r him, but sensitive to the ragings of the mob
without, found the fugitive unworthy of his office. Before night the
kingship was abolished, and the royal family were imprisoned in the
Temple.

There is no proof that the young Corsican was at this time other than
an interested spectator. In a hurried letter written to Joseph on May
twenty-ninth he notes the extreme confusion of affairs, remarks that
Pozzo di Borgo is on good terms with the minister of war, and
recommends his brother to keep on good terms with Paoli. There is a
characteristic little paragraph on the uniform of the national guard.
Though he makes no reference to the purpose of his journey, it is
clear that he is calm, assured that in the wholesale flight of
officers a man like himself is assured of restoration to rank and
duty. Two others dated June fourteenth and eighteenth respectively are
scarcely more valuable. He gives a crude and superficial account of
French affairs internal and external, of no value as history. He had
made unsuccessful efforts to revive the plea for their mother's
mulberry subsidies, had dined with Mme. Permon, had visited their
sister Marianna at St. Cyr, where she had been called Elisa to
distinguish her from another Marianna. He speculates on the chance of
her marrying without a dot. In quiet times, the wards of St. Cyr
received, on leaving, a dowry of three thousand livres, with three
hundred more for an outfit; but as matters then were, the
establishment was breaking up and there were no funds for that
purpose. Like the rest, the Corsican girl was soon to be stripped of
her pretty uniform, the neat silk gown, the black gloves, and the
dainty bronze slippers which Mme. de Maintenon had prescribed for the
noble damsels at that royal school. In another letter written four
days later there is a graphic account of the threatening
demonstrations made by the rabble and a vivid description which
indicates Napoleon's being present when the mob recoiled at the very
door of the Tuileries before the calm and dignified courage of the
King. There is even a story, told as of the time, by Bourrienne, a
very doubtful authority, but probably invented later, of Buonaparte's
openly expressing contempt for riots. "How could the King let the
rascals in! He should have shot down a few hundred, and the rest would
have run." This statement, like others made by Bourrienne, is to be
received with the utmost caution.

[Illustration: From the collectio