand had left
two mementoes of his residence there-a flower, sketched on
the wainscot, near the corner where the stove had been; and
further on the following words, traced with an imperfectly cut
pencil, or a piece of charcoal:
"Maman, je vous pr"
Did the means or the power fail him to complete his idea?
Was he interrupted by the brutal hand of Simon, or by the
menacing summons of a municipal?
With respect to his sister, more than one sentiment in.
scribed by her hand, was found in this deserted spot. We are
told by Rovere, a member of the National Convention, that a
short time after the departure of the Princess he examined
the whole of the room she had inhabited, trying to find some
trace of her residence there.  While thus employed he perceived a couple of lines, in pencil, written on the walls, and
going nearer he read as follows, in the first line:
" Ob, mon pere! veillez sur moi deU hart di ciel!"*
And the second, which had been written at a more recent
e " Oh, my father! watch over me rnom heaven above 1"




438             LOUTS THE'SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOs  20.
Inscriptions on the walls.
period, a little below the former, contained the following
-words:
"Oh, mon Dieu! pardonnez'a ceux qui ont fait mourir mes parents!"*
Rovere had been one of the regicides.  When he read
those lines he was seized with a trembling horror, as if he had
been struck with the finger of God.  " Remorse," as he said
himself, " drove him out of the room."
We are now about to give the inscriptions, not written by
the royal family, found in the Temple tower.
On the door of the council-room were the words: "Liberty,
Equality!" Fraternity was left out. A grotesque portrait or.
the lower panel, said to be the likeness of Mathey, with a pipe
in his mouth, attracted attention.
On the walls of the staircase, several names had been cut
with a knife, the point of a sword, or that of a bayonet.
In the King's apartment, which, as we have said, subsequently became that of the Dauphin, independently of the
isolated sentence: "Marnan, je voues pr,' traced by a feeble
hand, there were in the ante-room  some insulting phrases,
written with a black-lead pencil on the bedroom door, among
which the word Tyrant was still partially'visible; these, however,
had been effaced; but, above them, some hand had more recently
written in large letters, with a red pencil, the following inscription, which the royal victim had always deemed the most cruel
outrage, because it was the most unjust of all:L.E TIRAN
Beneath these words, was a sketch of a guillotine, also
drawn with red-lead pencil, beneath which an explanation
was written.
* "Oh, my God! forgive those who slew my parents!"




I{[969.]        ~      PIMARIE-THE RESE.                    4 39
Inscriptions on the walls.
The picture and inscription had been defaced by a few
strokes of a knife, and the red characters, emblems of revo(The tyrant spitting into the sack.)
lutionary barbarity, were followed by this simple phrase, an
emblem of Christian civilization:
"Celui que vous injuriez ici, a demande grace pour vous sur
son echafaud." *
In the turret adjoining the King's room,-the last refuge of
his devotional exercises,-these words were found on the inner
side of the door:
"Sa vertu fut moins brillante, mais elle fut plus solide que
son trone." t
~ "He whom you here insult, implored pardon for you on his
scaffold.'
"lis virtue was less brilliant, but more solid thal his throne."




440              LOUTS THE SEVENTEENTI.               LBool 20.
Inscriptions on the walls.
On the wall, to the left of the Nwindow, was the following
question, written in perpendicular lines.
"Quand Deseze a Tronchet, g Lamoignon s'unit
Pour prendre de Louis la traop juste defense,
C'cst la vertu, Ia raison, et l'esprit,
Qui combattent pour Flinnocenco."`
Ill the Queen's apartment, the following lines, quoted from
the " Imitation de Jesats Christ," were found written on the
panels of the door:"La gloire que le monde donne et re9oit passe en un moment,
et elle est toujours suivie de tristesse.
"La gloire des bons est dans le fond de leur coeur, et non dans
la bouche des hommes.
"La joye des justes est de Dieu et en Dieu; leur joye est dans
la v6rite."t
Liv. II., Chap. 6.
In the embrasure of the window, where:Madame BRoyale
sat almost constantly during her solitary imprisonment, the
following words were visible on the right side, on close inspection:" Madame Veto partant pour la justice;" X
Then the picture. of a woman on a cart, and, a little further on,
a guillotine; but both the words and the drawing had been
almost entirely effaced by washing. Opposite was another
drawing, of which, however, absolutely nothing could be made'"AWhen Deseze united with Tronchet and Lamoignon to undertake the just defence of Louis, virtue, reason, and wit combined to combat
for innocence."
1I "The glory that the world gives and receives passes away ini a moment, and is always followed by sorrow.
"The glory of the good lies deep within their hearts, and not in the
moutfhs of nsen.
" The joy of the just is from God, and in God; their joy is in truth."
+ " Madame Veto going to justice."




1804.]       DEMOLITION OF THE TOWER.                 44[
Inscriptions on the walls.
out, except the inscription, which had resisted every attempt to
efface it:"L'Autrichienne'a la danse."*
Beside the disgraceful productions of this ignoble artist
appeared these words, written very legibly in large characters:"M4e're de douleurs, priez pour nous!"t
And lower down:" Regina martyrum, ora pro nobis! "
The room that had been occupied by Madame Elizabeth,
at the time when the Queen was still in the Temple, bore the
two following inscriptions:" Per agoniam et passiouem tuaml,
Libera nos I "
" Per mortenm et sepulturam tuam,
Libera nos!"
Such was the appearance of the Temple tower, hallowed by
the double majesty of virtue and misfortune: thus the prison
had become a sanctuary; and cries of hatred had given way to
the Litany!
The visits to the Temple were tolerated but a short time.
Very soon the changing phases of the Revolution sent other
captives to that prison, for revolutionary tyranny did not leave
the jails idle.  Thus, after the coup d'etat of the 18th Fructidor, the members of the council condemned to banishment
spent the last nights preceding their departure there; and
several representatives who had had the misfortune to vote for
the death of Louis XVI., then read the prayer that MarieTherese, the last occupant of those rooms, had written for
those who had destroyed her parents. They were affected by
it; the pardon left them as the parting word of the daughter,
the sister, the niece of the martyrs, was at the same time a
counsel sent by God to lead them to reflect upon themselves.
* "The Austiian dancing."
f "Mother of Sorrows, pray for us!"




442             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                [Boso 20,
Course of events.
The Temple remained what the 10th of August had made
it-a place where persons under arrest were confined, and a
barrack.  But a short time afterwards it was resolved to sell
it.  Haunted by a recollection that seemed like remorse, the
revolutionary government was anxious for the total destruction
of the prison.
*      e       *      *       *      *       *
Time had passed on.  The Directory was no longer in
existence!
The individual, whom in the course of this history we
have seen as a youth on the terrace of the Tuileries, indignant at the sight of royalty exposed to the insults of the
populace; as a young man, cannonading Toulon, and afterwards,
aftrighting Paris with the cannon of Vendemiaire; had become
a man, while transmitting from battle to battle that prodigious
name which all the great echoes of the world —from  the Tiber
to the Pyramids-had sent back to France enshrined in glory.
Napoleon had arrived at the pinnacle of power. On his
accession to the Consulate he had prevented the alienation of
the Temple, and repudiated the idea of its becoming private
property;* but the Emperor, who lost sight neither of the past
* "Equality —Liberty.
"Ministry of General Police.
" Extract from the register of the deliberations of the Consuls of
the Republic.
"Paris, 9th Thermidor, 8th year of the Republic,
one and indivisible.
"The Consuls of the Republic,
"Having taken into consideration Article 84 of the law of the 28th
Germinal, 4th year, which authorises the government to place national
property, if undisposed of, at the disposal of the minister of war, to
establish barracks for the gendarmerie;
"And considering that the Maison du Temple is necessary for the
accommodation of the brigades of national gendarmerie of Paris;
"Decree as follows:"ARTICLE I.
"The sale of the Maison du Temple is postponed till further orders.
"ARTICLE II.
"The building will continue to be used as a barrack for the brigades of
gendarmerie of Paris.




asos0]          D)EMOLITION  OF THE  TOWERe                    443
The sale of the tower postponed.
nor the future, wished to leave no trace of anything that would
humiliate the old monarchy, and to avoid whatever might be
embarrassing to the new one.  The Temple tower, which had
witnessed the most atrocious acts of popular tyranny and of the
most affecting sufferings of royalty, was a twofold source of
uneasiness to him.  How was it possible to leave before the
eyes of the people a prison where a king had been held in
captivity by his subjects?  How could he preserve a monument
"ARTICLE  II.
"The ministers of war, finance, and general police are directed to
carry out this present decree, each in his ownv branch of duty.
"' BONAPARTE, First Consul.
6 "By the First Consul's order.
"HUGuES MARET, Secretary of State.
Alln exact copy.
6' FOUCHE, Minister of General Police."
"' The minister of finance to the citizen prefect of the department
of the Seine.
"Paris, 13th Thermidor, 8th year of the French Republic,
one and indivisible.
"Citizen prefect,-I send you a duplicate, signed by me, of a decree
from the Consulate of the 9th Thermidor, this present month, ordering
that the sale of the Maison du Temple, be suspended, and that the said
building continue to be employed as a barrack for the brigades of gendarnmerie at Paris. Be so good as to follow these directions.
"I salute you,'  GAUDIN.
"N. B. The said Maison du Temple is advertised for immediate sale.
It is urgent to give the orders necessary to prevent it."
"Liberty-Equality,
"The minister of the interior to citizen Dubois, prefect of police
of the department of the Seine.
"Paris, 26th Thermidor, 8th year of the French Republic,
one and indivisible.
"6 Citizen,-I have received your letter of the 7th Thermidor, relating
to the sale of the 3laison du Temple, the property of the nation.
"I have communicated your observations upon the inconvenience that
would ensue from the alienation of that building, together with your views
as to its destination, to the ministers of finance and war."
"I salute you,
II L. BONAPARTE."




