retremper, 'retemper

1. 26. Ces habits bleus. The infantry of the Republic and of the Empire wore light blue uniforms.

1. 34. Pour s' anoblir nos chefs sortent des rangs. Cf. note to Les Deux Cousins, 11. 35, 36.

1. 35. Par la cartouche encor toute noircie. Cartridges, as the name implies (cartouche from Italian cartoccio, a rolled card) were originally made of stiff paper, and contained only the charge of powder. With the old flint guns the soldiers bit the cartridge open and poured a small portion of the powder in the { pan ; and the remainder into the barrel before ramming down the bullet. Cf. François Coppée : La Bénédiction (an episode of the Peninsular war) : —

Avec les yeux brûlés de poussière, et la bouche Amère du baiser sombre de la cartouche.

1. 43. Ces airs proscrits, i. e. La Marseillaise and other Republican songs.

Maudit Printemps! (Page 83.)

It has been suggested that the 'ange éclatant' referred to in this song may have been Judith Frère. It is perhaps, however, a mere flight of the poet's fancy, like many of the 1 Lisette ' songs, without any foundation in fact.

1. 28. Le grésil léger qui bondit. 'Béranger a de ces vers heureux qui sont d'un vrai poète et d'un peintre, de ces coins de tableaux frais et riants, à condition qu'ils ne se prolongent pas. Ainsi, dans Les Hirondelles : —

' Au détour d'une eau qui chemine A flots purs sous de frais lilas, Vous avez vu notre chaumine. . . .'

Ainsi, dans Maudit Printemps, lorsqu'il regrette l'hiver, il voudrait qu'on entendît

1 Tinter sur la vitre sonore Le grésil léger qui bondit.'

(Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du Lundi, II, p. 293.)

Most dictionaries translate grésil quite inadequately by 'sleet' ; it really denotes the fine pellets of hardened snow which fall with a patter like hail.

Psara. (Page 84.)

Psara is a small island of the Greek Archipelago, near Chios. During the War of Greek Independence it was taken by the Turks in 1824, after an heroic defence, and suffered the same fate as Chios (cf. note to 1. 9). The valour displayed by the Greeks, in spite of their internal dissensions, and the fact that their struggle was one of civilization against barbarism, had awakened the sympathy of every country in Europe ; mutual jealousy and distrust had hitherto kept the Powers from active intervention in the struggle, but the 1 philhellenic ' movement was gradually becoming too powerful to be ignored. Byron had strongly influenced British opinion (already sympathetic to the Greeks) before his death at Missolonghi in April, 1824 ; in Germany, Bavaria, Switzerland, France, and even in the United States committees had been formed to provide the Greeks with men and subsidies ; Victor Hugo had immortalized Canaris in verse, and Béranger was lending his aid to the movement in a song intended to reach every class of the population. The Treaty of London (July, 1827) at last secured the intervention of Russia, England, and France. The destruction of the Turkish fleet at the battle of Navarino, that most ' untoward event,' was hailed with delight by every one except the British ministry of the time ; the French expedition led by General Maison secured the possession of Morea to the Greeks in 1828, Silistria fell into the hands of the Russians in 1829, and in

September of that year the Treaty of Andrianople finally established the independence of Greece.