*204 
P A I 
was feized and imprifoned in his turn, and fentenced to 
tranfportation. He has fince apologifed to me for having 
figned the warrant, by faying, he felt hiinfelf in danger, 
and was obliged to do it. Herault Sechelles, an acquain¬ 
tance of Mr. Jeff'erfon’s, and a good patriot, was my J'up- 
p/eaut as a member of the Committee of Conftitution; 
that is, he was to fupply my place, if I had not accepted, 
being next in number of votes to me. He was imprifoned 
in the Luxembourg with me, was taken to the tribunal, 
And to the guillotine; and I, his principal, was left. 
“ There were but two foreigners in the Convention, 
Anarcharfis Cloots and myfelf. We were both put out 
of the convention by the fame vote, arrefted by the fame 
order, and carried to prifon together the fame night. He 
was taken to the guillotine, and I was again left. Joel 
Barlow was with us when we went to prifon. 
“ Jofeph Lebon, one of the vileft characters that ever 
exifted, and who made the ftreets of Arras run with 
blood, was my JuppUant member of the convention for 
the department of Calais. When I was put out of the 
convention, he came and took my place. When I w'as 
liberated from prifon, and voted again into the conven¬ 
tion, he was lent to the fame prifon, and took my place 
there ; end he went to the guillotine inllead of me. He 
lupplied my place all the way through. 
“ One hundred and fixty-eight perlons were taken out 
of the Luxembourg in one night, and a hundred andfixty 
of them guillotined the next day, of wdiich I know I was 
to have been one ; and the manner I efcaped that fate is 
curious, and has all the appearance of accident. The 
room in wdiich I was lodged was on the ground-floor, 
and one of a long range of rooms under a gallery, and the. 
door of it opened outward and flat againfl the wall; fo 
that, wdien it was open, the iniide of the door appeared 
outward, and the contrary wdien it was fliut. I had three 
comrades fellow-prifoners with me : Jofeph Vanhuile, of 
Bruges, fince prefident of the municipality of that town, 
Michael Robins, and Baftini of Louvain. When perfons 
by fcores and by hundreds w'ere to be taken out of prifon 
for the guillotine, it was always done in the night, and 
thofe who performed that office had a private mark or fig- 
nal, by which they knew what rooms to go to, and what 
numberto take. We, as I faid, were four, and the door 
of our room was marked, unobferved by us, with that 
number in chalk; but it happened, if happening is a pro¬ 
per word, that the mark was put on the door when it was 
open and flat againfl the wall, and thereby came on the 
infide when we fliut it at night,— and the deflroying an¬ 
gel palled it by. A few days after this Robefpierre fell ; 
and the American ambafiador arrived and claimed me, 
and invited me to his lioufe. During the wdiole of my 
imprifonment prior to the fall of Robefpierre, there was 
no time when I could think my life worth twenty-four 
hours : and my mind was made up to meet its fate.” 
It was during his confinement that he wrote thefirfl part 
of his “ Age ot Reafon ;” of which we need only obferve, 
that whereas, in his Rights of Man, he extols toleration, 
and fays that “ ail religions are good,” in this new work 
he finds out that “ all religions are bad,” and the Chrif- 
tian religion the worft of all. Cobbett obferv.es, “It was 
fiuc'h works as Common Senfeand the Rights of-Man that 
prepared the minds of the ignorant for the reception of that 
daring and blafphemous publication, the Age of Realon.V 
After his liberation, he found a friendly afylum at the 
American minifter’s honfe, Mr. Monroe, afterwards pre¬ 
fident of the United States; and for fome years before 
he left Paris, he lodged at M. Bonville’s, aflbeiating oc- 
caiionally with Condorcet, Volney, Mercier, Joel Bar- 
low', &c. 
