.
Enter
LEGENDRE,
a Pistol in one hand, Keys in the other.
LEGENDRE,
flinging down the Keys
.
So let the mutinous Jacobins meet now
In the open air.
Loud Applauses.
A factious, turbulent party,
Lording it o'er the state since Danton died,
And with him the Cordeliers. A hireling band
Of loud-tongued orators controll'd the club,
And bade them bow the knee to Robespierre.
Vivier has 'scap'd me. Curse his coward heart
This fate-fraught tube of Justice in my hand,
I rush'd into the hall. He mark'd mine eye,
That beam'd its patriot anger, and flash'd full
With death-denouncing meaning. 'Mid the throng
He mingled. I pursued but staid my hand,
Lest haply I might shed the innocent blood.