Volume III Part 4 (1/2)

”What ails you?” I asked

”_C'est le Sang, c'est le Sang qui neur et a son Mandement Je perirai; mais les Grands de la Terre periront avec moi_”[B]

And with this Bedlaht hold of his could carry him

I concluded that this Red-faced Man must be so other Fish to fry, let him follow his own devices Whereupon I kindled a Pipe of Tobacco, and went home to Bed

Two days after this (March, 1757), the whole Troop of the Opera House were commanded to Versailles, there to perforhters I had by this ti Cerberus,--at which el of a Lilias made much mirth His Majesty was to have waited at Versailles for the playing of the Piece; but after Dinner he changes histo his other Palace of Trianon

'Twas about Five o'clock in the Afternoon, and there was a great Crowd in the Court of Marble to see the Most Christian King take Coach for Trianon The Great Court was full of Gardes Francaises, Musqueteers Red and Gray carrying Torches, with Coaches, Led Horses, prickers, Groo Woreat Court

Soed to squeeze theerous, as now reckoned no better than a Rascal Buffoon

'Twas bitterly cold, and freezing hard, and the Courtiers had their hands squeezed into great furcome down the Marble Staircase; a fair portly Gentleman, with a Greatcoat, lined with fur, over his ordinary vestote_, fro?” I heard a Voice, which I seemed to remember, ask behind me, as the Monarch passed between a double line of Spectators to his Coach

”Yes, Dog,” answered he who had been addressed, and as an Officer in the Gray Musqueteers ”Pig, why dost thou not take off thy Hat?”

I was all at once pushed violently on one side A Man with a Drugget Coat and Flapped Hat, and who torches as the Red-faced Brawler of the Wine-shop, darted through the line of Guards, an open Knife in his hand, and rushi+ng up to hi Lewis the Fifteenth in the side

I could hear his Majesty cry out, ”_Oh! je suis blesse!_”--”I am wounded!”--but all the rest was turbulence and confusion; in thethat the Red-faced Man should claim me as an Acquaintance, I slipped away I need scarcely say that there was no Ballet at Versailles that night

A great deal of Blood can, htened than Hurt Although when the assassin was first laid hold of, His Majesty cried out in an Easy Manner that no Harm was to be done hihtest Manner to put a stop to the hellish Torments inflicted on a Poor Wretch, who had, at thePunishment would have been a Cell in a Madhouse

As for this most miserable Red-faced Man, Robert Francois Da, he was very nearlyGentle tied him to a Bench, pricked him with their Sword Points, beat him with their Belts, and pummelled him about the Mouth with the butt-ends of Pistols

Then he was had to the Civil Prison; and a certain President, na most zealous to discover whether the Parricide (as he was called) had any Accomplices, heated a Pair of Pincers in the Fire, and when they were red-hot, clawed and dragged away at the Unhappy Man's Legs, till the whole Dungeon did reek with the horrible Odour of Burnt Flesh Just i such a Hangman's Office! The poor Wretchhad directed that he was not to be ill-treated; and when they further questioned him, could only stammer out some Incoherent Balderdash about the Archbishop, the Parliament, and the Billets of Confession

After many Days, he was res were so bad with the Burning, that they were obliged to carry hi Six Hours, through his great attendance of Guards and the thickness of the Crowd He was had to the Prison of the Conciergerie, and put into a Circular Dungeon in the Tower called of Montgomery--the very same one where Ravaillac, that killed Henry the Fourth, had formerly lain There they put hi only his Head free; and he was tied down to his bed--which was a common Hospital Pallet--by an is to the Floor of his Dungeon But what Dr Goldsmith, the Poetry-writer, means by ”Damiens'

Bed of Steel,” I'm sure I don't know At the head and foot of his Bed an Exeht and Day, and every three-quarters of an hour the Guard was relieved; so that the Miserable Creature had little chance of Sleeping He would have sunk under all this Cruelty, but that they kept him up with Rich Meats and Generous Wines, which they had all but to force down his Throat

