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THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO
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For mercy's sake, then, what would you call M. de Robespierre? It seems to me that you rob him of his place and give it to the Corsican." "Nay, madame; I would place each on his right pedestal — that of Robespierre on his scaffold in the Place Louis; that of Napoleon on
the column of the Place Vendôme; only the one made the equality that elevates, the other the equality that depresses; the one brings a king to the level of the guillotine, the other the people to a level with the throne. Observe," said Villefort, smiling, "I do not mean to deny that both were revolutionary scoundrels, and that the 9th Thermidor and