Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine, And Cabinet Of Universal Literature,
The progress and events of this revolution , which produced the death or banishment of all the branches of the Royal Family of France , must be fresh in every one ' s remembrance ; it re-mains , therefore , only to detail a few of the circumstances attending the death of this illustrious woman , whose end was more than worthy of her life . After the death of Louis the Sixteenth she continued confined in the Temple for some timeand having at last been removed
, to the Conciergerie , the tyrant Robespierre determined on the mockeiy of a public trial . She was accordingly arraigned for having committed a series of crimes , which in the language of the mriictfrient comprehended not merely counter-revolutionary projects , but all the enormities of the Messalinas , Brunehauts , Fredegondes , and Medicis . We may here call to mind that expostulation of insulted
nature , when , Hebert accusing Antoinette of having committed the most shocking crime , she turned with dignity towards the audience , and said , ' i appeal to the conscience and feelings of every mother present , to declare if there he one amongst them who does not shudder at the idea of such horrors . ' Marie Antoinette made no defence , and called no witnesses ,
alleging that no positive fact had been produced against her . She had preserved an uniform behaviour during the whole of her trial , except when a starting tear accompanied her answer to Hebert . She was condemned about four in the morning , and heard her sentence with composure . But her firmness forsook her in the way from the court to her dungeon—she burst into tears ; when , as if ashamed of this weaknessshe observed to her guardsthat though
, , she wept at that moment , they should see her go to the scaffold without shedding a tear . In her way to execution , where she was taken after the accustomed manner in a cart , with her hands tied behind her , she paid little attention to the priest who attended her , and still less to the surrounding multitude . -Her eyes , though . bent on vacancy , did not conceal the emotion that
was labouring at her heart—her cheeks were sometimes in a singular manner streaked with red , and sometimes overspread with deadly paleness ; but her general look was that of indignant sorrow . She reached the place of . execution about noon ; and when she turned her eyes towards the gardens and the palace , she _ became visibl y agita ' ted . She ascended the scaffold with precipitation , and her head was in a moment held up to the people bv the executioner .
Thus fell , in her thirty-ei ghth year , Marie Antoinette . Posterity will doubtless rank her hi gh among the females who have distinguished themselves in the world , and if they discover some weaknesses in her character , will at the same time do ample justice to her virtues . Is it to be wondered at , ' that a Princess young and beautiful , surrounded by the parasites of a dissipated court and a witness to its
excesses , preferred the seducing path of pleasure and gaiety to the more rugged ways of prudence ? Failings she certainly had ; but peace to her memory ! Humanity forbids " us to withdraw the veil that guards misfortune '
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine, And Cabinet Of Universal Literature,
The progress and events of this revolution , which produced the death or banishment of all the branches of the Royal Family of France , must be fresh in every one ' s remembrance ; it re-mains , therefore , only to detail a few of the circumstances attending the death of this illustrious woman , whose end was more than worthy of her life . After the death of Louis the Sixteenth she continued confined in the Temple for some timeand having at last been removed
, to the Conciergerie , the tyrant Robespierre determined on the mockeiy of a public trial . She was accordingly arraigned for having committed a series of crimes , which in the language of the mriictfrient comprehended not merely counter-revolutionary projects , but all the enormities of the Messalinas , Brunehauts , Fredegondes , and Medicis . We may here call to mind that expostulation of insulted
nature , when , Hebert accusing Antoinette of having committed the most shocking crime , she turned with dignity towards the audience , and said , ' i appeal to the conscience and feelings of every mother present , to declare if there he one amongst them who does not shudder at the idea of such horrors . ' Marie Antoinette made no defence , and called no witnesses ,
alleging that no positive fact had been produced against her . She had preserved an uniform behaviour during the whole of her trial , except when a starting tear accompanied her answer to Hebert . She was condemned about four in the morning , and heard her sentence with composure . But her firmness forsook her in the way from the court to her dungeon—she burst into tears ; when , as if ashamed of this weaknessshe observed to her guardsthat though
, , she wept at that moment , they should see her go to the scaffold without shedding a tear . In her way to execution , where she was taken after the accustomed manner in a cart , with her hands tied behind her , she paid little attention to the priest who attended her , and still less to the surrounding multitude . -Her eyes , though . bent on vacancy , did not conceal the emotion that
was labouring at her heart—her cheeks were sometimes in a singular manner streaked with red , and sometimes overspread with deadly paleness ; but her general look was that of indignant sorrow . She reached the place of . execution about noon ; and when she turned her eyes towards the gardens and the palace , she _ became visibl y agita ' ted . She ascended the scaffold with precipitation , and her head was in a moment held up to the people bv the executioner .
Thus fell , in her thirty-ei ghth year , Marie Antoinette . Posterity will doubtless rank her hi gh among the females who have distinguished themselves in the world , and if they discover some weaknesses in her character , will at the same time do ample justice to her virtues . Is it to be wondered at , ' that a Princess young and beautiful , surrounded by the parasites of a dissipated court and a witness to its
excesses , preferred the seducing path of pleasure and gaiety to the more rugged ways of prudence ? Failings she certainly had ; but peace to her memory ! Humanity forbids " us to withdraw the veil that guards misfortune '