444               LOUIS  THE  SEVENTEENTH.                [Bnoo  20.
Demolition of the tower determined upon.
that excited public feeling-that kept alive the thought of the
former dynasty?
It was therefore decided that not a stone of that sacred
tower should be left standing;* not even one of those stones
which spoke, trumpet-tongued, in accents of complaint-lcalides
clamabunt!
Once more the Temple became silent and solitary.  Most
of the persons employed to attend on the prisoners and guard
them  had followed their  charge to Vincennes; the others
had been discharged.  The furniture Pwas distributed, some to
the prisons, some to the hospitals, and some to the state stores
(Garde-Meuble), whence it had been taken.  The rooms were
completely dismantled, and the doomed tower looked as if it
* On the 3rd June, 1808, the following order was sent to Fauconnier,
keeper of the Temple prison.
"Paris, 3rd June, 1808.
"The senator, minister of the general police of the empire, orders the
keeper of the Maison du Temple to give up the prisoners committed to his
charge to M. Paques, inspector-general to the ministry, who has directions
to convey them to the prison of Vincennes; he himself will then repair
to Vincennes, to receive the said prisoners, of whom he will retain the
custody in that prison.
F' FOUCHE."
The prisoners given up to lM. PAques were seventeen in number: the
names of these last occupants of the Temple were as follows:
David, priest.
Lavillate, landed proprietor.
Garrez de MFzieres, formerly an omficer.
Begon de la Rouzibre, landed proprietor.
Collin, commonly called Cupidon, a servant.
Vaudricourt, a man of independent fortune.
De Rousso de Puyvert, idem.
Polignac (Armand), idem.
Polignac (Jules), idem.
Bournisac, lauded proprietor.
Laneuville, priest.
Chassnart, or Chassour, distiller.
Daniand-Duperrat, merchant.
Couchery, clerk.
Anerweck, farmer.
iblontmayeux, professor of mathematics.
Tiliy-Blaru, ex-landed proprietor at St. Domingo,




1808.]         DEMOLITION  OF THE  TOWER.                     445
AM. Morel's scheme.
were undergoing the change made in the toilet of criminals
condemned to the block: its denuded walls only awaited the
hand of the destroyer.
The materials of which the tower was built were advertised
for sale, and this announcement brought a greater number of
visitors to the Temple, who, under the pretence of buying,
performed a pilgrimage.
The auction took place in the month of October, 1808.*
The historical documents relating to this event bear witness
* On Friday, Ith October, 1808, the Temple tower was bought by 1ML
Robert Morel, owner of house property, and living at No. 37 Rue Traversiere-Saint-Honor6, Paris, for the sum of 33,100 francs.
Having observed the pious sympathy that daily brought a crowd of
visitors to the apartments formerly occupied by the royal family, the
new proprietor hoped to find a very profitable sale for those materials
which could be preserved whole and set up again somewhere else-such as
the chimney-pi.eces, doors, jambs, wainscotting, windows, &c. I-le also
thought that, once master of this place, it would be practicable for him
to lay a slight tax on public curiosity, and he caused admission-tickets to
be printed, which were sold at the door.
This traffic lasted but a few days, for the minister of police having
been informed of what was going on, sent him an order prohibiting him
from allowing any person to enter the Temple under any pretence whatever, even officers of state, should any come! The colonel of gendarmerie
quartered in the Temple superintended the execution of this order.
MI. Morel then perceived that he had been too hasty in the execution
of his plans; the suppression of the admission tickets made him anticipate
other interruptions to his scheme: it was evident, indeed, that the government, whose wish it was to destroy the impressions of which the Temple
was a type, would not sanction speculations which tended to revive them.
The disappointed calculator found himself mistaken in the brilliant
hopes he had built on this undertaking; the stones hehad bought were
nothing more than stones, and it was not allowed to assign any moral
value to them.
Towards the close of the year 1808, the work of demolition began.
The roofing,:wood-work, doors, and wooden partitions, together with, the
pointed arches, window-sashes, tiles, and wood flooring were first removed:
they were laid:in the court-yard and in the garden for the time being;
and had they been bought on the spot, the purchasers would have paid
dearly for them;. but in the market they had only their intrinsic value.
What was to be done, however? The men employed in the work of destruction were the only persons allowed to enter the Temple, and through
their agency some marble chimney-pieces and ornaments were sold at a
great price; but the disadvantage of having the doors so scrupulously




446               LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                 [BOOK 20.
M. Morel's scheme.
themselves to the pious veneration in which the Temple tower
was held, when, during the few days that preceded its destrucclosed was enormous. Morel demanded an indemnity, and the form of
his petition, ambiguous to a degree, is a sufficient proof of the essentially
false and difficult position he was in with respect to the affair:
" To M. le Conseiller d'Etat, prefect of the department of the Seine.'"Paris, 23rd January, 1809.' M. le Conseiller d'Etat.
"'MI. Robert Morel has the honour of stating that, on the 7th October,
1808, he bought the materials of the Temple tower, now about to be demo.
lished, for the reasons he is about to enumerate.
"As soon as he heard of the projected destruction of that building,
he repaired to the spot to examine the materials and make his calculations as to their value; and could find no profit likely to accrue to the
purchaser, even by taking it at the very estimate made by the architect of
domains.
"Notwithstanding, your petitioner, induced rather by the interest of
government, which he always has at heart, than by any thought of private
advantage, and subsequently yielding (he cannot disguise it) to the desire
of becoming the instrument of the destruction of such a building —celebrated among the monuments of antiquity for the difberent uses to which
it has been put in different ages-took some steps, which resulted in the
fact of his being able to become the purchaser, at a price much above the
estimate, without injury to his private interest.
" In fact, he had the promise of several builders that they would visit
the place before the demolition began, in order to treat with him on the
spot for whatever might suit their own convenience; other persons spoke
of purchasing the fittings, decorations, and ornaments of whole rooms.
It was in consequence of these arrangements, which assured him of a ready
and profitable sale, that he determined to purchase the building.
" The interest of the government being thus secured by the price he
paid, which was far above the estimate, the petitioner ought to have been
allowed every facility to make sure of his own interest.
"It is a notorious fact, that when an article is sold by auction it
becomes the property of the highest bidder immediately, and that it is for
him to employ every lawful means to bring into play all the resources of
his industry, in order to' turn his purchase to the best possible account.
"Notwithstanding this, the petitioner had hardly completed his preliminary arrangements, before beginning his work-that is to say, a week
after the sale-when an order from his excellency the minister of general
police, sent through the prefect of police, was signified to your petitioner
by the inspector-general.
"This order expressly prohibited any person being allowed to enter the
Temple, under any pretence whatever, even officers of state, should any
such come; and not only was the owner of the building informed of this




s18O9.           DEMOLITION  OF THE  TOWER.                       447
M. Morel's scheme.
tion, it was opened to the inspection of visitors who flocked
thither in crowds.
order, but even the colonel of gendarmerie quartered in the Temple was
directed to superintend its execution.
"The order, although it will occasion a loss of not less than from
fifteen to twenty thousand francs to your petitioner, has, notwithstanding,
been strictly carried out.  The work of demolition is now going on;
nothing is sold; materials of all kinds, such as doors,.jambs, upper and
side wainscotting, alcoves, flooring, window-sashes, shutters, &c.,-the
greater part of which fitted and decorated the apartments of the small tower
of the Temple, as well as those of the great tower,-are lying in the inclosure exposed to the rain and frost, and are spoiling in consequence from
day to day. It is well known that such articles are of no real value unless
they be sold on the spot. But how could they  I- How could even the stones?
The report of entrance to the tower being interdicted has spread rapidly
among the people, and kept everyone away, the builders in particular.
" Then, if it be impossible to deny that a very considerable loss to your
petitioner has been the result of this order from the government, it must
appear equally evident that some indemnity, proportioned to his loss, should
be granted him.
" For the above reasons, your petitioner, having the utmost confidence
in the justice of the principles influencing your conduct, solicits you,
M. le Conseiller d'Etat, to be so good as to take his unfortunate position
into your consideration, and to give orders that a skilled arbitrator shall
fix the amount of the well-deserved indemnity to which he has a right to
look forward, for the reasons above stated.
" iOREL."
"Paris, 31st January, 1809.
"'Transmitted to the director of national domains of the interior of
Paris (M. Eparvier), for him to give information and his opinion.
"' IIROCHOT."
The prefect of the department of the Seine, after having requested the
director of national domains of the interior of Paris to furnish information and give his opinion on the subject of this claim, wrote the following letter to the minister of police:
"Fourth Division-First Office.
"Indemnity demanded by MI. Morel, purchaser of the materials of the
Temple tower.
"30th May, 1809.
":The prefect, councillor of state, to his excellency the minister of
general police, count of the empire.
"A petition has been presented to me by M. Morel, purchaser of the
mi.terials of the Temple tower, as per contract, bearing date, the 7th
October, 1808, for the suam of 33,100 francs, denmanding to be indemnified




