Page:Englishmen in the French Revolution.djvu/69

Rh was Vernon, of Newport. Gouverneur Morris had vainly dissuaded Jones, in the previous November, from coming over from Warsaw. He was in pecuniary difficulties, and on his death from dropsy, 18th July 1792, Blackden, also one of the deputation, opened a subscription for the funeral expenses. The Assembly was invited to send delegates to the interment, and among the number was Gay Vernon, Bishop of Limoges. This was certainly the first time that a French prelate had attended a Protestant funeral, and until the Revolution, indeed, Protestants in Paris were buried at night or dawn by the police authorities. Gay Vernon, it is true, was not an ordinary bishop, for he voted for the death of Louis XVI., abjured the priesthood, and under the Empire became a consul. Jones had played many parts, and this posthumous part, the inauguration of religious toleration at funerals, was not the least singular of them. Morris had drawn up his will, which made his sister, a Mrs. Taylor, universal legatee. She went over from Scotland, is said to have been in danger during the Terror, and returned home with Jones's papers. She may be the Mrs. Taylor who figures in the list of prisoners.

One of the most striking features of the Revolutionary Assemblies was the stream of deputations, donors and suppliants, who formed interludes in the debates. It was picturesque to see children taken