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ETC. + + Then shame to manhood, and opprobrious more + To France than all her losses and defeats, + Old or of later date, by sea or land, + Her house of bondage, worse than that of old + Which God avenged on Pharaoh—the Bastile.—COWPER. + + LONDON: + PUBLISHED BY THOMAS TEGG AND SON, + 73, CHEAPSIDE. + 1838. + + LONDON: + BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +The execution of a plan so frequently falls immeasurably short of the +author’s original conception, that some wit, of whom I have forgotten the +name, has likened them to the cry of an oriental fruit-hawker: “In the +name of the Prophet—figs!” I can bear witness how much what is purposed +goes beyond what is accomplished. I began loftily, and perhaps the reader +will say, that I have ended with—figs. At the outset I designed to link, +in some measure, the history of the Bastile with that of France, and to +trace the rise and progress of those parties, factions, and sects, which +furnished inmates to the prisons of state. But I soon discovered that the +contracted limits of a single volume would not admit of my plan being +carried into execution. By much enlarging the page, and by making, at +no small cost, a very considerable addition to the number of pages, the +publisher has liberally endeavoured to give me the means of rendering +the work less imperfect than it would otherwise have been; but I have, +nevertheless, been exceedingly cramped by the want of adequate space. + +But, though I have not done all that I wished to do, I am by no means +disposed to disparage my labours. I have consulted every document that +was accessible, and have conscientiously tried to be strictly just, and +to combine information with amusement. I indulge a hope that the volume +will tend not only to keep up an abhorrence of arbitrary power, but +also to inspire affection for governments which hold it to be a duty to +promote the happiness of the people. Whatever may be its defects, it +is the only work in the English language that has even the slightest +pretension to be denominated a History of the Bastile. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + CHAPTER I. + + Original meaning of the word Bastile—Various + Bastiles—Description of “The Bastile”—Officers of the + fortress—Interior of it—The Garden—The Court where + the prisoners took exercise—The Towers, Dungeons, + Apartments, Furniture, Food, of the prisoners—The + Library—The Chapel—Lettres de Cachet described—Advocate + of them—Change in the treatment of prisoners—Narrative + of a prisoner—Strict search of prisoners—Harshness to + them—Artifices employed against them—Silence enjoined + to the Guards, &c., of the prison—Mode of receiving + visitors—Suppression of letters—Secrecy and mystery—Medical + attendance—Wills—Insanity—Clandestine burial of the dead. 1 + + CHAPTER II. + + Reign of John II.—Stephen Marcel, Provost of the + Merchants—Reign of Charles V.—Hugh Aubriot—Reign of + Charles VI.—Noviant—La Rivière—Peter des Essarts—John de + Montaigu—Contests of the factions at Paris—The Count of + Armagnac—The Burgundians obtain possession of Paris—Massacre + of the Armagnacs—Assassination of the Duke of Burgundy—Reign + of Charles VII.—Paris in the hands of the English—Villiers + de l’Isle Adam—The English expelled from Paris—Reign of + Louis XI.—Anthony de Chabannes—The Count de Melun—Cardinal + de Balue—William d’Haraucour—Charles d’Armagnac—Louis de + Luxembourg—The Duke of Nemours and his children. 33 + + CHAPTER III. + + Reign of Francis I.—Semblançai—The Chancellor Duprat—The + Chancellor Poyet—Admiral de Chabot—Fall of Poyet—Reign of Henry + II.—Anne du Bourg—Louis du Faur—Reign of Francis II.—Execution + of Du Bourg—Francis de Vendôme—Reign of Charles IX.—The Duke of + Lunebourg—Henry of Navarre and the Prince of Condé in danger of + the Bastile—Faction of the Politicians—La Mole—Coconas—Marshal + de Montmorenci—Marshal de Cossé—Reign of Henry III.—Bussi + d’Amboise. 74 + + CHAPTER IV. + + Reign of Henry III. continued—Conspiracy of Salcede—Francis + de Rosières—Peter de Belloy—Francis le Breton—Bernard + Palissy—Daring plots of the League—Henry III. expelled from + Paris—The Bastile surrenders to Guise—Bussi le Clerc appointed + governor—Damours—James de la Guesle—Reign of Henry IV.—Members + of the parliament arrested—President de Harlay—Potier de + Blancmesnil—The family of Seguier—Speeches of Henry IV.—Louis + Seguier—James Gillot—Outrage committed by the Council of + Sixteen—It is punished by the Duke of Mayenne—Henry IV. enters + Paris—Surrender of the Bastile—Du Bourg—Treasure deposited in + the Bastile by Henry. 102 + + CHAPTER V. + + Reign of Henry IV. continued—Viscount de Tavannes—The marshal + duke of Biron—Faults of Biron—Friendship of Henry IV. for + Biron—La Fin, and his influence over Biron—The Duke of + Savoy—Biron’s first treason pardoned—Embassies of Biron—Speech + of Queen Elizabeth to Biron—Discontent among the nobles—Art of + La Fin—Imprisonment of Renazé—La Fin betrays Biron—Artifices + employed to lull Biron into security—Arrest of Biron, and + the Count of Auvergne—Conduct of Biron in the Bastile—His + trial—His execution—Respect paid to his remains—Monbarot + sent to the Bastile—The Count of Auvergne—He is sent to the + Bastile but soon released—He plots again—Cause and intent of + the conspiracy—He is again arrested—Sentence of death passed + on him, but commuted for imprisonment—He spends twelve years + in the Bastile—Mary of Medicis releases him—Conspiracy of + Merargues—He is executed—Death of Henry IV. 133 + + CHAPTER VI. + + Reign of Louis XIII.—The treasure of Henry IV. + dissipated—Prevalent belief in magic—Cesar and Ruggieri—Henry, + prince of Condé—The Marchioness d’Ancre—Marshal + Ornano—Prevalence of duelling—The Count de Bouteville—The Day + of the Dupes—Vautier, the physician of Mary of Medicis—The + Marshal de Bassompierre—The Chevalier de Jars—Infamy of + Laffemas—Three citizens of Paris sent to the Bastile—Despotic + language of Louis XIII.—The Count de Cramail—The Marquis of + Vitry—Peter de la Porte—Noel Pigard Dubois, an alchemical + impostor—The Count de Grancé and the Marquis de Praslin—The + prince Palatine—Count Philip d’Aglie—Charles de Beys—Letter + from an unknown prisoner to Richelieu. 172 + + CHAPTER VII. + + Reign of Louis XIV.—Regency of Anne of Austria—Inauspicious + circumstances under which she assumed the regency—George + de Casselny—The Count de Montresor—The Marquis de + Fontrailles—Marshal de Rantzau—The Count de Rieux—Bernard + Guyard—Broussel, governor of the Bastile—The Duchess of + Montpensier orders the cannon of the Bastile to be fired on + the king’s army—Conclusion of the war of the Fronde—Surrender + of the Bastile—Despotism of Louis XIV.—Slavishness of the + nobles—John Herauld Gourville—The Count de Guiche—Nicholas + Fouquet—Paul Pellisson-Fontainier—Charles St. Evremond—Simon + Morin—The Marquis de Vardes—Count Bussy Rabutin—Saci le + Maistre—The Duke of Lauzun—Marquis of Cavoie—The Chevalier + de Rohan—A nameless prisoner—Charles D’Assoucy—Miscellaneous + prisoners. 217 + + CHAPTER VIII. + + The Poisoners—The Marchioness of Brinvilliers—Penautier—La + Voisin and her accomplices and dupes—The “Chambre Ardente”—The + Countess of Soissons—The Duchess of Bouillon—The Duke of + Luxembourg—Stephen de Bray—The Abbé Primi—Andrew Morell—Madame + Guyon—Courtils de Sandraz—Constantine de Renneville—The + Man with the Iron Mask—Jansenists—Tiron, Veillant, + and Lebrun Desmarets—The Count de Bucquoy—The Duke de + Richelieu—Miscellaneous prisoners. 273 + + CHAPTER IX. + + Reign of Louis XV.—Regency of the Duke of Orleans—Oppressive + measures against all persons connected with the Finances—Their + failure—Prisoners in the Bastile—Freret—Voltaire—The + Cellamare conspiracy—The Duchess of Maine—Madame de + Staal—Malezieu—Bargeton—Mahudel—The Mississippi scheme—Count + de Horn—Death of the Regent—Administration of the Duke of + Bourbon—La Blanc—Paris Duverney—The Count de Belleisle—The + Chevalier de Belleisle—Madame de Tencin. 314 + + CHAPTER X. + + Reign of Louis XV. continued—The Bull Unigenitus—A Notary + Public—G. N. Nivelle—G. C. Buffard—Death of Deacon Paris—Rise, + progress, and acts, of the Convulsionaries—Persecution + of them, and artifices employed by them to foil their + persecutors—Lenglet Dufresnoy—La Beaumelle—F. de + Marsy—Marmontel—The Abbé Morellet—Mirabeau the elder—The + Chevalier Resseguier—Groubendal and Dulaurens—Robbé + de Beauveset—Mahé de la Bourdonnais—Count Lally—La + Chalotais—Marin—Durosoi—Prévost de Beaumont—Barletti St. + Paul—Dumouriez. 346 + + CHAPTER XI. + + Captivity and Sufferings of Masers de Latude—Cause of his + Imprisonment—He is removed from the Bastile to Vincennes—He + escapes—He is retaken, and sent to the Bastile—Kindness of + M. Berryer—D’Alegre is confined in the same apartment with + him—Latude forms a plan for escaping—Preparations for executing + it—The Prisoners descend from the summit of the Bastile, and + escape—They are recaptured in Holland, and brought back—Latude + is thrown into a horrible dungeon—He tames rats, and makes a + musical pipe—Plans suggested by him—His writing materials—He + attempts suicide—Pigeons tamed by him—New plans suggested + by him—Finds means to fling a packet of papers from the top + of the Bastile—He is removed to Vincennes—He escapes—Is + recaptured—Opens a communication with his fellow-prisoners—Is + transferred to Charenton—His situation there—His momentary + liberation—He is re-arrested, and sent to the Bicêtre—Horrors + of that prison—Heroic benevolence of Madame Legros—She succeeds + in obtaining his release—Subsequent fate of Latude. 382 + + CHAPTER XII. + + Reign of Louis XVI.—Enormous number of Lettres de Cachet + issued in two reigns—William Debure the elder—Blaizot + imprisoned for obeying the King—Pelisseri—Prisoners from + St. Domingo—Linguet—Duvernet—The Count de Paradès—Marquis + de Sade—Brissot—The Countess de la Motte—Cardinal de + Rohan—Cagliostro—The affair of the Diamond Necklace—Reveillon + takes shelter in the Bastile—Attack and capture of the Bastile + by the Parisians—Conclusion. 436 + + + + +[Illustration: PLAN OF THE BASTILE. + +A. Avenue from St. Anthony’s Street—B. Entrance, and first drawbridge—C. +The Governor’s house—D. First court—E. Avenue leading to the gate of +the fortress—F. Drawbridge and gates of the fortress—G. Guard-houses—H. +The great court within the towers—I. Staircase leading to the Council +Chamber—K. Council Chamber—L. Court du Puits, or Well Court—M. Way to +the garden—N. Steps leading into the garden—O. Garden—P. The moat of the +fortress—Q. Passage to the Arsenal garden—R. A wooden road round the +walls for the night patrole—1. Tower du Puits—2. Tower de la Liberté—3. +Tower de la Bertaudière—4. Tower de la Bazinière—5. Tower de la Comté—6. +Tower du Trésor—7. Tower de la Chapelle—8. Tower du Coin.] + + + + +THE HISTORY OF THE BASTILE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + Original meaning of the word Bastile—Various + Bastiles—Description of “The Bastile”—Officers of the + fortress—Interior of it—The Garden—The Court where + the prisoners took exercise—The Towers, Dungeons, + Apartments, Furniture, Food, of the prisoners—The + Library—The Chapel—Lettres de Cachet described—Advocate + of them—Change in the treatment of prisoners—Narrative + of a prisoner—Strict search of prisoners—Harshness to + them—Artifices employed against them—Silence enjoined + to the Guards, &c. of the prison—Mode of receiving + visitors—Suppression of letters—Secrecy and mystery—Medical + attendance—Wills—Insanity—Clandestine burial of the dead. + + +The word Bastile, which has now long been, and will ever remain, a term +of opprobrious import, to designate the dungeons of arbitrary power, +has, like many other words, deviated widely in the lapse of years from +its original meaning. Its derivation is traced, somewhat doubtfully, to +the Italian _bastia_ or _bastione_. In former times, it was applied to +any fort, whether permanent or temporary. In our old writers, as well +as in those of France, we find it repeatedly given to field works. The +redoubts, for instance, by means of which, in the reign of the sixth +Henry, the English blockaded Orleans, are so denominated by French +chroniclers. The same is the case with respect to more durable works; +there were, at an early period, no less than three bastiles at Paris, +those of St. Denis, the Temple, and St. Anthony, all of which were +situated to the north of the Seine. Eventually, the name was confined to +the last of these buildings. The quadrangular castle of St. Denis was +demolished in 1671; but the tower of the Temple, in which the unfortunate +Louis the Sixteenth and his family were confined, outlasted the Bastile +itself for nearly a quarter of a century, and was used as a state prison +till 1811, when it ceased to exist. + +The bastile of St. Anthony—which structure I shall henceforth mention +only as The Bastile—is generally supposed to have been founded by Hugh +Aubriot. This opinion is, however, erroneous. It is beyond a doubt, +that the original plan and construction of it must be assigned to the +celebrated Stephen Marcel, provost of the merchants of Paris. When, in +1356, after the disastrous battle of Poitiers, the English detachments +were ravaging the vicinity of the French capital, and the citizens were +filled with terror, Stephen undertook to repair the dilapidated bulwarks +of the city, and add other defences. Among his additions was a gate, +fortified with towers on each side, leading from the suburb of St. +Anthony into the street of the same name. These towers must be considered +as the first rudiments of the Bastile. + +The haste with which, while an enemy was at hand, the walls had been +constructed, had not allowed of giving to them that height and solidity +which were requisite for effectually resisting an attack. In 1369, +Charles the Fifth resolved to remedy this defect. The task of making +the necessary improvements was committed to Hugh Aubriot, the provost +of Paris. Among the changes which Aubriot made, was the adding of two +towers to those which already existed at St. Anthony’s gate. They were +erected parallel with those built by Marcel; so that the whole formed +a square fort, with towers at the angles. In the reign of Charles the +Sixth, after the Maillotin insurrection, in 1382, the Bastile was again +enlarged, by the addition of two towers at each end of the fortress; thus +presenting a front of four towers to the city, and as many to the suburb. +To render more difficult any attempt to surprise the place, the road, +which, as we have seen, ran through it, was turned to one side. The body +of the fortress received no further accession; but, before the middle of +the seventeenth century, a bastion was constructed on the side toward the +suburb, and a broad dry ditch, about forty yards wide and twelve deep, +faced with masonry, encircled the whole. + +Along the summit of the exterior wall of the ditch, which was at an +elevation of sixty feet above the bottom of the ditch, was a wooden +gallery, called the Rounds, reached by two flights of steps. Day and +night sentinels were constantly moving about in this gallery; every +quarter of an hour they were visited by some of the officers or +serjeants; and, more completely to secure their vigilance, each man had +certain numbered pieces of copper pierced with holes, which, at stated +times, he was to drop on the point of an instrument, fixed in a padlocked +box. A bell was also rung upon the Rounds, every quarter of an hour, +throughout the night. + +The officers on the establishment of the Bastile consisted of a governor, +the king’s lieutenant, a major, who officiated as secretary, and prepared +the reports and monthly accounts for the minister, two adjutants to +assist him, a physician, a surgeon and his assistant, a chaplain, two +priests, and a confessor, a keeper of the records, clerk, superintendant +of the buildings, engineer, four turnkeys, and a company of invalids. +No soldier was allowed to sleep out of the place without leave from the +governor; nor could any officer dine out or be absent all night, without +permission from the minister. Originally only the governor and the +king’s lieutenant were appointed by the king, the rest being nominated +by the governor; and guard was mounted at the castle by a body of +citizens, which bore the name of the Independent Company of Archers. The +change was made about the middle of the eighteenth century. + +The interior of the gloomy fabric must now be described. Having passed +down St. Anthony’s-street, and arrived nearly at the city gate, leading +to the suburb of the same name, he who wished or was compelled to visit +the Bastile, turned to the right hand, in the direction of the Arsenal, +where stood a sentinel, to warn off all idle gazers. Before, however, +the main building could be entered, the visiter had to pursue his +way along an approach, bent nearly into the form of three sides of a +square, ⊐, flanked with buildings of various kinds, on the whole of one +side, and a part of the other. Over the entrance gate was an armoury, +and on the right of it a guard-room; on the left hand was a range of +suttling-houses, and on the right were barracks. The road then made an +abrupt turn, on the right of which were stables, coachhouses, and a door +into a space which was called the Elm Court. This first division was +named the Passage Court. At the extremity of it was a drawbridge, with a +guard-house at its further end. This bridge led to a second court, taking +its name from the governor’s house, which, with his garden, occupied one +half of its circuit. Another abrupt turn brought the visiter opposite the +portal of the fortress, which he at length reached, after having passed +by the kitchens, and traversed the great drawbridge. Between the street +and the interior of the fortress there were five massy gates, at all of +which sentinels were posted. + +The principal drawbridge being passed, and the gate opened, the visiter +stood within the Bastile itself. Leaving on his right a guard-room, he +found himself in the Great Court of the Castle, a parallelogram of about +a hundred and two feet long by seventy-two broad, containing six towers, +three on the side looking towards the suburb, and as many on the city +side: the former were named de la Comté, du Trésor, and de la Chapelle; +the latter de la Bazinière, de la Bertaudière, and de la Liberté. +Between the three left hand towers were rooms for the archives and other +purposes, and the chapel; between the towers du Trésor and de la Chapelle +was, in former times, the gate of St. Anthony, and the road into the city. + +A pile of buildings, comparatively modern, extending across the shortest +diameter of the fortress, from the Tour de la Chapelle to the miscalled +Tour de la Liberté, divided this principal court from another, called +the Well Court. This pile contained the council chamber, the library, +the repository for the prisoners’ effects, and apartments for the king’s +lieutenant, the major, and other officers, and, occasionally, for the +sick, and captives of distinction. + +The length of the Well Court was between seventy and eighty feet, the +breadth between forty and fifty. At the angle on the right was the tower +du Coin, on the left the tower du Puit. In this court were some lodgings +for the drudges of the place; and, as the poultry were fed and the offal +was thrown out here, it was always dirty and unwholesome. + +The garden, formed out of what once was a bastion, on the suburb side of +the castle, was laid out in walks, and planted with trees. It appears, +that, till a period not long previous to the downfall of the Bastile, +such prisoners as were not confined for flagitious crimes, or for the +express purpose of being rendered supremely wretched, were permitted +to walk there. To the last governor, M. de Launay, they were indebted +for being deprived of this privilege. To increase his already enormous +emoluments, he let it to a gardener, and he had interest enough with +the minister to obtain his sanction for this encroachment on the scanty +comforts of the prisoners—an order was issued by which they were excluded +from it. Nor was this all, or the worst. The platforms, along the summit +of the towers and connecting curtains, had hitherto afforded a pleasant +and airy walk; but these, too, were shut up, at his desire, partly to +save trouble to those who watched the prisoners, and partly to diminish +the chance of conversation between the former and the latter. Such +conduct is, however, not strange in the man who could meet the complaints +of his oppressed inmates with obscenely vulgar language; and could add, +that “people either ought not to put themselves in the way of being sent +to the Bastile, or ought to know how to suffer when they got there.” +Humanity deplores his subsequent fate, and execrates the brutality of his +murderers; but, as far as regards him personally, M. de Launay appears to +have been deserving of very little respect. + +The only remaining spot in which exercise could be taken was the +principal court. “The walls which enclose it,” says M. Linguet, “are +more than a hundred feet high, without windows; so that, in fact, it +is a large well, where the cold is unbearable in winter, because the +north-east wind pours into it, and in summer the heat is no less so, +because, there being no circulation of air, the sun makes an absolute +oven of it. This is the sole lyceum where such of the prisoners as have +permission (for all do not have it) can, each in his turn, for a few +moments in the day, disencumber their lungs from the pestilential air of +their dwelling.” But even this poor gratification, which seldom extended +to an hour, was considerably abridged by circumstances. Any increase in +the number of prisoners diminished the time which was allotted. Whenever, +as was frequently the case, any stranger entered the court, the prisoner +was obliged to hurry into a narrow passage, called the Cabinet, and shut +himself in closely, that he might not be seen. M. Linguet states, that +three quarters of an hour was often wasted in these compulsory retreats +to the Cabinet. If they were not promptly made, or the captive displayed +any curiosity, the least penalty inflicted was confining the delinquent +within the limits of his cell. + +The towers, which were at least a hundred feet high, were seven feet +thick at the top, and the thickness gradually increased, down to the +foundation. Lowest of all in them were dungeons, under the level of the +soil, arched, paved, lined with stone, dripping with perpetual damps, +the darkness of which was made visible by means of a narrow slit through +the wall, on the side next the ditch. In this fetid den, swarmed newts, +toads, rats, and every variety of vermin which haunt confined and gloomy +spots. Planks, laid across iron bars fixed in the wall, formed the couch +of the captive, and his only bedding, even in the most inclement season, +was a little straw. Two doors, each seven inches thick, with enormous +locks and bars, closed the entrance to each of these horrible abodes, +over which might fitly have been inscribed the terrific line that shone +dimly over the gate of hell, “All hope abandon ye who enter here!” + +Above the dungeons were four stories, each consisting of a single room, +with, in some instances, a dark closet scooped out of the wall. All were +shut in by ponderous double doors; as were also the staircases. In three +of the stories, the rooms, of an irregular octagonal shape, were about +twenty feet in diameter, and eighteen in height. In many of the rooms +the ceilings were double, with a considerable vacuity between them; the +lower one was of lath and plaster, the upper of solid oak. The highest +story of all, which was termed la Calotte, was neither so lofty nor so +large as the others; it was arched to support the roof and platform, and +its curvature prevented its inhabitant from walking in any part but the +middle of the room. On the towers and curtains several pieces of cannon +were mounted. + +The light which was thrown into these chambers was broken and imperfect; +prospect from them there was none. Each room had only one window; and, +independent of the obstacle opposed to sight by the massiveness of the +walls, there was another, in the double iron gratings, at the outside and +middle, formed of bars as thick as a man’s arm, which closed the narrow +aperture. In the lower stories, that there might be no chance of seeing +or being seen, the opening was filled half way up with stone and mortar, +or with planks fastened to the external grating. Three steps led up to +some of the windows, if windows they may be called; in other cases they +were level with the floor. A glass casement excluded the wind in the +better apartments; the dungeons were left exposed to all the rigour of +the elements. + +The rooms were floored with tile or stone, and all of them, except the +dungeons, had chimneys or stoves; the chimneys were secured, in several +parts, by iron bars. In winter, six pieces of wood were allowed daily +for firing. M. Linguet complains, in his Memoirs, that the quantity was +insufficient, and the quality execrable. It is obvious that, to enhance +his profits, an avaricious governor would purchase as cheaply, and deal +out as scantily, as it was possible for him to do. + +The rooms were designated from their situation in the towers, numbering +from the bottom, and the prisoners were designated by the number of their +room. Thus, for instance, the first chamber above the dungeon in the +Bazinière tower was called the first Bazinière, and so on to the topmost, +which was known as the Calotte Bazinière. The prisoner was consequently +mentioned not by his name but by the number of his room—the first +Bazinière, the first Bertaudière, the third Comté, &c. &c. In some cases +it appears that the prisoner received another name instead of his own, +which was never uttered or written. In this way De la Tude, of whom we +shall have occasion to speak, was denominated Daury. + +In what manner these pleasant abodes were furnished M. Linguet shall +describe. “Two worm-eaten mattresses, a cane elbow chair, the bottom of +which was held together by packthread, a tottering table, a water jug, +two pots of delftware, one of which was to drink out of, and two flag +stones, to support the fire; such was the inventory, at least such was +mine. I was indebted only to the commiseration of the turnkey, after +several months’ confinement, for a pair of tongs and a fire shovel. It +was not possible for me to procure dog-irons; and, whether it arises from +policy or inhumanity I know not, what the governor will not supply, he +will not allow a prisoner to procure at his own expense. It was eight +months ere I could obtain permission to buy a tea-pot, twelve before I +could procure a tolerably strong chair, and fifteen ere I was suffered +to replace by a crockery vessel the filthy and disgusting pewter vessel +which is the only one that is used in the Bastile. + +“The single article which I was at the outset allowed to purchase was a +new blanket, and the occasion was as follows: + +“The month of September, as every body knows, is the time when the moths +that prey upon woollens are transformed into winged insects. When the +antre which was assigned to me was opened, there arose from the bed, +I will not say a number, nor a cloud, but a large and dense column of +moths, which overspread the chamber in an instant. I started back with +horror. ‘Pooh! pooh!’ said one of my conductors with a smile, ‘before you +have lain here two nights, there will not be one of them left.’ + +“In the evening, the lieutenant of police came, according to custom, +to welcome me. I manifested so violent a repugnance to such a populous +flock bed, that they were gracious enough to permit me to put on a new +covering, and to have the mattress beaten, the whole at my own cost. As +feather beds are prohibited articles in the Bastile, doubtless because +such luxuries are not suitable for persons to whom the ministry wishes +above all things to give lessons of mortification, I was very desirous +that, every three months at least, my shabby mattress should have the +same kind of renovation. But, though it would have cost him nothing, the +proprietory governor opposed it with all his might, ‘because,’ said he, +‘it wears them out.’” + +Each prisoner was supplied with flint, steel, and tinder, a candle a day, +a broom once a week, and a pair of sheets every fortnight. + +Captives of rank were undoubtedly somewhat better accommodated, and, +where there were no particular reasons for annoying them, they were +favoured by being allowed to receive articles from their homes; but the +common run of convenience and comfort appears not to have gone beyond +what is described by M. Linguet. + +The food of the prisoners was paid for by the king at so much per head, +according to a graduated scale; but the supply and management of it were +left, seemingly without controul, in the hands of the governor. By this +arrangement the prisoners were placed at the mercy of their jailor, +who, if he happened to have a great love of gain, and a scanty portion +of humanity, might fill his purse by furnishing bad provisions, or not +sufficient to sustain life. “There are prisoners in the Bastile,” says +Linguet, “who have not more than four ounces of meat at a meal; this has +been ascertained more than once by weighing what was given to them; the +fact is notorious to all the under officers, who are grieved by it.” In +estimating the amount of the wrong thus inflicted, it must be borne in +mind, that the man who is in bonds requires more and better nourishment, +to keep nature from sinking, than is necessary for the man who is a free +agent. There was, in this instance, no excuse for stint. The sum allowed +by the king for the maintenance of the captives was exceedingly liberal. +It was nearly half a crown a day for an individual of the humblest class; +four shillings for a tradesman; eight shillings for a priest, a person +in the finance department, or an ordinary judge; twelve shillings for a +parliament counsellor; twenty shillings for a lieutenant general in the +army; one pound ten for a marshal of France; and two guineas for a prince +of the blood. If the sovereign oppressed those who incurred his anger, he +at least did not mean to starve them. + +What was the fare which this high rate of remuneration obtained for +the prisoners? It is thus described in a work, published in 1774, by +one who had himself long tried it. I am not aware that the accuracy of +the statement has ever been impeached; on the contrary, there is the +testimony of other witnesses to the same effect. + +“The kitchen is supplied by the governor’s steward, who has under him a +cook, a scullion, and a man whose employment is to cut wood for fuel. +All the victuals are bad, and generally ill-dressed: and this is a mine +of gold to the governor, whose revenue is daily augmented by the hard +fare of the prisoners under his keeping. Besides these profits, which +are inconceivably great, the governor receives a hundred and fifty +livres a day for fifteen prison rooms, at ten livres each, as a sort +of gratification in addition to his salary; and he often derives other +considerable emoluments. + +“On flesh days the prisoners have soup with boiled meat, &c. for dinner; +at night a slice of roast meat, a ragoût and salad. The diet on fast days +consists, at dinner, of fish, and two other dishes; at night, of eggs, +with greens. The difference in the quality of the diet is very small +between the lowest rank of prisoners, and those who are classed at five +or ten livres; the table of the latter is furnished with perhaps half +a starved chicken, a pigeon, a wild rabbit, or some small bird, with a +dessert; the portion of each rarely exceeds the value of twopence. + +“The _Sunday’s_ dinner consists of some bad soup, a slice of a cow, which +they call beef, and four little pâtés; at night a slice of roast veal or +mutton, or a little plate of haricot, in which bare bones and turnips +greatly predominate; to these are added a salad, the oil to which is +always rancid. The suppers are pretty uniformly the same on flesh days. +_Monday_: instead of four pâtés a haricot. _Tuesday_: at noon, a sausage, +half a pig’s foot, or a small pork chop. _Wednesday_: a tart, generally +either half warm or burnt up. _Thursday_: two very thin mutton chops. +_Friday_: half a small carp, either fried or stewed, a stinking haddock +or cod, with butter and mustard; to which are added greens or eggs; at +supper eggs, with spinach mixed up with milk and water.—_Saturday_: the +same. And this perpetual rotation re-commences on Sunday. + +“On the three holidays, St. Louis, St. Martin, and Twelfth day, every +prisoner has an addition made to his allowance, of half a roasted +chicken, or a pigeon. On Holy Monday, his dinner is accompanied by a tart +extraordinary. + +“Each prisoner has an allowance of a pound of bread and a bottle of +wine per day; but the wine is generally flat and good for nothing. The +dessert consists of an apple, a biscuit, a few almonds and raisins, some +cherries, gooseberries, or plums; these are commonly served in pewter, +though sometimes they are favoured with earthen dishes and a silver spoon +and fork. If any one complains of receiving bad provisions, a partial +amendment may take place for a few days; but the complainant is sure to +meet with some unpleasant effects of resentment. There is no cook’s shop +in the kingdom, where you may not get a better dinner for a shilling than +what are served in the Bastile. The cookery, in short, is wretchedly bad, +the soup tasteless, and the meat of the worst quality, and ill dressed. +All this must operate to injure the health of the prisoners; and, added +to other grievances, excites frequent imprecations of vengeance from +Heaven.” + +With respect to the badness of the wine, Linguet corroborates the +statement of this writer. The governor, it appears, in addition to the +diet-money, had the privilege of taking into his cellars near a hundred +hogsheads of wine, duty free. “What does he do?” says Linguet. “He sells +his privilege to a Parisian tavern keeper, of the name of Joli, who gives +him 250_l._ for it, and he takes in exchange from him the very cheapest +kind of wine for the use of the prisoners; which wine, as may easily be +imagined, is nothing but vinegar.” This was a fraud at once upon the +government and the prisoners. + +The sole mental recreation which the prison afforded was derived from a +small library, consisting of about five hundred volumes. This collection +is said to have been founded by a foreign prisoner, who died in the +Bastile, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and to have been +enlarged by later sufferers. In some cases, prisoners were allowed to +read in the library; but, generally, the works were taken to the cells +of the captives, and the selection of them depended on the taste of the +turnkeys. Few of the books were unmutilated; for the prisoners now and +then indulged in writing bitter remarks on the blank spaces. As soon as a +book was returned, every leaf was carefully examined, and woe be to the +rash offender who had suffered passion to get the better of prudence! An +epigram, or a sarcasm, on his persecutors, or on men in office, exposed +him to the worst that irresponsible power could inflict. As to the +volume, if the writing was on the margin, the piece was cut off; but when +it chanced to be inserted between the lines, the page was torn out. + +It seems to have been thought by no means necessary that a prisoner, who +was deprived of all earthly comforts, should receive consolation from +regular attendance on religious worship. The chapel was a miserable hole, +of about seven or eight feet square, under the pigeon-house of the king’s +lieutenant. “In this chapel,” says one who had been a captive, “are five +small niches or closets, with strong locks, of which three are formed in +the wall; the others are only wainscot. Every prisoner admitted to hear +mass is put in by himself,[1] and can neither see objects nor be seen of +any. The doors of these niches are secured by two bolts on the outside, +and lined within by iron bars; they are also glazed; but before each is +hung a curtain, which is drawn back at the Sanctus, and again closed at +the concluding prayer. Five prisoners only being admitted at each mass, +it follows that no more than ten can assist at that ceremony in a day. +If there be a greater number than this in the Castle, they either do not +go at all, or go alternately; because there are generally found some who +have a constant permission.” + +There was a confessor in the fortress; but it is scarcely possible that a +prisoner could repose entire confidence in a spiritual director who was +in the pay of his oppressors. Though it is going much too far to say, +as M. Linguet does, that such a man is “a cowardly double-dealer who +prostitutes the dignity of his character,” it must be owned that some +doubts and suspicions as to him might naturally arise; it matters not +that they would be unjust, the possibility of their being excited ought +to have been carefully avoided. + +Let us now turn to the concise but terrible instrument, by virtue of +which an individual was consigned to captivity, perhaps for life. This +was the _lettre de cachet_, or sealed letter, so called to distinguish +it from the _patent_ or open letter, which was merely folded. In former +days, such epistles were called _lettres closes_, or _clauses_. The +name was not given to all sealed up missives, but only to those which +contained some command or information from the sovereign. They were +signed by the king, and countersigned by one of the secretaries of +state. The same appellation was originally given to all letters of the +kind described; but, in latter times, it was principally if not wholly +applied, at least in common parlance, to royal orders of exile and +imprisonment. + +The oldest recorded mandate of this species is that which Thierry the +Second issued, at the instigation of Brunehaut, against St. Columbanus, +who had severely censured the vices of the mother and the son. It +directed that he should be removed from the monastery of Luxeuil, +and banished to Besançon, where he was to remain during the king’s +pleasure. The saint yielded only to force, and, as soon as the guards +were withdrawn, he retired to his convent. Violence, however, at length +compelled him to quit the dominions of the licentious Thierry. + +The _lettre de cachet_ was usually carried into effect by the officers of +police; sometimes the arrest was made at the dwelling of the individual, +sometimes on the roads or in the street by night; but, in all cases, +it appears to have been accomplished with as much secrecy as possible, +so that it was no uncommon thing for persons to be missing for years, +without their friends being able to discover what had become of them. Men +of rank were at times spared the disgrace of being taken into custody; +they were favoured by being allowed to carry the letter themselves to +the prison mentioned in it, and surrender to the governor. Here is a +specimen of these obliging billets, which was addressed to the prince of +Monaco, a brigadier in the French army. + + “My Cousin, + + “Being by no means satisfied with your conduct, I send you this + letter, to apprise you that my intention is, that, as soon as + you receive it, you shall proceed to my castle of the Bastile, + there to remain till you have my further orders. On which, my + cousin, I pray God to have you in his holy keeping. Given at + Versailles, this 25th of June, 1748. + + (_Signed_) “LOUIS.” + (_Countersigned_) “VOYER D’ARGENSON.” + +By such a scrap of paper as this might any man in France be doomed to +close and hopeless imprisonment. Malice, wounded pride, rivalry, revenge, +all the base and cruel passions, availed themselves of it to torment +their enemies. The titled harlot, whose shame had excited laughter or +reprobation, the minister, whose measures were unpopular, the frivolous +courtier, whose folly had been satirised, the debauchee, who wished to +remove an obstacle to his lust, the parent, who preferred ruling his +offspring rather by fear than love, was eager to obtain one of these +convenient scorpion scourges, and the wish was too often gratified. + +There is scarcely any enormity so monstrous that it cannot find a +defender. Even _lettres de cachet_ have not been without an apologist; +and, to make the wonder the greater, an English apologist. Let us listen +to his plea. “Perhaps (says he) it was the abuse of the _lettres de +cachet_, rather than their institution, that merited the execration in +which they were held; for however extraordinary it may seem, they were +not unfrequently used to serve the purposes of humanity. There are many +instances of persons, who, on account of private disputes, or affairs +of state, would have been exposed to public punishment, that were shut +up by a _lettre de cachet_, until the danger was past, or the matter +accommodated or forgotten. It may undoubtedly be objected, that keeping a +person from justice is itself a crime against the public; but in forming +a judgment upon this subject, we ought to take into consideration the +prejudices entertained in the country where this authority was employed. +It should be remembered that, by an old and barbarous practice, the +disgrace attending a capital punishment, inflicted by the laws, was +reflected upon all the family of the criminal; and that in many instances +it required a public act of the supreme power to wipe off the stain, and +again enable them to serve their country. In as far, therefore, as the +_lettres de cachet_ counteracted the effects of these prejudices, they +were useful; _but though they were signed by the king, from the idea that +it was proper to have them ready for cases of emergency, ministers, and +governors of provinces, &c., were generally furnished with them in blank, +to be filled up at their discretions; and the friends and favourites of +those ministers sometimes obtained them from them, as is proved by the +case of M. de Fratteaux, and in many other instances_.”[2] + +This is, indeed, carrying to a ridiculous extent the determination +to find “a soul of good in things evil!” Perhaps it would not be +uncharitable to put a harsher construction on such language. Public +justice is to be defrauded, thousands are to be plunged into misery, +personal safety is to be hourly jeoparded, crime committed by the rich +and powerful is to escape with all but complete impunity, and the motives +which most influence individuals to bridle their unruly passions are to +be weakened, merely “to counteract the effects of a prejudice” on a few +ancient families! Never was an infinitely small benefit bought at a more +extravagant price. + +From certain particulars, which we find in various memoirs, it would seem +that, generally speaking, more indulgences were granted to the inmates +of the Bastile in former days, than during the last thirty years of its +existence. At all times, however, much would undoubtedly depend on the +personal character of the governor; if he chanced to be liberal-minded +and humane, he would, as far as he could venture to do so, mitigate the +sufferings of his captives; if, on the contrary, he were greedy of gain, +and harsh in his disposition, he would stint and deteriorate their diet, +wantonly deny them even the most trifling comforts, and, in short, do his +best to make the management of the prison “render life a burthen,” which, +with an impudent candour, one of the officers of the castle avowed to be +its especial purpose. + +It must be owned that, in some respects, modern times witnessed an +improvement in the practice of the Bastile. The cages, which it is +known once to have contained, were removed. The rack, also, and other +instruments of torture, ceased to be called into use. At what period +the change took place is not said. That, in the latter end of Louis the +Thirteenth’s reign, the instruments still existed in the castle, we +learn from the Memoirs of the faithful La Porte, who saw them, and was +threatened with them to extort a confession. + +What the Bastile was in its mildest form will appear from the following +narrative, written by a person who was confined for eight months. “About +five in the morning of the 2d of April, 1771,” says the narrator, “I was +awakened by a violent knocking at my chamber door, and was commanded, +in the name of the king, to open it. I did so, and an exempt of the +police, three men who appeared to be under his orders, and a commissary, +entered the room. They desired me to dress myself, and began to search +the apartment. They ordered me to open my drawers, and having examined my +papers, they took such as they chose, and put them into a box, which, as +I understood afterwards, was carried to the police office. The commissary +asked me my name, my age, the place where I was born, how long I had been +at Paris, and the manner in which I spent my time. The examination was +written down by him; a list was made of every thing found in the room, +which, together with the examination, I was desired to read and sign. +The exempt then told me to take all my body linen, and such clothes as +I chose, and to come along with them. At the word _all_ I started; I +guessed where they were about to take me, and it seemed to announce to me +a long train of misery. + +“Having shut and sealed the drawers, they desired me to follow them; and +in going out, they locked the chamber door and took the key. On coming +to the street, I found a coach, into which I was desired to go, and the +others followed me. After sitting for some time the commissary told me +they were carrying me to the Bastile, and soon afterwards I saw the +towers. They did not go the shortest and direct road; which I suppose was +to conceal our destination from those who might have observed us. The +coach stopped at the gate in St. Anthony’s street. I saw the coachman +make signs to the sentinel, and soon after the gate was opened: the +guard was under arms, and I heard the gate shut again. On coming to the +first drawbridge, it was let down, the guard there being likewise under +arms. The coach went on, and entered the castle, where I saw another +guard under arms. It stopped at a flight of steps at the bottom of the +court, where being desired to go out, I was conducted to a room which +I heard named the council chamber. I found three persons sitting at +a table, who, as I was told, were the king’s lieutenant, the major, +and his deputy. The major asked me nearly the same questions which the +commissary had done, and observed the same formalities in directing me to +read and sign the examination. I was then desired to empty my pockets, +and lay what I had in them on the table. My handkerchief and snuff-box +being returned to me, my money, watch, and indeed every thing else, were +put into a box that was sealed in my presence, and an inventory having +been made of them, it was likewise read and signed by me. The major then +called for the turnkey whose turn of duty it was, and having asked what +room was empty, he said, the Calotte de la Bertaudière. He was ordered +to convey me to it, and to carry thither my linen and clothes. The +turnkey having done so, left me and locked the doors. The weather was +still extremely cold, and I was glad to see him return soon afterwards +with firewood, a tinder-box, and a candle. He made my fire, but told me, +on leaving the tinder-box, that I might in future do it myself when so +inclined.[3] + +“From the time the exempt of police came into my room, I had not ceased +to form conjectures about the cause of my imprisonment. I knew of none, +unless it were some verses and sketches, relative to the affairs of the +times. Though they were indiscreet, they were of little importance. The +only writing that might have seriously given offence to the government, I +had never shown, but to one person in whom I thought I could confide. I +found afterwards he had betrayed me. + +“When I heard the double doors shut upon me a second time, casting my +eyes round my habitation, I fancied I now saw the extent of all that was +left to me in this world for the rest of my days. _Besides the malignity +of enemies, and the anger of a minister, I felt that I ran the risk of +being forgotten; the fate of many who have no one of influence to protect +them, or who have not particularly attracted the notice of the public. +Naturally fond of society, I confess I looked forward to the abyss of +lonely wretchedness, that I thought awaited me, with a degree of horror +that cannot easily be described. I even regretted now what I had formerly +considered as the greatest blessing, a healthy constitution that had +never been affected by disease._ + +“I recollect with humble gratitude the first gleam of comfort that shot +across this gloom. It was the idea, that neither massive walls, nor +tremendous bolts, nor all the vigilance of suspicious keepers, could +conceal me from the sight of God. This thought I fondly cherished, and +it gave me infinite consolation in the course of my imprisonment, and +principally contributed to enable me to support it, with a degree of +fortitude and resignation that I have since wondered at—I no longer felt +myself alone. + +“At eleven, my reflections were interrupted by the turnkey, who entered +with my dinner. Having spread the table with a clean napkin, he placed +the dishes on it, cut the meat, and retired, taking away the knife. The +dishes, plates, fork, spoon, and goblet, were of pewter. The dinner +consisted of soup and bouilli, a piece of roasted meat, a bottle of good +table wine, and a pound loaf of the best kind of household bread. In +the evening, at seven, he brought my supper, which consisted of a roast +dish and a ragoût. The same ceremony was observed in cutting the meat, +to render the knife unnecessary to me. He took away the dishes he had +brought for dinner, and returned at eight the next morning to take away +the supper things. Fridays and Saturdays being fast or _maîgre_ days, the +dinner consisted of soup, a dish of fish, and two dishes of vegetables; +the suppers, of two dishes of garden stuff, and an omelet, or something +made with eggs and milk. The dinners and suppers of each day in the week +were different, but every week was the same: so that the ordinary class +of prisoners saw in the course of the first week their bill of fare for +fifty years, if they staid so long. + +“I had remained in my room about three weeks, when I was one morning +carried down to the council chamber, where I found the commissary. He +began by asking most of the questions that had been put to me before. +He then asked if I had any knowledge of some works he named, meaning +those that had been written by me;—if I was acquainted with the author +of them;—whether there were any persons concerned with him;—and if I +knew whether they had been printed? I told him that, as I did not mean +to conceal any thing, I should avoid giving him needless trouble; that +I myself was the author of the works he had mentioned, and guessed I +was there on that account;—that they never had been printed;—that the +work, which I conceived was the cause of my confinement, had never been +shown to any but one person, whom I thought my friend; and having no +accomplices, the offence, if there was any, rested solely with myself. He +said my examination was one of the shortest he had ever been employed at, +for it ended here. I was carried back to my room, and the next day was +shaved for the first time since my confinement. + +“A few days afterwards I wrote to the lieutenant of the police, +requesting to be indulged with the use of books, pen, ink, and paper, +which was granted; but I was not allowed to go down to the library to +choose the books. Several volumes were brought to me by the turnkey, who, +when I desired it, carried them back and brought others. + +“After my last examination I was taken down almost daily, and allowed to +walk about an hour in the court within view of the sentinel: but my walks +were frequently interrupted; for if any one appeared, the sentinel called +out ‘To the Cabinet!’ and I was then obliged to conceal myself hastily in +a kind of dark closet in the wall near the chapel. + +“The sheets of my bed were changed once a fortnight, I was allowed four +towels a week, and my linen was taken to be washed every Saturday. I had +a tallow candle daily, and in the cold season a certain number of pieces +of firewood. I was told that the allowance of fire to the prisoners began +the 1st of November, and ceased on the 1st of April, and that my having a +fire in April was a particular indulgence. + +“After being detained above eight months, I was informed that an order +had come to discharge me. I was desired to go down to the council +chamber: every thing I had brought with me was returned, together with +the key of my apartment, which I found exactly in the state I left it on +the morning of the 2nd of April, 1771. + +“During my confinement I wrote many letters to several of my friends, +which were always received with civility, but not one of them had been +delivered.” + +The aspect of captivity in the Bastile, even when stripped of a part of +its horrors, is surely hideous enough. But there can be no doubt that, +in a multitude of cases, an enormous degree of severity was exercised. +Instead of being told, as in this instance, to give up the contents +of his pockets, the prisoner was rudely searched by four men, who +amused themselves with making vulgar jokes and remarks while they were +performing the task; sometimes his own garments were taken from him, +and he was clothed in rags. His sufferings from imprisonment might also +be frightfully aggravated, by thrusting him into one of the humid and +pestilential dungeons, or into a room which was in the vicinity of a +nuisance. M. Linguet was confined in a chamber which fronted the mouth +of the common sewer of St. Anthony’s street, so that the air which he +breathed was never pure; but in hot weather, in the spring and autumnal +floods, and whenever the sewer was cleaned, the mephitic vapours, which +penetrated into his cell, and accumulated there for want of an outlet, +were scarcely to be endured. What were the interior accommodations of +this cell the reader has already seen. + +The prisoner was not left to divine the motive for depriving him of all +incisive and pointed instruments; he was bluntly informed that it was +done to prevent him from cutting his own throat or the throats of his +keepers. The reason assigned for the precaution shows sufficiently, that +the officers of the Bastile rightly estimated the capability of exciting +despair, which was possessed by their prison. This preventive system was +carried to an almost ludicrous extent. Wishing to beguile the tedium +of captivity, M. Linguet resolved to resume his geometrical studies, +and he accordingly requested to be supplied with a case of mathematical +instruments. After much demur, the case was obtained, but it was without +a pair of compasses. When he remonstrated respecting the omission, he was +told, that “arms were prohibited in the Bastile.” At length, his jailors +hit upon the happy idea of having the compasses made of bone. Candour, +however, requires the acknowledgment that their fears were not wholly +groundless, instances having occurred in which prisoners were driven to +desperation. It was with a pair of compasses that the unfortunate Count +Lally endeavoured to put an end to his existence. His attempt was made in +the year 1766, and, in the following year, a more fatal event took place. +A captive, Drohart by name, contrived to secrete a knife, with which he +first mortally wounded a turnkey, and then destroyed himself. + +For some time after his arrival at the Bastile, every thing seems to +have been studiously contrived to shock a prisoner’s habits, insulate +him from the human race, and deliver him up to squalid wretchedness and +distracting thoughts. The manifest purpose of this was, to break his +courage, and thereby induce him to make such confessions as would answer +the ends of his persecutors. It was not till after he had undergone a +second examination that he was allowed to be shaved; and months often +elapsed before this favour was granted. Neither was he permitted to have +books, pens, or paper, nor to attend mass, nor to walk in the court. He +could not even write to the lieutenant of police, through whom alone +any indulgence was to be obtained. The sight of the turnkey, for a few +moments, thrice a day, was the sole link which connected him with his +fellow beings. + +Every stratagem which cunning could devise was put in practice to entrap +a prisoner into an avowal of guilt, the betraying of his suspected +friends, or, failing these, into such contradictions as might give a +colour for refusing to believe him innocent. Threats, too, were not +spared, nor even flatteries and promises. At one moment, papers were +shown to him, but not put into his hands, which his examiners affirmed +to contain decisive proof of his criminality; at another, he was told +that his accomplices had divulged the whole, and that his obstinate +silence would subject him to be tried by a special commission, while, +on the contrary, if he would speak out frankly he should be speedily +liberated. He who was seduced by this artifice was sure to repent of his +folly. When the irrevocable words had passed his lips, he was informed +that the power of his deluders did not extend to setting him free, but +that they would exert all their influence, and hoped to succeed. It is +scarcely necessary to say, that there was not a syllable of truth in +their assurances, and that he who had confided in them was treated with +increased severity. It was not only in official examinations that the +captive was exposed to be thus circumstanced; the same system was pursued +throughout. There was no one who approached him to whom he could venture +to breathe a whisper of complaint. If he was visited by the lieutenant of +police, the sole aim of the lieutenant was to draw forth something which +might be turned against him. If he was allowed to be attended by one of +the invalids, the attendant treasured up for his masters every word that +was dropped. Sometimes, apparently as a matter of grace and kindness, a +companion, said to be a fellow sufferer, was given to him; the companion +was a police spy, who was withdrawn when he had wormed out the secret, +or had become convinced that it was unattainable. To listen to that +which seemed the voice of pity was dangerous; for the turnkeys and other +officers, enjoined though they were to be mute on other occasions, had +their tongues let loose for fraudulent ends, and were taught to lure the +prisoners into indiscreet language, by feigned expressions of sympathy. + +In general, a silence was maintained by the officers and attendants, +which might rival that of the monks of La Trappe. “When a corporal or +any other, (said the instructions) is ordered to attend a prisoner, +who may have permission to walk in the garden, or on the towers, it is +expressly forbidden that he speak to him. He is to observe his actions, +to take care that he make no signs to any one without, and to bring +him back at the hour fixed, delivering him over to an officer, or one +of the turnkeys, as may have been ordered.”—“The sentinel in the court +must constantly keep in view the prisoners who may be permitted to walk +there: he must be attentive to observe if they drop any paper, letter, +note, or anything else: he must prevent them from writing on the walls, +and render an exact account of every thing he may have remarked whilst +on duty. All persons whatsoever, except the officers of the staff and +turnkeys, are forbidden ever to speak to any prisoner, or even to answer +him, under any pretence whatever.” As it was supposed that strangers +might chance to feel pity for the victims of despotism, and of course be +disposed to express it, or to serve them, care was taken to guard against +that evil. It was therefore ordered that, “if workmen should be employed +in the castle, as many sentinels must be put over them as may be thought +necessary, who must observe them with the same attention as they do the +prisoners, in order that they may not approach these, nor do any thing +that may be contrary to the rules of the place.” + +Visits from without seem never to have been permitted except in minor +cases of offence. No permission was granted till after the final +examination, and not then till repeated requests had been made, and +powerful interest employed. Even when the favour was obtained, its value +was seriously diminished by the restrictions with which it was clogged. +The prisoner was obliged to receive his relative or friend in the council +chamber, on one side of which he was placed, and his visitor on the +other, with two officers between them; nor were the parties suffered to +converse on any subject which had the most remote reference to the cause +or circumstances of the prisoner’s confinement. The same system was +followed when one captive had an interview with another. There was but +one case, in which incarcerated individuals could have a free interchange +of thoughts; it was when the fullness of the prison, or the humanity of +the governor, caused two of them to be located in the same chamber. + +Intercourse by letters was equally shackled, though there was an +insulting affectation of a readiness to facilitate correspondence. +It has, indeed, been conjectured, that “this apparent indulgence to +prisoners was one of the many artifices employed to discover their +secrets, and the persons with whom they were connected;” and this +supposition may not be far from the truth. There can be no doubt, that +of the letters written by captives few arrived at their destination. We +have seen, in the narrative of a prisoner, that the whole of those which +he wrote were suppressed. M. Linguet tells us, that, knowing the king’s +brothers, Monsieur and the Count d’Artois, (afterwards Louis XVIII. and +Charles X.) to be favourable to him, he wrote to them, to solicit their +intercession. “The letters,” says he, “were sealed. The lieutenant of +police, some time after, told me he had read but not transmitted them; +that he had not been allowed. When I observed to him that, since he knew +the contents, he might make them known to the generous princes from whom +he had detained them, he replied, that he had no access to such high +personages. Thus the man, who was prohibited from approaching such high +personages, had the privilege of breaking open and suppressing their +letters, of rendering fruitless their good intentions and those of the +monarch, and, in short, of raising round me ramparts more impenetrable +than all the magic castles with which imagination has ever peopled our +romances.” + +Profound secrecy and mystery were among the most prominent features in +the management of the Bastile. He who was fortunate enough to emerge +from this den of Cacus, was previously compelled to swear that he would +never reveal whatever he had seen or heard during his abode in it. He +who was retained, to waste away life within its dreary limits, was +sedulously shut out from all knowledge of what was passing in the world. +The malignant enemy, by whom he had been deprived of freedom, might be +gone to his last account, but to _him_ he still lived and tyrannized, +for no whisper of his departure was suffered to reach him. When the fact +of a person being in the Bastile was not so notorious as to preclude +the possibility of denying it, his being there was unblushingly denied. +When enquiry was made, the officers, the governor, the minister himself, +would not scruple to affirm, and that, too, in the most solemn manner, +that they knew nothing of any such individual. Thus were his friends +discouraged, and led to slacken in their exertions for his relief, or +wholly to discontinue them. If, however, they discovered the falsehood, +and persisted in their efforts, there was still another resource for +defeating them; slander was resorted to, the worst crimes were attributed +to him, and he was held up as an abandoned miscreant, whom it was a +disgrace to patronize, and mercy to confine. At last, weariness, disgust, +or death, robbed him of all who had loved or pitied him, and, even though +his original persecutor had ceased to exist, the victim was left to +perish forgotten in his dungeon. + +There was one object, besides the wish to elicit imprudent speeches or +confessions, which had power to open the lips of the jailors; that object +was the desire of tormenting, of making the prisoner feel how completely +he was insulated from mankind, no less by its own baseness than by his +prison walls. “I was daily told with a laugh,” says M. Linguet, “that I +ought not to trouble myself any longer about what the world was doing, +because I was believed to be dead; the joke was carried so far, as to +relate to me circumstances which insane rage or horrible levity added +to my pretended exit. I was assured, also, that I had nothing to hope +from the warmth and fidelity of my friends; not so much because, like +others, they were deceived with respect to my existence, as because they +had become treacherous. This double imposture had for its purpose, not +merely to torture me, but at once to inspire me with a boundless reliance +on the only traitor whom I had reason to fear, and who was perpetually +represented as being my only true friend, and to discover, from the +manner in which I was affected by these tidings, whether I had really any +secrets which could lay me open to a betrayer.” + +Though the captive was not allowed to live with even a shadow of comfort, +or to hasten his own end, a wide opening was left for death to accomplish +his deliverance in one of the regular modes. From the evening meal till +that of the morning, he was hermetically sealed up by massy, iron-lined +double doors; in all that time no human being approached him. The turnkey +slept in a distant chamber, where neither voice nor the sound of knocking +could reach him. Bells seem to have been thought too great a luxury +for the place. If illness suddenly came, there was no resource for the +sufferer, but to call to the nearest sentinel, on the other side of the +broad moat. If his voice were too weak, if his strength failed to carry +him to the window, or if the wind drowned his cries, he must remain +unaided. If his disorder were apoplectic, or he broke a blood-vessel, it +is manifest that his fate was sealed. But, supposing him to be heard, +prompt assistance was by no means to be expected. The sentinels gave the +alarm to each other, till it reached the guard-house; the turnkey was +then to be called, who, on his part, had to rouse the servant of the +king’s lieutenant, that he might awake his master, and procure from him +the keys. Two hours were thus spent before the surgeon was drawn from his +bed, where, in truth, he might as well have continued, since, interdicted +as he was from prescribing by himself, he could only make a report to the +governor, and promise that the physician, who resided three miles off, +and was overloaded with practice, should be sent to on the morrow. + +If the disease was not immediately dangerous, some medicine was brought, +and the sick man must help himself as well as he could, and be thankful +if his malady were not thought to be simulated. “But when he was reduced +to extremity, when he was so far gone that he could not rise from the +worm-eaten couch on which he lay, a nurse was given to him. And who +was this nurse? a stupid, coarse, brutal invalid soldier, incapable of +attentions, little assiduities, every thing which is indispensable for a +sick person. But a still worse thing is, that when this soldier is once +fastened on you, he can never quit you; he himself becomes a prisoner. It +is therefore necessary to begin by purchasing his consent, and prevailing +on him to be shut up with you as long as your captivity lasts; and, if +you recover, you must make up your mind to bear the bad temper, the +discontent, the reproaches, the ennui, of this companion, who takes ample +vengeance upon your health for the seeming services which he has lent to +your sickness.” + +There was yet another stab to be inflicted on those who were sinking into +the grave, and by this the living could be wounded at the same time. To +regulate the manner in which, after his death, his property shall be +distributed, and, by so doing, to save a wife and offspring from the +perplexity, endless trouble, expense, and perhaps ruin, which may arise +out of a disputed succession, or the want of needful formalities, is a +duty which every rational being will be anxious to perform. That the +person is a captive, only renders more necessary the performance of the +duty. But not so thought the myrmidons of the Bastile. It is on record +that a prisoner, who was stretched for two months on a bed of sickness, +expecting that each hour would be his last, repeatedly and vainly +implored a French minister of state to grant him the customary legal aid +for executing his will; his prayer was sternly refused, though there +was a lawyer who belonged to the prison establishment. That this was a +solitary instance it would be folly to imagine. + +It was not of unfrequent occurrence in the Bastile, for the bodily +faculties of a prisoner to survive his mental. Shut out from the +beautiful forms of nature, the treasures of intellect, and the delights +of social converse, from all that can animate or console; racked by a +thousand remembrances, conjectures, passions, and fears; brooding in +deep seclusion and silence over the past and the present, and vainly +struggling to penetrate the darkness of the future; his mind at length +gave way, and idiotism or madness ensued. Yet even that must be deemed a +blessing, if it brought with it oblivion of his fate. + +But the long and unbroken series of woes is at last ended; death has rent +asunder the fetters of the captive, and he is “where the wicked cease +from troubling, and the weary are at rest.” Is there yet a way left, by +which his ingenious tormentors can make their vengeance reach beyond +the grave, by which they can, in some measure, entail upon his kindred +a share of suffering? There is. How was this important purpose effected +in the Bastile? As soon as the breath was out of the body, a notice was +sent to the minister of the home department and the lieutenant-general +of police. The king’s commissary then visited the prison, to minute +down the circumstances. This being done, orders were issued to inter +the body. In the gloom of evening it was conveyed to the burying ground +of St. Paul’s; two persons belonging to the Bastile attended it to sign +the parish register; and the name under which the deceased was entered, +and the description of the rank which he held, were fictitious, that +all trace of him might be obliterated. Another register, containing +his real name and station, was, in truth, kept at the Bastile; but it +was almost inaccessible, a sight of it, for the purpose of making an +extract, being never allowed, without a strict enquiry into the reason +why the application was made. His family and friends, meanwhile, remained +in profound ignorance of his having been released from his troubles. +No mourning mother, wife, or child, followed his remains to their last +abode; and even the poor consolation was denied them of knowing the spot +where he reposed, that they might water it with their tears. Thus, in +death, as in life, oppression and malice triumphantly asserted their +absolute dominion over the captives of the Bastile. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Reign of John II.—Stephen Marcel, Provost of the + Merchants—Reign of Charles V.—Hugh Aubriot—Reign of + Charles VI.—Noviant—La Rivière—Peter des Essarts—John de + Montaigu—Contests of the factions at Paris—The Count of + Armagnac—The Burgundians obtain possession of Paris—Massacre + of the Armagnacs—Assassination of the duke of Burgundy—Reign + of Charles VII.—Paris in the hands of the English—Villiers + de l’Isle Adam—The English expelled from Paris—Reign of + Louis XI.