LETTRE A L'ACADÉMIE DES INSCRIPTIONS ET BELLES-LETTRES

P. 99 1. I. There were three vacancies in the Académie des Inscriplions et Belles-lettres, one owing to the death of Courier's father-in-law Clavier (18 17). Courier became a candidate and made the usual canvassing visits, at the same time professing complète indifférence in the matter. * Visconti est mort ; je viens de recevoir son billet d'enterrement. Voilà trois places à l'Institut. En aurai-je une ? Je ne sais. S'ils me reçoivent, j'en serai bien aise ; s'ils me refusent, j'en rirai : je ne vaudrai ni plus ni moins, et le public sera pour moi ' (Letter to Mme Courier, Feb. 9, 1818). But when, after long délibération, the choice of the Academicians fell on Prévost d'Irai, Jomard, and Dureau de la Malle, Courier not receiving a single vote, he left Paris for his new homestead in Touraine, la Chavonnière, and set to work to compose this bitter attack, the violence of which may be partly attributed to vexations and unsuccessful litîgation in which he had been recently engaged. His indignation at his rejection was justified, but his manner of showing it was disapproved of by the leamed world, and his political allusions put him hopelessly wrong with men of influence, such as Villemain, Guizot, and the minister Decazes, the last of whom had been rather disposed to help him in his local tribulations (see Introd. p. xx).

P. 99 1. 18. PrevoBt d'Irai : a vicomte who had composed some vaudevilles, been employed in the Instructiott publique, and written on Egyptian history.

P. 99 1. 19. Jomard : an' engineer and archaeologist wha had accompanied Napoléon to Egypt, author of works on Egypt and on

African geography. One of those 'savants véreux, qui se croient quelque chose pour avoir débuté dans les bagages de l'armée d'Egypte ' (Sainte-Beuve).

P. 99 1. 20. Dureau de La Malle : a chevalier and scholar of some repute, the son of a faimous translator. His chief work is L Économie politique des Romains (1840).

P. 100 L 35. ni duc, ni laquais, ni aoadémioien : cf. p. 102 L 120. Perhaps a réminiscence of Piron's epitaph on himself :

Ci-glt Piron, qui ne fut rien :

Pas même académicien.

P. 100 1. 36. pour tout potage : cf. Valère to Maître Jacques :

Vous n'êtes, pour tout potage, qu'un faquin de cuisinier. — Molière, LAvaret iii. 6.

P. 100 1. 44. Thurot : distinguished hellenist and philosopher (1768-1S32). His chief work is his Traité de t entendement et de la raison^ ou introduction à t étude de la plUlosopkie (1830).

Haase : or Hase. Hellenist of German origin (1780-1864), but French by adoption, professor of comparative grammar at the Sorbonne under the Second Empire.

P. 100 1. 45. Chardon de la Boobette : philologist (i 753-18 14), devoted most of his Ufe to an unfinished édition of the Greek Anthology.

P. 100 1. 53. Qall: a philologist of some eminence (i 755-1829), professor of Greek literature at the Collège de France, became an Academician in 1809. Courier's hostility to him seems to hâve been partly on account of his father-in-law. Clavier, who had had académie disputes with Gail.

P. 100 L 54. cette médiocrité Justement vantée des sages :

Auream quisquis mediocritatem Diiigit tutus, caret obsoleti Sordibus tecti, caret invidenda Sobrius aula.

HOR. Carm. ii. 10.

P. 100 1. 56. Visconti: Italian archaeologist (1751-1818), became a political refugee in France, where he was director of the muséum of antiquities of the Louvre. His death (see Note, p. 98 1. i) had increased the number of vacant chairs.

P. 100 L 57. liStronne : eminent classical scholar and textual critic (1787-1848), also an Egyptologist of the first rank, held many académie and administrative positions. It is very doubtfol whether Courier is téHing the truth hère, as Letronne, in a letter to del Furia

2o6 PAUL-LOUIS COURIER

concerning the Lettre à M. Renouard, expresses himself very strongly with regard to Courier's conduct : ' Cela pouvait être bon du temps des Milton et des Saumaize ; mais, dans ce siècle, il est défendu aux savants de ne point savoir vivre.'

P. 100 1. 58. Dignus es intrare^ * thou art worthy to enter ' ; a médiéval form of admission to the doctorate.

P. loi 1. 70. rCBil-de-Bœuf : the antechamber at Versailles, where courtiers assembled before entering the royal présence. So called from its round window.

P. loi 1. 76. le gentilhomme ordinaire : Prévost dirai was a gentilhomme ordinaire de la chambre,

P. loi 1. 77. La noblesse . . . n* est pas une chimère \

ha. noblesse, Dangeau. n'est pas une chimère. Quand, sous l'étroite loi d'une vertu sévère, Un homme issu d'un sang fécond en demi-dieux Suit, comme toi, la trace où marchaient ses aïeux.

