The Moniteur of the 6th of February, 1793, published in its
literary miscellany, a so-called patriotic ode, by the poet
Lebrun, containing the following strophe:--
"Purgeons le sol des patriotes,
Par des rois encore infectes.
La terre de la liberte
Rejette les os des despotes.
De ces monstres divinises
Que tous lea cercueils soient brises!
Que leur memoirs soit fletrie!
Et qu'avec leurs manes errants
Sortent du sein de la patrie
Les cadavres de ses tyrants!"
[Footnote: Let us purge the patriot soil--By kings still
infected.--The land of liberty--Rejects the bones of despots.--Of
these monsters deified--Let all the coffins be destroyed!--Let
their memory perish!--And with their wandering manes--Let issue
from the bosom of the fatherland--The bodies of its tyrants!]
These verses were the prelude to the discussion, some months
later, in the National Convention, of the proposition to destroy
the monuments of the Kings at Saint-Denis, to burn their remains,
and to send to the bullet foundry the bronze and lead off their
tombs and coffins. In the session of July 31, 1793, Barrere, the
"Anacreon of the guillotine," read to the convention in the name
of the Committee of Public Safety, a report, which said:--
"To celebrate the day of August 10, which overthrew the throne,
the pompous mausoleums must be destroyed upon its anniversary.
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