mistake in believing that his head was now more than ever in jeopardy since that of Danton had fallen. It may be said that at that moment the power of Robespierre renounced its main support—that of the trust reposed in him by the patriots. He sought to conceal himself amid the masses surrounding the guillotine, but, as if already pursued by a celestial vengeance, he was seen to wend his way homewards with tottering steps, as if he had lost his balance."
Here is a small but eloquent proof of the terrible ascendency Robespierre exercised over the Convention:
"Such was the terror produced by Robespierre that a member of the National Convention who thought the gaze of the Dictator was fixed upon him, just as he was putting his hand to his forehead in musing fashion, quickly withdrew it, saying: 'He will suppose that I am thinking of something.'"
VII.
FOUQUIER-TINVILLE.
Finally, from this portion of the Memoirs I must quote the passages in which Barras, with a terrible and grim humour—which gives us some idea of the iron nature of the man, and of its haughty scorn of human nature—describes the obsequiousness of Fouquier-Tinville, and the other wretches who
