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anotherhumaninthisworld · 2 years ago

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Louis-le-Grand students and teachers

I decided to compile all information I could find regarding the time Robespierre spent at Louis-le-Grand, whether it’d be documents registrating enrollments or prizes won, letters written during the college period, speeches and works mentioning it or just dubious but funny anecdotes. This also gave me a chance to take a closer look at the kind of people he attended school together with or had as his teachers. Unsurprisingly, quite a few of these guys had their throats cut later during the revolution, or came close to having it. The drama can basically be summarized in this chart that’s totally not a less funny rip-off of what @lanterne did a few weeks ago.

Students

Maximilien Robespierre Robespierre obtained a scholarship to Louis-le-Grand on September 13 1769 and enrolled exactly one month later, aged eleven. In total he won nine prizes in the yearly competitions, in 1771 (while in quatrième) sixth place in version latine, in 1772 (while in quatrième) second place in thème latin and sixth place in version latine, in 1774 (while in seconde) fourth place in vers latins and fourth place in version latine, in 1775 (while in rhétorique) second place in vers latins, second place in version latine and fifth place in version grecque and finally third place in version latine in 1776 (while in rhétorique). In 1778 he obtained his master of arts and began to study law, and when he graduated from the college on May 15 1781 it was with 1ère place à l’examen public des étudiants en droit. Source: Maximilien de Robespierre: élève à Louis-le-Grand 1769-1781 (2013) by Hervé Leuwers

Paris, April 11 1778 Monsieur, I hear that the Bishop of Arras is in Paris, and I would very much like to see him; but I have no tailcoat, and I lack several things, without which I cannot go out. I hope you will take the trouble to come and explain my situation to him yourself, in order to obtain from him what I need to appear in his presence. I am with respect, Monsieur, your very humble and very obedient servant. De Robespierre the older Robespierre in a letter to Abbé Proyart

Monsieur, I dare to ask from you a favor without having the honor of knowing you. Will you be kind enough to forgive me for my boldness? I hope at least that the motive which inspires it will serve me as an excuse. I’m finishing my philosophy and aim for the bar. Of all the qualities necessary to stand out in this profession, I bring at least a lively emulation and an extreme desire to succeed. But as the advice of a skilful teacher can contribute much to lead me to this goal, I would like to find one who would be willing to draw up a plan of study for me. It is you, Monsieur, whom I dare to ask to render me this important service, persuaded that nothing happier can happen to me than to have as a guide in the career of the bar the one who is to serve as a model. If you deign to grant me my request, I would ask you to embrace, in the advice that you will kindly give me, the study of jurisprudence, to indicate to me the order, the time, the method of these various studies. If you judge, sir, that a conversation would be better fitted than a letter to fulfill this object, please allow me the time when I may have the honor of conversing with you. I await this grace with confidence and I will receive it with the deepest gratitude. I have the honor to share with you the sentiment of all France. Monsieur, Your most humble and obedient servant De Robespierre, law student at the college of Louis-le-Grand. Robespierre in a letter to the eminent lawyer Jean-Baptiste Mercier-Dupaty, President of the Parlement of Bordeaux.

January 19, 1781 On the report rendered by M. the Principal of the eminent talents of Sieur de Robespierres (sic), scholarship holder of the college of Arras, who is about to complete his course of study, of his good conduct during the past twelve years, and of his successes in the course of his classes, both with respect to the distribution of University prizes and in the examination of Philosophy and Law: The counsil have unanimously granted said sieur de Robespierres (sic) a gratuity of the sum of six hundred livres, which will be paid to him by the grand master of the college of Arras, and said sum will be allocated to the grand master in his account, on his reporting the expedition of the present deliberation, and the receipt of said sieur de Robespierres. (sic) A price is awarded to Robespierre towards the end of his course of study. Cited in Recueil de toutes les déliberations importantes prises depuis 1763 par le bureau d’administration du collège de Louis-le-Grand et des collèges y réunis (1781) page 213. Here is this document in fac-simile.

One of Cousin Jacques' former classmates (M. de Robespiere, (sic) lawyer in Arras) gave him two pretty works of his own as a gift, one is the Éloge de Gresset, the other un Plaidoyer sur les Paratonneres. The Cousin sincerely thanks his former comrade. He was not at all surprised by the elegant style and ingenious thoughts of M. de Robespiere (sic). This young speaker would have degenerated if he had done anything mediocre. The Author of the Lunes remembers perfectly the role played at the College by his amiable study companion; a talent like his is not meant to be forgotten. Les Lunes du Cousin Jacques by Beffroy de Reigny, number 8, page 67, January 1786

Oh, my dear Robespierre! It is not long since we were sighing together over our country’s servitude, since, drawing from the same sources the sacred love of liberty and equality, amid so many professors whose lessons only taught us to detest our land, we were complaining there was no professor of cabals who would teach us to free it, when we were regretting the tribune of Rome and Athens, how far was I from thinking that the day of a constitution a thousand times more beautiful was so close to shining on us, and that you, in the tribune of the French people, would be one of the firmest ramparts of the nascent freedom! Desmoulins in number 15 of Révolutions de France et de Brabant (1790). Here is a compilation of all the times Camille referenced the fact that he and Robespierre went to school together.

The name of the Oratorians reminds me of ideas and memories that will always be dear to me. Robespierre in a letter to Daunon, January 1 1791

I have been, since my college days, a pretty bad Catholic, but I’ve never been a cold friend or a faithless defender of humanity. Robespierre at the Jacobins November 21 1793

Robespierre was at the college of Louis-le-Grand, where he had as fellow students Camille Desmoulins, Lebrun, since minister, Suleau, journalist paid by the court, killed on August 10 at the head of a false patrol, Dupont du Tertre, minister of justice, and Fréron (all, with the exception of the last, have died a violent death. The Abbé Royou, since author of l’Ami du Roi, who died in his bed, had been their philosophy professor). He was what then we have seen since; that is to say sad, bilious, morose, jealous of the successes of his comrades. He never mingled in their games; he strode alone, always looking thoughtful and ill. He had none of the qualities of the early age. Already his mobile face had contracted those convulsive grimaces that we know from it. Not communicative, no abandonment, no outpouring, no frankness, but an exclusive self-love, an insurmountable obstinacy, a great fund of falsehood. One doesn’t remember seeing him laugh once. He cherished the deep memory of an insult; he was vindictive and treacherous, already knowing how to conceal his resentment. He had a fairly good education and won prizes at the university. A strong and constant application to work earned him these first successes. Fréron’s notes on Robespierre, written shortly after the death of the latter

I don't think there are many Frenchmen who have studied Robespierre more carefully than I have. We were study companions at the college of Louis-le-Grand, in Paris, and rivals for the first places in Rhétorique. Chance even wanted me to win out on him: which he never forgave me for. I saw him again in 1786, in Arras, when I was received there, with Carnot, a member of the Academy. Testament d’un électeur de Paris by Beffroy de Reigny (1795) page 42

I dare to hope, monsieur, that to all the kindnesses you already have for my son, you will be good enough to add that of supervising his societies a little, and above all of forbidding him any association with the young Robespierre who, let it be said between us, does not promise a good subject. Letter from a mother cited in La Vie et les Crimes de Robespierre: surnommé Le Tyran: depuis sa naissance jusqu’à sa mort (1795) by Le Blond de Neuvéglise (abbé Proyart), page 25. Here is Proyart’s full account of Robespierre’s school days translated into English.

Bonnet-quarré — this is the bonnet that priests still wear at the divine service from Easter to All Hallows’ Day. It suits most of them quite well. The bonnet-quarré was, before the Revolution, the coeffure of Doctors, Lawyers, Professors and Principals of College, at least in the processional feasts of the University. Schoolchildren of Philosophy and Rethoric, in Paris, liked to wear it at the College. Robespierre strutted about, while in Logique, with his bonnet-quarré on his head and his hair in a tail. One thought we had science infused with this costume; but it covered thousands of hollow heads. The bonnet-quarré gave an imposing air to the Church and to the Bar; and it must be admitted, that it made a better impression than the police bonnets of Jurés. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses, ou Notice alphabétique des personnes des deux sexes, des événemens, des découvertes et des mots qui ont paru le plus remarquables à l’auteur, dans tout le cours de la Révolution française (1799) volume 2, page 214 by Beffroy de Reigny.

Classmate (condiciple) - this word says more than comrade; but it expresses less familiarity. A priest from Champagne, who had studied with Robespierre, came to see him in Paris in the heyday of his greatness: We were comrades, he said to him; do you remember? Monsieur, Robespierre replies, I only know a few classmates at most; I never had any comrades. He was right; to have comrades, you have to make yourself loved. The same Robespierre, who had recently arrived at the Constituent Assembly, wrote to Cousin-Jacques: “One of your former classmates, who would be honored to be your disciple, would like to have the honor of meeting you at home, etc… He sends you a report, etc”. Such was the style of Robespierre at that time. If someone imagines that Cousin-Jacques cites this trait out of pride, that someone is a fool. Ibid, volume 3, page 453-454

Maximilien’s progress, his taste for studying, his happy dispositions, incited the favor the abbot of Saint-Waast, who knew our aunts, and who similarly appreciated my brother. This clergyman had at his disposal several scholarships to the college Louis-le-Grand, in Paris; he gave one to Maximilien. […] Maximilien was eleven years old when he left for Paris. Our aunts sent him to a canon of the chapter of Notre-Dame, M. de la Roche, who was a relative of ours. Maximilien found in him a protector and mentor; M. de la Roche was attached to this child, in whom he saw rare qualities. Unhappily for my brother, he lost M. de la Roche after two years. I knew this was a very sensitive loss for him, though he took it with a man’s resignation. He redoubled his ardor and application in his studies to divert him from his grief. I heard it said that he was well-liked by his masters and his comrades, and that he almost always won first prize. He stayed for seven or eight years at the college Louis-le-Grand; during this long lapse of time, he had no major quarrels with is fellow students, so balanced and sweet was his temperament; he made himself the protector of the small boys from the older ones, pleaded in their favor, and even used his fists to defend them when his eloquence was unsuccessful. […] Once his classical studies were finished, he did his duty. Before quitting the college Louis-le-Grand, Maximilien went to see the commendatory abbot of Saint-Waast, and prayed him to give his scholarship to his younger brother. The commendatory abbot welcomed him with great goodwill, spoke to him of his brilliant studies in the most flattering terms, and told him that he eagerly seized the occasion to prove all his esteem in granting his request, adding that what confirmed him in this resolution, was that his brother would be worthy of it. Mémoires de Charlotte Robespierre sur ses deux frères (1835) page 49-52. To add an unrelevant sidenote, Charlotte briefly took the surname of their relative Roche after Thermidor.

