and he shook a purse of louis-d’ors at my ear.  ’We are to storm the palace an hour before daybreak; the troops must either join us or be put to death; the king and his tribe will be sent to a dungeon, and France, before to-morrow night, will have at her head, if not the greatest man, the richest fool, in Europe.’  He burst out into an irrestrainable laugh, in which the whole party joined; but the sound of cannon broke off his speech; all shouldered pike or musket; I was placed under the especial surveillance of a pair with drawn sabres, which had probably seem some savage service during the night, for they were clotted with blood; and with me for their guide, the horde of savages rushed forward, shouting, to join the grand attack on the defenders of our unfortunate king.

“My situation had grown more trying at every moment, but escape was impossible, and my next thought was to make the best of my misfortune, enter the palace along with the crowd, and, when once there, die by the side of my old comrades.  I had, however, expected a sanguinary struggle.  What was my astonishment when I saw the massive gates, which might have been so easily defended, broken open at once—­a few random shots the only resistance, and the staircases and ante-rooms in possession of the multitude within a quarter of an hour.  ‘Where is La Fayette?’ in wrath and indignation, I cried to one of the wounded garde-du-corps, whom I had rescued from the knives of my sans-culotte companions.  ’He is asleep,’ answered the dying man, with a bitter smile.  ’Where are the National Guard whom he brought with him last night from Paris?’ I asked, in astonishment.  ‘They are asleep, too,’ was the contemptuous answer.  I rushed on, and at length reached my friends; tore off my Federe uniform, and used, with what strength was left me, my bayonet, until it was broken.

“I shall say no more of that night of horrors.  The palace was completely stormed.  The splendid rooms, now the scene of battle hand to hand; the royal furniture, statues, pictures, tossed and trampled in heaps; wounded and dead men lying every where; the constant discharge of muskets and pistols; the breaking open of doors with the blows of hatchets and hammers; the shrieks of women flying for their lives, or hanging over their wounded sons and husbands; and the huzzas of the rabble, at every fresh entrance which they forced into the suites of apartments, were indescribable.  I pass over the other transactions of those terrible hours; but some unaccountable chance saved the royal family—­I fear, for deeper sufferings; for the next step was degradation.

“The rabble leaders insisted that the king should go with them to Paris.  Monsieur La Fayette was now awake; and he gave it as his opinion that this was the only mode of pleasing the populace.  When a king submits to popular will, he is disgraced; and a disgraced king is undone.  It was now broad day; the struggle was at an end; the royal carriages were ordered, and the garde-du-corps were drawn up to follow them.  At this moment, the barrel-organ man, my leader of the night, passed me by with a grimace, and whispered, ’Brother Federe, did I not tell you how it would be?  The play is only beginning; all that we have seen is the farce.’  He laughed, and disappeared among the crowd.