E.A. Poe, Life

                                  

Edgar Allan Poe

1809 – 1849

American author, poet, editor

and literary critic

[American Romantic Movement]

·        1809 –  Edgar Allan Poe, of Ulster origins, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19.  His parents, Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins and David Poe, Jr. were both itinerant actors. He was their second child and was probably named after a character in William Shakespeare's King Lear, a play his parents were performing in 1809. E.A. Poe had an elder brother, William Henry Leonard, and a younger sister, Rosalie.

·        1810 - His father abandoned their family.

·        1811 - His mother died from consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis).

Edgar was taken in by his godfather, John Allan, from whom he got his second name.  John Allan was an elderly successful Scottish merchant of Richmond, Virginia, who dealt in a variety of goods such as tobacco, cloth, wheat, tombstones and… slaves. He alternately spoiled and aggressively disciplined his foster son. John and Frances Allan never formally adopted him.

·        1815 - the Allan family sailed to Britain.

Poe attended the grammar school in Irvine, Scotland (where John Allan was born), for a short period.

·        1816 - then the family moved to London where Edgar continued his studies. The greatest English writers and poets had an important influence on his sensibility.

·        1820 -  At the age of 11, E.A. Poe moved back with the Allans to Richmond, Virginia.

·         1826 – Back to the USA,  Poe might have had a love affair with Sarah Elmira Royster [1810-1888] before he registered at the one-year-old University of Virginia in February to study languages.

During his short stay at University he did not distinguish himself academically, but he acquired a reputation as an athlete and bon viveur. He lost touch with Sarah Royster and also became estranged from his foster father because of his gambling debts. As a matter of fact, his gambling debts forced him to leave his studies after only eight months.

·        1827 - He decided to go to Boston where he sustained himself there working at times as a clerk and newspaper writer.  At some point he started using the pseudonym Henri Le Rennet. His decision to move to another town was also due to the fact that he was not feeling welcome in Richmond, especially because his sweetheart Sarah Royster had married Alexander Shelton, a man who collected a great wealth thanks to the transportation industry.

Unable to support himself, Poe enlisted in the United States Army as a private. Using the name "Edgar A. Perry", he claimed he was 22 years old (but he was 18 at the time!).  He first served at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor for five dollars a month.

That same year he released his first book, an anonymous 40-page collection of poems entitled Tamerlane and Other Poems. The book didn’t receive any attention.

Later Poe’s regiment was sent to South Carolina, he was promoted "artificer" and his monthly pay doubled.  But after serving for two years in the army, Poe sought to end his five-year enlistment earlier. He revealed his real name, real age and circumstances to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Howard.

Lieutenant Howard helped Poe be discharged and reconcile with the Allan family. Actually Poe’s relationship with John Allan was very bad in these years.

·        1829 – in February Frances Allan died and Poe visited the day after her funeral. Perhaps softened by his wife's death, John Allan agreed to support Poe's attempt to be discharged. He wanted to give his stepson another possibility and made his best to fix an appointment for him for a position at the West Point Military Academy.

In this period he moved back to Baltimore for a time, and stayed with his widowed aunt Maria Clemm, her daughter, Virginia Eliza Clemm (Poe's first cousin), his brother Henry, and his invalid grandmother Elizabeth Poe.  Here he published his second book, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems.

·        1830 -  Thanks to John Allan’s interest, he entered the West Point Military Academy, but unfortunately he was dishonorably discharged the following year for the intentional neglect of duties. 

In October John Allan married his second wife, Louisa Patterson, and Poe parted ways with the Allans. As a matter of facts, the new marriage, and the bitter quarrels with Poe about his failure as an officer's cadet at West Point, finally led the foster father to disowning Poe.

·        1831 - He left for New York in February and released a third volume of poems, simply titled Poems. The book was financed with help from his fellow cadets at West Point.

After his brother's death in August, and considering the facts that his godfather’s second marriage had killed his hopes of becoming Allan’s heir and that he had already published three volumes of verse without great critical acclaim, E.A. Poe began more earnest attempts to start his career as a writer. He thus decided to turn to journalism and prose. It was a quite hard financial period for him and he soon realized it was a difficult time in American publishing to emerge as a writer. Publishers, in fact, often pirated copies of British works rather than paying for new works by Americans. But in this situation he managed to place a few stories with a Philadelphia publication and began work on his only drama, Politian.

·        1833 – In October the Baltimore Saturday Visitor awarded Poe a prize for his short story "MS. Found in a Bottle". The story brought him to the attention of a Baltimorean of considerable means, Mr J.P. Kennedy. He helped Poe place some of his stories, and introduced him to the editor of the periodical Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Mr Thomas W. White.