—Anthony de Chabannes—The Count de Melun—Cardinal + de Balue—William d’Haraucour—Charles d’Armagnac—Louis de + Luxembourg—The Duke of Nemours and his children. + + +A mind tinctured with superstition, even though it were not of the +darkest hue, might be tempted to believe that a fatality pursued the +men by whom the Bastile was raised. It has been seen that the original +founder was the famous Stephen Marcel, Provost of the Merchants. Marcel, +though his character has uniformly been blackened by writers devoted +to absolute monarchy, seems to have been influenced, at least in the +greatest portion of his career, by truly patriotic motives. It is not +the object which he laboured to obtain, but some of the means which +he employed for its attainment, that merits censure. To confine the +royal authority within reasonable bounds, and to give the national +representatives their proper weight in the scale of government, were +the purposes which he sought to accomplish. The dangerous circumstances +in which the country was placed, and the heavy oppression under which +the people groaned, pointed out such a reform as being no less wise +than just. The time for attempting it was favourable; inasmuch as +the captivity of the king, and the presence of a victorious foreign +army, would, it was supposed, compel the dauphin, Charles, to look to +the States-General for the means of saving France from still greater +calamities. Yet, so strong was princely dislike to receiving aid from the +legitimate guardians of the public purse, that Charles preferred raising +supplies by the fraudulent and ruinous expedient of debasing the coin. In +that scheme he was fortunately defeated by the stubborn opposition of the +Provost. + +The alliance formed by Marcel with Charles, surnamed the Bad, king +of Navarre, was, perhaps, an impolitic act; not so much because +the Navarrese monarch deserved the epithet given to him by French +historians—for we may doubt whether he was, in reality, much more +blame-worthy than his namesake, the dauphin, on whom the same historians +have lavished their praise—but because a junction with a man who was +exceedingly obnoxious to a large party in France was likely to give rise +to suspicions with respect to his principles and motives. It is probable, +however, that he was led to it, by a wish to have some stronger prop +to lean on than the fluctuating favour of the populace. The “varium +et mutabile semper,” by which Virgil, somewhat harshly, characterizes +the female sex, may, with less appearance of satire, be applied to the +multitude. This truth Marcel was doomed to learn by experience. + +For nearly two years, the Provost, with more or less steadiness, kept his +footing on the tottering eminence to which he had risen. During that time +he was actively engaged in securing the French capital from external and +internal foes. He fortified and enlarged its circuit, supplied it with +arms and provisions, established a guard of citizens, which was night +and day on the watch, and barricaded the entrances of the streets by +ponderous chains, which were fastened to the houses: these chains were +the first barricades which were formed in Paris. + +The capital was undoubtedly saved from pillage and devastation by the +provident care of Marcel. In spite, however, of his exertions, his +popularity waned; the minds of his fellow citizens were poisoned by +the arts and insinuations of the dauphin’s friends, and irritated by +his connection with the king of Navarre, whose troops were mercilessly +ravaging all the circumjacent country. While the Parisians were in this +ferment, the dauphin promised a general amnesty to them, on condition of +their giving up to him the Provost, and twelve other persons, whom he +should select. Fearing, probably, that this temptation would be too great +for them to resist, the Provost, in an evil hour, resolved to admit into +the city the troops of the king of Navarre. It is also said, though there +does not appear to be any proof of the fact, that he intended to make a +general massacre of the opposite party, and transfer the crown of France +to Charles the Bad. For this we have only the word of his enemies. + +It was on the night of the 31st of July, 1358, that Marcel designed to +open the gates of Paris to the Navarrese soldiery. He was too late. At +noon, he went to the gate of the bastile of St. Denis, and ordered the +guard to deliver up the keys to Joceran de Mascon, the king of Navarre’s +treasurer. The guard refused to comply, and a loud altercation arose. The +noise brought to the place John Maillard, the commandant of the quarter. +Up to this moment, Maillard had been the zealous friend of Marcel, but +he now resolutely opposed the scheme of the latter. A violent quarrel +ensued between them, which ended by Maillard springing on horseback, +unfurling the banner of France, and summoning the citizens to assist him +in preventing the Provost from betraying the city to the English. The +summons speedily brought a throng around him. The friends of the dauphin, +likewise, did not let slip this opportunity of acting in his behalf. A +considerable body of men was collected by them, at the head of which were +placed two gentlemen, named Pepin des Essarts and John de Charny. + +From the gate of St. Denis, meanwhile, Marcel proceeded on the same +errand to the other gates. He was not more successful than on his first +attempt; obedience was every where refused. As a last resource, he bent +his course to the bastile of St. Anthony. Here, again he was foiled. +His enemies were beforehand with him. The keys he did by some means +obtain, but they were useless. Maillard had already reached the scene of +action, with a numerous train of followers, and he was almost immediately +joined by the partisans of the dauphin. With the keys of the Bastile in +his hand, Marcel began to ascend the entrance ladder, striving at the +same time to keep off his assailants. A terrible cry now burst forth of +“Kill them! kill them! death to the Provost of the Merchants and his +accomplices!” Alarmed by the clamour, he attempted to save himself by +flight, but he was struck on the head with an axe, by de Charny, and he +fell at the foot of the Bastile, which he had himself built. His body +was immediately pierced with innumerable wounds by the infuriated crowd. +Giles Marcel, his nephew, and fifty-three others, the whole of the party +which had attended him, were either slain on the spot or thrown into +prison. Three days afterwards, the dauphin re-entered Paris, and began +to feed his revenge with blood. + +By Hugh Aubriot the Bastile was advanced another step towards its +completion. Born at Dijon, of humble parents, Aubriot gained the favour +of Charles the fifth, and of his brother, the duke of Anjou, and was +appointed minister of finance. He was also raised to the dignified, +though troublesome and dangerous office of Provost of Paris. Charles +the fifth had a love of building, and he found in the Provost a man who +had talents and activity to carry his wishes into effect. Paris was +indebted to Aubriot for numerous works, which conduced to its safety, +ornament, and salubrity. He strengthened and added to the ramparts, +constructed sewers, which he was the first to introduce into the +capital, formed quays, rebuilt the Pont au Change, and built the Pont +St. Michel. In these labours he employed, at a fixed rate of payment, +all the mendicants, destitute persons, and disorderly characters of the +city; thus compelling them to earn that subsistence which they had been +in the habit of extorting or plundering from the citizens. The police +of the city was greatly improved by him in other respects. Among the +ordinances which he issued, for that purpose, was one which revived that +of Louis the ninth, relative to prostitutes. Paris was now overrun with +loose women; the ordinance enjoined them, under penalty of fine and +imprisonment, to reside only in certain places, which were specified, to +the number of nine. + +The strict performance of his duty proved to be the ruin of Aubriot. +Among the worst nuisances of the capital were the scholars of the +University of Paris; they were addicted, among other things, to +drunkenness, libertinism, and robbery, and their insolence was still +more insufferable than their vices. Perpetual quarrels and contests, in +which they were almost always the aggressors, took place between these +votaries of learning and the citizens. The main cause of their excesses +being thus pushed beyond all bounds was the complete impunity which +they enjoyed. Fonder of its privileges than of morality and justice, +the University on all occasions strenuously resisted the efforts of the +magistrates to bring scholars to punishment. In more than one instance it +threw its protecting shield over plunderers and assassins, and pursued +with a deadly hatred those individuals who had dared to enforce the laws +against criminals. This crying abuse Aubriot determined to suppress. In +the prison of the Little Châtelet, which was built by him, he ordered +two strong and not over comfortable cells to be constructed, for the +reception of delinquent scholars. These he called his _clos Bruneau_ and +_rue de Fouaire_; the University schools being situated in places which +were so named. By this stinging joke, and by the vigorous measures of +Aubriot, the University was inexpiably offended. Regardless of its anger, +he, however, resolutely persisted in arresting and committing to prison +every student who ventured to transgress. + +While Charles the fifth lived, Aubriot remained safe; but the death of +his patron, and the weakness and confusion of a minority, laid him open +to the malice of his enemies. The University had sworn to accomplish +his ruin, and this oath it held sacred. In his public character he had +so deported himself as to be intangible; and, therefore, his private +life was ransacked to find matter for accusation. It was discovered, or +feigned, that he was too warm a lover of women, and, to give a darker +colour to this fault, it was added, that he had an especial predilection +for Jewesses. From this, by a curious process of logic, it was deduced +as an inference, that he was himself a Jew and a heretic; his accusers +not perceiving, or not choosing to perceive, that the one of these +conditions excluded the other. Their reasoning was akin to that which, in +the fable, the wolf uses to the lamb. Unluckily, too, for the Provost, +they resembled the wolf in other points; they had his savageness and his +ability to injure. The University and the clergy joined in a clamour +against him, and were supported by the duke of Berry, who was hostile to +the Burgundian party, to which Aubriot belonged. + +Charged with impiety and heresy, Aubriot was brought to trial before +an ecclesiastical tribunal. With such prosecutors and such judges, +conviction was certain. To such a pitch did the University and the clergy +carry their animosity against him, that he would have been doomed to the +flames, had not his friends at court powerfully exerted their influence +to procure a milder sentence. But, though his life was spared, he was not +suffered to escape without feeling how venomous are the fangs of fanatics +and pedants. He was condemned to public exposure and penance, in presence +of the heads and scholars of the University, to ask pardon upon his +knees, and, with no other food than bread and water, to spend in strict +confinement the remnant of his days. + +Aubriot was conveyed to the Bastile, to undergo the last part of his +sentence. In the course of a few months, probably because he was treated +with too much lenity in a state prison, he was removed to the bishop’s +prison, called Fort-l’Evêque, where he was thrown into one of those +dungeons which bore the significant name of oubliettes. There he might +have languished long, or perished quickly, but never have hoped for +deliverance, had not, in 1381, the intolerable oppression exercised +by the government given rise to the insurrection which, from the +circumstance of the revolters being armed with leaden malls, was called +the Maillotin. In want of a leader, the insurgents bethought them of Hugh +Aubriot; and it is not unlikely that, as he had suffered heavy wrongs, +they supposed he would espouse their cause with heart and soul. They +accordingly liberated him. Aubriot, however, was either too old, or too +prudent, to become the head of a revolt; he spoke his deliverers fair, +but, on the very evening that he was set free, he crossed the Seine, and +hastened to Burgundy, his native country, where he is believed to have +died in the following year. + +While Charles the sixth was labouring under his first attack of insanity, +the political feuds and intrigues which distracted his court gave fresh +inhabitants to the Bastile. When, in 1392, the dukes of Burgundy and +Berry assumed the government, the overthrow of Clisson, the constable +of France, and prime minister, necessarily ensued, and in his fall was +involved the ministry he had formed. Three of the ministers, La Begue de +Villaine, Noviant, and La Rivière, were arrested; Montaigu, the fourth, +escaped to Avignon. La Begue, an aged man, who had served in the field +with honour under several kings, was soon released; Noviant and La +Rivière were reserved as scape goats, and were shut up in the Bastile. +Of Noviant nothing important is recorded. La Rivière had enjoyed, in the +highest degree, the confidence and friendship of Charles the fifth; so +much, indeed, did the monarch value him, that, by his express commands, +whenever his favourite died, the royal mausoleum of St. Denis was to be +the place of interment. At the accession of Charles the sixth, La Rivière +suffered a temporary eclipse; but he shone forth again when the young +monarch assumed the reins of government. + +Noviant and La Rivière were now in the hands of their enemies, and had +little to hope; for they were rich enough to excite a hungering after +their spoils, and had been too long in possession of power not to be +loathed by their rivals. It is the curse and the shame of politics, +that they render men insensible to, or, which is still worse, incapable +of acknowledging, the merit really owned by those who differ from them +in views and principles. Thorough-going politicians are but too apt to +affirm what is false, or suppress what is true, provided it will injure +their opponents. It follows, as a natural consequence of this unworthy +feeling, that, though the two ministers fully vindicated themselves on +every article of impeachment, they had but small chance of escaping. +Their fate was deemed so inevitable that, more than once during the trial +the brute populace rushed to the place of execution, lured by the report +that the ministers were about to be brought to the scaffold. Luckily +for them, they had a protector, stronger than their innocence. This was +the young and lovely princess Jane, countess of Boulogne, the wife of +the duke of Berry. Her marriage with the duke had been brought about by +the influence of La Rivière, and this circumstance, together with the +minister’s estimable qualities, had secured for him her affection and +esteem. Her pleadings softened her husband, and thus prevented a deadly +sentence from being passed on the fallen statesmen. It is not to be +supposed, however, that they were allowed to go unscathed. To declare +them guiltless would have been a tacit confession of error, an act which +is not to be expected from weak and base minds; and, besides, hatred +could not consent to let loose its objects without previously making +them feel a touch of its fangs. The ministers, therefore, after having +been captives for twelve months, and in hourly dread of death, were only +condemned to confiscation of their property, and exile to a distance +from the court. With respect to the latter part of the sentence, they +might well have exclaimed, like Diogenes, “and we condemn you to remain +at court!” Charles, on his temporary return to sanity, restored their +estates, but they were not again employed. La Rivière died in 1400, and +was buried at St. Denis. + +There was a moment when the Bastile seemed about to be converted to its +original purpose, that of a fortress for the defence of Paris. After +the duke of Burgundy had, in 1405, obtained possession of the king, the +dauphin, and the capital, preparations to recover Paris were made by the +beautiful but worthless queen Isabella, and her paramour, the duke of +Orleans. In consequence of this, the Burgundian prince placed garrisons +in the Bastile and the Louvre; and a report having been spread, that +there was a plot to carry off the dauphin, a chain was stretched across +the river, from the Bastile to the opposite bank, to prevent the passage +of vessels. It was on this occasion that, to win the good will of the +Parisians, the duke induced the king to restore to them the barricading +chains, of which they had been deprived in 1383, and which had ever since +been kept in the castle of Vincennes. The precautions were prudent, but +they were made useless, by a treaty between the hostile parties. + +It has already been observed, that the office of Provost of Paris was no +less perilous than honourable. During the disturbed and disastrous reign +of Charles the sixth, there were as many as twenty-four provosts, and +there were few of them who did not find their dignity a burthen. Among +the most unfortunate of them was Peter des Essarts. He was one of the +French nobles who were sent to aid the Scotch in their contest with the +English; and, in 1402, he fell into the hands of the latter. After he was +ransomed he returned to France, and became a zealous partisan of John +the Fearless, the duke of Burgundy. The duke amply rewarded him for his +services. He successively obtained for him the posts of Provost of Paris, +grand butler, grand falconer, first lay president of the chamber of +accounts, supreme commissioner of woods and waters, and superintendant +of finance, and also the governments of Cherbourg, Montargis, and Nemours. + +As provost of Paris, it fell to his lot to arrest a man whose rise had +been no less rapid than his own. His task was performed with a thorough +good will. Montaigu, whom we have seen flying to Avignon after the +downfall of Clisson, returned to the French capital when the storm was +blown over. There he became more than ever a favourite of the king, who +loaded him with honours, promoted his relations, and procured for his +son the hand of the constable d’Albret’s sister. Among the offices which +were lavished on Montaigu were those of finance minister and grand master +of the royal household. His riches were soon increased to an enormous +degree, and his pride to a still greater. To the duke of Burgundy he +had rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious, by thwarting his plans, and +being a determined adherent of the queen and the house of Orleans. The +Burgundian affected to be reconciled to him, but he did not the less +resolve upon his destruction. To accomplish the ruin of Montaigu, the +duke instituted an enquiry into the conduct of those who had managed +the finances; a species of enquiry which was always applauded by the +tax-burthened people. At the same time, he likewise procured for the +Parisians the restoration of various privileges, which had been taken +from them, as a punishment for the Maillotin insurrection. Having thus +fortified his popularity, he took advantage of the king being visited by +one of his fits of madness, to commence operations against Montaigu. The +favourite had been cautioned against his danger, and advised to fly from +it, but confiding in the support of the queen and the duke of Berry, he +was deaf to advice. He was arrested in the street by des Essarts, and +committed to the Little Châtelet. It strongly marks his insufferable +pride and insolence, that, when he was seized by the provost, he +exclaimed “Ribald! how hast thou the audacity to touch me.” This was the +arrogance of an upstart, for he was of humble birth. He was brought to +trial, with little attention to the forms or the spirit of justice, and, +after having been tortured, was condemned to lose his head; his property +was confiscated, but, instead of being appropriated to replenish the +treasury, it was divided among his enemies. The sentence was executed in +the autumn of 1409. + +If ambition had not entirely banished prudence, the fate of Montaigu +might have taught des Essarts to reflect on the frail tenure by which, +in an age of faction, the most conspicuous partisans hold their fortunes +and their lives. Nor was he without a still more impressive warning. In +a moment of displeasure, the duke of Burgundy said to him, “Provost of +Paris, John de Montaigu was three-and-twenty years in getting his head +cut off, but verily you will not be three years about it:”—ominous words, +where the prophet had the power of bringing his prophecy to pass! + +In 1410 the contending factions once more resumed their arms. By a rapid +march, the Burgundian prince made himself master of Paris, which he +garrisoned with eight thousand men. For the support of the troops, a +heavy tax was imposed upon the citizens. Des Essarts was charged with the +levying of this tax, and he is accused of having swelled his own coffers +with the largest share of the produce. By this onerous measure, the +popularity of the duke and the provost was materially diminished. In the +course of a few months, the duke deemed it prudent to conclude another +simular of a treaty; it was called the treaty of the Bicêtre, from the +place where it was negotiated, and by one of its articles he consented +that des Essarts should be removed from the provostship of Paris. + +It seems impossible for the signers of such treaties to have put their +hands to them without being tempted to laugh in each other’s faces; the +compacts were notoriously intended to be broken on the first favourable +opportunity. Accordingly, but a few months elapsed, after the conclusion +of the peace, before the Burgundian and Orleanist parties were again in +arms, and vituperating each other in the most virulent language. Des +Essarts was re-established as provost of Paris; and, during the temporary +ascendancy of the Orleanists, his exertions to supply the city with +provisions gained for him, from the citizens, the flattering appellation +of the Father of the People. When, however, the Parisians ceased to be in +dread of having hungry bellies, they ceased to applaud him; and, in the +following year, he became an object of their hatred. + +A sharp contest of a few months was terminated by another hollow truce, +under the name of a peace. By this time the Burgundian prince appears to +have been converted into a deadly enemy of des Essarts. Three causes are +assigned for this change. The provost is said to have in private charged +him with appropriating a large sum of the public money to his own use; to +have entered into correspondence with the Orleanist leaders, and warned +them that the duke designed to assassinate them; and likewise to have +formed, with the concurrence of the dauphin, a plan for rescuing that +prince and the king from the state of tutelage in which they were kept by +the Burgundian ruler. It is highly probable that, disgusted by the duke +having abandoned him in the treaty of the Bicêtre, he had really gone +over to the Orleanist faction. Any one of these causes was sufficient +to make his former patron resolve upon his ruin. There was also another +circumstance which wore a threatening aspect for des Essarts. The +States-General were now sitting at Paris, and in that assembly clamours +began to be heard against financial depredators, amongst whom the +multitude, so lately his adulators, did not hesitate to class him. To +elude the storm, which he saw approaching from more than one quarter, +he resigned his office of finance minister, in which he had succeeded +Montaigu; but he did not forget to secure an adequate compensation +for the sacrifice which he made. He then retired to his government of +Cherbourg. + +The Burgundian was at this period in apparent amity with the dauphin; +nor had he, as yet, openly manifested his animosity against the provost. +The dauphin, was, however, at heart hostile to him, and impatient of his +yoke. It was, no doubt, with a view to having a firm hold of Paris, that +he resolved to become master of the Bastile; but to the duke the reason +which he assigned was, the mutinous disposition of the people, which +it was necessary to have the means of repressing. Imagining that the +provost was still trusted by the duke, he proposed to confide to him the +task of seizing upon the Bastile. The clear-sighted Burgundian at once +saw through the scheme, but he gave a willing consent to its execution; +for it would enable him to accomplish two objects, the getting of des +Essarts into his hands, and the gaining a complete triumph over the +dauphin himself. Des Essarts was consequently summoned from Cherbourg; +he accepted the commission; and he managed so well, that he secured the +Bastile, without the least opposition. + +The provost was scarcely in possession of the fortress before the scene +changed. The Burgundian prince had skilfully laid a train, and a violent +explosion suddenly took place. A rumour was spread throughout Paris, that +the Orleanists, or Armagnacs, as they now began to be called, intended +to carry off the dauphin with his own consent, and that the provost +was at the head of the plot. A furious multitude, the leaders of which +were two of the duke’s attendants, immediately hurried to invest the +Bastile on all sides. It swelled every moment, till it consisted of not +fewer than twenty thousand armed men, all clamorous for the blood of des +Essarts, and determined to storm the castle, in order to satisfy their +rage. Another body, led by John de Troie, a surgeon, proceeded, at the +same time, to the dauphin’s palace, loaded him with insult, and arrested +several of his officers and friends, some of whom were murdered on their +way to prison. + +The duke of Burgundy now came forward, apparently as a mediator. The +besiegers he induced to suspend their attack, by promising that their +object should be attained without force being used. He then tried his +eloquence on des Essarts. In the first interview he failed, in the second +he succeeded. By dint of representing to him that it was impossible to +restrain the people, and that, if they effected their entrance, which +they certainly would, the provost would be torn in pieces, he shook his +resolution of defending himself; and, by pledging his honour that no harm +should befall him, he finally prevailed on him to surrender. + +Des Essarts would have done more wisely to brave death from the +sanguinary crowd, than to rely on the honour of an acknowledged assassin. +Ostensibly for the purpose of saving him from the violence of his +enemies, he was led to the prison of the Châtelet, where he seems to have +thought that all danger was at an end. He was speedily undeceived, by his +being brought to trial. In addition to various crimes charged against him +in his official capacity, he was accused of having caused the renewal of +the war between the princes after the treaty of Chartres, and of having +plotted to carry off from Paris the king, the queen, and the dauphin. He +was, of course, found guilty, and was condemned to lose his head, and to +have his remains suspended from the gibbet of Montfaucon. Four years +had not elapsed since the convicted Montaigu was conveyed by him to the +same spot. The sentence passed on des Essarts was executed on the first +of July 1413. He went to the scaffold with great courage; a circumstance +which his enemies attributed to his having flattered himself that the +people would rise and rescue him. If he entertained any such visionary +hopes, his long experience of the people must have been entirely lost +upon him. + +The changes in the fortune of the two factions which desolated France +succeeded each other with an almost ludicrous rapidity; the party which +was triumphant on one day was prostrate on the morrow. We have just seen +the dauphin humbled by the duke of Burgundy; yet the same year did not +pass away before the dauphin and the Armagnacs gained the upper hand, +and the duke found it prudent to retire to his own dominions. That he +might keep a firm hold of the capital, the dauphin gave the command of +the Bastile to his uncle, prince Louis of Bavaria, appointed the duke +of Berry governor of Paris, gave the provostship to Tannegui du Châtel, +removed to the Bastile the chains used for barricading the streets, and +issued orders for the citizens to deliver up all kinds of arms. + +The duke of Burgundy appealed to the sword, but without success, and the +treaty of Arras, which was the result of his failure, relieved France +for awhile from his incursions and his intrigues. It was not till nearly +two years afterwards, when the battle of Agincourt had given a rude +shock to the French throne, that he re-appeared upon the scene. Under +his auspices, the Burgundian faction at Paris formed a conspiracy, for a +general massacre of the Armagnacs, in which the king himself was not to +be spared, should he venture to resist. It was detected at the critical +moment, and the Armagnacs avenged themselves by murders, proscriptions, +and excessive taxes, which alienated many of their friends, without +crushing their enemies. + +The death of the dauphin Louis, speedily followed by that of his +brother and successor John, gave the dignity of dauphin to Charles, the +youngest son of the king. The duke of Burgundy had hoped to exercise an +influence over John, but he had only hostility to expect from Charles, +who, as far as a boy of fifteen could be any thing, was a partisan of +the Armagnacs. By war alone could any thing be gained, and he therefore +prepared to wage it. The gross impolicy of the opposite party gave him +manifold advantages. While the count of Armagnac, the constable, who was +the head of the reigning faction, goaded the people by forced loans, +enormous imposts, and severities against all whom he suspected, he and +the dauphin contrived also to exasperate the queen, by seizing her +treasures, casting, perhaps not undeservedly, a stain upon her character, +and banishing her to Tours. Driven to desperation by these injuries and +insults, she abjured her long-cherished hatred of the duke, and wrote +to him for succour. He gladly listened to the call, released her from +captivity, and escorted her to Chartres, where, in virtue of an obsolete +ordinance of the king, she assumed the title of regent, and created a +parliament, to counterbalance that of the capital. A preponderating +weight was thus thrown into the scale of the Burgundian prince. Nor did +he neglect to strengthen himself by conciliating the people; for, while +the count of Armagnac was daily irritating them by his extortions, the +duke held out to them a tempting lure, by proclaiming that all the towns +which opened their gates to him should be freed from taxes. Encouraged +by these circumstances, his partisans in the capital formed a plan for +admitting him into the city; but it was discovered and frustrated. + +The return of our Henry the fifth to France, in 1417, and the progress +which he was making in Normandy, recalled to their senses most of the +leaders of the factions. The necessity of union being felt, negotiations +were opened. The queen, the dauphin, and the duke of Burgundy were +willing to come to terms; the principal article agreed on was, that the +queen and the duke should form a part of the royal council. But the count +of Armagnac would hear of no treaty that did not really leave in his +hands the whole power of the state; and he accordingly strained every +nerve, and was even guilty of the most revolting cruelty, to render +impossible an accommodation with the Burgundian leaders. He little dreamt +how soon he was to be precipitated from the pinnacle of greatness, and +trampled in the mire by the basest of the base. + +Harassed and impoverished by tyranny and exaction within the walls, and +beset by foes beyond them, the Parisians were hungering for peace. They +were the more inveterate against Armagnac, because they were tantalized +by the object for which they longed being almost within their reach. +Peace had, in fact, been concluded at Montereau, and publicly announced +in Paris, and the count, seconded by de Marle, the chancellor, was the +sole obstacle to its being enjoyed. He was inflexible in his resistance. +To bring about a rupture of the treaty, he sent troops to attack two of +the Burgundian posts; seemingly struck with a judicial blindness, the +forerunner of his fall, he pushed to an unbearable length his arrogance, +extortion, and gloomy precautions; and he is said to have even meditated +a sweeping massacre of such of the citizens as were hostile to him, +and to have ordered leaden medals to be struck for distribution to his +partisans, that the murderers might distinguish them in the hour of +carnage. If the character of the man, and the spirit of those barbarous +times, were not in accordance with this sanguinary project, we might, +perhaps, imagine him to be unjustly charged with it; for, in all ages, +it has been the custom to blacken an overthrown tyrant, by loading him +with imaginary crimes. That, however, it was possible for persons of +the highest rank to tolerate, and probably to command, the cold-blooded +slaughter of their foes, was but too speedily proved. + +Terrible as the multitude is when once moved, it is slow to be moved. +Mutual distrust, and the dread of failure, keep its component parts +from uniting, till some one, more daring than the rest, or provoked +into action by flagrant wrongs, assumes the lead, and gives to it the +principle of cohesion. It was a denial of justice which brought into +play the man who was wanting, to convert into open revolt the passive +disaffection of the citizens. The servant of an Armagnac noble having +grossly maltreated Perinet le Clerc, whose father, an ironmonger, was the +quartinier, or magistrate of his ward, Perinet applied to the provost +for redress. His application was contemptuously rejected, and he swore +to be revenged. In concert with some of his friends, he matured a plan +for admitting the Burgundian troops, and he opened a correspondence on +the subject with Villiers de l’Isle Adam, who commanded at Pontoise, for +the duke. The chance of success seemed so fair, that l’Isle Adam readily +agreed to risk a portion of his garrison in the attempt. The negotiation +was conducted with so much secrecy that not a breath of it transpired. + +The plan was carried into effect on the night of the 28th of May, 1418. +Perinet was a man of ready resources, equally discreet and resolute, and +he omitted nothing that could tend to secure a triumph. By virtue of his +office, the father of Perinet held the keys of St. Germain’s gate, and +had the relieving of the guard there. On the appointed night, having +first contrived to place on guard many of his associates, Perinet stole +to his father’s bed-side, and, undiscovered, drew the keys from beneath +his pillow. L’Isle Adam was waiting near the gate with eight hundred men. +At two in the morning, it was opened by Perinet, who, as soon as the +troops had entered, locked the gate, and threw the keys over the walls, +that, retreat being impossible, the soldiers might be compelled to combat +with desperate valour. The adventurers proceeded in dead silence along +the streets till they reached the Little Châtelet, where they were joined +by several hundred armed citizens, who had been assembled to receive +them. The confederates now loudly raised the rallying cry of “Peace! +peace! Burgundy for ever!” and it was soon as loudly echoed from every +side. From all the streets crowds of citizens sallied forth, wearing on +their dress the St. Andrew’s cross, which was the distinguishing mark of +the Burgundian party. In a very short time, tens of thousands were in +arms. + +Scattered over a large city, and taken by surprise, the Armagnacs could +make no resistance. Tannegui du Châtel, the governor of the Bastile, +had barely time to hurry to the dauphin’s abode, snatch him half awaked +from the couch, wrap him in the bedclothes, and convey him for safety to +the Bastile, whence, without delay, he removed him to Melun. While he +was thus occupied, a party of Burgundians marched to the king’s palace, +and compelled him to take horse, and put himself at their head. Other +parties spread themselves over the city, and slaughtered, or dragged to +prison, all the Armagnacs on whom they could lay their hands. Nobles, +warriors, ministers of state, bishops, abbots, magistrates, and the +humble followers who had moved at their beck, were indiscriminately +thrust into durance. The jails were speedily crowded till they could hold +no more, and it then became necessary to confine the captives in public +buildings and private houses. The constable, in the rags of a beggar, at +first eluded his pursuers, and found shelter in the dwelling of a poor +mason; but a threatening proclamation, against whoever should harbour an +Armagnac, terrified his host into betraying him. + +The Bastile, and consequently the power of entering Paris, was yet held +by Tannegui du Châtel. In the hope of recovering the capital, before +preparations could be made for its defence, he hurried back from Melun, +along with other officers, among whom was Barbazan, who is honourably +distinguished in the French annals, as the irreproachable knight, and +the restorer of the kingdom and crown of France. At the head of a +large body of gendarmes, he, on the first of June, made a sally from +the Bastile, and advanced up St. Anthony’s-street, towards the palace, +with the intention of making himself master of the king’s person. The +king, however, had been removed, and Tannegui was soon encountered by +l’Isle Adam, who had gathered together some troops, and was every moment +reinforced by the citizens. A desperate contest took place, but the +Armagnac general was finally compelled to retreat, with the loss of four +hundred men. The corpses of the slain were ignominiously thrown into the +common sewer by the victors. Leaving a small garrison in the Bastile, he +retired with the remainder of his force, and distributed it among the +neighbouring fortresses of Corbeil, Meaux, and Melun. Two days after the +departure of Tannegui, the governor of the Bastile deemed it prudent to +capitulate. + +Already irritated by Tannegui’s attempt, the partisans of the Burgundians +were excited almost to madness by a letter from the queen, in which she +declared that neither she nor the duke would return to Paris, till it +was purged of the Armagnacs. It has been truly remarked, that “such a +letter was, in reality, a decree of death.” That was the construction put +upon it by the Burgundian faction; and, unrestrained by any religious or +humane feeling, they promptly carried the sentence into effect. On the +morning of the 12th of June, a report being spread that the enemy were +attacking two of the gates, the citizens hastily assembled from every +quarter. “All issued from their houses,” says an old writer, “like swarms +of bees from various hives. Malls, hatchets, axes, clubs, poles shod with +iron points, swords, pikes, javelins, and halberts, were called into use +by the insurgent people.” + +The signal of carnage was given by one Lambert, who harangued them, +and proposed to massacre the captives. His sanguinary suggestion was +instantly adopted by the brutal crowd, and they hurried to the numerous +prisons, uttering loud cries of “Kill those dogs! Kill those Armagnac +traitors!” A scene of horror ensued at which nature shudders. Some of the +victims were flung from the towers of the buildings upon the pikes of +the assassins, some were chopped down with hatchets, some were drowned, +and others were burned alive in their dungeons; their mangled remains +were exposed to every kind of indignity; and torrents of blood flowed +through the streets. From the jails the slaughter was extended to the +suspected inhabitants of houses, and was followed by pillage. The work of +murder and robbery was untiringly continued throughout the whole of the +night, and was recommenced in the morning, after the labourers in it had +refreshed themselves by a short repast. + +Nineteen hundred of the Armagnacs are said to have fallen on this +terrible day. Nor did they alone suffer, for numbers of the Burgundian +party fell beneath the weapons of their private foes, who availed +themselves of this opportunity to gratify their revenge. After having +for three days been dragged through the streets by the mob, the naked +and disfigured corpse of the constable was conveyed out of Paris in the +scavengers’ cart, and thrown among the filth and ordure of the city +laystall. That no proof of their ferocity might be wanting, his murderers +cut a portion of his skin into the form of a scarf, and hung it round him +in ridicule of the white scarf which was the badge of his party. + +A supplementary massacre, of equal extent, and attended by circumstances +equally atrocious, occurred shortly after, in which perished the +prisoners from the Bastile and Vincennes, and those who had been arrested +since the first slaughter. On this occasion, the captives in the Great +and Little Châtelet strove to defend themselves, by hurling down stones +and tiles on their enemies, but their resistance was soon overpowered, +and not one of them escaped. + +These enormities—prefigurations of those which, nearly four centuries +later, were to be committed in the same city—were succeeded by riotous +rejoicings for the arrival of the queen and the duke, and by “one of +the finest religious processions that ever was seen.” But the wrath of +Heaven did not slumber long. “The joy of Paris,” says an old annalist, +“was speedily changed into mourning, for three months had not passed away +after this carnage, when so cruel a pestilence fell upon the city, that +it destroyed more than eighty thousand persons in three months. History +records, that this Perinet and his companions, after having squandered +all that they had gained by plunder, died miserably, not long enjoying +the fruits of their robberies; and that the greater part of the nobles +and gentlemen, who had acted with the murderers, were carried off by the +pestilence, except l’Isle Adam, who was reserved to be chastised by king +Henry of England, though it was on another account, as we shall relate +in the proper place. And was it not God who took vengeance for these +cruelties?” + +In a little more than a year from this time, John the Fearless, himself +an assassin, fell by an assassin’s hand, at the conference of Montereau. +His life had been productive of great evils to France; his death brought +on it still greater. The murder of John gave birth to that coalition +between his successor Philip the Good, Henry the fifth of England, and +queen Isabella, which, for more than a quarter of a century, deluged the +kingdom with blood, and nearly wrested the sceptre from the ancient line +of monarchs. In 1420, Paris was delivered into the hands of the English, +and for sixteen years they retained possession of it; the Louvre, the +Bastile, and Vincennes, were their principal posts in the capital and its +immediate vicinity. + +The only prisoner whom, during their domination, the English are recorded +to have confined in the Bastile, was the very man but for whose activity +and daring the capital would, perhaps, never have been in their power. +It was l’Isle Adam. This warrior, who was born about 1384, of an ancient +and noble family, was taken by the English, at Honfleur, in 1415. After +he recovered his liberty, he joined the party of John the Fearless, and +was made governor of Pontoise. We have seen by what means he gained Paris +for the Burgundian prince. That he was deeply implicated in the massacres +appears to be a melancholy truth; and all his talents and valour are +insufficient to cleanse his reputation from that damnable spot. For his +services he was rewarded, by the duke of Burgundy, with the rank of +marshal. + +It is not clear in what manner l’Isle Adam incurred the displeasure of +our Henry the fifth, the regent of France. French writers ascribe the +circumstance to the pride and arrogance of the English sovereign, who +required the most abject homage from all his French courtiers. L’Isle +Adam, they tell us, having one day come into the royal presence in a +plain grey dress, the monarch sternly asked him whether that was a fit +dress for a marshal. “Dearest lord,” said the offender, “I had it made +to travel in from Sens to Paris;” and, while he spoke, he looked at +the king. “What!” exclaimed Henry, “do you dare to look a prince in the +face?” “Most dread lord,” answered the marshal, “it is the custom in +France; and if any one avoids looking at the person to whom he talks, he +is considered as a bad man and a traitor; therefore, in God’s name, do +not be offended.”—“Such is not our custom,” Henry sourly replied, and +here the dialogue ended. If this story be true, it speaks ill for the +policy, and worse for the disposition, of the victor of Agincourt. + +A few days after this conversation is supposed to have occurred, L’Isle +Adam was committed to the Bastile, on the false and absurd charge of +meaning to betray Paris to the dauphin. About a thousand of the citizens +took up arms to rescue him, on his way to the fortress, but they were +put to flight by the small band of English archers, which was escorting +him to prison. L’Isle Adam, it is affirmed, would have passed from the +Bastile to the scaffold, had he not been saved by the remonstrances of +Philip the Good, and the death of Henry. + +After the decease of Henry, L’Isle Adam rejoined the Burgundian standard, +and took so active and effective a part in the war, that, when the +order of the Golden Fleece was established, he was one of the first on +whom it was conferred. In 1437, he followed the duke of Burgundy into +Brabant, and on the 22nd of May, of that year, he was killed in a popular +insurrection, which took place at Bruges. + +It was not till the 22nd of September, 1429, that any attempt was made to +disturb the English in their occupation of Paris. Flushed with its recent +successes, and hoping that the citizens would rise upon the garrison, +the army of Charles assaulted on that day the ramparts of the capital, +between the gates of St. Honoré and St. Denis. The assault, led by Joan +of Arc, continued for four hours; but the glorious heroine was severely +wounded through the thigh, and the assailants were compelled to retire. + +For seven years after this attack, the English kept their ground in +Paris. But the English power in France was now daily crumbling into +dust. The Burgundian, their ally for several years, was become their +active enemy; the duke of Bedford, whose valour and skill so long upheld +a tottering cause, had sunk into the grave; town after town, willingly +or on compulsion, opened its gates to Charles; succours arrived seldom +and in scanty numbers; and frequent insurrections, in Normandy and other +quarters, compelled them to disseminate their troops, so that it became +impossible for them to take the field with a formidable army. At this +critical moment, Paris had only a feeble garrison of fifteen hundred men; +a force wholly inadequate to defend the place, even had the citizens +been far less disaffected than they really were. They were weary of +war, and, besides, prudence dissuaded them from persisting to oppose +a sovereign whose throne was evidently established on a solid basis. +Such being the state of things, Charles thought the time was come to +recover his capital. A negotiation was secretly opened with the citizens; +and, on condition of a general amnesty, they agreed to return to their +allegiance. On the night of the 13th of April, 1436, the king’s troops +were admitted into the city. Though he was taken by surprise, Willoughby, +the governor, a brave and intelligent officer, took such measures as +would have baffled his assailants, had he received any aid from the +Parisians. But not a hand was raised in his behalf, and he had no other +resource than a retreat to the Bastile, which he effected in good order. +An honourable capitulation, allowing him to retire with bag and baggage, +to Rouen, was offered to Willoughby, and, as he knew that resistance must +be unavailing, he wisely accepted an offer which he could not hope would +be repeated. Thus ended the sway of the English in Paris. + +During the remainder of the reign of Charles VII., nothing more occurred +which belongs to this narrative. Abundant materials, are, however, +supplied by the iron sway of his son and successor, Louis XI. Historians, +in speaking of Louis XI., have charactered him, and with justice, as a +violator of all social duties, as being a “bad son, a bad husband, a bad +father, a bad brother, a bad kinsman, a bad friend, a bad neighbour, +a bad master, and a most dangerous enemy.” That, on attaining supreme +power, such a man should take heavy vengeance for injuries, real or +supposed, is in the natural order of things. Immediately on his accession +to the throne, Louis displaced from their offices all persons who had +rendered themselves obnoxious to him; and, in some instances, his revenge +was more signally manifested. + +Among the most conspicuous of those who felt his anger was Anthony de +Chabannes, count of Dammartin. Chabannes had played an active part in the +long war between Charles VII. and the English, and, on various occasions +had done signal service. Like many other nobles of that period, he was, +however, possessed of far more courage than honourable principles. To +swell his coffers with plunder, he did not hesitate to put himself +at the head of the ferocious banditti known by the descriptive name +of _écorcheurs_, or flayers, with whom he ravaged the north-eastern +provinces of France, as far as the Swiss frontier. He quitted them in +1439, to marry a rich wife, after which he again entered into the king’s +service. + +Chabannes, as is often the case with criminals, could more easily +commit crimes than bear to be told of them. The monarch having one day +laughingly greeted him by the title of king of the flayers, he angrily +replied, “I never flayed any but your enemies; and it appears to me +that you have derived more benefit from their skins than I have.” Not +satisfied with this retort, he further gratified his offended feelings by +prompting the dauphin to become the leader of the malecontents, in the +ephemeral civil war which is known as the war of the _Praguerie_. + +After the Praguerie was over, Chabannes was again received into favour +by Charles, and he seems ever after to have remained faithful to him. He +even disclosed a conspiracy which the dauphin had formed, to deprive the +monarch of his crown and liberty. The dauphin, on being brought face to +face with him, hardily denied the fact, and gave him the lie. The conduct +of Chabannes, in this instance, was not undignified. “I know,” said he, +“the respect which is due to the son of my master; but the truth of my +deposition I am ready to maintain, by arms, against all those of the +dauphin’s household who will come forward to contradict it.” No one was +hardy enough to accept this challenge. + +It is less creditable to Chabannes, that he presided over the commission +which was appointed to try, or rather to find guilty, the persecuted +Jacques Cœur, and that he contrived to obtain, at a shamefully inadequate +price, several of Cœur’s estates. + +In 1455, Chabannes, by performing his duty to his sovereign, gave fresh +offence to the dauphin. Irritated at last by the political intrigues of +his son, and by his having persisted for ten years to absent himself from +the court, Charles determined to deprive him of the petty sovereignty of +Dauphiné, and to secure his person. Chabannes was chosen to carry this +determination into effect: and he acted with such vigour that, after +having prevailed on the duke of Savoy to refuse the prince an asylum, he +compelled him to seek shelter in the dominions of the duke of Burgundy. + +Chabannes was, consequently, one of the earliest victims on the accession +of Louis to the throne. Deprived of his office of grand master of France, +he took flight, but he soon returned, and claimed a fair trial. The king +refused to admit the claim, and ordered him to quit the kingdom; an order +which he obeyed. While he was absent, his property was confiscated, and +he was summoned to appear, and answer the charges against him. Confiding +in his innocence, he complied with the summons; but he was found guilty +of high treason, and condemned to death. The sentence was commuted to +banishment by Louis; who, however, changed his mind as to the punishment, +and shut him up in the Bastile. + +In the Bastile Chabannes remained for four years. On the breaking out +of the war, the parties in which called their confederacy the League of +the Public Good, he contrived to escape; and, on his way to join the +malecontents, he made himself master of the towns of St. Fargeau and St. +Maurice. He was one of those who benefited by the treaty of Conflans, +which terminated this war. His sentence was annulled, and his estates +were restored to him. + +It is a singular circumstance that, with respect to Chabannes, Louis +passed at once from the extreme of hatred and suspicion, to that of +kindness and confidence. He not only restored his estates, but he added +to their number. At a later date, when he instituted the order of St. +Michael, Chabannes was one of the first whom he nominated. Favours +conferred by a gloomy and unprincipled tyrant cast a doubt on the +character of the receiver, even when it has been hitherto unstained, +which was not the case with the new knight. The nomination gave occasion +to a severe sarcasm from the duke of Britanny. Louis having sent to him +the collar of the order, the duke declined it, assigning as a reason, +that “he did not choose to draw in the same collar with Chabannes.” + +Chabannes was not ungrateful for the benefits bestowed on him. When, +strangely deviating from his accustomed wariness, Louis involved himself +in the dilemma which Sir Walter Scott has so admirably described in +Quentin Durward, Chabannes did him the most essential and opportune +service, and received his warmest thanks for it. He was afterwards +employed in various important expeditions, all of which he brought to a +successful issue. In his old age, he withdrew from the court, but, in +1485, Charles VIII. conferred on him the government of the Isle of France +and Paris. Chabannes did not long enjoy this new honour; he died in 1488. + +The war, caused by the League of the Public Good, which restored liberty +and fortune to Chabannes, deprived his enemy, the count de Melun, not +only of both, but of life also. When we are told that Melun was so +addicted to pleasure, luxury and sloth, as to have acquired the name of +the Sardanapalus of his times, we can form no very flattering estimate +of his character. Yet he stood high in the good graces of Louis XI., +and participated largely in the spoils of Chabannes. In his capacity +of governor of Paris and the Bastile, he was also entrusted with the +custody of that nobleman. It was not till after the battle of Montlhéri +that Louis began to suspect him. The monarch had, indeed, some excuse +for suspicion. Melun had at least been criminally negligent, in a post +which demanded the utmost vigilance. He had prevented a sally from the +city during the battle, which might have turned the scale in the king’s +favour, and he had been ignorant of, or winked at, a correspondence +carried on with the chiefs of the League by some of the disaffected +citizens. These indications of treachery were strengthened by two +circumstances; some of the cannon of the Bastile had been spiked, and the +gates of the fortress, on the side next the country, had been left open +while the besiegers were making an attack. The escape of Chabannes might +also afford a reason for doubting his keeper’s fidelity. Louis, however, +was, at this moment, too closely pressed by his numerous enemies to enter +into an investigation of the subject; and he, therefore, only dismissed +the governor. + +Melun retired to his estates, and imagined that the storm was blown +over. He was mistaken. As soon as Louis had disembarrassed himself, he +instituted a rigid enquiry into the conduct of his disgraced favourite. +One of the most active in pushing it on was a man who was indebted to +the count for his rise in life; the cardinal Balue, of whom further +mention is about to be made. The result of the enquiry was, a charge of +having maintained a secret correspondence with the heads of the League, +especially with the duke of Britanny. Melun was in consequence arrested, +and conveyed to Chateau Galliard, in Normandy, by the provost Tristan +l’Hermite, of infamous memory. + +The trial was commenced without delay, and, as he refused to confess to +any crime, he was put to the torture. With respect to his correspondence +with the chiefs of the League, he avowed it, but pleaded that it had +the king’s sanction. It is probable that this was really the case. Many +motives might have induced the king to allow of his officer corresponding +with the enemy. But Louis had now resolved upon the destruction of Melun; +and, as he never scrupled at falsehood when he had any point to gain by +it, he denied that he had given the permission. By adding that he had +long had cause to be dissatisfied with the prisoner, he gave a broad +hint as to what kind of verdict he desired. The judges, as in duty +bound, pronounced Melun guilty, and he was consigned to the scaffold. His +execution took place in 1468. Of his confiscated property, a considerable +portion was bestowed on Chabannes. + +It is said, that the executioner having only wounded him at the first +stroke, Melun raised his head from the block, and declared, that he had +not deserved death, but that, since the king willed it, he was satisfied. +If this be true, we must own that tame submission to the injustice of a +despot was never more strikingly displayed. + +Had Melun lived but a little longer, he might have triumphed in the +downfall and punishment of his ungrateful enemy, the cardinal, which +took place in 1469. John Balue, the person in question, born in Poitou +in 1421, was the son of either a miller or a tailor. He had, perhaps, as +many vices, and as few virtues, as any person upon record. Ingratitude, +in particular, seems to have been deeply rooted into the nature of this +unworthy prelate. Towards the bishops of Poictiers and Angers, who had +early patronized and confided in him, and the count de Melun, by whom +he was introduced to the monarch, he acted with unparalleled baseness. +His sovereign fared no better than his other benefactors. Louis XI. had +rapidly raised him to the highest offices in the state, and had loaded +him with ecclesiastical preferment, yet the traitor betrayed him. + +While his power lasted, there was no department of the government with +which Balue did not interfere. This trait in the character of the +cardinal called forth a pleasant sarcasm from Chabannes, who could not +see with patience his own province invaded. Balue having one day reviewed +some regiments, Chabannes gravely requested the king’s permission to +visit the cardinal’s bishopric of Evreux, for the purpose of examining +clerical candidates, and conferring ordination on them. “What do you +mean?” said Louis. “Why, surely, sire,” replied Chabannes, “I am as fit +to ordain priests, as the bishop of Evreux is to review an army.” + +It required, however, something more than a joke to shake the confidence +which the monarch placed in the cardinal. That something more was not +slow in coming. Since the treaties of Conflans and Peronne, it had been a +main object of Louis to dissociate his brother, the duke of Berry, from +his dangerous adviser the duke of Burgundy; and, as one means towards +effecting this, he strove hard to induce him to accept, as an appanage, +the duchy of Guienne and the government of Rochelle, instead of the +provinces of Champagne and Brie, which, by the treaty of Peronne, he had +been compelled to confirm to his brother. Louis was undoubtedly justified +in wishing to accomplish this object, as there was little chance that +peace would be preserved if the duke of Berry became an immediate +neighbour of the duke of Burgundy. Nor was the equivalent which the king +offered for Champagne and Brie an inadequate one, but much the contrary. +On this occasion, the king suffered the penalty to which all deceivers +are subjected, that of not being trusted. Could the duke of Berry have +put faith in his brother, he no doubt would have accepted Guienne. + +It was with no less surprise than indignation that the king discovered, +by intercepted letters, that all his efforts, not only in this case but +in others, had been counteracted by the man on whom he most relied. +The cardinal, and his friend and agent William d’Haraucourt, bishop +of Verdun, were in close correspondence with his enemies. It was to +revenge himself for the king having failed in his promise, to procure +him a cardinal’s hat, that d’Haraucourt entered into the plot against +him. It would seem that nothing short of madness could have prompted +the cardinal to peril his liberty and fortune, perhaps his life, by his +treasonable proceeding. But here again the king was whipped by his own +vices. Balue perceived or imagined that his influence was declining, he +was convinced that it would wholly expire whenever his services were no +longer necessary to the monarch—Louis being, in his opinion, incapable +of personal attachment—and he therefore resolved to place him in such +a situation, by making the king’s foes formidable, that those services +should be always indispensable. On his being interrogated, he avowed, +with a shameless candour, that, for this purpose, he had betrayed the +secrets of the state to the Burgundian duke, encouraged the duke of Berry +to refuse the proposed exchange, advised the calamitous interview and +disgraceful treaty of Peronne, and recommended to Charles of Burgundy to +compel the king to accompany him on the expedition against the revolted +citizens of Liege. + +There was treason enough here to forfeit a hundred heads, had they +grown on laic shoulders. But, as far as regarded the final penalty of +the law, their ecclesiastical character proved a shield to the cardinal +and his associate. The king desired the pope to nominate apostolical +commissioners to try the criminals; the pope, on the other hand, +contended that they must be judged by the consistory, and that the +decision of their fate must be left to him. A long negotiation ensued +between the spiritual and temporal sovereigns, and, as neither would +concede, the offenders were never brought to trial at all. + +It cannot, however, be said that the cardinal and the bishop escaped +unscarred. If Louis could not take their lives, he could at least render +their lives a burthen, and this was a power which he was not backward +in exercising. In the province of Touraine, between twenty and thirty +miles to the southward of Tours, stood the castle of Loches, one of the +sepulchres in which Louis buried his living victims. It was there that, +at a later period, Ludovico Sforza lingered out the last years of his +existence. Loches was well provided with oubliettes, dungeons, chains of +enormous weight, facetiously called the king’s little daughters, iron +cages, and all other means of torturing the body and mind. Thither Balue +was sent, and there he passed eleven lonely years, in an iron cage, which +was only eight feet square. His fate resembled that of Perillus—for to +the cardinal himself is attributed the invention of these cages. Perhaps +the only praise which he ever deserved was gained at the castle of +Loches; the praise of having preserved his courage unshaken throughout +the whole of his tedious captivity. Balue was released in 1480, went to +Rome, where he was received with open arms, was sent as legate to France, +and died, in 1491, bishop of Albano, and legate of the March of Ancona. + +His confederate, d’Haraucourt, was still more severely punished. The +Bastile was his place of confinement, and there a cage, of unusual +strength, was constructed in one of the towers, expressly for his abode. +The cage was formed of massy beams, bolted together with iron, occupied +nineteen carpenters for twenty days in framing it, and was so heavy, that +the vault, which was to support it, was obliged to be rebuilt in a more +substantial manner. Within its narrow and gloomy limits, d’Haraucourt was +immured for no less than fifteen years. It was not till after the death +of Louis the eleventh, that the prisoner was set at liberty. He died, at +a very advanced age, in the year 1500. + +While d’Haraucourt was wasting away life in his cage, there was another +prisoner in the Bastile, who was enduring far worse misery, and was far +more worthy of compassion, because, though he was himself guiltless, he +suffered the penalty of another’s crimes. When, in 1473, the restless +and unprincipled John, count of Armagnac, was slain at Lectoure, by the +royal troops, his brother Charles, who had taken no part in the contest, +was arrested by order of Louis the eleventh, sent to the Concièrgerie, +and put to the torture. He was on the point of proving his innocence, +when he was removed to the Bastile, and secluded from all access of +friends. L’Huillier, the governor, treated him with a cold-blooded +barbarity which was worthy of a man who held office under Louis. There +was nothing that cruelty could suggest that was not practised on the +unfortunate Charles. The agonies of the captive were protracted for a +period of fourteen years, during all which time he inhabited a dreary +and noisome dungeon, in which water almost continually dropped upon him, +and he could not move without wading though slimy mud. He was liberated, +and his property was restored, by Charles the eighth. The boon, however, +came too late to be of any avail. His reason was shaken by what he had +undergone; he languished for a few years, and died in 1497. + +Less compassion is due to the next inhabitant of the Bastile who appears +upon the scene. Faithful to no party, he fell regretted by none. Louis +de Luxembourg, count of St. Pol, who was born in 1418, succeeded to the +possessions of his father, when he was only fifteen. He did not receive +his moral education in schools where humanity and honour were to be +learned. His uncle and guardian, count de Ligni, was well qualified +to brutalise his youthful mind. It was de Ligni that basely sold the +heroine Joan of Arc to the English, for ten thousand livres. In one of +his campaigns he took his nephew with him, that the boy might kill some +of the prisoners, in order to accustom him to scenes of blood. Louis is +said to have proved an apt scholar, and to have taken delight in the +performance of his murderous task. + +At his outset in life, St. Pol, like most of his family, was a warm +partisan of the English party. Circumstances, however, having compelled +him to visit the court of Charles the seventh, he met with so flattering +a reception that he deserted his party, and devoted himself to that +monarch. With the dauphin (who was afterwards Louis the eleventh) +he contracted as close a friendship as can subsist between two such +characters. St. Pol distinguished himself, in the service of his new +master, on various occasions, particularly at the sieges of the Norman +fortresses. + +Though St. Pol had given up the English party, he did not break off his +old connection with the Burgundian prince. He fought for him against the +insurgent citizens of Ghent, and he even joined in the League of the +Public Good, as it was ludicrously styled, and led the vanguard of the +count de Charolais, at the battle of Montlhéri. At the peace of Conflans, +Louis, in the hope of winning him over from the Burgundian interest, +promoted him to be constable of France; and soon after, with the same +view, he gave him the hand of Mary of Savoy, the queen’s sister, and +granted him a wide extent of territory. + +These favours did not produce the desired effect. St. Pol seems to have +had little gratitude in his nature; and, in this case, he perhaps thought +that there was none due for what was rather a bribe than a free gift. As +he imagined that his safety consisted in preventing a good understanding +between the king and the duke of Burgundy, he was constantly intriguing +to keep them at variance, and he alternately betrayed them. His intrigues +being discovered, the two princes, during one of their short periods of +amity, entered into a compact, by which they declared him their common +enemy. The duke of Burgundy promised, that if the constable fell into his +hands, he would surrender him to the king within eight days. For this he +was to be rewarded by the restoration of St. Quentin, Amiens, and other +towns on the Somme. This agreement was of course kept a profound secret. + +What St. Pol had already done was sufficient to seal his fate; but +he roused the anger of Louis still farther, by an act of personal +disrespect, and by leaguing with Edward the fourth of England for the +invasion of France. It was not, however, till he had got rid of Edward +by a treaty, and had artfully contrived to irritate the duke of Burgundy +still more against St. Pol, that Louis seriously prepared for taking +vengeance on the offender. The negotiation between Edward and Louis had +already alarmed the constable, and, to conciliate the latter, he had +offered to attack the English. This offer Louis communicated to Edward, +who, indignant at the treachery of his recent confederate, sent the +letters which he had received from him to the French monarch. Louis +was thus furnished with decisive proofs. To the overtures of St. Pol +he replied in ambiguous words, the real meaning of which was soon made +evident: “I am overwhelmed by so many affairs,” said the Machiavelian +monarch, “that I have great need of a good head like yours to get through +them.” + +The preparations of the king at length made St. Pol fully aware of his +danger. Hesitating as to the measure which in this emergency he ought +to adopt, he for a moment half resolved to stand on his defence; but +reflection on the superior resources of his enemy persuaded him that +he had no chance of success from arms. Yet, had he boldly appealed to +the sword, he might, perhaps, have saved his life, or at least have met +with an honourable death. He preferred throwing himself on the duke of +Burgundy, whom he tempted by offering him his strong towns, as the price +of protection. Louis demanded that he should be given up to him; and +after some qualms of conscience as to sacrificing a suppliant, who was +also his cousin, Charles of Burgundy complied with the demand. St. Pol +was conveyed to the Bastile. The French monarch gave him his choice, +either to make a full confession, or to be tried in the customary manner. +The latter alternative was chosen by the prisoner, who knew not that his +letters, to Edward and the duke of Burgundy, were in the king’s hands, +and therefore believed that there was not legal evidence to warrant +his conviction. His judges sentenced him to lose his head, and he was +executed on the 19th of December, 1475. + +The last captive in the Bastile, during the reign of Louis the Eleventh, +or rather the last of whom any record remains—for there were doubtless +numbers of the nameless throng—was an Armagnac; a name which seems to +have been fatal to its owners. We have seen one Armagnac torn in pieces +by the populace, another treacherously slain after the surrender of his +stronghold, a third losing his reason in a dungeon, and we are now to +witness the leading of a fourth to the scaffold, under circumstances the +most horrible. + +James of Armagnac, duke of Nemours, was the son of the Count de la +Marche, who was the governor of the youthful dauphin. When the pupil of +the count ascended the throne, he gave his cousin Louisa in marriage to +James of Armagnac, and conferred on him the dukedom of Nemours, with +all the rights and privileges of the peerage; an honour which had never +before been enjoyed by any other than princes of the royal family. +Nemours, nevertheless, joined the League of the Public Good. Louis, as we +have seen, was obliged to succumb to the League; and, by the consequent +peace of Conflans, James of Armagnac obtained the government of Paris and +the Isle of France. + +Little more than three years elapsed before Nemours was again engaged +in intrigues against the monarch. But the time was gone by when revolt +could lead to promotion. Louis had strengthened his authority, and he +was not disposed to see it set at nought. He, however, pardoned him; but +it was on condition that any future offence should render him liable +to punishment for the past, and that he should then be deprived of his +privilege of peerage, and be tried as a private individual. + +In the course of a few years Nemours once more, and finally, brought down +the wrath of the monarch on his head. He was accused of treason, and +Beaujeu was despatched to besiege him in the town of Carlat, to which +the duke had retired. Carlat was supposed to be impregnable, and it was +provisioned for two or three years. Nemours, nevertheless, surrendered +without resistance, on condition that his life should be spared; Beaujeu +guaranteed this condition, as did likewise Louis le Graville, lord of +Montaigu, and Bonfile le Juge, who enjoyed the royal confidence. The wife +of the duke, who was confined in child-bed, died of grief and terror, on +seeing her husband become a prisoner. + +Nemours was conveyed, first, to Pierre-Encise, whence he was removed +to the Bastile; where he was subjected to the harshest usage. All his +supplications to the king, during two years’ abode in the Bastile, were +unavailing; or rather, indeed, seem to have tended to irritate him. +The duke had, undoubtedly, been a turbulent subject; but nothing can +palliate the infamy of the king’s conduct, after he had Nemours in his +power. It is difficult to account for the inveteracy of his hatred. There +was no conceivable violation of justice of which he was not guilty. +To have broken the pledge solemnly given by his general was little +compared with what followed. Such of the judges as seemed inclined to +show mercy were threatened and displaced; others were tempted by being +promised to share in the spoils of the prisoner; the place where the +court held its sittings was more than once arbitrarily changed; and the +decent formalities of the law, as well as its essential principles, were +contemptuously discarded. No wonder that Nemours was condemned to death. + +But now a scene opens which casts all the rest into shade, and at which +nature shudders. Nothing was omitted that could render death terrible +to the duke. The chamber where he confessed to the priest was hung +with black; the horse which took him to execution was covered with a +housing of the same hue. He was already agonised by the thought that his +children, who were little more than infants, were reduced to beggary—but +this was not enough. A scaffold was expressly constructed for him to +suffer on, with wide openings between the planks, and underneath, clad +in white, their heads naked, and their hands bound, were placed his +children, that they might be drenched with their parent’s blood. It was +on the 4th of August, 1477, that this horrible tragedy was acted. + +Did the brutal vindictiveness of the monarch end here? It did not. The +guiltless children, of whom the youngest was only five years old, were +taken back to the Bastile, and plunged into a loathsome dungeon, where +they had scarcely the power of moving. There they remained, for five +years, till the accession of Charles the eighth opened their prison door. +A part of the confiscated property of their father was subsequently +restored to them by Charles. The health of two of them was so broken that +they did not long survive. The youngest inherited the title of Nemours, +rose to be viceroy of Naples, and fell at the battle of Cerignoles, in +1503. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Reign of Francis I.—Semblançai—The Chancellor Duprat—The + Chancellor Poyet—Admiral de Chabot—Fall of Poyet—Reign of Henry + II.—Anne du Bourg—Louis du Faur—Reign of Francis II.—Execution + of du Bourg—Francis de Vendôme—Reign of Charles IX.—The Duke of + Lunebourg—Henry of Navarre and the Prince of Condé in danger of + the Bastile—Faction of the Politicians—La Mole—Coconas—Marshal + de Montmorenci—Marshal de Cossé—Reign of Henry III.