The eager looks of the Assembly, the silence that prevailed, announced in him one of the great actors of the revolutionary drama, who only appear on the stage to win themselves popularity, to intoxicate themselves with applause, and--to die.
XV.
Vergniaud, born at Limoges, and an advocate at the bar of Bordeaux, was now in his thirty-third year, for the revolutionary movement had seized on and borne him along with its currents when very young.

His dignified, calm, and unaffected features announced the conviction of his power.
Facility, that agreeable concomitant of genius, had rendered alike pliable his talents, his character, and even the position he assumed.

A certain _nonchalance_ announced that he easily laid aside these faculties from the conviction of his ability to recover all his forces at the moment when he should require them.

His brow was contemplative, his look composed, his mouth serious and somewhat sad; the deep inspiration of antiquity was mingled in his physiognomy with the smiles and the carelessness of youth.

At the foot of the tribune he was loved with familiarity; as he ascended it each man was surprised to find that he inspired him with admiration and respect; but at the first words that fell from the speaker's lips they felt the immense distance between the man and the orator.