·        1835 – in August Poe became assistant editor of the Southern Literary Messenger,  but was discharged within a few weeks for being caught drunk by Mr White. 

In the same year he went to live with his aunt, Maria Clemm in Baltimore and soon after he secretly married her daughter, his thirteen-year-old cousin Virginia (she was listed on the marriage certificate as being 21).  He was reinstated by White as a staff writer and critic after promising good behavior and remained at the Messenger until January 1837. During this period Poe’s financial situation got better. He published several poems, book reviews, critiques, and stories in that paper. After resigning the conduct of the Messenger, Poe began to ponder the idea of establishing a literary journal of his own. But he realized there were a lot of financial difficulties.

·        1836 - In May 16 he had a second wedding ceremony, in public, in Richmond with Virginia Clemm.

·        1838 -  The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was published and widely reviewed. 

1839 - In the summer Poe became assistant editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. He published numerous articles, stories, and reviews, enhancing his reputation as a trenchant critic that he had established at the Southern Literary Messenger. Poe left Burton's after about a year.

Mr Burton sold his magazine to G.R. Graham and the periodical was then merged with the Atkinson’s Casket to become Graham’s Magazine.

[G.R. Graham decided to hire Poe in order to offer him financial support about his plans concerning a prospective literary journal).

The collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in two volumes, though he made little money off of it and it received mixed reviews.  

He worked on various papers, and became editor of the Southern Daily Messanger. But his drinking habits cost him that job after only a year.

·        1840 - in June Poe bought an advertising space in Philadelphia's Saturday Evening Post to publish a prospectus announcing he was planning to produce his own journal, The Penn (the title is for Pennsylvania where it  would have been based, later renamed The Stylus). But the establishment of his magazine remained only a dream as he died before it could be produced.

·        1842 - In January Virginia showed the first signs of consumption. She only partially recovered and, as a consequence, Poe began to drink more heavily under the stress of her illness.

He left Graham's and, around this time, he tried to get a position in the Tyler administration as a member of the Whig Party. He hoped to be appointed to the Custom House in Philadelphia. But Poe, claiming to be sick, failed to show up for a political meeting. His friends believed he was drunk, and all positions were filled by others.

He returned to New York, where he worked briefly at the Evening Mirror.

·        1845 -  =  annus mirabilis for Poe :

in January his poem "The Raven" appeared in the Evening Mirror and became a popular sensation; he became editor and sole owner of The Broadway Journal and  a new volume of tales was published.

Unfortunately Poe’s worries about Virginia’s health affected his unstable temperament, and financial worries and his alcoholism unbalanced him farther.

In this period he alienated himself from other writers by publicly accusing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism.

·        1846 - The Broadway Journal failed. Poe moved to a cottage in the Fordham section of The Bronx, New York. That home is known today as the "Poe Cottage".

·        1847 - Virginia died there on January 30.   

·        1848 - Increasingly unstable after his wife's death, Poe attempted to court the poet Sarah Helen Whitman [1803-1878], but their engagement failed. Whitman's mother intervened and did much to derail their relationship because of Poe's drinking and erratic behavior.

Poe then returned to Richmond and resumed a relationship with his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Elmira Royster. He pressed her to marry him, but she was hesitant and the marriage never took place.

·        1849 – Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7. He was found on the streets of Baltimore delirious and was taken to Hospital. Unfortunately he was never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his bad condition and why he was wearing clothes that were not his own. The actual cause of his death is still a mystery.

Nicholas-Bonaventure Duchesne, life

by

Noël E. Kay
 (c. 1909 - 1985)
 English Scholar & Professor

Here below is an interesting study concerning the life of

Nicholas-Bonaventure Duchesne, 

made in the early 1980s by Mr Noël E. Kay, 

an eminent Professor of French and a meticolous English scholar.  

[ FOREWORD: Nicholas-Bonaventure Duchesne was a French publisher and bookseller born around 1710 and who succeeded his father-in-law André Cailleau in the running of a Publishing House in Paris in 1751   (André Cailleau had founded his Publishing House in 1708).

Nicholas-Bonaventure Duchesne  has been  an  important XVIII century figure as he,  thanks to his job, has backed some great writers, historians and philosophers up, particularly in the field of the French Thought. As a matter of fact, he published important names such as Restif de la Bretonne, Voltaire and Rousseau.