Father Desprez, a friend of my family, lived in Vitry-le-François without ecclesiastical functions; ten to eleven years ago, he was my father's guest in Chalons-sur-Marne and told him in my presence a story of which I have carefully retained the following part: ”Before being ordained a priest, I was maître des études in a college in Paris (I’ve forgotten the name of it) where Robespierre was a student; I had to propose a measure against him... He was a hard worker, but heavy in hand, like an ox at the plough. He was full of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.” Young Robespierre described by one of his masters. Cited in Annales historiques de la Révolution française, number 44 (1931) page 161

Augustin Robespierre When Maximilien finished his studies, he asked for his scholarship to be transferred to his little brother. In turn, Augustin gained a scholarship to Louis-le-Grand on October 11 1781 and began his studies there on November 3 the same year. He started studying law in 1784, and graduated on September 30 1787. On December 20 the same year he received a gratuity of 300 livres from the college, "for the end of the studies which he had carried out in a distinguished manner". According to Hervé Leuwers’ biography on Robespierre, from his rhetorique to the license in law, Augustin was ”almost as brilliant as Maximilien.” Source: Robespierre (2014) page 32 and 35

Monsieur, The encouragement that the celebrated Society (the French Academy), of which you are a member, grants to young people, the immediate protection with which you honor them, has given me the confidence to address you to ask for a pardon. Monsieur de Saint-Lambert pronounced, in the last public session of the Académie Françoise, a piece tending to make known the way in which this company wishes that the eulogy of Louis XII be traced. I would like, Monsieur, to know the piece that was spoken and to know if the views of Monsieur de Saint-Lambert are in conformity with those of the Academy. Excuse me for this excess of confidence, it is your benefits towards these talented men who gave birth to it, you will join this new benefit to others and following the inclination of your heart, you will oblige, the one who has the honor to be, Monsieur, Your most humble and obedient servant, De Robespierre Law student at College Louis-le-Grand. Augustin to Target, January 24 1786. In Correspondance de Maximilien et Augustin Robespierre (1926) this letter gets described as having been written by Maximilien in 1776, however, according to Mary Young’s Augustin: the younger Robespierre (2011) this is actually an error and the real author Augustin.

Robespierre the younger was not in Paris when his older brother arrived there, but he came later; and, his zeal supplementing his means, he seconded, as efficaciously as anyone else, the ambitious views of his brother. He had, like him, studied at the College of Louis-le-Grand, with the help of a scholarship from the Abbot of St. Vaast. He was without spirit, without talent, without character; and his brother knew how to appreciate him when he laconically defined him as un Bête. La Vie et les crimes de Robespierre… (1795) by Le Blond de Neuvéglise (abbé Proyart), page 94-95

The two Robespierres were equally known to me; the older was my classmate and my colleague; the younger was my student: they were both very badly judged. This is what I have proved in memoirs, which I have placed in safe hands, and which the agent will not publish until the time comes. Testament d’un électeur de Paris by Beffroy de Reigny (1795) page 42

Camille Desmoulins Eleven-year-old Camille was enrolled as a boarder at Louis-le-Grand on October 1 1771, accompanied by one M. Le Roux, a tailor of clothes from the parish of Saint-Sulpice who was also in charge taking care of him in case of exit or expulsion. His name was misspelled as ”Dumoulin” on the register. In January 1775 Camille obtained a scholarship which saved his family from the burden of having to pay 400 livres per year in order to keep him at the school. On August 3 1781 he obtained his master of arts, together with 60 livres, and started studying law. Desmoulins extended this course — studying four years instead of three — and when he graduated on March 3 1785 he also received 120 livres as a reward for his success. During his time at the college he won four prizes — in 1774 (while in cinquieme) second place in version, in 1775 (while in quatrieme) first place in version latine and second place in thême latine and in 1778 un neuvième accessit d’amplification française. Camille appriciated his time at Louis-le-Grand so much that, on leaving the college in 1784, he wrote a ten page poem titled Épitre à messieurs les administrateurs du collège de Louis-le-Grand, copies of which were printed and put up for sale in Paris the same year. Source: Camille et Lucile Desmoulins: un rêve de république (2018) by Hervé Leuwers, chapter 2

The eldest, near adolescence, In his college is a a knight: He skims with knowledge Dusty greco-latin authors; But despite all his constancy, I am no less concerned That one will force him before the holiday, By an ungraceful leave, To say to the masters of eloquence His involuntary goodbyes, Because the inconstancy of fate Has made his father too beggarly To support financially An expensive pension.

(L’ainé, près de l’adolescence, Dans son college est un preux: Il feuillette avec connaissance Auteurs grécs et latins poudreux; Mais malgré toute sa constance, J’en suis pas moins soucieux Qu’on ne le force avant vacance, Par un congé disgracieux, De faire aux maîtres d’éloquence Ses involontaires audieux, Parce que du sort l’inconstance A rendu son père trop gueux Pour subvenir à la finance D’un pensionnait dispendieux.) Camille’s father tries to obtain a scholarship for his son through the power of rhyme on December 9 1774. Cited in Comment Camille Desmoulins obtint une bourse à Louis-le-Grand ?(1924)

I only mention it (the dantonist purge) because Camille Desmoulins was one of them. He was born in Guise, son of the bailiff of the bailiwick of that town; he studied at the college of Louis-le-Grand, having received a scholarship from this college through my protection from the Cardinal de Rochechouart. He deserved it; I had judged him sensible from the examination I had made him undergo at Guise; he was also the best pupil of the college and he won the first prizes at the university. Diary entry of M. Delvincourt in 1794, a clergyman who got Camille his scholarship in 1775. Cited in Ibid.

Receive my compliment for the honorable place you have earned in your exam; this second place may even be more advantageous to you than that of first; it will excite more and more of your emulation. Charles Lambrechts (future minister of justice for the Directory) to Desmoulins, September 12 1781. Cited in Camille et Lucile Desmoulins: un rêve de république (2018) chapter 2

That although evil, it is therefore complete, My dear friends, the tour of the two hills; And if sometimes it happened to us To have cursed these fields covered with thorns, Canon seated near a large blob Must forget the length of matins.

(Que bien que mal, il est donc achevé, Mes chers amis, le tour des deux collines; Et si parfois il nous est arrivé D’avoir maudit ces champs couverts d’épines, Chanoine assis près d’un large pâté Doit oublier la longueur des matines.) Les adieux d’un maître ès arts (1781), a poem Camille wrote upon receiving his master of arts. Cited in Camille et Lucile Desmoulins: un rêve de république (2018) chapter 2.

[…] I'm not telling you about her brother's wedding, because all I know is that it's taking place next Monday, and that M. Le Roux, the bride's uncle, is making a present of a thousand crowns to his niece to encourage her to wait patiently for her succession. […] Forgive me for this poetic style, it's because I was writing verses only a moment ago, and I haven't quite recovered from the intoxication of Parnassus, because, although it's ten o'clock in the morning, I am only getting out of my sheets where I have been rhyming since seven o’clock; this is how I relax from my examination from which I am finally quit; I will only tell you here that I came in second place, which put me in a very bad mood, because it is not at this place that I was aiming; if you are curious to learn more about what happened at this ridiculous examination, you can go and consult the ample gazette that I sent to my father. […] I do not believe that there is a city in the universe whose surroundings are as enchanting as in this country. One meets around Paris, for six leagues around, only a crowd of country houses, all prettier than the others, and such as our castles of Proisy, Vadencourt and Echelle are only taverns in comparison. [he then goes on to give a lengthy description of what Paris looks like and what you can do there]. Camille to his cousin Ribeauvillé May 10 1782. Cited in Bulletin de la Société historique de Haute-Picardie (1914-1944), volume 16 (1938) page 57-62.

It was of my beautiful years the most beautiful half: I wrote verses, for a long time I believed in friendship; And yet I hear, in our frivolous circles, People deploring the beautiful days that are being lost in your schools; I’m not mourning these days that they say I lost. […] There, from the patrician the height is banished, And the only nobility is that of genius. All cultivate the gifts that heaven has placed in them; In counting their rivals they count their friends; Their talents are dear to us, their successes are ours, And the lauriel of one crowns all the others. I live with these famous Greeks and Romans; I study an immortal language like them; I intend to plead again in the Bar of Athens, Today it’s Aeschines, and tomorrow Demosthenes. How many times, with Plancius and Milo, Have I embraced Cicero, my eyes filled with tears! […] How beautiful, how great, not to adopt as master, Neither Plato nor his century and to have only oneself As your legislator, your only judge, your king. […] A famous theater still remains for talent; This is the bar: always resurgent crimes The Targets demand much more than the Orpheus.)

(Ce fut de mes beaux ans la plus belle moitié: J’y fis vers, longtemps j’y crus à l’amitié; Et toutefois j’entends, dans nos cercles frivoles, Déplorer les beaux jours qu’on perd dans vos écoles; Je ne plains point ces jours qu’on dit que j’ai perdus. […] Là, du patricien la hauter est bannie, Et la seule noblesse est celle du génie. Tous cultivent les dons qu’en eux le ciel a mis; En comptant leurs rivaux ils comptent leurs amis; Leurs talents nous sont chers, leurs succès sont les nôtres, Et le lauriel d’un seul, couronne tous les autres. Je vis avec ces Grecs et ces Romains fameux; J’étudie une langus immortelle comme eux; J’entends plaider encor dans le Barreau d’Athènes, Aujourd’hui c’est Eschine, et demain Démostenes. Combien de fois, avec Plancius et Milon Les yeux mouillés de pleurs, j’embressai Cicéron ! […] Qu’il est beau, qu’il est grand de n’adopter pour maître, Ni Platon, ni son siécle et de n’avoir que soi Pour son législateur, son seul juge, son roi. […] Un théâtre fameux reste encore aux talents; C’est le barreau: toujours les crimes renaissants Demandent les Target bien plus que des Orphées.) Camille in Épitre à messieurs les administrateurs du collège de Louis-le-Grand (1784) Since I can’t find the full poem online anywhere, you’ll have to do with different extracts cited in Camille Desmoulins and his wife: passages from the history of the dantonists (1876) and Camille et Lucile Desmoulins: un rêve de république. The parts written in italics were censored when the text was first published in 1784.

We were perhaps ten republicans in Paris on July 12 1789. These republicans were mostly young people who, nourished by the reading of Cicero in the colleges, had become passionate about liberty there. We were brought up in the schools of Rome and Athens, and in the pride of the republic, to live in the abjection of the monarchy, and under the reign of Claudius and Vitellius. A foolish government which believed that we could be enthusiastic about the fathers of the country, of the capitol, without holding in horror the maugeurs of men, of Versailles, and admire the past without condemning the present, ulteriora mirari, presentia secuturos. Camille in his Fragment de l’Histoire secrète de la Révolution (1793) page 10-11

I knew Camille in college. He was my study companion. He was then a talented young man without mature judgement. Camille has since developed the most ardent love for the republic; he is a republican by instinct, by the simple impulse of his heart. […] Remember that at a time when the monarchy was best established on its foundations, Camille, a simple individual, without support, without advocate or patron, a lawyer without a cause on the fourth floor, dared to put into verse the proudest principles of the most determined Republican. Then, in the depths of my province, I learned with secret pleasure that the author was one of my college comrades. These verses struck me so much at that time that they have remained etched in my memory. Robespierre defends Camille at the Jacobins, December 14 1793. According to Camille, the verse Robespierre talks about here was written in 1787.

Camille Desmoulins, who lived at the same College, and whose impetuous and untidy character did not adapt well to the philosophical arrogance of Robespierre, had from time to time grapples (des prises) with him, but from then on as since, the champions did not fight on equal terms. Always more reflective than the opponent who provoked him, and more master of his moves, Robespierre, watching the moment, pounced on him with all the advantage that cold prudence has over temerity. La vie et les crimes de Robespierre… (1795) by Le Blond de Neuvéglise (abbé Proyart), page 30.

