Women of History: Selected from the Writings of Standard AuthorsVarious
History
Women of History: Selected from the Writings of Standard Authors
Various
Women -- Biography
There was once a procession before, "on the morrow," says Weber, "the
Dauphiness left Vienna. The whole city crowded out, at first with a
sorrow which was silent. She appeared. You saw her sunk back into her
carriage, her face bathed in tears; hiding her eyes now with her
handkerchief, now with her hands; several times putting out her head to
see yet again this palace of her fathers, whither she was to return no
more. She motioned her regret, her gratitude, to the good nation which
was crowding here to bid her farewell. Then arose not only tears, but
piercing cries on all sides. Men and women alike abandoned themselves to
such expression of their sorrow. It was an audible sound of wail in the
streets and avenues of Vienna. The last courier that followed her
disappeared, and the crowd melted away."
The young imperial maiden of fifteen has now become a worn, discrowned
widow of thirty-eight, grey before her time. This is the last
procession. "Few minutes after the trial ended, the drums were beating
to arms in all sections; at sunrise the armed force was on foot, cannons
getting placed at the extremities of the bridges, in the squares,
crossways, all along from the Palais de Justice to the Place de la
Revolution. By ten o'clock, numerous patrols were circulating in the
streets; thirty thousand foot and horse drawn up under arms. At eleven,
Marie Antoinette was brought out. She had on an undress of _pique
blanc_; she was led to the place of execution in the same manner as an
ordinary criminal, bound in a cart, accompanied by a Constitutional
Priest in lay dress, escorted by numerous detachments of infantry and
cavalry. These, and the double row of troops all along her road, she
appeared to regard with indifference. On her countenance there was
visible neither abashment nor pride. To the cries of _Vive la
Republique_, and Down with Tyranny, which attended her all the way, she
seemed to pay no heed. She spoke little to her confessor. The tricolour
streamers on the house-tops occupied her attention in the Streets du
Roule and Saint-Honore; she also noticed the inscriptions on the
house-fronts. On reaching the Place de la Revolution, her looks towards
the _Jardin National_, whilom Tuileries; her face at that moment gave
signs of lively emotion. She ascended the scaffold with courage enough;
at a quarter past twelve her head fell. The executioner showed it to the
people amid universal long-continued cries of _Vive la Republique_."
SARAH SIDDONS.
[BORN 1755. DIED 1831.]
CUNNINGHAM.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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