e came not. My people demanded to be led forward--
rebellion, if so we might call what was the mere casting away of
straw-formed shackles, appeared manifestly among them. They would away on
the word without a leader. The only chance of safety, the only hope of
preservation from every form of indescribable suffering, was our keeping
together. I told them this; while the most determined among them answered
with sullenness, that they could take care of themselves, and replied to my
entreaties with scoffs and menaces.

At length, on the fifth day, a messenger arrived from Adrian, bearing
letters, which directed us to proceed to Auxerre, and there await his
arrival, which would only be deferred for a few days. Such was the tenor of
his public letters. Those privately delivered to me, detailed at length the
difficulties of his situation, and left the arrangement of my future plans
to my own discretion. His account of the state of affairs at Versailles was
brief, but the oral communications of his messenger filled up his
omissions, and shewed me that perils of the most frightful nature were
gathering around him. At first the re-awakening of the plague had been
concealed; but the number of deaths encreasing, the secret was divulged,
and the destruction already achieved, was exaggerated by the fears of the
survivors. Some emissaries of the enemy of mankind, the accursed Impostors.
were among them instilling their doctrine, that safety and life could only
be ensured by submission to their chief; and they succeeded so well, that
soon, instead of desiring to proceed to Switzerland, the major part of the
multitude, weak-minded women, and dastardly men, desired to return to
Paris, and, by ranging themselves under the banners of the so called
prophet, and by a cowardly worship of the principle of evil, to purchase
respite, as they hoped, from impending death. The discord and tumult
induced by these conflicting fears and passions, detained Adrian. It
required all his ardour in pursuit of an object, and his patience under
difficulties, to calm and animate such a number of his followers, as might
counterbalance the panic of the rest, and lead them back to the means from
which alone safety could be derived. He had hoped immediately to follow me;
but, being defeated in this intention, he sent his messenger urging me to
secure my own troop at such a distance from Versailles, as to prevent the
contagion of rebellion from reaching them; promisi