Notes for Candide

Notes for Candide Chapter 21 the fair of St. Germain street fair held on the left bank of the Seine, in a quarter of Paris near the old church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in that great book the Bible Chapter 22 “when they die we throw their bodies on a dunghill”: This is a reference to the automatic excommunication of actors and actresses by the Catholic Church and to the resultant refusal to bury them in consecrated ground. One of Voltaire’s causes was to give actors an honorable status in society and the right to be buried in Christian cemeteries. “Miss Monimia made her exit … in the parish”: Miss Monimia refers to Adrienne Lecouvreur (1692-1730), a great actress of the Comédie Française much admired by Voltaire; she made her debut in the role of Monine in Jean Racine’s tragedy Mithridate (1673); after her death she was denied ecclesiastical burial. “Jansenists against Molinists”: Jansnists were members of a Catholic sect that sought religious reform and followed the doctrines of Cornelis Jansen (1585-1638), a Dutch theologian who limited free will in favor of predestination and divine grace. His best-known follower was French scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). They were condemned as heretics and were fiercely opposed by the Jesuits, or Molinists – from the Spanish Jesuit Luis de Molina (1535-1600), who emphasized free will. The quarrel between the two sects continued well into the eighteenth century. not like the one in the month of May, 1610, but like the one in the month of December in 1594: François Ravaillac succeeded in killing Henry IV in 1610, whereas Jean Châtel had failed in his attempt to kill Henry IV in 1594. mange contagious disease of domestic and wild animals; also known as the red mange and sheep pox purging and bleeding ironical reference to medical remedies that had become old-fashioned by the middle of the eighteenth century note payable to the bearer beginning in 1750, billets de confessions were required of dying patients on pain of refusal of the sacraments and absolution a rather dull tragedy reference to Le Comte d’Essex, a tragedy by Thomas Corneille (1625-1709), brother of the more successful Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), who is considered a master of French tragedy St. Honoré fashionable quarter of Paris on the right bank of the Seine basset Better known as faro; a card game, played with 52 cards, in which players bet on the cards to be turned up from the top of the dealer’s pack observed … every parole an indication there was cheating; a “paroli” is an illegal doubling of one’s bet Sieur Gauchat Gabriel Gauchat, a contemporary critic hostile to Voltaire and the Encyclopedists Archdeacon T——‘s Nicholas-Charles-Joseph Trublet, editor of the Journal Chrêtien, and another enemy of Voltaire Atrebata Latin name for the French province of Artois; Robert François Damiens, who in 1757 failed in his attempt to assassinate Louis XV, came from Artois Chapter 23 Canada is worth: This is a reference to the struggle for Canada during the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). The wars of the French and English over Canada persisted throughout the eighteenth century until the Peace of Paris (1763) confirmed England’s conquest. Voltaire failed to appreciate the worth of Canada. in front of this man stood fours soldiers … perfectly well satisfied: Candide here witnessed the historical execution of Admiral John Byng (1704-1757), who was executed by a firing squad, by verdict f a court martial, for allegedly having neglected his duties and thereby having significantly contributed to the humiliating defeat of the English by the French fleet under La Galissonnière in the battle of Minorca (1756) during the Seven Years’ War. Voltaire had met Byng during his years of exile in England, considering him an innocent victim of national pride, and unsuccessfully intervened in his behalf. .

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