Towards the end of the XVIII century the Publishing House, then called "Au Temple du Gout", changed hands and was eventually bought up by Mr Pierre-Victor Stock who ran it for 44 years (from 1877 to 1921) and gave it its current name. Pierre-Victor Stock is remember for being the publisher of the "Affaire Dreyfus". He published many essay on the subject (about 150!), and among them Dreyfus's own 'Lettres d'un innocent'. In the early  20th century, the Publishing House ran into legal and financial difficulties. It was taken over in 1921 by Maurice Delamain and Jacques Chardonne, and it was renamed "Stock, Delamain et Boutelleau".

In 1961 Delamain and Chardonne sold Stock to Hachette. (Hachette Livre is a part of the Legardère Group).  Since the mid-20th century, Stock has specialised in foreign literature and non-fiction. ]

Nicholas-Bonaventure Duchense,

his life

by

Noël E.Kay

Vraiment, il aurait pu servir de modèle à Marivaux pour son Paysan Parvenu.

Il naquit, cet autre Jacob, d'une modeste famille de laboureurs, à Saint-Maurice en Cotentin, très probablement en 1710. Or, Jacques Duchesne, laboureur et bourgeois de Saint-Maurice, et Simonne Duval sa femme avaient six enfants, l'aîné des quatre fils étant notre Nicolas-Bonaventure. Ils habitaient à Saint-Maurice (Canton de Barneville - Carteret) « une maison à usage de salle, grange et étable, et boulangerie », mais leurs terres, de contenance d'environ trente vergées, ne suffisaient évidemment pas à entretenir quatre fils (dont au moins deux ambitieux), de sorte que Nicolas-Bonaventure part tenter la fortune à Paris, ou le suivront plus tard ses frères René-Léonard et Jean-Francois. C'est donc leur frère cadet, Jacques Duchesne fils, qui reste sur place pour aider son père à cultiver ses champs.

C'est peut-être vers 1726 que notre Nicolas-Bonaventure arrive à Paris, ou il entre en condition comme... laquais chez le libraire - éditeur Laurent-Francois Prault qui exerçait, quai de Conti, à la descente du Pont Neuf, sous l'enseigne de la « Charité ». L'on peut croire cependant, que, des le début de son service chez Prault fils, peut-être même avant son départ de Saint-Maurice, Duchesne ambitionnait de se faire libraire à Paris. Mais à cette époque-là, n'était pas libraire qui voulait, de sorte que, pendant les années trente et quarante du dix-huitième siècle, il dut trouver son chemin semé d'obstacles quasiment insurmontables, sa condition de laquais et le manque des capitaux susceptibles de lui permettre de lancer une grande entreprise de librairie n'en étant que les premiers. Il les surmontera cependant, comme tous les autres obstacles qui lui barreront le chemin. Tout laquais qu'il était, Duchesne est parvenu petit à petit à transformer ce service domestique en une espèce d'apprentissage officieux, profitant de tout conseil susceptible de lui être utile, écoutant les critiques des lettrés et des bibliophiles lesquels, à l'affût de nouveautés, fréquentaient les boutiques de Prault fils, quai de Conti, ou de Prault Père, quai de Gèvres. Un début de carrière à la Jacob peut seul expliquer que, des l'âge de 41 ans, Duchesne sera lui-même reçu libraire par la communauté des libraires de Paris. L'on constate d'ailleurs avec un certain intérêt que Prault père avait suivi la même carrière car, lui-même ancien laquais devenu libraire-éditeur-imprimeur, il était « fort a son aise » (1), et que Prault fìls éditait « beaucoup de nouveautés et de comédies. » (2). L'on peut donc croire que Prault Père aura ressenti pour notre jeune laquais une certaine sympathie et l'on ne s'étonnera pas de trouver qu'en temps et lieu, le fonds de librairie de notre futur libraire sera également un fonds littéraire et surtout dramatique comprenant beaucoup de comédies, de sorte que l'existence d'une collaboration entre L.-F. Prault et son ancien laquais devenu apprenti officieux est pour le moins vraisemblable. De plus, les noms des Prault père et fils, figureront au contrat de mariage de Duchesne parmi les « amis du futur » (3).

(1) Bibliothèque nationale, fonds français 22107, fols 148 et 149, Historique des libraires.

(2) Ibid.

(3) Archives nles, Minutier Central LXXXV 513, 28 Avril 1747, Contrat de mariage de N.-B. Duchesne.

(4) Arch. dép. de la Manche, 5E, Notariat de Portbail, registre 120, acte n° 258, le jeudi 25 octobre 1770. Licitation entre les nommés Duchesne. Dans l'intitulé de cet acte figure par erreur le nom «Jean-Francois [Duchesne] » ; il s'agit en réalité de Jean-Nicolas Duchesne, fìls de Nicolas-Bonaventure Duchesne.

