198 



ANTOINETTE ANTONINUS. 



parture of the court, the national cockade was tram- 

 I-lcd on. Tliis excited the Parisians still more against 

 die quern. They regarded her as the soul of the 

 party which, at that time, was collecting an army 

 against Paris, and against the national MMBtbty. On 

 the 5th, the Parisians rushed violently to Versailles. 

 Early on the 6th, they broke into the castle, mur- 

 dered several of the body-guards, and uttered against 

 the queen the most furious tin-eats. In the middle of 

 the night, a clergyman wrote to her, " Take measures 

 for your preservation ; early in the morning, at 6 

 o'clock, you are to be murdered." She remained 

 tranquil, and concealed the letter. The infuriated 

 mob rushed into her chamber ; she fled to the king. 

 To put a stop to the scene of murder, the king and 

 queen showed themselves, with both their children, 

 in the balcony. This spectacle made a momentary 

 impression upon the enraged people ; but soon the 

 cry resounded from every mouth, " No children ! the 

 queen the queen alone ! She instant ly put her son 

 and daughter into the arms of the king, and returned 

 to the balcony. This unexpected courage disarmed 

 the mob ; their threats were followed by shouts of 

 approbation. The same day she was obliged to view 

 a most fearful spectacle, for six hours, on her way to 

 Paris. Before h*r carriage were borne, on pikes, 

 the heads of two guards ; intoxicated furies sur- 

 rounded her, with the most horrid imprecations. 

 When she was asked about the scene tliat had just 

 ended, by the officers of justice, who desired to pun- 

 ish the guilty, she replied, " Never will I accuse one 

 of the king's subjects ; and when the question was 

 repeated, " I have seen all, I have heard all, I have 

 forgotten all," was her answer. The first month after 

 her arrival in Paris, she expended 300,000 livres in 

 redeeming clothes pledged by the poor to the pawn- 

 brokers ; out all her benefits were insufficient to ap- 

 pease their exasperated minds. In 179 1, when Louis 

 XVI. determined to flee, she followed her husband, 

 though she saw the attempt was fruitless. From 

 Varennes, she was brought back to the Tuileries, 

 and when the committee of the constituent assembly 

 demanded an explanation, she answered, " As the 

 king wished to depart with his children, nothing in 

 the world could hinder me from accompanying him. 

 I have given sufficient proof,-for these two years, lliat 

 I would never desert him. What made me more 

 decided on that point was, the firm conviction that 

 the king would never leave France ; if he had wished 

 to do so, I should have employed every effort to re- 

 strain him." This tempest was followed by a mo- 

 mentary calm. In the meantime came on the 20th 

 of June and the 10th of August, 1792. Prepared for 

 whatever might happen on the latter of these days, 

 the queen exerted all her power to excite her hus- 

 band to meet death sword in hand. Led with him 

 into the legislative assembly, she heard his deposition 

 announced; together with the appointment of his 

 judges,- and then went with him to the temple. None 

 of her female attendants were suffered to accompany 

 her. Here she occupied the only comfortable cham- 

 ber with her daughter and the princess Elizabeth. 

 Close bars of iron secured the window, admitting 

 only a glimmering light. She now exhibited the fufl 

 strength of her character. Invariably calm in the 

 circle of her friends, she urged them to disregard 

 sickness and suffering. When Louis XVI. informed 

 her of his condemnation, she congratulated him on 

 the approaching termination of an existence so pain- 

 ful, and the unperishing reward that should crown it. 

