Saint-Just, his legal studies, and his interest in literature
Below: English translation of the first two pages of Vinot's chapter 5 of his biography on Saint-Just.
(I used DeepL and other online translation tools like linguee to verify everything. I added some notes at the end.)
(Also a sort of sequel to this post.)
CHAPTER V
A Libertine Poet?
M. D.: You undermine kings. The author: I love kings, I hate tyrants. M. D.: You trample on the most sacred institutions. The author: These institutions have fallen. They are no longer sacred but vile.
SAINT-JUST:
Dialogue between M. D... and the author of the poem Organt
SAINT-JUST "LICENCIÉ ÈS LOIS"?
After discreetly returning to Blérancourt with d'Évry (1), Saint-Just probably went to the office of a prosecutor in Soissons, Me Dubois-Descharmes, where Rigaux (2) had obtained him a position as second clerk. It is widely believed that he attended the Faculty of Law in Reims. The Reims historian G. Laurent (3) claims to have found, in a register that no longer exists, the name of a certain Sejust, enrolled between October 1787 and July 1788. He also refers to memories left by Menu, brother-in-law of the Convention member Prieur de la Marne, who is said to have had in his possession a letter from Saint-Just, dated "from mid-1787", in which he spoke of his move to Reims and the small matters he had to attend to on behalf of his boss. The young man is said to have lived in a house on Rue des Anglais (now Rue Saint-Just) that the baker Fouet rented to law students. He is said to have met in this house, which became a hub of intellectual life, a whole elite of young people who would be set ablazed by the Revolution.
The law faculty in Reims was not known for its rigor. Classes, it was said, were irregular and student absenteeism was very high. In 1761, numerous complaints even prompted an investigation by Chancellor Lamoignon. A generation later, Brissot, who needed to "earn degrees" to become a lawyer, decided to "buy them in Reims". "The trip I took to that city," he wrote in his memoirs, "convinced me of the degradation of its university (..) Everything was for sale, degrees, theses, and arguments." It is easy to verify today, by consulting the register of Admissiones ad actum et ad gradum, that students became bachelors and graduates in a few months. The very large attendance at the faculty by students from all the cities of the kingdom suggests that the studies were either remarkable or... the diplomas were very easy to obtain.
Did Saint-Just feel disgusted by this academic corruption and see it as the result of social decay? Did he lack the financial means necessary to purchase degrees? Did he experience early on the contempt he expresses in Organt for the legal profession? Did his position as a second clerk leave him enough time to pursue normal studies? We don't know. But one thing is certain: Saint-Just does not appear in the register of graduates from the faculty of Reims between 1786 and 1792, and he cannot be confused with a certain Lejuste who graduated in 1787 and 1788.
Despite the lack of formal evidence, it is difficult to doubt this stay in Reims, which is firmly attested to by tradition. But it is likely that, absorbed by his duties at the law office of Me Dubois-Descharmes and above all by his literary work, Saint-Just did not make the effort to take his exams. This did not prevent him from being awarded, on several occasions, the title of "licencié ès lois" or "licensed in law" and even "lawyer". Besides, he demonstrated in his judicial activities remarkable competence, most likely acquired at Me Dubois-Descharmes' office rather than at the faculty.
"ARLEQUIN-DIOGÈNE."
Much to his mother's despair, Louis-Antoine, at that time, was not seriously preparing to enter the bar. With a vocation that had undoubtedly blossomed in school, he was drawn to writing. He was fascinated by the great names of literature, dreamed of becoming one of them, and, as we have seen, was also interested in theater. Among his papers in Blérancourt, a short one-act comedy in verse entitled Arlequin-Diogène was found.
The composition and versification betray the awkwardness of a beginner. The handwriting reveals that the play was written in several stages and that an initial version was revised and expanded. It is written in the style of a Marivaux comedy in which the satire targets both love and the social and political environment in which the characters evolve. The plot, full of twists and turns, features Arlequin-Diogène, who displays an apparent detachment from people and events. This is in fact a ploy to win over Pérette, a prude who has, until then, refused him. His feigned indifference is effective: Arlequin can delight in rebuffing the woman who now offers herself insistently. His position also allows him to taunt and mystify the “important” people in society: he refuses the throne offered to him by an ambassador and bribes a police commissioner to have a financier unjustly imprisoned. After these exploits, Arlequin finally confesses his true feelings to Pérette. She then completely changes her attitude and refuses him again. The play ends with an ambiguous dénouement.
During this entertainment, the author indulges in a scathing reflection on the social order. He condemns the arrogance of the financier, evokes the turpitudes of the courts and kings, denounces the venality of the commissioner and the dishonesty of the petits-maîtres (4). He also expresses his romantic disappointment: there is a mutual attraction between Arlequin and Pérette, but it is thwarted by the impossibility of simultaneous consent. Could we venture to say that it is a little as if, at the moment when everything was possible, Thérèse-Pérette did not really believe in a love that Louis-Antoine-Arlequin had concealed too well from her?
"ORGANT": A PORNOGRAPHIC POEM?
Despite its satirical intentions, this charming comedy seems rather harmless, almost saccharine compared to another violent and corrosive early work published under the title Organt, poème en vingt chants (Organt, a poem in twenty cantos). (5)
**************
My notes:
(1) This is set after he was released from Sainte-Colombe's detention house on 30 March 1787. (He was put there on 30 September 1786.)
(2) Rigaux was a school friend. On 26 February 1787, he had written to d'Évry that he had sent a letter to Rigaux, presumably to get a job as was required for him to show he was "sufficiently reformed" and could be released.
(3) See:
LAURENT (Gustave) : "Figures champenoises. Les relations de Saint-Just à Reims", A.R., 1923 AND "La Faculté de Reims et les hommes de la Révolution", A.H.R.F., 1929.
(4) Literally, it means "small masters" but it doesn't have a direct translation besides "fop" and "dandy". It's not just about looks, it's about attitude: being pretentious, insincere, fake.
(5) I'm stopping the translation here as it's a good place to stop, but he goes on about Organt for a few more pages. If you would like a translation of his analysis, just ask!
