-40^ 



Revolutions in National Taste. 



But our silence was suddenly inleirnjit- 

 ed, by (lie steps of men approacliinp: the 

 cultiii wherein we were shut up. In a 

 low voice it is asked, " Who is there?" 

 1 call my brother: " We are discovered, 

 Antoine; arm yourself, and let us sell 

 our lives as dearly as |)ossihlc." We 

 interchange a last adieu, and prepare to 

 act on the defensive ; but, o!i ! matter of 

 surprise, — of joy unexpected ! it was 

 three of our friends coming- to our relief, 

 — we could distinguish their voices: the 

 door is o|)eiie(l, and we are locked in 

 llicir embraces. 



One of the tliree M'as M. Dumas 

 Jjamarclie, ancient oflicer of cuiiassiers. 

 lie has remained faithful to us (hrougli 

 the whole series of our misiortuiics, at 

 a distance as well as near; vindicating 

 our cliaraclers, and asserting our rights. 

 He celebrated my returti, in verses 

 which all our fi iends liave in memory ; 

 and, after aidim; nie with all his might 

 in the reclamations which I made at 

 Paris, where we came together, he 

 assisted me in the drawing up of these 

 Memoirs. 



The genflarmeric and the moveable 

 guard, p«it on a wrong Kcenl, by rintinurs 

 circulated purposely, went in search of 

 lis, beating about the forest of Aniber- 

 rieux. One of our friends, an indefati- 

 gable huntsman, well acquainted with 

 all the bye-paths and impracti<;ab!e de- 

 liles, offered himself to be our guide, in 

 icnioviiig us to a distance. We gladly 

 embraced this overture ; and, rurmouiit- 

 ing obstacles iliat occurred at every 

 step, we arri\ed, about one in the morn- 

 ing, at a little port of the Saone, above 

 Trevoux, called Le Quart, where we 

 were kindly received by a brave fisher- 

 iiiiui, named Nesme, who since has 

 ]ieris!icd, under the sentence of that 

 Provost Court from wliieh he exerted 

 liimself to snatch us. 



Nesme was one of tiio victims of 

 tlial terror which in 1817 crimsoned 

 with blood the banks of the Rlionc and 

 tlie Saone. He was a courageous but 

 simple inan, easy to be drawn in by 

 otiiers, when an honourable object was 

 to be pursued. He sutfercd limself to 

 1)0 seduced by villains that were plot- 

 ting his destruction, when they [irofessed 

 to be batching schemes for withdrawing 

 the country from the yt)ke of foreigners, 

 'litis constituted the whole of his 

 crime : forty years of his life he had 

 borne an irreproachnblc character, 

 marked also by a number of benefi- 

 r.eut actions, ile was condemned to 

 d<ath. 



In vain the respectable curate of St. 



[Junelj 



Bernard, now general of the Lazarists 

 at Paris, repaired to Lyons, to depose 

 in his favour, before the Provost Court 

 at Lyons. Nesme was, indeed, recom- 

 mended to the royal clemency; but he 

 had sunk under the long confinement of 

 tlie dungeon, before the commutation of 

 his sentence arrived. 



In those times of trouble, the vene- 

 rable curate above mentioned, exhibited 

 a courageous example of evangelical 

 virtues. Without being suntmoned by 

 the Court, be pleaded the cause of the 

 unfortunate. When this w as objected 

 to him by the Public Advocate, "Sir, 

 (he replied,) some of my parishioners 

 are among the j)risoners: if it is your 

 duty to accuse, it is no less mine to 

 defend, them : they are my children.''' 

 He was one of my warmest friends; 

 and I cannot but contrast his noble be- 

 haviour with the calumnies and uure- 

 lenting hatred of my enemies. 



Nesme soon wafted us into a littto 

 island of the Saone, nearly fronting his 

 house. This island was overrun with 

 a coppice of underwood, hedges, 

 thickets, &c. very fit for concealment; 

 and we had the precaution not to ap- 

 pear out of the little hut that our friend 

 had hastily raised for us. W^e were in 

 110 want of provisions or arms; and we 

 passed two days there pretty quietly. 



We heard the boatmen, as they coast- 

 ed along our island, holding talk with 

 Nesme about our adventure, and ex- 

 pressing an eager wish to serve us. 

 We then resolved upon making our- 

 selves known to one of them, who 

 gladly received us into his boat, care- 

 fully excluded us from observation, and 

 landed us safe and sound at the 

 Faubourg dc Serin. Nesme would not 

 leave us till we were securely housed at 

 a worthy merchant's of Lyons, who gave 

 lis a welcome reception. 



But it was not enough to penetrate 

 into the suburbs; we must advance 

 into the heart of the city. We passed 

 the barriers (gates) at twilight, or other- 

 wise wc should have been known, 

 notwithstanding our disguise. In Lyons 

 we found not one, but twenty, asylums: 

 all purses, — all hearts, — were opeu 

 to us. 



(To be continued.) 



For the Montlihj Magazine. 



REVOLUTIONS in NATIONAL TASTE. 



IT is at once curious and instructive 

 to watch the variations in national 

 tastes, in the different periods of Eng- 

 lish history, and to observe the very 

 dissimilar means which various mun- 



ucrs 



