Valois, Louis XIV., Louis XV., and the Dauphin formed the great
hereditary library of the Chateau. Louis XVI. placed separately, in two
apartments communicating with each other, the works of his own time,
including a complete collection of Didot's editions, in vellum, every
volume enclosed in a morocco case. There were several English works,
among the rest the debates of the British Parliament, in a great number of
volumes in folio (this is the Moniteur of England, a complete collection
of which is so valuable and so scarce). By the side of this collection was
to be seen a manuscript history of all the schemes for a descent upon that
island, particularly that of Comte de Broglie. One of the presses of this
cabinet was full of cardboard boxes, containing papers relative to the
House of Austria, inscribed in the King's own hand: "Secret papers of my
family respecting the House of Austria; papers of my family respecting the
Houses of Stuart and Hanover." In an adjoining press were kept papers
relative to Russia. Satirical works against Catherine II. and against
Paul I. were sold in France under the name of histories; Louis XVIII.
collected and sealed up with his small seal the scandalous anecdotes
against Catherine II., as well as the works of Rhulieres, of which he had
a copy, to be certain that the secret life of that Princess, which
attracted the curiosity of her contemporaries, should not be made public
by his means.

Above the King's private library were a forge, two anvils, and a vast
number of iron tools; various common locks, well made and perfect; some
secret locks, and locks ornamented with gilt copper. It was there that
the infamous Gamin, who afterwards accused the King of having tried to
poison him, and was rewarded for his calumny with a pension of twelve
thousand livres, taught him the art of lock-making. This Gamin, who
became our guide, by order of the department and municipality of
Versailles, did not, however, denounce the King on the 20th December,
1792. He had been made the confidant of that Prince in an immense number
of important commissions; the King had sent him the "Red Book," from
Paris, in a parcel; and the part which was concealed during the
Constituent Assembly still remained so in 1793. Gamin hid it in a part of
the Chateau inaccessible to everybody, and took it from under the shelves
of a secret press before our eyes. This is a convincing proof that Louis
XVI. hoped to return to hi