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their leader. He saw the aghast looks of her auditors, changing from horror
to fury--the names of those already sacrificed were echoed by their
relatives, now assured of their loss. The wretch with that energy of
purpose, which had borne him thus far in his guilty career, saw his danger,
and resolved to evade the worst forms of it--he rushed on one of the
foremost, seized a pistol from his girdle, and his loud laugh of derision
mingled with the report of the weapon with which he destroyed himself.
They left his miserable remains even where they lay; they placed the corpse
of poor Juliet and her babe upon a bier, and all, with hearts subdued to
saddest regret, in long procession walked towards Versailles. They met
troops of those who had quitted the kindly protection of Adrian, and were
journeying to join the fanatics. The tale of horror was recounted--all
turned back; and thus at last, accompanied by the undiminished numbers of
surviving humanity, and preceded by the mournful emblem of their recovered
reason, they appeared before Adrian, and again and for ever vowed obedience
to his commands, and fidelity to his cause.
[1] Shakespeare--Julius Caesar.
[
2] Elton's Translation of Hesiod's "Shield of Hercules."
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