Camille Desmoulins, Robespierre's warmest friend and most ardent advocate, was the son of a Lieutenant-General of the Bailliage of Guise in Picardy. Appointed as scholar by the Chapter of Laon at the College of Louis-le-Grand, he completed his studies, if not with distinction, at least with some success. Although from then on he wrote his scholastic compositions well, he spoke very heavily and stammered in speech. He had an ugly and repulsive exterior, a black complexion, and something sinister about his eyes. He had nevertheless announced in his early youth the double emulation of work and virtue; but, disturbed in his higher classes by vicious comrades, he abjured piety, and soon showed himself a more bitter enemy than even those who had driven him away from it. From then on, a muddled spirit, surly and eloquent, he made himself odious to all his fellow students, and no longer had a single friend among them. We then saw him, son of nature and ungrateful disciple, displaying all the feelings of a bad heart. He made his debut at the bar with a plea against his father, whom he pretended to oblige to furnish him in Paris with an interview which exceeded his faculties. He never forgave his Masters for the efforts they had made to correct his budding vices. In the time of the Revolution, he was still cruelly resentful of one of them, on the occasion of a close encounter fifteen years earlier. “I will never forgive him, he said, for having told me one day that I would mount the scaffold.” However, if the horoscope wasn’t flattering, it was nonetheless verified. We shall see later how, still believing himself to be the friend of Robespierre, he was rewarded for his revolutionary labors by his friend. Ibid, page 93

At a very young age, he obtained, as a boarder from Laon, a place at the College of Louis-le-Grand, where he studied with distinction. The vivacity of his imagination very well seconded his taste for poetry; but it also helped him a great deal to go beyond true principles. I have already said in the Barére article that the revolutionary lapses of men of talent must be attributed much less to the perversity of their minds and their hearts than to that universal infatuation inspired in the young people of the Colleges, by the continual reading of Greek and Latin orators, poets and historians. Within a monarchy, only republican works were placed in the hands of youth, without regard for the constitution, the mores and the character of the French. A student in his quatrième thought he was an Aristide; everyone praised the courage of Brutus; this one wanted to die like Socrates, that one like Decius. Add to this delirium of a young imagination the influence of books called philosophical; the reveries of the Marquis d'Argens, the lies of Voltaire, the paradoxes of Jean-Jacques, the extravagances of Diderot, and a hundred other incoherent and systematic productions, which gathered together for only one goal, the destruction of religion and of the monarchy; such were the true causes of the deviations of our unfortunate schoolfellows; such was the source from which young Camille drew these brilliant errors, which ended up leading him to the scaffold! […] Camille Desmoulins, to whom people asked, regarding his Vieux Cordelier: ”Are you not afraid that this work will cause you disgrace in these times of terror, when a word is enough to send you the scaffold?” replied with a sort of assurance: “No risk to run, I have Robespierre’s watchword.” ”What do you mean, watchword? “Well, yes, it was he who hired me to do this work…” And, the same moment he said that, Robespierre, his and mine former comrade, was writing his name on the death warrants! Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses…(1799) by Beffroy de Reigny, volume 2, page 477 and 479

Camille had also studied with us at the College of Louis-le-Grand… Back then I didn't think he was so bad! He came to see me before the Revolution; he flattered me today, and saturated me tomorrow. He borrowed money from me, and tore me to pieces if I couldn't lend it to him. I have several letters from Camille, in which he gives me many flattering compliments; they are in prose and verse. He had talent, a lot of wit, maybe a good heart; but a very bad head…. The success of my Lunes made him frustrated. When slandering, he only thought to tell me. But, with this phrenesia, we would be sacrificing a whole world of innocent people; and, if it is true that, without having a bad heart, one is, in fact, as wicked and as barbaric as Camille was, then I return to my thesis, and I say that one can be a very dangerous terrorist, without having a bad heart. I do not believe, however, that he was guilty of what he was accused of in order to put him to death, I could not restrain my tears, seeing him pass on his way to his execution. He had to be reduced to political nullity; but it was not necessary to cut his throat! Let's not cut anyone's throats anymore, if we can! It is strange enough that, despite my obstinacy in fleeing the men in place, they forced me, so to speak, to correspond with them. Testament d’un électeur de Paris (1795) by Beffroy de Reigny, page 147

Stanislas Fréron Born 1754, Fréron enrolled at Louis-le-Grand September 30 1771, one day before Desmoulins. Like the latter, Fréron enrolled as a boarder and didn’t have a scholarship. He stayed at the college until 1779 and never won any prizes during his time there. Source: Journaliste, sans-culotte et thermidorien: le fils de Fréron, 1754-1802, d’après des documents inédits (1909) by Arnaud Raud, page 47

I, the undersigned, Élie Catherine Fréron, member of the literary academies, residing in the plain of Montrouge, parish of Saint-Etienne du Mont, in execution of article 19 with title six, regarding the regulations approved by judgment of December 4 1769, oblige to take back Stanislas Louis Marie Fréron, my son who entered boarding school today, either in the case of his exit, or in the case of his expulsion, as well as to pay his boarding quarter by quarter in advance. Paris, September 30, 1771. Document registrating Fréron’s enrollment to Louis-le-Grand. Source: Le dossier Fréron: correspondances et documents (1975) page 395. Here is this document in fac-simile.

Fréron, in his youth, showed a gloomy and defimulated character, especially near his masters. He announced rather few talents, and no will to cultivate them; he was also cited as a rare example when speaking of laziness and indolence. He was one of those indifferent to religion to whom justice is done by always suspecting their morals. Coming out from the college, he walked his impoverished existence for a long time on the pavement of the Capital, a burden equally incumbent upon both his family and Abbé Royou, his protector and brother of the estimable Madame Fréron. La vie et les crimes de Robespierre… (1795) by Le Blond de Neuvéglise (abbé Proyart) page 90

Claude-Michel Royou, alias Guermeur Guermeur was born October 2 1758 and enrolled at Louis-le-Grand as a scholar on October 12 1769, one day before Robespierre. He was Fréron’s four years younger maternal uncle, and the brother of the Louis-le-Grand professor Thomas Marie Royou. According to himself, he took the alias Guermeur already in his youth claiming that his family name was ”an execration to all good Frenchmen.” Guermeur was a good student and won multiple prizes in the yearly competitions, in 1772 (while in cinquieme) first prize in version latin and in 1775 (while in troisieme) forth place in version latin and fifth place in vers. When the revolution came along, he broke with his conservative family, symphasising instead with radicals like Marat, Panis, Robespierre and his nephew Fréron, while allegedly calling Roland, Brissot, Guadet and Vergniuad ”detestable people.” On September 18 1792 he was sent as a representative to Quimper by the Committee of Public Safety. However, just four days later he was accused by the local authorities there, who found him suspect on a number of topics (ironically, one of them was the fact that he went under a different surname), and imprisoned. The Convention ordered his release on March 4 1793 but Guermeur was not liberated until June the same year. His accusers were imprisoned in their turn and executed on May 20 1794. During the Directory, Guermeur was a close confidant of Barras. In 1801 he followed Fréron to Saint-Domingue when the latter was appointed sub-prefect there by Napoleon. It would appear he died in 1808, though some sources claim he was still alive in 1858, 100 years old. A fictional version of Guermeur appears in Jules Verne’s short story The Count of Chanteleine (1864). Source: Histoire de la terreur, 1792-1794: d’après des documents authentiques et inédits by Mortimer-Ternaux, volume 4, page 444-456

I, the undersigned, Élie Fréron, of several academies of the kingdom and of foreign countries, residing in Paris on Rue de la Seine faubourg Saint-Germain parousse Saint-Sulpice, promise in exemption from article five of title three regarding the regulations attached under the counterseal of the patents of August 20 1767 and from article eight of title three regarding the letters patent of July 1 1769 to serve as correspondent for Claude Michel Royou, appointed to fill in the college of Louis-le-Grand one of the scholarships of that of Cornouailles according to the letters of provisions which were given to him by the Archbishop of Paris on October 7 1769, and in this capacity I bind myself to the administrative office of said college of Louis-le-Grand to take said sieur Royou to return him to his family either at the end of his decided time, or in the event that sieur Royou were to be dismissed from the college, or finally if after the time of the test ordered by article five of title three of the said letters patent 1769 said sieur Royou is not judged capable of filling said scholarship. Written in Paris, on October 12, 1769 Fréron’s father (who was Guermeur’s brother-in-law) enregistrating his enrollment to the college. Source: Le dossier Fréron: correspondances et documents (1975) page 395.

I denounce to the Committee of General Security the arbitrary detention of citizen Royou alias Guermeur, who was arrested by the aristocratic administrators of the department of Quimper on September 12 or 13, for having worked to procure arms and ammunition for citizens who marched to the borders; as he was the bearer of a circular letter from the surveillance committee of Paris, a letter which was read from the rostrum by Vergniaud, and on which we moved on to the agenda, it was made a crime for him, likewise having taken the name of Guermeur which he bore at college, to escape the opprobrium which covered that of Royou. I demand immediate justice for this good patriot. Marat, deputy of the Convention. Marat protests against the imprisonment of Guermeur on December 12 1792, after the latter had written him a letter on the fourth telling him about his situation in Quimper.

Louis Abel Beffroy de Reigny Beffroy was born in Laon on November 6 1757. I can’t find a date for when he enrolled at Louis-le-Grand, but considering he would later claim to have known Robespierre ”since childhood,” it can be assumed he was rather young. Beffroy won many prizes in the yearly competitions, in 1771 (while in sixieme) sixth place in Version, in 1772 (while in cinquieme) first place in Thême, in 1773 (while in quatrieme) third place in Version and in 1774 (while in troisieme) third place in version latine. After finishing his studies, he briefley became a professor himself, teaching philosophy and rhetorics with Augustin Robespierre being one of his students. After that he turned to journalism, releasing many different journals were he went under the pheodonym Cousin Jacques - Les Lunes du Cousin Jacques (36 numbers) between June 1785 and May 1787, Le Courrier des planètes ou Correspondence du Cousin Jacques avec le firmanent (76 numbers) between 1788-1790, and then Les nouvelles Lunes de Cousin Jacques (30 numbers) in 1791. He also wrote a multitude of operas. Beffroy was against the revolution. Already in 1789 he wrote a pamplet called Supplément nécessaire au précis exact de la prise de la Bastille, where he expressed his disapproval over the storming of the fortress. Four years later he wrote La Constitution de la Lune in which he criticised the political situation in France and urged moderation. Because of this he was arrested and spent two months in prison, but was set free in January 1794, probably helped by the fact his older brother Louis Etienne Beffroy was a Convention deputy. Beffroy later claimed to have seen Desmoulins on his way to the guillotine and left a description of it. He died in Paris on December 11 1811. His brother was among the people exiled in 1816 for having voted for the death of Louis XVI.

A priest from around Montdidier, who was my teacher and my friend at the University of Paris, writes to me rather pleasantly to complain of my injustice towards the town of Montdidier […] I am charmed to find here the opportunity to certify to M. Abbé D how flattered I was by his memory; and to say it once in passing, I will always receive with inexpressible joy the marks of friendship not only of the generous Mentors who guided my childhood, but even of all my former classmates, who embellish today in civil society the class of kind and honest people; because I carry them all in my heart. Les Lunes du Cousin Jacques, number 10 (March 1786), page 130-131

Dear cousin, It was noticed lately, as a misfortune attached to the house where we were brought up together, that none of those who had distinguished themselves there, have fulfilled in the world the hopes which he had at first given, that you alone seem happier right now, and we rejoice over your many subscribers. Although the subscribers are your dear and beloved cousins, we can clearly see that you have not forgotten the rest of the family, nor lost sight of the mountain where we were the first to applaud you. The advantageous manner in which you have spoken of M. Robespiere (sic) has charmed us all; up to now, M. Jéhanne has missed only one opportunity to provide you with the chance of doing him justice as well. The pleasure with which you gave deserved praise to a comrade has reproached me for my behavior towards you and obliges me to retract. I make my confession here; although I have always been a good Parent, it was I who made the Chanton on the Cousin, more cheerful, it is true, than wicked, inferred at the end of the August Lune, and which you put on the account of I don't know which surgeon. […] That I saw you yesterday in class, That I complimented you For a first prize; What have you been doing lately An exercise on Horace With so much applause What! I say, this is that child So full of spirit and grace, Who promised infinitely! My God! how time flies!

