UC-NRLF $B 321 SMT OF THK University of California. ^y9f ct^,^ ■ '»9p ■ Received Acecsmu WuS'S^^- Class No CHARLOTTE CORDAY. CHARLOTTE CORDAT, BY MRS. R. K. VAN ALSTINE. Endlich ! eine Charlotte Corday, die ich zwar mit Zweifel und Ban- gigkeit in die Hand nehme, aber doch ist die Neugier grosg. Letter from Schiller to Goethe, July 1804. LONDON: W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE. S.W. 1890. (All righis reserved.) six o U' LONDON: PRINTEB BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL. S.W. ^J^C/, TO MY DEAR MOTHER, TO WHOSE EABLY TEACHINGS AND CONSTANT ENCOURAGEMENT I OWE EVERY STUDIOUS TASTE AND AMBITION, THIS LITTLE BOOK IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/charlottecordayOOvanarich PREFACE. -:o:- WiTH the exception of the meagre and almost inva- riably incorrect notices in cyclopedias and biogra- phical dictionaries, no one^ as far as I am aware, has told in English the tragic story of Charlotte Corday's life. Even by her own countrymen so much has been written that is mere legend, nay, even pure in- vention, and that, too, by men of position and influence in the literary world, that the task of un- ravelling the closely interwoven threads of romance and reality has been both difficult and laborious. The greater part of Charlotte Corday's life was passed in such seclusion, and she emerged into pub- licity so suddenly and for so short a time, that for viii PEE FACE. upwards of three-quarters of a century, those who had occasion to write of her had scarcely any authentic facts or reliable materials to work upon. Legend after legend grew up, now about her lovers, now about what she said and did, either in the quiet days of her life in the country or during the short period when she appeared in Paris. Her biographers have adopted these legends only too readily, and in their desire to fill the many gaps in the story of her life, have still further obscured the truth with exag- geration and conjecture. In the work o^ separating these myths from really authentic information, the papers relating to the French Eevolution, which have been collected and most admirably arranged and annotated by M. Chas. Vatel, have been of inestimable value and assistance. In these papers he has, after many years of patient research, given to the world, letters, facts, anecdotes, and much other curious matter not pre- viously known, concerning some of the most interest- ing characters of the French Revolution. It has been my earnest endeavour to present to the reader in the following pages as complete a life of PREFACE. ix Charlotte Corday as possible, and one containing only well-authenticated facts. In the translation of her letters I have departed somewhat from the text, as I was unwilHng to sacrifice the idea of the writer for the sake of being strictly literal. In the copies of the originals given in the Appendix, Charlotte's orthography and punctuation have been scrupulously preserved. Jeanette Van Alstine. London, N.W., September, 1889. AUTHORITIES QUOTED. Alphonse de La-MARtine. Histoire des Girondins. Paris, 1847. Michel KT. Histoire de la Revolution Frangaise. Paris, 1877-1883. Louis Blanc. Histoire de la Revolution Frangaise. Paris, 1847-62. Thiers. Histoire de la Revolution Frangaise. Bruxelles, 1834. Lacretelle. Precis Historiques de la Revolution Fra7iraise. Paris, 1810. GrUizoT. Histoire de la Civilisation en France. Paris, 1840. Mignet. Histoire de la Revolutiori Frangaise. Paris, 1861. Thomas Carlyle. The French Revolution: A History. London, 1837. BuzoT. Memoir es sur la Revolution Frangaise. Gaudet. Paris, 1883. Barbaroux. Memoir es de C. recueillis j^ar Oze Bar- haroux. Paris, 1821. Madame Roland, Oeuvres et Memoires de. Paris, an Vlll. (1800). Garat, Memoires de. Paris, 1862. Arthur Youno. Travels During the Years 1787-88-89. Bury St. Edmunds, 1792. xii AUTHORITIES QUOTED, LouvET. Notices stir la Revolution. Paris, 1795. LouvET, Memoires de. Paris, 1862. Mercier, L. S. Le Nouveau Paris. Paris, 1797. EiouFFE. Memoires d^uu Detenu. Limoges. 1871. Chas. Vatel. Recherches Historiques sur les Girondins. Paris, 1873. Chas. Vate . Charlotte de Gorday et les Girondins. Paris, 1864-72. C. Vatel. Dossiers du Proces Criminal de Charlotte de Cordaij. Paris, 1861. Le Moniteur. Klaus. Korday. Ein Versuch. Altona, 1793. E. Laietullier. Les Femmes Celebres de 1787-95, et leur Influence dans la Revolution. Paris, 1840. Cheron DE Yilliers. Charlotte Corday. Paris, 1865. Leon de la Sicotiere. Autographes. Rouen, 1864. Adolphe Huard. Memoires sur C. Corday. Paris, 1866. Henri de Montereymar. Histoire de M. C. de Corday : Etude Historique. Paris, 1862. L. F. Du Bois. Charlotte de Corday : Essai Historique. Paris, 1838. Chas. Renard. Oeuvres PoUtiques de C. de Corday. Caen, 1864. Chas. Renard. Suite des Oeuvres PoUtiques de C. Corday. Caen, 1865. BouGEART. Marat, VAmi du Peuple. Paris, 1865. P. Chevremont. /. P. Marat. Paris, 1880. E. Belport Bax. /. P. Marat : A Historico-Biographical Sketch. London, 1882. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Historical --1 Causes of the French Revolution — Early Elective Monarchy — Legislative Powers of the Barons — Divisions and Sub-divisions of the State — Parliament — Lettres de Cachet — Taxes — The Gabelle and Taine — Intellectual Advancement during the 17th Century — Growing dis- content — The new Philosophy and its expounders — Woman's influence — France under Louis XV. — Accession of Louis XVI. — Blunders — Marie Antoinette. CHAPTER II. Childhood and the Convent - - - - 18 Fran9ois de Corday — His family — Poverty — Charlotte under her Uncle's care — Return to home duties — Childish courage — The Father's teachings — Death of Mme. de Corday — Charlotte at the Convent — Religious aspira- tions — Business — Convent festivities — A pretty love- story — The outside world. xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. PAGE Le Grand Manois, --._.. 34 Closing of the Convents — In search of a home — Mdme. de Bi-etheville — Charlotte's reception — Life at the Grand Manoir — Charlotte's beauty — Among the aristo- crats — Girl-friends — "Republican opinions — The Rouen plan — Mdme. de Bretheville's timidity — The farewell dinner-party — Departure of the Levaillant and Faudoas families — Letters. CHAPTER IV. The GrlEONDE AND THE MOUNTAIN - - - 59 Effects of Philosophical Writings — National Assembly — The King's acceptance of the Constitution — Legisla- tive Assembly — The three Parties — The Girondists — War or Peace? — Increase of lawlessness culminates in Prison Massacres — Trial of the King — Weakness of the Girondist Party — National Convention — Internal dissensions- — "The Mountain" and its Members — The Gironde losing ground — An Error of Judgment. CHAPTER V. The People's Friend ------ 79 Jean Paul Marat — Education — Practice in London — English Writings — Removal to Paris — Experiments — Political Writings — Arrest — UAmi du Peuple — In hiding — Refuge in London — More Pamphlets — Neckar denounced — Return to Paris — Simonne Evrard — At hide and seek with Lafayette — Across the Channel again — Fall of the General and Security of the Agitator — A Scapegoat — Marat's character — Attempts to gild sounding brass — Extracts from VAmi. CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER VI. PAGE Preparations -- 99 Charlotte Corday not a Girondist — Her interest in passing events — The proscribed Deputies — A Popular Mistake — Effect of events on Charlotte — Plans — At Vers on — The Review — Another pretty Love-story — Visit to Barbaroux — Letter to her Father — Farewells — Arrival in Paris — Interviews with Duperret — Address to the French. CHAPTER VTI. The Tragedy - - - - - - -123 Thinking it out — Episode of Leonard Bourdon — Dis- appointment — Note to Marat — Second Visit to Marat — Admittance — Appearance of the People's Hero — " For the Scaffold " — Death — Charlotte's Arrest and Exami- nation — Chabot — The Anger of the Parisians — In merciful Oblivion. CHAPTER VIII. Letters __---_-- 136 In the Prison of I'Abbaye — Letter to Committee of Public Safety — Letter to Barbaroux — Farewell to her Father. CHAPTER IX. Before the Revolutionary Tribunal - - 162 Public Feeling — Scenes at the Jacobin Club — Un- easiness of Marat's Associates — Meeting of the Conven- tion and Resolutions for a Public Funeral — The Revolutionary Tribunal — First Appearance of Char- lotte before her Judges — To the Conciergerie — Final Trial — Chauveau de la Garde — Condemnation. xvi CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. The Dark Hour before the Dawn - . - 157 Return to the Conciergerie — Jacques Hauer — A Mis- take — The Toilet of Death — A Rough Bodyguard — A Tragic Ride — Expiation — An Assistant's Brutality — Arrest of M. de Corday — Mme. de Bretheville molested — Adam Luchs — A Strange Love-story — For Charlotte's Sake — Opinion of the Girondists — Darkness — The Death-roll — End of the Gironde. CHAPTER XI. Conclusion - 194 Standards by which to judge Charlotte Corday — Religious Views — Love and Lovers — Verdict of His- tory — " The Angel of Assassination " — Women of the Revolution — Its Influence on the World. Appendix -------- 205 Letters — Documents. CHARLOTTE CORDAY. CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL. " Let States that aim at greatness take heed how their nobility and gentlemen do multiply too fast ; for that maketh the common subject grow to be a peasant and base swain, driven out of heart, and in effect but a gentleman's labourer." Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms, ffc. — Bacon. Historians have fallen into the habit of attributing the ^reat social upheaval known as the French Revolution to the faults of commission and omission of the three kings whose reigns immediately pre- ceded it. Too much stress has been laid upon the injustice of Louis XIV. ^ the wickedness of Louis XV._, the weakness and extravagance of Louis XVI. 1 2 CHARLOTTE GOUBAY. as direct causes of the Revolution. Incompetent and vacillating, unkingly in character and appearance as the last unfortunate monarch was, his faults were not potent factors in the causing of the outbreak. Even had he combined the statesmanship and craft of Louis XI. with the manly fearlessness of Henry V. of England, Louis XVI. could never have pre- vented, though he might perhaps have retarded, the birth of constitutional liberty. For centuries the giant child had been growing beneath the heart of France, and no human power could have averted the awful throes that heralded its struggle into life. The causes of the Revolution must be sought for from the very earliest existence of France as a nation under one head ; from the days when hereditary monarchy was first evolved from the primitive elective monarchy. In those early ages, the office of King was purely an elective one : filled generally by the most efficient and powerful of the military chiefs. It carried with it little but martial authority, and was dependent in great measure upon the merits and talents of the holder — a scheme of government sufficiently republican in its rudiments. The legislative power lay at this time almost HISTORICAL. 3 entirely in the hands of the great barons and fief- holders, who were absolute lords upon their own domains, exercising the right of life and death upon their vassals, and making war independently upon whom they pleased. Upon the election of a king the barons pledged themselves to assist and sustain him in war, each furnishing men and treasure in proportion to the size and importance of his fief — all joining forces for the general good. But the kings^ having acquired the taste for rule, became gradually more aggressive^ and profiting by the con- tinual feuds among the barons, steadily increased their own power. Whenever the Crown embraced the cause of one vassal against another, it exacted in return some great concession_, generally one which imperilled the feudal rights of the vassal; and thus by almost imperceptible degrees the successive kings drew the power into their own hands. One by one the privileges of the barons were with- drawn, until after three centuries of open battering and covert undermining, the walls of the ancient fortress of feudalism were levelled, and the founda- tion of absoluto monarchy built upon the ruins. This was not accomplished without fierce and pro- tracted struggles ou the part of the fief -holders, and \ * 4 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. their dogged resistance to the encroachments of royalty made the throne of France a very insecure and uncomfortable seat. Even when the kings had subjugated their vassals by seizing their fiefs, suppressing the baronial parliaments, and annulling the old right of administering justice, they were obliged to be constantly on the alert to defend their newly-acquired powers. Indeed, from Philip Augustus to Louis XI. history shows us one long intermittent struggle on the part of the kings to maintain their ascendency. When foreign powers threatened France with invasion, or new conquests were to be made to enlarge her territory, the home questions were for a time shelved and forgotten, and in the triumph of victory or the humiliation of defeat, the nation stood for the moment united. But scarcely had the victorious shouts died away, or the people recovered from the depression of defeat, before the old feuds broke out with renewed bitterness. When the nobles had at last realised that the royal authority was too firmly established to be overthrown, they endeavoured to obtain control of the government by filling the offices of advisers and ministers of the king. They led HISTORICAL. 5 or restrained him according to their desires, working always for the elevation and aggrandize- ment of their own order, and not for the good of the nation. The State was divided roughly into three great orders — nobility, clergy, and commons, but each of these orders was subdivided into many classes. The nobility, for instance, comprised the depen- dants of the court, who lived upon the bounty and favours of the king, and monopolised the lucra- tive government offices and upper ranks of the army ; the parvenus ^ or recently ennobled, who held the civil offices, and were judges and admi- nistrators of justice ; and, lastly, the landed pro- prietors, who retained a few of their ancient feudal privileges, and derived their means of subsistence from their seignorial dues and the labour of their peasants. The subdivisions of the clergy were yet more clearly defined, and consisted of three distinct classes — the rich and nobly-born, to whom fell the luxurious abbeys and episcopal sees with their princely revenues ; the political clergy, whose cleri- cal duties were almost lost sight of in their capacities of Court advisers and directors ; and, lastly, the hardworking apostolic men, who laboured 6 CHAULOTTE COBDAY. with their flocks_, sharing their poverty and under- standing without being able to relieve their distress. Each subdivision of the commons was also pos- sessed of separate interests, and animated by a sense pf hostility towards the rest. First in order were the rich traders, bankers, and merchants ; these hated their customers the aristocrats, who were perpetually humiliating their bourgeois pride. Then came the class o£ smaller tradesmen, upon whom the heavy taxes pressed the most; and last of all the farmers and peasants, whose lives, in point of comfort and dignity, were but little above those of the beasts of the field. In a recent work on this subject by Richard H. Dabney, the social state of France is well de- scribed : "^ Everywhere there was hatred between the classes. The bourgeoisie hated the nobility, while the peasantry hated bourgeoisie and nobility alike. The lesser lords hated the dukes and mar- quises and counts; and the petty bourgeoisie hated the rich notables. The laity hated the clergy, and the poor parsons hated the luxurious archbishops and bishops. ^^ Thus each class strove and worked solely for its own interests, caring nothing for the nation at large. HISTORICAL, 7 and giving little heed to the condition, necessities, or opinion of any outside its own circle. This fatal want of unity and national spirit was the great primary cause of the Revolution. The aims and desires of the sovereign were not the aims and desires of his subjects, and each laboured for the attainment of a different end. What wonder tliat this long-continued and fierce strain weakened the chain which bound the nation together, making the final rupture an inevitable consequence of in- ternal rottenness ? For centuries the parliament of France was merely an instrument of the Crown, convoked at the pleasure of the reigning king — usually when fresh subsidies were to be obtained — and although it was composed of the three power- ful classes — nobility, clergy, and rich commoners — it had really but a faint voice in the adjustment of national affairs. Even the taxes were levied by the sovereign independently of parliament, and all real power was vested in his hands ; indeed, from the subjugation of the Fronde (which was the practical disarming of the aristocracy) to the outbreak of the Revolution, the monarchy of France was abso- lutely arbitrary. 8 CHARLOTTE COMB AY. Individual life was kept entirely under the control of the king by means of the famous lettres de cachet, which were orders committing any subject, lay or cleric, noble or commoner, to imprisonment during the king's pleasure without the formality of accusa- tion or trial. When it is remembered that these orders^ bearing the royal signature, were frequently given by the king to his favourites with the names left in blank, it will be at once seen what awful weapons of revenge and injustice they often were. The estates of the victims were usually confiscated, and helped to keep the royal coffers well filled. The wealth of the nation was equally under the control of the Crown by means of the taxes, which were moreover most unjustly distributed. They were levied by the king, and although the parliament had nominally the right to refuse an impost, it was in reality powerless, for by a lit de justice the king could compel its assent and punish its members by imprisonment and exile. As the nobility claimed the '^^ privilege ^^ of not being taxed at all, and the clergy that of imposing their own taxes, which they paid to suit themselves, in " gratuities,^' the burden of the heavy HISTOEICAL. 9 imposts fell almost entirely upon the shoulders of the long-suffering people. And this was not all; in addition to the taxes levied by the king were the dues claimed by the nobles as lords of the manor — a relic of the ancient feudalism — and the tithes demanded by the clergy^ all of which had to come out of the people who only owned about one- third of the lands. Among the most deeply resented of the many imposts were the gabelle, or salt tax ; the taifie, or the wine tax ; and the corvee^ a law which called the peasants from the cultivation of their fields, or harvesting of their crops, to labour gratuitously upon the king's highways_, and build the magnificent roads that so excited Arthur Young's wonder when he was travelling through France just before the outbreak of the Revolution. Perhaps the tax on salt was the most exas- perating to the people, because of the constant meddling with and invasion of private life which its enforcement entailed. The manufacture of salt was a Government monopoly, and was so jealously guarded that even the natural deposits of salt in Provence were destroyed, and heavy fines were im- posed on anyone who used sea-water for its saline 10 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. qualities, or even allowed the cattle to eat the salt grass of tlie marshes. The purchase from the Government^ at an exorbi- tant price, of a certain quantity of salt for culinary and table purposes was obligatory, and if part of this supply was saved by the economical householder for the use of the cattle, or for curing meat or fish, he was subjected to a heavy fine, and compelled to buy a separate supply for these purposes. The taine was not as universally irritating as the gabelle, because it affected only the wine-growers and dealers, and outrageous as it was, its injustice was less widely felt. But those who did fall under it were ground almost to starvation by its iron provisions. And yet these taxpayers, whose emaciated shoulders supported the entire royal and govern- mental edifice, had absolutely no political rights and were not eligible for any office in the system that lived by them ; in fact, the only privilege allowed them was that of being killed for the king in times of war. Yet in spite of the sufferings of the lower classes, it was not among them that the seeds of rebellion germinated ; it was the innately disloyal and stiff' necked aristocracy that first promulgated the HISTOEICAL. 11 doctrines of freedom. The el airis of slavery and poverty lay too heavy upon the oppressed for them to think ofj or care for, aught but providing for the immediate daily necessities of their half-starved bodies. These poor creatures, who scarcely under- stood their own degradation, were dumb until their task-masters taught them speech ; unarmed until those same masters, with thoughtless indifference, placed in their hands the weapons with which, in their desperation, they hewed their way from dark- ness into light. Another important impulse to the Revolution was the increased importance and progress of all the fine arts during the 17th century. . Ignorance became unfashionable, and intellectual workers received the countenance and encouragement of the Court. Men's minds were brightened and their perceptions sharp- ened by attrition, and the approval of the rulers of the land fostered the early germs of philosophy which bore such deadly fruit in the 18th century. It was inevitable that the researches and reflections of the master minds of that time should lead them to the consideration of the social and religious aspect of their own nation. Equally inevitable that the gross abuses and the necessity of reform 12 CHARLOTTE COBB AY, should be made the subject of tbeir writings ; the hollowness of the apparent prosperity; the un- satisfactory nature of their faith ; the injustice of class distinctions ; the rottenness of their social ethics — all these subjects could not fail to pre- sent themselves to the minds of the great philoso- phers of the 18th century. Historians, poets^ novel- ists, all were engrossed with the same theme_, and as S^gur tells us, ''AH writings^ all thoughts, all actions, seemed to have but one end, the extirpa- tion of abuses, the propagation of virtue, the relief of the people, the establishment of freedom.'^ It was in the reign of Louis XV., and just after the peace of 1763, that the sense of un- easiness which had been growing throughout France, settled into avowed and open discontent. At this time it was confined almost entirely to the younger portion of the ?ioblesse, the readers and admirers of Yoltaire, Raynal, Diderot, Rous- seau, and the host of others who uttered the opinions of the great ones without their genius. The fashionable salons were the hot-beds of this spirit of restlessness, where subversive ideas — which, how- ever, had not then ripened into desires — were freely discussed. The beauties of philosophy and philan- HISTORICAL. 13 thropy were aired, the abstract ideas o£ equality and liberty lauded, the principles and faith of their forefathers attacked and derided, and a passion for innovation cultivated on all sides. Among the most ardent and enthusiastic dis- ciples of the new opinions were those beautiful and intellectual women whose influence did so much towards propagating them, and making them the fashion of the hour. Indeed, no thoughtful student of the history of France can fail to be struck by the prominent part that women of all classes have played in the political destiny of their country. At times it would seem as if the very life of France had lain in the hollow of a woman^s hand, dependent upon the whim and caprice of the moment. From Pompadour to Eugenie, from The Pucelle to Mdme. Roland, from Theroigne de Mericourt to the petroleuses of 1871, we find women in the vanguard of political strife, and all through the great Revolution they exercised an influence which has no parallel in history. They were its earliest and principal agents, the first to kindle the revo- lutionary enthusiasm as they were the first to revolt from, and try to restrain, the mere animal fury to which it at last degenerated. 14 CHAULOTTE GOBI) AY. This influence was born in the salons, fed upon Voltaire and Rousseau, and nursed and petted by the white hands of Court beauties ; later it passed into the life of the great middle class, and was wielded by such women as Mdme. de Stael and Mdme. Roland, until at last it fell and perished in the slums, defiled by the unclean touch of the Mdme. Theots and Rose Lacombes of evil fame. But these dainty aristocrats and charming and brilliant women, who talked so glibly of liberty and freedom, and the emancipation of the people, did not contemplate any practical application of their doctrines. They had no true conception of the magnitude of the subject, but were pleased with its novelty and inclined to smile upon a philo- sophy which flattered their vanity. They dallied with the fascinating principles, never dreaming that these very weapons with which they toyed so care- lessly would one day be used to slay them. Gradually the discontent spread. The social lines were sharply drawn, and the roturiers began audibly to resent their treatment by the privileged classes, who rode rough-shod over them, respecting neither their purses nor their opinions. The licentiousness of Louis XV. 's Court dis- HISTORICAL. 15 gusted the nation. Practically the mistresses of the King ruled the realm, and upon their favour hung every appointment and office, and to slight or ignore their influence meant death, or a letire de cachet consigning the off'ender to the Bastille. The shameless debauchery of the Court, which had not been equalled since the later days of the Roman Empire^ necessitated a high rate of taxa- tion from which the nobles were nearly, and the clergy quite exempt^ but which pressed heavily on the burgher class, and almost crushed the labourers and peasants. The corruptions of the Church had furnished the great writers with ample text for their sermons on reason and philosophy, and irreligion spread like a leprosy through the land, under- mining all principles and social law, and preparing the way for license. When Louis XVI. came into his fatal inheri- tance, his weakness and irresolution were imme- diately made manifest. France lay dying of her festering wounds, needing the fearless steady hand of the surgeon, strong as delicate ; the trembling uncertain touch of poor Louis could but irritate the sensitive flesh and keep it raw. Like Charles I. of England, he loved his people sincerely, and meant 16 CHARLOTTE CORD AY, well by them, but he was a weakling totally unfit to deal with a crisis that would have taxed the endurance and strength of a Titan. From the choice of Maurepas as minister, that ancient courtier whose disgrace under the previous king for offending the mistresses had taught him the fatal lesson of servility and time-serving, a fatality seemed to attend all Louis did. Every reform he undertook was either insufficient or unwise, and although his whole reign presents a succession of ill-advised or untimely concessions, he could neither satisfy the demands of his people, nor stem the torrent of reform by extreme or arbi- trary measures. When Maurepas died, the Queen became virtually minister ; and the beautiful young Austrian, whose thoughtless extravagance and disregard of estab- lished customs had already begun to make her unpopular, ruled with greater firmness but little more wisdom than her husband. It was to this firmness that she owed her nickname of ^' Mdme. Veto,^' given her by a populace which resented her resistance to their increasing demands. With her mother's love of politics and rule, Marie Antoinette had also inherited her pride and ob- HISTOBICAL. 17 stinacy ; but the prescience_, forethought,, and executive ability that made Maria Theresa's reign to Austria what Elizabeth^s was to England had not been transmitted to her hapless daughter. Haughtily careless of public opinion^ Marie Antoinette pursued her own course and made her power felt ; and it soon became known that when- ever the King resisted the inroads of popular demand^ it was in obedience to the advice of his queen. Matters grew worse and worse ; the old abuses were not rectified^ and new ones were con- tinually appearing ; the Court expenses — enormous as they had been before — were increased tenfold, and the nobles^ led by the heedless young queen, added daily to the score which was already so heavy against them. 18 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. CHAPTER 11. CHILDHOOD AND THE CONVENT. "He fixed thee 'mid this dance Of plastic circumstance, This Present, * * * * # * * Machinery just meant To give thy soul its hent, Try thee and turn thee forth Sufficiently impressed." Rahhi Ben Ezra. — Robert Browning. Among the many writers upon the all-absorbing topic of reform was one Frangois de Corday d'Armont_, the younger son of a noble family, who languished in an obscure village of Normandy, where a few bare acres just afforded him the absolute necessaries of life. To the pride that CHILDHOOD AND THE CONVENT. 19 comes with gentle blood he added the tastes and habits of a scholar. Galled and repressed by poverty, he had settled into a state of rebellion against the social and political institutions of his day whichj in due time, crystallised into sundry pamphlets against tyranny and despotism in gene- ral and the rights of primogeniture in particular. From a literary standpoint these effusions are of small value, but, like so many others of the period, they are instinct with the spirit of bluster- ing revolt that swept over France like the wind before a thunder-storm, and broke at last into that mad intolerance of restraint and thirst for absolute liberty that overturned the throne and deluged the country with blood. M. de Corday had married a young lady of noble family, Jacqueline- Charlotte Marie de Gon- thiers-des-Authiers, whose virtues were her only dowry. To them were born five children, two sons and three daughters, of whom Marie- Anne Charlotte, the subject of this memoir, was born in Argentan, July 27th, 1768, and was the second daughter. The resources of M. de Corday did not increase with his family, and he was at last obliged to part temporarily with some of his children, kindly 2 * 20 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. relatives having offered to relieve hina o£ their maintenance until brighter days. Charlotte — or Marie, as she was called by her family — was sent to her uncle M. 1' Abbe de Corday, who was cure o£ Vieques, a quiet little village not far from Argentan. During the three years spent under his roof she learned to read, her primer being a treasured volume of Corneille — who, as the good old Abbe often impressed upon the child, was her ^^ great and illustrious ancestor." This quiet, gentle little girl, who seemed to have inherited her father's studious tastes, won her way deep into the heart of the lonely and scholarly Abbe, and in after years, when she had placed such a lurid aureole upon her brow, he was never weary of telling how sweet a child she had been, and how unselfish and heroic her nature had shown itself even then. When Charlotte had grown to a helpful age, she was recalled home to lighten the burdens of her mother; and from Mdme. Levaillant, who was Mdme. de Corday's most intimate friend, we get graphic glimpses of the simple home-life, and of the little eight-year-old help-meet. As a natural consequence CHILDHOOD AND THE CONVENT. 21 of the size of the family and the meagreness of the resources, work was plentiful and indulgences rare. Clothed in the coarse homespun of the Nor- mandy peasants, the children worked in the fields, cultivated the garden, and did much of the house- keeping of the cottage, including the spinning, weaving and making of the family clothing. Although Charlotte was a delicate child, and rather small for her age, she was a tireless little worker, trying in every possible way to save her mother trouble ; advising, consoling, and helping her brothers and sisters, and performing her many duties with a precision of judgment beyond her years. She early accustomed herself to bear her own small troubles in silence, and not add to those of her mother by useless fretting and complaint, and an instance of this childish courage was witnessed and re- corded by Mdme. Levaillant. One day when this lady was visiting at the cottage, Charlotte tripped and fell, bruising herself badly on a stone step ; Mdme. Levail- lant ran to assist and console the little girl, who, instead of lamenting her hurt, bravely fought back her tears aud requested that her mother might not be told of it. A few days later Mdme. de Corday, having heard of the circumstance, said to her 22 CHARLOTTE GORBAY, friend: '' That little girl is always hard upon herself; she never complains, and I have to guess when she is ill^ for she would never tell me.'^ In the moments of leisure between the children's many duties M. de Corday tried to give them what education he could, and to train them to thoughtful- ness and strength of character; he placed much trust in them, and allowed them a full share in the disposition of" his very slender finances. It was his custom to place what ready money he had in a drawer, to which all had free access ; then gathering his children around him, he would tell them how long it must last, and appeal to their honour and judg- ment not to draw upon the Jittle fund for unnecessary luxuries. Each realised that even a small extra ex- penditure reduced the general comfort of the family, and that every personal taste could be gratified only at the expense of others, and it early became a matter of emulation among these children to deny themselves all little adornments of dress and luxuries of food. M. de Corday naturally imbued his children with his own political ideas, and his influence on Charlotte's impressionable character was very strong. By the time she was thirteen she had become CHILDHOOD AND THE CONVENT. 23 thoroughly permeated with the subversive republican spirit that was such a marked characteristic of her father's. When Charlotte was in her thirteenth year Mdme. de Corday gave up the long sordid struggle of her life, folded her tired hands and passed on to her hard- earned rest. Her death was a real calamity to her liusband_, left unaided to care for his five helpless children — the eldest of whom was not yet fifteen. After a few months of pitiful demoralization, help came ; came, too, through the poor dead mother. Mdme. de Belsunce, the Abbess of the Abbaye aux Dames at Caen_, had been a frieud of hers, and upon hearing of her death, and the neglected condition of her children, at once proposed taking charge of Charlotte and her younger sister, and educating them with her own niece Mdlle. de Forbin. M. de Corday gratefully accepted the offer, and sent the two poor little orphans to the Convent."^ Mdme. de Belsunce soon became greatly interested in * This noble Abbey was founded in 106G by Matilda of Flanders, the "wife of the Conqueror, William I, of England. Its magnificent chapel and cloisters were neai'ly in ruins when Charlotte Corday was a pupil there ; but after having been deserted and almost forgotten until 1830, it was splendidly restored, and is now one of the finest hospitals in France, and the most iut>eresting public building in Caen. 24 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. Charlotte^ whose beauty began to bloom under the good living and freedom from hard work of the new life. The careful training of the nuns soon gave to her manners and address the polish that only a fine-grained nature can take, and before long she lost the shyness and awkwardness of her peasant childhood, and showed evidences of her natural grace and intelligence. She studied as- siduously and early evinced a strong talent for drawing, and under the tuition of the nuns acquired an unusual proficiency in the use of her pencil. Quietly the years slipped by, each one bringing growth and expansion to the girl who blossomed like some fair flower in the congenial atmosphere of encouragement and appreciation. Fascinated by the eveUj gentle life of the nuns_, and her heart filled with gratitude and devotion, it was inevitable that Charlotte should pass through that stage of romantic religious fervour and sentimentalism which is experienced by almost every imaginative convent - bred girl. In a letter to her cousin, Mdme. Duhauvelle, written in 1788, we catch a glimpse of this phase of Charlotte's character, and see her CHILDHOOD AND THE CONVENT. 25 in the light of a naive childlike believer in the fanciful legends of the K/oman Church. *"' I should have had the honour, Madam_, of writing to you sooner, and thanking you for your kind re- membrance of me, but I had to go all through the lives of the saints to find my little cousin^s patron, whose story I will tell you in few words. *^ About the year 300 there was in Rome a woman of quality named Aglae, who possessed immense riches, and led a very dissipated life ; she had but three good qualities — hospitality, liberality, and com- passion. After several years passed in crime, Aglae, touched by the grace of God, told Boniface, her steward, who was also a convert, to go and succour the holy martyrs, and to bring her seme of their relics in order that she might show them honour, and obtain the remission of her sins by their intercessions. Boniface said to her jestingly : ' If I find any relics of the martyrs I will bring them; but. Madam, if my relics come without the name of martvr, receive them.' And indeed, Boniface w^as condemned to death for assisting the saints, and was beheaded, and his servants carried away his body. But an angel appeared to Aglae, and said : ^ He who was youi' 26 CHABLOTTE COBDAY. servant is now your brother; receive him as your saviour^ and give him a worthy resting-place ; your sins will be remitted by his intercession/ Aglae immediately started with a number of clergy to meet the holy relics, and she built a superb oratory for them, and many miracles took place there. From that time Aglae renounced the world for ever, gave all her goods to the poor, lived thirteen years in the odour of sanctity, and died the death of the saints. She was buried in the chapel which she had built to St. Boniface, and the Church celebrates their festival on the same day. " Such, Madam, was the patron of my little cousin, for whom I desire a like end, and whom I kiss very tenderly, as well as her amiable sister. I have been told. Madam, that the business connected with your estates is completed. I congratulate you sincerely, for it is always pleasant to know just how one stands. I, however, cannot rejoice over it, as it is a certain presage that you will leave us. I hope to be able to see you again next year, and to assure you verbally of the respect with which I am. Madam and dear cousin, " Your very humble and very obedient servant, " CORDAY. " My sister desires me to present her respects to you. CHILDHOOD AND THE CONVENT. 27 She sends a thousand kind messages to your little girls. '^ Enthusiastic and impressionable^ Charlotte possessed the very nature most likely to be dominated by religious feeling_, had not her father's influence and her own habits of studious research been her safe- guards. As she grew older and thought more deeply on the teachings she received_, there crept into her heart a sense of the insufficiency of the sentimental conventual faith. But although her intelligence was too fine to remain long satisfied with the saints and the Virgin, it was not possible to a loyal nature like hers to look upon the religion of her childhood with contempt, and she always retained an outward respect for the offices of the Church. During Charlotte's stay at the convent Mdme. de Belsunce and her coadjutrix, Mdme. Doulcet de Pontecoulant_, showed her much kindness, entrusting her with some of the minor duties of the establishment, and employing her often as secretary and amanuensis. A letter written in 1789 shows that Charlotte also managed her own modest money affairs, disposing of the small allowance her father could make her. 28 CHARLOTTE COUDAY, according to her own discretion. This liberty was an unusual one for a young girl to enjoy in those days, and only to be accounted for by the fact that M. de Corday was engaged at this time in a law-suit against his wife's relations^ and was unwilling to burden himself with the details of his daughter's outlay. It may have been also part of his scheme of education, and it undoubtedly helped to foster and develop that quality of self-reliance which was already so marked a trait of Charlotte's character. This letter is further interesting in that it is the only one which has been preserved in which Charlotte signs her full family name. " To M. Alain_, Attorney^ Rue DaujMne, Paris. " Sir, ''^Enclosed is a bill of exchange payable to your order, which has been sent to me. I beg you to return it to me with the formalities necessary to receive the money in Caen. I need it in much haste. The Lady Abbess desires me to thank you for the offer you made her concerning the mirrors. She does not wish to borrow money this year, so do not get them ; moreover, she will not have the bed for M. le Marquis made, so do not order the wood for it, as CHILDHOOD AND THE CONVENT. 29 was arranged. I beg you, Sir_, not to make my bill of exchange payable through the Abbey, for reasons of my own. '^ I have the honour of remaining, Sir, ''^ Your very humble and very obedient_, '^ CORDAY d'ArMONT. " At the Abbey of the Holy Trinity, Caen, Sept. 30th, 1789.'^ The rules of the Order to which Mdme. de Belsunce belonged allowed her to receive her friends at the Convent, and to these social gatherings Charlotte and her sister were often admitted. Most of the guests were, like their hostess, of noble birth and royalist sympathies, and the Abbess^ beautiful young protegees received considerable interest and notice from the stately dames who were aware of their father's poverty. Sometimes the presence of a few gentlemen gave a more perceptible flavour of the world to these mild convent festivities ; courtly abbes told their little stories of Paris and the outer world, and grey-haired marquises and chevaliers imparted the politics of the day in a diluted form to the ladies. Occasionally younger men obtained an entree , such as Doulcet de Pontecoulant^ one of the King^s 30 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. body-guard^ who, in virtue of being the nephew of Mdme. de Belsunce's coadjutrix, was a frequent and welcome guest at the convent. This young man became afterwards a consistent moderate Republican, and was elected deputy to the Convention from Caen. With the strange perversity that seems to have actuated almost all those who have written notices or lives of Charlotte Corday, a pretty but m}'thical love-story has been attached to these convent days. A young ofiScer named Henri Vicomte de Belsunce — a nephew of the Abbess — is a constant visitor at the convent, the regiment of which he is colonel being garrisoned at Caen. With the consent and encourage- ment of Mdme. de Belsunce, he pays marked attention to Charlotte Corday, who returns his affection. Later an insurrection breaks out, and the Vicomte de Belsunce, who is an ardent Boyalist, with all the prejudices and proud intolerance of his rank, meets with a horrible death in the streets of Caen, being literally torn to pieces by the mob he had helped to infuriate with taunts and threats. The Abbess dies soon after, broken-hearted at the awful fate of her favourite nephew, and Charlotte at once determines to avenge her lover and her benefactress by murdering CHILDHOOD AND THE CONVENT. 31 Marat^ a vengeance whicli is delayed, however, for nearly three years. Such in brief is the romance. The facts are these. Henri Vicomte de Belsunce was but a very distant connexion of the Abbess, and, although bearing the same name, belonged to quite a different branch of the family, his full title being Vicomte de Belsunce de Macaie, while the Abbess was a de Belsunce de Castelmoron. Moreover, Charlotte's friend and benefactress died on the 3rd of February 1787, just three months before the Vicomte de Belsunce's regiment was ordered to Caen. It is, therefore, very doubtful whether he ever knew not only Charlotte Corday but even the Abbess Mdrae. de Belsunce. The only correct part of the story as given by Delasalle, Huard, Thiers, Lamartine, Cheron de Villiers, &c., and the biographical dictionaries, is the death of M. de Belsunce ; it took place, however, August 12th, 1789, a month before the first number of Marat's paper, which tvas supposed to have in- stigated his murder, appeared. When Fouquier-Tinville was preparing the evidence against Charlotte, he wrote a letter — now in the possession of M. Feuillet de Conches — to the Com- mittee of Public Safety suggesting that her crime :* * YB 82 CHARLOTTE COBDAY. had been prompted by a desire to revenge de Belsunce.* He has evidently — intentionally or not — confused the Abbess of La Sainte Trinite_, who was Charlotte's friend, with a man bearing the same name, who was not, and it is from this sinister source that the romancers have drawn their sole materials. During the seven years that Charlotte remained at the Abbey, the Republican ideas which she had learned from her father had suffered no change. The rumours heard through the convent walls were of vivid interest to her, and she followed the course of events with intense but silent excite- ment. The struggle of the American Colonies for liberty had given an impetus to the discontent of the French, showing themhow their Erepublican theories looked when put into action, and stimulating their minds with an example of successful effort. * Citizens. — I beg to bring to your observation that I have just been informed that that female assassin was the fi'iend of de Belsunce, a colonel who was killed in Caen during the insurrection, and that since that event she has cherished an implacable hatred against Marat. That hatred may have been revived by Marat's denunciation of Biron, who was a relative of de Belsunce, and Barbaroux seems to have taken advantage of the criminal feeling of this girl against Marat to persuade her to commit this horrible murder. (Signed) Fouquier-Tinville. CHILDHOOD AND THE CONVENT. 33 The long-smouldering fire had broken out_, the Bastille had fallen, the memorable visit of the fish- wives to Versailles had been made ; the Revolution was an accomplished fact, and the outlook for mode- rate republicans was cheering. I *^ 34 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. CHAPTER III. LE GRAND MANOIR I see thee weep, and thine are honest tears ; A patriot's for his country. Thou art sad At thought of her forlorn and abject state, From which no power of thine can raise her up. The Task, Book I. — Cowper. In 1790 the convents and monasteries were closed by order of the Convention, and Charlotte^ then in her twentieth year, was once more turned adrift. Her father's affairs had gone from bad to worse. One of her brothers had emigrated, the other was in the army of Conde ; the younger of her sisters was dead, and the elder was still living with her father in the old cottage, where one more inmate would reduce the barely sufficient to real want. LE GRAND MANOIR. 35 So after spending two months at home with them Charlotte decided to ask a cousin of lier mother's to give her shelter for a time, until she could find some suitable asylum. This cousin — whom Charlotte always called Aunt — was the widow of M. de Bretheville-Gouville, a ruined gentleman who had once been Treasurer of France. She was old_, feeble^ and poor_, and lived in a gloomy house in Caen with only one servant, who was as aged and decrepid as her mistress. Mdlle. Levaillant the daughter of Mdme.de Corday's old friend, gives an interesting account of the old Aunt's excitement over Charlotte's arrival, which we translate almost verbatim. She says : — We had scarcely arrived in Caen, when we saw Mdme. de Bretheville hurrying towards us. '• I am so glad you have returned ! " she exclaimed to my mother. ■" I didn't know where to turn. Now you have come to help me, I ieel better; but I am greatly worried." " Why, what about? " asked my mother. " While you were away a relative whom I do not know, and whose family I had lost sight of for many years, has fallen upon mo from the clouds. She came hero a month ago, accompanied by a j^orter carrying a trunk. She told me she had some business to transact in Caen, and hoped I would receive her. She introduced herself, and really is a relation, but the whole aifair inconveniences me very much." '•Why so? You are alone; jo\x have no intimate friends. She will make the house more lively, and be a pleasant companion for 3*ou," replied my mother. 3 * 36 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. " That doesn't seem likely, for she scarcely speaks ; seems taciturn and reserved, and always appears to be lost in a brown study. I don't know why, but she frightens me. She has the air of meditating some eyil business." Mdme. de Bretheville insisted that Mdme. Levaillant and her daughter should call at once and see the newly arrived niece, and try and find out why she had established herself in such an unceremonious fashion in the home of one who '^ didnH know her from Eve or Adam/' as the old lady quaintly expressed it. As soon as Charlotte saw Mdme. Levaillant she ran and embraced her^ much to the surprise of that lady_, who did not anticipate so affectionate a greeting from an apparent stranger. ^^ What ! have you quite forgotten me, then ? ^' exclaimed Charlotte. '*Do you not remember little d'Armont ? " No sooner were the words spoken than Mdme. Levaillant recognised the child of her old friend_, and eagerly returned her embrace. Matters were at once explained to Mdme. de Bretheville, who upon being assured of the identity of her niece, laid aside all her fears^ and prepared herself to look upon Charlotte as a member of her family. In a short time she became so much attached to her, and so pleased with the dutiful little attentions LE GRAND MANOIB. 37 of her young relative, that slie invited her to remain with her always^ aud make the Grand Manoir her home. Even when the novelty of the young giiPs presence had worn offj the brightness and interest she brought into her Aunt's dull life continued undi- miaishedj and each year brought them nearer together. Le Grand Manoir_, the house in which Mdme. de Bretheville lived in the Rue St. Jean, was old and gloomy, with a neglected garden in front shut in by high moss-grown walls. In the seclusion of this garden^ where the monotonous plashing of an old fountain seemed to emphasise the silence, Charlotte spent much of her time, reading her favourite authors, and dreaming away the long hours which hung heavy on her hands. She was now, for the first time in her life, abso- lutely at liberty to regulate her own studies and reading, and appreciating the freedom from the restrictions of the convent, she plunged boldly into Voltaire, Rousseau, and Raynal. To her, as to Mdme. Roland, Plutarch had at the convent always afforded the greatest pleasure ; but now she laid aside the lives of her favourite heroes to drink in the new wine of the great French philosophers. Charlotte read eagerly and intelligently, digesting 38 CHARLOTTE COBDAY. and assimilating all she absorbed ; the necessary relaxation from more thoughtful works she sought in novels of the ''^Heloise^' and '^Faublas^^ type — dan- gerous food for the convent-bred girl whose romantic, ardent imagination had long been excited by the records of heroism in the republics of ancient days. Charlotte Corday's nature was fundamentally robust and truthful, but the sophistries and false philosophy of the teachers at whose feet she sat perverted itj and robbed her of the power of unprejudiced reasoning. In these davs of clearer vision it seems incredible that the strongly biased writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, and especially of Kaynal — who^ though the least able> was perhaps the most popular of these authors — should have exercised such a powerful influence upon their time. This influence is onlv to be accounted for by the fact that they wrote for readers whose minds were ripe for revolt, and their words — with those of their hundred imitators — suited the national humour, expressing as they did, the opinions which, in the minds of most men, had already become convictions. Charlotte had grown to be a very handsome girl ; slender and tall, with light-brown curling hair, soft grey eyes, and the biilliant complexion that belongs LE GRAND MANOIR. 39 to perfect health. The upper part of her face was peculiarly gentle, and contrasted strangely with the determination of the mouth and almost mascidine firmness of the cleft chin ; and this apparent con- tradiction of expression gave to her face an oddity and piquant charm. There are in existence two portraits of Charlotte Corday, Siccardi's, which is in the Renard collection at Caen, and the one painted by Jaques Hauer during her imprisonment, which is now in the Versailles Museum. Both artists represent her as an undeniably beautiful woman. Siccardi's portrait, which was painted before Char- lotte had become famous, shows a charming face with regular features, and a sweet, serious mouthy whose gentle gravity is strangely at variance with the merriment of a pair of innocent grey eyes. The picture by Hauer, taken when she was under sentence of death, is even more beautiful ; the seriousness has deepened almost to solemnity, and the clear eyes have lost their merriment ; but in its place lies an expression of serenity and content that almost suggests beatitude. When she had assumed the red gown of the condemned, it emphasised her fairness, and so heightened her beauty that Hauer was strongly impressed by the effect. Alter 40 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. her death he painted in the scarlet dress, scrupu- lously avoiding, however, any retouching of tlie face lest he should destroy the likeness. In after years the red gown was painted out by some other hand, and now the grave, sweet face of Charlotte Corday looks out at us from a cloud of white drapery. In addition to her physical beauty, Charlotte possessed the rare charm of a perfectly musical voice ; indeed, so marked was this trait that every friend who survived her and furnished the world with their recollections of her, mentions it as a strongly distinctive characteristic. " A voice so sweet that once heard it could never be forgotten." Mdme. de Bretheville was a staunch Royalist, and the few friends which time and the unsettled state of the country had left her were all equally loyal Occasionally they would gather in the gloomy rooms of the Grand Manoir to discuss the changes that had already taken place, and take counsel together upon the best means of avoiding the dangers with which the future seemed to menace them. Charlotte moved among these relics of the old regime with graceful tact, and the deference due from youth to age; listening respectfully but with silent LE GRAND MANOIB. 41 dissent to their lamentations upon the degeneracy o£ the times. Thrown thus entirely upon herself for sympathy, she was forced to brood in solitude over her country's troubles, and formulate a hundred romantic schemes for redressing them without the wholesome restraint of outside advice and criticism. This introverted morbid mental life was fraught with the greatest danger for a temperament which was already over-inclined to enthusiasm and exaltation. Next door to Mdme. Bretheville lived the Marquis de FaudoaSj the captain of a cavalry regiment and a Royalist as ardent as herself, and with him his daughter Eleonore and his sister, the widow of the Marquis de Beaurepaire. The two families lived upon terms of great intimacy, and between the three young girls, Charlotte Corday, Eleonore de Faudoas, and Mdlle. Levaillant, there soon grew a strong, if un- demonstrative, friendship. They read and studied together, and in spite of the wide difference in their opinions, often held amicable discussions on political matters. One day, when they were reading English his- tory in the Faudoas garden, Mdlle. Levaillant, who had been moved almost to tears by the misfortunes 42 CHARLOTTE COED AY. and tragic fate of Charles I., expressed in the strongest terms her warm admiration for the devotion and unalterable loyalty that has immortalized the partisans of the Stuarts. '' There, ray dear/^ she exclaimed, with girlish enthusiasm, to Eleonore de Faudoas, **'that is what I should do if such things happened in France. I would sacrifice myself for my king — I would die for him ! " " Oh,^^ replied Eleonore de Faudoas_, laughing^ '' I should, of course, do all in my power to help him, except dyiug. But I should much prefer to keep my head upon my shoulders_, even though it were on hind side before.'