SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PERSONS INCLUDED IN THE PROPHECY OF M. de Cazotte. [Continued from page 541.] CHRETIEN GUILLAUME DE LAMOIGNON DE MALESHERRES Was born at Paris the 16th of December 1721; he was descended from a family distinguished both for its ancient nobility, and for the eminent services it had rendered to the kingdom. His father was chancellor of France. on costly decorations. His place was laid out upon the principles of the old gothic manner; accordingly, people of taste advised him to throw all down, and rebuild upon a modern plan-but he had inherited the edifice; all his ancestors had lived in it, and he preserved it as a family-piece; a sacred monument of his attachment and respect to his forefathers. His table was economically supplied, and his domestics few, although his annual expense was considerable; but his wealth was employed for the gratification and advantage of his dependents: canals carefully formed, meadows reclaimed, marshes drained, the roads in his neighbourhood skilfully made, dykes opposed to the violence of the torrents, umbrageous walks, and picturesque planta Malesherbes, destined for the highest offices of the state, applied himself with enthusiasm to the study of the laws, and in his father he possessed an admirable master, a tender friend, and indeed an example of everyons, were the objects on which Malesherbes shining quality. With the intention of preparing him to exercise with dignity the august functions of magistracy, his father appointed him deputy solicitor general, and afterwards counsellor to the parament of Paris, although he was only 24 years of age-and he succeeded his father as first president of the Court of Aids in December 1750, which office he filled for 25 years. He likewise had the inspection of the press. In 1708 his father was disgraced, and Malesherbes resigned his situation as director of the press, which threw all the literati into despair, as he had been upon all occasions their zealous friend. In 1771, in consequence of his expostulations relative to the conduct of Maupeou and his party, he was banished to his country seat. Here, withdrawn from the stage of public affairs, he passed his days in serenity and retirement; dividing his time between his family, his books, and the cultivation of his gardens. He had written a vast number of valuable remarks on the political condition of France, on the administration of justice, on agriculture, and natural history. These observations, which he designed to arrange, and which were afterwards carried off by the revolutionary barbarians, breathed the spirit of an enlarged philanthrophy, an enthusiastic love of his native land, and a lofty and valorous independence. Every hour of his day was marked by benevolent actions or useful discoveries. Rising before the dawn, he took delight in digging the ground; and never forsook his task, ǹll, exhausted by fatigue, he would retire to repose himself under the shade of trees which his own hand had planted. His mansion was furnished in the most unostentatious style; for he found more pleasure in giving bread to a hundred poor per; sons, than in squandering inmense sums * Panorama, pages 64 to 70, Review of M. de la Harpe's works. expended his income. To facilitate the communication with different parts of the country, he constructed several bridges of solid masonry. The inhabi tants loved him as a parent; and under his influence every one enjoyed a degree of respectable ease. The children received instruction, the aged were held in honour; and the peasant who had cultivated his fields with most care, and managed his flocks or herds to the greatest advantage, obtained a premium, which gave birth to a virtuous emulation, and tended highly to the improvement of agriculture. He was plain in his dress and manner of living, and disliked those grand entertainments and dinners of ceremony, where the majority of persons in power waste the time they should devote to their duties. He often passed whole nights without sleeping; and, in his latter years, lay down with half his clothes on, that he might be the sooner ready for business when he rose. While this venerable philosopher forgot, in the bosom of tranquillity, the shameful manœuvres of court intrigue, the disgraceful traffic of corruption, and the arbitrary acts of despotic power, Lewis XV. wore out among his mistresses the remnant of a despicable life; and his perfidious counsellors continued, day after day, to dig still deeper that abyss which ere long was destined to ingulph the antique colossus of the monarchy. On the accession of Louis XVI. he was recalled from his banishment and took his place as president of the Court of Aids as usual, and in 1775 was appointed minister of state-which he resigned in May 1776. He travelled into Switzerland and Holland, and after several years returned to his country seat, where he was received by the inhabitants with the utmost joy. He was again called to the kings councils in 1780, but finding all