This book tells the story of the French revolution from the point of view of the crown prince of France, the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. After the execution of his parents, the seven-year-old boy was taken from his family and kept prisoner for three years, during which time he was tortured, beaten and abused. His story, told with enough discretion to make it suitable for young people, provides a dramatic and pathetic insight into the cruelties and viciousness of the French revolution. Show All     Download:     PDF       EPUB

HAPPY DAYS IN THE GARDEN.

Translator's Preface

The story of Louis Charles, second son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, is one of the most pathetic in the history of royalty, and has an added interest because of the attempts of many romancers and some historical writers to raise doubts as to his fate. The brief space of the little Dauphin's life is measured by the awful period of the French Revolution and Reign of Terror. Franz Hoffmann, the writer of the original (which was published under the title of "Ein Konigssohn," or, "A King's Son "), follows the ordinarily accepted version that the Dauphin was separated from the King and Queen and confined in the Temple, and that after their execution he was deliberately and cruelly allowed to waste away in body and become the victim of hopeless disease, remaining thus until death ended his sufferings and the inhuman barbarity of his keepers.

In the course of his narrative the author touches upon the most striking events of the Revolution, that "dreadful remedy for a dreadful disease," as it has been called, and brings out in strong relief the character of the well-meaning but weak King and imperious Queen, as well as that of the brutal cobbler Simon, the Dauphin's keeper; but the principal interest centres in the pathetic figure of the little prince. The historic doubts raised as to the Dauphin's fate also lend interest to the tale. One of these has to do with the identity of Naundorff, who passed himself off as the Duke of Normandy, the Dauphin's title, and the other with the Rev. Eleazar Williams of Green Bay, Wisconsin, missionary among the Indians. The claims put forth by friends of Williams attracted widespread attention and provoked much discussion in this country and France, half a century ago, because of the extraordinary coincidences attaching to the alleged identity. It is the generally accepted verdict of history, however, that the Dauphin was the victim of the Revolution and died in the Temple in 1795, and as such he appears in these pages. The details of his fate can never be stated with accuracy, so involved and uncertain is the tragic mystery, but Hoffmann's narrative is undoubtedly correct in its general outlines. There are almost as many different versions as there are histories of that thrilling period.

G. P. U.

CHICAGO, July 1, 1905.

Appendix

The following is a chronological statement of the most important events mentioned in this volume, as well as of those directly connected with the French Revolution:

Aug 23,	1754	Birth of Louis XVI.
	1770	Marriage of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
	1774	Louis XVI ascends the throne.
March 27,	1785	Birth of Louis XVII.
	1789	Louis XVII becomes Dauphin.
May 5,	1789	Meeting of States General. Revolutionary agitations.
June 17,	1789	Third Estate takes the name of Constituent Assembly.
July 14,	1789	Storming of the Bastile.
July 14,	1790	The "Feast of the Pikes", and the oath of Federation.
June 20,	1791	Flight of the Royal Family to Varennes.
June 25,	1791	Brought back to Paris as captives.
Sept,	1791	Constitution adopted.
April,	1792	War with Prussia and Austria.
Sept 21,	1792	Proclamation of the Republic.
Jan 21,	1793	Execution of Louis XVI.
March,	1793	Establishment of Revolutionary Tribunal.
April,	1793	Establishment of Committee of Public Safety.
July 3,	1793	Imprisonment of the Dauphin in the Temple.
July 13,	1793	Assassination of Marat.
Oct 16,	1793	Execution of Marie Antoinette.
	1793—94	Reign of Terror.
April 6,	1794	Execution of Danton.
July 27,	1794	Execution of Robespierre.
June 8,	1795	Death of the Dauphin in the Temple.
Oct 5,	1795	Victory of Buonaparte over the Sections.
	1796	Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars.
Nov,	1799	Beginning of the Consulate.
	1802	Napoleon made Life Consul.
March 18,	1804	Establishment of the Empire.