he simplest record of the unhappy Bourbons.
What must it be, to have witnessed the last agonies of their hearts and
throne!

On returning to my chamber, shuddering and wretched, I found a despatch
on my table. It was from Downing Street; an order, that within twelve
hours after its receipt, I should set out from Paris, and make my way,
with the utmost secrecy, to the headquarters of the Austrian and
Prussian army; where further orders would be waiting for me.

This command threw me into new perplexity. It had been my purpose to
find my unfortunate friend, if he was not already in the bosom of the
Seine, or a victim to some of the popular violences. But my orders were
peremptory. I, however, did all that was in my power. I spent the day in
looking for him through all the hotels and hospitals; and, after a
hopeless search, gave my man of mystery, Mendoza, a commission--paid for
at a rate that made him open his hollow eyes wide with incredulity on
the coin--to discover and protect him, wherever he was to be found.

But I had now another difficulty which threatened to nip my diplomatic
honours in the bud. The news had just arrived, that the allied armies
had passed the frontier, and were sweeping all before them with fire and
sword. A populace is always mad with courage, or mad with cowardice; and
the Parisians, who, but yesterday, were ready to have made a march round
the globe, now thought the wells and cellars of the city not too deep,
or too dark to hold them. They would have formed a camp in the
catacombs, if they could. All was sudden terror. The barriers were shut.
Guards were posted tenfold at all the gates. Men were ranged on the
heights round the city, to make signals of the first approach of the
Prussian hussars; and the inhabitants spent half the day on every house
top that commanded a view of the country, waiting for the first glimpse
of their devourers. To escape from this city of terror now became next
to impossible. All my applications were powerless. The government were
themselves regarded as under lock and key; the populace, as if
determined that all should share a common massacre, were clustered at
the barriers, pike in hand, to put all "emigrants" to death; the
ambassador was, as ambassadors generally are in cases of real
difficulty, a cipher; and yet I _must_ leave Paris within twelve hours,
or be cashiered.

It at length occurred to me to avail myself of my Jewish spy, and I
found him listening to