Marshal Edouard Mortier

‘…When he entered the gates of Moscow, Buonaparte, as if unwilling to encounter the sight of the empty streets, stopt immediately on entering the first suburb ¹.  His troops were quartered in the desolate city. During the first few hours after their arrival, an obscure rumour, which could not be traced, but one of those which are sometimes found to get abroad before the approach of some awful certainty, announced that the city would be endangered by fire in the course of the night. The report seemed to arise from those evident circumstances which rendered the event probable, but no one took any notice of it, until at midnight, when the soldiers were startled from their quarters by the report that the town was in flames. The memorable conflagration began amongst the coachmakers' warehouses and workshops in the Bazaar, or general market, which was the most rich district of the city. It was imputed to accident, and the progress of the flames was subdued by the exertions of the French soldiers. Napoleon, who had been roused by the tumult, hurried to the spot, and when the alarm seemed at an end, he retired, not to his former quarters in the suburbs, but to the Kremlin, the hereditary palace of the only sovereign whom he had ever treated as an equal, and over whom his successful arms had now attained such an apparently immense superiority. Yet he did not sufler himself to be dazzled by the advantage he had obtained, but availed himself of the light of the blazing Bazaar, to write to the Emperor proposals of peace with his own hand. They were despatched by a Russian officer of rank, who had been disabled by indisposition from following the army. But no answer was ever returned,

1 [ " Napoleon appointed Marshal Mortier governor of the capital. 'Above all,' said he to him, ' no pillage! For this you shall be answerable to me with your life. Defend Moscow against all, whether friend or foe.' "—Segur, t. ii. p. 38.J,,,'

Edouard Mortier was among Napoleon’s first group of marshals, and rose to become a duke (courtesy of Napoleon), and Prime Minister of France.  Mortier, who had fought in the Revolutionary Wars, served France past Napoleon’s time, dying on July 28^th, 1835, during an attack on Louis-Philippe I by Giuseppe Fieschi.  Scott’s text above comes from “Life of Napoleon Buonaparte”.

Robespierre Executed

‘…Their chief, Robespierre, in an unsuccessful attempt to shoot himself, had only inflicted a horrible fracture on his under-jaw.

In this situation they were found like wolves in their lair, foul with blood, mutilated, despairing, and yet not able to die. Robespierre lay on a table in an anteroom, his head supported by a deal-box, and his hideous countenance half-hidden by a bloody and dirty cloth bound round the shattered chin.

The captives were carried in triumph to the Convention, who, refusing to admit them to the bar. sent them before the Revolutionary Tribunal, which ordered them, as outlaws, for instant execution. As the fatal cars passed to the guillotine, those who filled them, but especially Robespierre, were overwhelmed with execrations from the friends and relatives of victims whom he had sent on the same melancholy road. The nature of his previous wound. from which the cloth had never been removed till the executioner tore it off; added to the torture of the sufferer. The shattered jaw dropped, and the wretch yelled aloud, to the horror of the spectators.  A mask taken from that dreadful head was long exhibited in different nations of Europe, and appalled the spectator by its ugliness, and the mixture of fiendish expression with that of bodily agony. At the same time fell young Robespierre, Coulhon, Saint Just, Coffinhal, Henriot, Dumas, President of the Revolutionary Tribunal,  the Mayor, and fourteen of their subalterns…’

French revolutionary Maximillien Robespierre met his fate on the guillotine on July 28, 1794.  Many would have felt he received his just due, having been so active in the Reign of Terror.  Sir Walter Scott described Robespierre’s  end in “Life of Napoleon Bonaparte”.

Double Header

July 28, 1540 was a big day in the life of King Henry VIII.  Early on his list of to-do's that day was the beheading of his former minister Thomas Cromwell, guilty of treason for recommending Henry marry Anne of Cleves.  Henry could not bring himself to consumate his marriage with Anne.

Next on his list that day was his marriage to Catherine Howard.  This one he would consumate; it was Catherine who was repulsed.  Catherine lasted until February 13, 1542, when she was executed for failing to disclose a marriage contract that predated her marriage to Henry.  There were also many stories of Catherine's indiscretions that reached Henry's ear.

Walter Scott includes Henry VIII, or the circumstances of his times in more than one work.  In his poem Marmion, the title character is a favorite of Henry's.  Marmion had marital troubles of his own:

'XXIX



"Still was false Marmion's bridal staid;
To Whitby's convent fled the maid,
The hated match to shun.
'Ho! shifts she thus?' king Henry cried,
'Sir Marmion, she shall be thy bride,
If she were sworn a nun.'
One way remained—the King's command
Sent Marmion to the Scottish land:
I linger'd here, and rescue plann'd
For Clara and for me:
This caitiff Monk for gold did swear
He would to Whitby's shrine repair,
And by his drugs my rival fair
A saint in heaven should be.
is But ill the dastard kept his oath,
Whose cowardice has undone us both.