Editing Volume 1/Book 1/Chapter 2

Les Misérables, Volume 1: Fantine, Book First: A Just Man, Chapter 2: M. Myriel Becomes M. Welcome<br />
(Tome 1: Fantine, Livre premier: Un Juste, Chapitre 2: Monsieur Myriel devient monseigneur Bienvenu)

==General notes on this chapter==

==French text==

Le palais &eacute;piscopal de Digne &eacute;tait attenant &agrave; l'h&ocirc;pital.

Le palais &eacute;piscopal &eacute;tait un vaste et bel h&ocirc;tel b&acirc;ti en pierre au
commencement du si&egrave;cle dernier par monseigneur Henri Puget, docteur en
th&eacute;ologie de la facult&eacute; de Paris, abb&eacute; de Simore, lequel &eacute;tait &eacute;v&ecirc;que de
Digne en 1712. Ce palais &eacute;tait un vrai logis seigneurial. Tout y avait
grand air, les appartements de l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que, les salons, les chambres, la
cour d'honneur, fort large, avec promenoirs &agrave; arcades, selon l'ancienne
mode florentine, les jardins plant&eacute;s de magnifiques arbres. Dans la
salle &agrave; manger, longue et superbe galerie qui &eacute;tait au rez-de-chauss&eacute;e
et s'ouvrait sur les jardins, monseigneur Henri Puget avait donn&eacute; &agrave;
manger en c&eacute;r&eacute;monie le 29 juillet 1714 &agrave; messeigneurs Charles Br&ucirc;lart de
Genlis, archev&ecirc;que-prince d'Embrun, Antoine de Mesgrigny, capucin,
&eacute;v&ecirc;que de Grasse, Philippe de Vend&ocirc;me, grand prieur de France, abb&eacute; de
Saint-Honor&eacute; de L&eacute;rins, Fran&ccedil;ois de Berton de Grillon, &eacute;v&ecirc;que-baron de
Vence, C&eacute;sar de Sabran de Forcalquier, &eacute;v&ecirc;que-seigneur de Gland&egrave;ve, et
Jean Soanen, pr&ecirc;tre de l'oratoire, pr&eacute;dicateur ordinaire du roi,
&eacute;v&ecirc;que-seigneur de Senez. Les portraits de ces sept r&eacute;v&eacute;rends
personnages d&eacute;coraient cette salle, et cette date m&eacute;morable, 29 juillet
1714, y &eacute;tait grav&eacute;e en lettres d'or sur une table de marbre blanc.

L'h&ocirc;pital &eacute;tait une maison &eacute;troite et basse &agrave; un seul &eacute;tage avec un
petit jardin. Trois jours apr&egrave;s son arriv&eacute;e, l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que visita l'h&ocirc;pital.
La visite termin&eacute;e, il fit prier le directeur de vouloir bien venir
jusque chez lui.

&mdash;Monsieur le directeur de l'h&ocirc;pital, lui dit-il, combien en ce moment
avez-vous de malades?

&mdash;Vingt-six, monseigneur.

&mdash;C'est ce que j'avais compt&eacute;, dit l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que.

&mdash;Les lits, reprit le directeur, sont bien serr&eacute;s les uns contre les
autres.

&mdash;C'est ce que j'avais remarqu&eacute;.

&mdash;Les salles ne sont que des chambres, et l'air s'y renouvelle
difficilement.

&mdash;C'est ce qui me semble.

&mdash;Et puis, quand il y a un rayon de soleil, le jardin est bien petit
pour les convalescents.

&mdash;C'est ce que je me disais.

&mdash;Dans les &eacute;pid&eacute;mies, nous avons eu cette ann&eacute;e le typhus, nous avons eu
une suette militaire il y a deux ans, cent malades quelquefois; nous ne
savons que faire.

&mdash;C'est la pens&eacute;e qui m'&eacute;tait venue.

&mdash;Que voulez-vous, monseigneur? dit le directeur, il faut se r&eacute;signer.

Cette conversation avait lieu dans la salle &agrave; manger-galerie du
rez-de-chauss&eacute;e. L'&eacute;v&ecirc;que garda un moment le silence, puis il se tourna
brusquement vers le directeur de l'h&ocirc;pital:

&mdash;Monsieur, dit-il, combien pensez-vous qu'il tiendrait de lits rien que
dans cette salle?

