upon his character, because he understood French without speaking it, and because that being nearly my cafe in regard to English, I was lefs able to converse with him than to listen to his converfation with those - whofe political skill was greater than my own.

The boldness of his conceptions, the originality of his ftyle, and the ftriking truths which he throws with defiance into the midst of those whom they offend, have neceffarily attracted great attention; but I think him better fitted to fow the feeds of popular commotion, than to lay the foundation or prepare the form of a government. Paine throws light upon a revolution better than he concurs in the making of a conftitution. He takes up, and establishes those great principles, of which the expofition ftrikes every eye, gains the applaufe of a club, or excites the enthusiasm of a tavern; but for cool difcuffion in a committee, or the regular labours of a legiflator, I conceive David Williams infinitely more proper than he. Williams, made a French citizen also, was not chofen a member of the Convention, in which he would have been of more ufe; but he was invited by the government to repair to Paris, where he paffed feveral months, and frequently conferred with the most active representatives of the nation. A deep thinker, and a real friend to mankind, he appeared to me to combine their means of happiness, as well as Paine feels and defcribes the abufes which conftitute their mifery. I faw him, from the very first time he was prefent at the fittings of the affembly, uneafy at the diforder of the debates, afflicted at the influence exercifed by the galleries, and in doubt whether it were poffible for fuch men, in fuch circumstances, ever to decree a rational conftitution. I think that the knowledge which he then acquired of what we were already, attached him more ftrongly to his country, to which he was impatient to return. How is it poffible, faid he, for men to debate a question. who are incapable of listening to each other? Your nation does not even take pains to preferve that external decency, which is of fo much confequence in public affemblies: a giddy manner, carele finefs, and a flovenly perfon, are no recommendations to a legiflator; nor is any thing indifferent which paffes in public, and of which the effect is repeated every day.-Good Heaven! what would he fay now, if he were to see our fenators dreft, fince the 31st of May, like watermen, in long trowfers, a jacket and a cap, with the bofom of their fhirts open, and fwearing and gefticulating like drunken fans-culottes ? He would think it perfectly natural for the people to treat them like their lackeys, and for the whole nation, debafed by its exceffes, to crouch beneath the rod of the first defpot who shall find means to reduce it to fubjection.-Williams is equally fit' to fill a place in the parliament, or the fenate, and will carry with him true dignity whereever he goes.'

On these two portraits we will make no remarks; the originals are well known to many of our readers, who can therefore decide on the refemblance.-Leaving the picture gallery, we find the author vindicating the eftablishment of an office for public fpirit, that owed its inftitution to her husband while he was in the miniftry, the object of which was to keep up the revolu

revolutionary spirit in the people by transmitting, gratis, to the various popular focieties and conftitutional clergymen, the public papers beft calculated for that purpose.-She next gives an account of her fecond arreft and confinement in the prison of St. Pelagie, in the course of which she takes an opportunity of beftowing the highest praise on Charlotte Corday, the murderer of Marat, ftyling her a heroine worthy of a better age.-Of Louvet, whom we are to fuppofe one of the famous founders of the republic, and who now makes fo great a figure at Paris, fhe speaks in terms of strong difapprobation.-Her intimate acquaintance with our English authors may be collected from the following paffage, relative to her employment during her imprisonment:

As I felt that it was neceflary to vary my occupations, I bought crayons and took up my drawing again, which I had laid afide for a long while. Fortitude does not confilt folely in rifing fuperior to circumftances by an effort of the mind, but in maintaining that elevation by fuitable conduct and care. Whenever unfortunate or irritating events take me by furprise, I am not content with calling up the maxims of philofophy to fupport my courage; but I provide agreeable amusements for my mind, and do not neglect the health-preferving art to keep myfelf in a juft equilibrium. I laid out my days then with a certain fort of regularity. In the morning I ftudied the English language in Shaftesbury's Effay on Virtue, and in the verfes of Thomfon. The found metaphyfics of the one, and the enchanting defcriptions of the other, tranfported me by turns to the intellectual regions, and to the midst of the most touching scenes of nature. Shaftesbury's reafon gave new ftrength to mine, and his thoughts invited meditation; while Thomson's fenfibility, and his delightful and fublime pictures, went to my heart, and charmed my imagination. I afterwards fat down to my drawing till dinner time.'

