that these sins and woes were the growth
of many centuries, and that no one person, or dozen of persons, was to
be blamed as the cause. He probably saw that the queen was as ignorant
in one way as the mob in another; and was therefore to be pitied. She
had never been taught what millions of people were suffering, and did
not know how to frame her conduct so as to spare their irritated and
wounded feelings: and therefore she had filled up her youth with shows
and pleasures, and from year to year given to her dependents the means
of enriching themselves at the expense of the poor, without being in the
least aware of the mischief she was doing. It was in the knowledge of
all this, in deep sorrow and compassion for both parties in this great
quarrel, and with an earnest desire to bring them to bear with each
other, that Lafayette kissed the queen's hand in the balcony. His heart
must have beat with hope and gladness when he heard the people
immediately shout, "Long live the queen!"

Again the cry was, "The king to Paris!" and still the king was as
unwilling as ever to go. He wished to consult the Assembly about it,
and sent to ask them to come, and hold their sitting in the palace.
While they were deliberating whether to do so, the mob became so
peremptory, so noisy, that the king dared no longer hesitate. He did
the same thing now that no experience could teach him to avoid, in great
affairs or small: he refused as long as possible what the people had set
their hearts upon,--then hesitated, and at last had to yield, when it
was no longer possible to show any good grace in the action. From his
failures a lesson might be taken by all rulers of a nation which has
learned to have a will of its own, and to speak it:--a lesson to grant
with readiness and a good grace what must be, or ought to be yielded,
and to refuse with firmness what ought not to be granted. Louis the
Sixteenth never could even get so far as to settle in his own mind what
ought, and what ought not to be granted; and unhappily there was no one
about him well-qualified to advise. The queen was firm and decided; but
she was so deficient in knowledge that she was always as likely to guide
him wrong as right. Now, however, there was no longer room for doubt.
The king said from the balcony, "My children, you wish that I should
follow you to Paris. I consent, on condition that you do not separate
me from my wife and children." He also stipulated that his