Either from ambition or baseness, he has up to this time betrayed the duties of a good citizen.

Why has he been so tardy in leaving a system of hypocrisy?
Poor Brissot, thou art the victim of a court valet, of a base hypocrite!--why lend thy paw to La Fayette?
Why, thou must expect to experience the fate of all men of indecision.

Thou hast displeased every body; thou canst never make thy way.

If thou hast one atom of proper feeling left, hasten, and scratch out thy name from the list of candidates for the approaching general election." Thus appeared on the scene for the first time, in the midst of the hootings of both parties, this man, who attempted in vain to escape from the general contempt accumulated on his name from the faults of his youth, in order to enter on the gravity of his political career--a mingled character, half intrigue, half virtue.

Brissot, destined to serve as the centre of a rallying point to the party of the _Gironde_, had, by anticipation in his character, all there was in after days, of destiny in his party, of intrigue and patriotism, of faction and martyrdom.