The same flags and the same obscene inscriptions visible in the streets, disgraced the temple of the law.

The tattered garments, hanging from their lances, the guillotine, and the _potence_, with the effigy of the queen suspended from it, traversed the Assembly with impunity.

Some of the deputies applauded, others turned away their heads or hid their faces in their hands; some more courageous, forced the wretch who bore the _coeur saignant_, partly by entreaties, partly by threats, to retire with his emblem of assassination.

Part of the people regarded with a respectful eye the salle they profaned; others addressed the representatives as they passed, and seemed to exult in their degradation.

The rattling of the strange weapons of the crowd, the clatter of their nailed shoes and sabots on the pavement, the shrill shouts of the women, the voices of the children, the cries of _Vive la nation_, patriotic songs, and the sound of instruments, deafened the ear, whilst to the eye, these rags contrasted strangely with the marbles, the statues, and the decorations of the salle.