LOUIS XVI. IN PRISON. (1792.) THE doors of the Temple were closed1 on Louis Capet : he was a dethroned king and a prisoner. Removed from the cares of government for which he was not fitted, from an ambiguous and dangerous position in which he com 1 At this stage of the present work, a résumé of the rules concerning the past participle, in French, cannot fail to be very useful and very acceptable to the anxious learner; for they constitute a real difficulty, even to French students.-1st, When a past participle is joined with the auxiliary avoir, it agrees (in gender and number) with the object (accusative, or régime direct) of the verb, but only when that object precedes the verb. See page 32, note 12; p. 15, n. 7; p. 44, n. 5; page 23, note 7. ; page 125, note 2; &c. The only exception to this rule is, the participle fait, which never agrees when followed by a verb in the infinitive (see page 100, note 1). If, on the contrary, the object hould follow the verb, no agreement will take place (see page 29, note 3 ; page 31, note 13 ; page 39, note ; page 79, note 1 ; &c.). Another consideration is, that the pronoun en is looked upon by grammarians as being always an indirect regimen (not an accusative), meaning simply de cela, 'thereof;' and, consequently, a participle can never agree with en preceding it (see page 158, notes 2, and 10; page 176, note 12; and page 198, note 5). 2nd, The agreement of a past participle with the preceding object also takes place, when the participle is joined with the auxiliary être, but only in reciprocal, and in pronominal or reflective verbs, formed from active verbs (it agrees with the subject in those formed from neuter verbs which are always conjugated with 9 être in their compound tenses, as s'en aller, s'en venir, &c.). See page 18, note ; page 60, note ; page 65, note 2 ; page 131, note 5 ; page 152, note ; &c. But we should say, ils se sont parlé (not parlés), elles se sont plu (not plues), elle s'est nui (not nuie), as parler, plaire, and nuire are neuter verbs, in French. We should also write, ils se sont donné (invariable) la main, i. e., ils ont donné à euxmêmes la main, because here the pronoun 'se' which precedes is not the object: la main,' which follows, is the object (see p. 101, n. 4, and p. 170, n. 13). We should also write, ils se sont laissé (invariable) surprendre (ils ont laissé surprendre eux), because 'se' is the régime direct (or object) of the active verb surprendre, which infinitive is the régime of laissé; but we should write, ils se sont laissés (agreeing) mourir (ils ont laissé eux mourir), because 'se' is here the régime direct of laissés,-mourir is a neuter verb. 3rd, A participle joined with the auxiliary être, in passive, and in some neuter verbs, agrees with the sujet (nominative, or subject) of the verh. See page 28, note; page 24, note 1; page 34, note ; page 58, note 6; &c.,and page 66, note 12 ; page 57, note ; page 93, note 2 ; &c. 4th. and finally, A past participle joined with a substantive without any auxiliary, agrees like an adjective. See page 7, note 14 ; page 62, note 9 ; page 63, note 10: &c. I may also add, that été, the past participle of the auxiliary être, is itself always invariable. 2 mitted many errors, separated from false friends and foolish advisers, he was restored to himself and to his own thoughts. Solitude and suffering try the temper1 of a man's soul, but solitude and suffering are not the greatest trials of his virtue. High station and luxurious ease will corrupt the best disposition, if it is not chastened by religion or strengthened by philosophy. Prosperity assails a man's virtue by the blandishments of pleasure and the possession of power; adversity by the stings of pain and the contumely of base men. But he who has not yielded to the soft seduction of power and pleasure, will not fear the rude gripe of poverty, of imprisonment, of death. Louis escaped the corrupting influence of power by his native goodness and his religious faith: Aurelius by his excellent education and the discipline of philosophy. The Roman was a philosopher, a soldier, and a statesman: the Frenchman had only the virtues that befit a private station. On a 3 throne the king of France was feeble, irresolute, contemptible. Louis Capet in a dungeon is firm, courageous, heroic. His abasement is his exaltation: the triumph of his enemies is their eternal shame and degradation; immeasurable becomes the distance betweer the oppressors and the oppressed. One man in France now commands our sympathy and respect; one man only, 5 the prisoner in the Temple, the crownless king, the victim preparing for the sacrifice. The prison of Louis and his family was the ancient residence of the Knights Templars, situated not far from the site of the Bastille: it was a spacious edifice, which contained many large apartments, but the royal captives were confined, by the order of the Commune, to whose care they were entrusted, in the small tower which adjoined the large tower, but had no internal communication with it. This tower consisted of four stories : 9 the first contained an ante-room, a dining-room, and a small chamber formed in one of the two turrets which flanked the building: