Rameau's Nephew and First Satire (Oxford World's Classics) (24 page)

Russian Revolution
: Rulhière’s
Histoire ou Anecdotes sur la Révolution de Russie en l’année 1762
was written at the request of the Comtesse d’Egmont. The work was eventually published in 1797, six years after Rulhière’s death. Before that, Diderot had been involved in negotiations with Catherine the Great, who wanted to buy the manuscript of the work in order to prevent its publication. Rulhière had been secretary of the French Embassy at the time of Catherine’s
coup d’état
, and his
Histoire
hints at her part in the death of her husband Peter III.

of Persius
: the satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus (
AD
34–62), influenced by Stoicism, are less gentle than Horace’s. On Diderot’s use of different models of satire, see Introduction.

Lucilius
: a reference to Horace,
Satires
, 11. i, quoted at the start of the work. Gaius Lucilius (180–103 BC) was considered the founder of Roman satire.

Apulian … says Horace
: ‘He it is I follow—I, a Lucanian or Apulian’ (Horace,
Satires
, 11. i. 34; trans. H. R. Fairclough, Loeb edn.).

Rue Royale
: D’Holbach regularly received at his home in the Rue Royale the group of atheists he referred to as his ‘synagogue’.

Cour de Marsan
: Diderot’s friend Mme de Maux lived in the Cour de Marsan, at the Louvre.

commentary … own it
: Galiani wrote his commentary on Horace in French around 1764, when he was living in Paris. Extracts were published in the
Gazette littéraire de l’Europe
in 1765–6; the full commentary was published only in 1821.

Justum … virum
: ‘The man tenacious of purpose in a righteous cause …’ (Horace,
Odes
, 111. iii. 1; trans. C. E. Bennett, Loeb edn.)

Aurum … melius situm
: ‘undiscovered gold (better so bestowed, while Earth yet hides it’ Horace,
Odes
, 111. iii. 49; Loeb edn.).

Imperat … ducere funem
: ‘Money stored up is for each his lord or his slave, but ought to follow, not lead, the twisted rope’ (Horace,
Epistles
, 1. x. 47–8; trans. H. R. Fairclough, Loeb edn.).

Alberti
Giuseppe-Mateo Alberti (1685–1751) and Domenico Alberti (1710–40), both composers of music for harpsichord.

Arnould
Madeleine Sophie Arnould (1740–1802) made her debut at the Opéra in 1757, and sang in many of the operas of Rameau. She had a long-standing affair (and three children) with the Comte de Lauraguais; their affair was briefly broken off in late 1761.

Baculard
François Thomas de Baculard d’Arnaud (1718–1805), a friend of Diderot in their youth, later became a collaborator of Fréron in
L’Année littéraire
from 1754; as an author, he is mainly remembered for his highly sentimental short stories.

Bagge
Charles-Ernest, Baron de Bagge, a wealthy Dutch music-lover who gave at his hôtel a concert every Friday. (Diderot writes ‘Bacq’, changed here to the more usual spelling.)

Barbier
well-known silk-merchant trading in the Sainte-Opportune quarter in Paris.

Batteux
Charles, Abbé Batteux (1713–80), a writer on aesthetics and a member of the Académie Française, was friendly with the Abbé d’Olivet; Diderot was critical of his aesthetic theories.

Bergier
Claude François Bergier (1721–84), a lawyer and translator from English. His brother, Nicolas Sylvestre (1718–90), was a theologian who wrote a book (1771) condemning d’Holbach’s materialism.

Bernard
Samuel Bernard (1651–1739), famous banker of Protestant origins, who made a loan to Louis XIV.

Bertin
Louis Auguste Bertin de Blagny, a tax farmer (
fermier général
) and wealthy protector of writers hostile to the philosophes’ cause. The break-up of his affair with Mlle Hus was much discussed. He was known to be the protector of Jean-François Rameau.

Bissy
Claude-Henri de Bissy, Comte de Thiard, member of the Académie Française, translator of Bolingbroke and Young.

Bouret
Étienne Michel Bouret de Silhouette (1710–77), son of a lackey, who became immensely rich. He was treasurer of the King’s household, and head of the tax-collecting department. He showed servile obedience to the King and was protector to authors hostile to the party of the philosophes.