Of Collot d'Herbois, who became fo leading a man in the councils of France, the moft contemptuoufly and indignantly expreffes herself.

We are next prefented with fome rapid obfervations on the indictment drawn up by Amar against the members of the Convention' of Briffot's party; and afterward with the author's

6

laft thoughts, to which the prefixes as a motto the well known English line-" To be or not to be, that is the queftion;" and to which the fubjoins, It will foon be refolved in regard to me.' From these thoughts we learn that, despairing of meeting with a fair trial or impartial juftice from her judges, fhe refolved to make a Roman end, and perish by her own hands; preparing for this event, fhe made her will, and wrote fome very affecting letters to her daughter, to her faithful maid fervant Fleury, and to her friend Bofe, editor of the work, Part

of

of her letter to him we will extract, as it turns on the awful fubject of fuicide. It is as follows:

Your letter, my dear Bofc, was highly welcome: it discovers to me your whole heart, and the full extent of your attachment. We do not however differ fo much as you imagine; we did not underand each other perfectly. It was not my intention to depart at that moment, but to procure the means of doing fo when I should deem it fitting. I was defirous of rendering homage to the truth, as I have it in my power to do, and then to make my exit just before the laft ceremony. I thought it noble thus to deceive the tyrants. I had long ruminated on this fubject; and I fwear to you, that it was not infpired by weakness. I am perfectly well: my head is as cool, and my fpirit as unbroken, as ever. True it is, however, that the prefent trial embitters my forrows, and inflames my indignation. I thought that the fugitives alfo had been taken up. It is poffible that deep grief, and the exaltation of fentiments already terrible, matured in the fecret receffes of my heart a refolution, to which my mind did not fail to afcribe the most excellent motives.

Called upon to give evidence in this affair, I thought that it neceffarily changed my mode of proceeding. I was determined to avail myfelf of the opportunity to reach the goal with greater celerity: I intended to thunder, and then to make a finish. I thought that this very circumftance would authorize me to speak without referve, and that I ought to have it in my pocket when going into court. I did not however wait for it to fupport my character. During the hours of expectation that I paffed in the clerk's office, in the midst of ten perfons, officers, judges of the other fections, &c. and in the hearing of Hebert and Chabot, who came into the next room, I spoke with equal energy and freedom. My turn to be heard did not come; they were to fetch me the second day after: the third however is almoit over, and nobody has yet appeared. I fear that these knaves perceive that I may poffibly furnish an interefting epifode, and think that, after having fummoned me, it is better to reject my evidence.

I wait with impatience, and am now afraid that I fhall not have an opportunity of acknowledging my friends in their presence. You are of opinion, my dear Bofc, that in either cafe I ought to wait for, and not haften the catastrophe; it is on this alone that we are not perfectly agreed. It feems to me, that there would be weakness in receiving the coup-de-grace from the hands of others inflead of taking it from one's own; and in expofing one's felf to the infolent clamours of a brutal populace, as unworthy of fuch an example as incapable of turning it to any account. No doubt it would have been right to do fo three months ago; but now it will be loft upon the prefent generation; and as to pofterity, the other refolution, well managed, will have quite as good an effect.

You fee that you did not understand me.-Examine then the matter in the fame point of view in which it strikes me: it is not at all the fame as that in which you fee it. When you fhall thus have maturely confidered it, I will abide by your determination.'

She

She next gives us notes on her trial, and the examination by which it began;' to which are added a draft of a defence intended to be read to the tribunal,' together with a copy of the indictment, and the record of the conviction and judgment. We find subjoined, probably from the pen of M. Bofc, a fhort account of the proceedings and judgment:

Such (fays he,) was the fentence that fent to the fcaffold, at thirty-nine years of age, a woman, whofe energetic difpofition, feeling heart, and cultivated mind, rendered her the delight and admiration of all who knew her. Her death reflects equal glory upon her fex, and difgrace upon her executioners.

