creation uninhabited, unnamed, unmarked, would be of as much account in

the world's future history, as desert England.

Our journey was impeded by a thousand obstacles. As our horses grew tired,

we had to seek for others; and hours were wasted, while we exhausted our

artifices to allure some of these enfranchised slaves of man to resume the

yoke; or as we went from stable to stable through the towns, hoping to find

some who had not forgotten the shelter of their native stalls. Our ill

success in procuring them, obliged us continually to leave some one of our

companions behind; and on the first of February, Adrian and I entered

Paris, wholly unaccompanied. The serene morning had dawned when we arrived

at Saint Denis, and the sun was high, when the clamour of voices, and the

clash, as we feared, of weapons, guided us to where our countrymen had

assembled on the Place Vendome. We passed a knot of Frenchmen, who were

talking earnestly of the madness of the insular invaders, and then coming

by a sudden turn upon the Place, we saw the sun glitter on drawn swords and

fixed bayonets, while yells and clamours rent the air. It was a scene of

unaccustomed confusion in these days of depopulation. Roused by fancied

wrongs, and insulting scoffs, the opposite parties had rushed to attack

each other; while the elect, drawn up apart, seemed to wait an opportunity

to fall with better advantage on their foes, when they should have mutually

weakened each other. A merciful power interposed, and no blood was shed;

for, while the insane mob were in the very act of attack, the females,

wives, mothers and daughters, rushed between; they seized the bridles; they

embraced the knees of the horsemen, and hung on the necks, or enweaponed

arms of their enraged relatives; the shrill female scream was mingled with

498

The Last Man