ence. When he arrived at the scaffold, Gabriel Sanson
immediately perceived that the miserable Soubise was drunk, and quite
incapable of fulfilling his appointed task. Filled with violent
apprehension, he demanded to be shown the lead, the sulphur, the wax,
and the rosin which Soubise was to have purchased; everything was
lacking, and it was recognized at the same moment that the 'patient'
might arrive immediately, that the pile which was to consume his body
was composed of damp and ill-chosen wood that would be very difficult to
light.

"In contemplating the consequences of the drunkenness of the
_tortionnaire_, Gabriel Sanson lost his head. For some moments the
scaffold presented a spectacle of inexpressible confusion; the valets
ran about distracted, everybody cried out at once, and the unhappy
executioner of the _prevote de l'hotel_ tore his hair while deploring
the terrible responsibility which he had brought down upon his head. The
arrival of the lieutenant of the short robe, who had finished disposing
his men in the enclosure, the presence of the procureur general, who
had been sent for, put an end to this disorder.

"The magistrate severely reprimanded Gabriel Sanson.... During this
interval, the valets went into the shops of the grocers of the
neighborhood to provide themselves with what was necessary; but when
they issued from the enclosure, the crowd followed them,--in all the
shops which they entered their purpose was made known and the merchants
refused to sell them, or pretended not to have what they desired; it was
necessary for the lieutenant to send with them an officer to demand, _in
the king's name_, the objects of which they had need."

"This scene was prolonged for such a length of time," says M. de
Genouillac, continuing the narration, "that everything was not yet ready
when the patient arrived on the Place de Greve, and they were obliged to
seat him on one of the steps of the scaffold whilst they proceeded,
under his very eyes, with the final preparations for his death. Damiens
had remained three hours in the chapel; he had prayed continually, with
a fervor and a contrition that had touched the hearts of all those
present. When four o'clock struck from the clock of the Palais, Gabriel
Sanson approached MM. Gueret and De Marsilly, and said to them that the
hour to set out had arrived.

"Although he had spoken in a low voice, Damiens had heard him, for he
murmured, in a feverish voice: 'Yes, it