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us return to Madame Roland, who from her solitude in the Beaujolais followed with breathless interest the course of events; the installation of Necker in Turgot's place; the convocation of the Notables; the ineffectual efforts made to extricate the nation from its desperate financial position; and who rejoiced not a little when the Government, having exhausted all its resources, felt driven at last to assemble the representatives of the nation or States-General, which had not met since the year 1614. The winter of 1788–89 resounded with the noise and excitement of these elections. France was in a ferment, as if the assembly of those States would be a cure for all the ills of the people.

The rapidity of events henceforth worked with the inevitable momentum of elemental forces. The elasticity of time was never so apparent in history; when became equivalent to months, months to years, yearn to centuries. That the Court and nobility did not calmly view these changes, that they tried their utmost to retard them, may well be believed; but, their prestige having once departed from them, they