Becq de Fouquières observes that when André Chénier composed this
short bucolic fragment the revolutionary storm was raging. Chénier, a
_suspect_, threatened with arrest, was sick in body and mind, and had
gone to the waters at Forges for a few days' rest.
L. 8. _lent_. _Lent_, in the sense of 'supple, flexible,' is a Latinism
twice or thrice used by Chénier, and perhaps nowhere else to be found in
French literature. The second instance occurs in his _Art d'aimer_, the
third (doubtful) on p. 75, l. 17. 'Un cuir souple et _lent_ thus forms a
pleonasm which mars this piece otherwise so neat.