(5) Ibid.

*******

Les capitaux si nécessaires pour lancer et mener à bien un grand commerce de librairie, ou Duchesne les aurait-il pris ? Non, certes, dans la succession de son père (mort avant le mois d'avril 1747) dont on n'a fait le partage qu'en octobre 1770 (4), soit plus de cinq ans après le décès de N.-B. Duchesne lui-même. Les objets des successions des père et mère de Duchesne, maison et pièces de terre, étant considérés d'une valeur trop petite pour qu'on les divisai en quatre parts (5), les cohéritiers, à savoir 1° la veuve N.-B. Duchesne, 2° Anne-Marie Duchesne, 3° Françoise Duchesne, 4° Jacques Duchesne fìls sont convenus de les liciter en faveur de Jacques Duchesne fils, moyennant la somme de 1.200 livres. Ce chiffre ne représentait pourtant pas la valeur totale de la succession de Jacques Duchesne père, puisque Jacques Duchesne fils renonçait en outre à sa part du reliquat de la succession de son frère René-Léonard, mort antérieurement à l'ile de Saint-Domingue (6). Cette succession avait été employée pour constituer une vente viagère de 500 livres en faveur de la veuve de Jacques Duchesne père, de sorte que le chiffre total convenu par l'hoirie Jac­ques Duchesne père serait monte probablement à environ 3.700 livres (2.500 l. représentant une part du principal de la rente viagère, plus les 1.200 livres versées par Jacques Duchesne fils). Quoi qu'il en soit, il est établi que ce n'est pas dans sa famille que N.-B. Duchesne a pu trouver l'argent dont il avait besoin pour lancer un commerce de librairie.

A force donc de placer ses épargnes, épargnes de laquais, rappelons-le, augmentées peut-être par des emprunts hypothéqués sur les successions de certains parents et amis (rappelons Pierre Prault, l'ancien laquais, qui était « fort a son aise »), Duchesne est parvenu d'une manière ou d'une autre à accumuler les capitaux nécessaires pour exercer clandestinement. Son contrat de mariage permet d'affirmer qu'un de ses placements d'argent remontait au mois d'août de l'année 1737 et dans le même contrat Duchesne est qualifié de « libraire » exerçant au quai de Conti, sans doute chez Prault fils, sans qu'il soit question de sa réception par la communauté, réception qui n'aura lieu que quatre ans plus tard.

(4) Arch. dép. de la Manche, 5E, Notariat de Portbail, registre 120, acte n° 258, le jeudi 25 octobre 1770. Licitation entre les nommés Duchesne. Dans l'intitulé de cet acte figure par erreur le nom «Jean-Francois [Duchesne] » ; il s'agit en réalité de Jean-Nicolas Duchesne, fìls de Nicolas-Bonaventure Duchesne.

(5) Ibid.

(6) René-Léotard et Jean-Francois étant décédés sans progéniture.

*******

Mais venons-en à ce mariage, qui marquera une étape importante dans la carrière de Nicolas-Bonaventure. Au mois d'avril 1747, Duchesne est si peu laquais qu'André Cailleau, libraire - éditeur de Paris très connu, très accrédité et assez prospère a voulu lui donner sa fille, Marie-Antoinette en mariage. Duchesne déclare que ses biens « consistent en la somme de douze mille livres », tandis qu'André Cailleau et son épouse constituent en dot à leur fille six mille livres en « marchandises de librairie ». Ce document nous permet de constater en outre que Duchesne rétrocède a Nicolas Dubosc (7), ancien bibliothécaire de l'archevêque de Paris, une vente de cinquante livres à principal de mille livres lesquelles Duchesne déclare avoir employées à acheter des marchandises de librairie. A la suite de son mariage, Duchesne emménage chez Andre Cailleau, rue Saint-Jacques, paroisse de Saint-Benoist, ou il dirigera la boutique. A en croire l'Historique des libraires de la Bibliothèque nationale, les affaires de Duchesne prospèrent, tandis que le commerce d'André Cailleau périclite. Lors du décès du libraire Cailleau, la veuve Cailleau est reçue libraire « par le décès de son mari » le 28 janvier 1751 ; en attendant, Duchesne continue d'exercer clandestinement. En 1751, cependant, étant gendre de libraire, il demande lui-même d'être reçu par la communauté. Sur ce, grand émoi au sein de cette compagnie, qui se soulève unanimement pour s'opposer à sa réception. Ce sera le dernier de tous les obstacles que Duchesne rencontrera dans sa carrière de libraire. On aurait pu le croire insurmontable. Il n'en était rien, cependant, car, grâce à un ordre du Chancelier de France, Lamoignon de Blancmesnil, en date du 29 octobre 1751, Duchesne est imposé à la communauté, de sorte qu'il est reçu le 6 novembre 1751.

