* 
_ tah ANIDUAL REGISTER, v0. 
events, left apparently to, their na-; 
tural operation, fortune has admi. > 
niftered to fo perverfe a. generation 
of men... It is then.to-be obferved, - 
that, from the ftate of population, 
rank,.and, opulence which we have 
defcribed, there is {carcely, at the 
time we are writing, in the whole 
kingdom of France, {fo fallen, fo re- 
duced, fo beggarly a.town as Ver- 
failles ; while want and diftrefs ope- 
Tating upon a, proper -difpofition of 
mind, have rendered the inhabitants: 
fo notorious for fharping and impo- 
fition, that ‘their lodgings,. which 
might afford them {ome tolerable 
means of fupport,, generally lie, 
through this caufe, untenanted upon 
their hands ; although the purity of, 
the air, the,excellency of the fitua- 
tion, the quiet and filence which, 
now reign there, along. with that 
penfive pleafure which men. derive 
from contemplating the ruins of 
fallen greatnefs, would otherwife 
have rendered it, both’to natives.and 
foreigners, one.of the moft delight- 
ful places of retirement that could 
any where be found... 
The populace of. Paris, notwith- 
flanding tite feverity of the late law 
againit.riets, and the. terrors to, be 
apprehended from the hoifting. of 
the bloody flag, began to give ftrong 
indications of their difpofition to re- 
new their. ufual courfe of tumults, 
about the very time that their neigh- 
bours of Verfailles. were fo fedu- 
loufly forcing themfelves into no- 
tice, and. had excited fo much fuf- 
picion and trouble. One. of. the af- 
figned caufes for thefe movemients 
among the Parifians was the price 
of bread. This efiential article of 
life, without any regard to the prices 
ef grain, or confideration with re- 
fpect to the famine which then fo 
feverely prefied all others, infitted 
that the price of bread fhould be 
unalterably fixed im Paris at the very 
low, rate of two fous per pound. 
‘his demand will appear the more 
fingular and curious, when it’ is 
known, that: the Parifians were at 
this time fupplied withibread at a 
rate which would, ceteris, paribus, 
prove an expence or lofs to the na- 
tion of twenty-two.millions of livres 
a \year;-they confuming -bread >to: 
that amount cheaper than it could 
be procured. by any other men ins ~ 
the kingdom. 
But the Parifians felt’ another 
caufe of discontent, which operated 
much more grievoufly upon their: 
imaginations than the price of bread, 
however interefling that might: ap- 
pear. "The proceedings of the court 
of chatelet had given, the greateft- , 
offence to the body of the populace. 
That court having been conftituted 
by the national aflembly a tempo- 
rary judicature for the. trial and pu-! 
nifiment of all treaions, againtt the 
nation, had accordingly proceeded 
through, what we fhould have called 
here, a courfe of itate trials, They 
began .their,procets withthe baren: 
de; Bezenval,; the Swifs veneral, 
whole life, as we have before feen, 
had been, preferved with fo much 
difiiculty from the fury of the Pari- 
fians.. ‘They accordingly watched 
the iffue of this trial with the deep- 
eft anxiety; till flattering them- 
felves. that the court would not dare 
to acquit a man who they had fo 
long and fo often condemned; and ~ 
warmly hoping, that fo long and” 
grievous a ceflation from aétion and 
amufementas they had now endured, 
would be clofed by a {portive holi- 
day, on which the baron’s mangied 
carcafe,dragged in procefiionthrough 
the ftreets, and his head exalted om 
a pike, would renew a pleafing re- 
membrance 
a 
