During this phase of the revolution he continued to publish botanical papers. In late 1792, however, the Reign of Terror began and it is said that L'Héritier was imprisoned for a time, and in danger of execution, but some of his botanist friends got him released; there is no independent confirmation of this. Certainly his former patron, Malesherbes, went to the guillotine. About the time the Reign of Terror of ended in 1794, L'Héritier's wife Thérèse-Valère died. The eldest son, Jacques, left home and seems to have become estranged; the eldest daughter went to live with another family, while L'Héritier and his servants cared for the youngest three (Rose, the youngest, was only two at this time but lived to the age of 99). L'Héritier did not remarry. Post-Revolution L'Héritier was ruined by the Revolution, and had to take a low paid job at the Justice ministry, although he was also a member of the Commission on Agriculture and the Arts and was involved in the publication of several agricultural reports. In 1795 the Academy of Sciences was reborn as the National Institute of Sciences and Arts, and L'Héritier was elected to full membership, which came with a decent salary. He still had his library and herbarium, which he allowed free use to young botanists such as de Candolle. On the evening of 16 August 1800, as he was walking home after working late at the Institute, he was attacked and murdered in the street by an unknown assailant. One rumour was that the assassin was his eldest son. His body now lies in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. He left a herbarium of approximately 8,000 species and a large botanic library, reputedly second only to that of Sir Joseph Banks. The herbarium was added to the French national collections, while the library was dispersed. Character Georges Cuvier said of him: "His works were superb, but his table frugal and his clothes simple. He spent 20,000 francs a year on botany, but went about on foot." de Candolle said: "He was a dry man, cold in appearance but actually quite passionate, acrimonious and sarcastic in conversation, given to small intrigues, a declared enemy of de Jussieu, de Lamarck and even of the new methods, but always doing for me acts of kindness for which I was grateful." He always refused to have any portrait made. Works Stirpes Novae aut minus cognitae,