considerable influence during the reign of King Louis-Philippe, whose
close personal friend he was.

M. de St. Albin's house in the Rue Vieille du Temple, where his family
lived when we first knew them, had originally formed part of the famous
Temple, which in medieval times was the abode of the Templars. It was an
interesting place, full of historic memories. Within these legendary
walls he had accumulated countless relics of those among his early
associates who were then so fast becoming heroes in the French annals.
Being an intimate friend and a connection of the Comte de Barras, the
chief executive under the Directory, it was to him that the latter, by
will dated February 2, 1827, intrusted not only his secret memoirs,* but
all his private and official papers. At the death of M. de St. Albin
(1847) this important collection passed to the possession of his
children.

*See "Memoires de Barras," vol. i, p. 20 (Paris, 1895-96). These memoirs
have only recently been published by M. Georges Duruy, who married M.
Jubinal's daughter, the granddaughter of Comte Rousselin de St. Albin.

I well remember, as a little girl, being shown some of the choicest
pieces in the series, among which were interesting original portraits.
One paper especially made an indelible impression upon my childish mind,
and I can now recall the feeling of awe with which I gazed upon the
appeal to arms in the name of the Commune, drawn up by Robespierre and
his colleagues on the night of the 9th Thermidor, a document which has
since been published by M. Duruy in the "Memoires de Barras."
Robespierre had just written the first syllable of his name below those
of his colleagues when the Convention was attacked. The blood-stains
which spattered the sheet, and told of the final tragedy of the leader's