Never had such a sight struck the eye of man.
The Field was changed in a twinkling of the plain into a pit, with the auditorium holding three hundred thousand.
In the midst was the Altar of the Country, to which led four staircases, corresponding with the faces of the obelisk which overtowered it.
At each corner smoked incense dishes—incense being decreed henceforth to be used only in offerings to God.
Inscriptions heralded that the French People were free, and invited all nations to the feast of Freedom.
One grand stand was reserved for the Queen, the court and the Assembly. It was draped with the Red, White and Blue which she abhorred, since she had seen it flaunt above her own, the Austrian black.
For this day only the King was appointed Commander-in-chief, but he had transferred his command to Lafayette who ruled six millions of armed men in the National Guards of France.
The tricolor surmounted everything—even to the distinctive banners of each body of delegates.
At the same time as the President of the Assembly took his seat, the King and the Queen took theirs.
Alas, poor Queen! her court was meager: her best friends had fled in fright: perhaps some would have returned if they knew what money Mirabeau had obtained for her; but they were ignorant.