The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-11
SEEKING CYRANO'S GRAVE.
De Bergerac Beli loved to Have Been Buried
I'm O Dominican Convent.

I'm q Dominican Convent.
p MS, July le.-The Committee of Old
Paris. an association formed to preserve
historic buildings or keep the records Of
them where preservation In too late. has
taken in hand the task Of finding the re-
mains Of Cyrano de Bergerac and OF giving
them a last resting place worthy Of the dis
tinguished writer and swordsman. Cyrano's
burial place is known. His aunt, Catherine
de Cyrano. was the prioress OF the Domini-
can community Of the Daughters Of the
Cross. whose convent was situated In Rue
de Charonne. She converted Cyrano in
his latter days. and according to Dulaure,
the historian OF Paris. she had his body
buried in the church Of the convent.
Unfortunately, however, owing to the
recent laws affecting religious bodies in
France, the convent buildings have been
sold, the church has been demolished as
well as the oratory. formerly in the nuns
garden, which may nave been the site OF
Cyrano's tomb IL IL was not In the church
itself. and the whole 10 now for sale as build
ing lots.
NJ. Lucien Lambeau, the secretary OF the
committee, however. still hopes for SUCCESS,
as the work Of demolition has been limited
to what is above the surface Of the ground.
We hope" he says. TO discover the tomb
when excavations are being made for new
foundations, although it must be said that
Paris ground gives UP but few Of it's dead,
its soil has suffered so many upheavals. In
churches vaults have been destroyed to put
in heating apparatus. as in the church OF
st. Roch, where we have failed to find the
remains Of Corneille.
IT, 1slu~ sn..an q. xrhav~a tho rapopnittaQ
has met with failure are the search for the
re mains Of Adrieune L~ecouvrier. buried at
night, because she was an actress, in some
waste land near the ouai d'Orsay, and for
the remains OF Louis XVII. in the cemetery
of Sainte Marguerite.
"The Revolution. too, was the cause OF
much confusion. because lead collins were
at that time dug up to be a into bullets
I'VE were more fortunate in the case OF
old Protestant cemetery in the Rue Grange
aux Bellies.
I'VE are hopeful in our new search be-
cause Cocheris, q historian who lived about
1880, states that he had seen Cyrano's
epitaph in the convent church"
II is only right that Paris should take an
interest in the big nosed hero OF Rostand's
play, for although he is generally locke
upon az a typical Gascon, he was born In
Paris in 1919 and the Bergerac of his name
mas no CODneCtOn WIFI tnS DOIuOBhc OOWh
noted for it's wines, but belongs 70 a ncf
near Chevreuse a few miles from Paris.
At 10 he entered the company OF the
guards and quickly gained a reputation as
a fighter, receiving the nick OF the
demon dc Ia bravoure." Owing to a sword
wound in the throat he left the army about
Ieil, but he did not give up his sword. His
duels were innumerable and the story Is
told that once he alone put TO Tight a hundred
men who had been hired to attack INN
near the Nesles gate.
His death was far more prosaic than that
Of the hero OF Rostand's play. As literature,
10 which he devoted himself on leaving the
army, seldom in those days supported its
supporters, Cyrano became secretary TO
the Duke Of Arpajon. One evening as he
entered the Dukes palace he received on
his head a huge piece of wood thrown from
an upper window by accident or by design:
He did not die at once and while he fingered
his aunt is reported to have converted him.
His previous convictions may perhaps be
gathered from two lines OF a poep lie wrote,
which translated run, An hour after
death our vanished soul will he what it
wa an hour before life" He was 80 years
old when he died. A writer who lived at
the same time rs Cyrsno has left us this
description OF him
He was by nature neither a Laplander
nor a giant. His head appeared almost
shorn Of hairs; their number could v
been counted ten PAGES away. His eyes
were lost under his eyebrows, his nose,
wide in trunk and curved. resembled that
of the yellow and green chatterers which
are brought from America. His legs, at
variance with his body, we're like spindles:
His stomach vas a copy OF Esop's paunch. v