SOURCE: May, Gita. “A Revolutionary Salon.” In Madame Roland and the Age of Revolution, pp. 180-99. New York: Columbia University Press, 1970.

In this essay, May describes Roland's relationship to the major figures of the French Revolution, including Buzot and Robespierre.

Before plunging into politics, Manon had to fulfill a few private obligations, such as paying the good sisters of the Convent of the Congregation a visit. Of her own family there were few surviving relations; her father had died in the winter of 1788.¹ In order better to acquaint herself with the workings of the revolutionary government, she hastened to attend the sessions of the Constituent Assembly.² The hall itself consisted of six tiers of seats disposed in an ellipse around a central arena. The president's table was on a stage on the south side of the rink. Opposite him were the bar and tribune, from which deputies made...