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Taine, Hippolyte, 1828-1893

"The French Revolution - Volume 3"

A giant with the face of a " Tartar,"
pitted with the small-pox, tragically and terribly ugly, with a mask
convulsed like that of a growling "bull-dog,"[57] with small,
cavernous, restless eyes buried under the huge wrinkles of a
threatening brow, with a thundering voice and moving and acting like a
combatant, full-blooded, boiling over with passion and energy. His
strength in its outbursts appears boundless like a force of nature,
when speaking he is roaring like a bull and be heard through closed
windows fifty yards off in the street, employing immoderate imagery,
intensely in earnest, trembling with indignation, revenge and
patriotic sentiments, able to arouse savage instincts in the most
tranquil breast and generous instincts in the most brutal
personalities.[58] He may be profane, using emphatic terms,[59]
cynical, but not monotonous and affected like H?bert, but spontaneous
and to the point, full of crude jests worthy of Rabelais, possessing a
stock of jovial sensuality and good-humor, cordial and familiar in his
ways, frank, friendly in tone. He is, both outwardly and inwardly,
the best fitted for winning the confidence and sympathy of a Gallic,
Parisian populace.


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