^ It was only one year afterwards, and within a few weeks of each other, that Charlotte Corday the Republican, and Eleonore de Faudoas the Royalist, sulTered death upon the same scaffold that on the 21st January 1793 had brought down the head of Louis XVI. Charlotte was always peculiarly reserved in the expression of her opinions, and it was but seldom that she could be induced to speak of her political convictions. With the thoughtfuloess of affection, she desired to avoid giving pain to her kind old aunt LE GRAND MANOIR. 43 and her friends ; but on the one or two occasions when her patriotism got the better of her discretion^ she expressed herself with a frankness and firmness that surprised her hearers. The conversation turned one day upon the women of ancient history — the mother of the Gracchi, and of Coriolanus — and for those heroines she expressed the greatest admiratioUj and went on to speak with fervid approval of the old Republics,, " the noblest of all forms of government.'^ As she uttered these words with unusual fervour, Mdme. Levaillant interrupted her speech, and asked with pained reproach — ^'^Can it be that you are Republican, my dear ? '^ Charlotte blushed at the warmth into which she had been betrayed, but answered quietly : *'I should be, if the French were worthy of a Republic.^^ On another occasion, when the conversation had drifted in the direction of politics, Charlotte declared that " Kings are made for the nation, not the nation for kings. ^' Alarmed and disturbed by the continual rioting and insubordination of Caen, Mdme. Levaillant resolved to leave the place, and seek a refuge where people of Royalist sympathies were in less danger from the mob. 44 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. After much deliberation Rouen was decided upon, as that city had gained for itself an enviable character for quietness and moderation — a character, moreover, which it retained intact throughout the Reign of Terror. Mdme. de Bretheville was in despair at the thought of being separated from her dear and intimate friend, and Charlotte greatly dreaded losing her companion ; so that, after a little hesitation, Mdme. de Bretheville concluded to accompany them, a decision which was heartily approved by her niece. But at the last moment the old lady was assailed with a ridiculous timidity about crossing a floating bridge near Rouen, and their' united efforts failed to calm her fears or persuade her to proceed with the arrangements for the journey. In vain they even proposed to go round by way of Paris, and thus avoid the dreaded bridge altogether; the alternative inspired her with yet greater terror, and the Rouen plan, as far as Charlotte and her aunt were concerned, had to be reluc- tantly abandoned. Mdme. Levaillant and her daughter were thus obliged to leave them behind in Caen, and all felt keenly the pain of a parting which they realised might prove final, a fear which the event justified. Mdme. de Bretheville having relinquished all idea of accompanying her friends, decided to give a farewell LE GRAND MANOIR. 45 dinner in their honour^ and accordingly gathered all their mutual friends and relatives together; Charlotte's father^ M. de Corday^ came from Argentan with his daughter and youngest son, who was on his way to join his brother in Coblentz, whither also was bound another of the guests, M. de Tournelis, Mdme. de Bretheville's cousin. This young man, whose Royalist fervour had more than once placed him in danger, had on many previous occasions shown that he was very much attracted by Charlotte ; the relatives of both looked with approval upon his attentions, and were ready to further the match to the extent of their power. Charlotte, how- ever, instead of encouraging his advances, seemed to take a mischievous and perverse pleasure in expressing her Republican opinions with more than customary openness and frequency in his presence, as if to show him how hostile her views were to all the hopes of the Royalists^ and to the cause he had so much at heart. Mdme. de Bretheville's little dinner began gaily enough. The travellers made light of their flight, saying they were only going for a pleasure trip on the Rhine, and fully expected to return to their winter quarters in Paris. All went well, with merriment, and jesting, and rosy forecasts, until someone proposed 46 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. the King's health. Everyone rose to honour the toast except Charlotte^ who, to the surprise of all^ left her glass untouched upon the table and kept her seat. *' To the health of the King ! ^^ someone repeated, and still the young girl remained unmoved^ despite the angry frowns and gestures of her father_, who strove to recall her to a sense of the position, and the words of a neighbour who touched her on the arm, and said persuasively : " Surely you do not refuse to drink to the health of the King, who is so good and so virtuous ? '^ ^' I believe he is virtuous,^' Charlotte replied gently ; " but a weak king cannot be a good king. He is power- less to prevent the misfortunes of his people.^^ In the embarrassment of the moment no one :answered, and after drinking the toast the guests resumed their seats in absolute silence. But the constraint was dissipated a few minutes afterwards by an unforeseen occurrence which threw the whole party into the greatest excitement. Fauchet, the constitutional bishop of Calvados_, was that day making his episcopal entry into Caen, and the procession, on its way through the Rue St. Jean, passed directly under the windows of the Grand Manoir. The cheering of the populace aud cries of LE GRAND MANOIB. 4^7 ''Vive la natiou ! Vive Feveque constitutionnel ! '' exasperated M. de Tournelis and young Corday, and they wanted to answer tlie Republican cheers with counter-cheers of " Vive le roi ! " It was with much difficulty that the hot-headed young Royalists were restrained ; Charlotte seized M. de Tournelis and dragged him into a back room, while M. de Corday sternly silenced his son. *' Do you not fear that such an untimely expression of your sentiments might prove fatal to those around you ? ^' exclaimed Charlotte to the impetuous de Tournelis_, whose arm she still held. " If you expect to serve your cause thus, you might just as well not go to Coblentz." " And had you no fear, Mademoiselle/' replied M. de Tournelis, impulsively, " of offending your friends, when you refused just now to join your voice in a national toast so dear to our hearts ? ^' " Myrefusal," she answered smiling, ^^could only harm myself, while you, without any useful end in view, were about to imperil the lives of all who are with you. On which side, I ask, is the feeling the most generous? "' The young man hung his head in silence, and followed Charlotte back to the dining-room, where the rest were discussing the aJBPair. 48 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. A gloom seemed to have settled on the party which had been so merry and hopeful an hour be£ore_, and soon afterwards the guests dispersed, never to see each other again. Shortly after the departure of the Levaillants the Marquis de Faudoas removed to Paris, with his family, in order to be near his sovereign in the hour of his peril. On the 10th of August 1792, he was among those of the King^s body-guard who strove against overwhelming odds to sustain the last vestiges of royal authority ; failing in this, he placed himself among the hostages offered by the loyal nobles for the person of their fallen king. These acts of devo- tion were more than sufficient to cost him his life, and those of his young daughter of eighteen, and his widowed sister. They were guillotined in Paris on the 25th Messidor. The almost simultaneous departure from Caen of her two girl-friends left Charlotte's life very blank and empty ; she rarely went beyond the limits of the old garden, and confined her interest to following the course of events in the newspapers, and carrying on a rather uncertain correspondence with her absent friends, Mdlle. Levaillant and a Mdlle. Rose Four- geron du Fayot. The latter had been a class-mate LE GBANJD MANOIR. 49 in the convent, and afterwards became Mdme. Ribouletj and was the grandmother of Cheron de Villiers, one of the least inaccurate and untrust- worthy of Charlotte^s biographers. In these letters the lonely young girl gives with graphic touch the local colour of her time, and shows in every line how deep was her concern for the welfare of her country ; almost every sentence gives evidence of her interest, and indeed_, so great is this interest that she identifies herself with France, and feels a sort of personal human sympathy with her nation that leads her to always speak of it as ^' we/' So intense is this earnestness and anxiety that all minor matters are disregarded ; and the letters of this girl are strangely free from the innocent frivolity and harmless nonsense usual in the confidential epistles of young girl-correspondents. " 7b Mdlle. Levaillant.* '' March 1792. ^' Is it possible, my dear friend, that while I was complaining of your idleness you were the victim of that cruel small-pox ? * The original of this letter is now in the collection of M. Chas. Renard of Caen. 4 50 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. ^' I can imagine how glad you are to be rid of it, also that it respected your features, which is a favour it does not show to all pretty people. You were ill, and I could not, know it ! Promise me, my dear, that if you take such a notion again you will let me know beforehand, for I think there is nothing so cruel as being ignorant of the fate of one's friends. '^ You ask me for news. At present there is none; all the nice people have gone away, and the maledic- tions you uttered against our town are taking effect. If there is no grass in the streets, it is only because the season for it has not yet come. ^^The Faudoas have gone, and have even taken some of their furniture. " M. de Cussi has tbe custody of the flags ; he is to marry Mdlle. Fleuriot shortly. In consequence of this general desertion we are very quiet, and the fewer people there are in town the less the danger of an insurrection. If I followed my own inclination I should join the refugees in Rouen, not because I am afraid, but, dear heart, in order to be with you, and to profit by your lessons ; for I should very quickly elect you my teacher of languages — English or Italian — and I am sure I should be benefited in all respects. "Mv aunt — Mdme. de Bretheville — thanks you for LE GRAND MANOIR. 51 your remembrance of her and for your good wishes ; but the state of her health allows her no comfort at present. Nevertheless^ she awaits the events of the future, which do not seem desperate, with confidence. She begs you to express to Mdme. L. her gratitude and remembrance, and to assure her of her sincere attachment. She misses you both very much, and feels, as I do, that you are not likely to return to a town which you so justly dislike. '* My brother started a few days ago to join the train of knights-errant ; I think it probable that they may encounter some wind-mills on their road. I cannot believe, as the K-oyalists do, that they will achieve a victory without any fighting, especially as the army of the nation is formidable ; I admit that the people are not disciplined, but this idea of liberty inspires them with something that is very like courage, and besides, despair would make them brave. So my mind is not easy on that score. Moreover, what fate awaits us ? A fearful despotism, for if they succeed in chaining up the people again, it is falling from Charybdis into Scylla; we shall have to suffer iu either case. But my dear, I am uncon- sciously writing you a political article. All these lamentations will not cure anything, and during the 4 * 62 CHARLOTTE CO h' DAY. carnival-time especially they should be severely pro- scribed. Here is a sad affair for me ! I have mislaid your letter, and now I am not sure of your address ; if this reaches you, please let me know at once. Mdme. Malmonte has gone into the country with Mdme. Malherbe, and I do not know whom else to ask for it ; that is why I do not wish in any way to make known my name, lest others should read my scribbling instead of yourself. '' I resume my letter, which has rested for several days, my dear, because I wished to impart to you some great events which we were promised ; but, after all, nothing has happened. All is peaceful in spite of the carnival, which one hardly notices however, as masquerades are forbidden ; you, I know, will approve of that. M. de Faudoas has returned, no one knows why, or understands his conduct. Be my interpreter with Mdme. L., and assure her of my respectful devotion. Good-bye, dear heart. '^ *' To Mdlle. Levaillant.* *' May 1792. " I always receive your letters with fresh pleasure, ray dear friend ; but I am sorry to hear you are not * The original of this letter is in the autograph collection of M. Casimir Perrier of Paris. LE GRAND MANOIR. 63 well. Apparently, your indisposition is a consequence of the small-pox ; you must take care of yourself. '* You ask me_, dear heart_, what has happened at Verson* ; all the abominations that could be com- mitted. Fifty people^ more or less^ hung and beaten, and women outraged ; it even seems that the feeling was principally against them. Three died a few days afterwards^, and the rest are still very ill ; at least_, most of them are. It appears that on Easter Day the people of Verson insulted a National Guard — made fun of his cockade — and that is an iniquity equal to insulting an ass by laughing at his halter. Upon this there ensued tumultuous deliberations. The administra- tive body of Caen was forced to allow the people— whose preparations lasted until two o'clock — to start (for the offending village). The Verson folk had been * The village of Verson is near Caen. Charlotte was in the habit of going there to visit Mdme Gautier de Villiers, a cousin and friend of whom she was very fond. During the early part of April 1792 a riot occui'red there which threatened to become a serious insurrec- tion. It was caused, in the first place, by the refusal of the resident cia'^ to take the civil oath. 31ost of his parishioners sided with him. but a few of the vilLigers who were strong Republicans insisted upon his expulsion. Unable to compass this alone, they called upon the patriots and National Guard of Caen for assistance ; and upon the arrival of these with two cannons, the tumult became a riot. It was with great difficulty that serious bloodshed was prevented by the Directory of the Department, but the deplorable scenes which Charlotte relates could not be avoided. 54 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. warned of the meditated attack from Caen in the morning, but thought they were being hoaxed. In short, the cure had only just time to escape, leaving in the highway a corpse whose funeral he was con- ducting. As you already know, those who were present and were arrested are — the Abbe Adam de la Pallue (a canon of the Sepulchre), a stranger curej and a young abbe belonging to the parish. The women are — the Abbe Adam's niece, and the cure's sister. And in addition to all these — the mayor of the parish. They have been in prison only four days. '' A peasant upon being asked by the Municipality, 'Are you a patriot?'' replied, 'Alas! yes, gentlemen, I am ! Everyone knows I was the first one to bid upon the property of the clergy when it was put up at auction (after confiscation), and you know very well, gentlemen, that honest people would not buy it.' " I doubt whether a man of wit could have answered them better than this poor fool. The judges, notwithstanding their solemnity, were in- clined to smile. How shall I condense this sad chapter? The parish opinion veered round in an instant, in true club fashion, and the new converts, who LE GRAND MANOIR. 55 would have delivered up their cure had he re-appeared among them, were all feted. *' Vous connaissez le peuple, on le change en un jour ; II prodigue aisement sa haine et son amour. *' Let us talk of them no more. The people you mention are in Paris. To-day all the rest of our honest folk leave for Rouen, and we remain almost alone. * * * * # '' I should have been delighted on all accounts could we have gone to live in your neighbourhood, the more so as we are threatened with an insurrection very soon. However, one can die but once, and I am steeled against the horrors of our situation by the thought that no one will be a loser by my death un- less, indeed, you set some value upon my loving friendship. You will perhaps be surprised, dear heart, at my fears, but you would share them if you were here ; I could then better explain to you the condition of our town, and the ferment that men^s minds are in. Grood-bye, my dear; I must close, for it is impossible to write any longer with this pen, and I fear besides that I have already delayed too long in sending this letter to you ; the merchants are to leave to-day. Please give Mdme. L. the most respectful 56 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. messages from me. My aunt desires me to tell you both how dear her remembrance o£ you is^ and begs you to believe in her sincere affection. I shall say nothing of my own love, for I want you to be sure of it without having me chatter of it continually/' *' To Mdlle. Rose Fourgeron du Fayot."^ " January 28th. *' You have heard the frightful news, my dear Rose, and your heart, like my own, has trembled with indignation. Behold our poor France delivered over to the wretches who have already made us suffer so much. God only knows where it will stop. I know what your sentiments are, so I can tell you frankly what I think of it all. I shudder with horror; the greatest evils that one can imagine lurk in a future ushered in by such events as this. It is very certain that nothing more unfortunate could have happened to us. I am almost reduced to envying those of our relatives who have left their native soil, so entirely do I despair of seeing the peace which I hoped for until lately. These men who were to give us liberty have murdered it ; they are but assassins. Let us grieve for the fate of poor France. * Original in the possession of M. Cheron de Villiers. LE GRAND MANOIB. 67 ^' I know you are very unhappy, and I do not wish to start your tears afresh by the recital of our troubles. All my friends are being persecuted ; my aunt has been made the victim of all manner of petty annoyances, since it has been known that she gave an asylum to Delphin when he was fleeing to England. I would do as he has done if I could, but God no doubt keeps us here for some other destiny, " The captain passed through here on his return to Evreux ; he is a pleasant man and seems greatly attached to you, and I like him for the affection he bears you. I do not know where he is now. If you see him again soon, remind him that he promised me a letter of introduction from your relative M. de Veygoux for my brother. I hope to be able to return this favour at some time. ^* We are in the power of villains here, and see every variety of them ; they leave no one alone. It would make one hate this Republic if one did not remember that ' les forfaits humains n^atteignent pas les cieux.^ '^In short, after the fearful blow which has just horrified the world, sympathise with me, my dear Rose, as I sympathise with you. Not a sensitive or 68 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. generous heart beats that does not shed tears of blood. '' I am to say all manner of things for everyone. You are beloved as ever. ^' Marie de Corday." 59 CHAPTER lY THE GIRONDE AND THE MOUNTAIN. " The time was ominous : social dissolution near and certain ; social renovation still a problem, difficult and distant, even though sure." The French Revolution. — Thomas Carltle. From the time when the first utterances of the eighteenth-century philosophers set men's minds a-working, the upper middle class — haute bourgeoisie as they are now called — were eager students and theo- rizers of reform, both social and political. From their ranks it was that Rousseau_, Condorcet, Voltaire, Diderot, and Raynal had sprung; those thinkers whose words had first stirred the instincts of active regenerative patriotism in their countrymen's hearts. The seed they sowed bore fruit as rapidly as Jonah^s 60 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. gourd. In every town and village arose men who belonged to the new and virile aristocracy of brains ; men whose culture and refinement was supplemented by a laudable ambition — the desire to benefit their country and themselves, by an energetic clearing away of the old worn-out machinery of government. It was of men of this type that the National Assembly was composed ; that wonderful embodiment of a nation^s majesty which met and conquered the lesser majesty of royalty upon its own ground. One of the few things pertaining to the French Revolution which are good to think of is the resolute manner in which this Assembly shouldered its responsi- bilities, and endeavoured to carry out its great designs with consistency and dignity. And these qualities of consistency and dignity were at no time more con- spicuous and imposing than during the trying period immediately after the flight and recapture of the royal, family. The King's action had placed the power absolutely in the hands of the National Assembly, and the attitude of acceptance in which that body received the trust savoured neither of usurpation nor of arrogance. Had a capable statesman arisen then^ and fearlessly seized the leadership, much of the anguish and terror THE GIEONDE AND THE MOUNTAIN. 61 that followed might have been averted; France might have been spared the dark blot o£ regicide, and have afforded to observant Europe an example of the mercy as well as the justice of an aroused people. But no such leader was destined to arise then as a saviour of his country ; it was at a later date that the soldier and^ conqueror came, and France found her master; a master more despotic, more absolute, more uncaring than the poor discrowned king whom she had slain in his weakness — the Nemesis of the Revolution and iron-handed avenger of the fallen monarchy of France. "When Louis, cowed and disheartened by his recap- ture and the hopelessness of his position, at last accepted the new Constitution, which was virtually his abdication, the raison d'etre of the National Assembly which had successfully accomplished its mission was withdrawn, and it was dissolved. Never before or since has any body of the representatives of a people been entrusted with higher or nobler duties, or discharged them with more fidelity. It undertook the Herculean task of cleansing the France of the eighteenth century, and it accomplished it ; by its efforts she was purified of the accumulated ills and foulness of centuries, and left clean and pure, 62 CHARLOTTE COED AY. but too weak to retain unaided her new-found blessings. The nation made a great and fatal mistake in allow- ing the dissolution of the National Assembly and in not sanctioning the re-election of its members. The child Liberty was brought safely into the world, and then left uncared for in its infant helplessness ; left to become the prey alternately of party fanaticism, mobocracy, cruelty, bloodshed, and fury, and to be at last sacrificed upon the altar of a little Corsican officer^s personal ambition. But '' the gods are im- mortal," and it could not die. Into the new Assembly came young blood and young talent ; men hitherto obscure, eager for chances of personal advancement; men unskilled and inex- perienced in the art of government, but hotly enthusiastic and full of new ideas. Their predecessors of the Constituent or National Assembly had secured benefits for the nation, and honour for themselves, by their innovations and subversions ; could any better course be pursued? The successors of the National Assembly desired an equal and active share in the work and in the glory of regeneration. *^Et nous aussi, nous voulons faire une revolution,^' exclaimed one of their number, tersely expressing the general feeling. THE GIBONDE AND THE MOUNTAIN. 63 And so the spirit of change kept the country in continual uncertainty and suspense; nothing was assured, nothing was solid, nothing sacred, and day by day the apprehension and insecurity increased. Almost in the first days of its existence the new Assembly showed signs of internal division, and very soon three distinct parties declared themselves. The Feuillantsj who numbered in their ranks most of the department magistrates, the National Guard, and the Army, were under the leadership of Lameth, Damas, Barnave, Duport, and Vaublanc. They were Con- servative in their views, and desired a continuance of the Constitutional Monarchy as provided for by the National Assembly ; regarded the Revolution as being closed, and disapproved of all further innovations and experiments. The Jacobins under Robespierre, Danton, Des- moulins, and Fabre d^Eglautine were not as yet of much importance. Indeed, they constituted a separate party ra,t;her on account of their membership in the Jacobin and Cordelier Clubs than because of their prominence in the Assembly, where they worked in tolerable harmony with the third and most powerful party — that of the Gironde. This was the real revolu- tionary party, and the one which had the support and 64 CHARLOTTE CORDAY. affection of the people ; no half-and-half Government would satisfy their high ideals — the Monarchy was an incubus which must be shaken off. The Constitution in reforming the old system had robbed it of all its dignity and power; and what use had the emanci- pated, nation for this king by courtesy, this empty name, this smiling mask of royalty which scarcely hid the severe but noble features of Liberty ? Away with all shams and pretences, let France be free in name as well as in deed. ; let her Government be Republican, be pure^ aud be simple ; let liberty and moderation walk hand in hand, assuring freedom and security to every honest law-abiding citizen. Such were the ideas of the Girondists, modelled on the austere principles of the ancient Republics, and founded on a sincere patriotism and love of order. Composed almost entirely of men from the great middle classes, which are the true bulwarks of every nation, this party numbered in its ranks more real men of genius than either the FeuiUa??ts or the Jacobins. The leaders were men of culture and refinement, who had left their professions of brain and pen to serve their country in her hour of need; lawyers, journalists, poets, and gentlemen by instinct and education . Brissot, who was their acknowled ged official THE GIRONDE AND THE MOUNTAIN. 65 chief, was a writer of some note who had already shown his devotion to the abstract principle of per- sonal and national liberty by embracing the cause of the negroes of San Domingo, and proclaiming himself their friend and champion in an eloquent brochure, as well as in the Convention. He was a man of great industry, a persevering unflagging worker ; abso- lutely devoted to his cause and never inclined to shirk its responsibilities. In Le Patriate Franqais he uttered the sentiments and explained the plans of his party with honesty and clearness, and his fame would have been assured even if he had been known only as the editor of this paper. Vergniaud, the orator of the party, was a genius and a stoic, and even among the brilliant men who were his colleagues shone easily as the brightest light of the Gironde. His magic speech seemed to have caught the power of Orpheus' music, and drew forth the applause even of his enemies, while to his friends it was a perpetual inspiration and spur to renewed effort. But with all his genius — or perhaps because of it — Vergniaud was the most insouciant and unman- ageable of them all. Dreamy and uncertain, he loved his party, and could die for it, but he would not work for it. Only now and then would he shake off" the 66 CHARLOTTE COED AY. bonds of his natural indolence and pour forth the torrents of poetic eloquence which never failed to electrify his audience, compelling the admiration of all, and raising those who thought with him to the highest pitch of excitement. Petion, the popular and beloved ex-mayor of Paris, was less polished than his fellow-deputies ; he was stern and severe, but honestly patriotic and true to his political opinions, and capable of equal heroism in the day of adversity. Roland, the ^' truly good man,^^ the quiet-mannered deliberate philosopher, was an incorruptible statesman whose brief public career was upright and free from self-seeking. His wife, the " Great Citoyenne,^^ the ^' Egeria of the Gironde,'' was a noble woman cast in a mould of heroic grandeur. It was in her salon that the party grew into existence, and her intrepid patriotism and personal charm made her a sort of queen among the men who gathered encouragement and inspiration from her lips. Gifted with an almost masculine intellect, and a more than masculine in- difference to danger ; clear-sighted, honourable and energetic, this woman stands foremost among the heroines of the world, and her love for Buzot — that one touch of womanly weakness in a nature THE GIBONDE AND THE MOUNTAIN. 67 otherwise so strong — but makes her character more perfect. And this Buzot was a handsome and generous young soul_, well worthy of affection ; his patriotism was as genuine as his devotion to Madame Roland^ a devotion fraught with trouble for them both, but so great that it could sweeten even imprisonment and death. Barbaroux also belonged to this party of brains and honourable endeavour. He was a young man whose cheerful and resolute courage endeared him to his associates, and whose magnificent presence and beautiful classic face earned for him the soubriquet of the '^ Antinous of France.^^ Isnard, a buoyant and excitable Proven9alj with the easy eloquence and enthusiasm that belong to the children of the south, Louvet, whose strong dogmatic nature and rigid adherence to his opinions made him a foe to be feared and respected, was gifted with an iron endurance and dauntless spirit^ but was often obstinate and a victim of blind prejudice. Foufrede, the Benjamin of the party, loyal to his friends at the cost of his young life; Ducos^ a merry companion flinging his jests into the face of Death 5 * 6S CHARLOTTE CORD AY. itself; brave Duperret, honest and uncompromising; Grangeneuve, Salles, Gaudet_, Meilhan, Gensonne . . . these were the men of the Gironde ; the very apostles of liberty, who had first preached the Republic pure and bloodless, and who had worked with all their splendid young energies to overthrow the Throne. All under forty years of age, they were on fire with zeal and patriotism ; eager to sacrifice love and life, if need be, in the cause of true liberty ; strong to endure the perils and hardships o£ outlawry, and at the last accepting their doom with a dignity and fortitude worthy of their high pretensions. An heroic group of which France may well be proud ! The first breach between the Girondists and the Jacobins occurred when the question of war with the European Powers was broached; Brissot advocated war, and the Jacobins, gradually falling into line under Robespierre, opposed it. The discussions raged for three weeks with ever-increasing heat, and from that time forward the bitterness and rancour between the two parties waxed fiercer at every session. Nor did the temporary triumph of the Girondists, and the final declaration of war, tend to soothe the irritated feelings of the Jacobins, who at once began to plan the overthrow of the Gironde. THE GIBONDE AND THE MOUNTAIN. 69 Robespierre^ Dantou^ Desmoulins, Marat, Fabre d'Eglantine, Hebert, and their associates, gradually obtained control of the mind of Paris, and they had from the beginning the great advantage of being in the midst of their supporters in the insurgent populace, while the adherents of the Girondists were principally in the provinces. Every day increased the insubordination which was rampant everywhere ; in the army, in the cities, in the National Guard itself. The fatal methods of cor- ruption by which the Republicans had sought to render the army useless to the Royalists had been only too successful ; mutiny was in the ranks, and impatience of authority and discipline among the officers. In Paris riot followed riot, until the popular fury broke all bounds and branded across the page of history the lurid date of August 10th. Close upon the massacre of the Swiss Guard and the sacking of the Tuileries, followed the other atrocities of that awful time; the closed barriers on the 28th, the domiciliary visits, the general apprehension and anxiety, and the final celebration of the triumph of the Municipality by the prison butcheries of September. The Assembly was aghast; the power -vV-'^.^ 70 CHABLOTTE CORD AY. it had wrested from the King had already slipped through its fingers into the irresponsible grasp of the Commune^ and it could do nothing to check its abuse. Threats^ decrees^ prayers and speeches fell on unheeding earSj and their feeble efforts at restraint and prevention were as ropes of sand to bind a madman. At the time when the King was brought to trial, the Girondists stood midway between the Constitu- tional party, which had grown to be regarded as the Royalist interest, and the ultra-E/cpublicans, or Jacobins. Their position was a difficult and dan- gerous one : too much leniency would brand them as Royalists, and by infallibly alienating what remained to them of popular favour, wreck their party ; on the other hand their love of justice and law, their prin- ciples of humanitarianism and moderation, their repugnance to all unnecessary bloodshed, made them strongly averse to the King^s execution. They recog- nised, moreover, the inadvis ability of adding to the irritation of the foreign Powers by laving violent hands upon Louis. His death would be an insult and gage of defiance to every crowned head, and France was then in no condition to throw down the glove to united Europe. Dethroned and imprisoned, the King was no longer a power to be feared, was no THE GIBONBE AND THE MOUNTAIN. 71 longer a king, in fact ; for by the Constitution \\ hich bore his signature he was a simple citizen, amenable to the same laws as the people. '' After the express or legal abdication of the King, he will be in the class of citizens ; he can be accused and tried like them.'^ Kere the very virtues of the Girondists stood in their way ; their uprightness and scrupulous honesty forbade them either to deny the powers of the Con- stitution which they had sworn to defend, or to evade its laws by crooked means. Nevertheless, the blame of the King^s sentence must always rest upon them, because they were in the majority in the Convention, and by unanimity of action could have overborne the Jacobins. But apparently insignificant dissensions among themselves divided the votes, and gave the ultra- Republicans the advantage. Yet after the sentence was passed the Girondists tried to save the life of Louis ; they felt none of the personal fury against him that characterised the Parisians, and his political death was sufficient for them. Brissot demanded that the sentence be re- ferred directly to the people, trusting to the better instincts with which his party was always ready to credit it; but his motion was defeated. They had 72 CHAELOTTE COED AY. delayed too long ; no late measures of justice or appeals to the people^s nobler feelings could avail now to save the King, and their tardy efforts only furnished their enemies with fresh cause of com- plaint. The weakness of the Girondist party on this occasion was a political bevue, and an important factor in its downfall; it had dallied and temporised too long, trusted to eloquence when action was required, greatly disappointing its own constituents without in the least appeasing its enemies. The attacks of the Jacobins were growing more and more virulent; Camille Desmoulins issued injurious placards and pamphlets, while Marat turned the vitriol malice of L'Ami du Peuple against his former colleagues, and Danton and Robespierre thundered at them in the Assembly. The effect of all this enmity soon became visible in the rapidity with which the Girondists lost ground in the favour of the Parisian populace; ground which was at once seized by their opponents. The Municipality supported and encouraged the Jacobins in their inflammatory speeches, and faith- fully followed their advice in all matters of bloodshed and pillage. THE GIBONDE AND TEE MOVNTAIN. 73 In the midst of it all the Legislative Assembly drew to a closej and the National Convention arose in its place. It inaugurated its rule by the proclamation of the Republic One and Indivisible^ and the alteration of the Calendar. But the members had brought all the hatreds and strifes of the dissolved Assembly into the new Convention^ and the ever-increasing hostility between the Girondists and the Jacobins divided the Convention into two distinct and utterly antagonistic parties. When the Convention met after the September massacres the Girondists sat on the right side of the hall Tvhile the Jacobins occupied the higher benches on the left, and it was from this elevated position that their party derived the name of ^*^The Mountain," by which it was thenceforth known. This party had now acquired a firm hold upon the populace of Paris ; its members were for the most part desperate men, who depended only on their cunning and audacity. Fanaticism was a necessary part of their role, for it was only by bewildering the nation with noisy protestations and daring acts of bloodshed that they could hide their own private designs of self- advancement. Infinitely inferior to their opponents, the Girondists, in every moral quality^ they also lacked their talent f\ 74 CHARLOTTE COED AY. and parliamentary eloqueucej but they far surpassed them in astuteness and cunning. By their action they seemed to show that they felt intuitively the prophetic truth which La Source put into words — ", . , the people have lost their reason; you will die as soon as they recover it.'^ It was their mission to foster the unreason of the mob, for in its recklessness and fanaticism lay their only safety^ and their leaders were well chosen for their inflammatory ability. Denunciation, slander, hatred, unreasoning excitement, these were their tried and trusty weapons. Robespierre had by the exercise of cautious selfish- ness, and his usual dogmatic temerity of opinion, reached a position which would have been that of a leader had Danton and Marat allowed him to occupy it alone. He did not fear his opponents, but he dreaded the jealousy and suspicion of his colleagues. Cold, calculating, and ambitious, he cultivated cruelty as a necessary qualification for the position he desired to attain. His vanity and the self-elevation for which he strove were veiled by an ostentatiously correct and modest private life, and nothing was allowed to inter- fere with the furtherance of his designs. These he pursued with an inflexibility and perseverance that THE GIBONDE AND THE MOUNTAIN. 75 almost resembled courage; but when he fell, victim of his own selfishness and craft, his inherent cowardice was revealed. Weakness is inseparable from a vain nature, and his abject terror of death forms a pitiful contrast to the calm and steadfast courage of so many of his victims. Danton was of a tougher fibre ; a bold, dariug, unscrupulous man. Fearing and disdaining no means which he considered likely to further an end, he would instigate a massacre to advance the interests of his party ; but as soon as the upward step was taken he was the first to desire a return to humanity. He was not a mere blood-thirsty tyrant, like Hebert_, Collet d'Herbois, Chabot, and so many of the lesser lights of the Jacobin party, but an unprin- cipled wielder of whatever weapon would serve his turn. A man to be feared, but not one to be despised, and could the Girondists have kept him in their ranks he might have swayed their destinies to happier issues. Mdme. E-oland could have conciliated him had she been less a woman, but her personal antipathy to him was unconquerable. '^^ Never," she says, *^^have I seen a face so repulsive and atrocious, so characteristic of brutal passions. '^ Herself a wOQian of pure life, the notorious uncleanness of the man repelled her, 7Q CHARLOTTE CORD AY. and in spite of the politic efforts of her friends, she could never bring herself to associate with him. Marat was one of the most noisy and incendiary of the members of the Mountain. Vain, fond of the sound of his own voice, restless, and an incurable agitator and denunciator, he furthered the reign of misrule and bloodshed by every means in his power. He was less conspicuous as a deputy than as a journalist and ranter at the clubs, but his influence was nevertheless as powerful as it was malignant. Camille Desmoulins was the jester of the party. With cynical levity and cutting ridicule he rebuffed every instinct of gentleness and humanity in the people, systematically blunting their sympathies with ribaldry and derision. That he had done his work only too well, he proved in those later days when he tried to touch their hardened hearts and arouse their pity for himself and the sweet young wife whom he idolised. Every effort brought him only cruel scorn and brutal laughter — he could not reach the waters of com- passion for the foam of his own grim jesting. After the death of the King, matters between the two hostile parties grew rapidly worse. The Moun- tain appeared to be fast marching towards a dictator- ship ; already its leaders had formed a triumvirate THE GIRONBE AND THE MOUNTAIN. 77 which held the power of government^ and seemed bent oa abolishing what remained of order and rule. The Girondists tried to stem the tide, but only suc- ceeded in establishing their enemies yet more firmly in the popular favour. Bitter was the disillusion of the humanitarian party, forced to contemplate wrongs which it could neither prevent nor redress, and obliged to witness the perversion of its high aims and principles. " They believe in consolidating the Republic by terror," wrote Vergniaud; ''^ I was fain to see it con- solidated by love ! " When the infamous Revolutionary Tribunal was established, the Girondists made a last vain stand for liberty and the honour of the land ; but they knew that their cause was lost even then, and that it was only a question of time when they would themselves come under its dread jurisdiction. Brissot, fearless to the last, exclaimed : " Let them but leave me time to clear my memory from dishonour, by voting against this tyranny of the Convention ! " The most fatal political error of the Girondist party was one which is nevertheless their greatest honour as a body of just and merciful men — the arraignment of Marat and Robespierre for their complicity in the prison massacres. The unconstitutional attempt to 78 CHARLOTTE COED AY. briug these men to justice established a precedent of the violability of a member of the Convention, which subsequently proved disastrous to the Girondists themselves. Whatever the crimes of which their opponents were guilty _, they were yet legally appointed deputies^ and as such should have been inviolate; and the failure to bring them to justice closed the long struggle between the parties, and gave the final victory to the Mountain. Yet though the motion was ill-advised, we should be loth to miss it from the pages of history; there are but too few instances of cool determination and fearless upholding of right, for us to cavil at this bright instance. The trial of Marat and his triumphant acquittal was the direct cause ol the proscription of the twenty-nine deputies, and the final downfall of the purest and most patriotic party that French history has yet shown us. Many were the accusations brought against the Gironde; Eoyalist sympathies, treachery, fraudulent use of public offices and moneys, conspiracy, federalism, &c. &c. They called it by many names ; in reality, it was the incorruptible adherence to principle and fear- less unmasking of wrong that the Mountain could not forgive. 79 CHAPTER Y. THE people's FEIEND. " He that goeth about to persuade a multitude that they are not so well governed as they ought to be shall never want attentive and favourable hearers." Ecelesiastical Polity. — Hooker. Jean Paul Marat was bom in Boudray, Switzerland, on the 24th May 1743. His father_, who was a doctor, seems to have given him an unusually good education. When he was sixteen he left home to make his own way in the world, and after ten years of wandering about Europe, apparently without any definite aim or occupation, he finally settled in Edin- burgh. In 1772 he held a professorship of French literature in the university of St, Andrew's, and he 80 CHABLOTTE CORD AY. appears to have carried on the study of mediciue at the same time_, for soon afterwards the degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon him, and he left Edinburgh for London, where he immediately commenced practice. Success seems to have attended him, especially in the treatment of diseases of the eyes^ to which subject he gave special attention and study. A certain nervous restless energy that characterised him impelled him to work in other fields; and during the ten years of his career as a doctor in London, we find him supplementing his medical studies with experiments in chemistry and electricity, and with keen observation of the methods of the government under which he lived. It was during this period that he wrote most of the books which were published in English and afterwards trans- lated into French. A Philosophical Essay on Man, or the Laws and Mutual Action of the Body on the Soul J 3 vols._, London 1773, is the best known of his non-political works, but contains little that was new^ and shows no great originality or depth of thought. It was followed in 1774 by a pamphlet called The Chains of Slavery, a virulent attack on the royal pre- rogative, which made a slight stir in the political world of England. THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND. 81 In 1779 he removed to Paris to assume tlie position of physician to the body-guard of the Comte d'Artois, an occupation which left him ample leisure for study and the experiments of which he was so fond. The results of these experiments he described in numerous pamphlets, among which was Decouvertes sur le Feu, VElectricite et la Lumiere ; in this he attacked all the received tenets of science in a characteristically rough manner J which brought down the wrath of the Academy upon the inconoclastic writer. He also lectured upon physics and optics, and among his pupils was a strikingly handsome lad — Barbaroux by name — who in those later days of strife and tumult became a member of the Convention, an ardent Girondist, and one of Marat's most deter- mined and formidable opponents. In 1783 the treatise on Electricity and Magnetism as Applied to Medicine received the honourable mention of the Academy of Rouen, tempered with strong disapproval of the writer's personalities. Until 1788 Marat continued his studies and researches, spending hours in his laboratory with Franklin, and scheming to revolutionise the scientific world with the result of his experiments. But the herald thunder-peals of the gathering 6 82 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. storm roused him from his ambitious dreams^ swept his favourite pursuits from his mind, and turned the full tide of his eager activity into a new channel. The momentous questions of the day filled his thoughts, politics absorbed him, and leaving the service of the Comte d'Artois, he at once joined several of the most pronounced clubs and plunged headlong into his new career. In 1789 the Offrande a la Patrie appeared^ heading the long list of incendiary writings that so fatally fascinated and influenced the popular mind. Like all that ever came from Marat^s pen, it is vehement and dogmatic, teeming with vindictive denunciations, in this instance of the Ministers of Finance, and absolutely void of literary diction or force. Our next glimpse of the rabid little man is at the storming of the Bastille, where he appeared in the mob, encouraging and inciting all within reach of his strident voice, but confining his efforts strictly to words and carefully avoiding the posts of bodily danger, a course which he pursued with praiseworthy consistency on all occasions. At the meeting of the Comite des Carraes on the Sunday following the fall of the Bastille, Marat endeavoured to secure the establishment of a paper. THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND. 83 which he was to edit. But finding that the Co mite determined to have nothing to do with his plan^ he was obliged to let the matter drop for a time. A few days afterwards, however, he issued another of his pamphlets with a high-sounding title, setting forth the rights of man and citizen, and detailing a plan of constitution, '* Just, wise, and free." Neither the snubs of the Comite nor the dis- approval of the authorities could silence this noisy agitator, and on the 8th of September 1789 the first number of the Publiciste Parisien appeared. It announced itself as a '' free and impartial political journal, published by a society of patriots, and edited by M. Marat. ^' It was immediately seized by the Commune, and vigorous efforts were made to suppress it ; twice within a month Marat was arrested, but evaded the ostensible objections of the authorities by changing the name of the publication, striking out the words '' by a society of patriots,'^ and assuming the sole responsibility of its utterances. From the ashes of the Publiciste arose the famous, or rather infamous, UAmi du Peuple, which began its career by inflaming the populace with false views of the causes of the prevailing scarcity of bread. It assured the people that the Government had deliberately 6 * 84 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. planned the famine in order to starve them into submission, and was purposely withholding supplies until that end was accomplished. A little adroit flattery, unlimited blustering_, and plenty of vehement denunciation were all that was needed to arouse the famine-pinched city. Paris was ripe for revolt_, and Marat found it an easy matter to turn the madness of hunger that had seized upon the starving multitudes into the channels that led most directly to his own ends. VAmi had an immediate success, and in spite of the vigilance of the autho- rities it continued to appear, every number adding fuel to the fire of rebellion which was already kindled. The result was soon apparent. The " bread insur- rection '^ of October 6th, 1789, when the populace, led by the women of Paris, surged like an angry sea around Versailles, showed Marat where his forte lay, and gave him his first firm hold on the confidence of the mob. But Lafayette's patrols were upon his track, and he was forced to fly from house to house, issuing his paper under the greatest difficulties, often to have the copies seized before the ink was dry upon the sheets. THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND. 85 His denunciation of Neckar so exasperated the authorities that Paris became no longer safe for him, and he fled to Versailles, where a friend harboured him until the danger was past. In those stormy days the Courts were too full of graver offenders to waste much time on a scurrilous journalist, and in a few days Marat was able to return to Paris, although he was still obliged to remain in concealment and suspend the publication of UAmi for a while. These days of enforced silence must have been spent in preparing fresh bitterness of speech, for when he set up his press in the Rue de L''Ancienne Comedie and re-issued V Ami on November 5th, it was more virulent and inflammatory than ever. In the following July, Lafayette was ordered by the Court of the Chatelet to arrest Marat, and was authorised to use what means he deemed fit towards that end ; but the slippery little Swiss eluded the General's vigilance by frequent changes of asylum, and final escape from the country. He took refuge in London, from whence he issued his Appel a la Nat ion J in which he represents himself as ^* the martyr of my zeal for the good of the country,^' and in a long tirade denounces the Assembly as being com- 86 CHAULOTTE COBBAY. posed of " arrogant and vain men who deck them- selves with the spoils of the people, hypocrites who mislead, lawyers who sell justice, intriguers who seek to enslave, and rascals who strive to defame the people, scoundrels who are trying to cast them back into destruction/' &c. &c. &c. Neckar^ the Municipality, the Court of the Chatelet, and Lafayette, all come in for a generous share of abuse and vilification, while the interesting document closes with a bombastic tribute to his own pure and disinterested patriotism. Other brochures followed close upon the heels of the Appel a la Nation, among them a second and more violent denunciation of Neckar. In May 1790 Marat returned to France, and imme- diately resumed the publication of V Ami, He kept his arrival and place of concealment a strict secret, and the re-appearance of his paper caused a sensa- tion in Paris. Almost the first number contained an attack upon the Court of the Chatelet for its prosecution of the '"^patriots" of the preceding 5th and 6th of October. '' The people,^' he wrote, '' had the right not only to execute by martial law a few of the conspirators, but to immolate them all; they had the right to take the most terrible vengeance THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND 87 upon the ministers of the prince, upon his per- fidious advisers, his salaried captains ; the right of making the entire corps of royal satellites who are plotting to ruin us, and the innumerable traitors to the country, run the gauntlet of the sword/' It was about this time that the liaison of Marat and Simonne Evrard began. She was a young woman of twenty-six, possessed of a small fortune in her own right, which proved most useful to Marat in the re-establishment of his presses in her house in the E-ue des Cordeliers, which henceforth became his home. Fabre d'Eglantine tells us " they were married one fine morning by the sun.'"' At that time purity of life was at a discount, and such an arrangement was by no means considered blamable or shameful ; but in view of the facts, the severity of Marat^s sanctimonious remarks upon the relation of the sexes rings false. Poor Simonne, who devoted herself and her belong- ings to the service of her ugly hero, caring faithfully for his physical health, and shielding him as far as she could from all annoyance and interruption, deserved something better than the position of 88 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. mistress and household drudge to the " Friend o£ the People." Her modest fortune was swallowed up by the ex- penses of printing VAmi, and the death of Marat left her absolutely destitute. But, woman-like, she remained faithful to the man who had wronged her, and eloquently defended his memory even at the very bar of the Convention. Her unselfish devotion won her the respect of the public, and in her later days she was always addressed as the *^ Widow Marat.