It is his kindred, bone of his bone, this same
canaille that shall be whiffed; he has brothers in it, a father and
mother,--living on meal-husks and boiled grass. His very doxy, not yet
'dead i' the spital,' drives him into military heterodoxy; declares that
if he shed Patriot blood, he shall be accursed among men. The soldier,
who has seen his pay stolen by rapacious Foulons, his blood wasted by
Soubises, Pompadours, and the gates of promotion shut inexorably on him
if he were not born noble,--is himself not without griefs against you.
Your cause is not the soldier's cause; but, as would seem, your own
only, and no other god's nor man's.

For example, the world may have heard how, at Bethune lately, when there
rose some 'riot about grains,' of which sort there are so many, and the
soldiers stood drawn out, and the word 'Fire! was given,--not a trigger
stirred; only the butts of all muskets rattled angrily against the
ground; and the soldiers stood glooming, with a mixed expression
of countenance;--till clutched 'each under the arm of a patriot
householder,' they were all hurried off, in this manner, to be treated
and caressed, and have their pay increased by subscription! (Histoire
Parlementaire.)

Neither have the Gardes Francaises, the best regiment of the line, shown
any promptitude for street-firing lately. They returned grumbling from
Reveillon's; and have not burnt a single cartridge since; nay, as we
saw, not even when bid. A dangerous humour dwells in these Gardes.
Notable men too, in their way! Valadi the Pythagorean was, at one time,
an officer of theirs. Nay, in the ranks, under the three-cornered felt
and cockade, what hard heads may there not be, and reflections going
on,--unknown to the public! One head of the hardest we do now discern
there: on the shoulders of a certain Sergeant Hoche. Lazare Hoche, that
is the name of him; he used to be about the Versailles Royal Stables,
nephew of a poor herbwoman; a handy lad; exceedingly addicted to
reading. He is now Sergeant Hoche, and can rise no farther: he lays out
his pay in rushlights, and cheap editions of books. (Dictionnaire des
Hommes Marquans, Londres (Paris), 1800, ii. 198.)

On the whole, the best seems to be: Consign these Gardes Francaises
to their Barracks. So Besenval thinks, and orders. Consigned to their
barracks, the Gardes Francaises do but form a 'Secret Association,' an
Engagement not to act against the National Assembly. Debauched by
Val