ave the lie to the taunt; for they witnessed instances of
heroism, from grey hairs and tender womanhood, that would have shamed
the proudest deeds of their new-born chivalry!

'Charles Gregoire Courcelles!' shouted out a deep voice from the
scaffold.

'That is my name,' said a venerable-looking old gentleman, as he arose
from his seat, adding, with a placid smile, 'but for half a century my
friends have called me the Duc de Riancourt.'

'We have no dukes nor marquises; we know of no titles in France,'
replied the functionary. 'All men are equal before the law.'

'If it were so, my friend, you and I might change places; for you were
my steward, and plundered my chateau.'

'Down with the Royalist--away with the aristocrat!' shouted a number of
voices from the crowd.

'Be a little patient, good people,' said the old man, as he ascended the
steps with some difficulty; 'I was wounded in Canada, and have never yet
recovered. I shall probably be better a few minutes hence.'

There was something of half simplicity in the careless way the words
were uttered that hushed the multitude, and already some expressions
of sympathy were heard; but as quickly the ribald insults of the hired
ruffians of the Convention drowned these sounds, and 'Down with the
Royalist' resounded on every side, while two officials assisted him to
remove his stock and bare his throat. The commissary, advancing to the
edge of the platform, and, as it were, addressing the people, read in
a hurried, slurring kind of voice, something that purported to be the
ground of the condemnation. But of this not a word could be heard. None
cared to hear the ten-thousand-time told tale of suspected Royalism,
nor would listen to the high-sounding declamation that proclaimed the
virtuous zeal of the Government--their untiring energy--their glorious
persistence in the cause of the people. The last words were as usual
responded to with an echoing shout, and the cry of '_Vive la Republique!_
rose from the great multitude.

'_Vive le Roi!_ cried the old man, with a voice heard high above the
clamour; but the words were scarce out when the lips that uttered them
were closed in death; so sudden was the act, that a cry burst forth from
the mob, but whether in reprobation or in ecstasy I know not.

I will not follow the sad catalogue, wherein nobles, and peasants,
priests, soldiers, actors, men of obscure fortune, and women of lofty
station, succeeded each other, occupying