^' After Marat's death she and his sister Albertine lived together in loneliness and obscurity, barely keeping hunger at bay by making watch-springs, until Simonne^s death in the early part of 1824. Albertine Marat died in 1841, at the age of eighty- three, alone, and in the direst poverty, and was buried in the fosse commune — the dreary Parisian potters' field. When the decree of June 10th (1790), which placed the Civil List at 25,000 fr. appeared, Marat^s outcry brought the wrath of the Municipality once more upon him, and for a time it seemed as if his only safety lay in flight. But the storm blew over without his being arrested, though he was obliged to have recourse to his old tactics of frequent change of THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND. &9 refuge. While he was hiding in the cellar of the Cordeliers Club, Lafayette's patrols made a raid on his printing-office in Simonne's house^ broke the presses^ and destroyed what numbers of TJAmi they could find. These police visits continued until December, yet Marat constantly eluded capture, and it is more than probable that he had friends and adherents among the patrols, who found means of warning him of impending danger. Unless there was corrup- tion and unfaithfulness in Lafayette's ranks, it is difficult to understand how a trained and experienced soldier could have been baffled so long and so success- fully by this wasp of a man, whose incessant stings must moreover have given the General ample per- sonal incentive to effect the capture ordered by the Municipality. In December (1791) the increased vigilance and determination of Lafayette compelled Marat to cross the Channel and take refuge in London again; and there he remained until the following April, when the Cordeliers invited him to return and resume the publication of L'Ami under their protection. On the 12th of that month the paper reappeared, more ex- treme and denunciatory than before. The safety of its editor, who gained ground with the populace, and 90 CHAULOTTE COED AY. who had nothing to fear now that Lafayette had fallen and was beyond the frontier, seemed to put a keener edge to his denunciations. A great deal of blind abuse has been lavished on Marat, and to most people the mere mention of his name is sufficient to call up the image of a fantastic lialf-human monster, whose unnatural thirst for blood was his most prominent characteristic. Historians seem to have agreed to make him appear a grotesque mixture of animal fury and ignorance, to whose account is laid almost all the blackness and wicked- ness, and cruelty of the great Revolution. Michelet, Louis Blanc, Lamartine, Mignet, Thiers, Carlyle — all are at pains to find epithets sufficiently opprobrious to describe him ; he is denied all talent, any possible good aims, any redeeming quality, even that of sincerity. We can but admit that he was repulsive and vindictive, and that his enormous influence over the people was systematically used to excite their worst passions, but his consistency and rigid ^adherence to his principles — extreme and sanguinary as they were — deserve a certain meed of reluctant respect. Talented he undoubtedly was, a man of varied knowledge and attainments ; an accomplished linguist. THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND. 91 a skilful physician, and an intelligent dabbler in natural science. But above all he possessed — partly by intuition, partly by close observation — an intimate knowledge of human nature; and none knew better than he what springs in the public mind he must press in order to produce the effects he desired. He was a turbulent, bold, sagacious man, who with an inordinate love of rule yet cared nothing for its mere insignia ; it was the fact itself he coveted, the iron grasp on the people's action, the grim power of bending or breaking men to his will. Obstinate, forceful, virulent, his restless activity and energy made him pursue every aim with a dogged perseve- rance that was well-nigh resistless. It is only neces- sary to read a dozen numbers of UAmi du Peuple to see this insistence exemplified. Over and over again he repeats an idea, often in the same words, until it is beaten and hammered into the minds of the people ; indeed, one might almost suppose him to have taken for his motto the old saw which declares that if a thing is only affirmed often enough, it will eventually be believed. Marat^s vanity led him to greatly over-estimate his own mental powers, and his bombastic assumption 92 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. imposed upon the class he ruled; the ignorant are ever ready to credit their superiors with more know- ledge than they possess — to take them to a great extent at their own valuation. His combativeness and vindictiveness were natural to him, qualities inborn^ and not by any means the outcome of a righteous indignation at the oppression of the people, as some of his later biographers would have us believe. He had the snappy^ querulous temper of the terrier, quick to take offence and eagerly aggressive; but what made him so dangerous a foe was the bull- dog tenacity of grip, a quality which is happily rare in persons of the terrier type. Long before Marat occupied himself with political questions he exhibited this spiteful spirit ; his scientific writings are full of personal attacks upon his col- leagues, and it is observable in everything he ever wrote. When the Rouen Academy ** crowned " his brochure on Electricity and Magnetism as applied to Medicine, the faculty rebuked the author in strong terras for his ^'rude treatment of estimable writers.^^ Marat was a born agitator, and his pugnacity and determination made him a formidable one; he bit like vitriol into the face of France, defaced and THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND. 93 wounded her, leaving scars that even now are not wholly obliterated. Originality of thought or expression he had absolutely none, and his books show merely an aptitude for adapting and vamping up other men's views. He exhibits no deep research or luminous scholarship, only an extensive superficial knowledge, and a sort of encyclopedic memory. Rousseau's Contrat Social seems to have furnished him with his political ideas, and his brochures are, one and all, variations and exaggerations of this primary theme. What Mercier says of the Jacobins collectively may very well apply to Marat : ^' They stole the pages of our philosophical writings ; but it was after greatly perverting them, and making a criminal instead of a civil application of .them that the Revolution — pure and unblemished in its origin — became, by reason of these gross plagiarisms, a fury girdled by serpents and armed with torches and daggers — the terror of neigh- bouring countries, and for a long time to come the horror of posterity." In his Legislation Criminelle Marat uses the argu- ments which have since gained such a wearisome familiarity in the mouths of modern Socialists. '^Only bound to society by its disadvantages, are they obliged 94 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. to respect its laws ? Undoubtedly not. If society abandons tliem they re-enter the normal state, and when they recover by force the rights which they could not alienate except to secure greater advantages all authority which opposes them is tyrannical^ and the judge who condemns them to death is only a cowardly assassin/^ A slight alteration of language and style, and could we not fancy it is Lassalle, Bax, or Herr Most who is holding forth ? There have been one or two attempts within the last ten years to present Marat to us in the guise of a martyr, a hero misunderstood,, a white-souled patriot hitherto unappreciated. But in spite of the poetic assertions of these enthusiastic biographers of his — each of whom by the way is an avowed Socialist — the personal record of the man as found in his writings and speeches must inevitably con- demn him. That he was more closely and intimately concerned in the September massacres than either Danton or Robespierre, has been proven beyond a doubt, and the horrible proclamation calliog upon the provincial towns to follow the example of the Capital, emanated from the brain of Marat, and was written, aye and even printed, by his hand. THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND. 95 A few extracts taken at random will suffice to show the character of his infamous paper, and to disperse the rosy mist of humane benevolence and love of his kind, in which MM. Bougeart, Brunet_, and Bax have tried to envelope him. The italics in the following extracts are reproduced from the originals. Cease wasting jour time in thinking of means of defence, there remains for you onh' the one which I have so often recommended, a general insurrection, and executions by the populace. Begin by making sure of the king, the dauphin, and the royal family ; place them under a strong guard, and let their heads answer for whatever happens. Next hew down without hesitation the head of the general, those of the ministers and ex-ministers who are against the Revolution, those of the anti-revolutionary mayor, and the municipal officers. Make the entire etat viajeur of Paris, all the blacks, and the ministers of the National Assembly, and every known supporter of despotism, run the gauntlet of the sword. I repeat, that only this means of saving the country remains to you. Six months ago five or six hundred heads W' uld have sufficed to raise you from destruction. Now that you have stupidly allowed your implacable enemies to form plots, and unite, perhaps five or six thousand must be struck down ; but if it were necessary to strike down 20,000 there is no possibility of hesita- tion for an instant. If you do not anticipate them they will murder you barbarously to insure their domination ; remember the massacre of Nancy. Let perfidious quietists exclaim at barbarism ! No, no ; it is not he who advises you to overthrow your enemies who is likely to murder you. — UAnii clu Peuple, Dec. 18, 1790. Dexunciation of Lafayette. To the important post of general of the Parisian army, none but proved patriots should have been raised, and they should have been allowed to remain there but a^ Qjjaflt^ ^t the longest. The inhabitants /: 96 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. of the capital have had the stupidity to appoint to this position a low servant of the court, and they have committed the folly of suffering him to remain there for eighteen months. And this cunning tartuffe, this adroit rascal, this mean rogue, has employed a thousand artifices to make himself master of the citizen guard and the national forces. False demonstrations of patriotism, honeyed speeches, cajoleries, curvettings, warlike parades and processions, military festivals, funereal pomp, brawling, debauchery, flattery, promises, bribery, — every resource of seduction, imposture and perfidy has been used in turn for this end. . . . No, I shall not rest until he has expiated his crimes by a shameful death. Every day I will point out his traps, his secret practices, his plots, his outrages ; every day I will reveal his lies, his impostures, his rascality, his tur- pitude ; every day I will drag him in the mire, until, horrified at the fate which awaits him, he seeks safety in flight, or in having me murdered by his cut-throats. — UAmi du Peuple, Dec. 19, 1790. In the present cruel position of the country, the only thing left for the nation to do to avert the dangers with which it is threatened by the enemies of the Revolution and foreign Powers, is to secure the king, the dauphin, and the royal family, and especially the queen and the ministers. To keep them under strict guard, and to warn them that their heads will be answerable for whatever may happen. This duty devolves upon the people of the capital. As to all the other towns in the kingdom, they must take like measures in regard to former nobles, prelates, lawyers, aristocrats, and in short, of all the supporters of the old regime. Then at the first invasion of French territory, or at the first cannon-shot, kill them all without exception, beginning with the inarechaussee, and the royal satellites. — UAmi du Peuple, Jan. 13, 1791. Blind citizens ! Will you always be foolish, will you never open your eyes ? Ten months ago the fall of five hundred heads would have assured your happiness ; now, in order to save yourselves, you will perhaps be obliged to strike down a hundred thousand, after having seen your brothers, wives, and children murdered. — U Ami du Peuple Jan. 30, 1791. THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND, 07 You should have assembled all citizens who are friends of their country, and arrested the ministers some fine night, and if the treacherous Assembly had refused to punish them by the hang- man, you should have killed them yourselves without hesitation ! —VAmi du Peuple, Feb. 12, 1791. If you are dissatisfied with your officers, dismiss them ; if violence is used towards you, then comrades, unite and thrust your bayonets into their bellies up to the very barrel. — DAmi du Peuple, Feb. 14, 1791. Oh, people ! what are you about ? Your leaders are betraying you Arm yourselves with daggers, murder the perfidious Lafayette, and the cowardly Bailly ; hurry then to the Senate and drag out from there the conscript fathers ; impale these representatives who are sold to the court, and let their bleeding limbs, hung upon the cornices of the hall, inspire with terror all those who would fill their places ! — L^Ami du Peuple, July 1791. I shall not believe in the Republic until the head of Louis XVI. is no longer on his shoulders. — Journal de la Repuhlique, Nov. 19, 1792. The machine will never work until the people bx*ing two hundred thousand scoundrels to justice. They must reduce their representa- tives and agents to one quarter of their present number. — Le Puhliciste Parisien, Dec. 1792. In all countries where the rights of the people are not empty titles, existing only in a pompous declaration, the looting of a few shops, upon whose doors the speculating proprietors would be hung, would soon put an end to these embezzlements. — Le Publiciste Parisien, Feb. 1793. Dreary reading this, and we close the book with a shudder, remembering how docile those old-time 7 98 CHAHLOTTE cobday. readers proved to the teachings of this master ot murder, and how his bitter denunciations brought noble heads and innocent beneath the axe as well as those deserving of their fate. 99 CHAPTER VI. PREPARATIONS. ' ' I will do a thing which shall go throughout all generations to the children of our nation." " But enquire not ye of mine act, for I will not declare it unto you, till the things be finished that I do." — The Book of Judith, chap, viii., V. 32. 34. Chaklotte Corday has frequently been called a Girondist, but in point of fact she was not in any sense a political woman, and belonged to no party or sect. Undoubtedly she sympathised with the Gironde, partly because their moderate principles most nearly harmonised with her own Utopian dreams, and partly because so many of its members were known and honoured in Caen. But although in the main sym- pathising with the ideas of the Girondists, she very 100 CHARLOTTE COBDAY. strongly disapproved of some of their proceedings in the Convention; notably the severe measures prompted by them against the emigrant Eoyalists, and the priests who had refused to take the civil oath. She always made her dislike and contempt for the Constitutional clergy very evident ; the pusillanimity and want of true faith in the religion they professed, which led them to desecrate their altars and turn their Sacra- ments into empty farce, was hateful to her. Charlotte was essentially womanly, and cowardice in any form was therefore abominable in her eyes ; and in spite of her personal emancipation from the trammels of her Church, she respected and admired those who, being able to retain their faith^ had the courage and stead- fastness to suffer rather than abase it. Not even to hear Fauchet, the Constitutional bishop of Calvados, whose eloquence and personal magnetism were so wonderful, would she waive her prejudices : acknow- ledged Girondist and able preacher as he was_, she had only words of contempt for him. Quietly and unobtrusively Charlotte Corday's life grew and ripened to fruition under the shadow of the Grand Manoir walls ; most of her time was passed with her old aunt, and it was but seldom that she appeared outside the doors of her home. This very PREPARATIONS. 101 stillness and uneventfulness of her own life served to heighten her interest in public affairs, and she de- voured every newspaper and pamphlet that she could obtain with an almost morbid eagerness. The publications that came in her way were mostly Girondist organs, Brissot de Warville^s Patriate Fran- gais, the Courier Universel, the Courier Franqais, and others less well known. Anxiously and with pain and indignation, Charlotte watched the prospect of a just and moderate government, such as she had dreamed of for so longj become less and less favourable. True, the tarnished lilies of the monarchy had been rooted up, but in their stead a hideous fungus of mis- rule and licence was growing with fearful rapidity. Each day recorded some new disaster, and the papers were full of warnings and exhortations, lamentations and discouragement — sad reading enough for this silent, impressionable girl, whose love for her tortured country was so great that each of its throes sent a sympathetic pang through her own heart. In the Convention the Girondists had been bravely fighting a losing battle, and straining every nerve to pre- serve the liberty they had m orked so hard to establish from the hands of the Jacobins, whose triumph meant anarchy for France. They had failed, and now some 102 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. of their more hopeful members who had fled to the provinces were trying to raise an army, which was to deliver Paris from the Jacobins and replace the Gironde at the nation's helm. Petion, Buzot, Bar- baroux, Valady, Gaudet, Meilhan, Salles, Louvet, and Lariviere had taken refuge in the department of Calvados, and were all working to arouse the some- what sluggish enthusiasm of the provincials. Burning speeches, eloquent highly-spiced pamphlets and manifestoes, newspaper articles, sermons, promises, threats, were issued every day by the deputies, who used every weapon in the armoury of coercion and persua- sion; and the text of all these speeches and writings was Marat. He had played a more prominent part than either Danton or Robespierre in the proscription of the Girondists, and by his insults and denunciations had aroused their hatred far more than his colleagues. The people of Calvados, not unnaturally, grew to suppose that he was possessed of much greater powers than the other two members of the triumvi- rate, as well as of a really monstrous malignity ; Charlotte Cord ay erred with the rest. ^'The horror inspired by his maxims, and the popu- lar idea of his personal hideousness," says Garat, '^made the people think they saw his influence in PREPARATIONS. 103 everything, so that they imagined that he was the Mountain, or that all its members were like him." When the proscribed Girondists set up their head- quarters in Caen, the popular enthusiasm increased at once, and in proportion to its increase was the feeling against Marat and the Mountain intensified. The universal excitement was like wine to Charlotte Corday ; the near presence of the men who were being persecuted in the cause of her beloved Republic intoxicated her, adding fuel to her patriotic ardour, and creating in her a sort of besoin de se hattre — a feeling not altogether unknown to American women a quarter of a century ago. The lawlessness of the Parisians filled her with greater anger than the injustice of the Monarchy had ever done. '' These men who were to give us liberty have murdered it ; they are but assassins ! " she writes on the death of the King, her whole being tingling with indignant pain at the rude shattering of her ideals. But it was for the Republic she sorrowed, not for Louis XVI. ; she thought only of the harm that the unnecessary murder would do the cause. She loved the new-born Republic so ardently, and had hoped so much from its establishment, that it wrung her heart to see it step aside from rectitude 104 CHARLOTTE GOBDAY. and dignity. Brooding over these events, and be- lieving that anarchy and chaos were about to plunge the country into ruin, her romantic excitable mind began to form wild schemes for the liberation of her unhappy land. Her trouble and preoccupation became so evident at last that Mdme. de Bretheville asked her one day what it was that was weighing on her mind, and making her so unhappy. Her answer was : " I sorrow for the miseries of my country and of my relations ; for yours also^ oh^ my dear ! For who can assure me tbat you may not be struck by one of those thunder- bolts which have already deprived so many citizens of life ? As long as Marat lives there will never be any safety for the friends of law and humanity." In her eagerness to obtain accurate accounts of the state of Paris, and desiring perhaps to see the hero- deputies in person, Charlotte went to the Town Hall to visit Barbaroux, who received his beautiful visitor with the greatest deference, and that charmingly chivalrous manner which was one of the handsome young deputy's most attractive characteristics. Char- lotte's girlish pride was pleased by her reception, and when Barbaroux detailed to her, with all the elo- quence of which he was master, the humiliation and PREPARATIONS. 105 wrongs endured by his party and himself at the hands of the revolutionists, her sympathy knew no bounds. Each vivid word added its quota to her excitement, deepened her strong repugnance to Marat, and made her long to do something for these persecuted heroes. Until the proscribed deputies came to Caen Char- lotte had never associated with public men, and her political ideas were neither clear nor practical. Watching the conflict from afar, it seemed to her as if she suddenly saw the solution of the trouble; saw just where one bold blow would sever the cord that bound her country to misery and ruin. She, like the rest of jCalvados_, supposed Marat to be the chief, if not the sole, instigator of the horrors of Paris, and imagined that his death would be the quickest and surest means of restoring the country to order. As Lamartine aptly expresses it: '^EUe vitla perte de la France, elle vit les victimes, elle crut voir le tyran." Inexperienced and impulsive, she looked no farther than the death of one tyrant, never realising the hydra-like nature of the species ; her reasoning powers w^ere not of the highest order, and she did not grasp the real situation and could not foresee the inevitable consequences of such an act upon the very party she wished to serve. 106 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. Charlotte Corday possessed neither the clear-sighted political prescience, nor the virility of intellect that characterised Mdme. Roland_, but even the *^ Great Citoyenne " did not surpass her in singleness of pur- pose and uncalculating devotion to the cause she loved. The idea of killing Marat having fully taken pos- session of Charlotte's mind, she matured her plans Mith care, and mapped out for herself the exact course she intended to pursue. With the dramatic instincts of her race she purposed attacking her victim in public, and making of his death and her own — for she knew she would die soon after him — a striking and impressive scene ; a sort of solemn expiation on the very spot where his crimes were committed. Circum- stances upset these carefully-laid plans, and obliged her to have recourse to a duplicity and falsehood that were distasteful to her, but which she recon- ciled to her conscience by the sophistries of her favourite, Raynal. '^We do not owe truth to our tyrants/' ^' All means are good towards such an end," &c. &c. No regret or compunction for the crime itself seems to have troubled her, either before or after it was com- mitted ; her self-abnegation was perfect, and she PREPARATIONS. 107 thought only of the preservation of the Republic, and the salvation of France. The ne^ssary excuse for the journey to Paris was unconsciously furnished by Charlotte's friend, Mdlle. de Forbin, the niece of the Abbess to whom Charlotte and her sister owed their education. Mdlle. de Forbin, who had taken refuge in Switzerland, found herself sorely in need of certain tithes and dues, to which, as a canoness of Troycs^ she was entitled. The papers substantiating her claim were in the keeping of the Minister of the Interior^ and Mdlle. de Forbin wrote and begged Charlotte to negotiate the matter for her if it were possible. She promised to do so^ and consulted Barbaroux upon the best way of accomplishing her mission. With his usual kindli- ness and good nature he promised to give her a letter of introduction to Lauze Duperret, a member of the Convention, and a Girondist ^Aho had escaped pro- scription. With his assistance Barbaroux assured Charlotte that she would be able to obtain access to the Minister without delay _, but he bade her entertain scant hope for the success of her enterprise. With all her plans laid_, and her preparations almost completed _, Charlotte delayed their execution for a few davs in order to visit once more the few 108 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. friends of hers who yet remained in Caen ; a strange shining through of natural womanly affection from behind the thick mists of hatred and fanaticism ! On the 5th of July she went to Verson^ where it will be remembered, her cousin Mdme. Gautier de Villiers_, lived. It was a serene summer's day, and the air was sweet with the fragrance of the hay- strewn meadows^ and full of the peculiar charm and magic of midsummer. Here, and among scents and sounds like these, Charlotte had spent many happy days, reading and dreaming the languid hours away in the shady corners of the wide-spread fields ; to the woman whose heart was filled with stormy emotions, and dark with the shadow of her fearful resolve, the calm and quiet of those other days must have seemed like a memory of another existence. Upon entering Mdme. de Villiers' house, Charlotte found her cousin busy with household affairs. After an affectionate greeting, she exclaimed abruptly : — " I have come to say good-bye; I must go on a journey, and would not leave without coming to kiss you.^' Something in the tone of the young girFs voice led Mdme. de Villiers to look at her, and she noticed that her face bore traces of severe agitation ; her eyes were shining with unusu^d brilliancy, and she seemed to be PREPARATIONS. 109 endeavouring to raaster some emotion. With a deli- cate tact Mdme. de Villiers continued lier work, the shelling of some peas, and without appearing to notice Charlotte's disturbed manner, asked her some com- monplace questions about the contemplated journey. After a few rather incoherent replies, and a vain attempt to talk of indifferent topics, Charlotte sud- denly rose, and throwing down a handful of the peas which she had unconsciously crushed while she spoke, flung her arms round her cousin's neck, and after kis^ng her repeatedly, left the house as abruptly as she had entered it. Upon her return to the Grand Manoir she busied herself with the destruction of all the Girondist addresses, proclamations, manifestoes, &c., which she had collected since the proscription of the depu- ties. These had done their work and brought in many recruits to the army which the Girondists had been trying to raise. Sunday, the 7th July, had been appointed for the great review of the National Guard by General Vimpfen, and after the review a battalion of volun- teers was to be formed to join the Federal army, which, stationed at Evreux under the command of de Puisaye, was already 2,000 strong. 110 CHARLOTTE COED AY, The proscribed deputies^ and the authorities of Calvados were to receive them with all the pomp and military circumstance likely to rouse their enthu- siasm and inflame their courage, and all that Caeu held of beauty and fashion assembled to applaud and honour the volunteers. But at the call of General Vinapfen only seventeen stepped forward from the ranks ! Charlotte was among the spectators on a balcony with some of the deputies_, and when she saw the pitiful showing of seventeen recruits her indignation and contempt were so plainly expressed in her face that Petion, who was present, noticed it^ but mistook its cause. Attributing her distress to disapproval of the departure of the volunteers, he asked her, with his usual brusque sarcasm : " Would you be sorry if they did not go ? '' Keddening with offended pride, she turned away in silence, and walked to her home. Most of Charlotte's biographers have adopted the imaginary figure of Franquelin — created in the first place by Paul Delasalle — as a real person^ and one of Charlotte's suitors. The genius of Lamartine breathes into him the breath of life, and under the pen of the master he really lives. He loves, and is beloved; is PREPARATIONS. Ill one of the few who volunteer to deliver Paris from the anarchists; receives his death-blow when Char- lotte dies, and survives her but a short time and is buried with her portrait and letters upon his heart. A charming episode_, delightfully told^ and attrac- tive to the casual reader; but the student who is in search of facts desires not fancy, and will none of it, however beguilingly it may be disguised in the serious garb of history. As Charlotte passed by the workshop of Lunel_, a carpenter who lived on the ground floor of Mdme. de Bretheville's house_, she saw him playing cards with his wife. She stopped and exclaimed with sudden bitterness, '' Yes ; you can play cards while your coun- try is dying ! " Then added_, as if to herself, **^No; it shall never be said that a Marat reigned over France!^' and passed on hurriedly into the house, leaving Lunel and his wife surprised and startled at a vehemence so different from her usual quiet friendliness. When she again went to the Hotel de PIntendnnce to get the letter to Duperret that Barbaroux had offered her in order to simplify the business of her friend, she found he had forgotten it. After promising to write and send it to her on the next day, without fail, the conversation turned, as usual, upon current 112 CHARLOTTE COBDAY. events, and the fiasco of the great review of the volunteers. Charlotte gradually led it to the state of Paris, and the danger of anarchy which seemed so imminent there, hoping thus to glean some details which would be useful to the accomplishment of her scheme. While they were talking Petion came in and greeted her rather ironically as ^^ the pretty aristocrat who comes to see the Republicans.'^ Something in his tone and manner wounded Charlotte^s pride. *^ You judge me now without knowing me, citizen Petion/' she 'replied with gentle dignity. *^ Some day you will know what I am.'' Louvet gives us a pleasant picture of Charlotte in these days which is well worth transcribing. ''To the Hotel de Plntendance, where we were all living, came a young girl to see Barbaroux. A young girl, who was tall and well formed, and of the most pleasing appearance and nicest manners. There was something in her face both handsome and lovely, and in her whole carriage a blending of gentle- ness and pride that was a true expression of her beautiful soul. She always came accompanied by an old servant, and awaited Barbaroux in a salon through which some of us were continually passing." PBEFARATIONS. 113 The very next day Barbaroux sent Charlotte the promised letter to Duperret, and a packet of papers which she had offered to deliver for him ; all sealed together in a large envelope. To his friendly little note of farewell, wishing her bon-voyage, and asking her to keep him informed o£ her move- ments, she sent an answer in which, after acknow- ledging his kindness, she promises — in ambiguous words — to acquaint him with ^' the success of the enterprise/' After carefully burning all her letters, newspapers, pamphlets, and every scrap of paper that might bring trouble upon any of her friends, Charlotte went to reserve her place in the stage-coach which left on the 9th. She secured an inside seat, engaged it in her own name, and then attended to having an old passport vised and signed for present use. Not until all her arrangements were completed did Charlotte tell her aunt that she was going away. If her scheme was to be successful it was impossible even then that she should let Mdme. de Bretheville know of her destination, so she proposed a visit to her father, as a friend was going to Argentan on the morrow. And now the hardest of her tasks confronted her — the writing of the letter of farewell to that father 8 114 CHARLOTTE COUBAY. whom she could not trust herself to go and see, and whom she is obliged to deceive. " 1 owe you obedience, my dear papa,^^ she writes, 'Wet I am going away without your permission. 1 leave without seeing you, because that would give me too much pain. I am going to England, because I do not believe one can live happily and quietly in France for a very long while to come. I put this letter in the post, just as I am leaving, and when you receive it 1 shall no longer be in the country. Heaven denies us the pleasure of living together, as it has denied us many other pleasures. Perhaps it will be more merciful to our country. Farewell, my dear papa ; kiss my sister for me, and do not forget me.^' Charlotte made no elaborate farewell to her aunt, fearing perhaps to distress her, or arouse her suspi- cions, and when she left the house Mdme. de Bretheville little suspected it was to be for ever. On the basement stairs she met a little comrade of hers, the twelve-year-old son of Lunel, the carpenter, whom she had been in the habit of noticing and petting. Turning to the child she gave him a small portfolio which she carried^ and which contained some of her sketches, saying, '^ Here is something for you, Louis ; be very good, and kiss me^ for you will never see me again. '^ PREPARATIONS. 115 On her way to the coach office she had to pass the house of a friend, a Mdme. Malfilatre^ and seeing her at the window Charlotte went in. When she left she kissed her with more than usual affection, then turning to her son, a boy of sixteen, kissed him alsOj and that caress was the last she ever gave. The boy lived to be seventy- five years old_, but he always treasured the memory of that kiss with reve- rent pride, remembering that he was the last friend her lips had touched. An hour later she was on her way to Paris. Charlotte's graceful letter to Barbaroux, which appears entire in a later chapter, gives the account of her journey so fully that it is needless to recapitulate it here. On Thursday, July 11th, at about noon, she arrived in Paris, and by the advice of the guard of the stage- coach went directly to the Hotel de la Providence, in the Rue des Vieux Augustins. This proved to be a third or fourth rate establishment, presided over by a Louise Grollier, who after subjecting Charlotte to the lengthy catechism required by the police of that troubled time^ and registering her answers, assigned her a room on the first floor. It was a large, meanly- furnished apartment, untidy, and not over-clean. The 8 * 116 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. bed was not made up_, and Charlotte requested the porter who had conducted her upstairs to attend to it. While he was thus occupied he conversed affably with the newly-arrived guest, told her his name was Fouillard^ and asked her about the state of Caen. Charlotte gave him some idea of the in- surrection of the province ; told him sixty thousand men were marching upon Paris, and that during her journey she had noticed a number of troops on their way to Normandy, and then proceeded to question him upon the news of the city, ending by asking : " What new^s is there here of little Marat ? '' Fouillard replied that he was just then seriously ill_, and had not for some time past been able to go to the Convention. *"* What is thought of this man? '' asked Charlotte. '^The patriots like him very much, but the aris- tocrats hate him," replied the porter. The news of Marat^s illness disarranged Charlotte's plans, and she at once saw she must abandon the idea of killing him in his seat at the Convention, and seek him in his own house. She determined to lose no time about it, and dismissed Fouillard, saying she was going out, and would require writing materials when she returned. PREPARATIONS. 117 From the hotel she went strai^^ht to the house of Lauze Duperret_, 41, Rue St. Thomas-du-Louvre, having inquired her way of the porter ; she arrived there about half-past one, but did not find the deputy at home. Entrusting Barbaroux's package of letters to Duperret's daughters, she named an early hour in the evening to call again, but although Duperret saw her then, it was too late to go to the Minister. After arranging to do so on the morrow, he courteously escorted her to the hotel, and seems to have been much impressed by her. ^' I noticed something singular in her manner and appearance,'^ he said to his daughters when he returned ; ^' to-morrow I shall see what it means. '^ Tiie next morning Duperret was punctual to his appointment, and calling for Charlotte took her to the Minister of the Interior. Garat, who then held the office, was unable to receive them, but appointed an audience at eight o'clock of the same evening. As they walked back to the hotel, the conversation naturally turned upon the insurrection in Calvados, the insurgent condition of Caen, and Duperret^s friends and comrades, the proscribed Girondist deputies, of whom he was anxious to get reliable and recent news. 118 CHARLOTTE COBDAY. During the day Duperret called and told Charlotte that as he had just heard he had fallen under the sus- picion of the Mountain, he feared his influence might do her friend's cause more harm than good; he advised her to let the matter rest until she had procured a power- of-attorney from Mdlle. de Forbin, without which he believed all efforts would be useless. He also asked her to receive him again the next day, as he desired to give her some letters and papers to carry back to his friends in Caen. Charlotte thanked him for the trouble he had taken to serve a stranger, but re- quested him not to call again until he heard from her, which should be soon. As he turned to go she called him back, and said impulsively : *^ Leave the Convention, you can no longer do any good there ; go to Caen and join your colleagues, your brethren " *' My post is in Paris, and I shall not desert it,'' Duperret answered, proudly. ^' It is folly ! " exclaimed Charlotte; then added in a lower tone, and more earnestly than before : **^ Again let me tell you to go ; believe me, and fly before to- morrow evening.'^ Thus ended her short acquaintance with Lauze Duperret, an acquaintance fraught with terrible PREPARATIONS. 119 disaster for liim, causing his arrest, proscription and death. After Duperret's departure Charlotte remained quietly at the hotel, writing the following address to her countrymen; an address which is at once her justification and a noble soul-stirring appeal to the patriotism of France. " Address to the French.^ " How long, O unhappy Frenchmen, will you delight in strife and division ? Too long already have party leaders and other scoundrels preferred the inte- rests of their ambition to the public weal. Oh, why, ye unfortunate victims of their fury, will ye kill one another^ and by annihilating yourselves, help to establish the edifice of their tyranny upon broken- hearted France ? Upon every side the various factions are breaking asunder, the Mountain alone triumphs by the strength of its wickedness and despotism ; its vile plots are hatched by monsters gorged with your blood, who are dragging us to destruction by a thou- sand difiPerent roads. * The original was sold in Paris in 1855, at an auction of historical autographs. The first bid was 300fr., and it was sold for 770fr. It is now in a private collection, and still shows the pin-holes made when Charlotte Cordav fastened it to her fichu. , 120 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. ^' We are working at our own undoing with greater energy than we ever put into the conquest of liberty. Oh^ Frenchmen ! in a little while there will remain o£ you only the memory of your existence. Even now the indignant departments are marching upon Paris, and the fire of discord and civil war is already kindled throughout one half of this vast realm ; there is yet a possibility of extinguishing it, but the means must be prompt. " That vilest of all wretches, Marat, whose name alone suffices to conjure up an image of every crime, in falling beneath the avenging steel has shaken the Mountain, has made Danton and Robespierre grow pale, and terrified the other villains who are seated on this throne of blood. But they are encompassed by bolts which the avenging gods of humanity only suspend in order to render their final fall more terrible, and to warn others who might be tempted to build their fortunes on the ruins of an oppressed people. '^ Frenchmen, you know your enemies ; arise, then, and march upon them. Let the Mountain be anni- hilated, and only brothers and friends will remain 1 I know not whether Heaven holds in reserve for us a republican form of government, but only in the very PREPARATIONS. 121 excess of its anger could it give us a ruler from the Mountain. '* Oh, France ! your happiness depends upon the })roper execution of your laws ; but I break none in killing Marat. Condemned by the whole world, he stands outside the pale of the law. What just tribunal would condemn me ? If I am guilty, so was Alcides when he destroyed the monsters; yet did he encounter any as odious as Marat ? '^'Oh, friends of humanity, you will not regret a wild beast who has fattened on your blood ! And you sad aristocrats, whom the Revolution has treated too roughly, you will not regret him either ; you and he had nothing in common. " Oh, my country, thy misfortunes tear my heart ! I can only offer thee my life, and I thank Heaven for the liberty I have to dispose of it. No one will lose by my death. In killing myself, I shall not be like Paris. I desire my last breath to be useful to my fellow-citizens. " Let my head, carried through Paris, be a rallying sign for all the friends of law ; let the Mountain — already tottering — see its fall wTitten with my blood ; let me be their last victim, and the avenged universe will declare that I have deserved well of humanity. 122 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. ** For the rest^ i£ some should view my conduct in a different light^ I care little. " Qu'a I'univers surpris, cette grande action Soit un objet d'horreur ou d'admiration, Mon esprit, peu jaloux de vivre en la mdmoire, No considere point le reproche ou la gloire : Toujours independant et toujours citoyen, Mon devoir me sufiBt, tout le reste n'est rien. Allez, ne songez plus qu'a sortir d'esclavage ! " My relatives and friends ought not to be molested^ for no one knew o£ my plans. I add my register o£ baptism to this address, to show what the most feeble hand can accomplish when nerved by true self- sacrifice. ''^ Frenchmen ! should I fail in my enterprise, I have at least pointed the way : you know your ene- mies — arise^ march, and strike ! " 123 CHAPTEH YIL THE TRAGEDY. . this even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips." Macbeth, Act I., So. \n. On Saturday, the 13th of July 1793, Charlotte rose early, and by six o'clock was walking in the gardens o£ the Palais Royal. The long green arcades were deserted^ the air was fresh and cool, and sweet with the scents and bird- songs of the early summer morning ; it was a scene of perfect quiet and loveliness, a little oasis of peace and beauty set in the midst of the turbid, striving, blood- stained city. And it was to this one pure spot in guilty Paris that the unconscious and terrible irony of 124 CHARLOTTE COBDAY, fate led Charlotte CordaVj tliat she might there deter- mine^ undisturbed^ the minutiae of a long-planned murder ! The calm and sweetness of the hour and place were in entire dissonance with her mood, and she paced to and fro under the dewy trees, all unconscious of her surroundings, and absorbed in the re-arrangement of the plans which ^larat's illness had rendered impracticable. Anxious to avoid failure by nervousness or indecision, she thought out her mode of action step by step. Marat's illness and consequent confinement to his house had for ever shattered her favourite plan of a public assassination, which in her eyes appeared a just and solemn expiation of his crimes. Nothing remained for her to do but to seek him in the privacy of his home, and this made her undertaking more difficult as she was quite ignorant of his private life and habits, while at the same time it increased the possibility of failure; and it was failure she dreaded above all else. At half-past seven Charlotte left the gardens, and finding that the shops were being opened, entered the first cutler's she came to and bought a stout kitchen knife with a dark wood handle, enclosed in a shagreen sheath. As she walked back to the hotel she heard THE TRAGEDY. 125 the newsdealers shouting out the most interesting items o£ their papers ; chief among these items was the sentence passed upon the assailants of Leonard Bourdon, one of the most strenuous of Marat's pro- vincial supporters and imitators. While on a drunken revel in Orleans, Bourdon had refused to answer the repeated " Qui vive ? " of the Municipal Guard, whereupon the sentinel charged him with his bayonet, and inflicted a slight flesh wound in the arm. For this injury Bourdon swore he would have revenge, and when he became sober he pronounced the city to be in a state of revolt_, and ordered the immediate arrest and imprisonment of twenty-six of the most respect- able citizens. The fact that they were nearly all ignorant of the whole affair could not save them, and the usual ghastly mockery of a trial ended in the death of nine upon tlie guillotine. Charlotte, who had been much interested in the unfortunate Orleanais, and had followed the accounts of their so-called trial in the Caen paper, bought a copy of one of the journals, and was horrified at the shameful carnage. It was one more drop in the full cup of her hatred of Marat, one more touch of the spur to her already willing resolution. Immediately after breakfasting Charlotte called a 126 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. carriage_, and told the driver to take her to Marat's house. So obscure was this man's mode of life that even the public driver did not know where he lived_, but by dint of inquiring they finally arrived at the Rue des Cordeliers at about eleven o'clock. The portiere, that important and disagreeable female Cerberus who guards the approach to all houses in PariSj protested against the entry of the young stranger ; but disregarding her voluble chatter, Charlotte penetrated to the ante-chamber and asked to be shown to Marat's room^ as she had news of importance to communicate to him. Siraonne Evrard, Marat^s mistress, declared it im- possible that anyone should be admitted, and upon Charlotte's insisting further, several other women came forward with noisy support of Simonne's refusal. Repulsed for the nonce, Charlotte drove back to the hotel and wrote a letter which she despatched without a moment's delay. It was addressed, '' To Citizen Marat, Faubourg St. Germain, Rue des Cordeliers, Paris," and read as follows : — '^ Paris, 13 July, II. year of the Republic. "Citizen, *' I have just arrived from Caen. Your love of our country leads me to suppose that you will be THE IMAGE DY. 127 anxious to hear about the unfortunate events in that part of the Republic. I shall therefore present myself at your house about one o'clock. Be kind enough to receive me, and grant me a moment's interview. I will put you in the way of rendering a great service to France. "Marie Corday.'^ Marat received this letter at about half-past seven in the evening, and while he was reading it Charlotte was already at his door. Before starting for his house the second time she had written another note, to be delivered to him in case she was again refused admittance. It read — *^ 1 wrote to you this morning, Marat ; have you received my letter, and may I hope for a moment's audience ? If you have received it I hope you will not refuse me, as the matter is so important. It should suffice that I am very unhappy to give me a right to your protection." She then dressed herself with scrupulous care, giving to the operation far more time and thought than she was wont to. As if to symbolise the purity of her motives she chose a dress of pure white, and although it was the fashion of the day to leave the bosom uncovered, her fichu of spotless muslin was 128 CHARLOTTE COED AY. crossed high upon her breast and tied behind at her waist. In its folds she hid her weapon, and the address to her countrymen, which she had written the day before. When Charlotte arrived at Marat's house, she found the cook and the portiere in the little ante-room, busy folding the last edition of L\imi clu Peuple. To her question as to whether Marat had received her letter, and was willing to see her, the portress replied, *^ It may be among the many letters he receives every day, but I cannot tell.'^ But Charlotte was determined not to be sent away again, and explained that she had travelled a very long way expressly to see Marat, and had already called without being admitted. Simonne Evrard, hearing the sound of contending voices, came out of Marat's room, and at Charlotte's earnest entreaty, consented to ask him to receive her. Returning almost imme- diately, with a favourable answer, she ushered Charlotte into the presence of the sick man. The room was small, paved with brick, badly lighted, and almost unfurnished. On the wall hung a pair of pistols with the inscription '' Death ^' above them, several numbers of L'Ami du Peuple were scat- tered on the floor, Marat's bath stood in the centre THE TRAGEDY. 129 of the room, and a board laid across it enabled liim to write ; a square block of wood close beside it did duty as a table, and held his inkstand and a medicine glass. And now_, for the first time, Charlotte saw the man whom she held in such abhorrence, and his appearance was not calculated to diminish her hatred or remove her preconceived idea of him. Clothed in a ragged gown without sleeves, his head wrapped in a dirty cloth, his features distorted by evil passions and drawn and sallowed by illness, he presented a sickening and repulsive spectacle. Squalid, unclean, hideous ; even in his medicated batli he was making out proscription lists, and planning new cruelties, fearful lest the long immersions necessitated by his loathsome disease should delay by a moment the satisfaction of his love of bloodshed. With a shudder of disgust, the white-robed girl approached and made known the ostensible object of her visit. Marat began at once to question her about affairs at Caen, and she told him how the seventeen deputies, with some of the department administrators, had formed a corps for the great federal army at Evreux, which was to march on Paris and deliver it from the anarchists. 9 130 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. Marat then demanded the names of the deputies who were heading the insurrection, saying, as he noted down each one in succession^ ^' For the scafPold." After a moment's silence he added_, ^* Very good ; in a few days I shall have them all guillotined in Paris." Beside herself with horror and disgust, Charlotte summoned all her courage, and seizing the knife with both hands, plunged it up to the very handle in Marat's right breast. '^ Help, my dear, help ! ^' he cried, and fell back. The blow, struck from above with the strength of nervous desperation, had passed through the lung, and penetrating the clavicle, severed the carotid artery. The cry of the murdered man brought the portress to his side, and she was speedily followed by Simonne Evrard and Laurent Bas, a messenger who had just brought the paper for VAmi du Peuple, The last beats of his heart were forcing the blood in great gushes from the wound, and before they could move him, or do anything to staunch the flow, Marat was dead. A dentist who lived in the upper story of the house now appeared on the scene, attracted by the THE TRAGEDY. 131 noise, and with his help the women carried the dead man to a bed in an adjoining room. As soon as Laurent Bas perceived that Marat was beyond help, he turned to Charlotte, threw her down and beat her brutally with a chair ; he would probably have killed her but for the arrival of the guard_, who handed her over to Guellard Dumesnil, the police commissioner of the district. He took her into the salon, there to await the two other officers before whom she would be examined. After the first formalities, and giving of her name and age, and the details of her journey to Paris, and of her stay in the city, Charlotte was asked what led her to commit the murder, to which she answered : " Seeing civil war about to break out all over France, and feeling sure that Marat was the prin- cipal author of these misfortunes, I determined to sacrifice my own life in order to save that of my country.^' The examination proceeded at great length, and was taken down verbatim by one of the officers pre- sent. The prisoner was then searched, and in her pocket was found the note to Marat, also a silver thimble, a ball of white thread, a passport, and some money; but hidden in her bosom was the shagreen 132 CHARLOTTE CORD AY, case which fitted the knife, and the address to the French pinned to the inner folds o£ her fichu. In the meantime Legendre, Maure, Chabot_, and Drouet had been sent to the house by the Committee of Public Safety as soon as the news of Marat's death had been received, but they only arrived towards the end of the examination. Throughout these stormy scenes Charlotte Corday had preserved perfect calmness and presence of mind^ answering all the questions put to her with lucidity and conciseness, and quietly correcting the mistakes of the official report. When Legendre pretended to recognise in her a woman who had called at his house that morning, she replied with quiet irony : *^ You are mistaken, citizen ; such a man as you is not capable of being the tyrant of his country, and is not worth the trouble of punishing. Besides, I had no intention of striking any but Marat.^^ Chabot, the unfrocked Capuchin monk, whose cynicism and bold impudence Charlotte had often heard of, asked her how she was able to strike Marat so accurately to the heart. *' The indignation which swelled my own," she answered, '^^ showed me the place.^^ THE TRAGEDY. 133 A few minutes afterwards he stretched out his hand and. took her watch, whereupon she asked him sar- castically: *^Have you forgotten that the Capuchins are under the vow of poverty ? '^ Harmand. de la Meuse, who was present during Charlotte's examination, speaks in terms of warm admiration of her " presence of mind, which was as imperturbable as it was admirable/' and describes her beauty in glowing terms. After depicting her face as we already know it, he closes with a delicate allusion to the '* graces of her form, which a painful accident exposed to him." Chabot had been plying her with trivial questions, evidently more for the purpose of making her speak to him than to elicit information, and had accompanied his words with bold looks of the most offensive admiration. Outraged by his vile attentions, Charlotte, whose hands were bound, threw herself suddenly back to escape from the pollution of his touch as he attempted to withdraw the paper which was pinned inside her fichu. The violence of the movement, aided perhaps by Chabot's brutality, disarranged the muslin scarf and severed the fasten- ings of her bodice. Crimson with shame, Charlotte begged to have her hands liberated that she might readjust her dress, and stood with her face to the 134 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. wall until her request had been complied with and she had repaired the disorder. After she had signed the report of her examination, the National Guards were about to bind her again; but holding out her hands she showed how the rough cords had bruised and torn the delicate skin_, and appealed to the members of the Committee. '^ Gentle- men/' she saidj '* unless it is your desire to make me suffer before I die, allow me to draw down my sleeves or to wear gloves under the bonds you are preparing for me.'^ Her request was granted, and she was conducted into the adjoining room where Marat^s corpse lay. The gaping wound was uncovered, and for the first time Charlotte seemed troubled. Her voice trembled as she answered, *' Yes, I killed him '' ; and she turned away white and shuddering from the ghastly sight.. Simonne Evrard and her sister were sobbing by the bed-side, and as Charlotte looked upon their unfeigned sorrow, she seemed to realise with a sort of dazed wonder that Marat had been really loved by some. This ^^ tiger,'^ this ^* monster/' with his unnatural appetite for blood, was after all a man with human feelings^ hidden somewhere under the hard crust of his cruelty. It was two o'clock in the morning when the prisoner THE TRAGEDY. 