[8] This opinion has entered into so many Protestant and non-Catholic
histories of the Revolution that it is worth criticising once again in
this little book. The King was perfectly free to receive communion
privately from the hands of orthodox priests, did so receive it, and had
received communion well within the canonical times. There was little
ecclesiastical reason for the attempted leaving of Paris for St. Cloud
on Monday the 18th April, 1791, save the _custom_ (not the religious
duty) of communicating in public on Easter Sunday itself; it was a
political move.