reat-coat and hat, and, silently descending the stairs to the
door of the tower, entered a carriage which was there awaiting him. As
he had long been deprived of his razors, his chin and cheeks were
covered with masses of hair. His garments hung loosely around his
emaciated frame, and all dignity of aspect was lost in the degraded
condition to which designing cruelty had reduced him. The captive
monarch was escorted through the streets by regiments of cavalry,
infantry, and artillery, every man furnished with fifteen rounds of
ammunition to repel any attempts at a rescue. A countless throng of
people lined the streets through which the illustrious prisoner was
conveyed. The multitude gazed upon the melancholy procession in profound
silence. He soon stood before the bar of the Convention. "Louis," said
the president, "the French nation accuses you. You are about to hear the
charges which are to be preferred. Louis, be seated." The king listened
with perfect tranquillity and self-possession to a long catalogue of
accusations, in which his efforts to sustain the falling monarchy, and
his exertions to protect himself and family from insults and death, were
construed into crimes against the nation.

The examination of the king was long, minute, and was conducted by those
who were impatient for his blood. At its close, the king, perfectly
exhausted by mental excitement and the want of refreshment, was led back
into the waiting-room of the Convention. He was scarcely able to stand
for faintness. He saw a soldier eating a piece of bread. He approached,
and, in a whisper, begged him for a piece, and ate it. Here was the
monarch of thirty millions of people, in the heart of his proud capital,
and with all his palaces around him, actually begging bread of a poor
soldier. The king was again placed in the carriage, and conveyed back to
his prison in the Temple. As the cortege passed slowly by the palace of
the Tuileries, the scene of all his former grandeur and happiness, the
king gazed long and sadly on the majestic pile, so lost in thought that
he heeded not, and apparently heard not the insulting cries which were
resounding around him. As the king entered the Temple, he raised his
eyes most wistfully to the queen's apartment, but the windows were so
barred that no glances could be interchanged. The king was conducted to
his apartment, and was informed that he could no longer be permitted to
hold any communication whatever with the