135 was placed under the charge o£ Drouet and Chabot, and conducted to the prison of I'Abbaye. The car- riage which had brought her to the house was still at the door, and was engaged by Drouet to take her to the prison. For hours a crowd had been gathering before the house^ waiting eagerly to see the murderess of Marat ; and her appearance in the doorway, with Chabot and Drouet on either side, was greeted with a perfect roar of fury. When Charlotte heard the threatening sound, and saw the angry faces of the multitude under the flare of their torches, she thought the second act of the tragedy was about to be enacted, and that, as she had foreseen, she would be torn to pieces by the mob. Not for one moment did her splendid courage falter. She had expected this fate and was prepared to meet it, but the long day and night, full of lurid emotions and active exercise, had told upon the physique of the woman; the overwrought body gave way, and she fainted. Even then the maddened populace would have seized her, but for Drouet, whose firm determined voice was heard above the clamour, sternly demanding the proper execution of the law. k::'- 136 CHARLOTTE COBB AY, CHAPTER YIII. :; LETTERS. " Heroism feels and never reasons, and therefore is always right ; and although a different breeding, and different religion, and greater intellectual activity would have modified or even reversed the parti- cular action, yet for the hero that thing he does is the highest deed, and is not open to the censure of philosophers or divines.'' Essay on Heroism. — Emerson. When Charlotte regained consciousness^ after her long swoon, she was surprised to find herself in the prison of I'Abbaye^ alive and unharmed. The cell allotted to her was the same that had been occupied by Brissot, and was used later by Mdme. Roland. The latter describes it '' as a dirty little square room^ with a small iron -barred window which admitted the evil smells of the street more freely than the light and sun.'^ Charlotte's avowal of her crime^ and complete assumption of its responsibility, had rendered it un- necessary to keep her in solitary confinement, and on LETTERS. 137 the 14th and 15th of July she vras allowed to talk to the other prisoners. Indeed_, the only unnecessary harshness shown to her in prison seems to have been the stationing of two gensd'armes in her cell night and day. This gratuitous indignity was probably a mean revenge of Cliabot's for the cutting sarcasm of her speeches to him during the first examination, and the undisguised contempt and disgust with which :she met his advances. At least she attributes it to that in her letter to Barbaroux, and there seems to be no other explanation of an outrage to which not even the hated Queen and her friends were exposed. Chafing under such an indignity, and believing it to have been prompted by Chabot^s spite, Charlotte complained by letter to the Committee of Public •Safety ; and when she found that it elicited no reply, she wrote again, adding another request to the one of heing allowed to sleep in private.* '' The 15th July, Ilnd year of the Republic. *^ Citizens composing the Committee of Public Safety, — '^'^As I have still a little while to live, may I hope, citizens, that you will permit my portrait to be * This letter now forms part of the valuable Chambry Collection ■of Revolutionary Kelics. 138 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. painted. I should like to leave this token of re- membrance to my friends. Moreover_, just as the portraits of good citizens are cherished, curiosity sometimes causes those of great criminals to he sought for ; it serves to perpetuate the horror of their crimes. If you deign to notice my request, I beg you to send me a miniature painter to-morrow. I also renew my appeal of being allowed to sleep un- watched. Believe, I beg you, in my entire gratitude, " Marie Cord ay. C( In the streets I hear continual cries announcing the arrest of my accomplice, Fauchet. I have never seen him except from a window, and that more than two years ago. I neither like nor respect him. I have always considered him to be a man of vivid imagina- tion and no firmness of character : he is the last per* son in the world to whom I should have confided any important undertaking. If this declaration can be of use to him, I certify to its truth. '' COEDAY." At the suggestion of Fouquier-Tinville, Charlotte was allowed free use of pen and ink, and assured, that any letters which she might write would be for- warded to her friends ; this indulgence was, however,. LETTERS. 139 only advised by the wily public prosecutor, because he hoped to surprise in her letters some unguarded expression that might implicate others, or at least furnish him with a clue to her real relations with the Girondists. Not suspecting that the permission to write was only a trap, Charlotte profited by it to keep her promise to Barbaroux, and spent the long hours oi: her confinement in writing him the letter which Thiers characterises as '^ full of graciousness, intelli- gence, and elevation." Louvet, in writing to Barbaroux after Charlotte's death, says : *^ Either nothing that is beautiful in the French Revolution will endure, or this letter will pass down the centuries. Ah, my dear Barbaroux, in the whole of your career, so enviable throughout, I have never envied you anything but the honour of having your name attached to this letter.^' Certainly it is by far the most natural and un- studied of the letters which have been preserved ; the language is direct and simple, and comparatively free from the stiltedness and affectation of style of the day. When Charlotte mentions the Revolutionists, it is with the irony Which, like the polished razor, keen, Wounds -svith a touch that 's neither felt nor seen ; 140 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. and she speaks of her own fate with indifference, except at that one pathetic passage where, for a moment^ she loses confidence in herself and falters, and is doubtful of her courage at the last ; a natural womanly fear which proved to be unfounded. Over the earnestness of the whole a graceful badinage plays like summer lightning^ gradually fading towards the end as the stars of hope and courage and pure intent shine out in the clear serenity of the darkening sky. '^In the prisons of the Abbey, in the former room of Brissot^ the second day of the preparation for peace. ^^ You desired, citizen^ to know the details of my voyage so I shall not spare you the smallest incident. I was with good Mountaineers_, who talked to their heart's content, and their speeches (as silly as their appearance was disagreeable) conduced not a little towards sending me to sleep. I only awoke_, so to speakj on reaching Paris. One of our travellers, who evidently admires sleeping women, mistook me for the daughter of one of his old friends, supposed me to have a fortune which I do not possess, called me by a name I had never heard, and finally offered me his fortune and his hand. At last I grew tired of his LETTERS. 141 speeches and said—' We are playing quite a comedy of cross purposes, it is a pity that so much talent should remain without an audience, I will call our travelling companions that they may have their share of the fun/ This put him in a very bad humour. During the night he sang plaintive song?^ provocative of slumber, and at last I parted with bim in Paris, refusing to give him my address or that of my father,, of whom he wanted to ask me in marriage. He departed in a very bad temper. '^ I was not aware that these gentlemen (the Com- mittee of Public Safety) had examined my fellow- travellersj so I persisted in not recognising any of them, in order to spare them the annoyance of being questioned. In acting thus I followed the precepts of my oracle Raynal, who says, * We do not owe the truth to our tyrants.-* It was through the lady passenger that they found out that I knew you,, and had been to see Duperret. You know Duperret's- strength of character; he answered them with the most exact truthfulness, and I have confirmed his- deposition with my own. There is no evidence what- ever against him, but his very steadfastness is a crime in their eyes. I was afraid that they would, discover I had been to see him, and I repented of 142 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. having done so when it was too late^ and tried to avert the danger by making him promise to join you ; but he is too resolute to allow himself to be in- fluenced. '^ When I made up my mind to accomplish my design, I was determined that neither he nor anyone else should know of it_, yet — would you believe it ? — Fauchet has been imprisoned as my accomplice ; he who did not even know of my existence ! But they are not at all pleased to have only an insignificant woman to offer to the manes of their great man. '^ Pardon me^ O my fellow-beings ; that speech dishonours your kind. He was a wild beast who was about to devour France with the fire of civil war. ^^ Now we can cry * Long live Peace ! ' Thank Heaven that he was not born a Frenchman ! ** There were four members at my first examination. Chabot looked and acted like a fool ; Legendre tried to make out that he had seen me in the morning at his house ; I who had never even thought of the man. I do not consider that he has ability enough to be the tyrant of his country, and besides I had no intention of punishing so many. People who saw me for the first time pretended that they had known me a long i\^hile. LETTERS. 143 *"* I think that the last words of Marat have been printed. I doubt whether he uttered any, but here are the last he said to me. After having written down all your names, and those of the administrators of Calvados, who are at Evreux, he told me for ray satis- faction that in a few days he would have you all guillotined in Paris. Those words sealed his doom. If the department hangs his portrait opposite that of St. Fargeau, they ought to have those words engraved in letters of gold underneath it. '' I will not give you any details of the great affair, the newspapers will tell you all you want to know of it. That which clinched my decision was the courage with which our volunteers enlisted on Sunday 7th July ; you remember how charmed I was by it, and I promised myself then that I would make Petion repent the suspicion of my sentiments which he has always manifested. ^ Would you be sorry if they did not go ? ^ he said to me. Finally I thought of the many brave folks coming after the head of one man, whom they might perhaps have missed after all, and who would have dragged those many good citizens down to destruction with him. He did not deserve so much honour, the hand of a woman was enough for him. I admit that I employed an unworthy artifice 144 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. in order to make him receive me^ but all means are fair under such circumstances. ^^ When I left Caen_, I intended to sacrifice him on the very summit of his mountain; but when I reached Paris he was not attending the Convention. '* I wish I had kept your letter ; it would have shown them that I had no accomplice. However, that fact will establish itself. We are such good Republicans in Paris that we cannot conceive how a useless woman,, whose life at its best could be of no great value, can sacrifice herself in cold blood to save her country. " I quite expected instant death, but some courageous men, who were really above all praise, saved me from the very excusable fury of those whom I had bereaved. As I was really calm, I suffered much from the lamentations of some women ; but whoso saves his country does not count the cost. '^ I hope that peace may be established soon. This is a great preliminary, without which we should never bave had it, I have enjoyed a delicious peace of mind for two days ; the happiness of my country con- stitutes mine, and there is no act of self-sacrifice that does not confer more pleasure than pain. ^^ I have no doubt they will torment my father somewhat, although he has already enough to afflict LETTERS. 145 Mm in my loss. If I indulged in a jest at your expense_, I beg you to let it pass; I merely obeyed the natural levity of my character. In ray last letter I made liim think that, fearing the horrors of civil war, I was going to England; at that time my plan was to remain incognita, kill Marat publicly, and, dying myself immediately afterwards, let the Parisians seek my name in vain. '* I beg you, citizen — you and your colleagues — to undertake the defence of ray relatives and friends if they are troubled. I say nothing to my dear aristo- crat friends, but I preserve their meraory in my heart, ^' I have never hated but one human being, and I have already shown with how great a hatred, but there are thousands for whom ray love is stronger even than was my hate. ^' The possession of a lively imagination and a sen- sitive heart give promise of a stormy life, and I beg those who might mourn for me to consider that fact ; they will then be glad to think of rae as being at peace in the Elysian fields w^ith Brutus and the ancients. '' As for the raoderns, there are but few true patriots among them who could die for their country; almost all are selfish. Alas, what a poor people this is to found a Republic ! 10 146 CHABLOTTE CORDAY. ^' The establishraent of peace is imperative, but the government will have to come as best it can ; at least — unless I am greatly mistaken — the Mountain will not reign, '* I am as comfortable as possible in my prison, and the gaolers are the kindest people. I have, moreover, been furnished with police officers, to prevent me from feeling dull, I suppose ; I find nothing to com- plain of in this arrangement during the day, but it is very disagreeable at night. I complained of this indecency, but the Committee did not think it worth while to take any notice of my letter. I believe it is an idea of Chabot's, for none but a Capuchin would think of such a thing. " I pass my time in writing songs, and I give that last verse of Valady's"^ to all who will accept it. I * The song to which Charlotte refers was called the "Marseillaise of Normandy," and was written by Girey-du-Pre. but for a long while erroneously attributed to Valady. The last verse runs : — " Saintes lois, libeite, patrio, Guidez nos bataillons vengeurs Nous marchons contre I'anarchie, Certains de revenir vainquers. De Septembre tristes victimes, Vos bourreaux vont etre punis France, tes laches ennemis Vont enfin espier leur crimes. Aux ai'mes citoyens I Terrassez les brigands ! La loi! c'est le seul cri, c'est le voeu des Normands I " LETTERS. 147 assure the Parisians that we have only taken up arms against anarchy, which is absolutely the truth." This letter was interrupted by Charlotte's first appearance before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and was produced at her examination. It is now on file, with the records of her trial, in the archives of the nation. '' I have been transferred to the Conciergerie, and the gentlemen of the jury have promised to send my letter to you, so I continue it. I have undergone a long examination, the report of which I hope you will })rocure, if it is made public. I had upon me, at the time of my arrest, an address to the friends of peace ; I cannot send it to you, but shall demand its publica- tion, I fear in vain. Yesterday evening I thought of offering my portrait to the department of Calvados, but the Committee of Public Safety, of whom I requested permission to have it painted, did not answer my letter, and now it is too late. I beg you, citizen, to make known the contents of my letter to citizen Bougon, the procureur general of the department ; I do not address it to him for several reasons, of which the first is that I am not sure whether he is at Evreux at present, and fear, besides, that being of a sensitive nature, he will be 10 * 148 CHARLOTTE CORD AY, distressed at the news of my death. However, he is sufficiently good citizen to console himself with the prospect of peace. I know how much he desires it, and I trust that, in facilitating its establishment, I have fulfilled his wishes. If any of my friends wish to read this letter, please do not refuse it to anyone. *' I must, it seems, have a counsel for my defence ; it is the rule, and I have chosen mine from the Mountain — Gustave Doulcet. I imagine he will de- cline the honour, which would not, however, give him much work. I thought of selecting Robespierre or Chabot ! '' I shall request permission to dispose of the remainder of my money, and shall then offer it to the wives and children of those brave men of Caen who have gone to deliver Paris. ^* It is very wonderful that the populace should have allowed me to be transferred from the Abbaye to the Conciergerie unharmed ; it is another proof of their moderation. Tell our good inhabitants of Caen of this, they sometimes permit themselves little insurrec- tions which are not easily restrained. " I am to be tried to-morrow, and by noon, probably, ' I shall have lived,^ to use the language of the Romans. People will perforce believe in the valour LETTERS. 149 of the inhabitants of Calvados_, when they see that even the women of that country are capable of reso- lution. Bnt for the rest I do not know what the last moments may be, and it is the end that crowns the deed. I have no need to affect insensibility to my fate, for up to the present moment I have not the least fear of death. I have never valued lay life, except for the use it might be to others. ^' I hope that Duperret and Fouchet will be liberated to-morrow. They pretend that I am the woman the latter took to one of the tribunes of the Convention. What right had he to take a woman there ? As a deputy, his place is not in the tribunes, and as a bishop, he has no business to be with women, so this error administers a little correction to him. But Duperret has nothing to reproach himself with. Marat will not go to the Pantheon, although he deserved to. I commission you to collect the propel papers for his funeral oration. '^I hope you will not give up Mdlle. de Forbin's business ; here is her address, in case it is necessary to write to her: — Alexandrine Forbin, a Mendresin par Zurich en Suisse. Please tell her that I love her dearly. I shall write a word to papa, but to my other friends I say nothing. I ask of them 150 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. only prompt forget fulness, for their sorrow would dis- honour my memory. ^^ Tell General Vimpfen that I think I have helped hira to win more than one battle, by facilitating peace. Farewell citizen, I commend myself to the remem- brance of the true friends of peace. ^* The prisoners of the Conciergerie, far from abus- ing me as the people in the streets do, appear to pity me ; misfortune always makes one compassionate. This is my last reflection. '^ Tuesday 16, at 8 o'clock in the evening. " To the citizen Barbaroux, deputy to the National Convention, rue des Carmes, hotel de I'lntendance, Caen. '' CORDAY." " Forgive me, my dear papa, for having disposed of my existence without your permission, but I have avenged many innocent victims, and prevented many new disasters. Some day, when the people are dis- abused of their errors, they will rejoice that I delivered them from a tyrant. When I tried to make you believe I was going to England, 1 did so because I hoped to remain incognita^ but I soon saw that that would be impossible. I hope they will not annoy you. LETTERS. 151 and, at all events, I believe you will find defenders in Caen. I chose Gustave Doulcet for my counsel, but an attaint of this kind admits of no defence. It is a mere matter of form. Good-bye_, my dear papa, I beg you to forget me, or rather to rejoice over my fate ; the cause is good. I embrace my sister, whom I love with my whole heart, also my relatives. Do not forget this verse of Corneille's : * The shame lies in the crime, not in the scaffold.' " I am to be judged to-morrow at eight o'clock. The 16th July. '' Corday.'^ ff Charlotte's letters never reached those to whom they were addressed ; some extracts and garbled ver- sions appeared in the papers, but they were speedily suppressed by the Committee of Public Safety, that body having concluded that, " it is not necessary, and would perhaps be dangerous, to give too much pub- licity to the letters of this extraordinary woman, who has already aroused the interest of the ill-disposed far too much.'' They were placed on file, with the official papers connected with the trial. 152 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. CHAPTER IX. BEEORE THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL. " Lasciate ogni speranza, voi, che'ntrate." La Divina Commedia. — Canto III., "Dell Inferno." On the night of the murder, all was terror and confu- sion in the streets ; no one slept, the air was full of shouting and lamentation^ torches cast their lurid glare upon the groups of excited, men and women who stood discussing the dreadful event, while above the uproar the monotonous cry of the armed patrol rang out in dolorous accents : " Marat is dead ! Citizens, Marat has been murdered ! ^' The news had spread like wild-fire throughout Paris, and the friends of the dead man were already clamour- THE EEVOLUTTONABY TRIBUNAL. 153 ing loudly for vengeance upon the woman who had dared to strike the idol of the gutters. When the raurder was announced at the Jacobin Club there ensued a scene of indescribable confusion, in the midst of which Hebert arose and moved that the honours of an apotheosis be demanded of the National Convention lor the '^ murdered patriot,'^ and that his bust be placed in the midst of the General Assembly. But in spite of the public lamentation and eulogistic speeches that followed each other in quick succession, the predominant feeling among the Jacobins was rather one of insecurity and dread than •of sorrow for their dead colleague; they knew how deep was their own blood-guiltiness^ and feared that a like vengeance might at any moment overtake them. Robespierre, Danton, and Camille Desmoulins held <30unsel together during the night, and resolved to iittribute the murder of Marat to the Girondist party, and declare that the crime was but part of a vast plot against the national representation. Notwithstanding their public mourning and grief, €ach of the revolutionary leaders breathed freer when Marat was removed, for they had always feared him ; feared lest his keen insight should detect the selfish- ness of their aims, and see that the secret desire of 154 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. each was to raise himself to a dictatorship. More- over, they trembled lest he should succeed in obtain- ing the supreme office for himself, and his death was a relief in that it removed a rival, and that a formid- able one. The apparent harmony between these men was but a thin politic veneer, which hid the real distrust which each felt of the others. They recognised the necessity of concerted action to a certain point, and each resolved to countenance the rest until that point was attained j after which it would be each man for himself in a hand-to-hand encounter, wherein no quarter would be given or expected. The morning after the murder the Convention met early, and the president made an official announce- ment of Marat's death. The Jacobins at once de- manded for him the honours of the Pantheon, and although Robespierre opposed the motion it was carried,, as Eentabole roughly exclaimed, ^' in spite of the jealous '' ; and then the arrangements were discussed for that ostentatious public funeral which is one of the grimmest satires of the Revolution. Chabot, the unfrocked monk, next proceeded to- give a highly-coloured and exaggerated account of Charlotte, assuming an air of great importance by THE EEVOLUTIONABY TRIBUNAL. 155 virtue of his presence at her first examination. He represented her as a bold masculine creature who was merely a tool of the Gironde. Mixing fact and fancy in glorious confusion^ he described in detail the imaginary plot against the Convention, and closed his farrago by brandishing the blood-stained weapon which had killed Marat. The Convention at once passed an order to the Revolutionary Tribunal to proceed immediately against the murderess and her accomplices. This Revolutionary Tribunal, against the estab- lishment of which the Girondists had protested with humane vehemence, had already begun to make a sanguinary name for itself. Possessed of unlimited power to judge, condemn, and execute, it was re- sponsible to none for its decrees, and in the accom- plishment of its fearful work was a law unto itself. Louis Sebastien Mercier describes it in his Le Nouveau Paris as '' a tribunal a thousandfold more odious than the Inquisition, more inconceivable than all the tribunals of blood that have covered the world in centuries of darkness. ... It was the work of the anarchist faction ; they wanted an unlimited authority, which fell later on the heads of a few of its founders/^ 156 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. MontanCj the presideut, had been a lieutenant of the Seneschal of Toulouse^ and was a Revolutionist of the most extreme type; the two judges who sat with him were Foucan.lt and Roussillon^ men of mediocre intelligence, whose only qualification for the position they held was a blind hatred of everything that was not of the Mountain. But it was the Public Prosecutor, Fouquier-Tinville, who made the Revolutionary Tribunal such a terrible weapon in the hands of the Terrorists. He was a man of good birth and great ability, who after squan- dering a rich inheritance in dissipation and de- bauchery, attached himself to Herault Sechelles, used him as a stepping-stone, and then sent him to the scaffold without a shadow of compunction. Keen and shrewdy with an absolute genius for detective work, Fouquier-Tinville was relentless in hunting down his victims, and brought to his work an enthu- siasm and pitiless perseverance that have given his name an infamous celebrity. Few were allowed to escape him^ and when he had succeeded in having every one of the accused upon his list sentenced to death, he celebrated the event by an orgie of drunken debauchery. The failure to compass a prisoner's condemnation caused him bitter disappointment, while THE EEVOLUTIONABY TRIBUNAL. 157 an acquittal filled him with baffled rage — but, alas, these instances of failure were but too few I In the case of Charlotte Corday the habitual zeal of Fouquier-Tinville was encouraged and stimulated by Robespierre and Danton, who saw in the murder of Marat a useful weapon against the moderate Republicans. Such were the " ensanguined executioner-judges/' to again quote Mercier, " who surrounded the figure of Liberty with piles of dead bodies . . . those whom the anarchist faction desired to make the heads of a Republic/' There were some preliminary formalities to be gone through before Charlotte Corday could be brought up for triab the Revolutionary Tribunal not having as yet laid aside those outward forms of justice which it discarded later when Terror was king,, and the press of its bloody work too heavy for waste of time on formalities. Fouquier-Tinville prepared his evidence with all his customary astuteness, filling in the gaps with inven- tions of his own, and using every possible means to discover some accomplices to suffer with Charlotte. On the 16th_, at nine o'clock in the morning, she was summoned to appear before the Revolu- 158 CHARLOTTE COED AY. tionary Tribunal. The proceedings opened with the cross-examination of the witnesses by Montane^ Foucault, and Roussillon, which it is needless to reproduce here, as they merely related what has already been told, adding some minor falsities which were afterwards refuted by Charlotte. At eleven o^clock the prisoner was put on the stand and sub- jected to a long interrogatory upon the details already given. Montane and Fouquier-Tinville cross-examined her in turn, so also did Wolff — another member of the Tribunal — but they found it impossible to disturb her serenity or make her contradict herself in any statement. " What was the object of your journey to Paris ? " Montane asked her. '^ I had no other object ; I came solely to kill Marat.'' "What were the motives that induced you to commit such a horrible deed ? ^' ^' His many crimes. '^ " What crimes do you attribute to him ? '' ^* The desolation of France, and the civil war which he has kindled throughout the kingdom." " Upon what foundation do you rest the foregoing accusations? " THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL. 159 ^' That his past crimes are a proof of his present crimes ; that he instigated the massacres of Septem- ber ; that it was he who kept alive the fire of civil war in order that he might be chosen Dictator ; that it was he who attempted to infringe upon the sove- reignty of the people by causing the arrest and im- prisonment of the deputies to the Convention on May 31st/' "What proof have you that Marat was the author of tbe evils you mention ? '^ " I cannot show any proof, but it is the general opinion of France, and the future will prove it ; Marat hid his designs behind a mask of patriotism/^ The boldness of this answer silenced Montane upon the question of Charlotte's motives, and he returned to the actual facts. *' Did you intend to kill him when you struck the blow?'' " That was my firm intention/' " Did you know when you aimed the blow as you did, that it would kill Marat ? " '' I thought so/' '^An action so atrocious could never have been committed by a woman of your age unless incited thereunto by someone." 160 CHARLOTTE COBDAY. '' I did not confide my plans to anyone ; in killing- Marat I did not consider that I was killing a human being, but a wild beast who was devouring the French/^ *'Why do you assume that Marat was a wild beast ? '' ^^ Because o£ the riots he excited^ and the massacres of which he was the instigator; and because lately in Caen he tried to obtain control of the coinage, at all costs. '^ '' How did you know that Marat was trying to control the coinage ? " ^' I cannot produce proofs ; but a certain person who has been arrested was furnished with money which he was carrying to Paris, and he is now on triai;^ " When you went to the Minister of the Interior, was it not with the design of murderiag him ? ^' '* No ; I did not consider him dangerous enough/'' Montane then proceeded to question her upon her social status, the home and means of her aunt_, and her acquaintance with the proscribed deputies. Absolutely fearless and truthful where she alone was concerned, she used a generous caution and reserve in all replies which might implicate others, THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL. 161 showing an eager determination to keep the full responsibility of her act upon her own shoulders. It was in vain that Montane tried to confuse her by clothing a former question in new words : " You cannot convince anyone that a person of your age and sex could have conceived such a crime, and proposed executing it in the Convention_, unless in- structed to do so by some person or persons whom you are unwilling to name ; for instance^ Barbaroux, Duperret, or some others known to be enemies of Marat.'^ '* That shows but a poor knowledge of the human heart/' Charlotte replied. ^''It is easier to carry out such a project upon the strength of one's own hatred than upon that of others/' " Did you not tell us that in Caen the Unity and Indivisibility of the Republic was desired ? ^' "^The people and the administrators have sworn allegiance to the Republic United and Indivisible, and it is inscribed on all their banners ; they have risen only against the anarchists, and wish to deliver the Parisians from out of their power.'^ Baffled by her lucid answers and unruffled calm. Montane made yet a last efifort to force from her an acknowledgment that she had an accomplice. 11 162 CHARLOTTE CORDAY. '' Did not Barbaroux ask you to give him an account o£ your journey, and did he not know what its motive was ? " *^' Barbaroux requested particulars of my journey by letter, but he did not know what its real object was. I am sorry I burned his letter, as it would show that no one knew the true object of my journey.'' '* If Barbaroux had not been aware of the object of your journey, you would not have promised him the secret of it ; and, besides, you would jnot have laid yourself out so obligingly in the letter in question, commenced by you to day.'' " The letter is intended for more than one person^ and that is why I have entered into detail." ff Were you not assured that immediately after you killed Marat you would be killed yourself ? ^' " No one assured me of it ; but 1 was convinced that it would be so, and therefore I explained my motive in the Address to the French found upon me. I desired it to be known after my death." In compliance with the usual form, Charlotte Corday was requested to choose her counsel for the defence, and she named citizen Doulcet de Pontecoulant, Deputy to the Convention from Caen. He was the nephew of Mdme. de Pontecoulant, of the Abbaye de THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL. 163 la Sainte Trinite, and had known Charlotte since her school days. The only important fact that the long examination had succeeded in proving was the existence of a corre- spondence with Barbaroux ; a valuable piece o£ evidence against the Gironde from a political point of view^ and a foundation for the accusation of com- plicity with the crime from a judicial standpoint. The tribunal then ordered Charlotte to be removed to the Conciergerie, that gloomy ante-chamber of the guillotine^ from whence so many were led forth to an unmerited death. It was dark when she arrived in her new prison, and was once more left alone with the two gen- darmes, who still watched her day and night. At her request the gaoler procured her some paper and ink, and she immediately began to write the second letter to Barbaroux, or rather to complete the first which had been interrupted by her examination. When she had finished, she wrote a few words of afiectionate farewell to her father. On the 17th of July 1793, at eight o^ clock in the morning_, Charlotte Corday was led before the Revo- lutionary Tribunal for final judgment. She wore the same white gown which she had put on for the fatal 11 * 164 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. interview with Marat, and a Normandy cap o£ white muslin, from under which her light brown curls fell loose upon her shoulders. As she passed out of the prison she stopped to speak to the concierge, thanking him with her usual kindliness for his attention_, and asking him to have some breakfast for her when she returned. " The gentlemen are probably anxious to dispose of this business without delay/' she added with quiet irony as she passed through the gate. A dense crowd had assembled in the Court to see the '^ bold masculine woman '^ about whom they had heard so much, the ^*^ monster" who had killed their beloved Marat, and her appearance at the bar was greeted with a hoarse murmur of anger. But the quiet dignity and calm of the beautiful girl, and her proud modesty of bearing silenced them, and they gazed at her with a stupid surprise and sort of reluc« tant admiration. Her ofl&cial defender says that '''judges, jury, spec- tators, all appeared before her as before the judge of a supreme tribunal. Her features have been painted and her words recorded, but no art has been able to picture the noble mind that is expressed in all her features. The great effect of the trial was in things THE BU VOLUTION ABY TBIBUNAL. 165 one felt, but found it impossible to express. '^ Charlotte was not handcuffed, and the ease of her pose and natural grace of her gestures were untrammelled and free. After the jury had been sworn in she was allowed to sit down, and Montane, the president, asked her whether her counsel was present. ^'I had chosen a friend," she replied, '^^ but have heard nothing of him since. Apparently he had not the courage to undertake my defence." Chauveau de la Garde was then appointed by Mon- tane, with Citizen Grenier as assistant, and they took their seats next to the prisoner, who looked uneasily at Chauveau de la Garde as though she feared he might try to palliate or deny her crime.* Wolff then rose and read the indictment, immediately after which the witnesses were called. * Chauveau de la Garde, whose notes supply the most valuable and authentic account of Charlotte Corday's trial, deserves more than a cursory mention. He conducted Mdme. Roland's defence in such wise as to call forth her admiration and gratitude, and he always exhibited a respectful sympathy for his clients, whether they were republican or aristocrat. He was a gentleman by birth as well as by instinct, and must have possessed great ability and tact, for in spite of his courageous defences of pre-condemned criminals, and the sympathy he often showed for them, he outlived the Revolution, and saw France raised from her degradation by the strong hand of the great Corsican. 166 CHARLOTTE COBDAY. Simonne Evrarcl_, Marat^s mistress, sobbed bitterly while giving her evidence, and seemed so overcome with grief that Charlotte^s hitherto perfect composure broke down for a moment, and she interrupted the woman's testimony with an agitated — *' Yes j it was I who killed him ! " as if by the avowal to cut short the painful reiteration of the details of her crime. "I wished,^' she said, in reply to Montane's question o£ her intention, "to sacrifice him upon the summit of the Mountain. If I had thought I could succeed in that manner I should have preferred it to any other. I was quite convinced that I should then be the immediate victim of the people, and that was what I desired." Taunted by her cross-examiner with having em- ployed falsehood to gain access to Marat, she replied : ^* I acknowledge that that was unworthy of me, but all means are good when the nation is to be saved. Besides, I was obliged to pretend to esteem him in order to obtain access to him ; men like that are suspicious.^' " Who inspired you with such hatred of Marat ? '^ " I had no need of the hatred of others ; mine was. enough.'-' THE BEVOLUTIONABY TRIBUNAL. 167 ''But the idea of killing him must have beea suggested to you by some one ; who persuaded you to do this murder ? " " What one does not conceive oneself one does not execute well.'^ *' What did you hate in him? " '' His crimes.'^ ** What do you mean by his crimes ? " *'The ravages of France, which I consider to be his work/' ^' But what you call the ravages of France are not his work alone/' *' Perhaps not^ but he contributed all he could towards its total destruction/' ''What did you hope to accomplish by killing him ? '' " To restore peace to my country." " Do you suppose you have murdered all the Marats ? " " That one dead — the rest will jDcrhaps tremble/' The answers, as here given, were taken down by Chauveau de la Garde, and are absolutely correct; the rest of the trial is from the Moniteur, which would not have dared in those dangerous days to re- produce the fearless replies of the prisoner^ who, by 168 CHARLOTTE COED AY. the power of her wonderful voice and beautiful presence, kept even the unruly mob in the body o£ the court in respectful silence. A few minor points in the testimony of some of the witnesses were corrected by Charlotte, but she only denied that which implicated Lauze Duperret. She did all in her power to clear him, and prove that she alone was the guilty one. Again and again she reiterates that she only is responsible for both the thought and the deed. '^ I should never have committed such a crime upon the advice of others ; I repeat that I alone con- ceived it, and put it into execution." Her marvellous fortitude deserted her again for a moment when the knife_, still stained and corroded with blood, was held up to her for identification. ''Yes; I recognise it, I recognise it ! ^' she cried^ shuddering. Fouquier-Tinville then observed that the accuracy with which she had struck a vital spot at the first blow showed her proficiency in crime. *' Oh, the monster ! He thinks I am a common assassin ! '^ cried Charlotte. The words escaped her almost like the cry of a wounded creature, and her face was eloquent with THE REVOLUTION AEY TRIBUNAL, 169 outraged pride as she leaned over the bar and looked Fouquier-Tinville full in the face. His cold delibe- rate cruelty had pierced her armour of self-control, and stabbed her to the quick. What cared she for imprisonment or the scaffold? But it was the very bitterness of death to have her action vulgarised ; to see the tragedy and sacrifice of her life dragged from its heroic heights and degraded to the level of a com- mon crime. Fouquier-Tinville next produced the two letters to Barbaroux, and the one she had written to M. de Corday since her arrest. When her farewell words to her father were read^ her eyes clouded with tears ; but she fought them back bravely, and raised her head with all its old pride when Corneille^s verse was reached, " The shame lies in the crime, not in the scaffold.^' When Montane asked her whether she desired to add anything to the second letter to Barbaroux : *' There is but one sentence to add/' she replied; *"*" it is this : ' The leader of anarchy is no more ; you will have peace.' '' To this reply, which shows her still undaunted, she added: '^The Committee of Public Safety has promised to see that the first of these letters reaches Barbaroux, that he may let all my 170 CHARLOTTE COED AY. friends know of it. I rely upon the Revolutionarjr Tribunal to forward the second one/' * Fouquier-Tinville closed his long cross-examination by demanding the head of the prisoner, and Montane declared the evidence for the prosecution closed^ and called for the defence. Chauveau de la Garde had received his instructions from Montane, who had told him what line of defence to adopt. Charlotte was to be declared insane. Chaveau de la Garde knew she was condemned before- hand, and that no legal skill could save her, but he also realised that the empty form could be used as another means of humiliation. But her counsel was a man of feeling and integrity ; the youth and beauty of his client had profoundly impressed him, and, having read her character in her face, he was sure that the plea of insanity would seem to her only a fresh indignity. So with simple honesty he limited him- * Neithei' the letters to Barbarous nor the one to her father ever reached their destination. They were placed on file with the report of the trial, and are now in the archives of the nation in Paris. These records, which are of an inestimable historical and archaeological value, narrewly escaped destruction during the Commune of 1871, and were only preserved to France, and to the- world, by the heroic efforts of their custodian M. Maury and his- assistants, these gentlemen having risked their lives to save the^ public archives. THE BEVOLUTIONABY TRIBUNAL. 171 self to a few earnest words^ which^ if they could not save his client^ would at least not insult her. " When,^^ says Chauveau de la Garde in his notes^ *^ I rose to speak^ a duU^ confused noise was at first audible in the assembly, followed^ if one may so express one^s self, by a silence as of death, which chilled me to the soul. During the speech of the public prosecutor, the jury had sent me a message en- joining me to be silent, and the president another, commanding me to confine myself to declaring that the prisoner was mad. They all washed me to humiliate her. '^As for her, her face was ever the same, except that she looked at me in a manner that convinced me that she did not want to be justified. I could not doubt that after the examination, and besides it would have been impossible, as independently of her confession there were the legal proofs of premedi- tated homicide. "" Nevertheless, being fully decided to do my duty, I would say nothing that my conscience and the accused could disapprove; — suddenly the idea flashed upon me of confining myself to a single ob- servation, which in an assembly of the people, or of legislators, might have been a complete defence, and 172 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. 1 said : ' The prisoner confesses with calmness the horrible crime she has committed, she confesses calmly having premeditated it for a long time; she confesses its most dreadful details ; in a word, she confesses everything, and does not even seek to justify herself. That, citizens of the jury, is her whole defence. This imperturbable calm, this entire abne- gation of self which betrays no remorse, even in the very^^resence of death itself ; this sublime calm and abnegation under such circumstances are con- trary to nature. They can only be explained by the excitement of political fanaticism which armed her hand. It is for you, citizens of the jury, to judge what weight that moral consideration should have in the scales of justice. I leave it to your considera- tion." After deliberating for a quarter of an hour, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty, and Fouquier- Tinville at once rose to demand the full sentence of the law — death. When Montane asked Charlotte whether she had anything to plead against the applica- tion of the law she did not answer, and she listened with perfect composure while the judges one by one voted aloud for her execution, and while the long sentence of death, and confiscation of her goods was THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL. 17^ read. As soon as it was over she requested permission to speak to her counsel, and the request being granted^ she turned to Chauveau de la Garde, '^ with ineffable grace and sweetness^^^ and said : *' Monsieur_, I desire to thank you greatly for pre- senting my defence with a courage and manner worthy of us both. These gentlemen,'" indicating the judges_, *' confiscate my property — but I will give you a greater proof of my gratitude; I ask of you to pay my prison debts, and I rely upon your generosity/' This trust was scrupulously respected^ and Charlotte's prison debts, which amounted to thirty- six livres (assignats), were paid by Chauveau de la. Garde on the day after her execution. 174 CHARLOTTE CORD AY, CHAPTER X. THlil DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. Horace, Carm. iii. 2. Our lamp is spent, it's out. . . And then, what 's brave, what 's noble, Let 's do it after the high Roman fashion, And make Death proud to take us. Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv., sc. xiii. After the sentence of death had been passed, and the proceedings before the Revolutionary Tribunal concluded, Charlotte was escorted back to the Con- ciergerie by the two gendarmes. At the foot of the winding stair which led to her cell she found the porter Richard and his wife awaiting her return, and requested them to send her the artist who^ she had noticed, was sketching her during the trial. Upon entering her cell she was surprised to find it occupied by a priest — one of the Constitutioual THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 175 clergy — who had been sent by the Revolutionary Tribunal to administer the consolations of religion and attend her to the scaffold. With gentle insistence she declined to hear his admonitions or receive his offices. '^ I thank those who thought of sending you^^' «he said ; ^' I appreciate their kindness^ but I do not need your ministrations." Finding that persuasion was useless, the priest withdrew, and a few minutes after his departure Richard returned accompanied by Jacques Hauer, the young artist who had received permission from the Revolutionary Tribunal to paint Charlotte^s portrait according to her request. After thanking him for the evident interest he had taken in the result of her trial, she begged him to make a miniature copy of the portrait he was about to paint, and send it to her father. The promise was eagerly given, and faithfully kept. Throughout the sitting, which lasted an hour and a half, Charlotte conversed quietly on ordinary topics, and exhibited such tranquillity and ease of spirit that the artist almost forgot how few moments of life were left to his beautiful model. As soon as Hauer released Charlotte from constraint, she turned abruptly to the table, and as if a sudden 176 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. thought had entered her mind_, seized a pen and began to write, but almost at the same moment the door behind her opened, and the executioner and his two assistants entered carrying the red gown of the condemned. '' What^ already ! '' Charlotte exclaimed, and then addressing herself to Sanson, the execu- tioner_, she asked him to delay a minute. The request being readily granted, she at once resumed her pen and rapidly wrote a short note, which she folded and asked one of the assistants to send it to Doulcet de Pontecoulant.* Rising from the table Charlotte moved her chair to the middle of the cell, and taking off her cap allowed * Indignant and contemptuous, as a true woman ever is in the presence of pusillanimity, she wrote : — " Citizen Doulcet de Pontecoulant is a coward to have refused to^ defend me, when the matter was so easy. He who did so acquitted himself with all possible dignity, and I shall be grateful to him to the- last moment. "Marie de Cord ay." Charlotte was unjust to her acquaintance of the old convent days ;, he was no coward, and would assuredly have accepted her trust had he received the message in time. But when Fouquier-Tinville'S' official notification of her choice of him for counsel was sent,, Pontecoulant was absent from Paris, and the messenger carried it back to the Tribunal. But the red-handed goddess of Anarchy, wha had driven poor Justice from her throne, brooked no delay in the execution of her mandates^ another counsel was appointed, and when Pontecoulant returned, it was four days too late, either to serve THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 179 unsexecl women known as " the knitters o£ the guillotine/' Let loose by the Municipality — at the suggestion of Robespierre — from the vilest dens of Parisian infamy, and encouraged to inflame the mur- derous instincts of the mob_, they spent their time at the foot of the scaffold, and seamed a stitch in their work whenever the thud of a fallen head told of another victim slaughtered. Charlotte mounted the tumbrel with a firm step, declining the chair which Sanson offered her, and was quite undismayed by the mob^ whose yells of execra- tion and fierce maledictions were, however_, soon drowned by the thunder of a sudden summer storm. Sanson was obliged, on account of the density of the crowd to drive very slowly, but during the two hours it took to reach the goal of that tragic ride Charlotte stood proudly erect, with hands bound behind her, the drenched red gown clinging to her in heavy classic folds, and a smile of ineffable gentle- ness and peace upon her lips which did not even lose their colour. Several times Sanson turned to see whether she showed auy sign of weakening, and at last he said : *' Do you not find the Avay very long?'' 12 * 180 CHARLOTTE COBDAY. " Bah ! " she answered^ **^we are sure to arrive all the same." As they neared the Place de la Revolution^ where the guillotine stretched its hungry arms almost oppo- site the dismantled Tuileries^ an impulse of humane pity prompted Sanson to place himself before Charlotte, in order to prevent her from seeeing the instrument of her death too suddenly ; but she noticed his action^ and bending forward to look, said quietly : " Surely I have the right to be curious ; I never saw one before." And her singularly musical voice was clear and calm as usual. While Sanson was clearing the way to the foot of the scaffold, she descended from the tumbrel without waiting for assistance, and passing through the serried ranks of the crowd, lightly mounted the steps. On the platform, while the executioner was occupied with his ghastly preparations, his assistant tore away Charlotte^s fichu with brutal roughness, exposing the creamy neck and shoulders to the jeering mob. For one moment her face flamed with indignant scarlet, then it paled again to its natural colour, and when she had regained her composure, she turned as if to address the crowd, but the beating of the drums frustrated her purpose. As she stood thus THE BARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN, 181 smiling a kindly farewell to the people, the sun suddenly pierced through a rift in the storm-clouds and flooded her face and figure with the glory of its setting rays. Framed in this halo of crimson light Charlotte moved to the spot indicated by Sanson, and laid her head, under the knife. Legros, the brutal assistant, held up the head to the gaze of the spectators and, undeterred, by the smile of content on the beautiful dead face, struck it repeatedly with his open hand.* But somehow the mob had lost its ardour, and his action called forth but faint applause, and the usual * This action did not meet with the general approval of the crowd, and called forth the indignation of Sanson in strong terms; he men- tioned the circumstance to the Revolutionary Tribunal, and a few days afterwards they took the matter into consideration. The admi- ration and compassion for Charlotte had grown so strong in the interim that they deemed it wise to humour the popular feeling a little, and accordingly consigned Legros to prison for eight days. At the same time a letter was published — signed by Rousillon, one of the judges — from which we extract the following : — " To THE Editor of the Paris Chronicle. " Citizen — After the sword of the law had fallen upon the mur- deress of Marat, the man Legros, one of the assistants at the execution, having seized the head to show it to the people, permitted himself to apply several buffets to the face of the inanimate head which was no longer guilty. This act of barbarism was disapproved of by the people, and Citizen Michonis, administrator of police, could not abstain from correcting this man, who, if he is not a barbarian, was at least 182 CHARLOTTE COBDAY. cries o£ ''^ Vive la Nation!" and " Vive la Repub- lique ! ^' were weak and few. Even the infamous ^' knitters " were cowed and awed for the moment by the grave simplicity and courage of this beautiful girl_, and the crowd dispersed with unwonted quietness^ amid the occasional flashes of lightning and the muttered thunder of the retreating storm. After being subjected to brutal outrage, all that remained of Charlotte Corday was buried in the cemetery of the Madeleine, rue Anjou Saint- Honore, almost on the spot afterwards occupied by the monu- ment to Louis XVI. ■ In 1815 the coffin was removed to MontparnassCj and given up to the care of the Saint- Albin family who were connected by blood with the Cordays. M. de Corday was placed under arrest in Caen, and forced to submit to a rigorous examination, but ulti- mately released. Mdme. de Bretheville suffered much greater annoyance, and ran some danger of being killed by the mob, who stormed her house and threat- ened to pull it down about her ears. She escaped guilty of a cowardly action. Upon being informed of this indignity, the Tribunal thought it advisable to give Citizen Legros a lesson by putting him in prison, and intends further to reprimand him coram populo" THE BARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 183 their fury, however^ and lived to the age of eighty years, dying at last in the same chamber which Char- lotte had occupied when she lived at the Grand Maiioir. On the 14th July, the very day after the murder, when the public odium against Charlotte Avas at its highest, and the papers were full of eulogies of Marat, a placard had mysteriously appeared in various parts of Paris, which applauded her action, and compared her to the other great heroine of France_, Joan of Arc. It came from the hand of Adam Luchs, an emissary from the court of Germany^ and an enthusiastic susceptible dreamer, whose ardent republicanism had been revolted by the continual butcheries he had witnessed. Two days after Char- lotte's execution he issued a long manifesto signed with his name, in which he set forth his reactionary opinions with reckless temerity. After condemning in strong terms the crime of murder in the general acceptation of the word, Adam Luchs proceeds to urge the purity of Charlotte Corday's motive as a justification of her act^ for which he coins the word **^ tyrannicide.^' He places her on the same level with Brulus and Cato, and demands for her, in warm terms, the honour and veneration of posterity. 