knowledge of Necker, and before they could be executed, he must
quietly be got rid of. Accordingly, on the 11th of July, 1789, as he
was about to sit down to dinner, he received an order to quit France
within four and twenty hours, and without exciting observation. Necker
obeyed to the very letter. He and his wife, without changing their
dress, stepped into the carriage, as if to take the usual evening
airing, and travelled night and day till they reached Brussels.

Madame de Stael was informed of this event on the morning of the 12th,
and on the 15th, having been advised of their route, she set off to
join her parents. "When I reached them," says she, "three days after,
they still wore the full dress which they had on, when, after a large
dinner party, and while no one suspected the agitating position in
which they were placed, they silently quitted France, their friends,
their home, and the power which they enjoyed. This dress, covered with
dust, the name assumed by my father for the sake of avoiding
recognition in France, and so detention through the favor in which he
was still held,--all these filled me with feelings of reverence, that
caused me to throw myself at his feet, as I entered the room of the
inn where I found him."

While thus exhibiting his respect for the king, Necker, by another
act, displayed his love for the people. To purchase a supply of corn
for the starving population of Paris, Necker had negotiated a loan of
two millions of livres, for which his own personal security was to be
given. The transaction was not completed at the period of his exile,
and, lest this should occasion any delay, he wrote at once to confirm
his guaranty.

No sooner was Necker's dismissal known, than Paris rose in insurrection.
An army of one hundred thousand men was arrayed in a night; on the 14th
of July, the Bastile was destroyed, and the king was forced to attend
in person at the Hotel de Ville, and to express his approbation of the
acts of the revolutionists. A courier, bearing an order of recall,
overtook Necker at Frankfort. He hesitated, but at last determined to
comply. "What a moment of happiness," says Madame de Stael, "was our
journey to Paris! I do not think that the like ever happened to any man
who was not sovereign of the country. * * * The liveliest acclamations
accompanied every step; the women threw themselves on their knees afar
off in the fields when they saw his carriage pass; the first citizens
of