Lebas. I will not share in this day's damning guilt. [Great cry-Down with the Tyrants! Condemn me too. (The two ROBESPIERRES, COUTHON, ST. JUST, and LEBAS are led off.)

ACT III

SCENE CONTINUES.

Collot d'Herbois. Caesar is fall'n! The baneful tree of Java,

Whose death-distilling boughs dropt poisonous dew,

Is rooted from its base. This worse than Cromwell,
The austere, the self-denying Robespierre,

Even in this hall, where once with terror mute
We listen'd to the hypocrite's harangues,

Has heard his doom.

Billaud Varennes.

Yet must we not suppose

The tyrant will fall tamely. His sworn hireling
Henriot, the daring desperate Henriot,

Commands the force of Paris. I denounce him.
Freron. I denounce Fleuriot too, the mayor of Paris.

Enter DUBOIS CRANCÉ.

Dubois Crancé. Robespierre is rescued.

10

5

Henriot at the head

Of the arm'd force has rescued the fierce tyrant.

Collot d'Herbois. Ring the tocsin-call all the citizens

To save their country-never yet has Paris
Forsook the representatives of France.

Tallien. It is the hour of danger. I propose

This sitting be made permanent.

15

[Loud applauses.

Collot d'Herbois. The National Convention shall remain Firm at its post.

Enter a Messenger.

20

Messenger. Robespierre has reach'd the Commune. They

espouse

The tyrant's cause.

St. Just is up in arms!

St. Just-the young ambitious bold St. Just
Harangues the mob. The sanguinary Couthon
Thirsts for your blood.

[Tocsin rings.

26

Tallien. These tyrants are in arms against the law:

Outlaw the rebels.

Enter MERLIN OF DOUAY.

Merlin. Health to the representatives of France!
I past this moment through the armed force-

They ask'd my name-and when they heard a delegate,
Swore I was not the friend of France.

30

Collot d'Herbois. The tyrants threaten us as when they turn'd

The cannon's mouth on Brissot.

Enter another Messenger.

Second Messenger. Vivier harangues the Jacobins-the Club Espouse the cause of Robespierre.

Enter another Messenger.

35

Third Messenger. All's lost-the tyrant triumphs. Henriot

leads

The soldiers to his aid.-Already I hear

The rattling cannon destined to surround
This sacred hall.

Tallien.
Why, we will die like men then,
The representatives of France dare death,
When duty steels their bosoms.

Tallien (addressing the galleries). Citizens!
France is insulted in her delegates-
The majesty of the Republic is insulted-
Tyrants are up in arms.
Threats the Convention.
To die, or save the country!

Citizen (from above).

40

[Loud applauses.

An armed force
The Convention swears

To die, or save the country.

45

[Violent applauses from the galleries. We too swear

Follow me.

[All the men quit the galleries.

Enter another Messenger.

Fourth Messenger. Henriot is taken!

[Loud applauses.

Three of your brave soldiers

Swore they would seize the rebel slave of tyrants,

Or perish in the attempt. As he patroll'd

The streets of Paris, stirring up the mob,
They seiz'd him.

Billaud Varennes. Let the names of these brave men

Live to the future day.

Enter BOURDON L'OISE, sword in hand.

Bourdon l'Oise. I have clear'd the Commune.
Through the throng I rush'd,
Brandishing my good sword to drench its blade
Deep in the tyrant's heart. The timid rebels
Gave way. I met the soldiery-I spake
Of the dictator's crimes of patriots chain'd
In dark deep dungeons by his lawless rage-
Of knaves secure beneath his fostering power.
I spake of Liberty. Their honest hearts

Caught the warm flame. The general shout burst forth,
'Live the Convention-Down with Robespierre!' [Applauses.
(Shouts from without--Down with the Tyrant!)

Tallien. I hear, I hear the soul-inspiring sounds,
France shall be saved! her generous sons attached
To principles, not persons, spurn the idol
They worshipp'd once. Yes, Robespierre shall fall
As Capet fell! Oh! never let us deem

That France shall crouch beneath a tyrant's throne,
That the almighty people who have broke

On their oppressors' heads the oppressive chain,
Will court again their fetters! easier were it
To hurl the cloud-capt mountain from its base,
Than force the bonds of slavery upon men
Determined to be free!

65

70

[Applauses.

Enter LEGEndre- -a pistol in one hand, keys in the other. Legendre (flinging down the keys). So-let the mutinous Jacobins meet now

In the open air.

