dites bien que, * Be sure to tell them that

1. 26. des nouveaux preux. The 'preux' were the valiant knights of the old cha?isons de geste. The ' nouveaux preux ' are of course the soldiers of the Empire.

1. 33. Objet chéri. l Objet,' in the sense of 'femme aimée,' belongs to the poetical diction of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The word occurs frequently in Corneille's plays : —

Non, non, ce cher objet à qui j'ai pu déplaire Ne peut pour mon supplice avoir trop de colère.

(LeCid, III-i.)

O trop aimable objet, qui m'avez trop charmé . . .

{Polyeucte, II- 2.)

mon renom futile, 'my vain, or empty, fame.' Here again the epithet is open to criticism, and is probably a ' cheville ' to rime with ' débile.'

La Petite Fée. (Page 37.)

Written in 1817.

1. 2. Urgande. Béranger takes this name from the fairy and enchantress in the Amadis des Gaules, one of the most famous cycles of mediaeval romance ; it is distinguished by its great number of giants, dwarfs, witches, and fairies.

1. 17. la marraine d'un roi. The fairy godmother is a commonplace of fairy-tale.

I. 20. Qui laissaient Toir dans leurs registres. Although the Budget came under parliamentary control at the Restoration, the large sums that stood to the account of the ' fonds secrets ' frequently called forth criticism.

II. 29-30. Jamais pour l'erreur à genoux la clémence n'était muette. After the ' Hundred Days ' the Government of Louis XVIII showed excessive severity against those who had failed to keep their oath of allegiance. The fate of Marshal Ney is well known. Lavalette would also have been shot but for the heroism of his wife, who procured his escape by taking his place in his cell. Labédoyère's wife also had begged in vain for her husband's pardon at the feet of the daughter of Louis XVI, the Duchess of Angoulême, who alone of all the Bourbons had had a popular welcome on her return to France, and who might have been the ' petite fée ' of the Restoration.

1. 38. On les forçait à la retraite. Instead of returning under their auspices as in 1814 and 181 5.

1. 43. En Amérique tout Ta mal. Mexico, Venezuela, and Chili had been in open rebellion against Spain since 1810, and were soon to win their independence.

1. 44. Au plus fort V Asie est livrée. By Asia is probably meant the East, as a whole : Asia Minor, Greece, the Ionian Islands, Servia, Sec, which had recently risen, or were about to rise, in arms against the despotic rule of the Turks.

These references to America and the East, which might appear far-fetched, are of course intended to pave the way for the ironical line which follows.

Monsieur Judas. (Page 39.)

1 Cette chanson fut faite pour une réunion de libéraux, qui s'intitulait " Société des Apôtres." Béranger y portait le nom de Jacques le Majeur ... Il fut fait une application particulière (de cette chanson) à un ancien membre du Caveau, soupçonné d'avoir précédemment appartenu à la police impériale, et devant qui, en 181 3, Béranger fut prévenu par Désaugiers de ne pas chanter Le Roi d'Tvetot. Depuis ce même personnage n'en a pas moins obtenu et cumulé des places de censeur, de bibliothécaire, des pensions, des croix, &c.' (Note by Béranger.)

Béranger evidently refers to Pierre Antoine Augustin Piis (1 755—1832), who in collaboration with Barré wrote some twenty plays and vaudevilles, and in 1792 founded the Vaudeville Theatre (cf. note to A mon ami Désaugiers, 1. 10). He wrote a number of songs, and was one of the founders of the • Caveau Moderne.' Secretary to the Comte d'Artois from 1784, Government delegate in one of the districts of Paris during the Directoire, secretary to the ' Préfecture de police ' from 1800 to 1 8 14, librarian and archivist to Count Real during the ' Hundred Days,' he was a member of the Légion d'Honneur.