pinions, honesty of feelings for
renovation, and even whose somewhat fanciful imagination, which were
subsequently destined to associate him in acts, and even on the
scaffold, with the Girondists, was born at Domes, in the ancient
province of Nivernais. He embraced the Catholic faith, entered into the
free community of the priests of Saint Roch, at Paris, and was for some
time preceptor to the children of the marquis de Choiseul, brother of
the famous duke de Choiseul, the last minister of the school of
Richelieu and Mazarin. A remarkable talent for speaking gave him a
distinguished reputation in the pulpit. He was appointed preacher to the
king, abbe of Montfort, and grand-vicaire of Bourges. He advanced
rapidly towards the first dignities of the church; but his mind had
imbibed the spirit of the times. He was not a destructive, but a
reformer of the church, in whose bosom he was born. His work, entitled
_De l'Eglise Nationale_, proves in him as much respect for the
principles of the Christian faith as boldness of desire to change its
discipline. This philosophic faith, which so closely resembles the
Christian Platonism which was paramount in Italy under the Medici, and
even in the palace of the popes themselves under Leo X., breathed
throughout his sacred discourses. The clergy was alarmed at these lights
of the age shining in the very sanctuary. The Abbe Fauchet was
interdicted, and, struck off the list of the king's preachers.

But the Revolution already opened other tribunes to him. It burst forth,
and he rushed headlong into it, as imagination rushes towards hope. He
fought for it from the day of its birth, and with every kind of weapon.
He shook the people in the primary assemblies, and in the sections; he
urged with voice and gesture the insurgent masses under the cannon of
the Bastille. He was seen, sword in hand, to lead on the assailants.
Thrice did he advance, under fire of the cannon, at the head of the
deputation which summoned the governor to spare the lives of the
citizens, and to surrender.[15] He did not soil his revolutionary zeal
with any blood or crime. He inflamed the mind of the people for liberty;
but with him liberty was virtue; nature had endowed him with this
twofold character. There were in his features the high-priest and the
hero. His exterior pleased and attracted the populace. He was tall and
slender, with a wide chest, oval countenance, black eyes, and his dark
brown hair set off the pal