448              LOUIS THE  SEVENTEENTH.                  [BOOK 20.
M. MIorel's scheme.
We have not said all on this subject. Fathers, mothers,
young people, entered that abode, their hearts pierced with
grief, their eyes filled with tears, and their limbs trembling,
all remembering the details of that long agony, of that royal
to the extent of the loss he declares himself to have sustained by that trans.
action.
" His claim is founded on the fact that, a week after the sale, he was
expressly prohibited, by an order emanating from  your excellency, anls
coming through the prefect of police, councillor of state, from allowing any
person  to enter the tower on any pretence -whatever; and that this
measure, which obliged him to convey all the materials away from the
tower, deprived him of the profit which the said materials would have
brought him, if he had been permitted to sell them on the spot.
"1 I beg your excellency to let me know whether the measure, of
which 1I. Morel complains was really taken, and whether it could not have
been carried cut, as he affirms, without having an unfavourable effect on the
sale of the materials.
"IIn case of your reply being in the affirmative, the petitioner may
perhaps have some grounds on which to found a claim for an indemnity;
but, judging from the motives which preface his demand, it would not
appear that such an indemnity ought to be charged upon the administration
of domains.
" I beg of you, my lord, to be so good as to let me know what your
excellency has decided on this point.' "FROCHOT."
The minister replied:
"Second Division, No. 2,233, Second Series.
"Paris, 17th June, 1840.
"I have received your letter, addressed to me on the 30th Miay last,
relative to the indemnity claimed by M. Morel, purchaser of the materials
of the Temple tower.
"It is true that I gave orders that no person- should be admitted to
the tower, which had been formerly used as a place of confinement for
persons under arrest. The object of this measure was to keep out the
concourse of persons who repaired thither- to see the apartments, and who
indulged themselves in making remarks very much out of place in many
cases.  These persons were admitted by tickets, which M. Morel had had
printed, and which he sold to all who chose to buy. In this respect, therefore, the order I gave may very possibly have been prejudicial to him, as it
deprived him of the profit he made by the sale of the tickets.  However, as
the terms on which the' Temple tower was sold to him did not give him any
right to exhibit it as an object of curiosity, but, on the contrary, laid him
under the obligation of pulling. it down, the measure which I directed to
be taken could only have facilitated the fulfilment of his agreement, by
keeping off curious persons who might have obstructed the labourers in their




1809,]         DEMOLITION OF THE TOWER.                   449
Reminiscences of the tower.
suffering; all explained how the sorrows of that princely race
had reached their height.
They recapitulated the insults, the violences, the outrages, the tortures; they evoked the wretches who succeeded
each other day by day, spying, singing, swearing; the inquisitors who searched the rooms, the furniture, the pockets; who
scrutinized words, and questioned consciences i!
They recalled to mind the bitter tears, the mournful
smiles, the sudden flashes of indignation! Louis XVI., dignifying the humiliation of his royal greatness, by the great.
ness of his Christian spirit!  Marie-Antoinette, rising in all
her majesty, superior to insult by the elevation of her soul,
the dignity of her character, and her noble bearing.  Those
two children-their hope and their pride-who, in the words
of Euripides, "entered the career of life in tears!"  That
sister, who, every hour, by day and by night, was so touching
a model of boundless affection and devotedness!
They pointed out the fountain to which the corpse of Madame
de Lamballe was dragged; the window where the populace had
displayed the bleeding head of that unhappy young woman,
guilty of being loved by the queen!  They showed the turret
that had witnessed the last prayer-the room where the painful
parting had taken place-the bed which had served for the
last sleep!
They said, it was here that death terminated the career of
that amiable, beautiful child, the hope of France; who was
work, and therefore on no pretence whatever could it give M. Morel any
claim for an indemnity.' I have the honour to be, &c.,
"F' oucHE,
"Senator, minister of general police.
"To I. le Counseiller d'Etat, prefect of the department of the Seine."
The reader will have observed that the wording of this letter, not-'withstanding the circumlocutions, reveals more than it was intended to
express.




450             LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.                 ([BOO  20.
Repair of the Temple.
the sport of Simon the cobbler, anda had become old in suffering
at ten years of age.
Those walls, whence life had flown, were a source of instruction to the world.  As a surgeon, armed with his scalpel,
demands from  death all the indications it can furnish, so the
visitor interrogated this lifeless mass of stone, counting every
nerve, every fibre; he inquired how that noble heart had beaten
-how that generous blood had circulated.
Princes and nations! there was no Bossuet, the child of
thunder, to raise his powerful voice for your instruction, but
the stones themselves cried out!
That tower said to all the world: " See if there be any
grief that can compare with mine!"
And those who visited it said to the nations: "' Go-go,
and see it yourselves; look on it in the face of day-or rather,
in all its disgrace!
Men thought they sanctified their own natures by entering
that sanctuary, by touching those sacred walls, by carrying
away with them fragments of those stones, all of which seemed
to bear the impress of a tear, of a virtue, of a sacrifice!
The work of demolition was not completed until the year
1811. At that period the Palais du Temple was repaired and
altered for the reception of the minister of religions.*  The
* " Extract from the minutes of the Secretary of State's Office.
"Imperial Palace of Saint-Cloud, 3rd August, 1811.
"Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the
Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation, &c., &c.
"We have decreed, and decree as follows:"I ARTICLE I.
"The Palais du Temple, at Paris, shall be repaired, put in order, and
furnished, to serve as a residence for the minister of religions, and for the
establishment of his different offices.
" ARTICLE II.
"A garden, attached to the residence of the minister of religions, shall
be laid out upon the site of the tower.




1811.]          DEMOLITION  OF THE TOWER.                      451
The Temple converted into a convent.
Emperor deemed that he could give such a place to no establishment more fitting than an administration devoted to the
interests of religion.  But the face of affairs was changed by
subsequent events.  The Chateau du Temple was transformed
into a convent, for the occupation of a religious body, founded by
" ARTICLE III.
"The repairs and arrangement of the building, and the laying out of
the garden shall be charged upon the minister of the interior, and must be
completed this year, so that the place may be ready for occupation by the
minister of religions before the 1st January, 1812..
"The expense of furnishing shall be borne by the minister of religions.
"ARTICLE IV.
"An estimate of the repairs of the palace, and laying out of the garden,
shall be imnmediately made by the minister of the interior.
" ARTICLE V.
"The execution of the present decree shall be intrusted to the ministers
of the interior and of religions.
" NAPOLEON,'" By the Emperor, Count DARU, Minister Secretary of State.
" Done in duplicate.' MONTALIVET,
"Minister of the Interior, count of the Empire.
"Exact copy.' VEERNEUR,
"Chief of the Senior Secretary's Office."
" The minister of the Interior to the prefect of the Seine.
" Paris, 4th December, 1811.
" I. le Comte,
6 I have the honour to inclose you a copy of an imperial decree, dated
3rd August last, directing that the Temple palace be given up as a residence for his excellency the minister of religions, as well as for the establishment of his different offices.
"You will see by the 2nd Article of this decree, M. le Comte, that the
garden and dependencies of the ministry of religions are to be laid out
upon the site formerly occupied by the Temple tower, and that, consequently, the sale of that ground, advertised for the 6th instant, cannot
take place.
"I beg you will take measures immediately, therefore, to prevent this
sale, which, according to the terms of his Majesty's decree, never ought to
have been advertised.
"' MONTALIVET."




452           LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.             rBooK 20.
Reflections.
Louis XVIII., in the year 1815, with Louise-Adelaide de
Conde, who had formerly been Abbess of Remiremont, at its
head. A weeping willow, shrubs, and flowers were planted
over the site of the prison of Louis XVI. and his family; and
the boundary was kept by a wooden fence up to the year
1848.*  Flowers and prayers; such was the end of the Temple
tower: but it is precisely flowers and prayers that are laid
on altars.
All who were confined in that tower are now dead.
The tower itself has disappeared.
The Princess-who had survived her father, her mother,
aunt, and brother-was destined to shed many tears, to breathe
many prayers, ere she could rejoin them in heaven.  She
beheld another brother fall beneath the assassin's knife; she
saw an old man, her husband's father, deprived of his crown;
and a child, her son, dethroned by a victorious mob. Thrice
an exile from France-thrice did she look on the downfall of
the throne.
While yet a child, in prison, Marie-Therese prayed, and
wept, and hoped. After so malny changes, so many misfortunes, her fate and her mission remained the same: up to the
last day of her life, she prayed, and wept, and hoped. Left
standing alone, amid so many ruins, a ruin herself, she preserved, as every pure soul does, faith in the justice of God,
and patiently awaited the certain reparation of posterity.
And yet, after having shared all the disasters of her country,
she had, in her latter days, to witness a spectacle still more
horrible. She has heard the murderers of her father eulogised,
and the very existence of society called in question. She has
seen poets and historians veering from their pity for the victims
to the praise of the assassins. She has seen public homage
paid to the man who had exhausted the terrors of the guillotine,
* A street, opened at that period, divides the Temple garden, and runs
just over the site of the tower.




