the cure of diseases of
the kidneys) and all his life a sot.... who, by means of a tolerably
shrill voice, which was always well moistened, has acquired some
reputation in the galleries of the Assembly." In fact, he has forged
admission tickets he has been turned out; he has been obliged to resume
"the box of ointment, and travel for one or two months in the provinces
with a man of letters for his companion." But on his return, "through
the protection of a groom of the Court, he obtained a piece of ground
for a coffee-house against the wall of the Tuileries garden, almost
alongside of the National Assembly," and now it is at home in his
coffee-shop behind his counter that the hirelings of the galleries "come
to him to know what they must say, and to be told the order of the day
in regard to applause." Besides this, he is there himself; "it is he
who for three years is to regulate public sentiment in the galleries
confided to his care, and, for his useful and satisfactory services,
the Constituent Assembly will award him a recompense," to which the
Legislative Assembly will add "a pension of six hundred livres, besides
a lodging in an apartment of the Feuillants."

We can divine how men of this stamp, thus compensated, do their work.
From the top of the galleries[2137] they drown the demands of the
"right" by the force of their lungs; this or that decree, as, for
instance, the abolition of titles of nobility, is carried, "not by
shouts, but by terrific howls."[2138] On the arrival of the news of the
sacking of the Hotel de Castries by the populace, they applaud. On the
question coming up as to the decision whether the Catholic faith shall
be dominant, "they shout out that the aristocrats must all be hung, and
then things will go on well." Their outrages not only remain unpunished,
but are encouraged: this or that noble who complains of their hooting
is called to order, while their interference and vociferations, their
insults and their menaces, are from this time introduced as one of the
regular wheels of legislative operations. Their pressure is still worse
outside the Chamber.[2139] The Assembly is obliged several times to
double its guard. On the 27th of September, 1790, there are 40,000
men around the building to extort the dismissal of the Ministers, and
"motions for assassination" are made under the windows, On the 4th of
January, 1791, whilst on a call of the house the ecclesiastical deputies
pass in turn to the