—Bussi + d’Amboise. + + +During the reigns of Charles the eighth and Louis the twelfth, a period +of more than thirty years, no prisoners of note appear to have been +incarcerated in the Bastile. In the reign of Francis the first, we +again find it receiving persons of rank within its gloomy walls. The +first who was consigned to it by Francis was James de Beaune, baron +of Semblançai. He was the eldest son of John de Beaune, a citizen of +Tours, who acquired a large fortune by commerce, and who, after having +withdrawn from mercantile pursuits, held the office of steward to Louis +the eleventh and to Charles the eighth. Semblançai entered early into +the royal service, and, in the reign of Charles the eighth, rose to the +high situation of superintendant of the finances, and retained it under +Louis the twelfth and Francis the first. It was to his talents he was +indebted for preferment; and his conduct, in the difficult and dangerous +post which he occupied, justified his elevation, and gained for him the +confidence of the three monarchs. Francis was even accustomed to address +him with the flattering appellation of father. Keeping aloof from all +court intrigues, he displayed, in his official character, an exemplary +regularity, economy, and probity; and he crowned the whole by a virtue +which is still more rare in a finance minister—that of endeavouring +to alleviate the burthens of the people, and prevent them from being +despoiled by unprincipled nobles. + +The man who acted thus was not likely to be without enemies; all the +greedy, who were disappointed of thrusting their hands into the public +purse, and all the wasteful and corrupt, to whom his example was a +stinging rebuke, would of course abhor him. But Semblançai might have +set their malice at defiance, had they not found an invincible ally in a +female, whose venomous hatred was rendered fatal to him by her unbounded +influence. + +This powerful female was Louisa of Savoy, duchess of Angoulême, the +mother of Francis the First. She was beautiful in person, a doating +mother, and endowed with many intellectual qualities of a superior +class; but she was immeasurably ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious. +Such was her avidity for riches, and such her success in gratifying it, +that, at the time of her death, her coffers contained no less than a +million and a half of golden crowns—an enormous, not to say disgraceful +hoard, especially when we consider what was the value of the sum at +that period. In two instances, her criminal passions were the cause of +shame and misfortune to France. Of the first of these we are about to +speak; the second was her persecution of the Constable de Bourbon—a base +and disastrous measure, which was prompted either by resentment for +his rejection of her love, or by her eagerness to seize upon his ample +domains, or, perhaps, by a combination of both these unworthy motives. + +The regard which was manifested for Semblançai by Francis was, at one +period, equally felt by the duchess of Angoulême. There exists, under her +hand, the strongest testimony to the rectitude of the superintendant, and +of the generous sacrifices which he made, to provide for the wants of the +state. It was not till the necessity of vindicating his own character +compelled him to criminate her, that she became his enemy. + +Jealous of the influence possessed by the countess of Chateaubriant, the +mistress of Francis, whose brother, Lautrec, was then governor of the +Milanese and commander of the French army in that province, the duchess +appears to have formed the plan of aiming a deadly blow at the sister +through the side of the brother. If, by disabling him from defending the +Milanese, she could bring Lautrec into disgrace, it was not improbable +that the disgusted and indignant monarch, who set a high value on his +Italian conquest, would extend his anger to the countess. The means which +she adopted for bringing her scheme to bear, had also an additional and +not trivial merit in her eyes; that of contributing to swell the mass of +treasure which she had already accumulated. + +In the first part of her project, she completely succeeded. Deprived of +the pecuniary resources which he had expected from France, and which were +the more needful, as the harshness of his government had rendered him +unpopular in Italy, Lautrec was defeated at the battle of the Bicocco, +was deserted by his Swiss auxiliaries, and at length was driven from the +duchy of Milan. + +The disgrace thus cast upon the French arms, and that, too, in a +country which he in person had won, could not fail to exasperate a +young and warlike sovereign. When Lautrec returned to his native land, +the king refused to admit him to his presence; but at last, through +the intercession of his sister, and of the Constable de Bourbon, the +vanquished general obtained an audience. He was received with a frowning +countenance; and he boldly complained of his reception. “Is it possible +for me,” said Francis, sternly, “to look favourably on a man who is +guilty of having lost my duchy of Milan?” + +Nowise daunted by this rebuff, Lautrec firmly replied, “I will dare to +assert, that your majesty is the sole cause of that loss. For eighteen +months your gendarmes had not a single farthing of pay. The Swiss, with +whose disposition as to money you are well acquainted, were also left +unpaid. It was solely by my management that they were retained for +several months with my army. There would have been no reason for wonder +had they quitted it without drawing their swords; their respect for me +induced them, however, not to desert me till after a sanguinary combat. +They compelled me to give battle, though I foresaw clearly that there was +no hope of victory; but, in my circumstances, prudence dictated to risk +every thing, however little chance there might appear that our efforts +would be successful. The whole of my crime amounts to this.” + +The astonishment of Francis was excited by this speech of Lautrec. +“What!” exclaimed he, “did you not receive the four hundred thousand +crowns, which I ordered to be sent to you soon after your arrival at +Milan?” “No, Sire,” answered Lautrec; “your majesty’s letters came to +hand, but no money was forwarded to me; nor did it ever pass the Alps.” + +Semblançai was immediately summoned into his presence by Francis, to +account for such an extraordinary violation of his duty. In his defence, +the superintendant stated, that the duchess, vested with authority as +regent, had demanded from him the four hundred thousand crowns, and that +he held her receipt for the sum. + +Irritated by this unexpected discovery, Francis hastened to his mother’s +apartment, and reproached her for conduct which had cost him a part of +his dominions. The duchess is said to have begun her reply by a denial +of the fact. She was, however, ultimately compelled to own that she had +indeed obtained four hundred thousand crowns from Semblançai; but she +artfully pretended, that she had previously confided the money to his +care, and that it was the produce of savings from her income. Semblançai, +on the contrary, strenuously protested that she had never entrusted any +thing to his keeping, and that, when she drew from him the funds in +question, he had told her that they were set apart by the king for the +service of the forces in Italy. + +Francis was no doubt convinced of her guilt, but he could not bear +the idea of openly stigmatizing a mother whom he loved. There was +consequently nothing to be done but to bury, as far as was possible, the +whole transaction in oblivion. Abruptly putting an end to the altercation +between the duchess and the superintendant, he said, “Let us think no +more on the subject! we did not deserve to conquer; it was in vain that +fortune declared on our side; we threw insuperable obstacles in the way +of her favour. Let us cease to be traitors to each other, and let us +henceforth endeavour to act for the public good, with more wisdom and +union than we have hitherto displayed.” + +That Semblançai continued to hold his place is a sufficient proof that +his assertion was credited by the king. That the revengeful duchess was +eager to ruin him, we might easily have believed, even had the result +not afforded evidence of the fact. For a considerable time, however, she +silently nursed her wrath. It was not till 1524, when a new expedition +was in preparation against the Milanese, that she found an opportunity of +striking her blow. Money was wanted; and Semblançai, who had come forward +on former occasions, was desired to make an advance from his private +fortune. But this he declined to do; pleading, as a reason for his +refusal, that a debt of three hundred thousand crowns was already owing +to him. He was punished by dismissal from his office—if that can be +called a punishment for which he appears to have sought—and, after having +given in his accounts, and shown that they were correct, he retired to +his estate of Balan, in the neighbourhood of Tours. + +On the departure of Francis for Italy, he again appointed his mother to +act as regent. She had now unlimited power; and, as far as concerned +Semblançai, she exercised it cruelly and basely. She began by instituting +against him a suit, to recover a balance which she alleged to be due +to her, as part of the pretended deposit. To bolster up her cause, she +is accused of having stooped to the most degrading means. Gentil, the +confidential clerk of Semblançai, was enamoured of one of her attendants; +and this female the regent employed to steal, or obtain by blandishments, +the receipt which had been given to the superintendant. + +This suit was probably meant to answer the double purpose of narrowing +his resources and injuring his character. But this mode of proceeding +was “too poor, too weak, for her revenge,” and she soon adopted another, +which struck directly at his life. His secretary, John Prévost, who seems +himself to have had reason for dreading an inquiry into his official +conduct, was tampered with, to cause the ruin of his master. Impunity +for his own misdoings was to be the price of his new crime. A charge of +peculation was brought against Semblançai, and, towards the close of +1526, he was committed to the Bastile. To render his fate certain, the +office of sitting in judgment upon him was entrusted to the Chancellor +Duprat, who had been his rival, was still his deadliest foe, and was, +besides, a devoted tool of the queen mother. As his colleagues, or rather +accomplices, Duprat selected, from the various parliaments, men on whose +subserviency he could rely. From a tribunal thus infamously constituted, +not even a semblance of justice could be expected. On the 9th of August, +1527, Semblançai, who was then in his sixty-second year, was condemned to +be hanged; and this sentence was, shortly after, executed on him, at the +gibbet of Montfaucon. + +The popular feeling, with respect to Semblançai, may be considered as at +least a strong presumptive proof of his innocence. It is not often that +the fall of a finance minister is a subject of sorrow to the multitude. +In his case we find one of the few exceptions; for the people beheld +his melancholy fate with grief, surprise, and indignation, and they +long looked with an evil eye on the malignant princess by whom he was +judicially murdered. + +There is an apparent but not a real discrepancy in the accounts of the +behaviour of Semblançai, when his doom was sealed. From the language of +Du Bouchet, who represents him as weeping bitterly, and cherishing hopes +of pardon till the last moment, a hasty conclusion might be drawn, that +the courage of the victim deserted him. But wounded honour and a keen +sense of the ingratitude with which a life of services was repaid, might +well wring tears from his eyes, though his mind remained unmoved by the +fear of death. That his firmness was, in fact, not to be shaken, we have +the unexceptionable testimony of Marot, who probably witnessed the calm +deportment of Semblançai when going to the scaffold. In his lines, which +bear the title of “Du Lieutenant Criminel et de Semblançai,” the poet +thus forcibly expresses himself— + + “When Maillard, hellish judge, led Semblançai + On gallows tree to pass from life away, + Say which of them most undisturbed was seen?” + “I’ll tell you, friend: so blank was Maillard’s mien, + He looked as though he saw the direful dart + Of death hang o’er him; but so brave a heart + Semblançai showed, you would have sworn that he + Was leading Maillard to the gallows tree.” + +We have seen, that the chancellor, Duprat, was the instrument which +Louisa of Savoy employed to accomplish the destruction of Semblançai. At +an earlier period, he had served her as effectually in a similar case. +Her suit against the constable de Bourbon, to strip him of his vast +estates, is said to have been suggested by Duprat, and was certainly +brought to a favourable issue by the exercise of his influence over the +judges. His hatred of the constable was caused, or sharpened, by Bourbon +having refused to comply with a request relative to the grant of an +estate in Auvergne. Detested by all France, for the fiscal oppressions of +which he was the author, and for his having betrayed the liberties of the +Gallican church, the chancellor nevertheless retained his power to the +last, and died loaded with titles and riches. + +Another tool of the duchess of Angoulême, who closely imitated the +conduct of Duprat, was not equally fortunate. William Poyet, a native +of Angers, born about 1474, had acquired a high reputation at the bar +before he was chosen the queen-mother’s advocate against the constable +de Bourbon. The manner in which he performed his new task ensured his +promotion. He became successively advocate-general, and president à +mortier, and was employed in various negotiations; and, at length, in +1538, his ambition was gratified by his appointment to the high office of +chancellor. If servility to the monarch, and an utter disregard of the +rights and happiness of the people, are qualifications for that office, +his fitness cannot be denied. He was undoubtedly worthy of succeeding to +Duprat. + +The profligate readiness with which Poyet encouraged Francis the first +to load his subjects with heavy taxes, drew upon him a severe reproof +from Duchatel, the virtuous and benevolent bishop of Orleans. Hearing +the chancellor tell the king that his majesty was the master of all that +his subjects possessed, the bishop indignantly exclaimed, “Carry such +tyrannical maxims to the Caligulas and Neros, and, if you have no respect +for yourself, at least respect a monarch who is the friend of humanity, +and who knows that to hold its rights sacred is the first of his duties.” +This speech did honour to the prelate, but there is no ground for +believing that it produced any good effect upon either the sovereign or +the minister. + +It was by female influence that Poyet was raised to his lofty station; it +was by the same influence that he was precipitated from it. Two parties +existed at court, those of the dauphin and the duke of Alençon, the heads +of which were the constable de Montmorenci and the admiral de Chabot. +Besides the hatred which he felt against Chabot as a political rival, the +haughty Montmorenci found, in the unceremonious tone of equality with +which he was addressed by the admiral, another reason for hating him. +To ruin an enemy by underhand measures was the natural proceeding of a +courtier. He insinuated to the king that Chabot had acquired his riches +by iniquitous practices; and, by holding out the lure of a cardinal’s +hat, he induced Poyet to assist in Chabot’s destruction. The chancellor +exerted himself so strenuously, in raking up matter of accusation against +the intended victim, that he at length produced five-and-twenty charges, +each of which, he declared, would subject the delinquent to capital +punishment. The alleged criminality of Chabot was soon made known to the +king. + +It is probable, nevertheless, that remembering the services of Chabot, +and the friendship which had existed ever since their youthful days, +Francis would have overlooked the supposed crimes, had he not been +provoked by a speech which sounded like defiance. Some trifling dispute +occurring between them, he threatened to bring him to trial; to which +Chabot boldly replied, that a trial had no terrors for him, his conduct +having always been so irreproachable, that neither his life nor his +honour could be put in danger. Francis was weak enough to take offence at +this implied challenge; he committed the offender to the castle of Melun, +and directed the chancellor to prosecute him. + +Poyet rushed upon his prey with the ferocity of a hungry tiger. He began +by selecting the commissioners who were to sit in judgment on Chabot; +and, to ensure their obedience, he himself, contrary to established +custom, presided over them. Yet, with such instruments, and in spite of +all his unprincipled efforts to spur them on, he was not able fully to +accomplish his purpose. So groundless were the articles of impeachment, +there being only two of them which at all, and those but slightly, +affected the prisoner, that, instead of voting for death, the judges were +disposed either to acquit him, or, at most, to pass a lenient sentence. +By dint, however, of threats, the chancellor compelled them to go far +beyond their intention; they consequently condemned Chabot to a fine of +fifteen thousand livres, confiscation of property, and perpetual exile. +One of them is said to have added to his signature the Latin word _vi_, +in almost imperceptible characters; thus signifying that force had been +used to extort his consent. Not content with the daring contempt of +justice which he had already displayed, Poyet, in drawing up the judgment +of the court, did not hesitate to falsify it, by inserting additional +crimes, and aggravating the penalty. + +Though Francis was irritated by the honourable boldness of Chabot, he had +never intended to carry matters to extremity against him. He could not +now avoid being astonished that the charges had dwindled into such utter +insignificance, and that, nevertheless, a sentence of such undue severity +was pronounced; and he appears to have been also warmly solicited in +his behalf by a prevailing advocate, the duchess of Etampes, the royal +mistress, who was a relation of Chabot. Yet though the king designed to +receive the admiral again into favour, he could not deny himself the +mean gratification of taunting him. “Well,” said he to him, “will you +again boast of your innocence?” “Sire,” replied Chabot, “I have but too +well learned, that before God and his sovereign no man must call himself +innocent; but I have one consolation, that all the malice of my enemies +has failed to convict me of having ever been unfaithful to your majesty.” +Chabot was pardoned, and reinstated in his offices. This tardy justice +came too late; though his enemies had been unable to drag him to the +scaffold, they had succeeded in shortening his days. In little more than +twelve months, his existence was terminated by a disease, seemingly of +the heart, which was brought on by the grief and anxiety that he had +suffered. + +Chabot, however, lived long enough to witness the downfall of his +adversaries. To Montmorenci the king intimated, that he had no longer +occasion for his services; and the dismissed courtier in consequence +retired to Chantilly, whence he did not emerge during the remainder of +Francis’s reign. A heavier misfortune awaited Poyet, and it speedily fell +upon him. Two females, the duchess of Etampes and the queen of Navarre, +were the foes who overthrew him. The duchess, who was already offended +by his persecution of her relative, he exasperated beyond measure, by +refusing to perform an illegal act in favour of one of her friends; the +queen of Navarre he alienated in a similar manner; and he rendered both +of them more inveterate, by some bitter remarks on the influence which +females possessed over the mind of the sovereign. They combined together +for his ruin, and they effected it. In August, 1542, he was dragged from +his bed, and carried to the Bastile. Thus, after having been allowed +to be unjust with impunity, he was punished for recollecting at last +that he had duties to perform. In this emergency, he had the mingled +audacity and meanness to write to Chabot, imploring his forgiveness and +protection. After having been three years in prison, he was declared +incapable of ever holding office, and was sentenced to five years’ +imprisonment, and to pay a fine of a hundred thousand livres. The king +himself, with a strange want of decorum, came forward as a witness +against him on the trial. Poyet died in 1548, an object of general +contempt. + +The captives, to whom our attention is now to be directed, were of a +very different character from the chancellor Poyet; they were sufferers +for conscience’ sake; men who, when the question related to religious +interests, deemed it a duty not to submit in silence to arbitrary +power. Their names were Anne du Bourg, and Louis du Faur, and they +were counsellors of the parliament at Paris. The uncle of du Bourg was +chancellor in the reign of Francis I. Du Faur was of a family which had +produced many eminent characters, among whom is to be numbered Guy du +Faur, lord of Pibrac, author of the well-known Quatrains. + +Pressed, it is said, by the Guises, and by the duchess of Valentinois, +his mistress, the latter of whom was looking forward to the benefit she +might expect from confiscations, Henry the second unwisely resolved to +carry to the full extent the persecution of the protestants. Hitherto, +only the humbler classes had been marked out for punishment; but, as +nothing more than the mere pleasure of tormenting could be derived +from pursuing them, it was now determined that men of higher rank +should suffer in their turn. This was at least impartial injustice. It +was believed that the reformed doctrines had many partisans among the +magistracy; and the members of the parliament of Paris were therefore +selected, as the subjects upon whom the new experiment of rigour should +be first tried. This step was taken at the suggestion of le Maître, the +chief president, who had the baseness to deliver privately to the king a +list of his protestant colleagues, and also a tempting statement of the +property which they possessed. + +It was a custom of the heads of the parliament to meet at stated periods, +for the purpose, among other things, of inquiring into any alleged +neglect or violation of duty on the part of the members. These meetings, +which were established by an edict of Charles VIII., were called the +Mercuriales, from the circumstance of their taking place on a Wednesday. +To one of these assemblies, while it was in the midst of a debate, on the +measures which ought to be adopted with respect to heretics, the king +suddenly came, without any previous notice, accompanied by the Guises, +and other rigidly catholic nobles, and guarded by a formidable escort. + +Previously to his arrival, the balance of opinion had inclined to the +side of a lenient administration of the law, until the discipline of the +church had been reformed by a new œcumenical council. Though the monarch +affected to be calm, it was easy to perceive that he was under the +influence of passion. He made a vehement harangue, in which he dwelt on +the disturbances caused by sectaries, and on the necessity of defending +the church, and then ordered the members to resume the debate, and +promised them freedom of speech. + +The promise was meant only as a snare. The manner in which the king had +come to the sitting, in open contempt of usage and even of decorum, +plainly showed that his intention was to intimidate. But, by pretending +to guarantee the privilege of freely speaking, he hoped to do away the +impression which his abrupt coming had made, and delude the speakers into +a disclosure of their real sentiments. There were some, perhaps, who +confided in his word; there were others who, doubtless, were aware that +no reliance was to be placed on it, but who, nevertheless, thought they +were called upon to maintain, at all hazards, what they deemed to be the +cause of religion and truth. Of the latter class were Anne du Bourg and +Louis du Faur. + +Du Faur admitted that troubles arose in the state from the difference of +religions, but he contended that it ought to be inquired who was really +the author of those troubles; and, with a manifest allusion to the king, +he added, that if this were done, the same reply might perhaps be made as +was given, on a similar occasion, by the prophet Elijah to Ahab, “I have +not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, in that ye have, +forsaken, the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” + +The speech of du Bourg, though it seemed to be less directly personal to +the monarch, was as well calculated as that of du Faur to excite angry +feelings in Henry and in many of the hearers, on whose vices it made a +rude attack. There were men, he said, whose blasphemies, adulteries, +horrible debaucheries, and repeated perjuries, crimes worthy of the worst +death, were not merely overlooked, but shamefully encouraged, while +every day new punishments were invented for men who were irreproachable. +“For of what crime can they be accused?” exclaimed he. “Can they be +charged with high treason, they who never mention the sovereign but in +the prayers which they offer up for him? Who can say that they violate +the laws of the state, endeavour to shake the fidelity of the towns, or +incite the provinces to revolt? With all the pains that have been taken, +not even with witnesses picked out for the purpose, has it been possible +to convict them of having so much as thought of these things. No! All +their fault and misfortune is that, by means of the light of the Holy +Scriptures, they have discovered and revealed the shameless turpitude of +the Papal power, and have demanded a salutary reformation. This is their +sedition.” + +When all the members had delivered their opinions, some of which were +favourable to mild measures, the king called for the register, in which +were inscribed the opinions of those who had spoken before his arrival, +and also on a previous day. He then addressed to the assembly another +speech of censure and menace, and ended by ordering the arrest of du +Bourg and du Faur, who were present, and likewise of six absent members. +The two former were conveyed to the Bastile, where du Bourg, and probably +du Faur also, was shut up in a cage. Three of the others escaped; the +rest were sent to other places of confinement. + +This arbitrary act was the last which Henry had the power of committing. +On that day fortnight, at a tournament, he was mortally wounded by a +splinter from the lance of the count de Montgomery. The scene of the +tournament was near the Bastile; and it is said that as the wounded +monarch was carried past the prison, his conscience smote him, and he +more than once expressed his fears that he had behaved unjustly to men +who were innocent. The cardinal of Lorraine, who was with him, is also +said to have assured him, that such an idea could have been inspired only +by the arch fiend, and admonished him to reject it, and adhere firmly +to his faith. This story, however, has no other foundation than popular +report. + +The reign of Francis II. opened under no favourable auspices for the +protestants. The minor king was wholly under the influence of the +Guises, and of his mother Catherine of Medicis, all of whom had vowed a +deadly hostility to them. The persecution was accordingly resumed with +an increase of vigour. The trial of the members of the parliament was +pushed on; but it was against du Bourg that the hatred of the court was +peculiarly directed—the sweeping crimination, which was contained in his +speech before the deceased Henry, had wounded many great personages too +deeply to be forgiven. + +Before the death of Henry, a commission had been appointed, which had +interrogated du Bourg on the subject of his religious tenets. He having +candidly avowed them, they were pronounced heretical by the bishop of +Paris, and he was delivered over to the secular authority. Du Bourg +appealed to the archbishop of Sens, and to the parliament, but without +effect. The trial was proceeded with, and, while it was pending, an event +occurred, which contributed to render his enemies still more inveterate. +One of his judges was a counsellor named Minard, a man of profligate +life, who had given violent advice to the late king. Du Bourg, therefore, +repeatedly challenged him as incompetent to sit upon the trial, and, on +Minard refusing to withdraw, the prisoner is said to have exclaimed, “God +will know how to compel thee!” It unfortunately happened that, returning +one evening to his home from the trial, Minard was assassinated, by +a pistol being fired at him. Du Bourg was suspected, and not without +an appearance of reason, of being implicated in the murder, and this +hastened his fate. There is no ground whatever to believe that he was +concerned in the foul deed; but it must be owned, that such prophecies +as he ventured upon are dangerous, because they have a tendency to bring +about their own fulfilment. It is not improbable, that the act was +suggested to the mind of some fanatical protestant by the words of the +prisoner. + +It was in vain that the Elector Palatine wrote to the French monarch, +to entreat him to spare the life of du Bourg, and that numerous eminent +persons, even catholics, solicited to the same effect. Neither their +intercession, nor his acknowledged integrity and pure morals, availed to +save him. He was condemned to be hanged and his body burnt, at the Place +de Grêve. He died, at the age of thirty-eight, with a calm heroism, and +Christian spirit of forgiveness, which excited general admiration. His +death, far from being beneficial to the catholic cause, was exceedingly +injurious to it. The protestants regarded him as a martyr, gloried in +him as an honour to their party and faith, and were not slow in taking a +heavy vengeance for his untimely doom. + +The blood of du Bourg seems to have deadened the fire of persecution, as +far as related to the other parliamentary prisoners. Some were subjected +to little more than nominal punishments; and even du Faur, the most +obnoxious of them, was only condemned to pay a fine, ask pardon, and be +suspended from his judicial functions for five years. But, comparatively +light as this sentence was, du Faur refused to acquiesce in it; he boldly +protested against it, and after a hard struggle, he was fortunate enough +to obtain its revocation, and to be re-established in his magisterial +capacity. Nor does it appear that this victory was purchased by any +sacrifice of principle. + +Among those who, during the new crusade against protestants, had to +lament the loss of liberty, was Francis de Vendôme, Vidame of Chartres, +allied to the princes of the blood and the potent house of Montmorenci. +Vendôme had served in Italy, as a volunteer, under the duke of Aumale, +and, subsequently, held a command there, under the duke of Guise; after +which he was appointed governor of Calais. Closely connected with the +house of Montmorenci, he was irritated beyond measure by the dismissal +of the constable, and cherished a deadly animosity against the Guises, +who were the authors of that measure. It is not wonderful that, under the +influence of these feelings, he should make common cause with the prince +of Condé and the king of Navarre, who were preparing for resistance to +the court. Vendôme took an active part in rousing the protestants to +arms in various parts of the kingdom. But some of his letters, to the +prince of Condé, having been found upon la Sague, an emissary of the +protestant party, he was arrested and sent to the Bastile. There he was +treated with extreme rigour, and was refused permission to see his wife, +though she offered to become a prisoner with him. The letters were in +appearance merely complimentary, but the dread of the torture induced la +Sague to disclose that important secrets were written, with sympathetic +ink, on the cover that contained them. The death of Francis II. and +the pretended reconcilement of the hostile parties on the accession of +Charles IX., would have saved Vendôme from the scaffold, but he did not +live to recover his freedom. Worn out by a life of dissipation, he died, +in his thirty-eighth year, at the Tournelles, to which prison he had been +removed from the Bastile. + +The decease of Vendôme took place in 1560, and, for several years, with +the exception of a duke of Lunebourg, who was imprisoned for a quarrel +with the duke of Guise, no prisoner, at least none whose fate history has +thought worthy of recording, appears to have found an abode within the +walls of the Bastile. After the horrible massacre of St. Bartholomew, +there was a moment when the fortress seemed about to receive a princely +captive. The king of Navarre (afterwards Henry IV.) had yielded to the +threats of the royal murderer, and had changed his religion; but the +Prince of Condé was made of sterner stuff. He resisted so firmly all +attempts to induce him to apostatize, that Charles IX. ordered him to +be brought before him, and, in a furious tone, addressed to him three +ominous words; “The mass, death, or the Bastile.” Condé held out a little +longer, but he yielded when he found that du Rosier, a famous protestant +minister, had been converted to the Catholic faith. + +It was not till towards the close of the reign of Charles IX. that the +Bastile was again tenanted. That monarch was then sinking rapidly into +the grave, under the pressure of bodily disease, and the perpetual stings +of his conscience. Haunted by appalling dreams, and by direful spectres +and dismal sounds, which his fancy incessantly conjured up, he had fallen +into a state which scarcely the remembrance of his crimes can prevent +us from pitying. It was at this period that the party was formed which +adopted the appellations of Politicians and Malecontents. The first of +these names was chosen to show that the persons assuming it were not +actuated, like the protestants, by religious motives. The oppressive +weight of the taxes, the insolent licentiousness of the soldiery, and the +cruelty and flagrant incapacity of those who managed the public affairs, +were their grounds of complaint. At the head of this party, which soon +became considerable, were William de Montmorenci and his nephew, the +Viscount de Turenne. Though this party consisted of catholics, yet, as +among the objects which it sought to obtain there were many which the +protestants no less eagerly desired, it was not long before a coalition +was formed between them. + +To give greater weight and consistence to the party, it was thought +advisable to provide for it a chief of a more elevated rank than +Montmorenci and Turenne. The duke of Alençon, one of the king’s brothers, +who is known in English history as the duke of Anjou, was the chosen +individual. With many defects, and a scanty share of virtues, he had +some qualifications for being head of the party. To the protestants +he was recommended by his being far less hostile than the rest of his +family, and by his having been an unalterable friend of the murdered +admiral Coligni. Alençon was irritated by the restraint, little short of +imprisonment, under which he was kept at court, and by the refusal to +confer on him the lieutenant generalship of the kingdom, which had been +held by his brother Henry; and was consequently not averse from joining +those who could contribute to gratify his ambition. It has, indeed, been +supposed, and the supposition is by no means improbable, that the party, +or at least the protestant branch of it, would have been willing to raise +him to the throne, to the exclusion of Henry, his elder brother. + +Two of the principal agents in forwarding the design of the malecontents +were la Mole, and the count de Coconas, the favourites of the duke of +Alençon. La Mole was an officer, a native of Provence. Among the ladies +of the court he was much admired for his liveliness and companionable +qualities. His time was divided, not quite equally, between sinning +and hearing mass; the latter of which he attended three or four times +a day. It was said of him by the king, that whoever wished to keep a +register of la Mole’s debaucheries, need only reckon up his masses. He +was notoriously one of the gallants of Margaret of Valois, as Coconas was +of the duchess of Nevers, the eldest of three sisters, who were called +the Graces. Coconas was one of the many Italians who were attracted into +France by the hope of receiving patronage from Catherine of Medicis. One +anecdote will suffice to demonstrate the fiendishness of his nature. +During the massacre of St. Bartholomew, he bought from the populace +thirty hugonot prisoners, that he might gratify himself, by subjecting +them to torture both of body and mind. After having, by a promise of +saving their lives, induced them to renounce their faith, he put them +slowly to death by numerous superficial dagger wounds. Of this act he was +accustomed to boast. The fate of such a man can excite no pity. + +All was arranged for the flight of the duke of Alençon, the king of +Navarre, and the prince of Condé, from the court, in order to join the +malecontents, and hoist the standard of opposition. Bands of troops were +hovering round the palace of St. Germain, to protect their retreat. +But the plot was disconcerted by the vigilance of Catherine of Medicis, +the imprudence of some of the plotters, and the hesitation of the +feeble-minded duke. At two in the morning, Catherine hurried the dying +Charles from St. Germain to Paris in a litter, and placed guards over the +duke and the king of Navarre; Condé, more prudent than his associates, +had embraced the first opportunity to escape. There were some ludicrous +circumstances connected with the hasty retreat to Paris. “The cardinals +of Bourbon, Lorraine, and Guise,” says d’Aubigné, “the chancellor +Birague, and Morvilliers and Bellièvre, were all mounted on Italian +coursers, grasping with both hands their saddle bows, and as thoroughly +frightened at their horses as at the enemy.” Contrasting strongly with +this was the pitiable state of the monarch, with his frame debilitated, +and all the weight of the St. Bartholomew on his soul, groaning, and +mournfully exclaiming, “At least they might have waited till I was dead!” + +Indignant at what he called a foul conspiracy, the king ordered that a +rigid enquiry should instantly be commenced. La Mole denied every thing; +Coconas, on the contrary, disclosed all that he knew, and perhaps more. +But the fate of the conspirators was sealed by the duke of Alençon, who +made an ample confession, without even having attempted to stipulate for +the lives of his confederates. Coconas and la Mole, who had been sent to +the Bastile, were now brought to trial; and, by dint of legal sophistry, +the project of bringing about the flight of the princes was construed +into a design against the person of the king. + +Coconas and la Mole were condemned to be put to the torture, and then +beheaded. “Poor la Mole!” exclaimed the latter, while he was suffering +the first part of his sentence, “is there no way to obtain a pardon? The +duke, my master, to whom I owe innumerable obligations, commanded me +on my life to say nothing of what he was about to do. I answered, yes, +sir, if you do nothing against the king.” The unfortunate man, like vast +numbers at that period, had faith in magic arts. A waxen image, of which +the heart was pierced through with a needle, had been found among his +effects. On being questioned whether this was not meant to represent the +king, and to be an instrument of tormenting his majesty, he replied that +its only purpose was to inspire love in a lady, of whom he was deeply +enamoured. + +On the scaffold, before he laid down his head on the block, he +significantly said to the by-standers, “You see, sirs, that the little +ones are caught, and that the great ones, who have been guilty of the +fault, are allowed to escape.” La Mole displayed his ruling passion +strong in death. His last words, after having prayed to God and the +Virgin, were, “commend me to the kind remembrance of the queen of Navarre +and the ladies.” He was not forgotten by his lady-love; neither was his +companion. Queen Margaret and the duchess of Nevers are said by some +to have embalmed the heads of their admirers, that they might always +preserve them for contemplation; while by others they are asserted to +have taken them in a carriage to a chapel, at the foot of Montmartre, and +buried them with their own hands. Two years afterwards, the sentences +against la Mole and Coconas were annulled by Henry III. + +The abortive plot in favour of the duke of Alençon proved a source of +trouble to two individuals, more eminent in rank, and far more estimable +in character, than were la Mole and Coconas. The marshals Francis de +Montmorenci, and Arthur de Cossé, the former of whom was the eldest son +of the celebrated constable, were suspected, or pretended to be so, by +the queen mother; Montmorenci was also well known to feel that hatred +of the Guises which was characteristic of his family. At her suggestion, +therefore, they were committed to the Bastile, by Charles IX. This was +nearly the last exercise of his authority. He died about a fortnight +after, leaving his mother to hold the office of regent, till his +successor, the third Henry, could return from Poland. + +Montmorenci was the husband of Diana, the natural daughter of Henry II., +and had been employed on numerous occasions, civil and military, in all +of which he had honourably acquitted himself. Of his martial exploits the +most prominent was the brave though unsuccessful defence of Terouane. He +was liberal, high-minded, learned, firm, and of invariable rectitude. +Cossé was still more illustrious in arms than his fellow prisoner. He +had distinguished himself at various sieges, particularly those of Sens +and Metz, and in the battle of St. Denis, and many other encounters. Nor +was he a mere enterprising soldier. It is said of him, by contemporary +historians, and it is no light praise, “that his head was as good as his +arm.” + +The party which had hitherto been known as that of the Politicians now +took the name of the Third Party. It received a large increase, by the +junction of catholics, whose indignation was excited by the constraint +put upon the duke of Alençon and the king of Navarre, at Vincennes, and +the close imprisonment of two such eminent men as de Montmorenci and +de Cossé. Condé, too, was busy in Germany, stirring up the protestant +princes to succour his friends, and keeping up a continual correspondence +with the French calvinists. + +On his taking possession of the throne, Henry set at liberty the king +of Navarre and the duke of Alençon. The marshals, however, were still +retained in confinement. Diana, the wife of Montmorenci, had adopted +a singular mode of moving in her husband’s behalf the feelings of the +monarch. Dressed in deep mourning, and followed by all her female +attendants in the same garb, she met Henry as he was passing through the +street, fell at his feet, and entreated him to take compassion on her +husband, whose health was declining in a prison, into which he had been +thrown without being convicted, or so much as accused, of any crime. +She likewise forcibly urged that, even if his majesty supposed him to +be guilty, he ought to grant him a fair trial. The king seemed to be +affected by her appeal, which was backed by some of the nobles who were +present, and he promised to enquire into the business with as little +delay as possible. + +The promise of the king, however, if sincere at the moment, was soon +disregarded. Cossé, who, like his fellow captive, was suffering from bad +health, was, indeed, allowed to take up his abode in his own house, under +a guard; but the only deliverance which was destined for Montmorenci was +deliverance from all the troubles of this world. It appears, in fact, +that his life would not have been safe for a moment, but for the salutary +fear that his death would drive into open hostility his brother Damville, +who held the government of Languedoc. A report having been spread that +Damville was dead, the king resolved to have the marshal strangled in +prison, and, as a preliminary step, it was industriously given out that +he was subject to apoplectic attacks. This barbarous and cowardly scheme +would have been carried into effect, had not an obstacle occurred. Giles +de Souvré, who had been mistakenly selected to perform the assassin’s +part, chanced to be a more honest man than his royal master, and he +purposely interposed so many delays, that time was afforded to ascertain +the falsehood of the report which had announced the death of Damville. + +It was neither to the clemency nor the justice of his sovereign that +Montmorenci was ultimately indebted for the recovery of his freedom. +Endangered by the betrayal of a plot into which he had entered against +his brother, Alençon mustered up courage enough to run away. His flight +took place on the 16th of September 1575. As soon as he was in safety, at +Dreux, he issued a manifesto, not unartfully contrived, to gain partisans +in various quarters. Reform in every department was the tempting burden +of its song. It worked its intended effect; the protestants were in +raptures, the Third Party was satisfied with it, and he speedily found +himself in a situation to set the court at defiance. + +William, one of the brothers of Montmorenci, whom we have seen one of the +original chiefs of the Politicians, was now about to enter the French +territory at the head of a division of troops, designed to herald the way +to the army which the prince of Condé had succeeded in obtaining from +the Elector Palatine. In the first outbreak of her anger, on hearing +this news, the queen mother sent him word, that, if he dared to advance, +she would despatch to him the heads of the two marshals. His reply was, +“Should the queen do as she threatens, there is nothing of hers in France +on which I will not leave the marks of my revenge.” + +Menace having failed, the wily Catherine resorted to an opposite mode +of proceeding. Aware that the liberation of the two marshals would be +imperatively demanded by their armed friends, and that the king was too +weak to refuse it, she determined to try whether she could not secure +their gratitude, by appearing to have the merit of voluntarily releasing +them. They were accordingly restored to liberty. By a declaration, under +the royal seal, Montmorenci was pronounced to be “absolutely innocent of +the crime which had been laid to his charge,” When a similar exculpatory +document was offered to Cossé by the king, he chivalrously replied, +“Excuse me, sire, for declining it; a Cossé ought to think that no one +can believe him to be guilty.” + +Though they could not be ignorant of the motive which had induced +Catherine to throw open their prison doors, the marshals acted as if a +favour had really been granted to them. Montmorenci had the largest share +in bringing about the truce, and the subsequent treaty, between the king +and the duke of Alençon; and the loyalty of Cossé was considered to be +so unimpeachable that, in 1578, he received the order of the Holy Ghost. +Montmorenci died in 1579; Cossé in 1582. + +The principal favourite of the duke of Alençon, after the death of la +Mole and Coconas, was Louis de Clermont, better known by the appellation +of Bussy d’Amboise. In profligacy he went beyond his predecessors. He +seems to have been a compound of vices, without a single virtue; unless, +indeed, we may give the name of virtue to mere brutal courage. Full +of pride and insolence, eager to involve others in deadly quarrels, +a libertine, a professed duellist, and a cold-blooded assassin, his +being tolerated at the French court, and even admired by many persons, +is an unrefutable evidence of the wretched state of morals among the +nobility of France. Bravery must have been held in a sort of idolatrous +estimation, when respect for it could induce such a man as Crillon to be +the friend of d’Amboise. + +The first achievement which Bussy is known to have performed stamps his +name with infamy. He was engaged in a lawsuit against the marquis of +Renel, one of his relations, to recover from him the marquisate, which +Bussy claimed as his right. The marquis had come to Paris, with the king +of Navarre, and was there when the massacre of St. Bartholomew took +place. In the midst of the carnage, Bussy sought him out, and stabbed +him to the heart. The parliament, soon after, passed a decree, admitting +the murderer’s claim; but it is consolatory to find that the decree was +subsequently annulled. + +Having attached himself to the duke of Alençon, he was entrusted with the +government of the castle of Angers, and he soon made himself universally +hated, by his extortion and tyranny. When he visited the court with his +master, his arrogance and audacity rose to such a height, that the king’s +favourites, whom he had often insulted, at length formed a scheme to +assassinate him. The attack was made at night, and with superior numbers; +but it was foiled by the skill and resolution of Bussy and his followers. + +The monarch himself was not safe from the contemptuous sarcasms of Bussy. +In their dress, Henry and his minions carried to the most extravagant +length the costly and absurd fashions of that period. Bussy one day +attended his patron to court. He himself was simply dressed, but he was +followed by six pages, clad in cloth of gold, and tricked out in the most +approved style of finery. That the point of this silent satire might not +be lost, he insultingly proclaimed aloud, that “the time was come when +ragamuffins would make the most show!” The king was so irritated by this +language, that, for a while, the duke was obliged to forbid Bussy from +appearing in his train. + +About the same time, Bussy gave fresh cause of offence to the king. +Ever seeking an opportunity to indulge his passion for duelling, he had +wantonly quarrelled with a gentleman named St. Phal. Looking at some +embroidery, St. Phal remarked that the letter X was worked on it; Bussy, +from sheer contradiction, asserted that the letter was a Y. A duel of six +against six in consequence took place, and Bussy was slightly wounded. +As, however, Bussy sent his antagonist a second challenge, and expressed +a stubborn determination to follow up the quarrel to the last extremity, +the king interposed to put an end to it. Bussy reluctantly consented to +meet St. Phal, in the king’s presence, for the purpose of reconcilement, +and when, with that intent, he went to the Louvre, he was accompanied +into the palace by a band of two hundred determined partisans. The anger +of the king was excited by this irruption of bravos, but for the present +he restrained it. + +In one of those fits of suspecting his brother, with which Henry was +occasionally seized, he went by night to put him under arrest, and, at +the same time, he sent Bussy to the Bastile. On the following morning, a +council was held, at which, prompted by the queen mother, the ministers +declared that the step which the king had taken was impolitic, and +advised him to be reconciled with the duke. Henry consented. The only +stipulation which he made was, that Bussy, on being liberated, should be +reconciled to Caylus, the king’s favourite, with whom he was at enmity. +Bussy complied, and, in complying, contrived to throw ridicule on the +weak monarch. “Sire,” said he, “if you wish me to kiss him, I am quite +ready to do it;” then, suiting the action to the word, he embraced Caylus +in such a thoroughly farcical style, that the spectators were unable to +repress their laughter. + +It was not long before the libertinism of Bussy supplied Henry with the +means of destroying him. It is probable that, in his amours, the pleasure +of betraying the women who confided in him formed one of the greatest +inducements to pursue them—a base feeling, which is still prevalent. In +a letter to the duke of Anjou, he boasted that he had been spreading his +nets for the Great Huntsman’s beast, and that he held her fast in them. +The Great Huntsman was the count de Montsoreau, who held that office; +the beast, as she was politely called, was the count’s wife, whom the +profligate writer had seduced. This letter Anjou put into the king’s +hands, as a good jest. Henry kept it, and communicated it to the count, +whom he urged to revenge himself on the offender. Montsoreau was not +backward to follow the king’s advice. He hurried home, and compelled his +wife to write to Bussy, to make an assignation with him. Bussy was true +to the appointment. Instead, however, of meeting the countess, he was +attacked by Montsoreau and several men, all of whom wore coats of mail. +In spite of the odds against him, he fought for some time with determined +spirit; but, finding that he must eventually be overpowered, he tried +to escape through the window, and was slain by a stab in the back. “The +whole province,” says de Thou, “was delighted at his fall, and even the +duke of Anjou was not very sorry to be rid of a man who began to be a +burthen to him.” + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Reign of Henry III. continued—Conspiracy of Salcede—Francis + de Rosières—Peter de Belloy—Francis le Breton—Bernard + Palissy—Daring plots of the League—Henry III. expelled from + Paris—The Bastile surrenders to Guise—Bussi le Clerc appointed + governor—Damours—James de la Guesle—Reign of Henry IV.—Members + of the parliament arrested—President de Harlay—Potier de + Blancmesnil—The family of Seguier—Speeches of Henry IV.—Louis + Seguier—James Gillot—Outrage committed by the Council of + Sixteen—It is punished by the duke of Mayenne—Henry IV. enters + Paris—Surrender of the Bastile—Du Bourg—Treasure deposited in + the Bastile by Henry. + + +It was a conspiracy against the duke of Anjou, and the king of France, +that brought the next prisoner of importance to the Bastile. This +conspiracy originated with the Guises, was promoted by that great artisan +of mischief Philip the Second of Spain, and contained the seminal +principle of the subsequent war, which is known as the war of the League. +The agent employed in carrying it on was Nicholas Salcede, a man of +daring and profligate character, whose father, a Spanish gentleman, the +governor of Vic, in Lorraine, having offended the Guises, was slain, +though he was a catholic, in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. By dint, +however, of heaping favours and attentions on him, the Guises, to whom, +indeed, he was distantly related, soon induced Salcede to forget the +murder of his parent. By a crowning act of kindness, they, in some +measure, acquired a right to his services. Counterfeiting the king’s +coin, as well as that of foreign states, was a crime which, for a long +series of years, was of common occurrence in France among persons of +rank. The punishment of throwing them into boiling oil was insufficient +to deter them; for it was so often evaded that it ceased to create +terror. Salcede had carried the practice of coining to such an extent as +to be able to purchase an estate. Being detected, he was summoned to take +his trial at Rouen, and, as he prudently refused to appear, sentence of +death was passed upon him as a contumacious criminal. But the duke of +Lorraine interceded for him, and his pardon was granted. This, and the +prospect of honours and rewards, linked him firmly to the Guises. + +The duke of Anjou was, at this period, struggling to acquire the +sovereignty of the Netherlands, and under his banner were arrayed an +immense number of the French nobles. To the members of the house of +Lorraine he was inveterately hostile; for he looked upon them as his +personal enemies, and as having been authors of the many mortifications +which he had undergone. To prevent him from entering France, for the +purpose of succouring his brother Henry, was, therefore, an object of +primary importance; as, if that were not attained, their project of +dethroning the king, or at least becoming viceroys over him, could +scarcely hope for success. Morality was, in those days, at so low an +ebb among the great, that it is probable the Guises would have felt but +few scruples in accomplishing their purpose by the death of the duke; +though, avowedly, their sole aim was to shut him out of France, by +closing against him the northern frontier and the ports of Britanny. + +The daring spirit and desperate situation of Salcede—for he was deeply +involved in debt—pointed him out to the Guises as a fit instrument. The +duke of Guise tempted him by a solemn assurance, that the king of Spain +would reward him with rank and occupation proportioned to the magnitude +of his services; and he backed his arguments and promises by descanting +on the benefit which the catholic religion would derive from ruining the +duke of Anjou. His eloquence prevailed, and Salcede unreluctantly devoted +himself to the furtherance of the treasonable scheme. + +It was arranged, that the Guises should secretly furnish funds for +raising a regiment, to be commanded by Salcede, and that he should then +proceed to the duke of Anjou, and offer to bring to his banner a chosen +body of men, who would engage to remain under it for several months. No +doubt was entertained that, as the duke was scantily provided with money, +was, in consequence, daily deserted by some of his troops, and had no +great confidence in the Belgians, he would gladly accept this offer; and +would either entrust the new corps with the keeping of some important +fortress, or reserve it as a guard for his own person. In either case, +the conspirators could turn the circumstance to account. The seizure of +Dunkirk and Cambray were the main points to which Salcede’s attention +was to be directed; but he was also to do his best to shake the fidelity +of Anjou’s officers, and, of course, was to act as spy for the Spanish +monarch. The prince of Parma, meanwhile, was gradually to approach +Calais, the governor of which town, it is said, had promised to betray +his trust. The sudden loss of Calais would, it was imagined, so terrify +Henry, that he would give the supreme command of his forces to the duke +of Guise; the French accomplices of the Guises would then rise in arms; +and the plan of subverting the government would be easily executed. + +As had been expected, the proposal of Salcede was listened to with much +pleasure by the duke of Anjou, who treated him as a valuable friend. The +duke was as yet ignorant that the conspirator had been reconciled to the +Guises. Nor was he aware that, in his way to Bruges, Salcede had visited +the enemy’s camp, had a conference with the prince of Parma, the viceroy, +and been accompanied to Bruges by two of the prince’s agents. But the +sharp-sighted prince of Orange was not disposed to grant his confidence +to the newcomer so readily as the duke; he disliked and suspected him, +both as being in his origin a Spaniard, and as having been found guilty +of an infamous offence. The enquiries of the prince of Orange elicited +sufficient evidence to justify his suspicion that Salcede had sinister +designs, and he, therefore, advised the duke to arrest him. This advice +was followed by Anjou, who had already learned, from another quarter, +that his pretended partisan was connected with the Guises. Salcede was +accordingly arrested on his coming to the palace. The two agents of the +prince of Parma were waiting at the palace gate for their confederate’s +return; one of them escaped, the other, Francis Baza by name, was seized +and committed to prison. In the course of a few days, Baza put an end to +his existence. + +In the first examination, mysterious hints were all that could be drawn +from Salcede; in the second, he spontaneously disclosed so complicated +and gigantic a conspiracy, that his hearers were astounded. That part of +it which related to Belgium and the duke of Anjou was the smallest part; +a mere episode in the Guisian Iliad. The conspirators purposed nothing +less than to imprison the king of France, exterminate the royal family, +and subject the kingdom to the domination of Spain. Their means Salcede +stated to be immense. As implicated in the plot, he named a multitude +of the most powerful nobles, a majority of the governors of provinces +and towns, and even some of the king’s ministers and favourites. The +provinces of Picardy, Champagne, Burgundy, Britanny, and the Cotentin, +were, he said, secured by the plotters; nor would foreign aid be wanting, +as the papal and Piedmontese troops were to enter France on the side of +Lyons, while two Spanish armies were to pass the Pyrenees into Bearn +and Gascony, where the malecontents were in readiness to receive them. +This deposition, after a lapse of some days, he voluntarily repeated and +enlarged, and he offered to prove it, by being confronted with three +persons, whom he had before mentioned, and who, he was convinced, would +confess that he had spoken but the truth. + +This disclosure was of too much importance to Henry of France to admit of +delay in making it known to him. The duke of Anjou accordingly despatched +one of his chamberlains to Paris, with the depositions, and a letter, in +which the Guises were not spared. At first, Henry was startled at the +seeming danger; but his natural dislike of business, and his love of +pleasure, soon induced him to take refuge in the idea that the whole was +an invention of some one who wished to disturb his quiet, or a stratagem +of his brother, to obtain liberal succours. Not so thought his minister +Bellièvre, in whom he placed great confidence. While the minister perused +the paper, the changes in his countenance plainly showed that he thought +the plot was real, and the peril from it extreme. It was at length +settled, that Bellièvre, accompanied by Brulart, one of the secretaries +of state, should proceed to Bruges, interrogate Salcede, and require +that the criminal should be transferred to Paris. “If,” said the king, +“my brother consents to the transfer, I shall believe that a conspiracy +exists.” + +When Bellièvre questioned him, Salcede, for the third time, repeated +his story. He was now conveyed to France, and placed in the castle of +Vincennes; the duke of Anjou having readily acceded to the wish of his +brother. When, however, he was brought before the king in council, +he disavowed all that he had previously said. His confession had, he +affirmed, been dictated to him by three persons in the duke’s service, +who compelled him to write it. “Why, then, did you say the same to +Bellièvre, when those persons were absent?” inquired the king. To this +the unblushing prisoner answered, that Bellièvre had intimidated him by +threats, and that he had always been under the influence of terror while +he was in the ducal palace. Bellièvre was a man remarkable for patience +and politeness, but he was so provoked by this charge, that he could not +forbear from exclaiming, “You are an impudent slanderer.” At the close of +the examination, Salcede was removed to the Bastile. There he was again +examined, and there he persisted in his disavowal. + +It now became a question what should be done with Salcede. The president +de Thou advised that he should be retained in prison. He urged that, if +the conspiracy were real, his detention would intimidate his accomplices, +and afford the means of convicting them in case of need; while, on the +other hand, if the conspiracy were only a calumny, invented by turbulent +and ill-disposed persons, the existence of the criminal might serve +to justify the innocence of those whom he had accused. His son, the +celebrated historian, tells us, that the president had an additional +motive in thus advising; he wished not merely to hold the conspirators +in check, by preserving the evidence of their guilt, but, at the same +time, to keep before the king’s eyes a memento of the danger to which +he exposed himself by his unbridled licentiousness, and his oppressive +misgovernment. + +This prudent counsel was, however, strenuously opposed. It was contended +that, in whatever light the question was viewed, the culprit ought to +die. Supposing the plot to be a reality, his death would terrify his +associates; his being suffered to live might drive them to rebellion +through despair. If, on the contrary, his tale were false, death ought +to punish the calumny; and the more so because, if impunity were granted +to him, resentment, at being unjustly suspected, might provoke innocent +persons to become really criminal. + +The motive which prompted many to insist on the latter mode of proceeding +cannot be mistaken; they were pleading for their own lives, or the +lives of their friends. The weakness of their reasoning is so evident +as to need no exposure. It was not by stifling inquiry that the monarch +could hope to neutralize or convert his enemies. History does, indeed, +record instances where it was wise as well as generous to throw the +veil of oblivion over an incipient plot, and save the plotters from the +necessity of becoming open rebels; but this was not a case of the kind. +The plotters against Henry were irreclaimable, and, ascribing his conduct +to fear and not to mildness, would only be encouraged to persist in their +destructive projects. When justice has pronounced upon the criminal, +then is the time for a sovereign to show mercy; and, if he have a human +heart, he will set no other bounds to his clemency than those which are +imperatively prescribed by the safety of the state. But he who shrinks +from prosecuting a traitor offers a premium for the growth of treason. + +Henry, nevertheless, decided otherwise. He adopted the opinion of those +who were for sending Salcede to the scaffold. In thus following their +insidious advice, he was not influenced by principle or mistaken policy; +he was mainly actuated by a childish impatience, an eagerness to get rid +of a disagreeable subject, which interrupted his contemptible pleasures. +Like the stupid bird, which hopes to baffle its pursuers by hiding its +head, he seems to have thought that if danger were out of sight it could +not reach him. He had, however, another and an equally mean reason for +his decision; the wish to mortify de Thou. The president had recently +offended him by a virtuous and truly loyal act. Dreading the effect which +would be produced by the king’s incessant edicts to extort money, he +implored him to pause, lest poverty and despair should drive the people +to resistance. Instead of profiting by this patriotic warning, Henry +turned round to his train of flatterers, and sneeringly exclaimed, “The +poor man is in a state of dotage!” He was righteously punished for his +scorn of honest and prudent counsel. Ere many years had gone by, he was +taught to lament with tears the loss of this doting magistrate, and to +confess that, had de Thou lived, Paris would never have revolted. + +Salcede was brought to trial. Everything that could throw light on the +fact of the conspiracy was studiously suppressed; there was no search for +evidence relative to it, no examination and confronting of the persons +who had been charged by the prisoner. The sole object was to obtain a +sentence of death against the man whose existence might prove fatal to +the conspirators. That object was accomplished on the 25th of October, +1582. Salcede was pronounced guilty of high treason, and was condemned +to be torn into quarters by four horses; his quarters were to be placed +on gibbets, at the principal gates of Paris, and his head was to be sent +to Antwerp, to be exposed in a similar manner. Immediately previous to +his execution, he was likewise to be put to the torture; this was a +supererogatory act of cruelty, for, even if we admit the possibility of +justifying the use of torture, its infliction in this instance could +answer no useful purpose. It was decreed, also, by his judges, that “his +confessions, the private letters found on him, and _the declarations +which he had made since the commencement of his trial_, should be burnt +to ashes; as having been malignantly and calumniously invented, to +prejudice the honour of various princes, nobles, and other persons.” Here +is the key to the whole proceeding. + + “Light dies before thy uncreating word! + Thy hand, great anarch, lets the curtain fall, + And universal darkness buries all.” + +The king was sufficiently devoid of feeling to witness, behind a curtain, +the torturing of the prisoner, and to go to the Town Hall, to see +executed the ferocious and sickening sentence, which condemned a fellow +being to be torn to pieces by horses. But, even in that corrupt and +semi-barbarous age, there were not wanting persons who passed a severe +censure on Henry, for conduct which was disgraceful to him as a king and +a man. + +When the torture was applied, Salcede again veered about; he re-asserted +the whole of what he had originally stated, with respect to the +conspiracy. This blow was, however, adroitly parried by those whom it +might otherwise have injured. As he was passing up a dark staircase, +after having been tortured, he was joined by a priest, of the order of +Jesuits, who exhorted him to retract his confession once more. This +ghostly adviser no doubt worked powerfully on his hopes and fears, with +regard to another world, and he succeeded in prevailing on him to make a +new retractation. As nothing was to be gained by varying in his story, he +persisted in this retractation, and, at the place of execution, he loudly +extolled the virtues, and proclaimed the innocence, of his patrons, the +Guises. He lived a villain, and he died a self-convicted liar. + +In the following year, 1583, there occurred another, but comparatively +a trivial, illustration of the ambitious views of the Guises, and +the vacillation and timidity of the king. Francis de Rosières, a +native of Toul, born in 1534, was a man of prepossessing manners, and +of considerable erudition and eloquence. He rose to be archdeacon of +Toul, and through the patronage of cardinal de Guise, obtained several +benefices, and the office of counsellor to the duke of Lorraine. To prove +his gratitude to his benefactors, and probably at their instigation, he +composed and published a voluminous work, on “the genealogy of the dukes +of Lorraine and Bar.” Its evident purpose was to degrade the reigning +family, and exalt that of the Guises. Not satisfied with tracing back +in a direct line to Charlemagne the descent of the house of Lorraine, +he carried it further through the starless night of ages, up to a son +of Clodion, from whom Merovæus was pretended to have usurped the crown. +The inference was easy, that the monarchs of the Capetian race were +intruders, and that the Guises alone had a legitimate right to the +throne. From thence to the assertion of the right was but a single step, +on the propriety of which it was for prudence to decide, the question of +justice being already settled. This doctrine was, in fact, openly taught +in other works, which the Guises, however, affected to disavow, and to +regard as fabrications of the protestants, for the purpose of throwing +suspicion on their loyalty. + +In addition to his laboured genealogy of his patrons, Rosières had been +guilty of various misrepresentations, and of a personal attack upon +Henry; and he had supported his fabric of falsehood by documents which +were manifestly spurious, and by altering others, so as to suit them to +his purpose. The other libels Henry had repelled only by employing Pons +de Thyard, a man of varied talents, to write an elaborate answer: against +this he resolved to proceed in a different manner; he treated it as a +state crime. He who had swallowed the camel of last year’s conspiracy, +now strained at this gnat of a volume. And here again his infirmity of +purpose betrayed him to the scorn of his enemies. Commencing vigorously, +he despatched Brulart to Toul, to interrogate Rosières; after which the +archdeacon was conveyed to Paris, and housed in the Bastile. Thus far, +Henry seemed to have meditated a tragedy; but, in its further progress +the drama dwindled down to a miserable farce. The plan which he adopted +had the demerit of alike disclosing an inclination to mortify the Guises, +and a dread of offending them. It was the latter feeling which prompted +him to prohibit the parliament from intervening in the cause, because +that body would probably pass a sentence derogatory to the house of +Lorraine; it was the former feeling which induced him to persevere in +seeking to gain the shadow of a triumph. He could not see that any thing +short of complete victory was in reality a defeat. + +Pursuing the absurd system which he had framed for himself, Henry now +convoked, at the Louvre, a numerous council of nobles and eminent men; +all the heads of the Lorraine family were present. Rosières was brought +from the Bastile, and, on his knees confessed his fault, owned that +he deserved rigorous punishment, and sued for pardon. The keeper of +the seals then gravely lectured him on the enormity of his crime, and +declared him to be guilty of high treason. It was next the turn of the +queen-mother to play her part; and, accordingly, as had previously been +arranged, she stepped forward, and entreated her son to forgive the +offender, for the sake of the duke of Lorraine. The king graciously +consented, and delivered Rosières into the hands of the duke. This +ludicrous scene was terminated by a decree, that the book should be torn +to pieces before the author’s face, but that no public record should be +made of these things, “lest reproach should fall on the illustrious house +of Lorraine.” Anquetil pithily remarks, that the crime ought either to +have been left unnoticed, or been more severely chastised. + +Rosières did not pass the whole of his remaining days in tranquillity. +He involved himself in a quarrel with his bishop, and was under the +necessity of repairing to Rome, to plead his own cause. How he sped in +the holy city is doubtful; one writer affirms that he was censured, +another maintains that he was absolved. He died in 1607. Besides the +Genealogy, he wrote various works, which are as dead as their author. + +Writers who ventured to thwart the Guises in their treasonable designs +did not meet with so much lenity from them as was shown to Rosières by +the feeble-minded Henry. No merit whatever could counterbalance the sin +of opposing them. This was experienced by Peter de Belloy, an eminent +jurisconsult, who was born at Montauban, about 1540, and became public +professor and counsellor at Toulouse. Belloy was a zealous catholic, and +his three elder brothers had fallen in combating against the protestants. +But these claims to consideration were not sufficient to prevent him from +being persecuted by the house of Lorraine. + +Asserting the king of Navarre’s right to succeed to the reigning monarch, +and exposing the machinations and hollow pretexts of the Guises, was +the crime of which Belloy was guilty. The works which drew on him +the vengeance of the Guisian faction were the “Catholic Apology;” “A +Refutation of the Bull of Pope Pius V. against the Navarrese sovereign;” +and “An Examination of the Discourse published against the Royal House +of France.” In these works, which were given to the press in 1585 and +1586, he contended, that the protestantism of Henry of Navarre did not +deprive him of his title to the crown; that the king could not disinherit +his legitimate heir; that the Pope had no authority to sit in judgment +upon the question of the succession; and that the seeming ardour of the +Guises, in behalf of catholicism, was nothing more than a mask to cover +their designs upon the throne. His language was strictly decorous, his +candour and impartiality were evident, but his facts and arguments were +unforgivable. + +Slander was the weapon which his enemies began by using against Belloy. +To his “Catholic Apology” a reply was published by a Jesuit, who assumed +the designation of Francisculus Romulus, but who is believed to have been +the celebrated Bellarmin. To give weight to his reasonings, the Jesuit +boldly asserted that his opponent, who falsely took the name of catholic, +was at least a heretic, if not an atheist. This calumny fell harmless +upon the object at which it was aimed. It was not so with calumny from +a higher quarter. The Guises were not satisfied with defaming him; they +determined to make him feel their power more effectually. An unfortunate +maniac, le Breton by name, of whom I shall have next occasion to speak, +had written a seditious libel. This libel the Guises ascribed to Belloy. +Failing to effect their purpose by this accusation, they painted him +in the darkest colours to the king, as a dangerous mischief-maker and +heretic, and the weak monarch was at last prevailed upon to commit him to +the prison of the Concièrgerie. + +After Henry had assassinated the duke of Guise, the Council of Sixteen +removed Belloy to the Bastile, where he remained in close confinement +for nearly four years. He at length found means to escape, and he sought +refuge at St. Denis, which was garrisoned by the troops of Henry IV. He +was introduced to Henry, by Vic, the governor, and the king rewarded +his talents and fidelity, by appointing him advocate-general to the +parliament of Toulouse. His subsequent life appears to have been passed +in quiet. The date of his death is not known, but in 1612 he was still +living. He wrote various works, besides those which have already been +mentioned: among them are a “Dissertation on the Origin and Institution +of various Orders of Chivalry;” and “An Exposition of the Seventy Weeks +of Daniel.” + +Francis le Breton, to whom I have already alluded, affords a striking +proof that, when Henry the third forbore to punish, it was not clemency, +but fear, indolence, or caprice, that withheld his hand. Le Breton was a +barrister of Poitiers, who had acquired considerable reputation by his +forensic talents. It speaks strongly in favour of his honesty and the +kindness of his nature, that he espoused so warmly the part of those for +whom he pleaded, as entirely to identify their interest with his own. A +mere mercenary counsel, indifferent to the justice or injustice of his +client’s claim, could have had no such feelings. Unfortunately, le Breton +was of a family in which symptoms of insanity had often appeared, and the +dreadful malady was lurking in his brain. The loss of a cause, in which +he was engaged for a poor individual, at once roused the latent disease +into action. He burst into vehement invectives against the judges, and +presented a violent memorial against them to a higher tribunal. The +superior judges, who saw how he was affected, gave him a gentle rebuke, +and dismissed the complaint. Irritated by this, he journeyed to Paris, +to make an appeal to the king. Having fastened his memorial on the +end of a stick, he went to the Louvre, where the guards, who rightly +concluded that he was bereft of his senses, endeavoured to drive him +away. Le Breton, however, was immovable, and he exclaimed so loudly and +incessantly, “The cause of the poor is abandoned, and God will take +vengeance for it,” that the noise reached the king’s ear, and he ordered +him to be admitted. Henry listened to his story, and then commanded him +to return to his own country, and to keep silence in public. To have +sent him to the hospital would have been a more praiseworthy act. + +Instead of proceeding to Poitiers, the maniac wandered through the +provinces, calling on the people to recover their liberty, and sending +inflammatory writings to the towns which were too distant for him to +visit. At last he reached Bordeaux, and demanded an interview with the +duke of Mayenne. It was granted; and the unfortunate lunatic employed +the whole of it in conjuring the duke to defend the cause of the poor. +Mayenne, who felt that le Breton’s harangues to the multitude, mad as he +was, might be serviceable to the Guises, gave him money, and probably +hopes, and then desired him to withdraw. + +Encouraged by this gracious reception, le Breton made the best of his +way to Paris, where he sat down to compose a furious invective against +the king, whom, with more truth than prudence or decorum, he styled +a debauched tyrant, and the magistrates, whom he stigmatised as men +steeped in wickedness, who, to please that tyrant, and gratify men in +power, betrayed the cause of the poor. Two printers were found who had +sufficient boldness to risk the printing of this libel. But, just as it +was about to appear, the whole impression was seized, and the author was +lodged in the Bastile. The printers were sentenced to be whipped, with +their necks in a halter, and then to be banished from the kingdom. The +libel was burnt by the public executioner. + +Believing, or affecting to believe, that the prisoner was less a madman +than an instrument of the malecontents, Henry endeavoured, by secret +interrogations, to obtain a confession that such was the fact. The +attempt failed, and the prisoner was then given up to the parliament for +trial. It was his misfortune that he was not the agent of some formidable +conspirator; he would in that case have had a fair chance of escaping. + +When le Breton was brought before the parliament, his malady manifested +itself in a more extravagant manner than ever. He treated the court with +unbounded contempt, spoke to the members with his hat on, and would +answer no questions. As he thus suffered judgment to go by default, +sentence of death was passed upon him, as guilty of having excited +the people to revolt; but his equitable and compassionate judges also +decreed, that “a deputation should wait upon the king, to represent that +the culprit laboured under mental alienation, and to entreat that his +majesty would pardon a crime which was rather the effect of disease than +of free will.” + +But neither the prayer of the parliament, nor the supplications of le +Breton’s mother, who brought irrefragable evidence of his madness, had +any effect upon the heartless Henry. Here was a victim whom he could +safely sacrifice, and he would not forego the pleasure. Yet even here +his mental cowardice peeped out. Instead of the involuntary offender +being conveyed to the Grêve, which was the usual place of execution, +he was hanged in the palace court. It seems to have been supposed, and +perhaps correctly, that the people could not witness without emotion +the death of a man, whose malady and whose fate had been brought upon +him by commiseration for their sorrows, and who perished because he had +no friend, while notorious criminals were daily allowed to brave the +laws with impunity. Far from acting as an example to deter others, the +murder of le Breton—for in his deplorable situation it was a murder—only +served to exasperate the people in a tenfold degree. It was the singular +infelicity of Henry never to be right in his treatment of crime; he was +despised when he did not punish, he was hated when he did. + +Political persecution consigned to the Bastile, at this period, and when +he was on the verge of the grave from extreme old age, a man who was +a benefactor, and an honour, to his native land. Bernard Palissy was +born about the year 1500, in the bishopric of Agen. His parents were so +scantily favoured by fortune that they could do little for his education; +but he contrived to acquire a knowledge of reading and writing, and +sufficient skill in drawing and land-measuring to gain a livelihood as a +draughtsman, a painter of glass and images, and a land surveyor. Geology, +natural philosophy, and chemistry, next attracted his attention, and with +respect to the two former he was far in advance of his contemporaries. + +It was about the year 1539, when he had settled at Saintes, after his +journeys through the provinces, that a circumstance occurred which gave +a colour to all his future life. He chanced to be shown a beautiful +enamelled porcelain cup, manufactured in Italy. It struck him that, if +he could discover the secret of fabricating this ware, he might obtain +riches, and likewise serve his country by introducing into it a new +art. From that moment he pursued his object with admirable energy and +perseverance. Innumerable experiments failed, his resources wasted away, +poverty and almost starvation stared him in the face, yet still, in spite +of this, and of the exhortations of some, and the sneers of others, he +steadily persisted. At length, after having suffered a mental martyrdom +of sixteen years’ duration, he succeeded in his efforts, and independence +and fame were his reward. For the adornment of their palaces and gardens, +the king and all the nobles of France were eager to possess the figures +and vases which were produced by Palissy’s taste and skill. + +Bernard Palissy had too enlarged a mind to devote himself wholly to +the heaping up of riches. The toils of business he diversified and +lightened by liberal studies. He formed a cabinet of natural history at +Paris; gave, for several years, a course of lectures on natural history +and physics; and wrote a variety of works, valuable for their facts and +reasonings, and the new and just views contained in them, and unaffected +and pleasing in their style. + +Palissy was a protestant, firmly attached to his religion, and from that +attachment arose the only troubles which molested him in the decline +of life. When the public exercise of their worship was prohibited, he +gathered into a private assembly a few individuals of his own class, each +of whom in his turn expounded the tenets of the Gospel. In 1562, though +the duke of Montpensier had given him a safeguard, and his manufactory +had been declared a privileged place, the bigoted judges of Saintes +destroyed his establishment, and would have destroyed the proprietor +also, had not the king interposed, and rescued him from their hands. +The memory of Charles the ninth is branded with eternal infamy, but +candour requires it to be owned, that he was a man of taste and talent; +a lover of literature and the arts. It is melancholy to think upon what +he might have been, and what he was. He invited the persecuted artist to +Paris, and gave him apartments in the Tuileries. Thus protected, Palissy +remained unhurt during the horrible slaughter of St. Bartholomew’s day. + +The protection which Charles the ninth extended to Palissy, the +weaker-minded Henry the third wanted courage to continue. When the +influence of the Guises became predominant in Paris, the venerable +artist was arrested by the Council of Sixteen, and thrown into the +Bastile. There Henry visited him. “My good man,” said the king, “if +you cannot bring yourself to conform on the point of religion, I shall +be compelled to leave you in the clutches of my enemies.” Palissy was +then nearly ninety years of age, but his spirit was not bowed by the +weight of years, or the prospect of death. He firmly replied, “Sire, you +have several times said that you pity me; but I pity _you_, who have +uttered the words ‘I am compelled.’ This is not speaking like a king. I +will teach you the royal language. Neither the Guisarts, nor your whole +people, can ever compel me to bend my knee before an image, for I know +how to die.” + +The firmness of Palissy was not put to the extreme proof; but, had it +been so, there is no reason to believe that his conduct would have belied +his words. He was saved from the fiery ordeal by the duke of Mayenne, who +humanely threw so many obstacles in the way of his trial, that Palissy +died a natural death, in the Bastile, about the year 1589, no less +respected for his virtues than admired for his talents.