1848.]       DEMOLITION OF THE TOWER.               453
Reflections.
who had filled the executioner's basket with human heads, and
who, with hands steeped in blood, offered to God a bunch of
beauteous flowers.
Indignant history will accept neither that ironical nosegay
nor that shameful rehabilitation; she will throw them to earth,
and trample them under foot. The date, 1793, will be an
eternal incubus upon the heart of France. Never will a reminiscence of blood be transformed into a sacred remembrance.
May that saint-whom Heaven hath taken,* and whom history hath found on her death-bed with a prayer for France
on her lip: the same as when, at the Temple, the guards of that
dark abode discovered about her person a pious petition for her
country-deign to pardon my humble narration of the few
details that I have been enabled to collect, of the sorrows
of her family and herself. The Temple tower is gone! I,
an unworthy architect, have sought to reconstruct those walls,
hallowed by the greatest and most sacred misfortunes ever
recorded in one history.
I have endeavoured to recall some mournful hours, the
memory of which lay buried beneath the ruins; some few
reminiscences not yet quite effaced by the rust of time. We
may be sparing of praise and flattery to the conquerors; but
we owe to the conquered justice and truth.
I cannot tell what fate may be reserved by Heaven for my
beloved country. I hope God will protect it for ever, and keep
that sacred fire of noble souls-the love of their country!-alive
in the hearts of our children; but even should the last relics
of our ancient monarchy be destroyed, and ages heaped on ages
pass away, the heroic reminiscences connected with the Temple
tower will still remain.
Has ancient tragedy ought in her pages to compare with
this- drama of our annals?  What is Agamemnon, vulgarly
* Marie-Therise-Charlotte de France, Duchesse d'Avgoulame, died at
Frodldorl, near Vienna, 19th October, 1851.




454            LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.           [BOOK 20.
Reflections.
slain, in  comparison with this King of France, solemnly
stretched beneath the blade of the Convention? Can Astyanax,
flung from the walls of Troy, be compared with the son of the
great Kings of France, slowly brutified by a mean wretch?
What is Priam's widow-tearing out her eyes-by the side of
the widow of Louis XVI., mending her white robe to ascend
the scaffold?
The cry of grief uttered in that tower in 1793 will be heard
throughout all ages; and, needing no Homer, these great victims
of modern atheism (as was (Edipus of ancient destiny)-this
king, and queen, and child, who disappeared in the tempest that
levelled our altars-will live in the minds of men, eternally
mourned as saintly martyrs whom no poet call eulogise, because
they were their own sublime panegyrists in the testaments of
their piety, love, and forgiveness!
END OF VOLUME THE4 SECOND.




D OCUMENTS
AND
CONFIRMATORY PAPERS.
On Tuesday, 19th January, 1793, in the district of Villingen,
in Suabia, and in the church of the reverend Fathers Recollects,
at ten o'clock in the morning, and in presence of their Serene
Highnesses Monseigneur Ie Prince de Cond6e, Monseigneur le Due
de Bourbon, Monseigneur le Due d'Enghien, together with part of
the French nobles, assembled under the cotnmand of Monseigneur
le Prince de Cond6, a funeral service was performed for the repose
of the soul of our most honoured sovereign lord, Louis XVI., King
of France and Navarre; and at the close of the above service
Monseigneur le Prince de Conde said:
" Gentlemen, it is in bitter sorrow of heart that we have just
performed the last duty imposed on us by the deep respect and
boundless affection we bore our unfortunate lord, Louis XVI.
Though our constant and invariable fidelity had not power to save
him from the horrors of his fate, at least it has followed him to
the grave, where the most unhappy of kings has just been laid by
the commission of a crime, the most atrocious that could possibly
have occurred. The-fbuntain of our tears can never be dried up,
though our grief last long, for the greatest misery that can be
borne by every good and feeling heart, is to be forced to mourn at
once the loss of a king, and the crimes of a country!
" But, gentlemen, you know it is a standing principle that the
King of France never dies. May Heaven preserve from all impending danger that precious, charming child, who, born to for



~456                    APPENDIX.
tune, knows nought of life as yet but the misfortune of having been
born! But whatever may be the fate that awaits him, it cannot
be displeasing to Heaven that we yield to the first impulse of our
ancient loyalty, and pour forth ardent prayers for our legitimate
sovereign, as is the custom in France, at the foot of the altars of
our God. The King is dead!- gentlemen, - the King is dead.
Long live the King  "
The cry was repeated by all the nobles there; and these words
of Monseigneur le Prince de Cond6, together with the cry of " Long
live the King," repeated by everybody present, being the first public
act to place the crown on the head of Louis XVII., and the only
thing that can be done at this time by the only asse mbly in existence of free Frenchmen attached to royalty and the reigning
family, the present report of the whole proceedings has been drawn
up, to serve as a testimony in happier times; and the said report,
signed as follows, will be indorsed in a paper, sealed with the seals
of the subscribers, and laid up in a public store, in the said town
of Villingen. Done at head-quarters, on the day and in the year
above-mentioned.
(Signed)
CHARLES-LEON DE BOUTIHILLIER, Field Marshal, and MajorGeneral in the army of his Serene Highness.
LoUIS, BARON -)E FUMEL, Marshal, and General Marshal of
the household cavalry of his Serene Highness.
EDME LE BASOLE, MARQUIS D'ARGENTEUIL, Field Marshal,
the oldest General Officer employed in the army of his
Royal Highness.
LOUIS-ANTOINE-HENRY DE BOURBON.
LoUs-I-HENRY-JOSEPH DE BOURBON.
LouIS-JOSEPI- DE BOURBON, in my own name, as well as in
that of the nobility assembled under my command, who
are marked by name in the army-list, and who are held
to ratify the same.
(National Archives, Iron Chest.)




APPENDIX.                         457
II
Goods delivered to Madame Marie-Antoinette.
By Sainte Foy, commonly called Breton, seamstress.
1793.                                                    fi.  s.
Jan. 27th. Making a deep-mourning silk jacket.           24  0,,    Ribbons for the above...                     6  0,,    Bones and buttons for the above.                4 10
30th.  A dress of the same material, deep mourning    2-1  0,,    Ribbons. O   O.....                      6  0,  Bones........                                   2 10,,    2 petticoats, of black Italian taffeta...    12  0,,    Ribbons for the same......          2  0
March 28. Altering a jacket and the petticoat.... 15  0,,    Ribbons......                              0
B, Bones and buttons....                         4 10,,    1 ell of the same gross silk, for the sleeves.  9  0
April 3rd. Making a gross silk jacket, deep mourning.    24  0,,    Ribbon s.    s......  6  0,,    Bones and buttons for the above,.           4   0,,    A petticoat of black Italian taffeta..          0
23rd.  A jacket of gross silk, deep mourning            15  0,,    2~ ells gross silk, for the above jacket, at 9fr.. 20  5,    Another yard and 1 piece of satin, for the body
and lining of the sleeves, at UOfr. 10s...   9 15,,  ones and buttons..........  4 10
Accepted for 149 livres, 10 sols.              Total  205) 10
C. (Corit.)
Silken, stuffs furnished to Marie-Antoinette.
By Le Normand, Mercer, Paris.
Delivered to Mdlle. Bertin:                            fr.  s
March.  6 ells wide black gross silk, at 9fr...  54  0,,    2 black veils, at 3fr..                          6  0
Delivered to Madame Chaumet:
28th.  21 ells dble. width black Florence, at 6fr. lOs.  136 10
Delivered to Madame Breton:,         11 ells wide black gross silk, at 1Ofr.    110  0,,    5 ells best black taffeta, at 12fr......    66  0,,    2i ells black Florence, at 6fr. 10s...    16  5
Total  388 15;II.                 U




458                       APPENiDXo
Furnished to Madame Elizabeth.
By Sainte Foy, called Breton, seamstress.
1793.                                                   fr. so
Jan. 27th. A black satin wrapper, wadded throughout  e 30  0,,    Wadding for the above.....                  5  0,,    Buckramn for the neckband,. O.        2 10
R,,    ibbons and buttons for the above..       6  0
9,  Whalebone..............                       6 10,,    A silk jacket, deep mourning..   24  0,,    Ribbons and buttons for the above.        6  0,9    Whalebone,....                            6 10
29th.  Wadding taken out of the black satin dress       b 15  0,,    Making 2 petticoats of black Italian taffeta  o.   2  0
R,,    ibbons for the above...   o...   2  0
April 4th. Repairing a jacket, and putting new sleeves. 15  0
1,,   ell of gross silk for the sleeves...     9  0,,    An extra ell of Florence, for lining....   6 10,    Ribbons for the petticoat and jacket..          6  0
Whalebone......             0 10
13th.  A black Florence wrapper.. D     *C. 30  0
B, uckraml for the neckband.......   2 10
R -ibbons.   o.  D.......          6 0
Whalebone.......        G 10
Buttons.........        1  4
Accepted for'140 livres, 10 sols.             Total 204 14
Barbier and Tetard, silk mercers, and dealers in all sorts of
gold and silver silk stzffs, Barbe-d'Or, Rue des Bourdonnois,
Paris.
Furnished to the daughter of Antoinette.
1793.                                                   fr.  s
March 26. 1  ell of black silk, at llfr...16 10,,    1 ell of black satin, at 6fr. 1Os.....   9 15
April 5th. 1 ell of black silk........            11  0,,   ell of black satin, at 6fr. 10s.            3  5
13th.  2 ells black satin, at 6fr........ 13  0
Total  53 10
We certify this bill, amounting to 53 livres, 10 sols, to be correct, and agreeing entirely with the account in our ledger.
Paris, 4th April, 1793,                 BARBIER AN1D CO.




