calamities. I have often consoled them by my presence and counsels, and, when their chief ended his languishing captivity, he died in my arms. I never abandoned the sad remains of the rest, before they had become the victims of the scaffold. I have done my duty in affording a feeble prop to those trees overwhelmed by the tempest. It was not the monarch, whom I succoured, it was the man, whom I pitied. A ferocious government thought fit to exile me, I murmur not, but he, who has been daring enough to speak the language of his religion before his destroyers, cannot be suspected of conspiring in the dark. If Louis committed some political errors, I wish not to justify them; I have neither the power nor means of accusing or absolving him; but, while my eyes can yet shed a tear, let me be allowed to moisten with it this funeral turf, which I have already faded with my trembling footsteps.

The respectable clergyman wiped his eyes; then proceeding in a more calm accent, forgive, said he to me, this effusion of a heart, long fed on bitter afflic

tions. Grief and my years have rendered me prolix,

and I require some indulgence. A retrospective view of past events will enable me to class my ideas better, and I shall be more precise in my recital. But the facts, which I shall impart to you, are complicated, some of them are known, the most important are not. The spirit of party and the influence of public opinion have adulterated truth. As it respects Clery's Journal, although feelingly written, it is not strictly true, and it is far from being complete. Perhaps its mutilation was made in France, when the work received a second impression. As to my narration, besides the interest excited by the subject of my choice, which I do not wish to depreciate, it will possess another interest, still more mine, that of truth.

It is the same narration which I penned, as fast as it was confided to me, and which I now publish. Under an inquisitorial administration, I was obliged to be silent; I can now speak, under a government friendly to freedom and generous actions. When to the spirit of a total destruction, has succeeded that founded on a deliberate calculation, and a regular plan, it will be worthy of record to see a citizen, whose political prin

ciples have always been opposed to fanaticism, anarchy, and royal superstition; to see him paint with the sacred character of truth the misfortunes of a man once a king. To whatever party the reader may belong, whatever opinions he may entertain, if he questions the liberality of the government, it will suffice to convince him, to invite him to read this work; since I am allowed to write it, I feel that my liberty is no longer a chimera.

FIRST NIGHT.

WHAT lamentable and awful recollections those scenes afford to the mind! continued M. DE FERMONT. Every stone in the edifices which surround us, each of those trees seem consecrated by some solemn event. In order to paint the numerous subjects which constitute the interesting gallery of the revolution, history will take her seat within this limited circle in a mathematical point of view, and so extensive in the contemplation of the moral philosopher. The eye which casts a glance over it, can easily survey its whole circumference, the most vast conception could not enumerate its infinite moral points. It is thus, that from the summit of a high mountain, our sight may encircle, at one glance and in an instant, the whole surface of the starry hemisphere; but when engaged