La Vendée

La Vendée

The Project Gutenberg EBook of La Vendee, by Anthony Trollope
(#38 in our series by Anthony Trollope)
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: La Vendee
Author: Anthony Trollope
Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5709] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on October 23, 2002]

[Most recently updated: October 23, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English with some French
Character set encoding: Latin1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, LA
VENDEE ***

This eBook was produced by Andrew Turek.

LA VENDÉE.
VOLUME I
CHAPTER I
THE POITEVINS
The history of France in 1792 has been too fully written, and too
generally read to leave the novelist any excuse for describing the state
of Paris at the close of the summer of that year. It is known to every
one that the palace of Louis XVI was sacked on the 10th of August.
That he himself with his family took refuge in the National Assembly,
and that he was taken thence to the prison of the Temple.
The doings on the fatal 10th of August, and the few following days had,
however, various effects in Paris, all of which we do not clearly trace in
history. We well know how the Mountain became powerful from that
day; that from that day Marat ceased to shun the light, and Danton to
curb the licence of his tongue that then, patriotism in France began to
totter, and that, from that time, Paris ceased to be a fitting abode for
aught that was virtuous, innocent, or high-minded; but the steady march

of history cannot stop to let us see the various lights in which the
inhabitants of Paris regarded the loss of a King, and the commencement
of the first French Republic.
The Assembly, though it had not contemplated the dethronement of the
King, acquiesced in it; and acted as it would have done, had the
establishment of a republic been decreed by a majority of its members.
The municipality had determined that the King should fall, and, of
course, rejoiced in the success of its work; and history plainly marking
the acquiescence of the Assembly, and the activity of the city powers,
naturally passes over the various feelings excited in different circles in
Paris, by the overthrow of the monarchy.
Up to that period there was still in Paris much that was high, noble, and
delightful. The haute noblesse had generally left the country; but the
haute noblesse did not comprise the better educated, or most social
families in Paris. Never had there been more talent, more wit, or more
beauty in Paris than at the commencement of 1792; never had literary
acquirement been more fully appreciated in society, more absolutely
necessary in those who were ambitious of social popularity.
There were many of this class in Paris who had hitherto watched the
progress of the Revolution with a full reliance in the panacea it was to
afford for human woes; many who had sympathized with the early
demands of the Tiers État; who had rapturously applauded the Tennis
Court oath; who had taken an enthusiastic part in the fête of the Champ
de Mars; men who had taught themselves to believe that sin, and
avarice, and selfishness were about to be banished from the world by
the lights of philosophy; but whom the rancour of the Jacobins, and the
furious licence of the city authorities had now robbed of their golden
hopes. The dethronement of the King, totally severed many such from
the revolutionary party. They found that their high aspirations had been
in vain; that their trust in reason had been misplaced, and that the
experiment to which they had committed themselves had failed;
disgusted, broken-spirited, and betrayed they left the city in crowds,
and with few exceptions, the intellectual circles were broken up.
A few of the immediate friends of the King, a few ladies and gentlemen,

warmly devoted to the family