the ruinous ancient social fabric crumbled over their devoted heads.
The emancipation from slavery and oppression should be gradual. A sudden freedom maddens, as a sudden restoration of sight will dazzle and blind again. Liberty thus conferred has been justly compared to weapons that recoil upon those who wield them. In the mouth of some of these innovators, sophistry extenuated crimes; and Helvetius maintained “that every act was legitimate to ensure public safety.” To which Rousseau replied, “that public safety was not worth considering, when individual security could not be obtained.”
While such opinions were promulgated by philosophers, what were the ideas of honour that prevailed at Versailles and the Tuileries? In abject submission to an abject master, they were comformable to those entertained by the royal cook Vatel, who destroyed himself because the fish had not arrived in time for his sovereign’s dinner; a catastrophe which was admirably described by Berchoux in the following lines: Tout le soin des festins fût remis à Vatel,
Du vainqueur de Rocroy fameux maitre d’hôtel.
Il mit à ses travaux une ardeur infinie,
Mais, avec des talents, il manquait de génie.
Accablé d’embarras, Vatel est averti
Que deux tables en vain réclamaient leur rôti;
Il prend pour en trouver une peine inutile.
“Ah!” dit-il, s’adressant à son ami Gourville,
De larmes, de sanglots, de douleur suffoqué,
“Je suis perdu d’honneur, deux rôtis ont manqués! Un seul jour détruira toute ma renommée. Mes lauriers sont flétris; et la cour, alarmée, Ne peut plus désormais se reposer sur moi: J’ai trahi mon devoir, avili mon emploi!” * * * * * O vous, qui par état présidez aux repas, Donnez lui des regrets, mais ne l’imitez pas.
Can we indeed be surprised at the indignation which must have fired every liberal bosom when beholding, not only the insolence of the aristocracy, but the vices of sovereigns and the crimes of ministers, becoming subjects of general admiration, and even eulogised in the pulpit?—when a prelate like Fléchier declared in his funeral oration on Cardinal Richelieu, that God had bestowed upon his soul those excellent gifts that fitted him to rule the world, and bring into action those secret springs which he ordained to elevate or overthrow, in his eternal decrees, the power of kings and kingdoms! The same eloquent declaimer, in quoting the virtues of Mazarin, tells his congregation that he had taught the art of governing, and the secrets of royalty, to the first monarch in the world! Can we wonder then, that, living under such a celestial sway, a cook should commit suicide when unable “to set a dainty dish” before his King?
CHAPTER XII.
DUELS DURING THE REIGN OF LOUIS XVI.
It has been truly said, that the virtues of the unfortunate Louis XVI. were an anachronism in the dissolute court that surrounded him. The most short-sighted observer could behold the gathering storm, and foresee that a national convulsion was drawing nigh. In taking a retrospective view of the past, no confidence could be placed in the present, and futurity was involved in a fearful gloom. Despotism had been concentrated under the sway of Louis XI. and Louis XIV; but, during the reign of Louis XV, the parliament had recovered the power usurped by his predecessor, who let no opportunity escape of showing for that assembly, his sovereign contempt. A struggle for power now commenced between the parliament, the clergy, and the court; and the people, exhausted by war and taxation, calmly looked on, until they were roused by the contending factions to throw the weight of brute force into the scale of the doubtful preponderance. At this period, pregnant with future events of vital moment, the parliament persecuted the clergy, which in turn opposed their vexations; and both parties set at defiance the authority of the court, which appeared to be sunk into a state of luxurious apathy, and calmly looked on the approaching storm, without having recourse to any prudential measures to meet its impetuosity.
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