76 [Loud applauses.

A factious turbulent party
Lording it o'er the state since Danton died,
And with him the Cordeliers.-A hireling band
Of loud-tongued orators controull'd the Club,
And bade them bow the knee to Robespierre.
Vivier has 'scaped me. Curse his coward heart-
This fate-fraught tube of Justice in my hand,
I rush'd into the hall. He mark'd mine eye
That beam'd its patriot anger, and flash'd full
With death-denouncing meaning. 'Mid the throng
He mingled. I pursued-but stay'd my hand,
Lest haply I might shed the innocent blood.

80

85

[Applauses.

Freron. They took from me my ticket of admission-
Expell'd me from their sittings.-Now, forsooth,
Humbled and trembling re-insert my name.
But Freron enters not the Club again
"Till it be purged of guilt:-'till, purified
Of tyrants and of traitors, honest men
May breathe the air in safety.

90

[Shouts from without.

Barrere. What means this uproar! if the tyrant band 96 Should gain the people once again to rise—

We are as dead!

Tallien.

And wherefore fear we death?

Did Brutus fear it? or the Grecian friends
Who buried in Hipparchus' breast the sword,
And died triumphant? Caesar should fear death,
Brutus must scorn the bugbear.

(Shouts from without-Live the Convention!-Down with the Tyrants!)

Tallien.

The sounds of honest Freedom!

Hark! again

Enter Deputies from the Sections.

Citizen. Citizens! representatives of France!

Hold on your steady course. The men of Paris
Espouse your cause. The men of Paris swear
They will defend the delegates of Freedom.

100

105

Tallien. Hear ye this, Colleagues? hear ye this, my brethren?

And does no thrill of joy pervade your breasts?

My bosom bounds to rapture. I have seen

The sons of France shake off the tyrant yoke ;

I have, as much as lies in mine own arm,

Hurl'd down the usurper.-Come death when it will,
I have lived long enough.

110

[Shouts without.

Barrere. Hark! how the noise increases! through the gloom

Of the still evening-harbinger of death,
Rings the tocsin! the dreadful generale

Thunders through Paris

115

[Cry without-Down with the Tyrant!

Enter LECOINTRE.

Lecointre. So may eternal justice blast the foes Of France! so perish all the tyrant brood,

120

[Loud and repeated applauses.

As Robespierre has perish'd! Citizens,
Caesar is taken.

I marvel not that with such fearless front
He braved our vengeance, and with angry eye
Scowled round the hall defiance. He relied
On Henriot's aid-the Commune's villain friendship,
And Henriot's boughten succours. Ye have heard
How Henriot rescued him-how with open arms
The Commune welcom'd in the rebel tyrant—
How Fleuriot aided, and seditious Vivier
Stirr'd up the Jacobins. All had been lost-
The representatives of France had perish'd-
Freedom had sunk beneath the tyrant arm
Of this foul parricide, but that her spirit
Inspir'd the men of Paris. Henriot call'd

125

130

135

'To arms' in vain, whilst Bourdon's patriot voice Breathed eloquence, and o'er the Jacobins Legendre frown'd dismay. The tyrants fled—

They reach'd the Hôtel. We gather'd round-we call'd
For vengeance! Long time, obstinate in despair,
With knives they hack'd around them.
The sentence of the law, the clamorous cry

140

Till foreboding

Of joyful thousands hailing their destruction,
Each sought by suicide to escape the dread
Of death. Lebas succeeded. From the window

145

Leapt the younger Robespierre, but his fractur'd limb
Forbade to escape. The self-will'd dictator

Plunged often the keen knife in his dark breast,

Yet impotent to die. He lives all mangled

By his own tremulous hand! All gash'd and gored
He lives to taste the bitterness of death.

150

Even now they meet their doom. The bloody Couthon,
The fierce St. Just, even now attend their tyrant
To fall beneath the axe. I saw the torches
Flash on their visages a dreadful light-

155

I saw them whilst the black blood roll'd adown
Each stern face, even then with dauntless eye
Scowl round contemptuous, dying as they lived,
Fearless of fate!

Barrere mounts the Tribune.
glorious day,

[Loud and repeated applauses.

For ever hallowed be this

When Freedom, bursting her oppressive chain,
Tramples on the oppressor. When the tyrant
Hurl'd from his blood-cemented throne, by the arm

160