VOLCANO COVERED WITH SHOW.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 14, 19 February 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

VOLCANO COVERED WITH SHOW.

The French Revolution had no nobler victim th.,n Jean Antoine, Marquis do Oondortet, who was born 0 n September Vi > i 1 man y years before the outbreak ho had spoken and written much on the essential quality of the human race, sfrange doctrines at that time from a member of tho old aristocracy of Franoe.

| When the upheaval took place which tho marquis had so much desired, he ceased to write those treatises which had so much desired, he ceased to writo those treaties which had helped to bring it about, and which had caused him t 0 bo looked upon as one of tho foremost writers of his time. Indeed, his timidity was so great that D'Alenil>ert called him "a volcano covered with snow, and when the Revolution broke out Condorcet's wife urged him to remain hidden in a garret lent to th<v two by a poor woman whom they hat! befriended some years before. Here the marquis remained for some months, but at last—either fearing for h s kind hostess or drawn out at length by the bright sunshine from his safe seclusion—ho ventured forth for a walk. After wandering about aimlessly in his aljsent-minded way, he found himself at last far from home, and, being hungry, he entered a. little wayside inn and ordered an omlette. Upon the landlord asking how many egg s should lie used in making it, he replied, "About a dozen," an answer 'which betrayed the fact that he was not the poor workman his clothes implied. Th e landlord therefore detained him on pretext, and meanwhile gave information to the nearest National Guard that lie had "an aristocrat" in his house. Thereupon the unfortunate marquis was arrested and thrown into the nearest prison, whence he was dragged out a few days later to undergo a mock trial. It was soon ascertained that ho was of the noblest birth, and this bong a heinous crime at the time, he was condemned to be beheaded. But the guillotine was cheated, for the marquis was found dead in his cell—having taken the poison ho always carried for such an emergency