La Charte de paille, a 'dummy ' Charter

1. 40. la prêtraille. ' The priestly rabble.' The Jesuits have always shown contempt for the secular clergy, and the latter have never loved the Jesuits.

1. 45. Du fond d'un certain palais. The Pavillon de Marsan, the annex to the Tuileries inhabited by the king's brother, the Comte d'Artois, was the focus of reactionary intrigue and the head-quarters of the Congrégation.

1. 48. On a refait leurs casaques. A ' casaque ' is a valet's livery coat. Béranger probably means that their livery has been trimmed anew, i. e. they are serving new masters.

1. 52. A prendre Paris nous les exerçons. 'On voyait surgir des capucins dans plusieurs départements, et quelques-uns tentèrent de se montrer à Paris.' (Note by Béranger.)

I.58. Escobar. The Spaniard EscobaryMendoza(is89-i669) was one of the greatest casuists of the Society of Jesus, and was made the particular butt of Pascal's satire in the Lettres Provinciales (Lett. V and VI).

1. 60. Au pape rendez, tous ses droits. The position of the Roman Catholic Church in France, as defined in the ' Concordat' of 1 80 1 (signed by the Pope), and the 'Articles Organiques ' (which the Pope refused to acknowledge, but was obliged to submit to), differed materially from that which it had enjoyed under the old regime. It had ceased to be the State religion, and had become merely one of several equally recognized creeds. Instead of owning one -fifth of the territory and collecting the tithes, it was salaried by the State, which was also the ultimate proprietor of all Church buildings ; religious marriage had to be preceded by civil marriage ; no bull or act emanating from Rome could be published in France without the authorization of the Government The ' ultras ' were naturally demanding the recall of these articles.

Les Enfants de la France. (Page 54.)

First published in the Minerve of 1 8 1 9.

1 On a souvent accusé Béranger de se laisser dominer par l'esprit de parti. Jamais reproche ne fut moins fondé. ' Le bonheur de la France avant tout,' tel était le fond de sa politique. Au commencement de 1819, une espérance d'amélioration parut saisir tous les hommes du pays. Le poète se laissa aller à cette douce espérance, et cette chanson en porte l'empreinte.' (Note by Béranger.)

The political and economical outlook was brighter in France at this time than it had been since the early days of the Empire. The foreign troops having evacuated the frontier, France had recovered its national dignity and been received anew into the concert of the European Powers. The Govern-

ment at home had become more liberal, the Press had recovered its liberty, and numerous political exiles, among others Béranger's friend Arnault, had been allowed to return. An excellent harvest had made money plentiful ; trade and industry were flourishing, and that renaissance in literature and art which was to be known as the Romantic movement was already announcing itself in the first Odes et Ballades of Victor Hugo and in the paintings of Géricault, Ingres, and Horace Vernet. These facts alone are sufficient to account for Béranger's song of exultation, but it may have been intended also as an answer to the rancorous contempt which the ultra- Royalists continued to entertain towards the people, and which had recently attracted considerable attention through the disclosure of the contents of the famous ' Note secrète ' addressed to Emperor Alexander by Vitrolles and the Comte d'Artois in 1818, calling for his protection against the liberal influences at work in France, and practically inviting a return of the Allies.

11. 7-8. Tes ennemis disaient encor : Honneur aux enfants de la France! In Ma Biographie (p. 117) Béranger writes: 'On sait que l'entrée des Russes et des Allemands se fit avec plus de courtoisie que les vainqueurs n'en mettent d'ordinaire. Nos ennemis semblaient se présenter chapeau bas dans la ville de Clovis, de saint Louis, d'Henri IV, de Louis XIV et de Napoléon, dans cette ville de la Constituante et de la Convention, où depuis des siècles s'élabore avec une activité incessante l'œuvre grande et sainte de la démocratie européenne. Les princes se rappelaient sans doute tout ce que la civilisation de leurs peuples et l'esprit de leurs cours nous avaient d'obligations. Presque tous les officiers de cette nombreuse armée parlaient la langue des vaincus, semblaient même n'en avoir point d'autres, si ce n'est quand il leur fallait réprimer les rares brutalités de quelques-uns de leurs soldats.'

