ing their last captivity; but who was banished from the Temple as soon
as his royal master was beheaded, and never permitted to return. Clery
told me all this when I met him at Pyrmont, in Germany. He was then in
attendance upon the late Comtesse de Lisle, wife of Louie XVIII., at
whose musical parties I had often the honour of assisting, when on a
visit to the beautiful Duchesse de Guiche. On returning to Paris from
Germany, on my way back into Italy, I met the wife of Clery, and her
friend M. Beaumont, both old friends of mine, who confirmed Clery's
statement, and assured me they were all for two years in hourly
expectation of being sent to the Place de Greve for execution. The death
of Robespierre saved their lives.
Madame Clery taught Marie Antoinette to play upon the harp. Madame
Beaumont was a natural daughter of Louis XV. I had often occasion to be
in their agreeable society; and, as might be expected, their minds were
stored with the most authentic anecdotes and information upon the topics
of the day.]
The Queen sprang up at the name of her friend. She heard subjoined to,
it, "la voila en triomphe," and then came shouts and laughter. She
looked out. At a distance she perceived something like a Bacchanalian
procession, and thought, as she hoped, that the Princess was coming to
her in triumph from her prison, and her heart rejoiced in the
anticipation of once more being, blessed with her society. But the King,
who had seen and heard more distinctly from his apartment, flew to that
of the Queen. That the horrid object might not escape observation, the
monsters had mounted upon each other's shoulders so as to lift the
bleeding head quite up to the prison bars. The King came just in time to
snatch Her Majesty from the, spot, and thus she was prevented from seeing
it. He took her up in his arms and carried her to a distant part of the
Temple, but the mob pursued her in her retreat, and howled the fatal
truth even at her, very door, adding that her head would be the next, the
nation would require. Her Majesty fell into violent hysterics. The
butchers of human flesh continued in the interior of the Temple, parading
the triumph of their assassination, until the shrieks of the Princesse
Elizabeth at the state in which she saw the Queen, and serious fears for
the safety of the royal prisoners, aroused the commandant to treble the
national guards and chase the barbarians to the outside, where they
remained for hours.
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