He now indulged his mechanical turn, and amufed 
himfelf in bridge and fliip modelling, and in purluing 
h'i.s favorite ftudies, the mathematics and natural philo- 
fophy. “ Thefe models,” fays a correlpondent of that 
time, “ exhibit an extraordinary degree not only of fkill, 
but of tafie in mechanics, and are wrought with extreme 
N E. 
delicacy entirely by his own hands. The larged of thefe, 
the model of a bridge, is nearly four feet in length ; the 
iron-work, the chains, and every other article belonging 
‘to it, w'ere forged and tnanufadhired by himfelf. It is in¬ 
tended as the model of a bridge which is to be conftrudted 
acrofs the Delaware, extending 480 feet, with only one 
arch. The other is to be erected over a narrow river, 
whofe name I forget, and is likewife a Angle arch, and of 
his own workmanfliip. He was offered 3000I. for thefe 
models, and refufed it. He alfo forged himfelf the model 
of a crane of a new defeription, which, when put toge¬ 
ther, exhibited the power of the lever to a molt furprifing 
degree.” 
Paine was always defirous to retire and end his days in 
America, w'here his chief property lay. Accordingly 
he bade adieu to France and to Europe in 1801. “ I ar¬ 
rived (fays he) at Baltimore on the 30th of October, 1802 ; 
and you can have no idea of the agitation which my arri¬ 
val occafioned. From New Hampfhire to Georgia (an 
extent of 1500 miles) every newfpaper was filled withap- 
plaufe or abufe. My property in this country has been 
taken care of by my friends, and is now worth fix thou- 
fand pounds flerling; which, put in the funds, will, 
bring me 400I. flerling a-year.” 
In the fpring of 1804, he retired to his eftate at New 
Rochelle, mentioned in a former part of this article. In 
January 1809, he became very feeble.and infirm, fotnuch 
fo as to be fcarcely capable of doing any thing for himfelf. 
During this illnefs he was vi'fited by many very well-mean¬ 
ing perfons, who w'ifhed to have the honour of converting 
fo noted a perfon ; but their labour was thrown away upon 
this incorrigible unbeliever. Dr. Manley, who attended 
him during his lafl illnefs, obferved that he would call 
out, during his paroxyftns of pain, “ O Lord, help me ! 
God, help me! Jefus Chrift, help me! See." The doftor,. 
therefore, addrefled him in the following manner: “ Mr. 
Paine, your opinions, by a large proportion of the com- 
. munity, have been treated with deference; you have ne¬ 
ver been in the habit of mixing in your converfation 
words of courfe ; you have never Indulged in the habit 
of profane fwearing ; you muft be fenfible that we are ac¬ 
quainted with your religious opinions as they are given 
to the world. What muft we think of your prefent con¬ 
duit ? Why do you call on Jefus Chrilt to help you ? 
Do you believe that he Can help you ? do you believe in 
the divinity of Jefus Chrift ? Do you believe, or with to 
believe, that Jefus Chrift is the fon of God ?” After a 
thort paufe, he anfwered very coolly, “ I have no wiftfto 
believe on that fubjeft.” 
The following anecdotes of a lighter nature, are given 
on the authority of Mr. Clio Rickman.—One afternoon, 
a very old lady, drefied in a large fcarlet-hooded cloak, 
knocked at the door, and enquired for Thomas Paine. 
He was afleep. Thinking it a pity to make an old wo¬ 
man call twice, the fervant took her into Mr. Paine’s, 
bed-room, and'awoke him: he rofe upon one elbow; 
then, with an expreflion of eye that made the old woman 
flagger back a ftep or two, he alked, “ What do you 
want ?” She faid, “ I come from Almighty God to tell 
you, that if you do not repent of your fins, and believe 
in our blefled Saviour, you will be damned; and”-— 
“ Poll, poll, it is not true !” cried Paine; “you were not 
fent with any fuch meflage: Jarvis, make her go away ; 
the Almighty would not fend fuch a foolilh ugly old wo¬ 
man about with his meflages : go away : go back : (hut 
the door.”—A Mr. Hargrove, minifter of a feft called 
the New Jerulalemites, accolted him with, “ Sir, my 
name is Hargrove ; I am minifter of the New Jerulalem 
church ; we, fir, explain the feripture in its true mean¬ 
ing: the key has been loft thefe four thoufluid years, and, 
we have found it.” “ Then,” faid Paine, in his own 
neat way, “ I think by this time it muft be fomewhat 
rulty.” 
About the 4th of May, fymptoms of approaching dif- 
folution were very evident to himfelf; and lie became 
3 too 
