II. QUAND AU MOUTON BÊLANT.... - III. COMME UN DERNIER RAVON....

The two following pieces, dated from St.-Lazare, were written in the prison in a minute handwriting on small slips of paper concealed by Chénier in the linen that was fetched home to wash.

L. 23. Fouquier. A blank in the MS. Fouquier-Tinville, the president of the Revolutionary Tribunal.

Ll. 5-8. 'L'habitude est une seconde nature,' says a French proverb. This elaborate periphrasis verifies it. And no doubt but Chénier composed these lines in terrible earnest when he was daily expecting death. How can we say after this that the far-fetched conceits of Richard II in his prison (K. Rich. II, V. v.) are not what it was likely he should indulge in, in his desperate situation?

L. 15. In the first edition the poem here came to an abrupt end. In that of 1826 the fifteen lines were given as having been written by Chénier but few moments before being taken to execution. The following nine lines were altogether omitted, and the rest of the piece given as a separate poem.

L. 35. Var.: La bassesse, la feinte--le désespoir, la honte.

L. 58. Mourir...! The infinitive used absolutely as an exclamation (or interrogation) in order to express surprise or indignation: 'Moi, me taire!' 'A qui se fier à présent?' 'Offenser de la sorte une sainte personne!'--MOLIÈRE. See Ayer, § 209, 4: Mever-Lübke, § 528.

L. 81. noirs de leur ressemblance. Black with their likeness energetically expressed.

L. 83. fouet. A monosyllable, pronounced fouè, and not foi, as some will do.--LITTRÉ.

L. 85. cracher sur leurs noms. Chénier does not mince it in these ïambes.

End of Project Gutenberg's Poésies choisies de André Chénier, by André Chénier