&mdash;La salle &agrave; manger de monseigneur! s'&eacute;cria le directeur stup&eacute;fait.

L'&eacute;v&ecirc;que parcourait la salle du regard et semblait y faire avec les yeux
des mesures et des calculs.

&mdash;Il y tiendrait bien vingt lits! dit-il, comme se parlant &agrave; lui-m&ecirc;me.

Puis &eacute;levant la voix:

&mdash;Tenez, monsieur le directeur de l'h&ocirc;pital, je vais vous dire. Il y a
&eacute;videmment une erreur. Vous &ecirc;tes vingt-six personnes dans cinq ou six
petites chambres. Nous sommes trois ici, et nous avons place pour
soixante. Il y a erreur, je vous dis. Vous avez mon logis, et j'ai le
v&ocirc;tre. Rendez-moi ma maison. C'est ici chez vous.

Le lendemain, les vingt-six pauvres &eacute;taient install&eacute;s dans le palais de
l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que et l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que &eacute;tait &agrave; l'h&ocirc;pital.

M. Myriel n'avait point de bien, sa famille ayant &eacute;t&eacute; ruin&eacute;e par la
r&eacute;volution. Sa s&oelig;ur touchait une rente viag&egrave;re de cinq cents francs
qui, au presbyt&egrave;re, suffisait &agrave; sa d&eacute;pense personnelle. M. Myriel
recevait de l'&eacute;tat comme &eacute;v&ecirc;que un traitement de quinze mille francs. Le
jour m&ecirc;me o&ugrave; il vint se loger dans la maison de l'h&ocirc;pital, M. Myriel
d&eacute;termina l'emploi de cette somme une fois pour toutes de la mani&egrave;re
suivante. Nous transcrivons ici une note &eacute;crite de sa main.


''Note pour r&eacute;gler les d&eacute;penses de ma maison.''<br> <br> ''Pour le petit s&eacute;minaire: quinze cents livres''<br> ''Congr&eacute;gation de la mission: cent livres''<br> ''Pour les lazaristes de Montdidier: cent livres''<br> ''S&eacute;minaire des missions &eacute;trang&egrave;res &agrave; Paris: deux cents livres''<br> ''Congr&eacute;gation du Saint-Esprit: cent cinquante livres''<br> ''&Eacute;tablissements religieux de la Terre-Sainte: cent livres''<br> ''Soci&eacute;t&eacute;s de charit&eacute; maternelle: trois cents livres''<br> ''En sus, pour celle d'Arles: cinquante livres''<br> ''OEuvre pour l'am&eacute;lioration des prisons: quatre cents livres''<br> ''OEuvre pour le soulagement et la d&eacute;livrance des prisonniers: cinq cents livres''<br> ''Pour lib&eacute;rer des p&egrave;res de famille prisonniers pour dettes: mille livres''<br> ''Suppl&eacute;ment au traitement des pauvres ma&icirc;tres d'&eacute;cole du dioc&egrave;se: deux mille livres''<br> ''Grenier d'abondance des Hautes-Alpes: cent livres''<br> ''Congr&eacute;gation des dames de Digne, de Manosque et de Sisteron, pour l'enseignement gratuit des filles indigentes: quinze cents livres''<br> ''Pour les pauvres: six mille livres''<br> ''Ma d&eacute;pense personnelle: mille livres''<br> <br>
Total: ''quinze mille livres''<br>


Pendant tout le temps qu'il occupa le si&egrave;ge de Digne, M. Myriel ne
changea presque rien &agrave; cet arrangement. Il appelait cela, comme on voit,
''avoir r&eacute;gl&eacute; les d&eacute;penses de sa maison''.

Cet arrangement fut accept&eacute; avec une soumission absolue par mademoiselle
Baptistine. Pour cette sainte fille, M. de Digne &eacute;tait tout &agrave; la fois
son fr&egrave;re et son &eacute;v&ecirc;que, son ami selon la nature et son sup&eacute;rieur selon
l'&eacute;glise. Elle l'aimait et elle le v&eacute;n&eacute;rait tout simplement. Quand il
parlait, elle s'inclinait; quand il agissait, elle adh&eacute;rait. La servante
seule, madame Magloire, murmura un peu. M. l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que, on l'a pu
remarquer, ne s'&eacute;tait r&eacute;serv&eacute; que mille livres, ce qui, joint &agrave; la
pension de mademoiselle Baptistine, faisait quinze cents francs par an.
Avec ces quinze cents francs, ces deux vieilles femmes et ce vieillard
vivaient.

