It  is  based  upon  a  minute  research,  but  a  research  under-
taken only  in  the  latter  half  of  this  century ;  and  it  is
to  be  feared  that  the  scanty  materials  will  never  be
seriously  augmented.  Every  year  makes  the  task  more
difficult,  and  a  century  has  rendered  impassable  the  gulf
which  Michelet,  Bougeart,  and  even  Dr.  Kobinet,  have
been  able  to  bridge  with  living  voices.
He  was  born  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,1  a  lesser  town  of  the
Champagne  Pouilleuse,  that  great  flat  which  stretches  out
from  the  mountain  of  Rheims  beyond  the  twin  peaks,  till
it  loses  itself  in  the  uplands  of  the  river-partings.  Here,
though  it  is  cold  in  winter,  there  are  still  vineyards
making  their  last  bastion  on  the  covered  slopes  of  the
hills  that  form  the  northern  boundary  of  the  plain.
The  day  of  his  birth  was  the  26th  of  October  1759  ;2
the  date  gives  us  his  relation  to  the  drama  in  which
he  was  to  be  a  chief  actor.  Five  months  older  than
Desmoulins,  born  some  months  before  De  Sechelles,  eight
years  older  than  St.  Just,  he  was  the  junior  of  Robespierre
by  one  and  a  half,  of  Mirabeau  by  ten  years ;  Louis  XVI.
1  All  biographers  agree.  The  first  publication  of  the  extract  from  the
civil  register  was  obtained  by  Bougeart  in  August  i860.  It  was  furnished
to  him  by  M.  Ludot,  the  mayor  at  the  time.  There  is  a  ridiculous  error  in
the  Journal  de  la  Montague,  vol.  ii.  No.  142,  "n6  a  Orchie  sur  Aube."

a  The  date  is  given  in  the  extract  mentioned  in  the  preceding  note.