It does not belong to me to draw her character: her writings fpeak; her conduct bears witnefs in her favour; and history will fome day or other revenge the injuftice of her contemporaries.

This fentence was preceded, for form's fake, and according to the custom of that horrible tribunal, by a mock trial (débats), in which citizenefs Roland was not allowed to speak, and in which hired ruffians vomited forth the most palpable calumnies before other ruffians, the execrable tools of Robespierre, fo unworthily honoured with the title of judges and jurors. I have not been able to procure the proceedings, which, as every body knows, must not be taken down in writing but I know that only one perfon paid a tribute to truth, and that he was fome time after fent on that account to the fcaffold. I mean the worthy Lecocq, who for eight months only had lived with Roland as a fervant, and whofe excellent qualities rendered him worthy of a better fate.'

This laft anecdote fhews that all the philofophic friends of this philofophic woman were too prudent to run any risk in her favour; and that it was only from one perfon, who moved in the humble sphere of a fervant, that the experienced any mark of active friendship. Pity that fuch friendship fhould have led only to the guillotine!

*

Riouffe thus defcribes her behaviour in her laft moments:

The day when he was condemned, fhe was neatly dreffed in white; and her long black hair flowed loofely to her waist. She would have moved the most favage heart, but thofe monsters had no heart at all. Her drefs, however, was not meant to excite pity; but was chofen as a symbol of the purity of her mind. After her condemnation, the paffed through the wicket with a quick flep, befpeaking fomething like joy; and indicated, by an expreffive gefture, that fhe was condemned to die. She had, for the companion of her miffortune, a man whofe fortitude was not equal to her own, but whom The found means to infpire with gaiety, fo cheering and fo real, that it feveral times brought a fmile upon his face.

Author of Memoires d'un Détenu, &c. from which work the particulars here recited, of the laft moments of this heroine, are extracted. For our account of M. Riouffe's publication, fee Appendix to M. R. vol, xvii, N. S.

• At

At the place of execution, she bowed down before the ftatue of liberty, and pronounced thefe memorable words: O Liberty, how many crimes are committed in thy name!'

Inftead of furnishing us with any reafon for retracting the favourable judgment which, in our review of the first part, we paffed on the literary character of this high-fpirited female and republican philofopher, this fecond part contains abundant proofs that it was founded on ftrict juftice. In truth, she rifes in our estimation, on the most critical examination of her talents, of the qualities of her mind, of the energy of her language, and of the polish of her ftyle. Too much confidence in her powers, and too little attention to the fuggeftions of worldly prudence, operated her downfall. She thought that he could overcome dangers and her enemies by braving them: but the found on the fcaffold that he was fatally mistaken.

We now come to the Third Part of her Appeal; and we must fay that what reputation fhe gains by it as a writer, fhe lofes as a woman. We are not of that description of men who cannot bear to fee philofophy in petticoats: but we think that a female must always appear to moft advantage, when delicacy is the leading feature in her character. There are fubjects which, through refpect for public decency, men feel it unpleasant to mention in printed works, even when required to do it profeffionally. What then ought we to think of a woman who should dwell minutely, in a work intended for the public eye, on certain ideas, to which delicacy would not allow fo much as a hint in a mixed company? We are forry to be compelled to fay that this has been done by Madame ROLAND, who feems to have been fo devoted to philofophy, as not to deem herself under any obligation to remember to what fex fhe belonged. This cenfure does not proceed from fqueamishnefs; we defpife falfe delicacy: but there is a decorum which ought indifpenfably to be obferved by every one who addreffes the public, and the difregard of which is highly cenfurable in any author, but more particularly in a female. We with, therefore, for the credit of Madame R. that her editor had omitted the paffages on which these obfervations are founded. - We do not charge her with having mentioned the fubjects in queftion indelicately; on the contrary, The wraps them up with all possible attention to decorum : but we blame her for having touched on them at all;-they were in themfelves by no means neceffary to keep up the thread of her narrative.

After this preliminary remark, we are now to make our readers acquainted with the outlines of the third part of this Appeal. It contains a minute account of Madame R.'s life,

from