CHARACTERS. 



779 



Dessault iras going to feel his pulse 

 "without waking iiim, but on laying 

 Ijis band upon his body, he per- 

 ceived sucli a dillerence between it 

 and mine, that he uttered a shriek, 

 and his amazement was changed into 

 the most violent fright, when upon 

 close inspection no doubt remained 

 of its being another child, lie re- 

 mained near a full hour in route 

 amazement. He considered his re- 

 sponsibility, the danger he was in, 

 and finally resolved to screen him- 

 self by sending a secret report, per.. 

 fe6tly congenial to the truth, to the 

 committee of public welfare, where 

 Rovere, the then president, who 

 was in the secret, after the first pa- 

 roxysms of violence in his astonished 

 and furious colleagues had subsided, 

 proved to thera that silence would 

 be the best remedy, particularly so 

 as there was every appearance that 

 the strange and sickly child would 

 die, in which case it would be per- 

 fe6tly easy to persuade all Europe 

 that the real dauphin was dead. 

 Pessault Mas summoned before the 

 committee, and loaded with such 

 bitter reproaches, that, overwelm- 

 ed with grief and vexation, he fell 

 ^nto a disease, which bafiling all the 

 skill of medicine, proved fatal to 

 liim. My little substitute died like- 

 wise. Pessault's successor, upon 

 dissection of the body, was equally 

 sensible that it was not mine, and 

 consequently made use of the fol- 

 lowing equivocal phrase in the pro- 

 ves verbal : " Nous sommes pre- 

 cedes i I'ouverture d'un cadavre que 

 les commissaircs nous presenterent 

 comme celui du fils de Louis Capet." 

 I. e. " We proceeded to the opening 

 of a'corpsc, which the commissioners 

 presented to us as (hat of the sou of 

 jLoui.-. Capet." 



f^ in the mean time I kept lolling 



in the carriage upon the high roaij 

 with my deliverers. The fresh air, 

 and the jolting of the vehicle, at 

 first made me swoon away, but get- 

 ting habituated to both, the free 

 aspeft of nature afforded me un^ 

 speakable delight. The motion, of 

 which I had so long been deprived, 

 and the good substantial food I was 

 supplied with, visibly strengthened 

 my health. We safely arrived at 

 BoUvllle, the head quarters of the 

 royalists, where apartments Avere 

 assigned to me in the castle, with a, 

 kind of governess. Messengers were 

 sent in quest of Charrctte, who hap- 

 pened just then not to be at hand. 

 He came to visit me with Stoillet, 

 viewed nie very attentively, was 

 cold, spoke little, but shewed me 

 every mark of respefl;. In what 

 manner the negociations of peaces 

 were broken off, owing to the per., 

 fidy of the republicans, is a fad of 

 public notoriety. The unfortunate 

 expedition of Quiberon produced 

 likewise a disastrous inlluence on 

 my fate. The cabinet of St. James's 

 and the French princes, particu^ 

 larly the count d'Artois, would hear 

 notliing of a limited monarchy, to 

 whic'i the royalists had consented, 

 for the sake of which the republicans 

 had surrendered my person. I be- 

 came the sacrifice of this political 

 scion, with the aid of the subtle 

 Puisayo. C'lai rcltc himself, whom 

 I otten accom|)anicd on horseback, 

 earnestly forbade me to make my 

 quality known. Tiie rumour of my 

 death constantly gained more credit ; 

 those few who were better informed 

 durst not expose themselves and mo 

 to danger. 



"; At last England desired my sur- 

 render, partly under the pretext of 

 identifyina my person, partly be- 

 cause without that X must be ac~ 



