ROMANCES OF REMARKABLE WOMEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 53

ROMANCES OF REMARKABLE WOMEN.

AN AVENGSNG ANGEL. 1 No more powerful example of woman's nobility has been afforded to the world than that of Marie Anne Charlotte Corday D'Armans. She was born at Saturnin -near Seez, in Normandy, the most romantic department of France. From her childhood she was endowed with those bold affections that claim the right of guardianship for truth and justice. Her favourite book was a biography of glorious men, a text-book of most that is noble in humanity — Plutarch's Lives. She was a diligent student of the history oi her country Her noble heart vebe-.Ued again.it tfce Eoyal infamies lLat oppressed

' it ; and, at the red dawn of the French ; Revolution, she thought she saw a gleam ; of hope for suffering Immanity. But the Revolution's relentless spirit of devastating vengeance appalled her sensitive nature, and the death of her Girondist lover braced her for an act of justice that has marked her name in history. Marat and Robespierre, the two archniurderers of the Reign of Terror, haunted her as the devastating vultures of the Revolution, and the dream possessed her that by the sacrifice of one or both, and the surrender of her own life, a cessation of horrors might be gained for suffering France. Thus animated by a dauntless spirit of self-devotion, and with her grim resolve deep In eked in her breast, she left her ! father's house for Paris. Arrived there, she ! heard that Marat had demanded that 250,000 heads should fall by the guillotine ! Charlotte Corday bought a large knife at the Palais Royal, and wrote a letter to Marat seeking an interview. She got no answer. The next day she wrote him a second letter, intimating that she was in possession of important secrets vital to the Revolution, and at 1 o'clock she went and presented it at his house. His mistress, who opened the door, saw by j intuition that there was danger in the j strange woman's eye, and advised her master to refuse an audience ; but the butcher bird was athirst for the blood of the Girondists, and he demanded that she should be admitted at once. She was ushered into his room and cold him a story of the specious guilt of certain enemies of his. " Every head of them shall fall," croaked tlie tyrant. The sentence was the signal for his own fate. t " Your time has already come," shrieked the heroine. Her knife flashed, and as it sped into his heart one feeble cry was all he uttered, and the evil genius of France had closed his murderous course. She made no attempt to fly. She told her judges that she had slain one man to save a hundred thousand ; a wretch to preserve the innocent ; a savage monster to give repose to her country. Clad in the red murderer's robe, but beautiful, serene, and dauntless, she met her fate on the evening of her trial. Marat's funeral was a floral triumph, his remains were placed in the Pantheon, and his monument was raised in every town in France. Posterity has reversed the sentence ; ifc has consigned Marat to eternal execration, and associated Charlotte Corday with Timoleon and Brutus.

Ethel R. Benja.mik, Barrister and Solicitor, Albert Buildings, Princes street, Dunedin (opposite C.P.0.), haa trust moneys to lend oa approved security.— Advt