(Que je vous vis hier en classe, Que je vous faifais compliment D’un prix, d’une premiere place; Que vous faiseiz tout récemment Un exercise sur Horace. Avec tant applaudissement Quoi! dis-je, c’est là cet Enfant Si rempli d’espirit et de grace, Qui promettait infiniment! Mon Dieu! comme le temps se passe!) Desmoulins, Lawyer in Parliament. Desmoulins in a letter to Beffroy, inserted in the twelth number of Les Lunes du Cousin Jacques (May 1786). Camille is referencing the praise Beffroy gave Robespierre five months earlier, cited above. Here is the ”more happy than mean” verse Camille wrote to Beffroy the year before. The M. Jéhanne Camille mentions is probably Thomas Charles Alexandre Jéhanne (born 1756) who like Camille, Beffroy and Robespierre had won multiple prizes while at Louis-le-Grand, two in 1770 (when in troisieme) one in 1771 (when in seconde), four in 1772 (when in Rhetorique) and four in 1773 (when in Rhetorique). According to the one text I’ve found looking over him a bit in detail he obtained the scolarship from his uncle Abbé Maistrel and later went on to study law together with Robespierre. When the revolution came along Jéhanne fell out with both him and Desmoulins, but supported Duport-Dutertre who he had worked as a lawyer together with. After the execution of Duport-Dutertre he moved back to his hometown Bayeux, were he was elected mayor in 1796.

I attended last Saturday, with great pleasure, the distribution of prizes at the College of Louis-le-Grand. It is with an ever renewing joy that I every year leave the spectator of a scene on which I was once one of the main actors. No, and I say this with pain, the sensations that have since been caused in literature by the various successes that chance made me obtain there, are not as pure or even as lively as those I experienced at college, when I won a prize at the University... This is indeed the opportunity to apply this well-known curb: They are past these days of feast... and one can add with certainty that they will never come back... A new soul is susceptible to more vivid impressions, and the perspective that presents itself to the eyes of a young man at the end of his studies is more flattering than reality becomes. Besides, the crowns that a schoolboy earns are the price of work, and that which a man of letters obtains is often the fruit of intrigue or prejudice; and then, it must be confessed, purity of heart is one more means of favoring the pleasure of honors. A young head, girded with a green laurel like her, is not yet withered by passions or by grief, as she probably will one day... and no one wants me to cry... The College of Louis-le-Grand, where I spent the finest & perhaps the most brilliant years of my life, is one of the most interesting places in Paris for me, and I always walk there strong with veneration, or rather with religious tenderness. I was very happy to leave traces there which we still want to remember, and I also carry in my heart superiors whom I cherish, and who return the favor to me, and former comrades who in turn have become superiors. Courrier des planetes ou Correspondance du Cousin Jacques avec le Firmament, number 38 (1788) page 1-3

I remember very well that those of my college comrades, to whom I dictated the homework and who were constantly seated in the row of imbeciles, ended up taking the doctor’s hat in Navarre or in the Sorbonne. La Constitution de la Lune: rêve politique et moral (1793) page 75

Cécile, daughter of Achmet — I'm not talking about the book (half history, half Roman) which appeared under this title, but about the heroine of the book, who died in the early days of the Revolution, at a very advanced age. […] Although she was 47 years older than me, she did not refuse to enter into correspondence with me when I was still in college. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses… (1799) volume 3, page 125-126

Comrade — colloquial term, which says more than companion. […] Comrades remember all their lives spending their early years together; but there are also really bad comrades. Certainly, Robespierre, Camille Desmoulins and several others were my comrades. But I never gave them that name. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses… (1799), volume 2, page 467-468

François-Louis Suleau Suleau was born in Grandvilliers on August 29 1758 and came to Louis-le-Grand in 1775, after first having studied in Beauvais and then Amiens. One year later he got his master of arts and started studying law. Suleau’s lawyer career was sucessful at the beginning, but he soon lost a lot of money to due to bad speculations. In 1787 he therefore sold his lawyer office and traveled to the West Indies and then the United States, where he met Benjamin Franklin. He came back to France in August 1789, where he was critical of the situation the country suddenly found itself in, and he quickly joined the defenders of the monarchy. The same year he published two pamphlets, Lettre d’un citoyen à Messieurs les Presidents and Petit mot à Louis XVI, in which he claimed that ”the happiness of the people imperiously demand that the king keep in all their integrity the power and the men with which the nation has intended to invest him,” while also writing ”if the good of humanity and the salvation of my country were not identified with the interests of your glory, you would see me most intrepid in proving to you that I am a man and a citizen before being your subject.” In October 1789 Suleau was arrested on suspicion for having published incendiary brochures. He was eventually transferred to Paris where he was released in April 1790. After regaining his freedom he turned to journalism, writing for the conservative journal Actes des Apôtres (founded in 1789) and evantually creating his own, Journal de M. Suleau, which lasted from March 1791 to April the following year. When Suleau was one of the journalists arrested after the Massacre on Champ-de-Mars he wanted Robespierre to be his lawyer. He kept up his college friendship for Desmoulins for a considerable amount of time despite both describing themselves as the the ”antipode” of the other, and in 1792 Suleau asked Desmoulins to bring him, Danton and Robespierre for dinner together so they could sort out their differences. Robespierre refused to do this, however, and Camille wrote that ”I cannot blame my friend Robespierre when he tells me that he would run away from my house on seeing a notable from Coblentz enter.” Six months later Suleau was killed in the Insurrection of August 10th. Writing about the event in her diary, Lucile Desmoulins reported: ”The stories were cruel. C(amille) arrived, he told me that the first head he had seen (on a pike) had been that of Suleau. Suleau had come the day before and had, so to speak, asked him for asylum.” Source: Un champion de la royauté au debut de la Révolution - François Louis Suleau (1907) and Press in the French Revolution (1971) by John Thomas Gilchrist, page 25

I am talking about a very remarkable letter from Suleau. Who does not know the famous Suleau, who graduated from college Louis le Grand, like Robespierre, but who took better advantage of the lessons of his teacher Royou, and became the Don Quixote of the aristocracy? Desmoulins on Suleau in number 68 of Révolutions de France et de Brabant

Farewell, my dear Suleau: I can so call, in a familial letter, the man who was my college comrade, and who warned me by unequivocal testimonies of friendship; but there are so few people made to believe that one can love and esteem one of the most ardent leaders of the opposite party, and despite college friendship maintain one's opinion against him in a pitched battle, pistol in hand, as it had been supported by the pen in society; patriots are so suspicious, and I have told the truth to so many people, that it seems to me that your friendship for me should forbid you to proclaim it from the balcony of the opera, in all societies, and in all newspapers, and thus to arm against me slander, hatred and distrust. Desmoulins in a letter to Suleau 1792, published in the journal of the latter.

Jean-Thomas-Élisabeth Richer de Serizy Richer was born in Paris in 1759, to a family that had been ennobled in 1472. During the revolution he became notary's clerk and then a political chronicler. Richer was a royalist, but did soften to the idea of a republic after the execution of Louis XVI, in a letter to Desmoulins (who he kept up contacts with, despite differing political opinions) from January 1793 he signed ”the republican Richer.” In 1793, an anonymous denunciation described him as a ”man without morality, known throughout Paris for the depravity of his private life, for his passive antiphysical tastes, and marked by the most revolting incivility (...)." Richer was arrested on December 11 1793 and imprisoned in the Carmes and then Luxembourg prison. After thermidor he was sent to a sanatorium, from which he was finally released on September 27 1794. He then started a royalist newspaper titled L’Accusateur Public. Richer was proscribed after the royalist insurrection of 13 Vendémiare 1795 and sentenced to death, but was saved by Merlin de Thionville, by then minister of justice. He was proscribed again after the insurrection of 18 Fructidor 1797 and sentenced to deportation, but escaped punishment yet again and fled to London, where he died in 1803 at the age of 44. Source: https://fr-academic.com/dic.nsf/frwiki/1434570 and Une lettre de Richer de Sérizy à Merlin de Thionville (1928) by Albert Mathiez

Upset about the condemnation, as useless as it is illegal, of M. Dichurbide, and seeing him thrown into prison with the vilest of scoundrels, with those victims whom the scaffold abandons in the dungeons; I run to a college friend; although I myself am a determined royalist, and to the fullest extent of the term, in representing to myself this attack on individual freedom, crying out that the law has been violated, and supported by our old friendship, I have no difficulty in getting Camille Desmoulins to rise up against the prevarication of the Court of the Correctional Police, and to obtain the consultation in cupboard. Richer de Serizy in Supplément au journal de Paris, number 26 (March 9 1792) page 2

René Richard Louis Castel Castel was born in Vire on October 6 1758 and attended Louis-le-Grand from 1770 to 1779. In 1771(while in sixieme) he came in fifth place in Version, and in 1774 (while in troisieme) in seventh place in version latine. After graduation he moved back to Vire, where he was elected mayor in 1790. On September 10 1791 he was chosen as a deputy for the Legislative Assembly, where he showed himself a moderate and loyal to the king. According to Beffroy, he was forced to go into hiding during ”the terror” but afterwards, his career in botany and poetry really took off and he released the much appriciated poem Les Plantes in 1797, and the scientific work Histoire naturelle des poissons, avec les figures dessinées d'après nature par Bloch: ouvrage classé par ordres, genres et espèces d'après le système de Linné; avec les caractères génériques four years later. In 1806 Castel was appointed professor of letters at Louis-le-Grand. Ten years later he became inspector of the royal military schools in 1816, a post from which he resigned a year later. Castel died of cholera on June 15 1832. In honor of his memory, a statue of him stands raised in Vire and the genus Castela has been named after him. Source: Castel Réne Richard Louis [note biographique] (1986)

Castel (Remi-René) about 44 years old [sic], son of the Director of post and letters of Vire, in Basse-Normandie, came to study at the College of Louis-le-Grand, at the University of Paris, where he distinguished himself by his taste for French poetry and by the gentleness and honesty of his morals. He made friends by preference with those of his comrades who distinguished themselves through the purity of their principles and the diligence of their work. He had not those showy tastes which one observes in most young people, whose mischievousness is generally said to bode well. But we must separate into two classes those who are peaceful by nature at the college and who aren’t amused by the noisy games of their comrades. Robespierre, who was studying at the same college, and at the same time, hardly ever played, laughed very little, gave himself even less movement; but he went for walks, during recreation, either alone or with a few comrades of his stamp, whom he listened to talk more than he talked himself. This way of being was due to egoism, which possessed him completely. Castel, on the contrary, who also went for walks, liked to converse frankly, and talked as much as people talked to him; but instead of talking about politics, the Romans, Brutus, Cromwell etc, he liked to talk about Virgil, Boileau, and especially Racine, Vannière and Abbé Delille. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses…(1799) by Beffroy de Reigny, volume 3, page 84

Prosper Sijas Sijas was born in Vire in 1759 and attended Louis-le-Grand since at least 1776. In the revolution he became deputy head of the Commission for the Organisation and Movement of the Army and a frequent speaker at the Jacobins. He was executed on July 30 1794, as an ”accomplice” of Robespierre.

