DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 33. ) shops and government stores for arms, then, though as yet with no matured plan of operations, yelled ‘To Versailles! To Versailles!’ The king was out hunting, when he was stopped by a_ breathless messenger, who begged him not to be frightened, and informed him that a crowd of excited women were gathering in front of the palace. ‘Frightened!’ said Louis, with a smile; ‘I have never been frightened in my life.’ The aspect of the crowd was appalling. It had been raining during the day ; the women, their garments dripping and soiled with mud, had been drinking freely in the pothouses on the road, and worked themselves into a state of frenzy against Marie Antoinette. ‘You, Austrian!’ they shrieked; ‘until now you have been dancing for your own pleasure, now you will dance for ours. Thy blood shall serve as ink, thy skin shall be made into aprons, and thy body into ribbons for our gowns!’ The king, in the meantime, had arrived in the palace. ‘What are my orders?’ asked the general in command. ‘Orders!’ exclaimed the good-natured monarch. ‘Orders against women! Why, you are joking!’ No orders were given to the military, but a deputation of five women were admitted into the palace. ‘You know my heart,’ said the king to their leader, a young girl. ‘All the bread oO