Collot's prophecy.

there, léd them, on the contrary, to exercise with arrogance, the authority with which they were invested for a day. Almost every one of them assumed the air of a tribune or a consul. There came one on the 3rd Germinal, 3rd year (Monday, 23rd March, 1795), named Collot, who aped the prophet, for, after scrutinising the Dauphin's eyes, he said, with doctoral solemnity: "That child has not ten decades to live!" And, as Laurent and Gomin were alarmed at these words, on account of the injurious effect they might have on the invalid's mind, he immediately repeated, with atrocious emphasis: "I tell you, citizens, he will be imbecile and idiotic before six decades, if he be not a corpse!"

At this fatal imprecation, which the municipal pronounced as his adieu, the child's look remained gentle, and there came a smile to his lips more poignant than regret, more gloomy than despair.

Gomin's voice that day was more tender than ever in speaking to him. During the evening, being alone with him for a moment, he tried to efface the fatal impression left on his mind by the melancholy interview of the morning. The child, as he listened, seemed striving to restrain emotion which he was unable to master; a tear sparkled in his eyes, and from his heart, full to bursting, these words escaped, with an angelic sigh: "Yet I never injured anyone!"

When obliged to leave him at nightfall, poor Gomin with. drew with a bleeding heart, and an imagination intensely alarmed by the prophecy of Collot. What! must this young intelligence decay: this youthful heart be fettered? What! would but the grosser part of this delightful child remain, like the clay of the vase whose perfume has evaporated? No! all will not perish thus: the perfume still remains in the funereal urn!

Laurent left the Temple on the 9th Germinal, 3rd year (Sunday, 29th March, 1795). He did not retire in consequence of any deposition being made against him, but at his

Laurent resigns.

own request; he had just lost his mother, and family affairs required his presence and attention elsewhere. The news of his retirement created a kind of sensation in the Temple, where he was universaily esteemed. There had been some ill-will shown against Lefèvre for some time, and his opponents being anxious for him to leave, they were the more annoyed at the unexpected departure of Laurent. More than once already several persons, mostly belonging to the police, had objected to the presence of a restaurateur in the inner inclosure of the Temple. However, Gomin succeeded in persuading them that it was rather advantageous than otherwise to keep him; that many National Guards, who would otherwise have gone out to eat and drink, procured all they required there, and that the guard-house was less deserted in consequence. The opposition was hushed.

Laurent* took leave of his colleague and the young Prince, who pressed his hand, and saw him depart with a feeling of profound regret.

Laurent had begun to forgive him for being the son of a king, and the child to forgive Laurent for being the agent of his enemies. The jailer and the prisoner were about to understand each other; and their hearts had just met when they were forced to part.

*He died at Cayenne.

BOOK SIXTEENTH.

GOMIN AND LASNE.

11TH GERMINAL, 3RD YEAR (TUESDAY, 31ST MARCH, 1795).

Nomination of Lasne-Biographical details - His installation at the Temple-First visit to Louis XVII.—Order given to Gourlet-Good understanding between Lasne and Gomin-Their care of, and attentions to, the little prisoner-First words of the Dauphin to LasneWalks on the platform-Music-Conversation-Palloy's set of dominoes- -Louis XVII.'s sword-Progress of the disease more and more rapid.

ON the 11th Germinal (Monday, 31st March, 1795), citizen Etienne Lasne, the new superintendent of the Temple Guard, and successor to Laurent, arrived at the tower. He had been apprised of his nomination by a message from the police, and, as he did not immediately obey a summons which was in fact an order, two gendarmes had gone to take him from his residence, Rue Culture-Sainte-Catherine, and had brought him at once to his post. Lasne was a house-painter; he had formerly been in the French Guards, and had entered the National Guards in 1789. His trade had made him known in his own neighbourhood, and it was as much in consequence of his reputation as an artist as of his former military career that he was, in 1791, appointed captain of the grenadiers of the PetitSaint-Antoine battalion. He was a very worthy man, who, though he had not perhaps as much heart as Gomin, had more firmness. Lasne's appointment had been brought about by revolutionary influence, as Gomin's was owing to royalist interest; but both the one and the other belonged to tho moderate party. Lasne had been arrested on the 9th Thermi

Lasne.

dor by the rebel Commune, and set at liberty by the National Convention.*

As I was very anxious to know everyone capable of giving me information respecting the life,—so little known, and so unfortunate,-to which I had vowed to raise a modest and pious monument in history, I sought out Lasne as I had sought out Gomin, and as I had wished to see and hear the three poor women by whose recollections I was enabled to penetrate into the household of Simon, and thus recover the traces of one of the most melancholy episodes, almost lost, in the annals of the Temple.

I recall the scene with emotion even now. I saw Lasne for the first time on Friday, 16th February, 1837; and the thought that I was about to enter the presence of the man who had performed the last sad duties for the son of Louis XVI., had held him in his arms as he expired, filled my mind with melancholy feelings. Lasne opened the door for me himself. I recognised him by his age, his bearing, his general appearance-grave and stern, like that of a man who had once mixed in great and melancholy events, which had left ineffaceable reminiscences behind them. The room where he received me

Extract from the minutes of the National Convention, 9th Thermidor, 2nd year of the French Republic, one and indivisible.

"The National Convention, on a petition from the section of the Rights of Man, brought forward by a member, decrees that citizen Lasne, commandant of the armed force, together with another citizen of the said section, and citizen Billot, lieutenant of gendarmerie, now in prison on an order of the rebel municipality, be set at liberty; and intrusts the execution of the present decree, which is not to be printed, to the two committees of public welfare and general safety.

"Examined by the inspector,

"S. E. MONNEL.

"Collated with the original by us, secretary of the National Convention at Paris, 11th Thermidor, 2nd year of the French Republic, one and indivisible.

"BAR.

"LE VANEUR (of the Meurthe), Secretary."

Lasne.

was adorned with portraits of the royal family, several being of Louis XVII. Lasne was five feet seven inches in height, thin, and very upright, as old soldiers always are, with an open

countenance, and expressing himself with ease and some little emphasis.* At this period he was in his eightieth year, and

The life of Lasne presents some peculiar circumstances, which are not without their interest. The following is a fragment, which I wrote in some degree from his dictation.

"I was born on the 19th September, 1757, at Dampierre-sur-Doubs, in the parish of Saint-Pierre, jurisdiction of Besançon. My father was adjutant in the regiment of La Marche. I came to Paris very young, and at twelve years old I entered the depôt of the regiment of French guards, the quarters of which occupied the site of the Rue du Helder and the Chaussée d'Antin, on the Boulevard des Italiens, opposite the Pavillon d'Hanovre.