[66] St. Ambrose (circa 340-397), one of the Fathers of the Church, was Governor of Liguria when he was elected bishop by the people, although himself but recently converted to Christianity and as yet unbaptized. He was ordained priest and consecrated Bishop of Milan within a few days (374). St. Ambrose is honoured on the 7th of December.—T.
[67] Jean Siffrein Cardinal Maury (1746-1817) had been appointed to the See of Montefiascone by Pope Pius VI. in 1794. In 1810, Napoleon had nominated him Archbishop of Paris, a fact which Chateaubriand purposely disregards.—B.
[68] Chénier's tragedy of Charles IX was produced in 1789, Henri VIII and the Mort de Calas in 1791, Gracchus in 1792, Fénelon in 1793.—T.
[69] A reference to an attack in Chénier's satire entitled the Nouveaux Saints, which commences thus:
Ah! vous parlez du diable? il est bien poétique,
Dit le dévot Chactas, ce sauvage érotique.—B.
[70] André de Chénier, guillotined in 1794.—T.
[71] Caius Fabricius Luscinus (fl. 282 B.C.), the type of the ancient Roman virtue.—T.
[72] Marie Joseph Chénier was born in Constantinople in 1764.—T.
[73] Jean de La Bruyère (1644-1696), author of the Caractères.—T.
[74] Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), the great naturalist.—T.