Note 141 — LOUIS XIII. (1610-1643.)

This is a play upon words, unrecognized by Garencières, as he did not know that Clerepeyne was the name of the man who cut off Montmorency’s head, although, of course, Garencières is quite alive to the fact that the quatrain refers to Louis XIII. and the great Montmorency. In Latin clara pœna means celebrated punishment. Here is another instance of the mention of a name of an obscure individual that history for a moment flashes light upon, and then drops him back into the mud of oblivious ooze for ever,—emblem apt of Fame! This was written, if not printed, a good eighty years before Clerepeyne became the midge-mote of a sunbeam upon that late autumnal day in history, when the night struck chilly on high roofs in Dauphiny.