A shower which
came at the moment compelled us both to seek shelter within the walls of
the chapel, and we soon became social and entered into conversation. The
ruined state of the building was his first and favorite topic: he
lamented its destruction; he mourned over the state of the times which
could countenance such impiety; and gradually, while he turned over the
leaves of the prayer-book in his hand, he was led to read aloud the
hundred and thirty-sixth psalm, commenting upon every verse as he
proceeded, and weeping more and more bitterly, when he came to the part
commemorating the ruin of Jerusalem, which he applied, naturally enough,
to the captive state of France, smarting as she then was under the iron
rod of Prussia. Of the other allies, including even the Russians, he
owned that there was no complaint to be made: "they conduct themselves,"
said he, "agreeably to the maxim of warfare, which says 'battez-vous
contre ceux qui vous opposent; mais ayez pitie des vaincus.' Not so the
Prussians: with them it is 'frappez-ca, frappez-la, et quand ils entrent
dans quelque endroit, ils disent, il nous faut ca, il nous faut la, et
ils le prennent d'autorite.
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