, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Champfort, and Rivarol,
involuntarily sought listeners and found them, not merely admirers
and entertainers, but friends, protectors, patrons, benefactors and
followers.--Under the instruction of the masters, the disciples had
become philanthropists; moreover, the amenities of manners developed
in all souls compassion and benevolence: "Nothing was more dreaded by
opulent men than to be regarded as insensitive."[4151] They concerned
themselves with children, with the poor, with the peasantry, setting
their wits to work to afford them relief; their zeal was aroused against
oppression, their pity was excited for every misfortune. Even those
whose duties compelled them to be rigid tempered their rigidity with
explanations or concessions.

"Ten years before the Revolution," says Roederer,[4152] "the criminal
courts of France were no longer like before.... Their attitude had
changed.. . All the young magistrates, and this I can bear witness to,
for I was one myself, pronounced judgments more in accordance with the
principles of Beccaria,[4153] than according to law."--

As to the men in authority, military administrators and commandants, it
was impossible to be more patient, more mindful of human blood.
Their qualities turned also here into defects, for, through excess of
humanity, they were unable to maintain order, as is evident when facing
the insurrections that took place between 1789 and 1792. Even with the
force in their own hands, amidst gross insults and extreme dangers, they
dreaded to make use of it; they could not bring themselves to repressing
brutes, rascals and maniacs: following the example of Louis XVI., they
considered themselves as shepherds of the people, and let themselves be
trampled upon rather than fire upon their flock.--In reality, they had
noble, and even generous and big hearts: in the bailiwick assemblies,
in March, 1789, long before the night of August 4, they voluntarily
surrendered every pecuniary privilege; under severe trials, their
courage, heightened by polished manners, adds even to their heroism,
elegance, tact and gaiety. The most corrupt, a Duke of Orleans, the most
frivolous and the most blase, a Duc de Biron, meet death with stoical
coolness and disdain.[4154] Delicate women who complain of a draught in
their drawing-rooms, make no complaint of a straw mattress in a damp,
gloomy dungeon, where they sleep in their clothes so that they may not
wake up stiffe