Letter from Cousin Jacques to M. de Sijas (my former classmate; he has a Wholesale Fashion Store in the rue Neuve St. Eustache, at the Union des Arts; and in a fortnight, at the Arts reunited, rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs, between rue de Chabanais and rue Ste-Anne.) So you are transplanting, my dear study comrade, your flowers and your brilliant trinkets from one district to another! […] Who would have thought, ten years ago, when we followed the same career together at the College, that we would arrive at such different goals, at least in appearance? Who would have suspected that your profession would one day be fashions, and my job, that of a lunatic? After all, this arrangement is not so unfortunate, since you have lost none of your friendliness, and I none of my madness. Thus we both retain our distinctive character; and I'm very comfortable with it. I cannot finish my letter without sketching to you at least, by a pencil stroke, the impression produced on my mind and on my heart by the habit of going to your house. May my readers, sharing the homage that my friendship renders to decency, and my taste, to the industry of your house, be jealous to know it; may they extend the sphere of your charming beginning as much as you deserve! May they among the flowers, which art imitates so well in you, which Nature is jealous of, distinguish the rarest! Les Lunes du Cousin Jacques, number 10 (1786), page 162-167

It is again from this school that came two low servants of these man-tigers, and the worthy adjudans of their villainy: the name of one was Sijas, that of the other Pilot. Sijas had obtained, from his college comrade Robespierre, the employment of confidence of overseeing the massacres of the guillotine in Paris; and Pilot, exercising the same Commission in Lyon, wrote to Robespierre that the pleasure of seeing the Lyonnais having their throats cut restored his health. Abbé Proyart on Sijas in his Louis XVI détrôné d’être Roi, ou tableau des causes de la Révolution française et de l’ébranlement de tous les trônes (1803). Cited in Le collège Louis-le-Grand, séminaire de la Révolution (1913) by H. Monin. The Pilot Proyart mentions is C. Pilot (I unfortunately can’t find his firstname) who was director of posts in Lyon during ”the terror” and president for the local Jacobin Club. This is probably the letter from him Proyart is talking about, although it’s adressed to Gravier and not Robespierre.

Marguerite-Louis-François Duport-Dutertre Duport-Dutertre was born in Paris on May 6 1754, and became a lawyer after his studies at Louis-le-Grand. In 1789 he was elected member of the municipality of Paris. One year later, on November 21, 1790, he became Minister of Justice on the recommendation of La Fayette. On March 23, this position was taken over by Roland, and Dutertre returned to private life. After the insurrection of August 10 he was accused of conspiring against the constitution and the general security of the state. He was imprisoned in the Conciergerie prison in August and guillotined on on November 28 1793, at the same time as Barnave. Duport-Dutertre had been among the sixty people who signed the Desmoulins’ wedding contract on December 27 1790.

Duport-du Tertre, born in Paris, of a not very wealthy family, after having done fairly good studies at the College of Louis-le-Grand, became a lawyer, and got a certain reputation, above all, for probity and justice. He was of a gentle and honest character, although a little cold. He loved work and solitude. His conduct at the College had always been good; but of a wisdom more philosophical than religious. He was not born to be a scoundrel, and it cannot be said that he was; but he had not enough religion to cling to, in a slippery step, to the great principles which it enshrines, and he abandoned them. As Constitutional Minister, he tried to serve the Constitution and the King; and, without doing anything useful for the King or for the Constitution, he could not escape the guillotine. It had been less by any particular affection than at the request of his old college comrades whom Duport-du Tertre had endeavored to make known to Robespierre, whom he knew little of himself. Robespierre, in return for the disinterested zeal he had shown him on his arrival in Paris, worked harder than any other Jacobin to make him suspect and determine his execution. La vie et les crimes de Robespierre… (1795) by Le Blond de Neuvéglise (abbé Proyart), page 85-86

Pierre Henri Hélène Marie Lebrun (né Tondu) Lebrun was born in Noyon on August 27 1754. When his family ran into financial troubles he was forced to quit his studies at Louis-le-Grand to instead become a teacher at said place. In 1777 he moved to be employed at the Observatory of Paris, where he devoted himself to mathematics and observations until early 1779. In 1781 he moved to Liége were he started a career in printing. Four years later he started a journal called Journal général d'Europe, a periodical favorable to new ideas that met great success. Lebrun was closely involved in politics and participated in the Liège Revolution in 1789. He moved back to Paris in 1791, where he allied himself with the Girondins. He was also close with Dumouriez, who was made godfather of his fifth child. After the battle of Valmy, Lebrun conducted secret negotiations, and after said negotiations failed, he was a supporter of the war of conquest and defended the annexation of Belgium and the Netherlands. On January 20 1792, he was the one who signed the execution order for Louis XVI, and after the Insurrection of August 10th he was made foreign minister. He held this post until early June the following year, when he was arrested as a Girondin ally. Lebrun managed to escape in September, but was arrested again on December 23 and guillotined four days later. Source: Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution (2015) by Paul R. Hanson, page 194 and Biographie de tous les ministres, etc. Biographie des ministres français, depuis juillet 1789 jusqu’à ce jour (1826) page 185-186

Le Brun, known in his youth under the name of Abbé Tondu, was from Noyon. Provided by the Chapter of this City with a scholarship assigned to young clerics, he found himself a contemporary of Robespierre at the College of Louis-le-Grand. He had made less of a sensation than him in his humanities, but showed more talent in philosophy. He then bore an extraordinary depth of timidity, which he retained something of his whole life. He was one of those soft and easy characters who, having neither the boldness of crime nor the courage of virtue, become what circumstances and societies that surround them make them into. The Abbé Tondu, who liked neither his estate nor his name, left both at the same time, and called himself Le Brun, after his mother. Leaving the college, he obtained at the Observatory one of the Places paid by the King to young men who had a marked inclination for Mathematics. The bad companies having thrown him into licentiousness, he pledged himself to it. […] The tottering Minister tried in vain to rely on his old liaisons with Robespierre: Robespierre no longer knew as a friend the one who could also have been friend of a man whose pride had always revolted his own. Le Brun did not cause the death of the King; but, like Dumouriez, he had the cowardice to consent to it; and, like him, he truly became its accomplice, while doing nothing of all that he ought to have done to prevent it, or to provoke vengeance. La vie et les crimes de Robespierre (1795) by Le Blond de Neuvéglise (abbé Proyart), page 87-88

Jean-François-Joseph-Michel Noël Noël was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye on January 12 1755. He was at first enrolled at Collège de Mazarin, where he in 1770 (while in quatrieme) won one prize, and in 1771 (while in troisieme) one prize. He then moved to Collège des Grassins where he continued his sucess, winning three prizes in 1773 (while in seconde), four prizes in 1774 (while in Rhétorique) and four prizes in 1775 (while in Rhétorique). At some point after this he moved again to Louis-le-Grand. By 1780 he was professor in sixieme at said college. When the revolution broke out, Noël started writing for the journal la Chroniqueand went on several diplomatic missions, while keeping his career as professor at the college. He’s most famous for his numerous works which were mostly compilations of his views on university education. He also translated Catallus and Gallus. Noël died on January 29 1841.

Noël, born under the name Dumouchel to poor parents, had received, like Robespierre, the gratuitous education of the poor. Student first at the College des Grassins, then at that of Louis-le-Grand; after rather brilliant successes in the distribution of the University Prizes, he was made quarter master, and then professor, at the College of Louis-le-Grand. This sudden passage, from extreme poverty to the last term of ambition among the young masters of the university, turned his head. He had little religion, he became impious. At the beginning of the Revolution, his sentiments, expressed in a journal of which he had made himself the editor, earned him a post as clerk in the war office, and then a secret mission on the part of the Jacobins in a foreign court. Friend of Camille Desmoulins, the latter had introduced him to Robespierre when he arrived in Paris for the Estates-General. Robespierre, although welcomed and celebrated by Noël, had conceived against him a fund of aversion, because he had obtained more constant successes than him at the University, and because Camille Desmoulins never ceased to exalt his talents. He spared him at first as a proponent useful to his views, then fell out with him, and then lost him as soon as he found the occasion. La Vie et les Crimes de Robespierre… (1795) by Le Blond de Neuvéglise (abbé Proyart) page 86-87

Noël (François Joseph Michel) 1755-1841. At school with Robespierre; employed in many diplomatic missions under the Revolution; the author of a number of school-books, including a French grammar. The Despatches of Earl Gower, English Ambassador at Paris from June 1790 to August 1792 (1885) page 393

Guislain Marie Joseph de La Place La Place was born in Arras in 1757 and attended Louis-le-Grand from 1773 to 1781. In 1774 (while in cinquieme) he came in fifth place in Thême and third place in Version and in 1775 (while in quatrieme) in seventh place in Version. He then studied six years of theology, before finally becoming a professor at the school 1788-1799. During the eighteen hundreds he released a number of books, most of which were co-authored with the above mentioned Noël, for example Leçons de Littérature et de Morales (1810). La Place died in Paris December 13 1823. His political opinions are unknown. Source: Delaplace (Guislain, Marie, François, Joseph) [note biographique]

Jean-François Champagne Champagne was born July 1 1751 in Paris, and came to Louis-le-Grand in 1763. In 1770 (while in seconde) he came in fourth place in Thême. Four years later he got his master of arts, and four years after that he was made professor in Seconde. In June 1791 he became principal of the college and remained in that position for the entire revolution (Louis-le-Grand, or Collège Égalité, Institut des Boursiers Égalité, Prytanée Français, Collège de Paris, Lycée de Paris and finally “Lycée Impérial as it in less than ten years was sequentially renamed, being the only college in Paris to never close during that period, not even during the hights of ”the terror”). Champagne went along with the revolution, and was active within his section during the purge of the Girondins. In the political frenzy that followed, he himself was denounced as suspect, though there’s no evidence he was ever arrested. As the dechristinization movement progressed, he gave up his religious orders and married the widow of former fellow student Lebrun. In 1803 Champagne announced his retreat as principal of the college, finally leaving it in 1810, after 38 years spent within its walls. He died in Paris three years later on September 14 1813. Throughout his life he wrote multiple books on education and translated Aristotle. Source: The School of the French Revolution: A Documentary History of the College of Louis-le-Grand and its Director Jean François Champagne (1975) by RR Palmer, page 32-35 and Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne ou Dictionnaire de tous les hommes qui se sont fait remarquer par leurs écrits, leurs actions, leurs talents, leurs vertus ou leurs crimes, depuis le commencement du monde jusqu’à ce jour (1843-1847) volume 3, page 217

Champagne completed his studies at the College of Louis-le-Grand, arriving from Saulieu, in Burgundy, his native country. He only managed to learn through hard work and hardship. His principle, from which he never departed, is to bend to circumstances and conform to the tastes of powerful men, whoever they may be. This happy turn of character has been so successful for him that he is today Director of the Prytanée and member of the Institute: his translation of Aristotle is esteemed. Champagne would be a very essential man in his part, if religion occupied him a little. For long we were long friends; today we are not even cousins anymore; it is thus so that the difference of principles divides men: I do not say the difference of opinions; for I still have good friends among those who have opinions quite contrary to mine. Champagne is active, intelligent, firm, etc. but his way of thinking about the education of youth is the antipode of mine; and education is the basis of public happiness. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses… (1799) by Beffroy de Reigny, volume 3, page 169