(7) Possessionné à Fresville, canton de Montebourg. Cf. arch. dép. Manche, 5 E, Notariat de St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, année 1740, acte 324.

*******

A partir de ce moment, le commerce de Duchesne prendra un essor que la mort seule interrompra. Il vivra encore 13 ans 8 mois mais voici ce qu'il a accompli en ce court espace de temps.

Il a fonde sur des bases financières très solides une maison d'édition prospère qui demeurera en fonctions jusqu'à la fin de l'année 1845. Dès le début, ou peu s'en faut, ses belles éditions se rencontrent partout en Europe, à Paris, en province, en Hollande, en Belgique, en Italie, en Allemagne. Le fonds de librairie de la maison Duchesne comportait les noms d'au moins 362 auteurs. C'est elle qui a donne la première édition de l’Emile de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, agréée par Malesherbes, fils de Lamoignon de Blancmesnil et directeur de la librairie. C'est elle qui donne les-Œuvres diverses du même auteur. En plus, au commencement de 1765, c'est encore Duchesne qui négocia avec Jean-Jacques l'édition du Dictionnaire de Musique de celui-ci que publiera la veuve Duchesne quelque trois ans plus tard. La maison Duchesne a édité également plusieurs ouvrages de Voltaire, notamment ses tragédies. Le fonds de commerce de Duchesne est un fonds littéraire et surtout dramatique, comportant beaucoup de comédies, de vaudevilles et de nouveautés. Lors de son décès, survenu le 4Juillet 1765, Duchesne laissera à sa veuve, Marie-Antoinette Cailleau et à leurs trois enfants mineurs (Marie-Antoinette, Charlotte-Antoinette, et Jean-Nicolas) une succession dont la masse générale montera à 452.633 livres 18 sols 7 deniers. Déduction faite des dettes et reprises, veuve et enfants partageront 341.717 livres 1 sol 10 deniers. La prisée des livres dépendant de la succession montera a 263.257 livres !

*******

Comme de droit, la veuve Duchesne fut reçue libraire « par le décès de son mari ». Or, avant son mariage elle avait été « maitresse commère » dans la boutique de son père, André Cailleau. D'ailleurs elle gardait auprès d'elle l'ancien premier commis de feu son mari, un homme expérimenté et compétent qui avait travaillé quelque treize ans avec N.-B. Duchesne et dont nous aurons à reparler plus loin.

Il était donc à prévoir que, de convention entre les parties, la veuve Duchesne garderait entre ses mains le fonds de librairie de la succession ainsi que les capitaux indispensables pour exploiter son commerce (8), si bien que, presque du jour au lendemain, elle eut les affaires de la maison en main et que le commerce continua comme si de rien n'était (9). De sorte, les belles éditions de la maison Duchesne continuent de se vendre partout en Europe, ou la rubrique nouvelle : a Paris, chez la veuve Duchesne, rue Saint-Jacques au-dessous de la Fontaine Saint-Benoist, au Temple du goût est aussi connue de nos jours par les bibliophiles que l'ancienne. C'est a très juste titre que la veuve Duchesne écrira le 2 mai 1767 à Voltaire : « ...la maison a une sorte de célébrité ». Elle expliquait à Voltaire qu'il se débitait dans Paris « fort souvent » des ouvrages qui semblaient être de son fonds mais qu'elle-même ne connaissait pas. C'étaient des œuvres d'auteurs qui les faisaient imprimer pour leur compte et débiter de même en y faisant mettre son adresse a elle ! (10)

« L'exacte et avisée veuve Duchesne » (c'est Voltaire qui l'appelle ainsi) (11) a continué de diriger avec succès ses affaires jusqu'à sa mort, survenue le 25 mai 1793. Lors de la mort de la veuve Duchesne, la prisée des livres de son fonds montait a 177.383 livres, le reliquat actif de la succession a 131.304 livres 18 sols 1 denier. Ce chiffre est inférieur au montant de la succession de son mari, mais rappelons qu'elle avait constitué des rentes en faveur de ses enfants et notons surtout la date de son décès.

(8) Bien entendu elle a constitué à chacun des mineurs Duchesne (ils étaient âgés de 15 ans, de 13 ans, et de 8 ans respectivement) une rente proportionnée au montant de leur patrimoine.

