" But when Robespierre wished to
bring back to something like discipline the crew of the vessel which
was fast driving on the breakers, he found the thing was not so easy
as he imagined. To destroy is easy--to rebuild is the difficulty. He
was omnipotent to do evil; but the day that he gave the first sign
of a disposition to return to order, the hands which he himself
had stained with blood, marked his forehead with the fatal sign of
destruction.
--_Memoirs of the Duchess of Abrantes._
* * * * *
SOUNDS DURING THE NIGHT.
The great audibility of sounds during the night is a phenomenon of
considerable interest, and one which had been observed even by the
ancients. In crowded cities or in their vicinity, the effect was
generally ascribed to the rest of animated beings, while in localities
where such an explanation was inapplicable, it was supposed to arise
from a favourable direction of the prevailing wind. Baron Humboldt
was particularly struck with this phenomenon when he first heard the
rushing of the great cataracts of the Orinoco in the plain which
surrounds the mission of the Apures.
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