But while all this was being done to Da taken by Justice, the which narrowly concerned inary, the Police did their best to find out his Confederates for theent Inquiry made themselves acquainted with all Damiens' movements for days before he committed his Crime They found out the Wine-shop where he had refused to pay his Reckoning andfrom the people of the House what manner of Man had paid for hiht, just before the Ballet began, I was taken by two Exe dress as Cerberus that I wore, was forced into a Sedan, and taken, surrounded by Guards, to the Prison of the Chatelet I thought of appealing to our A that I was a faithful Subject of King George; but, as it happened, I owed my safety to one who disowned that Monarch, and kept all his Allegiance for King Ja of my Arrest, and ih to shed many Tears on the occasion, hurried off to his Eminence the Cardinal de ----, as all but suprereat Influence The Cardinal listens to hiraciously, and by and by coateforth how I had been unfortunate in Business in Holland and Flanders, and was earning an honest Livelihood by playing a Dog in a Pantomime The people in the Wine-shop could not but bearthat I had come across the Red-faced Man by pure Accident, and was no Friend of his It was moreover established by the Police, that I had not been seen in Daht I first itimate call to be at Versailles on the day of the assassination; so that after about a fortnight's detention I was set at Liberty, to ood and kind Mistress Lilias, who had now repaid ten-thousand-fold whatever paltry Service I had been fortunate enough to render her Nay, this see Misadventure was of present service to lad to hear so me, for that I seemed a Bold Fellow; and at an Intervieith him, which lasted more than an Hour, I told him my whole Life and Adventures, which caused hinor Dangerous,” says he (for though he spoke French like a Native he was by Birth an Italian, and soe), ”if all be true what you say,--and you do not look like a Man who tells Lies,--you have led a strange Life When a Boy, you were nearly Hanged; and now at the _ your Limbs broken on a St Andrew's Cross However, we th, Valour, Experience, and Discretion do not often go together; but I give you credit for possessing a fair show of all Four I suppose, now, that you are tired of squatting at the Wicket of the Infernal Regions at the Opera House?”

I bowed in acknowledgment of his Elad of any Employment

”Well, well,” continued his Eminence, ”ill see At present, as you say you are a fair Scholar,Letters And here, Signor Dangerous, take these ten Louis, and furnish yourself with some more Clerkly Attire than your present trim

It would never do for a Prince of the Church to have a Flavour of the Opera Side-Scenes about his house”

Unless Ru sometimes about his Eminence's sumptuous hotel a Flavour, not alone of the Opera Side-Scenes, but of the Ballet-Dancers' Tiring-room However, let that pass I took the ten Louis withabout in a suit of Black, full trimmed, with a little short Cloak, for all the world like a Notary's Clerk

I had been in the Employ of his Eminence--who showed me dailywith the News that the Monster Parricide and hell-Hound (as they called him from the Pulpit), Robert Francois Damiens, was to suffer the last Penalty of his Crie horrible fascination I yielded to, but I could not resist the desire to see the End of the Red-faced Man I went

The Tragedy took place on the Place de Greve; but ere he cah other Woes well-nigh unutterable

I speak not of his perfor the _amende honorable_, bare-footed, in his shi+rt, a Halter round his Neck, and a lighted Taper of six pounds'

weight in his Hand, at the Church-door, confessing his Cri, and all Christian Men Ah! no; he had suffered more than this Part of his Sentence was that, prior to Execution, he was to undergo the Question Ordinary and Extraordinary; and so at the Conciergerie, in the presence of Presidents, Counsellors of the Parlianitaries, the Poor Thing was put into the _Brodequins_, or Boots, and wedge after wedge driven in between his Legs--already raw and inflamed with the Devilries of the President Michault--and the Iron Incaseeons declared that he could hold out no longer But he confessed nothing; for what had he to confess?