Zanoni — Edward Bulwer-Lytton
While the Dictator thus commented on his favorite author, whom in his orations he labored hard to imitate, the second visitor was wheeled into the room in a chair. This man was also in what, to most, is the prime of life, —namely, about thirty-eight; but he was literally dead in the lower limbs: crippled, paralytic, distorted, he was yet, as the time soon came to tell him, — a Hercules in Crime!
But the sweetest of human smiles dwelt upon his lips; a beauty almost angelic characterized his features; an inexpressible aspect of kindness, and the resignation of suffering but cheerful benignity, stole into the hearts of those who for the first time beheld him. With the most caressing, silver, flute-like voice, Citizen Couthon saluted the admirer of Jean Jacques.
“Nay, — do not say that it is not the ove that attracts thee; it és the love! but not the gross, sensual attachment of man for woman. No! the sublime affection for the whole human race, and indeed, for all that lives! ” And Citizen Couthon, bending down, fondled the little spaniel that he invariably carried in his bosom, even to the Convention, as a vent for the exuberant sensibilities which overflowed his affectionate heart.?
1 “ Figure d’ange,” says one of his contemporaries, in describing Couthon. The address, drawn up most probably by Payan (Thermidor 9), after the arrest of Robespierre, thus mentions his crippled colleague: “Couthon, ce citoyen vertueux, qui n’a que le ceur et la téte de vivans, mais qui les a brilants de patriotisme ” ¢ 2 This tenderness for some pet animal was by no means peculiar to Couthon; it seems rather a common fashion with the gentle butchers of the Revolution. M. George Duval informs us (“ Souvenirs de la Terreur,” vol. iii p. 183) that Chaumette had an aviary, to which be deyoted his harmless leisure ; the murderous Fournier
@ Couthon, that virtuous citizen, who has but the head and heart of the living, yet possesses these all on flame with patriotism.
p. 413
“ Yes, for all that lives,” repeated Robespierre, tenderly. “Good Couthon,— poor Couthon! Ah, the malice of men! — how we are misrepresented! To be calumniated as the executioners of our colleagues! Ah, it is that which pierces the heart!
To be an object of terror to the enemies of our country, — that is noble; but to be an object of terror to the good, the patriotic, to those one loves and reveres, — that is the most terrible of human tortures at least, to a susceptible and honest heart! ” + “ How I love to hear him! ” ejaculated Couthon. “Hem!” said Payan, with some impatience.
“ But now to business! ” “ Ah, to business!” said Robespierre, with a sinister glance from his bloodshot eyes. “The time has come,” said Payan, “ when the safety of the Republic demands a complete concentration of its power. These brawlers of the Comité du Salut Public can only destroy; they cannot construct. They hated you, Maximilien, from the moment you attempted to replace anarchy by institutions. How they mock at the festival which proclaimed the acknowledgment of a
While the Dictator thus commented on his favorite author, whom in his orations he labored hard to imitate, the second visitor was wheeled into the room in a chair. This man was also in what, to most, is the prime of life, —namely, about thirty-eight; but he was literally dead in the lower limbs: crippled, paralytic, distorted, he was yet, as the time soon came to tell him, — a Hercules in Crime! But the sweetest of human smiles dwelt upon his lips; a beauty almost angelic characterized his features; an inexpressible aspect of kindness, and the resignation of suffering but cheerful benignity, stole into the hearts of those who for the first time beheld him. With the most caressing, silver, flute-like voice, Citizen Couthon saluted the admirer of Jean Jacques. “Nay, — do not say that it is not the ove that attracts you; it és the love! but not the gross, sensual attachment of man for woman. No! the sublime affection for the whole human race, and indeed, for all that lives! ” And Citizen Couthon, bending down, fondled the little spaniel that he invariably carried in his bosom, even to the Convention, as a vent for the exuberant sensibilities which overflowed his affectionate heart.?
1 “ Figure d’ange,” says one of his contemporaries, in describing Couthon. The address, drawn up most probably by Payan (Thermidor 9), after the arrest of Robespierre, thus mentions his crippled colleague: “Couthon, ce citoyen vertueux, qui n’a que le ceur et la téte de vivans, mais qui les a brilants de patriotisme ” ¢ 2 This tenderness for some pet animal was by no means peculiar to Couthon; it seems rather a common fashion with the gentle butchers of the Revolution. M. George Duval informs us (“ Souvenirs de la Terreur,” vol. iii p. 183) that Chaumette had an aviary, to which be deyoted his harmless leisure ; the murderous Fournier
@ Couthon, that virtuous citizen, who has but the head and heart of the living, yet possesses these all on flame with patriotism.
p. 413
“ Yes, for all that lives,” repeated Robespierre, tenderly. “Good Couthon,— poor Couthon! Ah, the malice of men! — how we are misrepresented! To be calumniated as the executioners of our colleagues! Ah, it is that which pierces the heart!
To be an object of terror to the enemies of our country, — that is noble; but to be an object of terror to the good, the patriotic, to those one loves and reveres, — that is the most terrible of human tortures at least, to a susceptible and honest heart! ” + “ How I love to hear him! ” ejaculated Couthon. “Hem!” said Payan, with some impatience.
“ But now to business! ” “ Ah, to business!” said Robespierre, with a sinister glance from his bloodshot eyes. “The time has come,” said Payan, “ when the safety of the Republic demands a complete concentration of its power. These brawlers of the Comité du Salut Public can only destroy; they cannot construct. They hated you, Maximilien, from the moment you attempted to replace anarchy by institutions. How they mock at the festival which proclaimed the acknowledgment of a
No commentary for this page under the selected tracks.
There is commentary on page 1.