[226] A bailli was a magistrate who judged certain cases, an élu a sort of assessor of various taxes, and an assesseur an assistant magistrate.
[227] This is an allusion to the society of the Hotel de Rambouillet and to the so-called précieuses.
[228] It is generally supposed that here Isaac de Benserade (1612-1691) is meant, who was pre-eminently a court poet, and wrote a great deal of namby-pamby poetry, now deservedly forgotten. His “Character” appeared for the first time in the sixth edition of La Bruyèreʼs work, only a few months before his death, when he was seventy-eight years old.
[229] Our author draws a distinction between gentlemen in town and at court, though he mentions those in town first. The silly novels he attacks were those of Gomberville (1600-1647), of La Calprenède (1610-1663), and above all those of Mdlle. de Scudéri (1607-1701), one of the précieuses of the Hotel de Rambouillet, and author of the Grand Cyrus (1650), Clélie (1665), and of many other works.
[230] It seems to have escaped all commentators of La Bruyère that in his time it was the fashion for the ladies at court to call a spade a spade with a vengeance, and to use very plain and realistic language, whilst the “city ladies” were not quite so daring; moreover, some of the streets, squares, etc., of Paris had very peculiar names, quite unfit for the mouth of any modest woman.
[231] By “silly things,” our author means “plays on words” called in his time équivoques or turlupinades.
[232] Marcus Annæus Lucanus, a Latin poet, who died in the year 65, was put to death for his share in Pisoʼs conspiracy, at the early age of twenty-seven.
[233] Claudus Claudianus (365-408), a Latin poet.
[234] L. Annæus Seneca, a stoic philosopher, and tutor to Nero, was also put to death in the year 65 by order of his former pupil.
[235] Hermagoras is, according to all commentators, Paul Perron, a learned Benedictine, and author of LʼAntiquité des temps rétablie, etc. The old English translations name, however, also Isaac Vossius (1618-1688), an able Dutch philologist, and a well-known French literary man, Urbain Chevreau (1613-1701).