(9) Pas tout-à-fait, cependant, car les notaires qui dressaient l'inventaire après décès ont mis presque cinq mois à en achever la clôture.

(10) Besterman Th. Correspondance de Voltaire 13260.

(11) Dans une lettre du 27 novembre 1767 adressée a F.L.C. Marin, Besterman 13643

*******

De convention entre les cohéritiers, les marchandises de librairie ont été laissées entre les mains de Jean-Nicolas Duchesne, fils de Nicolas-Bonaventure. Né le 24 novembre 1757, Jean-Nicolas a succédé à sa mère à l'âge de 36 ans. Ce troisième Duchesne n'a donne que relativement peu d éditions. Il a exercé rue des Grands Augustins à trois adresses différentes et plus tard rue Serpente ; vers la fin de sa vie il était commissaire en livres, mourant rue Serpente, n° 12, le 3 décembre 1845 à l'âge de 88 ans.

Il ne faut, certes, pas passer sous silence le nom de Pierre Guy, qui est reste vingt-trois ans au service des Duchesne, premier commis d'abord du mari, ensuite de la veuve. Fidèle et surtout prudent, il a toujours eu la confiance de ses patrons. C'est lui qui s'est chargé de la correspondance volumineuse de la maison. Guy se bornait étroitement, dans ses lettres, aux affaires et aux menus détails du commerce de la maison, transmettant à ses correspondants ordres, commandes, déclarations, partis, promesses, le tout, en apparence, de son propre chef et comme si toutes ces choses émanaient de lui-même, tandis qu'en réalité elles émanaient de droit exclusivement de ses patrons. Quant à Nicolas-Bonaventure, il reste tout ce temps muet comme une carpe. De la main de N.-B. Duchesne lui-même, pas une seule lettre ou autre écrit ne nous est parvenue : nous avons de lui seulement quelques signatures griffonnées au pied ou en marge d'un petit nombre d'actes notariés. C'est pour ces raisons qu'on attribue souvent a Guy la qualité d'« associé de Duchesne ». Mais Guy signait presque invariablement « Guy pour Duchesne » ou « Guy pour veuve Duchesne » et il déclare, dans une lettre à Jean-Jacques Rousseau, qu'il n'avait aucun intérêt financier dans le commerce de la maison Duchesne. De plus, Guy était employé à gages et lorsque, en 1775, sa santé s'est gâtée, il prit sa retraite muni d'une pension de deux cent livres que lui constituait la veuve Duchesne. En somme il tenait la plume pour la maison.

Toutefois, l'on est allé jusqu'à dire que Guy s'était emparé de l'affaire Duchesne et de la veuve de celui-ci, et même qu'il a épousé la veuve Duchesne en secondes noces (12). J'ajoute seulement que, à partir de 1775, Guy est à la retraite, que la veuve Duchesne a continué de diriger son commerce jusqu'à sa mort, survenue au mois de mai 1793, qu'elle est décédée veuve de Nicolas-Bonaventure Duchesne et, enfin, que le 11 août 1795, Guy lui-même est décédé mari d'Anne Dufaur(t) ou Dufort, qui lui survivra de quelques années.

Quelque précieux qu'aient pu être les services de Pierre Guy pour la maison Duchesne, celle-ci a continué de prospérer après le départ du premier commis et secrétaire, sous la direction de la veuve Duchesne jusqu'à l'époque révolutionnaire ; et aura une certaine activité après le décès de cette veuve jusque dans la quatrième décennie du siècle suivant sous la direction de son fils.

(12) R.A.Leigh, dans son admirable édition de la correspondance complète de Jean-Jacques Rousseau.        

Noël E. KAY

Seneca, life

Ancient bust of Seneca, 

Antikensammlung Berlin

Seneca
the Younger              


         ca. 4 BCE - 65 CE



Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist


(Silver Age of Latin literature)

Seneca’s family was from Cordoba in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula), but they probably came from Etruria. Unfortunately we don’t know if Seneca was born there.

He was the second son of Helvia and Lucius Annaeus Seneca, who was a rich rhetorician known as Seneca the Elder.  His brother Gallio became proconsul in the Roman province of Achaea, while his younger brother Annaeus Mela's son was Marcus Annaeus Lucanus..

He studied rhetoric in Rome and learnt Hellenic Stoic philosophy thanks to Attalus and Sotion. Seneca had a poor health and this is described in his own writings. He was probably nursed by an aunt of his, as it is known that she was in Egypt with him from 16 to 31 AD. They returned to Rome in 31, and she helped Seneca in his campaign for his first magistracy.

