lly, and for a long time, on the pavement in the street, and
stretch forth their hands, weeping, to save two lives of which only
one is granted to them.--Behold the monarch by these brilliant signs!
Already do the young, who are eager imitators of all actions that are
in fashion, ape them in miniature; during the month which follows the
murder of Berthier and Foulon, Bailly is informed that the gamins in the
streets are parading about with the heads of two cats stuck on the ends
of two poles.[1410]

II.--The distress of the people.

The dearth and the lack of work.--How men of executive
ability are recruited.

A pitiable monarch, whose recognized sovereignty leaves him more
miserable than he was before! Bread is always scarce, and before the
baker's doors the row of waiting people does not diminish. In vain
Bailly passes his nights with the committee on supplies; they are always
in a state of terrible anxiety. Every morning for two months there is
only one or two days' supply of flour, and often, in the evening, there
is not enough for the following morning.[1411] The life of the capital
depends on a convoy which is ten, fifteen, twenty leagues off; and which
may never arrive: one convoy of twenty carts is pillaged on the 18th of
July, on the Rouen road; another, on the 4th of August, in the vicinity
of Louviers. Were it not for Salis' Swiss regiment, which, from the 14th
of July to the end of September, marches day and night as an escort,
not a boat-load of grain would reach Paris from Rouen.[1412]--The
commissaries charged with making purchases or with supervising the
expeditions are in danger of their lives. Those who are sent to
provinces are seized, and a column of four hundred men with cannon has
to be dispatched to deliver them. The one who is sent to Rouen learns
that he will be hung if he dares to enter the place. At Mantes a mob
surrounds his cabriolet, the people regarding whoever comes there for
the purpose of carrying away grain as a public pest; he escapes with
difficulty out of a back door and returns on foot to Paris.--From the
very beginning, according to a universal rule, the fear of a short
supply helps to augment the famine. Every one lays in a stock for
several days; on one occasion sixteen loaves of four pounds each are
found in an old woman's garret. The bakings, consequently, which are
estimated according to the quantity needed for a single day, become
inadequate, and the last