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CHAPTER XX.

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Abbe Sieyes-Consular Procession to the Council Chamber 10th of
August, 1792-Celerity of Mons. Fouche's Information-The two
Lovers-Cabinet of Mons. le Grand-Self-prescribing Physician
Bust of Robespierre- His Lodgings-Corn Hall - Museum of
French Monuments Revolutionary Agent Lovers of married
Women.

CHAP.

XX.

A
NEAT remark was made upon the abbè Sieyes, to whose
prolific mind the revolution and all its changes have been im-
puted. This extraordinary man has a noble house in the
Champs Elisées, and is said to have the best cook in Paris.
As a party in which I was, were passing his hotel, a near
relation of the abbè, who happened to be with us, commented
upon the great services which the cloistered fabricator of
constitutions had afforded to France, and adverted to his house
and establishment as an unsuitable reward for his labours.
A gentleman, who was intimate with the abbe, but was no
great admirer of his morals, said, "I think, my dear madam,
"the abbe ought to be very well satisfied with his destiny;
" and I would advise him to live as long as he can in the
Champs Elisées; for when he shall happen to experience
"that mysterious transition to which we are all hastening,
"I think the chances will be against his finding good accom-
modations in any other Elysium."

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CONSULAR PROCESSION. -TENTH OF AUGUST, 1792.

As I was passing one morning through the hall of the Thuilleries, the great door of the council chamber was opened, and the second and third consuls, preceded and followed by their suite in full costume, marched with great pomp to business, to the roll of a drum. This singular procession from one part of the house to the other, had a ridiculous effect, and naturally reminded me of the fustian pageantry which, upon the stage, attends the entries and exits of the kings and queens of the drama.

I have often been surprised to find that the injuries which the cornice of the entrance, and the capitals of the columns in the hall of the Thuilleries, have sustained from the ball of cannon, during the horrible massacre of the 10th of August, 1792, have never been repaired. Every vestige of that day of dismay and slaughter ought for ever to be effaced; instead of which, some labour has been exercised to perpetuate its. remembrance. Under the largest chasms which have been made by the shot is painted, in strong characters, that gloomy date.

In the evening of that day of devastation, from which France may date all her sufferings, a friend of mine went into the court-yard of the Thuilleries, where the review is now held, for the purpose of endeavouring to recognise, amongst the dead, any of his acquaintances. In the course of this shocking search, he declared to me, that he counted no less than eight hundred bodies of Swiss and French, who had perished in that frightful contest between an infatuated people and an irresolute sovereign. I will not dilate upon this painful subject, but

215

CHAP.

XX.

dismiss

216

CHAP.
XX.

CELERITY OF MONS. FOUCHE'S INFORMATION.

dismiss it in the words of the holy and resigned descendant of Nahor, "Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it; let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it."

I have before had occasion to notice the promptitude and activity of the french police, under the penetrating eye of Mons. Fouche. No one can escape the vigilance of this man and his emissaries. An emigrant of respectability assured me, that when he and a friend of his waited upon him for their passports to enable them to quit Paris for the South of France, he surprised them by relating to them the names of the towns, the streets, and of the people with whom they had lodged, at various times, during their emigration in England.

Whilst I was at Paris, an affair happened very near the hotel in which I lodged, which in its sequel displayed that high spirit and sensibility which appear to form the presiding features in the french character, to which may be attributed all the excesses which have stained, and all the glory which has embellished it. A lady of fortune, and her only daughter, an elegant and lovely young woman, resided in the Fauxbourg St. Germain. A young man of merit and accomplishments, but unaided by the powerful pretensions of suitable fortune, cherished a passion for the young lady, to whom he had frequent access, on account of his being distantly related to her. His affection was requited with return; and before the parent suspected the attachment, the lovers were solemnly engaged. The indications of pure love are generally too unguarded to

escape

THE TWO LOVERS.

escape the keen, observing eye of a cold, mercenary mother. She charged her daughter with her fondness, and forbade her distracted lover the house. To close up every avenue of hope, she withdrew with her wretched child into Italy, where they remained for two years; at the expiration of which, the mother had arranged for her daughter a match more congenial to her own pride and avarice, with an elderly gentleman, who had considerable fortune and property in the vicinity of Bourdeaux. Every necessary preparation was made for this cruel union, which it was determined should be celebrated in Paris, to which city they returned for that purpose. Two days before the marriage was intended to take place, the young lover, wrought up to frenzy by the intelligence of the approaching nuptials, contrived, by bribing the porter whilst the mother was at the opera with her intended son-in-law, to reach the room of the beloved being from whom he was about to be separated for ever. Emaciated by grief, she presented the mere spectre of what she was when he last left her. As soon as he entered the room, he fell senseless at her feet, from which state he was roused by the loud fits of her frightful maniac laughter. She stared upon him, like one bewildered. He clasped her with one hand, and with the other drew from his pocket a vial containing double distilled laurel water he pressed it to her lips, until she had swallowed half of its contents; the remainder he drank himself.-The drug of death soon began to operate.→ Clasped in each other's arms, pale and expiring, they reviewed their hard fate, and, in faint and lessening sentences, implored of the great God of mercy, that he would pardon them for what

F F

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CHAP.

XX.

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CHAP.
XX.

THE TWO LOVERS.

what they had done, and that he would receive their spirits
into his regions of eternal repose; that he would be pleased,
in his divine goodness, to forgive the misjudging severity which
had driven them to despair, and would support the unconscious
author of it, under the heavy afflictions which their disastrous
deaths would occasion. They had scarcely finished their prayer,
when they heard footsteps approaching the room. Madame
R, who had been indisposed at the opera, returned home
before its conclusion, with the intended bridegroom. The
young man awoke, as it were, from his deadly drowsiness,
and, exerting his last strength, pulled from his breast a dagger,
stabbed the expiring being, upon whom he doated, to the
heart; and, falling upon her body, gave himself several mortal
wounds. The door opened; the frantic mother appeared.
All the house was in an instant alarmed; and the fatal ex-
planation which furnished the materials of this short and sad
recital, was taken from the lips of the dying lover, who had
scarcely finished it before he breathed his last.
Two days
afterwards, the story was hawked about the streets.
From this painful narrative, in which the French im-
petuosity is strongly depicted, I must turn to mention my visit
to Mons. le G, who lives in the Rue Florentine, and
is considered to be one of the first architects in France; in
which are many monuments of his taste and elegance. It is
a curious circumstance that all artists exercise their talents
more successfully for their patrons than for themselves. Whether
it is the hope of a more substantial reward than that of mere
self-complacency, which usually excites the mind to its happiest

exertions,

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