 After her husband's death, she asked nothing of the 

 convention but a mourning-dress, which she wore the 

 remainder of her days. July 4, 1793, she was sepa- 

 rated from her son. She felt that this separation was 

 for ever, yet her firmness was unchanged. August 



5, at midnight, she was removed to the keept r's 

 house. A dark and damp dungeon here was her 

 last abode. Oct. :{, the convention ordered her to bt; 

 brought before the revolutionary tribunal. She was 

 charged with having di-Mpatcd the finances, exhaust- 

 ed the public treasury, given large sums out of it to 

 the emperor, with having corresponded with foreign 

 enemies, and favoured domestic tumult-. Hut, not- 

 withstanding the multitude of witnesses who were 

 examined, no evidence could be brought against, her; 

 and her defender, l'haiiveau-La:inie, exclaimed 

 justly, " I am embarrassed not to find answers, lnil 

 plausible accusations." Bailly, then mayor of Paris, 

 who was summoned as a witness, had the courage to 

 take the queen into his protection, without hesitation, 

 and to censure, with the greatest severity, her blood- 

 thirsty accuser, Fouquier-Tinville, for his testimony, 

 which all might see to be false. The queen herself 

 replied to all inquiries with firmness ami decision. 

 When Hubert sliamefully accused her of having se- 

 duced her own son, she answered, with the deepiM, 

 indignation, " I appeal to every mother here, whether 

 sucli a crime be possible." She heard her sentence 

 of death with perfect calmness, and soon gently fell 

 asleep, when she was carried back to her prison, after 

 sitting 18 hours. The next day, at 11 o'clock, she. 

 ascended the cart which conveyed her to the scaffold. 

 Great efforts were made to induce the people to in- 

 sult her on the way, but a deep silence reigned. The 

 charms for which she was once so celebrated wen; 

 gone. Grief had distorted her features, and, in the 

 damp, unhealthy prison, she had almost lost one of 

 her eyes. Her look seemed to fill the fierce people 

 with awe. At 12 o'clock, the cart arrived at tin; 

 place of "Louis XV. She cast back a long look at 

 the Tuileries, and then ascended the scaffold. When 

 she came to the top, she threw herself on her knec>, 

 and exclaimed, " O God, enlighten and affect my 

 executioner! Farewell, my children, for ever ; 1 go 

 to your fattier!" Thus died the queen of France, 

 Oct. 16, 1793, towards the close of the 38th year of 

 her age. (See Marie Antoinette, a la Co/tcii-wri'i- ; 

 Fragm. Hist. Publ. par le Comte de Robiano, Paris, 

 1824 ; and Mem. sur la fie privee de Marie Antoi- 

 nette, Reine de France, c., by madame Canipan (her 

 reader), 5th edition, 4 vols.. Paris, 1823.) 



ANTONELLO of Messenia. See Oil Painting. 



ANTONINUS (Annius Verus), the Philosopher, best 

 known by the name of Marcus Aurelius, born A.I). 

 121, ascended the throne A. D. 161, after the death 

 of Antoninus Pius, who had adopted him. He volun- 

 tarily divided the empire with Lucius Verus (see t/te 

 succeeding article'), whom he made emperor, and 

 united in marriage with his daughter Lucilla. Brought 

 up and instructed by Plutarch's nephew Sextus, the 

 orator Herodes Atticus, and the famous jurist L. 

 Volusius Mecianus, he had become acquainted with 

 learned men, and formed a particular love for the 

 Stoic philosophy. While his generals, Statius Priscus, 

 Avidius Cassius, Marcius Verus and Fronto, overcame 

 the Parthians, conquered Armenia, Babylon, and 

 Media, and destroyed the great city Seleucia on the 

 Tigris, he devoted his attention to Rome and tier- 

 many. The former was laid waste by pestilence, 

 famine, and inundations, the consequences of which 

 he endeavoured to mitigate; the latter kept the 

 Roman territory in continual alarm, by frequent in- 

 vasions, which, however, were always repulsed. At 

 the same time, he undertook to improve the morals 

 of the people, and the administration of justice. After 

 the termination of the Parthian war, both emperors 

 celebrated a triumph, and assumed the title Partlticvt. 

 But a fearful pestilence soon broke out, with which 

 the eastern army infected all the countries they ; 

 through. In addition to this, there were earthquakes, 