[4] + +Those enemies of Henry, into whose hands he feared that he should be +“compelled” to deliver up Palissy, continued to plot against the monarch +with an astonishing degree of audacity, which could be equalled only by +the tameness with which he endured it. Plans were successively formed +by them, to obtain possession of Boulogne; to arrest him on his way +from Vincennes, and, subsequently, at the fair of St. Germain; and to +make themselves masters of the Bastile, the Arsenal, the Temple, and +other posts in Paris, massacre the ministers, judges, and courtiers, +and depose and imprison him. Among the bitterest and most active of his +enemies was the duchess of Montpensier, sister of the duke of Guise, who +constantly wore at her girdle a pair of golden scissors, for the purpose, +as she insolently said, of giving the monkish tonsure to brother Henry +of Valois, previous to his being sent to a monastery. Henry frustrated +these schemes, but had not spirit to punish them. The impunity which +the criminals enjoyed produced its natural effect. The resources and the +boldness of the conspirators were increased; the memorable day of the +Barricades ensued; the monarch was expelled from Paris; and he entered it +no more. + +As soon as the king had taken flight from the Louvre, Guise put garrisons +into the Arsenal, and other military positions of Paris, and likewise +into Vincennes and the town of Corbeil. The Bastile might still have +remained in the power of Henry, and afforded him an easy entrance into +his capital, had he not been guilty of an unaccountable act of folly. +Colonel Ornano, an officer of established reputation, had offered to +pledge his head that, if he were entrusted with the command, he would +hold the place to the last extremity; but Henry preferred leaving it in +the hands of Lawrence Testu, of whom it was sarcastically said, that +he was more fit to govern a bottle than a fortress. He justified the +contempt which was expressed for him, by surrendering the moment that he +received a summons from Guise. His prompt submission called forth another +sarcasm, by which he was declared to have given up his post, because he +had no oranges to flavour his ragoût of partridges. + +The government of the Bastile was conferred, by Guise, on Bussi le Clerc, +the most active member of the Council of Sixteen, a determined hater of +the king and the protestants, and devoted heart and soul to the Guises. +Bussi was originally a fencing-master, but changed his calling, and +became an attorney. He was not long without prisoners. Among the first +whom he received were Perreuse, late the provost of the merchants, who +was expelled from his office for being faithful to the king, La Guesle, +the attorney general, and Damours, a protestant minister. + +Damours was fortunate. Some ferocious wild beasts have been known to +contract an attachment to helpless animals which were thrown into their +dens. Bussi did so with respect to Damours. Instead of tormenting him, +and being eager to send him to the flames, a mode of proceeding which +might have been expected from a zealous and unenlightened catholic, +he took a singular liking for him. With many oaths, he declared that, +thorough hugonot as he was, Damours was worth more than all those +politicians, the presidents and counsellors, “who were nothing but +hypocrites;” and he bestirred himself so vigorously on behalf of his +favourite, that he procured his liberation. + +James de la Guesle was born in 1557, and succeeded his father in +the office of attorney general. After the day of the Barricades, he +endeavoured to escape in disguise from Paris, for the purpose of joining +the fugitive king; but he was recognised, and committed to prison. He +did not long remain in the Bastile, and, as soon as he was set free, he +proceeded to St. Cloud, where Henry was residing. The death of the king, +which soon after occurred, afforded the enemies of La Guesle a pretext +to throw out insinuations against him; for it was by him that Clement, +the assassin monk, was introduced into the presence of the monarch. +His loyalty was, however, too well known to admit of being stained by +calumny. After having held office throughout the reign of Henry IV., and +enjoyed the full confidence of that sovereign, La Guesle died in 1612. + +The Bastile was not allowed to remain untenanted by prisoners of +distinction. Bussi had soon the gratification of wreaking his hatred +upon “the presidents and counsellors” whom he had described as being +“nothing but hypocrites.” The parliament, still faithful to the king, +was a serious obstacle in the way of the Leaguers, and the Council of +Sixteen determined, therefore, to apply an effectual remedy to this +evil. This remedy was of the same nature as that which, long afterwards, +was employed in England, by Oliver Cromwell, and is known by the name of +Pride’s Purge. Bussi le Clerc was the colonel Pride on this occasion. + +On the 16th of January, 1589, while the parliament was about to choose +deputies, for a mission to the king, at Blois, Bussi, who had surrounded +the hall with troops, suddenly entered, attended by some of his armed +followers, and began to read a list of the proscribed members, among +whom were the two presidents. On hearing this, the whole of the members +simultaneously declared, that they would share the fate of their chiefs. +Bussi took them at their word, and they were led away to the Bastile, +where they were soon joined by some of their colleagues, who, suspecting +what would happen, had not quitted their homes, but whose caution had +failed to ensure their safety. All those who were not on Bussi’s list +were, however, liberated in the course of the same evening, and a part +of the others were allowed to return to their homes, on their friends +becoming answerable for them. Having thus got rid of the persons who were +obnoxious to them, the Leaguers remodelled the parliament, in such a +manner as to render it subservient to their purposes. + +The most distinguished of the parliamentary members who were kept in hold +were Achille de Harlay, Nicholas Potier de Blancmesnil, Louis Seguier, +and James Gillot. + +The personal and mental courage of Harlay qualified him well for the +stormy times in which he lived. To the influence of fear he seems to +have been scarcely accessible. To the merit of unchangeable loyalty he +added the rarer merit of opposing the rash and oppressive edicts of the +sovereign. His legal knowledge was profound, and his integrity without +a stain. He was born in 1536, and he sprung from a family which had +distinguished itself, for more than two centuries, on the seat of justice +or in the field of battle. At the age of forty-six, he succeeded his +father-in-law, Christopher de Thou, as president of the parliament of +Paris. + +When the success of his partisans, on the day of the Barricades, had +rendered the duke of Guise master of the capital, he went, with a train +of followers, to the house of Harlay, for the purpose of prevailing on +him to convoke the parliament, that the recent measures might obtain +something like a sanction. The president was walking in the garden, and +he did not deign to notice his visiter till the duke approached him; +then, raising his voice, he said, “It is a lamentable thing when the +servant drives out his master. As to all the rest, my soul is God’s, +my heart is the king’s, and my body is in the hands of the wicked; let +them do as they please with it.” Guise still pressing him to assemble +the parliament, he sternly replied, “When the majesty of the monarch +is violated, the magistrate has no longer any authority.” Hoping to +intimidate him, some of the duke’s followers threatened him with death, +but their threats were as unavailing as the request of Guise had been. +“I have,” replied the undaunted magistrate, “neither head nor life that +I value more than the love I owe to God, the service which I owe to the +king, and the good which I owe to my country.” + +After an imprisonment of several months, Harlay obtained his liberty, at +the price of ten thousand crowns. The moment that he was free he departed +from Paris, to join Henry the fourth at Tours, and the monarch appointed +him president of the parliament sitting in that city, and composed of +Parisian members, who had succeeded in escaping from the clutches of the +Leaguers. In this post, Harlay sustained his high reputation, by the +vigour and eloquence with which he refuted the manifestos of Spain and +the League, and the bulls of the Roman Pontiff. + +Peace at length came, and Henry rewarded his services by the estate of +Beaumont, with the title of count. When the first president returned +to Paris, all the members of the parliament went out to meet and +congratulate him. As Harlay advanced in years, he did not bate one jot +of the spirit which he had manifested at an earlier period. He still +unflinchingly supported the rights of the kingdom, and the liberties of +the Gallican church, and protested against whatever he deemed pernicious +to the people or the monarch. The re-establishment of the Jesuits he +strongly but vainly opposed. From one of his speeches to Henry the +fourth, in 1604, we may judge with what an honest freedom he uttered his +sentiments. The parliament having dissented from a measure which the +Council had resolved upon, its dissent was construed into disobedience. +“If to serve well be disobedience,” replied the venerable magistrate, +“the parliament is in the habit of committing that fault; and, when a +conflict arises between the king’s absolute power and the good of his +service, it prefers the one to the other, not from disobedience, but from +a desire to do its duty, and to keep its conscience clear.” + +After having held the first presidentship for thirty-four years, Harlay, +whose sight and hearing were impaired, resigned it early in 1616, and he +died, on the 23d of October, of the same year, at the age of eighty. + +Born at Paris, in 1541, of a family which had given several eminent +magistrates to the state, Potier de Blancmesnil attained the rank of +president à mortier in 1578. With talents less splendid than those of +Harlay, he was not inferior to him in probity and devoted loyalty. From +the imprisonment which followed his seizure by Bussi le Clerc he was +released in a few days; but he did not long retain his liberty. When +Henry, on the 1st of November, 1589, made himself master of the suburbs +of Paris, and there seemed reason to believe that the new monarch would +soon enter the city in triumph, the joy of Potier was so undisguised, +that the Leaguers again sent him to his old quarters in the Bastile. He +was brought to trial, as an adherent of the Bearnese—for so Henry was +contemptuously called—and he would no doubt have suffered an ignominious +death, had not the duke of Mayenne interposed, and released him from +prison. Throwing himself at the feet of his deliverer, Potier exclaimed, +“My Lord, I am indebted to you for my life; yet I dare to request from +you a still greater benefit, that of permitting me to join my legitimate +sovereign. I shall all my life acknowledge you as my benefactor; but I +cannot serve you as my master!” Mayenne had greatness of mind enough not +to be offended by this speech. Affected even to tears by the appeal, he +raised up and embraced the suppliant, and allowed him to depart. It is +delightful to find a few bright flowers of virtue among the lurid and +noxious growth produced by civil war. + +Henry the Fourth rewarded Potier by making him president of the +parliament of Chalons. In that office he continued during the whole of +Henry’s reign. When the monarch perished by the knife of Ravaillac, +the news was carried to Chalons, accompanied, as is customary in such +cases, by a thousand terrific rumours. As soon as he heard the lamentable +tidings, René Potier, the president’s son, who was bishop of Beauvais, +hurried to the hall where the parliament was sitting, and entreated him +to quit the place without delay, in a carriage which he had brought for +the purpose. But the magistrate had more firmness than the prelate. He +answered, in a loud voice, that the state and the country called on him +not to absent himself on such an emergency, but to die, if needful, in +order to secure the obedience which was due to Henry the fourth’s son; +and he earnestly exhorted his colleagues not to remove from their seats. +It was probably for this opportune act of courage and fidelity that Mary +de Medicis conferred on him the title of her chancellor. + +Potier lived to the venerable age of ninety-four, preserving all his +faculties to the last. His decease took place on the 1st of June 1635. + +It has been remarked by French writers, that no family furnished more +magistrates than that of Seguier. From the first appearance of the name +in the parliament of Toulouse, when that body was originally formed, +in the 14th century, down to the period of the French revolution, the +number amounted to sixty-eight, of whom many possessed high talents, and +consummate legal knowledge. Peter, the first who bore that prenomen, +is characterised, by the poet Scevola St. Marthe, as “one of the most +brilliant lights of the temple of the laws,” and in this praise there +is no poetical exaggeration. To this magistrate France owes eternal +gratitude, for his having frustrated the project of introducing the +Inquisition into that country. He was warned beforehand that he would do +well to avoid venturing too far in his opposition, but he nobly set the +danger at defiance, and he triumphed. + +The six sons who survived him were all of the legal profession. No +monarch ever paid a more graceful compliment to a subject than that which +Henry the fourth paid to the second Peter, a son of the first, who became +president on the resignation of his father. The courtiers pressing so +closely round the king that the president could not reach him, Henry +held out his hand to Seguier, and said, “Gentlemen, allow to come to me +my inseparable during my bad fortune, which, with you, he aided me to +surmount. I can answer for it, that, notwithstanding the business with +which I burthen him, he will always be too much my friend to neglect +me.” In a similar strain he publicly addressed Anthony, another brother, +who was setting off on an embassy to Venice. “You made your way into my +affections,” said he, “in the same manner that I did into my kingdom, in +spite of the resistance and the slanders of my enemies and enviers.” + +Louis, the fourth brother, was a counsellor of the parliament, and also +dean of the cathedral church of Nôtre Dame, at Paris. He obtained his +release from the Bastile by paying a large ransom; but he was not allowed +to remain in peace, he being soon after expelled from the capital by +the Leaguers. He was subsequently sent to Rome, by Henry the fourth, to +negotiate with the pope for the monarch’s absolution. On his return, +he was offered the bishopric of Laon, which would have given him the +elevated and much coveted rank of duke and peer. Seguier, however, devoid +of ambition, preferred to remain in the humble station of dean. He died +in 1610. + +Gillot, the last of those whom I have mentioned as having been lodged +in the Bastile by Bussi le Clerc, was certainly entitled to share the +fate of his companions, his attachment to the royal cause being a matter +of notoriety. He was of a noble Burgundian family, possessed a good +fortune, much erudition, and a valuable library, was connected with most +of the wits and learned men of that period, and assembled them frequently +at his social board, where they conversed on topics of philosophy and +literature. He had also the higher merit of being beneficent, sincere, +and candid. It was said of him, that he had so benign a disposition that +his sole delight was in obliging. Gillot was educated for the church, +and became dean of Langres, and canon of the Holy Chapel at Paris; he +was likewise one of the ecclesiastical counsellors, or judges, in the +parliament. His abode in the Bastile does not appear to have been of long +duration; it is probable that he ransomed himself. For his incarceration +he took an ample revenge, by bearing a part in writing the admirable +satire called “la Satire Ménippée, ou le Catholicon d’Espagne,” which +covered the Leaguers with ineffaceable ridicule, and is said to have been +more injurious to their cause than the sword of Henry the fourth. The +harangue of the legate at the opening of the states of the League, and +the laughable idea of the procession of the Leaguers, are attributed to +Gillot. This estimable and talented man died in 1619. + +The Council of Sixteen, like the Common Council of Paris in 1792 and +1793, was eager to monopolize all the power of the state. It carried on +a secret correspondence with the Pope and the Spanish monarch, and was +obviously preparing to subvert the authority of the duke of Mayenne. +In furtherance of its plan, it resolved to strike the parliament with +terror, and of course render that body subservient, by a decisive blow. +A pretext was furnished by the acquittal of a person named Brigard, +who had been tried on a charge of corresponding with the royalists. +A cry was immediately raised, that the parliament had violated its +duty, by granting impunity to treason, and that some measure must be +adopted, to prevent the recurrence of such a crime. Several meetings +were clandestinely held, to decide upon what should be done. The result +was, that on the 15th of November, 1591, the president Brisson, and the +counsellors Larcher and Tardif, were seized by order of the Sixteen, +carried to prison, and hanged there upon a beam, without even the +semblance of a trial. The bodies, with calumnious papers attached to +them, were then removed to the Grêve, and publicly exposed on three +gibbets. + +This last outrage caused the downfall of the Sixteen. Mayenne had long +been dissatisfied with the conduct of these turbulent and sanguinary +men, and he was heartily glad of this opportunity to punish them, and +annihilate their political influence. He could do both with safety, +as a great majority of the citizens were shocked and disgusted by the +murderous act which had been committed. The duke was then with his army +at Soissons, where he was expecting to be joined by the prince of Parma. +Leaving his troops under the command of the young duke of Guise, he +hastened, with three hundred horse and fifteen hundred foot, to Paris. +A few days after his arrival, he consigned four of the criminals to +execution, proscribed two who had escaped, prohibited, under pain of +death, all secret meetings, and thus put an end for ever to the tyranny +of the council. The partisans and agents of Spain murmured in private +at these decisive measures, but they were in too feeble a minority to +venture upon doing more. + +Among those who were executed was not Bussi le Clerc; though, as he +had been the most conspicuous actor in the murders, he richly deserved +death. It was to being governor of the Bastile that he was indebted for +his safety. When Mayenne came to Paris, Bussi prudently kept within the +walls of the fortress; and, as there were various reasons which made it +unadvisable to besiege him, he was allowed to negociate. On condition +that he should not be punished for his share in the murder of Brisson, +Larcher, and Tardif, and that he should be at liberty to go wheresoever +he pleased with his property, he agreed to surrender the Bastile. The +first of these articles was faithfully performed; but with respect to the +second he was not so lucky, for Mayenne’s soldiers deprived him of the +booty which he had made during the civil war. He retired to Brussels, +where, during forty years, he earned a scanty subsistence, as an obscure +teacher of fencing. The custody of the Bastile was confided, by the duke +of Mayenne, to du Bourg, a brave and trusty officer. + +In 1589, after Henry the fourth’s attempt upon Paris, when he had little +more than the shadow of an army left, and was obliged to retreat on +Normandy, the Parisians were so confident that the Bearnese would be +brought back a prisoner by the duke of Mayenne, that the windows in St. +Anthony’s-street were hired, to see him pass along in his way to the +Bastile; in the following year, he held them cooped up within their +walls, suffering the direst extremity of famine; and now, in 1594, he +entered the capital in triumph, as an acknowledged sovereign, amidst +the shouts of the multitude. It must be owned, however, that for the +submission of Paris, as well as of many other cities, Henry had to thank +his purse rather than his sword. For giving up Paris, Brissac, the +governor, received nearly seventeen hundred thousand livres. The whole of +the strong places which the king bought, cost him no less than thirty-two +millions of livres, besides governments, offices, and titles. At dinner, +on the day of his entry, he pointedly alluded to this circumstance, in +the presence of some of the vendors. Nicolas, a jovial poet and man of +wit, was standing by Henry’s chair: “Well,” said the king to him, “what +say you to seeing me here in Paris?” “Sire,” replied Nicolas, “that which +is Cæsar’s has been rendered unto Cæsar.” “Ventre saint-gris!” exclaimed +Henry in reply, “I have not been treated at all like Cæsar, for it has +not been rendered to me but sold to me, and at a pretty high price too.” + +There was, nevertheless, one man among the Leaguers who was not venal. +This was du Bourg, the governor of the Bastile. His vigilance had +recently frustrated a plot to seize on the fortress, and he now prepared +to defend his charge to the utmost. For five days he refused to listen to +any overtures, and he even turned his cannon upon the city. But having +received information that it was impossible for Mayenne to succour him, +he consented to capitulate upon honourable terms. His garrison was +allowed to retire with arms and baggage. Money he refused to accept; +nor would he acknowledge Henry as his master; he had, he said, given his +faith to the duke of Mayenne, and he would not violate it. With a strange +mixture of ferocity, coarseness, and chivalrous feeling, he added, that +Brissac was a traitor, that he would maintain it in mortal combat with +him before the king, and that he “would eat his heart in his belly.” + +The circumstances of the times, which rendered it necessary to reign with +some degree of caution, but still more the generous and clement character +of Henry, for a few years prevented the Bastile from having many captive +inmates. Menaces of sending individuals to it were occasionally thrown +out, but they were not executed. In 1596, for instance, when, to supply +his pressing wants, Henry had unjustly seized on the money destined to +pay annuitants at the town-hall, we find him giving vent to a momentary +fit of anger, and threatening whoever should presume to hold what he +was pleased to call seditious language, with respect to this arbitrary +measure. The seditious language, which thus excited his wrath, was +nothing more than a petition, which a citizen named Carel had drawn up on +behalf of the plundered annuitants. + +There was a moment when the Bastile was on the point of receiving an +illustrious victim; no less a man than Theodore Agrippa d’Aubigné, the +long tried and faithful friend of Henry, amidst peril and misfortune. +Irritated by d’Aubigné’s restless zeal in the cause of the hugonots, the +king gave Sully an order to arrest him, but it was soon withdrawn. + +In 1602, Sully was appointed governor of the Bastile. Since 1597 he +had been at the head of the finance department, and during his able +administration, a part of the Bastile was occupied in a manner such as +it had never before been, nor ever was afterwards. It became a place +of deposit for the yearly surplus of revenue, which was obtained by +the judicious system of the minister. The amount of the treasure thus +accumulated has been variously estimated, but it was probably about forty +millions of livres. It was designed to be appropriated to the realising +of Henry’s military projects. The Tour du Trésor is supposed to have +derived its name from its having been the tower in which this hoard was +secured. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + Reign of Henry IV. continued—Viscount de Tavannes—The marshal + duke of Biron—Faults of Biron—Friendship of Henry IV, for + Biron—La Fin, and his influence over Biron—The duke of + Savoy—Biron’s first treason pardoned—Embassies of Biron—Speech + of Queen Elizabeth to Biron—Discontent among the nobles—Art of + la Fin—Imprisonment of Renazé—La Fin betrays Biron—Artifices + employed to lull Biron into security—Arrest of Biron, and + the count of Auvergne—Conduct of Biron in the Bastile—His + trial—His execution—Respect paid to his remains—Monbarot + sent to the Bastile—The count of Auvergne—He is sent to the + Bastile but soon released—He plots again—Cause and intent of + the conspiracy—He is again arrested—Sentence of death passed + on him, but commuted for imprisonment—He spends twelve years + in the Bastile—Mary of Medicis releases him—Conspiracy of + Merargues—He is executed—Death of Henry IV. + + +The first distinguished prisoner of the Bastile, after the firm +establishment of Henry on the throne, was John de Saulx, viscount +de Tavannes, second son of that marshal who acquired an undying but +unenviable fame during the massacre of St. Bartholomew. He was born in +1555, and may be said to have been nursed in a deadly hatred to the +protestants. The viscount accompanied Henry the third to Poland, remained +behind when his master departed, visited the Turkish frontier provinces, +was engaged in various actions, and at length fell into the hands of the +Ottomans. He managed, however, to get free, and, in 1575, he revisited +his native country. + +In the wars between the catholics and the protestants, Tavannes was +an indefatigable scourge of the latter. On one occasion, while he was +governor of Auxonne, he was in no small danger; he was surprised and +wounded in a church by the enemy, and was confined in a castle. Yet +though the wall was a hundred feet high, and he was guarded in sight, +he contrived to escape. In the war of the League, against both Henries, +he rendered himself conspicuous by his violence and perseverance. He +proposed to arm the people with pikes, but this proposal was overruled, +on the ground that it tended to excite in their minds the idea of a +republic. In attempting to relieve Noyon, he was again made prisoner; he +was, however, soon exchanged, the mother, wife, and two sisters, of the +duke of Longueville being given as an equivalent for him. In 1592, he was +appointed to the government of Burgundy, and he maintained the contest +till 1595, when, being abandoned by all his companions in the cause, he +yielded a sullen submission to Henry. + +Having refused to join the king at the siege of Amiens, he was arrested, +in 1597, and committed to the Bastile. Tavannes had certainly a talent +for escaping; we have seen that he twice extricated himself from +confinement, and he now did so for the third time. By what means he +eluded the vigilance of his jailors does not appear. Henry seems to have +cherished no very strong resentment against the fugitive; for, instead of +placing him in surer custody, he allowed him to reside unmolested on his +estate, where Tavannes died, about the year 1630. The viscount published +a life of his father, a curious and valuable work; of which, however, +some passages are animated by a spirit dishonourable to the writer. + +That Tavannes, who was long his determined enemy, and never professed +to have become his friend, should be openly or secretly hostile to him, +could excite no surprise in Henry; but his feelings must have received a +deep wound, when he discovered that he might say, with the inspired royal +psalmist, “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did +eat of my bread, hath lifted his heel against me.” + +Charles de Gontaut, duke of Biron, the son of a man distinguished for +his honour, loyalty, valour, and martial exploits, was born about 1562, +and inherited his father’s warlike spirit, but not his praiseworthy +qualities. In his childhood he was so dull of apprehension that he could +scarcely be taught to read. In his military studies he must, however, +have made early and extraordinary progress; for at fourteen he was +colonel of the Swiss regiments, and when he was only fifteen, the command +of the army in Guienne was entrusted to him for some weeks by his father, +who had broken one of his thighs. His religion we may believe to have +hung loosely enough upon him, as he twice changed it before he reached +his sixteenth year. + +There were two crying sins of the age, duelling and gaming, in which +Biron made himself conspicuous. He was not yet twenty, when he fought a +duel with the prince of Carency, who was a rival suitor to the heiress +of the family of Caumont. Each party had two seconds, all of whom were +in habits of friendship with each other. It was in a snow-storm, at day +break, that the combatants met; and, by taking their ground so that the +snow drove into the faces of their antagonists, Biron and his seconds +contrived to destroy them. This triple murder was pardoned by Henry the +third, at the request of the duke of Epernon. As a gamester, Biron played +so deeply, and with such infatuated perseverance, that he himself said, +“I know not whether I shall die on the scaffold; but, if I do not, I am +sure that I shall die in a workhouse.” + +The scaffold which, with somewhat of a divining spirit, he seems to +have thought his not improbable doom, was more than once predicted to +him. The basis on which one prediction was built may excite a smile. +“The archbishop of Lyons,” says an old writer, “judged better than any +one else of the nature of men by their countenances. For having one day +curiously contemplated the features and characters of the marshal Biron’s +face, he pronounced that he had an exceedingly bad physiognomy, verily +that of a man who was fated to perish wretchedly.” On surer grounds, +on a knowledge of his son’s disposition, his father sometimes said to +him, “Baron,” (that was his early title) “I advise you to go and plant +cabbages on your estate, as soon as peace is made; for, otherwise, you +will certainly lose your head at the Grêve.” + +The faults of Biron were, indeed, such as to justify melancholy +forebodings with respect to his end. He was vain, imperious, passionate, +restlessly active, so greedy of praise that he deemed himself robbed of +all that was given to others, so high an estimater of his own services +that he never thought them enough rewarded, and so reckless of speech +that, when he was in an angry mood, his invectives and reproaches did not +spare even the sovereign. These faults were rendered more dangerous to +him by his habits of profusion, and the consequent occasional emptiness +of his purse, which laid him open to temptation, especially during his +fits of dissatisfaction and disgust. On the other hand, it is beyond +all doubt that Biron, for some years after the outset of his career, +was devoted to Henry the fourth; he was eminently intrepid, displayed +unwearied zeal, gave an admirable example of discipline, and was a +consummate master of his profession. “No one,” said Henry, “has a keener +eye in reconnoitring an enemy, nor a more ready hand at arraying an army.” + +At the battles of Arques, Ivry, and Aumale, at the sieges of Paris and +Rouen, and on various other occasions, Biron was conspicuous among his +fellow chiefs. His promotion kept pace with his exploits, and he rose +rapidly to the highest dignities. In 1592, Henry appointed him admiral +of France, and, in 1594, a marshal; on receiving the latter rank he +gave up the office of admiral, which Villars demanded as a part of his +reward for the surrender of Rouen. It has been imagined, that Biron +cherished a rankling resentment for the deprivation of the admiralship; +but this is more than doubtful: he appears, on the contrary, to have +acceded to it with a good grace. In 1595, he obtained the government +of Burgundy, and his life was saved by Henry, at the sharp encounter +of Fontaine-Française. After having manifested his wonted military +talents at the siege of Amiens, in 1598, Biron attained the zenith of +his elevation, by being created a duke and peer. When the deputies of +the parliament waited on the king, in Picardy, to congratulate him on +the success of his arms, he paid to the new-made peer one of those +well-turned compliments by which he so often delighted his warriors and +statesmen. In turning to account that part of “the cheap defence of +nations” which consists in gracefully bestowing praise, no man was more +of a proficient than Henry. “Gentlemen,” said he to the deputies, “I +introduce to you the Marshal de Biron, whom I present with equal success +to my enemies and my friends.” + +Thenceforth, thanks to his own folly, the star of Biron gradually +declined till it set in blood. He soon became unsafe to be opposed to +the king’s enemies, and unworthy of being presented to his friends. +Vanity and prodigality were the faults which began his ruin; the one led +him to think that his superlative merit was inadequately requited, the +other caused him to accuse Henry of avarice and ingratitude, because +the monarch did not feed his extravagance with boundless supplies. Biron +might, nevertheless, have stopped short of destruction, had there not +been perpetually a tempter at his ear, whispering sinister councils. His +evil genius was Beauvais La Nocle, sieur de La Fin, a veteran intriguer, +who had spent his life in disturbing the public peace, and was still in +correspondence with Spain, Savoy, the banished partisans of the League, +and the malecontents in various provinces. He is truly described as +having been “an enterprising, active, insinuating man, especially skilful +in getting on the weak side of those whom he wished to seduce. Bold with +the rash, circumspect with the prudent, he seemed to give himself up +entirely to his accomplices, that he might provide for his own safety at +their expense.” Henry, who well knew the character of the man, warned +Biron against him, but the warning was slighted.[5] + +The peace of Vervins, which relieved France from a burthensome war, +precipitated the fall of Biron. Even before it was concluded, he had +listened to the blandishments of Spanish emissaries, and had suffered +them to tempt his ambition with the prospect of independent sovereignty, +but he had stopped short on the verge of disloyalty. While his mind +was thus susceptible of treasonable infection, he was unfortunately +despatched by Henry to Brussels, for the purpose of interchanging, with +the archduke, the customary oaths as to the faithful performance of the +treaty. There he was surrounded by every imaginable seduction. He was +“the observed of all observers;” the most splendid entertainments were +given, expressly in honour of him; and he heard nothing but exaggerated +praises of his transcendent valour and skill, insidious expressions of +regret that he should serve a master so blind to his worth, or so meanly +jealous of it, and highly-coloured representations of the glorious career +which he might run, if he would devote his talents to the cause of the +Spanish sovereign. When it was imagined that his head was sufficiently +turned, a treaty with Philip was proposed to him. But he was not yet +prepared to go thus far; he would give no more than a vague promise +to join the catholics, in case of their rising against Henry, and he +returned to Paris only half a traitor. + +That which had been begun in the Netherlands was completed in France. +During the troubles of the League, the duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel, +had seized upon the marquisate of Saluzzo. Hitherto he had held nearly +undisturbed possession of it, but Henry, now that he was relieved from +the pressure of foreign and domestic hostility, resolved to recover a +territory which was of importance from its affording a passage into +Italy. For the same reason, the duke was anxious to retain it; he could +not see without apprehension and disgust a powerful neighbour constantly +posted within a few miles of his capital. In the hope of prevailing +on Henry to cede the marquisate to him, the duke adopted the plan of +visiting the French court. Charles Emmanuel had seductive manners, and +a ready eloquence, and he concealed profound dissimulation under the +semblance of openness and sincerity. Henry, however, though he treated +him with an almost ostentatious kindness and pomp, was inflexible on the +main point, and the duke found himself under the necessity of signing a +disadvantageous treaty. + +But Charles Emmanuel had not relied solely on the policy or the +generosity of Henry; he knew that the embers of disaffection were still +alive in some of the French nobles, and he hoped to fan them into a +flame which should scorch the monarch. To win the discontented to his +side, he scattered with a lavish hand his largesses, under the disguise +of presents. Though from some of those whom he tempted he failed to +procure an explicit avowal of their sentiments, he doubted not that +they might be reckoned upon in case of an explosion; others spoke out +more plainly; and Biron threw himself unreservedly into the arms of the +wily Savoyard. It was partly, perhaps, by ministering to the marshal’s +wants, but much more by rousing his wrath against the king, that the duke +succeeded in making him a traitor. He artfully communicated to him some +depreciating language which Henry was said to have used, and the vain +and passionate Biron no longer hesitated to cast off his allegiance. The +reward of his treason was to be the sovereignty of Burgundy, and the hand +of one of Charles Emmanuel’s daughters. Yet at the moment when he was +rushing headlong into rebellion, he publicly refused to accept a present +of two fine horses from the duke of Savoy; assigning as the reason, that +it would not become him to receive gifts from a prince between whom and +his own sovereign there were differences existing. Thus hypocrisy was +added to the list of his vices. + +Imagining that the succour which he expected from the Spanish court, and +the movements of the French malecontents, would render it impossible for +Henry to attack him, Charles Emmanuel, on his return to Turin, refused to +carry the treaty into effect. Henry determined, therefore, to resort to +force. To Biron, of whose fidelity he did not yet doubt, he offered the +command of the army; and the marshal, in order to avoid suspicion, was +compelled to accept it. All that, without betraying himself, he could do +to shun success, he did. But the duke of Savoy, relying on his intrigues, +had left his fortresses scantily provided with the means of defence, +and they consequently made only a feeble resistance, in spite of Biron’s +wishes and faulty measures. It was a fatal circumstance for the Savoyard +prince, that the power of Spain was palsied by the recent accession of +the contemptible Philip the third. Had the second Philip been alive, the +viceroy of Milan, the count de Fuentes, a deadly foe of Henry, would +probably have led his numerous forces from the Milanese, and made the +contest something like what the duke had vauntingly threatened to make +it, “a forty years’ affair.” As it was, Fuentes could only recommend +to Biron, to seize the king and send him to Spain, “where,” said he, +contemptuously, “he shall be well treated, and we will divert him with +dancing, and banquetting among the ladies.” Biron shrank from this step, +yet, in one of his furious outbreaks of passion, he meditated a fouler +crime. At the siege of fort St. Catherine, knowing that the king was +about to visit the trenches, he sent a message to the governor, to point +his cannon on a certain part of them, and to place in another a company +of musketeers, who were to fire when a signal was given. But he quickly +repented of his purpose, and kept the king from approaching the perilous +spots. + +Though the marshal renounced the base idea of becoming the murderer of +his sovereign, he did not renounce his plots against him. La Fin was +still employed in negotiating for him with the count de Fuentes, and a +second treaty was agreed upon at Milan. It was arranged that the duke +of Savoy should sign a peace, which, however, he was to break as soon +as the French armies were withdrawn, and the Spanish troops were ready; +that the Spanish monarch should give to the marshal the title of his +lieutenant-general, and secure to him Burgundy, and a princess of Spain +or Savoy; and that, in case of the war being unsuccessful, he should +be indemnified for his loss by the payment of twelve hundred thousand +golden crowns, and an annuity of a hundred and twenty thousand. + +By this time the suspicions of Henry began to be awakened with regard to +Biron. There were many circumstances which conspired to rouse them; not +one of the least of which was the incomprehensible apathy of the duke +of Savoy; who, as he scarcely made an effort to defend himself, must be +supposed to look for deliverance by some unknown means. Rumours, too, +began to be spread of dark and dangerous intrigues; and it is probable, +that the manner in which the military operations were conducted by the +marshal, so unlike his wonted vigour, was not unremarked. All this +appears to have induced Henry to refuse to give the government of the +citadel of Bourg to Biron, who urgently requested it. There can be no +doubt that Biron wished to be master of this citadel solely to enable him +the better to act in concert with Charles Emmanuel; yet he considered as +an inexpiable insult the king’s refusal to grant it. + +No longer doubting that the marshal had become entangled in dangerous +projects, and anxious to save a man whom he loved, Henry took the step +of coming to a personal explanation with him. Taking Biron aside, in the +cloister of the Cordeliers, at Lyons, he questioned him as to the purpose +and cause of the correspondence which he carried on with the enemies +of the state, promising, at the same time, a full pardon for all past +errors. Thus caught by surprise and pressed, the marshal could not wholly +deny his fault, but he described it so as to make it appear only venial, +suppressed every thing that it was important for the king to know, and +affirmed that, though he was tempted by the prospect of marrying a +princess of Savoy, he should never for a moment have wavered in his duty +had he not been refused the government of the citadel of Bourg. Without +seeking to penetrate deeper into the mystery, Henry embraced him, and +said, “Well, marshal, do you think no more about Bourg, and, for my part, +I will never remember what has occurred.” The king, however, hinted that +a relapse would be productive of dangerous effects. + +In the following year, 1601, Biron was sent as ambassador to England, to +announce to Elizabeth the marriage of Henry. He was accompanied by the +counts of Auvergne and Chateauroux, the marquis de Créqui, and a splendid +train of a hundred and fifty gentlemen. Elizabeth received him in the +most flattering manner; but there was one of her conversations with him +which might well have excited ominous thoughts in his mind. Essex had +recently suffered. Speaking of that nobleman, she said, “I raised him to +the most eminent dignities, and he enjoyed all my favour; but the rash +man had the audacity to imagine that I could not do without him. His too +prosperous fortune and his ambition rendered him haughty, perfidious, +and the more criminal from his having seemed to be virtuous. He suffered +a just punishment; and if the king my brother would take my advice, he +would act at Paris as I have done here. He ought to sacrifice to his +safety all the rebels and traitors. God grant that his clemency may not +prove fatal to him. For my part, I will never show any mercy to those who +dare to disturb the peace of the realm.” Biron must surely have felt his +heart sink within him, when he heard this language, which, in all ways, +was so applicable to himself. It is said, and we may easily believe it, +that he omitted to mention this speech, when he gave an account of his +embassy. + +The forbearance of Henry, and the lesson of Elizabeth, were alike +powerless to check the downward career of the infatuated Biron. His +treasonable practices were still persevered in. After his return from +England, he was sent as ambassador, to Soleure, to ratify a treaty with +the Swiss, and, on his way thither, he had a four hours’ conversation +with Watteville, the duke of Savoy’s agent. Instead of proceeding to +Paris, to render an account of his mission, he stayed at Dijon, the +capital of his government, where the violent and insulting language in +which he spoke of the king, gave abundant proof that little reliance +could be placed upon his fidelity. In the meanwhile, various parts of +the kingdom, particularly Poitou, the Limousin, and Périgord, in the +last of which provinces the marshal had numerous partisans and vassals, +were thrown into a ferment by insidious reports of Henry’s tyrannical +intentions. Among the nobles also discontent was at work; the duke of +Bouillon and the count of Auvergne were the principal malecontents. The +provinces Henry quieted, by the kindness which he displayed in a journey +through them; the nobles were not so easily to be reclaimed. It was +obvious that a speech which the duke of Savoy made, after his leaving +France, was not a mere idle vaunt. His friends rallying him on his +failure, and alluding to the season at which he came home, told him that +he had brought nothing but mud back from France. “If I have put my feet +into the mud,” replied the duke, “I have put them in so far, and have +left such deep marks behind, that France will never efface them.” + +While, within the kingdom, men’s minds were in this uneasy state, the +news from without was by no means consolatory. Philip Dufresne Canaye, +the French ambassador at Venice, was laudably active in procuring +information of all movements among the Italian powers, by which his +country might be affected. He learned that, while throughout Italy the +utmost pains were taken to blacken the character and depreciate the +resources of Henry, French subjects, disguised, were busy at Turin and +Milan, and that they had frequent nocturnal interviews with the ministers +of the two courts. He described minutely the features, demeanour and +dress of these emissaries, and offered to have one of them seized, and +carried off to France, if a small remittance were sent to him. Some +strange lethargy seems to have come over the king and the French ministry +at this moment; for they not only refused the money which was required, +but even failed to send that which was indispensable for the payment of +his spies. + +From this ill-timed slumber they would probably have been startled up by +a fatal explosion, had not the catastrophe been averted by a disclosure +of nearly all that related to the plot which had so long been carried on. +The terrible secret was divulged by that very La Fin who had so largely +contributed to lead Biron astray. La Fin’s first feeling of alienation +from the great conspirator is supposed to have arisen out of the only act +for which, during a considerable period, the marshal had been deserving +of praise. From Biron’s sudden abandonment of the plan to kill the king, +in the trenches of fort St. Catherine, his confident drew the conclusion +that his firmness was not to be relied upon, and that consequently, at +some time or other, he might bring ruin upon those who were connected +with him. That he might have the means of shielding himself in case of +such an event, he immediately began to preserve all the papers that +passed through his hands; and when the marshal desired him to burn any +of them before his face, he, by a dextrous sleight, contrived to throw +others into the fire in their stead. + +Still La Fin continued to be employed in his perilous office of a +negociator. It is probable, however, that, now his fears were excited, +and it was become a main object with him to keep open a door for escape, +he did not display the same alacrity and zeal as before. Biron did not +suspect him, but the more cautious and penetrating count de Fuentes did; +and his suspicions are said to have been strengthened by some words +which dropped from La Fin. Those suspicions the count took especial care +to conceal from the person who had inspired them. “Dead men,” says the +proverb, “tell no tales;” and the case is much the same with men entombed +alive in a dungeon. Fuentes thought it prudent to provide against the +danger of a betrayal, by getting rid of La Fin. In order to effect this, +he found a pretext for requesting him to pass through Piedmont, on his +way to France. Either La Fin had some misgiving as to the intention of +the Spanish viceroy, or chance served him well; for, instead of going +himself to Turin, he took the road through Switzerland, and sent Renazé, +his confidential secretary, to the duke of Savoy. Renazé was immediately +arrested, and carried to the castle of Chiari. It was in vain that La +Fin strove to interest the marshal in behalf of the secretary; Biron +spoke coldly of the captive, as a man who must be sacrificed for the +safety of the rest; and he is said even to have advised his confidant +to take secret measures for effectually silencing all who had been the +companions of his travels, or could give any clue to his proceedings. +Already, though he seems not to have had the slightest idea that La Fin +would be unfaithful to him, he had deemed it politic to transfer his +dangerous confidence to the baron de Luz, his cousin, and two subordinate +agents. Of this La Fin obtained information; and it did not tend to quiet +his fears. It might be thought advisable to make him share the fate of +Renazé. But, even supposing this not to happen, he saw plainly that the +violent conduct of Biron towards the king must inevitably soon bring +matters to extremities, and that, if the conspirators failed, which it +was highly probable they would, his own life would be periled beyond +redemption. His nephew, the vidame of Chartres, was also urgent with him +to secure his head while there was yet an opportunity. + +La Fin at length passed the Rubicon. He made known to the king, that he +had momentous secrets to communicate. In reply, he was told, that he +should be rewarded for this service; but he stipulated only for pardon, +and it was readily granted. The whole of the proofs of Biron’s guilt were +then placed by him in the hands of Henry, who was deeply afflicted by +these convincing testimonies of the marshal’s treason. + +Justice seems to be degraded, and almost to change its nature, when its +purpose is attained by fraudulent means. The net was spread for Biron, +but in quieting his fears, and luring him into it, a scene of trickery +and falsehood was exhibited, which cannot be contemplated without pain. +Sully had set a better example, by a stratagem which is not amenable +to censure. To prevent Biron from maintaining a war in Burgundy, the +minister prudently withdrew from the fortresses of that province the +greatest part of the cannon and gunpowder, on the plea that the former +were damaged and ought to be recast, and the latter was weakened by +age, and must be re-manufactured, and he took care not to replace +them. The right arm of Biron’s strength was thus cut off. The marshal, +nevertheless, might still take flight; he had more than once evaded a +summons to confer with Henry; and it was of primary importance to secure +his person. As alarm might be excited by La Fin journeying to court, +he was instructed to write to the marshal, that the king had required +his presence, that he could not refuse to comply without giving rise +to surmises; and that nothing should drop from his lips which could +prejudice his friend. In the allusions which it made, and the caution +which it recommended, the reply of Biron furnished additional evidence +of his guilt. The monarch, too, played his part in the deception. To the +baron de Luz, who had been sent from Burgundy to observe what was going +on, and was about to return to that province, he spoke of the marshal +in terms of kindness, and declared that his heart was lightened by a +conversation which he had held with La Fin, as it proved that many of the +charges brought against Biron were wholly unfounded. La Fin, at the same +time, assured the marshal that the king was entirely satisfied, and would +receive him with open arms. Deluded by these artifices, Biron determined +to join Henry at Fontainebleau, notwithstanding that the incredulous de +Luz, and others of his adherents, strenuously endeavoured to dissuade +him. Various circumstances, ominous of evil, are said to have preceded +his departure. On his road he received more than one warning from his +well-wishers, but he spurned them all, and proceeded to Fontainebleau. +As he was descending from his horse, he was saluted by the traitorous +La Fin, who whispered, “Courage and wary speech, my master! they know +nothing.” His belief in these words consummated the ruin of Biron. + +In spite of Biron’s faults, the heart of Henry still yearned towards +him. Though he could not greet the offender with his customary warmth +and frankness, he received him graciously, and led him through the +palace, pointing out the improvements which had been made. At length he +touched upon the delicate subject of the marshal’s deviation from the +path of duty. He hinted that he had incontrovertible proof, but assured +him that an honest confession would cancel every thing, and replace him +on the summit of favour. Misled by his pride, and the fatal mistake +that his secret was safe, Biron, instead of seizing this opportunity to +extricate himself from danger, was mad enough to assume the lofty tone of +conscious and wronged innocence; studiously cold in his general manner, +he sometimes verged upon insolence, and he loudly declared, that he came +not to justify his conduct, but to demand vengeance upon those who had +slandered him, or, if need were, to take it. Twice more, in the course of +the day—once in person, and once through Biron’s friend, the count of +Soissons—Henry renewed his efforts, and was haughtily repulsed. On the +morrow the monarch returned to the charge, and made other two attempts +to save the marshal from the gulf which was opening to receive him. +Oblivion for the past, friendship for the future, were earnestly offered +to his acceptance. But Biron was like the deaf adder; he even broke out +into a fit of passion on being pressed for the last time; and Henry was +reluctantly compelled to resign him to his fate. + +It is probable that the king would have borne with Biron for a while +longer, had not the terrors, entreaties, and tears of his consort, +impelled him to decisive measures. Mary of Medicis believed, that it +was a part of the policy of Spain to cut off the royal family, and she +shuddered at the idea of what, in the case of a minority, might happen +to herself and her offspring, from the hostility of a man who was in all +ways so formidable as Biron. The king himself had already betrayed the +same apprehension to Sully. After having, in melancholy terms, confessed +his lingering affection for the marshal, he added, “But all my dread is, +that were I to pardon him, he would never pardon me, or my children, +or my kingdom.” The gates of mercy were in consequence shut upon the +dangerous criminal. + +Biron had been in the habit of contemptuously reflecting upon the +character of Essex, for what he considered as a cowardly surrender, +and of maintaining that a man of spirit ought rather to suffer himself +to be cut to pieces, than run the risk of dying by the headsman’s axe. +The time was now come when it was to be seen whether he could practise +his own doctrine. It was midnight when he quitted the presence of the +king. Every thing had been prepared for his arrest, and that of the +count of Auvergne, who was suspected of sharing in the treason. The +latter nobleman was taken into custody by Praslin, at the palace gate. +No sooner had Biron passed out of the ante-chamber than Vitry, the +captain of the guard, seized the marshal’s arm, informed him that he was +a prisoner, and demanded his sword. At first he supposed it to be a jest; +and, when he was undeceived, he desired to see the king, that he might +deliver the weapon into his hands. He was told that Henry could not be +seen, and his sword was again required. “What!” exclaimed he furiously, +“take the sword from me, who have served the king so well! My sword, +which ended the war, and gave peace to France! Shall the sword which my +enemies could not wrest from me be taken by my friends!” At length he +submitted. When he was led along the gallery, through a double line of +guards, he imagined that he was going to execution, and he wildly cried +out, “Companions! give me time to pray to God, and put into my hand a +firebrand, or a candlestick, that I may at least have the comfort to die +while I am defending myself.” When, however, he found that he was in no +instant danger, he meanly endeavoured to irritate the soldiers against +the king, by saying to them, “You see how good catholics are treated!” He +passed a sleepless and agitated night, pacing about his chamber, striking +the walls, raving to himself, and occasionally to the sentinels, pouring +forth invectives and imprecations, and sometimes with singular imprudence +striving to seduce a valet de chambre of the king, who watched him, to +write to his secretaries, directing them to keep out of the way, and to +maintain, in case of their being taken and questioned, that he never had +carried on any correspondence in cipher. + +From Fontainebleau the prisoners were conveyed by water to the Bastile. +During the passage, Biron was lost in gloomy reverie, and when he +entered within the walls of the prison his mind was racked with the +worst forebodings. Nor were the circumstances attendant on his abode +in the Bastile at all of a nature to raise his spirits. Placed in +the chamber whence the constable St. Pol had passed to the scaffold, +watched with lynx-eyed vigilance, and so carefully kept from weapons +that he was allowed only a blunted knife at his meals, he could not +help exclaiming, “This is the road to the Grêve.” While he was in this +disturbed state, superstitious weakness is said to have lent its aid to +complete his distraction. He was told that the Parisian executioner was +a native of Burgundy; and it instantly flashed into his recollection, +that having shown to la Brosse, an astrologer, his own horoscope under +another person’s name, the wizard predicted the beheading of the person; +and that Cesar, a pretended magician, of whom more will be seen in the +next chapter, had said, that “a single blow given behind by a Burgundian +would prevent him from attaining royalty.” The shock seems for the moment +to have utterly deprived him of his senses. Refusing to eat, or drink, +or sleep, he incessantly raved, threatened, and blasphemed. A visit +from the archbishop of Bourges, who came to offer the consolations of +religion, and who gave him some hopes of mercy on earth, rendered Biron +less violent. At the prisoner’s request, Villeroi and Silleri, two of the +king’s ministers, also visited him; and, either that his brain was still +wandering, or that he thought to establish a claim to pardon by appearing +to make important discoveries, or that he was prompted by a malignant +wish to involve in his own ruin those whom he hated, he is said to have +charged, and in the strongest terms, a number of innocent persons with +being engaged in treasonable practices. Whatever was his motive, his +purpose was frustrated; Henry did not thirst for blood; and it has been +remarked, that the documents which, on the trial, were brought forward +against the culprit, were not those that most forcibly criminated him, +but those which criminated him alone. + +While Biron was thus the sport of his unruly passions, his friends were +actively employed in endeavouring to save him. Henry had returned to the +capital, amidst the shouts and congratulations of his subjects. Soon +after his arrival, many of the nobles, some of whom were of Biron’s +nearest kindred, waited upon the king, to intercede for the criminal. +The duke of la Force was their spokesman; he spoke on his knees, and, +though Henry desired him to rise, he retained that posture. He pleaded +the services of the culprit and his father, the divine command to forgive +our enemies, the pardon which the king had extended to others, and, +especially, the deep indelible stain which would be thrown upon the +family by a public execution; and, as far as was possible, he laboured +to extenuate the marshal’s guilt, by representing that it arose from the +warmth of his temper, and had never been carried beyond mere intention. +There was one point in the duke’s speech which it was, perhaps, impolitic +in him to urge; that in which he stated himself to speak in the name of +a hundred thousand men, who had served under Biron. This was begging +too much in the style of the Spanish beggar in Gil Blas, and was not +calculated to propitiate a man like Henry. + +The monarch answered temperately, and even kindly, but with due firmness. +Reminding them that he did not resemble some of his predecessors, who +would not suffer parents to sue for their children on such an occasion, +he declared that the mercy for which they asked would, in fact, be the +worst of cruelty. He alluded to the love which he had always borne to +Biron, and told them, that had the offence been only against himself he +would willingly have forgiven it, and did forgive it as far as related to +his person, but that the safety of his children and of the whole kingdom +was implicated, and he must perform his duty to them. With respect to +the disgrace which it was feared would attach to the relatives of the +culprit, he treated the fear as a visionary one; he was, he said, himself +descended from the constable St. Pol and the Armagnacs, who suffered on a +scaffold, yet he did not feel dishonoured. In conclusion, he assured them +that, far from depriving the marshal’s kindred of the titles and offices +which they possessed, he was much more inclined to add to the number, so +long as they continued to serve the state with fidelity and zeal. + +The king having authorized the parliament to proceed to trial, a +deputation from that body, with the first president Harlay at its head, +went to the Bastile, to take the necessary examinations, and confront the +witnesses. With only one exception, which exception the internal evidence +supplied by the papers soon obliged him to retract, Biron recognized +all the letters and memorials which were shown to him; but he strove to +put an innocent construction upon them, and, as they were written in a +studiously ambiguous style, he might have thrown doubts upon the subject, +had they been unsupported by oral testimony. In this stage of the +business, he was asked what was his opinion of la Fin? Still believing +that person to be true to him, he replied that he was “an honourable +gentleman, a good man, and his friend.” The depositions of la Fin were +then read, and he was brought face to face with the prisoner. The marshal +now burst out into the most furious abuse of the man whom, but a moment +before, he had declared to be his honourable and worthy friend. “O good +God!” exclaims a contemporary chronicler, “what said he, and what did he +not say! With what more atrocious revilings could he have torn to pieces +the character of the most execrable being in the world! With what more +horrible protestations, with what more terrible oaths, could he have +called upon men, angels, and God himself, to be the witnesses and judges +of his innocence!” La Fin, however, stood his ground against the storm +of invective; and supported his evidence by corroborative circumstances, +and additional documents in the prisoner’s handwriting. It seemed as +though every thing conspired against Biron at this dreadful moment. “If +Renazé,” said he, “were here, he would prove La Fin to be a liar.” To +his utter surprise and consternation, the witness whom he had invoked, +but whom he imagined to be dead, was suddenly brought forward, and amply +confirmed the whole of La Fin’s story. On the very day that Biron was +arrested, Renazé contrived to escape from the castle of Chiari, and he +now sealed the fate of the marshal. Driven to his last resource, Biron +pleaded the pardon which was granted to him at Lyons, and protested that, +since he received it, he had never entertained any criminal designs. In +this plea he was no less unfortunate than in the others. From his own +incautious avowal, it was gathered that he did not make a full confession +to the king; and one of his letters showed that he had continued to plot +for many months after the monarch had forgiven him. + +The preliminary proceedings being completed, three days were occupied +by the parliament in going over the mass of evidence, and hearing the +summing up of the attorney general. The courts of justice, in those +times, always commenced their sittings at an early hour. Between five and +six o’clock, on the morning of the fourth day, Biron, closely guarded, +was taken by water to the hall of the parliament, where a hundred and +twelve of the members were in waiting to receive him; the peers had +unanimously refused to sit upon his trial. At the sight of this array +of judges he changed colour, but he soon recovered his self-possession, +and is said to have assumed a kind of theatrical air which was scarcely +decorous. A contemporary describes him as rudely bidding the chancellor +speak louder, and as “putting forward his right foot, holding his mantle +under his arm, with his hand on his side, and raising his other hand to +heaven, and smiting his breast with it, whenever he called upon God and +the celestial beings to be witnesses of his integrity in the service of +the king and kingdom.” + +The whole of the crimes attributed to him had been arranged under five +heads, concerning which he was interrogated by the chancellor. The +questioning and defence of Biron lasted between four and five hours, and +it must be owned that, in this final struggle for life and reputation, he +made a noble stand. Though, in the course of a long speech, he sometimes +became entangled in contradictions, its general tenor was well calculated +to produce a favourable effect; at moments he was even eloquent, and +worked strongly on the feelings of his auditors. Much he denied, and what +he could not deny he palliated; with respect to the treasons charged +against him, he was, he said, the seduced and not the seducer, a man not +deliberately wicked, but led astray by hateful intriguers, who wrought +his violent passions into frenzy, by representing that the monarch +had undervalued and insulted him—a representation which seemed to be +confirmed by his being refused the government of Bourg; he pleaded that +his errors had gone no farther than intention, that they had been fully +and freely pardoned, and had never been repeated; he urged his numerous +and eminent services as a counterbalance to his faults, and the mercy +which had uniformly been shown to far worse offenders as a reason why +it should be extended to him; and he repelled, as an infamous calumny, +the accusation of having intended to bring about the death of Henry—yet, +imprudent as such language was, he could not forbear from broadly hinting +that the monarch was fickle, unjust, and cruel: “I rely more upon you, +gentlemen,” said he, “than I do upon the king, who, having formerly +looked on me with the eyes of his affection, no longer sees me but with +the eye of his hatred, and thinks it a virtue to be cruel to me, and a +fault to exercise towards me an act of clemency.” At the close of his +speech, few of his hearers were unmoved, but all were unconvinced. + +The most curious part of his defence is yet to be mentioned. If he did +not spare his sovereign, it is not to be supposed that he would spare La +Fin. Whenever he mentioned him he could not restrain his fury, but gave +vent to a flood of abuse. Coining, and an unnatural regard for Renazé, +were among the numerous crimes which he imputed to him. Strange that he +did not perceive the folly of thus vituperating a man, whom he had so +recently recognized as his honourable and worthy friend, and whose sins, +if they really existed, he must then have known! But this was not all. +For his vindication he mainly trusted to one plea—that he had not been a +free agent, that he was under the irresistible influence of La Fin, who +was a sorcerer, and had dealings with the devil. He averred, seriously, +that La Fin was in the habit of breathing on him, biting his ear, and +kissing his left eye, and calling him his master, his lord, his prince, +and his king; that whenever his eye was kissed he felt a tendency to do +evil; that the magician also enchanted him by making him drink charmed +waters; and that he showed him waxen images which moved and spoke, and +one of which pronounced, in Latin, the words “impious king, thou shalt +perish!” “If by magic he could give voice to an inanimate body,” said he, +“is it wonderful that he should have such power over me as to bend my +will to an entire conformity with his own?” + +Deceived by the compassion which some of his judges had manifested, +Biron cherished the flattering hope of an acquittal. His spirits were +so elated by this idea, that he amused himself with repeating to his +guards various portions of his defence, and mimicking the gestures and +speeches which he supposed the chancellor to have made in the course of +the subsequent proceedings. His vanity, too, contributed to buoy him +up. He ran over, in conversation, the list of French commanders, found +some defect in each of them, and thence concluded that, as his military +talents were obviously indispensable to the state, his life was secure. + +The termination of that life was, nevertheless, rapidly approaching. By +an unanimous vote, on the day after his appearance at their bar, the +parliament pronounced Biron guilty of high treason, and condemned him to +lose his head on the Grêve. The place of execution was changed by the +king to the interior of the Bastile, at the request, it was said, of +the criminal’s friends; but partly, perhaps, in the fear that a popular +commotion might occur, and partly because a report was spread, that some +of his domestics intended to throw a sword to him on the scaffold, that +he might at least have the chance of dying an honourable death. It was +wise not to run the risk of encountering his despair. + +The first intimation which Biron received of his impending doom, was +from seeing that crowds were gathering together in the neighbourhood of +the Bastile. The change of time and place had not been publicly made +known. “I am sentenced! I am a dead man!” he instantly exclaimed. He +then sent a messenger to Sully, to request that he would come to him, +or would intercede with the king. With these requests Sully declined to +comply, but he desired the messenger to leave the marshal in doubt as to +the king’s intention. On the following morning, the last day of July, +1602, the chancellor, accompanied by some of his officers, proceeded +to the Bastile, to read the sentence to him, and announce its immediate +execution. Biron was at the moment deeply engaged in calculating his +nativity. When he was taken down to the chancellor, he addressed him +in an unconnected rhapsody of prayers, lamentations, invectives, and +reproaches, intermingled with protestations of innocence, and vaunts +of the services which he was yet capable of rendering to the state. He +besought that he might be suffered to live, even though it were in prison +and in chains! It was a considerable time before the chancellor could +obtain a hearing, and he was speedily interrupted by sallies of rage from +the marshal, who reproached him with hardness of heart, execrated La Fin, +accused the king of being revengeful, and the parliament of injustice in +not having allowed sufficient time for his vindication, and, finally, +asserted that he was put to death because he was a sincere catholic. + +This burst of insane passion was succeeded by a lucid interval, during +which he calmly dictated his will, sent tokens of remembrance to his +friends, and distributed in alms the money which he had about him. +The reading of some parts of his sentence again roused his irritable +feelings. When he heard the charge of having intended to destroy the +king, he exclaimed, “That is false! blot it out!” and when the Grêve was +mentioned, he declared that no power on earth should drag him thither, +and that he would sooner be torn to pieces by wild horses than submit to +such an indignity. He was quieted by being told of the change which had +been made; but, when it was hinted to him that his arms must be bound, he +relapsed into such violence that it was thought advisable to leave his +hands at liberty. He then made his confession to the priest; and it was +remarked that he, who had just before boasted of being a good catholic, +was ignorant of the commonest forms of prayer, prayed more like a +soldier than a Christian, and seemed to be thinking less of his salvation +than of the things of this world. + +It being now near five o’clock, the hour which was appointed for the +execution, he was informed that he must descend into the court of +the prison. As he was quitting the chapel, he caught sight of the +executioner. “Begone!” vociferated he: “touch me not till it is time; if +you come near me till then, I swear that I will strangle you!” He twice +repeated the command and the threat when he was at the scaffold. Looking +round on the soldiers, he mournfully said, “Would but some one of you +fire his musket through my body, how thankful I should be! What misery +it is to die so wretchedly, and by so shameful a blow!” The sentence +was then read again, and again he lost all patience at being accused of +planning Henry’s death. It was with much difficulty that the clerk of the +parliament completed the reading of the sentence, his voice being almost +drowned by the clamour of the prisoner. Thrice Biron tied a handkerchief +over his eyes, and as often he tore it off again, and once more he vented +his rage on the executioner, who had maddened him by wishing to cut +off his hair behind. “Touch me not,” he cried, “except with the sword. +If you lay hands on me while I am alive, if I am driven into a fury, +I will strangle half the folks that are here, and compel the rest to +kill me.” So terrible were his looks and his tone, that several of the +persons present were on the point of taking flight. It was believed that +he meditated seizing the death-sword, but the executioner had prudently +desired his attendant to conceal it till it was wanted. At last, after +long delay, the marshal requested Baranton, one of the officers of the +Bastile, to bandage his eyes and tuck up his hair; and, when this was +done, he laid his head upon the block. “Be quick! be quick!” were his +last words, and they were promptly obeyed. They were scarcely out of the +mouth of the speaker when the sword descended, and by a single blow Biron +ceased to exist. + +The remains of Biron were interred in the church of St. Paul. Not only +was his funeral followed by multitudes, but multitudes visited the church +afterwards, for the purpose of sprinkling his grave with holy water. +“Never was there a tomb,” says de Thou, “on which so much holy water +was poured; a circumstance rather disagreeable to the court, which was +vexed to see that a step which all ought to have deemed necessary for the +safety of the king and state, was so wrongly interpreted as to become a +subject of public dissatisfaction.” + +Almost the last wish of Biron was for vengeance on La Fin; the wish was +gratified. After a lapse of four years, La Fin ventured to visit Paris. +In the middle of the day, and in the centre of the capital, he was +attacked by twelve or fifteen well-mounted men, who unhorsed him, and +stretched him on the ground, weltering in his blood. Several passengers +were killed or wounded by the random firing. The perpetrators of this +deed, though not unknown, were never brought to justice. La Fin himself +was undeserving of pity; but his murderers, even had he been the only +victim, ought to have been shortened by the head. + +Faithless to a sovereign who had lavished kindness and honours upon him, +borne with his caprices and errors, and more than once saved his life +on the field of battle, Biron was rightfully punished; but the severity +which, on very slight grounds of suspicion, was shown to René de Marc, +sieur de Monbarot, seems to impeach the justice of Henry. When, however, +we recollect, that his mind was painfully agitated by the plots which +were thickening round him, we may, perhaps, be inclined to pity rather +than blame the monarch, that, in one instance, its natural bias towards +lenity was turned aside. + +In the bay of Douarnenez, off the Breton coast, there is an islet, called +Tristan, or Frimeau, which commands the entrance to the harbour of +Douarnenez. The government of it was held by the baron de Fontanelles, +who, during the war of the League, had rendered himself notorious by his +activity in plundering. Not being any longer able to gratify his rapacity +in this manner, he sought for other resources, and hoped he had found +them in becoming an accomplice of Biron, and in opening a negotiation +with the Spaniards, to deliver up to them the island and the neighbouring +town. This would have put Spain into possession of a very annoying post +in Britanny. Fortunately his treason was discovered, and he was sentenced +to be broken on the wheel. Three other persons, two of whom were Bretons, +participated in his guilt, and the latter were executed. + +Before the accomplices of Fontanelles were led to the scaffold, they were +put to the torture, and, while they were writhing under that iniquitous +infliction, something dropped from them which was construed into an +implication of Monbarot, who was governor of Rennes. Monbarot had done +good service against the duke of Mercœur, during the war of the League, +and, since the peace, he had made strenuous exertions to maintain the +royal authority in Britanny. All this was, nevertheless, insufficient to +save him from being suspected of treasonable designs, and immured in the +Bastile. + +Monbarot languished in prison for three years—and to a solitary captive +years are ages. He would, perhaps, have remained there during a much +longer period, had not filial love been a persevering suitor for him. +His only son repeatedly solicited the king to set his parent free; and, +failing to obtain that boon, he entreated that he might be allowed to +lighten his sorrows, by sharing his captivity. At length, Monbarot’s +enemies having failed to procure any proof whatever against him, he +was liberated by Henry. But, though he was declared to be innocent, he +was punished as though he were guilty. Instead of being, as far as was +possible, compensated for three years of suffering, he was deprived of +the government of Rennes, which was given to Philip de Bethune, Sully’s +younger brother. It is probable, indeed, that the persecution of Monbarot +was set on foot for the sole purpose of wresting from him his coveted +office. + +Charles of Valois, count of Auvergne, who was afterwards known as duke +of Angoulême, was a son of Charles the ninth, by Maria Touchet, and +was born in 1573. He was admitted a knight of Malta, and became grand +prior of France; but Catherine of Medicis having bequeathed to him the +counties of Auvergne and Lauragais, he quitted the order of Malta, and +married a daughter of the constable Montmorenci. Charles was one of the +first to join Henry of Navarre, on the accession of that prince, and he +fought valiantly for him at Arques, Ivry, and Fontaine Française. In +the course of a few years, however, his loyalty evaporated, and we find +him an accomplice of Biron. When he was arrested, his pleasantry and +presence of mind did not forsake him. On Praslin demanding his sword, +he laughingly said, “Here it is; it has never killed any thing but wild +boars. If you had given me a hint of this business, I should have been +in bed and asleep two hours ago.” He preserved the same gay humour while +he was in prison. In October he was released, after having disclosed the +whole that he knew of the conspiracy. As, however, the king had procured +the same information from other quarters, Auvergne would probably have +been severely punished but for two favourable circumstances—he was the +half brother of the king’s mistress, the marchioness of Verneuil, and he +had been particularly recommended to him by Henry the third, when that +monarch was on his death-bed. + +A very short time elapsed before Auvergne was again involved in +treasonable projects. His confederates were the marchioness of Verneuil, +her father, Francis de Balsac d’Entragues, and an Englishman named +Thomas Morgan. The duke of Bouillon, and other nobles, were also ready +to lend their aid. The marchioness, who, in consequence of the promise +of marriage which the king had given to her during the insanity of his +passion, affected to consider herself as his wife, was irritated by the +birth of a dauphin, which seemed to shut out the possibility of her son +ever possessing what she called his right. D’Entragues was deeply wounded +in his feelings, by the stain which Henry’s licentious love for his +daughter had cast upon him. Some writers,—who appear to suppose that a +French father could not think himself dishonoured by his child becoming +a king’s concubine,—throw doubts on the sincerity of d’Entragues’ +indignation; but I can see no real grounds for their so doing. There +is an air of sincerity, in what he says upon this subject, which is +greatly in his favour. After touching upon the ingratitude with which +his faithful services had been repaid, he adds, “Borne down by years and +maladies, I was condemned to suffer more deadly blows from blind fortune. +My daughter, the sole consolation of my old age, pleased the king, and +this last stroke completed my misery. Grief aggravated my maladies, and +still more intense mental anguish was joined to the pains which my body +endured. I found myself exposed to all the gibes of the courtiers, and +that which generally constitutes the happiness of a father, and which +ought to have formed the glory and felicity of my family, was, on the +contrary, the cause of my shame, of the dishonour of my house, and of +the insulting scorn with which I was overwhelmed.” As often as he +implored for leave to withdraw from court he was refused, and at length +he was forbidden to see his daughter. Not content with inflicting these +wrongs upon him, Henry was striving to seduce his second daughter also. +Assuredly if such injuries are not sufficient to rouse the wrath of a +father, it is difficult to imagine what would be. That d’Entragues keenly +felt them is certain; for he more than once endeavoured to intercept +and kill the king, while he was on his way to the marchioness, and to +her sister, and Henry is said to have narrowly escaped. The design to +assassinate is indefensible; but it at least proves that the father was +in earnest. At a subsequent period, Henry said to d’Entragues, “Is it +true, as is reported, that you meant to kill me?” “Yes, Sire,” replied +the undaunted noble, “and the idea will never be out of my mind, while +your majesty persists to blot my honour in the person of my daughter.” + +The particulars of the conspiracy are very imperfectly known. It is said +the principal stipulations of the treaty with Spain were, that Philip +should recognise as dauphin the natural son of Henry by the marchioness +of Verneuil, on her putting him into his hands; that, in the first +instance, the mother and child should seek refuge at Sedan, under the +protection of the duke of Bouillon, and that subsequently five Portuguese +fortresses should be ceded to them as places of security; and that France +should be invaded on the frontiers of Champagne, Burgundy, and Provence, +by the marquis of Spinola, the count of Fuentes, and the duke of Savoy. + +To the prosecution of Auvergne there were two obstacles, which arose out +of the conduct of Henry. When the count was released from the Bastile, he +offered to continue his correspondence with the Spanish court, for the +purpose of betraying its secrets to the king; and a regular authority +for so doing was unwisely granted to him. It was base in Auvergne to make +such a proposal, and scarcely less so in Henry to adopt it. By another +act, the monarch gave him a fresh pretext for holding intercourse with a +power which was thoroughly hostile at heart. Henry being attacked by a +fit of illness, the marchioness, who had insulted Mary of Medicis beyond +endurance, affected to feel, or perhaps felt, such extreme dread of what +would befal her and her offspring in case of his death, that the king +gave her half brother a written permission to negotiate an asylum for +her in a foreign country. Cambray was the place which she and Auvergne +selected as the city of refuge; and this selection afforded them, while +the negotiation was proceeding, an opportunity to carry on intrigues with +the emissaries of Spain. + +Apprehending, probably, that his treasonable duplicity would soon be +detected, Auvergne, by challenging the count of Soissons, artfully +contrived to be banished from court. Soissons complained, and Henry, to +satisfy him, exiled the challenger to the province whence he derived +his title. This was what Charles of Valois had aimed at; for, in that +province, his possessions, his popularity, and the rugged nature of +the country, would contribute to secure him from danger. While he was +there, a letter written by him, to one of his friends at Paris, was +intercepted, and, though its language was obscure, it gave the king +reason to believe that, under pretence of betraying Spain, the count was +in reality plotting with it. Henry immediately summoned him to return to +court. Auvergne was however aware of the reason and the danger. “It is +only for the purpose of bringing my head to the scaffold,” said he, “that +I am called to Paris.” The mere idea of being re-immured in “that great +heap of stones,” as he called the Bastile, made him shudder. Neither a +safe-conduct, nor a formal pardon, which were offered to him, nor the +assurances of several persons, whom the king sent to him, could remove +his suspicions. To avoid being taken by surprise, he lived in the woods, +and the most solitary spots, and kept dogs and sentinels continually on +the watch. Yet he was at last circumvented. His regiment of cavalry was +purposely ordered to pass near his abode, and he could not deny himself +the gratification of inspecting it. In this pleasure he thought he might +safely indulge, as he was resolved that he would neither dismount nor +be surrounded, and was on the back of a fleet horse, that could gallop +ten leagues without stopping. He was, nevertheless, adroitly seized, and +carried off to the Bastile, where he was placed in the chamber that Biron +had inhabited. On his way thither he had preserved his serenity, but, +when he entered the chamber, the remembrance of his friend drew from him +a few tears. He soon, however, recovered his equanimity, and jocosely +told the governor, “there was no inn at Paris so bad that he would not +rather go to bed in it, than in this building.” As soon as Auvergne was +secured, d’Entragues was arrested and lodged in the Concièrgerie, and the +marchioness of Verneuil was placed under a guard in her own house. + +The parliament was now directed to take cognizance of the plot. Henry, +however, whose main object in all this was to render his haughty mistress +more submissive, sent one of his confidential servants to make her an +offer of pardon on certain conditions. He was repulsed, as he richly +deserved to be. The marchioness disdainfully replied, that, as she had +never committed a crime against the king, there was no room for a pardon. +The trial accordingly proceeded. The conspirators defended themselves +dextrously. Biron had been ruined partly by admitting, at the outset, +the fair character and veracity of intended witnesses. The marchioness +and the count at least avoided that rock, by manifesting an apparently +bitter hostility to each other. As to d’Entragues, he censured them +both; but his vindication principally consisted of a severe exposure and +impeachment of Henry’s conduct, with respect to himself, the marchioness, +and her sister. + +Though in a legal point of view, whatever they might be in a moral, the +proofs against the prisoners were by no means clear, the judges, on the +1st of February, 1605, found Auvergne, d’Entragues, and Morgan, guilty +of high treason, and condemned them to lose their heads. The marchioness +was sentenced to be confined in a monastery, while further inquiries +were being made into her past proceedings. She was, however, soon +after allowed to reside in her own house at Verneuil; and no long time +elapsed before the king ordered that all inquiry into her acts should +be discontinued. The punishment of the remaining offenders was next +commuted. D’Entragues was exiled to his house at Malesherbes, Morgan was +sent out of the kingdom, and Auvergne was doomed to remain in “that great +heap of stones,” which he so much abhorred. + +Thus ended a farce which was eminently disgraceful to Henry, and for +which he was justly censured. “It excited indignation,” says de Thou, “to +see the ministry of the most respectable tribunal in the realm profaned +by a court intrigue. The king, it was said, had brought the marchioness +to trial, not for the purpose of punishing her, nor to give an example +which was equally necessary and full of equity, but that her father and +brother, who had tried to withdraw her from the court, might be foremost +in exhorting her to renew her connection with a prince who madly loved +her.” To crown the whole, the monarch who, to secure more effectually a +refractory mistress, had thus made a laughing-stock of the laws and the +magistracy, speedily deserted that mistress, and transferred his fickle +affections to Jacqueline de Beuil, whom he created countess of Moret. + +The death of Henry did not open the prison doors of the count of +Auvergne. He spent nearly twelve years in the Bastile. Happily for him, +he had been well educated, and though, while he was immersed in the +debaucheries of an immoral court, he had lost sight of literature, his +taste for it was not destroyed. He was therefore enabled to solace by +study his long captivity; and we may believe that, when he once more +emerged from his durance, reflection and added years had made him a wiser +and a better man. He had need of consolation while he was incarcerated; +for, the year after he was committed to the Bastile, he received another +heavy blow. Queen Margaret instituted a suit, to recover from him the +vast property which he derived from her mother, and the tribunal decided +against him. + +At last, in 1616, he was set free by Mary of Medicis, that he might +assist in forming a counterpoise to the Condéan faction; and in 1619, +he was created duke of Angoulême. He subsequently served the state with +honour, on various occasions, both as ambassador and general. His death +took place in 1650. + +Scarcely were the proceedings against Auvergne and his accomplices +brought to a close before another conspiracy was discovered; it was the +last which was formed, or rather, perhaps, which was made public, during +the reign of Henry. The author of this plot was Louis d’Alagon, sieur de +Merargues, a Provençal noble, nearly allied to some great families. We +have seen that the Spaniards were desirous to obtain an establishment +on the Breton coast, which might be a thorn in the side of France. They +now sought to gain a much more dangerous footing on the shore of the +Mediterranean. The important city of Marseilles was the object which they +coveted, and Merargues was the person on whom they reckoned to put it +into their possession. + +Almost the first step which Merargues took, after becoming a traitor, +showed how unfit he was to act the part which he had chosen; he had all +the will in the world to be a dangerous conspirator, and wanted only +the talent. Some years before, he had proposed to the king to keep two +galleys ready for service, in order to secure the port of Marseilles; +the plan was adopted, and as a recompense, he received the command of +the vessels. In maturing this scheme, he derived much assistance from a +galley-slave, who was a man of ability. To this man, whom he imagined +to be entirely devoted to him, and capable of daring deeds, Merargues +communicated his purpose of betraying Marseilles to the Spanish monarch. +By means of the two galleys, he considered himself to be master of the +port; and he had no doubt of being elected to the office of Viguier, +or Royal Provost, for the following year, which would give him full +authority over the city and the forts. + +In order to fathom to the bottom the project of Merargues, the wily +galley-slave affected to lend a willing ear to the projector. He, +however, deemed it more prudent to trust to the gratitude of his own +sovereign for a reward, than to that of Philip of Spain. As soon as he +had acquired a thorough knowledge of the particulars, he wrote to the +duke of Guise, offering to give information of the utmost importance, on +condition of recovering his liberty. His offer was made known to the king +by the duke, and was accepted. Guise was at the same time directed to +keep the affair a profound secret, till decisive proof could be obtained +against the criminal, and to take the necessary precautions for the +safety of the city. + +Merargues himself was not slow in furnishing the evidence which was +wanted. He had already had various conferences with Zuniga, the Spanish +ambassador, an able and intriguing diplomatist, but his correspondence +on the subject was principally carried on through Bruneau, the +ambassador’s secretary. Unconscious that his scheme was known to the +French government, he now visited Paris, on a mission to the court, from +the states of Provence; a mission which he no doubt readily undertook, +that he might have an opportunity of making arrangements with his foreign +confederates. By order of the king, he was closely watched, and it was +soon discovered that he had secret interviews with Zuniga and Bruneau. +The latter was tracked to the abode of Merargues, and both of them were +arrested. On the secretary, who tried in vain to draw his sword, was +found a paper, which bore witness to the criminality of his purpose. +Merargues, on being seized, exclaimed, “I am a dead man! but if the king +will spare my life, I will disclose great things to him!” He was conveyed +to the Bastile, and Bruneau to the Châtelet. + +No sooner did Zuniga learn the detention of his secretary than he +demanded an audience of the king. It must excite a smile, to hear that +he complained bitterly of heavy wrong, and assumed the lofty tone of +offended dignity. In the face of the clearest evidence, he denied all +sinister designs; and talked largely of the privilege of ambassadors +being violated, and the law of nations set at nought—as if any privileges +or law could exist authorizing an envoy to conspire in the very court of +the monarch to whom he is deputed. Nor did he forget to recriminate upon +the ministers of Henry, as being fomenters of revolution in the Spanish +dominions, nor to throw out threats of hostility, in case redress were +denied. Angered by the haughty language of Zuniga, Henry retorted with at +least equal acrimony, and concluded by a peremptory refusal to release +Bruneau, till the question of his guilt or innocence had been thoroughly +investigated. In the course of a few days, however, Bruneau was sent +back to his master; but not before he had answered interrogatories, and +been confronted with Merargues. + +The fate of Merargues could not be doubtful. He was sentenced to be +beheaded, and then quartered. As the culprit was related to the families +of the duke of Montpensier and the cardinal de Joyeuse, the king sent +to those personages, to offer the commutation of the punishment into +perpetual imprisonment. They, however, with a praiseworthy spirit, +replied that, though they were grateful for his kindness, they must +decline to accept it; of all such villains they would, they said, be glad +to see France cleared, and, although the criminal was their relative, +they would do justice on him with their own hands, if there were no +executioner to perform that duty. Merargues was in consequence executed, +at the Grêve, and his head was sent to Marseilles, and exposed on the +summit of one of the city gates. + +On the same day that Merargues was led to the scaffold, the life of Henry +was endangered by the violence of one John de Lisle, a madman. In the +course of a few months another accident occurred; he narrowly escaped +drowning, while crossing the ferry of Neuilly in his carriage. At the +expiration of five years, treason accomplished its purpose, and the +existence of this justly celebrated monarch was cut short by the knife of +Ravaillac. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + Reign of Louis XIII.—The treasure of Henry IV. + dissipated—Prevalent belief in magic—Cesar and Ruggieri—Henry, + prince of Condé—The Marchioness d’Ancre—Marshal + Ornano—Prevalence of duelling—The count de Bouteville—The Day + of the Dupes—Vautier, the physician of Mary of Medicis—The + marshal de Bassompierre—The chevalier de Jars—Infamy of + Laffemas—Three citizens of Paris sent to the Bastile—Despotic + language of Louis XIII.—The count de Cramail—The Marquis of + Vitry—Peter de la Porte—Noel Pigard Dubois, an alchemical + impostor—The count de Grancé and the Marquis de Praslin—The + prince Palatine—Count Philip d’Aglie—Charles de Beys—Letter + from an unknown prisoner to Richelieu. + + +The treasure deposited in the Bastile, by Henry IV., did not remain long +undissipated after his death. It began to melt away, like snow in the +sun, as soon as the regency of Mary of Medicis was commenced. Swarms of +her favourites and dependants clamoured to obtain the reward of their +sycophancy. Like the horse-leech’s two daughters, they were perpetually +crying, “Give! Give!” and, had such personages existed in the days of +Solomon, he might have added a fifth thing to the four which he describes +as never saying “It is enough.” Most prominent among the group were +Concini and his wife; and, as they were exceedingly unpopular, they +endeavoured to silence the cry against them, by stopping, at the public +expense, the mouths of their most formidable censors. But it was not +only her friends, as they called themselves, that Mary of Medicis had +to satisfy; her enemies, and she had many, were to be bought off, and +they sold their forbearance dearly. Fraud and shameless rapacity became +universal. “Governors,” says Anquetil, “called for guards which they +never enlisted, for augmentations of their garrisons, that they might +gain something out of the pay, and fortifications, which often were +useless. They themselves made the bargains, and, at the king’s cost, +managed matters with the contractors. Reversions were granted down to +the third generation. Those who by this means were excluded, required +drafts on the royal treasury. Nothing was more common than the doubling +and trebling of salaries, from the highest office to the lowest. Some +obtained dowries for their daughters, others the payment of their debts: +so that it was a general pillage.” To all this must be added, the loss +sustained, and the injury done to every branch of industry, by the +creation or revival of obnoxious tolls, privileges, and monopolies. + +Thus the money accumulated by Henry was speedily squandered. After all, +it was, perhaps, more innocently spent in this manner, than it would +have been in carrying on the wide-spreading war which he had planned, to +realise his chimerical projects. Some drops of the golden shower probably +descended among the multitude; and myriads were not led forth to spill +their blood in foreign lands. The real mischief in this case was, that, +when the hoard was gone, the spirit of spending remained; and to satisfy +that spirit new taxes and exactions were pitilessly imposed on a people +whose burthens were already oppressive. + +Having wholly lost his influence, Sully resigned many of his offices, and +returned into private life. Among the places which he relinquished were +the superintendence of the finances, and the government of the Bastile. +He, however, did not make the sacrifice without taking especial care to +be well remunerated for it. A million of livres, and a yearly pension of +forty-eight thousand livres, was his price. It is quite clear that the +virtuous Sully did not think, like Pope, that “virtue _only_ makes our +bliss below.” + +For the first four or five years of the regency of Mary of Medicis, the +Bastile seems to have contained no prisoner of note. At the end of that +time it received an individual who, though he had no rank to boast of, +professed to be in the service of a potent master. The belief in magic +was almost general at that period. We have seen that Biron attributed +his crimes to the influence of magic upon him. All the world was running +mad after charms, spells, and philtres; the boldest of the throng had +a violent curiosity to see the devil. Among those who preyed upon the +credulity of the crowd, history has preserved the names of two—one +was called Cesar, the other was Ruggieri, a Florentine. It is to the +extraordinary mode in which they are asserted to have quitted the world, +that we are indebted for our knowledge of them. + +Cesar is gravely stated to have had the power of calling down hail +and thunder at his pleasure. He had a familiar spirit, and a dog, who +seems to have been a sort of minor fiend, acting as messenger, to carry +his letters, and bring back answers. Cesar was a manufacturer of love +potions, to make young girls enamoured of young men; and, on occasion, +could help a cowardly enemy to destroy without risk the man whom he +hated. It was charged against him, that he had formed a charmed image +for the purpose of making a gentleman waste away. This was a very common +practice when sorcery and witchcraft were in vogue. But it seems probable +that the crime which brought him to the Bastile was an indiscretion which +he committed with respect to one of the gentle sex. He was accustomed to +attend the witches’ sabbath; and he boasted that, at one of those unholy +meetings, a great lady of the court had granted him the last favour which +a female can bestow. Such a vaunt was well calculated to bring him into +durance. It did that, and more. On the eleventh of March, 1615, all Paris +was astonished, by learning that, in the dead of the night, the devil had +come, with a tremendous din, and strangled Cesar in his bed. Four days +afterwards, his satanic majesty, who appears to have wanted the services +of two magicians at once, snatched away, in the same manner, the soul of +the Florentine Ruggieri, who was then residing in the house of a French +marshal. It is not difficult to account for these supposed supernatural +events. + +A curious description of the tricks which Cesar played upon his dupes +is given by a contemporary author, who speaks in the character of the +magician. The representation is probably correct. “You would hardly +believe,” says he, “how many young courtiers and young Parisians there +are, who teaze me to show them the devil. Finding this to be the case, +I hit upon one of the drollest inventions in the world to get money. +About a quarter of a league from this city, I found a very deep quarry, +which has long ditches on the right and left hand. When any body wants +to see the devil, I take him into that; but, before he enters, he must +pay me forty or fifty pistoles at least; swear never to say a word of the +matter; and promise not to be afraid, or call on the gods or demigods, or +pronounce any holy words. + +“All this being done, I enter the cavern first; then, before going +further, I make circles, and involutions, and fulminations, and mutter +some speech composed of barbarous words, which I have no sooner uttered +than my curious fool and I hear the rattling of heavy chains, and the +growling of large mastiffs. Then I ask him if he is afraid; if he says +yes (and there are many who dare not proceed), I lead him out again, and, +having thus cured him of his impertinent curiosity, I pocket his money. + +“If he is not afraid, I go forward, mumbling out some terrific words. +When I have reached a particular spot, I redouble my incantations, and +utter loud cries, as if I had gone frantically mad. Immediately six +men, whom I keep hidden in the cavern, throw out flashes of flame, to +the right and left of us, from burning rosin. Seen through these flames +I point out to my inquisitive companion a monstrous goat, loaded with +great heavy chains of iron, painted with vermilion, to look as though +they were red hot. On each side, there are two enormous mastiffs, with +their heads fastened into long wooden cases, which are wide at one end, +and very narrow at the other. While the men keep goading them, they howl +with all their might, and this howling echoes in such a manner, through +the instruments on their heads, that the cavern is filled with sounds so +terrific that, though I know the cause of the hurlyburly, even my own +hair stands on end. The goat, whom I have taught his lesson, plays his +part so well, rattling his chains, and brandishing his horns, that there +is nobody but what would believe him to be the devil in earnest. My six +men, whom I have also thoroughly trained, are likewise loaded with red +chains, and dressed like furies. There is no light in the cavern but what +they now and then make with powdered rosin. + +“Two of them, after having played the devil to perfection, now come to +torment my poor curious gull, with long bags of cloth full of sand; +with these they so belabour him all over his body, that I am at last +obliged to drag him out of the cavern half dead. Then, when he has come +to himself a little, I tell him that it is a most perilous thing to wish +to see the devil, and I beg that he will never indulge it in future; and +I assure you that no one ever does after having been so double damnably +beaten.” + +The year after the foul fiend had fetched away Cesar and Ruggieri, +the Bastile was tenanted by an occupant of high rank—Henry, prince of +Condé, the second who bore that Christian name. Condé was born in 1588, +and, till the birth of a dauphin, was presumptive heir to the throne of +France. The prince was well educated, witty and pleasant in conversation, +spoke several languages, and was better acquainted with literature and +the sciences than most contemporary men of high birth; but his person was +not attractive. It was probably the latter circumstance which induced +Henry the fourth to unite him to Henrietta de Montmorenci, the loveliest +and richest female of that time. Her inclinations leaned towards the +handsome, gallant, and accomplished Bassompierre; but Henry, who was +smitten with an extravagant passion for her, seems to have thought that +he could more easily seduce her if she were the wife of Condé. He was +mistaken. The prince, on whose “liking the chase a hundred thousand times +better than he liked women” Henry had rather erroneously calculated, +was not disposed to be dishonoured, even by a king who was his uncle. +Henry, previous to the marriage, had, indeed, pledged his word that, +on his account, the prince need have no fears; but Henry was not a man +to be trusted in such cases. The nuptial knot was scarcely tied before +the conduct of the monarch became such as to awake, and justify, all +the jealous fears of the husband; who was further aggrieved by being +compelled to endure the contempt and insolence of Sully. To avoid the +danger which hung over him, his sole resource was to fly the country with +his wife; and he accordingly contrived to make his escape, and to obtain +an asylum in the court of the archduke Albert, at Brussels. + +When Henry found that his intended prey was beyond his reach, his +behaviour resembled rather that of a madman than of a sage monarch, +at the mature age of fifty-seven. He ran about asking advice of his +courtiers, the ministers were summoned, councils were held, parties of +troops were despatched to seize the fugitives, and war was threatened +against Spain, if she refused to give them up. When Sully was told of +what had happened, he replied in a surly tone, “I am not astonished at +it, sire; I foresaw it clearly and warned you of it; and had you taken +my advice a fortnight ago, when he was going to Moret, you would have +put him into the Bastile, where you would find him now, and where I +should have kept a good watch over him for you.” Such was the morality +of the austere Sully! This “well-seeming Angelo,” who has been praised, +at least as much as he deserves, could be indignant at the idea of the +monarch marrying Henrietta d’Entragues, his mistress; but he could see +no dishonour in that monarch breaking his plighted word, as well as all +moral obligations, by seducing the wife of his nephew; nor in he himself +volunteering his assistance to forward an adulterous intercourse, by +prompting the seizure of the injured husband, and becoming his gaoler! + +It was not without reason that the prince dreaded to trust his wife +within the corrupted atmosphere of the French court. Had she remained +there, it appears certain that she must have fallen. As it was, her +fidelity was, for a moment, on the point of being shaken. Henrietta was +little more than sixteen, and the glory of the sovereign, his boundless +generosity to her, and his idolatrous fondness, dazzled her imagination +so far, that, while she was at Brussels, a correspondence was actually +carried on between them. An attempt was made by Henry’s emissaries to +carry her off, but it failed. When d’Estrées, marquis of Cœuvres, who +conducted this attempt, was reproached for his baseness by Condé, his +defence was, that he had acted upon orders from the king his master, and +that it was his duty to execute them, whether they were just or unjust. +Henrietta repaired her momentary error by her subsequent conduct. + +Not believing himself to be safe, Condé removed to Milan, where he +published a manifesto to justify his having quitted France. From +policy he passed over in silence the main cause of his flight; but he +indemnified himself by pouring forth all the bitterness of his resentment +on Sully, whom he painted in the darkest colours. Some overtures were +made, to lure the prince back to France, but they were ineffectual. +But, while Henry was preparing to carry war into the territory of his +neighbours, he fell by the hand of an assassin, and the way was thus +opened for the return of the prince. + +Condé aspired to the regency, but his ambitious hopes were disappointed. +Chagrined at the failure of some of his subsequent schemes, and the +refusal of favours which he sought, the prince, with many of the nobles, +took up arms against the court. For this, he and his adherents were +declared guilty of treason. A peace was, nevertheless, patched up between +the parties, and he returned to Paris in a sort of triumph. + +Not more than a year elapsed before the obvious intention of Condé, to +monopolize all the power of the state, compelled Mary of Medicis to +venture upon decisive measures against him. Sully was active in prompting +her to this step. The strength of the prince’s party rendered the +attempt hazardous; but the business was kept so secret, and was so ably +managed, that he was arrested in the Louvre, and conveyed to the Bastile, +without opposition. Here, and at Vincennes, he remained for three years, +during part of which time he was harshly treated. It was not without +much difficulty, and till he had been long confined, that his wife, who +had become sincerely attached to him, was allowed to share his prison. +His liberation was brought about by the fall of Concini, and he was +reinstated in his honours. Thenceforth, he served Louis the thirteenth +faithfully in the cabinet and the field. He died in 1646. Voltaire truly +says, with respect to him, that his being the father of the great Condé, +was his greatest glory. + +The downfall of Concini, marshal d’Ancre, which opened the gates of the +Bastile to let out Condé, opened them also to admit, for a short time, +the wife of the murdered marshal. After Concini had been assassinated by +Vitry and his accomplices, and his body had been dragged from the grave, +and torn into fragments, by an ignorant and savage populace, Leonora, his +widow, was hurried to prison. She was a daughter of the female by whom +Mary of Medicis was nursed, and had been the playmate of the princess. +When Mary became the consort of Henry IV., she took Leonora in her train +to Paris. So attached was Mary to her, that Leonora is said, by Mezeray, +“to have directed at her pleasure the desires, the affections, and the +hatreds of the queen.” Riches were, of course, heaped upon her. She is +charged with having fomented the disagreements of Mary and her inconstant +husband, by making false statements, to excite the jealousy of her +mistress. If she did so, which may be doubted, she was performing a work +of supererogation; for Henry rendered falsehood unnecessary, by affording +abundant and undisguised cause for complaint. The light of the sun was +not more obvious than his conjugal infidelity. It was also objected, +that she insolently shut her door against the princesses and nobles, who +came to pay court to her in the height of her power. If this be true, +it proves only that she had spirit and good sense enough to despise +the sycophancy of those by whom she knew herself to be detested. It is +much in favour of Leonora’s private character, that Mary of Medicis was +so firmly her friend; for, unlike the titled dames who surrounded her, +Mary was a modest and virtuous woman. That the marshal and his partner +fattened on the spoils of the state it would be folly to deny; but, mean +and criminal as such conduct undoubtedly is, we must bear in mind that +the crime was common to all the courtiers of that period. Every one +was eager, as the French phrase expresses it, “to carry off a leg or a +wing.” It was envy, not abhorrence of robbing the public, that caused the +destruction of Mary’s favourites. + +In France, to live upon the imposts squeezed from the people was not +deemed an impeachable act, unless, perhaps, by those who had failed to +get a share of the pillage; and consequently there was no legal ground +for dragging the widow of Concini to the bar. But hatred is ingenious in +finding means to effect its purpose. Having first been so effectually +plundered by the police officers, that she had not even a change of linen +left, she was sent before a special commission, to be tried for Judaism +and sorcery. Other charges were brought forward, but it is obvious +that they were only meant to increase the odium under which she was +labouring. The trial was, throughout, a mockery of justice. Evidence the +most trivial in some instances, and absurd in others, was produced to +substantiate the charge of Judaism and sorcery. Some Hebrew books, which +were found in her apartment, were gravely supposed to be used by her +for necromantic purposes. “By what magic did you gain such an influence +over the mind of the queen-mother?” was one of the questions put by her +judges. “My only magic,” replied the prisoner, “was the power strong +minds have over weak ones”—a memorable reply, which goes far to prove +that she was a woman of superior talent. + +Though the judges had, no doubt, been selected for the purpose of +ensuring her condemnation to death, it turned out that a mistake had +been made with respect to some of them, and that they were not of the +opinion of d’Estrées, who thought that the orders of a master ought to +be executed, whether they were just or unjust. Five of them absented +themselves, and a few others voted for banishment. The majority, however, +were faithful to their mission, and she was sentenced to be beheaded, +and her remains burnt, and scattered to the winds. By the same sentence, +her husband’s memory was branded with infamy, her son was declared +ignoble, and incapable of holding office or dignity; their mansion, near +the Louvre, was ordered to be levelled with the ground, and all their +property was confiscated. + +On hearing this sentence, to which she was compelled to listen +bareheaded, in the midst of an insulting crowd, nature for a moment +prevailed in the bosom of Leonora, and she sobbed loudly. The disgrace of +her son seems to have been more painful to her than even her own fate. +She soon, however, recovered herself, and became resigned to her doom. +When she was led to execution, her deportment so won for her the respect +of the multitude, that not a syllable of reproach was heard. She looked +firmly, yet without any theatrical affectation of heroism, on the block +and the flaming pile; submitted to the blow without a murmur; and thus +triumphantly vindicated her claim to the possession of a strong mind. + +Having passed over an interval of seven years, after the judicial murder +of the marchioness d’Ancre, we find the Bastile receiving John Baptist +Ornano, the son of a father who enjoyed and deserved the friendship of +Henry IV. Ornano was born in 1581, and was not more than fourteen when he +commanded a company of cavalry at the siege of la Fère. He subsequently +served with distinction in Savoy and other quarters. + +In 1619, Louis the thirteenth appointed him governor of Gaston, duke +of Anjou, the king’s brother, who was presumptive heir to the throne. +Gaston had, for some time, been under the care of the count de Lude, +than whom it would have been difficult to find a man more unfit for his +office, unless he was chosen for the purpose of leading his pupil astray. +Ornano, by a proper mixture of firmness and kindness, soon succeeded in +perfectly acquiring the respect and affection of the prince. One part of +the system, by which he purposed to break the bad habits of his youthful +charge, is said to have consisted in awakening his ambition. With this +view he dwelt upon the strong probability of the prince succeeding to the +crown, and the necessity of making himself acquainted with affairs of +state; and he taught him to believe, that he could gain such knowledge +only by being admitted into the king’s council. It may be supposed that, +in thus acting, Ornano was not without an eye to his own advancement and +influence. La Vieville, however, who then ruled, did not wish to see +Gaston in the council, and still less Ornano. He, therefore, persuaded +Louis to remove the prince’s governor, and send him into Provence. Ornano +refused to resign, and he was punished by being sent to the Bastile, +whence he was transferred to the castle of Caen. + +Gaston remonstrated strongly against being deprived of his friend and +preceptor; but his remonstrances would probably have been of little +avail, had not la Vieville been precipitated from power. Ornano was +then released by the king, and was placed at the head of the prince’s +household. In 1626, at the request of Gaston, seconded by the advice +of Richelieu, he was created marshal of France. This promotion was the +precursor of his fall. It was a part of the policy of Richelieu to grant, +in the first instance, more to suitors of rank than they were entitled to +expect, that, in case of their afterwards opposing him, he might treat +them without mercy. It appears he soon began to suspect that the new-made +marshal was not likely to be a submissive dependent, and this was enough +to induce him to work his ruin. Ornano himself aided his dangerous enemy, +by pertinaciously requiring admittance into the council, and by using +offensive language on his demand being refused. Various acts of the +marshal were now represented in the darkest colours to the suspicious +king, by Richelieu; and Louis, always open to suggestions of this kind, +imprisoned the supposed offender in the castle of Vincennes. Ornano died +there, in September, 1626. He death was attributed to poison, but the +report was certainly unfounded. Whether, if he had lived, he would have +saved his head, is doubtful; for when Richelieu had once resolved to have +a man’s head, it was not easy to disappoint him. + +Among the few whom justice, not tyranny or caprice, immured within the +walls of the Bastile, may be reckoned Francis, count de Bouteville, of +the ancient and illustrious family of Montmorenci, whose father, Louis +de Montmorenci, was vice-admiral of France in the reign of Henry the +fourth. The example which was made of him was necessary, to vindicate +the insulted laws, and to check a murderous practice which had shed +some of the best blood in the kingdom. For a long series of years, in +defiance of the severe edicts issued against it by Henry IV. and Louis +XIII., duelling had been carried to an extent which it is frightful to +contemplate. War itself would scarcely have swept off more victims of the +privileged class, than were sacrificed in private and frivolous quarrels. +Paris, in particular, swarmed with professed duellists, who gloried in +their exploits, and counted up their slain with the same exultation that +a sportsman counts the game he has killed. Some, who prided themselves on +a peculiar delicacy of honour, were ever on the watch to find a pretext +for taking offence. Even to look at them, to touch any part of their +dress in passing by them, or to utter a word which could be misconstrued, +sufficed to draw from them a challenge to mortal combat. + +Bouteville was one of the most conspicuous of these offenders. In +1624, M. Pontgibaud, in 1626, the count de Thorigny and the Marquis +Desportes, and in January, 1627, M. Lafrette, fell beneath his weapon. +In consequence of the last of these encounters, he, and his second, +the count des Chappelles, were compelled to take refuge at Brussels. +Thither he was followed by the marquis de Beuvron, a relation of the +count de Thorigny, who was eager to avenge his death. The archduchess +Isabella, who then governed the Netherlands, brought about a semblance +of reconciliation between them, but their rancour remained unabated; +for even at the moment when, in sign of forgiveness, they embraced each +other, Beuvron whispered to Bouteville, “I shall never be satisfied till +I have met you sword in hand.” + +The archduchess also solicited Louis the thirteenth to grant the pardon +of Bouteville, but the monarch refused. On hearing this, the rash and +insolent culprit exclaimed, “Since a pardon is denied, I will fight in +Paris, aye, and in the Place Royale too!” He was as good as his word. +In May he returned to the French capital, and his first step was to +offer Beuvron the satisfaction which that nobleman had expressed a wish +to obtain. A combat of three against three was arranged, and the Place +Royale was chosen as the spot for deciding it. Beuvron was seconded by +Buquet, his equerry, and by Bussy d’Amboise, the latter of whom had been +ill of fever for several days, and was weakened by repeated bleedings. +Bouteville brought with him des Chappelles, his cousin, and constant +auxiliary on such occasions, and another gentleman. They fought with +sword and dagger. + +Bussy being killed by des Chappelles, the five remaining combatants, who +began to dread the vengeance of the violated laws, sought for safety in +flight. Beuvron and Buquet succeeded in escaping to England. Bouteville +and his cousin fled towards Lorraine. Unfortunately for them, Louis the +thirteenth was then at the Louvre, and, as soon as he heard of the duel, +he ordered a vigorous pursuit of the offenders. At Vitry, in Champagne, +the officers of justice overtook Bouteville and his associate; the latter +wished to resist, but the former prevailed on him to surrender. On their +arrival at Paris, they were committed to the Bastile, and no time was +lost in bringing them to trial. + +From all quarters the king was importuned by entreaties to pardon the +criminals. The countess de Bouteville threw herself at his feet, to beg +the life of her husband; but he passed on without replying. “I pity her,” +said he to his courtiers, “but I must and will maintain my authority.” +The nobility were not more successful in their supplications to the king +and the parliament. At the trial all that forensic talent could do for +the prisoners was done by Chastelet, their counsel. The plea which he +put in for them was written with so much eloquence and boldness, that +cardinal Richelieu sternly told him it seemed to impeach the justice +of the king. “Excuse me, sir,” replied Chastelet, “it is only meant to +justify his mercy, in case he should extend it to one of the bravest men +in his kingdom.” When the sentence of death was passed, another effort +was made to move the king. The princess of Condé, accompanied by three +duchesses, and the wife of Bouteville, requested an audience of his +Majesty. He at first refused to see them; but he subsequently admitted +them to a private interview in the queen’s apartments. They pleaded +in vain. “I regret their fate as much as you do,” said he; “but my +conscience forbids me to pardon them.” + +Bouteville seems, from the beginning, to have made up his mind to die, +and to have been unfeignedly repentant. While he was in the Bastile, he +was attended by Cospean, the bishop of Nantes, one of the most highly +gifted preachers of the age. It was by the exhortations of this pious +prelate that Bouteville was awakened to a due sense of his crimes. So +moved was he by the fervid eloquence of his spiritual guide that, while +his trial was yet pending, he said to him, and doubtless with perfect +sincerity, “So resigned am I to the will of God, and so ready to do +every thing to save my soul, if to save it be possible, that, even more +pressingly than my wife now begs for my pardon, I will beg my judges to +condemn me to the gibbet, and to be drawn to it on a hurdle, in order to +render my death more ignominious and meritorious.” It was not without +difficulty that Cospean could dissuade him from seeking salvation by +means of this extraordinary self abasement. Contrition alone, and not an +act which would cast a stigma on his family, the prelate justly observed, +was required to appease the wrath of an offended Deity. + +Bouteville and his cousin met death with much firmness; the former +refused to allow his eyes to be bandaged. On the scaffold a circumstance +occurred, which appears to prove that vanity, like hope, sometimes does +not leave us till we die. The mustachios of Bouteville were large and +handsome, and he put up his hands, as though to save them, when the +executioner came to cut off his hair. “What! my son,” exclaimed Cospean, +who attended him till the last, “are you still thinking on _this_ world!” + +The plan which, under seemingly favourable auspices, was formed, by Mary +of Medicis and her partisans, to subvert the power of Richelieu, and +which was shattered to pieces on the day emphatically called the Day of +the Dupes (November 11, 1630), was disastrous to many who were concerned +in or suspected of favouring it. Of the Marillacs, one, a proved soldier, +was brought to the scaffold; the other, a magistrate of unimpeachable +conduct, was hurried from one prison to another, and closely confined, +and he died a captive. But we must restrict ourselves to those +individuals who were committed to the Bastile. One of these was Vautier, +born at Montpelier, in 1592, who was the queen mother’s principal +physician. If we were to give credit to Guy Patin, we must believe that +Vautier was a worse pest than a whole host of duellists, and richly +deserved to be the inmate of a dungeon. “He was,” says Patin, “a rascally +Jew of the Avignonese territory, very proud and very ignorant, who was +lucky in having escaped the gallows for coining, and who afterwards found +means to wriggle himself in at court.” But the evidence of Patin is +liable to more than suspicion in this instance; for Vautier was a friend +to antimony and chemical remedies, all of which his censurer held in +abhorrence: to prescribe them was worse in his eyes than being guilty of +all the deadly sins. Vautier, however, certainly appears to have been of +an obstinate disposition, and at times unjust. + +Vautier was believed to have so much influence with the queen mother, +that he was one of the first to be arrested after the Day of the Dupes. +He was confined for a while at Senlis, whence he was removed to the +Bastile. In the Parisian fortress he remained for twelve years, during +which period no communication with him was permitted. It was in vain +that, after her flight, when she was so dangerously ill at Ghent, Mary +of Medicis intreated to have the services of her confidential physician. +Richelieu kept fast hold of his prey. In 1643, the captive was set at +liberty by Mazarin, who subsequently appointed him head physician to the +king. Patin flings his venom upon this appointment. It was, he says, +bought of the minister for twenty thousand crowns, and the purchaser was +to act as his spy. He adds an insinuation, which does no credit to his +heart. “See what policy is!” he exclaims; “this man was twelve years +imprisoned by the father, yet the health of the son is entrusted to him.” +M. Patin seems to have thought, that a man who has been injured by the +parent, must needs wish to poison the child. Vautier died in 1652. + +The grave physician is succeeded by a very different personage; a +courtier of high birth, handsome, accomplished, full of gallantry in both +senses of the word, witty, and with his natural talents improved by early +study. Francis de Bassompierre, who was all this, was born in Lorraine, +in 1579, and was descended from the princely house of Cleves. On +returning from his travels, he visited the court of Henry IV., and soon +acquired the friendship of that sovereign. Among a crowd of courtiers, +each vying with the other in splendour and extravagance, he was one of +the foremost. At the baptism of the king’s children, he wore a dress of +cloth of gold, covered with pearls, the cost of which was nine hundred +pounds. Gaming, thanks to the bad example set by Henry, was scandalously +prevalent; and here, too, Bassompierre was prominent. He tells us, in his +memoirs, that not a day passed, while he was at Fontainebleau, in which +twenty thousand pistoles were not won and lost, and that he was a winner +of half a million of livres within twelve months. + +Desirous of adding the reputation of a soldier to his other pretensions, +he served a campaign in Savoy, in 1602, and in Hungary the following +year. Having established his military character, he resumed his station +at the French court. The greatest part of the business of his life +seems now, and for many years, to have been amorous intrigues—to apply +the word love to them would be a profanation of it. However eager he +might be to swell the number of his conquests, there is the best reason +for believing, that those whom he attacked were willing enough to be +overcome. It at once proves his attractions, and speaks volumes as to the +low state of morals among the females at that period, that when, at a +later date, Bassompierre was about to be imprisoned, he burnt more than +six thousand letters, which contained the proofs of his amatory success. +One of the most notorious of his amours was that in which he involved +himself with Mdlle. Entragues, sister of the king’s mistress, the +marchioness of Verneuil. By this lady he had a son. She is said to have +obtained from him a promise of marriage, and for several years she sought +to enforce the performance of it, and persisted in bearing his name. +Meeting him one day at the Louvre, she told him publicly that he ought to +cause the customary honours to be paid to her there, as his wife. “Why,” +said he, “will you take a _nom de guerre_?” “You are the greatest fool in +all the court!” exclaimed the enraged lady. “What would you have said to +me, then, if I had married you?” retorted the provoking Bassompierre. + +In 1605, the career of this gay deceiver was near being cut short by a +serious accident. At a tournament, in front of the Louvre, where the king +was present, Bassompierre was so severely wounded by the lance of the +duke of Guise, his antagonist, that his life was long in danger. This +tournament was the last which was exhibited in France; the dangerous +amusement was discontinued, in consequence of this misadventure. People +began to be of the same opinion as the Turkish sultan, that it was too +much for a jest and too little for earnest. + +Bassompierre at last appears to have felt that it was time for him +“to live cleanly as a nobleman should do,” and he resolved to marry. +His choice fell on Charlotte de Montmorenci, one of the most rich and +beautiful women in France, and neither she nor her father, the constable, +was averse from the union. It has been seen, in the sketch of Condé’s +career, that Henry IV. became excessively enamoured of her. In some cases +her marriage would have made no difference; as Henry might have assented +to it, and bound down the husband not to exercise his conjugal rights, +as he had done with respect to Gabrielle d’Estrées and Jacqueline du +Beuil. To such a restriction he probably thought that Bassompierre would +not submit. Calling him therefore to his bed-side—for Henry was ill of +the gout—he told him that he meant to unite him to Mdlle. d’Aumale, and +revive for him the dukedom of Aumale. On Bassompierre asking with a +smile, whether his majesty meant him to have two wives, the king sighed +deeply, and said, “Bassompierre, I will speak to you as a friend. I am +become not only in love with Mdlle. de Montmorenci, but absolutely beside +myself for her. If you marry her, and she loves you, I shall hate you; +if she loves me, you will hate me. It is much better that this should +not occur, to disturb the good understanding between us; for I have the +most affectionate regard for you.” The result was that the courtier +resigned his mistress, and was rewarded for the sacrifice with the rank +of colonel-general of the Swiss regiments. Bassompierre would fain make +us believe that he was sorely grieved, at being thus deprived of the +beautiful Montmorenci; but we may be sceptical on this head, since we +have his confession, that, in order “not to be idle, and to console +himself for his loss, he immediately made up his quarrel with three +ladies, whom he had entirely quitted when he thought that he should be +wedded.” + +For more than twenty years, Bassompierre continued to be a flourishing +courtier. Once only, in that long period, he was in danger; it was from +the hostility of la Vieville, the minister, who strove to cage him in +the Bastile. The time of Bassompierre was, however, not yet come, and he +had the satisfaction to witness the downfall of his enemy. In the course +of these twenty years, he acquired reputation, both in the field and the +cabinet; he was active at various sieges and battles, particularly at the +sieges of Rochelle and Montauban, and he was entrusted with embassies +to Spain, Switzerland, and England, which he executed in an able manner. +For a short time he had the custody of the Bastile; and, in 1623, he +rose to the rank of Marshal. His being employed as a negociator was the +work of the royal favourite, Luynes, who was jealous of the influence +which Bassompierre possessed with the monarch. Luynes was candid enough +to confess this. “I love you, and esteem you,” said he, “but the liking +which the king has for you gives me umbrage. I am, in truth, situated +like a husband who fears being deceived, and cannot see with pleasure +an amiable man frequenting his wife.” To remove from court the man whom +he dreaded, Luynes offered the choice of a command, a government, or an +embassy; Bassompierre chose the last. + +Richelieu proved a far more formidable adversary than la Vieville. He +doubted not that Bassompierre had been engaged in the late plot against +him; he knew that he was a friend of the queen mother; and he suspected +him of having borne a part in the clandestine marriage of the duke of +Orleans with the princess Margaret of Lorraine. It is said, also, that +the cardinal imagined the marshal to have voted for imprisoning him, in +case of the malecontents being successful. This was more than enough to +bring down on him the vengeance of the triumphant minister. Bassompierre +was warned more than once of what would happen, and was advised to +escape, but he refused to follow this advice. He was taken to the +Bastile, in February, 1631. His arrest cost the death of the princess of +Conti, to whom he had long been secretly married; she died of grief in +little more than two months. + +Bassompierre had reason to hope that his imprisonment would be but of +short duration. The evening before he was seized, he had mentioned to +the king the reports which were afloat, and Louis had declared them +to be false, and expressed much affection for him. The day after the +deed was done, the monarch sent him a message, that he considered him +to be a faithful servant, that he was not arrested for any fault, but +in the fear of his being led to commit one, and that he should soon be +released. Year after year elapsed, however, and the promised liberation +was still delayed. Hopes were often held out to him, apparently with no +other intention than that of making him feel the pain of disappointment. +There seems, indeed, to have been a malignant resolution formed to +torment him. The grain on his Lorrain estate was seized, the estate +itself was ravaged, his nephew’s mansion was destroyed, his pay was +stopped, cabals were excited against him in the Bastile, and he was +compelled to relinquish his commission of colonel-general for an +inadequate compensation. Yet, while Richelieu was acting thus, he could +ask Bassompierre to lend him his country-house! To add to the prisoner’s +vexations his property was going to ruin, some of his friends proved +faithless, and death was busy among his dearest relatives. + +It was twelve years before the decease of Richelieu gave freedom to +Bassompierre. His post of colonel-general was restored to him by Mazarin; +and an intention was manifested of appointing him governor to the minor +king, but this intention was frustrated by a fit of apoplexy, which put +an end to his existence in October 1646. + +Of the many individuals who were persecuted by the cardinal-king, none +were more estimable than Francis de Rochechouart, who was usually +denominated the chevalier de Jars. He was of an ancient and noble family, +which traced back its origin to the viscounts of Limoges, early in the +eleventh century. To great personal and mental graces, and prepossessing +manners, he added a mind of such firmness as is not of common +occurrence, especially among the courtier tribe. His eminent qualities +gained him the friendship of Anne of Austria, which alone was sufficient +to excite the suspicion and hatred of Richelieu—that ultra Turk, who +could bear “no rival near his throne,” nor even the friend of any one who +could possibly become a rival. In 1626, de Jars was, therefore, ordered +to quit the court. He retired to England, where he soon won the favour of +Charles I., his queen Henrietta Maria, the duke of Buckingham, and other +distinguished characters. Bassompierre, an acute observer, was at that +time in England as ambassador from Louis XIII., and from the manner in +which he mentions him, it is evident that de Jars was in high repute at +the court of Charles. + +In 1631, de Jars was allowed to return, or was recalled, to his native +country. Whether he was lured over to France, that he might be within the +grasp of his potent enemy, cannot now be ascertained. It is probable that +he was, for he did not long remain at liberty. In February, 1632, he was +involved in the downfall of Chateauneuf, the keeper of the seals, who +had inexpiably offended the implacable minister. De Jars had sufficient +demerit to bring down this misfortune on him; he was the friend, and, +as Bassompierre affirms, the confidant of Chateauneuf, possessed the +queen’s esteem, and was, perhaps, suspected of being looked upon with a +favourable eye by the beautiful and fickle duchess of Chevreuse, of whom +Richelieu was enamoured. As, however, the first two of these offences +would hardly have justified his imprisonment and trial, and as the third +had the same defect in a greater degree, and, besides, could not have +been decorously urged against him by a high dignitary of the church, +the crime attributed to him was that of assisting Anne of Austria to +correspond with Spain, and of planning the removal to England of the +queen mother and the duke of Orleans. + +It was the depth of winter when de Jars was thrown into one of the +dungeons of the Bastile, and there he was kept for eleven months, till +the clothes rotted off his back. The reader will remember what horrible +abodes these dungeons were. It being supposed, perhaps, that his spirit +was by this time enough broken, he was sent for trial to Tours, where +a tribunal of obedient judges had been formed, for the express purpose +of sitting in judgment upon him. At the head of this tribunal was one +Laffemas, or La Fymas; a man who was redeemed from the contempt of +mankind for his baseness, only by the hatred which was excited by his +power and will to do mischief. He was the ready tool, or, to use a more +emphatic and appropriate French phrase, the _âme damnée_ of Richelieu, +and was capable of diving to the lowest deep of degradation, in the +service of his master. He bore the well earned and significant nickname +of “the cardinal’s hangman.” + +At the Bastile and at Troyes, de Jars underwent no fewer than eighty +examinations. In these, Laffemas strained every nerve to seduce, or +beguile, or terrify, the prisoner into avowals which would manifest or +imply guilt in himself or in his friends. But de Jars was proof alike +against feigned sympathy, intreaties, artful snares, and ferocious +threats. Not a word dropped from his lips by which any one could be +criminated. Laffemas had no sinecure office in conducting this iniquitous +affair; he was often lashed by de Jars with unsparing severity, as a +mendacious and deceitful coward; nor did the cardinal himself escape +without a full portion of stinging censure. + +De Jars did not stop here. He determined to inflict a public disgrace +upon Laffemas. By dint of importunity, he obtained permission to hear +mass, on All Saints’ day, in the church of the Jacobins, where he knew +that Laffemas would be present. Thither he was taken, under a strong +guard. Watching the moment when, with downcast eyes and a Tartuffe +countenance, Laffemas was coming from the communion table, he broke from +his guards, and seized the judge by the throat. “Villain!” exclaimed he, +“this is the moment to confess the truth. Now; while your God is on your +lips, acknowledge my innocence, and your injustice in persecuting me. As +you pretend to be a Christian, act like one: if you do not, I renounce +you as my judge, and I call upon every one who hears me to bear witness +that I protest against your being so.” + +This singular scene drew the wondering congregation round the parties. +But the people were by no means inclined to interfere in behalf of the +intendant, and some time elapsed before the soldiers could extricate +him from the gripe of the prisoner. Laffemas seems not to have been +deficient in courage. Undisconcerted by this sudden attack, he said, in a +conciliating tone, “Do not make yourself uneasy, sir; I assure you that +the cardinal loves you; you will get off with merely going to travel in +Italy: but you must first allow us to show you some billets, in your +own handwriting, which will convince you that you are more blameable +than you say you are.” “Such an insinuation,” remarks Anquetil, “was +not calculated to set him at ease. Richelieu, as Madame de Motteville +tells us, said that ‘with two lines of a man’s writing, however innocent +that man might be, he might be brought to trial; because, by proper +management, whatever was wanted could be found in them.’ Accordingly, +when de Jars heard talk of writing, he gave himself up for lost, but he +soon armed himself with renovated courage.” + +The insinuation that written evidence existed was a falsehood. Fresh arts +were therefore employed, to obtain a confession. They were as fruitless +as all the former had been. Sentence of death was then passed; and, this +having been done, final efforts were made to move him, first by a promise +of pardon, next by the menace of torture. He treated both with contempt. +He was at last led to the scaffold; he ascended it with calm courage; +and, after once more asserting his innocence, he laid his head upon the +block. While he was waiting for the blow, and all earthly hopes must have +been dead in his bosom, he was suddenly raised up, and told that his life +was spared. As he was about to descend from the scaffold, the infamous +Laffemas approached, and besought him, in return for the king’s mercy, to +disclose whatever he knew respecting the misdeeds of Chateauneuf. But de +Jars disdainfully replied, “It is in vain that you seek to take advantage +of my disturbed state of mind; since the fear of death failed to extort +from me any thing that could injure my friend, you may be certain that +all your labour will be thrown away.[6]” + +It is said that the whole of this scene—a disgraceful scene to all the +actors but one—was got up by Laffemas under the direction of Richelieu. +Packed as the judges were, it was supposed that, if they thought death +were to ensue, even they would shrink from pronouncing the guilt of a man +against whom there was not a shadow of proof. The pardon was, therefore, +shown to them, and they were told that the mockery of an execution was +only meant to intimidate the prisoner into the desired confession. But +of what stuff must judges have been made in those days, when they could +consent thus to violate the dignity of justice, and the feelings of +humanity, in order to gratify the malice of a minister. + +From Troyes, de Jars was sent back to the Bastile. He remained there till +the spring of 1638, when he was liberated on condition of his immediate +departure, to travel in Italy. From Guy Patin’s letters, we learn that +the chevalier was indebted for his release to the intercession of Charles +I. of England and Henrietta Maria. He did not return to France till after +the decease of his persecutor. + +De Jars was engaged in the early part of the political contest, which led +to the ridiculous war of the Fronde; but he seems to have been rather a +peacemaker than a firebrand, for he endeavoured to arrange matters, by +bringing about a reconciliation between Mazarin, with whom he had become +acquainted at Rome, and Chateauneuf, the keeper of the seals, of whom he +was a constant friend. He at length withdrew from the court, passed his +latter years in happy retirement, and died in 1670. + +Nearly at the same time that de Jars was set free, the gates of the +Bastile were opened to admit three citizens of Paris, who had been guilty +of a crime which could not be overlooked; they had dared to remonstrate, +perhaps somewhat too roughly, against being robbed of the means of +subsistence. “They went,” says Guy Patin, “to M. Cornuel, and in some +degree threatened him, on a report being spread, that the payment of +the annuities receivable at the Town Hall was about to be suspended, and +the money to be applied _in usus bellicos_. The names of these three +annuitants are Bourges, Chenu, and Celoron, and they are all three _boni +viri optimeque mihi noti_. God grant, I pray, that no misfortune may +happen to them.” Whether the kind prayer of Patin was heard, we are not +told. + +That such things should occur in a country governed as France was, is +quite natural. Richelieu brooked not even the shadow of opposition; and, +Louis, submissive slave though he was to an imperious minister, had all +the brutal pride of an Oriental despot. In two instances (out of many +which might be quoted), the one not long before, and the other shortly +after, this period, the monarch, to whom parasites prostituted the title +of “the just,” did not scruple to treat with contumelious insolence the +parliament of Paris, a body of magistrates, eminent for their learning +and other qualities. On the first occasion, having taken offence at a +request which they made, he told them that, “in future, whenever he came +to them, he should expect to be received outside the door of their hall, +by four presidents on their knees, as the custom had formerly been.” +The second time, when, with respect to the duke de Valette’s trial, the +president Bellièvre, in decorous but dignified language, remonstrated +with Louis on his gross violation of justice and proper feeling, in +wishing the judges to sit in his own palace, while he was present to +overawe them, he furiously replied, that he detested all those who +opposed his trying a duke and peer wherever he pleased. They were, he +told them, ignorant beings, unfit for their office, and he did not know +whether he should not put others in their place. “I will be obeyed,” +said he; “and I will soon make you see plainly that all privileges are +founded only on a bad custom, and that I will not hear them talked +about any more.” But from this—which, however, can scarcely be called a +digression—let us return to his captives in the Bastile. + +During a part of the time that de Jars was in the Bastile, there was +within its walls a prisoner equally as brave, and of as honourable a +character, as himself. This was Adrian de Montluc, count de Cramail, born +in 1568, a grandson of that intrepid but cruel Montluc whose commentaries +were called by Henry IV. the Soldier’s Bible. In the second of Regnier’s +satires, which is addressed to Cramail, the poet winds up an animated +panegyric on him, by declaring that he proves “virtue not to be dead in +all courtiers.” There was more truth in this than is always to be found +in the eulogies lavished by a poet. It appears, from various authorities, +that he shone in conversation, was well informed, and was an honourable, +benevolent and judicious man. As a military officer, he earned reputation +in various battles. His conduct at the combat of Veillane, in 1630, +where Montmorenci utterly defeated a force five times as numerous as his +own, called forth a complimentary letter from cardinal Richelieu. “Fewer +lines than you have received blows,” says his eminence, “will suffice +to testify my joy that the enemy has cut out more work for your tailor +than your surgeon. I pray to God that, after such rencounters, you may +always have more to spend for clothes than plaisters; and that, for the +advantage of the king’s service, and the glory of those who have acquired +so much on this occasion, others of the same kind may often occur; among +which there will, I hope, be some that will enable me to convince you +that I am, &c. &c.” + +The manner in which Richelieu proved his friendship for Cramail was by +sending him to the Bastile. It has been stated that Cramail was put into +confinement shortly after the Day of the Dupes, and his attachment to +the prince of Condé was the cause of it. This, however, appears to be a +mistake. Cramail was undoubtedly serving under Louis XIII. in Lorrain, as +late as 1635, at the period when the French arms were under a temporary +eclipse; and we learn from Laporte, and other writers, that, believing +the king’s person to be in jeopardy, the count advised him to return to +Paris. For this advice, reasonable as it was, he was incarcerated by +Richelieu. His imprisonment did not terminate till after the death of +the cardinal. He did not long survive his persecutor; his health was +broken by captivity and harsh treatment, and he died in 1646. Cramail +was the author of three works—“La Comédie des Proverbes;” “Les Jeux de +l’Inconnu;” and “Les Pensées du Solitaire.” + +Among the contemporaries of Bassompierre, de Jars, and Cramail, within +the walls of the Bastile, there was another of equal rank, but not of +an equally noble mind. His hands were stained with blood; his earliest +promotion was bought by perpetrating a cowardly murder. This personage +was Nicholas de l’Hospital, marquis of Vitry, to whom I have slightly +alluded in my notice of the marchioness d’Ancre. He was the degenerate +son of a warrior, who was incapable of a dishonourable action. Vitry, who +was born in 1611, succeeded his father as captain of the royal guards, +and ingratiated himself with Luynes, the minion of Louis XIII. In concert +with Luynes, he formed the plan of assassinating marshal d’Ancre, who was +obnoxious to the king. Eager to win the marshal’s staff which was held by +Concini, Vitry let slip no opportunity of irritating the king against the +intended victim, and of pressing for permission to assassinate him. The +monarch hesitated for a while, not from virtue but from fear; he ended +by granting his sanction, and Vitry lost not a moment in acting upon it. +With his brother du Hallier, and an associate named Perray, he waited for +Concini at the entrance of the Louvre, and there the three confederates +despatched him with pistols, which they had kept concealed beneath their +cloaks. When Louis was informed that the deed was done, he had the +ineffable baseness to look out at the palace window, and exclaim, “Many +thanks to you, Vitry! I am now really king!” It must, however, be owned +that the baseness of the monarch was kept in countenance by that of his +courtiers and flatterers, who lauded the assassin as profusely as though +he had been the saviour of the state. + +For this disgraceful service, Vitry was rewarded by the great object +of his ambition, the rank of marshal. On hearing of this, the duke of +Bouillon indignantly declared that he blushed at being a French marshal, +now that the marshal’s staff was made the recompense of one who traded in +murder. + +Though, of the two favourites of the queen mother, Vitry had slain the +husband with his own hand, and thus been the cause of the wife’s public +execution, and though at that time he had treated her with disgusting +insolence, yet when, two years afterwards, a feigned reconcilement took +place between Mary of Medicis and her son, she allowed Vitry to be +presented to her. On this occasion a scene of dissimulation occurred, +which has not often been paralleled. Vitry bent to kiss the hem of her +garment, but she graciously stretched out her hand to raise him, saying, +at the same time, “I have always praised your affectionate zeal in the +king’s service.” To which, with equal sincerity, he replied, “it was that +consideration alone which induced me to do all that the king desired; +without, however, my having had the slightest idea of offending your +majesty.” If we cannot praise the parts which these actors played, we +must at least admit that they played them skilfully. + +The military career of Vitry did not begin till the breaking out of +the war between the protestants and catholics, in 1621. Though he was +deficient in principle, he was not so in courage; in the course of the +war he distinguished himself upon many occasions, particularly in the +isle of Rhé and at the blockade of Rochelle. He obtained the government +of Provence in 1631, and he held it for six years. At the expiration of +that period, he was arrested, and sent to the Bastile. His having caned +an archbishop, and misused his authority in various cases, were among +the causes of his imprisonment. Richelieu said of him that, “though his +courage and fidelity rendered him worthy to govern Provence, yet it was +necessary to deprive him of office, because, being of a haughty and +insolent disposition, he was not fit to rule a people so jealous as the +Provençals were of their franchises and privileges.” + +Vitry spent six years in the Bastile, from which prison he was not +released till after the death of cardinal Richelieu. During the latter +part of his imprisonment he participated in intrigues, which would have +brought him to the block had they been discovered. In conjunction with +Bassompierre, Cramail, and others, he entered into the plot of which +the gallant count de Soissons was the head. The state prisoners in the +Bastile were, at that period, allowed so much freedom of intercourse, +both with their friends and among themselves, that they had plenty of +opportunity to conspire. It was arranged, between Vitry, Bassompierre, +and their associates, that, as soon as Soissons had gained a victory, +they should seize the Bastile and the Arsenal, and call the citizens +of Paris to arms. De Retz is of opinion that the success of their +scheme would have been certain; but the death of Soissons, who fell +in the battle of Marfée, at the moment of his victory, prevented the +conspirators from carrying their design into effect. Fortunately for +those who were concerned, their secret practices were never disclosed +while cardinal Richelieu was alive. + +Vitry was created a duke in 1644, but he died in a few months after he +obtained this title. He left a son, possessed of talent far superior to +his own, and who in character more resembled his grandfather than his +father. + +The count de la Châtre, in his Memoirs, relates a circumstance respecting +the liberation of Vitry and his fellow prisoners. The anecdote shows, +among other things, to what an extent Louis XIII. was infected with what +Byron calls the “good old gentlemanly vice” of avarice. “The cardinal +(Mazarin) and M. de Chavigny,” says la Châtre, “solicited the king for +the deliverance of the marshals Vitry and Bassompierre, and the count +de Cramail. The means which they employed on this occasion deserve to +be recorded, as being rather pleasant; for, finding that the king was +not very willing to comply, they attacked him on his weak side, and +represented to him that these three prisoners cost him an enormous sum +to keep them in the Bastile, and that, as they were no longer able to +raise cabals in the kingdom, they might as well be at home, where they +would cost him nothing. This indirect mode succeeded, this prince being +possessed by such extraordinary avarice, that whoever asked him for money +was an insufferable burthen to him; so far did he carry this, that, after +the return of Treville, Beaupuy, and