Martin Michel Charles Gaudin Gaudin was born on January 16 1756 and enrolled at Louis-le-Grand in 1767, aged eleven. He left the college in the summer of 1772 in order to enroll at the Faculty of Laws in Paris. In 1791 he was named commissioner of the national treasury by Louis XVI, a post which he kept until 1795. He then went on to become Napoleon’s finance minister during his entire reign, as well as during the one hundred days. He died in Paris on November 5 1841. Source: Les Ministres des Finances de la Révolution Française au Second Empire (2007) by Guy Antoinetti, page 251-276

Jean François d'Auriol de Lauraguel The son of a noble born May 7 1762, Lauraguel first studied at College d’Esquille in Toulon, where he had Fabre d’Églantine as a teacher, and eventually moved from there to Louis-le-Grand. In 1787 he wrote a poem titled Épître à mon Poêle, dédiée à mes amis, which Fabre didn’t like and went on to severely criticise in his Épitre à Monsieur de Lauragel (1787). Upon graduating in 1788 Lauraguel wrote another peom titled Mes adieux au Collège Louis-le-Grand. He soon abandoned poetry to instead become a farmer, and died in 1809. Source: Fabre d’Églantine et Monsieur Lauraguel (2021) by Christine Belcikowski

M. Abbé d'Auriol de Lauraguel has already made himself known through his Epistle à mon Poêle, which has had success. Today he expresses his gratitude “towards a dear house where I had the happiness of spending the most beautiful years of my life, and where zealous masters have endeavored to form and cultivate my spirit.” It is fine to see him imbued with these feelings; and they give a good idea of his soul: but it is pleasant for the reader to see them well expressed; and this is what we notice in this Epistle. After having painted the happiness of living under the laws of M. l'Abbé Bérardier, who for several years has been principal of the College of Louis-le-Grand, the poet gives an account of his work and his studies: he takes the opportunity to characterize the fine geniuses of Antiquity, and he adds:

Ce n’est point qu’égare par une folle ivresse, Je ne veuille admirer que Rome et que la Grece. Horace et Juvenal, parmi nous reproduirs, S’étonnent de se voir dans Boileau réunis; Et Virgile, enchanté d’entendre son langage. Dans l’Auteur d’Audromaque embrasse son image. Corneille, à sa grande ame égalant ses héros, À côté de Cinna ne craint point de rivaux. Au Ménandre Romain, vaincu par son génie, Molière a su ravir le sceptre de Thalie, Et le bon La Fontaine a gardé les lauriers Dont il gratisiot ses heureux devanciers. Prince des Orateurs de la nouvelle Athème, Boussuer est pour nous le tonnant Démosthène, Moins hardi dans sol vol, le touchant Massillos Dans son style pompeux nous rendit Cicéron. Quel Ancien m’offrira l’image si cherie Du divin Fénelon qu’adore ma patrie? Il est donc un mortel qu’on nous doit envier; Fénelon à la France appartient tout en rier. Pline, heureux d’avoir pu balancer la victoire, Redoute dans Buffon le rival de sa glorie, Disciple de Socrate une seconde fois Platon dans Montesquieu s’intruiroit sur les lois.

We see that M. L'Abbé d'Auriol de Lauragnel drew very good principles of taste from the school which formed him. Here is a piece of a different kind, where the Poet describes with grace and precision some of the games the schoolchildren play:

Eh! Qui n’aime à rourner ses regards vers l’enfance, Vers l’enfance où le ciel sournit à l’onnocence? Les plaisirs dont cet âge est pour nous la raison, N’ont jamais des remorés redoure le poison. Exempts des noirs sourçis aux quels l’homme est en prele, Les jours de l’ecolier s’écoulent dans la joie; De son paisable front, l’ennui, s’il le coanoit, Comme un léger nuage, à l’instant disparoit. Voyez le dans ses yeux: une balle lancée, De la main contre un mur fortement repoussée, L’occupe tout entier, fait couler la fureur: Un exercise utile et pour lui le bonheur. Ici je vois deux camps; deux broyantes armées Paroissent d’un beau feu pour combattre animées; Combat d’un nouveau genre; on doit vainereeu fuyant, L’un d’entre eux, provoqué par un fier assistance, S’élance de son but: une troupe légère Court, vole sur ses pas, touche à peine la terre, Le fuyard hâletant, s’arrête….! Mais soudain L’ennemi qui le fuit l’atrappe de sa main; Et par des cris de joie annancant la victoire, Le hèros près des siens va jouir de sa gloire: Triomphe passager: par des chemins couverts Ulysse du vaincu vient pour briser les fers, Il se glisse, éludant l’ennemi qu’on amuse, Touche le prisonnier enchante de la ruse; En pompe le ramène; et déjà sa valeur Va chercher au grand jour un succès plus flatteur. Journal Géneral de France, Thursday September 25 1788

Auriol de Lauraguel (l’abbé d’) — Ecclesiastic distinguished by his talents and his conduct. He was one of the best students at the College of Louis-le-Grand, and wasted no time in making himself known through his Épître à mon Poêle, which earned him praise and encouragement from all sides. He was a rival of Camille-Desmoulins, in literary talent only. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses… (1799), volume 1, page 300-301.

Antoine Chrysostôme Quatremère de Quincy Quatremère de Quincy was born in Paris on October 28 1755, and came to Louis-le-Grand to study law, but soon turned to architecture instead. In 1776 he traveled to Naples together with Jacques Louis David. Nine years later he won a prize for an essay on Egyptian architecture, which initiated his career as a scholar on the subject. When the revolution broke out he moderately accepted its ideas and became member of the Paris Commune. One year later he was elected for the Legislative Assembly, where he defended the constitutional monarchy and also spoke out on artistic questions. His royalist symphasies ended up making him unpopular, and he was imprisoned in 1793 and released after thermidor. In 1795 he played an active role in the Insurrection of 13 vendémiare and was sentenced to death but acquitted and elected to the Council of Five Hundred two years later. He there made himself an even filmer defender of the monarchy and was thus ousted and forced to go into hiding after the coup of 18 fructidor. He was called back during the Consulat which named him general secretary for the departmental councils in 1800. From 1816 to 1839 he served as permanent secretary for the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and was also responsible for selecting students and awarding the Prix de Rome. He died in 1849, 94 years old. Source: The School of the French Revolution: A Documentary History of the College of Louis-le-Grand and its Director Jean François Champagne (1975) by RR Palmer, page 32 and 35

Louis-Nicolas-Hyacinthe Chérin Chérin was born in Paris on 21 October 1762. He joined the Parisian National Guard on the same day as the storming of the Bastille. In 1792 he was sent to visit the northern frontiers and ordered to arrest Lafayette, who managed to escape. In October the same year, Chérin joined general Dumouriez’s army as a chef de bataillon, but when Dumouriez wanted to detect, Chérin refused to go with him and was instead placed under the command of general Dampierre. Soon he received a promotion to chef de brigade, and served at the defense of the camp of Famars. However, at the end of July 1793 he was suspended and arrested at Cambrai and afterwards transferred to Arras and then Amiens. There he remained incarcerated until August 29 1794. In September he was given a new command in the Army of the Coasts of Cherbourg. In 1795 he was promoted to général de brigade and made chief of staff under general Hoche. Two years later he took part in the coup of 18 Fructidor, commanding the guard of the Directory. In 1799 he became cheif of staff to general Masséna. In June the same year the Austrians attacked the camp which Chérin led. He charged at the head of a squadron but received a bad wound to the stomach and was transported to Aarau where he died on June 8. He was later buried at Huningue. Source: https://www.frenchempire.net/biographies/cherin/

Chérin (Louis-Nicolas-Henri) did fairly mediocre studies at the College of Louis-le-Grand; but won the esteem and friendship of his fellow students by the gentleness of his character. Leaving his studies, he followed the same career as his father, who was a genealogist by orders of the King, and wore the blue cord in the opposite direction. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses…, (1799) by Beffroy de Reigny, page 244-245

Jean Baptiste Alexandre Vacherot At Louis-le-Grand (as scholar) from May 11 1772. He later became a marine doctor. Information cited in Camille et Lucile Desmoulins: un rêve de république (2018)

My dear friend and comrade, I saw in your (votre) last number a letter signed J. P. Valcheroz, which reports on a session of the General Council, held on the 24th. You should not have been unaware that my correspondence in Paris is medical and not political. You don't know my handwriting, you can be forgiven, my dear friend, for believing that what is signed comes from the person himself; but I am obliged to disavow this letter. I will say, like Mirabeau, that unless I was stupid or mad, I could not have written this letter. The multiplicity of your affairs has prevented you from making these reflections. I hope you will give this letter the publicity of your journal. Rarely, my dear, I reasoned politically. I embrace you, and am for life, my dear friend and former comrade, Your friend, for life J. B Vacherot Vacherot to Desmoulins in 1790

My dear comrade, the author of the letter inserted in my Number 46 had counterfeited the impetuosity of your (ton) style and your ardent patriotism so well that when I read it, I thought I heard you. No longer remembering the body of your writing, since the college days, I could have mistaken it; but it would be inexcusable of me to having printed your name at the bottom of this letter, if the news it contained had not reassured me about the fear of the troublesome business that its publicity could cause you, and of which I imagined that the patriotism of the squadron would know how to defend you. I hasten to repair my fault, by sending it to the municipality of Brest; under the address of his illustrious attorney-syndic, the original of the pseudonymous letter which I have inserted. You must be very patriotic to excuse me and write to me with so much friendship, after the danger to which my Number 46 exposed you. Camille replies to above cited letter from Vacherot in number 49 of Révolutions de France et de Brabant

[…] Remind our comrade Robespierre of the civic spirit of Brest. It is up to him, to Barnave, to Riquetti the older, to avenge Brest and the general assembly of Str Domingue, who are calumniated, and the brave Santo Domingo, captain of the Leopard, another Hannibal, my friend. He is one-eyed like the Carthaginian. The haste of the National Assembly in this matter does him great harm in this country. Nancy should, however, have instructed them. Cavelier was quite right to say to Dalbert, Marigny and others: you did everything to lose the confidence of the crews, nothing to regain it. I am temaja of the facts, and I could judge, Your old comrade B Vacherot Vacherot in a letter to Camille, published in number 49 of Révolutions de France et de Brabant (1790)

Dubois Citizen, the administration of the district of Grandviliers, department of the Oise, has appointed me commissioner to present its petition to the committee of subsistence, of which this district has the most urgent need. I did not hesitate to accept this nomination and to follow this journey to cooperate, as much as it is in me, for the general good, and in the sweet hope of seeing again in you a former classmate, who my course must honor and of which in my privacy I glory. Your (tes) efforts for the public good, of which you are the keen friend and whose enemies see in you only a zealous persecutor of their vices, have caused fear for your life, and you become, it is said, not very accessible at this moment when you are in danger, not out of fear, but out of desire, I would even say the need to keep your country's strongest support. Robespierre, you will not refuse one of your truest friends the pleasure of seeing you, and procure me this advantage: I want to satisfy my eyes and my heart with your features; and my soul, electrified by all your republican virtues, will bring back to me the fire with which you embrace all good republicans. Your writings breathe it; I feed on it; but let me see you. Your old classmate, from Tréguier to Hérireau. Signed D, from Amiens Dubois to Robespierre July 2 1794

Pierre de Luxembourg Élisabeth Luglien Cousin de Beaumesnil Born January 8 1761. He later became a lawyer. Source: https://www.leonore.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/ui/notice/94693

I beg you, Monsieur and former comrade, to see fit that I send you a very brief sketch of a matter which the National Assembly has judged in my favour. The part you have taken in the present cases has surprised me little. I knew at the college of Louis-le-Grand all the energy and honesty of your soul. It is for having had an equal way of thinking, it is for having been the first in my country to wear the three-color cockade, for having been the scourge of the privileged, for having published with the greatest solemnity the decrees of the immortal night of August 4, for having finally been the most intrepid defender of… Good citizen as you are, you owe it to your old and very zealous comrade, to spread the reparation he has obtained, as he was forced to hear the stigma with which they wanted to cover me. […] You have, some time ago, my dear comrade… I ask you for this service, in the name of the old college friendship with which I have the honor to be. Letter from Cousin de Beauménil to Camille, published in number 16 of Révolutions de France et de Brabant.

