France -- History -- Louis XVI, 1774-1793; France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799
Carra, “Ex-secretary of a decapitated Hospodar,” and then of a
Necklace-Cardinal; likewise pamphleteer, Adventurer in many
scenes and lands,—draws nigh to Mercier, of the _Tableau de
Paris;_ and, with foam on his lips, proposes an _Annales
Patriotiques_. The _Moniteur_ goes its prosperous way; Barrère
“weeps,” on Paper as yet loyal; Rivarol, Royou are not idle. Deep
calls to deep: your _Domine Salvum Fac Regem_ shall awaken _Pange
Lingua;_ with an _Ami-du-Peuple_ there is a King’s-Friend
Newspaper, _Ami-du-Roi_. Camille Desmoulins has appointed himself
_Procureur-Général de la Lanterne_, Attorney-General of the
Lamp-iron; and pleads, _not_ with atrocity, under an atrocious
title; editing weekly his brilliant _Revolutions of Paris and
Brabant_. Brilliant, we say: for if, in that thick murk of
Journalism, with its dull blustering, with its fixed or loose
fury, any ray of genius greet thee, be sure it is Camille’s. The
thing that Camille teaches he, with his light finger, adorns:
brightness plays, gentle, unexpected, amid horrible confusions;
often is the word of Camille worth reading, when no other’s is.
Questionable Camille, how thou glitterest with a fallen,
rebellious, yet still semi-celestial light; as is the star-light
on the brow of Lucifer! Son of the Morning, into what times and
what lands, art thou fallen!
But in all things is good;—though not good for “consolidating
Revolutions.” Thousand wagon-loads of this Pamphleteering and
Newspaper matter, lie rotting slowly in the Public Libraries of
our Europe. Snatched from the great gulf, like oysters by
bibliomaniac pearl-divers, there must they first _rot_, then what
was pearl, in Camille or others, may be seen as such, and
continue as such.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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