Whilst the dregs of the nation elevate the flatterers and corrupters of the people to station--whilst cut-throats swear, drink, and clothe themselves in rags, in order to fraternise with the populace, Buzot possesses the morality of Socrates, and maintains the decorum of Scipio: so they pull down his house and banish him, as they did Aristides.

I am astonished they have not issued a decree that his name should be forgotten." The man of whom she speaks in such terms from the depths of her dungeon, on the evening before her death, exiled, wandering, concealed in the caves of St.Emilion, fell as though struck by lightning, and remained several days in a state of phrenzy, on learning the death of Madame Roland.
Danton, whose name began to rise above the crowd, when his fame was but slight until now, sought at this period Madame Roland's acquaintance.
All inquired what was the secret of the growing ascendency of this man?
Where he came from?
Who he was?
Whither he was advancing?
They sought his origin; his first appearance on the stage of the people; his first connection with the celebrated personages of his time.

They sought in mysteries the cause of his prodigious popularity.

It was pre-eminently in his nature.
X.
Danton was not merely one of those adventurers of demagogism who rise, like _Masaniello_, or like Hebert,[23] from the boiling scum of the masses.

He was one of the middle classes, the heart of the nation.