Danton (not to be confused with the revolutionary, who attended the College of Troyes) I have hoped for two days that I would succeed in having Danton nominated, a college comrade of mine in the opposite party who esteems me enough not to extend to me the hatred he bears for my opinions. I had done my best and highly recommended him to whomever it belongs. We failed. Desmoulins in a letter to his father, April 3 1792

Pierre Jean André Grasset Grasset was the son of a lawyer born August 6 1760, and came to Louis-le-Grand in January 1775, where he apparently became Camille’s best friend. He later became a commisioner of gunpowder in Lyon and died July 30 1839. Source: Camille et Lucile Desmoulins: un rêve de république (2018)

By the joy I felt, I recognized that you were my best friend, and that only my own fortune could have given me more pleasure. […] I have always continued to chase the same hare, the mother lured me into the house, the father promised me his daughter, gave me his word of honour; the girl made me or made me think she wanted me; a few days later came a terrible storm which threw me far from the port, farther than ever; why did I not have your advice then and why were you not close to me! Letter from Desmoulins to Grasset 27 October 1788, cited in Ibid.

Pelanne The goddess of harmony, Has showered you with a thousand presents; No, nothing equals your talents, Than your gentleness and your modesty.

(La déesse de l’harmonie, T’a comblé de mille présents; Non, rien n’égale tes talents, Que ta douceur et que ta modestie.) Camille to Pelanne

Pelanne replied with: . Would you believe it, my unwise vanity Dares to accept this flattering compliment, And give a riddle to my heart: Which of the two pleases him more, The praise or the author?

(Le croiriez vous, ma vanité peu sage Ose accepter ce compliment flatteur, Et donne un problème à mon cœur: Qui des deux lui plaît davantage, De la louange ou de l’auteur?)

Text cited in Ibid.

Alexandre Louis Hubert Braine Entered Louis-le-Grand as scholar on March 27 1773. He later became a lawyer in Arras. There exists a letter from him to Desmoulins dated February 8 1793. Information cited in Ibid.

Joly Chatillon-Sur-Marne — a town in Champagne, near Epernay, which I am only mentioning here because Joly, its priest, a former college comrade of Robespierre, got it into his head to come and say hello to him at the time of the terror. Robespierre drew back when he tried to embrace him; and whenever, while talking, the priest of Chatillon-sur-Marne approached the tyrant, the latter huddled in a corner, still afraid of being assassinated. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses… (1799) by Beffroy de Reigny, volume 3, page 223

Clavelin Clavelin, a former pupil of the College of Louis-le-Grand, born in Franche-Compté, became a bookseller when his comrades became authors; and while these had all the glory, he had all the profit. Ibid, volume 3, page 314

Banquière Banquière (de la) — son of a Councilor to the Superior Council of Blois and former magistrate in Montpellier. The Abbé de la Banquiere, of whom we are speaking, did all his studies at the College of Louis-le-Grand, with Robespierre, Camille-Desmoulins, the author of this Dictionary and a host of others, too well known in the Revolution. He was one of the most virtuous Ecclesiastics in France. We found him on a casualty list for September 2, though he was not on others. Ibid, volume 1, page 371

Beaudoumin Another Beaudoumin, a former student of the College of Louis-le-Grand, left his mark in the early days of the Revolution with an affectation of patriotism which succeeded in him. Ibid, volume 1, page 456

Teachers

Denis Bérardier Bérardier was born March 26 1735 and the principal of Louis-le-Grand from 1778 to 1787, taking over from Abbé Jean-Baptiste Poignard d’Enthieuloye who had held the post from 1770 and left the College heavily in debt. In 1789 Bérardier was elected to represent the clergy at the Estates general. He came to oppose the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, instead writing two works favorable to the church, Les principes de la foi sur le gouvernement de l'église en opposition avec la constitution civile du clergé (1791) and L'Église constitutionnelle confondue par elle-même, par une Société de théologiens (1792). In late 1790, he presided over the wedding ceremony of Camille and Lucile Desmoulins. According to some sources he was imprisoned at the time of the September massacres and saved by Camille, although I’ve yet not found any primary source or Desmoulins biography claim it (though it should be noted that Bérardier would have been a likely target for the massacres and Camille, being secretary for the Paris Commune at the time, would have had some power to intervene.) Bérardier died two years later, on May 1 1794.

I will dare to make a voice heard Weak, but which, at least, will not be sold. Henceforth, oh my lyre, forever relaxed, You will no longer charm my ills and my boredom! But, dear to innocence, and weak the support, I will sometimes be able to taste this supreme good: I will make people happy. Well! who in this stay, Raised near you, does not want to do it in turn, Berardier? This very place, where, on the dark shores Gresset, before the time, thought he saw our shadows wandering, I saw it under your laws, too late for my happiness, Trace the enchanting stay much earlier Bouquets from the Academy or the happy Elysée. What did I say? Near you, gently abused, Childhood here is believed to be under the paternal roof: O Berardier! Receive this solemn farewell.

(J’oserai faire entendre une voix Faible, mais qui, du moins, ne sera point vendue. Désormais, ô ma lyre, à jamais détendue, Tu ne charmeras plus mes maux et mon ennui! Mais, cher à l’innocence, et du faible l’appui, Je pourrai quelquefois goûter ce bien suprême: Je ferai des heureux. Eh ! qui dans ce séjour, Elevé près de toi, n’en veut faire à son tour, Bérardier? Ce lieu même, où, sur les rives sombres Gresset, avant le temps, crut voir errer nos ombres, Je l’ai vu sous tes lois, trop tard pour mon bonheur, Retracer bien plus tôt le séjour enchanteur Des bouquets d’Acadème ou l’heureux Elysée. Que dis-je? Près de toi, doucement abusée, L’enfance ici se croit sous le toit paternel: Ô Bérardier! Reçois cet adieu solennel.) Camille in Mes adieux au College Louis-le-Grand (1784). Cited in Camille Desmoulins and his wife: passages from the history of the dantonists…(1876) by Jules Claretie, page 15

My dear Desmoulins, I have just arrived from the provinces and I have just left the good Bérardier who told me about your happy marriage and its touching circumstances. Allow me to add my own to the thousands of compliments you have already received. Through the young deviations of an exalted imagination, I have always recognized in you a good heart; your zeal for liberty, your conduct towards the good Bérardier and towards the worthy object of your constant sighs, announce solid virtues. Faithful to the fatherland, faithful to love, faithful to friendship, you deserved to be the happiest of men. You are indeed, if I believe what you have told me twenty times and what the good Bérardier told me about your charming companion whom I have not met. Luce de Lancival in a letter to Desmoulins, December 31 1790. Lancival (1764-1810) had him too been a student at Louis-le-Grand, and started his rhetorics class at the end of 1780. He later became a poet and playwright. Source: Étude sur Luce de Lancival (1881) by by Alfred Donneaud Du Plan.

Finally, I married Lucile on Wednesday, December 29. My dear Bérardier performed the celebration at St-Sulpice, assisted by the parish priest who had almost asked for the honor of performing it. […] Patriots in the National Assembly were unable to obtain this dispensation which they requested for me; but Bérardier has done so much that he finally obtained it. […] Bérardier gave a touching speech before the celebration which drove us both to tears, Lucile and I. Desmoulins in a letter to his father from January 3 1791, describing his wedding.

Berardier — Doctor of Sorbonne, former Principal of the College of Quimper, then Syndic of Sorbonne, then Principal and then Grand Maître of the College of Louis-le-Grand, was Deputy of the Clergy of Paris in the Constituent Assembly, where he was at first only Substitute; but he there replaced the Abbé Le Gros, a man of merit, although of a merit much inferior to his own, former Administrator of the same College of Louis-le-Grand and Provost of the Chapter of St. Louis du Louvre, who died in 1790. Bérardier has eternal rights to the admiration of posterity, as he had to the gratitude of all those who studied under his direction. It would be difficult to cite, in the course of a century, even among the most illustrious Members of the University of Paris, a man who ever combined more Christian virtues with more social qualities. His piety, always austere for himself and always indulgent for others, made him, during the whole course of his life, the most perfect model of this amiable philosophy, which reconciles the love and esteem of all parties. I’m not exagerating when I say he was what is called adored by all the young people whom paternal solicitude had entrusted to his vigilance. The most severe men in matters of education only reproached him for being too gentle, which sometimes degenerated into weakness. Endowed with a sagacity which did not yield to the penetration of any man in place, he embellished this very rare faculty by literary, political, historical and physical knowledge, a meeting not commonly found among men. Camille Desmoulins, on leaving the college, had an Epistle printed in verse, entitled: Mes Adieux au College, in which he paid Bérardier an amount of gratitude and praise, all the less suspect, because it flowed from a pen foreign to the principles and feelings of the hero he celebrated, with a pen, which then seemed destined for the unfortunate role it has since played on the political scene. The same Camille saved Bérardier on 2 September. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses… (1799) by Beffroy de Reigny, volume 1, page 541-54

Thomas-Marie Royou Royou was born 1743 in Quimper in Brittanyand. He was Fréron’s maternal uncle, as well as the fifteen years older brother of Guermeur. Royou taught a senior class at Louis-le-Grand for twenty years, while at the same time writing for the periodical press. He corraborated with Fréron’s father (and his own brother-in-law) Élie Fréron with his Année Littéraire, and after the death of the latter in 1776, Royou’s involvement in the work grew. Like his brother-in-law, Royou was part of the counter-Enlightenment, and became disliked by both Diderot and La Harpe. When the revolution came around, he started a journal titled l’Ami du Roi, of which his sister (Fréron’s mother) handled the publishing and business aspect. The first number was released on September 1 1790. It’s influence grew and had its peak in June 1791, but subscriptions began to fall after the Flight to Varennes and the shootings on the Champ-de-Mars. Royou’s journal had the reputation of being one of the more radical monarchist papers in the early revolution, even though its author at the same time often took moderate positions on substansial issues — directing his arguments against principles instead of persons, accepting a considerable measure of reform and erergetically opposing violence, armed counter-revolution and war. L’Ami du Roi was often likened to Marat’s l’Ami du Peuple by contemporaries, pointing to the shared extremism of the two. Danton said that Marat was ”a man whose opinions are to the republican party what those of Royou were to the aristocratic party.” After the massacre on Champ-de-Mars both were also slated for arrest, and both managed to escape. However, on May 3 the following year — the same day the last number of l’Ami du Roi appeared — the arrest of both was ordered once again. This was probably a decisive blow to Royou’s failing health, and he died while in hiding a little more than a month later. Source: The production, distribution and readership of a conservative journal of the early French Revolution: l’Ami du Roi of the abbé Royou (1992) by Harvey Chisick

In vain I cried: gentlemen, here is some good, I am not a vulgar author Like my cousin Fréron, Deign subscribers to inflate the registration number. Faith of a priest, I take an oath To do my best to be real mean. Maître Clément sold me his syringe; I want to purge the earth of giants; I want to make Hercules forget, By fifty works repeated every year. No matter how much I shouted: so much the winds carried away. Muses, must again this year It costs me three thousand francs To clean your pews, And from the desecrated pulpit Driven out by imbecile regents? However, I have done many feats: I bit d’Alembert in both buttocks. But today we only pay for the incense. You, my dear subscribers, pull me out of distress.