his endeavours ineffectual to prevent the storm that was coming on he again retired from the court, to pass his days in the bosom of his family, where he remained until the king was dethroned; when hearing of the decree of the convention for his trial, he set off for Paris, and wrote the following letter to the president. "Citizen President: I know not if the national convention will allow Lewis XVI. counsel to defend him, or whether he will be permitted to choose any; if so, I desire Lewis may be informed, that, should he make choice of me for that office, I am ready to undertake it. "I do not ask you to disclose my proposal to the convention; for I am far from thinking myself a person of such importance as to attract its notice; but I was twice called to the councils of him who was my master, in times when that station was an object of ambition to all; I owe him the same service when, in the opinion of many, the post is one of some danger. "Did I possess any possible method of acquainting him with my inclinations, I should not take the liberty of addressing myself to you. "It occurs to me, that, from the situation you hold, you may have a better opportunity than any one else of giving him this information. I am, with respect," &c. This letter deserves to occupy a conspicuous page in the annals of virtue; as an everlasting monument of courage, of modesty, and greatness of mind nor can ancient or modern times afford a brighter instance of exalted generosity. Ilere we behold Malesherbes; and history will inscribe amidst its fairest records, this sublime act of a man of seventy, who, at the moment when terror chilled the ardour of the bravest, stepped forward to solicit, as the most signal favour, permission to defend a king, bereft of his crown, and treated as the lowest criminal. The 14th of December, 1792, Malesherbes was introduced at the Temple: the king, running to meet him, threw his arms round him, and Malesherbes burst into tears. It is easy to conceive that the interview was extremely affecting! How poignant must have been the reflections of this great and good old man, on discovering in a dismal prison the king, whom throne he had behield seated on the proudest of the earth; on recollecting, that, when last admitted to his councils, his will could have decided the fate of Europe! but that now he had come to try to rescue from the vilest death a prince who had but the other day governed twenty-four millions of men. Let us hear him speak for himself in the words of an historical fragment found among his papers. The moment I obtained leave to enter the king's apartment, I hastened thither, and scarcely had he seen me, when he quitted a volume of Tacitus, which lay open before him on a little table, and took me in his arms: tears started into his eyes, and he said to me, this sacrifice of yourself is the more generous, as you have thereby exposed your own life, and will not be able to save mine." After sentence of death had been decreed, M. de Malesherbes, says Clery, came to the Temple: "It was Thursday the 17th of January, about nine o'clock in the morning when he entered our apartment. I ran to meet him: "All is lost!" said he, "the king is condemned!" His majesty, who saw him come in, rose to receive him. The venerable man fell at his feet, he was almost suffocated with grief, and remained some moments before he could utter a word. The king raised him up, and affectionately embraced him. He then informed his miajesty of the decree which sentenced him to death. The monarch did not betray the least emotion or surprise; he seemed only affected with extreme grief for his respectable old friend and minister, and endeavoured even to comfort him! Sire, you do not want courage, said Malesherbes, your fatal sentence is decreed !”—“I all along expected it." replied Lewis, with a calm and tranquil look: "In God's name, dear Malesherbes, do not weep: we shall meet again in a happier world." The monsters of terror never forgave him for his attachment to his master, and therefore made a most terrible example of him. One day, when, with a spade in his hand, he was walking in his grounds, he saw approaching him four ghastly looking men, with lank hair and livid complexions: ke thought he observed these people take the direct road to his dwelling: a violent terror seized him; his knees bent under him, and it was with the utmost difliculty he was able to reach the house. These were four members of the revolutionary committee of the section of Bondy, who came to arrest Madame LepelletierRosambo, the daughter of Mialesherbes, and her husband, once first president of the parliament of Paris. It is hardly possible to conceive the misery of the old man, when he saw himself torn from the arms of his much loved daughter! He struck his forehead-uttered loud lamentations, and flung himself at the feet of the barbarians, beseeching them, in pity, to take him with his children. Can a picture of greater affliction than this be imagined! Young Rosambo, and M. and Madame de Chateaubrian, the grandchildren of Male-' sherbes, beheld themselves severed from their excellent parents, and were obliged to find consolation for their venerable grandfather, when they were themselves the victims of the -deepest despair! 