184 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. The latter half of his mauifesto is a most impassioned description of his own feelings, and apostrophe to the woman who has inspired him with such a mad unrea- soning passion. This strange document concludes with the denunciation of the Tribunal that had condemned her, and the earnest expression of a desire to die under the same knife as Charlotte. Adam Luchs had followed the course of her trial with interest, and had been impressed by the accounts of her calm courage ; but he saw her for the first time when she stood in the tumbrel on her way to the scaffold, and her youth and beauty set his heart aflame. Among all the strange and pathetic love-stories of the Revolution, when hearts were won within prison walls and wedded by the guillotine, is there another as fantastic and wonderful as that of Adam Luchs ? He perfectly realised, when he published his fiery proclamation, that he would have to pay for his temerity with his life ; and he was arrested and sent to the prison of La Force on the 24th of July. The Revolutionary Tribunal was no respecter of persons, and his character of foreign representative^ could not protect him, but the strenuous efforts of his friends procured him the promise of pardon and release if he THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN, 185 would publicly retract what he had written, and promise to remain silent in the future. These con- ditions Adam Luchs refused even to discuss^ and after languishing in prison till the 10th of October^ he was brought to trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and condemned to death. The trial began at nine in the morning, and at four o'clock of the same day he was guillotined. A few minutes before the proceedings before the Tribunal opened, he said to a friend : '^ If they intend to honour me by death upon their guillotine, from which all ignominy has been removed by the pure blood shed there on the 17th July, I hope the executioner will give my head the same number of blows that Charlotte's received." . . . . "^ Thou wilt forgive me, sublime Charlotte," he exclaimed after the sen- tence was passed, ^^ if 1 find it impossible at the last moment to exhibit the courage and gentleness that were thine. I glory in thy superiority, for is it not right that the person adored should be above the adorer ? ^' But the courage of Adam Luchs did equal that of the woman he invoked, and as this ardent lover mounted the steps of the guillotine, he exclaimed with a smile of satisfaction, '^ At last I am to die for Charlotte ! " 186 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. And Charlotte's heroes^ those men of the Gironde whom she so warmly admired_, and whose cause she wished to serve, what was the verdict they passed upon her ? Unanimously one of appreciation of her intention, and wondering admiration for her courage and patriotic self-sacrifice. '* She teaches us how to die ! ■'^ exclaims Vergniaud, and Barbaroux regrets when it is too late that he did not cultivate her acquaintance more eagerly^ and appreciate her more truly. Among them all Petion is perhaps the most outspoken in her praise, thus verifying the proud words she spoke to him in the Hotel de PJntendance, just before she went to Paris : " You judge me^ Citizen Petion, without knowing me. Some day you will know what I am." But while the Girondists applauded Charlotte^'s heroism they could but deplore and condemn her fatal error of judgment. Writes Mdme. Roland to Buzot : ^' A wonderful woman^ who consulted only her own courage, came here to give death to the apostle of murder and pillage ; she deserves the admiration of the worldj but for want of proper knowledge of the state of things she chose her time and her victim badly.'^ And Louvet, after invoking her as ** the future idol of Republicans,^' and pouring out a torient THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 187 of eloquence in her behalf, adds, that if^ as their enemies averred, the Girondists had armed her hand, it would not have betn against Marat. Had the Girondists been capable of planning the murder of one of their oppressors by the innocent hand of an inexperienced woman, they would have un- doubtedly selected Danton for the victim, as he was the one they feared the most. The mere fact that Charlotte directed her blow against Marat should be sufficient to exonerate the Girondists from complicity in her crime_, for they knew, though she did not, that the malady from which he was suffering must terminate fatally very soon. And now came that dark time of depression and despair, when the Girondists were forced to acknow- ledge that all hope was over. True, the wildest days of the Terror when the frantic death-throes of Liberty shook all Europe, and made its peoples stand aghast, had yet to come ; but any re-establishment of the Moderate Party was now clearly impossible, and this they fully realised. '' In the cities/^ writes Buzot, sadly, " everyone pretends to be a sans-culoite, because those who are not are guillotined ; in the country, the most unjust requisitions are obeyed, because the disobedient are 188 CHARLOTTE COBDAY. guillotined ; everywhere youths are entering the army, because those who remain at home are guillotined. The guillotine, that is the great reason for every- thing; it is to-day the mainspring of the French Government. This people is Republican by force of the guillotine.'^ And soon this all-devouring guillotine was to destroy his friends and colleagues. On the 30th October, 1793, Brissot, Vergniaud^ Sillery, Lasource, Duchatel, Ducos, Fonfrede, Valaze, with thirteen others, were condemned to death, while the remaining members of the Gironde were outlawed. Valaze stabbed himself when the sentence of death was pronounced^ but his corpse was decapitated by the guillotine when the rest were executed. To the last the strong esprit de corps survived among these men, and they sustained and encouraged each other to the end ; Vergniaud, who had provided himself with poison, would not use it, preferring to suffer with his companions. We have heard much of the prison banquet of the condemned Girondists, at which a theatric and callous frivolity is supposed to have reigned. The first men- tion of it is by Thiers, who is notably inexact, and it is afterwards elaborated by the sentimentality of THE BARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN, 189 Lamartine^ and others, into the fantastic legend we are familiar with to-day. The sole foundation upon which these romancers built are the words of Buzot : — " My friends ate their last meal together ; it was pleasant and even cheerful; a servant of Duprat's waited on them." No other chronicler of the time mentions the circumstance at all^ and RiouflFe — in his Memoirs d'un Detenu — fond of detail as he is, would, assuredly have given an account of an event of the kind had it ever taken place. The picture that he gives of the condemned deputies is far more con- sistent with the dignity and real stoicism of these men than is the ostentatious levity of the mythical banquet, " Interest is awakened/^ he says, ^* by the sound of these famous names, but I have little wherewith to satisfy it. I arrived only two days before their condemna- tion, as though to be a witness of their death. Their minds dwelt in such heights that it was impossible to address ordinary consolation to them. Brissot was grave and thoughtful ; Gensonne reserved; Vergniaud sometimes grave and sometimes less serious. As for Valaze, his eyes held something inexpressibly heavenly.^' Firm to the last, they marched to their death singing the Marseillaise; as one by one their number lessened the chorus grew fainter, until the voice of 190 CHARLOTTE COBB AY. Vigee rang out alone for a moment, and then was silenced for ever by the descending blade. On the 8th of November Mdme. Roland was guillo- tined; the Great Citoyenne whom Carlyle apostro- phizes: '^ Noble white vision, with its high queenly face, its soft, proud eyes_, long black hair flowing down to the girdle, and as brave a heart as ever beat in woman's bosom ! ^^ Her husband followed her, as she had predicted he would, very soon, *^ dying by his own hand because he was unwilling to remain in a world polluted by crimes/^ And the rest of the Girondists, where were they ? Wandering in hunger, cold, and weariness ; hiding by day lest they fell into the hands of their foes, and travelling by night ; lost^ yet afraid to ask their way ; starving, but not daring to beg ibr food. Every aim of their lives defeated, their ideals shattered, their loved Republic dishonoured, their friends dead or dispersed, their wives and children in peril, and them^elves in outlawry with a price upon their heads. In the beautiful letter of farewell which Salles wrote to his wife, he tells of the suspense and misery he endured when, with de Cussi and de Grangeneuve, he at last found refuge in Bordeaux. De Grangeneuve's father hid them in an end of TEE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN, 191 his attic, and built up a partition so as to shut off all entrance except through the roof. Here they cowered for three long weeks^ ragged, without fire or light, expecting every moment to be seized, and finding the final discovery rather a relief than other- wise. Dragged from the house, and guillotined with their aged host and his sister, they met their fate with the calmness to be expected of such men. Louvet, after enduring equal hardships, sweetened however, by the loving companionship of his intrepid '^Lodoiska'^ — the wife he idolised — succeeded at last in escaping with her to Switzerland. Petion, Buzot, and Barbaroux remained hidden in the caverns of St. Emilion for several months, but^ their asylum being finally discovered, they fled to the woods, with Marcou^s bloodhounds upon their tracks and no prospect of help or safety. Barbaroux, too Jame and footsore to walk without assistance, and finding that he was detaining his friends, shot himself, but the ball only shattered his jaw, and he was captured and s.'nt to Bordeaux. He \\as guillotined on the 6th Messidor, five days after Salles, Gaudet, and Grangc- neuve. Buzot and Petion escaped from their pursuers, only to die of starvation, cold and exposure, and their 192 CHARLOTTE CORD AY, bodies were found a week afterwards all torn and mangled by the dogs. Such was the end of the Gironde, the party which in every office had shown the greatest courage and perse- verance in defending the rights of the people. For eight stormy months they had braved the fury of a crazy populace, bearing threats and insults with dignity, and fearlessly upholding the cause of true liberty. Personally^ these men had little to gain and much to lose by the Revolution. Their social position was assured, their tastes and pursuits not of a kind to be affected by the caprices and inj ustice of the old regime , and they had no individual grievances. But they believed in the right of the people to be well-governed, and for the sake of this belief they left their homes and gave their substance and their lives. Loyal, patriotic, and self-sacrificing, their names shine out from the black back-ground of that awful time in letters of white light. Buzot when writing those hurried but earnest appeals to posterity, which he calls memoirs, in the caverns of St. Emilion, is touched at times with prophetic fire. ^* Honourable victims of tyranny!" he writes in glowing eulogy of his dead comrades, ** you will be avenged ! A day will come when posterity will pro- THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 193 nounce your name only with the hushed voice of veneration and gratitude. Like Phocion and Sydney, you have died for the liberty of your country ; like them, you will live for ever in the memory of man ! ^' Their very faults were those that sprang from their virtues ; they were too proud to stoop to cunning, too pure to be corrupted_, too ready to credit the people with their own steadfastness of purpose, and too sincere in their love of liberty to profane it to unworthy uses. Had the Gironde had one half of the unscrupulous audacity of the Jacobins, it would have triumphed ; but it disdained the use of weapons which its adver- saries wielded, and fought their cruelty and rapacity with eloquent speeches and moderate measures. It was, in fine_, a party whose aims were high and patriotic ; weak sometimes where they should have been strong, injudicious when cautious judgment was of vital importance, dilatory when immediate and con- certed action might have saved them, but always clean-handed and free from the taint of self- interest. Standing midway between the Koyalists and the ultra-republicans, they represent all that was purest^ noblest, and most disinterested of republican France. 13 194 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. CHAPTER XI. CONCLUSION. Nee bene fecit ; nee male fecit ; sed inter fecit. Among the many heroic women of history there is not one whose name thrills us with as strange a mingling of admiration and repulsion as that of Charlotte Corday. We shudder when we think of the cool^ deliberately-planned murder ; but after studying her beautiful womanly face, and tracing her life step by step, from innocent childhood to the unsullied girlhood full of noble dreams and unselfish desires, which ended upon the scaffold, we learn first to understand and then to love her. CONCLUSION. 195 " Tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner/* said a celebrated Frenchman ; and from a close study of Charlotte Corday's life, and of" the times in which she lived^ we may learn much which seems to extenuate though it cannot justify her crime. It was a period of entire social disorganization, all laws both human and divine were practically in abeyance, and there was no power or authority to appeal to against men of the type of Marat. In times like these the punish- ment of such offenders has alw^ays rested with individuals, and the act of Charlotte Corday cannot therefore be judged by the standards of our day. She was an ardent lover of her country^ ready to lay down her life in its cause and for its sake, and she saw this dearly-loved country staggering under the load of mis- fortune and woe that had been laid upon it, as she believed, by Marat. To her he seemed a monster, a wild beast, a malignant inhuman thing to be merci- lessly hunted out of the world before he could accom- plish further evil. Again, the influence of Charlotte's father was very strong, and we have already seen how early he imbued her with a hatred of tyranny, and a desire for the establishment of a Republican form of government. But there was always this difference in the nature of 13 * 196 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. the father and the daughter ; M. de Corday^s rather weak lymphatic temperament was satisfied with verbal protest against wrong, while the more fiery, energetic nature of his daughter burned to redress it. Action was a necessity with her, and she longed, at whatever cost to herself, to do something helpful; to take some personal part in the struggle that was convulsing the country. The love of the dramatic, which is so strong an element in the character of the Latin races, was largely developed in Charlotte Corday, and her ideal of patriotism was the performance of some heroic coup de theatre that would save her country and confer immortality upon herself. The long seclusion of the convent, and the isolation of her after life in the dull home of her aunt, fostered her natural taste for reading and dreaming ; indeed, every circumstance of her life seems to have been especially designed to increase the tendency to mor- bidness which belongs to all sensitive and romantic natures. " As we look into her soft, sad eyes,^' says Michelet, '^ we realise something which perhaps explains her whole destiny : she had always been alone. Yes, it is the only thing about her that is not attractive. In CONCLUSION. 197 this being so charming and so good, there lurked that sinister power, the demon of solitude." Lamartine has set the fashion of calling Charlotte Corday an atheist, and has undoubtedly done her memory a grave injustice. Those who knew her well have testified to her faith, and her own letters prove it; writing upon the death of the King she h^ments not being able to follow her brothers who had emigrated, adding reverently : ^' But God keeps us here for other destinies."" And in the letter to Mdme. Levaillant^ in which she relates the struggle between the constitutional and unconstitutional clergy at VersoUj it is easy to see where her sympathies are. M. l^Abbe de Corday, who outlived the Terror, and cherished the memory of the sweet little niece who had brightened his lonely home for three years with tender pride^ always indignantly repudiated the accusa- tion of her irreligion, and he spoke from an intimate and life-long knowledge of Charlotte's character. The persistent refusal of spiritual guidance when she w^as in prison gave some colour to the assertion of Lamartine, but there is no doubt that this refusal was prompted solely by her contempt for the constitutional clergy — a contempt sufficiently plainly expressed during her residence at the Grand Manoir, and the time of her trial. 198 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. Those who have written of Charlotte Corday have been^ with the one exception of Klause^ a German^ her own countrymen^ and with the genuine Gallic love of romance^ they have almost all furnished her with numerous suitors. We have already seen that Henri de Belsunce^ and a mythical personage called Franquelin, have been honoured with her regard in the pages of these sentimental biographers ; and Barbaroux^ the handsome and eloquent young deputy, has also been credited with having been her lover. But his own memoirs and letters sufficiently disprove the statement, and show how slight the acquaintance between them really was. Not even the " Antinous of France " had power to touch a heart so filled with devotion and anxiety for a distracted country. There was always a certain austerity and reserve about Charlotte Corday which, while it in no wise detracted from her gentleness, compelled the respect and courtesy of all who came in contact with her. Even as a child she possessed a remarkable self- reliance^ and it was this self-reliance which, in her later years, prevented her from feeling that need of love and marriage in the abstract which so much oftener than true affection drives a girl into the arms of a lover. CONCLUSION. 199 Love never touched Charlotte Corday ; her thoughts were too full of her country's miseries to leave room for a more personal sentiment, and her heart was as virgin as the post-mortem proved her beautiful body. Among all the infamy and blood- curdling horror of that fearful time, the sacrilege wrought by vindictive curiosity upon the dead girl who had so gallantly paid for her crime with her life, seems to us the very climax of inhuman brutality. Wherever the name of Charlotte Cor^lay is mentioned in history, it is with a generous appreciation of her courage and the purity of her motive for her crime. Even Carlyle, the great cynic and fault-finder, has only words of praise and admiration for ^^ this fair young Charlotte "" who '^ emerged from her secluded still- ness, suddenly like a Star; cruel-lovely, with a half- angelic, half-dsemoniac splendour; to gleam for a moment, and in a moment to be extinguished : to be held in memory, so bright and complete w^as she, through long centuries ! '^ Lamartiue, in a noble passage which we need no apology for transcribing here at full length, eloquently and once for all sums up the judgment of posterity upon a deed which, if it cannot be justified, it would 200 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. be mere pedantry to condemn when viewed by the light of its surroundings. Such "was the life and death of Charlotte Corday. In the presence of murder history dares not glorify her, but in the presence of heroism history cannot blame. The appreciation of such an action places before the soul the dread alternative of misjudging virtue, or of lauding assassination. Like the painter who, in despair at being unable to depict the expression of a complex emotion, threw a veil over the face of his model and left the problem to the spectator, so must this mystery be left to struggle eternally for solution in the depths of the human conscience. There are matters -which may not be judged by man. but which rise without intermediary, and without appeal, straight to the tribunal of God. There are some actions in which weakness and strength, purity of motive and culpable means, error and truth, murder and martyrdom, are so closely blended that one cannot describe them in one word, and one knows not whether to call them crimes or virtues. The culpable devotion of Charlotte Corday is numbered among these acts which admiration and horror would leave for ever doubtful if morality did not condemn them. As for us, if we were to seek a name for this sublime saviour of her country, and generous murderess of tyranny, a name which should express equally the enthusiasm of our emotion for her, and the severity of our judgment on her act, we should create an expression which unites the two extremes of admiration and horror in human speech, and call her the Angel of Assassination. Charlotte Corday lived in an age of mental exalta- tion and moral heroism^ qualities which, though mis- directed and ill-applied_, very often feverish and sometimes unnatural, were yet unquestionably genuine; and she was a true child of her time. In tho>e days woraeii strove to do and dare what their CONCLUSION. 201 fathers and brothers and husbands were doing, and many a stirring speech delivered in the Assembly or at the great political clubs had been born in the brain of a woman. They did not content themselves with a passive part, they were full of ardour, sinking indi- vidual aims and affections in the general conflict, and, ready to sacrifice all for their cause ; they rushed into the battle of the nation impetuously and eagerly, and claimed the privilege of fighting for their country side by side with the men. Olympe de Gouges expressed the general feeling of her sex when she said : '^ Women have as good a right to mount the tribune, as they have to ascend the scaffold.'^ Illiterate and obscure as she was, that mot has made her famous. The women of the Revolution are a lasting glory to France, and their heroism does more than aught else to redeem the pages of that blood-stained chapter of its history. In the heart of a true woman there is always a store of latent courage that only needs the spur of a strong excitement to call it forth. Court dames who, in happier days, would have fainted at the sight of a cut finger and gone into hysterics because they were denied a coveted jewel, faced privation_, insult. 202 CHARLOTTE CORD AY. imprisonment^ and shameful death with a proud courage and noble serenity that fill us with admiring wonder. The most familiar example of this high dignity^ under unequalled suffering, is the Queen Marie Antoinette, '^'^that imperial woman,^' whose husk of selfishness, frivolity, and folly fell from her at the first touch of misfortune, leaving only those beautiful qualities which have made her one of the brightest examples of the world's womanhood. But the names of noble women throng to our mind, for Royalist and Republican alike showed a calm intrepidity in which there was nothing of bravado, and one could fill pages with the bare mention of such heroines as Mdlle. de Sombreuil, the devoted daughter; Manon Roland, patriotic and fearless ; the Princesse de Lam- balle, the loyal friend ; Madame Royale, a figure almost too angelic to be of earth ; poor little loving Lucille Desmoulins ; Mdme. de Condorcet, the faithful young wife; Louvet^s beloved "^Lodoiska,^' braving the miseries of outlawry with a fortitude worthy of her lion-hearted husband. Indeed, it is a curious fact that among the many female victims of that time only one woman — the notorious Du Barry — is recorded as having displayed cowardice in the face of death. CONCLUSION. 203 There clings about Charlotte Corday a peculiar fascination and pathos which no other historical figure possesses ; her lite was sacrificed to an unat- tainable ideal, her aspirations were thwarted, and her self-immolation was rendered useless, nay, even made to recoil upon her friends. A great regret arises in us that this young life should have been wasted ; that a mind so noble and generous should have been perverted by empty sophistries, and that such heroic and exalted patriotism should have stooped to stain its hands with crime. ''^ ' Vengeance is mine,' saith the Lord," and as we trace the disastrous efiects of her crime we realise anew that individuals cannot with impunity arrogate to themselves the rights of divine or civil law. Peace was restored to France, but not by Charlotte Corday's act, and, nearly a century after her crime — which did not accelerate its establishment by one day — the Republic of which she dreamed became a fact. The influence of the French Revolution has been incalculably widespread and potent in keeping tyranny within bounds, whether it be the tyranny of the throne or of the mob. Every country of Europe, indeed every country of the world, felt in a greater 204 CHARLOTTE COED AY. or less decree the shock of that vast upheaval^ and can to-day trace to its example and inspiration some great national reform or impulse towards fuller enlightenment. An influence that has been felt not only in the politics and conduct of national affairs in Europe, but in social ethics, and religious faith. For nearly one hundred years the Titanic force has worked in comparative quietude, but that it is fully spent none can believe who are alive to the signs of the times. Within the last few years we have felt its pressure in the wide territory of the Russian Empire; and even on the far shores of the free Western Republic its mutterings are at times distinctly audible. Injustice and oppression linger yet upon the earth, and not until these lurking demons have been slain will the giant Progress sleep, or allow a halt to be called in the great onward march of international advancement. From every earnest heart is breathed a fervent prayer, that from this continual ebb and flow of Revolutionary effort we may at last obtain, not a mere spasmodic improvement, but the real, tangible, lasting victory of Right and Truth. APPENDIX. 207 APPENDIX. Mdlle. de Corday a M. Alain, Negociant, rue Dauphine, a Paris. Voici Monsieur une lettre de change que Ton m'a envoyes payable a vos ordres. Je vous prie de me la renvoyer avec les formalites necessaire pour en recevoir largent a Caen, jen suis tres presses, Mdme. labesse ma charges de vous remercier des ofre que vous lui aves faite relativement aux glaces. Elle ne veut point emprunter cette annee ainsi ne les ayes pas, de plus elle ne fera pas faire le lit de M. le Marquis. Par consequend elle vous prie de ne pas faire faire le bois comme cela etait convenu. Je vous prie monsieur de ne pas faire payer ma lettre de change par labaye jai des raisons pour cela. J'ai I'honneur detre Monsieur votre tres humble et tres obeissante, Corday d'Armont. A labaye Sainte Trinite de Caen, ce 30 septembre, '89. 208 APPENDIX. Mdlle. de Cord ay a Mdme. Duhauvelle. Probably (1788.) J'aures en riionneur, Madame, de vons ecrire plutot et de vous remercier de votre souvenir, mais il ma fallu feuilleter toutes les vies de Saints pom- trouver la patroune de ma petite cousine dont je vais vous dire la vie en pen de mots. II y avait a Eome vers I'an 300 une femme de qualite nomme Agiae ; elle possedait des richesses immenses et menait une vie tres dissipee, elle n'avait que trois bonnes qualites, I'hospitalite, la liberalite, la compassion. Apres plusieurs annees passees dans le crime, Aglae touchee de la grace, dit a Boniface son intendant, aussi converti, daller assister les saints martyrs et de lui en apporter des reliques afin de les honorer et d'obtenir par leurs interces- sions la remission de ses peches. Boniface lui dit en plaisantant, si je trouve des reliques des martyrs je les apporterai, mais Madame, si mes reliques vienne sans le nom des martyrs, receves-les. En effet Boniface assistant les sains fut condamne a mort et en la tete tranchee, ses domestiques remporterent son corps. Cependant un ange apparut a Aglae et lui dit : Celui qui etait votre serviteur est maintenant votre frere, receves-le comme votre Seigneur et le places dignement, vos peches vous seront remis par son intercession. Elle partit aussitot avec un nombreux Clerge et alia au devant des saintes reliques. Aglae lui fit batir un superbe oratoir ou il se fit bien des miracles. Des lors Aglae renonga pour toujours au APPENDIX. 209 monde, donna tout son bien anx pauvres, vecut encore 13 ans dans les exercises de pie'tc et mourut de la mort des saints. Elle fut enterres dans la chapelle quelle avait batie a St. Boniface, I'egiise en fait la fete le meme jour. Voila Madame quelle fut la patronne de ma petite cousine a qui je desire une fin pareille et que j'embrasse bien tendrement ainsi que son aimable soeur. On ma dit Madame que vos afaires etaient terminees raport a votre terre, je vous en fais mon sincere compliment, car il est bien heureux de savoir a quoi s'en tenir. Je ne puis cependant m'enrejouir puisque c'est un presage certain que vous alles nous quitter. Je desire etre dans le cas de vous voir encore I'annee prochaine et de vous assurer de vive voix du respect avce lequel je sois, Madame et chere consine, Votre tres humble et tres obeissante servante, Coed AY. Ma soeur me charge de vous presenter son respect, elle dit mille choses honnetes a vos petites. Ce 24 septembre, 1788. Letters to Mdlle. Levaillant. Mars, 1792. Est-il possible, ma chere amie, que pendant que je murmures contre votre paresse, vous fiissiez la victime de cette cruelle petite verole ! Je crois que vous deves etre 14 210 APPENDIX. contente d'en etre quitte, et de ce quelle a respecte vos traits ; c'est une grace qu'elle n'accorde pas a toutes les Jolies personnes. Vous etiez malade, et je ne pouves le savoir. Promettes - moi, ma tres-chere, que si cette fantaisie vous reprend, vous me le manderes d'avance ; car je ne trouve rien de si cruel que d'ignorer le sort de ses amis. Vous me demandes des nouvelles ; a present, mon coeur, il n 'y en a plus dans notre ville ; les ames sensibles sont ressuscitees et parties ; les maledictions que vous aves proferees contre notre ville font leur effet. S'il n 'y a pas encore d'herbe dans les rues, c'est que la saison n'en est pas venue. Les Faudoas sont partis, et meme une partie de leurs meubles. M. de Cussi a la garde des drapeaux. II epouse en peu Mdlle. Fleuriot. Avec cette desertation generale, nous sommes forts tranquilles, et moins il y aura de monde, moins il y aura de dangers d'insurrection. Si cela dependait de moi, j'augmenteres le nombre des refugies a Rouen, non par inquietude, mais, mon coeur, pour etre avec vous, pour profiter de vos le9ons ; car je vous choisires bien vite pour maitresse de langue, anglaise ou italienne, et je suis sure que je pro- fiter es avec vous de toute maniere. Mdme. Brethe ville, ma tante, vous remercie bien de votre souvenir et du desir que vous aves de contribuer a son repos ; mais sa sante et son gout ne lui promettant aucun soulagement ; elle attend avec confiance les evenements futurs, qui ne paraissent pas desesperes ; elle vous prie de temoigner a Mdme. L ''' '•' '■'' toute sa reconnaissance de son souvenir, et de lui dire que personne ne peut lui etre plus sincerement attachee ; elle vous regrette beaucoup I'une et I'autre, et APPENDIX. ■ 211 se persuade ainsi que moi, que vous n'etes pas pres de revenir dans une ville que vous meprises si justement. Mon frere est parti, il y a quelques jours pour augmenter le nombre des chevaliers errants ; ils pourront rencontrer a leur cliemin des moulins a vent. Je ne saures penser^ comme nos fameux aristocrates, qu'on fera une entree trioniphante sans combattre, d'autant que rarmement de la nation est formidable ; je veux bien que les gens qui sont pour eux ne soient pas disciplines, mais cette idee de liberte donne quelque chose qui ressemble au courage ; et, d'ailleurs, le desespoir peut encore les servir ; je ne suis done pas tranquille ; et de plus, quel est le sort qui nous attend ? Un despdtisme epouvantable ; si Ton par\ient a renchainer le peuple, c'est tomber de Chary- bede en Scylla, il nous faudra toujours soufiiir. Mais, ma belle, c'est un journal que je vous ecris centre mon intention, car toutesces lamentations-la ne nous gueriront de rien ; pendant le carnival, elles doivent etre plus severe - ment proscrites. Je vous dirai une triste nouvelle pour moi, c'est que j'ai egare votre lettre ; je ne sais plus votre addresse ; si cella-la vous parvient je vous prie de me le mander tout de suite. Mdme. Malmonte est partie pour la compagne avec Mdme. Malherbe, et je ne sais a qui avoir recours ; c'est pourquoi je ne veux en rien faire connaitre mon nom a ceux qui pourraient a votre place, et contre ma volonte, prendre lecture de mon griffonage. Je reprends ma lettre, qui a dormi plusieurs jours, ma tres-belle, parce qu'on nous annon9ait de grands evene- ments que je voules vous mander, et rien n'est arrive ; tout est en paix malgre le carnaval, dont on ne s'aper9oit 14 * 212 APPENDIX. pas ; les masques sont defendus ; voiis trouveres cela juste. M. de Faudoas est de retour ; on ne salt pourquoi, personne ne comprend sa conduite. Serves-moi d'inter- prete aupres de Mdme. L -'' '■' '•' , et I'assures de mon respectueux devouement. Adieu, mon coeur. Mai 1792. Je re9ois toujours avec un nouveau plaisir, ma belle amie, les temoignages de votre amitie ; mais ce qui m'afflige, c'est que vous soyes indisposee. II paraitrait que c'est une suite de la petite- verole. II faut vous menager. Vous me demandes, mon cceur, ce qui est arrive a Verson : toutes les abominations qu'on peut com- mettre, une cinquantaine de personnes tondues, battues, des femmes outragees ; il parait meme qu'on n'en voulait qu' a elles. Trois sont mortes quelques jours apres ; — les autres sont encore malades, au moins la plupart. Ceux de Verson avaient le jour de Paques insulte un national et meme sa cocarde ; c'est insulter un ane jusque dans sa bride. — La-dessus deliberations tumul- tueuses : on force les corps administratifs a permettre le depart de Caen, dont les preparatifs durerent jusqu'a deux heures et demie. Ceux de Verson, avertis le matin, crurent qu'on se moquait d'eux. Enfin, le cure eut le temps de se sauver, en laissant dans le chemin une per- sonne morte dont on faisait I'enterrement. Vous saves que ceux qui etaient la, et qui ont ete pris sont ; I'abbe Adam et de la Pallue, chanoine du Sepulcre ; un cure etranger et un jeune abbe de la paroisse ; les femmes sont : la niece de I'abbe Adam, la soeur du cure, et puis le maire APPENDIX, 213 cle la paroisse. lis n'ont ete que qnatre joiirs en prison. Un pavsan, interroge par les municipaux : — " Etes-vou patriote ? " — " Helas ! oni, messieurs, je le suis ! Tout le moncle salt que j'ai mis le premier a I'enchere sur les Mens du clerge, et vous saves bien, messieurs, que les honnetes gens n'en voulaient pas." Je ne sais si un liomme d'esprit eut mieux repondu que cette pau\Te bete ; mais les juges memes, malgre leur granite, eurent emie de sourire. Que vous dirai-je, enfin, pour terminer en abrege ce triste chapitre ? La paroisse a change dans 1' instant et a joue au club ; ou a fete les nouveaux convertis, qui eussent livre leur cure, s' il avait reparu chez eux. Vous connaissses le peuple, on le change en un jour; II prodigue aisement sa baine et son amour. Ne parlons plus d'eux. Toutes les personnes dont vous me paries sont a Paris. Aujourd'hui, le reste de nos honnetes gens partent pour Rouen, — et nous restons presque seules. Que voules-vous ? A I'impossible nul n'est tenu. J'aures ete charmee a tous egards que nous eussions pris domicile dans votre pays, d'autant qu'on nous menace d'une tres-prochaine insurrection. On ne meurt qu'une fois, et ce qui me rassure contre les horreurs de notre situation, c'est que personne ne perdra en me perdant, a moins que vous ne compties a quelque chose ma tendre amitie. Vous seres peut-etre surprise, mon cceur, de voir mes craintes ; vous les partageries, j'en suis sure, si vous eties ici. Ou pourra vous dire en quel etat est notre ville et comme les esprits fermentent. Adieu, ma belle, je vous quitte, car il m'est impossible d'ecrire plus longtemps avec cette plume, et je crains 214 APPENDIX. d'avoir deja trop tarde a yous envoyer cette lettre ; les marchands doivent partir aiijourdhui. Je vons prie de me servir d'interprete, de dire a Mdme. L " " ■■' les choses les plus honnetes et les plus respectueuses. Ma tante me charge de lui temoigner, ainsi qu'a yous, com- bien son souvenir lui est cher, et vous prie de compter sur son sincere attachement. Je ne vous dis rien de ma tendresse ; je veux que vous en soyes persuadee sans que je radote toujours la meme chose. Letter to Mdlle. Rose Fougeron du Fuyot. Ce 28 Janvier. Vous saves I'affreuse nouvelle, ma bonne Rose ; votre coeur comme mon coeur en a tressailli d'indignation ; voila done nostre pauvre France livree aux miserables qui nous ont desja fait tant de mal. Dieu salt ou cela s'arretera. Moi, qui connes vos bons sentiments, je puys vous en dire ce que je pense. Je fremis d'horreur et d'indignation Tout ce qu'on peut rever d'aftreux se trouve dans I'avenir que nous prepare de tels evenements. II est Men manifeste que rien de plus malheureux ne pouvait nous arrive. J 'en suys presque reduite a envier le sort de ceux de nos parents qui ont quitte le sol de la patrie, tant je desespere pour nous de voir revenir cette tranquillite que j'aves esperee il n'y a pas encor lontems. Tous ces hommes qui devaient nous donne la liberte I'ont assissinee ; ce ne sont que des bourreaux. Pleurons sur le sort de la pauvre France. APPENDIX. 215 Je vous says bien malheureuse et je ne voudres pas faire couler encor vos larmes par le recit de nos douleurs. Tons mes amis sont persecutes ; ma tante est I'objet de toute sorte de tracasseries, depuis qn'on a 3911 qu'elle avait donne asyle a Delphin quand il a passe en Angleterre. J'en faires autant que lui se je le pouves, mais Dieu nous retient icy pour d'autres destinees. La capitaine a passe par icy en retournant d'Evreux, c'est un homme aimable et qui vous est fort attache ; je I'estime beaucoup pour I'affection qu'il vous porte. Je ne sais on il est a present. Si vous le revoyes bientot, rapeles- lui qu'il m'a promis une lettre de recommandation de M, de Veygoux votre parent en faveur de mon frere. Je voudres quelque jour lui revaloir ce bon office. Nous sommes icy en proye aux brigans, nous en voyons de toutes les couleurs ; ils ne laissent personne tranquille, 9a en serait a prendre cette republique en horreur si on ne savait que les for' fails des humains n' atteignent j^as les Cieux. Bref, apres le coup horrible qui vient d'epouvanter I'univers, plaignes-moi ma bonne Rose, comme je vous plains vous-mesme, parcequ'il n'y a pas un coeur sensible et genereux qui ne doive repandre des larmes de saug. Je vous dys bien des choses de la part de tout le monde on vous aime toujours bien. Marie de Corday. 216 APPENDIX. Letter to her Father. Je voiis dois obeisance, mon cher papa, cepandant je pars sans votre permission, je pars sans vons voir parceque j'en aures trop doulenr. Je vais en Angieterre par ce que je ne crois pas qu'on piiisse vivre en France heureux et tranquile de bien lontems. En partant je mets cette lettre a la poste pour vous et quant vous la rece^Tes je ne serai plus en ce pays. Le ciel nous refuse le bonlieur de vivre ensemble comme il nous en a refuse d'autres. II sera petetre plus clement pour notre patrie. Adieu, mon cher papa, embrasses ma soeur pour moi et ne m'oublies pas. COKDAY. Addresse aux Fran^ais. Amis des LoLv et de la Paix. Jusqu'a quand, 6 mallieureux Fran9ais, vous plaires- vous dans le trouble et les divisions ? Asses et trop long- temps des factieux et des scelerats ont mis 1 'interest de leur ambition a la place de I'interest generale ; pourquoi, 6 infortunes victime de leur fureur, pourquoi vous egorger, vous aneantir vous-meme pour etablir I'edifice de leur tyrannie sur les ruines de la France desolee ? Les factions eclatent de toutes parts ; la Montagne triomphe par le crime et par I'oppression ; quelques Imonstres, abreuves de votre sang, conduisent ses detest- APPENDIX. 217 ables complots et nous menent an precipice par mille chemins divers. Nous travaillons a notre propre perte avec plus d'energie que Ton n'en mit jamais a conquerir la liberte ! Fran9ais ! encore un peu de temps, et il ne restera de vous que le souvenir de votre existence ! Deja les departements indignes marchent sur Paris ; deja le feu de la Discorde et de la guerre civile embrase la moitie de ce vaste Empire ; il est encore un moyen de I'eteindre ; mais ce moyen doit etre prompt. Deja le plus vil des scelerats, Marat, dont le nom seul presente I'image de tous les crimes, en tombant sous le fer vengeur, ebranle la Montague et fait pfdir Danton et Robespierre, les autres bri_gands assis sur ce trone sanglant, enwonnes de la foudre, que les dieux vengeurs de I'humanite ne suspendent sans doute que pour rendre leur chute plus eclatante, et pour effrayer tpus ceux qui seraient tentes d'etablir leur fortmie sur les ruines des peuples abuses ! Fran9ais ! Vous connaisses vos ennemis, leves-vous ! Marches ! Que la Montague aneantie ne laisse plus que des freres et des amis ! J'ignore si le ciel nous reserve un gouverne- ment republicain ; mais il ne peut nous donner un Montagnard pour maitre que dans I'exces de ces ven- geances. ... France ! Ton repos depend de I'execution de la loi ; je n'y porte pomt attemte en tuant Marat, con- damne par I'univers, il est hors la loi. . . . Quel tribunal me jugera ? Si je suis coupable, Alcide I'etait done lorsqu'il detruisit les monstres ; mais en rencontra-t-il de si odieux ? amis de I'humanite, vous ne regretteres point ime bete \ feroce engraissee de votre sang ! Et vous, tristes aristo-" 218 APPENDIX. crates que la Eevolution n'a pas asses menages, vous ne le regretteres pas non plus, vous n'avez rien de commun avec lui. ma Patrie ! tes infortunes dechirent mon coeur ; je ne puis t'offrir que ma vie, et je rends grace au ciel de la liberte que j'ai d'en disposer; personne ne perdra par ma mort ; je n'imiterai point Paris en me tuant ; je veux que mon dernier soupir soit utile a mes concitoyens ; que ma tete, portee dans Paris, soit mi signe de ralliement pour tous les amis des loix, et que la Montagne chancelante voye sa perte ecrite avec mon sang ; que je sois leur derniere victime, et que I'univers venge declare que j'ai bien merite de I'humanite. Au reste, si Ton voyait ma conduite d'un autre oeil, je m'en inquiete peu : — Qu'a I'univers surpris, cette grande action, Soit un objet d'horreur ou d'admiration, Mon esprit, peu jaloux de vivre en la memoire, Ne considere point le reproche ou la gloire : Toujours independant et toujours citoyen, Mon devoir me suflBt, tout le reste n'est rien. Alles, ne songes plus qu'a sortir d'esclavage ! . . . . Mes parents et mes amis ne doivent point etre inquietes ; personne ne savait mes projets. Je joins mon extrait de bapteme a cette adresse pour montrer ce que peut la plus faible main conduite par un entier devouement. Si je ne reussis pas dans mon entreprise, Fran9ais, je vous ai montre le chemin ; vous connaisses vos ennemis, leves- vous, marches, et frappes. APPENDIX. 219 To Mae AT. Paris, 13 juillet, I'an II de la Republique. Citoyen, j 'arrive de Caen. Votre amour pour la patrie me fait presumer que vous connaitres avec plaisir les malheureux evenements de cette partie de la Republique. Je me presenterai done chez vous vers une heure. Ayes la bonte de me recevoir et de m'accorder un moment d'entretien. Je vous mettrai a meme de rendre un grand service a la France. Je suis, &c. Marie Cord ay. This letter bears the address : — Au Citoyen Marat, faubourg Saint-Germain, rue des Cordeliers, a Paris. '* Je vous ai ecrit ce matin, Marat, aves-vous rcQu ma lettre, puis-je esperer un moment d'audience, si vous I'aves re9ue, j'espere que vous ne me refuseres pas, voyant com- bien la chose est interessante, suffit que je sois bien malheureuse pour avoir droit a votre protection." r V _ — f •' " 220 APPENDIX. To the Committee of Public Safety. Du 15 juillet 1793, II de la Eepublique. Citoyens composant le Comite de surete generale, — Pnisque j'ai encore quelques instants a \ivre pourais-je esperer citoyens que vous me permettres de me faire peindre je voudrais laisser cette marque de mon souvenir a mes amis, d'ailleurs comme on cherit I'image des Bons Citoyens, la curiosite fait quelquefois rechercher ceux des grands criminels, ce qui sert a perpetuer I'horreur de leurs crimes, si vous daignes faire attention a ma demande, je vous prie de m'envoyer demain un peintre en migniature, je vous renouvelle celle de me laisser dormir seule, croyes, je vous prie, a toute ma reconnaissance. Maeie Corday. J'entends sans cesse crier dans la rue larestation de Fauchet mon complice, je ne I'ai jamais vu que par la fenetre et il y a plus de deux ans, je ne laime ny ne lestime, je lui ai toujours cru une imagination exaltee et nulle fermete de caractere, cest Ihomme au monde a qui j'aurais le moins volontiers confie un projet, si cette declaration pent lui servir, j'en certifie la verite. COEDAY. APPENDIX. 221 To Baebaroux. Aux prisons de labaye, dans la ci devant chambre de Brissot le second jour de la preparation a la paix. Vous aves desire citoyen le detail de mon voyage. Je ne Yoiis ferai point grace de la moindre anedote. Jetais avec de bons montagnards que je laisse parle tout leur content et leurs propos aussi sots que leurs personnes etaient desagreable, ne servirent pas peu a mendormir, je ne me reveille pour ainsi dire qu'a Paris. Un de nos voyageurs qui aime sans doute les femmes dormante, me prit pour la fille d'un de ses anciens amis, me supposa une fortune que je nai pas, me donna un nom que je navais jamais entendu, et en fin m'ofrit sa fortune et sa main. Quandjefus ennuyee de ses propos: Nous jouons par- faitement la comedie lui dis-je il est malheureux avec autant de talent de n'avoir point de spectateur je vais chercher nos compagnons de voyage pour qu'ils prenne leur part du divertissement, je le laisse de bien mauvaise humeur. La nuit il chanta des chansons plaintive, propre a exciter le sommeil, je le quittai enfin a paris refusant de lui donner mon adresse ny celle de mon pere a qui il voulait me demander, il me quitta de bien manvaise humeur. Jygnorais que ses Messieurs eussent interoge les voyageurs, et je soutins ne les connaitre aucuns pour ne point leur donner le desagrement de sexpliquer. .Je suivais en cela mon oracle Rainal qui dit qu'on ne doit pas la verite a ses tyrans C'est par la voyageuse qui etait 222 APPENDIX. avec moi qu'ils on sn que je vous connaissais et que j avals paiie a Dupenet, Vous connaisses lame ferme de Duperret 11 leur a repondu lexate verite. Jal confirme sa deposition par la mlenne, 11 ny a rien contre lul, mals sa fermete est un crime. Je cralgnals je lavoue, quon ne decouvrit que je lul avals parie je men repentit trop tard, je voulu le reparer en lengageant a vous aller retrouver, 11 est trop decide pour se lalsser engager, sure de son innocence et de celle de tout Je 7nonde je me decide a lexecutlon de mon projet. Le crolrles-vous Fauchet est en prison comme mon complice lul qui Ignoralt mon exlstance, mals on nest guere content de navolr qu'une femme sans consequence a offrlr aux manes de ce grand homme, — Pardon o humalns ce mot deshonore votre espece, cetalt une bete feroce qui allait devorer le reste de la France par le feu de la guerre civile, malntenant vive la palx, grace au del 11 netait pas ne Fran9ais, Quatre membre se trouverent a mon premier interogatoire, Chabot avait lair d'un fou, Le Gendre voulalt mavoir vue le matin ches lul, moi qui nai jamais songe a cet homme, je ne lul crois pas dasses grands moyens pour etre le tyrran de son pays, et je ne pretendais pas punlr tant de monde. Tous ce qui me voyaient pour la premiere fols pretendaient me connaitre de longtems. Je crois que Ton a Imprime les dernleres paroles de Marat je doute qu'll en ait profere, mals voila les dernleres quil ma dltte, apres avoir Ecrit vas noms a tous et ceux des administrateurs du Calvados qui sont a Evreux 11 me dlt pour me consoler que dans peu de jours 11 vous feralt tous guillotine a parls, Ces derniers mots declderent de son sort, Si le departement met sa figure vis a vis celle de St. APPENDIX. 223 Fargeau il poura faire graver ses paroles en lettres d'or. Je ne vous ferai aucun detail sur ce grand Evenement les journeaux vous en parleront, javoue que ce qui ma decidee tout a fait cest le courage avec lequel nos \olontaires se sont enrolles dimanche 7 juillet vous vous souvenes comme jen etaient cliarmee, et je me promettaient Men de faire repentir petion des soup9ons qu'il manifesta sur mes sentiments Est-ce que vous series faches sils ne partaient pas, me dit-il. Enfin done jai considere que tant de braves gens venant pour avoir la tete d'un seul homme quils auraient manque, ou qui aurait entraine dans sa perte beaucoup de bons citoyens, il ne meritait pas tant d'honneur, sufisait de la main d'une femme, Javoue que jai employe un artifice perfide pour lattirer a me recevoir, tous les moyens sont bons dans une telle circonstance, Je comptais en partant de Caen le sacrifier sur la cime de sa Montague, mais il n'allait plus a la Convention, je voudi-ais avoir conserve votre lettre on aurait mieux connu que je n' avals pas de comx^lice, enfin cela seclaircira. Nous sommes si bons repub- licains a paris que Ion ne con9oii pas comment une femme inutile dont la plus longue vie serait bonne rien peut se sacrifier de sangfroy pour sauver tout son pays, je matten- dais bien a mourir dans linstant, des hommes courageux et vrayemont au dessus de tout Eloge m'ont preservee de la fiu'eur bien excusable des malheureux que j avals faits Comme jetais vrayement de sangfroy je soufris des oris de quelques femmes, mais qui sauve la patrie ne saper9oit point de ce quil en coute, puisse la paix setablir aussitot que je la desire, voila un grand preliminaire, sans cela 224 APPENDIX. nous ne laurions jamais eus, je jouis delicieusement de la paix depuis deux jours, le bonheur de mon pays fait le mien, il nest point de devouement dont on ne retire plus de jouissance qu'il n'en coute a sy decider, Je ne doute pas que Ion ne tourmente un peu mon pere qui a deja bien asses de ma perte pour lafliger. Sil si troiTvait quelques plaisanteries sur votre compte je vous prie de me la passer je suivais la legerte de mon caractere ; Dans ma derniere lettre je lui faisais croire que redoutant les liorreurs de la guerre civile je me retirais en Angleterre, alors mon projet Etait de garder I'incognito de tuer Marat publique- ment et mourant aussitot laisser les parisiens chercher inutilement mon nom, Je vous prie citoyen vous et vos coUegues de prendre la defense de mes parens et amis si on les inquietent je ne dis rien a mes chers amis Aristocrates, je conserve leur souvenir dans mon coeur. Je nai jamais hai qu'un seul etre et jai fait voir avec qu'elle violence, mais il en est mille que jaime encore plus que je ne le haissais, Une imagination vive un coeur sensible pro- mettent me vie bien orageuse je prie ceux que me regret- terais de le considerer et ils se rejouiront de me voir jouir du repos dans les Champs-Elisees avec Brutus et quelques anciens, pour les modernes, il est peu de vrays patriotes qui sache mourir pour leur pays presque tout est egoisme, quel triste peuple pour fonder une Republique, il faut du moins fonder la paix et le gouvernment viendra comme il poura, du moins ce ne sera pas la Montagne qui regnera si Ton men croit. Je suis on ne peut mieux dans ma prison, les concierges sont les meilleurs gens possible, on ma donne de gens d'armes pour me preserver de I'ennui, jai APPENDIX. 225 trouve cela fort Men pour le jour et fort mal pour la nuit, je me suis plainte de cette indecence le Comite na pas juge a propos dy faire attention je crois quo c'est de I'invention de Chabot, il ny a qu'un capucin qui puisse avoir ses idees, Je passe mon temps a ecrire des chansons, je donne le dernier couplet de celle de Valady a tons ceux qui le veulent je promets a tons les parisiens que nous ne prenons les amies que contre lanarchie, ce qui est exacte- ment vray. Second Letter to Barbakoux. Ici Ton m'a transferee a la Conciergerie, et ses Messieurs du grand jury m'ont promis de vous envoyer ma lettre, je continue done. Jai prete un long interogatoire, je vous prie de vous le procurer s'il est rendu publique Javais une adresse sur moi lors de mon arestation aux amis de la paix je ne puis vous lenvoyer jen demanderai la publica- tion je crois bien en vain, Javais eu une idee hier au soir, de faire homage de mon portrait au departement du Calvados, mais le comite de salut publique a qui je lavais demande ne ma pomt repondu, et maintenant il est trop tard. Je vous prie citoyen de faire part de ma lettre au citoyen Bougoyi yrocureur G le sindic du sept, je ne la lui adresse pas pour jjlusieurs raisons d'abord je ne suis pas sure que dans ce moment il soit a Evreux, je crains de plus quetant naturellemente sensible il ne soit aflige de ma mort, Je le crois cependant asses bon citoyen pour se consoler par lespoir de la paix Je sais combien il la desire et jespere qu'en la facilitaut jai rempli ses voeux. Si quelques amis 15 226 APPENDIX. demandaient communication de cette lettre je vous prie de ne la refuser a personne, il faut un defenseur cest la regie, jai pris le mien sm* la Montagne cest Gustave Doulcet, jymagine quil refusera cet lionneur cela ne lui donnait cependant guere douvrage, Jai pense demander Robespierre ou Chabot. Je demanderai a dispose du reste de mon argent et alors je loffre aux femmes et enfans des braves habitants de Caen partis pom- delivrer Paris, il est bien Etonnant que la peuple mait laisses conduire de labaye a la Conciergerie. Cest une x^reuve nouvelle de sa moderation Ditte-le a nos bons habitants de Caen ils se permittent quelquefois de petites insurrections que Ton ne contient pas si facilement Cest demain a huit heure que Ion me juge, probablement a midi jaure vecu, pour parler le language romain. On doit croire a la valeur des habitants du Calvados puisque les femmes meme de ce pays sont capable de fermete, au reste jygnore comme se passeront les derniers moments et cest la fin qui couronne I'oeuvre, Je n'ai point besoin dafecter dinsensibilite sur mon sort car jusqu'a cet instant je nai pas la moindre crainte de la mort, je nestimai jamais la vie que par lutilite dont elle devait etre, Jespere que demain Duperret et Fauchet seront mis en liberte on pre- tend que ce dernier ma conduitte a la Convention dans une tribune, De quoi se mele til dy conduire des femmes, Comme depute il ne devait point etre aux tribune et comme Eveque il ne devait point etre avec des femmes, ainsi cest une petite correction. Mais Duperret na aucun reproche a se faire — Marat nira point au Pantheon, il le meritait pourtant bien, je vous charge de recuellir les pieces propres APPENDIX. 227 :\ faire son oraison funebre, Jespere que vous n'abon- donneres point lafaire de Mdme. Forbin, voici son adresse sil est besoin de lui ecrire. Alexandrine Forbin, a Men- dresie par Zurich en Suisse. Je vous prie de lui dire que je I'aime de tout mon coeur. Je vais ecrire un mot a papa je ne dis rien a mes autres amis, je ne leurs demande qu'un prompt oubli, leur afliction desonorerait ma memoire, Ditte au general Vimpfen que je crois lui avoir aide a gagner plus d'une bataille, en lui facilitant la paix, adieu citoyen je me recommande au souvenir des vrays amis de la paix. Les prisonniers de la Conciergerie, loin de minjurer comme ceux des rues, avaient lair de me plaindre, le malheur rend toujours compatissant ; cest ma derniere reflexion. Mardy 16, a nuit heures du soir. Au citoyen Barbaroux depute de la Convention nationale, refugie a Caen rue des Carmes hotel de lintendance. CORDAY. (To HER Father from the Conciergerie.) A. M. DE CoRDAY d'ArMONT, Rue du Begle, a Argentan. Pardonnes-moi mon cher papa d'avoir dispose de mon existance sans votre permission, Jai venge Men d'innocentes victimes, jai prevenu bien d'autres desastres, le peuple im jour desabuse, se rejouira d'etre delivre d'un tyran, Si jai cherch^ a vous persuade que je passais en Angleterre, 228 APPENDIX. cesqne jesperais garder lincognito mais jen ai reconnu limpossibilite. Jespere que voiis ne seres point tourmente en tons cas je crois que vous auries des defenseurs a Caen, j'ai pris pour defenseur Gustave Doulcet, un tel attentat ne permet nulle defense Cest pour la forme, adieu mon Cher papa je vous prie de moublier, ou plutot de vous rejouir de mon sort la cause en est belle, J'embrasse ma soeur que Jaime de tout mon coeur ainsi que tous mes parens, n'oublies pas ce vers de Corneille Le crime fait la honte et non pas I'echafaud. Cest demain a huit heures que Ton me juge, ce 16 juillet. Cord AY. [To Doulcet de Pontecoulant.) Le citoyen Doulcet de Pontecoulant est un lache davoir refuse de me defendre, lorsque la chose etait si facile, Celui qui la fait s'en est acquite avec toute la dignite possible, je lui en conserve ma reconnaissance jusqu'au dernier moment. Marie de Corday. APPENDIX. 