(Vainement, je criai: messieurs, voici du bon, Je ne suis point un écrivain vulgaire . Ainsi que mon cousin Fréron, . Daignez des souscripteurs enfler la matricule. Foi de prêtre, je fais serment De faire de mon mieux pour être bien méchant. Maître Clément m’a vendu sa sérule; Je veux purger la terre de géants; Je veux faire oublier Hercule, Par cinquante travaux répétés tous les ans. J’eus beau crier: autant en emportaient les vents. Muses, faut-il qu’encore cette année Il m’en coûte trois mille francs Pour avoir nettoyé vos bancs, Et de la chaire profanée Chassé d’imbeciles régents? J’ai fait pourtant mainte prouesse: J’ai mordu d’Alembert à l’une et l’autre fesse. Mais on ne paye aujourd’hui que l’encens. Vous, mes chers souscripteurs, tirez moi de détresse.) Camille on Royou in a poem written 1783 and partly republished in number 65 of Révolutions de France et de Brabant (February 21 1791). Camille is mocking the failure of Royou’s antiphilosophical and anti-Enlightenment Journal de Monsieur (1781) which gathered only 300 subscribers and met its death in 1783. He would also go hard against Royou in Révolutions de France et de Brabant.

My dear comrade, since you were with us at Louis-le-Grand, remind our former professor Abbé Royou, who preaches submission to the pope, that he does not read his breviary, that he does not say mass. JULIEN, JULLIEN. Brest, May 6. Julien to Camille, letter published in number of Révolutions de France et de Brabant.

Louis Pierre Hérivaux Herivaux was born in 1726 and taught at Louis-le-Grand as professor in Rhétorique between 1768 and 1784. Source: Ressources numériques en histoire de l’éducation

None of his masters contributed so much to the growth of the republican virus fermenting in his (Robespierre’s) soul than his Professor of Rhetoric. An enthusiastic admirer of the heroes of ancient Rome, M. Hérivaux, nicknamed The Roman by his students, thought that Robespierre’s personality had a strong Roman physiognomy. He praised him, cajoled him unceasingly, sometimes even congratulated him very seriously on this precious similarity. Robespierre, no less seriously, favored compliments, and was grateful to bear the soul of a Roman, be it the atrocious soul of a parricidal Brutus, or that of a conspiratorial Catiline. La vie et les crimes de Robespierre… (1795) by Le Blond de Neuvéglise (abbé Proyart), page 46-47

It is here, or never, to pay to those who directed my childhood the tribute of recognition and praise which they deserve. I remember a M. Hérivaux, known throughout the University for his zeal and his enlightenment, and unanimously cherished by all those who had him as a teacher. I had this professor for two years of rhétorique, that is to say the two most interesting years for a student; and finally I must print what I have said a hundred times orally, that it is to him that I owe the small dose of talent that my readers thought they perceived in my works. He spread over his lessons the charm of inducement; and, since we always have to mention roses and thorns when we talk about literature, I would say that he had the art of showing us the rose without letting us see the thorns... Courrier des planetes ou Correspondance du Cousin Jacques avec le Firmament by Beffroy de Reigny, number 38 (1788) page 3

Yves Marie Audrein Born October 14 1741, Audrein became an enlightened prefect at Louis-le-Grand, and then principal of the College des Grassins. During his time there, he presented to the National Assembly a rather radical plan of education which he published as a small book in 1791. Audrein was elected for the Legislative Assembly the same year to represent the department of Morbihan, where he was among those who went the hardest against refractory priests. He was re-elected for the National Convention in 1792, in which he served on the Committee on Public Instruction. During the trial of the king, he voted for an appeal to the people, for death with an amendment and for the reprieve. In 1798 he became constitutional bishop of Finistère in Britanny. On November 19 1800, his coach was stopped on the road from Quimper to Châteaulin by a group of Choians who preceded to shoot Audrein dead as vengeance for having voted for the death of the king. Several death sentences were pronounced against the assassins. Source: The School of the French Revolution: A Documentary History of the College of Louis-le-Grand and its Director, Jean-François Champagne, 1762-1814 (1975) by RR Palmer, by Palmer, page 97-98

One day, however, a prefect, suddenly opening a door, finds him (Robespierre) on the commode reading a very nasty pamphlet. Caught in flagrante delicto, Robespierre thought himself lost; and, forgetting his natural pride, falls at the feet of the Arbiter of his fate and comes down to the humblest supplications. The Master with whom he had to deal was neither inflexible nor fervent in Morale. He was a man who had been heard more than once to exclaim among the young people: "Long live liberty, my friends: far from us the hypocrisy.” It was the Abbé Audrein, who since deserved, by his apostasy, to become the collegue of Robespierre in the Assembly of Factious, where he still sits. With such a judge, the affair of the bad book was civilized without difficulty, and did not even come to the knowledge of the other Masters of the House. La Vie et les Crimes de Robespierre… (1795) by Le Blond de Neuvéglise (abbé Proyart) page 37-38

Audrein (l’Abbé) — Former professor, and then Principal of the College of Quimper, in Lower Brittany, from there he came to Paris, where he was Sub-Principal and Prefect of Studies at the College of Louis-le-Grand and at the same time appointed Grand Vicar (ad honores) by several Bishops, because of the reputation that his Sermons gave him; then Coadjutor of the College des Grassins, where he directed the boarding school. Audrein was then First Episcopal Vicar of the Constitutional Bishop of Morbihan; from there, Deputy for Vannes in the Legislative Assembly, then Member of the National Convention. He was one of those whom the Legislature deputed to the prisons, during the Massacres of September 2, and who did not prevent them from being continued. All that can be reproached to him is an unbounded exaltation; but where he owes the justice to say that he joined to that a real talent, as an orator and as a writer, an imperturbable zeal for religion and a great fund of morality. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses… (1799) by Beffroy de Reigny, volume…, page 294-295

Jean-Baptiste Dumouchel Dumouchel lived between 1748 and 1820. He was principal for Louis-le-Grand between 1786 and 1791, deputy to the Estates general and later went on diplomatic missions. Source: The School of the French Revolution: A Documentary History of the College of Louis-le-Grand and its Director Jean François Champagne (1975) by RR Palmer, page 32

Dumouchel, son of a poor Peasant from Picardy, would not have found within his family any resource for his education: the Sanctuary and the charity of the Faithful paid all the expense. Scholar of the Community of Ste. Barbe, he entered the College of Louis-le-Grand in quality of a quarter master. He fortified himself to go and teach Rhetoric at Rhodez, from where he was called back to Paris to occupy a chair at the College de la Marche. The Abbé Royou, to whom he paid court, had employed him, for a time, for the drafting of certain unimportant articles of his journal, which he had no leisure to deal with himself. A fairly ritual appearance, a supple character, a lot of talk, a little literature, and many more ambitious pretensions had given Dumouchel a certain reputation among that swarm of deplorable subjects which filled the Colleges of Paris; and, by their votes, he found himself Rector of the University at the time of the holding of the Estates-General. Hiding his unbridled ambition and his irreligion under the mask of the most complete devotion to the respectable Archbishop of this Capital, he united the voices of the Clergy for the Deputation. Scarcely had the Hypocrite been in possession of the title he aspired to, than, abandoning the sacred interests which had been entrusted to him, he formed an alliance with Robespierre, whom he at first advocated, and of whom he was later advocated, so much so that the Jacobins of Paris, judging him worthy of the Episcopat, sent his name to the Club of the town of Nismes, with the injunction to make the subject known to the electors of the department, as the one who suited them and whom they should name. All the Catholic Electors, with the exception of two, having refused to cooperate in the crime of an intrusion by Eve that the Protestant Electors, less delicate, assembled, gave their votes to the one whom the Jacobins had designated for them; and Dumouchel, proclaimed Constitutionally Catholic Bishop that, by fifteen Electors only, of which thirteen were Protestants, said goodbye to his friend Robespierre, and went to install himself in the Episcopal Palace of Nismes, which soon, as we know, was defiled by the most scandalous Scenes. La vie et les crimes de Robespierre… (1795) by Le Blond de Neuvéglise (abbé Proyart) page 83-85

Abbé Léon-Bonaventure Proyart Proyart, born February 13 1743, was assistant principal at Louis-le-Grand from 1772 to 1778, after which he moved on to be principal of a college in Auvergne. He wrote many works on education, among others L’écolier vertueux; ou Vie édifiante d’un écolier de l’Université de Paris (1772), Le Modèle des jeunes gens, ou Vie de Souzi le Pelletier (1772), De l'Éducation publique et des moyens d'en réaliser la réforme (1781) and Instruction en forme de réglement, pour les maîtres de quartier. Proyart was conservative even before the revolution and ridiculed the claims of new educational theorists. When the revolution came along he emigrated, eventually ending up in Augsburg, but moved back to France during the Consulat. There, he wrote in favor of returning the Bourbons to the throne and thus spent a time in prison in 1801. He came to denounce Louis-le-Grand as a hotbed of revolutionaries, and is today perhaps most famous for his very hostile biography over Robespierre: La Vie et les crimes de Robespierre, surnommé Le Tyran: depuis sa naissance jusqu’à sa mort (1795), which he wrote under the alias Le Blond de Neuvéglise. Proyart died in Arras on March 23 1808. Source: Le collège Louis-le-Grand, séminaire de la Révolution (1913) by H. Monin and The School of the French Revolution: A Documentary History of the College of Louis-le-Grand and its Director, Jean-François Champagne, 1762-1814 (1975) by RR Palmer, page 81-82

Boussot Boussut was at first a simple quarter domestic at the College of Louis-le-Grand, where the schoolchildren made fun of his ingenuity; then he was a commodity boy, and the students laughed even more at him. Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses… (1799) by Beffroy de Reigny, volume 2, page 291

Baude Baudre (l’Abbé de) — former quarter master at the College of Louis-le-Grand, and aggregate at the University of Paris, where he won the honorary prize. Robespierre had also won it. Ibid, volume 1, page 435

Bellanger Bellanger — Respectable ecclesiastic, was formerly conferance master at the College of Louis-le-Grand. Where is he? Nescio. Ibid, volume 1, page 506

Devic M. Devic, canon of the cathedral of Arras, who had been a professor at the Louis-le-Grand college while Maximilien was studying there; they loved each other like two brothers. Mémoires de Charlotte Robespierre sur ses deux frères (1835) page 59-60

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