Caligula, who became emperor in 38, didn’t like Seneca. As a matter of fact, there was a severe conflict between them. It is said that Caligula spared Seneca’s life only because he expected his life to be near its end.

After Claudius succeeded Caligula in 41, Seneca was banished to Corsica on a charge of adultery with Caligula's sister Julia Livilla. Seneca spent his exile in philosophical and natural study and wrote the Consolations.

 In 49 Agrippina the Younger (Claudius' fourth wife)  had Seneca recalled to Rome to tutor her son Nero, who was 12 at the time. When Claudius died in 54, she secured recognition of Nero as emperor, rather than Claudius' son Britannnicus.

From 54 to 62, Seneca acted as Nero's advisor, along with Sextus Afranius Burrus, the praetorian prefect. Seneca's influence was particularly strong in the first year of reign and many historians think Nero's early rule to be quite competent and good. With time, Seneca and Burrus lost their influence over Nero. In 59 they had reluctantly agreed to Agrippina's murder, and afterward Seneca wrote a dishonest exculpation of Nero to the Senate. With the death of Burrus in 62, Seneca retired and devoted his time again to study and writing.

In 65, Seneca was thought involved in a plot to kill Nero. Although it is unlikely that he conspired, he was ordered by Nero to kill himself. He followed tradition by severing several veins so as to bleed to death, and it is said that his wife Pompeia Paulina attempted to share his own fate. It is possible to find a rather romanticized account of the suicide in Tacitus (Book XV, Chapters 60 through 64 of his Annals). According to it, Nero ordered Seneca's wife to be saved. Her wounds were bound up and she made no further attempt to kill herself. As for Seneca himself, he didn’t die because of the bleeding and so, after dictating his last words to a scribe, and with a circle of friends attending him in his home, he immersed himself in a warm bath, which was expected to speed blood flow and ease his pain. Tacitus wrote in his Annals of Imperial Rome  that Seneca suffocated because of the water vapor rising from the bath.

Luca Giordano, The death of Seneca (1684)



W. Wordsworth, life

William Wordsworth

1770-1850

major English Romantic poet

1st generation

William Wordsworth was the second son of John Wordsworth and Ann Cookson, and was born on 7 April 1770 in a fine Georgian house, now called Wordsworth House, in Cockermouth - a little town in Cumberland, northwest England, in the region called the ‘Lake District’.

The ‘Lake District’ (The Lakes or Lakeland) is a mountainous region in North West England. It is a popular holiday destination, famous for its lakes and its mountains (called ‘fells’), and its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and the other Lake Poets, considered part of the Romantic Movement (among the main figures, along with W. Wordsworth there were Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey, but they were associated with several other poets and writers of their time, including Dorothy Wordsworth, Charles Lloyd, Hartley Coleridge. The beauty of the Lake District has also inspired many other poets over the years, such as - for instance - Walter Scott).

The central, and most visited, part of the area is called the Lake District National Park which was designated as a National Park in 1951.

William’s father was an attorney and, at the time of William’s birth, he was working as an estate agent for Sir James Lowther - who owned their house. In 1766 he married Anne Cookson and they had four sons and a daughter:

-         Richard (19 August 1768), who became a lawyer

-         William (7 April 1770),

-         Dorothy (25 December 1771), who became a poet and diarist  and to whom William was close all his life. She was only a year younger than him and the two were baptized together.

-         John   [December 1771), who went to sea and died in 1805 when the ship of which he was Master was wrecked off the south coast of England.

-         Christopher  [9 June 1774),  who entered the Church and rose to be Master of Trinity College, in Cambridge.

The Wordsworth children had  little involvement with their father, as he was very often distant and busy. In any case, although rarely present, he taught William poetry, including that of Milton, Shakespeare and Spenser. Moreover he allowed his son to rely on his own father's library. The garden at the back, with the river Derwent flowing past, was a place of magic and adventure for the young William.

Unfortunately their mother died on 8 March 1778 and William, who was only eight, had to spend most of his time with relatives in Penrith (his mother’s hometown) and then he was sent to Hawkshead Grammar School (from 1779 to 1787) in Lancashire. His sister Dorothy was sent to live with relatives in Yorkshire. Brother and sister would not meet again for another nine years.

Five years after their mother’s death, on 30 December 1783, their father died, too.  

In 1784 all the children finally left Wordsworth House to be cared for by relations.  

Although Hawkshead was Wordsworth's first serious experience with education he had been taught to read by his mother and had attended a tiny school of low quality in Cockermouth. After the Cockermouth school, he was sent to a school in Penrith for the children of upper-class families.  

