It was well for him, at any rate, that the people rose in France. It was
well for him, at any rate, that the guillotine was set up in the Place
de la Concorde. Unconsciously, but not accidentally, Dickens was here
working out the whole true comparison between swift revolutionism in
Paris and slow evolutionism in London. Sidney Carton is one of those
sublime ascetics whose head offends them, and who cut it off. For him at
least it was better that the blood should flow in Paris than that the
wine should flow any longer in London. And if I say that even now the
guillotine might be the best cure for many a London lawyer, I ask you to
believe that I am not merely flippant. But you will not believe it.