soul into its own in that stirring narrative of the new Covenant, which, anonymously written by her, appeared in the Courrier de Lyons, edited by her friend Champagneux, and of which no less than sixty thousand copies were sold on that occasion. In the letters and manifestoes despatched from all parts of the country to the National Assembly, the spirit which animated these festivities shows itself as a recognition of the natural authority belonging to old age; participation of women in the national life; adoption of the new-born by the Communes in the name of France; renunciation of religious hatreds at the foot of the Cross. The most impressive of all those Feasts of the Federation was that celebrated in Paris itself on the 14th of July 1790, the anniversary of the taking of the Bastile.
The great bond of fellowship in the cause of liberty was nowhere more deeply felt than by the Rolands. They devoted themselves to the propagation of the new ideas, and conceived the plan of an association of a few friends, who should live together and make every effort to enlighten the people as to the changes which had already taken place, and those that it was imperatively necessary to accomplish. Two of them, Lanthenas and Bancal des Issarts, intended joining the Rolands by putting their funds in common, and buying some of the national property that was then selling for, comparatively, a mere trifle. Lanthenas, an amiable young doctor, whose acquaintance Roland had made in Italy, was deeply attached to Madame Roland, whose lead he followed in all things; embodying her ideas in newspaper articles, in public speeches, and by every other means he could devise. His devotion, no doubt, made her more partial to him than she would
