“¥48)] 
“not to'talk about at home. “He was 
“one of thofe men, who, excepting 
‘by the commiffion of fome extraor- 
“dinary ehorimity, could never have 
_ been called into notice, under any 
*“other ftate of things than fuch ‘as 
‘now prevailed in France; but hav- 
‘ing received fo much education in 
Germany, as was futhcient to exalt 
Chis. natural extravagarice to its ut- 
~moft pitch, his felf-confidence fuf- 
‘ fered him to mifs no opportunity of 
exhibiting his talents to the public. 
* As declamation, philofophy, and the 
negative quality of infidelity, were 
the points in which he fuppofed 
‘himfelf principally to excel, the 
-confufions of Paris had for feveral 
months opened the faireft field to 
«him for the difplay, at leaft, of the 
- former of thefe talents, that he could 
have wifhed; but whether it was 
that the people thought they had 
“orators and philofophers enough of 
‘their own, and that infidelity was 
‘too common to bear any value, or 
that the bombaft which loaded his 
/ eloquence was incomprehenfible 
even to the Parifians, fo it was, that 
all his-exertions were unable to pufh 
him forward into any. degree of par- 
“ticular notice. P Wah 
The modern Anacharfis, thus foil- 
‘ ed in his hopes, that eloquence and 
* philofophy would have opened the 
‘way to fame and to fortune, fhrewd- 
ly conceived, that extravagance 
‘might *poffibly fucceed where they 
‘ failed. Having procured a number 
of thofe’ vagabonds who filled and 
-infefted the ftreets of Paris, and hir- 
> ed alf the foreign, ancient, and gro- 
' “tefque drefles, which the opera and 
~ «play-houfes could furnifh, in order 
- to difeuife them, he mafqueraded at 
- the head.of this motley crew. to the 
‘“ national affembly, where he intro- 
duced them as ftrangers arrived from: 
ANNUAL REGISTER, f7o. 
all or moft of the nations of the 
globe, being the virtual ambafladors 
of all thofe enflaved nations whe 
wifhed to be free, and were there- 
fore difpofed to enter into fraternity 
with France, for the glorious pur- 
pote of eftablifhing liberty through - 
out the world. The orator, to give 
a full difplay to his talents, delivered 
a {peech in the name of his dumb 
gang of ambafladors, which, for ab- 
furdity and bombaft, equalled any 
thing that ever was or can be fpo~ 
g Pp 
ken. In this he reprefented the am- 
baffadors of all exifting govern- 
ments, as being themfelves flaves, 
the reprefentatives of tyrants, and 
therefore unfitting to be received in 
that honourable public charaéter 
which they affumed: that thofe 
citizens by whom he was accompa-~ 
nied were the real reprefentatives 
andambafladors of mankind, and had 
conftituted him, in their name, to 
demand places for them, fuitable to 
their rank and character, at the en- 
{uing grand confederation of the na- 
tion. 
So barefaced, fo impudent, fo ri- 
diculous a farce, was never before 
played off before any public affem- 
bly; or before any collection ‘of 
men fuppofed to be in poffeffion of 
their rational faculties. To heighten, 
if any thing could fo do, the ridicn- 
loufnefs of the fcene, it was affiirm- 
ed, that feveral of the Afiatic ambaf~ 
fadors, {tripped of their hired robes 
and plumes, were feen at the doors 
of the aflembly, in their proper garb 
and character, humbly foliciting the 
payment of their wages; a trifling 
matter, which, it would feem, the 
fublime ideas of their orator had ren- 
dered him inattentive to. 
It feems, however, probable, if 
we judge from the immediate con- 
fequences, that this exhibition was’ 
not 
