Note 169 — BOOK III[147]
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos translation
Sebastien Roch Nicolas (1741-1794) adopted the name of Chamfort on commencing his career as a poet and man of letters. He was private secretary to the Prince de Condé, and later reader to the Princesse Élisabeth. On the outbreak of the Revolution he joined Mirabeau's party. In 1794 he was arrested and tried to commit suicide; he was subsequently released, but died in a few weeks of his self-inflicted wounds.—T.