Bouvillon
Mme Bouvillon is a (very fat) character in Scarron’s novel
Le Roman comique
(1657).

Bret
Antoine Bret (1717–92), minor playwright, and from 1775 director of
La Gazette de France
, a journal which was hostile to the philosophes.

Briasson
Antoine-Claude Briasson (1700–75), one of the booksellers associated with the publication of the
Encyclopédie
.

Brun
perhaps the poet Ponce Denis Écouchard Le Brun, known as Le Brun-Pindare (1729–1807), or his brother Jean-Étienne Le Brun de Granville (1718–65).

Buffon
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707–88), the most famous scientist of his day, and author of the
Natural History;
he was a writer whom Diderot greatly admired.

Burigny
Jean Lévesque de Burigny (1692–1785), member of the Académie des Inscriptions, author of historical and biographical works, in the circle of Mme Geoffrin; he was also, as Diderot would have been aware, an atheist, who published in 1766 a clandestine critique of Christianity.

Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44
BC
), Roman statesman and military leader.

Caffarelli
Gaetano Majorano Caffarelli (1703–83), castrato singer. He performed in Paris in 1753, and the time of the ‘Querelle des Bouffons’, when he was much applauded by the partisans of Italian music.

Campra
André Campra (1660–1744), composer who wrote for the court and originated the genre of the opéra-ballet (
L’Europe galante
, 1697).

Canaye
Étienne, Abbé de Canaye (1694–1782), historian and music-lover.

Carmontelle
Louis Carrogis, known as Carmontelle (1717–1806), a famous portrait painter, whose portraits include Jean-Philippe Rameau (see frontispiece), and Diderot.

Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43
BC
), Roman orator, statesman, and writer.

Clairon
Mlle Clairon (1723–1802), famous tragic actress, especially in the works of Voltaire. In the
Paradoxe sur le comédien (Paradox of the Actor
) Diderot singles her out as the actress whose head perfectly controls her heart, in contrast to Dumesnil, whose performances were more improvised and instinctive.

Corby
Nicolas Corby, manager of the Opéra-Comique.

Corneille
Pierre Corneille (1606–84), French dramatist of the seventeenth century.

Crébillon the younger
Claude-Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1707–77), author of libertine novels, and for a time a royal censor, which did not endear him to the philosophes. His reputation as a novelist has been restored in the late twentieth century.

D’Alembert
Jean Le Rond D’Alembert (1717–83), a celebrated mathematician, collaborated with Diderot in editing the
Encyclopédie
until 1758, when he withdrew from the project. He was also a close friend (and assiduous correspondent) of Voltaire. He is a central figure in Diderot’s
Le Rêve de D’Alembert (D’Alembert’s Dream)
.

Dangeville
Anne-Marie Botot, known as la Dangeville (1714–96), highly talented actress who retired from the Comédie-Française in 1763.

Daubenton
Louis Daubenton (1716–99), a naturalist and an active collaborator in the
Encyclopédie
.

Dauvergne
Antoine Dauvergne (1713–97), opera composer and director of the Opéra. His opéra-comique
Les Troqueurs (The Barterers
, 1753) was one of the first to set a French text to music in the Italian style.

David
Michel Antoine David the elder, one of the four publishers of the
Encyclopédie
.

Demosthenes
the greatest Athenian orator (384–322
BC
).

Deschamps
Anne-Marie Pagès, known as la Deschamps (
c
. 1730-
c
. 1775), a dancer at the Opéra who was famous for her dalliances and her extravagance.

Destouches
André Cardinal Destouches (1672–1749), pupil of Campra, and remembered as a composer of opera (
Omphale
, 1701).

Diogenes
Greek Cynic philosopher of the fourth century BC, supposed to have lived in a barrel; mocked sexual and other conventions.

Dorat
Claude-Joseph Dorat (1734–80), a poet of modest talent, hostile to the philosophes; he was praised by Fréron.

Duclos
Charles Pinot Duclos (1704–72), a novelist and
moraliste
, and friend of Jean-Jacques Rousseau; he was famously ‘frank’ and difficult.

