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024 - The Execution · Huguenot- A Tale of the French Protestants

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty four of The Huguenot by George Payne Rainsford James.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter twenty
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Speaker 1: four the execution within the walls of the Bastille. Some
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Speaker 1: weeks passed over almost without incident, but not without pain
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Speaker 1: to the Count de Morsell. But it would be tedious
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Speaker 1: to detail all the feelings in the thoughts that crossed
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Speaker 1: each other in his bosom. During that period. He was
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Speaker 1: still allowed a great degree of liberty, was permitted to
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Speaker 1: take exercise in the Great Court, to converse with many
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Speaker 1: of the other prisoners, and to hear whispers of what
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Speaker 1: was taking place in the world without But none of
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Speaker 1: those whispers gave him any tidings of those he loved,
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Speaker 1: any indication of his own probable fate, or any news
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Speaker 1: of the church to which he belonged. And he remarked
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Speaker 1: with pain that while many of the other prisoners received
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Speaker 1: visits from their friends and acquaintances, either no one sought
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Speaker 1: to see him, or else those who did so were
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Speaker 1: excluded by some express order. He grieved over this, and
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Speaker 1: perhaps felt with some degree of bitterness of spirit, that
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Speaker 1: the iron of captivity might not only enter into the soul,
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Speaker 1: but might wear and corrode the mind on which it pressed.
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Speaker 1: Such feelings made him at once apply himself eagerly to
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Speaker 1: everything that could occupy his thoughts and turn them from
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Speaker 1: contemplations which he knew to be not only painful, but
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Speaker 1: hurtful also. And he soon created himself a number of
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Speaker 1: those occupations which many an unhappy man besides himself, has
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Speaker 1: devised at different times for the solace of captivity. The library, however,
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Speaker 1: was his greatest enjoyment. Though so fond of all manly exercises,
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Speaker 1: and famous for his skill therein, he had from his
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Speaker 1: youth loved the communing with other minds in the pages
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Speaker 1: which the hand of genius has traced, and which have
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Speaker 1: been given forth as a deliberate effort of the writer's spirit.
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Speaker 1: He loved, I say that communing with other men's hearts
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Speaker 1: and minds, which is undisturbed by discussion, or wordy dispute,
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Speaker 1: or any of the petty vanities that creep into the
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Speaker 1: living conversation, even of the great, the learned, and the good.
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Speaker 1: And Now, though the library was small, and perhaps not
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Speaker 1: very well selected, yet there was many a book therein
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Speaker 1: which afforded him sweet occupation during some at least of
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Speaker 1: the melancholy hours of imprisonment. At other times, he walked
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Speaker 1: the length of the courtyard, gaining where he could a
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Speaker 1: gleam of sunshine, and, rather than suffer his thoughts as
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Speaker 1: he did so walk to dwell upon the painful theme
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Speaker 1: of his own fate. He would count the very stones
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Speaker 1: of the pavement and moralize upon their shapes and colours.
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Speaker 1: Almost every day during the period we have mentioned, the
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Speaker 1: guard was turned out, the prisoners having their liberties were
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Speaker 1: ordered to keep back, and a train of others in
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Speaker 1: the strictest state of imprisonment were marched out to the arsenal.
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Speaker 1: Amongst these was usually the unhappy Chevalier de Rohan, and
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Speaker 1: the wistful, longing gaze with which one day he looked
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Speaker 1: round the court as he passed through, seeming to envy
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Speaker 1: the other prisoners. A sort of liberty they enjoyed caused
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Speaker 1: the Count de Morseu to task severely his own heart
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Speaker 1: for the repinings which he felt at his own situation.
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Speaker 1: Various little occurrences of the same kind took place from
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Speaker 1: time to time, affording a momentary matter of interest in
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Speaker 1: the midst of the dark saneness of the prison life.
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Speaker 1: At one period, during the whole of several nights, the
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Speaker 1: Count de Morseu heard at intervals voices which seemed to
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Speaker 1: be shouting through speaking trumpets. The place from which the
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Speaker 1: sound proceeded varied constantly. The young prisoner could only conclude
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Speaker 1: that some friends of one of the sad inhabitants of
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Speaker 1: the bastille were prowling round it, endeavoring to communicate intelligence.
