THE DAUPHIN WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY IN THE ASSEMBLY.
“The Revolution came and cast a shadow over Versailles, with all its glory. The royal family was surrounded with enemies, and was in constant terror, and the little dauphin was made unhappy by the sight of his mother’s tears.
“One day a serving-woman told him that if he would procure some favor for her she would be happy as a queen.
“‘As happy as a queen!’ he answered: ‘I know of one queen who does nothing but weep.’
“The Revolutionists overthrew the Bastile and the throne, and the members of the royal family were obliged to seek protection in the National Assembly. They were then confined in an old French prison, called the Temple.
“The king was tried by the Assembly, was condemned and executed. He deeply loved the dauphin, and parted from him with bitter grief.
“After the king’s death the dauphin was the principal solace of the queen in her imprisonment. He was at last removed from the queen’s apartment by an order of the Committee of Public Safety. It is related that when the guards came to take him away, his mother fought for him until her strength was exhausted, and she fell senseless upon the floor.
“After the execution of his mother he was given over to the care of a brutal shoemaker, named Simon, who endeavored to cause his death without committing palpable murder. He was ill-fed, beaten and abused, and received the name of the ‘She-wolf’s Whelp,’ referring to Marie Antoinette.