later to the Landgravine of Hesse-Darmstadt--are
all that, so far as we know, proceeded from her pen in the sad period
between the two attacks on the palace. Brief as they are, they are
characteristic as showing her unshaken resolution to perform her duty to
her family, and proving at the same time how absolutely free she was from
any delusion as to the certain event of the struggle in which she was
engaged. No courage was ever more entirely founded on high and virtuous
principle, for no one was ever less sustained by hope. To Mercy she says:

"July 4th, 1792.

"You know the occurrences of the 20th of June. Our position becomes every
day more critical. There is nothing but violence and rage on one side,
weakness and inactivity on the other. We can reckon neither on the
National Guard nor on the army. We do not know whether to remain in Paris,
or to throw ourselves into some other place. It is more than time for the
powers to speak out boldly. The 14th of July and the days which will
follow it may become days of general mourning for France, and of regret to
the powers who will have been too slow in explaining themselves. All is
lost if the factions are not arrested in their wickedness by fear of
impending chastisement. They are resolved on a republic at all risks. To
arrive at that, they have determined to assassinate the king. It would be
necessary that any manifesto[1] should make the National Assembly and
Paris responsible for his life and the lives of his family.

"In spite of all these dangers, we will not change our resolution. You may
depend on this as much as I depend on your attachment. It is a pleasure to
me to believe that you allow me a share of the attachment which bound you
to my mother. And this is a moment to give me a great proof of it, in
saving me and mine, if there be still time.[2]"

The letter to the landgravine was one of reply to a proposal which that
princess, who had long been one of her most attached friends, had lately
made to her, that she should allow her brother, Prince George of
Darmstadt, to carry out a plan by which, as he conceived, he could convey
the queen and her children safely out of Paris; the enterprise being, as
both he and his sister flattered themselves, greatly facilitated by the
circumstance that the prince's person was wholly unknown in the French
capital.

"July, 1792.[3]

"Your friendship and your anxiety for me have touched my very inmost soul.
The person[4] who is