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Speaker 1: He listened eagerly in the supposition that those sounds might
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Speaker 1: be addressed to him, But though from time to time
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Speaker 1: he could catch a single word, such as dead, told,
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Speaker 1: et cetera, he could make no continuous sense of what
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Speaker 1: was said. The first time this occurred was shortly after
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Speaker 1: his examination before the commission, and it continued for three
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Speaker 1: or four nights, to be repeated at different hours. But
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Speaker 1: still the sounds were too distant for him to ascertain
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Speaker 1: the meaning of the speakers, and he was obliged to
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Speaker 1: content himself with believing that this intelligence was not intended
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Speaker 1: for himself, and hoping that it had been more distinct
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Speaker 1: to the unfortunate person for whose ears it was designed.
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Speaker 1: After having listened during the whole of one night and
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Speaker 1: the words not being repeated, he determined, I meant to
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Speaker 1: ask one of his fellow prisoners, who had the liberty
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Speaker 1: like himself of walking in the court, whether he had
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Speaker 1: heard it and had been able to make out what
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Speaker 1: was said. The personage whom he fixed upon in his
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Speaker 1: own mind for that purpose was a tall, upright, elderly man,
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Speaker 1: with a soldier like air, and a good deal of
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Speaker 1: frankness of manner, approaching perhaps to what is called bluffness,
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Speaker 1: without being in the slightest degree rude or uncivil. He
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Speaker 1: seemed to seek nobody, but to converse willingly with any
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Speaker 1: one when he was sought, gave his opinion in few words,
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Speaker 1: but distinctly, accurately, and positively bore his imprisonment with perfect
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Speaker 1: likeness and indifference, never referred in the slightest degree to
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Speaker 1: the cause thereof or to his own history, though without
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Speaker 1: appearing to avoid the subject at all, and in short,
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Speaker 1: impressed strongly on the minds of those who saw him
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Speaker 1: and were accustomed to judge of the world that he
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Speaker 1: was a frank, upright, straightforward soldier, accustomed to various kinds
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Speaker 1: of endurance, and bearing all with manly firmness and resolution.
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Speaker 1: He spoke French with great fluency and accuracy, but at
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Speaker 1: times in conversing with him, the Count de Morceaux had
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Speaker 1: fancied he could remark a foreign accent, though very slight,
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Speaker 1: and he was inclined to believe that the old officer
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Speaker 1: was one of the Vimrians who had served so long
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Speaker 1: in the pay of France. His countenance, indeed, was not
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Speaker 1: like that of a German. There was more quickness and
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Speaker 1: brightness of the eye, and the features were more elongated
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Speaker 1: and somewhat sharper than is common amongst the Teutonic races.
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Speaker 1: But still a great part of the vi Marian troops
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Speaker 1: had been levied on the borders of the Rhine, where
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Speaker 1: the mixture of French and other blood often makes itself
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Speaker 1: strongly to be remarked amongst the German population. His ordinary
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Speaker 1: walk was from one corner of the courtyard to the
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Speaker 1: opposite tangle, which gave the utmost extent of space that
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Speaker 1: could be had, and there the young count, on descending
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Speaker 1: the staircase, found him walking up and down with his
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Speaker 1: usual quick pace and erect carriage, though the old man
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Speaker 1: neither paused nor noticed him further than by a passing
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Speaker 1: good morning sir. The Count joined him, and at once
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Speaker 1: spoke of the matter in question. Have you heard, he said,
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Speaker 1: during this last night or two, some people shouting, apparently
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Speaker 1: through speaking trumpets, as if they wished to convey intelligence
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Speaker 1: to one of us prisoners once or twice, very faintly,
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Speaker 1: replied the other. But I am on the opposite side
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Speaker 1: of the prison to you, you know, and the sounds
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Speaker 1: I heard seemed to come from your side, or at
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Speaker 1: all events, not further round than the well tower. Do
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Speaker 1: you think they were addressed to you? I think not,
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Speaker 1: replied the Count, And if they were, I certainly could
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Speaker 1: make nothing of them. I looked out of my window
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Speaker 1: to get a sight as far as possible of the
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Speaker 1: speed by the moonlight the other night, but I was
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Speaker 1: not successful, for I can see as I am placed
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Speaker 1: into the little place Saint Antoine, but no further. However,
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Speaker 1: I tried to distinguish the voices, and certainly they were
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Speaker 1: not those of any one I know. The speaking trumpet
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Speaker 1: makes a great difference, replied his companion. I should have
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Speaker 1: liked to have heard them more distinctly. Do you think
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Speaker 1: they were intended for you? Said the count? Oh dear, no,
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Speaker 1: replied the other. Nobody can have anything to tell me.
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Speaker 1: If ever my liberty comes, it will come at once.
