divided the other parties of the state, they kept firm hold of all the subordinate machinery despised by the others in the abstraction of metaphysical speculation, but which gave them the exclusive command of the physical force of the mob of Paris--Paris, the metropolis of France, and the prison-house of her monarch. FOOTNOTES: [95] Mignet, tom. i., p. 89; Lacretelle, tom. vii., p. 185. [96] Prudhomme, tom. i., p. 236; Thiers, tom. i., p. 135. [97] In the beginning of the Revolution, when the mob executed their pleasure on the individuals against whom their suspicions were directed, the lamp-irons served for gibbets, and the lines by which the lamps, or lanterns, were disposed across the street, were ready halters. Hence the cry of "Les Aristocrates à la lanterne." The answer of the Abbé Maury is well known. "Eh! mes amis, et quand vous m'auriez mis à la lanterne, est ce que vous verriez plus clair?"--_Biog. Univ._--S. [98] Mounier must be supposed to speak ironically, and in allusion, not to his own opinions, but to Mirabeau's revolutionary tenets. Another account of this singular conversation states his answer to have been, "All the better. If the mob kill all of us--remark, I say _all_ of us, it will be the better for the country."--S.--THIERS, tom. i., p. 138. [99] Prudhomme, tom. i., p. 257. [100] "In the gallery a crowd of fish women were assembled under the guidance of one virago with stentorian lungs, who called to the deputies familiarly by name, and insisted that their favourite Mirabeau should speak."--DUMONT, p. 181. [101] Mignet, tom. i., p. 92. [102] This was proposed by that Marquis de Favras, whose death upon the gallows, [Feb. 19, 1790,] for a Royalist plot, gave afterwards such exquisite delight to the citizens of Paris. Being the first man of quality whom they had seen hanged, (that punishment having been hitherto reserved for plebeians,) they encored the performance, and would fain have hung him up a second time. The same unfortunate gentleman had previously proposed to secure the bridge at Sevres with a body of cavalry, which would have prevented the women from advancing to Versailles. The Queen signed an order for the horses with this remarkable clause:--"To be used if the King's safety is endangered, but in no danger which affects me only."--S.--"The secret of this intrigue never was known; but I have no doubt Favras was one of those men who, when employed as instruments, are led by vanity much further than their principals intend."--DUMONT, p. 174. [103] Lacretelle, tom. vii., p. 217. [104] Rivarol, p. 300; Mignet, tom. i., p. 93.