229 (PASSE-PORT.) PaTBIE LiBERTE SgALITE. Departement clu Calvados. (District de Caen.) Laissez passer la citoyenne Marie Cordeij, natif dii Mesnil-Imbert, domicilii a Caen, municipalite de Caen, dis- trict de Caeii, departement du Calvados, age de 24 ans, taille de cinq pieds un ponce, chevenx et soureils chatains, yeiix gris, front Sieve, nez large, bouche moyenne, menton rond, four dm, visage oval. Pretez-lui aide et assistance en cas de besoin, dans la route qu'il va faire pour aller a Argentan. Delivre en la Maison Commune de Caen, le 8 avril 1793, I'an II. de la Republique Fran9aise, par nous Fossey VainS, Officier Municipal. Expedie par nous, Greffier soussigne, et a le dit citoye7ine Cor day, signe : Marie Corday : Heni, greffier. On the back of this passport, which is preserved in the archives of Paris, is added the following : " Vu en la Maison Commune de Caen, pour aller a Paris. " Le 23 avril 1793, I'an II. de la Republique. " Enguellard, officier-municipal." 280 APPENDIX. GENEALOGICAL THEE. PIERRE CORNEILLE, Pere du Grand Corneille. 1. Le Grand Corneille. 2. Thomas Corneille. 3. Marie Corneille. 4. Martha Corneille. I , I epoiise en 2nd noces epouse Jacques de Farcy, ^- ^^ ^oiiyer. Tresorier de France a • jg^^^' ^jg Alen^on. Bernard Le Bouver de Fontenelle. Marie de Farcy. Franeoise de Farcy. I epouse Adrien de Corday. leur fils Jacques Adrien de Cordav. I epouse Marie de Bellot de la Motte. Cinq fils, dont le dernier Jacques-Francois de Corday d'Armont. I epouse Jacqueline-Charlotte-Marie De Ganthier des Authieux. i Deux fils et trois filles, dont la seconde Marie-Anne-Charlotte De Corday D'Armont. nee le 27 juillet 1768, morte sur I'echafaud le 17 juillet 1793. . London ; Printed hj W. H. Allen & Co., 13 Waterloo Place. S.W, Croun 8vo. 3s. 6d. each Voliune. EMINENT WOMEN SERIES. VOLUMES ALREADY ISSUED.— GEORGE ELIOT. By Mathilde Blind. EMILY BRONTE. By A. Mary F. Robinson. GEORGE SAND. By Bertha Thomas. MARY LAMB. By Anne Gilchrist. MARIA EDGEWORTH. By Helen Zimmern. MARGARET FULLER. By Julia Ward Howe. ELIZABETH FRY. By Mrs. E. R. Pitman. COUNTESS OF ALBANY. By Vernon Lee. HARRIET MARTINEAU. By Mrs. Fenwick Miller. MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT GODWIN. By Elizabeth Robins Pennell. RACHEL. By Mrs. A. Kennard. MADAME ROLAND. By Mathilde Blind. SUSANNA WESLEY. By Mrs. E. Clarke. MARGARET OF ANGOULEME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE. By A. Mary F. Robinson. MRS. SIDDONS. By Mrs. Kennard. MADAME DE STAEL. By Bella Duffy. HANNAH MORE. By Charlotte M. Yonge. ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. By John H. Ingram. JANE AUSTEN. By Mrs. Malden. POPULAR EDITION, Limp Cloth, Is. SfiT each. GEORGE ELIOT. By Mathilde Blin]/ EMILY BRONTE. By A. Mary F. RojBp«0!f. Other Volumes will folloiv in cZiMrJ©if»fi^^^ ' London : W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 Tf^A^'ERW^o-iPLACE. S.W. /> 1 •< f ' NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION. One vol., crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. THE NEW PARIS SKETCH BOOK. Manners and Institutions. By J. G. Alger. 1 vol. demy 8vo., 12s., 8 Portraits on Steel, and Autograph. LE GOMTE DE PARIS. By Le Marquis de Flers. Translated by Constance Majendie. The Manchester Guardian says : — " It will always be a valuable book of reference, and in not impossible circumstances it may be an extremely interesting one. The English version is unusually well translated." NAPOLEON AND HIS DETRACTORS. By H.I.H. Prince Jerome Napoleon. Translated by Raphael L. de Beaufort. Demy 8vo. With Portrait. 18s. Nearly ready. A NEW AND THOROUGHLY-REVISED EDITION OF OUTLINES OF FRENCH HISTORY. Ince and Gilbert Series. By Arthur Hassall, Student of Ch. Ch., Oxford. Author of " Life of Viscount Bolingbroke." Fcp., paper boards, Is. BERANGER'S POEMS in the Versions of the best Translators. Selected by William S. Walsh. With Illustrations on Steel. Roy. 8vo., Is. London : W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 Watekloo Place. S.W. GREAT REDUCTIONS IN THE PRICES OF MANY OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF MESSRS W. H. ALLEN S CO., LONDON, JUST PURCHASED BY JOHN GRANT5 BDINBURGH. PAGE Miscellaneous Works ------ 2 Scientific Works ------- 29 Natural History. Botany. Mosses, Fungi, &c. Veterinary Works and Agriculture - - - 34 India, China, Japan, and the East - - - 36 The Reduced Prices of these Books can be had on application to any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. The Pubhshed Prices are affixed to each book. The Trade supplied direct, or through Messrs Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London. Great Reductions i?i this CataloQ-ue CATALOGUE. ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, D.D. {Dean of Westminster). Scripture Portraits and other Miscellanies collected from his Published Writings. By Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. Uniform with the above. VERY REV. FREDERICK IV. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. {ArcJideacon of Westminster). Words of Truth and Wisdom. By Very Rev. Frederick W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. Uniform with the above. SAMUEL WILBER FORCE, D.D. [Bishop oj Winchester). Heroes of Hebrew History. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. Uniform v/ith the above. CARDINAL NEWMAN. Miscellanies from the Oxford Sermons of John Henry Newman, D.D. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Mess7-s IV. H. Allot & Go's Publications. CAPTAIN JAMES ABBOTT. Narrative of a Journey from Herat to Khiva, Moscow, and St Petersburgh during the late Russian invasion at Khiva, with Map and Portrait, 2 vols., demy 8vo, 24s, Throiig-hout the whole of his journej', his readers are led to take the keenest interest in himself, and each individual of his little suite. The most remarkable anecdote of this part of his journey is concerning the prosecution of the Jews, for an alleged insult to Mohammedanism, not unlike the pretext of Christian persecutors in the daj's of the Crusaders. From St Petersburgh, Captain Abbott returned to England, where he gives an amusing account of the difficulties, and mental and physical distresses of his Afghan follower. The book concludes with the author's return to India, and with notices of the fate of some of the individuals in whom we have been most interested by his narrative. " The work will well repay perusal. The most intrinsically valuable portion is perhaps that which relates to the writer's adventures in Khaurism, and at the Court of Khiva; but the preseat time imparts a peculiar interest to the sketches of Russian character and policy." — London Economist. MRS R. K. VAN ALSTINE. Charlotte Corday, and her Life during- the French Revolution. A Biography. Crown 8vo, 5s. "It is certainly strange that when history- is ransacked for picturesque and interesting subjects, no one tias yet told in English — for so Misjs van Alstine remarks, and our own recollection supports her negatively — the romantic story of Charlotte Corday. The author has carefully studied her authorities, and taken pains to distin- guish fact from fiction, for fiction, it need hardly be said, has mixed itself plentifully with the story of Charlotte Corday. Miss van Alstine has been able to add to this stor}' several genuine details that greatly heighten its effect." — Sj^ectator. EDWARD L. A.VDERSON. How to Ride and School a Horse, with a System of Horse Gymnastics. Fourth Edition, revised and corrected, crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. " An admirable practical manual of riding." — Scotsman. " The book deserves perusal by all who have dealings with hoi'ses." — Birmingham Gazette. " Though practice is of course essential, it is equally necessary that the practice should be guided by some principle, and the aspirant who adopts the methods ex- plained and recommended by Mr Anderson is not likely to regret his choice of an in- structor." — Morning Post. D. T. ANSTED and R. G. LATHAM. The Channel Islands. Revised and Edited by E. Toulmin Nicolle. Third Edition, profusely illustrated, crown Svo, 7s. 6d. " A useful and entertaining book. The work is well done, .and to those who have not even paid a flying visit to this beautiful group it is calculated to cause a strong desire to explore and enjoy its attractions." — Daily Chronicle. "We are extremely glad to see a new edition of this fascinaling work. . . . All who know the Channel Islands should read this admirable book ; and many who read the book will certainly not rest until they know the Channel Islan [^y— Black and White. PROFESSOR D. T. ANSTED. Water, and Water Supply. Chiefly with reference to the British Islands. With Maps, Svo, iSs. Towns and their water-supply is becoming a clamant grievance. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad, Great Reductions in this Catalogue MAJOR J. H. LAWRENCE-ARCHER, Bengal H. P. The Orders of Chivalry, from the Original Statutes of the various Orders of Knighthood and other Sources of Information. With 3 Portraits and 63 Plates, beautifully coloured and heightened with gold, 4to, coloured, £6. 6s., Plain, ^^3. 3s. " Major Lawrence- Archer has produced a learned and valuable work in his account of 'The Orders of Chivalr3\' He explains that the object of the book is to supply a succinct account of the chivalric orders in a convenient form. The literary form of the work is amply convenient for reference and study. Its material form could be convenient only to some knight of the times when armour was worn in the field, and men were stronger in the arm than they are now. It is a handsome volume. The size of the book is doubtless due to the introduction of a series of engraved plates of the badges and crosses of the various orders described. These plates are executed in a finished style, and give the work an exceptional value for students of heraldic symbolism. The author may be congratulated on the successful issue of a laborious and useful task."— /Scotsman, 14th May 1888. SIR EDWIM ARNOLD, M.A., Author of The Light of Asia,'' ^c. The Book of Good Counsels, Fables from the Sanscrit of the Hito- padesa. With Illustrations by Gordon Browne. Autograph and Portrait, crown 8vo, antique, gilt top, 5s. The Same. Superior Edition, beautifully bound, 7s. 6d. " It is so long since Sir Edwin Arnold's Indian fables were in print that they may practically be regarded as a new book. In themselves they are almost the fathers of all fable, for whereas we know of no source whence the ' Hitopaddsa ' could have been borrowed, there are evidences of its inspiration and to spare in Bidpai, in ^Esop, and in most of the later fabulists." — Pall Mall Gazette. "Those curious and fascinating stories from the Sanskrit which Sir Edward Arnold has retold in 'The Book of Good Counsels' give us the key to the heart of modern India, the writer tells us, as well as the splendid record of her ancient gods and glories, quaint narratives, as full of ripe wisdom as the songs of Hiawatha, and with the same curious blending of statecraft and wood-magic in them." — Daily TeUffraph. " A new edition comes to hand of this delightful work — a fit companion to '.^sop's Fables' and the 'Jungle Book.' Sir Edwin has done well to republish this record of Indian stories and poetical maxims from the Sanskrit. And the illustrations, a speci- men of which we give here, what shall we say of them? Simply that they are equal to the text. No more pleasant series of ' Good Counsels' is it possible to find, and we are convinced that it is not an ill counsel — far from it — to advise our readers to fortli- with get this charming work. They will derive not a little pleasure, and perchance instruction, from a perusal of the story of the jackal, deer, and crow, of the tiger and the traveller, of the lion, the jackals, and the bull, of the black snake and golden chain, of the frogs, and the old serpent, and of all the other veracious chronicles herein set forth." — Whitehall Revieiv. S. BA RING- GO ULD, M.A., A iithor of ' ' Mehalah ;' ^c. In Troubadour Land. A Ramble in Provence and Languedoc, with Illustrations by J. E. Rogers. Medium 8vo, 12s. 6d. " The title of Mr Baring-Gould's book only indicates one of the many points of interest which \\ill attract the intelligent traveller during a tour in Provence and Languedoc. Besides troubadours, there are reminiscences of Greek colonisation and Roman Empire, of the Middle Ages, and of the Revolution. . . . The illustrations which adorn the pages of this very readable volume are decidedly above the average. The arm-chair traveller will not easily find a pleasanter conipagnon tie voyage."— St James's Gazette. "A most charming book, brightly written, and profusely illustrated with exquisite engravings." — Glasgow Herald. "A charming book, full of wit and fancy and information, and worthy of its subject." — Scotsman. Fo7' the Reduced Prices apply to oj Messrs IV. H. Allen &" Co.'s Publicatmis. SIR E. C. BA YLE Y. The Local Muhammadan Dynasties, Gujarat. Forming a wSequel to Sir II. M. Elliott's " History of the Muhammadan Empire of India," demy 8vo, 2 is. WYKE BAYLISS. The Enchanted Island, the Venice of Titian, and other studies in Art, with Illustrations. Ciown 8vo, 6s. "Richly imaginative and full of eloquent and frequently highly poetical thought." — Standard. " A charm which would render it difficult for any one to lay the book aside till the last page is reached." — Art Journal. "A clever lecturer might pick more than one chapter as a good bit for evening readings. " — Graphic. The Hig-her Life in Art. Crown 8vo, with Illustrations, 6s. "The style has the grace which comes by culture, and no small share of the eloquence bred of earnest conviction. Mr Bayliss writes as a man who, having seen much, has also read and thought much on fine art questions. His views are therefore entitled to that respectful attention which the pleasant dress in which he has clothed them renders it all the easier to accord." — Scotsman. " The writing is that of a scholar and a gentleman, and though the critical faculty is often evinced in a subtle and discriminating form, all allusions to individuals are made with so much of the kindliness of true good taste, that we are almost conscious of a reluctance in disagreeing with the author." — The Spectator. ''MrWyke Bayliss is at the same time a practical artist and a thoughtful writer. The combination is, we regret to say. as rare as it is desirable. . . He deals ably and clearly — notably so in this present book — with questions of the day of practical and immediate importance to artists and to the Art public. . . We prefer to send the reader to the volume itself, where he will find room for much reflection." — The Academy. " One of the most humorous and valuable of the general articles on Art is MrWyke Bayliss' ' Story of a Dado.' " — The Standard. MISS SOPHIA BEALE. The Churches of Paris from Clovis to Charles X., with numerous Ilkistrations. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. CONTENTS:— Notre Dame; Notre Dame dcs Champs; Notre Dame de Lorette ; Notre Dame des Victoires; Genevieve; Val de Grace; Ste. Chapelle : St Martin; St Martin des Champs ; Etienno du Mont; Eustache ; Germain I'Auxerrois ; Germain des Pri'S; Gervais; Julien ; Jacques; Leu; Laurent; Merci ; Nicolas; Paul; Roch; Severin ; Y. dePaul; Madeleine; Elizabeth; Sorbonne; Invalides. " An interesting study of the historical, archseological, and legendary associations which belong to the principal churches of Paris." — Times. " A comprehensive work, as readable as it is instructive. The literary treatment is elaborate, and the illustrations are numerous and attractive." — Globe. "For the more serious-minded type of visitor who is capable of concerning himself in the treasures of art and store of traditions they contain, Miss Beale has prepared her book on the Churches of Paris. It is more than an ordinary guide-book, for it mingles personal opinion and comment with curious infonnation drawn from the old and new authorities on the history and contents of the more ancient and celebrated of the Paris churches."— .Scof. swan. " A monument of historical research and judicious compilation is The Churches of Paris from Clovis to Charles X., by Sophia Beale (Allen and Co.). This valuable work, copiously and gracefully illustrated by the author, is destined to serve as a complete vade-mecum to those British visitors to the French capital who take a special interest in ecclesiastical architecture and in the curious mediajval lore connected with several of the venerable Parisian fanes that have survived wars and sieges, revolutions and spasms of urban ' improvement,' throughout from six to eight centuries." — Daily Telegraph. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. Great Reductions in this Catalogue MONSEIGNEUR BESS ON. Frederick Francis Xavier de Merode, Minister and Almoner to Pius IX. Flis Life and Works. Translated by Lady Herbert. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. "The book is most interesting, not only to Catholics, but to all who care for adventurous lives and also to historical inquirers. De Merode's career as an officer of the Belgian army, as a volunteer in Algeria with the French, and afterwards at the Papal Court, is described with much spirit by Monseigneur Besson, and Bishop of Nimes, who is the author of the original work. The book, which is now translated, was written with permission of the present Pope, and is, of course, a work agreeable to the authorities of the Vatican, but at the same time its tone leaves nothing to be desired by those who are members of the communions." — Atlienceutn. SIR GEORGE BIRD WOOD, M.D., K.C.I.E., &c. Report on the Old Records of the India Office, with Maps and Illustrations. Royal 8vo, I2s. 6d. "No one knows better than Sir Oeorge Birdwood how to make 'a baro and short- hand' index of documents attractive, instructive and entertaining, by means of the notes and elucidatory comments which he supplies so liberallj', and so pleasantly withal, from his own inexhaustible stores of information concerning the eaj-ly relations of India with Europe." — TiniPx. " The wonderful story (of the rise of the British Indian Empire) has never been better told. ... A better piece of work is very rarely met with." — The Anti-Jacobin. "Official publications have not as a rule any general interest; but as there are ' fagots and fagots' so there are reports and reports, and Sir George Bird wood's Report on the Old Records of the India Oifice is one of the most interesting that could be read." — Journal des Debats. HENRY BLACKBURN, Editor of '' Academy Notes r The Art of Illustration. A Popular Treatise on Drawing for the Press. Description of the Processes, &c. Second edition. With 95 Illustra- tions by Sir [ohn Gilbert, R.A., H. S. Marks, R.A., G. D. Leslie, R.A., Sir John xMillais, R. A., Walter Crane, R. W. Mac- beth, A.R.A., G. H. Boughton, A.R.A,, H. Railton, Alfred East, Hume Nisbet, and other well-known Artists. 7s. 6d. A capital handbook for Students. " We thoroughly commend his book to all whom it may concern, and chiefly to the proprietors of the popular journals and magazines which, for cheapness rather than for art's sake, employ any of the numerous processes which are now in vogue." — Athenceuin. " Let us conclude with one of the axioms in a fascinating volume : ' Be an artist first, and an illustrator afterwards.'" — Spectator. " 'The Art of Illustration ' is a brightly written account, by a man who has had arge experience of the ways in which books and newspapers are illustrated nowadays. ... As a collection of tyjiical illustrations by artists of the day, Mr Blackburn's book is verj' attractive." — The Times. "Mr Blackburn explains the processes— line, half-tone, and so forth— exemplifying each by the drawings of artists more or less skilled in the modern work of illustra- tion. They are well chosen as a whole, to show the possibilities of process work in trained hands."— Satutday Review. " Mr Blackburn's volume should be very welcome to artists, editors, and pub- lishers." — The Artist. " A most useful book." — Studio. For the Reduced Prices apply to oj Messrs W. H. Allen 6^ Go's Publications. E. BONAVIA, J\l.D., Brigade- Surgeon, Indian Medical Service. The Cultivated Oranges and Lemons of India and Ceylon. Demy 8vo, with oblong Atlas volume of Plates, 2 vols. , 30s. "The amount of labour and research that Dr Bonavia must have expended on these volumes would be ver}' difficult to estimate, and it is to be hoped that he will be repaid, to some extent at least, by the recognition of his work by those who are interested in promoting the internal industries of India." — Home News. " Dr Bonavia seems to have so thoroughly exhausted research into the why and wherefore of oranges and lemons, that there can be but little left for the 'most enthusiastic admirer of this delicious fruit to find out about it; Plunging into Dr Bonavia's pages we are at once astonished at the variety of his subject and the wide field there is for research in an everyday topic. Dr Bonavia has given a very full appendix, in which maybe found a few excellent recipes for confitures made'from oranges and lemons." — The Pioneer. R. BRAITHWAITE, M.D., F.L.S., &-c. The Sphagnaceas, or Peat Mosses of Europe and North America. Illustrated with 29 plates, coloured by hand, imp. 8vo, 25s. "All rauscologists will be delighted to hail the appearance of this im- portant work . . . Never before has our native moss-flora been so carefully- figured and described, and that by an acknowledged authority on the subject." — Science Gossip. "Mosses, perhaps, receive about as little attention from botanists as any class of plants, and considering how admirably mosses lend themselves to the collector's purposes, this is very remarkable. Something may be due to the minuteness of the size of ma,ny of the species, and something perhaps to the difficulties inherent in the systematic treatment of these plants ; but we fancy the chief cause of comparative neglect with which they are treated is to be sought in the want of a good illustrated English treatise upon them. In the work which is now before us, Dr Braithwaite aims at placing the British mosses on the same vantage-ground as the more favoured classes of the vege- table kingdom ; and judging from the sample lately issued, he will succeed in his endeavours." — Popular Science Revieiv. ''TOM BOWLING.'' Book of Knots (The). Illustrated by 172 Examples, showing- the manner of making every Knot, Tie, and Splice. Ky " Tom Bowling." Third Edition. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. Edited by JAMES BURROWS. Byron Birthday Book. i6mo, cloth, gilt edges, 2s. 6d. A handsome book. B. CARRINGTON, M.D., F.R.S. British Hepaticae. Containing Descriptions and Figures of the Native Species of Jungermannia, Marchantia, and Anthoceros. "With plates coloured by hand. Imp. 8vo, Parts i to 4, all published per set, 15s. S. WELLS WILLIAMS., LL.D.., Professor of the Chinese Language and Literature at Yale College. China— The Middle Kingdom. A Survey of the Geography, Govern- ment, Literature, .Social Life, Arts, and Histor}' of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants. Revised Edition, with 74 Illustrations and a New Map of the Empire. 2 vols., demy 8vo, 42s. " The work now before us is second to none in thoroughness, comprehensiveness, and all the tokens of accuracy of which an ' outside barbarian ' can take cognisance." -A. P. Peabody. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. Great Reductions in this Catalogue SURGEON-MAJOR L. A. WADDELL, M.B. The Buddhism of Tibet. With its Mystic Cults, Symbolism, and Mythology, and in its relation to Indian Buddhism, with over 200 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, 600 pp., 31s. 6d. Synopsis of Contents : — Introductory. Historical — Changes in Primi- tive Buddhism leading to Lamaism — Rir>e, Development, and Spread of Lamaism — The Sects of Lamaism. Doctrinal — Metaphysical Sources of the Doctrine — The Doctrine and its Morality — Scriptures and Literature. Mon- astic— T\\e Order of Lamas — Daily Life and Routine — Hierarchy and Rein- carnate Lamas. Buildings — Monasteries — Temples and Cathedral — Shrines (and Relics and Pilgrims). Mythology and Gods — Pantheon and Images — Sacred Symbols and Charms. Ritual and Sorcery — Worship and Ritual — Astrology and Divination — Sorcery and Necromancy. Festivals and Plays — Festivals and Holidays — Mysic Plays and Masquerades and Sacred Plays. Popular Lamaism — Domestic and Popular Lamaism. Api^endices — Chrono- logical Table — Bibliography — Index. "By far the most important mass of original materials contributed to this recondite study." — The Times. "Dr Waddell deals with the whole subject in a most exhaustive manner, and gives a clear insight into the structure, i^rominent features, and cults of the system ; and to disentangle the early history of Lamaism from the chaotic growth of fable which has invested it, most of the chief internal movements of Lamaism are now for the first time presented in an intelligible and syste- matic form. The work is a valuable addition to the long series that have preceded it, and is enriched by numerous illustrations, mostly from originals brought from Lhasa, and from photographs by the author, while it is fully indexed, and is provided with a chronological table and bibliography." — Liverpool Courier. " A book of exceptional interest." — Olasgoio Herald, "A learned and elaborate work, likely for some time to come to be a source of reference to all who seek information about Lamaism. ... In the appendix will be found a chronological table of Tibetan events, and a bibliography of the best literature bearing on Lamaism. There is also an excellent index, and the numerous illustrations are certainly one of the dis- tinctive features of the book. " — Morning Post. " Cannot fail to arouse the liveliest interest. The author of this excel- lently produced, handsomely illustrated volume of nearly six hundred pages has evidently spared no pains in prosecuting his studies. . . . The book is one of exceptional value, and will attract all those readers who take an interest in the old religions of the far East." — Publishers^ Circular. " The author is one of few Europeans who have entered the territory of the Grand Lama, and spent several years in studying the actualities of Lamaism as explained by Lamas. A Lamaist temple with its fittings was purchased, and the officiating priests explained in full detail the symbolism and the rites as they proceeded. Other temples and monasteries were visited and Lamas employed for copying manuscripts, and searching for texts bearing upon the author's researches. Enjoying special facilities for penetrating the reserve of Tibetan ritual, and obtaining direct from Lhasa and Tashi-lhunpo most of the objects and explanatory material needed, much information has been obtained on Lamaist theory and practice which is altogether new." '* The internal developments and movements of Lamaism are now for the first time presented in an intelligible and systematic form. Details of the principal rites, mystic and other deep-rooted demon worship and dark sorcery, the religious Plays and Festivals, are given fully." With numerous illustrations from originals brought from Lhasa, and from photographs by the author. J^or the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs IV. H. Allefi 6^ Co.^s Piiblicatiojis. M. C. COOKE, Af.A., LL.D. *^* For fuller notices of Dr Cooke's works see under Scientific, pp. 29, 30. The British Fungi : A Plain and Easy Account of. With Coloured Plates of 40 Species. P'ifth Edition, Revised, crown 8vo, 6s. Rust, Smut, Mildew, and Mould. An Introduction to the Study of Microscopic Eungi. Illustrated with 269 Coloured Figures by J. E. Sowerby. Eifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged, with Appendix of New Species. Crown 8vo, 6s. Handbook of British Hepaticae. Containing Descriptions and Eigures of the Indigenous Species of Marchantia, Jungermannia, Riccia, and Anthoceros, illustrated. Crown 8vo, 6s. Our Reptiles and Batrachians. A Plain and Easy Account of the .Lizards, Snakes, Newts, Toads, Frogs, and Tortoises indigenous to Great Britain. New and Revised Edition. With Orig-inal Coloured Pictures of every species, and numerous woodcuts, crown 8vo, 6s. F. C. DANVEKS. Report to the Secretary of State for India in Council on the Portuguese Records relating to the East Indies, contained in the Archivo da Torre de Tombo, and the Public Libraries at Lisbon and Evora. Royal 8vo, sewed, 6s. net. REV. A. /. D. D'OKSEY, B.D., K.C., P.O.C. Portuguese Discoveries, Dependencies, and Missions in Asia and Africa, with Maps. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. Contents. Book I. Book III. — continued Introductory. The Archbishop of Goa. The Portuguese in Europe and Asia. The Synod of Diamper. Portugal and the Portuguese. The Triumph of Rome. Portuguese Discoveries in the Fifteenth Century. Book IV. Portuguese Conquests of India in the Subsequent Missions in Southern India, bixteentn (^entury. -^^ special reference to the Syrians. The Portuguese Empire m the Sixteenth ^^^^.tion of Mission of Goa. i^entury. r^^^ Madura Mission. Book II. Portuguese Missions in the Carnatic. The Portuguese Missions in Southern Syrian Christians in the Seventeenth India. Century. Early History of the Church in India. Syrian Christians in the Eighteenth First Meeting of the Portuguese with the Century. Syrians. Book V Pioneers of the Portuguese Missions. „„ t^ ,, '^ ' The Rise of the Jesuits. l^ie Portuguese Missions, with special The Jesuits in Portugal. reference to Modern Missionary St Francis Xavier's Mission in India. _ efforts in South India. Subsequent Missions in the Sixteenth The First Protestant Mission in South Centurv India. English Missions to the Syrians 1806-lC. Book III. English Missions and the Syrian The Subjugation of the Syrian Church. Christians. Roman Claim of Supremacy. The Disruption and its Results. First Attempt, by the Franciscans. Present State of the Syrian Christians. Second Attempt, by the Jesuits. The Revival of the Romish Missions in The Struggle against Rome. India. Any Bookselle7' at Home and Abroad. 10 Great Reductions in this Catalogue C. L. EASTLAKE. Notes on the Principal Pictures in the Royal Gallery at Venice. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. VERY REV. FREDERICK W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. {Archdeacon of West77iinster). Words of Truth and Wisdom, by Very Rev. Frederick W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. \ Christian Statesmanship. Legislative Duties. The Use of Gifts and Oppor- tunities. The Brotherhood of Man. Energy of Christian Service. Christianity and the Human Race. Christianity and Individual. The Victories of Christianity. The Christian Remedy against the Frailties of Life. Prayer, the Antidote of Sorrow. Contents. The Conquest over Temp- tation. Too Late. The Souls of the Departed. What Heaven is. No Discharge in the War against Sin. The Dead which die in the Lord. The Resurrection of the Dead. The Blighted Life. Wisdom and Knowledge. The Monks. The Early Franciscans. The Hermits. The Missionaries. The Martyrs. Seneca. Seneca and St Paul. Gallio and St Paul. Roman Society' in the daj s of St Paul. Sanskrit. Greek and Hebrew. Aryan Migrations. Words. The Voice of History. " In theological views he might be described as standing between the Evangelical party and the Broad Church ; but his knowledge, coloured by a poetic temperament, his superabundant fertility, and eloquent luxuriance of style, have gained for him a unique position in the theological thought of the last twenty years."— Celebrities of the Century. GENERAL GORDON, C.B. Events in the Taeping Rebellion, being Reprints of MSS. copied by General Gordon, C. B., in his own handwriting; with Monograph, Introduction, and Notes, by A. Egmont Hake, Author of " The Story of Chinese Gordon." With Portrait and Map, demy 8vo, 1 8s. "The publication of this volume completes what may be called the personal narrative of General Gordon's eventful life told in his own words." — Manchester Gitardian. " There is no doubt that a wide circle of readers will like to read tha story in the very words of the gallant leader of the ' Ever Victorious Army.' " — Daily Oraphic. A handy book of reference. Companion to the Writing Desk ; or, How to Address, Begin, and End Letters to Titled and Official Personages. Together with a Table of Precedence, copious List of Abbreviations, Rules for Com- position and Punctuation, Instructions on Preparing for the Press, &c. 32mo, is. A useful manual which should bo in every office. BARON CUVIER. The Animal Kingdom, with considerable Additions by W. B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S., and J. O. Westwood, F.L.S. New Edition, Illustrated with 500 Engravings on Wood and 36 Coloured Plates, imp. 8vo, 2IS. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen 6^ Co.^s Publications. ii M. GRIFFITH. India's Princes, short Life Sketches of the Native Rulers of India, with 47 full-page Illustrations. Demy 4to, gilt top, 2 is. The contents are arranged in tho following order: — The Pcvjaub — H.H. The Maharaja of Cashmere, H.H. Tho Maharaji of Patiala, H.H. The Maharaja of Kapur- thalla. R.UPUTAXA— The Maharaja of Ouidpur, The Maharaja of Jeypore, The Maha- raja of Jodhpur, The Maharaja of Uwar, The Maharaja of Bhurtpur. Ckn'TRal India. — H.H. The Maharaja Hoikar of Indore, H.H. The Maharaja Scindia of GwaHor, H.H. The Begum of Bhopal. The Bombay Presfdexcy— H.H. The Gaikwar of Baroda, H. H. The Rao of Cutch. H.H. The Raja of Kolhapur, H.H. The Nawab of Juarrghad. H.H. The Thakore Sahib of Bhavna?ar, H.H. The Thakore Sahib of Dhangadra, H.H. The Thakore Sahib of Morvi, H.H. The Thakore Sahib of Qondal. Southern India— H.H. Tho Nizam of Hyderabad, H.H. The Maharaja of Mysore, H.H. The Maharaja of Travancore, &c. " A handsome volume, containing a series of photographic portraits and local views with accompanying letterpress, giving biographical and political details, carefully com- piled and attractively presented."' — Times. GEORGE GRESSWELL. The Diseases and Disorders of the Ox. Second Edition, demy 8vo, 7s. 6d. " This is perhaps one of the best of the popular books on the subject which has been published in recent years, and demonstrates in a most unmistakable manner the great advance that has been made in Bovine and Ovine Pathology since the days of Youatt. ... To medical men who desire to know something of the disorders of such an important animal — speaking hjgienically — as the Ox, the work can be recommended." — The. Lancet. C. HAMIITON. Hedaya or Guide, a Commentary on the Mussulman Laws. Second Edition, with Preface and Inde.x l)y S. G. Grady, 8vo, 35s. The great Law-Book of India, and one of the most important monuments of Mussul- man legislation in existence. "A work of very high authority in all Moslem countries. It discusses most of the subjects mentioned in the Koran and Sonna." — Mill s Mohammedanism. " A valuable work." — Allibone. JOSEPH HA YDN. Book of Dignities, containing lists of the Official Personages of the British Empire, Civil, Diplomatic, Heraldic, Judicial, Ecclesiastical, Municipal, Naval, and Military, from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time, together with the Sovereigns and Rulers of the World from the Foundation of their respective States ; the Orders of Knighthood of the United Kingdom and India, and numerous other lists. Founded on Beatson's "Political Index" (i8o6\ Remodelled and brought down to 1851 by the late Joseph Haydn. Con- tinued to the Present Time, with numerous additional lists, and an Index to the entire Work, by Horace Ockerby, Solicitor of the Supreme Court. Demy 8vo, 25s. " The most complete official directory in existence, containing about l,3rt0 different lists." — Times. " The value of such si book can hardly be overrated." — Saticrday Review. " A perfect monument of patient labour and research, and invaluable for many purposes of reference." — Truth. "This valuable work has cost its editor, Mr Horace Ockerby, a great deal of labour, and does infinite credit to his research and industrj." — World. Any Bookseller at Home a?id Abroad. 1 2 Great Reductions in this Catalogue Rev. H. R. HA WE IS, Af.A., Author of ''Music and Morals :' Sir Morell Mackenzie, Physician and Operator, a Memoir, compiled and edited from Private Papers and Personal Reminiscences. New Edition, with Portrait and copy of Autograph Letter from the Queen, crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Contents. Family Tree. Private Practice. The Respite. Surroundings. Leisure Hours. The Last Voyage. Boyhood. The Emperor. Last Glimpses. A Vocation. The German Doctors. The End. The Throat Hospital. The Book. " Mr Haweis writes not only fearlessly, but with remarkable freshness and vigour. He is occasionally eloquent, and even pathetic. In all that he saj's we perceive a transparent honesty and singleness of purpose." — Saturday^ Review. " A deeply interesting book, and one which challenges in a most striking and fear- less manner the stern verdict which Sir Morell's own profession so generally passed upon his conduct before and after the death of his illustrious patient the Emperor. . . The volume is full of absolutely interesting details, many among them new." — Daily Telegraph. HOWARD HENSMAN, Special Correspondent of the ''Pioneer'' [Allahabad) and the " Daily Neivs " [London). The Afghan War, 1879-80. Being a complete Narrative of the Capture of Cabul, the Siege of Sherpur, the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the March to Candahar, and the defeat of Ayub Khan. With Maps, demy 8vo, 2IS. " Sir Frederick Eoberts says of the letters here published in a collected form that ' nothing could be more accurate or graphic' As to accuracy no one can be a more competent judge than Sir Frederick, and his testimony stamps the book before us as constituting especially trustworthy material for history. Of much that he relates Mr Hensman was an eye-witness ; of the rest he was informed by eye-witnesses immedi- ately after the occurrence of the events recorded. There could, therefore, be little doubt as to the facts mentioned. Credibility might be concurrent with incorrect deductions, but we are assured by Sir Frederick Roberts that Mr Hensman's accuracy is complete in all respects. Mr Hensman enjoyed singular advantages during the first part of the war, for he was the only special correspondent who accompanied the force which marched out of Ali Kheyl in September 1870. One of the most interesting portions of the book is that which describes the march of Sir Frederick Roberts from Cabul to Candahar. The description of the Maiwand disaster is given with combined clearness, simplicity, and power, and will be read with the utmost interest. Indeed, the book is in every respect interesting and well written, and reflects the greatest credit on the author." — Athenceum. SIR JOHN F. W. HERSCHEL, Bart., K.H., dr'c., Member of the Institute of France, &^c. Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects. New Edition, crown 8vo, 6s. " We arc reminded of the rapid progress made by science within the last quarter of a century hy the publication of a new edition of Sir John Herschel's Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects. In 1861, spectrum analysis, as applied to the heavenl}' bodies, was referred to as a possibility ; now it is not only an accomplished fact, but the analysis of the gases contained in the sau has led to the discovery of one of them, helium, upon the earth. Some of the lectures, such as that on light, are practically popular treatises on the particular subject to which they refer, and can be read with advantage even by advanced students."— TAe Westminster Review. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Mess?'s W. H. Allen 6^ Co.^s Publications. 13 REV. T. P. HUGHES. Dictionary of Islam. Being a Cyclopredia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, together with the Technical and Theological Terms of the Muhauimadan Religion. With numerous Illustrations, royal 8vo, £2. 2s. " Such a work as this has long been needed, and it would be hard to And any one better qualified to prepare it than Mr Hughes. His ' Notes on Muhammadanism,' of which two editions have appeared, have proved decidedly useful to students of Islam, especially in India, and his long familiarity with the tenets and customs of Moslems has placed him in the best possible position for deciding what is necessary and what superfluous in a ' Dictionary of Islam.' His usual method is to begin an article with the text in the fforan relating to the subject, then to add the traditions bearing upon it, and to conclude with the comments of the Mohammedan scholiasts and the criticisms of Western scholars. Such a method, while involving an infinity of labour, produces the best results in point of accuracy and comprehensiveness. The diSicult task of compiling a .dictionary of so vast a subject as Islam, with its many sects, its saints, khalifs, ascetics, and dervishes, its festivals, ritual, and sacred places, the dress, manners, and customs of its professors, its commentators, technical terms, science of tradition and interpretation, its superstitions, magic, and astrology, its theoretical doctrines and actual practices, has been accomplished with singular success ; and the dictionary will have its place among the standard works of reference in every library that professes to take account of the religion which governs the lives of forty millions of the Queen's subjects. The articles on * Marriage,' ' Women,' ' Wives,' ' Slavery,' 'Tradition,' 'Sufi,' 'Muhammad,' 'Da'wah' or Incantation, • Burial,' and 'God,' are especially admirable. Two articles deserve special notice. One is an elaborate account of Arabic ' Writing' by Dr Steingass, which contains a vast quantity of useful matter, and is well illustrated by woodcuts of the chief varieties of Arabic script. The other article to which we refer with special emphasis is Mr F. Pincott on ' Sikhism.' There is something on nearly every page of the dictionary that will interest and instruct the students of Eastern religion, manners, and customs." — Alhenceiitn. Ditfionmy of JMuJiaiJunadaii Theology. Notes on Muhammadanism, l)y Rev. T. P. Hughes. Third Edition, revised and enlarged. Fcap. 8vo, 6s. " Altogether an admirable little book. It combines two excellent qualities, abun- dance of facts and lack of theories. . . . On every one of the numerous heads (over fifty) into which the book is divided, Mr Hughes furnishes a large amount of very valuable information, which it would be exceedingly difficult to collect from even a large library of works on the subject. The book might well be called a ' Dictionary of Muhammadan Theology,' for we know of no English work which combines a methodical . arrangement (and consequently facility of reference) with fulness of information in so high a degree as the little volume before us." — The Academy. " It contains muHuni in parvo, and is about the best outlines of the tenets of the Muslim faith which we have seen. It has, moreover, the rare merit of being accurate ; and, although it contains a few passages which we would gladly see expunged, it can- not fail to be useful to all Government employe's who have to deal with Muhammadans ; whilst to missionaries it will be invaluable." — The Times of India. " It is manifest throughout the work that we have before us the opinions of one thoroughly conversant witii the subject, and who is uttering no random notions. . . . We strongly recommend 'Notes on Muhammadanism.' Our clergy especially, even though they are not missionaries, and have no intention of labouring amongst Muham- madans, or consorting with them, ought to have at least as much knowledge of the system as can be most readily acquired, with a very little careful study, from this use- ful treatise."— jT/je Record. SIR IV. HUNTER. Bengal MS. Records. A Selected List of Letters in the Board of Revenue, Calcutta, 1782- 1807, with an Historical Dissertation and Analytical Index. 4 vols. , demy 8vo, 30s. A Statistical Account of Bengal. 20 vols. , demy 8vo, £6. Any Booksellei' at Home and Abroad, 14 Great Rediictio7is in this Catalogue J. HUNTERy late Hon. Sec. of the British Bee-keepers' Association. A Manual of Bee-keeping-. Containing Practical Information for Rational and Profitable Methods of Pee Management. Full Instruc- tions on Stimulative Feeding, Ligurianising and Queen-raising, with descriptions of the American Comb Foundation, Sectional Supers, and the best Hives and Apiarian Appliances on all Systems. Fourth Edition, with Illustrations, crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. " We are indebted to Mr J. Hunter, Honorary Secretary of the British Bee-keepers' Association. His Manual of Bee-keeping, just published, is full to the very brim of choice and practical hints fully up to the most advanced stages of Apiarian Science, and its perusal has afforded us so much pleasure that we have drawn somewhat largely from it for the benefit of our readers." — Bee-keepers' Magazine (New York). *' It is profusely illustrated with engravings, which are almost always inserted for their utility. . . . There is an old sajang that ' easy writing is hard reading,' but we will not say thus much of Mr Hunter's book, which, taken as a whole, is perhaps the most generally useful of any now published in this country." — The Field. MAJOR LEIGH HUNT, Madras Army, and ALEX. S. IvENNY, M.R. C.S.E., A.K.C., Senior Demonstrator of Anatomy at icing's College, London. On Duty under a Tropical Sun. Being some Practical Suggestions for the Maintenance of liealth and Bodily Comfort, and the Treatment of Simple Diseases ; with remarks on Clothing and Equipment. Second Edition, crown 8vo, 4s. "This little book is devoted to the description and treatment of many tropical diseases and minor emergencies, supplemented by some useful hints on diet, clothing, and equipment for travellers in tropical climates. The issue of a third edition proves that the book has hitherto been successful. On the whole we can commend the hints which have been given for the treatment of various diseases, but in some places much has been left to the knowledge of the reader in the selection and application of a remedy." — Scottish Geographical Magazine. " Is written more especially for the rougher sex, and is only less important than Tropical Trials ' because it has had many more predecessors. It is now in a third edition, and contains practical suggestions for the maintenance of health and bodily comfort, as well as the treatment of simple diseases, with useful remarks on clothing and equip- ment for the guidance of travellers abroad." — Daily Telegraph. Tropical Trials. A Handbook for Women in the Tropics. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. " Is a valuable handbook for women in the East, and, we are glad to see, now in its second edition. It does not treat theoreticallj^ of the maladies incidental to Europeans in hot climates, or go deeply into those matters which properlj' belong to the experi- enced doctor, but it gives plain, wholesome advice on matters of health, which, were it scrupulously followed, it is not too much to saj' v/ould add fifty per cent, to the enjoyment of our countrywomen abroad. She could scarcely have a better guide as to what to do and what not to do than this excellent handbook, which deserves to be included in every woman's foreign outfit." — Daily Telegraph. JOHN II. INGRAM. The Haunted H.")mes and Family Traditions of Great Britain. Illustrated. Ciown 8vo, 7s. 6d. Epitomised in One Volume by R. 0' BYRNE, F.R.G.S., ^c. James' Naval History. A Narrative of the Naval Battles, Single Ship Actions, Notable Sieges, and Dashing Cutting-out Expeditions, fought in the days of Howe, Hood, Duncan, St Vincent, Bridport, Nelson, Camperdown, Exmouth, Duckworth, and Sir Sydney Smith. Crown 8vo, 5s. For the Reduced Prices, apply to of Messis IV. H. Alloi cr' Go's Publications. 15 MRS GRACE /OHNSON, Silver Medallist Cookery, Exhibition. Anglo-Indian and Oriental Cookery. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. " Overflows with all sorts of delicious and economical recipes." — Pall Mall Budget. " Housewives and professors of the grentlo art of cookery who deplore the dearth of dainty dishes will find a veritable gold mine in Mrs Johnson's book."— i^aW Mall Gazette. Appeals to us from a totally original standpoint. She has thoroughly and com- pletely' investigated native and Anglo-Indian cuisines, and brought away the very best specimens of their art. Her pillaii and kedgree are perfect, in our opinion ; curries are scientifically classed and explained, and some of the daintiest recipes we have ever seen are given, but the puddings particularlj' struck our fancj'. Puddings as a rule are so nasty ! The pudding that is nourishing is hideously insipid, and of the smart pudding it may truly be said that its warp is dyspepsia, and its woof indigestion. Mrs Johnson's puddings are both good to taste and pretty to look at, and the names of some of her native dishes would brighten any menu. H. G. KEENE, C. I. E. , B. C. S. , M. R. A.S., 6-r. History of India. From the Earliest Times to the Present Day. For the use of Students and Colleges. 2 vols, with Maps. Crown 8vo, 1 6s. " The main merit of Mr Keene's performance lies in the fact that ho has assimilated all the authorities, and has been careful to bring his book down to date. He has been careful in research, and has availed himself of the most recent materials. He is well known as the author of other works on Indian history, and his capacity for his self- imposed task will not be questioned. We must content ourselves with this brief testi- mony to the labour and skill bestowed by him upon a subject of vast interest and importance. Excellent proportio.n is preserved in dealing with the various episodes, and the stylo is clear and graphic. The volumes are supplied with many useful maps, and the appendix include notes on Indian law and on recent books about India." — Globe. " Mr Keene has the admirable element of fairness in dealing with the succession of great questions that pass over his pages, and ho wisely devotes a full half of his work to the present century. The appearance of such a book, and of every such book, upon India is to be hailed at present. ±\. fair-minded presentment of Indian history like that contained in Mr Keene's two volumes is at this moment peculiarly welcome." — Times. An Oriental Biographical Dictionary. Founded on Materials collected by the late Thomas William Beale. New Edition, revised and enlarged, royal 8vo, 28s. " A complete biographical dictionary for a country like India, which in its long history has produced a profusion of great men, would be a vast undertak'ng. The suggestion here made only indicates the line on which the dictionary, at some future time, could be almost indennitely extended, and rendered still more valuable as a work of reference. Great care has evidently been taken to secure the accuracy of all that has been included in the work, and that is of far more importance than mere bulk. The dictionary can be commended as trustworthy, and reflects much credit on Mr Keene. Several interesting lists of rulers are given under the various founders of dynasties. "'—//if/ja. The Fall of the Ivloghul Empire. From the Death of Atirungzeb to the Overthrow of the Mahratta Power. A New Edition, with Correc- tions and Additions, with Map, crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. This work fills up a blank between the ending of Elphinstone's and the commence- ment of Thornton's Histories. Fifty-Seven. Some Accotmt of the Administration of Indian Districts during the Revolt of the Bengal Army. Demy 8vo, 6s. Any Bookselle?- at Home and Abroad. 1 6 Great Reductio7is in this Catalogue DR TALBOTT, and others. Keble College Sermons. Second Series, 1877- 1888, crown 8vo, 6s. " To those who desire earnest, practical, and orthodox doctrine in the form of short addresses, these sermons will be most acceptable ; and their lofty tone, their eloquent wording, and the thorough manliness of their character, will commend them to a wide circle of readers." — Morning Post. " Dr Talbot has a second time thoughtfully placed on public record some of the lessons which were taught during his Wardenship in Sermons preached in the Chapel of Keble College, Oxford, 1877-1888. The sermons are fresh and vigorous in tone, and evidently come from preachers who were thoroughly in touch with their youthful audience, and who generally with much acuteness and skill grappled with the spiritual and intellectual difficulties besetting nowadays the University career." — Church Timss. G. H. KINAHAN. A Handy Book of Rock Names. Fcap. 8vo, 4s. "This will prove, we do not doubt, a very useful little book to all practical geo- logists, and also to the reading student of rocks. When a difficulty is incurred as to a species of deposit, it vdll soon vanish. Mr Kinahan's little book will soon make it all clear. The work is divided into three parts. The first is a classified table of rocks, the second part treats of the Ingenite rocks, and the third part deals with those rocks which are styled Derivate. Dana's termination of yte has been most generally used by the author, but he has also given the ite terminations for those that like them. The book will be purchased, for it must be had, by every geologist ; and as its size is small, it will form a convenient pocket companion for the man who works over field and quarry." — Popular Science Revieiv. REV. F. G. LEE, D.D. {Vicar of All Saints', Lambeth). The Church under Queen Elizabeth. An Historical Sketch, By Rev. F. G. Lee, D.D. (Vicar of All Saints', Lambeth). Second Edition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. "There is the same picturesqueness of detail, the same vigorous denunciation, the same graphic power, which made the earlier book pleasant reading even to many who disagree heartily with its tone and object. . . Dr Lee's strength lies in very graphic description." — Notes and Qiteries. " This is, in many ways, a remarkably fine book. That it is povverfuUj' v/ritten no one acquainted with Dr Lee's vigorous style w^ould for a moment dispute." — Horning Post. " Presenting a painful picture of the degradation into which the Church had sunk in Elizabeth's reign." — Daily Telegraph. Sights and Shadows. Being Examples of the Supernatural. New Edition. With a Preface addressed to the Critics. Crown 8vo, 6s. " This work will be especially interesting to students of the supernatural, and their name is legion at the present moment. It deals with more than one branch of what is commonly known as spiritualism. The introduction gives a brief resume of various forms of magic and divination which have obtained credence in all ages, and later on we find well-authenticated accounts of apparitions, supernatural warnings, hypnotic experiments, and mii'acles of healing. Mr Lee evidently believes that ' there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy,' and few sane people will disagree with him, though they may not be inclined to accept all hie opinions and assertions as they stand." — Lady. " Here we have ghostly stories galore, which believers in supernatural visitations will welcome as upholders of the faith that is in them. Dr Lee is a hard hitter an^ a vigorovis controversialist, with a righteous contempt for your Darwins and Stu.irt Mills, and such like folk, and is not aljove suggesting that some of them have a decided worship of the god Self. As for ' the pompous jargon and silly cynicism which so many public scribes again and again make use of to throw discredit upon any phase of the supernatural,' I have nothing to say. They can take care of themselves. This much I know, that ' Sights and Shadows ' gives one an eerie feeling as midnighfc approaches and the fire flickers on the hearth." — Gentlewoman. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs \V. II. Allen & Co.^s Publications. 17 COL. G. B. MALLESON. History of the French in India. From the Founding of Pondicherry in 1C74, to the Ca[)ture of that place in 1761. New and Revised Edition, with Maps. Demy 8vo, i6s, "Colonel M'llleson has produced a volume alike attractive to the general reader and valuable for its new matter to the special student. It is not too much to say that now, for the tlrst time, we are furnished with a faithful narrative of that portion of European enterprise in India which turns upon the contest waged by the East India Company against French inlhience, and especially against Dupleix." — Edinburgh Review. " It is pleasant to contrast the work now before us with the writer's flrst bold plunge into historical composition, which splashed every one within his reach. He swims now with a steady stroke, and there is no fear of his sinking. With a keener insight into human character, and a larger understanding of the sources of human action, he com- bines all the power of animated i-ecital which invested his earlier narratives with popularity." — Fortnvjh'Jy Review. " The author has had the advantage of consulting the French archives, and his volume forms a useful supplement to Ornie." — Athenceum. Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas. New Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. " How India escaped from the government of prefects and sub-prefects to fall under that of commissioners and deputy-commissioners; why the Penal Code of Lord Macaulay reigns supreme instead of a (!odo Napoleon; why we are not looking on heljilessly from Mahe, Karikal, and Pondicherry, while the French are ruling all over Mndras, and spending millions of francs in attempting to cultivate the slopes of the Neilgherries, may be learnt from this modest volume. Colonel Malleson is always painstaking, and generally accurate ; his style is transparent, and he never loses sight of the purpose with which he commenced to write." — Saturday Revieic. " A book dealing with such a i)eriod of our history in the East, besides being interesting, contains many lessons. It is written in a style that will be popular with general readers." — A thoiceum. " It strikes one as the best; thing he has yet done. Searching, yet easy, his pen goes with unflagging power through the military wonders of a hundred years, connecting the accounts of battles by a sufficient historic thread." — Academy. History of Afghanistan, from the Earhest Period to the Outbreak of the War of 1878, with map, demy 8vo, 1 8s. " The name of Colonel Malleson on the title-page of any historical work in relation to India or the neighbouring States is a satisfactory guarantee both for the accuracy of the facts and the brilliancy of the narrative. The author may be complimented upon having written a History of Afghanistan which is likely to become a work of standard authority." — Scotsman. The Battle-Fields of Germany, from the Outbreak of the Thirty Years' War to the Battle of Blenheim, with maps and one plan, demy 8vo, 1 6s. " Colonel Malleson has shown a grasp of his subject, and a power of vivifying he confused passages of battle, in which it would be impossible to name any living writer as his equal. In imbuing these almost forgotten battle-fields with fresli interest and reality for the English reader, he is re-opening one of the most important chapters of European History, which no previous English writer has made so interesting and instructive as he has succeeded in doing in this volume." — Academy. Ambushes and Surprises, being a Description of some of the most famous instances of the Leading "into Ambush and the Surprises of Armies, from the time of Hannibal to the period of the Indian Mutiny, with a portrait of General Lord Mark Ker, K.C.B., demy Svo, iSs. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 1 8 Great Reductions in this Catalogue JAMES IRVIN LUPTOiV, F.R.C. V.S., atiiliorof Tiie Extemal Anafoiuy of i tie Horse, ''^ &^c. The Horse : as he Was, as he Is, and as he Ought to Be, with Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. " Written with a good object in view, namely, to create au interest in the important subject of horse-breeding, more especially that class known as general utility horses. The book contains several illustrations, is well printed and handsomely bound, and we hope will meet with the attention it deserves."— Z/U-e Stock Journal. T. MILLER MA GUI RE, M.A., LL.D. American War— Campaigns in Virginia, 1861-2, with Maps. Royal 8vo, paper covers, 3s. 6d. I\IRS MANNING. Ancient and Mediceval India. Being the History, Religion, I^ws;, Caste, Manners and Customs, Language, Literature, Poetry, Pkillo^ sophy, Astronomy, Algebra, Medicine, Architecture, Manufactures, Commerce, &c., of the Hindus, taken from their Writings.. Wiillli Illustrations. 2 vols., demy 8vo, 30s. IRVING MONTAGU {late Special War Correspondent '' Iliustr^ed London News "). Camp and Studio. Illustrated by the Author. New EditioQ. Crown 8vo, 6s. "His animated pa^es and sketches have a more than e})hemeral interest, and present a moving picture of the romance and the misery of countries and populations- ravaged by great opposing armies, and many a picturesque episode of persjonal ex-- periences ; he is pleasant and amusing enough." — Daily JSews. " Mr Irving Montagu's narrative of his experiences as war artist of the Illustrated^- London News during the Russo-Turkish war, though late in appearing, may be readt with interest. War correspondents and artists usually enjoy a fair share of adventure ;; but Mr Montagu appears to have revelled in dangers which seem anything but desir- able when studied in cold blood. Mr Montagu has much that is interesting to telll about the horrors of the siege of Kars and the prowess of the fair young Amazon whc commanded a troop oi Bashi-Bazuks, and even seduced a Russian general to her side. How he got to the front in spite of Russian prohibition, disguised as a camp follower, how his portmanteau v/as shelled a few inches behind his back, what he risked and what he saw in the memorable lines before Plevna, will be read with great interest. The book is well illustrated by many vigorous sketches, some of which are exceedingly humorous."— Athenceum. "A bright chatty record of wars, scenes, and adventures in various parts of the World." — iJcho. Wanderings of a War Artist. Illustrated by the Author. New Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. "Mr Montagu is to be congratulated on an eminently readable book, which, both in style and matter, is above the average of productions in this kind."— The Morninrf Post. ' " This is an enchanting book. Equally as writer and as artist, Mr Irving Montagu is a delightful companion. This beautiful and exceptionally interesting volume does not by any means exhaust the literary and artistic achievements of the well-known ' special ' of the llbistrated London News."— The Daily News. " His own adventures are largely seasoned with stories of other people and anec- dotes he picks up. He went through the second siege of Paris under the Commune, and some of the best reading in the book is the picture he gives of the state of poor, beautiful Paris, seen by the eye of an observing, impartial man, who has no object in either exaggerating or under-colouring the work of the Commune." — The Spectator. "The adventures of Mr Montagu are narrated with humour, and are seldom dull reading."— GZas^ow Herald. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen a^ Co.'s Publications. 19 /. MORRIS, Author of " The War in Korea,'' ^sfc, thirteen years resident in Tokio under the Japanese Board of Works. Advance Japan. A Nation Thoroughly in Earnest. With over 100 Ilki.strations by R. Isayama, and of photographs lent by the Japanese Legation. 8vo, 12s. 6d. "Mr Morris evidently knows the countrj' well, and ig a strong believer in its future ; his book will be found a useful summary of recent history, abounding in good character sketches, accompanied with photographs, of the leading men." — Times. " Is really a remarkably complete account of the land, the people, and the institu- tions of Japan, with chapters that deal with matters of such living interest as its growing industries and armaments, and the origin, incidents, and probable outcome of the war with China. The volume is illustrated by a Japanese artist of repute ; it has a number of useful statistical appendices, and it is dedicated to His Majesty the Mikado." — Scotsman. " Mr Morris, who writes, of course, with thorough loca.l knowledge, gives a very complete and eminently readable account of the country, its government, people, and resource. . . The work, which contains a large number of portraits and other illustra- tions, is decidedly ' on the nail,' and may be recommended not only as a book to read, but as of value for reference." — Westminster Gazette. " Puts before us a clear view of the point which has been reached. Ilis work is historical, social, and descriptive ; we see in it the Japanese of to-day as he really is. Mr Morris has also something to say on the Japanese at home— how he eats, how he dresses, and how he comports himself ; while wider issues are discussed in the chapters treating of the administration of the islands, their ports, communications, trades, and armaments. "—GZoZ^c. " A well-proportioned sketch of the Japanese of to-day, so recent as to include the results of the war. . . There is much else I should like to quote in this able and interesting book. It has a good chapter on natural history, and an excellent chapter on diet, dress, and manners ; it gives just enough of Japanese history to help the ordinarj" reader who wants to learn his Japan on easy terms ; it has also most useful and attractively conveyed information in its brief account of the principal cities of Japan, communications and armament, language and literature, mines and minerals." — Queen. " He summarises clearlj', concisely, the existing knowledge on the Japanese Parlia- mentary system, territorial and administrative divisions, natural history, domestic and national customs, dynastic changes, old feudal institutions, town populations, industries, mineral and other natural resources, railways, armaments, the press, and other subjects too many for enumeration. Even the chapter on language and litera- ture makes an appalling subject interesting. . . . Mr Morris has brought his very use- ful account of Japan up-to-date. He gives a good summary of the recent war with China, and then proceeds to make some well-considered suggestions on a matter of supreme importance to Europe no less than to the two Empires of the Far East." CHARLES MARVIN. The Region of the Eternal Fire. An Account of a Journey to the Caspian Region in 1883. New Edition. With Maps and Illustra- tions. Crown 8vo, handsomely bound, 6s. "The leading authorit3' of the English Press on the Central Asian Question is Charles Marvin, a man of iron industry, who has wielded his comprehensive knowledge of the region in such a manner as to render eminent service to his country." — Opinion of Arminius Vamhery. "Charles Marvin's services in respect of the Russo-Afghan Question have been invaluable. He has heard with his own ears the opinions expressed on the subject bj- Russian generals and diplomatists, and, for the love of England, has spent his own money to warn England's people." — Opiaion of Colonel Malleson, " Tim Russo-Affjhan Question," p. 55. Any Bookseller at Home a?id Abroad 20 Great Reductions in this Catalogue IV. O'CONNOR MORRIS. Great Commanders of Modern Times, and the Campaign of 1815. Turenne — Marlborough — Frederick the Great — Napoleon — Welling- ton — Moltke. With Illustrations and Plans. Royal 8vo, 21s. " Mr Morris certainly brings to his task vast reading and exhaustive research." — Athenocum. " We gladly welcome this handsome volume by Judge O'Connor Morris, which gives evidence on every page of careful reading and correct judgment. . . . An admirable book to place in the hands of any student who wishes to get some idea of the history of the art of war." — Academy. " To the students of war this book will prove of the utmost interest and the greatest possible service." — National Observer. " Writes vividly and well." — Times. CARDINAL NEWMAN Miscellanies from the Oxford Sermons of John Henry Newman, D. D. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. "All the resources of a master of English style — except, perhaps one, description — were at his command ; pure diction, clear arrangement, irony, dignity, a copious command of words, combined with a reserve in the use of them — all these qualities went to make up the charm of Newman's style, the finest flower that the earlier sj-stem of a purely classical education has produced." — Athcnceuvi. "The pieces presented to us here are carefully chosen, and answer the purpose of the present volume. The selections which are contained in it happily avoid any of these passages which have been the grounds of controversy. As a general rule we are able to take in the teachings of this book without any arriere-jiensee, without any feeling that we have here the germ of those theories which estrange their author from us. " — Athenceum. COL. F. A. WHIN YATES, late R.H. A., formerly conunanding the Battery. Military Regiments— F'rom Corunna to Sevastopol, the History of "C" Battery, "A" Brigade, late "C" Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, with succession of Officers from its formation to the present time. With 3 Maps, demy 8vo, 14s. ED WARD 'NE WMAN, F. Z. S. British Butterflies. With many Illustrations. Super royal 8vo, 7s. 6d. DEPUTY SURGEON-GENERAL C. T. PASKE, late of the Bengal Army, and Edited by F. G. AFLALO. Life and Travel in Lower Burmah, with P'rontispiece. Crown 8vo, 6s. " In dealing with life in Burmah we are given a pleasant insight into Eastern life ; and to those interested in Tndia and our other Eastern possessions, the opinions Mr Paskc offers and the suggestions he makes will be delightful reading. Mr Paske has adopted a verj' light style of writing in ' Myamma,' which lends an additional charm to the short historical-cum-geographical sketch, and both the writer and the editor are to be commended for the production of a really attractive book." — Public Opinioi^ For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen &" Go's Publications. 21 Translation of the famous Passion Play. Passion Play at Oberammergau, The, with the whole Drama translated into English, and the Songs of the Chorus in German and English ; also a Map of the Town, Plan of the Theatre, &c. 4to, cloth, 3s. 6d. ; paper, 2s. 6d. " The author of ' Charles Lowder ' has done a real service in publishing a transla- tion of ' The Passion Play at Oberammericau,' with a description of the play and short account of a visit there m 1880. To those who have already seen it, this little book will recall vividly the experience of what must be to all a memorable daj', while to those who are going in 1890 it is simply invaluable." — Guardian. MARY A. PR A TTEN. My Hundred Swiss Flowers, with a short account of Swiss Ferns. With 60 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, plain plates, 12s. 6d. ; with plates coloured by hand, 25s. "The temptation to produce such books as this seems irresistible. The author feels a want ; the want is undeniable. After more or less hesitation he feels he can supply it. It is pleasantly written, and affords useful hints as to localities." — Atkc7iceu'//i. R. A. PROCTOR. Watched by the Dead, a loving study of Dickens' half-told tale. Crown 8vo, cloth, IS. 6d. ; boards, is. " Mr Proctor here devotes much study and much ingenious conjecture to restoring the plot of ' The Mystery of Edwin Drood.' It would not be fair were we to attempt to give in a small compass the result of his labours. It must suffice to saj' that those who have occupied themselves with this curious problem will be interested in the solution here offered for their acceptance." — Spectator. WILLIAM PROCTOR, Stud Groom. The Manag-ement and Treatment of the Horse in the Stable, Field, and on the Road. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged, Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 6s. " There are few who are interested in horses will fail to profit by one portion or another of this useful work." — Sportsman. " We cannot do better than wish that Mr Proctor's book may find its way into the hands of all those concerned in the management of tho most useful quadruped we possess." — England. " There is a fund of sound common-sense views in this work which will be interest- ing to many owners." — Field. " Coming from a practical hand the work should recommend itself to the public." — Sportsman. WILLIAM RAEBURN ANDREW. Raeburn (Sir Henry, R.A.), Life by his Great-Grandson, William Raeburn Andrew, with an Appendix comprising a list of his works exhibited in the Royal Academy, Edinburgh. Svo, los. 6d. " Mr Andrew's book, which on this occasion appeals to a wider public, makes no pretence to do more than to bring together the biographical fragments concerning Raeburn gathered out of various publicatiojis and to ' make them coherent with a little cement of his own.' Possibly a fuller and more original biography of the greatest of our portrait-painters, who was at the same time one of the greatest ornaments of the Edinburgh Society of the beginning of the century, may yet see the light ; and in the meantime we can be grateful to Mr Andrew for bringing together and arranging so rich a store of topographical and personal details connected with his illustrious ancestor. In an appendix is a useful annotated catalogue of the 1876 exhibition of Raeburn's works." — Scotsiaan. A?iy Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 2 2 Great Rediictiofis in this Catalogue R. RIMMER, F.L.S. The Land and Freshv/ater Shells of the British Isles. Illustrated with lo Photographs and 3 Lithographs, containing figures of all the principal Species. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, 5s. " This handsomely got up little volume supplies a long-felt want in a very ingenious and trustworthy manner. The author is an* enthusiastic conchologist, and writes both attractively and well, and in a manner so simple and natural that we have no fear that any ordinarily educated man will easily understand every phrase. But the feature of this book which strikes us most is that every species of British land and freshwater shell has been photographed, and here we have all the photographs, natural size in the albertype process, so that the merest tyro will find ro difficulty in identi- fying any shell he may find. " — Science Gossip. ALEXANDER ROGERS (^Bombay Civil Service, Retired). The Land Revenue of Bombay, a History of its Administration, Rise, and Progress, with 18 Maps. 2 vols., demy Svo, 30s. "Mr Rogers has produced a continuous and an authoritative record of the land changes and of the fortunes of the cultivating classes for a full half-century, together with valuable data regarding the condition and burdens of those classes at various periods before the present system of settlement was introduced. Mr Rogers now presents a comprehensive view of the land administration of Bombay as a whole, the history of its rise and progress, and a clear statement of the results which it has attained. It is a narrative of which all pa,triotic Englishmen may feel proud. The old burdens of native rule have been lightened, the old injustices mitigated, the old fiscal cruelties and exactions abolished. Underlying the story of each district we see a per- ennial struggle going on between the increase of the population and the available means of subsistence derived from the soil. That increase of the population is the direct result of the peice of the country under British rule. But it tends to press more and more severely on the possil)Ie limits of local cultivation, and it can only be provided for bj' the extension of the modern appliances of production and distribu- tion. Mr Rogers very properly confines himself to his own subject. But there is ample evidence that the extension of roads, railways, steam factories, and other industrial enterprises, have played an important part in the solution of the problem, and that during recent years such enterprises have been powerfully aided by an abundant currency." — The. Times. ROBERT SEWELL. Analytical History of India, from the earliest times to the Abolition of the East India Company in 1858. Post Svo, 8s. "Much careful labour has been expended on this volume." — Athenxum. " The object of the author in compiling the following analytical sketch of Indian history has been to supply a want felt by most students of the more voluminous standard works of Mill, Elphinstone, Thornton, and Marshman, for a condensed outline in one small volume, which should serve at once to recall the memory and guide the eye. At the same time he has attenipted to render it interesting to the general reader by preserving a medium between a bare analysis and a complete historj' ; so that, without consulting the eminent authorities mentioned above, the mind may readily grasp the principal outlines of the early condition of India, and the rise and progress of the East India Companj'. For the more full comprehension of these facts the author has provided, in addition to a table of contents and a chronological index, an index to the geographical position of the places to which reference is made in the text, bearing the latitudes and longitude as given in Thornton's ' Gazetteer of India.' This will be found not only to aid the student who is but partially acquainted with the map of India, but also bj' means of occasional accents to guide him in the ordinary pro- nunciation of the names." — Preface. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen 6^ Co.^s Publications. 23 G. P. SANDERSON. Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India; their Haunts and Habits, from Personal Observation, with an account of the Modes of Capturing and Taming Wild Elephants. With 21 full-page Illustra- tions, reproduced for this Edition direct from the original drawings, and 3 Maps. Fifth Edition. Fcap. 4to, 12s. " We find it difficult to hasten through this interesting book ; on ahiiost every page Bome incident or some happy descriptive passage tempts the reader to linger. The author relates his exploits with ability and with singular n;odesty. His adventures with m^n-Gaters will afford lively entertainment to the reader, and indeed there is no portion of the volume which he is likely to wish shorter. The illustrations add to the attractions of the book." — Pall Mall Gazette. " Thi-5 is the best and most practical book on the wild game of Southern and Eastern India that we have read, and displays an extensive acquaintance with natural history. To the traveller proposing to visit India, whether he bo a sportsman, a naturalist, or an antiquarian, the book will be invaluable : full of incident and sparkling with anecdote." — Bailey's Magazine. "This— the fifth edition of a work as charming to read as it is instructive — will be welcomed equally by lovers of sport, and of natural history. Though he met with and shot many other kinds of wild beasts, the bulk of the volume, well written, well illus- trated, and generally well got up, deals chiefly with the elephant, the tiger, the bison, the leopard, and the bear. Mr Sanderson, with exceptional powers of observation, cultivated friendly intercourse with the nati\es ; and he was consequently able to utilise to the utmost the singularly favourable opportunities enjoyed bj* him as director of elephant-capturing operations in Mysore and Chittagong. The result is a book which to graphic details of sporting adventures far surpassing the common, adds a correct natural history of the animals chiefly dealt with, and particularly the elephant. From this real king of beasts, Mr Sander&on carefully removes every exaggeration made both for or against him, which had been repeated without any good foundation by one writer after another ; he substitutes for fables a description of elephantine anatomy, size, habits, and character which may be said to sum up all that we know for certain about the animal, and nearly all that one can wish to know. We should have wished to see this edition brought up to date. The book is more fascinating than a romance ; and we have read it now the third time with as great a zest as when we revelled over the perusal of the first edition." — Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review. PROFESSOR SHELDON. The Future of British Agriculture, how Farmers may best be bene- fited. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. "Fortunately Prof. Sheldon has no mind to play the part of a prophet, but from the plenitude of a long experience gives sage counsel how to farm abreast of the time and be ready for whatever may ensue. . . . This little book is well worth reading, and it is pleasant to find that the Professor by no means despairs of the future of agriculture in England." — Academy. " We welcome the book as a valuable contribution to our agricultural literature, and as a useful guide to those branches in which the author is especially qualified to instruct." — Nature. "In this beautifullj' printed and well-bound little book Professor Sheldon, in his usual happy style, sur\eys the agricultural field, and indicates what he thinks is the prospect in front of the British farmer. Like a watchman he stands u^jon his tower — and when asked. What of the night ? he disavows not that we are in the night, but earnestly declares that the morning cometh apace. The professor is an optimist ; he does not believe that the country is done, and still less does he favour the idea that, taking a wide survey, the former days were better than these. On the contrary, he urges that the way out of the wilderness is not by any by-path, but by going right ahead ; and, ere long, the man who holds the banner high will emerge triumphant." — Scottish Farmer. J. SMITH, A.L.S. Ferns : British and Foreign. Fourth Edition, revised and greatly enlarged, with New Figures, &c. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 24 Great Reductions in this Catalogue G. BARNETT SMITH, Author of ''History of the English Parliament y Leaders of Modern Industry. Biographical Sketches. Contents : — The Stephensons, Charles Knight, Sir George Burns, Sir Josiah Mason, The Wedgwoods, Thomas Brassey, The Fairbairns, Sir William Siemens, The Rennies. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. " ' Leaders of Modern Industry ' is a volume of interesting biographical sketches of the pioneers of various phases of industry, comprising the Stephensons, Charles Knight, Sir George Burns, Sir Josiah Ma^on, the Wedgwoods, Thomas Brasse}', the Fairbairns, Sir William Siemens, and the Ptcnnies." — World. Women of Renown. Nineteenth Century Studies. Contents : — Frederika Bremer, Countess of Blessington, George Eliot, Jenny Lind, Mary Somerville, George Sand, Mary Carpenter, Lady Morgan, Rachel, Lady Hester Stanhope. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. Mr Barnett Smith continues his biographical activitj'. It is not many weeks since a volume appeared from his pen on " Christian Workers of the Nineteenth Century " ; now we have "Women of Renown: Nineteenth Century Studies." The later is the larger and more elaborate work of the two, but in design and execution it is not greatly dissimilar from the earlier volume. Desirous of shov.'ing what the women of eminence whom he has chosen for delineation really were — how they lived, moved, and acted— the author has presented them wherever he could " as painted bj^ them- selves or their contemporaries." Autobiographies and biographies are thus, as far as available, laid under contribution. In the hands of so capable a compiler as Mr Barnett Smith such materials have been skilfully utilised, and the result is a series of brightl}^ written sketches. The Life and Enterprises of Ferdinand de Lesseps — The only full and Complete English Account of. New Edition. Revised, and brought up to the time of his death, with Portrait. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. " A great part of M. de Lesseps' career already belongs to history, and is invested with a lustre which nothing can obscure. Mr G. Barnett Smith makes this clear in his useful and painstaking compilation. ... It is skilfully executed, and illustrates aptly and not altogether inopportunely, both the poetry and the prose of M. de Lesseps' extraordinary career." — The Timers. "A very comprehensive life of Ferdinand de Lesseps has been produced by G. Barnett Smith, who has already proved his ability as a faithful and painstaking biO' grapher. The career of M. de Lesseps was one of great achievements and great vicissitudes. This biographer lauds his achievements. The facts of the prosecution in connection with the Panama Canal project are elaborately set forth in this volume, to which all readers interested in the question should refer for information on a matter which to people not resident in France must have appeared unusually' complicated." — Westminster Revieiv. ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, D.D. [Dean of Westtninster). Scripture Portraits and other Miscellanies collected from his Published Writings. By Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D. Crown Svc, gilt top, " In virtue of his literary genius, his solid acquirements, his manly sense, and his sympathetic and generous piet^^ he ranks among the most eminent and estimable of Christian teachers." — Chambers's Encyclopcedia. "These essays range over a period of tv/enty years (1850-1870), and they furnish a series of singularly interesting illustrations of the great controversies which have agitated that time. . . . Every one, indeed, of his essays has achieved in its day a success which makes a recommendation unnecessary." — Allibone. , For the Reduced I^rices apply to of Messrs IV. H. Allen 6^ Go's Publications. 25 E. CE. SOMERVILLE and MARTIN ROSS, 7 'HE AUTHORS OF ''AN IRISH COUSIN.'' Through Connemara in a Governess Cart. Illustrated by W. W. Russell, frcjiu Sketches by Edith (1^. Somerville. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d, "The quaint scriousnesg, the free and hearty fun, the sly humour of this narrative, arc charmiii^iy bri^jht and attractive."— IForW. "A brisfht and breezy narrative of two ladies in Connemara who preferred inde- pendence and a mule to society and a mail car. Their simple story is divertingly told." — Tbnes. "The deli,t,''htful wilderness of mountain, peat bog, and heather, and all that they said and did, are jjraphically described in this chatty and extremely readable volume." — Daily Telegraph. " Sketches of Irish Life, the eccentricities of wandering Saxons, and descriptions of local scenery, are worked \^^ in a manner which makes the book a pleasant companion. Mr Russell has in his illustration abl^- supported the writers." — Morning Post. By the same Atithors. In the Vine Country —Bordeaux and its Neighbourhood, Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. " The genuine fund of wit and humour which sparkles throughout will be enjoyed by all." — (ilaRgow Herald. "The authors have the knack of putting their readers in the situation in which they themselves were, and so the book, light and smart as it is, is heartily enjoyable." — Scotsman. " A bright, artless narrative of travel." — Times. ''There is not a dull line in the volume from the flrst page to the \iisi."—La(Ji/s Pictorial. J. E. TAYLOR, F.L.S., F.G.S., ^c. For fuller notices of Dr Taylor's Works, see Scientific, pp. t^^, 34. Flowers : Their Origin, Shapes, Perfumes, and Colours. Illustrated with 32 Coloured Figures by Sowerby, and 161 Woodcuts, Second Edition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. The Aquarium : Its Inhabitants, Structure, and Management. Second Edition, with 238 Woodcuts. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Half- Hours at the Seaside. Illustrated with 250 Woodcuts. Fourth Edition. Crown Svo, 2s. 6d. Half- Hours in the Green Lanes. Illustrated with 300 Woodcuts. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. E. THORNTON. A Gazetteer of the Territories under the Government of the Viceroy of India. Last Edition. Revised and Edited by Sir Roper Lethbridge, CLE., and A. N. Wollaston, CLE. Demy 8vo, 1,070 pp., 28s. PERCY M. THORNTON. Harrow School and its Surroundings. With Maps and Plates. Demy 8vo, 15s. Any Bopjzseller at Home and Abroad 26 Great Reductions i?i this Catalogue W. M. TORRENS, History of Cabinets. From the Union with Scotland to the Acquisition of Canada and Bengal. 2 vols. Demy 8vo, 36s. "It is almost impossible — and, alas! now useless as regards the writer — to praise this book too highly. It is a clever, sincere, and painstaking contribution to the making of modern history, and all students of constitutiona,l and parliamentary history will find much to interest and instruct them in these able volumes. In all the minor matters of references, indexing, and printing every care has been taken. Indeed, all is praiseworthy, and the pity is that the writer should have passed away without receiving the thanks of students." — St James's Budget. " ' A History of Cabinets' from the beginning of the Eighteenth Century down to the death of George II., which the late Mr M'Cullagh Torrens regarded as ' the work of his life,' was published yesterday. It consists of two volumes of considerable bulk, showing at once that something more than the origin and progress of the Cabinet system had occupied the attention of the author. In fact, a history of Cabinets is a history of Governments, and a history of Governments is, in a great measure, a history of England." — The Standard. A, J. WALL. Indian Snake Poisons. Their Nature and Effects. Crown 8vo, 6s. Contents. The Physiological Effects of the Poison of the Cobra (Naja Tripudians).— The Physio- logical Effects of the Poison of Russell's Viper (Daboia RusselUi).— The Physiological Effects produced by the Poison of the Bungarus Fasciatus and the Bungarus Coeruleus. — The lielative Power and Properties of the Poisons of Indian and other Venomous Snakes. — The Nature of Snake Poisons. — Some practical considerations connected with the subject of Snake-Poisoning, esiiecially regarding prevention and treatment. — The object that has been kept in view, has been to define as closely as possible, the con- ditions on which the mortality from Snako-bite depends, both as regards the physio- logical nature of the poisoning process, and the relations between the reptiles and their victims, so as to indicate the way in which we should best proceed with the hope of diminishing the fearful mortality that exists. JOHN WATSON, F.L.S. Ornithology in Relation to Agriculture and Horticulture, by various writers, edited by John Watson, F. L..S., &c. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. List of Contributors. — Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, late Consulting Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England ; O. V. Alpin, F.L.S. , Member of the British Ornithologists' LTnion; Charles Whitehead, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c., author of "Fiftj- Years of Fruit Farming"; John Watson, F.L.S., author of " A Handbook for Farmers and Small Holders " ; the Rev. F. O. Morris, M.A., author of "A History of British Birds"; G. W. Murdoch, late editor of The. Farmer; Riley Fortune, F.Z.S. ; T. H. Nelson, Member of the British Ornithologists' Union ; T. Southwell, F.Z.S. ; Rev. Theo. Wood, B.A., F.I.S. ; J. H. Gurney, jun., M.P. ; Harrison Weir, F.R.H.S. ; W. H. Tuck. ' ' Will form a textbook of a reliable kind in guiding agriculturists at large in ..their dealings with their feathered friends and foes alike." — Glasgow Herald. "This is a valuable book, and should go far to fulfil its excellent purpose. , . . It is a bojk that every agriculturist should possess." — Land and Water. "It is well to know what birds do mischief and what birds are helpful. This book is the very manual to clear up all such doubts." — Yorkshire Post. "In these days of agricultural depression it behoves the farmer to study, among other subjects, ornithology. That he and the gamekeeper often bring down plagues upon the land when they fancy they are ridding it of a pest is exceedingly well illustrated in this series of papers." — Scotsman. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen c?^ Co.^s Puhlicatio7is. 27 SAMUEL IVILRERFORCE, D.D. {Bishop of Winchester). Heroes of Hebrew History. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. "The tales which he relates aro all good, and have a moral aim and purpose.'" — Athcnmutn. " It is written with a natural and captivatinc^ fervour." — London Quarterly Revieio. " .\n interesting historical account." — London Lit. Gaz. " Using his influence as a man of the world for the purpose of modifying those about him for good.an.l making them servo as his instruments for the furtherance of the objects which he had at heart. He W3.3 the most delightful of companions, and the wittiest talker of his time. Of his extraordinary versatility and extraordinary powers of work, it is impossible to speak at length here, but both qualities are abundantly illustrated in his life by Canon Ashwell." — Celebrities of the Century. S. WELLS WI L.LI A MS., LL.D., Professor of the Chi?iese Language and Literature at Yale College. China — The Middle Kingdom. A Survey of the Geography, Govern- ment, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants. Revised Edition, with 74 Illustrations and a New Map of the Empire. 2 vols. Demy 8vo, 42s. Dr S. Wells Williams' Middle Kingdom has long occupied the position of a classic. It is not only the fullest and most authoritative account of the Chinese and their coimtry that exists, but it is also the most readable and entertaining. This issue ia practically a now work — the text of the old edir.ion has been largely re-written and the work has been expanded so as to include a vast amount of new material collected by Dr Williams during the late years of his residence ia China— as well as the most recent information respecting al! the dq3artments of the Empire. Many new illustrations have b?en added and the best of the old engravings have been retained. An important feature of this edition is a large niap of the Chinese Empire from the best modern authorities, more coaiplete and accurate than any map of the country hitherto published. HARRY WLLLIAMS, R.N. {Chief Inspector of Machinery). Dedicated, by permission, to Admiral H.ll.H. the Duke of Edinburgh. The Steam Navy of England. Past, Present, and Future. Contents: — Part I. — Our Seamen; Part II. — Ships and Machinery; Part III. — Naval Engineering; Part IV. — Miscellaneous, Summary, with an Appendix on the Personnel of the Steam Branch of the Navy. Third and enlarged Edition. Medium 8vo, 12s. 6d. " It is a series of essays, clearly written and often highly suggestive, on the still unsolved, or only partially and tentatively solved, problems connected with the man- ning and orgonisation, and propulsion of our modern war-ships, . . . being laudably free from technicalities, and written in a not unattractive style, they will recommend themselves to that small, but happily increasing, section of the general public which concerns itself seriously and intelligently with naval affairs." — Times. " Mr Harry Williams, a naval engineer of long experience and high rank, discusses the future requirements of the fleet. He is naturally most at home when dealing with points which specially affect his own branch of the service, but the whole book is well worth study." — Manchester Guardian. '' Must be pronounced a technical book in the main, although its author expressly states that he wrote it ' not so much for professional as non-professional men.' Its manifest object is to promote the efficiency of our steam navy in times to come, keeping which aim steailfastly in view Mr Williams has brought great knowledge and ability to bear upon the endeavour to forecast what provision it would be well to make in order to meet the full naval re(iuirements of the British nation. His highly instructive work is divided into four parts, under the respective titles of ' Our Seamen,' ' Ships and Machinery,' 'Naval Engineering,' and 'Miscellaneous,' which again aie carefully summarised in some fifty pages of eminently readable matter. The three chapters of miscellanea deal principally with the coal-endurance, engine-room complements, elec- tric lighting, and steam-steering macliinery of Her Majesty's ships." — Daily Telegraph Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. Great Reductions in this Catalogue Professor H. H. WILSON, author of the '' Standard Hislory of India" Glossary of Judicial Terms, including words from the Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Uriya, Marathi, Guzarathi, Telugu, Karnata, Tamil, Malayalam, and other languages. 4to, cloth, 30s. Wynter's Subtle Brains and Lissom Fingers. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Contents. The Buried Eoman Oily in Britain. Early Warnings. " Silvertown." Dining Booms for the Working Classes. Advertising. Eailway and City Population. Vivisection, A Day with the Coroner. The New Hotel System. The English in Paris. The Restoration of our Soil. The Times Newspaper in 170S. Half-Hours at the Kensington Museum. The Under-Sea Railroad. Mudie's Circulating Library. Oh, the Roast Beef of Old England Fraudulent Trade Marks. Phys'cal -Education. Superstition: Where does it End? Advice by a Retired Physician. The New Counterblast to Tobacco. The Clerk of the Weather. Air Traction, Portsmouth Dockyard. Illuminations, Village Hospitals. Boat-Building by Machinery. Railways, the Great Civilisers. The Effects of Railway TravelHng upon On taking a House. Health. Photographic Portraiture. The Working-Men's Flower Show. Doctor's Stuff. Messages under the Sea. Smallpox in London. Town Telegraphs. Hospital Dress. The Bread We Eat. Excursion Trains. " Altogether ' Subtle Brains and Lissom Fingers 'is o.bout the pleasantest book of short collected papers of chit chat blending information with amusement, and not over- tasking the attention or the intelligence, that we have seen for a good while." — London Reader. LIEUT. G. J. YOUNGHUSBAND, Queen's Own Corps of Giiides. Eighteen Hundred Miles in a Burmese Tat, through Eurmah, Siam, and the Eastern Shan States. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 5s. " There is a good deal of jocular description in this book, which, as the reader will easily see, has been introduced with an eye rather to amusement than to accuracy; but after all the volume will have repaid the reader for the few hours which may bo spent in its perusal if it conveys to him, as it is calculated to do, a fair impression of the diflficulties which beset the wayfarer in a strange land who, when in search of the pleasures of travel, begins his journey where he should leave oiT, and ends it where he should have started." — Athencevm. "Mr Younghusband's account of his adventures is written simply and without exaggeration, but on the whole we think we would rather read about the Shan country than travel in it." — Literary World. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs IV. H. Allen er^ Go's Publications. 29 Sctenttfic Merles : tncluMiiG 3Botaui^ IRatural ibtstorp, ^c. E. BON A VI A, I\/.D.^ Brii^ade-Surgeoii^ Indian Medical Sef-vicc. The Cultivated Oranges and Lemons of India and Ceylon. Demy Svo, with oblong Atlas Volume of Plates, 2 vols. 30s. A'. BRAITHWAITE, iM.D., F.L.S., qt'c. The Sphagnaceje, or Peat Mosses of Europe and North America. Illustrated with 29 Plates, coloured by hand. Imp. Svo, 25s. "All mtiscologists will bo delighted to liail the appearance of this important work. . . . Never before has our native moss-llora been so carefully figured and described, and that by an acknowledged authority on the subject."— <S'tv'e?Jce Gosaip. " Mosses, perhaps, receive about as little attention from botanists as any class of plants, and considering how admirably mosses lend themselves to the collector's purposes, this is very remarkable. Something may be due to the minuteness of the size of many of the species, and somctliing jierhaps to the difficulties inherent in the systematic treatment of these plants ; but we fancy the chief cause of comparative neglect with which they are treated is to be sought in the want of a good illustrated English treatise upon them. In the work which is now before us, Dr Braithwaito aims at placing the British mosses on the same vantage-ground as the moi'e favoured classes of the vegetable kingdom ; and judging from the Sample lately issued, he will succeed in his endeavours." — Popular Science Review. B. CARRINGTON, M.D., F.R.S. British Hepaticse. Containing Descriptions and Figures of the Native Species of Jungermannia, Marchantia, and Anthoceros. Imp. Svo, sewed, Parts i to 4, plain plates, 2s. 6d. each ; coloured plates, 3s. 6d. each. M. C. COOKE, ALA., LL.D. The British Fungi : A Plain and Easy Account of. With Coloured Plates of 40 Species. Fifth Edition, Revised. Crown Svo, 6s. '• Mr Oooke writes for those whose education and means are limited, and with pre- eminent success. It is really a pleasure to read the manuals which he has published, for they are up to the mark, and so complete as to leave hardly anything to be desired. The new work on the fungi appears to be equally valuable with those which he has already printed. It contains descriptions of the esculent fungi, the manner in which they are prepared for the table, how to discriminate the nutritious from the poisonous species, details of the principles of their scientific classification, and a tabular arrange- ment of orders and genera." Handbook of British Hepaticae. Containing Descriptions and Figures of the Indigenous Species of Marchantia, Jungermannia, Riccia, and Anthoceros, Illustrated. Crown Svo, 6s. " It is very creditable to Mr Cooke that the drawings in his book are all sketches from nature made by his own pencil. This shows work, and is more respectable than the too common practice of copying engravings from the authorities in the particular branch of science. This little l)ook is valuable, because in some respects it is certainly a good guide-book to a number of edible fungi unknown to the public." — Popular Science Review. "Probably no group in the British flora has received so little attention as the Hepaticaj. Dr M. C. Cooke has now filled up the gap by producing a ' Handbook of the British Hepaticte,' containing full descriptions of all the species, about two hundred in number, known to inhabit the British Islands." — Nature. M. C. Cooke's Books continued. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 3D Great Reductions in this Catalogue M. C. COOKE, ALA., LL.D.—co7itimied. 'Our Reptiles and Batrachians. A Plain and Easy Account of the Lizards, Snakes, Newts, Toads, Frogs, and Tortoises indigenous to Great Britain. New and Revised Edition. With original Coloured Pictures of every Species, and numerous Woodcuts. Crown 8vo, 6s. Contents. Keptiles and Snake-stones. The Blind Worm. The Common Fro^. The Common Lizard, The Common Snake. The Edible Frog. The Sand Lizard. The Smooth Snake. The Common Toad, The Green Lizard. The Viper, or Adder. Common Smooth Newt or The Natterjack. Great Water Newt. Eft. Palmate Newt. Gray's Banded Newt. The Hawk's-Bill Turtle. The Leathery Turtle. Amphibia or Batrachians. Appendix. " Mr Cooke has especially distinguished himself as a student of the fungi and the fresh-water algaj, his wot^ks on these orders being the standard treatises in English. He has also paid some attention to zoology and chemistry, his education in these as in other sciences being obtained by persistent self-instruction." — Celebrities of the Century. Rust, Smut, Mildew, and Mould. An Introduction to the Study of Microscopic Fungi. Illustrated with 269 Coloured Figures by J. E. SO'werby. Fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged, with Appendix of New Species. Crown 8vo, 6s. Those of our readers who are the happy possessors of microscopes would welcome this book with delight, as opening the way to a definite study of a most interesting branch of plant life. The minute fungi, here so faithfully depicted by Mr Sowerby, and so carefully described by Dr Cooke, have not only beauty of form and colour, but wonderful life-histories. Every hedge or lane or piece of waste ground, even in the suburbs of large towns, will provide specimens, which may be easily preserved on the plants which they attack or mounted as microscope slides. Important to Botanists and Students of Natural History. European Fungi (Hymenomycetum) — Synoptical Key to. Cooke (M. C. ) and Quelet (L., M.D., &c.) — Clavis Synoptica Hymenomy- cetum EuropKorum. Fcap. 8vo, 7s. 6d. ; or, interleaved with ruled paper, 8s. 6d. " Without pretending to high scientific quality, the work throughout is well fitted to instruct and to attract a class of readers who might shrink from grappling with a Bcientiflc text-book." — Saturday Review. BARON CUVIER. The Animal Kingdom. With considerable Additions by W. B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S., and J. O. Westwood, F.L.S. New Edition, Illustrated with 500 Engravings on Wood and 36 Coloured Plates. Imp. 8vo, 21s. J. HUNTER, late Hon. Sec. of the British Bee-keepers' Association. A Manual of Bee-keeping. Containing Practical Information for Rational and Profital)le Methods of Bee Management. Full Instruc- tions on Stimulative Feeding, Ligurianising and Queen-raising, with descriptions of the American Comb Foundation, Sectional Supers, and the best Plives and Apiarian AppHances on all systems. Fourth Edition. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. " We cordially recommend Mr Hunter's neat and compact Manual of Bee-keeping, Mr Eunter writes clearly and well." — Science Gossip. " We are indebted to Mr J. Hunter, Honorary Secretary of the British Bee-keepers' Association. His Manual of Bee-keeping, just published, is full to the very brim of ■choice and practical hints fully up to the most advanced stages of Apiarian Science, and its perusal has afforded us so much pleasure that we have drawn somewhat largely from it for the benefit of our readers." — Bee-keepers' Magazine {Ncic York). For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen &= Co.'s Publications. 31 G. H. KINAHAN. A Handy Book of Rock Names. Fcap. 8vo, 4s. " I'his will prove, we do uot doubt, a very useful little book to all practical geologists, and also to Iho reading student of rocks. When a difGculty is incurred as to a species of deposit, it will soon vanish. Mr Kinahan's little book will soon make it all clear. The work is divided into three parts. The first is a classified table of rocks, Iho second part treats of the Inrjanile rocks, and tbe third part deals with those rocks which are styled Derivate. Dana's termination of vie has been most generally used by the author, but he has also given the ite terminations for those that like them. The book will be purchased, for it must be had, by every geologist; and as its size is small, it will form a convenient pocket companion for the man who works over field and quarry." — Popular Science Review. Professor E. LANKESTEK. The Uses of Animals in Relation to the Industry of Man. New Edition. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 4s. Silk, Wool, Leather, Bone, Soa)), Waste, Spong-es, and Corals, Shell-fish, Insects, Furs, Feathers, Horns and Hair, arid Animal Perfumes, are the subjects of the twelve lectures on " The Uses of Animals." " In his chapter on ' Waste,' the lecturer gives startling insight into the manifold uses of rubbish. . . . Dr Lankester finds a use for everything ; and he delights in analysing each fresh sample of rejected material, and stating how each of its com- ponent parts can be turned to the best account." — Athenoeum. Practical Physiologfy : A School Manual of Health. With numerous Woodcut.s. Sixth Edition. Fcap. 8vo, 2s. 6d. Contents. Constitution of the Human Body. Breathing, or the Function of Respira- Nature of the Food supplied to the Human tion. Body. The Structure and Functions of the Digestion, and the Organs by which it is Skin. performed. The Movements of the Human Body. Nature of Blood and its Circulation by the The Brain and Nerves. Heart. The Organs of the Senses. "Writing for schoolboys, Dr Lankester has been careful to consult their tastes. There are passages in this "little work which will make it popular, and the instructor will probablj' be hailed by a name which is new to people of his class, that of a ' regular brick.' " — Athenceum. MRS LANKESTER. Talks about Health ; A Book for Boys and Girls. Being an Explana- tion of all the Processes by which Life is Sustained. Illustrated. Small Svo, is. The Late EDWARD NEWMAN, F.Z.S. British Butterflies. With many Illustrations. Super royal Svo, 7s. 6d. " The British butterflies have found a good friend in Mr Newman, who has given us a historj' of their lives — from larva to i7na;/o, their habits and their whereabouts— which is one of the most perfect things of the kind. And we are glad to read the author's statement that his work has attained, while in progress, a sale that is almost unattainable in English scientific works. Firstly, the work consists of a series of notices to the young who may be disposed to go butterfly-hunting. And in them we find the author's great experience, and we commend this part of his work to our readers. The next part deals with the subjects of anatomy, physiology, and embryo- logy of the insects ; and finally we come to the separate account of each species. This latter is admirably gi\ en. First comes a capital engraving, life size, of the species, and then follows in order the life, history, time of appearance and localitj^ occupying from a page to a page and a half or two ]iages of a large ijuarto (or nearly so) volume. All this is done well, as we might expect fron\ the author ; it is clear, intelligible, and devoid of much of the rubbish which abounds in books of this kind generallj-. We must conclude by expressing the hope that all who are interested in insects will make themselves aquainted with the volume." — Popular Science Review. Any jBookselle?' af Home and Abroad. 32 Great Reductions in this Catalogue MARY A. PR A r TEN. My Hundred Swiss Flowers. With a Short Account of Swiss Ferns, With 60 lUustrations. Crown 8vo, plain plates, 12s. 6d. ; coloured plates, 25s. "The temptation to produce such books as this seems irresistible. The author feels a want ; the want is undeniable. After more or less hesitation iie feels he can supply it. It is pleasantly written, and affords useful hints as to localities." — Athenaeum. S. L. PUMPHREY. A Little Brown Pebble, with 10 full-page cuts. Fcap. 4to, 3s. 6d. "In the story of ' A Little Brown Pebble,' its writer endeavours to introduce rco- logical science into the nursery, showing what strange creatures lived in the ancient seas, what monsters inhabited the primeval forests, and how our country alternated between torrid heats and an arctic cold. The accuracy of the information is guaran- teed by competent authorities, and the illustrations are spirited. There is no reason why the attempt should not succeed." — Academy, 21st December 1889. R. RIMMER, E.L.S. The Land and Freshwater Shells of the British Isles. Illus- trated with 10 Photographs and 3 Lithographs, containing figures of all the principal Species. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, 5s. " This handsomely got up little volume supplies a long-felt want in a very ingenious and trustworthy manner. The author is an enthusiastic conchologist, and writes both attractively and well, and in a manner so simple and natural that we have no fear that any ordinarily educated man will easily understand every phrase. But the feature of this book which strikes us most is that every species of British land and freshwater shell has been photographed, and here we have all the photographs, natural sizo in the albortype process, so that the merest tyro will find no difficulty in identi- fying any shell he may find." — Science Review. J. SMITH, A.L.S. Ferns : British and Foreign. Fourth Edition, revised and greatly en- larged, with many illustrations. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. " Each genus is described, and the technical characters upon which it is founded are shown in the accompanying illustrations, and the indispensable technical terms are explained by examples The meaning and derivations of the botanical names of ferns are also giren in sufficient detail and with sufficient accuracy to meet the wants of amateurs, if not of scholars. But perhaps the most valuable part of the work is that devoted to instruction in the cultivation of ferns, which occupies some seventy' pages of the book. A bibliography of the subject and an excellent index make up the remainder of this useful volume, which we recommend to all persons desirous of know- ing something more about ferns than being able to recognise them by sight." — Field. " Mr Smith's work entitles him to admiration for his industry and for the manifest care with which he has studied his subject ; and his present enlarged work will certainly become and be a standard library book of reference for all pteridologists and orna- mental gardeners (whether professional or amateur) who devote attention to filiculture. And there really is no family of plants which is more elegant than are ferns. Indi- genous British ferns alone afford a most interesting scope^of research and collection." — Whitehall Review. "This is a new and enlarged edition of one of the best extant works on British and foreign ferns which has been called for by the introduction, during the interval of ten years M'hich has elapsed since the issue of the first edition, of a jmmber of exotic species which have been collected and arranged under their respective genera and tribes as an appendix. There are thus introduced 234 entirely new species. The sixty pages devoted to a treatise on the cultivation of ferns are invaluable to the fern-grower, professional or amateur, describing the conditions under which ferns giow in their native country— knowledge which is essential to their really successful cultivation in this." — Rural World. Fo7' the Reduced F^'ices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen c^ Go's Publications. 