2 B 4 At last, they were forced asunder; and Malesherbes was enabled to bid them farewell, only by the hope of following his family to prison on the next day. That idea even served to restore his courage: to him time seemed to move slowly; he waited with impatience for the morrow, nor was ever a day of festivity more eagerly longed for. His dreadful wish was but too well complied with the hired ruffians of the revolution were always men of their words when they promised to afflict, Malesherbes and his grandchildren were arrested, and his papers sealed. The report of his arrest spread through the village, and all the inhabitants ran forth in tears to bid him adieu! Neither a dread of the revolutionary murderers, nor the presence of an armed force, could repress their murmurs at the tyrannic act which took their friend and father from among them. One exclaimed, that to him he owed his Tittle fortune; another, that he had rescued him from destruction, by assisting him when n distress; a third, that he had rebuilt his house consumed by fire; others that he had bestowed the bread of industry on their children :-all proclaimed aloud his benevolence and his virtues; and poured upbraidings and curses on his persecutors. The municipality immediately assembled, and resolving that he should not be escorted by the soldiers of the police, like the meanest malefactor, unanimously decreed to convey him safely; and four of the members had the gallantry to accompany him to Paris, that he might be spared the mortification of travelling with hired assassins. Malesherbes had hoped to be reunited with all his family but this expectation was cruelly disappointed! His enemies determined he should drink the last drop in the cup of bitterness; and the ferocious revolutionists took the barbarous precaution of dispersing his children in different places of confinement. His grandson, the young Lepelletier-Rosambo was the only one shut up with him in the prison of Les Madelonettes. The ingenuous simplicity of the child frequently made him smile with pleasure: he was charmed at discerning in his young heart the germ of a noble nature; and delighted to assist its growth by instilling liberal precepts, and the lessons of wisdom. As soon as he reached Port-Libre, he wrote a letter to one of his friends, describing his situation. He says, "I expect the worst; they will never forgive me for defending the hapless Lewis XVI.! Nevertheless I solemnly protest, that I glory in sacrificing my life for him; and, far from repenting that act, would again do the same, were it again to be done." Malesherbes heard unmoved his own sen tence; but the condemnation of his daughter * and grand-daughter rent his heart. The thought of seeing two weak and helpless creatures perish, whose very sex should have saved them from proscription, shook his fortitude. Being taken back to the Conciergerie, his courage returned and he exhorted his children to prepare for death. When the fatal bell rung, Malesherbes recovered all his wonted cheerfulness. Having paid to nature the tribute of feeling, he desired to give his children an example of magnanimity; his looks exhibited the sublime serenity of virtue and innocence, and taught them to view death undismayed. In crossing the court of the Conciergerie, from feebleness, he struck his foot rudely against a stone" Oh," said Malesherbes to the person next him, "that is what they term an unlucky presage-now, a Roman in my place would have gone back; "—and he proceeded smiling. When he ascended the cart, he conversed with his family, unaffected by the clamours of the ferocious populace; and, on arriving at the foot of the scaffold, took a last and solemn farewell of his children: immediately His daughter, Madame Lepelletier Rosambo, whose husband had been guillotined a few days before, on receiving her sentence of condemnation, immediately went to Mile. Sombreuil who was in the same prison, and thus addressed her: "6 You, Madam, have had the glory of saving your father's life, "and I have now the consolation, at "least, of dying with mine, with my chil"dren, and of following my poor husband." Mlle. Sombreuil saved her father's life at the massacre of the prisons, Sept. 2, 1792; the same night that M. Cazotte was saved by his daughter, and at the same prison, Notwithstanding the heroic conduct of this young lady, her father was guillotined afterwards by the revolutionary tribunal at the age of 74; he was marshal of France, and governor of the Invalides; he was sent to the scaffold in a red shirt. She lost likewise both her brothers; the eldest was guillotined: the other, after he had capitulated, was shot by Tallien's orders, for his loyalty to his sovereign, in the market place of Vannes. Jouis de ton triomphe, o moderne Antigone, after, he