BoiLEAU, Sat, v.

P. 10 1 1. 82. TuBurpateur : Napoléon.

P. loi 1. 90. dépense son patrimoine : Chardon de la Rocfaette procured in Italy for a large sum the Palatine MS. of the Antholc^ (see Note on p. 100 1. 45).

P. loa 1. 98. foulant le parfum ... :

Paris est pour un riche un pays de Cocagne :

Sans sortir de la ville, il trouve la campagne : Il peut dans son jardin, tout peuplé d'arbres verts, Receler le printemps au milieu des hivers ; Et, foulant le parfum de ses plantes fleuries, Aller entretenir ses douces rêveries.

BoiLEAU, Sat. vi.

P. 102 L loi. Académie firançaise : founded by Richelieu (1635). The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres^ originally des Inscriptions et Médailles^ was founded by Colbert (1663). See Note on V Institut (p. 12 1. 359).

P. 102 1. 102. etL us\ an allusion to the Renaissance practice of latlnizing the names of scholars, e,g, Morus for Sir Thomas More, ScUmasius for Saumaize (1. 103). Cf. the names by which Courier was called among German scholars (11. 127-28) :

Oui, je suis un savant charmé de vos vertus ; * Non pas de ces savants dont le nom n'est qu'en us. Il n'est rien si commun qu'un nom à la latine : Ceux qu'on habille en grec ont bien meilleure mine, Et, pour en avoir un qui se termine en es.

Je me fais appeler monsieur Caritidès.

Molière, Les Fâcheux^ iii. 2.

P. 102 1. 103. Dader : famous classical scholar (1651-1722), whose wife (1654- 1720) was still more famous as the most learned woman of her time. They collaborated in many éditions and translations, and Madame Dacier, whose translations of Homer gave her European cdebrity, took an active part in the Quarrel of the Ancients] and Modems. Hère, of course, the husband is referred to, as member of the Academy.

Saumaise: eminent scholar and philologist (1588- 1658), who, owing to his Protestantism, spent most of his life as professor at Leyden. He is interesting to English people because of his polemics with Milton on the subject of Charles I.'s exécution (see Note on Letronne, p. 100 1. 57). In hisday he was usually known as Salmasius (see Note on 1. 102).

P. 102 1. 109. La coutume de France ... :

Tu sais que, de tout temps, je me suis plu à la peinture, et que parfois je manie le pinceau, contre la coutume de France, qui ne veut pas qu'un gentilhomme sache rien faire. — Molière, Le Sicilien, x.

P. 102 1. 114. restaurateur des titres : see Notes on p. 28 1. 880, p. 38 1. 1207.

P. 102 1. 125. sachant du grec ... :

Il a des vieux auteurs la pleine intelligence.

Et sait du grec, madame, autant qu'homme de France.

Molière, Femmes savantes^ iii. 5.

P. 102 1. 127. Carrerius^ Courierus ... : see Note on p. 102 1. 102. Hemerodromus and Cursor are Greek and Latin renderings of the name. This was a very common practice with German scholars of the Renaissance, whence the existence of such modem names as Neander (Neumann), Textor (Weber), etc. A famous example is Melanchthon (Schwarzerd).

P. 103 1. 130. comme le docteur Pancrace : see Molière, Mariage forcé, viii.

P. 103 1. 138. Vendroit que je sens faible . . * :

Faites choix d'un censeur solide et salutaire. Que la raison conduise et le savoir éclaire, Et dont le crayon sûr d'abord aille chercher L'endroit que l'on sent faible et qu'on se veut cacher.

BoiLEAU, Artpoit, iv. 71.

P. 103 L 144. ne vous elfrayez pas : the word philosophe^ applied especially to the advanced writers of the eighteenth century (Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire, etc.)» was in ill odour under the Restoration.

2ôR PAUL-LOUIS COURIER

P. 104 L 167, aspirer à descendre : cf. p. 9 1. 286. P. 104 1. 171. firères igrnôrantizxs : a teaching order founded (1495 ^^ Portugal) and introduced into France by Marie de Médicis.

P. 104 L 180. Diafoinis : for Thomas Diafoirus as a latinist see Molière, Malade imaginaire^ iî. 6-9.

P. 104 1. 192. le marquis de Canova : great Italian sculptor (i 757-1822), ennobled by Napoléon, of whom he executed a bust which is familiar to most people.

