Chapitre 1791

L. 10. Voltaire died in Paris in 1778, but as the clergy had not been called upon to assist him at his last moments his body was denied sepulture in Paris, and was buried at the Abbey of Scellières, of which a nephew of his was commendator. His remains, however, re-entered Paris solemnly on July 11 of the same year, where they lie in the crypt of the Pantheon.

L. 15, tu conduiras Jourdan. Tu refers to divin triomphe. Jourdan, nicknamed Coupe-tête, was at the head of the brigands of Vaucluse during the disturbances in the South of France in October, 1791.

L. 17. Coblentz. The general quarters of the Émigrés.

L. 27. An allusion to a meal taken in common by Pétion and his colleagues of the Commune of Paris at a tavern, at La Râpée-Bercy, which they had caused to be mentioned in newspapers belonging to their party as something to be proud of.

L. 34. Persans. The appellation Persans is generally reserved for the Persians of to-day, the ancient Persians being designated as les Perses.

L. 45. Eudoxus and Hipparchus, two celebrated ancient astronomers.

Ll. 46-8. Berenice’s hair, a small northern constellation near the tail of Leo. Berenice was the wife of Ptolemy Energetes, king of Egypt, c. 248 B. C.

L. 49. Argo, a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere.

L. 55. en leur galère. ‘The forty Swiss,’ writes Carlyle, ‘were mounted into a triumphal car resembling a ship,’ Fr. Rev. II. iii, x.

II. QUAND AU MOUTON BÊLANT….

The two following pieces, dated from St.-Lazare, were written in the prison in a minute handwriting on small slips of paper concealed by Chénier in the linen that was fetched home to wash.

L. 23. Fouquier. A blank in the MS. Fouquier-Tinville, the president of the Revolutionary Tribunal.

III. COMME UN DERNIER RAVON….

Ll. 5-8. ‘L’habitude est une seconde nature,’ says a French proverb. This elaborate periphrasis verifies it. And no doubt but Chénier composed these lines in terrible earnest when he was daily expecting death. How can we say after this that the far-fetched conceits of Richard II in his prison (_K. Rich. II_, V. v.) are not what it was likely he should indulge in, in his desperate situation?

L. 15. In the first edition the poem here came to an abrupt end. In that of 1826 the fifteen lines were given as having been written by Chénier but few moments before being taken to execution. The following nine lines were altogether omitted, and the rest of the piece given as a separate poem.

L. 35. Var.: La bassesse, la feinte—le désespoir, la honte.

L. 58. Mourir…! The infinitive used absolutely as an exclamation (or interrogation) in order to express surprise or indignation: ‘Moi, me taire!’ ‘A qui se fier à présent?’ ‘Offenser de la sorte une sainte personne!’—MOLIÈRE. See Ayer, § 209, 4: Mever-Lübke, § 528.

L. 81. noirs de leur ressemblance. Black with their likeness energetically expressed.

L. 83. fouet. A monosyllable, pronounced fouè, and not foi, as some will do.—LITTRÉ.

L. 85. cracher sur leurs noms. Chénier does not mince it in these ïambes.