this small chamber contained the library of the keeper of the archives of the order of Malta. The second story was similarly arranged: one of the apartments was the bed-room of Marie-Antoinette and the dauphin; the other, which was very small, was occupied by Madame Elisabeth and the queen's daughter. The king slept in a room on the third story, and he had a small sitting-room 2 in the turret. The fourth story was closed. Louis rose at six3 in the morning, and shaved himself 4 Cléry, his only servant, after he had been deprived of Chamilly and Hüe, assisted him to dress. The king then went into his small room to pray, but the door was left open, in order that the municipal guard, who was always there, might not lose sight of him. Till nine o'clock he employed himself in reading, and Cléry went down to assist the queen and the dauphin, Madame Elisabeth and the young princesses; for since the 20th of August, all the attendants of the royal family had been sent away. At nine the royal family breakfasted in the king's rooms, and at ten the queen, with Madame Elisabeth, and the princesses, left the king alone with his son, to whom he gave lessons in geography, a subject 10 with which Louis was well acquainted, in history, and the 11 elements of Latin. Marie-Antoinette occupied herself 12 with the education of her daughter, and the princesses passed the rest of the day in sowing, knitting, and working at 9 13 impérial, an imperial guard (a 6 See page 136, note '. 76 8 servir. 9 de. 10 See page 27, note 8. 11 et enseignait l'histoire et les. The English construction would be inelegant in French, after rendering in the first instance, as must be done, 'in' by de. 12 s'occupait de son ôté. 13 et à faire de la 5 tapestry. When the weather was fine, the royal family walked in the garden in the middle of the day, accompanied by four municipal officers, and a commander of a legion of the National guard ; but the space allowed for the exercise of the royal family along the alley of trees, was purposely contracted by building some walls and other obstructions. The dauphin amused himself with running about and playing at ball or quoits, and his father often played with him. From the upper windows of the houses which commanded a view of the garden, anxious looks were darted towards the royal prisoners from faithful friends and adherents, some slight 7 consolation for the coarse and vulgar behaviour which they often experienced from their guard. Santerre, with two aide-decamps, 9 daily inspected the tower, and regularly made his report to the Commune. Sometimes the king would speak to Santerre; the queen never spoke to him. two the royal family dined; the king alone drank wine, and very little; the rest drank only water. After dinner the king and queen would play at picquet or some other game; and the king would take a short nap, during which the ladies worked in silence at their needles,11 while Cléry exercised the young prince in another room at such games as were suitable to 12 his age. The rest of the time till supper was occupied by reading aloud: 13 the king or Madame Elisabeth read.14 At eight the dauphin supped, 10 1 See page 52, note 4, and page 41, note 8. 2 See preceding page, note 5. 3 Turn, but they (on) had purposely contracted the space,' &c. 4 at the.' 5 See page 8, note 1. 6 Simply, commandaient; or, dominaient sur; or, voyaient. 7'some slight;' simply, légère, or faible. See page 45, note 9. deux aides de camp. This is one of the many French words which, as soon as they are adopted into the English language, are subjected to the rules of English grammar and orthography. See page 132, note 19. According to At com. French grammar, when a 11 worked at their needles,' travaillaient à l'aiguille. 12 Simply, à des jeux de. and Louis used to amuse1 the children with riddles from a collection called the 'Mercure de France.' Cléry put the boy to bed, after he had said his prayers to his mother. 2 At such moments as he could steal, in the evening, when the dauphin was going to bed,3 and when the royal family was supping, Cléry told them such news as he was able to learn. He had contrived to hire a crier, who came every evening, and posting himself under the windows of the Temple, called out the chief events of the day as loud as he could, under the pretence of selling the journals. Cléry stationed himself in the little room in the turret of the third floor, and listened to the crier's report 5 of what was going on in the Convention, in the Commune, and the news of the armies. After supper the king parted from his family and went up to his little room, where he read till midnight. He read Montesquieu, Buffon, Hume's history in English, the Latin and Italian classics, and the Imitation of Jesus Christ, in Latin. It is said that when he left the Temple he had got through a great number of volumes of different works. (GEORGE LONG, France, and its Revolutions.) 7 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. In those who were destined for the church, we would undoubtedly encourage classical learning, more than in any other body 10 of men; but if we had to do with 11 a young man going out into 12 public life, we would exhort him |