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to Bourg-la-Reine . Such was his state of exhaustionthat he fainted at Chatillon, and it was found necessaryto mount him on a vine-dresser’s horse. On his arrivalat Bourg , he was thrown into a dungeon, and forgottenby the jailor for the space of twenty-four hours, whenhe was found dead; some suppose from the effects ofpoison ; but the probabilities are that he died of ex-haustion, hunger, and cold.

The accusation against Condorcet , found in madameRoland's memoirs, where she speaks of his cowardice,cannot be passed over, though we do not give it absolutecredence. Her asperity is not measured, though shespeaks highly of his intellect. “It may be said,” she re-marks, “of his understanding and his person that itis a fine essence absorbed in cotton. The timidity thatforms the basis of his character, and which he displayseven in society, in his countenance and attitudes, doesnot result from his frame alone, but seems inherent inhis soul, and his talents have furnished him with nomeans of subduing it.” There must be both misap-prehension and exaggeration in this picture. We findno pusillanimity in his last acts or writings. Whenhe might have saved himself among the Mountainparty, he chose to share the fate of the proscribedGirondists . This conduct could spring only from con-scientious and noble motives, and a courageous spirit.His numerous political labours give no sign of luke-warmness or tergiversation. They are clear, fervent,and hold with regard to those principles which he helddear. If not profound, nor endowed with the highestorder of genius, yet his erudition, ready talent for argu-ment, and admirable memory, give him a high placeamong men of talent. As a politician, his unflinchingwar against royalty and aristocracy place him amongthose politicians who look on mankind as a species, andlegislate for them as an equal whole, instead of dividingthem into ranks and tribes. His benevolence made himthe enemy of oppression, and he expressed this whenvol. 11. o