MARIE JOSEPH DE CHENIER

La calomnie.

P. 87, 1. 4. ils ont assassiné. Marie Joseph was strongly suspected of having, if not connived at the death of bis brother André, at least done nothing to prevent it. There is every reason to suppose that the accusation was calumnious, but it gave rise to a perfect déluge of epigrams and satires. We shall quote one.

"Comparer à Caïn le sublime Chénier, C'est fixer peu la ressemblance.

Caïn, il est vrai, le premier.

Versa le sang de l'innocence ; Mais, en vous accordant sur ce point, L'histoire (que d'ailleurs on sait si peu discrète). L'histoire, mon cher, ne dit point Que Caïn fut mauvais poète." 1. 8. elle, se. son ombre, the shade of his brother. 1. 13. le jour, àT'c., the gth of Thermidor, 1794 : see below p. 88, 1. I, note.

1. 14. vers, worms, not verses as below, 1. 20. qu^un frère, a third brother, set free after the downfall of Robespierre. 1. 15, cachots, a secret and generally subterranean cell, but used poetically for any prison.

Dumont (André) was commissioner for the National Convention in the department of the Somme.

1. i6. périssait égorgé, would hâve perished on the scaflfold (lit, with his throat eut). The past tense used for the conditional, to add force, as often in Latin.