u, Monsieur de
Nicolai, on the scaffold; you, Monsieur Bailly, on the scaffold; you,
Monsieur de Malesherbes, on the scaffold;. . . you, Monsieur Roucher,
also on the scaffold.'--'But then we shall have been overcome by Turks
or Tartars?'--'By no means; you will be governed, as I have already told
you, solely by philosophy and reason. Those who are to treat you in
this manner will all be philosophers, will all, at every moment, have
on their lips the phrases you have uttered within the hour, will repeat
your maxims, will quote, like yourselves, the stanzas of Diderot and of
"La Pucelle."'--'And when will all this happen?'--'Six years will not
pass before what I tell you will be accomplished.'--'Well, these are
miracles,' exclaims La Harpe, 'and you leave me out?'--'You will be no
less a miracle, for you will then be a Christian.'--'Ah,' interposes
Champfort, I breathe again; if we are to die only when La Harpe becomes
a Christian we are immortals.'--'As to that, we women,' says the
Duchesse de Gramont, 'are extremely fortunate in being of no consequence
in revolutions. It is understood that we are not to blame, and our sex.'
--'Your sex, ladies, will not protect you this time. . . . You will
be treated precisely as men, with no difference whatever. . . . You,
Madame la Duchesse, will be led to the scaffold, you and many ladies
besides yourself in a cart with your hands tied behind your back.'--'Ah,
in that event, I hope to have at least a carriage covered with
black.'--'No, Madame, greater ladies than yourself will go, like
yourself in a cart and with their hands tied like yours.'--'Greater
ladies! What! Princesses of the blood!'--'Still greater ladies than
those. . .'They began to think the jest carried too far. Madame de
Gramont, to dispel the gloom, did not insist on a reply to her last
exclamation, contenting herself by saying in the lightest tone, 'And
they will not even leave one a confessor!'--'No, Madame, neither you nor
any other person will be allowed a confessor; the last of the condemned
that will have one, as an act of grace, will be. . .' He stopped
a moment. 'Tell me, now, who is the fortunate mortal enjoying this
prerogative?'--'It is the last that will remain to him, and it will be
the King of France.'"

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NOTE:

[Footnote 5501: Laharpe, or La Harpe, Jean Francois. (Paris 1739-1803).
Author and critic, made a member of the Academy in 1776. (SR).]

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END OF VOLUME NOTES