75 Frederick William was induced to perceive a vision: Frederick William II, king of Prussia from 1786 to 1797, nephew and successor of Frederick II (Frederick the Great), member of the European coalition against the French Republic. Both he and his prime ministers were Rosicrucians.
75 the Prince of Anhalt: Nerval nods: it was Field Marshal Blücher (1742-1819).
76 Gessner: Salomon Gessner (1730-1788), Swiss author of the widely imitated collections of bucolic poetry, Idylls (1756 and 1772).
76 Roucher . . . Delille: Antoine Roucher (1745-1794), minor didactic poet. Abbé Jacques Delille (1738-1813), author of descriptive landscape poetry.
78 Ver — or Eve: Anagrams of Rêve — dreamland.
80 They were in fact Templars: In Les Illuminés, Nerval argues that the Templars’ attempts to syncretize Christian doctrines with Oriental spiritual traditions and the mystery cults of Antiquity provided the eventual basis for Freemasonry, which in turn prepared the French Revolution.
81 a play . . . about the death of Rousseau: This madcap scenario was cobbled together out of various legends surrounding the death of Rousseau: Corancez had come up with the Wertherian suicide by pistol, whereas Mme de Staël had opted for the more Socratic hemlock diluted in bowl of café au lait. In his 1821 book Histoire de la vie et des ouvrages de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, V. D. Musset-Pathay also attempted to argue — against the eyewitness testimony to the contrary offered by Rousseau’s patron René de Girardin and his common-law wife, Thérèse — for Rousseau’s suicide.
81 Mme d’Épinay: Louise Florence Pétronille Tardieu d’Esclavelles d’Épinay (1726-1783), French writer known for her liaisons with Rousseau and the Baron von Grimm — as well as for her close acquaintanceship with the philosophers Diderot, d’Alembert, and d’Holbach — who Rousseau, toward the end of his life, deliriously imagined were leagued against him in a “plot” or organized conspiracy. At her Château de la Chevrette in the valley Montmorency, Mme d’Épinay had supplied a home for Rousseau in 1756, which she named the Hermitage, but during the years 1757 to 1759, She paid long visits to Geneva, where she was a constant guest of Voltaire, thus earning her the jealous enmity of Rousseau.
81 Mme d’Houdetot: Elisabeth-Françoise-Sophie de la Live de Bellegarde (1730-1813), wife of the count d’Houdetot, and subsequently mistress of Saint-Lambert. Rousseau met her at the Hermitage through her sister-in-law, Mme d’Épinay, and fell head over heels in love with her. Book Nine of his Confessions describes how he sublimated this impossible passion into the plot of his best-selling novel of 1761, La Nouvelle Héloïse — with the love triangle that existed between himself, Mme d’Houdetot, and Saint-Lambert now transformed into the fictional relationship of St. Preux, Julie, and M. de Wolmar.
81 Grimm: Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm (1723- 1807), German-born encyclopedist and correspondent of many of the great sovereigns and courts of Europe. Originally a close friend of Rousseau, who introduced him to Mme d’Épinay at Montmorency; their resultant love affair aroused the animosity of the Swiss philosopher.
81 Thérèse: Thérèse Levasseur (?-1801), semi-literate seamstress and common-law wife of Rousseau, to whom she may have borne as many as five children, all of whom were given away to foundling homes between 1746 and 1752. After Rousseau’s death in 1778, she became the sole heiress of all his belongings, including his manuscripts and royalties, and married the valet Jean-Henri Bally the following year.
82 Émile: Rousseau’s treatise on education, Émile, was banned or burned upon its publication in Paris and Geneva in 1762 because of its controversial section including the “Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar.”
82 his Armenian outfit: Rousseau explains in his Confessions just why he adopted the loose flowing robes of this “Armenian” outfit: the wearing of trousers irritated his genitals, causing him to urinate too frequently.
82 his herbals . . . and some periwinkles: During the years he spent under the maternal tutelage of Mme de Warens (1699-1762) at Les Charmettes in 1735-36, Rousseau learned the rudiments of botany. He describes foraging for plants for his herbals in his posthumous Reveries of a Solitary Walker. His discovery of the mnemonic talisman of the periwinkle — or pervenche — provides a classic Proustian madeleine moment in Book Six of his Confessions.
