Page:Englishmen in the French Revolution.djvu/161

 VII.

PRISONERS. Anglophobia—Ex-royal mistresses—Luttrell—Pitt's kinsmen— Pamphleteers—Kilmaine—Nunneries and Colleges. the beginning of the Revolution the English were regarded as freemen to be imitated, at the end as slaves to be liberated or as enemies to be subjugated. The stage eagerly adopted the latter view. In October 1793 a play by Sylvain Maréchal, Le Dernier Jugement des Rois, represented all the monarchs of Europe on a volcanic island, George III. being dragged in chains by an English sans-culotte. Charged with ruining his people and fomenting civil war in France, he pleads madness in excuse. This piece was ordered to be performed at all the Paris theatres on the anniversary of Louis XVI.'s execution. A little later, Lebrun Tossa brought out his Folie de George. In this play the recapture of Toulon has brought on a relapse of insanity, and the King, in dressing gown, bestrides the stage, whip in hand, imagining that he is hunting. Pitt is anxious to prevent his opening Parliament in this condition,