f Brittany, under the title of Louis XVII., was
always issuing manifestoes from Charenton, but of these the Parisians
took little heed: the Charivari proclaimed itself his Gazette, and was
allowed to be very witty at the expense of the three pretenders.

As the country had been ravaged for a hundred miles round, the
respective Princes of course were for throwing themselves into the
forts, where there was plenty of provision; and, when once there, they
speedily began to turn out such of the garrison as were disagreeable to
them, or had an inconvenient appetite, or were of a doubtful fidelity.
These poor fellows turned into the road, had no choice but starvation;
as to getting into Paris, that was impossible: a mouse could not have
got into the place, so admirably were the forts guarded, without having
his head taken off by a cannon-ball. Thus the three conflicting parties
stood, close to each other, hating each other, "willing to wound and
yet afraid to strike"--the victuals in the forts, from the prodigious
increase of the garrisons, getting smaller every day. As for Louis
Philippe in his palace, in the centre of the twenty-four forts, knowing
that a spark from one might set them all blazing away, and that he and
his money-bags might be blown into eternity in ten minutes, you may
fancy his situation was not very comfortable.

But his safety lay in his treasure. Neither the Imperialists nor
the Bourbonites were willing to relinquish the two hundred and fifty
billions in gold; nor would the Princes of Orleans dare to fire upon
that considerable sum of money, and its possessor, their revered father.
How was this state of things to end? The Emperor sent a note to his Most
Christian Majesty (for they always styled each other in this manner in
their communications), proposing that they should turn out and decide
the quarrel sword in hand; to which proposition Henri would have
acceded, but that the priests, his ghostly counsellors, threatened to
excommunicate him should he do so. Hence this simple way of settling the
dispute was impossible.

The presence of the holy fathers caused considerable annoyance in the
forts. Especially the poor English, as Protestants, were subject to much
petty persecution, to the no small anger of Jenkins, their commander.
And it must be confessed that these intrepid Footmen were not so
amenable to discipline as they might have been. Remembering the usages
of merry England, they clubbed together,