"A first salvo of artillery announced the arrival of the procession. It
presented as imposing a tableau as could be contemplated. This old
French nation--the heir of its sixty kings at the head--marched,
preceded by the gifts made by Charlemagne to the Church of Paris, and
the religious trophies that Saint Louis brought from the holy places.
The priests ascend to the altar. Three times in succession they raise
to heaven the cry for pardon and pity. All the spectators fall upon
their knees. A profound, absolute silence reigns about the altar and
over all the Place; a common sorrow overwhelms the people; the King's
eyes are filled with tears."
In this multitude the absence of the Dauphiness, the daughter of Louis
XVI., is remarked. The Orphan of the Temple had made it a law for
herself never to cross the place where her father had perished. She
went to the expiatory chapel of the Rue d'Anjou-Saint-Honore, to pass
in prayer the time of the ceremony.