MIBABEAU.

231

certain portions of the royal decree which threw powerinto the hands of the people. When Mirabeau ar-rived among then as the partisan of the dawningliberty of his country, he was received as an enemy.He raised his voice against the protest, and naturallytook his place at the head of the liberal party. Thenobles commenced their attack against him by ex-cluding him from among them, on the pretext that hedid not (as an dder son merely) possess any fief.Mirabeau protested against this exclusion, as well in hisown name as in those of every other in a similar situa-tion with himself; but in vain. On the 8th of thefollowing February, in an assembly of the nobles, onthe proposition of the marquis de Fare, his exclusionwas pronounced, as not possessing either estate or fief inProvence . Mirabeau spared neither pamphlets norspeeches on the occasion ; though, occupied by the callsmade on him by his party during the day, he couldonly give the hours of night to composing and publish-ing. “ I do not write a line,” he says, in one of hisletters, of the date of the 8th February, “ that I amnot interrupted thirty times, and to such a degree, thatI can only labour at public affairs by night. You knowwhat cardinal de Eetz said: — ‘ The chief hinderance ofthe head of a party is his party.’ A thousand minorannoyances, a thousand important arrangements, a thou-sand inevitable interruptions, deprive me, during theday, of all presence of mind to compose, and of allcoherence of ideas and style.”

Besides these labours, he had the more difficult taskof keeping clear of brawls and duels among a class ofmen whose dearest wish was to provoke him to thecommittal of an outrage. Proud and arrogant them-selves, they hoped to taunt one yet prouder into somedeed of violence that would give them the advantageover him. But haughty as Mirabeau was, he was yetwiser; the peculiarity of his genius was a quick percep-tion of the proper line of conduct, and he preserved hisdignity, while he showed himself forbearing.

q 4