others, whom the violence of the +late cardinal (Richelieu) had, when he was dying, forced him to abandon, +he sought occasion to give a rebuff to each of them, that he might +prevent them from hoping to be rewarded for what they had suffered for +him.” Here we see a king beginning his reign by prompting his servants to +commit murder, and ending it by displaying cold-blooded ingratitude to +those who had been faithful to him—fit end for such a beginning! + +From a noble, who stained his hands with blood, to win the favour of a +king, we gladly turn to a plebeian, who risked his life, rather than +violate his fidelity to the neglected and ill-used consort of that +monarch. Peter de la Porte was this plebeian, who, though his trials were +not carried to such a dreadful extent as those of the chevalier de Jars, +has a legitimate claim, as far as regards probity and firmness of mind, +to be placed in the same class with that distinguished character. La +Porte was born in 1603, and entered into the service of Anne of Austria +at the age of eighteen, as one of her cloak-bearers. It being suspected +that he was trusted by the queen, he was deprived of his office in 1626, +when a desperate attempt was made by the minister to implicate her in the +conspiracy of La Chalais. He then entered into her body guards. In 1631, +he was, however, allowed to resume his former situation. + +Ever studying to abase the queen, Richelieu believed that he had at last +found an opportunity to accomplish his purpose effectually. This was in +1637[7]. That the queen should privately keep up some correspondence +with the king of Spain and the cardinal infant, who were her brothers, +and also with the persons whom she valued in the courts of Madrid and +Brussels, was natural, more especially in her discomfortable situation, +slighted as she was by her husband, and thwarted and misrepresented by +the minister and the minister’s satellites. But Anne of Austria had a +sincere attachment to France, and there is no reason to believe that her +letters contained anything which could prejudice her adopted country. +Yet, it was not advisable that they should come into the hands of a man, +who boasted that with only two lines of an innocent person’s writing he +could ruin him—a boast which could be made by no one that was not dead +to honour and shame. It was necessary, therefore, to provide a safe +place, where the correspondence might be deposited. The queen’s favourite +convent of Val de Grace, of which she was the foundress, was the place +which she chose. There Anne had an elegant apartment, or oratory, in +which, after her devotions were over, she could sometimes, free from the +constraint and heartlessness of the court, enjoy a few hours of social +intercourse with the inmates of the convent. One of the nuns received +the letters from Spain and the Netherlands, and placed them in a closet, +whence they were taken by the queen, whose answers were forwarded in the +same manner. + +Richelieu, who had spies in all quarters, discovered the secret of the +correspondence which was carried on through the Val de Grace. He lost not +a moment in filling the mind of the weak Louis with phantoms of danger, +which was to arise from the queen’s unauthorised communications with her +relatives. The queen was hurried off by her husband to Chantilly, where +she was confined to her own room, scantily attended, and was obliged to +submit to being interrogated by the chancellor. Such was the baseness +of the courtiers that, believing her to be lost, not one of them would +venture even to look up at her window. Her confidential servants were +shut up in various prisons. The chancellor himself visited Val de Grace +to make a rigorous search for papers; but he found nothing. That he +failed in his search is not marvellous; for he is believed to have +previously contrived to give the queen notice of the intended visit. All +the papers had consequently been removed, and placed under the care of +the marchioness of Sourdis. + +Foiled in this attempt to reach the secret, Richelieu tried whether it +might not be wrung from the servants of the queen. La Porte, as being +supposed to possess a large share of her confidence, was of course most +open to suspicion and persecution. There had, besides, been found upon +him a letter from the queen to the duchess of Chevreuse, who was then in +exile. In the month of August, 1637, he was committed to the Bastile. +Here he was repeatedly and severely questioned, but nothing to criminate +his royal mistress could be drawn from him. It was in vain that the +cardinal himself employed threats and promises, to obtain the information +which he so much desired. The obstinate fidelity of La Porte was not to +be shaken, even when the commissary showed him a paper, which he said +contained an order for applying to him the torture, and took him to the +room that he might see the instruments. He was equally proof to the fear +of death. + +In May, 1638, it being then certain that, after being childless for +two-and-twenty years, Anne of Austria was in a situation to give an +heir to the throne, the liberation of La Porte was granted to her. He +was, however, exiled to Saumur, where he resided till the decease of +Louis XIII. When Anne became regent, she recalled him, and gave him a +hundred thousand francs, that he might purchase the place of principal +valet-de-chambre to the king. This office he held for several years. +But La Porte was too honest to prosper in a corrupt court. Sincerely +attached to the queen-regent, he thought it his duty to apprise her of +the degrading reports which were spread, on the subject of her long +interviews with Mazarin, and by this candour he cooled her friendship +and gratitude, while, at the same time, he incurred the enmity of the +cardinal himself, by communicating to her a circumstance, relative to +the young king, which Mazarin was desirous of keeping concealed. In +revenge, Mazarin deprived him of his place, and forbad him to appear at +court. It was not till after the death of the cardinal that La Porte was +again admitted to the king’s presence, and from him he met with a kind +reception. He died in 1680. + +Alchemy, the rock on which the peace and fortune of numbers have been +wrecked, was still more fatal to Noel Pigard Dubois, a restless and +certainly unprincipled adventurer, whom it deprived of liberty and life. +He was a native of Coulomiers, adopted his father’s profession, that of +a surgeon, then abandoned it, and voyaged to the Levant, where he spent +four years. During his stay in the East, he studied the occult sciences. +Returning to Paris, he passed there four years of an obscure and often +intemperate existence, associating chiefly with pretenders to alchemical +knowledge. Caprice, or a sudden fit of devotion, next induced him to +enter a Capuchin convent, but he appears to have speedily become tired +of restraint, and accordingly he scaled the walls and escaped. At the +expiration of three years he re-embraced a monastic life, took the vows, +and was ordained a priest, in which character he was known by the name of +Father Simon. The quicksilver of his disposition seemed at length to be +fixed, for he continued to wear the monkish habit during ten years; but +he verified the proverb that the cowl does not make the monk, his unquiet +spirit was again roused into action, and he fled into Germany. There +he became a convert to the doctrines of Luther, and once more devoted +himself to seeking for the philosopher’s stone. + +Hoping, perhaps, that there would be more believers, or fewer rivals, +in his own country than in Germany, he retraced his steps to Paris. +Probably he was himself half dupe, half knave, almost believing that he +had really found the great secret, but resolved at all events, to turn +his supposed skill to his own advantage. His first step was to abjure +protestantism; his next was to marry under a fictitious name. Rumours +of his wonderful hermetic discoveries were speedily bruited about. They +procured him the acquaintance of an Abbé Blondeau, an evidently credulous +man, who introduced him to Father Joseph, the favourite and confident +of Richelieu, as a person who might be useful to the state. For the +services which Dubois was to render, it was stipulated that his past +misdeeds should be buried in oblivion. France was at that time groaning +under a heavy load of taxation, money was raised by the most abominable +exactions; and, consequently, it was but just that an individual who +promised to procure supplies more innocently than by grinding the face +of the people, should be forgiven for offences which, though deserving +of punishment, were somewhat less iniquitous than systematic tyranny and +extortion. + +It affords a striking proof to what an extent the delusions of alchemy +prevailed in that age, that the strong-minded Richelieu instantly grasped +at the bubble which floated before him. Had only the weak Louis done so, +there would have been no cause for wonder. But the minister was full +as eager as his nominal sovereign. It was arranged that Dubois should +perform the “great work” in the presence of the king, the queen, and a +throng of illustrious personages. The Louvre was the place at which the +new and never-failing gold mine was to be opened. + +When the important day arrived, Dubois adroitly acted in a manner which +was calculated to inspire confidence. He requested that some one might +be charged to keep an eye on his proceedings. One of his body guards, +named Saint Amour, was chosen by the king for this purpose. Musket balls, +given by a soldier, together with a grain of the powder of projection, +were placed in a crucible, the whole was covered with cinders, and the +furnace fire was soon raised to a proper pitch. The transmutation was now +declared by Dubois to be accomplished, and he requested that Louis would +himself blow off the ashes from the precious contents of the crucible. +Eager to see the first specimen of the boundless riches which were about +to flow in upon him, the king plied the bellows with such violence, that +the eyes of the queen and many of the courtiers were nearly blinded with +the dust. At last a lump of gold emerged to view, and his transports +were boundless. He hugged Dubois with childish rapture, ennobled him, +and appointed him president of the treasury, nominated Blondeau a privy +counsellor, promised a cardinal’s hat to Father Joseph, and gave eight +thousand livres to Saint Amour. The master of perennial treasures could +afford to be generous. + +The experiment is said to have been repeated, and with the same success +as in the first instance. Dubois must at least have been a clever knave, +an adept in legerdemain, to have deluded so many strongly interested +spectators, and that, too, in spite of the precautions which he had +himself daringly recommended, for the prevention of fraud. + +But there was a rock on which the luckless adventurer was doomed to +split. Humbler patrons than he had found might for a long while have been +satisfied with the scanty portion of gold contained in the bottom of a +crucible; but the desires of his powerful friends were of a more greedy +and impatient kind, not to be fed with distant hopes, but demanding large +and immediate fruition. Richelieu loudly called upon the alchemist to +operate on an extensive scale; and he proved that it was necessary to do +so, by requiring that Dubois should furnish weekly a sum which should not +be less than six hundred thousand livres, about 25,000_l._ The startled +Dubois requested time to make the requisite preparations, and time +was granted. In truth, as the powder of projection was believed to be +procurable only by a protracted and laborious process, it was impossible +not to admit his claim for delay. The marvel is, that he did not avail +himself of the respite, to get beyond the reach of danger. When the day +arrived which he had named, he was of course compelled to own that he was +not yet prepared. + +Suspicion being excited, he was imprisoned at Vincennes, whence he was +transferred to the Bastile. Offended pride and vanity and disappointed +cupidity are often cruel passions. To punish Dubois for his sins +against them, the cardinal appointed a commission to try him; but being +averse from coming forward in the character of a dupe, he ordered him +to be arraigned on a charge of dealing in magic. As the wretched man +obstinately persisted in denying his guilt, he was put to the torture. +To gain a brief reprieve from his sufferings, he offered to realise the +golden dreams which he had excited. Faith was not quite extinct in his +patrons, and he was allowed to make another experiment. It is needless to +say that he failed. Being thus driven from his last hold, he avowed his +imposture, was sentenced to death, and terminated his existence on the +scaffold, on the 23d of June 1637. + +The battle of Thionville, which was fought in 1639, and terminated in +the defeat of the French, and the death of Feuquieres, their general, +gave two prisoners to the Bastile; not foreign enemies, or rebellious +Frenchmen, but officers who had combated for their country—the count de +Grancé and the marquis de Praslin. At Thionville, the troops under their +orders refused to advance, and finally ran away. It appears, from the +testimony of Bassompierre, that no blame was attributable to the count +or the marquis; they were nevertheless immured in the Bastile, though +it does not seem easy to discern how the cowardice of soldiers is to +be cured by imprisoning their officers. It was, however, in a similar +kind of spirit, only somewhat more barbarous, that in England, more +than a century afterwards, admiral Byng was sacrificed (murdered is the +proper word); not, as Voltaire sarcastically observes, “to encourage the +others,” but to divert public indignation from its proper objects. The +system was carried to a horrible length in France, during the reign of +terror. Less sanguinary, in this instance, than his imitators, Richelieu +contented himself with inflicting a short deprivation of liberty. The two +captives were restored to favour, and Grancé rose, in the next reign, to +the rank of marshal. + +The next two cases which are on record, afford a striking proof of +the contempt in which Richelieu held justice and the law of nations, +whenever they chanced to stand in the way of his political schemes, and +the gratification of his vindictive spirit. On the death of the gallant +warrior, Bernard of Saxe Weimar, which took place in the summer of 1639, +the possession of his admirably trained army became an object which all +the belligerent powers were eager to obtain. Among those who sought the +prize was the Prince Palatine, a son of the unfortunate Frederic, who +lost the crown of Bohemia and his own hereditary states. The prince was +passing through France, from England, to enter on the negociation, when +he was arrested, and sent to the Bastile, under pretence of his being an +unknown and suspected person. Richelieu, meanwhile, pushed on his treaty +with the officers of the deceased duke, and succeeded in purchasing their +services for France. When this was accomplished, it was discovered that +the arrest of the Prince Palatine was a mistake, and he was consequently +set free. + +The second case occurred in the following year, 1640, and was a still +more flagrant violation of international laws, and more fraught with +circumstances of baseness and malignity. Louis XIII. had a sister, +Christina, beautiful, accomplished, and of winning manners; in a word, +as worthy of being beloved as he was the contrary. This princess was the +widow of the duke of Savoy, who left to her the regency of his states, +during the minority of Emanuel Philibert, his son. On the decease of +her husband, the ambition of his brothers prompted them to grasp at the +reins of government, and, to effect their purpose, they called in the +aid of Spain. The duchess was sorely pressed by her enemies. In this +strait, nature and policy combined to make her apply to Louis for aid. +The appeals to him, in her letters, are often affecting. Richelieu was +willing enough to send succours, but he was determined that they should +be bought at an extravagant rate. His object, in truth, was to place +the dominions of the minor, and even the minor himself, at the mercy of +France. He not only required that certain fortresses should be delivered +up to him, but also that the young duke should be put into the hands of +the French king, that is to say, into his own. To bring this about, he +descended to the most unworthy intrigues and double dealing; alternately +calumniating the duchess to her brothers-in-law, and them to her, in +order to render impossible an accommodation between them. Borne down by +necessity, the duchess at length consented to admit French garrisons +into some of her fortresses, but she resolutely persisted in refusing to +surrender her son. + +The firmness of the duchess was sustained by count Philip d’Aglie, one +of her principal ministers, a man of discernment and talent, who never +slackened in his hostility to the scheme of Richelieu. He feared that +the visit of the young duke to France would resemble the descent into +Avernus—“_Sed revocare gradum, hoc opus, hic labor est._” The cardinal +had hoped that, in an interview which the duchess had with Louis at +Grenoble, she might be cajoled or terrified into compliance. But on that +occasion her own firmness was backed by the presence of count d’Aglie, +and the expectations of the ungodly churchman were in consequence +frustrated. So irritated was he by his disappointment, that he proposed, +in council, to arrest the count; but, powerful and feared as he was, he +could not prevail upon the members to assent to this measure. It was +therefore postponed to a better opportunity. In the meanwhile, calumny +was set at work to blacken the character of the devoted individual, that +when the happy time arrived for pouncing upon him, he might excite no +sympathy. That the slander would wound the duchess also was a matter +of little concern to the personage by whom it was propagated. It was +roundly asserted, apparently without the shadow of a reason for it, that +an illicit intercourse subsisted between the duchess and the minister, +the latter of whom the cardinal, with an affectation of virtuous anger, +was pleased to designate as “the wretch who was ruining the reputation +of Christina.” It was not till the following year that he could succeed +in wreaking his malice on the count. As soon as the French troops +had recovered Turin from the Spaniards, Richelieu ordered d’Aglie to +be seized; and, in spite of the remonstrances of the duchess against +this gross violation of her sovereignty, he was hurried to France, and +confined in the Bastile. The date of the count’s deliverance, I am unable +to ascertain, but it is probable that his imprisonment was not protracted +beyond the life of the cardinal. + +It appears to have been about this time that there was published a +bitter satire upon the cardinal, for which an unlucky author, who had +no concern with it, was conveyed to the Bastile. The satire bore the +title of “The Milliad,” from its consisting of a thousand lines. One +edition is intituled, “The Present Government, or the Eulogy of the +Cardinal.” It was attributed to Charles de Beys, a now-forgotten author, +who wrote three plays and some verses, and was lauded as a rival of +Malherbe, by a few of his ill-judging contemporaries. It must have been +some mischievous joker that ascribed “The Milliad” to him, for Beys was +not the sort of man to meddle with political satire, especially on such +a dangerous subject; he was of an indolent, convivial disposition, and +spent the largest portion of his time in enjoying the pleasures of the +table. He was, nevertheless, pent up in the Bastile, as the libeller of +the all-potent cardinal. Fortunately for him, he was able to prove his +innocence, was set at liberty, and continued to follow his former course +of life, till his constitution gave way, and he died, in 1659, at the age +of forty. + +In the winter of 1642, Richelieu, who had so largely fed the prisons and +scaffolds of France, terminated his career of ambition and blood. There +is extant a letter which, while the cardinal was on his death bed, was +written to him by one of his victims, named Dussault. The letter bears +date on the first of December, three days previous to the decease of the +minister, and it seems never to have reached him. What was the offence of +Dussault is not known; from a broad hint which is given in his epistle, +it appears that he suffered for having refused to execute some sanguinary +order given to him by Richelieu. When he penned the following lines, he +had been more than eleven years an inmate of the Bastile. + +“My Lord,—There is a time when man ceases to be barbarous and unjust; +it is when his approaching dissolution compels him to descend into the +gloom of his conscience, and to deplore the cares, griefs, pains, and +misfortunes, which he has caused to his fellow creatures: allow me to +say fellow creatures, for you must now see that of which you would never +before allow yourself to be convinced, or persuade yourself to know, that +the sovereign and excellent celestial workman has formed us all on the +same model, and that he designed men to be distinguished from each other +by their virtues alone. Now, then, my lord, you are aware that for eleven +years you have subjected me to sufferings, and to enduring a thousand +deaths in the Bastile, where the most disloyal and wicked subject of +the king would be still worthy of pity and compassion. How much more +then ought they to be shown to me, whom you have doomed to rot there, +for having disobeyed your order, which, had I performed it, would have +condemned my soul to eternal torment, and made me pass into eternity with +blood-stained hands. Ah! if you could but hear the sobs, the lamentations +and groans, which you extort from me, you would quickly set me at +liberty. In the name of the eternal God, who will judge you as well as +me, I implore you, my lord, to take pity on my sufferings and bewailings; +and, if you wish that He should show mercy to you, order my chains to be +broken before your death hour comes, for when that comes, you will no +longer be at leisure to do me that justice which I must require only from +you, and you will persecute me even after you are no more, from which +God keep us, if you will permit yourself to be moved by the most humble +prayer of a man who has ever been a loyal subject to the king.” + +This application was made in vain. If the cardinal ever saw it, which +is doubtful, it failed to penetrate his iron heart; he “died, and made +no sign,” in favour of the wretched supplicant. From Dussault’s evident +despair of ever being freed except by Richelieu, it may be conjectured +that, as an agent of the minister, he had given inexpiable offence to +some one on whom power was now likely to devolve; and this supposition +is rendered more probable, by his captivity having been subsequently +protracted to an extraordinary length. It was not till the 20th of June, +1692, that he was dismissed, after having languished in the Bastile for +sixty one years! At his advanced age,—for he must at least have been +between eighty and ninety—he could scarcely have deemed the boon of +liberty a blessing. In the common course of nature, all his kindred and +friends must have been gone, and as his habits were wholly unfitted for +the turmoil of the world, and he was, perhaps, exposed to want, it is +not unnatural to conclude that he may have been a solitary and starving +wanderer for the brief remainder of his existence. A situation more +forlorn than this it would be difficult to imagine. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Reign of Louis XIV.—Regency of Anne of Austria—Inauspicious + circumstances under which she assumed the regency—George + de Casselny—The count de Montresor—The marquis de + Fontrailles—Marshal de Rantzau—The count de Rieux—Bernard + Guyard—Broussel, governor of the Bastile—The duchess of + Montpensier orders the cannon of the Bastile to be fired on + the king’s army—Conclusion of the war of the Fronde—Surrender + of the Bastile—Despotism of Louis XIV.—Slavishness of the + nobles—John Herauld Gourville—The count de Guiche—Nicholas + Fouquet—Paul Pellisson-Fontainier—Charles St. Evremond—Simon + Morin—The Marquis de Vardes—Count Bussy Rabutin—Saci le + Maistre—The duke of Lauzun—Marquis of Cavoie—The chevalier + de Rohan—A nameless prisoner—Charles D’Assoucy—Miscellaneous + prisoners. + + +The regency of Anne of Austria commenced under auspices which were not +of the most favourable kind. For a long series of years she had been +persecuted by a tyrant minister, and discredited and humiliated, in every +possible manner, by an unfeeling husband. It would be a tedious task +to enumerate all the slights and injuries to which she was exposed; a +specimen may suffice. To avoid the disgrace of being sent back to Spain, +she had been compelled to confess before the Council a fault which she +everywhere else disavowed, and of which it is improbable that she was +guilty; on her bringing Louis XIV. into the world, she had suffered a +stinging insult from her consort, who had pertinaciously refused to give +her the embrace which was customary on such occasions—an insult which +affected her so deeply that her life was endangered; when he was on the +brink of the grave, and she earnestly sought to remove his prejudices +against her, he coldly replied to Chavigni, who was pleading her cause, +“In my situation I must forgive, but I am not obliged to believe her;” +and, in settling the regency, he would fain have excluded from it the +object of his hatred, but, that being impracticable, he took care to +shackle her authority in such a way as would have left her scarcely more +than the mere title of regent. Her having been childless for twenty-two +years, and been treated in child-bed with such marked aversion by him, +were also circumstances which were well calculated to throw dangerous +doubts on the legitimacy of the infant sovereign. Yet Anne of Austria +triumphed over all this, procured the setting aside of her deceased +husband’s arrangements, obtained unlimited power, and for five years +governed France without opposition, and with a considerable enhancement +of its military fame. It was not till the troubles of the Fronde broke +out that she encountered unpopularity and resistance. + +During the peaceable period of the queen mother’s government, the +Bastile seems to have had but few inmates, at least few whom history has +deemed worthy of being recorded; and during the war of the Fronde, and +even before, the castle of Vincennes was the prison which received the +captives of the highest class, such as the duke of Beaufort, the prince +of Condé, and cardinal de Retz. + +The first prisoner in the Bastile, of whom any notice occurs during +the regency, was a Spanish agent, named George de Casselny. Philip +IV. of Spain had recently lost his consort Elizabeth, and it appears +that Casselny was commissioned to make overtures for the monarch’s +marriage with that singular female the duchess of Montpensier, a woman +who had more manly qualities than her vacillating father, the duke of +Orleans. “There was a certain Spaniard, named George de Casselny (says +the duchess, in her memoirs), who had been made prisoner in Catalonia, +and was on his parole, he went to M. de Surgis, at Orleans, to request +that he would procure for him an interview with Monsieur (the duke of +Orleans), who put him off till he could see him at Paris. In consequence +of this delay, the Spaniard’s intention got wind, and he was put into +the Bastile, and the cardinal (Mazarin), told Monsieur that it was a man +who wanted to divert him from the service of the king by this proposal +of marriage; which Monsieur believed and still believes. Many persons, +however, affirm, that it was not a pretext, and that this gentleman had +orders to make solid and sincere propositions for the marriage of his +king with me, which he had thought it proper to communicate to Monsieur, +before he made them known to the court. Nevertheless, this poor creature +was kept a prisoner for several years, and when he was set at liberty, he +was sent out of the kingdom under a guard.” + +The next prisoner was one who, for a long period, was closely connected +with Monsieur, the father of the duchess. Claude de Bourdeille, count de +Montresor, was born about 1608, and was a grand-nephew of that pleasant +but unscrupulous writer Brantome, who bequeathed to him his mansion of +Richemont. Montresor was early admitted into the train of the duke of +Orleans, and at length became his confidential friend, whom he consulted +on all occasions. He availed himself of his influence to keep at a +distance from the duke all the friends of Richelieu, to incite him still +more against that minister, and to link him in confederacy with the count +of Soissons. In 1636, he went much further. In conjunction with Saint +Ibal and others, he formed a plan for assassinating the cardinal, and to +this plan the duke and the count gave their assent. The murder was to +be perpetrated as the minister was leaving the council chamber; Saint +Ibal was behind him, ready to strike the blow, and waited only for an +affirmative sign from the duke; but at this critical moment, either the +courage of Orleans gave way, or his conscience smote him, for he turned +away his head, and hurried from the spot. The cardinal consequently +escaped. + +While Montresor was subsequently busy in Guyenne, labouring to induce the +duke of Epernon and his son to take up arms for Monsieur, he was suddenly +abandoned by his employer, who made his own peace with Richelieu. +Montresor now retired to his estate, where, for more than five years, +he lived in the utmost privacy. He had, however, secret interviews with +Monsieur, and, at his solicitation, he engaged in the conspiracy of Cinq +Mars. Again he was deserted by him, and more disgracefully than in the +first instance; for the dishonourable prince did not scruple to disavow +the proceedings of his agent, and to aver that Cinq Mars and Montresor +were the persons who had misled him. Montresor would have ascended the +scaffold with Cinq Mars and de Thou, had he not prudently taken refuge in +England, whence he did not return till the cardinal was no more. + +When the government devolved on Anne of Austria, the enemies of Richelieu +had reason to hope that they would become the dominant party. The +haughty bearing which this hope led them to assume, obtained for them +the appellation of “The Cabal of the Importants.” They soon, however, +contrived to disgust the queen-regent; and before twelve months had +elapsed, Montresor, Chateauneuf, the duchess of Chevreuse, and several +others of the faction, were ordered to quit the court. Montresor retired +for a while to Holland. Late in 1645, he visited Paris, and, soon after, +two letters to him, from the exiled duchess de Chevreuse, having been +intercepted, Mazarin sent him to the Bastile. The prisoner was removed +to Vincennes, where he was rigorously treated for fourteen months. At +length, moved by the solicitations of Montresor’s relatives, the cardinal +set him at liberty, and even offered him his friendship. Montresor, +however, chose rather to league himself with Mazarin’s bitterest foe, +the celebrated Coadjutor, afterwards the cardinal de Retz, and he took +an active part in the war of the Fronde. In 1653 he was reconciled to +the court, and from that time till his decease, which occurred in 1663, +he led a peaceable life. Though ambition and a propensity to political +intrigue could lead him to dip his hands in blood, Montresor is said to +have had many social qualities, to have been generous, sincere, and a +firm and ardent friend. His “Memoirs” form a valuable contribution to the +history of his times. + +Among the agents of the duke of Orleans was Louis d’Astarac, marquis +of Fontrailles, a descendant from an ancient Armagnac family. When +the conspiracy of Cinq Mars was formed, Fontrailles was dispatched to +Spain, to negociate with the Spanish cabinet a treaty, for assistance +to the conspirators. By this treaty, Spain engaged to furnish the duke +of Orleans with 12,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, 400,000 crowns to +raise levies in France; and a monthly allowance of 12,000 crowns for +his private expenses. But, before any step could be taken to carry the +treaty into effect, the conspiracy was rendered abortive. Fontrailles, +against whom an order of arrest had been issued, was fortunate enough to +escape to England. The death of the cardinal and of his vassal sovereign, +which took place soon after, enabled the proscribed fugitive to return +to France. He became one of the Cabal of the Importants, and shared in +the downfall of that faction. In the summer of 1647, he was sent to +the Bastile; for what fault he was imprisoned I know not, or when he +was released. Guy Patin intimates that the charge was not of a capital +nature. Fontrailles died in 1677. + +The next who passes before us is a brave and injured soldier. Count +Josias de Rantzau was descended from an ancient family of Holstein, +thirty-two members of which are said to have greatly distinguished +themselves. The fidelity of this family to its sovereigns was so +remarkable, that the expression “As faithful as a Rantzau to his king,” +passed into a proverb. Josias was born in 1610, and seems first to have +borne arms in the Swedish service; he commanded a body of Swedes at +the siege of Andernach, headed the Swedish left wing at the combat of +Pakenau, and was present at the siege of Brisac. In 1635, he accompanied +the celebrated Oxenstiern into France, where Louis XIII. appointed him +a major-general, and colonel of two regiments. The subsequent career of +Rantzau was often successful, and was never stained with disgrace. He +effectually covered the retreat of the French after the raising of the +siege of Dole, victoriously defended St. Jean de Lône against Galas, bore +a conspicuous part in the subsequent campaigns in Flanders and Germany, +and was twice maimed at the siege of Arras, and displayed signal valour +at the siege of Aire. Fortune deserted him at the combat of Honnecourt +and the battle of Dutlingen, in 1642 and 1643, and in both instances he +was taken prisoner. She, however, soon became favourable to him. Between +1645 and 1649, he made himself master of Gravelines, Dixmude, Lens, and +all the maritime towns of Flanders. To reward his services he received +the government of Gravelines and Dunkirk, and was raised to the rank of +marshal. Mazarin, nevertheless, suspected him of being connected with his +enemies, and in February, 1649, the marshal was conveyed to the Bastile, +where he remained for eleven months. His innocence being at length +ascertained, he was set at liberty; but a dropsy, which he had contracted +in his confinement, proved fatal to him in the course of a few months. +He died in September 1650. Rantzau was possessed of brilliant valour, +much talent and military skill, and spoke all the principal languages of +Europe; his only defect was an inordinate love of wine. Like our Nelson, +but even in a greater degree, his person had been severely mutilated; he +had lost an ear, an eye, a leg, and an arm. To this fact the following +epitaph alludes: + + “But half of great Rantzau this tomb contains, + The other half in battle fields remains; + His limbs and fame he widely spread around, + And still, though mangled, conqueror was he found: + His blood a hundred victories did acquire, + And nothing but his heart by Mars was left entire!” + +A brawl brought to the Bastile, in 1652, the count de Rieux, a son of the +duke of Elbœuf. A dispute with the prince of Tarentum, as to precedence, +gave rise to it. The prince of Condé, the great Condé, was the other +actor. “The prince of Condé,” says the duchess of Montpensier, “took the +part of the prince of Tarentum, who is nearly related to him, against the +count de Rieux, and one day he got heated in the dispute; he imagined +that the count de Rieux had pushed him, which obliged him to return it by +a box on the ear; the count de Rieux then gave him a blow. The prince, +who had no sword, made a dart at that of the baron de Migenne, who was +present. M. de Rohan, who was also there, put himself between them, and +got out the count de Rieux, whom his royal highness (the duke of Orleans) +sent to the Bastile, for having dared to fail in respect. Many persons +say, that the prince struck first; if he did so, he must have taken some +gesture of the count for an insult, for though he is very passionate, +he is not so much so as to do an action of this kind. I saw him after +dinner, and he said, ‘You see a man who has been beaten for the first +time in his life.’ The count de Rieux remained in the Bastile till the +arrival of M. de Lorraine, who set him free, and blamed him very much.” +It must have been a ludicrous sight, to see a prince of the blood, the +victor of Rocroi, Fribourg, Nordlingen, and Lens, at fisticuffs amidst a +ring of courtiers, in the palace of the duke of Orleans! “This was not +the way,” remarks Voltaire, “to regain the hearts of the Parisians.” + +The leaders of the Frondeur faction were by no means tolerant of censure, +even when it came from clerical lips. Bernard Guyard, a dominican, had +reason to repent his having too honestly indulged in it. Guyard, who +was born in 1601, at Craon, in Anjou, took the religious habit, and was +admitted, in 1645, a doctor of the Sorbonne, and became popular for +his pulpit eloquence, so much so that Anne of Austria appointed him +her preacher, and the duchess of Orleans chose him as her confessor. +While the war of the Fronde was being carried on—a war of which it has +wittily and truly been said, that it ought to be recorded in burlesque +verse—Guyard ventured to reprobate, in the pulpit, the conduct of those +ambitious and unprincipled personages by whom its flames had been lighted +up. The punishment of his offence followed close upon the commission of +it. As he was leaving the church, he was arrested, and conveyed to the +Bastile, where he continued for some months. He died in 1674, at which +period he was theological professor in the convent of St. James. All +his works have long since ceased to attract notice, with the exception, +perhaps, of “The Fatality of St. Cloud,” which is a paradoxical attempt +to prove that not Clement, nor a Dominican, but a leaguer, disguised as a +monk, was the murderer of Henry III. + +During the war of the Fronde, the Bastile, for a short time, and for +the last, was again a fortress as well as a prison; but in the latter +character its services were only once required. When, in 1649, the +queen-regent suddenly quitted Paris with the young king, she imprudently +neglected to throw into the Bastile a garrison. It was guarded by only +twenty-two soldiers, who had neither ammunition nor provisions. Du +Tremblai, the governor, was therefore obliged to yield. The custody of +the fortress was committed to Peter Broussel, for whose deliverance +the Parisians had risen in arms on the day of the Barricades, and from +whom he had received the flattering appellations of the father and +the protector of the people. As Broussel was an aged man, his son, La +Louvière, was joined with him in the government. In 1652, Broussel was +appointed provost of the merchants, and the keeping of the Bastile +remained with La Louvière alone. + +The two pieces of cannon which, in 1649, the Parisians fired at the +Bastile to hasten its submission, would have been the only artillery +employed, either against it or by it, had not the daring of a woman +brought its guns into action. The duchess of Montpensier, who was called +Mademoiselle, had recently distinguished herself by her spirited conduct +at Orleans. Being sent by her father to that city, to encourage his +partisans, she was at first refused admittance, but she forced her way +in, through a hole in a gate, roused the people in her favour, and +succeeded in preventing the king’s troops from occupying that important +post. She was now at Paris, and soon found a fresh opportunity to display +her courage and presence of mind. On the second of July, 1652, the +sanguinary battle of the suburb of St. Anthony was raging; the army of +the prince of Condé, overborne by the far superior numbers which Turenne +led against him, could barely hold its ground; the prince had in vain +entreated for its admission at various gates; the enemy, reinforced, +was preparing for a new attack on its front and flanks; and, pent in +between the king’s troops and the city walls, its destruction seemed +to be inevitable. At this perilous moment it was saved by the duchess +of Montpensier. First from her father, and next from the municipal +authorities sitting at the Town Hall, she in a manner extorted an order +for opening the gate of St. Anthony to the nearly overwhelmed battalions +of Condé. She then ascended to the summit of the Bastile, and directed +the cannon to be charged, removed from the city side, and pointed to the +opposite quarter. They were opened upon the royalists, who pressed on the +retreating Condéans, and their commanding fire compelled the pursuers to +fall back beyond their range. Mademoiselle was at that time cherishing +a hope that she should be united to her cousin the king, or at least to +some crowned head; and it was with allusion to this circumstance that, +when he heard she had ordered the firing, Mazarin coolly remarked, “Those +cannon shots have killed her husband.” + +Four months did not pass away before, tired of wasting their lives and +properties in a contest which could benefit only the privileged classes, +the Parisians invited the king to return to his capital. The monarch +entered it on the 21st of October, 1652. The faction of the Fronde was +annihilated, and its leaders were scattered in all directions; their +vanity, selfishness, and utter want of principle and patriotism, +deserved such a fate. Had they been animated by noble motives, had they +possessed even a moderate share of wisdom and virtue, they might have +laid the groundwork of a stable and beneficent government, and thereby +saved their country from innumerable immediate and remote evils. But + + “The sensual and the base rebel in vain, + Slaves by their own compulsion!” + +As soon as the king had entered Paris, the Bastile was summoned, and La +Louvière was informed that, if he were rash enough to stand a siege, the +gibbet would be his portion. Too prudent to run so useless and formidable +a risk, he readily gave up his charge. From the moment when Mademoiselle +directed its fire upon the king’s troops, a hundred and thirty-seven +years elapsed before the Bastile again heard the roar of artillery fired +in anger. + +One of the first acts of Louis XIV. was to hold a bed of justice, in +which he ordered the registration of an edict to abridge the power of +the parliament. By this edict, the parliament was strictly prohibited +from deliberating on state and financial affairs, and instituting any +proceedings whatever against the ministers whom he might be pleased +to employ. Louis was then only a boy of fourteen, and this act was of +course the work of Mazarin; but, young as he was, the monarch was already +thoroughly imbued with the principles on which it was framed. Three +years afterwards he gave a striking proof of this. The parliament having +ventured to manifest a faint opposition to some of his many oppressive +fiscal edicts, he took a step which showed how deeply despotism was +ingrained into his character. He was engaged in the chase, at Vincennes, +when information was brought to him that his will was disputed. Hurrying +back to Paris, he entered the parliament chamber, the sanctuary of +justice, booted, spurred, whip in hand, and thus addressed the assembly +of venerable magistrates: “Sirs, everybody knows the calamities which +the meetings of the parliament have produced. I will henceforth prevent +those meetings. I order you, therefore, to desist from those which you +have begun, with respect to the edicts which, in my late bed of justice, +I directed to be registered. You, Mr. First President, I forbid to allow +of these assemblies; and I forbid every one of you to demand them.” +Having thus spoken he departed, leaving his hearers in astonishment. He +was then a beardless youth, who had not reached his seventeenth year. The +members of the parliament might well have called to mind the words of +Scripture—“If these things are done in the green tree, what will be done +in a dry?” Six years afterwards Mazarin died, and thenceforth Louis had +no prime minister; he became, in every sense of the word, the head of the +government, the autocrat of France. + +A new era, that of abject submission to the monarch, and almost +idolatrous worship of his person and greatness, commenced when the war +of the Fronde was over. The slaves had had their Saturnalia, and they +sank back—we may almost say rushed back—into a slavery more degrading +than that from which they had for a moment emerged. There were no longer +any Epernons, ruling their provinces as they pleased, and bearding the +sovereign; the feudal pride was extinct. This would have been a happy +circumstance for France, had the nobles, in losing their pride, preserved +their dignity. But from one extreme they passed to the other. The power +which they had lost, which was, in fact, but the power of doing mischief, +they might have replaced by a power more honourable and durable, that +which would have arisen from promoting the welfare and happiness of those +whom they called their vassals. But their extensive domains were looked +on only as mines, from which the last grain of gold was to be extracted, +that they might squander it in the capital. It seemed as though it were +impossible for them to exist out of the king’s presence; and when they +were excluded from it, they lamented and whined in a manner which excites +at once wonder and contempt. The consequences of this general prostration +were slowly, but surely and fatally, unfolded. + +Let us revert to the captives of the Bastile. The destiny of John Herauld +Gourville, who was born in 1625, was a singular one; he not only raised +himself from a humble state to be the companion and friend of princes, +but was appointed to be one of the representatives of his sovereign +while in exile, and while a Parisian court of justice was hanging him in +effigy as a convicted runaway peculator. After having received a scanty +education, he was placed in an attorney’s office by his widowed mother. +Having by his cleverness fortunately attracted the notice of the duke +de la Rochefaucault, the author of the “Maxims,” that nobleman made +him his secretary. During the war of the Fronde, Gourville displayed +such talent and activity, that he acquired the warm friendship of his +employer and the prince of Condé. His gratitude engaged him in many +desperate adventures for their service, and the mode in which he raised +the supplies for them was sometimes not much unlike that of a bandit; the +moral code of the Frondeurs was not remarkable for its strictness. When +Rochefaucault became weary of the inglorious contest in which he was an +actor, Gourville negotiated the duke’s peace with the court; and in doing +this he manifested so much ability and prudence, that Mazarin despatched +him to Bordeaux, to treat with the prince of Conti. In this mission he +was successful; and he was rewarded by being appointed commissary-general +of the French army in Catalonia. At the close of the campaign of 1655, he +returned to Paris, and Mazarin, who suspected that he came to intrigue +for the prince of Conti, shut him up in the Bastile. In his Memoirs, +Gourville candidly confesses that his six months’ imprisonment was +insufferably wearisome, and that he could think of little else than how +he should put an end to it. He was maturing a plan of escape, in concert +with six other prisoners, when the cardinal relented, took him again into +favour, and even prevailed on Fouquet to give him the lucrative place of +receiver-general of the province of Guienne. In this office Gourville +amassed an immense fortune, which he increased by his extraordinary +good luck at play. When Fouquet fell, the whole of his subalterns were +involved in his fall; but, far from deserting him in his calamity, +Gourville nobly furnished 100,000 livres to assist in gaining over some +of his enemies, and a still larger sum for the establishment of his +son, the count de Vaux. He soon, however, became himself an object of +impeachment, on a charge of peculation, and he deemed it prudent to quit +France. At that moment there was certainly no chance of his obtaining +a fair trial. After having visited England and Holland, he settled at +Brussels. Though he was compelled to live in a foreign country, Gourville +still preserved a strong affection for his native land, and he proved it, +by influencing the princes of Brunswick and Hanover in favour of France. +For this patriotic conduct Louis XIV. nominated him his plenipotentiary +at the court of Brunswick; while at the same moment his enemies at Paris +obtained against him a degrading sentence from his judges! That not a +love of justice, but a desire to extort money from him, gave rise to his +being prosecuted, is made evident by Colbert having offered a pardon, +at the price of 800,000 livres, which he afterwards reduced to 600,000. +Gourville, however, either could not or would not purchase this costly +commodity. He was subsequently employed as a diplomatist in Spain, and +again in Germany; and at length in 1681, a free pardon was granted to +him. From that time he led a tranquil life in the French capital, in +habits of friendship with, and much beloved by, the most eminent men of +genius and rank. At one period there was an intention of making him the +successor of Colbert, as comptroller-general of the finances, an office +for which he was well qualified; but he had ceased to be ambitious of +dangerous honours, and was happy to avoid them. The length of time which +his servants continued in his service, and the cordial manner in which he +speaks of them, afford strong proofs of his kind-heartedness: never did a +selfish or harsh master long retain a domestic. Haughtiness to inferiors +is the miserable make-shift of a man who has no true dignity to support +his pretensions. Gourville mentions four persons who had been with him +for fifteen, seventeen, twenty-five, and thirty-two years. He died in +1703, at the age of seventy-eight. His Memoirs, which he composed in four +months, to amuse himself while he was confined by a disease in the leg, +are deservedly praised by Madame de Sévigné and Voltaire. + +The next who appears on the scene was a noble, whom Madame de Sévigné +characterizes as “a hero of romance, who does not resemble the rest of +mankind.” This is somewhat exaggerated, but not wholly untrue. Armand +de Grammont, Count de Guiche, who was born in 1638, was a proficient in +all manly exercises, splendid in dress and equipage, spirited, witty, +well educated, handsome in person, and cultivated in mind. His valour +was early proved, at the sieges of Landrecy, Valenciennes, and Dunkirk. +In a voluptuous court, and with his attractive qualities, it is not +wonderful that Guiche was engaged in amorous intrigues. His desire of +conquest aimed so high—Henrietta Stuart, Duchess of Orleans, was its +great object—that Louis XIV. thrice exiled him; and it was probably on +this account that he became an inmate of the Bastile, from which prison +he was released in the autumn of 1660. Having a third time offended, he +was sent to Poland, where he distinguished himself in the war against +the Turks. At the end of two years, he was recalled; but it was not long +before he again fell into disgrace, by participating in the despicable +conduct of the Marquis de Vardes, which will be described in the sketch +of that courtier’s career. Guiche was banished to Holland. Too active +to remain unemployed, he served in the campaign against the Bishop of +Munster, and on board the Dutch squadron, in the sea-fight with the +English, off the Texel. He was allowed to return to France in 1669, +but was not re-admitted at court till two years afterwards. It was he +who, in 1672, led the way at the celebrated passage of the Rhine, near +Tollhuis; an exploit which is extravagantly lauded by Boileau. He died +at Creutznach, in Germany, in 1673; excessive chagrin, occasioned by +Montecuculi having defeated him, was the cause of his death. Guiche is +the author of a volume of Memoirs concerning the United Provinces. + +The first important act of Louis XIV., after his taking the +administration of public affairs into his own hands, was the disgracing +and ruining Fouquet, the superintendant of the finances. Nicholas +Fouquet, a son of Viscount de Vaux, was born at Paris, in 1615, and +was educated for the legal profession. At twenty he was master of +requests, and at thirty-five he filled the very considerable office of +attorney-general to the parliament of Paris. It would have been happy +for him had he steadily pursued his career in the magistracy, instead +of deviating into a path that was beset with dangers. During the +troubles of the Fronde he was unalterably faithful to the queen-mother, +and in gratitude for this she raised him, in 1652, to the post of +superintendant. It was a fatal boon. + +By all who were connected with it, the French treasury seems, in those +days, to have been considered as a mine which they were privileged +to work for their own benefit. Mazarin had recently been a wholesale +plunderer of it; and there can be little doubt that Fouquet was a +peculator to a vast extent. Yet the superintendant had one merit, which +was wanting in other depredators—though he took, he likewise gave; for +at one period, when money ran short, he mortgaged his property and his +wife’s, and borrowed on his own bills, to supply the necessities of the +state. + +The fatal failing of Fouquet was his magnificent extravagance. He had a +taste for splendour and lavish expenditure, which might have qualified +him for an oriental sovereign. On his estate at Vaux he built a mansion, +or rather a palace, which threw into the shade the country residences +of the French monarch—for Versailles was not then in existence. Whole +hamlets were levelled to the ground to afford space for its gardens. The +building was sumptuously decorated, and in every part of it was painted +his device, a squirrel, with the ambitious motto “_Quo non ascendam?_” +Whither shall I not rise? It is a curious circumstance, that the squirrel +was represented as being pursued by a snake, which was the arms of +Colbert, the bitter enemy of Fouquet. The edifice cost eighteen millions +of livres; a sum equivalent to three times as much at the present day. + +The largesses of the superintendant, which in many cases deserve the name +of bribes, were immense. Great numbers of the courtiers did not blush +to become his pensioners. On extraordinary occasions they also received +presents from him. Each of the nobles, who was invited with Louis XIV. to +the grand entertainment at Vaux, found in his bed-chamber a purse filled +with gold; which, says a sarcastic writer, “the nobles did not forget to +take away.” There was another abundant source of expense, which arose +out of his licentious passions; he lavished immense sums in purchasing +the venal charms of the French ladies of distinction, and was eminently +successful in finding sellers. “There were few at court,” says Madame de +Motteville, “who did not sacrifice to the golden calf.” Policy, no doubt, +had a share in prompting his liberality to the courtiers; and, perhaps, +it sometimes was mingled with lust and vanity in his gifts to frail +females of rank; but we may attribute to a purer motive the kindness and +courtesy which he manifested to persons of talent. The result was quite +natural; the great deserted him in his hour of danger and disgrace, the +people of talent clung with more tenacity than ever to their fallen +benefactor and friend. + +Mazarin, when on his death-bed, is said to have awakened the fears and +suspicions of Louis against Fouquet; and, to deepen the impression which +he had made, he left behind him two deadly foes of the superintendant. +These foes were Le Tellier and Colbert, of whom the latter was the most +inveterate and the most dangerous. When Louis formed the resolution of +being his own prime minister, Fouquet, who evidently wished to succeed to +the power of Richelieu and Mazarin, essayed to turn the monarch from his +purpose, by daily heaping on him a mass of dry, intricate, and erroneous +financial statements. He failed in his attempt. These papers the king +every evening examined, with the secret assistance of Colbert, whose +acuteness and practised skill instantly unravelled their artful tangles, +and exposed their errors. + +It was not alone the squandering of the royal treasure that irritated +Louis; though that would have been a sufficiently exciting cause to a +man whose own lavish habits required large supplies. He asserted, and +might perhaps believe, that the offender aspired to sovereignty. In a +long conversation with the president Lamoignon, he said, “Fouquet wished +to make himself duke of Britanny, and king of the neighbouring isles; +he won over every body by his profusion: there was not a single soul in +whom I could put confidence.” So much was he impressed with this idea, +that he repeated it over and over to the president. For this absurd fear +there was no other ground than that the superintendant had purchased and +fortified Belleisle; a measure which was prompted by patriotic motives, +it being his design to make that island an emporium of commerce. There is +said to have been another and a not less powerful cause for the monarch’s +hatred of Fouquet; the superintendant had been imprudent enough to +attempt to include La Vallière in the long catalogue of his mistresses, +and this was an offence not to be pardoned by the proudest and vainest of +kings. + +As soon as the ruin of Fouquet was determined upon, the most profound +dissimulation was used by the king and Colbert, to prevent him from +suspecting their purpose. All his measures seemed to give perfect +satisfaction; unlimited trust was apparently placed in him; and hints +were thrown out, that the coveted post of prime minister was within +his reach. The hints had a further purpose than that of blinding him +to the peril in which he stood; they were meant to rob him of a shield +against injustice. By virtue of his office, as attorney-general to the +parliament, he had the privilege of being tried only by the assembled +chambers; but, as it was intended that his trial should take place before +a packed tribunal, it was necessary to divest him of the privilege. For +this reason it was insinuated, that the post of attorney-general stood in +the way of his being raised to the premiership, and also of his obtaining +the blue riband. Fouquet fell into the snare, and sold his office for +1,400,000 livres, which sum, with a blind generosity, he instantly lent +to the Exchequer. To confirm Fouquet’s delusion, Louis graced with his +presence a gorgeous festival which was held at Vaux. But the splendour +of the place, the excessive magnificence of the entertainment, and the +presumptuousness of the superintendant’s motto, roused his anger to such +a pitch, that, had not the queen-mother remonstrated, he would have +committed the unkingly act of arresting Fouquet on the spot. + +When the courage inspired by passion had evaporated, Louis delayed yet +awhile to effect his purpose, till he had guarded in all possible ways +against the danger which was to be apprehended from the formidable +conspirator. Had Fouquet been capable of calling up legions from the +earth by the stamp of his foot, more precautions could not have been +taken. The blow was struck at last. Louis was at Nantes, to which city +he had removed under the idea that it would be easier to accomplish the +arrest there than at Paris. Thither he was followed by Fouquet. Some of +the superintendant’s friends warned him of the peril which hung over him, +but he gave no credence to their tidings. On the 5th of September, 1661, +as he was leaving the council, he was arrested, and was conveyed without +delay to the castle of Angers. Messengers were immediately despatched +to Paris, to seize his papers, and to order the arrest of many of his +partisans. + +Fouquet was bandied about from prison to prison, from Angers to Amboise, +Moret, and Vincennes, till he was finally lodged in the Bastile. He +bore his misfortune with an unshaken mind. His enemies, meanwhile, +were proceeding with the most malignant activity, and with a perfect +contempt of justice and decorum. It was the common talk of Paris, that +Colbert would be satisfied with nothing less than the execution of the +superintendant. He was even plainly charged by Fouquet with having +fraudulently made in his papers a multitude of alterations. Le Tellier, +though less openly violent than Colbert, was equally hostile. For the +trial of the prisoner twenty-two commissioners were picked out from +the French parliaments; nearly all—if not all—of them were notoriously +inimical to him, or connected with persons who were known to be so, and +at their head was the chancellor Seguier, one of his most deadly enemies. + +One benefit the fallen minister derived from this injustice, and from +the protracted trial which ensued; public opinion, which at first had +been adverse to him, gradually grew more and more favourable. Fouquet the +peculator, brought to judgment before an honest and impartial tribunal, +would have excited no sympathy; Fouquet, persecuted by his rivals for +power, and destined to be legally assassinated, could not fail to excite +a warm interest in the mind of every one who was not destitute of +honourable feelings. + +Those who were in habits of intimacy with Fouquet needed no other +stimulus than the benefits or the winning courtesies, which they had +experienced from him. He had on his side all who loved or practised +literature, all who could be captivated by prepossessing manners and +boundless generosity. “Never,” says Voltaire, “did a placeman have +more personal friends, never was a persecuted man better served in his +misfortunes.” Many men of letters wielded the pen in his behalf, with a +courage which deserves no small praise, when we consider that the Bastile +was staring them in the face. Pelisson in his dungeon tasked all his +powers to defend his ruined master; La Fontaine, in a touching elegy, +vainly strove to awake the clemency of Louis; Loret eulogized Fouquet in +his “Mercure Burlesque,” and was punished by the loss of his pension; +Hesnault, the translator of Lucretius, attacked Colbert in the bitterest +and boldest of sonnets; and a crowd of other assailants showered epigrams +and lampoons on the vindictive minister. The authors were, in general, +lucky enough to find impunity; but numbers of newswriters, printers, and +hawkers, were seized, all of whom were imprisoned, and some were sent +from prison to the galleys. + +Fouquet began by denying the competency of the tribunal before which +he was summoned. He was, however, compelled to appear; but, though +he answered interrogatories, he persisted in protesting against the +authority of his judges. He defended himself with admirable skill, +eloquence, and moderation. There were, indeed, moments when he was roused +to retaliate. A single example of the pungency with which he could +reply, will show that his persecutors were not wise in provoking him. +Behind a mirror, at his country house of St. Mandé, was found a sketch +of a paper, drawn up by him fifteen years before, and evidently long +forgotten by him. It contained instructions to his friends how they were +to proceed, in case of an attempt being made to subvert his power. This +was construed into a proof of conspiracy. Seguier having pertinaciously +called on him to own that the drawing up of such a paper was a crime +against the state, Fouquet said, “I confess that it is a foolish and wild +act, but not a state crime. A crime against the state is when, holding +a principal office, and being entrusted with the secrets of the prince, +the individual all at once deserts to the enemy, engages the whole of his +family in the same interest, causes governors to open the gates of cities +to the enemy’s army, and to close them against their rightful master, and +betrays to the hostile party the secrets of the government—this, sir, is +what is called a crime against the state.” This was a stunning blow to +the chancellor, for it was the past conduct of that magistrate himself +that was thus forcibly described by the prisoner. + +The trial lasted three years. It was not the fault of some of his +judges that it was not brought to a speedier issue. They listened with +reluctance to his eloquent defence, and would fain have cut it short. +Possort, one of them, who was an uncle of Colbert, once exclaimed, on +Fouquet closing his speech, “Thank Heaven! he cannot complain that he +has been prevented from talking his fill!” Others, still more insensible +to shame, made a motion, that he should be restricted to the mere +answering of questions; they were, however, overruled. It was not till +the middle of December, 1664, that Talon, the advocate-general, summed +up the evidence, and demanded that the culprit should be hanged on a +gallows, purposely erected in the Palace Court. But the time for this +excessive severity was gone by. Some of the judges had become accessible +to feelings of pity; others had been won over by the potent influence +of gold, of which the superintendant’s friends undoubtedly availed +themselves to a considerable extent. Among the most conspicuous of those +who leaned to the side of mercy were MM. d’Ormesson and Roquesante, men +of unquestionable integrity. Only nine voted for death; a majority of the +commissioners, thirteen in number, gave their suffrage for confiscation +of property and perpetual banishment. + +The king is said to have been grievously disappointed by this sentence. +Colbert was furious. In one of her letters, written at the moment, Madame +de Sévigné, who had a warm esteem for Fouquet, says, “Colbert is so +exceedingly enraged, that we may expect from him something unjust and +atrocious enough to drive us all to despair again.” In another letter, +she hints her fears that poison may be employed; Guy Patin was also of +the same opinion. Neither poison nor steel was, however, resorted to; it +was probably thought that to render the life of Fouquet a burthen to him, +would be a more exquisite gratification than taking of it away. To grant +mercy has always been regarded as the noblest prerogative of a monarch; +to refuse it was more to the taste of Louis. He altered the sentence of +Fouquet from banishment to endless imprisonment in a remote fortress, +and this was in mockery called a commutation of the penalty. Fouquet was +immediately sent off to Pignerol, and the members of his family, who were +doomed to suffer for his errors, were scattered in various directions. +His judges did not wholly escape without marks of the king’s anger. M. de +Roquesante, a native of the sunny Provence, who had spoken in favour of +the prisoner, was banished, in the depth of winter, to the distant and +imperfectly civilised province of Lower Britanny. + +On his way to Pignerol, and during his captivity there, Fouquet was +treated with great harshness. About six months after his arrival, he was +placed in imminent danger. The lightning fell on the citadel where he was +confined, and blew up the powder magazine. Numbers of persons were buried +under the ruins, but he stood in the recess of a window and remained +unhurt. There is a singular veil of mystery hanging over his last days. +He is generally said to have died at Pignerol, in 1680; yet Gourville, +his friend, positively states him to have been set at liberty before his +decease, and he adds, that he received a letter from him. Voltaire, too, +declares that the fact of the liberation was confirmed to him by the +Countess de Vaux, the daughter-in-law of Fouquet; but here all clue to +the subject is lost. It has recently been suggested that Fouquet may have +again been arrested, and that he was the individual who is known by the +appellation of the Man in the Iron Mask. + +While fidelity in friendship, inviolably preserved under the most trying +circumstances, shall continue to be admired by mankind, the name of Paul +Pelisson will always be mentioned with respect. He had talents, too, +which were of no mean order. Pelisson, who from affection to his mother +assumed also her maiden name of Fontanier, was born in 1624, at Bezières, +and was brought up in the Protestant faith. He attained an early and +rapid proficiency in literature and languages; nor were severer studies +neglected—for at the age of only nineteen he produced an excellent Latin +paraphrase of the first book of Justinian’s Institutes. He was beginning +to shine at the bar when he was attacked by small-pox. The disease so +excessively disfigured his countenance, and impaired his constitution, +that he was under the necessity of relinquishing his profession, and +retiring into the country to recruit his health. + +As soon as Pelisson was again able to take a part in active life, he +settled in Paris. It was not long before he acquired a multitude of +friends; and the French Academy, in return for a history which he wrote +of its early labours, made him a supernumerary member, and destined +for him the first vacancy which should occur. Fouquet, who knew his +abilities, appointed him his chief clerk, and reposed in him an implicit +confidence, which was well deserved. Had Fouquet followed the advice +of his assistant, who counselled him never to part with his office of +attorney-general, he would have done wisely. When this advice came to the +knowledge of Louis, he said “the clerk is more sharp-sighted than the +master.” + +Pelisson shared the fate of Fouquet; he was sent to the Concièrgerie, +whence he was removed to the Bastile. All attempts to elicit from him the +secrets of the superintendant were made in vain. Once only, to answer a +purpose, he seemed to make a disclosure. Fearing that, from not knowing +whether the documents were in existence, Fouquet might commit himself +in his answers to certain questions, Pelisson feigned to divulge some +unimportant particulars which related to the subject. Fouquet, who was +astonished at this seeming defection of his friend, was confronted with +him, and denied the correctness of what had been stated: “Sir,” said +Pelisson, in an emphatic tone, “You would not deny so boldly if you did +not know that all the papers concerning that affair are destroyed.” +Fouquet instantly comprehended the stratagem, and acted accordingly. + +In the early part of his confinement, Pelisson found means to compose +three memorials in defence of Fouquet. For eloquence and argument they +may be considered as his masterpieces; they were published, and produced +a strong impression. As a punishment, he was still more closely immured, +and pen and paper were withheld from him; but he contrived to foil his +persecutors, by writing, with ink made of burnt crust and wine, on the +blank leaves and margins of the religious works which he was allowed to +read. They were equally unsuccessful when, hoping that he might drop some +unguarded words, they gave him, as an attendant, a spy, who concealed +cunning under the mask of coarse simplicity. Pelisson saw through the +deception, and adroitly converted the spy into an instrument of his own. + +The imprisonment of Pelisson lasted four years and a half. Among the +means which he employed to beguile his lonely hours is said to have been +that of taming a spider; a task which he effected so completely, that at +a signal, it would fetch its prey from the further end of the room, or +even take it out of his hand. It is, however, doubtful whether Pelisson +was the person who performed this. De Renneville, who is good authority +on this subject, ascribes the taming of the spider to the Count de +Lauzun, and adds, that the jailer, St. Mars, brutally crushed the insect, +and exclaimed that criminals like Lauzun did not deserve to enjoy the +slightest amusement. + +The solicitations of Pelisson’s friends at length procured his release; +in memory of which he ever after yearly liberated some unfortunate +prisoner. After some lapse of time, he was even received into the good +graces of Louis, who probably thought that the man who had been faithful +to a ruined minister would not be wanting in fidelity to his sovereign. +It was, besides, no small merit in the king’s eyes, that Pelisson had +become a Catholic. Louis first appointed him his historiographer, with a +pension; then gave him several valuable benefices; and, lastly, entrusted +him with the management of the fund which was employed in purchasing +proselytes. Pelisson died in 1693. + +Pelisson was not the only literary character who was drawn into +the vortex by the sinking of Fouquet. The gay and witty Epicurean +philosopher, St. Evremond, was punished for the crime of being a friend +of the fallen superintendant. Charles St. Evremond was born in 1613, at +St. Denis le Guast, near Coutances. From the study of the law, and the +prospect of a high station in the magistracy, he was seduced by his love +of arms, and, at the age of sixteen, he obtained an ensigncy. He still, +however, retained his taste for philosophy and literature. By his bravery +he acquired the esteem of his superiors; and that esteem was heightened +by his varied acquirements and the charm of his conversation. That he +might always enjoy the pleasure of his society, the Duke of Enghien +appointed him lieutenant of his guards. In this post St. Evremond fought +gallantly at Rocroi, Fribourg, and Nordlingen, in the last of which +battles he was dangerously wounded. His familiar intercourse with the +prince was not of long duration; Enghien delighted to see others exposed +to the wit and raillery of his lieutenant, but he could not endure to be +himself their object; St. Evremond ventured to aim some pleasantries +at his princely protector, and the great Condé had the littleness to +take offence, and to insist on the offender resigning his commission +in the guards. In the war of the Fronde, St. Evremond served the royal +cause with pen and sword, and he was rewarded with a pension and the +rank of major-general. Some satirical remarks on Mazarin, which he soon +after made at a dinner party, were the cause of his being thrown into +the Bastile. Mazarin, however, was not of an implacable nature, like +his predecessor Richelieu. At the expiration of three months he set the +prisoner free, took him into favour, and afterwards, from among a crowd +of rivals, selected him as his companion, when he went to negociate the +peace of the Pyrenees. Dissatisfied with the terms of that peace, St. +Evremond gave vent to his dissatisfaction, in a private letter to the +Marshal de Créqui. In writing it he unconsciously wrote his own sentence +of banishment. A copy of it was found among the papers of Fouquet; and +Colbert, who rejoiced to have an opportunity of injuring a friend of +Fouquet, malignantly represented it in such a light to Louis XIV. that +an order was issued to convey the author to the Bastile. St. Evremond +was riding in the forest of Orleans when he received intelligence from +his friends of the danger that hung over him. As he did not wish to +pay a second visit to a state prison, he provided for his safety by an +immediate and rapid flight. In England he was welcomed with open arms, +and was idolized by the wits and courtiers. In 1664 he visited Holland, +where he met with an equally cordial reception, and gained the friendship +of the Prince of Orange. Charles II. invited him to return to England, in +1670, and settled on him a pension. Henceforth, till his decease, which +took place in 1703, he continued to reside in London. His friends in +France made repeated efforts to obtain his recall; but they could not +succeed till 1689, when Louis XIV. was pleased to grant their request. +St. Evremond refused to accept the tardy boon. Living at his ease in a +free country, and in the highest society, and admired and esteemed by +the fair, the witty, and the noble, he was too wise to put himself into +“circumscription and confine,” and purchase the privilege of bending +before a despotic monarch, at the risk of being condemned to solitary +meditation in one of the towers of the Bastile. St. Evremond was ninety +when he died, but he preserved his faculties to the last. He was interred +in Westminster Abbey. His poetry never rises above mediocrity, and does +not always reach it; but his prose is often excellent. Justice has +scarcely been done to him either by La Harpe or Voltaire. + +A harder fate than that of voluntary exile was the lot of Simon Morin, +an insane visionary, a man of humble birth, who was born about 1623, +at Richemont, in Normandy. His horrible death, which was in fact a +judicial murder, perpetrated by a fanaticism far worse than his own, +leaves an indelible stain on the character of the judges by whom it was +directed. Morin was originally a clerk in the war-office, but lost his +situation by neglecting his duties; and he subsequently gained a scanty +subsistence as a copyist, for which he was well qualified by the beauty +of his handwriting. His reason appears to have been early affected, +as he must have been under twenty when he was first put into prison +for his extravagant ideas in religious matters. After his release, he +seems to have gradually become more and more deranged. Like all madmen +of his class, however, he gained numerous proselytes, who listened to +his harangues, and read his printed reveries, with implicit belief. +His success drew on him the attention of the government, and, in July +1644, he was sent to the Bastile. At the expiration of twenty months he +was set at liberty. Imprisonment had only heightened his malady, and +he consequently laboured with more vigour than ever to disseminate his +opinions. Those opinions he embodied in a work intituled, “Thoughts of +Morin, with his Canticles and Spiritual Quatrains,” dedicated to the +king. He called himself the Son of Man, and maintained that Christ was +incorporated in him; that in his person was to take place the second +advent of the Saviour in a state of glory; and that the result would be +a general reformation of the Church, and the conversion of all people to +the true faith. There was much more of the same kind; he was in France +what Brothers, long afterwards, was in England. Of his tenets, several +bear a resemblance to those which, later in the 17th century, were held +by the Quietists. The publication of this volume again brought the police +upon him. For some time he eluded them, but he was at last discovered, +and re-committed to the Bastile. In 1649, he retracted his errors, and +was released, and he