fears and passions, detained Adrian.  It required all his ardour in pursuit of an object, and his patience under difficulties, to calm and animate such a number of his followers, as might counterbalance the panic of the rest, and lead them back to the means from which alone safety could be derived.  He had hoped immediately to follow me; but, being defeated in this intention, he sent his messenger urging me to secure my own troop at such a distance from Versailles, as to prevent the contagion of rebellion from reaching them; promising, at the same time, to join me the moment a favourable occasion should occur, by means of which he could withdraw the main body of the emigrants from the evil influence at present exercised over them.

I was thrown into a most painful state of uncertainty by these communications.  My first impulse was that we should all return to Versailles, there to assist in extricating our chief from his perils.  I accordingly assembled my troop, and proposed to them this retrograde movement, instead of the continuation of our journey to Auxerre.  With one voice they refused to comply.  The notion circulated among them was, that the ravages of the plague alone detained the Protector; they opposed his order to my request; they came to a resolve to proceed without me, should I refuse to accompany them.  Argument and adjuration were lost on these dastards.  The continual diminution of their own numbers, effected by pestilence, added a sting to their dislike of delay; and my opposition only served to bring their resolution to a crisis.  That same evening they departed towards Auxerre.  Oaths, as from soldiers to their general, had been taken by them:  these they broke.  I also had engaged myself not to desert them; it appeared to me inhuman to ground any infraction of my word on theirs.  The same spirit that caused them to rebel against me, would impel them to desert each other; and the most dreadful sufferings would be the consequence of their journey in their present unordered and chiefless array.  These feelings for a time were paramount; and, in obedience to them, I accompanied the rest towards Auxerre.  We arrived the same night at Villeneuve-la-Guiard, a town at the distance of four posts from Fontainebleau.  When my companions had retired to rest, and I was left alone to revolve and ruminate upon the intelligence I received of Adrian’s situation, another view of the subject presented itself to me.  What was I doing, and what was the object of my present movements?  Apparently I was to lead this troop of selfish and lawless men towards Switzerland, leaving behind my family and my selected friend, which, subject as they were hourly to the death that threatened to all, I might never see again.  Was it not my first duty to assist the Protector, setting an example of attachment and duty?  At a crisis, such as the one I had reached, it is very difficult to balance nicely opposing interests, and that towards which our inclinations lead us, obstinately