_Lecointre._ So may eternal justice blast the foes Of France! so perish all the tyrant brood, 120 As Robespierre has perish'd! Citizens, Caesar is taken. [_Loud and repeated applauses._ I marvel not that with such fearless front He braved our vengeance, and with angry eye Scowled round the hall defiance. He relied 125 On Henriot's aid--the Commune's villain friendship, And Henriot's _boughten_ succours. Ye have heard How Henriot rescued him--how with open arms The Commune welcom'd in the rebel tyrant-- How Fleuriot aided, and seditious Vivier 130 Stirr'd up the Jacobins. All had been lost-- The representatives of France had perish'd-- Freedom had sunk beneath the tyrant arm Of this foul parricide, but that her spirit Inspir'd the men of Paris. Henriot call'd 135 'To arms' in vain, whilst Bourdon's patriot voice Breathed eloquence, and o'er the Jacobins Legendre frown'd dismay. The tyrants fled-- They reach'd the Hôtel. We gather'd round--we call'd For vengeance! Long time, obstinate in despair, 140 With knives they hack'd around them. 'Till foreboding The sentence of the law, the clamorous cry Of joyful thousands hailing their destruction, Each sought by suicide to escape the dread Of death. Lebas succeeded. From the window 145 Leapt the younger Robespierre, but his fractur'd limb Forbade to escape. The self-will'd dictator Plunged often the keen knife in his dark breast, Yet impotent to die. He lives all mangled By his own tremulous hand! All gash'd and gored 150 He lives to taste the bitterness of death. Even now they meet their doom. The bloody Couthon, The fierce St. Just, even now attend their tyrant To fall beneath the axe. I saw the torches Flash on their visages a dreadful light-- 155 I saw them whilst the black blood roll'd adown Each stern face, even then with dauntless eye Scowl round contemptuous, dying as they lived, Fearless of fate! [_Loud and repeated applauses._