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Speaker 1: And as to either trying me or punishing me in
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Speaker 1: any way other than by imprisonment, that they dare not do,
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Speaker 1: that is in some degree a happy situation, said the Count.
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Speaker 1: But I scarcely know how that can be. For judging
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Speaker 1: by my own case and that of many others, I
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Speaker 1: have no slight reason to believe that they dare try
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Speaker 1: or punish any man in France, whether guilty or not,
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Speaker 1: any Frenchman, you mean, count, replied the stranger. But that
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Speaker 1: does not happen to be my case. And though my
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Speaker 1: own king may be rascal and fool enough to let
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Speaker 1: me stay here wearing out the last days of a life,
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Speaker 1: the greater part of which has been devoted to the
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Speaker 1: service of himself and his ungrateful ancestors, yet I do
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Speaker 1: not believe that he dare, for his life suffer me
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Speaker 1: to be publicly injured. A trial would, as a matter
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Speaker 1: of course, be known. Sooner or later. They may poison me, perhaps,
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Speaker 1: he continued to keep me quiet, though I do not
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Speaker 1: think it either. Your king is not so bad as that,
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Speaker 1: though he is a great tyrant, but he is not
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Speaker 1: bloody by his nature. However, Monsieur de Mercelles, as I
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Speaker 1: am not here for any crime, as I never had
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Speaker 1: anything to do with the conspiracy of any kind, as
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Speaker 1: I am not a native of this country or a
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Speaker 1: subject of your king, As I have not a secret
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Speaker 1: in the world, and little more money than more serve
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Speaker 1: to feed and clothe me. I do not see that
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Speaker 1: any one can have either object or interest in hallooing
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Speaker 1: at me through a speaking trumpet. You have excited my curiosity,
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Speaker 1: said the Count. And a Frenchman's curiosity, you know, is
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Speaker 1: always somewhat intrusive. But as you have just said that
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Speaker 1: you have not a secret in the world, it will
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Speaker 1: seem less impertinent than it otherwise would be. If I
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Speaker 1: ask what in the name of fortune you can be
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Speaker 1: here for. Not in the least impertinent, replied the other.
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Speaker 1: I am here for something of the same kind that
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Speaker 1: they tell me you are in here for, namely, for
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Speaker 1: differing from the King of France in regard to Chans substantiation,
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Speaker 1: for thinking that he'll go to the devil at once
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Speaker 1: when he dies, without stopping half way. At a post
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Speaker 1: house called Purgatory, which a set of scoundrels have established
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Speaker 1: for their own particular convenience, and for judging it a
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Speaker 1: great deal better that people should sing psalms and say
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Speaker 1: their prayers in a language that they understand, than in
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Speaker 1: a tongue they know not a word of. I mean,
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Speaker 1: in short, for being a Protestant. For if it had
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Speaker 1: not been for that, I should not have been in here.
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Speaker 1: The fact was, I served long in this country in
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Speaker 1: former times, and have taken it into my head to
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Speaker 1: see it again, and to visit some old friends. I
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Speaker 1: undertook a commission to bring back a couple of brats
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Speaker 1: of a poor cousin of mine, who had been left
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Speaker 1: here for their education. Louis found out what I was about,
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Speaker 1: declared that I came to make Protestant converts, and shut
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Speaker 1: me up in the bastille, where I have been now
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Speaker 1: nearly nine months. I sent a message over to the
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Speaker 1: King of England by a fellow prisoner who was set
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Speaker 1: at liberty some time ago. But every one knows that
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Speaker 1: Charles would have sold his own soul by the pound
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Speaker 1: and thrown his father and mother and all his family
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Speaker 1: into the scale for the sake of a few crowns
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Speaker 1: at any time This popish rascal too, who is now
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Speaker 1: on the throne, doubtless thinks that I am just as
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Speaker 1: well where I am. So I calculate upon with away
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Speaker 1: my days within the four wards of this court. I
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Speaker 1: don't care. It can't last very long. I was sixty
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Speaker 1: five on the third of last month, and though there
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Speaker 1: feels some life in these old limbs, the days of Methuselah,
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Speaker 1: thank God, are gone by, and we've no more kicking
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Speaker 1: about now for a thousand years. I shouldn't wonder, he continued,
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Speaker 1: if the people you heard were halluined to that unfortunate
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Speaker 1: Chevalier de Rohan, whom they dragged through this morning to
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Speaker 1: be interrogated again. They say he'll have his head chopped off.
