r799.] Original Anecdotes 
his ufwal dexterity. In his third vifit, 
he intimated to Deleffart his fear of be- 
ing arrefted at Paris, at the fuit of his 
creditors, in cafe he fhould prolong his 
ftay ; and was only to be detained by the 
payment of his debts. They amounted 
to a confiderable fum, and were dif- 
charged out of the fecret. fervice money 
‘allotted to the minitter. 
CARRIER. 
Carrier, whole very name conveys the 
idea of deftruction, was, neverthelefs, a 
man of a whimfical fort of gaiety, which 
manifefted itfelf on a variety of occafions. 
A grenadier of one of the battalions of 
the department of ]’Ardéche, being def- 
titute of fhoes, repretented his wants to 
Carrier, by whom he was very roughly 
treated. ** What!” faidhe ‘do you 
take me for a fhoemaker ?—I7l give you 
fhoes with a vengeance.’’ On faying this, 
he went to fetch his fabre. ‘* Do you 
with to fight in-good earneit, faid the gre- 
nadier, putting himfelf on guard ?—-Well! 
with all my heart: it’s my bufinefs.” 
Carrier turned pale, but affecting not to 
be difconcerted, ‘* you are a d—d honeft 
fellow! faid he, What country do you 
come from ?”—*‘ L’ Ardeche.”—** Why, 
then, you are a countryman of mine: 
there are none but good folks in our 
country.’? Carrier then defired break- 
faft to be brought for him, and gave him 
x42 livres,and an order for two pair of fhoes. 
When he was put upon his trial, he 
confidered him{felf as a worthy man, and 
2 good patriot, who was about to be f{a- 
crificed to what was then called the ¢her- 
midorean re-action. ‘‘When the wind fhifts, 
faid he to his advocate, the ties fall upou 
your head’ Beimg afked by the latter, 
how he could have the heart to drown 
children only five or fix years old, he 
anfwered thus: ‘* Their fathers, their mo- 
thers, their tutors and teachers were all roy- 
alifis: «while defiroying the old wolwes, how 
could I let the young wolves efcape ?” 
Nothing could be more aftonifhing than 
his tranquillity and /azg-frord, on hearing 
that he was.condemned to die. On the 
very day of his execution, he gave an 
early breakfatt te feveral of his friends ; 
eating little himfelf, drinking only one 
glals of wine, and pafling the whole time 
in giving a defcription of his journey 
from the prifon to the feaffold, and of the 
manner in which he jhould be received by 
the {peétators upon his road. £* Some, 
faid he, will cry out, there goes the vil- 
lain who put fo many innocent people to 
death in la Vendée! what an ugly wretch 
it is! but others will reply, it was not he 
who did all the mifchief,”’ 
of the French Revolution. 219 
Thefe particulars come from the mouth 
of a man of veracity, to whom they 
were related by Trongon du Coudrai, 
Carrier’s advocate, who was prefent at 
the breakfaft. ‘‘Execrable as Carrier 
was, added the advocate, all his crimes 
proceeded rather from his head than from 
his heart: his difordered imagination 
newed him traitors and con{pirators 
every where. If, however, during his 
proconfulate, his hands were almoft al- 
ways embrued in blood, they were not at 
lealt {oiled by foreign gold. He did not 
leave enough to pay his counfellor.”’ 
CHARRETTE. 
A lieutenant, who feryed inthe column 
by which Charrette was taken, gives 
the following account of that expedi- 
tion : 
Feorabout two months before, Charrette 
had been dettitute of cavalry, almoft the 
whole having been loft in the affair of 
ft. Chriffophe, where he had contrived to 
get together 400 men of the neighbouring 
communes, by threatening the inhabit- 
ants with death if they did not cemply 
with his requifition. On the very day 
of that aflemblage, he was almoft totally 
defeated ; out of eighty horfes which he 
poflefled, fifty being taken by the repub- 
licans. “The peafants who efcaped from 
the aétion, abandoning him entirely, he 
remained with about forty men, who 
_could net quit him, either becaufe they 
were deferters from our troops, or becaufe 
their confcience would not fuffer them to 
break the oath they had taken not to leave 
him in any extremity. 
Charrette now came to a refolution to 
abandon the remainder of his horfes, that 
he might the more eafily take refuge in 
the woods, owt of which he never ven- 
tured more. The republicans, who pur- 
{aed him, marched in {mall columns of 
from fitty to fixty men, beating about in 
the woods, particularly in the forefts of 
 Fauvoye, of Grala, the woods of des 
Effarts, and all thofe that exift in the 
commune of Leger. His great knowledge 
of the country often contributed to fave 
him, no lefs than the excellent fyftem of 
tactics he had adopted. He knew by 
means of his {pies, the place at which his 
purfuers were to halt for the night. The 
next morning he watched the moment of 
‘their departure, and the road they took, 
and in that manner followed them till 
they halted again, fo that when they be- 
lieved they had him in front of them, he 
was almoft always in their rear, It 
fometimes happened that they purfued 
him a whole day in the foreft af Jauvoye, 
without being able to difcover him, al- 
though 
