1830.] Affairs in General 329 



To see my manor as much as I may, 



And watch that no souls shall be poach'd away. 



I have a state coach at C House, 



A chariot in Seymour Place ; 

 But they're lent to two friends, who make me amends, 



By driving my favourite pace ; 

 And they handle their reins with such a grace, 



I have something for both at the end of their race.' " 



The French are proud of their being the gayest people on earth, and 

 tbey carry their gaiety with them on all occasions. To a dance or a 

 funeral, to the Opera or the guillotine, alike. A scene in Paris 

 lately exhibited this gaiety in a brilliant point of view. A horrid 

 miscreant was sentenced to the guillotine for the murder of his uncle. 

 His two accomplices shared his sentence, and the whole train of the 

 circumstances, the guilt, and the nature of the punishment, which though 

 brief, is one of the most startling, and even sickening and hideous to the 

 eye, that was ever invented by man ; were calculated to produce a deep 

 sense of awe and horror in the public mind. The result was quite the 

 contrary ; for the execution was one of the gayest things that has occurred 

 since the last Carnival, in Paris. The multitude were in roars of merri- 

 ment, from the beginning to the end. It reminded the elder people of 

 the pleasantries of the Revolution, when even the playhouse was deserted 

 for the Place de Greve, and the wives and mothers of the multitude took 

 their stations in the morning round the guillotine, knitting in hand, and 

 continued working and chatting all day, while the executioner's carts 

 unloaded the victims by dozens at the foot of the scaffold, and the axe- 

 above did its work with patriotic rapidity. In those days woe to the 

 bungling finisher of the law ! the least deficiency of expertness produced 

 a torrent of indignation from the circle on circle of industrious ladies ; 

 as the evidence of skill was applauded with smiles, bravos, and clapping 

 of hands ! 



Two of the criminals were overwhelmed with their situation. The 

 third and principal, Chaudelet, probably half mad, or drunk, gave the 

 tone to the pleasantry. On the attendant priests offering him the crucifix, 

 as is customary, " the reply of Chaudelet was a gesture of the most 

 horrible impatience and rage so violent that he loosed his hands. He 

 then recommenced his imprecations against the police, invoking the 

 vengeance of all true thieves on those vile scoundrels (canaille), particu- 

 larly him of the Quarter of St. Jean, ' that veritable Vidocq ;' and 

 comforted the spectators with the idea that, while they crowded to see 

 three honest fellows fauches (mowed), other honest lads were plundering 

 their (the spectators') houses." But the point which strikes us, is not 

 the frenzy of the wretched being, but the conduct of the spectators. 

 " The mob loudly applauded this pleasant sally, and were gratefully 

 rewarded for their approbation by Chaudelet' s repetition of a song, in 

 which the sentiment was embodied, aud which, while under sentence of 

 death, he had composed for the occasion." This had occurred on the 

 way to the Place de Grew, the usual scene of death, which was crowded 

 with the applauders. On the death of his comrades, Chaudelet was 

 brought forward. " ( Now, my dear friend,' said one of the priests to 

 Chaudelet, ' there is yet time to make your peace with God ! One word 

 of repentance !' A new burst of impiety, indecency, and apparent 

 mirth, was the reply to this exhortation. ' We lose time,' said he ; 



M.M. New Series. VOL. IX. No. 51. 2 U 



