ta sere, l your juice

L 41. Dirige le char de la république. On Béranger's election to the 'Constituante' of 1848 and his prompt resignation, cf. Introduction, § 18.

Histoire d'une Idée. (Page 147.)

Written before 1851, and evidently after the journées de juin of 1848 (cf. 1. 15).

It would be easy to compile a long list of 'ideas' which originated in France, but which, for lack of encouragement, were first turned to practical advantage abroad, generally by the ' sirs britanniques.' Two examples will suffice : —

Philippe Lebon took out a patent in 1800 for the manufacture of gas through the distillation of wood, and set up works at Havre in 1801. He met with violent opposition, and was murdered in 1804, after his works had been burnt to the ground. His invention was taken up in England, and applied to the distillation of coal with almost immediate success.

In 1 810 Napoleon offered a prize of a million francs to whoever would invent a practical machine for spinning flax. Philippe Girard took out a patent 67 days later, and in 1813 had two spinning-mills in working order. Napoleon's fall in the following year deprived him of the promised prize, and in 1826, when he visited England, he found the English in possession of his drawings, and using his machines in several huge mills. Girard, who had been one of the richest men in France before the Revolution, died in Paris in abject poverty in 1845, and may well have been in Béranger's mind when this song was written.

11. 15-16. Pour rémeute encore une voix. Nous n avons eu que trop d'idées. The Revolution of February, 1848, had been caused mainly by the adverse economical conditions and the socialistic and communistic doctrines prevalent at the time, and the first act of the Provisional Government had been to open large 'ateliers nationaux' to cope with the immediate wants of the unemployed. Thus the State was converted into a master manufacturer, to whose service, as the pay was good and the supervision not over-strict, flocked all the lazy, skulking mechanics of Paris and the Provinces. They numbered over 100,000, and it soon became apparent that their maintenance at the public expense was ruining both the Treasury and all the private tradesmen. An attempt made in June to dismiss part of the workmen produced one of the bloodiest ' émeutes' Paris had yet seen. These workmen,

NOTES. PAGES I46-I5I l6l

who in 1814 'had not yet learnt how to throw up barricades,' had since had ample opportunity to become proficient at the game; they entrenched themselves in almost impregnable positions, which they defended with desperation. The battle began on the 23rd of June, and lasted four days; the insurgents were at length subdued by the superior force of the troops of the line and the ■ Garde Nationale.' Thousands had been slain, among them Monseigneur Affre, the venerable Archbishop of Paris, who had climbed a barricade to exhort the rioters to peace.

1. 19. De l'Institut les souverains. The ' Institut de France' comprises the Académie Française, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Académie des Sciences, Académie des Beaux-Arts, and Académie des Sciences morales et politiques.

1. 39. Sans tambour que peut le savoir? 'Savoir' is a substantive here. ' What can knowledge achieve without beating a drum ? '

1. 57. Du fisc. A strictly protective policy was followed in France until the reign of Napoleon III, who was the first since the Revolution to negotiate commercial treaties with England and the other countries of Europe on a basis of reciprocity.

Le Chapelet du Bonhomme. (Page 149.)

Written between 1847 and 1851.

Legouvé writes : ' M. Cousin regardait cette chanson comme un des chefs-d'œuvre de la poésie française ; elle résume toute la philosophie de Béranger.'

1. 1. Sur le chapelet de tes peines. ' Chapelet ' means literally a string of beads, or ' grains,' arranged in five groups of ten, separated from each other by a larger bead. Réciter son chapelet is to ' tell one's beads,' and figuratively : Réciter le chapelet de ses peines, ■ to tell the tale of one's woes.'

1. 26. on rejoint ce qu'on aime. We join those whom we love (beyond the grave).

1. 41, Le bonhomme enfin de sourire. Cf. note to Le MATELOT BRETON, 1. 18.

Adieu! (Page 151.)

So far as we know, this is the last song Béranger ever wrote. It dates from 1 85 1 , and was probably written between the months of March and July. Béranger had a serious illness at that time, and no doubt thought his end was very near.

He writes to some lady friends on the 1st of July : ' Je crains

que les journaux ne vous portent de mauvaises nouvelles de ma santé. ... Je viens d'éprouver une grande secousse, que je voyais arriver depuis plus de quatre mois. Le danger a passé vite, et me voilà occupé à ravitailler une vieille place qui ne vaut guère la peine que je prends. En effet, il me paraît assez sot de restaurer une masure qui compte soixante et onze ans de services, et que vont abandonner grand train mémoire, esprit, intelligence et le reste. J'ai peu souffert pendant la maladie : c'est beaucoup. Il en est sans doute de la douleur comme de la pauvreté, dont je n'ai jamais complètement perdu les habitudes. On les sent d'autant moins qu'on les a beaucoup ressenties.'