P. J05 L 210. Childebrandx see Note on p. 22 L 71a

P. 105 L 214. Veetris: famous dancer at the Paris opéra (1729î8o8).

P. 105 1. 224. Saint-Martin : orientalist (1791-1832), admitted to the Academy in 1820.

P. 106 L 237. ne veut point de Boileau ... : Boileau (1636- 171 1) was nearly fifty when, 'sur Tordre du roi,' he was admitted to the Academy. La Bruyère (1645- 1695) w*s rejected in 1 691, in spite of, or because of, the brilliant success of his Caractères (1688), but admitted in 1693. Voltaire (1694-1778) would hâve been elected in 1733 but for the inopportune appçarance of his satire Le TempU du goût, He was rejected five times, but received in 1746. Chapelain (i 595-1674), Boileau's butt (see Note on p. iio 1. 379), was one of the original members appointed by Richelieu (see Note on p. 162 1. loi), and Conrart (1603-1675), at whose house had been held the informai gatherings Which Richelieu tumed into a state organization, was the first secrétaire perpétuel of the body.

P. 107 1. 274. un abbé de Saint-Pierre : this was Charles-Irénée Castel, abbé de Saint-Pierre (1658-1743), not to be confiised with the famous author of Paul et Virginie, He became an Academician in 1702, but his Discours sur la Polysynodie (17 18), in which he criticized the govemment of the late king, led to his expulsion.

P. 107 1. 286. les mémoires du temps : this is rather vague and in ail probability is Couriec's invention.

P. 107 1. 295. du chinois, une bible copte ou esniaque: Orientalism made great strides in France, as in England, in the early years of the nineteenth century. Its great inspirers were Abel Rémusat and Silvestre de Sacy, who founded the Société asicUique (1821) and the Journal asiatique (1822). The pagoda of Juggernaut^ whatever that may mean, the Chinese grotesques, and other contemptuous références in this passage to oriental studies, are aimed at Sacy, who had been a member since 1792*

KOTES 209

P. 108 1. 302. buUetms : the word became fanums nnder Napoléon in the bulletins de la Grande Armée,

P. 108 1. 318. le latin d'A Kempis: the Imitaiio Christi^ a famous fifteenth - century devotional manual written m médiéval Latin, is usually attributed to Thomas a Kempis, a Gennan monk who took his name from Kempen, in the diocèse of Colc^e.

P. 108 1. 32a leur rudinunt par cœur: lîke Sganarelle :

Trouye-moi un faiseur de fagots qui sache comme moi raisonner des choses, ... et qui ait su dans son jeune âge son rudiment par cœur. — Molière, Médecin malgré lui, i. i.

P. 109 1. 335. Quatremère de Quincy: archaeologist (1755- 1849), devoted himself especially to the study of classical and Egyptian architecture.

P. 109 1. 351, Bene dicere . . ., *to speak well of the Prior, to do one's duty somehow or other. '

P. 109 1. 352. Sinere mundum . . . , ' to let the world go as it likes.'

P. 109 1. 357. Fontanes : poet and orator (i 757-1821), 'grandmaître de l'uniyersité ' under Napoléon, and a great friend of Chateaubriand. The allusion is to the organisation of the Université de France c, 1801 : ' Il [Napoléon] élaborait le projet d'une puissante organisation de rinstruction publique, TUniversité, celui d*une grande institution de récompenses nationales, la Légion d'honneur ' (Duruy, Hist. de France)»

P. 109 1. .358. un nom et des lauriers :

Aux plus savants auteurs, comme aux plus grands guerriers. ApoUon ne promet qu'un nom et des lauriers.

BoiLEAU, Artpoét iv.

P. iio 1. 369. L'étude rend paressevix: ail this passage is apparently an écho of Du Bellay's Poète courtisan, from which Courier quotes elsewhere (l. 391) :

Je ne veulx que long temps à l'estude il pallisse, Je ne veulx que resveur sur le livre il vieillisse, Fueilletant studieux tous les soirs et matins Les exemplaires grecs et les autheurs latins. Ces exercices-la font l'homme peu habile, Le rendant catarreux, maladif et débile.

Solitaire, fascheux, taciturne et songeard.

P. 1 10 L 376. dans la partie des lettres : partie is used ironically in the commercial sensé, corresponding to our * Une * (of business). P. Iio L 379. le mieux rente ... :

Mais que pour un modèle on montre ses écrits,

Qu'il [Chapelain] soit le mieux rente de tous les beaux-esprits,

Comme roi des auteurs qu'on l'élève à l'empire :

Ma bile alors s'échauffe, et je brûle d'écrire.

BoiLEAU, Sat ix.

P. iiol. 383. Baoul Bochette : archaeologist and historian (1790- 1854), became an Academician * par ordonnance royale 'in 18 16 as a reward for his royalist opinions.

P. iio I. 391. pAUr sur ses livres : see Note on L 369.

P. iio 1. 395. Mais, sll est par la brigue ... :

Et s'il est, par la brigue, un rang à disputer. Sur le plus honnête homme on le voit l'emporter.

Molière, Misanthrope, i. i.

P. III 1. 423. Le pédant de Charles-Quint : Pope Adrian VI. P. 1 12 1. 434. le pur amour du grec : see Note on p. 66 1. 2104. P. 112 1. 439. je vois peu de gens ... :