210 LITER ART AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

not given me, nor any other person, the slightest causeof complaint, anil has always conducted himself ad-mirably. He has sustained with extreme moderationthe altercations I have sometimes entered into for thepurpose of trying his temper, and he will carry awaywith him the esteem, friendship, and consideration ofevery one here.” Madame de Mirabeau made a journeyto Bignon to intercede with his father, who at lengthexplained that his purpose was to try his son ; that hemeant to keep him yet longer in the chateau of If; andif, by a miracle, he committed no new fault, he should hetransferred to some other fortress where his perseverancein a good course should continue to be put to the test,till by degrees he should he restored to his privileges ofhusband and father. When we consider that Mirabeaureally filled these sacred functions, and that his solecrime towards his father was debt, — a crime the con-sequences of which visited him only, and visited himseverely, — we revolt from the insolent tyranny exer-j cised against him. In pursuance of this plan, he wasyEtat. transferred to the fortress of Joux, near Pontarlier , and26 . placed in the hands of the governor, count Saint-Mauris.He submitted to this new exile among the mountains ofJura, away from his wife and child, from every friendand connection, with entire resignation ; still hoping, bypatience and good conduct, to vanquish the prejudicesand gain the good will of his father.

Until now we appear to detail a series of cruel andcauseless persecutions. The conduct of Mirabeau, triedby the laws of morality, had been vicious, but notcriminal, and was punished as the latter. He had, to acertain degree, redeemed his extravagance, by living fora considerable period within the limits of an incomescarcely sufficient to afford the necessaries of life. Hehad obtained the favourable attestation of the manunder whose guard he was placed: it was evident toevery one, except his inexorable father, that the hus-band ought to be restored to the young wife, alreadysuspected of indiscretion — the father to his child ; a