APPENDIX.                       459
Barbier and Tdtard, silk mercers, and dealers in all sorts of
gold and silver silk stuffs, Barbe-d'Or, Rue des Bourdonnois,
Paris.
Furnished to Elizabeth Capet.
1793.                                                fr.  s.
April 4th. 22 ells of black satin, at 6fr. 10s....   143  0,,   10 ells of black silk, at 11fr..... 110  0,,  6Q ells of black taffeta, at if.....  71 10
Total  324 10
We certify this bill, amounting to 324 livres, 10 sols, to be
correct, and entirely agreeing with the account in our ledger.
BARBIER AND CO.
Paris, 4th April, 1793.
(National Archives, Case E., No. 6,207.)
III.
Report of the Administration of Police to the Council-General of
the Commune, sitting of the 22th April, 1793.
"The administration have not only affixed their seals in the
dwellings of the accused members of the Council, but have also
issued orders for the presence of citizeness S6rent, ex-tirewoman to
Elizabeth;' Jean' Lebrun, her servant; Jean-Baptiste Diane, tailor,
and Claude Bosquet, also a tailor. The result of their examination
has been that citizeness S6rent, who still pretends to exercise the
duties of tirewoman to Elizabeth, was in the habit of sending such
articles as were demanded by-the Temple Council; that she usually
sent the said articles by her servant, who gave them to the Temple
Council, and sometimes to Elizabeth herself; that she never sent
any message to the Temple except once, a fortnight since, to know
if Elizabeth would like to have a whitej acket.  The servant of the
said S6rent declared that he had never carried anything to th:
Temple, excepting articles for the clothing of the prisoners, and
bills of the same, which he gave in to Cayeux, whose business it
was to settle them: but that he went up to the tower once with the
consent of the commissaries on duty. In consequence  of a communication.made.to us respecting a bat found in a box in Elizabeth's
room, the administration sent for the executioner, and Dulong, a
hatter.'The first declared to us that Louis, on arriving at the




460                      APPENDIX.
place where he was to suffer, took off his coat and hat; that he
was buried in his other clothes; and that the coat and hat, were
torn to pieces and divided among the spectators, immediately after
the execution. Dulong the hatter had not sold any hat to Louis
Capet.
When the reading of this report was over, the Council began to
discuss the fate destined for the six accused members; the discussion
was however adjourned.  Only it was decreed, on the requisition of
the procureur of the Commune (Htbert), that, as it was evident
that Madame Serent still acknowledged royalty, by her preserving
the title of tirewoman, which should have disappeared with that
form of government, she should, be denounced to the public accuser
of the revolutionary tribunal, to be prosecuted by the solicitor of
the Commlune. The pojice were directed to effect her arrest.
IV.
Bill of the work doe and - articles provided by citizen Wolff,
shoemaker, to Marie-Alntoinette, her children,, and her sister
Elizabeth, 1793.
fr.
April 15th. —2 pairs kid shoes for the son of MarieAntoinette......                                 16
April 29th.-3  pairs of black shoes, for the daughter
of Marie-Antoinette...                                36
And 3 pairs black shoes for Madame Elizabeth.. ~   36
June 2nd.-2 pairs kid shoes for the son of Marie-Antoinette   16
Total 104
Bill of the work done and articles providedfor Marie-Antoinette
and the children at the Temple by Tolff, shoemaker, 1793.
fr
July 8th.-3 pairs shoes, of smooth black St. Cire leather
for Madame Elizabeth.                                 36
Also 3 pairs shoes of smooth black St. Cire leather, for
Mademoiselle, the daughter of Marie-Antoinette..  36
July 15th. —3 pairs shoes smooth black St. Cire leather,
for Marie-Antoinette...  48
Travelling expenses to Paris.........  12
Total 126




APPENDIX.                      4 61
Bill of articles made for the Capet family by Bosquet, tailor,
Paris, and by order of the members of. the Council of the
Commune on duty at the Temple.
FOR CAPET'S WIDOW.
fr.  s.
May, ] 793.-For mending and re-making 2 wrappers   24   0
For fresh lining throughout to the bodies..   12   0
For repairing 2 petticoats and putting new bands
to them..                     o..          4   0
FOR HER DAUIGHTER.
May 12th. —9 ells dimity for 2 wrappers.,..    162   0
Calico lining......         20   0
Making up.......   30   0
8 ells dimity for 2 petticoats......  144   0
Making up.........         8   0
Ribbons......                     4 0
FOR MADAME ELIZABETH.
23 ells dimity for 2 wrappers and petticoats...    414   0
Lining and body.....  20 0
Making up the whole.........               38   0
Ribbons.....,,.    o,.                  4   0
FOR THE SON OF LOUIS CAPET.
2~ ells superfine black cloth, for 2 coats, and 2 pairs
knee-breeches.....143   0! 1 ells black striped pekin for 2 waistcoats..  22  10
~ twilled silk, to line the coat and waistcoat..  60   0
Lining for the breeches...14 0
Pockets....                                     6 0
Silk buttons.24 0
2 ells twill-silk, for repairing the; linings of 2 coats
throughout........   16   0
Repairing.....                                  8 0
May 26th.-6 ells striped white dimity for 2 dressing
gowns..........                            108   0
Back, sleeves, pockets..                          14 0
Making up.............   20 0
Total 1319  10
(National Archives, Case E. No. 6. 208.)




462                     APPENDIX.
V.
Bill of iMedicines furnished during the month of May, accord.
ing to the prescriptions of citizen Doctor Thiery, by citizen
Robert, apothecary, calthorised by the Commnune, for Marie
Antoinette, her children, and sister, at the Temple.
1st May, 1793.
FOR MAARIE-ANTOINETTE,
fr.  s.
May 1 st, 1723. —A medicated broth made au bain marie
of veal, chicken,.and various herbs...            O0
From 2nd to 10th.-The same broth repeated every day   45   0
A box of pectoral gum......       3   0
11th to 20th.-The above broth repeated every day   o.  50   0
FOR THE 0SON OF MARIE-ANTOINE1TTE.
May ]2th.-Twelve oz. of Narbonne honey....   3  12
13th.-2 bottles of clarified whey.....     2   0
14th.     9,,....   2   0
15th 16th,,,..,    4   0
17th. —A mixture, composed of the finest manna
pods, coriander, and Glauber sauits      3   0,,   The same precautionary medicine... 3   0,,   One bottle of whey...       o         1   0,   4 oz. of juniper leaves......          1   4
18th. —One bottle of whey.....,          1   0
One lb. of Narbonne honey...            4  16
19th to 28th.-Each day 1 bottle of whey..10   0
29th.-The medicine prescribed on the 17th repeated    3   0,,    The same precautionary medicine...         3   0
30th.-The whey repeated...                      2   0
31st.-A paper of juniper leaves..,,.    1   4,   box of perfumes......           2   0
FOR MARIE-THERESE-CHARLOTTE, DAUGHTER.
May lst. —A medicated broth made au bain marie with
the pieces of herbs, Glauber salts, &c.....    4   0
2nd to 11th.-Each day the above broth repeated.   40   0
Carried forward  1'33  16




APPENDIX.                       4.63
fr.  S.
Brought forward h93  16
12th to 21st.-Eaceh day, the same broth repeated   40   0
22nd to 25th.-The broth repeated....  16   0,,  Also 12 oz. rose-water.,...                    3   0
26th to 31st,-Each day the broth repeated....    24   0
FOR ELIZABETH, SISTER TO MARIE-ANTOINETTE.
May 25th.-4 large rolls of plaister.....   28   0
204  16
Bilt of the Medicines furnished by citizen Robert, apothecary,
through the monoith of June, for the use of Marie-Antoinette,
her children, and her sister, according to the _prescrijgtions
of citizen Doctor Thiery, and under the authority of the
Commune.
For the Son of Marie-Antoinette.         fr.  s.
1st June, 1793.-One bottle of clarified whey            I..  I   0
2nd to 5th.-'The whey repeated.....          4   o
Also a thermometer for regulating the baths..   4   0
6th to 12th. —Each day a bottle of whey..         7   0
13th.-A  nmedicated broth, made, au bain marie, of the
hind-legs and loins of frogs, with the juice of certain
herbs, and foliated mineral earth......           0
14th to 20th.-Eacih day the broth repeated...     35   0
21st to 30th.-Each day the broth repeated...    50   O
For Marie-Therese-Charlotte, daughter of Marie-Antoinette.
1st.-A  medicated broth.made, au bain marie, with
juices of herbs and Glauber salts..       4   0
2nd to 8th.-Each day the broth repeated                28   0
Also 12 oz. rose-water;....    3   0
9th to 13th.-Each day the broth repeated. o.          20   0
14th to 20th.-Eaoh, day the broth repeated....     28   0
Total 189   0




464                      APPENDIX.
Bill for Medicines furnished during the month of July, to M/lacrie
Antoinette, her children, and her sister, at the Temple, by
citizen, Robert, apothecary, from the prescriptions of citizen
Doctor Thiery, and by the authority of the Commune.
For Marie-Antoinette, her Daughter, and Elizabeth.
2nd year of the Republic.           fi.  s.
12th July, 1793. —0ne pint of orange flower water,
double distilled, au bain marie.12...     19   0,, 3 phials of volatile saet of camphoretted viinegar.  1    0,, 1 paper of junipers.........            0  12
For the Son of Marie-Antoinette.
1st.-A medicated broth made, au bain marie, with veal,
the hind legs and loins of frogs, juices of herbs, and
foliated mineral earth.......   5   0
2nd. —The broth repeated....                         5   0,, 12 oz. of Narbonne honey...                   4  16
3rd to 12th.-Each day the above broth repeated         50   0
13th to 22nd. —Each day the broth repeated...    50   0
23rd to 25th.-The broth the same....        15   0
26th.-A  clyster made of Corsican coraline, lemonjuice, and olive oil   o.....          1  10
Also a syringe, with an ivory pipe......  14   0
27th.-A clyster........       1  10
29th.    ditto.....     1  1 0
Also 4 oz. of verimifuge syrup...          1   4
29th to 31st.-Each day the clyster repeated             4  10
Also 4 oz. of vermifuge syrup......             1   4
For Citizen Tison.
4th. —A soothing mixture.......      2   0
5th.-The same mixture......   2   0
Also 2 pints of whey with violet syrup..       4   0
1 bottle of oreat........              2  10
6th.-2 pints of whey repeated.......    4   0
The double potion repeated....          4   0
7th.-One pint of whey........        2   0
The double potion repeated.....           4   0
8th and 9th. —Each day the whey......    4   0
Also 2 potions.......                 4   0
Total 218   6
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6,207.)




