[136] At Lyons, " The imposing display of
Collot d'Herbois resembles that of the Grand Turk. It requires three
successive applications to obtain an audience; nobody approaches
nearer than a distance of fifteen feet; two sentinels with muskets
stand on each side of him, with their eyes fixed on the
petitioners."[137] - Less menacing, but not less imposing, is the pomp
which surrounds the representatives at Bordeaux; to approach them,
requires "a pass from the captain of the guards,"[138] through several
squads of sentinels. One of them, Ysabeau, who, after having
guillotined to a considerable extent, has become almost tractable,
allows adulation, and, like a Duc de Richelieu coming down from
Versailles, tries to play the popular potentate, with all the luxuries
which the situation affords. At the theaters, in his presence, they
give a ballet in which shepherds form with garlands of flowers the
words "Ysabeau, Liberty, Equality." He allows his portrait to pass
from hand to hand, and condescendingly smiles on the artist who
inscribes these words at the bottom of an engraving of the day: "An
event which took place under Ysabeau, representative of the people.
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