lost, and he had his bottle of
Burgundy in comfort at Varennes. A single charge upon the fatal 10th
of August, and the monarchy might have been his once more; but he is
so tender-hearted, that he lets his friends be murdered before his eyes
almost: or, at least, when he has turned his back upon his duty and
his kingdom, and has skulked for safety into the reporters' box, at the
National Assembly. There were hundreds of brave men who died that day,
and were martyrs, if you will; poor neglected tenth-rate courtiers, for
the most part, who had forgotten old slights and disappointments, and
left their places of safety to come and die, if need were, sharing in
the supreme hour of the monarchy. Monarchy was a great deal too humane
to fight along with these, and so left them to the pikes of Santerre and
the mercy of the men of the Sections. But we are wandering a good ten
miles from Versailles, and from the deeds which Louis XVI. performed
there.

He is said to have been such a smart journeyman blacksmith, that he
might, if Fate had not perversely placed a crown on his head, have
earned a couple of louis every week by the making of locks and keys.
Those who will may see the workshop where he employed many useful hours:
Madame Elizabeth was at prayers meanwhile; the queen was making pleasant
parties with her ladies. Monsieur the Count d'Artois was learning
to dance on the tight-rope; and Monsieur de Provence was cultivating
l'eloquence du billet and studying his favorite Horace. It is said that
each member of the august family succeeded remarkably well in his or her
pursuits; big Monsieur's little notes are still cited. At a minuet
or syllabub, poor Antoinette was unrivalled; and Charles, on the
tight-rope, was so graceful and so gentil, that Madame Saqui might envy
him. The time only was out of joint. O cursed spite, that ever such
harmless creatures as these were bidden to right it!

A walk to the little Trianon is both pleasing and moral: no doubt the
reader has seen the pretty fantastical gardens which environ it; the
groves and temples; the streams and caverns (whither, as the guide tells
you, during the heat of summer, it was the custom of Marie Antoinette
to retire, with her favorite, Madame de Lamballe): the lake and Swiss
village are pretty little toys, moreover; and the cicerone of the place
does not fail to point out the different cottages which surround
the piece of water, and tell the names of the royal masquerad