"
[113] Buchez et Roux, XX., 197. (Meeting of Nov. I, 1792.) -
"Chronique de Paris," Nov. 9, 1792, article by Condorcet. With the
keen insight of the man of the world, he saw clearly into
Robespierre's character. "Robespierre preaches, Robespierre censures;
he is animated, grave, melancholy, deliberately enthusiastic and
systematic in his ideas, and conduct. He thunders against the rich
and the great; he lives on nothing and has no physical necessities.
His sole mission is to talk, and this he does almost constantly. . .
His characteristics are not those of a religious reformer, but of the
chief of a sect. He has won a reputation for austerity approaching
sanctity. He jumps up on a bench and talks about God and Providence.
He styles himself the friend of the poor; he attracts around him a
crowd of women and 'the poor in spirit, and gravely accepts their
homage and worship. . . . Robespierre is a priest and never will
be anything else." Among Robespierre's devotees Madame de Chalabre
must be mentioned, (Hamel, I., 525), a young widow (Hamel, III., 524),
who offers him her hand with an income of forty thousand francs.
"Thou art my supreme deity," she writes to him, "and I know no other
on this earth! I regard thee as my guardian angel, and would live only
under thy laws.
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