be said not to know what it is
to lie. Among the numerous classes which make up the great genus
Mendacium, the Mendacium Vasconicum, or Gascon lie, has, during some
centuries, been highly esteemed as peculiarly circumstantial and
peculiarly impudent; and, among the Mendacia Vasconica, the Mendacium
Barerianum is, without doubt, the finest species. It is indeed a superb
variety, and quite throws into the shade some Mendacia which we were
used to regard with admiration. The Mendacium Wraxallianum, for example,
though by no means to be despised, will not sustain the comparison for a
moment. Seriously, we think that M. Hippolyte Carnot is much to blame
in this matter. We can hardly suppose him to be worse read than
ourselves in the history of the Convention, a history which must
interest him deeply, not only as a Frenchman, but also as a son. He
must, therefore, be perfectly aware that many of the most important
statements which these volumes contain are falsehoods, such as
Corneille's Dorante, or Moliere's Seapin, or Colin d'Harleville's
Monsieur de Crac would have been ashamed to utter. We are far, indeed,
from holding M. Hippolyte Carnot answerable for Barere's want of
veracity; but M. Hippolyte Carnot has arranged these Memoirs, has
introduced them to the world by a laudatory preface, has described them
as documents of great historical value, and has illustrated them by
notes. We cannot but think that, by acting thus, he contracted some
obligations of which he does not seem to have been at all aware; and
that he ought not to have suffered any monstrous fiction to go forth
under the sanction of his name, without adding a line at the foot of the
page for the purpose of cautioning the reader.

We will content ourselves at present with pointing out two instances of
Barere's wilful and deliberate mendacity; namely, his account of the
death of Marie Antoinette and his account of the death of the
Girondists. His account of the death of Marie Antoinette is as follows:
"Robespierre in his turn proposed that the members of the Capet family
should be banished, and that Marie Antoinette should be brought to trial
before the Revolutionary Tribunal. He would have been better employed in
concerting military measures which might have repaired our disasters in
Belgium, and might have arrested the progress of the enemies of the
Revolution in the west." (Vol. ii. p. 312.)

Now, it is notorious that Marie Antoinette was sent before the