Et quand un cur&eacute; de village venait &agrave; Digne, M. l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que trouvait encore
moyen de le traiter, gr&acirc;ce &agrave; la s&eacute;v&egrave;re &eacute;conomie de madame Magloire et &agrave;
l'intelligente administration de mademoiselle Baptistine.

Un jour&mdash;il &eacute;tait &agrave; Digne depuis environ trois mois&mdash;l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que dit:

&mdash;Avec tout cela je suis bien g&ecirc;n&eacute;!

&mdash;Je le crois bien! s'&eacute;cria madame Magloire, Monseigneur n'a seulement
pas r&eacute;clam&eacute; la rente que le d&eacute;partement lui doit pour ses frais de
carrosse en ville et de tourn&eacute;es dans le dioc&egrave;se. Pour les &eacute;v&ecirc;ques
d'autrefois c'&eacute;tait l'usage.

&mdash;Tiens! dit l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que, vous avez raison, madame Magloire.

Il fit sa r&eacute;clamation.

Quelque temps apr&egrave;s, le conseil g&eacute;n&eacute;ral, prenant cette demande en
consid&eacute;ration, lui vota une somme annuelle de trois mille francs, sous
cette rubrique: ''Allocation &agrave; M. l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que pour frais de carrosse, frais
de poste et frais de tourn&eacute;es pastorales''.

Cela fit beaucoup crier la bourgeoisie locale, et, &agrave; cette occasion, un
s&eacute;nateur de l'empire, ancien membre du conseil des cinq-cents favorable
au dix-huit brumaire et pourvu pr&egrave;s de la ville de Digne d'une
s&eacute;natorerie magnifique, &eacute;crivit au ministre des cultes, M. Bigot de
Pr&eacute;ameneu, un petit billet irrit&eacute; et confidentiel dont nous extrayons
ces lignes authentiques:

&laquo;&mdash;Des frais de carrosse? pourquoi faire dans une ville de moins de
quatre mille habitants? Des frais de poste et de tourn&eacute;es? &agrave; quoi bon
ces tourn&eacute;es d'abord? ensuite comment courir la poste dans un pays de
montagnes? Il n'y a pas de routes. On ne va qu'&agrave; cheval. Le pont m&ecirc;me de
la Durance &agrave; Ch&acirc;teau-Arnoux peut &agrave; peine porter des charrettes &agrave; b&oelig;ufs.
Ces pr&ecirc;tres sont tous ainsi. Avides et avares. Celui-ci a fait le bon
ap&ocirc;tre en arrivant. Maintenant il fait comme les autres. Il lui faut
carrosse et chaise de poste. Il lui faut du luxe comme aux anciens
&eacute;v&ecirc;ques. Oh! toute cette pr&ecirc;traille! Monsieur le comte, les choses
n'iront bien que lorsque l'empereur nous aura d&eacute;livr&eacute;s des calotins. &Agrave;
bas le pape! (les affaires se brouillaient avec Rome). Quant &agrave; moi, je
suis pour C&eacute;sar tout seul. Etc., etc.&raquo;

La chose, en revanche, r&eacute;jouit fort madame Magloire.

&mdash;Bon, dit-elle &agrave; mademoiselle Baptistine, Monseigneur a commenc&eacute; par
les autres, mais il a bien fallu qu'il fin&icirc;t par lui-m&ecirc;me. Il a r&eacute;gl&eacute;
toutes ses charit&eacute;s. Voil&agrave; trois mille livres pour nous. Enfin!

Le soir m&ecirc;me, l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que &eacute;crivit et remit &agrave; sa s&oelig;ur une note ainsi
con&ccedil;ue:


''Frais de carrosse et de tourn&eacute;es.''<br> <br> ''Pour donner du bouillon de viande aux malades de l'h&ocirc;pital: quinze cents livres''<br> ''Pour la soci&eacute;t&eacute; de charit&eacute; maternelle d'Aix: deux cent cinquante livres''<br> ''Pour la soci&eacute;t&eacute; de charit&eacute; maternelle de Draguignan: deux cent cinquante livres''<br> ''Pour les enfants trouv&eacute;s: cinq cents livres''<br> ''Pour les orphelins: cinq cents livres''<br> <br>
Total: ''trois mille livres''<br>


Tel &eacute;tait le budget de M. Myriel.

