LECTURES AT THE NORMAL SCHOOL. 387 



St. Just, making allusion to his sweet and persuasive 

 eloquence, styled a. patriot in music ; who was so often 

 thrown into prison by the decemvirs ; who, at the very 

 height of the Reign of Terror, offered before the Revolu- 

 tionary Tribunal the assistance of his admirable talents 

 to the mother of Marshal Davoust, accused of the crime 

 of having at that unrelenting epoch sent some money 

 to the emigrants ; who had the incredible boldness to 

 shut up at the inn of Tonnerre an agent of the Com- 

 mittee of Public Safety, into the secret of whose mission 

 he penetrated, and thus obtained time to warn an hon- 

 ourable citizen that he was about to be arrested ; who, 

 finally, attaching himself personally to the sanguinary 

 proconsul before whom every one trembled in Yonne, 

 made him pass for a madman, and obtained his recall ! 

 You see, Gentlemen, some of the acts of patriotism, of 

 devotion, and of humanity which signalized the early 

 years of Fourier. They were, you have seen, repaid 

 with ingratitude. But ought we in reality to be aston- 

 ished at it ? To expect gratitude from the man who 

 cannot make an avowal of his feelings without danger, 

 would be to shut one's eyes to the frailty of human 

 nature, and to expose one's self to frequent disappoint- 

 ments. 



In the Normal School of the Convention, discussion 

 from time to time succeeded ordinary lectures. On 

 those days an interchange of characters was effected ; 

 the pupils interrogated the professors. Some words 

 pronounced by Fourier at one of those curious and use- 

 ful meetings sufficed to attract attention towards him. 

 Accordingly, as soon as a necessity was felt to create 

 Masters of Conference, all eyes were turned towards the 

 pupil of St. Florentine. The precision, the clearness, 



