Nobody entered the church, which had been damaged in various ways,
and no one ascended the northern tower, for the bells hung in the
southern one. There the watchman's duty was regarded more seriously,
for on all extraordinary occasions the alarm-bell had to sound.
The watchman kept up a sort of telegraphic communication with the
bellringer in the southern tower. In calm weather they could chat
with each other, but when it was windy, they had to use speaking
trumpets.
The workshop had, in the course of years, developed into a very
comfortable room. Its southern side was occupied by a single large
bookcase. There the first edition of the _Encyclopedie_ in five and
thirty volumes, shone resplendent in red morocco with gilt letters.
There stood Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Locke, Hume--all the
authors who ought to have been present. There were also periodicals,
the _Moniteur_, Pere Duchesne and Marat's _L'Ami du Peuple_. This
last was bound in somewhat greasy leather, which resembled
pig's-skin, and had curled up at the corners.
Another wall was covered with engravings, some coloured and some
plain. They hung in chronological order from left to right, from top
to bottom, so that one could read the whole history of the
Revolution pictorially. The Oath in the ball-room on June 20, 1789,
with Mirabeau's portrait; the burning of the Bastille, and the head
of the commandant; the Jacobite Club, with Marat, Saint-Just,
Couthon, Robespierre; the Feast of Brotherhood on the Champ du
Mars; the King's Flight to Varennes; Lafayette; the Girondists; the
execution of the King and Queen; the Committee of Public Welfare,
with Danton and the newly hatched Robespierre; the Reign of Terror;
Charlotte Corday stabbing Marat in the bath; Robespierre again;
Feast of the Supreme Being; Voltaire's Funeral; Robespierre again,
this time on the 9th Thermidor.
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