Quant au casuel &eacute;piscopal, rachats de bans, dispenses, ondoiements,
pr&eacute;dications, b&eacute;n&eacute;dictions d'&eacute;glises ou de chapelles, mariages, etc.,
l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que le percevait sur les riches avec d'autant plus d'&acirc;pret&eacute; qu'il
le donnait aux pauvres.

Au bout de peu de temps, les offrandes d'argent afflu&egrave;rent. Ceux qui ont
et ceux qui manquent frappaient &agrave; la porte de M. Myriel, les uns venant
chercher l'aum&ocirc;ne que les autres venaient y d&eacute;poser. L'&eacute;v&ecirc;que, en moins
d'un an, devint le tr&eacute;sorier de tous les bienfaits et le caissier de
toutes les d&eacute;tresses. Des sommes consid&eacute;rables passaient par ses mains;
mais rien ne put faire qu'il change&acirc;t quelque chose &agrave; son genre de vie
et qu'il ajout&acirc;t le moindre superflu &agrave; son n&eacute;cessaire.

Loin de l&agrave;. Comme il y a toujours encore plus de mis&egrave;re en bas que de
fraternit&eacute; en haut, tout &eacute;tait donn&eacute;, pour ainsi dire, avant d'&ecirc;tre
re&ccedil;u; c'&eacute;tait comme de l'eau sur une terre s&egrave;che; il avait beau recevoir
de l'argent, il n'en avait jamais. Alors il se d&eacute;pouillait.

L'usage &eacute;tant que les &eacute;v&ecirc;ques &eacute;noncent leurs noms de bapt&ecirc;me en t&ecirc;te de
leurs mandements et de leurs lettres pastorales, les pauvres gens du
pays avaient choisi, avec une sorte d'instinct affectueux, dans les noms
et pr&eacute;noms de l'&eacute;v&ecirc;que, celui qui leur pr&eacute;sentait un sens, et ils ne
l'appelaient que monseigneur Bienvenu. Nous ferons comme eux, et nous le
nommerons ainsi dans l'occasion. Du reste, cette appellation lui
plaisait.

&mdash;J'aime ce nom-l&agrave;, disait-il. Bienvenu corrige monseigneur.

Nous ne pr&eacute;tendons pas que le portrait que nous faisons ici soit
vraisemblable; nous nous bornons &agrave; dire qu'il est ressemblant.

==English text==

The episcopal palace of Digne adjoins the hospital.

The episcopal palace was a huge and beautiful house, built of stone at the beginning of the last century by M. Henri Puget, Doctor of Theology of the Faculty of Paris, Abbe of Simore, who had been Bishop of Digne in 1712.  This palace was a genuine seignorial residence.  Everything about it had a grand air,--the apartments of the Bishop, the drawing-rooms, the chambers, the principal courtyard, which was very large, with walks encircling it under arcades in the old Florentine fashion, and gardens planted with magnificent trees.  In the dining-room, a long and superb gallery which was situated on the ground-floor and opened on the gardens, M. Henri Puget had entertained in state, on July 29, 1714, My Lords Charles Brulart de Genlis, archbishop; Prince d'Embrun; Antoine de Mesgrigny, the capuchin, Bishop of Grasse; Philippe de Vendome, Grand Prior of France, Abbe of Saint Honore de Lerins; Francois de Berton de Crillon, bishop, Baron de Vence; Cesar de Sabran de Forcalquier, bishop, Seignor of Glandeve; and Jean Soanen, Priest of the Oratory, preacher in ordinary to the king, bishop, Seignor of Senez.  The portraits of these seven reverend personages decorated this apartment; and this memorable date, the 29th of July, 1714, was there engraved in letters of gold on a table of white marble.

The hospital was a low and narrow building of a single story, with a small garden.

Three days after his arrival, the Bishop visited the hospital.  The visit ended, he had the director requested to be so good as to come to his house.

"Monsieur the director of the hospital," said he to him, "how many sick people have you at the present moment?"

"Twenty-six, Monseigneur."

"That was the number which I counted," said the Bishop.

"The beds," pursued the director, "are very much crowded against each other."

"That is what I observed."

"The halls are nothing but rooms, and it is with difficulty that the air can be changed in them."

"So it seems to me."

"And then, when there is a ray of sun, the garden is very small for the convalescents."

