Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 5.djvu/506

 492 "When the sun shone forth," says Ferrieres, "on the close of this scene, it seemed as if it had pleased God himself to witness this mutual contract, and to ratify it by his presence. Yes! he both saw and heard it, and terrible calamities, ever since that day, have desolated France. Providence, ever active and ever faithful, punished the mutual perfidy. It has stricken both monarch and subjects who violated their oath!"

But these hollow amenities were not yet at an end. The municipality had ordered a grand dinner at the chateau of la Muette, not a mile from the Champ de Mars, and there five-and-twenty thousand persons sate down at tables ranged in the avenues of the park. But La Fayette was in danger of not reaching the place alive. He was surrounded by thousands of unknown men, who, on pretence of embracing him in the enthusiasm of the day, pulled him from his horse, and he was actually smothering in the embraces of these Judas friends, when he was rescued by one of his aides-de-camp and a body of soldiers. Meantime, all Paris was one festal scene. The Champs Elysées were lighted up