Year: 1866

"No man" says the Koran, "knovs the
spot on earth where his grave shall be made.N
The Bourbons thought they knew but like
meaner folks they were out of their reckon.
ing-so far, at least as related to their final
place of sepulture. In vain they build
themselves q mighty mausoleum. For
eleven hundred years the abbey church con-
secrated to St. Denis, held the bodies of
Capets, Carlovingians, and the descendants
OF the good King Dagobert," but the rev.


olutionary storms of 1892 swept away all


before them and scattered these and other


relics till then held sacred. There are few


events OF that terrible time more completely


demonstrating the subversion of the royalty


which had endured so long, than the DEGREES


OF the Convention of the 9th of August,


I7S2, six months after the execution of


Louis XVI, which sent the rabid population


of Paris trooping to st. Denis to obliterate


10 recollections of the Kings os .S-ance, by


destroying their very tombs aud burning


their remains in the common fosse.


In the tombs of followed stones of the


earlier monarchs very little worth notice was
found. In that of King Pepin there was a
small quantity of gold wire, nothing more.


but each coffin bore the simple inscription of
the name of its inmate on leaden plate, and
the greater part of these plates were much
oxydized, and in a very bad condition, so
that the names were, in many cases, nearly
illegible. The plates were not wanted for
preservation, but together with the leaden
cof6ns of Philippe de Hardi and Isabella of
Arragon, and the leaden rooms of the abbey
church were taken to the Hotel de Vile Of
Paris, and were melted down and cast into
musket balls. The most remarkable object
discovered was a silver seal, of ogive form.
belonging to Constance of CASTLE, the second
wife of Louis VII, who died in HOO. 1t
weighed three ounces and half, and silver
money being out of fashion, was not convert
ed into either cash or bullet, but found its
way to the municipal stronghold, and was
then transferred to the cabinet of antiquities
of the National, not Imperial Library
Though only three days labor was actually
bestowed, the work of demolition was, from
various causes, suspended from August till
October, but on the twelfth of that month it
was resumed, and with renewed vigor the
destroyers forced their way into the vaults
of the Bourbons.


The first coffin they met with was one
which might have demanded forbearance had
there been any forbearing spirit in the midst
of so much unhallowed rufiapsm-it was
that of Henry Quatre! His body was in a
good state of preservation, and his features
were perfectly recognizable; the winding
sheet by which he was enveloped was also
in good condition. For two days his re.
mains were exposed to public view, and then
they were remorselessly cast into the yawn.
ing trench which awaited them. The same
fate awaited the bones of Louis XII, and
his descendants. The first named monarch
was recognized by his mustaches, and Louis
XIV, by his prominent features but his
face which had received so much alteration
in his life time was now black as ink To
this complexion had it come at last The
bodies of his immediate family, and especial
ly that of the Grand Dauphin-oh, grand.
eur !-were in state of liquid putrefaction.
under the cofins, encased in lead, with
inscriptions; the lead was care.
fully taken away, and the withered hearts
were tossed with howls and execratons into
the common fosse.


On the fifth day, after having taken all
the bodies which were regularly inferred in
the royal vault, the depredators came at the
further end to another coffin placed on a
stone bench, about two feet from the ground,
in a recess formed in the thickness of the
wall. The situation of the coffin showed
that it was the last King who had died,
which always occupied the recess in ques-
ton till his successor came to replace him.
In this instance the successor never CAME
As if open day were necessary for fully
satisfying the vengeance of the revolutionary
mob, eager to wreak their brutal fury on the
Bourbons in the person of one called "Le
bein aime," the coffin of Louis XIV. was
dragged from the crypt to the trench and
there opened. The body taken out of his
leaden case, and swathed like a mummy,
appeared to be in state of good preservation,
but the instant the bandages were removed
the royal corpse took its revenge on the sur.
rounding multitude. 1t was as might have
been expected, considering the disease of
which the profigate king died, in q state of
the direst putrefaction, and from the loath-
some carcass came so pernicious an odor that
all present fed from itin dismay. Atlength


in order that the Jacobin body snatchers


might complete their purpose, recourse was


had to the firing of muskets ant, the burning


of gun powder to purify the air, and when


the fumigation had lasted long enough the


blackened fragments of royalty were hur-


ried into the pit on bed of quick lime


somewhat different from that of the sump-


tuous couch of Versailles and quickly con-


cealed from human senses.-4H the Year