was dismissed into eternity—and then his whole family! Quel est donc ce vieillard?.. et par quelle injustice... Quoi! Malesherbes, c'est toi qu'on entraîne au supplice! Ta fille y marche aussi; son époux, ses enfans Malesherbes was aged seventy-two years, four months, and fifteen days. He was perhaps, one of the best men of his time, and his character will descend without a stain to posterity. M. de Malesherbes had attached himself to the sect of the Economistes and had written entirely on their principles, which contributed mach to bring about the revolution, although that was never his intention. In the notes which he left on the death of Louis XVI is the following remarkable passage: 64 M. Turgot et moi étions de forts honnêtes gens, très-instruits, passionnés pour le bien; qui n'eût pas pensé qu'on ne pouvoit pas mieux faire que de nous choisir? Cependant nous avons mal administré. Ne connoissant les hommes que par les livres, manquant d'ha bileté pour les affaires, nous avons laissé diriger le Roi par M. de Maurepas, qui ajouta toute sa foiblesse à celle de son élève, et sans le vouloir, ni le prévoir, nous avons contribué à la révolution." The celebrated M. de Chateaubriand, anthor of Atala and le Génie du Christianisme, was nephew of M. de Malesherbes; and his brother and sister were guillotined with M. de Malesherbes, but M. de C. had the good luck to make his escape to England, where he resided some time, and was personally known to the writer of this article. He is now pensioned by Buonaparte, and writes for the Mercure. MARIE-JEAN-ANTOINE-NICOLAS CARITAT, MARQUIS DE CONDORCET, Was born September 17th, 1743, at Ribaumont, in Picardy, where his father, the Chevalier Condorcet, had married the daughter of the deputy-comptroller of Amiens. He soon lost him and his uncle, then bishop of Gap, in Dauphiné, took charge of his education. He was designed for the church, but the Countess of Gruel-d'Ussays, his first cousin, thinking his disposition more suitable to a military life, persuaded the prelate to consent to his entering the army. He was then sent to the siege of Auxerre, and the young Condorcet was nominated to a lieutenancy in a regiment of dragoons, which he never joined, in consequence of a dispute he had with the Chevalier d'Abon, who publicly gave him a blow, which he never resented. The bishop and his relations then advised him to apply to literature, for which he shewed great taste. After this adventure, by no means honourable to his courage, he manifested a desire to become chancellor of the order of SaintLazare du Mont-Carmel. He consulted Cherin, the genealogist, on the subject, who advised him not to make application, there being no prospect of success, as he could not produce certain proofs that would be required of him by Monsieur the King's brother, who was the chief of the order. In consequence of which, he swore eternal hatred to the against those ministers who had rendered him court and the nobility, and wrote continually great services. He married a young lady of the name of Grouchy, by the interference of the Duke de la Rochefoucault, who generously gave him an hundred thousand livres for the marriage portion, and who afterwards introduced him into high life, and obtained him several pensions. Although the Duke was so great much appearance of truth, that he directed a friend to him, yet it is asserted, and with his assassination in the month of September, * Louis-Alexandre, duc de la Rochefou cault et de la Roche-Guyon, peer of France, fomerly member of the constituent assem bly, distinguished himself equally by his indefatigable application to the sciences, and by his strict virtue. He accepted the office of President of the department of Paris, and Manuel after the 20th of June. The nasigned the decree for superseding Petion and tional assembly having re-instated them, he foresaw that great calamities would in conquitting Paris, to avoid being a witness of sequence take place, and determined on land, but filial and conjugal piety prevented its effects. He was advised to retire to Eng him. It is said, that Santerre, at the solicitation of Condorcet, took advantage of the fury of the populace to sign an order for arresting the Duke. A commissary of the commune was appointed and sent to Forges for this pur pose; but being more humane than his confe derates, he apprised the Duke of his danger, and made him consent to go to his estate, at Roche-Guyon, to which place he offered to take and keep him under his care. They set off together in the same carriage. In passing through Gisors, they were met, as if by chance, on the 14th, by a detachment of cut-throats, purposely sent from Paris, who demanded with excessive fury the head of the Duke: an immense number of na tional guards came suddenly to his assist 1792; as Condorcet and the rest of the Brissotins never forgave the Duke for signing the decree for superseding their creatures, Petion and Manuel. To convince our readers what interest this faction took in the success of their