THE REVOLUTION IN TANNER'S LANE




"Per various casus, per tot discrimina rerum,
Tendimus in Latium; sedes ubi fata quietas
Ostendunt. Illic fas regna resurgere Trojae.
Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis."
- Virgil.

"By diuers casis, sere parrellis and sufferance
Unto Itaill we ettill (aim) quhare destanye
Has schap (shaped) for vs ane rest and quiet harbrye
Predestinatis thare Troye sall ryse agane.
Be stout on prosper fortoun to remane."
- Gwain Douglas's translation.



CHAPTER I--THE WORLD OUTSIDE



The 20th April 1814, an almost cloudless, perfectly sunny day, saw
all London astir. On that day Lewis the Eighteenth was to come from
Hartwell in triumph, summoned by France to the throne of his
ancestors. London had not enjoyed too much gaiety that year. It was
the year of the great frost. Nothing like it had been known in the
memory of man. In the West of England, where snow is rare, roads