Duhamel
Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1709–82), a famous writer on agronomy, published
L’Art du charbonnier (The Art of the Coalmaker
) in 1760.

Dumesnil
Marie-France Marchand, known as la Dumesnil (1714–1803), was a member of the Comédie-Française from 1737, where she was the rival of Mlle Clairon as an interpreter of Voltaire.

Duni
Egidio Romualdo Duni (1709–75), composer of opéras-comiques whose success in Paris in the late 1750s revived the ‘Querelle des Bouffons’ of 1752–3. He was admired by the philosophes.

Egmont
the Comtesse d’Egmont (1740–73) was the daughter of the Duc de Richelieu. She was the friend, and perhaps the mistress, of Rulhière, who dedicated several poems to her.

Fenel
Jean-Baptiste Fénel (1695–1753), a scholar and member of the Académie des Inscriptions, who wrote a book on the religion of the ancient Gauls.

Ferrein
Antoine Ferrein (1693–1769), professor of anatomy and medicine in Paris.

Fontenelle
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757), French author and precursor of the philosophes, seen as having provided a model of the didactic dialogue in his
Entretiens sur la pluralité des
mondes (Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds
, 1686), written in a style which the eighteenth century found somewhat flowery. He also wrote opera libretti.

Foubert
a real person, of uncertain identity; possibly a surgeon.

Fréron
Élie Catherine Fréron (1718–76), a protégé of the Comtesse de La Marek, and the most celebrated antagonist of the philosophes, whom he attacked in his journal,
L’Année littéraire
. He was involved in endless quarrels with Voltaire, and was a particular enemy of Diderot.

Galiani
Ferdinando, Abbé Galiani (1728–87), born in Naples, secretary at the embassy in Paris, 1759–69. Friend of Diderot and of Mme d’Épinay.

Galuppi
Baldassare Galuppi (1706–85), composer of operas and of harsichord music.

Geoffrin
Mme Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin (1699–1777), who held at her house in the Rue Saint-Honoré an important salon frequented by writers including Fontenelle and D’Alembert.

Greuze
Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725–1805), a painter of portraits and genre scenes, remarkable for their
sensibilité
. In his
Salons
, Diderot expressed enthusiasm for his paintings.

Grotius
Hugo De Groot, or Grotius (1583–1645), considered to be the founder of international public law.

Guimard
Marie-Madeleine Morelle, known as la Guimard (1743–1816), dancer at the Comédie-Française, then from 1762 at the Opéra. Such was her wealth that she built a private house in Paris containing a theatre for 500 spectators.

Hasse
Jean Adolphe Pierre Hasse (1699–1783), known as ‘the Saxon’, opera composer. In his
Leçons de clavecin
, Diderot considers him to be as famous as Pergolesi.

Helvétius
Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715–71), philosophe admired by Diderot; his most important works were
De l’esprit
(1758) and
De l’homme
(1772).

Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65–8 BC), Latin poet in the reign of Augustus, author of
Epistles, Satires
, and
Odes
. Familiar in
eighteenth-century Europe as one of the best-known and most-loved lyric poets of antiquity. See Introduction for his influence on Diderot’s two
Satires
.

Hus
Adélaïde Louise Pauline Hus (1734–1805), actress at the Comédie-Française, where she was somewhat eclipsed by Mlle Clairon. She encouraged the performance in that theatre of Palissot’s satirical
Les Philosophes
, so was seen as antagonistic to the philosophes’ cause.

Javillier
Jacques Javillier-Létang, a dancer at the Opéra and dancing master to the King, and a well-known figure in the 1760s.

Jommelli
Nicolò Jommelli (1714–74), a prolific composer of operas and sacred music; his
Lamentations
were performed at the Concert spirituel in 1751.

La Bruyère
Jean de La Bruyère (1645–96), a writer remembered for
Les Caractères (The Characters
, 1688); though seen as a French ‘classical’ writer, he is in many ways a precursor of the philosophes.

Laïs
Greek courtesan.

La Marck, Mme de
Marie Anne Françoise de Noailles, Comtesse de La Marck, the protector of Palissot. Not known as a beauty, she became famously devout.