FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1472   1473   1474   1475   1476   1477   1478   1479   1480   1481   1482   1483   1484   1485   1486   1487   1488   1489   1490   1491   1492   1493   1494   1495   1496  
1497   1498   1499   1500   1501   1502   1503   1504   1505   1506   1507   1508   1509   1510   1511   1512   1513   1514   1515   1516   1517   1518   1519   1520   1521   >>   >|  
se, no calm until it was done; ah, well! then, Madame, it is done; come what may of it, I shall be no longer tormented." Words such as these so expressive of the extreme violence suffered by the King, of his long and obstinate battle before surrendering, of his vexation, and uneasiness, demand the clearest proofs. I had them from people who heard them, and would not advance them unless I were perfectly persuaded of their exactness. As soon as the Chief-President and the Attorney-General returned to Paris, they sent for some workmen, whom they led into a tower of the Palace of justice, behind the Buvette, or drinking-place of the grand chamber and the cabinet of the Chief-President. They had a big hole made in the wall of this tower, which is very thick, deposited the testament there, closed up the opening with an iron door, put an iron grating by way of second door, and then walled all up together. The door and the grating each had three locks, the same for both; and a different key for each of the three, which consequently opened each of the two locks, the one in the door and the one in the grating. The Chief-President kept one key, the Attorney-General another, and the Chief-Greffier of the Parliament the third. The Parliament was assembled and the Chief- President flattered the members as best he might upon the confidence shown them in entrusting them with this deposit. At the same time was presented to the Parliament an edict that the Chief- President and the Attorney-General had received from the hand of the Chancellor at Versailles the same morning the King had given them his will, and the edict was registered. It was very short. It declared that the packet committed to the Chief-President and to the Attorney-General contained the will of the King, by which he had provided for the protection and guardianship of the young King, and had chosen a Regency council, the dispositions of which--for good reasons he had not wished to publish; that he wished this deposit should be preserved during his life in the registry of the Parliament, and that at the moment when it should please God to call him from the world, all the chambers of the Parliament, all the princes of the royal house, and all the peers who might be there, should assemble and open the will; and that after it was read, all its dispositions should be made public and executed, nobody to be permitted to oppose them in any way. Notwithstanding all this s
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1472   1473   1474   1475   1476   1477   1478   1479   1480   1481   1482   1483   1484   1485   1486   1487   1488   1489   1490   1491   1492   1493   1494   1495   1496  
1497   1498   1499   1500   1501   1502   1503   1504   1505   1506   1507   1508   1509   1510   1511   1512   1513   1514   1515   1516   1517   1518   1519   1520   1521   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

President

 

Parliament

 
Attorney
 

General

 

grating

 

deposit

 

dispositions

 

wished

 

Versailles

 

morning


registered

 
packet
 
protection
 

guardianship

 
provided
 
contained
 

committed

 

declared

 

received

 

confidence


members

 

assembled

 

flattered

 

entrusting

 

chosen

 

presented

 

Madame

 

Chancellor

 

assemble

 
princes

public

 

Notwithstanding

 
oppose
 

permitted

 

executed

 
chambers
 

publish

 
preserved
 

reasons

 
council

registry

 

moment

 

Regency

 
Greffier
 

Buvette

 

drinking

 
justice
 

proofs

 

clearest

 
Palace