intrigues subsequent to the 10th of August, we shall extract a passage from Condorcet's speech, delivered some time after: Si quelques vengeances ont éclaté, on peut dire que le peuple ne s'est point trompé dans le choix des victimes." "If some vengeances have burst forth, it may be said the people were not mistaken in the choice of their victims." Some of Condorcet's friends, who detested Louis XVth's Queen, wished him to put his wife in the way of the King, that she might become his mistress. The Marquis was base enough to accede to the plan, although he has since declared that he could not intrigue:* it was agreed that the Mar ance; he crossed the town in the middle of a quadruple line of national guards, their commandant and mayor. A cart stood across the way in a narrow road leading out of Gisors; an assassin darted at the duke, and threw a large stone (which he tore from the pavement) at him, with such force as killed him instantly, and he fell in the arms of Madame d'Arville, his mother, who was 93 years of age. In the first assembly he demanded the liberty of the press, the King's veto, the suppression of the order of monks, and wished to establish the English government, with certain modifications. He was the fourth of his family assassinated in that month, reckoning the two Bishops. of Beauvais and Saintes, who were murdered in the Carmes at Paris; and Charles de Rohan Chabot, his brother-in-law, who was killed at l'Abbaye. We have a letter now before us acquainting us with the death of his aunt, the particulars of which will be found in our Obituary for this month, M. de Condorcet says, in his eulogies of some of his fellow academicians, that literary men were very proper to have the government of states; but," added he, "the evil is, that the literati are not fitted for intrigue." However, to remedy that inconvenience in himself, he formed a little intrigue against the revenues of the Academy of Sciences, by which he proposed nothing less than to appropriate half the income to himself. The fact was as follows:-The Academy of Sciences had asked the King to restore twelve thousand livres (£500) a year, which the Abbé Terray had taken away from them. M. d'Alembert and the Marquis de Condorcet had signed the resolution which had been adopted for appropriating these ds to the encouragement of the arts and chioness should shew herself alone in the theatre at Versailles some night when the Queen could not be present; accordingly, one evening, when they were assured that her Majesty would be at Grand Trianon, the Marchioness appeared in the Count d'Angivilliers's box. The King particularly noticed her, seemed much pleased, and was bestowing great encomiums upon her; when the Queen, who had been apprised of the plan, suddenly entered the King's box, and, darting a look of contempt upon his sciences. Notwithstanding this, M. Turgot, when he granted the request, disposed of five thousand livres (£208) a year in favour of the Marquis, to the great astonishment of the Academy; who complained that a sum originally destined to the use of the company for the public benefit, should be thus employed, and without any authority, to favour an individual. It happened that about this time, M. d'Alembert having borrowed the registers of the Academy from M. de Fouchy, perpetual secretary to the Academy of Sciences, the latter, after having frequently asked for them in vain, sent for them one morning in a very peremptory manner. In sending them back in such haste, M. d'Alembert unwarily left among them the sketch of a memorial to the controleur-general, begging him to appropriate five thousand of the twelve thousand livres which were to be restored to the Academy, to the use of the Marquis de Condorcet, joint secretary of the Academy; and "to give only one thousand "to that poor creature de Fouchy, who "ought to be dismissed, as a man no longer 66 capable of performing the duties of his "office." M. de Fouchy, who found the paper, surprised at seeing himself treated as a weak man, and indignant at the plot which had been secretly formed against him, denounced M. d'Alembert to the Academy, as guilty of having converted the funds destined for the use of the company, to the advantage of his creature and friend, the Marquis de Condorcet. As for the incapacity of which he had been accused, he demanded that a committee should be appointed to judge of the extract he made from the memorial of the Academy, and that his continuance in office should depend upon the issue.M, d'Alembert and the Marquis saw that it would be prudent to stifle the affair; and in spite of the just clamours which had been raised against them, some honorary academicians, and among others M. de Trudaine, being concerned in it, the rising storm was appeased; and nothing remained but the impression which was made upon the mind, that, notwithstanding Condorcet's assertion, men of letters are as well adapted for intrigues as men of the world.-Dutens' *M« moirs of a Traveller, now in Retirement, vol. iii. p. 156 |