"That was what I said to myself."

"In case of epidemics,--we have had the typhus fever this year; we had the sweating sickness two years ago, and a hundred patients at times,--we know not what to do."

"That is the thought which occurred to me."

"What would you have, Monseigneur?" said the director.  "One must resign one's self."

This conversation took place in the gallery dining-room on the ground-floor.

The Bishop remained silent for a moment; then he turned abruptly to the director of the hospital.

"Monsieur," said he, "how many beds do you think this hall alone would hold?"

"Monseigneur's dining-room?" exclaimed the stupefied director.

The Bishop cast a glance round the apartment, and seemed to be taking measures and calculations with his eyes.

"It would hold full twenty beds," said he, as though speaking to himself.  Then, raising his voice:--

"Hold, Monsieur the director of the hospital, I will tell you something.  There is evidently a mistake here.  There are thirty-six of you, in five or six small rooms.  There are three of us here, and we have room for sixty.  There is some mistake, I tell you; you have my house, and I have yours.  Give me back my house; you are at home here."

On the following day the thirty-six patients were installed in the Bishop's palace, and the Bishop was settled in the hospital.

M. Myriel had no property, his family having been ruined by the Revolution.  His sister was in receipt of a yearly income of five hundred francs, which sufficed for her personal wants at the vicarage.  M. Myriel received from the State, in his quality of bishop, a salary of fifteen thousand francs.  On the very day when he took up his abode in the hospital, M. Myriel settled on the disposition of this sum once for all, in the following manner.  We transcribe here a note made by his own hand:--


NOTE ON THE REGULATION OF MY HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES.

  For the little seminary . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    1,500 livres
  Society of the  mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      100   "
  For the Lazarists of Montdidier . . . . . . . . . .      100   "
  Seminary for foreign missions in Paris  . . . . . .      200   "
  Congregation of the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . .      150   "
  Religious establishments of the Holy Land . . . . .      100   "
  Charitable maternity societies  . . . . . . . . . .      300   "
  Extra, for that of Arles  . . . . . . . . . . . . .       50   "
  Work for the amelioration of prisons  . . . . . . .      400   "
  Work for the relief and delivery of prisoners . . .      500   "
  To liberate fathers of families incarcerated for debt  1,000   "
  Addition to the salary of the poor teachers of the
       diocese  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    2,000   "
  Public granary of the Hautes-Alpes  . . . . . . . .      100   "
  Congregation of the ladies of Digne, of Manosque, and of
       Sisteron, for the gratuitous instruction of poor
       girls  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    1,500   "
  For the poor  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    6,000   "
  My personal expenses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    1,000   "
                                                        ------
       Total  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   15,000   "


M. Myriel made no change in this arrangement during the entire period that he occupied the see of Digne. As has been seen, he called it regulating his household expenses.

This arrangement was accepted with absolute submission by Mademoiselle Baptistine.  This holy woman regarded Monseigneur of Digne as at one and the same time her brother and her bishop, her friend according to the flesh and her superior according to the Church.  She simply loved and venerated him.  When he spoke, she bowed; when he acted, she yielded her adherence.  Their only servant, Madame Magloire, grumbled a little.  It will be observed that Monsieur the Bishop had reserved for himself only one thousand livres, which, added to the pension of Mademoiselle Baptistine, made fifteen hundred francs a year.  On these fifteen hundred francs these two old women and the old man subsisted.

And when a village curate came to Digne, the Bishop still found means to entertain him, thanks to the severe economy of Madame Magloire, and to the intelligent administration of Mademoiselle Baptistine.

One day, after he had been in Digne about three months, the Bishop said:--

"And still I am quite cramped with it all!"

"I should think so!" exclaimed Madame Magloire.  "Monseigneur has not even claimed the allowance which the department owes him for the expense of his carriage in town, and for his journeys about the diocese.  It was customary for bishops in former days."

"Hold!" cried the Bishop, "you are quite right, Madame Magloire."

And he made his demand.

Some time afterwards the General Council took this demand under consideration, and voted him an annual sum of three thousand francs, under this heading:  Allowance to M. the Bishop for expenses of carriage, expenses of posting, and expenses of pastoral visits.

