at Féjus in 1772, he died in 1827. He was the soul of the Caveau Moderne.
The old Caveau had been founded by Piron, Collé, and others. They met twice a month at the wine-shop of Landelle, where they produced songs, stories, and epigrams they had composed, dined and drank together. This reunion began in 1737, and lasted over ten years.
After the 9th Thermidor, and the fall of Robespierre, the Terror was at an end. Men began to breathe freely, lift up their heads, and look about for amusements to indemnify themselves for the reign of horrors they had passed through. Then some choice spirits renewed the reminiscences of the old Caveau, and met near the Theatre of the Vaudeville, opened in 1792. The songs that were sung, the stories there told, flew about. The public desired to share in the merriment, and in Vendémiaire of the year V. (September, 1796) appeared the first number of the Caveau Moderne. The tavern at which the company met was " Le Rocher de Cancalle." A complete edition of the songs was published in 1807. The tunes to which the songs were set were either well-known folk-melodies, or opera-house airs.
Désaugiers was a large contributor.
As a specimen of his style I give some stanzas of his "Carnaval."
"Momus agite ses grelots,
Comus allume ses fourneaux,
Bacchus s'enivre sur sa tonne,
Palas déraisonne, Apollon détonne,
Trouble divin, bruit infernal—
V’là c'que c'est que 1'Carnaval.
