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Rh which he had from a friend had not been read by him before delivery, and that it was for the first time on the tribunal that he noted that an altogether royalist oration had been perfidiously passed upon him.

Whether Mirabeau could have ever succeeded in saving the monarchy and founding it anew is to this day a subject of dispute. Some will have it that he died too soon, while others think he died a timely death. He did not die of poison, for the aristocracy just then had need of him. Men of the people do not poison; the deadly cup belongs to old-fashioned tragedies of palaces. Mirabeau died because he had enjoyed an hour before two dancing-girls, Mesdemoiselles Helisberg and Colombe, and a paté de foie gras aux truffes.