a ee ah es 
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HIS DISLIKE OF OSTENTATIOUS DISPLAY. 191 
once with his wife, to regulate the furnishing of the apart- 
- ments that the Commune assigned him; rejecting all that 
had the appearance of luxury or even of elegance; to 
replace sets of china by sets of earthenware, new carpets 
by the half-used ones of M. de Crosnes, writing tables 
of mahogany by writing tables of walnut, &c. But all 
this would appear an indirect criticism, which is far from 
my thoughts. From the same motives, I will not say, 
that inimical to all sinecures, of all plurality of appoint- 
ments, when the functions are not fulfilled, the Mayor of 
Paris, since he no longer regularly attended the meetings 
of the National Assembly, no longer fingered the pay of 
a deputy, and that this was proved, to the great confusion 
of the idiots, whose minds had been disturbed by Marat’s 
clamours. Yet I will record that Bailly refused all that 
in the incomes of his predecessors had proceeded from 
an impure source; as, for example, the allowances from 
the lotteries, the amount of which was by his orders 
constantly paid into the coffers of the Commune. 
You see, Gentlemen, that no trouble was required to 
show that the disinterestedness of Bailly was great, 
enlightened, dictated by virtue, and that it was at least 
equal to his other eminent qualities. In the series of 
accusations that I have extracted from the pamphlets 
of that epoch, there is one, however, as to which, all 
things considered, I will not attempt to defend Bailly. 
He accepted a livery from the city; on this point no 
blame was attached to him; but the colours of the livery 
were very gaudy. Perhaps the inventors of these bright 
shades had imagined, that the insignia of the first magis- 
trate of the metropolis, in a ceremony, in a crowd, should, 
like the light from a Pharos, strike even inattentive 
eyes. But these explanations regard those who would 
