[139] - Among so many itinerant tyrants, the most audaciously
sensual is, I believe, Tallien, the Septembriseur at Paris and
guillotineur at Bordeaux, but still more rake and robber, caring
mostly for his palate and stomach. Son of the cook of a grand
seignior, he is doubtless swayed by family traditions: for his
government is simply a larder where, like the head-butler in "Gil
Blas," he can eat and turn the rest into money. At this moment, his
principal favorite is Teresa Cabarrus, a woman of society, or one of
the demi-monde, whom he took out of prison; he rides about the streets
with her in an open carriage, "with a courier behind and a courier in
front," sometimes wearing the red cap and holding a pike in her
hand,[140] thus exhibiting his goddess to the people. And this is the
sentiment which does him the most credit; for, when the crisis comes,
the imminent peril of his mistress arouses his courage against
Robespierre, and this pretty woman, who is good-natured, begs him, not
for murders, but for pardons.[141] - Others, as gallant as he is, but
with less taste, obtain recruits for their pleasures in a rude way,
either as fast-livers on the wing, or because fear subjects the honor
of women to their caprices, or because the public funds defray the
expenses of their guard-room habits.
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