83 Ten-day hiatus: No installments of Nerval’s feuilleton appeared in Le National between November 23 and December 6. In its place, this editorial notice was inserted: “Desirous to provide our readers at long last with the HISTORY OF THE ABBÉ DE BUCQUOY, M. Gérard de Nerval wishes to devote all his time to the pursuit of his elusive hero. We respect his prerogatives as a historian and therefore suspend the course of his narrative until such a day as he will have laid hands on the book in question — which will no doubt soon cease to evade the perseverance of his research.”
84 The Dream of Polyphile: I.e., Polyphilo Hypnerotomachia (1499) by the Venetian neo-Platonist Francesco Colonna.
86 the celebrated Augusta Suessonium: Founder of the Merovingian dynasty, Clovis (c.466-511), defeated the Roman legions at Soissons in 486.
87 Lucrèce Borgia: Melodramatic historical drama by Victor Hugo (1838).
88 Merlinus Coccaius: Pseudonym of the Italian poet Teofilo Folengo (1496-1544), whose macaronic burlesques of chivalric romances prefigure Cervantes. The first-century authors Petronius and Lucian round out this Bakhtinian tradition of the “dialogical” novel.
89 Facilis descensus Averni: Aeneid, VI, 126: “It is easy to descend into Avernus.”
89 these lovely lines by Chénier: André-Marie Chénier (1762-1794), French poet and martyr who was imprisoned at Saint-Lazare in 1794 on trumped-up charges; accused of having participated in a prison conspiracy, he was guillotined as a subversive the same year. Nerval quotes (loosely) from one of his Odes.
89 Prince Eugène was scoring successes: François-Eugène, Prince of Savoy-Carignan (1663-1736), French-born military commander who, rejected by King Louis for service in the French army, transferred his loyalty to the Habsburg Monarchy. During the War of the Spanish Succession, in partnership with the Duke of Marlborough, he secured victories against the French on the fields of Blenheim, Oudenaarde, and Malplaquet.
89 the words of a folk song: I.e., “Marlborough s’en va’t-en guerre” (also known as “Mort et convoi de l’invincible Marlborough”), sung to the tune of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”
89 revocation of the Edict of Nantes: The Edict of Nantes was issued in 1598 by Henri IV to guarantee the Calvinist Protestants of France their rights and to bring the wars of religion to an end. In 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict and declared Protestantism illegal, thus creating an exodus to Great Britain, Prussia, the Dutch Republic, and the French colonies of North America. The Huguenots of the Cévennes region of south-central France, known as the Camisards, raised an insurrection against the persecution of Protestants, which lasted on and off from 1702 to 1715.
90 Mme de Maintenon: Françoise d’Aubigné Scarron (1635- 1719), morganatic second wife of Louis XIV — though her marriage to the king was never officially announced or admitted to. Deeply pious, she advised the king on domestic and foreign policy, while encouraging his religious devotion.
90 the battle of Hochstedt: August 13, 1704: Prince Eugène and Marlborough defeat the army of Louis XIV.
90 Where was he coming from?: Compare the celebrated opening paragraph of Diderot’s Jacques le fataliste: “How had they met? By chance, like everybody. What were their names? Why do you care? Where were they coming from? From the nearest point. Where were they going? Does one ever know?”
91 salty Burgundians: During the Hundred Years’ War, the Burgundians captured the coastal fortress of Aigues-Mortes; when its inhabitants revolted in 1422 and massacred the occupiers from Burgundy, they preserved their bodies in local sea salt so that they could be placed on display as trophies.
91 the spats between Fénelon and Bossuet: François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (1651-1715), Catholic theologian,
poet, and writer, and advocate of Quietism, considered heretical by the pope. Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704), French bishop, theologian, and renowned pulpit orator. Madame Guyon (1648-1717), French mystic and practitioner of Quietism, imprisoned in the Bastille from 1695 to 1703 for having published A Short and Easy Method of Prayer.
93 La Trappe: La Trappe Abbey in Soligny-la-Trappe (Orne) is the house of origin of the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance. Its fourteenth abbot, Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, the stepson of Cardinal Richelieu, was the subject of an 1844 biography by Chateaubriand.
93 a number of caps: I.e., Phrygian caps, ancient symbols of liberty?
95 Ninon de Lenclos: French author, courtesan, and patron of the arts (1620-1705). Her lovers included the king’s cousin, the Great Condé, Gaspard de Coligny, and La Rochefoucauld, and in 1656, she was briefly imprisoned in a convent for her libertine ways. At the age of sixty, she was the mistress of Charles de Sévigné, son of the marquise — hence the latter’s disparaging portrait of her in her Memoirs.