APPENDIX.                      465
VI.
COMMISSION OF ADMINISTRATIVE POLICE OF PARIS.
Liberty-Equality.
Paris, 14th Frimaire, 4th year of the French Republic, one and indivisible
(Sth December, 1795).
The commission, in pursuance of the authorization of the
minister for the interior, bearing date the 13th Frimaire, this
present month, in consequence of a letter addressed to them on
the same day, by the two commissaries appointed to the guardianship of the Temple.
The said authorization setting forth that the commission cf
administrative police shall appoint a justice of the peace, who, in
presence of the said commissaries, shall proceed to remove the
seals placed on a chest of drawers, in the lower room of the Temple
tower, and at once make out an inventory of the articles found
in the said chest.
The commission therefore appoints citizen Baron, justice of
the peace, of the section of the Mail, to proceed, in presence of the
commissaries, appointed to the Temple guard, to remove the seals
placed on the chest of drawers mentioned above, and to make out
an inventory and description of the articles contained in the said
chest of drawers.
They also appoint citizen Hannocque Guerin, a member of the
commission, to be present at the removing of the said seals, and
the making out of the said inventory, who will draw up a report of
the same, which, together with the said inventory, shall be sent to
the minister of the interior:
(Signed)    HOUDEYER, HANNOCQUE GUERIN, and PASTE,
Administrative Commissaries.
In the 4th year of the republic, one and indivisible, on the
14th Frimaire, at about one o'clock, P.M., in pursuance of the
special nomination and authorisation respectively, and the purpose therein indicated, we, Nicolas Baron, justice of the peace of
the Mail section, ex-William Tell, at Paris, accompanied by citizen
Claude-Guillaume-Hannocque Gu6rin, administrative commissary
of police of Paris, repaired to the great entrance gate of the
Maison du Temple, Rue du Temple, which having reached, we
caused ourselves to be announced to the Temple commissary




466                     APPENDIX.
guardians; one of them, citizen Gomin, came, and we acquainted
him with the reason of our visit, by reading to him the said
nomination and authorisation, and he introduced us into the lower
room of the Temple tower, called the council-room, whence the
persons who had occupied it had previously retired into another
apartment of the tower. Having entered the said room, citizen
Gomin and his colleague, Lasne, showed us the seals placed on
the two ends of a band of white paper, across the three drawers of
a veneered rosewood chest, encircled with bronze, and with a top
of veined white marble, standing in the embrasure of one of the
windows; the said seals were of soft red wax, two at each end of
the band, which seemed to us to be whole and perfect; the one
bearing as a motto:' "Commune of Paris, 1st year of the Republic," and, in the centre: "The Temple guard," surrounded
with two palms or leafy wreaths, crossed by a pike bearing the cap
of liberty; the other is a private seal, smaller than the first, without any motto, appearing to bear the initials" J. M.," conjoined
with two laurel branches, and surmounted by the cap of liberty.
We then removed the above seals, and, having opened the
drawers with the key given us by the said citizens Gomin and
Lasne, we made out the inventory and description of the contents,
as follows:
A dress and petticoat of black Saint-Cyr serge.
Another petticoat of black taffeta.
A mantle of black taffeta, trimmed with crape.
A sash of black crape.
A piece of a black veil, about an ell in length.
A dressing-gown of white dimity.
Two loose dresses of cambric muslin.
Two jackets, with their petticoats, of cambric muslin.
Seven petticoats of white dimity, with different stripes.
Twenty women's chemises, partly worn out, fifteen of which
are trimmed with the narrow lace called mignionette.
Eight pairs of stays, two of white taffeta, and six of linen, with
some of the bones belonging to them.
Ten- quilted linen cloths, with six smaller pieces belonging to
them, also of linen.
Fifteen linen neck-kerchiefs, one of them embroidered.
Six other neck-kerchiefs, four of cambric, and two of muslin
A gauze cravat, with a trimming of narrow blonde at the ends.
Fifteen plain cambric neck-kerchiefs, twelve of them trimmed
with narrow lace.




APPENDIX.                        467
Twenty-one small rubbing.-cloths, sixteen of fustian, and five of
muslin.
Thirty-four larger rubbing-cloths, made of linen.
Six pair of pockets, made of dimity, four striped, and two plain.
Three pairs of stockings, two of black silk, and one of cotton.
One pair of child's thread stockings.
One pair of black silk gloves.
Three sheepskin gloves, chamois colour.
Five cambric handkerchiefs for the head.
Fifteen cambric pocket-handkerchiefs.
A linen cap, trimmed with a head-dress of black crape.
A black taffeta fan, with whalebone ribs.
Two pincushions of white dimity, stuffed with bran.
Thirty-nine linen towels.
A little white pasteboard box, with a blue border, containing a
case made of paper pasted together, with red edgings, in which
were ten steel pins of different sizes, with facet heads.
A pair of petits bons honernes sleeves, trimmed with two rows of
lace.
A piece of lace, about an ell in length.
Three ends of narrow lace, of about three-quarters of an ell
each.
A small cambric cravat, trimmed with lace.
Three little packets of old ravelling.
Two pairs of linen under.-sleeves, to wear beneath the sleeves of
a dress.
Four petticoat-trimmings of embroidered muslin.
A little gauze frill, trimmed with lace.
And having found nothing more to describe and put in the list,
the articles above-mentioned, being all the contents of the said
drawers, were then replaced, and left'in the possession and keeping of the said citizens, Gomin and Lasne, who acknowledged the
receipt, and took it upon themselves to give them up at any time,
and to whomsoever it may be found that they belong, and all in
charge of the above sealed drawers are released from their trust.
And, after having remained there occupied uninterruptedly in
this examination, until half-past four o'clock, P.w., we made out the
present exact report of our proceedings, accompanied by the said
citizen Guerin, and in presence of the said citizens Gomin and
Lasne.
Having read- it over, the said cititizens Gufrin, Gomin, and
Lasne, commissaries appointed to the guardianship of the Temple,




468                      APPENDIX.
signed with us, and we then retired with the said citizen Gu6rin.
Signed at the time: IIANNOCQUE GUERIN, GOMIN, LASNE, and
BARON, justice of the peace. Below is written: Exact copy:
Signed, BARON, justice of the peace.
Exact copy:
HANNOCQUE GUERINt,
Commissary of the Central Office.
I, the undersigned, Franqois Darque, keeper of the articles
of furniture belonging to the Temple, in the stead of citizen
Lasne, acknowledge that, among the articles left in my charge,
according to the minutes made by citizen Nagus, commissary ol
the Temple domain, in date of the 17th Germinal, 4th year, the
articles in the wardrobe of the ex-Queen, are comprised and de.
tailed conformably to the copy, which I recognise as correct, and I
take them under my charge.
Done in the Temple tower, 20th Germinal, 4th year of the
French Republic, one and indivisible.
DARQUE.
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6,206.)
Bill for washing the linen of M. Louis-Charles, from  tht
5th June, 1793, due to me, citizeness Cloutet.
Washed:fr.  s.
i sheet..,.,         0  1.0
12 shirts......       4  16
3 jackets......                       2   5
3 pair girl's stockings....... 1   4
2 pair thread stockings, and mending..   6
8 napkins..                         12
6 wardrobe cloths....       0  15
4 cambric handkerchiefs...            0  12
3 bands.. O   
1 cotton cap.....        o  3
Carriage.......        1  12
Carried forward I 5   4




APPENDIX.                         4t6
frt..
Brought forward 1    4
15th June.
2 sheets..........               1   o
12 shirts......                    4  16
3 jackets............ 2   5
4 cambric handkerchiefs.       o..    0  12
12 towels............ 2   8
3 pair thread stockings, and mending.. 1   0
3 bands........ 0   9
6 wardrobe cloths        0...                     15
Carriage...              12
25th June.
3 jackets...                    2   5
13 shirts......        5   4
8 wardrobe cloths......  1   0
3 towels.....            0  1.2
4 bands....                  0  12
1 cotton cap........                  0   3 
6 pair thread stockings....             1   4
6 cambric handkerchiefs......  0  18
Carriage....                          1  12
Total 43  11
Bill for washing and mending the linen of Charles k'apet,
Elizabeth  and Therese  Capet, Tison, Simon, and  his
wzife; frotm 13th day of the 1st month, 2nd year of the
French republic, one and indivisible, by citizen Clouet.
13th Vendbmairie, 2nd year (4th October, 1793).
LINEN OF CHARLES CAPET.
fr.  s.
1 jacket.........            0  1 I
3 shirts......                        1   4
1 towel........ 0 3
Carried forward  2   2




