Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/172

148 tradamus was, but, whether there is an error in the place of his burial, or whether the verses are falsely ascribed to him, is beside the question. I saw them and read them in the Mercure, in 1785, 86, or 87, and in 1788 the political atmosphere of France and all Europe was disturbed by violent storms, and the verses were reprinted in all the French and foreign papers. I make no remarks thereon, but content myself with noting the coincidence. To the year 1788 succeeded 1789, when the Revolution burst forth,—a calamity of which no one calculated the extent, and for the results of which we have had to pay dearly.

Amongst the enthusiasts were those infatuated with the novel ideas they had imbibed in the classic ground of America, and joined to them were the young lords of the Court who were associated with some literary men, and thought themselves very clever because they frequented the society of the witty and impertinent Champfort. He laughed at them, and with good reason. He it was who once, on a yacht