HIS CONDEMNATION TO DEATH. 239 



These words occurred to my memory at the time when 

 I was gathering from various sources the proof that on re- 

 entering the Conciergerie after his condemnation, Bailly 

 showed himself at once both gay and stoical. 



He desired his nephew, M. Batbeda, to play a game at 

 piquet with him as usual. He thought of all the circum- 

 stances connected with the frightful morrow with such 

 coolness, that he even said with a smile to M. Batbeda 

 during the game : " Let us rest awhile, my friend, and 

 take a pinch of snuff; to-morrow I shall be deprived of 

 this pleasure, for I shall have my hands tied behind my 

 back." 



I will quote some words which, while testifying to a 

 similar degree Bailly's serenity of mind, are more in 

 harmony with his grave character, and more worthy of 

 being preserved in history. 



One of the companions of the illustrious academician's 

 captivity, on the evening of the llth of November, with 

 tears in his eyes and moved by a tender veneration, ex- 

 claimed : " Why did you let us fancy there was a possi- 

 bility of acquittal ? You deceived us then ? " Bailly 

 answered : " No, I was teaching you nearer to despair of 

 the laws of your country." 



In the paroxysms of wild despair, some of the prison- 

 ers reviewing the past, went so far as to regret that they 

 had never infringed the laws of the strictest honesty. 



Bailly brought back these minds, erring for the mo- 

 ment from the path of duty, by repeating to them max- 

 ims which both in form and substance would not disparage 

 the collections of the most celebrated moralists : 



" It is false, very false, that a crime can ever be useful. 

 The trade of an honest man is the safest, even in times 

 of revolution. Enlightened egotism suffices to put any 