In 1787 William Wordsworth’s first sonnet was published in The European Magazine. He was 17 and it was at that time he began attending St John's College, Cambridge. He received his B.A. degree in 1791.

During his youth, William made many visits to the countryside and often remained for the summer holidays in Hawkshead, situated in the Lake District too, as he loved its nature and surroundings. He was quite influenced by the powers of nature around him (thus gaining inspiration!).

He then spent later summer holidays on walking tours, visiting places famous for the beauty of their landscape. In 1790, he took an extensive walking tour of Europe, during which he toured the Alps and visited France, Switzerland, and Italy.

William  was a great walker and he remained an active fell-walker into old age. He climbed Helvellyn to celebrate his seventieth birthday. Haydon marked this passion in a portrait of the poet that he  executed in his London studio, but in which he depicted the symbolic setting of Helvellyn at sunset in the background.

In November 1791, at the age of 21, Wordsworth visited Revolutionary France and was fascinated by the Republican movement. He fell in love with a French woman, too, Annette Vallon, who in 1792 gave birth to their child, Caroline.

A year later, because of lack of money and Britain's tensions with France, he returned alone to England. The Reign of Terror and war between France and Britain prevented him from seeing Annette and Caroline again for several years. He, then, tried to support Annette and his daughter as best he could in later life.

In 1795 he received a legacy of £900 which gave him the means to pursue a literary career. In that year he went to stay in a cottage in Dorset, where he met S.T. Coleridge and Robert Southey. In these years a close relationship developed between William W. and Coleridge.

In 1797, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy moved to Alfoxton House, Somerset, just a few miles away from Coleridge's home in Nether Stowey. Later the two friends undertook a tour of the lake District, starting at Temple Sowerby and finishing at Wasdale Head, via Grasmere. At Grasmere they saw Dove Cottage, and William liked it at first sight.

Together, Wordsworth and Coleridge (with insights from Dorothy) produced their Lyrical Ballads (published then in 1798), an important work in the English Romantic movement. One of Wordsworth's most famous poems, "Tintern Abbey", was published in the work, along with Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". The second edition, published in 1800, had only Wordsworth listed as the author, and included a preface to the poems, which was augmented significantly in the 1802 edition. This Preface to Lyrical Ballads is considered a central work of the Romantic literary theory. In it, Wordsworth discusses what he sees as the elements of a new type of poetry, one based on the "real language of men" and which avoids the poetic diction of much 18th-century poetry. Here, Wordsworth gives his famous definition of poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." (A fourth and final edition of Lyrical Ballads was published later in 1805).

In December 1799 William and Dorothy moved into Dove Cottage, in Grasmere. Coleridge had already moved to Gretna Hall in Keswick. Dorothy was constantly with them. She was William’s secretary as he dictated her his poetry.

With the Peace of Amiens again allowing travel to France, in 1802 Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, visited Annette and Caroline in France and arrived at a mutually agreeable settlement regarding Wordsworth's obligations.

In that year he received from the son of his father’s old employer ₤4,000, an amount of money that Wordsworth's father had lent to Sir James Lowther to help him because he had incurred in a crash.

Later that year he got married to a childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson. Dorothy continued to live with the couple and grew close to Mary. The following year, Mary gave birth to the first of five children, three of whom predeceased William and Mary:

• John  (1803–1875).
• Dora   (1804–1847). 
• Thomas  (1806–1812).
• Catherine (1808–1812).
• William "Willy" Wordsworth (1810–1883).

Because they needed more space for their growing family, the Wordsworths had to move twice, in the Lake District area, in search for a better accommodation. During that period their friend Coleridge lived with them for a couple of years. Unfortunately it was at that time that William’s two youngest children died. 

Wordsworth received an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1838 from Durham University, and the same honor from Oxford University the next year. In 1842 the government awarded him a civil list pension amounting to £300 a year.

With the death in 1843 of Robert Southey, Wordsworth became the Poet Laureate. He initially refused the honour, saying he was too old, but accepted when Prime Minister Robert Peel assured him "you shall have nothing required of you" (he became the only laureate to write no official poetry). When his daughter, Dora, died in 1847, his production of poetry came to a standstill.

William Wordsworth died by a re-aggravating case of pleurisy on 23 April 1850, and was buried at St. Oswald's Church in Grasmere. His widow Mary published his lengthy semiautobiographical "Poem to Coleridge" as The Prelude several months after his death. The poem had been revised and expanded a number of times by William Wordsworth throughout his life.  Though this failed to arouse great interest in 1850, it has since come to be recognized as his masterpiece.