second of September; handiwork hinders not the speculations of the mind.
Verdun gone (though some still deny it); the Prussians in full march,
with gallows-ropes, with fire and faggot! Thirty thousand Aristocrats
within our own walls; and but the merest quarter-tithe of them yet put
in Prison! Nay there goes a word that even these will revolt. Sieur Jean
Julien, wagoner of Vaugirard, (Moore, i. 178.) being set in the Pillory
last Friday, took all at once to crying, That he would be well revenged
ere long; that the King's Friends in Prison would burst out; force the
Temple, set the King on horseback; and, joined by the unimprisoned, ride
roughshod over us all. This the unfortunate wagoner of Vaugirard did
bawl, at the top of his lungs: when snatched off to the Townhall, he
persisted in it, still bawling; yesternight, when they guillotined him,
he died with the froth of it on his lips. (Hist. Parl. xvii. 409.) For
a man's mind, padlocked to the Pillory, may go mad; and all men's minds
may go mad; and 'believe him,' as the frenetic will do, 'because it is
impossible.'

So that apparently the knot of the crisis, and last agony of France
is come? Make front to this, thou Improvised Commune, strong Danton,
whatsoever man is strong! Readers can judge whether the Flag of Country
in Danger flapped soothing or distractively on the souls of men, that
day.

But the Improvised Commune, but strong Danton is not wanting, each
after his kind. Huge Placards are getting plastered to the walls; at
two o'clock the stormbell shall be sounded, the alarm-cannon fired;
all Paris shall rush to the Champ-de-Mars, and have itself enrolled.
Unarmed, truly, and undrilled; but desperate, in the strength of frenzy.
Haste, ye men; ye very women, offer to mount guard and shoulder the
brown musket: weak clucking-hens, in a state of desperation, will fly
at the muzzle of the mastiff, and even conquer him,--by vehemence of
character! Terror itself, when once grown transcendental, becomes a kind
of courage; as frost sufficiently intense, according to Poet Milton,
will burn.--Danton, the other night, in the Legislative Committee
of General Defence, when the other Ministers and Legislators had all
opined, said, It would not do to quit Paris, and fly to Saumur; that
they must abide by Paris; and take such attitude as would put their
enemies in fear,--faire peur; a word of his which has been often
repeated, and reprinted--in italics. (Biographie des Ministr