This provoked a great outcry among the local burgesses; and a senator of the Empire, a former member of the Council of the Five Hundred which favored the 18 Brumaire, and who was provided with a magnificent senatorial office in the vicinity of the town of Digne, wrote to M. Bigot de Preameneu, the minister of public worship, a very angry and confidential note on the subject, from which we extract these authentic lines:--


"Expenses of carriage?  What can be done with it in a town of less than four thousand inhabitants?  Expenses of journeys?  What is the use of these trips, in the first place?  Next, how can the posting be accomplished in these mountainous parts?  There are no roads.  No one travels otherwise than on horseback.  Even the bridge between Durance and Chateau-Arnoux can barely support ox-teams. These priests are all thus, greedy and avaricious.  This man played the good priest when he first came.  Now he does like the rest; he must have a carriage and a posting-chaise, he must have luxuries, like the bishops of the olden days.  Oh, all this priesthood!  Things will not go well, M. le Comte, until the Emperor has freed us from these black-capped rascals.  Down with the Pope!  [Matters were getting embroiled with Rome.] For my part, I am for Caesar alone."  Etc., etc.


On the other hand, this affair afforded great delight to Madame Magloire.  "Good," said she to Mademoiselle Baptistine; "Monseigneur began with other people, but he has had to wind up with himself, after all.  He has regulated all his charities.  Now here are three thousand francs for us!  At last!"

That same evening the Bishop wrote out and handed to his sister a memorandum conceived in the following terms:--

EXPENSES OF CARRIAGE AND CIRCUIT.

  For furnishing meat soup to the patients in the hospital. 1,500 livres
  For the maternity charitable society of Aix . . . . . . .   250   "
  For the maternity charitable society of Draguignan  . . .   250   "
  For foundlings  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   500   "
  For orphans   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   500   "
                                                            -----
       Total  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000   "


Such was M. Myriel's budget.

As for the chance episcopal perquisites, the fees for marriage bans, dispensations, private baptisms, sermons, benedictions, of churches or chapels, marriages, etc., the Bishop levied them on the wealthy with all the more asperity, since he bestowed them on the needy.

After a time, offerings of money flowed in.  Those who had and those who lacked knocked at M. Myriel's door,--the latter in search of the alms which the former came to deposit.  In less than a year the Bishop had become the treasurer of all benevolence and the cashier of all those in distress.  Considerable sums of money passed through his hands, but nothing could induce him to make any change whatever in his mode of life, or add anything superfluous to his bare necessities.

Far from it.  As there is always more wretchedness below than there is brotherhood above, all was given away, so to speak, before it was received.  It was like water on dry soil; no matter how much money he received, he never had any.  Then he stripped himself.

The usage being that bishops shall announce their baptismal names at the head of their charges and their pastoral letters, the poor people of the country-side had selected, with a sort of affectionate instinct, among the names and prenomens of their bishop, that which had a meaning for them; and they never called him anything except Monseigneur Bienvenu [Welcome]. We will follow their example, and will also call him thus when we have occasion to name him.  Moreover, this appellation pleased him.

"I like that name," said he.  "Bienvenu makes up for the Monseigneur."

We do not claim that the portrait herewith presented is probable; we confine ourselves to stating that it resembles the original.

==Translation notes==

==="the allowance which the department owes him"===
The division of post-Revolutionary France into newly created administrative areas called ''d&eacute;partements'' came into effect in 1790.<ref name="donougher">Hugo, Victor. The Wretched: A new translation of Les Misérables. Trans. Christine Donougher. London: Penguin Classics, 2013.</ref>

==Textual notes==

===Council of Five Hundred... 18th Brumaire... Bigot de Pr&eacute;ameneau===
On 9 November 1799, 18th Brumaire in the French Republican calendar, Napoleon took part in a coup against the Directory, the French Revolutionary government from November 1795 to November 1799, that led to the introduction of a new constitution under which he became first consul, invested with the powers he needed eventually to become emperor. A rump session of the Council of Five Hundred, the lower house of the bicameral legislature, the Legislative Corps, that formed part of Directory, signed the transfer of political power. F&eacute;lix-Julien-Jean Bigot de Pr&eacute;ameneu (1747–1825), a moderate during the Revolution (and saved from the guillotine by the fall of Robespierre), was a supporter of the Brumaire conspiracy, a member of the committee that prepared Napoleon’s Civil Code, and minister of public worship 1808–14. This ministry was created in 1804 to implement the 1801 Concordat with Rome, and had jurisdiction over all religious affairs in France.<ref name="donougher" />

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