In the
mean time, all tongues in Paris (and in France as it is said) have been
let loose, and never was a license of speaking against the government,
exercised in London more freely or more universally. Caricatures,
placards, _bons-mots_, have been indulged in by all ranks of people,
and I know of no well attested instance of a single punishment. For some
time, mobs of ten, twenty, and thirty thousand people collected daily,
surrounded the Parliament house, huzzaed the members, even entered
the doors and examined into their conduct, took the horses out of the
carriages of those who did well, and drew them home. The government
thought it prudent to prevent these, drew some regiments into the
neighborhood, multiplied the guards, had the streets constantly
patrolled by strong parties, suspended privileged places, forbade all
clubs, &c. The mobs have ceased: perhaps this may be partly owing to the
absence of Parliament. The Count d'Artois, sent to hold a bed of justice
in the _Cour des Aides_, was hissed and hooted without reserve, by the
populace; the carriage of Madame de (I forget the name), in the Queen's
livery, was stopped by the populace, under a belief that it was Madame
de Polignac, whom they would have insulted; the Queen, going to the
theatre at Versailles with Madame de Polignac, was received with a
general hiss.
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