Enter Billaud Varennes and Bourdon l'Oise.

[Adelaide retires.

Bourdon l'Oise. Tallien! was this a time for amorous conference? 255
Henriot, the tyrant's most devoted creature,
[[503]]Marshals the force of Paris: The fierce Club,
With Vivier at their head, in loud acclaim
Have sworn to make the guillotine in blood
Float on the scaffold.—But who comes here? 260

Enter Barrere abruptly.

Barrere. Say, are ye friends to freedom? I am her's!
Let us, forgetful of all common feuds,
Rally around her shrine! E'en now the tyrant
Concerts a plan of instant massacre!

Billaud Varennes. Away to the Convention! with that voice 265
So oft the herald of glad victory,
Rouse their fallen spirits, thunder in their ears
The names of tyrant, plunderer, assassin!
The violent workings of my soul within
Anticipate the monster's blood! 270

[Cry from the street of—No Tyrant! Down with the Tyrant!

Tallien. Hear ye that outcry?—If the trembling members
Even for a moment hold his fate suspended,
I swear by the holy poniard, that stabbed Caesar,
This dagger probes his heart! [Exeunt omnes.

FOOTNOTES: