Le denier que je puis répandre. In the old chap-books

the Wandering Jew is represented as possessing a miraculous penny, ever present in his hand to pay for his necessities and relieve those of others, though he is frequently driven onward when about to use it for a kind deed.

1. 30. faime à tendre. Here, not to beg, but to give, or to clasp the hand of him to whom he has given.

1. 70. Adieu. The Wandering Jew has paused on his way to tell his tale, and is suddenly interrupted and carried away.

IL 71-74. Vous qui manquez de charité, &c. ... E. Legouvé (Béranger des Ecoles, p. xvi) says: ' (Voilà) quatre vers que je ne crains pas d'appeler sublimes,' and expresses a preference for Le Juif errant over Les Pauvres Gens by Victor Hugo.

Le Vieux Caporal. (Page 109.)

Written in 1829.

If it be admitted that the army should remain outside, and above, party politics, it is impossible not to condemn this song as one of the most mischievous Béranger could have written, calculated and intended as it was to breed class feeling between the lower and the upper ranks of the army, party animosity between the old soldiers of the Empire and their Royalist officers, and contempt among the ranks for a younger generation of officers who, in a time of peace, could have had no practical experience of warfare.

The question of the staffing of the army had been a burning one throughout the Restoration period. Between 18 15 and 1 817 * émigrés ' who had never fired a shot had been appointed field-marshals, and young men of the nobility who had never handled a sword received commissions as lieutenants and captains, just as before 1789.

The military law of 1817 was partly designed to put a stop to this scandal. With regard to promotion it enacted that no one could receive a commission without having passed through a military school or served as a non-commissioned officer for at least two years. One third of the commissions were to be reserved for men who had risen from the ranks ; promotion was to be according to seniority, and, except for distinguished service in the field, could only be obtained after four years' service in a lower rank. The ultra- Royalists fought against this law tooth and nail. For them the appointment of officers was a royal prerogative, which should be subject to no regulations, and, although the reforms were carried, a large amount of favouritism undoubtedly continued to be shown.

In his Deuxième Lettre particulière, P. L. Courier, the

pamphleteer of the Restoration, and as deadly a satirist in prose as Béranger was in verse, casts a light on the state of the army in 1820. He is reporting a conversation between himself and a private soldier : ' Comment trouves-tu tes officiers ? — Mes officiers ? Ma foi, je ne les connais guère. Nous les voyons à la parade. Nous autres soldats, nous ne connaissons que nos sergents. Ils vivent avec nous, ils logent avec nous, ils nous mènent à vêpres. — En vérité ? cependant, tu dois bien savoir, mon cher, si ton capitaine te veut du bien. — Notre capitaine n'a pas rejoint ; nous ne l'avons jamais vu. Il prêche les missions dans le Midi. — Bon ! mais ton colonel ? — Oh ! celui-là, nous l'aimons bien. C'est un joli garçon, bien tourné, fait à peindre, bel homme en uniforme, jeune ; il est né peu de temps avant l'émigration. — Dis-moi : il a servi ? — Oh ! oui, en Angleterre il a servi la messe. — A ce que je puis voir, tu ne te soucies point de rester au régiment, de suivre jusqu'au bout la carrière militaire. — Où me mènerait-elle ? Sergent après vingt ans, la belle perspective ! J'aime mieux labourer et mener bien ma charrue que d'être malmené ici par les nobles.'

1. 4. Feriez me donner mon congé, * Come and give me my sendoff.' He is about to be shot by a squad of recruits whom he has trained.

1. 13. Un morveux d'officier. The term morveux, 'snotty,' being generally associated with young children, comes to be used to denote one who is young and inexperienced. ' A young whelp of an officer.'

1. 14. Je lui fends . . . Probably 'la bedaine,' a word much used by soldiers. Cf. La Fontaine (Ragotin) : —

1 Je vais vous percer la bedaine.'

1. 17. rogomme, equivalent to eau-de-vie. The word is hardly ever heard at the present day.

1. 52. J'ai porté son fils. The son was no doubt a drummerboy ; his mother would follow the army as a ' cantinière.'