repeated his retractation four months after his +being set free. It was not long, however, before he relapsed, and for +this he was sent to the Concièrgerie, whence he was transferred to the +Petites Maisons, as an incurable lunatic. The last was the only sensible +measure which was adopted with respect to him. By another abjuration, he +once more recovered his liberty; and, as soon as he was let loose, he +once more asserted his claim to be an incarnation of the Deity. There can +be little doubt that he had short lucid intervals, and that it was during +these intervals that he renounced his errors. + +Thus, alternately raving and recanting, Morin went on till 1661, when, +in an evil hour, he contracted an intimacy with a man who was no less a +visionary than he himself was, and whose nature was deeply tinctured with +malignity and deceit. This man, John Desmarets de St. Sorlin, a member +of the French Academy, was the author of several works, now sunk into +oblivion, among which are a ponderous epic, called Clovis, and several +theatrical pieces. From his own showing, he appears to have been in youth +a monster of immorality; and though in advanced life he affected piety, +his conduct did not prove his heart to be much ameliorated; he became +fanatical instead of becoming virtuous. A brief specimen, from some of +his rhapsodies, will show how completely his wits were “turned the seamy +side without.” He asserted, that God in his infinite goodness had given +him the key of the treasure of the Apocalypse; that he was Eliachim +Michael, a Prophet; that he had the Divine command to raise an army of +144,000 men, bearing the seal of God on their foreheads, which army was +to be headed by the king, to exterminate the impious and the Jansenists; +and that Louis XIV. was indicated by the prophets as the person who was +destined to drive out the Turks, and extend throughout the whole earth +the kingdom of Christ. Had not Desmarets been a hater of the Jansenists, +and a flatterer of the monarch, he would undoubtedly have been sent to +study the Apocalypse in the solitude of a prison. + +The trite proverb, that “two of a trade cannot agree,” was verified by +Desmarets; he resolved to destroy the man who dared to make pretensions +that eclipsed his own. To effect his purpose, he acted with the cunning +of a lunatic, and the dark-heartedness of a fiend. By paying assiduous +court to Morin, by pretending to be one of his most submissive disciples, +and even by going so far as to write him a letter, unequivocally +recognising him as the Son of Man, he contrived to insinuate himself into +the confidence of his unfortunate victim, and to draw from him his most +secret thoughts. In the course of their conversations, Morin is said to +have declared, among other things, that unless the king acknowledged +his mission he would die. Having thus furnished himself with evidence +against the man whom he had deluded, Desmarets hastened to denounce him +as a heretic and traitor. Orders were issued for arresting Morin, who +was found engaged in copying out a “Discourse to the King,” which began +with “the Son of Man to the King of France.” He was brought to trial, and +was sentenced to be burned alive. Some of his followers were condemned +to whipping and the galleys. The iniquitous judgment passed on Morin was +executed on the 14th of March, 1663. At the stake his reason seems to +have returned; he repeatedly called on the Saviour and the Virgin, and +humbly prayed for mercy to the Creator of all things. + +Little commiseration is due to him whose imprisonment is next recorded; +his baseness met with deserved punishment. Francis René Crispin du Bec, +Marquis of Vardes, was of a good family, and served with reputation in +Flanders, France, Italy, and Spain. During the war of the Fronde, he was +constant to the royal party; and it was doubtless his zeal and fidelity +on this occasion which acquired for him the friendship of Louis XIV. He +rose to high rank in the army; was made captain-colonel of the Hundred +Swiss in 1655; and, next year, succeeded the Duke of Orleans in the +government of Aigues-Mortes, and was invested with the various orders of +knighthood. He was on the point of being created a duke and peer, when +the discovery of a dishonourable act of which he had been guilty, stopped +his promotion, and deprived him of his liberty. Louis had chosen Vardes +as his friend, and had confided to him his passion for the celebrated +Mlle. de la Vallière, who was one of the maids of honour to the Duchess +of Orleans. It appears that the duchess and her friend, the Countess of +Soissons, and their lovers, the Count de Guiche and Vardes, had hoped, +by means of La Vallière, to obtain a predominant influence over Louis. +But the royal mistress loved Louis with a sincere and disinterested +affection, and was not disposed to become the instrument of court +intriguers. It was resolved, therefore, to oust her, and substitute in +her stead Mlle. de la Mothe Houdancourt, who, it was imagined, would +be more subservient. To effect this object, Vardes wrote a letter, +purporting to be from the Spanish monarch, to his daughter the French +queen, informing her of her consort’s connection with la Vallière; it +was translated into Spanish by Guiche. The letter, however, fell into +the hands of Louis. While endeavouring to discover the author, the king +consulted Vardes, and Vardes was so ineffably base as to lead him to +believe that the offender was the Duchess of Noailles. The duchess, a +woman of strict virtue, had the superintendence of the queen’s maids of +honour, and had already dissatisfied Louis by her vigilant care of her +charge. He therefore readily believed the suggestion of Vardes, and, +without farther inquiry, deprived the duchess and her husband of all +the places which they held, and ordered them to retire to their estate. +For three years the perfidy of Vardes remained a secret, and it would +perhaps always have remained so, had he not caused a disclosure of it, by +conduct which was at once a flagrant breach of confidence to his friend, +the Count de Guiche, and a gross insult to the Duchess of Orleans. He +obtained possession of the letters written by the count to the duchess, +and refused to give them up; and he incited the Chevalier de Lorraine to +make offensive advances to her. This proceeding brought on a quarrel, the +result of which was that the king became acquainted with the treachery of +the man whom he had trusted. Vardes was sent to the Bastile in December, +1664, from whence he was removed to the citadel of Montpellier, where he +was closely confined for eighteen months. He was at length allowed to +reside in his government of Aigues-Mortes; but eighteen years passed away +before he was recalled to the court. He is said to have employed in study +the period of his exile, and to have made himself generally esteemed in +Languedoc. When, after his long banishment, he was graciously received +by the king, Vardes was dressed in the fashion of his early days, and, +when Louis laughed at the antique cut of his coat, the supple courtier +replied, “Sire, when one is so wretched as to be banished from you, one +is not only unfortunate, but ridiculous!” Vardes did not long enjoy his +re-establishment in the royal favour; he died in 1688. + +To Vardes succeeds another noble, Count Roger Bussy de Rabutin, who, +though he is not accused of such baseness as that of which Vardes was +guilty, was by no means a model of delicacy and virtue. He seems, indeed, +to have been of opinion, that honour and honesty were not necessary +qualities in the persons whom he had about him; for, in his Memoirs, +he coolly describes one gentleman, who was of his train, as having all +his life been a cutpurse; and another, on whom he bestows praise for +some things, as being addicted to every vice, and no less familiar +with robbery and murder than with eating and drinking. Such being his +laxity of principles, it is no wonder that he sometimes participated in +disgusting orgies, and was even suspected of feeling a more than parental +love for Madame de la Rivière, his daughter. Bussy de Rabutin was born +in 1618, entered the army when he was only twelve years of age, served +in all the campaigns between 1634 and 1663, and attained the rank of +lieutenant-general. His bravery was undoubted, but his vanity, arrogance, +and satirical spirit, made him numerous enemies among his brother +officers. On one occasion he lampooned Turenne, and that great general, +deviating from his usual magnanimity, avenged himself by writing to the +king, that “M de Bussy was the best officer in the army—for songs.” In +1641, Bussy was an inmate of the Bastile for five months. The defective +discipline of his regiment, and its having engaged in smuggling salt, +was the ostensible cause of his imprisonment; he himself assigned as +the reason, that his father was hated by Desnoyers the minister. The +same faults by which his companions in arms had been converted into +foes, proved his ruin at court. He wrote a libellous work, called “The +Amorous History of the Gauls,” which was published in 1665, and excited +a general outcry among the personages whom it describes. Bussy affirms, +that it was sent to the press without his consent, and even with +malignant alterations and additions, by an unfaithful mistress, to whom +he entrusted the manuscript. This production was made the pretext for +committing him to the Bastile; but it is said that his real offence was +a song, in which he ridiculed the king’s passion for the Duchess of la +Vallière. His imprisonment lasted twenty months, and he candidly owns, in +his Memoirs and Letters, that it was not very patiently endured. By dint +of importunity, seconded by an illness with which he was attacked, he at +length recovered his liberty. During his captivity, he was compelled to +resign, for a much less sum than it cost him, the major-generalship of +the light cavalry. But though Bussy was released, he was not pardoned; +he was banished to his estate. Notwithstanding his abject supplications, +which were incessantly renewed, he remained an exile for sixteen years. +At last, in 1682, he was graciously permitted to re-appear at court. +His happiness was, however, still incomplete; for the courtiers soon +began to cabal against him, and the monarch to treat him coldly; and, +though he succeeded in procuring a pension for himself, and pensions and +preferments for his children, he failed to obtain the blue riband and a +marshal’s staff, which were the great objects of his ambition. He died in +1693. + +A longer term of imprisonment than was undergone by Bussy Rabutin fell to +the lot of the next prisoner. Among the victims of the persecution which +was carried on against the Jansenists, was Louis Isaac le Maistre, better +known by the name of Saci, which is an anagram formed by him from one of +his christian names. He was born in 1613, and was educated at the college +of Beauvais, along with his uncle, the celebrated Anthony Arnauld. Though +he was early destined to the clerical profession, he did not take orders +till he was in his thirty-fifth year; a praiseworthy humility having +long induced him to doubt his being competent to fulfill properly the +duties of a gospel minister. He was soon after appointed director of the +Port Royal nuns, on which occasion he took up his abode in the convent, +resigning to it all his property, except a small annuity, and of that he +distributed the largest portion to the poor. His time was spent in study, +prayer, and pious exercises. But a blameless life was not sufficient to +shield him from theological hatred. In 1661, he was compelled to fly +from the convent, and he remained in concealment till 1666, when he was +discovered and conveyed to the Bastile. In that prison he was immured for +three years and a half, and he solaced his lonely hours by undertaking a +translation of the Bible, a considerable part of which he accomplished +while he was held in durance. He, however, did not live to complete it. +In the autumn of 1669 he was set at liberty. The minister, to whom he was +presented on leaving the Bastile, seems to have been willing to grant him +some favour, as a compensation for his unmerited sufferings; but all that +Saci asked was, that the prisoners might be more leniently treated. After +the destruction of Port Royal, he found an asylum in the house of his +cousin, the Marquis of Pomponne, and there he ended his days, in 1684. +Saci was such an enemy to controversy that, though often attacked, he is +said never to have replied except in one instance. Voltaire speaks of him +as “one of the good writers of Port Royal.” In the poetical compositions +of Saci, which were his earliest literary attempts, there are passages +that rise above mediocrity. Among his principal works, besides his +version of the Bible, are translations of the Psalms, St. Thomas à +Kempis, two books of the Eneid, the Fables of Phædrus, and three of the +Comedies of Terence. + +From the pious and humble pastor we must turn to a very different sort +of personage, to one of the courtier species, a man more remarkable for +his sudden rise, and for the vicissitudes which he experienced, than for +genius or virtue. Three of his eminent contemporaries have left on record +their opinion of Antoninus de Caumont, Count, and afterwards, Duke of +Lauzun. The witty Bussy Rabutin pithily describes him as being “one of +the least men, in mind as well as body, that God ever created.” The more +phlegmatic Duke of Berwick says of him, “he had a sort of talent, which, +however, consisted only in turning every thing into ridicule, insinuating +himself into every body’s confidence, worming out their secrets, and +playing upon their foibles. He was noble in his carriage, generous, +and lived in a splendid style. He loved high play, and played like a +gentleman. His figure was very diminutive, and it is incomprehensible how +he could ever have become a favourite with the ladies.” The satirical St. +Simon has drawn, in his best manner, a full-length portrait of Lauzun, +which has scarcely a single redeeming feature. He does, indeed, allow, +that he was a good friend, “when he chanced to be a friend, which was +rarely,” and a good relation; that he had noble manners, and was brave +to excess. This is the sole speck of light in the picture; the rest is +all shade. In the likeness drawn by St. Simon, we see Lauzun, “full +of ambition, caprices, and whimsies, jealous of every one, striving +always to go beyond the mark, never satisfied, illiterate, unadorned and +unattractive in mind, morose, solitary, and unsociable in disposition, +mischievous and spiteful by nature, and still more so from ambition and +jealousy, prompt to become an enemy, even to those who were not his +rivals, cruel in exposing defects, and in finding and making subjects for +ridicule, scattering his ill-natured wit about him without sparing any +one, and, to crown the whole, a courtier equally insolent, scoffing, and +base even to servility, and replete with arts, intrigues, and meannesses, +to accomplish his designs.” Such was the man whom the king long delighted +to honour. + +Lauzun, who at his outset bore the title of Marquis de Puyguilhem, was +the youngest son of a noble Gascon family, and was introduced at court +by the Marshal de Grammont, his relation. He soon became the favourite +of Louis, who heaped riches and places upon him: some of the latter +were expressly created for him. When the Duke of Mazarin resigned the +mastership of the ordnance, the king promised it to Lauzun, but bound +him to keep the matter secret for a short time. The folly and vanity of +the favourite, who could not refrain from boasting of his good fortune, +were the cause of his disappointment. Louvois thus obtained a knowledge +of the nomination, and remonstrated against it so strongly, and with such +sound reasons, that it was revoked by the monarch. On this occasion a +scene took place such as has seldom occurred between monarch and subject. +After having vainly tried to persuade the king to carry into effect his +original intention, Lauzun burst into a furious passion, turned his +back on him, broke his own sword under his foot, and vowed that he would +never again serve a prince who had violated his word so shamefully. +Louis acted in this instance with true dignity. Opening the window, he +threw out his cane, and, as he was quitting the room, he coolly said, “I +should be sorry to have struck a man of rank.” The next morning, however, +Lauzun was conveyed to the Bastile. But Louis was soon induced to forgive +the offender, and even to offer him, as an indemnity for his loss, the +post of captain of the royal guards. It strongly marks the insolence of +Lauzun, that he at first refused the proffered grace, and that entreaties +were required to induce him to accept it. + +Lauzun had scarcely been twelve months out of the Bastile, before +he had an opportunity of becoming the richest subject in Europe. A +grand-daughter of Henry IV., the celebrated Duchess of Montpensier, +usually known by the appellation of Mademoiselle, who had reached her +forty-second year, fell violently in love with him. In her Memoirs she +gives a curious and amusing account of her wooing, for the courtship +was all on the side of the lady. So completely had Lauzun recovered his +influence, that the king gave his consent to their union. The marriage +contract secured to him three duchies and twenty millions of livres. A +second time his fortune was marred by his vanity. His friends urged him +to hasten the nuptials, but he delayed, that they might be celebrated +with royal splendour. Of this delay his enemies availed themselves to +work upon the pride of the monarch, and they succeeded in breaking off +the match. The duchess was rendered inconsolable by this event; Lauzun +seems to have borne it with sufficient philosophy. A secret marriage +between them is believed to have subsequently taken place. + +Lauzun was supposed to be now more firmly fixed than ever in the +king’s good graces. He was placed at the head of the army which, in +1670, escorted the king and the court to Flanders, and he displayed +extraordinary magnificence in this command. But, flattering as +appearances were, he was on the eve of his fall. He had two active and +powerful enemies; Louvois, whom he constantly thwarted and provoked in +various ways, and Madame de Montespan, the king’s mistress, whom he +had more than once grossly insulted. Political rivalry and hatred and +female revenge were finally triumphant. The minister and the mistress +so incessantly laboured to blacken Lauzun, whose private marriage with +Mademoiselle is said to have aided their efforts, that, in November 1671, +he was sent to the Bastile, whence he was soon after removed to the +fortress of Pignerol. In that fortress he was closely confined in a cell +for nearly five years. His situation was at length somewhat ameliorated, +but his imprisonment was continued for five years more. It is probable +that he would have spent the rest of his days at Pignerol, had not the +Duchess of Montpensier purchased his freedom, by sacrificing the duchy +of Aumale, the earldom of Eu, and the principality of Dombes, to form an +appanage for the illegitimate son of Louis by Madame de Montespan. It is +an additional stain on the character of Lauzun, that he proved ungrateful +to his deliverer. + +Though Lauzun was released, he was not suffered to approach the court. +Tired of his exile from Versailles, he passed over to England. On the +revolution of 1688 breaking out, James placed the queen and the infant +prince under his care, to be conveyed to France. This trust opened the +way to his re-admission into the royal presence, and to his being created +a duke; but he never regained the confidence of the monarch. He led a +reinforcement of the French troops to James in Ireland; and displayed, as +the Duke of Berwick states, none of the qualities of a general. He died +in 1723, at the age of more than ninety. The closing scene of his life +was perhaps the only one for which he deserves praise. His disease was +cancer in the mouth, the protracted and horrible torture of which he bore +with astonishing temper and fortitude. + +The severe example which was made of de Bouteville, in the reign of Louis +XIII., though it gave a temporary check to the practice of duelling, +was far from putting an end to it. Nor did better success attend the +ordinances issued in 1634 by Louis XIII., and in 1643, 1651, and 1670, +by Louis XIV. The feebleness of the royal authority, during a disturbed +regency, and the war of the Fronde, with the quarrels arising out of it, +doubtless tended to neutralize the laws. But, even when Louis XIV. was +in uncontested possession of despotic power, we find that the murderous +custom of fighting in parties was still existing. In 1663, a famous duel +took place between the two La Frettes, Saint Aignan, and Argenlieu, +on the one side, and Chalais, Noirmoutier, d’Antin, and Flamarens, on +the other. The axe was at length laid to the root of the evil, by the +edict of August 1679, which constituted the marshals of France, and the +governors of provinces, supreme judges in all cases where individuals +supposed their honour to have been wounded. This edict prohibited, +under the heaviest penalties, all private combats and rencounters, both +within and without the kingdom. One clause seems excellently calculated +to produce its intended effect, no less by the insinuation with which +it opens, than by the denunciations with which it concludes. “Those,” +it says, “who, doubting of their own courage, shall have called in the +aid of seconds, thirds, or a greater number of persons, shall, besides +the punishment of death and confiscation, be degraded from their +nobility, and have their coat of arms publicly blackened and broken by +the hangman; their successors shall be obliged to adopt new arms; and +the seconds, thirds, and other accomplices, shall be punished in the +same manner.” This salutary edict appears to have nearly accomplished +the purpose for which it was framed. The slavish fear of incurring the +displeasure of the sovereign, a feeling which was so prevalent among the +courtiers of Louis XIV., perhaps aided materially in producing obedience +to the law. It would have been well if a worse effect had never resulted +from that kind of fear. + +Among the fashionable gladiators of those days was Philip d’Oger, Marquis +of Cavoie, a man whom nature had liberally endowed with the means of +shining in a nobler sphere. Cavoie, born in 1640, and descended from an +ancient Picard family, was the son of a woman of talent, who gained the +good graces of Anne of Austria, and availed herself of her influence +to forward the fortune of her offspring. His personal appearance was +greatly in his favour; he was one of the handsomest and best made men in +France, and he dressed with singular elegance. His courage, too, was no +less conspicuous than his corporeal qualities. In 1666, he served as a +volunteer on board of the Dutch fleet, under De Ruyter; and in the battle +with the Duke of Albemarle he distinguished himself by the perilous +exploit of proceeding in a boat to cut the cable with which some English +sloops were towing down a fire-ship on the Dutch admiral. He succeeded +in his daring attempt, and escaped unhurt. By this gallant action he +acquired the friendship of the celebrated Turenne. Long before this he +had become known as “the brave Cavoie,” in consequence of his gallant +bearing in the single combats which were still too common in France. + +It was for having acted as second in one of these combats, that he was +immured in the Bastile. His imprisonment would, perhaps, have been +protracted, but for a curious circumstance, of which a pleasant account +is given by the Duke de St. Simon. Mlle. de Coetlogon, one of the +maids of honour to the consort of Louis XIV., had fallen madly in love +with Cavoie. St. Simon describes her as being “ugly, prudent, naïve, +much-liked, and a very good creature.” It is no slight proof of her +amiability, that, in a frivolous and satirical court, her sorrows were a +subject of pity instead of laughter. Cavoie was anything but delighted +with her idolatrous fondness, which she seemed to glory in manifesting; +and he strove to rid himself of it by being obdurate, and even downright +harsh. In spite of his repulsive conduct, however, she became every day +fonder. When he went to the army, her tears and cries were incessant, and +during the whole of the campaign she obstinately abstained from adorning +her person in the smallest degree. It was not till he came back that she +resumed her customary style of dress. His being committed to the Bastile +renewed her grief. “She spoke to the king in behalf of Cavoie,” says St. +Simon, “and not being able to obtain his deliverance, she scolded his +majesty so violently as to abuse him. The king laughed heartily, at which +she was so much incensed that she threatened him with her nails, and he +thought it prudent not to run the risk of them. He every day dined and +supped publicly with the queen; at dinner it was usual for the Duchess +of Richelieu and the queen’s maids of honour to wait upon them. On these +occasions, Coetlogon never would hand any thing to the king; either she +avoided him, or she flatly refused, and told him that he did not deserve +to be waited upon by her. Next, she was ill of jaundice, and had violent +hysterics, and fits of despair. This went so far, that the king and +queen seriously desired the Duchess of Richelieu to accompany her to the +Bastile, to see Cavoie; and this was twice or thrice repeated. At last +he was released, and Coetlogon, in raptures, again took to dressing; but +it was not without much difficulty that she could be reconciled to the +king.” + +It is delightful to know that the devoted love of this warm-hearted +female was rewarded; and it is honourable to Louis XIV. that, instead +of meanly resenting her bursts of passion, he kindly and successfully +exerted himself to render her happy. In conjunction with the queen, he +more than once pleaded for the enamoured lady, but he found Cavoie averse +from a marriage. At length, the death of his grand maréchal-de-logis +enabled the king to attack Cavoie with advantage. This time, however, he +spoke in the tone of an absolute monarch; for he insisted that Cavoie +should wed Mlle. de Coetlogon; but, in return, he promised to put him in +the road to fortune, and, as a dowry to the portionless maid, he gave +him the splendid office which had just become vacant. Despotism thus +exercised may be forgiven, if only for its rarity. Cavoie yielded to the +command of his sovereign, and the desired union took place. The result +was more satisfactory than might have been expected. Cavoie proved to be +an indulgent husband, and she, on her part, never ceased to look up to +him as a sort of superior being. Neither in her maiden nor in her married +state, was her virtue for a moment doubted. + +Cavoie accompanied Louis XIV. in all his campaigns. At the passage of +the Rhine, his intrepidity called forth praise from the king himself. A +report having soon after been spread, that Cavoie was among the slain, +Louis exclaimed, “O, how grieved M. de Turenne will be!” The courtiers +who surrounded him were joining in a general chorus of eulogium upon the +supposed dead man, when a horseman was seen plunging into the river on +the opposite side, and swimming over. It was Cavoie, whom the Prince de +Condé had sent to the monarch, to announce to him the complete success +of his army. + +For many years Cavoie was held in high esteem at court, and enjoyed the +confidence of his master. A circumstance at length occurred to disturb +his peace. He had hoped to be included in the number of those on whom the +order of the Holy Ghost was conferred in 1688, but he was disappointed. +This disappointment was the work of Louvois, who hated him, because he +was the old and firm friend of the Marquis de Seignalai. Wounded by this +slight, the grand maréchal wrote a letter to Louis, informing him that he +intended to retire. But the vows of chagrined courtiers are as brittle +as those of lovers. The king called him into his cabinet, and, with that +graciousness which he well knew how to assume, he said to him, “We have +lived too long together to part now; I cannot let you quit me; I will see +that you shall be satisfied.” Cavoie abandoned his design of withdrawing +from court; but the promised blue riband was never bestowed on him. + +At a later period, about twenty years before his decease, he resumed and +carried into execution his purpose of seceding from public life. He was +a patron of literary characters in general, and was in habits of close +intimacy with Racine, Boileau, and other eminent authors. Cavoie died in +1716, at the age of 76, leaving behind him the enviable reputation of +having been a man on whose sincerity and probity an implicit reliance +might with safety be placed. + +From Cavoie we pass to an individual of a less estimable character. +Louis, Prince of Rohan, commonly known by the title of the Chevalier +Rohan, a degenerate descendant from illustrious ancestors, was born +about 1635. Rohan was endowed by nature with a handsome and graceful +person, and many intellectual qualities; but all these advantages were +nullified by his follies and vices. The Marquis de la Fare describes +him as being made up of contradictions; sometimes witty, at others the +contrary; sometimes dignified and brave, at others mean and dastardly. +In the annals of gallantry he seems to have been ambitious of holding a +conspicuous place. The most celebrated of his amorous adventures was his +carrying off, aided by her brother, the Duke of Nevers, the beautiful +and frail Hortensia Mancini, who was united to the contemptible Duke +of Mazarin. That he gamed high, and was careless of his gold, we learn +from an anecdote which is related of him. He had lost to the king, at +the gaming-table, a large sum, which was to be paid in louis-d’or. Rohan +counted out seven or eight hundred, but, not having enough of them, he +added two hundred Spanish pistoles. Louis objected to the latter, upon +which the chevalier snatched them up, and threw them out of the window, +saying at the same time, “Since your majesty will not have them, they +are good for nothing.” The king complained of this to Cardinal Mazarin, +who replied, “Sire, the Chevalier de Rohan played like a king, and you +played like a Chevalier de Rohan.” This action of Rohan has been praised +as a “piquant lesson” to Louis; it seems, however, to have been rather an +absurd mode of rebuking the monarch’s unprincely conduct. + +Rohan continued in favour at court for several years, and in 1656 was +appointed grand huntsman of France, an office equivalent to our master +of the buck-hounds; he was afterwards made colonel of the guards. He +served in 1654, 1655, 1672, and 1677, and displayed great valour. +The commencement of his decline seems to have been his being obliged +to give up the office of grand huntsman, in consequence of his amour +with the Duchess of Mazarin. His extravagance and profligacy at length +ruined his fortune and reputation. To repair his shattered finances, +he engaged in a plot, at once treasonable and absurd, which completed +the destruction of his character, and brought him to the scaffold. Into +this scheme he was seduced by Latruaumont, a Norman officer, a man as +impoverished and licentious as himself. Their accomplices were Preault, +a young officer, the Marchioness of Villiers-Bourdeville, his mistress, +and a schoolmaster, named Van den Enden; all of whom are said to have +disbelieved that the soul is immortal. Their plan was, to put into the +hands of the Dutch the town of Quillebœuf, in Normandy, and to excite +the province to revolt, for which service they were to be liberally +rewarded. The magnitude of their project forms a striking contrast with +the scantiness of their means. The conspiracy was discovered by the +government, before the conspirators could begin their operations. Rohan +was committed to the Bastile, and M. de Brissac was sent into Normandy to +arrest Latruaumont. The latter defended himself, was mortally wounded, +and died in a few hours. He had at least some honourable feelings, for, +in order to save his confederates, he persisted to the last moment that +he was the sole criminal. The friends of Rohan nightly made the circuit +of the Bastile, and vociferated, through a speaking-trumpet, “Latruaumont +is dead, and has confessed nothing.” They were, however, unheard by the +chevalier. He, meanwhile, was perseveringly pressed to acknowledge his +guilt, but he refused; and, as his participation in the plot was known +only to the deceased, and no written proof existed against him, he +might have saved his life, had he not been circumvented by one of those +stratagems which were employed against prisoners. De Bezons, one of the +counsellors of state who interrogated the captive, had the baseness to +assure him that the king meant to pardon him if he would declare the +truth, although every thing was already known from the dying avowal +of Latruaumont. Trusting to the assurances of his treacherous adviser, +Rohan acknowledged his treason. He soon learned the deceit which had been +practised on him; and he burst into such violent paroxysms of rage, that +his keepers were compelled to manacle him that he might not lay violent +hands on himself. Rohan and his accomplices were soon after sentenced +to death; they were executed in front of the Bastile, on the 27th of +November, 1674. In spite of her erroneous principles, the sufferer most +worthy of pity was, perhaps, Madame de Villiers, who displayed a noble +fortitude and forgiving spirit. The only evidence against her was some of +her letters to Preault, which he had unwisely preserved. At first, she +uttered a few words of mild reproof for his fatal imprudence; but she +quickly changed her tone, and said with a smile, “We must not think on +what is passed, but only how to die.” + +The same year that consigned Rohan to the scaffold, saw his place in the +Bastile filled by a youthful victim, who was doomed to waste a large part +of his life in captivity, for having offended a vindictive and powerful +religious body. His name is not recorded, but it is evident that he was +of a good family. + +Louis XIV. was requested, by the Jesuits of Clermont College, to be +present at the representation of a tragedy by their pupils. He complied, +and was highly gratified by the piece; the more so, perhaps, as it was +thickly strewn with passages in praise of him. A nobleman in attendance +having spoken to him in terms of admiration, as to the manner in which +the drama had been played, the king replied, “Where’s the wonder? is it +not my college?” These words were not lost upon the principal of the +college, who was standing by. As soon as the king was gone, the old +inscription, “_Collegium Claromontanum Societati Jesus_,” which was on +the front of the building, was taken down, and workmen were all night +employed to inscribe the words, “_Collegium Ludovici Magni_,” in gold +letters, on a tablet of black marble. + +In the morning the new inscription was seen conspicuously displayed on +the edifice. A youth of sixteen, a pupil in the college, had the good +sense and the good taste to be disgusted with this worse than indecorous +adulation, and he gave vent to his feelings in a Latin distich, which, +during the night, he fastened on the gate. The meaning of his lines may +be thus given: + + “Christ’s name expunged, the king’s now fills the stone! + O impious race! by this is plainly shown + That Louis is the only god you own!” + +The pungent lines excited a violent clamour among the Jesuits, and +no pains were spared to trace the writer. The juvenile offender was +discovered, and was shut up in the Bastile. After having been confined +there for a long while, he was transferred to the citadel of St. +Marguerite, on the coast of Provence. There he continued for several +years; after which he was taken back to the Bastile. One-and-thirty years +he passed in this manner, and the remainder of his life would doubtless +have been consumed in the same way, had he not, in 1705, become sole +heir to the estates of his family. The confessor of the Bastile, who was +a jesuit, now remonstrated with his brethren on the impolicy of keeping +in prison an individual from whom, by procuring his release, they might +reap such a golden harvest. His advice was taken, and the captive was set +free at their intercession. There can be no doubt that their tardy and +interested mercy received a liberal reward. + +Among the fellow prisoners of the nameless satirist of the jesuits +was, for a short time, another writer of verses, but verses of a very +different kind. The person in question was Charles Dassouci, who +ludicrously designated himself as “Emperor of the Burlesque, the first +of that name.” He was born at Paris, about 1604, and was the son of a +barrister. His bringing up, and his early habits, were not calculated to +make him an estimable member of society. His parents were separated, and +the tyranny of a female, who was at once the servant and the concubine +of his father, drove him from his home. When he was only nine years +old, he wandered to Calais, where he passed himself off as an adept in +astrology, the son of Cesar, that dealer in magic whose fate has been +narrated in the preceding chapter. The boy having, by the power of +imagination, worked a cure upon a hypochondriacal individual, the wise +people of Calais considered this fact to be a decisive proof of his +intercourse with the devil, and were about to throw him into the sea, but +he was saved by some of his friends, who conveyed him privately out of +the place. After having led a roving life for some time, he became player +on the lute and singer to Christina, Duchess of Savoy, the daughter of +Henry IV. In 1640, he was introduced to Louis XIII., who gave him the +same situation that he had filled in the household of the duchess, and +he was continued in it during the minority of Louis XIV. Resolving to +return to Turin, he quitted Paris in 1655; but, before his departure +from the kingdom, he visited various parts in the south of France. He +was accompanied every where by two handsome youths, called his musical +pages; his connexion with whom afforded to his enemies a reason, or a +pretext, for fixing a deep stain on his moral character. Failing to +obtain patronage at Turin, he went to Rome, and there he was put into the +prison of the Inquisition, for having satirized some powerful prelates. +On being liberated he went back to Paris, where he was not more fortunate +than he had been in Italy, for he was committed to the Bastile, in 1675, +whence he was transferred to the Châtelet. To his licentious conduct and +writings he is said to have been indebted for his imprisonment, which +lasted six months. He died about 1679. His principal works are, “Ovid +in good humour,” which is a travestie upon part of the Metamorphoses; +Claudian’s Rape of Proserpine burlesqued; and many poems in a similar +style. Dassouci, who was sometimes called “the ape of Scarron,” received +a lash from the satirical scourge of Boileau, and he complained heavily +of the injury. In his Art of Poetry, Boileau thus alludes to the +popularity which Dassouci had once enjoyed: + + “The scurviest joker charmed some kindred mind, + And even Dassouci could readers find.” + +It must be owned, however, that in the works of “the emperor of the +Burlesque,” there are some passages which prove that, though his taste +and his morals were defective, he was not destitute of talent. + +The reader has seen that, with very few exceptions, the prisoners who +have been mentioned in this chapter belonged to the courtier-class; that +they were men who seemed to feel a difficulty of breathing whenever they +did not inhale the vapours of a frivolous and voluptuous court. We ought +always to abhor injustice, and therefore we must hate the power which was +unjust to them; but they have no title to that liberal share of our pity +which is the right of humbler victims, for it was an implied condition of +their artificial existence that they should bend to a despot’s will; they +purchased the smiles of their master, the pleasures, such as they were, +of the Louvre and Versailles, and a portion of the public spoils, by the +renunciation of their free agency, and by encountering the risk of being +capriciously transferred from a palace to a dungeon. If, relying on his +good luck, a man will venture to play with a gambler whom he knows to +assert the privilege of now and then cogging the dice, his folly perhaps +deserves more compassion than his misfortune. + +Let us now see in what manner other classes were affected by the +working of an arbitrary government; whether its tyranny was impartially +distributed among them. A few examples, taken between the years 1660 +and 1670, will enable us to form a tolerably correct judgment upon this +subject. Before we proceed to give these examples, it may, however, be +well to apprise the reader, that committals to the Bastile were not +things of rare occurrence, but the contrary. In 1663, fifty-four persons +were sent to that dreary pile; in some years the number was fewer; in +others it rose to nearly a hundred and fifty. The Bastile was so crowded +in 1665, that a part of the prisoners were obliged to be removed to other +places of confinement. It must, indeed, have been full to overflowing, +before this removal could have been thought necessary. Such being the +case with the Bastile, it is probable that Vincennes, and many other +state prisons, were in a similar situation. + +Though, as far as can be judged from imperfect registers, it appears +that a large majority of the persons incarcerated in the Bastile were +the victims of caprice, malice, or religious and political persecution, +there can be no doubt that many were really criminal. Some instances of +the latter class occur in the years between 1660 and 1670. The crime of +coining, which we have seen so common at an earlier period, was still +prevalent, and was still committed by men who held a respectable rank in +society. In 1666 twelve coiners were hanged within a fortnight, and they +accused several others, among whom was a M. Delcampe, who is described +as “the celebrated master of an academy in the suburb of St. Germain.” +He was escorted in a carriage to the Bastile, by three companies of the +guards, and little more than a week elapsed before he was beheaded. The +crowd to witness his execution was so great, that many persons were +killed or wounded by being pressed or trampled on. + +The Bastile was often employed as an engine of extortion. To contribute +to the wants of the state, or, rather, to the prodigalities of the +court, immense sums were levied upon individuals holding offices, and +upon contractors, and all who had had any concern with the finances. +It must, of course, have been taken for granted that they had robbed +the public; and it could hardly have been expected that they would not +indemnify themselves, by future peculation, for their present loss. +Messat, a registrar of the council, was Bastiled for remonstrating +against a demand of six hundred thousand livres from himself and three +of his colleagues. Catalan, a contractor, shared the same fate, and was +threatened with death to boot; but after a confinement of several months, +he ransomed himself for six millions of livres. From another individual +nine hundred thousand livres, and from three of the treasurers of the +exchequer several millions, were squeezed by this powerful instrument. M. +Deschiens, one of M. Colbert’s head clerks, was also frightened into the +payment of a good round sum, by a visit to the Bastile. + +Other equally honourable means of raising money were resorted to; all of +which helped to fill the prisons as well as the coffers of the monarch. +Among them were “free gifts,” once known in England under the name of +“benevolences.” From the city of Sens, for instance, twelve thousand +livres were demanded as a free gift, besides nearly thrice as much for +the pay of the gendarmerie. The citizens replied that they had no money, +but would give a thousand hogsheads of excellent wine. Whether the wine +was accepted, or whether any of the citizens were imprisoned for the +misdemeanour of being pennyless, I cannot say. + +Immense sums were raised by the sale of offices. For the title of +counsellor of the court, 75,000 crowns were paid, and 90,000 for a place +at the board of exchequer. Numerous purchasers were found at far higher +prices. There is perhaps much truth in Patin’s sarcastic remark on this +occasion: “They must have robbed at a great rate,” says he, “or they +would not have so much money to squander.” Monopolies likewise lent +their aid to replenish the royal store. Niceron, a grocer, who appears +to have been an agent, or spokesman, of the Parisian companies of +tradesmen, was lodged in the Bastile for having ventured to remonstrate +against a projected monopoly of whale oil. Another article of supply +was the stopping of the annuities payable at the town hall; a measure +for which we have seen a precedent in the reign of Henry IV. Poignant, +a respectable citizen of Paris, was sent to the Bastile for having +spoken on this subject; and a female, named Madame de la Trousse, was, +for the same cause, prohibited from going to the town hall, or to any +other meeting, under pain of corporal punishment! On another occasion, +the President le Lievre was banished from Paris, for having made some +observations which were unfavourable to the taxes. + +The money thus obtained was lavishly spent on the pomps and amusements of +the court. A part was dissipated at the gaming-table; Louis being then +a constant and an unlucky gamester. Theatrical entertainments absorbed +another portion. The getting up of a single grand ballet is said to +have cost no less than forty thousand pounds. Guy Patin had reason to +exclaim, “they talk much at the Louvre of balls, ballets, and rejoicings, +but nothing is said of relieving the people, who are dying of such +unexampled want, after so great and solemn a general peace has been +concluded. O pudor! ô mores! ô tempora!” + +But though, in his private letters, Patin could venture to censure +profusion and exaction, he would soon have been fitted with what he +somewhere calls “a stone doublet,” had he dared to breathe a word +against them in public. It was dangerous even for a barrister to perform +faithfully his duty to a client. M. Burai, an eminent advocate, was +committed to the Bastile, in 1655, for having undertaken the defence of +Guenegaut, one of the treasurers, who was prosecuted by the government. + +The press was completely muzzled. We find De Prez, a printer, sent to +the Bastile, for having printed a letter by the Bishop of Aleth, which +displeased the jesuits; a second unlucky typographer, for offending the +Archbishop of Paris; and a third, named Coquier, for privately printing +an answer to a work of the Chevalier Talon, who had attacked Coquier’s +former master, the superintendant Fouquet. It was a perilous task for +a man to defend himself against the minions of favour. The Journal des +Sçavans having abused Charles Patin, he was about to reply, when it was +intimated to him that if he did not desist, the Bastile would receive +him: the journal happened to be protected by M. Colbert, the minister. +Such protection gave a decisive advantage over a less fortunate rival. +The conduct of Renaudot, the printer of the Gazette, affords a strong +proof of the tyrannical use which was made of it. There appears to have +been at this period a sort of partnership, the members of which gained a +livelihood by compiling and vending a manuscript gazette. As the sale of +this paper diminished that of his own, Renaudot made a bold attempt to +get rid of his competitors. He is said to have been extremely desirous +that they should be hanged; but his benevolent wish was not gratified. +He had, however, the satisfaction of procuring seven of them to be sent +to the Bastile, one of whom was publicly whipped through the streets. +Yet these measures, harsh as they were, did not succeed in putting down +the manuscript gazetteers; for, five years afterwards, six more of them +were committed to prison. From its long continuance, and the risks which +the traders were willing to encounter, we may infer that the trade was +productive. + +To have a different opinion from the sovereign, as to the merit of any +one whom he placed in office, was a heavy offence. M. de Montespan +expiated, by imprisonment in Fort-l’Evêque, his having doubted the +wisdom of choosing M. Montausier as governor to the dauphin. Some were +thrown into the Bastile for impossible crimes; such was the case of St. +Severin, a priest, who was accused of sorcery. Of others, the fault and +the meaning of their punishment are now undiscoverable. With respect to +L’Epine, a priest, for example, we are only told that he was discharged +from the Bastile, on condition of quitting Paris within twenty-four +hours, and going to Egypt. The reason of this singular species of +banishment must remain an enigma. + +One of the instances in which despair prompted an inmate of the Bastile +to commit suicide, occurred in 1669, and is recorded by Patin. “A state +prisoner,” says he, “has poisoned himself in the Bastile, terrified by +the punishment which could not fail to be inflicted on him, for having +spoken very badly _de Domino Priore_.” + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + The Poisoners—The Marchioness of Brinvilliers—Penautier—La + Voisin and her accomplices and dupes—The “Chambre Ardente”—The + Countess of Soissons—The Duchess of Bouillon—The Duke of + Luxembourg—Stephen de Bray—The Abbé Primi—Andrew Morell—Madame + Guyon—Courtils de Sandraz—Constantine de Renneville—The + Man with the Iron Mask—Jansenists—Tiron, Veillant, + and Lebrun Desmarets—The Count de Bucquoy—The Duke de + Richelieu—Miscellaneous Prisoners. + + +In the year 1676, the Bastile received a criminal, whose guilt was of the +blackest dye, and who was soon followed by a crowd of imitators, more +profoundly wicked, if possible, than she herself was. Poisoning was their +crime, and the practice of it became so common, that Madame de Sévigné +expresses a fear that, in foreign countries, the words Frenchman and +poisoner would be considered as synonymous. + +Foremost in the dark catalogue stands the Marchioness of Brinvilliers, +the daughter of Dreux d’Aubrai, the Civil Lieutenant. She was beautiful, +reserved in her manners, and apparently devout; but her heart was +corrupted to the core. From her own confession, it appears, that when +she was only seven years old, she had already lost her maiden innocence, +and had also set fire to a house. Her later years were worthy of this +beginning. Between 1666 and 1670, she poisoned her father, two brothers, +a sister, and many of her acquaintance. She is said to have administered +poison to her husband, though without effect; and also, with fatal +success, to the poor, and the sick in the hospitals, to whom she gave +biscuits, in which deadly drugs were mixed. The latter facts are denied +by Voltaire; they are, however, positively affirmed by Madame de Sévigné. + +The diabolical art which she so widely practised was learned from St. +Croix, a young officer, who was her paramour. He was a friend of her +husband, who, in opposition to her real or feigned remonstrances, made +him an inmate of his house. A criminal intimacy soon took place between +the wife and the friend. The husband, a man of dissipated habits, +seems to have been regardless of their intrigue; but her father was so +disgusted by its shameless publicity that he obtained a lettre-de-cachet, +and St. Croix was lodged in the Bastile, where he continued for twelve +months. There St. Croix was placed in the same apartment with Exili, +an Italian, who was confined on suspicion of being, as he really was, +a compounder and vender of poisons. Exili taught St. Croix all his +detestable secrets, and the latter communicated them to the marchioness, +who was a willing scholar. + +St. Croix died suddenly in 1672, and, as he had no relatives, the +government took possession of his effects. Among them was a small box, +which was importunately claimed by the marchioness. It was opened, and +found to contain a note, desiring that it might be delivered, without the +contents being disturbed, to Madame de Brinvilliers. The box was filled +with poisons of all kinds, some of the marchioness’s letters to him, and +a note of hand to him, for 30,000 livres, bearing her signature. + +Disappointed in all attempts to gain possession of the box, and finding +that suspicion began to fall heavily upon her, Brinvilliers took flight. +After having visited England, she fixed her residence at Liege. Fresh +presumptions of her guilt having arisen, it was resolved to arrest her. +Desgrais, the exempt of police, was accordingly despatched to Liege. +He disguised himself as an Abbé, pretended to be enamoured of her, +insinuated himself into her good graces, and ultimately succeeded in +seizing the lady and her papers, and conveying them to Paris. + +Brinvilliers now disavowed all knowledge of the box; but it was too +late. For a little while her spirits deserted her, and she made an +ineffectual attempt at suicide. She, however, soon rallied them, and +preserved her courage to the last. Among her papers was found a written +confession of the numerous crimes which she had committed. To extort an +oral confession, it was resolved to put her to the ordinary question, +which consisted in forcing down the throat of the culprit an immense +quantity of water. When she saw three buckets in the torture room, she +coolly observed, “This must be for the purpose of drowning me, for they +can never expect to make a woman of my size drink it all.” She was saved +from the trial, by making a full avowal of her misdeeds. Her sentence she +heard with an unaltered countenance. In the last twenty-four hours of +her existence she is said to have manifested sincere penitence. She was +beheaded, and her remains were burned, on the 16th of July, 1676. It will +perhaps scarcely be believed that, on the morrow, the besotted populace +collected her ashes; assigning as their reason for so doing, that she was +a saint! + +With Brinvilliers was implicated Penautier, who held the lucrative +offices of treasurer-general of the clergy, and of the states of +Languedoc. He was known to be her intimate friend, and was believed, +apparently with reason, to be one of her favoured lovers. It is asserted, +that in the box which was left by St. Croix, there was a packet of +poison, addressed to Penautier. That the receiver-general had the +reputation of making use of such packets is certain, and was a subject +of public jest. Cardinal de Bonzi, archbishop of Narbonne, who was his +strenuous protector, used to say laughingly, “None of those who have +pensions on my benefices are long-lived, for my star is fatal to them +all.” The caustic Abbé Fouquet one day saw the prelate and Penautier in +a carriage together, and he told everybody that he had just met Cardinal +de Bonzi and his star. Penautier was imprisoned, and appears to have been +in imminent danger; from which he is said to have been extricated only by +the most powerful influence, and the sacrifice of half his riches. + +Instead of operating as a warning, the execution of the marchioness would +rather seem to have stimulated others to the commission of the horrible +species of crime for which she suffered. After her death, poisoning is +said to have become prevalent to an extraordinary degree. Loud complaints +arose from numbers of families, members of which were supposed to have +been taken off secretly by their enemies, or by those who were eager to +inherit their riches. It was with reference to the latter motive that +the name of “powder of succession” was given to the drug administered. +We may believe that the complaints were not unfrequently groundless—for +it has always been the practice of weak minds to ascribe sudden death to +poison—but still, it is certain that there were very many cases in which +the suspicion was borne out by facts. + +So general did the clamour become, that, in January, 1660, the king +issued an ordinance, naming commissioners, who were to hold their +sittings at the Arsenal, for the purpose of trying poisoners and +magicians! This commission is known by the name of _la Chambre Ardente_. +It has been supposed, that it derived this appellation from its being +established to take cognizance of crimes which were punishable by fire. +This appears to be a mistake; the name having, in old times, been given +to the hall in which criminals of high birth were tried, and which was +so called because it was hung with black, and lighted with torches. The +same title was, however, borne by a sort of committee, which Francis II. +instituted in each parliament, for the trial of protestants, and which +mercilessly condemned them to the flames. + +The principal distributor of the poisons, a widow, by the name of +Monvoisin, but who was known under the appellation of La Voisin, +was already in the Bastile, with about forty persons charged as her +accomplices. The most prominent of these subordinate culprits were, a +female, named La Vigoureux, and her brother, and Cœuvrit, a priest, +who was called Lesage. La Voisin was a midwife; but her profession not +proving lucrative, she deserted it for the more profitable speculation of +turning to account the credulity, the folly, and at last the vices, of +mankind. The most innocent part of her employment consisted in telling +fortunes on the cards, discovering stolen goods, casting nativities, and +selling charms and spells, to render women beautiful and beloved, and men +invulnerable and fortunate! Her pretensions to supernatural skill did not +stop here; for she boldly undertook to show spirits, and even the devil +himself, to her dupes. Such is the cullibility of the crowd, whether of +high or low degree, that the number of her visitors, the majority of whom +were people of rank, soon enabled her to remove from a mean lodging into +a splendid mansion, and keep an equipage and a train of attendants. That +her house was made a convenience for the purposes of seduction, and for +carrying on illicit connexions, there can be no doubt; many of those who +frequented it, of both sexes, being notorious profligates. The round of +La Voisin’s occupations was completed by the sale of poisons to those who +were desirous of destroying the proof of incontinence, taking vengeance +on a rival or an enemy, or getting rid of superannuated husbands and +long-lived relatives. + +The newly-established tribunal found the whole of the prisoners guilty. +All but La Voisin were condemned to punishments short of death; to +imprisonment, exile, or the galleys. She alone was sentenced to be burned +alive on the Place de Grêve, and her ashes scattered to the winds. The +narrative of her last hours proves that, to a considerable portion of +brutal courage, or rather insensibility, she added the most disgusting +sensuality, vulgarity, and impiety. When she was informed of her doom, +she invited her guards to have a midnight revel with her, at which she +drank largely of wine, and sang twenty bacchanalian songs. The next +evening, after having undergone the question, she repeated the revel; and +when she was told that she had better think on God, and sing hymns, she +sang two hymns in a burlesque style. On the morning of her execution, she +was enraged at being refused any other food than soup. Before she was +placed in the sledge, she was advised to confess; but she obstinately +refused, and thrust away from her the confessor and the cross. At Nôtre +Dame, it was impossible to make her repeat the amende honorable, and when +she reached the Grêve she struggled furiously against the officers, and +it was not without using force that they could take her from the vehicle, +bind her, and place her on the pile. Consistent to the last, she several +times kicked off the straw, poured forth a volley of oaths, and did not +cease her violence till the flames deprived her of the power of motion +and speech. + +Either with the hope of obtaining impunity, by implicating the great and +powerful in her crimes, or, which her character renders more probable, +that she might enjoy the malignant delight of involving them in her +ruin, La Voisin disclosed the names of many of the noblest personages +of the court, who had consulted her; and she stated circumstances which +gave rise to terrible suspicions against them. Among those whom she thus +dragged into public view, were the Countess of Soissons and the Duchess +of Bouillon, nieces of Cardinal Mazarin, the Princess de Tingri, Madame +de Polignac, and the Duke of Luxembourg. Against some of the suspected or +accused individuals, the Chamber issued warrants; others it summoned to +appear, and answer interrogatories. + +The Countess of Soissons, mother of the celebrated Prince Eugene, was a +woman whose reputation was already sullied by the stains of political +and amorous intrigue. Among the crimes which were attributed to her, +was the death of her husband, who died suddenly in 1673. In her early +years, before he became enamoured of her sister Mary, Louis had paid her +some attentions. It was probably the remembrance of his transient flame +that induced him to send to the countess a message, that if she were +innocent he advised her to enter the Bastile, in which case he would +befriend her, but that, if she were guilty, she might retire wherever +she pleased. She replied that she was blameless, but that she could not +endure imprisonment. The countess immediately set off for Brussels, and +she never returned to France. It would, however, be doing her injustice +to conceal, that she offered to come back and justify herself, on +condition that she should not be confined while the trial was pending. +The condition was not granted, and she died in exile, in 1708. + +The Duchess of Bouillon, her sister, passed through the ordeal more +triumphantly. There is something amusing in the flippant contempt with +which she treated her judges. The carriages of nine dukes went in +procession with her to the Chambre Ardente, into which she was handed +by her husband and the Duke of Vendôme. Before she would take notice of +any question that was put to her, she ordered the clerk to minute down, +“that she came there solely out of respect to the king’s orders, and not +at all to the Chamber, which she would not recognize, because she would +not derogate from the privilege of the ducal class.” She then answered, +but with no small disdain, the various questions, some of which were, +in truth, ridiculous enough. Her reason for going to La Voisin’s house +was, she said, that she wished to see the Sibyls, which that female had +promised to show her. La Reynie, one of the judges, being absurd enough +to ask if she had seen the devil, she replied that she saw him at that +moment, that he was very ugly and filthy, and was disguised in the garb +of a counsellor of state. As she quitted the court, she said aloud, that +she had never before heard so many foolish speeches so gravely uttered. +There being nothing more to urge against her than that she had been +credulous and sillily curious, no further proceedings were taken by the +court, but, angry at her having made laughing-stocks of his magistrates, +Louis sent her in exile to Nerac, in the distant province of Guienne. + +If in France military talents of the highest order, and important +services rendered to the state, had possessed any protecting influence, +Francis Henry de Montmorenci, Duke of Luxembourg, would not have been +made a prisoner, and nearly a victim, by an implacable and unprincipled +minister. Luxembourg was the posthumous son of that Bouteville whom, +in a preceding chapter, we have seen consigned to the scaffold for the +crime of duelling. He was warmly patronised by the Princess of Condé, +who placed him as aide-de-camp to her son. The young Condé soon became +attached to him. At the battle of Lens, Bouteville distinguished himself +so greatly, that, though he was not more than twenty, Anne of Austria +made him a major-general. + +During the war of the Fronde, Bouteville followed the fortunes of Condé; +he joined the Spaniards with him, acquired in numerous encounters a +well-merited reputation, and, finally, returned to his allegiance along +with his friend. There is an anecdote recorded of him, on the latter +occasion, which is much to his honour. After Bouteville had ceased to +bear arms against France, the Spanish monarch sent him 60,000 crowns, as +a reward for his services. He refused to take the money: “I never,” said +he, “considered myself in the service of Spain, and will receive favours +only from my own sovereign.” Soon after this, he married the heiress +of the house of Luxembourg, by which union he gained a dukedom, and a +splendid fortune. If we may believe St. Simon, rank and riches were all +that the husband derived from this match, the lady being “frightfully +ugly, both in figure and face,” and not at all atoning for her personal +defects by intellectual qualities. As far as regarded beauty, the pair +had no right to reproach each other; for Luxembourg himself had repulsive +features, a prominence on his chest, and another behind. + +Between 1667 and 1679, Luxembourg, sometimes commander-in-chief, +sometimes as second to the great Condé and the Duke of Orleans, +displayed, in Franche Comté, Holland, and Flanders, a degree of skill +which gave him a conspicuous place in the first class of generals: in +fact, Turenne having fallen, and Condé retired, Luxembourg had no equal +in France. The marshal’s staff was conferred on him in 1675. + +But neither the ancient descent, nor the high rank, nor the still higher +renown, of Luxembourg, were sufficient to shield him from the malice +of his potent enemy. That enemy was Louvois,—Louvois, the perpetual +inciter of Louis to war, the director of the horrible crimes committed +by the French troops in Holland, and the incendiary of the Palatinate. +He was, at one time, the friend of Luxembourg, but they quarrelled; and +he thenceforth hated him, with even a more deadly hatred than he had +cherished against Turenne. The affair of the poisoners seemed to afford +him an opportunity, which he eagerly seized, of disgracing, and perhaps +destroying, the duke. + +It was by a credulous belief in the power of pretended sorcerers, that +Luxembourg was brought into peril. Bonnard, clerk to one of his lawyers, +had lost some papers, which were indispensable to the success of a +lawsuit instituted by the duke. To recover them, he applied to Lesage, +one of the confederates of La Voisin. Lesage required 2,000 crowns, +and the performance of certain mummeries by Bonnard; and his demand +was granted. The papers were then found to be in the hands of a girl +named Dupin, who refused to give them up. A power of attorney was now +obtained from the duke, by Bonnard, authorizing steps to be taken against +Dupin, to compel her to resign the papers. This he gave to Lesage, who, +between the body of the document and the signature, inserted two lines, +containing a transfer of the duke’s soul to his Satanic majesty. Luckily, +the clumsy forger had written these lines in a hand writing quite +different from that of the instrument itself. This compact with the devil +formed the main proof against Luxembourg. He appears, indeed, to have +afforded a further pretext for suspicion, by his weakness in applying to +Lesage for the horoscopes of various individuals. + +It was on this slender foundation that the plot against him was built. +When his name began to be called in question, he is said to have been +insidiously counselled by Louvois, to save himself by flight. The brave +Cavoie, who was his friend, proved himself to be so, by advising him +to surrender himself voluntarily to the Bastile; and this advice was +wisely followed by the duke. On his arrival there, he was placed in a +comfortable chamber, and, on the second day, he underwent a preliminary +interrogation. But it was not the intention of the minister who had +driven him into a prison, that he should enjoy any comfort there; and +accordingly, on the third day, he was removed to one of the filthiest of +dungeons, not more than six feet and a half in diameter, and no further +notice was taken of him for five weeks. He claimed his privilege, as a +peer, of being tried by the Parliament, but no attention was paid to his +claim, and he was obliged to be contented with protesting against this +denial of justice. It was afterwards made a subject of reproach to him, +by some of the peers, that he had not stood up with sufficient boldness +for the rights of the peerage. + +Luxembourg remained for fourteen months in the noisome den into which +Louvois had thrown him. The fetid atmosphere which he breathed, the want +of exercise, and the disturbed state of his mind, brought on a fit of +illness, and so much injured his constitution that he never thoroughly +recovered. It must have been no small aggravation of his sufferings, that +he was occasionally drawn forth, to be confronted with the profligate +Lesage, and others of the same class, and to hear them impudently charge +him with the foulest crimes. Lesage maintained, that the duke had entered +into the compact with Satan for the purpose of procuring the death of +Dupin; his accomplices added, that by his order they had murdered her, +cut the body into quarters, and thrown it into the river. Besides this +improbable story, they told another, equally improbable, that he had +given poisoned wine to a brother of Dupin, and to a mistress whom that +brother kept, and had endeavoured to destroy several persons by means of +sorcery. Their depositions may, indeed, contest the palm of absurdity and +falsehood with those of Titus Oates and his perjured associates. + +This, however, was not all. It would seem, from their evidence, that +the duke had driven a hard bargain with the prince of darkness, for +they asserted that the compact was designed not only to bring about the +murder of Dupin, but also to obtain the government of a province or a +fortress, and the marriage of his son with the daughter of Louvois. In a +letter to a friend, Luxembourg has left on record his dignified answer +to the last of these stupid calumnies. After treating with ridicule the +idea that he would sell his soul for a government, he says, with respect +to the remainder, “I replied that when the villain (Lesage) told such an +untruth, he did not know that I was of a family which did not purchase +alliances by crimes; that it would have been a great honour to me had +my son married Mdlle. de Louvois, but that I would not have adopted for +the purpose any means which would have subjected me to self-reproach; +and that when Matthew de Montmorenci espoused a queen of France, the +mother of a minor king, he did not give himself to the devil for this +marriage, since the thing was done by a resolution of the States General, +who declared that, to gain for the monarch the services of the lords of +Montmorenci, it was necessary to form this union. It was even out of +delicacy that I used the word _services_, for I believe that, in the +declaration, the word _protection_ is used.” + +Such testimony as was produced against Luxembourg was not deemed by his +judges sufficient to warrant his conviction, even though a minister +of state was eager for his ruin. He was, in consequence, set free on +the 14th of May, 1680. Notwithstanding the duke’s acquittal, Louis +banished him from the court, and he remained in exile till the summer +of 1681, when he was recalled, and resumed his duties as captain of +the body-guards. It is somewhat remarkable, that Louis never made the +slightest allusion to what had passed. + +For ten years, Luxembourg remained without a command. In 1690, however, +Louis himself placed him at the head of the army in Flanders. Luxembourg +had scarcely taken the field, before he gained the splendid victory of +Fleurus. The fall of Namur, or of Charleroi, would probably have been +the result of this success, had he not been thwarted by the malignant +Louvois, who forbade his besieging either of those fortresses, and +deprived him of the best part of his army, to reinforce Boufflers. In the +succeeding campaigns, Luxembourg pursued his triumphant progress, and +won the battles of Leuze, Steenkirk, and Neerwinden. Such a number of +standards were taken, and sent to be hung up in the cathedral of Nôtre +Dame, at Paris, that the Prince of Conti wittily denominated him “the +tapestry-hanger of Nôtre Dame.” Irritated by his defeats, William III. is +said to have exclaimed, “Am I never to beat that hunchback?” “Hunchback!” +said the duke, when he was told of this speech, “what does he know about +it? He has never seen my back!” The career of Luxembourg was abruptly +closed, by an illness of only five days, on the 4th of January, 1695. + +Several persons of distinction were censured by the “Chambre Ardente,” +and were, in consequence, forbidden the court, or sent into exile. Among +the latter was Madame de Polignac. The monarch was so decidedly hostile +to her, that, five years afterwards, he spoke of her with unmeasured +severity, and interfered to prevent the marriage of her son with Mdlle. +de Rambures. It was said, that she had once formed the scheme of giving +him a philtre, to inspire him with a passion for her. + +One of the humbler class of culprits who was imprisoned in the Bastile, +and who finally suffered the extreme sentence of the law, was Stephen de +Bray, described as the accomplice of James Dechaux and Jane Chanfrain, +who were perhaps rivals of La Voisin and her confederates in their +detestable trade. The crimes alleged against him were blasphemy, +sacrilege, and poisoning, and he was burned at the Grêve. + +From poisoners, and mercenary pretenders to sorcery, we turn to an +adventurer of a less noxious species. The Abbé Primi was a native of +Bologna, in which city his father was a cap-maker. He had acuteness, wit, +and a pleasing person, and with these mental and corporeal qualities +he hoped to make his way at Paris. On his journey thither he became +acquainted with a man of talent, named Duval. One of the travellers in +the coach smelt so offensively that the others were anxious to get rid +of him; and accordingly Duval and Primi secretly concerted a scheme for +that purpose. Primi was to pretend to the gift of foretelling, from only +seeing a person’s handwriting, what had happened, and would happen, to +him. Primi, being questioned by Duval on this head, gave him elaborate +answers, which the latter admitted to be correct. Specimens of the +penmanship of the rest of the travellers, who were in the plot, were then +handed to Primi, and, of course, they were satisfied with the result. The +obnoxious passenger at length begged the oracular Italian to do for him +the same favour that he had done for the rest. When Primi looked at the +paper, he pretended to be shocked, and hastily gave it back, declining to +say more than that “he hoped he was mistaken.” The applicant, however, +solicited so earnestly to know his fate, that Primi told him he was +destined to be assassinated at Paris, if he went thither. This startling +intelligence produced the designed effect; the strong-scented querist +took the first opportunity to discontinue his journey, and return to his +home. + +When they reached Paris, Duval presented Primi to the Abbé de la Baume, +who was afterwards archbishop of Embrun; and the abbé introduced him to +the Duke of Vendôme, and his brother, the Grand Prior. The trick played +off in the stage was talked over, and it was agreed that a repetition +of it in the French capital would be productive of infinite amusement. +Primi was therefore kept carefully secluded, for nearly two months, till +he had learned by heart the genealogy and the secret history of most of +the persons about the court. When he had obtained a thorough knowledge of +their connexions, amours, rivalships, enmities, and presumed motives, his +skill in his novel kind of divination was spread about by his employers, +and all the rank and fashion of France soon flocked to consult him. +Among the distinguished females who patronized him, were the Countess +of Soissons and the Duchess of Orleans; the latter of whom Primi firmly +convinced of his powers, by mentioning many circumstances relative to +her correspondence with the Count de Guiche. The duchess prevailed on +Louis XIV. to let her show his handwriting to the Italian. To her utter +astonishment, Primi no sooner saw it than he declared it to be written +by a miserly curmudgeon, who was not possessed of a single good quality. +When she returned the paper to Louis, and told him what Primi had said, +the king was no less astonished than she was. The paper was indeed +written by a man of whom his enemies spoke in the same manner as Primi. +It was the handwriting of Rose, the king’s cabinet secretary, who wrote +exactly like Louis, and whom he often employed to answer letters, that +he might himself avoid trouble. To get at the bottom of this mystery, +the king ordered Primi to be brought into his cabinet. “Primi,” said the +monarch, “I have only two words to say—disclose to me your secret, for +which I will pay you with a pension of two thousand livres—or else make +up your mind to be hanged.” There was no resisting the bribe and the +threat, and Primi consequently related his own history, and all that had +come to his knowledge since he had lived in the capital. On going into +the queen’s apartment, Louis mentioned, before the courtiers, that he had +admitted Primi to an interview, and he added, “I must acknowledge that +he told me things which no being of his kind has ever before revealed to +any one.” This strong testimony to the merit of Primi contributed not a +little to enhance his reputation. + +The pension granted to him by Louis placed Primi above the necessity of +resorting to deception for a livelihood; nor, indeed, was the part which +he had been playing one which could be carried on for any length of +time. He married the daughter of Frederic Leonard, an eminent Parisian +printer, and sought to gain reputation by chronicling the actions of the +French monarch. In an Italian narrative, which he wrote, of the Dutch +campaign of Louis, he divulged the secret of the private treaty between +that monarch and our Charles II. For this he was sent to the Bastile; +but he was soon released, and received an ample present. The publication +is believed to have, in fact, been authorized by the king, to punish +the defection of Charles; the imprisonment of the author being merely a +blind, to prevent his master from being suspected. + +Louvois, who will for ever be infamously remembered for his outrages +upon humanity, was the tyrant who twice consigned to the Bastile the +celebrated medallist, Andrew Morell. Berne was the native place of +Morell, who was born in 1646. He was remarkable for his memory and +acuteness. The