forcing the passers-by to drink, and pouring out wine to all comers.
Wine runs down into the gutter, and the scent of it fills the air;"
it is a drinking bout: meanwhile they carry away the grain and flour
which the monks kept on hand according to law, fifty-two loads of it
being taken to the market. Another troop comes to La Force, to
deliver those imprisoned for debt; a third breaks into the Garde
Meuble, carrying away valuable arms and armour. Mobs assemble
before the hotel of Madame de Breteuil and the Palais-Bourbon, which
they intend to ransack, in order to punish their proprietors. M. de
Crosne, one of the most liberal and most respected men of Paris,
but, unfortunately for himself a lieutenant of the police, is
pursued, escaping with difficulty, and his hotel is sacked. --
During the night between the 13th and 14th of May, the baker's shops
and the wine shops are pillaged; "men of the vilest class, armed
with guns, pikes, and turnspits, make people open their doors and
give them something to eat and drink, as well as money and arms."
Vagrants, ragged men, several of them "almost naked," and "most of
them armed like savages, and of hideous appearance;" they are " such
as one does not remember to have seen in broad daylight;" many of
them are strangers, come from nobody knows where.[39] It is stated
that there were 50,000 of them, and that they had taken possession
of the principal guard-houses.

During these two days and nights, says Bailly, "Paris ran the risk
of being pillaged, and was only saved from the marauders by the
National Guard." Already, in the open street,[40] "these creatures
tore off women's shoes and earrings," and the robbers were beginning
to have full sway. -- Fortunately the militia organized itself and
the principal inhabitants and gentlemen enrolled themselves; 48,000
men are formed into battalions and companies; the bourgeoisie buy