Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 426 | Page 3

in with Robespierre's notions of economy; and it suited his
limited patrimony, which consisted of some rents irregularly paid by a

few small farmers of his property in Artois. These ill-paid rents, with
his salary as a representative, are said to have supported three
persons--himself, his brother, and his sister; and so straitened was he in
circumstances, that he had to borrow occasionally from his landlord.
Even with all his pinching, he did not make both ends meet. We have it
on authority, that at his death he was owing L.160; a small debt to be
incurred during a residence of five years in Paris, by a person who
figured as a leader of parties; and the insignificance of this sum attests
his remarkable self-denial.
Lamartine's account of the private life of Robespierre in the house of
the Duplays is exceedingly fascinating, and we should suppose is
founded on well-authorised facts. The house of Duplay, he says, 'was
low, and in a court surrounded by sheds filled with timber and plants,
and had almost a rustic appearance. It consisted of a parlour opening to
the court, and communicating with a sitting-room that looked into a
small garden. From the sitting-room a door led into a small study, in
which was a piano. There was a winding-staircase to the first floor,
where the master of the house lived, and thence to the apartment of
Robespierre.'
Here, long acquaintance, a common table, and association for several
years, 'converted the hospitality of Duplay into an attachment that
became reciprocal. The family of his landlord became a second family
to Robespierre, and while they adopted his opinions, they neither lost
the simplicity of their manners nor neglected their religious
observances. They consisted of a father, mother, a son yet a youth, and
four daughters, the eldest of whom was twenty-five, and the youngest
eighteen. Familiar with the father, filial with the mother, paternal with
the son, tender and almost brotherly with the young girls, he inspired
and felt in this small domestic circle all those sentiments that only an
ardent soul inspires and feels by spreading abroad its sympathies. Love
also attached his heart, where toil, poverty, and retirement had fixed his
life. Eléonore Duplay, the eldest daughter of his host, inspired
Robespierre with a more serious attachment than her sisters. The
feeling, rather predilection than passion, was more reasonable on the
part of Robespierre, more ardent and simple on the part of the young

girl. This affection afforded him tenderness without torment, happiness
without excitement: it was the love adapted for a man plunged all day
in the agitation of public life--a repose of the heart after mental fatigue.
He and Eléonore lived in the same house as a betrothed couple, not as
lovers. Robespierre had demanded the young girl's hand from her
parents, and they had promised it to him.
'"The total want of fortune," he said, "and the uncertainty of the
morrow, prevented him from marrying her until the destiny of France
was determined; but he only awaited the moment when the Revolution
should be concluded, in order to retire from the turmoil and strife,
marry her whom he loved, go to reside with her in Artois, on one of the
farms he had saved among the possessions of his family, and there to
mingle his obscure happiness in the common lot of his family."
'The vicissitudes of the fortune, influence, and popularity of
Robespierre effected no change in his simple mode of living. The
multitude came to implore favour or life at the door of his house, yet
nothing found its way within. The private lodging of Robespierre
consisted of a low chamber, constructed in the form of a garret, above
some cart-sheds, with the window opening upon the roof. It afforded no
other prospect than the interior of a small court, resembling a
wood-store, where the sounds of the workmen's hammers and saws
constantly resounded, and which was continually traversed by Madame
Duplay and her daughters, who there performed all their household
duties. This chamber was also separated from that of the landlord by a
small room common to the family and himself. On the other side were
two rooms, likewise attics, which were inhabited, one by the son of the
master of the house, the other by Simon Duplay, Robespierre's
secretary, and the nephew of his host.
'The chamber of the deputy contained only a wooden bedstead, covered
with blue damask ornamented with white flowers, a table, and four
straw-bottomed chairs. This apartment served him at once for a study
and dormitory. His papers, his reports, the manuscripts of his
discourses, written by himself in a regular but laboured hand, and with
many marks of erasure, were placed carefully on deal-shelves against

the wall. A few chosen books were also ranged