47'0                       APPENDIX.
fr.  so
Brought forward..   o   2   2
1 cambric pocket-handkerchief..   0   3
I wardrobe cloth.. e.      o       0   2
1 head-kerchief.                              0   3
2 pair thread stockings... e. 0   6
2 cotton caps...                     0   6
2 trusses......    0   6
2 blue pinafores....    0  10
LINEN OF SIMON AND HIS WIFE.
2 shirts......                           0  12
2 shifts.a.......             o.  0  12
1 blue petticoat......                10
3 pair stockings.         o..              0   9
I cotton cap...... 0   3
8 coloured pocket-handkerchiefs...    4
4 round caps...             0  16
1 pair sheets.               o. i       0
I quilled cap.... e   0   2
2 cravats...             o. 0   8
1 neckerchief of double muslin,    e  o        0   4
1 stomacher.  e.  o                       0 o   2
ELIZABETII S LINEN.
9 shifts.     o...    o        4  10
I pair large cotton curtains....      4  10
3 towels                         o o  e  o.   0  1'2
8 cambric pocket-handkerchiefs.   1   4
9 wardrobe cloths.D        o o.             t   2
1 apron.........       0   5
1 cambric rubbing-cloth.. e..            o    0.    2
1 dimity dressing-gown.....  I   0
1 muslin jacket, and trimmed petticoat.     3   0
1'muslin petticoat, trimmed withembroidered
muslin........  1 10
1 pair stays.. *...        0   4
1 dimity petticoat,...  0  12
15 smaller articles, and 5 bands..... 1   5
I linen collar   o.  e.o....   0   2
Carried forward 24 16




APPENDIX.                        4 71
fr.  s.
]Brought forward....      24  18
2 linen neck-kerchiefs     O..... 0  16
2 cambric neck-kerchiefs... e.. 0  16
2 caps, and mending.......   0  18
S pair socks........        0   9
1 pair silk stockings, and mending... 1   0
1 cambric powder-cloak..l.      0  15
THERESE CAPET'S LINEN.
9 chemises, and mending.. o..      6   0
9 towels....              e o.   0   8
4 wardrobe cloths. -   o. e.      0  10
1 chair cover.  O..... 0   5
1 apron....     o....   0   5
1 pair pockets....          o o  0   4
1 dimity petticoat.....         e.     0 O   2
1 pair stays, and mending.- o...     0  15
2 pair socks.....   o....    0   6
1 dressing-gown and petticoat of dimity. 2   0
1 dress of cambric muslin.....   2   0
3 cambric pocket-handkerchiefs..  0   9
3 linen neck-kerchiefs....                1   4
2 cambric neck-kerchiefs.     - o       0  16
2 caps..    o.... o... 0  12
TISON S LINEN.
2 shirts.........        0  12
4 pocket-handkerchiefs....          O0  12
1 cotton velvet waistcoat,...     1   5
1 cotton cap........     0   3
1 head-kerchief........           0   2
1 pair.thread stockings....            0   3
1 collar......  e    3
For two conveyances....        4   0
CHARPLES CAPET'S LINEN.
(From  the 33rd day of 1st month, 2nd year of
the Republic.)
3 shirts....              a...       1   4
1 jacket.......... 0  15
Carried forward 48   0




472                    APPENDIX.
fr.  s.
Brought forward....  48   0
1 towel  o........... o   4
3 cambric pocket-handkerchiefs...    0   9
I wardrobe cloth.......... 0  2
1 head-kerchief........   0   3
3 pair stockings.                       0   9
I cotton cap 0....... O   3
2 pinafores...... 0 10
Total 50   0
LINEN BELONGING TO SIMON AND HIS WIFE,
2 shirts
3'shifts
&c., &c., &c.
I certify this list to be correct.
CoRu, Temple steward.
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6,270.)
VIII.
Documents concerning the heart of Louis XYVI.
In a note communicated to Eckard, and published by him in
his " Historical Memoirs of Louis XVII.," M. Pelletan gives the
following account of the manner in which he contrived to carry off
the heart of Louis XVII. during the autopsy.
"I was specially appointed to open and dissect the body, and
finally re-adjust the different parts. While I was employed in the
last-mentioned operation, my operators, together with the civic
commissary and one of the keepers who had been present, left the
table, and retiredinto the recess of the window to chat together.
I then conceived the idea of getting the child's heart into my possession, and covering that viscera with bran, I folded it up in a
linen cloth, and put it into my pocket, without anyone's seeing
me. I had no reason to think I should be searched on leaving thle
prison.




APPENDIX.                     4 73
"When I got home I put the heart into a bottle of spirits of
wine, which I hid behind the highest shelf of my book-case.
Nearly ten years passed away, in the course of which the spirits
of wine, though it had been several times renewed, evaporated
entirely. The heart being now thoroughly dry, and in a fit state
to be preserved without further trouble, I put it into the drawer of
my desk, along with some other anatomical remains.
"A long time afterwards, as I was showing the heart and
other remains to M. —, a private pupil of my own, who lived
at my house, and in whom I had perfect confidence, I was imprudent enough to reveal my secret to him.
"As I had constantly occasion to open my drawer, I had frequent opportunities of seeing the heart, which had nothing round
it,-when one day, I perceived that it was not among the other
contents of my drawer. I could have no doubt that it had been
been taken out by my pupil, who alone knew the secret, and who
alone had free access to my private room.
" This pupil had left me a short time before, to be married, and
I still received him at my house; but yet I dared not demand
its restitution, being fully persuaded that he would deny the
fact, and that, were matters pushed to extremity, he would even
destroy it.
"At the period when everything seemed preparing for the
return of our king, my pupil fell a victim to a pulmonary complaint to which he had long been subject. After his death the
father of his widow paid me a visit, and informed me that his sonin-law, when dying, had confessed, with much repentance, the fact
of having purloined the heart of Louis XVII. when at my house;
and that his daughter purposed restoring it to me the next day.
" As soon as he had left me I hastened to his house, where I
found my pupil's widow surrounded by her family. The lady
immediately returned me the heart inclosed in a purse; and I
recognised it perfectly, having handled and attentively examined
it over and over again.
"So that I possess the heart of Louis XVII."
A communication made to M. Antoine, (of Saint Gervais,
who had published a "Life of Louis XVII."), by M. Pelletan,
in which M. Pelletan laid great stress on the personal attentions
he had paid to the young prince, without taking any notice of M.




474                    APPENDIX.
Dumangiin, and also mentioned his having taken away the child's
heart, occasioned an exchange of letters between the two physicians
in the year 1817. M. Dumangin observed in his: —
" You; have imagined, sir, that there was no harm in accusing
MM. Jeanroy, Lassus, and myself, of inattention at the time
when you say you carried off a precious part of the young King's
remains. What had you to fear, then, from our colleagues and myself? Nothing. You had, indeed, proposed having some assistants in the operation, and in consequence of my observing that,
from the personal qualities of M. Lassus, and his former attendance
upon the Queen of France and Madame Elizabeth, and that of M.
Jeanroy in the House of Lorraine, their signatures would have a
considerable weight, you agreed to that choice. Was it not rather
that you feared the guardians, who were in a corner of the room?
I venture to say that your conduct, praiseworthy in itself, subjects
you to the serious imputation of having neglected to obtain the
testimony of others, which would have prevented any doubt on a
fact of such importance."
M. Pelletan replied as follows to these remarks of M. Dumangin:
" We proceeded all four to the opening of the body, the dissection of which was made by myself alone. I had certainly no wish
to compromise you or to accuse you of inattention, in saying that
I, being solely occupied with the re-arrangement of the body, you
retired into the recess of a window, and that I took advantage of
the moment thus given me, to get the precious remains into my
possession.
"You did not perceive the abstraction of the heart, because I
carefully concealed the deed from everyone. You know that it
might have cost me my life had it been discovered: and yet you
ask me if I could not confide in you. No, sir! I dared not trust
anybody. I told no one at all, excepting my friend M. Lassus,
whom I had known twenty-five years, and who had accompanied
Mesdames to Italy;. it was not known by anyone else. This,
sir, is the true state of things in which you say I was so much
to blame."
M. Antoine, who, as he himself tells us, was directed by Louis
XVIII., in the year 1817, to search out all persons still alive who
had been known as having been kind in their conduct to the young
prisoner of the Temple tower, had naturally entered into communication with MM. Pelletan and Dumangin on the subject, and had




APPENDIX.                      475
been the involuntary cause of a dispute between those two famous
phycians, by publishing the account given by the former, sums up
the state of the question, after these mutual explanations, as
follows, in a note addressed to M. Hue, then head valet de chambre
to' Louis XVIII.
"We took advantage of the circumstances which brought us to
the house of M., Dumangin, to inquire into a fact, which various
biographers of Louis XV1I. have repeated from our account, we
having been the frst to mention it in the life of that young prince,
published in 181.5.
"Although M. Dumangin presesrves the esteem and just consideration for M. Pelletan which the talents of the latter so well
deserve, we are aware, notwithstanding, that he had some reasons
for feeling piqued at his conduct.  They acted together in the
dissection of the body of Louis XVII.; and therefore by pressing
M. Dumangin to tell us frankly what degree of faith should be
attached to the abstraction of the child's heart, of which M.
Pelletan makes quite a personal merit, we were sure of obtaining
a testimony which would be neither dictated by blind confidence
nor by servile complaisance.
" M. Dumangin affirms that, at the close of the operation, he
saw M. Pelletan wrap something up carefully, and put it into his
pocket. He did notthink at all about it then, and now presumes
that the surgeon above-mentioned may have thought proper to
conceal that pious theft, not only for fear of compromising himself
but also any other person to whom he might have revealed the
secret.
" At present, although there can be no physical proof that the
heart inll M. Pelletan's possession, is really that of Louis XVII.,
for which fact he has no surety to offer beyond his bare word, M.
Dumangin, recollecting what passed at the time the body was
opened, says that, in his heart and conscience he is morally convinced of the truth of that statement.
"We considered it our duty to report this little circumstance,
which will not perhaps be uninteresting in the eyes of our august
monarch, now that his Majesty has been recently inquiring into
all matters connected with his young predecessor."
The two following papers will show that Louis XVIII. had, at
one time, after this inquiry, thought of having the heart preserved
by M. Pelletan brought to Saint-Denis.