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Speaker 1: To a certainty, if we could have found out what
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Speaker 1: the people said, we might have told him. For prisoners
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Speaker 1: will get at each other, let them do what they like.
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Speaker 1: I listened for one whole night, said the Count, but
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Speaker 1: found it quite in vain. The judges, I suppose, are
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Speaker 1: satisfied that I had nothing to do with this business
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Speaker 1: of the Chevalier de Rohans. Otherwise they would have had
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Speaker 1: me up again for examination. God knows, replied his companion,
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Speaker 1: tyranny is like an actor at a country fair, and
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Speaker 1: one never knows which way he will kick next. Thus
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Speaker 1: passed the conversation between the Count and the old English officer,
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Speaker 1: whose name somewhat disfigured indeed may be found written in
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Speaker 1: the registers of the Bastille as arrested on suspicion for
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Speaker 1: which crime he, like many others, was subjected to imprisonment
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Speaker 1: for a lengthened period. He and the Count de Meseau
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Speaker 1: now usually took their walk together, and in his society
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Speaker 1: the young nobleman found no small delight, for there was
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Speaker 1: a sort of quaint indifference which gave salt and flavor
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Speaker 1: to considerable good sense and originality of thought. The old
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Speaker 1: man himself seemed to take a pleasure in conversing with
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Speaker 1: the young count, which was evidently not the case with
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Speaker 1: the generality of his fellow prisoners. One morning, however, towards
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Speaker 1: the end of the period we have mentioned, the sound
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Speaker 1: of the falling drawbridge was heard. The soldiers drew up
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Speaker 1: in double line. The order for all the other prisoners
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Speaker 1: to fall back was given, and the Chevalier Derohan, followed
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Speaker 1: by two or three other prisoners, amongst whom were Vandernenden
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Speaker 1: and a lady were brought in as if from examination.
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Speaker 1: The countenances of almost all were very pale, with the
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Speaker 1: exception of that of the Chevalier de Rohan, which was
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Speaker 1: inflamed with a fiery spot on ea the cheek, while
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Speaker 1: his eyes flashed fire and his lips were absolutely covered
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Speaker 1: with foam. Four times between the great gate of the
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Speaker 1: court and the tower on which he was confined, he
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Speaker 1: halted abruptly, and, turning round with furious gestures to the
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Speaker 1: guards and jailers who surrounded him, poured forth a torrent
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Speaker 1: of fierce and angry words, exclaiming that he had been deceived, cheated,
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Speaker 1: that the King's name had been used to assure him
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Speaker 1: of safety, and that now the King had retracted the
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Speaker 1: promises and was going to murder him. It was in
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Speaker 1: vain that the guards tried to stop him, and endeavored
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Speaker 1: to force him onward. Still, he turned round as soon
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Speaker 1: as ever he had an opportunity, and shouted bought the
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Speaker 1: same accusation with horrible imprecations and even blasphemies. The second prisoner,
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Speaker 1: who seemed to be a military man, paused and regarded
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Speaker 1: the Chevalier with a stern and somewhat scornful air, But
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Speaker 1: the lady and the old man Vandenenden were drowned in tears,
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Speaker 1: and from all the Count saw he concluded that the
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Speaker 1: trial of the Chevalier and his accomplices had either terminated
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Speaker 1: in their condemnation, or else had taken such a turn
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Speaker 1: as showed that result to be inevitable. From that time,
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Speaker 1: none of the prisoners who had the liberties of the
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Speaker 1: Bastille were allowed to remain in the court when the
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Speaker 1: Chevalier and his accomplices passed through it, an order being
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Speaker 1: given before the gates were opened for every one to
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Speaker 1: retire to his own apartments. Three days after this new regulation.
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Speaker 1: Such an order having been given, the Count bade it willingly,
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Speaker 1: for the weather had become cold and damp, and the
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Speaker 1: court of the Bastille felt like a well. He had
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Speaker 1: obtained permission to take some books out of the library,
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Speaker 1: in which there was no fire allowed, and sitting by
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Speaker 1: the embers in his own apartment, he was endeavoring to
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Speaker 1: amuse himself by reading, when the sounds of what seemed
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Speaker 1: to him carts in greater numbers than usual, mingled with
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Speaker 1: the tongues of many persons speaking called him to the
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Speaker 1: little window of his chamber. He saw that the small
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Speaker 1: place Saint Antoine was filled with a crowd of people,
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Speaker 1: surrounding two or three large carts, as they seemed, but
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Speaker 1: he could not make out what the persons present were about,
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Speaker 1: and after looking on for a few minutes, he returned
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Speaker 1: to his book. Everything within the walls of the bastille
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Speaker 1: seemed to be unusually still and quiet, and for rather
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Speaker 1: more than an hour and a half he read on
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Speaker 1: till some sound of a peculiar character, or some sudden
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Speaker 1: impression on his own mind, which he could not account for,
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Speaker 1: made him again rise and hasten to the window. When
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Speaker 1: he did so, a sight was presented to his eyes
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Speaker 1: which would have required long years to efface its recollection.
