(693) The grand federation in the Champ de Mar, on the anniversary of the taking of the Bastille, thus described by M. Thiers:—­“A magnificent amphitheatre, formed at the further extremity, was destined for the national authorities.  The King and the president sat beside one another on similar seats.  Behind the King was an elevated balcony for the Queen and the court.  The ministers were at some distance before from the King, and the deputies ranged on either side.  Four hundred thousand spectators occupied the lateral amphitheatres.  Sixty thousand armed federalists performed their evolutions in the intermediate space; and in the centre, upon a base twenty-five feet high, stood the altar of the country.  Three hundred priests, in white surplices and tricoloured scarfs, covered the steps, and were to officiate.  The Bishop of Anton” [afterwards Prince Talleyrand] began the mass.  Divine service over, La Fayette received the orders of the King, who handed to him the form of the oath.  La Fayette carried it to the altar.  At this moment all the banners waved, every sabre glistened.  The general the army, the president, the deputies cried ‘I swear it.’  The King, standing, with his hand outstretched towards the altar, said ’I King of the French, swear,’ etc.  At this moment., the Queen, moved by the general emotion, clasped in her arms the august child, the heir to the throne, and, from the balcony, showed him to the assembled nation.  At this moment shouts of joy, attachment ’enthusiasm, were addressed to the mother and the child, and all hearts were hers.”  History of the Revolution, vol. i. p. 155.-E.

(694) On the 20th of Julio, a decree, that the titles of duke, count, marquis, viscount, baron, and chevalier should be suppressed, had been carried in the National Assembly by a large majority.-E.

Letter 352 To Miss Berry.  Strawberry Hill, Saturday night, July 3, 1790. (page 450)

How kind to write the very moment you arrived! but pray do not think that, welcome as your letters are, I would purchase them at the price of any fatigue to you-a proviso I put in already against moments when you may be more weary than by a journey to Lymington.  You make me happy by the good accounts of Miss Agnes; and I should be completely so, if the air of the sea could be so beneficial to you both, as to make your farther journey unnecessary to your healths, at least for some time; for—­and I protest solemnly that not a personal thought enters into the consideration—­I shall be excessively alarmed at your going to the Continent. when such a frenzy has seized it.  You see by the papers, that the flame has burst out at Florence:  can Pisa then be secure?  Flanders can be no safe road; and is any part of France so?  I told you in my last of the horrors at Avignon.  At Madrid the people are riotous against the war with us, and prosecuted I am persuaded it will not