THE HALL OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY,

branches of olive. Behind it, upon semicircular seats, the
legislators sit, at the back of whom are the boxes of the em-
bassadors, and officers of state, and immediately above them,
within a colonnade of corinthian pillars, the public are ad-
mitted. Round the upper part of the cornice, a beautiful
festoon of lilac coloured cloth, looped up with rich tassels, is
suspended, for the purpose of correcting the vibration of the
voice. The whole is very superb, and has cost the nation an
immense sum of money. The principal housekeeper asked me
"whether our speakers had such a place to declaim in," I told
him,
"that we had very great orators in England, but that
they were content to speak in very little places." He laughed,
and observed, "that frenchmen never talked to so much ad-
vantage as when their eye was pleased."

This man I found had been formerly one of the door keepers of the national assembly, and was present when, after having been impeached by Billaud, Panis, and their colleagues, Tallien discharged the pistol at Robespierre, whom he helped to support, until the monster was finally dispatched by the guillotine, on the memorable 9th of Thermidor.

The french are amazingly fond of finery and stage effect. The solicitude which always first manifested itself after any political change in the course of the revolution, was the external decoration of each new puppet who, arrayed in the brief authority of the fleeting moment, was permitted to " play his fantastic "tricks before high Heaven."

The poor battered ark of government was left overturned, under the protection of an escort of assassins, in the ensan

151

CHAP.

XV.

152

CHAP.

XV.

BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS.

guined mud, upon the recking bodies of its former, headless,
bearers, until its new supporters had adjusted the rival pre-
tensions of silk and satin, and had consulted the pattern book
of the laceman in thechoice of their embroidery.
On one
side of the arch which leads into the antiroom of the legislative
assembly, are suspended patterns and designs for tickets of
admission to the sitting, elegantly framed, and near the same
place, in a long gallery which leads to the dressing-rooms of
the legislators, are boxes which contain the senatorial robes of
the members. The meetings of our house of commons would
inspire more awe, and veneration, if more attention was paid
to decorum, and external decoration. A dignified and manly
magnificence would not be unsuitable to the proceedings of
the sanctuary of british laws, and the seat of unrivalled elo-
quence. What would a perfumed french legislator say, ac-
customed to rise in the rustling of embroidered silks, and
gracefully holding in his hand, a cap of soft and showy plumes,
to address himself to alabaster statues, glittering lustres, grecian
chairs, festoons of drapery, and an audience of beings
tricked out as fine as himself, were he to be suddenly trans-
ported into a poor and paltry room, meanly lighted, badly
ventilated, and inconveniently arranged, and to be told that,
in that spot, the representatives of the first nation in the world,
legislated for her subjects? What would he say, were he to
see and hear in the mean attire of jockeys and mechanics,
such orators as Greece and Rome never saw or heard in the
days of their most exalted glory; unfolding with the penetra-
tion of a subordinate Providence, the machinations of a dark

and

CAPTAIN BERGERET.

153

XV.

and deep conspiracy, erecting elaborate laws to shelter the CHAP. good, against the enemies of repose, or hurling the thunder of their eloquence against the common foes of their country. The astonished frenchman would very likely say, "I always

66

66

66

thought that the english were a strange set of beings, but they now exceed the powers of my comprehension, they can elicit wit in the midst of gloom, and can say such

things in a plain unbrushed coat of blue cloth, as all the robes, plumes, and finery of the republic, in her gaudy "halls of deliberation, cannot inspire."

46

From the legislative assembly I went to pay my respects to the gallant captain Bergeret, to whom I had letters of introduction. It will be immediately remembered, that this distinguished hero, in the Virginie, displayed the most undaunted courage, when she was engaged by sir Edward Pellew, in the Indefatigable, to whose superior prowess and naval knowledge, he was obliged to strike the tricolour flag. His bravery and integrity have justly entitled him to the admiration and lasting friendship of his noble conqueror, and to the esteem of the british nation. When sir Sidney Smith was confined in the Temple, and captain Bergeret a prisoner in England, the latter was sent to France upon his parole, to endeavour to effect the exchange of sir Sidney. The french government, which was then

under the direction of some of the basest and meanest of her tyrants, refused to listen to the proposal; and at the same time. resisted the return of their own countryman.

The gallant Bergeret was resolved to preserve his word of konour unsullied, or to perish in the attempt. Finding all his

154

CHAP.
XV.

THE TEMPLE. SIR SIDNEY SMITH'S ESCAPE.

efforts to obtain the liberation of the illustrious captive unavailing, menaced with death if he departed, and invited by promised command and promotion if he remained, he contrived to quit his own country by stealth, and returned a voluntary exile to his generous and confiding conquerors,

From captain B's hotel I went to the Temple, so celebrated in the gloomy history of the revolution. It stands in the Rue du Temple, in the Fauxbourg of that name. The entrance is handsome, and does not much impress the idea of the approach to a place of such confinement. Over the gates is a pole, supporting a dirty and tattered bonnet rouge, of which species of republican decoration there are very few now to be seen in Paris. The door was opened to me by the principal gaoler, whose predecessor had been dismissed on account of his imputed connivance in the escape of sir Sidney Smith. His appearance seemed fully to qualify him for his savage office, and to insure his superiors against all future apprehension, of a remission of duty by any act of humanity, feeling, or commiseration. He told me, that he could not permit me to advance beyond the lodge, on account of a peremptory order which he had just received from government. From this place I had a full command of the walk and prison, the latter of which is situated in the centre of the walls. He pointed out to me the window of the room in which the royal sufferers languished. As the story of sir Sidney Smith's escape from this prison has been involved in some ambiguity, a short recital of it will, perhaps, not prove uninteresting.

After several months had rolled away, since the gates of his

prison

SIR SIDNEY SMITH'S ESCAPE.

prison had first closed upon the british hero, he observed that a lady who lived in an upper apartment on the opposite side of the street, seemed frequently to look towards that part of the prison in which he was confined. As often as he observed her, he played some tender air upon his flute, by which, and by imitating every motion which she made, he at length succeeded in fixing her attention upon him, and had the happiness of remarking that she occasionally observed him with a glass. One morning when he saw that she was looking attentively upon him in this manner, he tore a blank leaf from an old mass book which was lying in his cell, and with the soot of the chimney, contrived, by his finger, to describe upon it, in a large character, the letter A, which he held to the window to be viewed by his fair sympathizing observer. After gazing upon it for some little time, she nodded, to show that she understood what he meant, sir Sidney then touched the top of the first bar of the grating of his window, which he wished her to consider as the representative of the letter A, the second B, and so on, until he had formed, from the top of the bars, a corresponding number of letters; and by touching the middle, and bottom parts of them, upon a line with each other, he easily, after having inculcated the first impression of his wishes, completed a telegraphic alphabet. The process of communication was, from its nature, very slow, but sir Sidney had the happiness of observing, upon forming the first word, that this excellent being, who beamed before him like a guardian angel, seemed completely to comprehend it, which she expressed by an assenting movement of the head. Frequently obliged

x 2

155

CHAP.

XV.