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Speaker 1: The carts which he had seen and the materials they contained,
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Speaker 1: had been by this time erected into a scaffold, and
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Speaker 1: in the front thereof turned towards the Rue Sainontoine, which
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Speaker 1: as well as the square itself was filled with an
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Speaker 1: immense multitude of people, was a block with an axe
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Speaker 1: leaning against the side. At one corner of the scaffold
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Speaker 1: was erected a gibbet, and in the front, within a
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Speaker 1: foot or two of the block, stood the unfortunate Chevalier
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Speaker 1: de Rohan, with a priest on one side of him,
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Speaker 1: pouring consolation or instruction into his ear, while the executioner
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Speaker 1: on the other side was busily cutting off his hair
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Speaker 1: to prepare his neck for the stroke. Two or three
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Speaker 1: other prisoners were behind, with several priests in the assistance
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Speaker 1: of the executioner, and amongst them again was seen the
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Speaker 1: form of the old man van Dernenden and of the
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Speaker 1: lady whom the camp had beheld pass through the court
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Speaker 1: of the castle. The old man seemed scarcely able to
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Speaker 1: suppor bought himself, and was upheld near the foot of
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Speaker 1: the gallows by two of the guards. But the lady,
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Speaker 1: with her head uncovered and her fine hair gathered together
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Speaker 1: in a knot near the top of her head, stood alone,
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Speaker 1: calm and to all appearance, perfectly self possessed. And as
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Speaker 1: she turned for a moment to look at the weak
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Speaker 1: old man, whose writhing agitation at parting with a life
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Speaker 1: that he could not expect to prolong for many years,
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Speaker 1: even if pardoned, was truly lamentable, she showed the Count
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Speaker 1: de Monieur, a fine, though somewhat faded countenance, with every
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Speaker 1: line expressive of perfect resolution and tranquility. The Count de
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Speaker 1: Morseu was a brave man who had confronted death a
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Speaker 1: thousand times, who had seen it in many an awful
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Speaker 1: shape and accompanied by many a terrible accessory. But when
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Speaker 1: he looked at the upturned faces of the multitude, the block,
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Speaker 1: the axe, the gibbet, the executioners, the cold gray sky
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Speaker 1: above that spoke of hopelessness, the thronged windows all around
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Speaker 1: teeming with gaping faces, and all the horrible parade of
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Speaker 1: public execution, he could not but wonder at the self
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Speaker 1: possession and the calmness of that lady's look and demeanor
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Speaker 1: as one about to suffer in that awful scene. His, however,
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Speaker 1: was no heart there could delight in such spectacles, And
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Speaker 1: withdrawing almost immediately from the window, he waited in deep thought.
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Speaker 1: In about a minute after there was a sort of
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Speaker 1: low murmur, followed by a heavy stroke, and then the
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Speaker 1: murmur sounded like the rushing of a distant wind. In
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Speaker 1: a few moments after that, again came another blow, and
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Speaker 1: the Count thought that there was a suppressed scream mingled
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Speaker 1: with the wavelike sound of the multitude. Again came that
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Speaker 1: harsh blow, accompanied by a similar noise, and lastly a
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Speaker 1: loud shout, in which there were mingled tones of ferocity
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Speaker 1: and devision, very different from any which had been heard before.
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Speaker 1: Not aware of what could have produced the change, the
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Speaker 1: Count was once more irresistibly led to the window, where
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Speaker 1: he beheld swinging and writhing on the gibbet the form
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Speaker 1: of the old man van den Enden, whose pusillanimity seemed
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Speaker 1: to have excited the contempt and indignation of the populace.
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Speaker 1: On the other parts of the scaffold, the executioner and
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Speaker 1: his assistants were seen gathering up the bloody ruins of
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Speaker 1: the human temples they had overthrown. Sickened and pained, the
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Speaker 1: Count turned away and covered his eyes with his hands,
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Speaker 1: asking himself in the low voice of thought, when will
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Speaker 1: this be my fate? Also end of chapter twenty four