The Incorruptible was now passing the very spot where on the previous day the scaffold still stood. A woman in the crowd called attention to this in all simplicity. But her voice was quickly drowned by a hundred harps, whose dulcet music filled the air. All members of the Convention had reached the Place de la Révolution, when a new _cortège_ came in sight, the chariot of Agriculture, draped in blue, covered with garlands of roses, and drawn by a yoke of oxen with gilded horns. The goddess of Agriculture was impersonated by a beautiful girl from the Opera, who smiled on the crowd with her light blue eyes, looking the very incarnation of luxuriant youth, her blonde beauty framed in ripe golden corn and fruits of the rich harvest. Robespierre, now standing before the altar, was burning incense in a golden tripod, amidst the mute reverence of the crowd, who behaved as if assisting at some religious ceremony. Presently, descending the steps of the altar, he turned to address the multitude. All music had ceased, each voice was silenced, every whisper hushed; even the cries of pedlars and street-hawkers were unheard. A hundred thousand eyes were fixed on Robespierre, who, set up on high and wrapped in clouds of incense, appeared to tower in stature, to dominate that mass of human beings with all the force of a prevailing pride. A sudden inspiration seized him: he would repeat the more notable phrases of his former discourse, here, to that crowd whose mighty heart he felt beating with his own; he would have his revenge, and hear his burning words applauded by the nation itself! Ah! had the deputies been indifferent, cold, hesitating in their applause? Well, they should receive a lesson that would be at once a warning and a mandate! The delegates of the nation should be censured publicly by the very nation they represented! Robespierre had delivered the opening sentences of his speech. Carried away by the enthusiastic ovation of the crowd, now entirely master of himself and of his discourse, his words flowed freely and abundantly, and he declaimed without once referring to his notes, in a clear, penetrating voice. Every point was greeted with a thunder of applause as he spoke on, stimulated by a glow of satisfaction which touched the most secret fibres of his being. He felt himself to be for ever and in very deed master of France, acclaimed Dictator, solely by the people's will. Through the fumes of this mad delirium he saw the Convention vanquished, paralysed with fear and amazement. He was thanking the French nation, who had laid aside their work to lift their thoughts and aspirations towards the Great, the Supreme Being. "Never," exclaimed the Incorruptible, "never has this world which He created offered Him a sight more worthy of His regard. He has seen the reign of tyranny, crime, and imposture on the earth----"