The stranger in France : $b or, a tour from Devonshire to Paris illustrated by engravings in aqua tint of sketches taken on the spot.Carr, John, Sir
History
The stranger in France : $b or, a tour from Devonshire to Paris illustrated by engravings in aqua tint of sketches taken on the spot.
Carr, John, Sir
France -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- Description and travel
The english convent, or as it is called, the convent of blue nuns, in
the Rue de St. Victoire, is the only establishment of the kind, which
throughout the republic, has survived the revolution. To what cause its
exclusive protection is attributable, is not, I believe correctly known.
But though this spot of sacred seclusion, has escaped the final stroke
of extermination, it has sustained an ample share of the general
desolation. During the time of terrour, it was converted into the
crowded prison of the female nobility, who were here confined, and
afterwards dragged from its cloisters, and butchered by the guillotine,
or the daggers of assassins. I had a letter of introduction to Mrs.
S----, one of the sisterhood, a lady of distinguished family in England.
I found her in the refectory. A dignified dejection overspread her
countenance, and her figure seemed much emaciated by the scenes of
horrour through which she had passed. She informed me, that when the
nuns were in a state of arrestation by the order of Robespierre, the
convent was so crowded with prisoners, that they were obliged to eat
their wretched meals in three different divisions. The places of the
unhappy beings who were led off to execution, were immediately filled by
fresh victims.
Amongst those who suffered, was the beautiful young duchesse de Biron,
said to be one of the loveliest women of the french court. Her fate was
singular, and horrible. One morning, two of the assistant executioners
came into one of the rooms, and called upon the female citizen Biron to
come forward, meaning the old duchesse de Biron, the mother, who was
here immured with her daughter; some one said, which of them do you
require? The hell-hounds replied, "Our order was for one only, but as
there are two, we will have both, that there may be no errour." The
mother and daughter were taken away, locked senseless in each others
arms. When the cart which carried them arrived at the foot of the
scaffold, the chief executioner looked at his paper, which contained a
list of his victims, and saw the name of only one Biron; the assistants
informed him that they found two of that name in the convent, and to
prevent mistake, they had brought both. The principal, with perfect sang
froid, said it was all well, wrote with a pencil the article "les"
before the name Biron, to which he added an s, and immediately beheaded
both!!!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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