ance into the
prison--they routed the heroes of the guard at the first charge. Even
the gallant commander himself only shared the chance of his
"camarades:" a flourish or two of his sabre, and an adjuration of
"liberty," had no other effect than to insure a heavier shower of
blows, and I had the gratification of seeing the braggadocio go down
from his saddle in the midst of a group, who certainly had no
veneration for the majesty of the truncheon. The victory was achieved;
but, like many another victory, it produced no results: the gates of
the St Lazare were too strongly guarded to be forced by an unarmed
crowd, and I saw the prisoners successively and gloomily return to the
only roof, melancholy as that was, which now could shelter them.

The morning brought my case before the authorities of this den. Half a
dozen coarse and filthy uniformed men, and some of them evidently
sufferers in the tumult of the night, for their heads were bound up
and their arms bandaged--a matter which, if it did not improve their
appearance, gave me every reason to expect increased brutishness in
their tempers--formed the tribunal. The hall in which they had
established their court had once been the kitchen of the convent; and,
though all signs of hospitality had vanished, its rude and wild
construction, its stone floor and vaulted roof, and even its yawning
and dark recesses for the different operations which, in other days,
had made it a scene of busy cheerfulness, now gave it a look of
dreariness in the extreme. I could have easily imagined it to be a
chamber of the Inquisition. But men in my circumstances have not much
time for the work of fancy; and I was instantly called on for my name,
and business in France. I had heard enough of popular justice to
believe, that I had now arrived within sight of the last struggle, and
I resolved to give these ruffians no triumph over the Englishman.

"Citizen, who are you?" Was the first interrogatory.

"I am no citizen, no Frenchman, and no republican," was my answer. My
judges stared at each other.

"You are a prisoner. How came you here?"

"You are judges; how came you there?"

"You are charged with crimes against the Republic."

"In my country no man is expected to criminate himself."

"But you are a traitor: can you deny that?"

"I am no traitor to my king; can you say as much for yourselves?" They
now began to cast furious glances at me.

"You are insolent: what brought you into th