“Whoever thou art that findest these remains, respect them as those of a virtuous man. After my wife’s death, I will not remain another day upon this earth, so stained with crimes.”
This was Madame Roland’s husband.
Very different from this honest woman’s death was that of Madame Dubarry, mistress of Louis XV. Her crime was the concealment of a treasure. As a King’s favorite, she had amassed enormous wealth. Strangely enough, it was a favorite of her own—a negro boy she had adopted—that denounced her. She was condemned, and she went shrieking to the scaffold—the only instance of this kind amongst all the women who died during the Reign of Terror.
Her beauty was her crime.
“Life!” she cried. “Life for repentance—for devotion to the Republic! All my treasures for a little life!”
The knife only cut short these ignoble cries.
The next thing done was the abolition of the name of the days of the weeks and months of the year, because they were idolatrous.
Finally, the Catholic faith was abolished, the church bells were cast into money, the worship of the Goddess of Reason, was proclaimed. The proclamation was carried into effect at the Cathedral. An actress, one Mdlle. Maillard, beautiful, talented, and a favorite of the late Queen’s, was compelled to play the part of the goddess.
She was borne into the church (the only one now open in all Paris) upon a kind of litter, covered with oak branches, and followed by girls dressed in white, singing jubilant songs. About the altar were the opera choristers and others. The actress was now placed upon the altar, and she was worshipped by those present. The Bishop had been compelled to appear, and he sat motionless with fear, tears of shame coursing down his face.
The burial places of the Kings were now invaded. The remains of a thousand years of kings were torn from the vaults of St. Denis, and cast into the country ditches. Nothing was spared—anything which suggested royalty, was destroyed.