11. 13-14. Le Rhin aux bords ravis à ta puissance porte à regret le tribut de ses eaux. Understand : ' Le Rhin porte à regret le tribut de ses eaux aux bords,' &c. Under the Empire, Belgium and Holland having been incorporated among the 132 departments of France, the Rhine was French from its source to its mouth. In 18 14 Belgium and Holland were constituted into the Royaume des Pays- Bas, and the Rhine ceased to be French except in that part of its course which bathes Alsace.

1. 1 5. au fond de ses roseaux. Compare Boileau, Epttre au Roi: Au pied du mont Adule, entre mille roseaux, Le Rhin tranquille, et fier du progrès de ses eaux . . .

I. 21. D'un vol fameux prompts à venger l'offense. Cf. note to Le Dieu des Bonnes Gens. Casimir Delavigne had also voiced the general indignation at the ' spoliation du Musée ' in his poem : La Dévastation du Museé et des monuments, published in 1 8 1 8 as one of the Messéniennes.

II. 29-30. En vain VAnglais a mis dans la balance Vor. Béranger frequently refers in bitter tones to the fact that England financed the wars against Napoleon.

1. 35. Que tes plaisirs ne soient plus une entrave. The line is not at all clear. We may perhaps infer from what follows that Béranger means : Under despotic Governments, such as that of Napoleon or that of Louis XV, France sank into loose and frivolous living and was incapable of harbouring such noble aspirations as that for liberty.

Halte-là! (Page 56.)

Written in 1820. This is the time of several 'procès par interprétation ' instituted by Marchangy. The papers were prosecuted for any hidden meaning that might be read in their utterances, and two journalists on the staff of the Censeur, Comte and Dunoyer, had just been committed to prison. Béranger writes in a note: — 'Cette chanson de fête eut un grand succès, grâce au ridicule du système qu'elle attaque. L'interprétation en matière de presse fut propagée chez nous par Bellart, Marchangy, Jacquinot de Pampelune, Hua et Vatimesnil. Celui-ci, plus jeune que les autres, fut d'abord un ardent promoteur de ce moyen facile de condamnation. . . . Avec un parquet qui prenait plaisir à torturer tous les mots et des jurés choisis par le préfet, il était impossible qu'un auteur accusé ne succombât pas toujours. Cependant, cela ne suffit point encore au pouvoir, et l'on en vint à enlever au jury le jugement des délits de la presse.'

I. 6. Vatimesnil. Antoine François Henri Lefebvre de Vatimesnil (1789-1860) achieved notoriety under the Restoration by the severity of his speeches for the Crown in political trials, in reward for which he was appointed in 1822 general secretary to the ' Ministère de la Justice.' He became Minister of Education in 1828, accepted Louis-Philippe in 1830, and retired into private life in 1851.

II. 7-8. C'est la mère d'un Messie, le deuxième de son nom. Probably an allusion to the Duc de Reichstadt, Napoleon's son, whose mother was Marie Louise of Austria.

1. 17. vous pleurez le Musée. Cf. note to LE DlEU DES Bonnes Gens, 11. 25-26.

i 1 8. Marchangy le Gaulois. Cf. note to L'ÉPITAPHE DE MA Muse, 1. 29. Béranger calls Marchangy ' le Gaulois ' because he had published between 181 3 and 18 17 La Gaule poétique, ou V Histoire de France considérée dans ses rapports avec la poésie, l'éloquence, et les beaux-arts (8 vol. in-8°).

I. 26. Hua. Eustache Antoine Hua (1759-1836), like Vatimesnil, frequently spoke for the prosecution in proceedings against the Press.

II. 33-34. Si Je chante l'opulence à qui le pauvre sourit. Cf. note to Les Etoiles qui filent, 1. 42. Laffitte, and the greater number of the leading business men of the time, were in the front ranks of the Liberal Opposition.

1. 35. Jacquinot de Pampelune. Claude François Joseph Jacquinot (1771-1835) made a name during the Revolution by his defence of numerous members of the aristocracy, and married the daughter of the marquis Genouilly de Pampelune, whose name he added to his own. He showed himself under the Restoration an ardent adversary of the Press and of liberty.

1. 44. le quinze d'août, more usually le quinze août. Notice also the pronunciation 'a-oût,' in two syllables, which alone makes it possible to scan this line. This pronunciation was once widespread, but is now a provincialism. Béranger does not always adhere to it. Cf. Le Matelot breton, 1. 108.