656 
bles, et d’Anecdotes trés curieufes et 
mon encore publiées fur Ja Révolution 
Frangaife. Troifiéme Edition, revue 
‘et enti€rement refondue, Cinq: vol. 
‘38mo.” A Collection of Anecdotes, 
Ancient and Modern, containing many 
‘particulars relative to the Death of 
Louis XVI. &c. 
Thefe five volumes abound with a 
wariety of anecdotes, fome of which are 
‘cpricus and interelting, while others 
are flat and infipid. ‘We are told, that 
‘at the battle of Minden, Saint Peru, 
who commanded the French grenadiers, 
firiding them expofed to the fire of a 
battery, that carried off ‘whole: files, 
trotted’ calmly along the hne, with his 
fruff-box in his hand, exclaiming “ Eh 
bien ! mes enfans, qu’eft ce que c’elt ? 
du canon? ch bien, ga tue, ga tue, 
voila tout!” - Ee ARN INCE TN 
The Abbé Prevoft happening to en- 
tertain fome friends at fupper, one of 
his guefts aflerted that the molt honeft 
~ man in the world could not promife to 
_himéfelf, but that he might fome day 
experience the punifhment referved for 
the vileft criminals. All prefent but 
the hoft, protefted, in fucceflion, againit 
this affertion; he, when it came to his 
turn, calmly obferyed that 1¢ was very 
poffible. ¢* You wili doubtlefs allow,” 
added he, ‘that Iam an honeft man!” 
«© 'Yes!?? rejoin@d the whole of the 
company, ‘* Well then,” continued the 
Abbé, ‘you areallmy friends, I depend 
upon your difcretion, andIam now 
about to confide a fecret to you, which 
I have never before intrufted toany one. 
f have been guilty, then, of one of the 
greateft crimes, and liable to perith by 
an ignominious death }” 
On this, all prefent burft into a laugh, 
thinking the whole to be jeft ; but after 
afluring them that he was in earneft, 
he proceeded as follow: ia i 
<¢ I fhali now explain this enigma to 
you, by fiating that I killed my own 
tather.—On leaving college, I became 
enamoured of a little girl in the neigh- 
bourhood, nearly of my own age; [ 
was beloved again, and, in fhort, ob- 
tained every thing that a favoured ad-_ 
mirer could defire, fo that the moit fla- 
grant proofs of our indifcretion were 
foon vifible. I was fo {mitten with 
love, that I was defirous to pafs my 
whole life with, and be always at the 
fide, of my miftrefs. In the mean 
‘time, my relations prefled me to de- 
cide on my future ftation im life; 
Retrafped? of French Literature. —Mifcellaneous: 
I, on the other hand, was averfe fronf 
any thing, but the fecret adoration of 
the female to whom I was attached; 
every other occupation appeared to me¢ 
difagreeable. 
‘¢ My father, who had begun to con- 
ceive fome fufpicions relative to the 
motives of thisindifference, now watch- 
ed all my motions, and at length de~ 
tected the whole intrigue. Onthis he 
repaired to the apartment of my mif- 
trefs, then three or four months with 
child, at the very moment, too, when 
I happened to be there, and reproach- 
ed her bitterly in my prefence on ac- 
count of her criminal connexion with ’ 
me. I, however, preferved the moft 
profound filence until after he had 
overwhelmed her with injuries, ob. 
ferving, at the fame time, that fhe 
‘would prove an obftacle to my rife in 
hfe. Then, and then only, fhe began 
to juftify herfelf, and having burft into 
tears, I, for the firft time, prefumed 
to defend her. al 
' &¢ My father, at this, became outrage- 
ous, and carried his paffion fo far as to 
firike the pogr unfortunate creature 5 
he even gave her a kick in the belly, 
on which fhe fainted away. No fooner — 
did this occur than, lofing all recollection, 
I flew on my parent, and precipitated 
him over the ftair-cafe, in confe- 
quence of which he was fo danger- 
oufly wounded by the fall, that he 
ceafed to exiftin the courfe of the fame 
evening. — Oo hee 
“He, however, had the generofity to 
forbear mentioning the circumftance ; 
andit being fuppoied that he had died 
a natural death, he was buried in the 
ufual manner, and I was thus faved by 
his filence both from punifhment and 
opprobrium. Notwithftanding this I was 
not the lefs fenfible of the enormity of 
my fault, and [for a long time preferv- 
ed a certain kind of melancholy, which 
nothing could ,diffipate. In confe-. 
quence of fuch a>fatal event ] deter. 
mined to bury my regret and myafitic- 
tion within the folitude of a cloitter, 
and I accordingly made choice of the 
order of Clugny for that purpofe, It 
is, perhaps, to be attributed to the 
pcofeund melancholy which this firft 
error of my youth imparted to the reit 
of my life, that 1 have always made 
choice of tragic events, of critical fitu- 
ations, and of fombre and lugubrous~ 
colours, for the fubjects of my literary 
ipecuiations.”” " 
€é Sum 
