Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/209

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ii s. m. MAR. is, 1911.] NOTES AND QUERIES.


203


whereas ' The Paradise of Daintie Devices '

has several verbal changes :

Death is the doore whereby we drawe to joye, Life is a lake that drowneth all in paine : Death is so dole it seaseth all awaie. &c.

'England's Parnassus' makes matters worse by ascribing its quotation to the Earl of Surrey, thus proving once again how un- reliable are some of the signatures in these old anthologies.

This evidence establishes the elder Harmg- ton's claim to one poem in Tottel's " Un- certain Authors." CHARLES CRAWFORD.

(To be continued.)


THE ARREST OF LOUIS XVI.

WHEN Louis XVI. was recognized, at Varennes, in his abortive attempt to escape into Belgium, Sauce, Attorney of the Commune (or Maire), drew up a proces verbal of the arrest, which has been carefully preserved in the municipal archives, and previous to 1855 it had been transcribed by Lamartine only. But in that year the Rev. G. M. Musgrave was allowed to take a copy, of which he has given the condensed substance, "without a single alteration," in the following translation: The 23rd of June, 1791, Varennes. The first Proces Verbal of the arrest of the King and of the Royal Family at Varennes.

There are scenes in life which the feelings of men can far more accurately realize than their thoughts, and the impressions left by which ex- haust all the conceptions of the most lively imagination. Of such a nature was the scene of which this town has just been rendered the theatre.

On Tuesday, 21st of June, at 11 P.M., the Attorney-General of the Commune was suddenly informed by a courier [Drouet] from St. Mene- hould, that two carriages, which it was found i i npracticable to detain at Clermont, would shortly arrive at Varennes, and it was believed that they contained a charge in trust very precious to overy French heart. Upon the arrival of these (.images almost immediately afterwards, the Attorney-General of the Commune demanded of the party inside their passports. A passport \vas handed over to him bearing the signature of Montmorin, and granted to the Baroness de Kroff and family, en route to Franckfort.

The night was dark, and the townspeople were astir ; and the Attorney-General took occasion to observe to these yet unknown parties in the two carriages, that the disturbance thus arisen, the darkness of the night, and consideration for their safety dictated the course of not pursuing their journey at this hour, and he suggested their accom- panying him to his own residence.

They were eleven in all : five in one carriage two in another, and four on horseback, as escorts


Having alighted at the Attorney-General's louse, they stated that it was their intention

o go to Montmedy, not to Franckfort ; and as
hough French hearts, ever wont to hold in dear

regard the person of their king, were certain to recognize his presence, directly the demonstra- ions of love and respect we so earnestly mani- 'ested were offered, he exclaimed :

" Yes, I am the King : There is the Queen and

he Royal Family ! I am come to reside among

you, in the bosom of my children : I am not abandoning them."

The tender sympathy and emotion of all jarties present blending with that expressed by

he King, the monarch and his august family

condescended to embrace all the citizens who were in the apartment, and to receive from them, n turn, the same manifestations of their lively and heartfelt affectionateness. At this moment an individual arrived, stating himself to be an aide-de-camp of Monsieur de Bouill6 [Marquis, governor of Metz and Alsace], and demanding x> speak to the King. Being introduced by the Attorney-General of the Commune, and asked the King what his name was, he replied :

" 1 am Coquillard." [Goguelot.]

" Well and good," said the King. " When are we going ? "

" I await your orders, Sire."

And the orders were given with concurrence of the Attorney-General and this officer.

The King, nevertheless, manifested anxiety

,o set off, and at several intervals asked if his

horses were ready. A mob of townspeople, and of the inhabitants of the immediately adjoining villages, had, meanwhile, begun to crowd the streets of Varennea ; and the intelligence of the King's arrival had been conveyed even to distant localities. There was a general rush, akin to all those impulses of joy and tender anxiety with which, in the midst of loud expressions of eager- ness, a large family would make such feelings known, upon finding a father who had been long missing, and whom they dreaded losing again !

The municipal officers of the town felt that they had only to direct the King's attention to such a spectacle such a scene of moving sympathies and disquietude to awaken the kindly feelings of his heart. They urged that, loved as he was by his people, his throne was in all their hearts his name in all their mouths ; but that the place of his abode was Paris, to which capital the anxious and urgent prayers of the provinces, at the present period of discord and alarm, were calling back their chief, and all the citizens their sire ; that the safety of the State depended on the completion of the scheme of the Constitution, and the safety of the Constitution itself was vitally connected with his return ; that blest as they were in the existence of his personal virtues, the French people felt their individual happiness derivable from his own personal well-being ; and that their acutely feeling and affectionate hearts would never recognize the pledge and assurance of such felicity, but in the inseparable participation of its enjoyment with him.

Meanwhile a detachment of the Hussars of Lauzun arrived, thrown with all precipitation into Varennes. Another, a German regiment, that had been in garrison at Stenay, and a troop from the neighbourhood, were reported to be on their way. The first-named evinced the most