ST. HELENA 241 



event " which formed such a singular episode in the otherwise 

 monotonous voyage of the Free Trader. 



On an intensely cold morning, some twenty years after the occur- 

 rences above narrated, I was proceeding to Paris as fast as a French 

 diligence could carry me. After passing through a long winter's 

 night, cramped and stiffened for want of exercise, it was with feelings 

 approaching delight that I beheld the French capital. But as the 

 vehicle neared the gay metropolis, it was impossible to avoid being 

 surprised at the appearance of the populace. Everybody was going 

 toward Paris, no one appeared to be going in any other direction. 

 The multitude increased as we progressed, and when the diligence 

 entered the Boulevard, it was with great difficulty the lumbering 

 vehicle was urged through the living mass. On either side of us 

 was a dense crown of heads, eagerness pictured on every counten- 

 ance. Amid the jabber arising from so large an assemblage was 

 heard the rolling sound of artillery, mingling strangely, nay wildly, 

 with the solemn tolling of the great bell of Notre Dame, which every 

 now and then fell upon the ear, without mingling with the great 

 tide of sound, but each vibration seemed distinct in its isolation. 

 It was impossible, from the vexed and confused nature of the tumult 

 arising from bells, guns, and drums, to form an idea whether the 

 people were celebrating a holiday, a spectacle, or a revolution. 



Most human feelings are contagious, and I was soon inoculated 

 with a desire to mix with the crowd, and see what was going on. 

 Accordingly, as soon as the diligence arived at the Messagerie, I 

 left my carpet-bag in the custody of an official, and set forth to 

 satisfy my curiosity. Once fairly in the throng, I was soon urged 

 along the Place de la Bourse, and from thence up the Rue Vivienne 

 to the Boulevard des Italiens, happy in having availed myself of 

 any change, whether of sentiment or situation, which would rouse 

 my half- frozen blood into action, and enable me to compete with a 

 temperature ten degrees below freezing. 



Forward, forward, along the interminable Boulevard, I was 

 forced by the dense mass, and extrication became hopeless. That 

 broad thoroughfare seemed to be the main channel through which 

 flowed the living tide ; and, as it was continually being fed by the 

 streets on either side, it was ultimately crowded to a dangerous 

 degree. 



At the magnificent church of the Madeleine, a divided opinion 

 acted upon the people, and gave me scope for action. I followed 

 that section whose destinies led them to the Place de la Concorde, 

 where I had scarcely arrived when preparations of an uncommon 

 description came at once into view. Salvos of artillery were still heard, 

 or rather they had never ceased ; the bells also tolled incessantly, 

 and that intolerable beat of the French drum, mixed with the noise 

 arising from a crowd of thousands of Frenchmen was most bewilder- 

 ing. But as well as the confusion would permit observation of the 

 surrounding objects, it seemed that, on each side of the crowded 



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