which he had but too much
experience from that time forward.

The two principal royal palaces were, that called the Tuileries, in
Paris, and that of Versailles, twelve miles from Paris. At this time,
July, 1789, the royal family were at Versailles. The discontented,
long-murmuring people of Paris rose in rebellion, because their
favourite minister, Necker, who had managed the money affairs of the
nation well, and was more likely to take off taxes than any other
minister, had been dismissed from his office. The nation were
determined to have him back again; but, having once risen in rebellion,
they aimed at more achievements than one. On the 14th of July the
people of Paris besieged and took the Bastille, the great state-prison,
where, for hundreds of years, victims had suffered cruel imprisonments,
often without having been tried. The very sight of this gloomy castle
was odious to the people; and they pulled it down, leaving not one brick
upon another, and carrying the prisoners they found there on their
shoulders through the city, in triumphant procession.

While this attack on the Bastille was taking place, there was a ball
given in the orangery at Versailles, where the court ladies and the
officers of the troops danced, and laughed, and talked, and took their
refreshments, as if all was well. The French Parliament was sitting in
the town of Versailles; and they sent some of their body repeatedly that
day to the palace, to tell the king of the danger, and urge him to do
what was proper: but there was no moving the king to do anything, that
day, any more than on other occasions; and he only sent word to the
parliament to mind their own business. The inhabitants of Versailles
were alarmed at the reports that arrived from Paris, and they were all
on the watch, consulting in the streets, or wondering in their own
houses what would happen next. Some vague rumours reached the palace;
but the court ladies and their guests danced away in the orangery, till
the time for breaking up the ball arrived. Late at night, a nobleman
who had a right to demand an audience of the king at all times, arrived,
made his way, dusty as he was, to the king's chamber, and told of the
rebellion, the destruction of the Bastille, and the murder of two
faithful officers, well-known to the king. "Why," said the king, as
much surprised as if nothing had happened to warn him, "this is a
revolt."

"It is not a revolt," said the nobleman: "i