476                           APPENDIX.
"MINISTRY  OF THE INTERIOR.
"To M. the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice.
"Paris, 3rd September, 1817.
"Monseigneur,
"I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the papers your grace
did me the honour to communicate to me, both that relating to
the preservation of the heart of his Majesty Louis XVIL., and
those referring to the place where the body of the young Prince
was buried.
" It being the King's intention that the heart of that young
Prince, as also that of H. R. IH. the Dauphin, eldest son of Louis
XVI., which latter is now in the hands of the mayor of the 12th
district,* be conveyed to Saint-Denis, without pomp, but still with
all fitting ceremony. I have, in compliance with the orders given
me by his Majesty, sent all the papers to M. the grand master of
* This is explained by the following paper.
" Report to the King."
"Sire,
"The mayor of the 12th district of Paris, has just received in charge from M.
Thevenin, who had it in his keeping, the heart of his Royal Highness Monseigneur the Dauphin, eldest son of his Majesty Louis XVI.
"M. the prefect of the Seine, together with this intelligence, has given me the
following information, which he assures me has been collected with the utmost care
by M. le Maire.
" In Brumaire, 2nd year (October, 1793), at the time when the tombs of
the Bourbon family at Val-de-GrAce were robbed of their contents, one Legoy,
secretary of the committee of the observatory, who was present at the event, came
into possession of a heart, which, by the title engraved on the double inclosure,
silver-gilt and leaded, in which it was contained, was that of his Royal Highness
M. the Dauphin Louis-Joseph-Xavier-Frangois, eldest son of his Majesty Louis
XVI., who was born at Versailes, 22,Wd October, 1781, anId who died at Meudon,
4th June, 1789,
" Fearing that, as a man in office, his having this heart in his possession might
bring him into trouble, M. Legoy gave it in charge to his father.
"At the death of this latter, which occurred on the 1st August, 1811, it
remained in the hands of his widow.
"Lastly, in consequence of Madame Legey having several times shown an
inclination, which, however, she never carried out, of intrusting the charge to her
neighbour Guicard, the woman Moleure, who was in the confidence of that lady,
persuaded her, a short time before her death, to give it to M. Thevenin, the last
trustee, whose governess Moleure had been.
"These facts appear to me to leave no room for doubt concerning the origin
and genuine character of this deposit.
"I have the honour to beg your Majesty will forward me your Majesty's
orders on the subject."
Note.-This report was written on a scrap of paper, without signature or date.
(Naiional Archives, Case E, No. 6,209.)




APPENDIX.                      477
the ceremonies.  I send your grace the two notes added to his
letter of the 20th August. They are made out in the form of
discharge that your grace wished to have done.
"The minister, secretary of state, department of the Interior."
(National Archives, Case B, No. 6,209.)
MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR.
List of papers proving that the heart of his Majesty Louis XVIL
was really preserved and is still in existence.
Ist. Verbal report of the statement of witnesses, from which it
is evident that the heart, preserved at the house of M. Pelletan,
really is that of his Majesty Louis XVII.
2nd. Certificate given by M. Pelletan, in which he acknowledges
the receipt of the heart of that young Prince, preserved by him,
from the widow of M. Tillos.
3rd. A decree of the committee of general safety, dated 5th
June, 1795 (17th Prairial, 3rd year), authorising M. Pelletan
to succeed M. Desault in prescribing for the disease by which his
Majesty Louis XVII. had been attacked.
4th. The order for despatching the said decree, addressed to
M. Pelletan on the same day by the secretary-general to the
committee.
5th. A decree of the committee of general safety, dated 8th
June, 1795 (20th Prairial), authorising the physicians of the young
King to provide him with a nurse.
6th. The letter in which the secretary-general sent a copy of
the above paper to M. Pelletan, on the same day.
7th. The order given by the committee of general safety, at
at half-past four, P.M., on the same day, to proceed to the opening
of the body.
8th. The minutes made out next day, 9th June (21st Prairial),
describing the state of the body, and signed by those persons who
had been summoned to be present at the dissection, as well as by
the physicians directed to prescribe for the young Prince.
Received the eight papers contained in the above note, sent to




478                      APPENDIX.
me by M. the minister, secretary of state, by his letter of 3rd September, 1817, in compliance with orders received by him from the
King.
(Signed) Le MARQUIS DE DREUX BtREZE.
Grand Master of Ceremonies.
Paris, 4th September, 1817.
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6,209.)
Notwithstanding the intention displayed in the two preceding
documents, the heart in question was not conveyed to Saint Denis.
The early doubts entertained on the subject returned, and prevailed,
being further confirmed by the strenuous denial of Lasne, who
had been present at the operation, and who, as he affirmed, had
never taken his eyes off the operator for one single instant.
The heart preserved by M. Pelletan was inclosed in a crystal
vase, on which were engraved the letters L. C., initials of the
names Louis Charles; seventeen stars also engraved on the cover,
formed a crown, surmounted by a gilt fleur-de-lis,  This vase remained in charge at the archiepiscopal residence at Paris, whence
it disappeared when that building was pillaged, 29th July, 1830.
M. Gabriel Pelletan then instituted a search for the heart, which is
now in his possession.
Ix,
Bill for washing, mending and providing of articles of clothing
for the prisonersa at the Temple, for the month Plteviose, 3rd
year, one and indivisible, by citizen Clouet.
January and February, 179b.
THERESE CAPET'S LINEN.
fr.  s.
1  apron... o....    o o       0   8
21  chemises, 4 mended.....         19  15
12  towels, 1 mended.......  3  10
1  pair pockets...........  0   6
8  quilted cloths..........  4   0
5  wardrobe cloths.....          1   0
Carried forward  29  19




APPENDIX.                        479
fr.  s.
Brought forward  29  19
I  pair stays....     0   6
3  pair cotton stockings...              0  15
2  pair silk stockings, and mending.    5  10
2  pair socks, and mending..         0  12
8  skull-caps...    o.   o        3   0
2  lawn caps, making up, and bow..        5   0
10  cambric pocket-handkerchiefs, and mending   4  10
8  cambric neck-kerchiefs, one mended  o.   3  14
10  lawn neck-kerchiefs......,,   6   0
2  dimity petticoats, and mending......        2  15
I  dimity dress and petticoat let out...   12   0
4  cambric muslin dresses let out... 44   0
21 ells of linen, at 1 Of. per ell, provided for lining  36   0
Provided 22 ells nankeen for 2 jackets and
their skirts,:at 18f..                 3989    0
Making two jackets and their skirts  (sic). 40   0
Provided 2 ells of un bleached linen for the
body and sleeves of two jackets....    28   0
Provided the wadding for the skirts of the
jackets... o    o.. o     10   0
Provided 3 dozen buttons... o.o      9   0
CHARLES CAPETaS LINEN.
3  shirts, and mending.......              4   5
4  cambric pocket-handkerchiefs...  1   0
1  cravat, and 2 cotton caps.. e - a   0  15
TISON S LINEN.
5 shirts....... 3o 15
3  caps and 3 head-bands......   1   4
5  pair stockings.o e...   1   5
6 handkerchiefs....    1.4
1  towel.o.........         0   5
Total   649  15
I certify the above sum, amounting to 649f. 15s., to be correct.
CLOUET.
We, the undersigned, certify that the work and articles fur.
nished as stated in the above bill, amounting to the sum of 649f
lbs. were done and provided for the use of the prisoners.




480                      APPENDIX.
Temple, 19th Germinal, 3rd year of the French Republic, one
and indivisible.
GOMIN, appointed keeper of the children of Louis Capet.
RAMBERT, civic commissary.
Certified to be correct by me, the steward of the Temple household, amounting to -649 livres, 15 sols.
LIENARD.
19th Germinal, 3rd year (8th April, 1795).
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6,207.)
X.
Bill of the work done and furnished by Diacre, Tailor, No. 58,
aRue Denis, for the daughter of Capet, by the order of the
Temple comnmzissary, 30th Brumaire, 3rd year of the
French Republic.
20th November, 1794.          fr.  s
5 ells cloth, at 20f.......... 100   0
9 ells ribbon, at 6s.......                 2  14
16 basks, at 10s.........      8   0
8 ells staylace, at 5s......    2   0
Making 4 pair of stays, at 18f. per ell..    72   0
Total   186  14
I certify the above bill, amounting to 186f. 14s., to be correct.
DIACRE.
Received the four pair of stays, mentioned above, for the use of
the daughter of Capet; this 3rd Brumaire, 3rd year of the French
Republic, one and indivisible.
LAURENT, appointed to guard the children of Capet.
GoMIN, appointed to guard the children of Capet.
Certified to be correct by me, the Temple steward, amounting
to the sum of 184f. 14s.; as it is due for work of which I know
nothing, I have made inquiries of other workmen in the same line,
who informed me that the price set on the articles was their current
value in the market, for which reason I declare that no reduction
ought to be imade.                               LIENARD.
(National Archives, Case E, No. 6,207.)
REn OF THE. APPEN)IX.