33 /. E. TAYLOR, F.L.S., F.G.S. Flowers : Their Origin, Shapes, Perfumes, and Colours, Illus- trated with 32 Coloured Figures by Sowerby, and 161 Woodcuts. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. Contents The Old and New Philosophy of Flowers— The Geological Antiquity of Flowers and Insects — The Geographical Distribution of Flowers— The Structure of Flowering Plants — Relations between Flowers and their Physical Surroundings — Relations between Flowers and the Wind— The Colours of Flowers — The External Shapes of Flowers— The Internal Shapes of Flowers — The Perfumes of Flowers — Social Flowers —Birds and Flowers— The Natural Defences of Flowering Plants. "This is an altogether charming book, full of wisdom, cheerful, simple, attractive, and informed throughout with a high purpose. Its object is to place within reach of the general public in an agreeable form the results of the most recent and compre- hensive botanical research. The author is so bold as to ask why flowers were made, and is not without means to answer the question reverently and truthfully. He connects them by the aids that science supplies with the history of creation, and the records of the rocks, and with the history of man, and the progress of the agricultural and horticultural arts. He tells us how they are influenced by soil and climate, how changed and multiplied by insects and other agencies, how their seeds are blown about the world, and how by innumerable divine appointments it at last comes about chat the life of a man is environed and beautified with flowers. The work is rich in the results of travel, and it happily connects the vegetable products of fhe globe with the conditions that favour them and the wants they satisfy. It is therefore a book for all ages, and for botanists and gardeners, as well as for such as rather too gladlj^ confess they know nothing about plants. We should like to see it on every family table in the whole length and breadth of the United Kingdom." — Gardeners' Magazine. The Aquarium : Its Inhabitants, Structure, and Management. Second Edition, with 238 Woodcuts. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. "Few men have done more to popularise the natural history science than the late Dr Taylor. The work before us, while intended as a handbook to public aquaria, is responsible for many attempts, successful and otherwise, at the construction of the domestic article. The book is replete with valuable information concerning persons and thing.'?, while the directions for making and managing aquaria are very clear and concise. The illustration"? are numerous, suitable, and very good." — Schoolmaster. "The ichthyologist, be it known, is not such a fearful or horrific 'sort of wild- fowl ' as his name would seem to argue him. The prevalence of the breed, the extejit of its knowledge, the zeal of its enthusiasm, and the number of the aquaria it has built for itself in town or country, are all part and parcel of that ' march of science ' which took its impetus from Darwin and the ' Origin of Species.' Those who do not already know that useful book, ' The Aquarium, 'by Mr J. E. Taylor, Ph.D., P\L.S., dtc, should procure this new edition (the sixth). It forms a convenient handbook or popular inanual to our public aquaria. The aquarium, its inhabitants, its structure and its management, are the author's especial care And with the help of well-known works and a wide experience he has managed to put together a most praisewortny hook."— Science Sl/tinijs. Half-Hours in the Green Lanes. Illustrated with 300 Woodcuts. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. " A bock which cannot fail to please the young, and from which many an older reader mry glean here and there facts of interest in the field of nature. Mr Taylor has endea\ oured to collect these facts which are to be recorded daily by an observant country gentleman with a taste for natural history ; and he has attempted to put them together in a clear and simple style, so that the young may not only acquire a love for the investigation of nature, but may also put up (by reading this little book) an im- portant store of knowledge. We think the author has succeeded in his object. He has made a very interesting little volume, not written above the heads of its readers as man}' of those books are, and he has taken care to have most of his natural history observations very accurately illustrated." — Popular Science Revieiv. J. E. Taylor'' s Books conthmed. Any Bookseller at Ho7ne and Abroad. 34 Great Rediictioiis in this Catalogue J. E. TAYLOR, F.L.S., F.G.S.— continued. Half- Hours at the Seaside. Illustrated with 250 Woodcuts. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. " The love of natural history has now become so prevalent, at least among purely English readers, that we hardly meet a family at the seaside one of whose members has not some little knowledge of the wonders of the deep. Now, of course, this love of marine zoology is being vastly increased by the existence of the valuable aquaria at the Cr^'stal Falace and at Brighton. Still, however, notwithstanding the amount of admirable works on the subject, more especially the excellent treatises of Gosse and others, there was wanted a cheap form of book with good illustrations which should give a clear account of the ordinary creatures one meets with on the sands and in the rock pools. The want no longer exists, for the excellent little manual that now lies before us embraces all that could be desired by those who are entirely ignorant of the subject of seaside zoologj', while its mode of arrangement and woodcuts, which are carefully drawn, combine to render it both attractive and useful."— Po^niZar Siyience Review. IRiMno, Detertnar)), an^ Bgrtcultuve, EDWARD L. ANDERSON. How to Ride and School a Horse. With a System of Horse Gym- nastics. Fourth Edition. Revised and Corrected. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. " He is well worthy of a hearing." — Bell's Life. "Mr Anderson is, without doubt, a thorough horseman." — The Field. " It should be a good investment to all lovers of horses. "^T/ie Farmer. ''There is no reason whj' the careful reader should not be able, by the help of this little book, to train as well as ride his horses." — Lcmd and Water. JAMES IR VINE L UPTON, F. R. C. V. S. The Horse, as he Was, as he Is, and as he Ought to Be. Illustrated. Crown 8s'o, 3s. 6d. " Written with a good object in view, namely, to create an interest in the im- portant subject of horse-breeding, more especially that class known as general utility horses. The book contains several illustrations, is well printed and handsomely bound, and we hope will meet with the attention it deserves." — Lite Stock Journal. WILLIAM PROCTOR, Stud Groom. The Management and Treatment of the Horse in the Stable, Field, and on the Road. New and Revised Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. "There are few who are interested in horses v/ill fail to profit by one portion or another of this useful work. Coming from a practical hand the work should recommend itself to the public." — Sportsman. " There is a fund of sound common-sense views in this work which will be interesting to many owners." — Field. GEORGE G RES S J VEIL. The Diseases and Disorders of the Ox. Second Edition. Demy 8vo, 7s. 6d. •' This is perhaps one of the best of the popular books on the subject which has been published in recent years, and demonstrates in a most luimistakable manner the great advance that has been made in Bovine and Ovine Pathology since the days of Youatt. . . . To medical men who desire to know something of the disorders of such an important animal — speaking hygienically — as the Ox, the work can be recommended." — The Lancet. " It is clear, concise, and practical, and would make a very convenient handbook of reference." — Saturday Review. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs IV. If. Allen a^ Co.'s Publications. PROFESSOR SHELDON. The Future of British Agriculture. How Farmers may best be Benefited. Crown Svo, 2s. 6(1. "Fortunately Prof. Sheldon has no mind to play the part of a prophet, but from the plenitude of a long experience gives sage counsel how to farm abreast of the time and be ready for whatever may ensue. . . . This little book is well worth reading, and it is pleasant to find that the professor by no means despairs of the future of agriculture in England." — Academy. ' ' "We welcome the book as a valuable contribution to our agricultural literature, and as a useful guide to those branches in which the author is especially qualified to instruct." — Nature. ' ' In this beautifully printed and well-bound little book of 158 pp. , Professor Sheldon, in his usual happy style, surveys the agricultural field, and indicates what he thinks is the prospect in front of the British farmer. Like a watchman he stands upon his tower — and when asked, "What of the night ? he disavows not that we are in the night, but earnestly declares that the morning cometh apace. The professor is an optimist ; he does not believe that the country is done, and still less does he favour the idea that, taking a wide survey, the former days were hotter than these. On the contrary, he urges that the way out of the wilderness is not by any by-path, but by going light ahead ; and, ere long, the man who holds the banner high will emerge triumphant. " — Scottish Farmer. JOHN IVATSOM, F.L.S. Ornithology in Relation to Agriculture and Horticulture, by various writers, edited by John Watson, F. L. S., c\:c. Crown Svo. 3s. 6d. ,LiST OF Contributors. — Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, late Consulting Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England ; O. Y. Aplin, F.L.S., Member of the British Ornithologists' Union; Charles "Whitehead, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c., author of "Fifty Years of Fruit Farming"; .John ^^atson, F.L.S., author of "A Handbook for Farmers and Small Holdeis "; the Rev. F. O. Morris, M. A., author of "A History of British Birds " ; G. "W. Murdoch, late editor of The Farmer ; Riley Fortune, F.Z.S. ; T. H. Nelson, Member of the British Ornithologists' Union; T. Southwell, F.Z.S. ; Rev. Theo. "Wood, B.A., F.I.S. ; J. H. Gurnev, jun., M.P. ; Harrison "\Yeir, F.R.H.S. ; AV. H. Tuck. ' ' Will form a textbook of a reliable kind in guiding agriculturists at large in their dealings with their feathered friends and foes alike." — Glasgow Herald. " This is a valuable book, and should go far to fulfil its excellent purpose. ... It is a book that every agriculturist should possess." — Land and Water. "It is well to know what birds do mischief and what birds are helpful. This book is the very manual to clear up all such doubts." — Yorkshire Post, "In these days of agricultural depression it behoves the former to study, among other subjects, ornithology. That he and the gamekeeper often bring down plagues upon the land when they fancy they are ridding it of a pest is exceedingly well illustrated in this series of papers." — Scoisman. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad, 36 Great Rediidions in this Catalogue 5nbia, Cbina, Japan, an^ tbe Bast SURGEON-MAJOR L. A. WADDELL, M.B., F.L.S., F.R.G.S., Member of the Royal Asiatic Society, Anthropological Institute, drc. The Buddhism of Tibet, with its Mystic Cuhs, Symbolism, and Mytho- logy, and in its Kelation to Indian Buddhism, with over 2CO Illustra- tions. Demy 8vo, 31s. 6d. Synopsis of Contents :— Introductory. Historical: Changes in Primitive Bud- dhism leadinja: to Lamaism— Rise, Development, and Spread of Lamaism — The Sects of Lamaism. Doctrinal : Metaphysical Sources of the Doctrine— The Doctrine and its Morality— Scriptures and Literature. Monastic : The Order of Lamas— Daily Life and Routine — Hierarchj and Reincarnate Lamas. Btiildings: Monasteries — Temples and Cathedrals— Shrines (and Relics and Pilgrims). Mythology and Gods: Pantheon and Images— Sacred Symbols and Charms. Ritual and Sorcery: Worship and Ritual — Astrology and Divination— Sorcery and Necx'omancy. Festivals and Plays : Festivals and Holidays— Mystic Plays and Masquerades and Sacred Plays. Popular Lamaism : Domestic and Popular Lamaism. Appendices: Chronological Table — Bibliography — Index. " By far the most important mass of original materials contributed to this recondite stud 3'." — The Times. " Dr Waddell deals vv'ith the whole subject in a most exhaustive manner, and gives a clear insight into the structure, prominent features, and cults of the system ; and to disentangle the early history of Lamaism from the chaotic growth of fable which has invested it, most of the chief internal movements of Lamaism are now for the first time presented in an intelligible and systematic form. The work is a valuable addition to the long series that have preceded it, and is enriched by numerous illus- trations, most!}' from originals brought from Lhasa, and from photographs by the author, while it is fully indexed, and is provided with a chronological table and biblio- grsi-phy."—Liver2)ool Courier. " A book of exceptional interest." — Glasgow Herald. "A learned and elaborate work, likely for some time to come to be a source of reference for all who seek information about Lamaism. ... In the appendix will be found a chronological table of Tibetan events, and a bibliographj^ of the best literature bearing on Lamaism. There is also an excellent index, and the numerous illustrations are certainly one of the distinctive features of the book." — Morning Post. " Cannot fail to arouse the liveliest interest. The author of this excellentlj- pro- duced, handsomely illustrated volume of nearly six hundred pages has evidently spared no pains in prosecuting his studies. . . . The book is one of exceptional value, and will attract all those readers who take an interest in the old religions of the far Ea,Bt."—Puhlishexs' Circular. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, M.A., Author of ' The Light of Asia,'' ^c. The Book of Good Counsels. Fables from the Sanscrit of the Hitopadesa. With Illustrations by Gordon Browne. Autograph and Portrait. Crown 8vo, antique, gilt top, 5s. A few copies of the large paper Edition (limited to 100 copies), bound in white vellum, 25s. each net. " ' The Book of Good Counsels,' by Sir Edwin Arnold, comes almost as a new book, so iong has it been out of print. Now, in addition to being very tastefully and prettily reissued, it contains numerous illustrations by Mr Gordon Browne. As some few may remember, it is a book of Indian stories and poetical maxims from the Sanskrit of tht Hitopadesa. The book is alriiost a volume of fairy tales, and may pass for that with the younger generation, but it is a little too heavily overlaid with philo- sophy to be dismissed wholly as such. In fact, like all that Sir Edwin Arnold has brought before us, it is full of curir us fant ies, and th^t it it a i harming little book to look at is its least merit." — Daily Graphic. For the Reduced Pt'ices apply to of Messrs IV. H. Allen ^ Co.'s Publications. CA PTA IN J A MES ABBO TT. Narrative of a Journey from Herat to Khiva, Moscow, and St Petersburg"h tluriiig the lale Russian invasion at Khiva. With Map and Portrait. 2 vols., demy 8vo, 24s. The real ioteresb of the work conaists ia it-? store of spirited anecdote, its enter- talninjr sketches of individual and national character, its seraphic pictures of Eastern life and manners, its simply told tales of peril, privation, and suffering encountered and endured with a soldier's courage. Over the whole narrative, the »llXt■«e^" and frank- ness of the writer cast a charm that far more than covers its occasional eccentricities of style and language. It has seldom fallen to our lot to read a more interesting narrative 0? personal adventure. Rarely, indeed, do we find an author whose constant presence, through almost the whole of two large volumes, is not only tolerable, but welcome. Few readers will rise from a perusal of the narrative without a strong feeling of personal sympathj' and interest in the gallant Major ; even though here and there unable to repress a smile at some burst of ecstasy, some abrupt apostrophe, such as would never have been perpetrated by a practical writer, and a man of the world. SIR E. C. BA YLE V. The Local Muhammadan Dynasties, Gujarat. Forming a Sequel to Sir H. M. Elliotfs "History of the Muhammadan Empire of India." Demy 8vo, 21s. "The value of the work cons'sts in the light which it serves to throw upon dis- puted dates and obscure transactions. As a work of reference it is doubtless useful. Regarding the way in which its learned translator and editor has acquitted himself of his task it is scarcely necessary to write ; a profound scholar and painstaking in- vestigator, his labours are unusually trustworthy, and the world of letters will doubt- less award him that meed of praise, which is rarely withheld from arduous and con- scientious toil, by assigning him, in death, a niche in tiie temple of fame, side by side with his venerated master, Sir Henrj' Elliott." — Academy. " This book may be considered the first of a series designed rather as a supplement than complement to the ' History of India as Told by its own Historians.' Following the Preface, a necessarily brief biographical notice — written in the kindly and appre- ciative spirit which ever characterises the style of the learned editor of Marco Polo, whose initials are scarcely needed to confirm his identity— explains how on Professor Dowson's death. Sir Edward Clive Bayley was induced to undertake an editorship for which he was eminently qualified by personal character and acquaintance with the originator of the project which constituted his raison d'etre. But the new editor did not live to gee the actual publication of his first volume. Scarcely had he completed it for the press, when his career was brought to a close. A singular fatality seems to have attended the several able men who have taken the leading part in preserving thia particular monument of genuine history. Henry Elliott, John Dowson, Edward Clive Ba\-ley, and more recently still (during tho current 3-ear), Edward Thomas, the high- class numismatist, all have passe i away, with hands upon the plough in the very field of Oriental research. Without asking to whose care the preparation of any future volumes may be entrusted, let us be thankful for the work, so far completed and— at this time especially— for the instalment which has just appeared." — Athenceum. SIR GEORGE BIRD WOOD, M.D. Report on the Old Records of the India Office, with Maps and Illustrations. Royal Svo, 12s. 6d. '• Those who are familiar with Sir George Birdwood's literary method will appreciate the interest and the wealth of historical illustration with which he invests these topics " —Times, Feb. Sti. ISOl. " Sir George Birdwood has perforoied a Herculean task in exploring, sorting, and describiuir the masses of old India Office records, which Mr Danvers has now got into a state of admirable arrangement, so that, with the help of Sir George's Index, they may be readily and proatably consulted by students." — Scotsniau. Any Bookseller at Hofne and Abroad. 38 Great Reductio?is in this Catalogue E. BONA VIA, I\LD., Brigade-Surgeoii, Indian Medical Service. The Cultivated Orang-es and Lemons of India and Ceylon. Demy 8vo, with Atlas of Plates, 30s. " The amount of labour and research that Dr Bonavia must have expended on these volumes would be very difficult to estimate, and it is to be hoped that he will be repaid, to some extent at least, by the recognition of his work by those who are interested in promoting the internal industries of India." — Home News. " There can be no question that the author of this work has devoted much time and trouble to the study of the Citrus family in India. That the preparation of the book has been a labour of love is evident throughout its pages." — The Englishman. F. C. DANVERS, Registrar and S^iperintendent of Records, India Office, London. Report to the Secretary of State for India in Council on the Portu- guese Records relating to the East Indies, contained in the Archive da Torre de Tombo, and the Public Libraries at Lisbon and Evora. Royal 8vo, sewed, 6s. net. " The whole book is full of important and interesting materials for the student alike of English and of Indian history." — Times. " It is more than time that some attention was paid to the history of the Portuguese in India by Englishmen, and Mr Danvers is doing good service to India by his investi- gation into the Portuguese records." — India. " We are very grateful for it, especially with the gratitude which consists in a long- ing for more favours to come. The Secretar}^ of State spends much money on worse things than continuing the efforts of which the book under review is only the first result." — Asiatic Quarterly Review. The visits of inspection into the records preserved in Portugal bearing on the history of European enterprise in Eastern seas, which were authorised by the Secretary of State for India in 1891 and 1892, have resulted in the production of a most interest- ing report, which shows that a vast store of historical papers has been carefully pre- served in that country, which deserves more thorough investigation. Mr Danvers, whose devotion to the duties of the Record Department is well known, hastened to carry out his instructions, and his report fully attests the earnestness with which he pursued his task. The documents range in date from 1500 to the present date, and contain clusters of documents numbering r2.46o and 5,274, and 1,783 in extent, besides many other deeply interesting batches of smaller bulk. It seems that no copies exist of most of these documents among our own records, a fact which invests them with peculiar interest. GEORGE DOBSON. Russia's Railway Advance into Central Asia. Notes of a Journey from St Petersburg to Samarkand, Illustrated. Crown Svo, 7s. 6d. " The letters themselves have been expanded and rewritten, and the work contains seven additional chapters, which bring the account of the Transcaspiau Provinces down to the present time. Those of our readers who remember the original letters will need no further commendation of our correspondent's accuracy of information and graphic powers of description." — Times. '' Offers a valuable contribution to our knowledge of this region. The author journeyed from St Petersburg to Samarkand by the Russian trains and steamers. He wonders, as so many have wondered before, why the break in the line of railway communication which is made by the Caspian Sea is allowed to continue. His book is eminently impartial, and he deals with the question of trade between India and Central Asia in a chapter full of the highest interest, both for the statesman and the British merchant. " — Dailii Teleffrap/i. For the Reduced Pi'ices apply to of Messrs W. H. Al/e?i o^ Co.^s Publicatiotis. 39 REV. A.J. D. D'ORSEY, B.D., K.C., P.O.C. Portuguese Discoveries, Dependencies, and Missions in Asia and Africa, with Maps. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. Contents. Book I. Introductory. The Portuguese in Europe and Asia. Portugal and the Portuguese. Portuguese Discoveries in the Fifteenth Century. Portuguese Conquests of India in the Sixteenth Century. The Portuguese Empire in the Sixteenth Century. Book III. — continued. Book II. The Portuguese Missions in Southern India. Early History of the Church in India. First Meeting of the Portuguese with the Syrians. Pioneers of the Portuguese Missions. The Eise of the .Jesuits. The Jesuits in Portugal. St Francis Xavier's Mission in India. Subsequent Missions in the Sixteenth Century. Book III. The Subjugation of the Syrian Church. Roman Claim of Supremacy. First Attempt, by the Franciscans. Second Attempt, by the Jesuits. The Struggle against Rome. The Archbishop of Goa. The Synod of Diamper. The Triumph of Rome. Book IV. Subsequent Missions in Southern India, with special reference to the Syrians. Radiation of Mission of Goa. The Madura Mission. Portuguese Missions in the Carnatic. Syrian Christians in the Seventeenth Century. Syrian Christians in the Eighteenth Century. Book V. The Portuguese Missions, with special reference to Modern Missionary efforts in South India. The First Protestant Mission in South India. English Missions to the Syrians 1806-16. English Missions and the Syrian Christians. The Disruption and its Results. Present State of the Syrian Christians. The Revival of the Romish Missions in India. 'GENERAL GORDON, C.B. Events in the Taeping Rebellion. Being Reprints of MSS. copied by General Gordon, C. B., in his own handwriting; with Monograph, Introduction, and Notes. By A. Egmont Hake, author of "The Stoiy of Chinese Gordon." With Portrait and Map, Demy 8vo, i8s. " A valuable and graphic contribution to our knowledge of affairs in China at the most critical period of its history." — Leedi Merctiry. "Mr Hake has prefixed a vivid sketch of Gordon's career as a ' leader of men," which shows insight and grasp of character. The style is perhaps somewhat too emphatic and ejaculatory — one seems to hear echoes of Hugo, and a strain of Mr Walter Besant — but the spirit is excellent." — Athenieum. " Without wearying his readers by describing at length events which are as familiar in our mouths as household words, he contents himself with giving a light sketch of them, and fills in the picture with a personal narrative which to most people will be entirely new." — Saturda;/ Rerieic. F. V. GREENE, Military Attache to the U.S. Legation at St Petersburg:. Sketches of Army Life in Russia. Crown 8vo, 9s. Any Booksellej- at Hojne and Abroad. 40 Great Reductions in this Catalogue M. GRIFFITH. India's Princes. Short Life Sketches of the Native Rulers of India, with 47 Portraits and Ilhistrations. Demy 4to, gilt top, 21s. List of Portraits. The Punjaub. H.H. the Maharaja of Cashmere. H.H. the Maharaja of Patiala. H.H. the Maharaja of Kapurthalla. Eajputana. The Maharaja of Oudipur. The Maharaja of Jeypore. The Maharaja of Jodhpur. The Maharaja of Ulware. The Maharaja of Bhurtpur. Central India. H.H. the Maharaja Holkar of Indore. H.H. the Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior. H.H. the Begum of Bhopal. "A handsome volume containing a series of photographic portraits and local views with accompanying letterpress, giving biographical and political details, carefully compiled and attractively presented."— Ti/«es. C. HAMILTON. Hedaya or Guide. A Commentary on the Mussulman Laws. Second Edition. With Preface and Index by S. G. Grady. 8vo, 35s. " A work of very high authoi-ity in all Moslem countries. It discusses most of the subjects mentioned in the Koran and Sonna." — Mill's Muhammadanism. The great Law-Book of India, and one of the most important monuments of Mussul- man legislation in existence. " A valuable work."— Allibone. Synopsis of Contents. The Bombay Presidency. H.H. the Gaikwar of Baroda. % H.H. the E-ao of Cutch. H.H. the Eaja Kolhapur. H.H. the Nawab of Junagarh. H.H. the Thakore Sahib of Bhavnagar. H.H. the Thakore Sahib of Dhaogadra. H.H. the Thakore Sahib of Morvi. H.H. the Thakore Sahib of Gondal. Southern India. H.H. the Nizam of Hyderabad, H.H. the Maharaja of Mysore. H.H. the Maharaja of Travancore. Of Zakat. Of Nikkah or Marriage. Of Rizza or Fosterage. Of Talak or Divorce. Of Ittak or the Manumission of Slaves. Of Eiman or Vows. Of Hoodood or Punishment. Of Saraka or Larceny. Of Al Seyir or the Institutes. Of the Law respecting Lakects or Found- lings. Of Looktas or Troves. Of Ibbak or the Absconding of Slaves. Of Mafkoods or Missing Persons. Of Shirkat or Partnership. Of Wakf or Appropriations. Of Sale. Of Serf Sale. Of Kafalit or Bail. Of Hawalit or the Transfer of the Kazee. Of the Duties of the Kazee. Of Shahadit or Evidence. Of Retractation of Evidence. Of Agency. Of Dawee or Claim. Of Ikrar or Acknowledge. Of Soolh or Composition. Of Mozarjbat or Co-partnership in the Profits of Stock and Labour. Of Widda or Deposits. Of Areeat or Loans. Of Hibba or Gifts. Of Ijaro or Hire. Of Mokatibes. Of Willa. Of Ikrah or Compulsion. Of Hijr or Inhibition. Of Mazoons or Licensed Slaves. Of Ghazb or Usurpation. "^ Of Shaffa. Of Kissmat or Partition. Of Mozarea or Compacts of Cultivation. Of Mosakat or Compacts of Gardening. Of Zabbah or the Slaying of Animals for Food. Of Uzbeea or SacriQce. Of Kiraheeat or Abominations. Of the Cultivation of Waste Lands. Of Prohibited Liquors. Of Hunting. Of Rahn or Pawns. Of Janayat or Offences against the Person. Of Deeayat or Fines, ©f Mawakil or the Levying of Fines. Of Wasaya or Wills. Of Hermaphrodites. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs VV. H. Allen c^ Co.'s Publications. 41 HOWARD HENS MAN, Special Correspondent of the ''Pioneer'' [Allahabad) and the " Daily Nezus" {LoJidon). The Afghan War, 1879-80. Being a complete Narrative of the Capture of Cabul, the Siege of Sherpur, the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the March to Candahar, and the defeat of Ayub Khan. With Maps. Demy 8vo, 218. " 5Jir Frederick Roberts says of the letters here published in a collected form that ' nothing could be more accurate or graphic' As to accuracy no one can be a more competent judge thau Sir Frederick, and his testimony stamps the book before us as constituting especially trustworthy material for history. Of much that he relates Mr Hensman was an eye-witness ; of the rest he was informed by eye-witnesses immedi- ately after the occurrence of the events recorded. We are assured by Sir Frederick Roberts that Mr Honsraan's accuracy is complete in all respects. Mr Hensman enjoyed singular advantages during the first part of the war, for he was the only special corre- spondent who accompanied the force which marched out of Ali Kheyl in September 1870. One of the most interesting portions of the book is that which describes the march of Sir Frederick Roberts from Cabul to Candahar. Indeed, the book is in every respect interesting and well written, and reflects the greatest credit on the author." — Athmceum. Sir H. HUNTER. A Statistical Account of Bengal. 20 vols. Demy 8vo, £6. 1. Twenty. four Parganas and SunUar- 7. Meldah, Rangpur, Dinajpur. bans. S. Rajshahf and Bogra. 2. Nadiya and Jessor. 9. Murshidabad and Pabna. •3. Midnapur, Hugli, and Hourah. 10. Darjiling, Jalpaigurf, and Kutch 4. Bardwan. Birbhum, and Bankhura. Behar State. 5. Dacca, Bakartranj, Faridpur, and 11. Patna and Saran. Maimausinh. * 12. Gaya and Shahabad. 6. ChittagODg Hill Tracts. Chittagong, 13. Tirhut and Champaran. Noakhali, Tipperah, and Hdi 14. Bhagalpur and Santal Parganas. Tipperah State.* 15. Monghyr and Purniah. Bengal MS. Records, a selected list of Letters in the Board of Revenue, Calcutta, 17S2-1807, with an Historical Dissertation and Analytical Index. 4 vols. Demy Svo, 30s. " This is one of the small class of ori^rinal works that compel a reconsideration of views which have been long accepted and which have passed into the current history of the period to which they refer. Sir William Wilson Hunters exhaustive examination of the actual state of the various landed classes of Bengal during the last centurj- renders impossible the further acceptance of these hitherto almost indisputable dicta of Indian history. The chief materials for that examination have been the contem- porary MS. records preserved in the Board of Revenue, Calcutta, of which Sir William Hunter gives a list of 14,136 letters dealing with the period from 1782 to 1807. Nothing could be more impartial than the spirit in which he deals with the great questions involved. He makes the actual facts, as recorded by these letters, written at the time, speak for themselves. But those who desire to learn how that system grew out of the pre-existing land rights and land usages of the province will find a c-lear and authoritative explanation. If these four volumes stood alone they would place their author in the first rank of scientific historians ; that is, of the extremelj- limited class of historians who write from original MSS. and records. But they do not stand alone. The3' are the natural continuation of the author's researches, nearly a genera- tion ago, among the District Archives of Bengal, which produced his 'Annals of Rural Bengal' in 1868 and his ' Orissa' in 1872. They are also the first-fruits of that comprehensive history of India on which he has been engaged for the last twenty years, for which he has collected in each province of India an accumulation of tested' local materials such as has never before been brought together in the hands, and \)\ the labours, of any worker in the same stupendous field, and which, when completed, will be the fitting crown of his lifelong services to India. These volumes are indeed an important instalment towards the projected maffnum opus; and in this connection it is of good augury to observe that they maintain their author's reputation for that fulness and minuteness of knowledge, that grasp of principles and philosophic insight, and that fertility and charm of literary expression which give Sir William Hunter his unicjue place among the writers of his day on India."— TAe Times. A?iy Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 42 Great Rediidiofis in this Catalogue REV. T. P. HUGHES. A Dictionary of Islam, being a Cyclopaedia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, together with the Technical and Theological Terms of the Muhammadan Religion. With numerous Illustrations. Royal 8vo, £2 2s. ' ' Such a work as this has long been needed, and it would be hard to find any one better qualified to prepare it than Mr Hughes. His ' Notes on Bluhammadanism, ' of which two editions have appeared, have proved de- cidedly useful to students of Islam, especially in India, and his long familiarity with the tenets and customs of Moslems has placed him in the best possible position for deciding what is necessary and what superfluous in a ' Dictionary of Islam.' His usual method is to begin an article with the text in the Koran relating to the subject, then to add the traditions bearing upon it, and to conclude with the comments of the Mohamm.edan scholiasts and the criticisms of Western scholars. Such a method, v/liile involving an infinity of labour, produces the best results in point of accuracy and comprehensiveness. The difficult task of compiling a dictionary of so vast a subject as Islam, with its many sects, its saints, khalifs, ascetics, and dervishes, its festivals, ritual, and sacred places, the dress, manners, and customs of its professors, its com- mentators, technical terms, science of tradition and interpretation, its super- stitions, magic, aiid astrology, its theoretical doctrines and actual practices, has been accomplished Avith singular success; and the dictionary will have its- place among the standard works of reference in every library that professes to take account of the religion which governs the lives of forty millions of the Queen's subjects. The articles on 'Marriage,' 'Women,' 'Wives,' 'Slavery,' 'Tradition,' 'Sufi,' 'Muhammad,' 'Da'wah' or Incantation, ' Burial,' and 'God,' are especially admirable. Two articles deserve special notice. One is an elaborate account of Arabic ' Writing ' by Dr Steingass, which contains a vast quantity of useful matter, and is well illustrated by woodcuts of the chief varieties of Arabic script. The other article to which we refer with special emphasis is Mr F. Pincott on 'Sikhism.' There is some- thing on nearl every page of tlie dictionary that will interest and instruct the students of Eastern religion, manners, and customs." — Athenxeum. Dictionary of Muhanimadaii Theology. Notes on Muhammadanism. By Rev. T. P. Hughes. Third Edition, revised and enlarged. Fcap. 8vo, 6s. "Altogether an admirable little book. It combines two excellent quali- ties, abundance of facts and lack of theories. . . . On every one of the numerous heads (over fifty) into which the book is divided, Mr Hughes- furnishes a large amount of very valuable information, which it would be exceedingl)^ difficult to collect from even a large library of works on the subject. The book might well be called a ' Dictionary of Muhammadan Theology,' for we know of no English work which combines a methodical arrangement (and consequently facility of reference) with fulness of informa- tion in so high a degree as the little volume before us." — The Academii. " It contains multum in •parro, and is about the best outline of the tenets of the Muslim faith which we have seen. It has, moreover, the rare merit of being accurate ; and, although it contains a few passages which we would gladly see expunged, it cannot fail to be iiseful to all Government employes who have to deal with Muhammadans ; whilst to missionaries it will be invaluable." — The Times of India. " The main object of the work is to reveal the real and practical character of the Islam faith, and in this the author has evidently been successful." — The Standard. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messi'S IV. H. Allen 6^ Co.'s Publicatio7is. 43 MRS GRACE JOHNSON, Silver Medallist, Cookery Exhibition. Anglo-Indian and Oriental Cookery. Crown 8vo, 3.S. 6d. //. G. KEENE, CLE., B.C.S., M.R.A.S., ^c. History of India. From the Earliest Times to the Present Day. For the use of Students and Colleges. 2 vols. Crown 8vo, with Maps, i6s. " The main merit of Mr Keene's performance lies in the fact that he has assimilated all the authorities, and has been careful to bring his book down to date. He has been careful iri research, and has availed himself of the most recent materials. He is well known as the author of other works on Indian history, and his capacity for his self- imposed task will not be questioned. We must content ourselves with this brief testi- mony to the labour and skill bestowed by him upon a subject of vast interest and importance. Excellent proportion is preserved in dealinjr with the various episodes, and the style is clear and graphic. The volumes are supplied with many useful maps, and the appendix include notes on Indian law and on recent books about India." — Globe. *'Mr Keene has the admirable element of fairness in dealing with the succession of great questions that pass over his pages, and he wisely devotes a full half of his work to the present century. The appearance of such a book, and of every such book, upon India is to be hailed at present. A fair-minded presentment of Indian history lilje that contained in Mr Keene"s two volumes is at this moment peculiarly welcome." — Times. '• In this admirably clear and comprehensive account of the rise and consolidation of our gr?at Indian Empire, Mr Keene has endeavoured to give, without prolixity, ' a statement of the relevant facts at present available, both in regard to the origin of the more important Indian races and in regard to their progress before they came under the unifying processes of modern administration.' To this undertaking is, of course, added the completion of the story of the 'unprecedented series of events' which have led to the amalgamation of the various Indian tribes or nationalities under one rule. In theory, at least, there is finality in history. Mr Keene traces the ancient Indian races from their earliest known ancestors and the effect of the Aryan settlement. He marks the rise of Buddhism and the great Muslim Conquest, the end of the Pathans, and t'ne advent of the Empire of the Mughals. In rapid succession he reviews the Hindu revival, the initial establishment of English influence, and the destruction of French power. The author records the policy of Cornwallis, the wars of Wellesley, and the Administration of Minto — the most important features in Indian history before the establishment of British supremacj'. It is a brilliant record of British prowess and ability of governing inferior races that Mr Keene has to place before his readers. We have won and held India by the sword, and the policy of the men we send out year by year to assist in its administration is largely based on that principle. The history of the land, of our occupation, and our sojourning, so ably set forth in these pages, is inseparable from that one essential fact." — Morning Post. An Oriental Biographical Dictionary. Founded on materials collected by the late Thomas William Beale. New Edition, revised and en- larged. Royal 8vo, 28s. "A complete biographical dictionary for a country like India, which in its long history has produced a profusion of gre.at men, would be a vast undertaking. The suggestion here made only indicates the line on which the dictionary, at some future time, could be almost indefinitely extended, and rendered still more valuable as a work of reference. Great care has evidently been taken to secure the accuracy of all that has been included in the work, and that is of far more importance than mere bulk. The dictionary can be commended as trustworthy, and reflects much credit on Mr Keene. Several interesting lists of rulers are given under the various founders of dynasties." — India. The Fall of the Moghul Empire. From the Death of Aurungzeb to the Overthrow of the Mahratta Power. A New Edition, with Correc- tions and Additions. With Map. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. This work fills up a blank between the ending of Elphinstone's and the commence- /iient of Thornton's Histories. Fifty-Seven. Some Account of the Administration of Indian Districts during the Revolt of the Bengal Army. Deniy 8vo, 6s. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 44 Great Reductions in this Catalogue G. B. MALLESON. History of the French in India. P'rom the Founding of Pondicherry in 1674, to the Capture of that place in 1761. New and Revised Edition, with Maps. Demy 8vo, i6s. '• Colonel Malleson has produced a volume alike attractive to the general reader and valuable for its new matter to the special student. It is not too much to say that now, for the first time, we are furnished with a faithful narrative of that portion of European enterprise in India which turns upon the contest waged by the East India Company against French influence, and especially against Dupleix." — Edinburgh Recie^c. " It is pleasant to contrast theworli now before us with the writer's first bold plunge into historical composition, which splashed every one within his reach. He swims now with a steady stroke, and there is no fear of his sinking. With a keener insight into human character, and a larger understanding of the sources of human action, he com- bines all the power of animated recital which invested his earlier narratives with popularity." — Fortnightly Review. "The author has had the advantage of consulting French Archives, and his volume forms a useful supplement to Ornie." — Athenasiim. Final French Strugg^les in India and on the Indian Seas. New Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. "How India escaped frori) the goverument of prefects and sub-prefects to fall under that of Coinmissioners and Deputy-Commissioners ; why the Penal Code of Lord Macaulay reigns supreme instead of a Code Napoleon ; why we are not looking on helplessly from Mahe, Karikal, and Pondicherry, while the French are ruling all over Madras, and spending millions of francs in attempt- ing to cultivate the slopes of the Neilgherries, may be learnt from this modest volume. Colonel Malleson is always painstaking, and generally accurate ; his style is transparent, and he never loses sight of the purpose with which he commenced to write." — Satvrdap Review. "A book dealing with such a period of our history in the East, besides being interesting, contains many lessons. It is written in a style that will be l)0i)ular Avith general readers." — Athenceiwi. History of Afghanistan, from the Earliest Period to the Outbreak of the War of 1878. With map. Demy 8vo, iSs. ' ' The name of Colonel Malleson on the title-page of any historical Avork in relation to India or the neighbouring States, is a satisfactory guarantee both for the accuracy of the facts and the brillianc}' of the narrative. The author may be complimented upon having written a History of Afghanistan which is likely to become a work of standa,rd authoritj'." — Scotsiaein. The Battlefields of Germany, from the Outbreak of the Thirty Years' War to the Battle of Blenheim. With Maps and i Plan. Demy 8vo, i6s. "Colonel Malleson has shown a grasp of bin subject, and a power of vivifying the confused passages of battle, in which it would be impossible to name any living writer as liis equal. In imbuing these almost forgotten battlefields with fresh interest and reality for the English reader, he is re- opening one of the most important chapters of European history, which no previous English Avriter has made so interesting and instructive as he has succeeded in doing in this volume." — Accidchiy. Ambushes and Surprises, being a Description of some of the most famous instances of the Leading into Ambush and the Surprises of Armies, from the time of Hannibal to the period of the Indian Mutiny. With a portrait of General Lord Mark Ker, K.C.B. Demy 8vo, i8s. Fo7' the Reduced Pi'ices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen c^* Co.^s Publications. 45 MRS MANNING. Ancient and Mediaeval India. Being the History, Religion, Laws, Caste, Manners and Customs, Language, Literature, Poetry, Philp- sophy. Astronomy, Algebra, Medicine, Architecture, Manufactures, Commerce, &c., of the Hindus, taken from their Writings. With Illustrations. 2 vols. Demy 8vo, 30s. /. MORRIS, Author of '■'■ The War in Korea,'" <sfc., thirteen years residerct in Tokio nnder the Japanese Board of IVorks. Advance Japan. A Nation Thoroughly in Earnest, W^ith over 100 Illustrations by R. Isayama, and of Photographs lent by the Japanese Legation. 8vo, 12s. 6d. " Is really a remarkalily complete account of the land, the people, and the institu- tions of Japan, with chapters thart; deal with matters of such living interest as its growing industries and armaments, and the origin, incidents, and probable outcome of the war with China. The volume is illustrated by a .Japanese artist of repute; it has a number of useful statistical appendices, and it is dedicated to His Majesty the Mikado. " — Scotsmav. DEPUTY SURGEON-GENERAL C. T. PASKE, late of the Bengal Army, and Edited by F. G. AFLALO. Life and Travel in Lower Burmah, with frontispiece. Crown 8vo, 6s. "In dealing with life in Burmah we are given a pleasant insight into Eastern life ; and to those interested in India and our other Eastern possessions, the opinions Mr Paske offers and the suggestions he makes will be delightful reading. Mr Paske has adopted a very light style of writing in 'Myamma,' which lends an additional charm to the short historical-cum- geographical sketch, and both the writer and the editor are to be commended for the production of a really attractive book." — PuhHc Opinion. ALEXANDER ROGERS, Bombay Civil Service Retired. The Land Revenue of Bombay. A History of its Administration, Rise, and Progress. 2 vols, with 18 Maps. Demy 8vo, 30s. "These two volumes are full of valuable information not only on the Land Revenue, but on the general condition and state of cultivation in all parts of the Bombay Pre- sidency. Each collectorate is described separately, and an excellent map of each is given, showing the divisional headquarters, market-towns, trade centres, places of pilgrimage, travellers, bungalows, municipalities, hospitals, schools, post offices, telegraphs, railways, &c."—3Iirror of British Museum. *' Mr Rogers has produced a continuous and an authoritative record of the land changes and of the fortunes of the cultivating classes for a full half-century, together with valuable data regarding the condition and burdens of those classes at various periods before the present sj'stem. of settlement was introduced. Mr Rogers now presents a comprehensive view of the land administration of Bombay as a whole, the history of its rise and progress, and a clear statement of the results which it has attained. It is a narrative of which all patriotic Englishmen may feel proud. The old burdens of native rule have been lightened, the old injustices mitigated, the old fiscal cruelties and exactions abolished. Underlying the story of each district we see a per- ennial struggle going on between the increase of the'population and the available means of subsistence derived from the soil. That increase of the population is the direct result of the peace of the country under British rule. But it tends to press more and more severely on the possible limits of local cultivation, and it can only be provided for by the extension of the modern appliances of production and distribu- tion. Mr Rogers very properly confines liimself to his own subject. But there is ample evidence that the extension of roads, railways, steam factories, and other industrial enterprises, have played an important part "in the solution of jthe problem, and that during recent years such enterprises have been powerfully aided by an abundant currencJ^" — The Times. A?iy Bookseller at Borne and Abroad. 46 Great Reductions in this Catalogue G. P. SANDERSON, Officer in Charge of the Goverwuent Elephant Keddahs. Thirteen Years among- the Wild Beasts of India ; their Haunts and Habits, from I'ersonal Observation. With an account of the Modes of Capturing and Taming Wild Elephants. With 21 full-page Illustrations, Reproduced for this Edition direct from the original drawings, and 3 Maps. Fifth Edition. Fcap. 4to, 12s. " We find it difficult to hasten through this interesting book; on almost every page some incident or some happy descriptive passage tempts the reader to linger. The author relates his exploits with ability and with singular modesty. His adventures with man-eaters will afford livliy entertainment to the reader, and indeed there is no portion of the volume which he is likely to wish shorter. The illustrations add to the attractions of the book." — Pall Mall Gazette. " This is the best and most practical book on the wild game of Southern and Eastern India that we have read, and displays an extensive acquaintance with natural history. To the traveller proposing to visit India, whether he be a sportsman, a naturalist, or an antiquarian, the book will be invaluable: full of incident and sparkling with anecdote." — Baileijs Magazine. ROBERT SEIVELL, Madras Civil Service. Analytical History of India. From the Earliest Times to the Aboli- tion of the East India Company in 185S. Post 8vo, 8s. "Much labour has been expended on this work." — Athenceum. ED I VA RD 7 FIORNTON. A Gazetteer of the Territories under the Government of the Vice- roy of India. New Edition, Edited and Revised by Sir Roper Lethbridge, C. I. E. , late Press Commissioner in India, and Arthur N. Wollaston, H. M, Indian (Home) Civil Service, Translator of the " Anwar-i-Suhaili." In one volume, 8vo, 1,000 pages, 28s. Hunter's "Imperial Gazetteer" has been prepared, which is not only much more ample than its predecessor, but is further to be greatly enlarged in the New Edition now in course of production. In these circumstances it has been thought incumbent, when issuing a New Edition of Thorntons " Gazetteer " corrected up to, date, to modify in some measure the plan of the work by omitting much of the detail and giving only such leading facts and figures as will suffice for ordinary pur- poses of reference, a plan which has the additional advantage of reducing the work to one moderate-sized volume. It is obvious that the value of the New Edition must depend in a large measure upon the care and judgment which have been exercised in the preparation of the letterpress. The task was, in the first instance, undertaken by Mr Roper Lethbridge, whose literary attainments and acquaintance with India seemed to quality him to a marked degree for an undertaking demanding considerable knowledge and experience. But in order further to render the work as complete and perfect as possible, the publishers deemed it prudent to subject the pages to the scrutiny of a second Editor, n the person of Mr Arthur Wollaston, whose lengthened service in the Indian Branch of the Civil Service of this country, coupled with his wide acquaintance with Oriental • History, gives to his criticism an unusual degree of weight and importance. The joint names which appear on the title-page will, it is hoped, serve as a guarantee to the public that the "Gazetteer" is in the main accurate and trustworthy, free alike from sins of omission and commission. It will be found to contain the names of many hundreds of places not included in anj' former edition, while the areas and popula- tions have been revised by the data given in the Census Report of 1881. *^* The chief objects in view in compiling this Gazetteer are: — 1st. To fix the relative position of the various cities, towns, and villages with as much precision as possible, and to exhibit with the greatest practicable brevitj' all that is known respecting them ; and 2ndly. To note the various countries, provinces, or territorial divisions, and to describe the physical characteristics of each, together with their statistical, social, and political circumstances. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs IV, H. Alien &^ CoJs Publications. 47 DR C. EDWARD SACHAU. Athar-Ul-Bakiya of Albiruni : The Chronology of Ancient Nations, an English Version of the Arabic Text Translated and Edited with Notes and Index. Imp. 8vo (480 pp. ), 42s. A book of extraordinary erudition compiled in a.d. 1000. A.J. WALL. Indian Snake Poisons : Their Nature and Effects. Crown Svo, 6s. Contexts. The Physiological Effects of the Poison of the Cobra (Naja Tripudians). — The Physio- logical Effects of the Poison of Russell's Viper (Daboia Russellii). — The Physiological Effects produced by the Poison of the Bun^rarus Fasciatus and the Bungarus Coeruleus. — The Relative Power and Properties of the Poisons of Indian and other Venomous Snakes.— The Nature of Snake Poisons. — Some practical considerations connected with the subject of Snake-Poisoning, especially regarding Prevention and Tr^^atment. — The object that has been kept in view, has been to define as closely as possible the condi- tions on which the mortality from Snake-bite depends, both as regards the physio- logical nature of the poisoning process, and the reLitions between the reptiles and their victims, so as to indicate the way in which we should best proceed with the hope of. diminishing the fearful mortality that exists. S. WELLS WLLLIAMS, LL.D., Professor of the Chinese Lan^^uage and Literature at Yale College. China —The Middle Kingdom. A Survey of the Geography, Govern- ment, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants. Revised Edition, with 74 Illustrations and a New Map of the Empire. 2 vols. Demy Svo, 42s. " Williams' ' Middle Kingdom ' remains unrivalled as the most full and accurate account of China — its inhabitants, its arts, its science, its religion, its jDhilosophy — that has ever been given to the public. Itj minuteness and thoroughness are be3'ond all praise." — North American Review. "The standard work on the subject." — Glohe. FROEESSOR LL H. WILSON. Glossary of Judicial and Revenue Terms, including words from the Arabic, Teluga, Karnata, Tamil, Persian, Hindustani, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Guzarathi, [Nlalayalam, and other languages. 4to, 30s. "It was the distinguishing characteristic of our late director that he con- sidered nothing unworthy of his labours that was calculated to be useful, and was never influenced in his undertakings by the mere desire of acquiring distinction or increasing his fame. Manj^ of his works exhibit power's of illustration and close reasoning, which will place their author in a high position among the literary men of the age. But it is as a man of deep research and as a Sanskrit sclioiar and Orientalist, as the successor of Sir "Wm. Jones and H. T. Colebrooke, the worthy wearer of their mantles and inheritor of the pre-eminence they enjoyed in this particular department of literature, that his name will especially live among the eminent men of learning of his age and country." — H. T. Prinsep. "A work every page of which teems with information that no other scholar ever has or could have placed before the public. . . . The work must ever hold a foremost place not only in the history of India but in that of the human race." — Edinhunjh Review. LIEUr. G. J. YO UXOR US BAND, Queen's Oivn Corps of Guides. Eighteen Hundred Miles in a Burmese Tat, through Burmah, Siam, and the Eastern Shan States. Illustrated. Crown Svo, 5s. Atiy Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 6 ^81/4 U^^,^c^tZ^ '%:-^''0