EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI.
The judicial murder of Louis XVI. was the climax of the Revolution in France. The Convention voted his death at three o'clock on the morning of the 20th January, 1793, and he was taken to execution in twenty-six hours afterwards.
The guillotine was erected in the middle of the Place Louis XV., a large open square, having the Champs Elysées on one side, and the gardens of the Tuileries on the other. The Place bristled with artillery, and every street and avenue leading to it was crowded with troops and armed multitudes, who had cannon with them charged with grape-shot; while the carriage was surrounded by picked men, who had orders to despatch the king with their carbines in case of any rescue being attempted. At about half-past ten, the king, who had been engaged in prayer during the ride, arrived at the spot; he descended from the coach, and his confessor followed him. Three executioners approached to remove his upper garments, but he put them back, and performed that simple office for himself. He resisted somewhat the indignity of having his hands tied, and only yielded on the entreaty of his confessor; and had also to yield on the subject of cutting off his back hair. He ascended the steps that led to the platform with a firm bearing, still followed by M. Edgeworth. When on the top, he made a sudden movement towards the edge of the scaffold, and exclaimed with a loud and firm voice: "Frenchmen, I die innocent; it is from the scaffold, and when about to appear before my God, that I tell you so. I pardon my enemies; I pray that France"——Here Santerre, on horseback, raised his right hand, and cried: "Drums! Executioners, do your duty!" Several drummers immediately began by their noise to drown the sound of the king's voice: and six executioners brought him to the centre of the scaffold. He exclaimed again: "I die innocent; I ever desired the good of my people;" but his voice could be heard only by the executioners and the priest. He then knelt down, in order to place his head in the appointed spot; the confessor, bending over him said: "Son of St. Louis, ascend to heaven!" The spring of the machine was touched, the heavy axe descended in its grooves, and the once royal head was severed from the body. Samson, the chief executioner, took up the bleeding head by the hair, and walked three times round the scaffold, holding it up at arm's-length to show it to the people. The troops and the spectators shouted: "Vive la République!" put their hats and caps upon their bayonets and pikes, and waved them in the air, with prolonged and re-echoing cries of "Vive la République!" "Vive la Nation!" "Vive la Liberte!" Many of the savage men standing near the scaffold dipped their pike-heads into the king's blood, and others their handkerchiefs—not as a sacred memento, but as a symbol of the downfall of all kings; they even paraded these gore-stained objects before the windows of the Temple, that perchance the queen and her children might see them. The headless trunk of Louis was put into a large wicker-basket, placed in the coach, and carried to the cemetery of La Madeleine; where, without coffin or shroud, it was thrown into a deep pit, partly filled up with quicklime. On that same morning, one Benoit Leduc, a tailor, who had on some occasions worked for Louis, presented a petition to the Convention, praying to be allowed, at his own expense, to bury the body of the king by the side of his father, Louis XV., and under the monument raised to that prince by the city of Sens; but the Convention rejected his petition, and ordered the executive council to see that Louis was buried like other criminals.
A MAN AGED ONE HUNDRED YEARS CLAIMING A BOTTLE OF WINE.
John Bull, of London, stock-broker, died 1848, aged 100 years. When at the age of about 93, and in the employ of Messrs. Spurling, stock-brokers, he left by mistake in the office of the accountant of the Bank of England, a large number of bank notes. On discovering his loss, after diligently searching for the missing parcel, he went back to the accountant's office, partly to acquaint Mr. Smee with the circumstance, and partly as a last hope that he might there find the missing treasure. To his great joy he found the parcel safe in the accountant's possession, whom he earnestly implored to keep the secret, lest his employers should think his faculties were failing. Mr. Smee of course gave him the required assurance, and goodnaturedly added, that when Mr. Bull should attain the age of 100 years, he would treat him to the finest bottle of wine in his cellar. Some time before his becoming a centenarian, he was pensioned off by his employer, and Mr. Smee had, in all probability, quite forgotten the affair; when, true to the engagement, the venerable, but still active old clerk, made his appearance at the bank on the important day, and claimed the promised bottle of wine. The claim was promptly allowed; and the last birthday of the aged official was one of the happiest among his friends of the long list of such events which had been its precursor. After continuing vigorous and active, and almost free from indisposition up to this time, he, along with many other aged persons, fell a victim to that fatal influenza which prevailed so extensively throughout the country, and more especially in London and its suburbs, during the autumn of 1847 and the winter of 1848.
CHARITY REWARDED BY A RICH AND LIBERAL MENDICANT.
Within the present century, a beggar in Moorfields used daily to have a penny given him by a merchant on his way to the Exchange. The penny was withheld, and the appearance of the merchant manifested his embarrassment and distress. The beggar at length spoke to him, offered him a loan of £500, and another of the same sum if it were required. It re-established his affairs.
HACKNEY COACHMAN OF THE TIME OF CHARLES II.