100 when it comes to history: Froissart and Monstrelet, previously mentioned, were medieval authors of Chronicles. Le père Daniel (1649-1728) was Louis XIV’s royal historiographer, as was François-Eudes de Mézeray (1610- 1683); Hardouin de Beaumont de Péréfixe (1605-1671) wrote a history of the reign of Henri IV; Alexis Monteil (1769-1850) was the author of l’Histoire des Français des divers états (1827-1844); Lamartine’s History of the Girondists appeared in 1847; Prosper de Barante (1782- 1866) was a specialist of the Dukes of Burgundy; François Guizot (1787-1874) wrote a number of histories of France and Europe in the 1820s; Louis-Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877) was the author of a ten-volume History of the French Revolution (1823-1827).
103 My brothers, only God is great: The first sentence of Massillon’s funeral oration for Louis XIV.
104 Villars off in the distance: The Duke of Villars (1653-1734) was the last great general of Louis XIV; after pacifying the Cévennes, he led France to several decisive victories in Germany and Austria during the War of the Spanish Succession.
104 visiting the wings of a theater: Adapted from Poe’s “Philosophy of Composition” (1846).
104 when the Bastille was finally demolished: Nerval took most of his information about the Bastille from Constantin de Renneville’s four-volume L’Inquisition française (Amsterdam and Leyden, 1724).
107 Fouquet and Lauzun: Nicolas Fouquet (1615-1680) was superintendent of finances under Louis XIV — who, displeased with his enormous wealth and extravagance, had him imprisoned at the fortress of Pignerol in 1665, where he died fifteen years later. The Duke of Lauzun (1633-1723), a favorite of Louis XIV, was imprisoned for ten years, first at the Bastille and then at Pignerol, after a passionate romance with the king’s cousin Mlle de Montpensier.
108 the performances at Saint-Cyr: Founded by Mme de Maintenon in 1685, this school for the daughters of impoverished noblemen was also the scene of the performances of Racine’s late Christian dramas Esther (1689) and Athalie (1691).
108 the existing inscription: The Latin reads “The College of Clermont of the Society of Jesus,” which was changed to “The College of Louis the Great.”
120 J.-B. Rousseau: Jean-Baptiste Rousseau (1671-1741), no relation to Jean-Jacques, was considered one of the premier poets of his age.
121 Heinsius: Antoine Heinsius (1640-1720); the Dutch title is the equivalent of a prime minister.
122 d’Holbach and La Mettrie: The Baron d’Holbach (1723- 1789), French encyclopedist and early proponent of materialism in his 1770 Système de la nature. Julian Offray de la Mettrie (1709-1751), best known for his atheistic L’Homme machine of 1748.
122 the king of Sweden: Charles XII, who ruled Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He was victorious over the Russians at Narva — and not, as Nerval writes (following the abbé de Bucquoy), Nerva — but then was routed by Peter the Great at Poltava in the Ukraine, before taking refuge at Bender, in Turkey. Quintus Curtius was a Roman historian who wrote a ten-volume biography of Alexander the Great.
TRANSLATOR’S POSTSCRIPT
Nerval’s The Salt Smugglers was never published in book form during his own lifetime; to this day, this experimental serial novel lies largely forgotten in the pages of tome two of the Pléiade edition of his Oeuvres complètes, unavailable to the general reader. An ephemeral journalistic performance addressed to the political topicalities of the ailing Second Republic, the text first appeared in twenty-seven installments in Le National between October 24 and December 22, 1850, a year before Louis Napoléon’s coup d’état. Except for a brief hiatus in late November, it came out regularly in the Thursday through Sunday issues of the paper, the other days of the week being devoted to feature pieces on the theater, fine arts, or recent activities at the Academy of Sciences. Following the standard newspaper format of the day, the feuilleton filled four columns on the bottom third of the front page and four additional columns at the bottom of the reverse page. Each column was composed of thirty-three lines, and Nerval was probably paid the going rate for a journalist of his reputation, namely, twenty-five centimes a line — which meant he was earning a little over eight francs per column of print, or roughly seventy francs per installment. If indeed he was paid in full, he may have netted eighteen hundred francs for his efforts, a respectable sum for the period, yet a pittance compared to the thirty thousand francs that his friend Alexandre Dumas had raked in for the serial publication of his blockbuster Count of Monte-Cristo several years earlier.
