- THREE:And yet amidst all the horrors and miseries even of the six last and most awful weeks of the Terror, in daily peril of death and amongst the most frightful hardships, laughter and jokes were heard in the prisons, friendships and love affairs were formed; every one was the friend of every one. ONE:In 1786 Mme. Le Brun received an invitation to paint the portrait of Mme. Du Barry, the once lovely and all powerful favourite of Louis XV. With great curiosity she went down to the chateau of Louveciennes, given to his mistress by the late King, where she still lived in luxury but almost in solitude, for of the courtiers and acquaintances who [74] had crowded round her in the days of her prosperity scarcely any remembered her now.But as the size and grandeur of such a residence was no longer suitable to the altered fortunes of its master, he sold it, and only occupied the part called the petit h?tel de Noailles, where Mme. de Montagu also had an apartment. GET AWESOME FEATURE LIST
- THREE:I never carried on a single intrigue. I loved the Monarchy, and I spared no efforts to soften and moderate M. le Duc dOrlans, not realising that the way to escape suspicion was not to try to soften, but to have nothing to do with him; and that if she loved the Monarchy she had shown her affection in a very strange manner. But she was a strange mixture of great talents and many good qualities with frivolity, inconsistency, and shallowness. For example, when she was told that the Monarchy (which she says she loved) had fallen, and the Republic been declared, her first exclamation was ONE:He gave Lisette lessons in oil-painting for which his wife used to come and fetch her. They were so poor that on one occasion when she wished to finish a head she was painting, and accepted their invitation to stay and dine, she found the dinner consisted only of soup and potatoes.In the evening Catherine II. died and Paul arrived. Lisette hardly dared leave the Princess Dolgoroukis, to go home, as every one was saying there would be a revolution against Paul. The streets were filled with people, but there was no [138] disorder. The crowds reassembled next day before the palace of Catherine, calling her their mother, with cries and tears. GET AWESOME FEATURE LIST
- THREE:She felt that she had exchanged security, the protection of a beautiful and well-ordered home, and the society of those she loved and respected, for dependence and danger. ONE: GET AWESOME FEATURE LIST
THREE:Come, Monsieur, said the police official, I see there is some mistake. What is your name?The next morning all was changed. The cringing, officious, timid civility of their tyrants left but little doubt in their minds. They clasped each others [334] hands, even then not daring to speak openly or show their joy, until the news, first a whisper, then a certainty, assured them that Robespierre was dead.
THREE:Three years later, under the rule of the apostles of liberty, fraternity, and equality, there were thousands of prisons of the State crammed with prisoners, besides the supplementary prisons hastily arranged in the ancient convents, palaces, and colleges of Paris.
THREE:
