Page 117 of 171 IV. A VISIT TO THE OLD CHAMBER OF PEERS. - The Memoirs of Victor Hugo

It was in this old hall of the Senate that Marshal Ney was tried. A bar had been put up to the left of the Chancellor who presided over the Chamber. The Marshal was behind this bar, with M. Berryer, senior, on his right, and M. Dupin, the elder, on his left. He stood upon one of the lozenges in the floor, in which, by a sinister hazard, the capricious tracing of the marble figured a death's head. This lozenge has since been taken up and replaced by another.

After February, in view of the riots, soldiers had to be lodged in the palace. The old Senate-hall was turned into a guard-house. The desks of the senators of Napoleon and of the peers of the Restoration were stored in the lumber rooms, and the curule chairs served as beds for the troops.

Early in June, 1849, I visited the hall of the Chamber of Peers and found it just as I had left it seventeen months before, the last time that I sat there, on February 23, 1848.

Everything was in its place. Profound calmness reigned; the fauteuils were empty and in order. One might have thought that the Chamber had adjourned ten minutes previously.

SKETCHES

MADE IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.
I. ODILON BARROT.
II. MONSIEUR THIERS.
III. DUFAURE.
IV. CHANGARNIER.
V. LAGRANGE.
VI. PRUDHON.
VII. BLANQUI.
VIII. LAMARTINE.
IX. BOULAY DE LA MEURTHE.
X. DUPIN.

SKETCHES

MADE AT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

		"If you don't fail now and again, it's a sign you're playing it safe." Woody Allen

Booksfree.com Save by Renting Paperback and Audio Books