The Friends of the A B C

Abaisee means the abased, the downtrodden.

They were the people, says Hugo.

It's a pun.

Anyway, Hugo's liberalism is not ours.

One of his heroic young men, Feuilly, a poor fan-maker, within himself "nurtured, with the deep instinct of the man of the people, what we now call the idea of nationality."

Hugo damns utterly the Partitions of Poland that, in 1795, caused Poland to disappear completely from the map of Europe for 130 years, in the name of that idea.

A convinced idealist, he mocks and denigrates the only skeptic among the Friends of the A B C, Grantaire.

The others are great fans of the Revolution.

Of Napoleon, not so much.

Marius is befriended by them.

One of the group, Legle de Meaux, is nicknamed Bossuet, after the famous bishop of that town.

Not that he is a devout Catholic, a clergyman, or an ardent believer in divine right absolute monarchy.

It's another pun.

L'Aigle (the Eagle) for Legle.

So, the Eagle of Meaux, Bossuet.

Les Miserables.