PRIVATE TRIALS AND Pl7BLIC CALAMITIES. * A. Namur, and interesting if

not a striking account of the family and social distresses inflicted by the French Revolution will be found in these volumes. The first heavings of the coining tem- pest, shown in social differences and civic unpopularity—the un- manly yielding of the noblesse, and the faskon of flying from their fears by emigration (for those who were not emigrants were out of the mode, and censured accordingly)—the agita- tion of the country by itinerant demagogues who started up sud- denly without apparent training, but effectually did their work— the first attempts at political persecution, wearing an aspect of legal form, but gradually passing into the hands of self-constituted authorities as the Reign of Terror drew closer and closer—are all clearly if rather faintly marked. The Reign of Terror itself is shown less in its horrors than its troubles and anxieties ; or rather, the horrors are told in the mass, the ever-harassing troubles and anxieties presented in daily details. M. Des Echerolles having prominently assisted in the defence of Lyons, was of course on the proscribed list ; and almost the sole business of his family, and even of his friends, was to shield him from detection and forward his escape. His sister was arrested as his sister, or as an aristocrat, and crowded with a vast number of others first in one and then in another prison of Lyons, till she was finally led forth to execu- tion. The youth of Alexandrine Des Echerolles, (she had only en- tered her teens,) and her small size, exempted her from accusation. Daily she waited for admission at the prison-doors to attend upon her aunt, and carry her meals ; for very bad bread and bad water was all that the Republic allowed the detenues. The friends of the other prisoners were in the same plight, and were kept standing in mass before the doors, till they had by bribery overcome the, af- fected scruples of the gaolers; for admission-orders were obtained with great difficulty, and were not always available, owing to some informality. These informalities were possibly the artifice of a tender-hearted Jacobin, who thus got rid- of a suitor he would not openly deny. Mademoiselle Des Echerolles ascribed thein6 deep design : she conceives it was an object to rain the finances of the "aristocrats," by compelling them to disburse what they had saved from confiscation. There certainly was a good deal of spoiling and "quartering upon the enemy," mingled with small but dever French policy and some mauvaises plaisanteiies. In the larger towns, the Committees of Public Safety, the crowded prisons and the systematic work of the guillotine, sepa- rated the French from all other revolutions except perhaps the worst prescriptions of the Roman Republic. In the country there seems to have been some resemblance to the features of the Great Rebellion in England, and probably to all violent conflicts of au- thority when society is enlisted on opposite sides. Movement or concealment was more difficult than in the towns, from the pau- city of passengers, and every resident being known ; so that a person without friends was more exposed than in cities. If the landlord escaped the confiscation of his property, he had little left beyond bare walls and his land. • The tenants in possession, or some patriot with the power arising from being on the uppermost side made quick work with wine, moveables, the fruits of the earth, and the live stock ; so that most of those who did return, returned, like the Cavalier owner of Corfe Castle and other places in England, to a stripped and dilapidated home. The heroine of this volume ex- perienced something of this. The estate of Les Echerolles, which gave the family their nom do terre, was situated 'near Moulins. After the escape of her father and the execution of her aunt, she went back to the family chateau, in obedience to her aunt's last injunctions conveyed thither by two servants. court-yard co!t-yard appeared to me one vast solitude, as my wretched little cart drove up to the steps before the house. I got down. How silent was every- thing ! Only a year and a half before, I had left that spot in a comfortable carriage, sitting by the Bide of my aunt, and surrounded by every care and attention. And now, had I still a family ? My father, my brother, did they yet exist ? and might I hope over to behold them again ? A shiver passed over me. If it had not been for my dread of any one discovering thy'fiel- ing,s, and also of weakening myself by their indulgencei I could not baftViii, strained the sorrow which wrung my heart ; but the intense fear I 'felt of giving way before unsympathizing eyes made me vigorously swelling' il4wn the strong emotion which shook my firmness, and I did not shed a alit& tear as I reEntered my father's desolate and deserted mansion. I found an nurse entirely absorbed in the cares which my sister's situation required, and making it her own delight to shed a little sunshine over Odille's melancholy existence. Barbara, an excellent girl, who was in our service before our separation, helped her, and waited on her faithfully. She too greeted me affectionately : but my sister did not know me. Tears flowed silently from her eyes, which were fixed on me with a perfectly vacant expression. The other inhabitants of Les Echerolles, with the exception of Vermiere, my father's excellent gardener, gazed at me with more curiosity than interest. "I was soon established in the kitchen ; that is to say, it served us for a sitting-room. At night, I shared the narrow garret in which any sister, my nurse, and Barbara slept. The rest, they told us, was under sequestration. Nevertheless, this pretended sequestration did not prevent the farmers enjoy- • Private Trials and Public Calamities; or the Early Life of Alexandrine Des Echerolles, during the Troubles of the First French Revolution. From the French. By the Translator of "The Sicilian Vespers," and the Author of "Gentle In- fluence." In two volumes. Published by Bentley. lag the use of it, and receiving their friends there. I could see the windows af my mother's room opened for strangers; that room whence I alone was excluded, though in former days it was there that I had known her—there that I had received her blessing and her last farewell—there that I had seen her die ! I alone might not open that sacred door : banished into the kitchen of nay father's house, I saw those act and speak as masters, who once—oh ! it was hard indeed !

"Hardly had I set foot to the ground, when a messenger was sent off to Moulins to announce the important fact to the Revolutionary Committee. A child of fourteen years old, almost miraculously escaped from misery and massacre—this child, the unfortunate remnant of a detested family, had actually arrived!

"The next morning, I was awakened at four o'clock. I must get up at once—such were the orders ; and they were waiting for me. I went down into the garden ; where I found a man named C—, formerly an apothe- cary, but now a member of the Revolutionary Committee. Ile was waiting for me in an avenue of cut honibeams, which became the tribunal where I was to be interrogated.

