Gilded Youth of Thermidor

The jeunesse dorée, or "gilded youth," were a parallel militia recruited from the ranks of minor officials and small shopkeepers. They formed a distinctive subculture, defined by age and social origin, with their own forms of extravagant dress, their own anthem ("Le Réveil du Peuple"), their own affectations of speech, their own regular meeting-places in the cafés of the Palais-Royal, and even the...