A master of the assembly-line techniques of the new littérature industrielle (as Sainte-Beuve dubbed it), Dumas had used the columnar format of the newspaper serial novel to great effect: by foreshortening his paragraphs and pasting in great swatches of rapid-fire dialogue, he was able to significantly inflate the number of lines for which he was being paid. This typographical padding out of the text with blanks, however, at the same time created a new kind of visual prosody: given the precipitous speed at which these serials hurtled along, the half-distracted newspaper reader needed only to scroll down the column of print, rapidly scanning the events that unrolled upon the filmstrip before the eyes. Nerval, who was Dumas’ erstwhile collaborator and occasional ghostwriter, observes a similar economy of the page in The Salt Smugglers. This is the first edition that attempts to reproduce the actual disposition of the text as originally published in Le National: the four columns per double-page layout will, it is hoped, provide a reasonable facsimile of the novel’s original journalistic pace. Similarly, the French punctuation of the original — guillemets and all — has also been systematically retained, not only in order to “foreignize” the translation but, more importantly, to articulate Nerval’s quirky prose rhythms, nowhere more evident than in his liberal (and financially profitable) use of the digressional dash — atypographical flourish that earned him the sobriquet of “le Sterne français.”
When Le National announced the forthcoming publication of Nerval’s feuilleton in the early fall of 1850, the project bore the somewhat recondite title of ÉTUDES HISTORIQUES: LES FAUX SAULNIERS (Extrait de la Vie et des Aventures de l’abbé Bucquoi). No doubt anxious to avoid the punitive stamp tax that, according to the recently passed press laws of July, they would have had to pay if caught publishing fiction in their pages, the editors preferred to pass off Nerval’s text as a “Historical Study” (or, perhaps, more accurately “A Study in History”). The “abbé Bucquoi” whom Nerval had promised to deliver to his editors as the genuinely documentary (and not merely novelistic) object of his narration was a certain Jean-Albert D’Archambaud, comte de Bucquoy (1650?-1740), a minor aristocrat who lived during the reign of Louis XIV and who was best known as one of the rare inmates to have successfully escaped from the state prison of Fort-l’Évêque (in 1706) and, even more incredibly, from the Bastille (in 1709). An attractive candidate for a swashbuckling tale set in le grand siècle (Dumas had already mined this rich vein of the historical novel in his D’Artagnan Romances), the abbé de
Bucquoy also attracted Nerval’s interest as an early Utopian fantasist who, during his later years of exile in Holland — where he lived to the ripe old age of ninety — had published a number of pamphlets proposing the transformation of monarchical France into a republic. In 1852, Nerval would recycle the abbé de Bucquoy portion of his newspaper serial (where, deferred until December, it occupied only the final third of the installments) into the collection of biographical essays he entitled Les Illuminés , or the “Precursors of Socialism.” A portrait gallery of a series of eccentrics ranging from the semi-fictional Raoul Spifame, a mad sixteenth-century social reformer and printer, to such eighteenth-century authors and adventurers as the prophet of revolution Jacques Cazotte, the “communist” polygraph and pornographer Restif de la Bretonne, the alchemist and necromancer Alessandro Cagliostro, and the neo-pagan philsopher Quintus Aucler, the volume outlined an underground tradition of misfits and illuminati all committed to the radical reimagining of political community.
As for the title of Nerval’s serial, Les Faux Saulniers, most contemporary readers versed in French history would have recognized the allusion to the notorious gabelle, or salt tax, one of the most despised revenue sources of the ancien régime — which required every person over the age of eight to purchase a minimum amount of salt (about fifteen pounds) each year at elevated prices set by the Crown’s monopoly and its corrupt tax farmers. Faux saunage (or salt fraud) was rampant in the provinces where the tax was highest, and in 1675, some seven thousand Breton peasants rose up against the gabelle, provoking a brutal repression by royal troops and an even more drastic revision of the salt tax laws by Colbert. Given these circumstances, the salt smugglers or clandestine salt makers known as faux sauniers (Nerval prefers the archaic spelling to saulniers) stood to make considerable profit on their contraband and, like the rum-runners of the Prohibition Era, were often seen as romantic outlaws in league with the local peasantry against the distant and ever more oppressive nation-state. By the late eighteenth century, more than three thousand French men, women, and children were sentenced to prison or death every year for crimes against the gabelle. After the French Revolution, the new National Assembly abolished the salt tax in early 1790 and amnestied all those accused of faux saunage. Reestablished by Napoléon in 1806 to defray the costs of his foreign wars, it remained in effect until the revolution of 1848, when, in one of its very first February decrees (laden with symbolism), the new provisional government eliminated the salt tax altogether — only to see it reintroduced in December later that same year.