" Where is your father ? " I do not know.' "'Have you seen Precy ? " No.' • " 'Dad you no knowledge of the plotting going on in the infamous city of Lyons ? "No.'

" 'Has no one ever spoken in your presence of the plans of the counter- revolutionists ? " No.'

" Did your aunt never reveal them to you ? " No.'

"'Where are your brothers ? "I do not know.'

"Such was the general style of his questions and of my answers. The man was short and ugly, stared fixedly at me, and seemed to wish to pene- trate my very thoughts. He questioned sue for a long time, twisting his queries into various shapes ; but I continued equally laconic in my replies. My nurse trembled for me, and prayed in silence. " C—, being unable to extrdct anything more from me, and provoked at being defeated by a child, ended by saying, in a loud and imperious voice

Listen attentively to what I am going to tell you, and be obedient. You have the misfortune to belong to a family of traitors; and you must efface this stain, repair their crimes, and purify the bad blood which flows in your veins. You can only do so by serving the nation and working for it. Work then for our soldiers, and above all denounce all traitors, and publish their crimes ; it is thus that you may redeem from infamy the name you bear, and serve the Republic faithfully.' My only answer was a bitter smile ; and he departed at last, crying out again and again, Denounce them—denounce them! "

It was a time for fortune-hunters; many heiresses or "unpro- tected females" with property being frightened or persuaded into marrying low Jacobins. An octogenarian aunt of Alexandrine, who lived on one of her properties in a remote place, was saved by her man of business. He persuaded her, with great difficulty, to keep where she was ; for her language, if reported, would have quickly endangered her head. "When she and N. Bonvent were dining together, she was told that a peasant demanded an immediate audience. Mademoiselle Melon desired that he might be shown in at once: but the man, whether from stupidity or shyness, did not clearly explain what he wanted. On being repeatedly de- sired to speak plain, he took courage and said, 'You know that now every-

boll, is equal, and so I have come to put you in requisition.' 'What is that ? ' said Mademoiselle Melon, who did not in the least understand him.

"'I say, that now that we may exercise our rights freely, I put you in requisition.' 'But what does that mean ?' she exclaimed, with some impatience. " 'It means that you are to become my wife.' " To hear this, to jump up and seize her walking-cane, and to let fall a shower of blows on this strange wooer, was the affair of a moment with Mademoiselle Melon; and while the man timidly retreated she struck her hardest, repeating, ! you wish to marry me, do you ? I'll serve you out!' " The astounded peasant, with many bows, sidled backwards to the door, muttering, 'Well, citizen, they told me—'

" ! I am citizen now, am I? Wait a bit ! Here's more for that and the foolish fellow departed in great disgust.

"Mademoiselle Melon long brooded over her wrath ; and it is said that M. Bonvent was not a little amused."

There is a notion that terrors ceased after the downfall of Robes- pierre: but individual troubles and dangers were as great, though the cases were not so numerous. There was a reaction against the Tae,obins, and when a turn of the wheel threw them uppermost there was Jacobinical action again. In fact, safety was not esta- blished till Napoleon seized supreme power. M. Des Echerolles was exposed to as much risk after the death of Robespierre as before ; and his property, which was only sequestrated during the Reign of Terror, was subsequently confiscated. This was the state of Lyons in that unsettled time. "There was no peace for the Jacobins there, even though their power was again increasing in France, and their official reign returning, for the misery of the country. Terrified at the mysterious powers which seized its prey in silence, many of them lay long concealed, while their places remained un- occupied. "It was rumoured that many young men, coming back from the army in which they had been fighting valiantly, and missing on their return the home and the loved ones for whom they had risked their lives, made in- quiries into the causes of their loss, and many of the informers were slain in duels, in consequence of these private feuds, which were equally detri- mental to both parties. " Exasperated by all the atrocities they brought to light, these young men soon resorted to stronger measures. They became assassins, while they thought themselves only righteous avengers. Some thought a duel too great an honour for such adversaries; they slew them by night as by day, by stratagem as well as by open violence. All means appeared legitimate to get rid of them. After having been killed they were thrown into the Rh6ne or the &fine, whichever stream chanced to be nearest at the moment, and the water soon bore away the body of the victim. Sometimes, even in broad daylight, one of these men was pointed out to public justice by the cry of Matevon ! matevon!'—' Matevon' being in the Lyons dialect a word for a man who cut off the heads of trees ; the slayers of men were therefore called ' matevons.' When the cry was raised, the passers-by hardly took any notice; It is but a matevon,' they would say to them- selves, and pass on.

"All minds now were getting irritated/by long and unjust persecution; and so, departing also from the right way, many made themselves amends for the impossibility of obtaining justice, by taking the matter into their own hands. In fact, the prisons were now overflowing with terrorists of

every grade, municipal officers, informers, men who had been unfaithful to the trusts committed to them—in short, criminals of every sort, to whom the new authorities refused to grant even a hearing, being deaf to the just demands for judgment which arose on every side."

The reminiscences of Alexandrine Des Echerolles extend from the beginning of the Revolution, when she was not more than ten or eleven years old, till the restoration of order under Napoleon: Her memoirs are continued till she finally became governess to the children of the Duchess of Wurtemberg, after passing through difficulties and privations in search of an independent subsistence, the Revolution having ruined her family and many of her friends. It is not without interest as a picture of French character, and an indication of French society at a period which has received less at- tention than the earlier part of the Revolution. For purposes of popular attraction it might have borne condensation, so as to have removed more of the personal biography from the pages. Indeed, the same process might have been advantageously applied to the whole work ; for the writer's style is diffuse, she is given to re- flection, and prone to a detail which sometimes wears the character of emptiness.