study of history led him to that of numismatics, in which +he made an almost unequalled progress; and he learned drawing, in order +to render his medallic knowledge more perfect and available. Charles +Patin, the son of Guy, then an exile from France, who was himself no mean +numismatist, became acquainted with Morell, and aided him by his counsel +and purse. It was probably by his advice that, in 1680, Morell visited +Paris, where he met with a warm reception from the most distinguished men +of learning and science. Encouraged by them, he undertook the laborious +task of publishing a description of all the antique medals which were +contained in the numerous cabinets of Europe. As a prelude, he gave a +specimen to the world. But his scheme was interrupted, for the moment, +by a circumstance which would ultimately have benefited it, had he not +been ungenerously treated. He was appointed coadjutor of Rainssart, +the keeper of the king’s medals. In assiduously arranging and reducing +to order the vast collection which was placed under his care, he spent +several years. When he claimed his promised reward it was withheld, and, +on his venturing to resent this breach of faith, he was committed to the +Bastile, in 1688, by Louvois. His friends obtained his release; but, in +little more than twelve months, he was again immured in that prison, +probably for the same reason as before. Yet, while he was thus persecuted +by an arrogant minister, he continued to enjoy the esteem of Louis XIV.; +a curious fact, which proves how strong was the influence of Louvois +over his master. While he was in the Bastile, his colleague died, and he +was offered the vacant place of sole keeper of the king’s cabinet, on +condition that he would change his religion. Morell, however, rejected +the offer. + +It was not till 1691, nor till the government of Berne had interfered +in his behalf, that Morell was set free. Disgusted with the treatment +which he had experienced, he returned to his native country. His +subsequent existence was embittered by severe bodily suffering. His +health was so much injured by confinement, and by vexation at his +favourite project being frustrated, that palsy deprived him of the use +of one side, and rendered him incapable of handling pen or pencil. He +was somewhat recovered, and had acquired the patronage of the Count of +Schwartzenburg-Armstadt, a lover of medals, when he was overturned in a +carriage, and one of his shoulders dislocated. This accident brought on +another attack of palsy, to which he fell a victim in 1703. The materials +for his unfinished work were arranged and published, by Havercamp, in +1734, with the title of “Thesaurus Morellianus.” Another of his works, a +“Numismatic History of the Twelve Emperors,” was given to the public, in +1753, by Havercamp, Schlegel, and Gori, who overlaid it with a ponderous +mass of confused and discordant commentaries. + +The doctrines of Quietism, the origin of which may be traced to oriental +climes, but of which a Spanish monk, Michael Molinos, was the European +apostle, and finally the victim, were espoused by one of the most amiable +of French enthusiasts, and they brought on her, as they had brought on +him, calumny, persecution, and imprisonment. Madam Guyon, whose maiden +name was Bouvier de la Motte, was born at Montargis, in 1648. Even in +very early youth she had a strong tendency to mysticism, and would have +adopted a monastic life, had her parents not prevented her. At sixteen +she was married; at eight-and-twenty she became a widow. The visionary +ideas which she had cherished before marriage now resumed their empire, +and a powerful stimulus was given to them by her confessor, and by the +titular bishop of Geneva, and other ecclesiastics, all of whom laboured +to fill her with the belief that Heaven had destined her to play an +extraordinary part for the advancement of religion. “Left a widow when +she was still tolerably young,” says Voltaire, “with riches, beauty, and +a mind fitted for society, she became infatuated with what is called +_spiritualism_. A monk of Anneci, near Geneva, named Lacombe, was her +director. This man, characterized by a not uncommon mixture of passions +and religion, and who died mad, plunged the mind of his penitent into +the mystic reveries by which it was already affected. The longing desire +to be a French St. Theresa did not allow her to perceive how different +the French character is from the Spanish, and made her go much further +than St. Theresa. The ambition of having disciples, which is perhaps the +strongest of all the kinds of ambition, took entire possession of her +heart.” In ascribing such a motive to Madame Guyon, Voltaire does her +wrong, there not being a shadow of a reason for supposing that she was +actuated by any thing but a sincere though erroneous belief, that she was +fulfilling a solemn duty. He is more correct in the description which +he gives of her doctrines. “She taught a complete renunciation of self, +the silence of the soul, the annihilation of all its faculties, internal +worship, and the pure and disinterested love of God, which is neither +degraded by fear, nor animated by the hope of reward.” It must be owned +that, both in language and ideas, she often fell into enormous absurdity, +in her efforts to explain and enforce these doctrines. + +For five years Madame Guyon wandered through Piedmont, Dauphiny, and +the adjacent provinces, spreading her opinions by the press as well +as by oral Communication. As was to be expected, she made many ardent +proselytes, and not a few enemies. In 1686 she returned to Paris, and +continued her labours, and was left unmolested for two years. At length +she attracted the notice of the archbishop of Paris, who affected to be +shocked at the resemblance which her tenets bore to those of Molinos. +The see of Paris was at that time filled by Harlay de Chamvallon, +an individual infamously celebrated for his profligate debauchery. +This prelate, who certainly was not likely to comprehend a pure and +disinterested love of God, or of man or woman either, procured Lacombe +to be sent to the Bastile as a seducer, and Madame Guyon to the +Visitandines convent. At the Visitandines she was generally beloved, and +made several converts. She was soon after snatched from the clutches of +Harlay by Madame de Maintenon, who admitted her at St. Cyr, and became +much attached to her. It was at St. Cyr that she was also introduced to +Fenelon; a friendship took place between them which nothing could ever +shake. + +But though Fenelon continued true to his friend, Madame de Maintenon +ultimately deserted her. This desertion was the work of Godet-Desmarais, +bishop of Chartres, who was the religious director of St. Cyr and of +Madame de Maintenon. The mind of the king was also poisoned against her; +and she was exposed to a long series of persecutions, not the least +painful of which was a slanderous attack on her character, made in the +form of a letter from Lacombe, exhorting her to repent of their criminal +intimacy. Lacombe was then insane. So irreproachable, however, was her +conduct, that her innocence was universally acknowledged. + +In 1695 she was sent to Vincennes, whence she was removed to the Bastile; +but she was released through the intervention of Noailles, who had +succeeded the shameless Harlay in the archbishopric of Paris. In 1698 +she was again immured in the Bastile, and was not liberated till 1702. +After her liberation, she was exiled to Blois, where, for fifteen years, +her patience, piety, and charity, were admired by every one. She died in +1717, at the age of sixty-nine. + +Influenced by prejudice, Voltaire has been unjust to Madame Guyon; +he denies that she possessed talent, and sneeringly says, that “she +wrote verses like Cotin, and prose like Punchinello.” This is not the +first time that truth has been sacrificed, for the sake of giving an +epigrammatic turn to a sentence. To the opinion of Voltaire may be +opposed that of the shrewd Duke of St. Simon, which is very different. +Nor is it probable that Fenelon would have held in high estimation +a mere senseless enthusiast. That in her writings, which extend to +nine-and-thirty volumes, much erroneous reasoning, mystic jargon, and +even nonsense, may be found, admits of no dispute; but they also contain +many fine sentiments strikingly expressed. That she was endowed with +a prevailing eloquence appears to be undeniable. There is an anecdote +recorded of her which proves, likewise, that in the common business of +life, she was possessed of a large share of penetration and sound sense. +She was chosen as sole umpire in a cause in which she and twenty-two of +her relations were interested. After thirty days’ close investigation of +the documents and claims, she drew up an award, which received the prompt +and full approbation of all the contending parties. It may be doubted, +whether there have been many arbitrators who have given such universal +satisfaction as Madame Guyon. + +About the time that Madame Guyon was released from the Bastile, that +prison became the abode of Gatien de Courtils de Sandraz, a fertile +writer, but whose productions are, for the most part, of a class which +merits censure rather than praise. This author, a Parisian, born in +1644, must be reckoned among those who poison the sources of history. +“He was,” says Voltaire, “one of the most culpable writers of this +kind. He inundated Europe with fictions under the name of histories.” +Many of those fictions profess to be written by persons who, during the +reigns of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., had borne a part in affairs of +state and court intrigues. More than forty volumes of memoirs of this +sort, biographies, romances, and political tracts, were produced by +his indefatigable pen. He was originally a captain in the regiment of +Champagne, but went to Holland in 1683, and staid in that country for +five years. It was while he was there that he gave some of his earliest +works to the press. In 1689, the partiality which he manifested on the +side of France occasioned him to be sent out of the Dutch territory, +and he went to Paris, where he continued till 1694. He then returned to +Holland, where he continued for eight years. In 1702, he went back to his +native land, but his reception was calculated to make him regret having +done so. He was immediately sent to the Bastile, where he languished for +nine years, during the first three of which he was very harshly treated. +His offence is not known; but his Annals of Paris and the court, in which +he attacked the character of some powerful personages, are conjectured to +have been the cause of his imprisonment. His decease took place in 1712. + +Of those who suffered in the Bastile very few indeed revealed to the +world the secrets of the prison-house. The first who disclosed them was +René Augustus Constantine de Renneville, a Norman gentleman, who was born +at Caen, in 1650. De Renneville was the youngest of ten brothers, seven +of whom fell in the service of their country. After having borne arms in, +and retired from, the mousquetaires, he was patronised by Chamillart, +one of the ministers, who employed him in various confidential affairs, +and rewarded him by a respectable and lucrative office in Normandy. De +Renneville passed several years in his native province, filling up by +literary pursuits his intervals of leisure from his official duties. +The persecution of the protestants, of whom he was one, drove him, in +1699, into Holland. Being, however, unable to find there a satisfactory +establishment for his family, he yielded to the solicitations of +Chamillart, and returned, in 1702, to France. The minister received him +with open arms, gave him a pension, and promised him the first place +that might become vacant in his own department. But the scene soon +changed. Envy was excited by the reception which he had met with, and it +quickly found or made the means of crushing him. Some years before, in +a splenetic mood, he had written some _bouts rimés_, which were by no +means complimentary to France. As, however, this would hardly authorize +a heavy punishment, he was accused of being a spy, and of keeping up a +correspondence with foreign powers. In consequence of this he was sent +to the Bastile, in May 1702. He was placed in a wretched chamber, dirty, +gloomy, and swarming with fleas, and his bed was overrun with vermin of +a more disgusting kind. He was nevertheless tolerably well treated by +his jailers till after the escape of Count de Bucquoy, in which he was +supposed to have assisted. On this supposition he was thrown into one +of the worst dungeons of the fortress, where he remained till life was +nearly extinct. He tells us that his only sustenance was bread and water, +and that his sleeping place was the bare ground, where, without straw, or +even a stone to lay his head on, he lay stretched in the mire, and the +slaver of the toads. His situation when he was taken out was pitiable. +“My eyes,” says he, “were almost out of my head, my nose was as large +as a middling-sized cucumber, more than half my teeth, which previously +were very good, had fallen out by scurvy, my mouth was swelled, and +entirely covered with an eruption, and my bones came through my skin in +more than twenty places.” His captivity lasted for some years after his +removal from the dungeon, and as though he was not again reduced to the +same degree of misery, he was treated with much harshness. He bore his +misfortune with courage, and solaced his lonely hours by reading and +composition. His pen was a small bone, his ink was lampblack mixed with +wine, and he wrote between the lines, and on the margins, of books which +he had concealed. Under these disadvantages, he composed several works of +considerable length. Among these works was a “Treatise on the Duties of +a faithful Christian.” They were taken away from him by his persecutors, +and he deeply regretted the loss of them. After having been confined +for eleven years, he was set at liberty; but was ordered to quit France +for ever. It would have been strange had he wished to remain there. +De Renneville sought an asylum in England, where George I. gave him a +pension; and in 1715 he published his “French Inquisition, or the History +of the Bastile,” which went through three or four editions, and was +translated into various languages. It was probably at the instigation of +those who were branded in this book, that he was attacked in the street +by three cut-throats, whom, however, he bravely repulsed. De Renneville +was living in 1724; but the time and place of his decease are not known. +Among his works is a Collection of Voyages for the establishment, &c., of +the Dutch East India Company. + +The next prisoner comes before us wrapped in such a mysterious cloud, +that he scarcely seems to wear the aspect of a being of this world. His +birth, his name, his country, his crime, are all unknown; all that we +really know of him is, that he was long a captive, and that he died. It +cannot be necessary to say, that the problematical individual alluded to +is the personage who is distinguished by the appellation of “The Man with +the Iron Mask.” + +There appears to have been in France, during the first forty years of +the 18th century, a sort of indistinct tradition respecting a masked +prisoner, who had been in various state prisons. It was not, however, +till 1745 that any attempt was made to lift the veil which covered +the subject. In that year came out “Mémoires secrets pour servir à +l’histoire de Perse,” in which French characters were described under +oriental names. In these memoirs, which have been ascribed to several +writers, among whom is Voltaire, some particulars are given relative to +the masked man, and he is asserted to have been the Count de Vermandois, +natural son of Louis XIV., confined by his father for having struck the +dauphin. + +The Memoirs gave rise to a controversy, and to an extravagant romance by +the Chevalier de Mouhy; but nothing definite was brought forward till +1751, when Voltaire published, under a feigned name, the first edition +of his “Age of Louis XIV.” Here he threw a ray of light on a part of the +question, leaving, however, the rest in as much darkness as ever. + +“Some months after the decease of this minister (Mazarin) there +happened,” says he, “an event which has no parallel, and what is no +less singular is, that all the historians have been ignorant of it. +There was sent, with the utmost secrecy, to the castle of the isle of +St. Margaret, on the coast of Provence, an unknown prisoner, above the +common stature, young, and of a most handsome and noble figure. During +the journey, this prisoner wore a mask, the lower half of which had +steel springs, which allowed him to eat while the mask was on his face. +Orders were given to kill him if he uncovered himself. He remained in +the isle till a confidential officer, of the name of St. Marc, governor +of Pignerol, having been made governor of the Bastile in 1690, went to +the isle of St. Margaret to fetch him, and conducted him to the Bastile, +always masked. The Marquis de Louvois went to see him in that isle +before his removal, and spoke to him standing, and with a deference +which bordered on respect. This unknown personage was taken to the +Bastile, where he was lodged as comfortably as it was possible to be in +that fortress. Nothing that he asked for was refused. His predominant +taste was for linen of extreme fineness, and for lace. He played on the +guitar. His table was profusely served, and the governor rarely took a +seat in his presence. An old physician of the Bastile, who had often +attended this singular man when he was ill, said that he had never seen +his face, though he had frequently examined his tongue, and the rest of +his person. He was admirably made, said this physician; his skin was +rather brown; he excited an interest by the mere tone of his voice, but +never complained of his situation, nor gave any hint of who he was. This +unknown individual died in 1703, and was buried at night in the parish of +St. Paul’s. + +“What renders these circumstances doubly astonishing is, that at the +time when he was sent to the isle of St. Margaret no eminent personage +disappeared in Europe. Yet that the prisoner was one is beyond all +doubt, for the following event took place during an early period of his +residence in the isle. The governor himself put the dishes on the table, +and then withdrew, after having locked him in. The prisoner one day +wrote with his knife on a silver plate, and threw the plate out of the +window, towards a boat, which was near the shore, almost at the foot of +the tower. A fisherman, to whom the boat belonged, picked up the plate, +and took it to the governor. Greatly astonished, the latter asked the +fisherman, ‘Have you read what is written on this plate, or has anybody +seen you with it?’—‘I cannot read,’ replied the fisherman, ‘I have only +just found it, and nobody has seen it,’ This countryman was detained till +the governor was thoroughly convinced that he could not read, and that no +one had seen the plate. ‘You may go now,’ said he, ‘and think yourself +lucky that you know not how to read.’ Of the persons who had a direct +knowledge of this fact there is one, of undoubted veracity, who is still +living. M. de Chamillart was the last minister who was intrusted with +this strange secret. The second Marshal de Feuillade, his son-in-law, +told me that, when his father-in-law was on his death-bed, he begged him +on his knees to tell him who was the man who was never known by any other +name than that of the man with the iron mask. Chamillart replied that it +was a state secret, and that he had taken an oath never to reveal it. +There are, besides, others of my contemporaries who can testify to my +statement, and I know no fact which is more extraordinary or more firmly +established.” + +At a later period, Voltaire, in the “Philosophical Dictionary,” corrected +some trifling errors which he had made in his account of the masked +prisoner. He states that the captive was first confined at Pignerol, +whence he was removed to the isle of St. Margaret, and that, a few days +before his death, he said that he believed himself to be about sixty. +Voltaire then controverts various guesses which had been hazarded as +to the name of the individual, and then adds, that the concealment of +his face must have been occasioned by “the fear that a too striking +resemblance might be recognised in his features.” In conclusion, he +hints, that he is well informed on the subject, but that he will not +communicate his knowledge. It would seem, however, that, after the lapse +of a few years, he changed his mind,—for, in another edition of the +Dictionary, there was inserted an article, ostensibly by the editor, but +which is generally supposed to be written by Voltaire himself. It is +there roundly asserted that the masked captive was an elder brother of +Louis XIV., illegitimate, and brought up in secrecy, whom for obvious +reasons of state the reigning monarch was obliged to hold in durance. In +the original account by Voltaire, his pointed mention of the prisoner’s +fondness for fine linen and lace, which was also characteristic of Anne +of Austria, appears to indicate that he believed her to be the mother of +the mysterious individual. + +There is in the human mind a restless longing, and perpetual struggle, +to penetrate into every thing that is shrouded in mystery. Ever since +the man with the iron mask was first mentioned, he has been a subject of +inquiry and controversy; dissertations and volumes innumerable have been +written to dispel the Egyptian darkness which surrounds him. With the +exception perhaps of Junius, there is probably no personage who has been +the cause of so many books and theories; and in both cases no approach +to certainty has been made. It is not improbable that Junius may yet be +unveiled; but, with respect to the masked captive, so long a time has +gone by, so much care was taken after his decease to destroy all traces +of his existence, and it is so likely that the remaining documents, if +any there were, perished during the French revolution, that there is not +a chance of the world being enabled to say, “_This_ is certainly the man.” + +At least twelve or thirteen candidates have been brought forward for +the melancholy honour of being the personage in question. Two of them +are English—the Duke of Monmouth and Henry Cromwell. Of the latter it +is only necessary to state that he lived a quiet country life after the +restoration, and died in Huntingdonshire in 1679. The Duke of Monmouth +is supposed, by M. de St. Foix, to have found some one obliging enough +to mount the scaffold in his stead, and to have been sent to France, to +be kept in safe custody. This ineffably absurd theory is demolished by +the fact, that, when Monmouth was executed, the man with the mask had +been for twenty years in prison. Equally baseless is the system of the +Chevalier de Taulès, who made a claim for Ardewicks, the patriarch of the +Armenians at Constantinople, who was kidnapped, taken to France, and +lodged in the Bastile by the Jesuits, to whom he had given offence. But +Ardewicks was not carried off till 1699 or 1700, and he is known to have +embraced catholicism, recovered his liberty, and died at Paris. A recent +French writer, of very considerable talent and research, has revived +the idea that Fouquet was the prisoner, and has supported his argument +with great skill; but it is impossible to reconcile his supposition with +the story told by Voltaire. With respect to Fouquet the precautions and +deference, which Voltaire mentions, would not have been deemed necessary. +We have seen that the author of the “Secret Memoirs on Persia” asserts +the Count of Vermandois to have been the unknown captive. Voltaire +contemptuously denies the truth of this assertion; which is, indeed, +sufficiently refuted by the well-ascertained fact, that the count died, +of small-pox, at the army in Flanders, in 1683, and was buried at Arras; +his death was notorious to numbers of persons. The Duke of Beaufort has +been invested with the mask on no better authority. There can be no doubt +that he was slain, in a sally, at the siege of Candia, in 1669. But, say +those who adopt him as their hero, his body was never found. It certainly +was not recognised; and for this plain reason, that the Turks stripped +it, and cut off the head. The next asserted owner of the mask is backed +by no less than four champions, Dutens, Roux-Fazillac, Delort, and the +late Lord Dover, and his cause has been ably supported by them all. The +claimant for whom they contend is Matthioli, secretary of the Duke of +Mantua, who, for having outwitted Louis in a negotiation respecting the +cession of Casal, was seized by order of the monarch, and imprisoned at +Pignerol and other places. There are, however, circumstances which seem +decisive against his being the man with the iron mask. It will perhaps +suffice to mention that, instead of meeting with respect and indulgence, +he was treated with the utmost harshness, and even cruelty. It has been +argued, as a presumption on his side, that his name bears a resemblance +to that of Marchiali, under which the unknown captive was buried. The +resemblance, I think, is not a whit closer than that which Fluellin so +ingeniously discovers between Macedon and Monmouth, and is a sorry basis +on which to build an argument. Another supposition gives the mask to Don +John de Gonzaga, a natural brother of the Duke of Mantua, who is imagined +to have accompanied Matthioli in disguise to the conference at which he +was seized. This supposition is rendered untenable, by irrefragable proof +that Matthioli was alone. + +We have now arrived at the only remaining name which has been mentioned +as that of the mysterious prisoner. Voltaire, as we have seen, affirms +that he was a son of Anne of Austria. This assertion seems to receive +support from the language which is said to have been held by Louis XV. +Laborde, the head valet-de-chambre of that monarch, who enjoyed much of +his confidence, once endeavoured to obtain from him the long-concealed +secret. He did not succeed. “I pity him,” replied the king, “but his +detention was injurious only to himself, and _averted great misfortunes_. +Thou must not know the secret.” It is manifest that such a speech +could not be made with reference to any of the persons who have been +enumerated. It is equally manifest that, as Voltaire has intimated, the +mask could have been worn for no other purpose than to prevent a striking +likeness from being recognised. + +Various conjectures have been made as to the paternity of the unknown +child, to which Anne of Austria is thought to have given birth. By some +the Duke of Buckingham has been assigned as its father, others have +attributed it to a French nobleman; some have imagined that it was the +fruit of a legitimate union with Cardinal Mazarin, a kind of union which, +however, could not take place; and others, with more tenderness for the +character of the queen, have represented it to be a twin brother of Louis +XIV. The theory of his royal birth may, perhaps, be as erroneous as all +the rest; but it appears to me to be the only one by which we can account +for the close and perpetual imprisonment, the pains taken to confine the +secret to as few persons as possible, the carefully concealed features, +and the respect and indulgence which are asserted to have been uniformly +shown to the unfortunate captive[8]. + +We must now turn our attention from the victim of state policy to some of +the victims of religious persecution. + +To enumerate all whom Jansenism led to the Bastile would be a tedious +labour, and no less uninteresting than tedious, as little more than a +dry list of names would be the result. Among the Jansenists who towards +the close of Louis XIV.’s reign were sent to the Bastile, we find Tiron, +a Benedictine, who was prior of Meulan; Germain Veillant, an author; +and Lebrun-Desmarets, a man of much theological erudition. Tiron was +committed “for different writings, on matters of religion and state, +and against the king and the Jesuits.” The coupling together of the +king and the disciples of Loyola, as though they were coequal powers, +is a striking proof of the vast influence which the Society of Jesus +had acquired. Veillant’s offence was his being “a violent Jansenist, in +connexion with Father Quesnel, and having got his works printed, and +managed his affairs at Paris.” He was examined eighty-nine times, and was +probably treated with more than common harshness, for he fell ill on the +day that he was released, and died in the course of a few days. + +Lebrun-Desmarets, a native of Rouen, who entered the Bastile in 1707, +two years previous to the destruction of Port-Royal monastery, was of +a family which was strongly attached to that persecuted establishment. +His father, a bookseller of Rouen, was condemned to the galleys, for +having printed books in vindication of it. The son was partly educated +in the convent, and never ceased to regard its inmates with affection +and reverence. In 1707, when they were involved in a harassing lawsuit +by their enemies, Lebrun espoused their cause so ardently that he was +imprisoned. He was held in durance for five years, and was treated +with great severity. After he recovered his liberty, he took up his +abode at Orleans, where he died, in 1731, at the age of eighty. On Palm +Sunday, the day before his death, fearing that a priest would refuse +to administer the sacrament to him, he dragged his enfeebled frame to +the church, that he might not quit the world without the consolation of +having participated in the rites of religion. Lebrun’s principal work is +a “Liturgical Journey in France,” in which he gives an account of the +most remarkable customs and ceremonies of the various churches. + +We now revert once more to prisoners whose sins were political. Count +John Albert de Bucquoy, the next individual who comes under our notice, +was of the family of the celebrated Spanish and Imperial general, who +bore the same name and title. He was a native of Champagne, in which +province he was born about 1650. A line in Dryden’s severe description of +Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, will partly characterize Bucquoy; he + + “Was every thing by starts, and nothing long.” + +The circumstances of his having been left an orphan at the age of four +years, and having received a very imperfect education, may, perhaps, +account for some of his eccentricities. He embraced the military life; +but when he had served for five years, an escape from danger, which +he considered as miraculous, induced him to make a vow to withdraw +from all worldly pursuits. The rules of the Carthusian monks not being +strict enough to satisfy him, he entered at La Trappe, where he so +much injured his health by supererogatory austerities that the Abbé de +Rancé, the superior of the convent, was obliged to dismiss him. Bucquoy +then abruptly resumed his warlike attire; but soon after, with equal +abruptness, again cast it off, to dress himself in rags, and become a +hermit. Flying from the temptations of Paris, he next settled at Rouen, +where, under the name of La Mort, he for two years kept a school, to give +gratuitous instruction to the poor. The Jesuits of that city admired +his talents and his humble demeanour, and fruitlessly endeavoured to +enrol him in their fraternity. Having been accidentally recognised by a +person who had been a brother officer, he could no longer preserve his +incognito, and he therefore quitted Rouen, and bent his way to Paris. +There he formed the plan of founding a new monastic order, destined to +prove to unbelievers the truth of the Christian religion. It appears +to have been about this time that he assumed the garb and title of an +abbé. But while he was thus planning the demolition of incredulity, he +so bewildered himself in his theological speculations and reasonings, +that he became a sceptic. One thing which contributed much to produce the +change in him was, that, notwithstanding his self-inflicted severities, +he had failed to obtain the power of working miracles. This alone would +suffice to prove that his intellects were disordered. At this period, +his relatives, who had long believed him dead, were made acquainted with +his being in existence, and they procured for him a benefice. Bucquoy, +however, had got rid of his religious schemes, and had relapsed into +a taste for the profession of a soldier. His wish was now to raise a +regiment. But while he was indulging this new freak, he attracted the +attention of the government by his invectives against despotism and +the abuse of power. He was mistaken for the Abbé de la Bourlie, who +afterwards became notorious in England under the name of Guiscard, and +was arrested. When the mistake was discovered, he would have been set +free, had not his indiscreet language and conduct caused him to be +detained. He was committed to Fort-l’Evêque, from whence, however, he +contrived to escape. After having been at large for a considerable time, +he was caught and shut up in the Bastile, with a strict charge to the +keepers, that he should be closely watched, as being an enterprising +and dangerous person. The officers of that prison were seldom slack in +executing such orders, yet, in spite of all their vigilance, Bucquoy took +his measures so skilfully, and carried them into effect with so much +secrecy, that, in May 1709, after having been confined for two years, he +left his jailors in the lurch, and made good his retreat to Switzerland. +As soon as he was in safety, he began to negotiate with the French +ministers for his return to France, and the restoration of his property. +Failing in this, he journeyed to Holland, and submitted to the allies a +project for converting France into a republic, and annihilating arbitrary +power. This scheme, too, fell to the ground. It was, nevertheless, +beneficial to him, as it gained for him the friendship of General +Schulemburg, who, in 1714, introduced him, at Hanover, to George I. The +monarch was pleased with his conversation, admitted him to his table, and +gave him a pension. Bucquoy lived to nearly the age of ninety. In his +latter days, he wholly neglected his dress, suffered his beard to grow, +and might well have been mistaken for a squalid mendicant. + +There was perhaps a spice of madness in Bucquoy, which sufficiently +accounts for his eccentric conduct. For the faults, or rather crimes, of +the personage who now comes under our notice there was no such excuse. +Throughout the whole of his existence, which, like that of Bucquoy, was +protracted far beyond the period usually allotted to man, the Marshal +Duke of Richelieu displayed as few virtues, and as many vices, as any +courtier on record. He had superficial talents, some wit, polished +manners, a handsome person, and much bravery; and this is all that +can be said for him. On the other hand, he was wholly without honour, +morals, and religion; a supporter and adulator of despotism, a political +intriguer, who could stoop to use the basest means for the accomplishment +of his purposes, a reckless duellist, and a systematic and heartless +seducer; he was, in fact, an impersonation of the profligacy and +corruption which distinguished the courts of the regent Duke of Orleans +and the fifteenth Louis. + +Richelieu, who, in his early years, was known as the Duke of Fronsac, was +born in 1696. He was a seven months’ child, whom after his birth it was +necessary to keep in a box filled with cotton, and the preservation of +whose existence was long doubtful. When his health was established, he +was put under able preceptors; but he derived little benefit from their +instructions, and he never could spell with tolerable correctness. He +acquired, however, those showy graces which, undoubtedly, are an ornament +to virtue, but which, when the possessor has no virtue, can captivate +only persons of frivolous minds. He was introduced to the court at the +early age of fourteen, and soon, as St. Simon tells us, became its +darling. The female portion of it was in raptures with him, and seems to +have expressed its feelings without any regard to decorum. Fronsac, whose +passions were uncommonly precocious, met the forward with equal ardour, +and spared no pains to ensnare the few who were more timid or more +modest. He went to such a length that censure began to fall heavily on +the Duchess of Burgundy, and his own father deemed it prudent to request +a lettre-de-cachet against him, under which he was for fourteen months +confined in the Bastile. During his seclusion, Fronsac was attended by a +preceptor; and he consequently came out of prison with some knowledge of +Latin, and some addition to his scanty stock of useful information; but, +as far as concerned dignity of mind and purity of heart, no improvement +whatever had taken place. + +The licentious career of Richelieu was suspended for a while, by his +serving as a volunteer in the army. He was present at the battle of +Denain, and at the sieges of the fortresses which were recovered by +Villars in consequence of his victory; and he distinguished himself so +much, that he was made aide-de-camp to the marshal, and was chosen by +him to convey to Paris the news of the surrender of Friburg. In 1715, +he succeeded to the title of Richelieu. On this occasion he performed +an action which merits praise; the property which was available for the +debts of his father was far from sufficient to cover them, he generously +paid to the creditors the full amount of their claims. + +Again all the faculties of Richelieu were devoted to licentious +pleasures, which were now and then interrupted by a duel. In 1716 he +had a desperate encounter with the Count de Gacé, for which the regent +committed both parties to the Bastile, where they remained from March +till August. This imprisonment was, however, less severe than that which +he had to endure two years afterwards. In the spring of 1719, he was +sent, for the third time, to the Bastile, but, in this instance, he went +with the brand of traitor upon him, and was treated accordingly. He was +concerned in the Cellamare conspiracy, and had promised to deliver up +Bayonne to the Spaniards, and to join in exciting the south of France +to revolt. “If the Duke of Richelieu had four heads,” said the regent, +“I have proof enough against him to deprive him of them all.” On his +first arrival at the Bastile, the duke was placed in a dungeon; but +female influence soon obtained his removal to more comfortable quarters, +and permission for him to walk daily on the ramparts of the fortress. +His walks gave rise to an occurrence, which speaks volumes as to the +unblushing depravity of the high-born dames of France. During the hour +that he was walking, a string of elegant carriages, filled with women who +notoriously were or had been his mistresses, passed slowly backward and +forward in front of the spot where he was, and an intercourse of signs +was kept up between the prisoner and these unscrupulous ladies. It was by +the intercession of two princesses, who were enamoured of him, that his +release was obtained, after he had suffered a captivity of five months. + +The danger to which Richelieu had been exposed on this occasion, though +it did not render him less vicious, rendered him, at least in one +respect, more prudent; he did not again put his head in the way of being +brought to the block. Thenceforward he limited his political intrigues, +in France, to acquiring benefits for himself, circumventing his rivals, +providing mistresses for the king, and making those mistresses the +instruments of his designs; and by these arts he became a thriving +courtier. Honours of all kinds, military and civil, were showered +upon him. At the age of twenty-four, without any literary pretensions +whatever, he was unanimously chosen a member of the French Academy; +and, in 1734, he was nominated an honorary member of the Academy of +Inscriptions and Belles Lettres. In the army he rose to the rank +of marshal; but his titles as a soldier were not unearned. At Kehl, +Philipsburg, Dettingen, Friburg, Fontenoy, Laufeldt, Genoa, and Minorca, +they were fairly won. In his last campaign, however, that of Hanover, in +1757, he sullied his laurels by the most infamous conduct. His rapacity +and extortion were a scorpion scourge to the country which France +had subdued; and, as though he feared that his own endless exactions +would not suffice to make him hated, he allowed, if not encouraged, +his troops to be guilty of marauding, and of various other enormities. +The subsequent defeats of the French army were the righteous result of +these dishonourable proceedings. As a negotiator, Richelieu manifested +considerable skill. He was twice employed in that capacity; at Vienna, +from 1725 to 1729, and at Dresden, in 1746. In both instances he fully +accomplished the purpose of his mission, and in both he displayed a +degree of ostentatious magnificence which had seldom been equalled. +When he entered Vienna, his train consisted of seventy-five carriages; +and his horses, and those of his officers, were shod with silver, the +shoes being slightly fastened, that they might fall off and be left for +the populace. In the state employments which he held, there appears to +have been but a solitary instance in which he was entitled to praise. +As lieutenant-general of the king in Languedoc, he once deviated into +the right path; by a judicious mixture of firmness and mildness, he +averted the disturbances which were about to arise from the persecution +of the protestants. But it was not in his nature to be permanently good. +At a later period, his harshness, in the same country, was rewarded by +his being appointed governor of Guienne and Gascony; and his pride and +tyranny very soon rendered him an object of detestation in both of these +provinces. At court, his influence and his example had a baneful effect. +He for more than a quarter of a century possessed the friendship of Louis +XV., and he foully abused it; he pandered to the monarch’s lusts, and +strained every nerve, with too much success, to prevent the misguided +sovereign from carrying into effect his occasional resolves, to lead in +future a life more suitable to his years, and to the lofty station which +he filled. He was the Mephistopheles of his royal master. + +Richelieu was so fortunate as not to be exposed to the revolutionary +tempest; his disgraceful career was brought to a close in August, 1788, +when he had attained the age of ninety-two. + +Of prisoners less known, or less important, during the period to which +this chapter refers, it will suffice to give a scanty specimen. Religious +intolerance contributed largely to people the jails. To enumerate all +who expiated in dungeons the crime of being protestants, would be an +endless task; in 1686 a hundred and forty-seven persons, and in 1689 +sixty-one, were sent to the Bastile alone, almost all of whom were +hugonots. To unite in marriage the members of that proscribed class was +a heinous offence; a priest, named John de Pardieu, was doomed to the +Bastile for committing it. Whole families were immured for endeavouring +to leave the kingdom. Some of the victims were driven to despair by the +manner in which they were treated. Such was the case with the Sieur +Braconneau, who, as the register specifies, was “imprisoned on account of +religion, and died of a wound which he gave to himself with a knife.” The +protestants were, however, not the sole sufferers; the Jansenists, too, +came in for an ample share of persecution. + +Real or pretended plots and evil speaking against the king were another +fruitful source of commitments. The following are a few instances: Don +Thomas Crisafi “suspected of intrigues with the Spanish ambassador +against the interests of the king.” Joseph Jurin, a footman, for having +said, “Who can prevent me from killing the king?” The Sieur Beranger de +Berliere, “for a plot against the king’s person.” The Count de Morlot, +accused of “detestable purposes against the king’s life.” Desvallons, +“for speaking insolently of the king.” Laurence Lemierre, shoemaker, +and his wife, for dangerous discourse about the king; and Francis +Brindjoug for the same offence. The Sieur Cardel, “for important reasons, +regarding the safety of the king’s person.” Jonas de Lamas, a baker, +“for execrations against the king.” This man was twenty years in the +Bastile, and was then removed to the Bicêtre. The Sieur de la Perche, +a fencing-master, accused of having said that “the king oppressed his +subjects, and thought only of amusing himself with his old woman; that he +would soon be a king of beggars; that his officers were starving; that he +had ruined the kingdom by driving away the hugonots; and that he cared +not a pin for his people.” The last article of the Sieur de la Perche’s +charge against the sovereign was made in language which is too vulgar to +be translated. + +Under the head of miscellaneous offences may be mentioned the following: +Pierre His, “for having assisted several persons to go clandestinely +to America.” Those persons were probably hugonots. The Sieur Marini, +envoy from Genoa. This commitment, for which no reason is assigned, +took place in 1684, the year in which Louis XIV. made his disgraceful +attack on Genoa. Besnoit, called Arnonville, “an evil-minded woman, who +held improper discourse.” Charles Combon, called Count de Longueval, “a +maker of horoscopes, a fortune-teller, and vender of drugs to procure +abortion.” The Abbé Dubois, “a wicked and troublesome person.” Papillard, +“a bad catholic.” Saint Vigor, “affecting to be a hermit, but a man +of licentious manners.” John Blondeau, a hermit, “a suspected person.” +Peter John Mere, professing himself a physician, “for selling improper +drugs.” After having been thirty years in the Bastile, Mere was sent to +the Bedlam at Charenton. Bailly, a hatter, “for a design to establish a +hat manufactory in a foreign country.” Louisa Simon, a widow, “pretends +to tell fortunes, to have secrets for inspiring love, and to be able to +make marriages.” John Galembert, of the gens-d’armes, “a great traveller, +suspected of corresponding with the enemies of the state.” He was +subsequently exiled to Languedoc, his native province, within the limits +of which he was ordered to remain. The Prince de Riccia, “one of the +party at Naples that is against the French succession.” Nicholas Buissen, +“for insolent letters against Samuel Bernard (the court banker), with an +intention to hurt his credit.” The Sieur de Soulange, formerly a captain +of infantry in the Orleannois regiment, “a rogue, and spy on both sides.” + +It will be seen that, in some of those instances, the individuals +deserved legal punishment; that, in others, the charges were trivial, or +vague, or ridiculous; and that in at least one case the French monarch +displayed gross contempt of the law of nations. His imprisonment of +Marini, the Genoese envoy, can only be paralleled by the manner in which +the Turks used to treat Christian ambassadors on the breaking out of +hostilities. But it was of a piece with the rest of his conduct towards +the Genoese republic. It was retributive justice that he, the wanton +disturber and insulter of Europe, should himself live to have his pride +trodden into the dust, and to dread the approach of a hostile army to the +walls of his own capital. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Reign of Louis XV.—Regency of the Duke of Orleans—Oppressive + measures against all persons connected with the Finances—Their + failure—Prisoners in the Bastile—Freret—Voltaire—The + Cellamare conspiracy—The Duchess of Maine—Madame de + Staal—Malezieu—Bargeton—Mahudel—The Mississippi scheme—Count + de Horn—Death of the Regent—Administration of the Duke of + Bourbon—La Blanc—Paris Duverney—The Count de Belleisle—The + Chevalier de Belleisle—Madame de Tencin. + + +When the Duke of Orleans assumed the regency, the finances of the kingdom +were in a lamentable state. The protracted and expensive wars into which +Louis XIV. had wantonly plunged, the boundless extravagance in which he +had indulged, and the peculations, and wasteful expenditure of every +kind, which had so long prevailed, had not only drained the treasury, but +had also caused a heavy load of debt, and almost dried up the sources of +supply. The government was indebted to an enormous amount, the revenue +of three years had been anticipated, and public credit was destroyed. +From all quarters a loud cry was raised for fiscal reform. A national +bankruptcy was proposed in the council, but the proposal was unanimously +rejected. The means which were adopted in its stead were, however, +scarcely less unjust; they were the same clumsy and violent means which +former rulers had almost uniformly employed. Contracts, entered into by +the ministers of the late king, were capriciously annulled, annuities and +pensions were cut down to one half, offices, which the holders had bought +at a great price, were abolished without any compensation being given, +a new coinage was issued at a higher nominal value, and government +securities, to the amount of six hundred millions, were at one stroke +reduced to two hundred and fifty millions, and even of this diminished +sum the creditors were defrauded of more than a fifth part. But the grand +panacea, for restoring the consumptive exchequer to its pristine vigour, +was the establishment of a court, antithetically denominated a chamber of +justice. This chamber was directed to institute a rigorous inquiry into +the conduct of all persons who had any connection with the finances, or +with contracts of any kind, and compel them to disgorge their spoil. A +sweeping edict brought under the jurisdiction of this inquisitorial body +several thousands of individuals, from the richest farmer-general, or +contractor, down to the poorest clerk. “The custom,” says Lemontey, “of +drawing back by proscriptions the rapines which a vicious administration +has tolerated, is an Asiatic art which ill beseems regular governments. +But, condemned to a financial anarchy by its squandering habits, +France, for a long while, could find no other than this odious remedy.” +The remedy was indeed an odious one! The retrospective operation of +this edict extended as far back as seven-and-twenty years; so that it +clutched in its iron grasp not only living presumed criminals, but +the children, grandchildren, and relations of those who had ceased to +exist, and thus at once inflicted torment on a multitude of guiltless +victims, and shook property to its very basis. The means employed to +give effect to the edict were of the most base and barbarous kind. +Death was the penalty denounced against all who were convicted, whoever +made an incorrect declaration of his fortune was doomed to the galleys, +and, that there might be no lack of evidence, the pillory was held up +_in terrorem_ to negligent witnesses. But, bad as all this was, there +was something still worse. Informers were to be rewarded with a fifth +part of the confiscations, and to receive a certificate, stating that +they were under the king’s protection, and exempt from being sued by +their creditors; to slander them was rendered punishable with death. +By another enactment, servants were allowed to denounce their masters, +under fictitious names; a happy invention for destroying all domestic +confidence! To excite the people, already sufficiently excited, a medal +was struck, on which the culprits were typified by the robber Cacus, +horrible songs and prints were circulated, and it was ordered that a +portion of the confiscated property should be distributed among the +inhabitants of the place where the condemned individual resided. The +whole scheme of proceeding was consistently infamous; it never deviated +into anything like justice. + +To prevent the escape of those who were marked out for prosecution, an +order was suddenly issued, forbidding them to leave their abodes on pain +of death. Such, however, was the terror inspired by this unexpected +measure that many took flight, and others put an end to their own +existence. Of those who remained, multitudes were dragged from their +homes in the most studiously disgraceful manner, amidst the hootings +of the populace, who lent their willing aid to the officers of police. +The Bastile and the other prisons were speedily so crowded, that +numbers were obliged to be left in their houses under a guard. For six +months the chamber proceeded in its career, purveying liberally for the +pillory, the galleys, and the scaffold. It was at last discovered, that +this was a tedious and unsatisfactory process; that though revenge and +malice were gratified, there was little profit; and the system was in +consequence changed. To levy enormous fines and impositions was the new +course which was adopted. Twenty lists of pecuniary proscription were +made out, containing the names of 4470 heads of families, from whom the +sum of two hundred and twenty millions of livres—about nine millions +sterling—was demanded. The celebrated Bourvalais, who had risen from +being a footman to be one of the richest financiers in France, was taxed +at 4,400,000 livres. In many instances envy or personal enmity contrived +to have insufferable burthens laid upon obnoxious individuals. Then, on +the part of the sufferers, ensued solicitations and bribes to men and +women in power, to procure more favourable terms; the golden harvest +was eagerly reaped by the courtiers, and the court became a theatre +of underhand manœuvres and gross corruption. The people, meanwhile, +were rapidly growing disgusted with the chamber of justice. They found +that they had derived no benefit whatever from its labours, the sums +extorted by it having chiefly been wasted in gifts and pensions to the +privileged classes. There was another and yet stronger reason for their +dissatisfaction. Trade, and the demand for labour, had fallen off to an +alarming degree, and money was rapidly disappearing; for no one would +display riches, and indulge in luxuries, when his so doing might render +him an object of persecution. So loud a cry was therefore raised against +the chamber that, after having been twelve months in existence, it was +suppressed. By the subsequent reversal of most of its sentences, and by a +declaration, that no measure of a similar kind should again be resorted +to, a severe but just censure was in fact passed upon the defunct +tribunal, and upon the whole transaction. + +From tyranny in the gross we must now turn our attention again to tyranny +in the detail. Oriental despotism, in its most capricious mood, could +not have inflicted punishment more ridiculously and unjustly than the +French government inflicted it upon the celebrated Freret. This eminent +individual, who was born at Paris in 1688, was remarkable for his +precocious talents and multifarious learning. Chronology, geography, +mythology, history, and the laws, customs, and literature of ancient and +modern nations, were all thoroughly known to him, he was not ignorant +of the abstruse sciences, and his knowledge, instead of being a chaotic +mass, was well arranged, systematically linked together, and readily +available. An authoritative tone, and some ruggedness of manner, were the +only defects imputed to him; but they were merely superficial, and did +not prevent him from being kind, charitable, and a sincere and constant +friend. He died at the age of sixty-one, his constitution, which was +naturally strong, being worn out by incessant study. The edition of his +works, in twenty volumes, is incomplete. Several irreligious productions +have been calumniously attributed to him. + +It was a “Memoir on the Origin of the French” which was the cause of his +being sent to the Bastile in 1705, and the Abbé de Vertot is asserted to +have been the person to whom he owed his imprisonment. His offence was, +that the origin which he assigned to his countrymen was an affront to the +national dignity. It is said that, after having been closely interrogated +at the Bastile, he begged leave to ask a single question, “Why am I +here?” To this the reply was, “You have a great deal of curiosity.” When +he was at length released, one of the magistrates sneeringly said to him, +“Let France, and the French, and modern subjects, alone; antiquity offers +such a wide field for your labours.” It is probable that no Turkish +cadi, in the fifteenth century, ever uttered a speech of such insolent +stupidity as is ascribed, three centuries later, to this magistrate of a +polished nation. + +Various as were the acquirements of Freret, there was in the Bastile, and +nearly contemporaneously with him, a prisoner, who far transcended him on +that score, and who possessed a splendid genius. Poet, in almost every +style of poetry, dramatist, historian, novellist, essayist, philosopher, +controversialist, and commentator, the universal Voltaire was pre-eminent +in several departments of literature, and was below mediocrity in none. +“He was,” says a French author, “one of our greatest poets; the most +brilliant, the most elegant, the most fertile, of our prose writers. +There is not, in the literature of any country, either in verse or in +prose, an author who has written on so many opposite kinds of subjects, +and has so constantly displayed a superiority in all of them.” It has +been said that Voltaire is a superficial writer, but this assertion is +not borne out by the fact. On the contrary, it is wonderful that so gay +and witty and fertile a writer, who was so much in the whirl of society +as he was, should have displayed such profound research, such a vast +command of materials, as Voltaire has undoubtedly done. + +As a man, Voltaire could be a warm friend, and was a champion of +humanity, and a strenuous opponent of intolerance, superstition, and +oppression. From our admiration of him a considerable drawback must, +however, be made, for the readiness with which he lavished incense upon +such worthless nobles as the Duke of Richelieu; for the aristocratical +feelings which occasionally peep out even from among his liberal +opinions; for his duplicity in showering praises and professions of +kindness upon men whom he was at the same moment devoting to ridicule; +for his meanness in stooping to falsehood, whenever he feared that +avowing the truth would expose him to inconvenience; for his inflammable +passions, which so often blinded his reason; for the sleepless animosity +with which he strove to hunt down, disgrace, and crush whoever had +offended him; for his obscenity and nauseating indelicacy; and for the +fury with which he attacked objects which, in all ages, wise and good men +have held sacred. + +Voltaire, whose family name was Arouet, was born, in 1694, at Chatenay, +and received a thorough education at the Jesuits’ College, in the French +capital. One of his tutors predicted that he would be the Coryphæus of +deism in France; and the society which the youthful poet frequented, +elegant, but immeasurably licentious and irreligious, was not likely +to falsify the prediction. His father destined him for a place in the +magistracy, but the literary propensity of the son was unconquerable. In +his twenty-second year he was sent to the Bastile, by the regent Duke of +Orleans, on an unfounded suspicion of his being the author of a libel. +It was while he was in prison that he formed the plan of the Henriade, +and completed the tragedy of Œdipus. He was in the Bastile above a year +before the regent recognised his innocence, and set him free. The regent +desired to see him, and the Marquis de Nocé was ordered to introduce him. +While they were waiting in the ante-chamber, a circumstance occurred +which strongly marks the profaneness and indiscretion of Voltaire. A +violent storm burst over Paris, upon which the poet looked up at the +clouds, and exclaimed, “If it were a regent that governed above, things +could not be managed worse.” When de Nocé presented him to the duke, he +said, “Here, your highness, is young Arouet, whom you have just taken out +of the Bastile, and whom you will send back again,” and he then repeated +what had been said. The duke, however, did not send him back again; he +laughed heartily, and made the offender a liberal present. “I thank your +royal highness for taking care of my board,” said Voltaire, “but I must +request that you will not again provide me with lodging.” + +Œdipus was represented in 1718, with complete success. Two other +tragedies, Artemise and Mariane, by which it was succeeded, were less +fortunate. The Duke of Orleans was dead, and the reins of government +were now held by the Duke of Bourbon. Voltaire having ventured to +resent a dastardly insult offered to him by the worthless Chevalier de +Rohan-Chabot, the chevalier thought it safer to imprison his adversary +than to meet him in the field. His friends applied to the Duke of +Bourbon, and raised his anger by showing him an epigram which the poet +had composed on him. Their plan was successful; Voltaire was committed +to the Bastile, and remained there for six months. This act of injustice +induced him to take up his residence in England. In this country he +lived for three years, was flatteringly received by many illustrious +characters, and obtained a splendid subscription for the Henriade. The +produce of this subscription formed the basis of that large fortune +which he subsequently obtained by various lucky speculations. In 1728 he +returned to his native land, and, between that year and 1749, he produced +his tragedies of Zara, Alzira, Mahomet, and Merope, and many other works, +was admitted into the French Academy, and was appointed gentleman in +ordinary of the king’s bed-chamber, and historiographer of France. + +In 1750 Voltaire accepted an invitation to Berlin, which was given to him +by the king of Prussia. For a while the sovereign and the poet were on +the most amicable terms; but, in 1753, their friendship was broken, and +Voltaire quitted the Prussian dominions in disgust. Paris, in consequence +of the intrigues of his enemies, being no longer an eligible abode for +him, he lived for short periods at Geneva and other places, and at length +purchased an estate at Ferney, in the Pays de Gex, on which he finally +settled. There, in possession of an ample fortune, and surrounded by +friends, he gave free scope to his indefatigable pen. In April, 1778, he +went once more to Paris, after an absence of nearly thirty years. He was +received with almost a frenzy of enthusiasm, his bust was crowned on +the stage, and was placed by the academicians next to that of Corneille. +These honours, however, he did not long enjoy, for he expired on the 30th +of May; his death is supposed to have been hastened by an over-dose of +laudanum, which he took to calm the pain occasioned by strangury, and +to procure sleep, of which he had long been deprived. In the edition of +Beaumarchais, the collected works of Voltaire form seventy volumes. + +By the detection of the Cellamare conspiracy, in 1718, a large accession +of prisoners fell to the share of the Bastile. Wounded female pride had +the chief share in getting up that conspiracy. The Duchess of Maine was +the prime mover. This princess, whose small frame was animated by a high +and restless spirit, had seen her family degraded in a manner which it +was not unnatural that she should violently resent. By an edict, dated +in 1710, Louis XIV. not only granted to the Duke of Maine, and his other +legitimated children, the same rank and honours which were enjoyed by +princes of the blood, but also declared them capable of inheriting +the crown, on failure of descendants in the legitimate branches. This +step was highly offensive to the French peers, and was opposed by the +parliament; but, while the king lived, resistance was unavailing. But +the scene was about to change. Though Louis had reinforced his decree by +a declaration in 1714, and by a clause in his testament, his death soon +afforded another proof of the little respect that is paid to a deceased +despot. The will, as every one knows, was set aside, without a voice +being heard in support of it. In 1717, at the instance of the Duke of +Bourbon, and the peers, the council of regency deprived the legitimated +princes of all the privileges of princes of the blood, with the exception +of a seat in the parliament. It was in vain that the Duchess of Maine +and her partisans moved heaven and earth to avert this blow; all +their writings, speeches, and manœuvres, were entirely thrown away. It +must, however, be owned, that the duchess displayed wonderful talent +and industry on this occasion; while the struggle continued, she was +constantly to be seen half buried in a pile of dusty volumes, records, +and other documents, in which she sought arguments and examples to +support her cause. When the dreaded blow was finally struck, her passion +rose to the highest pitch. “There is nothing left to me now,” exclaimed +she to her more patient husband, “but the shame of having married you!” +In the following year fresh fuel was heaped upon the flame. The Duke of +Maine was reduced to take rank below all the peers, except those who were +created posterior to 1694, and was likewise divested of the tutorship +of the young king, which was assumed by the Duke of Bourbon. This gave +rise to another outbreak of passion on the part of the duchess, who, +on receiving notice to give up to the triumphant Bourbon the official +apartments in the Tuileries, broke the glasses, the china, and everything +which she had strength enough to destroy. Thus stung to the quick, she +resorted to conspiracy for vengeance, and she speedily rallied round her +a band of subaltern intriguers and discontented politicians. To expel +the Duke of Orleans from the regency, and place the government under +the tutelage of Philip V. of Spain, was the design of the plotters. The +Spanish monarch, who detested the Duke of Orleans, and who, in spite of +his renunciation, had still views on the French crown, was by no means +averse from forwarding the scheme of the duchess. The correspondence was +carried on through the Prince de Cellamare, the Spanish ambassador at +Paris. The Duke of Orleans was, however, not in the dark with respect +to these proceedings; they were betrayed to him by some of the parties +concerned; and, as soon as the proof was complete, the whole of the +offenders were arrested. The Duchess of Maine was sent to the castle +of Dijon, and allowed only one female servant to attend her, the duke +was closely confined in the citadel of Dourlens; the Abbé Brigault, the +Marquis of Pompadour, the Count of Laval, the Chevalier Menil, Malezieu, +Mademoiselle de Launay, and many more, found lodgings in the Bastile; +and Vincennes and other prisons received their share of captives. Of de +Launay and Malezieu some account shall be given; the rest deserve no +record. + +The Baroness de Staal, whose maiden name was de Launay, was born at +Paris, in 1693. Her father was a painter, who was compelled to retire +to England before her birth; her mother, who seems not to have been +overburdened with maternal feelings, found with her infant a retreat in +a convent at Rouen. Even in infancy, De Launay manifested the dawning +of a very superior intellect, and her manners were so fascinating that +she became the darling of the convent. She had an extreme longing for +knowledge, her questions were incessant, and, as all the nuns were +eager to gratify and improve her, she soon acquired a larger and more +valuable stock of ideas than falls to the lot of children in general. +Among her friends in the convent was Madame de Grieu, who, on being +nominated prioress of St. Louis at Rouen, took the child with her to +her new abode. “The convent of St. Louis,” says Madame de Staal, “was +like a little state in which I reigned sovereignly.” The abbess and her +sister enjoyed a small pension from their family, which they devoted to +the payment of masters for their favourite. By the time that she was +fourteen, De Launay had studied the philosophy of Descartes, and pondered +over the speculations of Malebranche, and, not long after, she turned her +attention to the science of geometry. + +Her intellectual powers and her winning qualities brought many admirers +around her; among whom were the Abbé de Vertot, M. Brunel, and M. Rey. +None of them, however, made any impression on her heart. With respect to +the passion of M. Rey, she makes one of those quiet yet piquant remarks, +which are so common in her Memoirs. He was accustomed to escort her back +to the convent, when she had been visiting some neighbouring friends. “We +had to pass through a large open space,” says she, “and at the beginning +of our acquaintance, he used to take his way along the sides. I found +now, that he crossed over the middle of it; from which I concluded, that +his love was at least diminished in the proportion of the difference +between the diagonal and the two sides of a square.” It was not long ere +she ceased to be able to speak of love in a sportive tone. She became +deeply enamoured of the Marquis de Silly, the brother of a friend. He +respected her, and acted the part of a counsellor, and almost a brother, +but he could not return her affection: and the unfortunate fair one has +touchingly described the sufferings she endured from her idolatrous and +hopeless passion. Years elapsed before it was eradicated. + +This woe was aggravated by another. The death of the prioress, Madame de +Grieu, in 1710, obliged her to quit the convent, and threw her without +resources on the world. She accompanied to Paris the sister of her late +patroness, and found a temporary refuge in the Presentation convent. To +the purses of her friends she resolutely determined to make no appeal, +while her means of repayment were uncertain, but rather to welcome +servitude than forfeit her self-estimation. Her finances and hopes were +almost at the lowest ebb, when the report of her astonishing abilities +reached the gay, frivolous, and volatile duchess of La Ferté. The duchess +was delighted with the idea of getting possession of, and exhibiting, +what in fashionable cant phrase is called “a lion.” She could not rest +till the new wonder was brought to her; an event which was somewhat +retarded by the necessity under which Mademoiselle de Launay was placed, +of borrowing decent clothes to appear in. The duchess was one of those +persons who are apt to take sudden and violent likings, and she instantly +pronounced her to be an absolute prodigy. She lauded her without measure +in all quarters, hurried her about from place to place, and showed her +off, much in the same way that a remarkably clever monkey is managed +by an itinerant exhibitor of wild beasts. Madame de Staal has given an +account, which is at once ludicrous and painful, of what she endured +at this period. Fortunately for her, she became acquainted with men of +talent, and acquired some valuable friends, among whom were Fontenelle +and Malazieu. + +Disappointed in her hopes of being received into the household of the +Duchess of La Ferté, or of obtaining an establishment elsewhere through +her means, De Launay accepted an offer from the Duchess of Maine, to whom +she had been introduced. This defection, as it was deemed, threw her late +patroness into a paroxysm of rage. Her new situation was an unenviable +one. She filled the place of a lady’s maid, who had retired; her +apartment was a wretched low closet, in which it was impossible to move +about in an upright posture, and which had neither chimney nor window; +and her chief occupation was to make up shifts, in which she confesses +herself to have been so inexpert, that, when the duchess came to put on +some of her handywork, she found in the arm what ought to have been in +the elbow. By the duchess, and all the upper classes in the house, she +was utterly neglected, as a mere drudge; by those of her own class, she +was envied, hated, and persecuted, for her natural superiority over +them. Life at last became a burthen, and there was a moment when she +seriously meditated the commission of suicide. + +A happy chance lifted her at once from this slough of despond into her +proper sphere. There was an exceedingly beautiful female, named Testard, +who laid claim to supernatural powers; by desire of the Duke of Orleans, +Fontenelle had visited her, and, prejudiced by her charms, is said to +have manifested too much faith in her. This folly of a philosopher, +who was not remarkable for believing too much, excited a loud clamour. +“You had better write to M. de Fontenelle, to let him hear what every +body is talking against him about Testard,” said the duchess one day +to her despised attendant. De Launay did write; and her letter, though +brief, was such a finished composition, such an admirable mixture of +delicate reproof and delicate praise, that, in the course of a few days, +innumerable copies of it were spread throughout Paris. She, meanwhile, +was unconscious of the effect which she had produced, till she was +apprised of it by the duchess’s visitors, who overwhelmed her with +compliments and attentions. + +From this time Mademoiselle de Launay was looked upon by the duchess as +a person whose opinion was of some consequence, and was admitted into +her parties, and enjoyed her confidence. She now shared with Malezieu +the task of supplying plans and verses for the spectacles at Sceaux. Her +literary connections became more widely extended, and she had no lack +of lovers. Among those who paid the most devoted homage to her, was the +Abbé de Chaulieu; the passion, as she herself hints, could have been only +platonic, for he was then verging on eighty, but she owns that she had “a +despotic authority over everything in his house.” It must, however, be +mentioned, to her honour, that she displayed a rare disinterestedness, +and steadily refused presents from him, which would have tempted a +woman of a common mind, especially under De Launay’s circumstances. The +princely gift of a thousand pistoles, which the Abbé offered, would have +saved her from the slavery, endured night after night, of reading a +duchess to sleep, while her own health was endangered by want of rest. + +In the memorial which the Duchess of Maine drew up in behalf of the +legitimated princes, she was assisted by De Launay. “I turned over,” +says the latter, “the old chronicles, and the ancient and modern +jurisconsults, till excessive fatigue disposed the princess to rest. +Then came my reading, to lull her to sleep; and then I went to seek for +slumber, which, however, I never found!” + +In the proceedings of the duchess, with respect to the Cellamare +conspiracy, she was deeply implicated; a part at least of the +correspondence passed through her hands. Her good sense anticipated, +long before the event, what would be the final result. The storm burst +at last. She was arrested on the 19th of December, 1718, and, three days +after, was committed to the Bastile. With a truly philosophical spirit, +she soon became reconciled to her fate. Luckily, she had an invaluable +companion in her maid Rondel, faithful, affectionate, and acute, the +very model of domestics. But it must not be concealed, that she had +another consolation, to lighten her prison hours. She inspired two +persons with an ardent attachment. One of these was a fellow prisoner, +on the Cellamare score, the Chevalier de Menil; the other was the king’s +lieutenant in the fortress, M. de Maisonrouge. Reason would have chosen +the latter as the proper object of fondness; but her wayward heart +decided in favour of the former. No writer has ever imagined a more +elevated, devoted, self-sacrificing passion than that of Maisonrouge. +He lived and breathed but for her; ever watchful to forerun all her +wishes, having no delight but to behold and converse with her, he had +even the magnanimity to convey her letters to Menil, and to bring about +interviews, when he found that her heart was irrevocably bestowed on him. +The catastrophe is painful. The favoured Menil, who had solemnly pledged +himself to make her his wife, was no sooner set free than he proved +faithless to his vows. The noble-minded and unfortunate Maisonrouge never +recovered the shock which he sustained from his loss; he died the victim +of his unrequited love. + +The confinement of Mademoiselle de Launay was continued for two years; +she was the last to be liberated. Her imprisonment was protracted by +her repeated resolute refusals to confess anything that could tend to +derogate from the safety and character of the Duchess of Maine. She +persisted in this course even after she had the duchess’s permission +to speak out, and she was released at last after having made only an +imperfect confession. This heroic conduct gained, as it deserved, +universal praise. It is mortifying to relate that, after her sufferings, +she was received by the duchess without that warm greeting which she had +a right to expect. The duchess even carried her indifference so far as +to let her remain almost in rags, all her clothes having been worn out +in the Bastile. Yet she would not hear of her quitting Sceaux, and when +Dacier, who was rich, would have married De Launay, she frustrated the +negotiation, in the dread of losing her. At length, when her ill-used and +exhausted dependent was meditating to retire into a convent, the duchess +bestirred herself, and brought about an union with the Baron de Staal, a +half-pay Swiss officer. The baroness was now admitted to all the honours +enjoyed by the highest ladies in the household, and from this period +till her decease in 1750, she was comparatively happy. + +Nicholas de Malezieu, a native of Paris, was born in 1650. Like Madame +de Staal, he possessed much talent, and, like her, he displayed it in +childhood. By the time that he was four years old he had, with scarcely +any assistance, taught himself to read and write, and at twelve years of +age had gone through a complete course of philosophy. His merit gained +for him the friendship of Bossuet, and the Duke of Montausier, and so +highly did those eminent men rate it, that they recommended him as tutor +to the Duke of Maine. Fenelon was subsequently added to the list of his +friends, and, notwithstanding the breach between that amiable prelate and +Bossuet, he retained the good-will of both. He seems, too, to have lived +in harmony with all the principal contemporary authors. The marriage of +the Duke of Maine with the high-spirited and intelligent grand-daughter +of the great Condé drew still closer the ties which bound Malezieu to +the family of the duke. His learning embraced a wide circle, he was a +proficient in mathematics, elegant literature, Greek, and Hebrew, and his +extemporary translations from the Greek dramatists and poets, and his +illustrations and comments on them, are said to have been delivered with +a degree of eloquence which excited universal admiration. The duchess +listened to his instructions with delight. It is therefore not wonderful, +that he acquired an almost unbounded influence in the ducal palace. +“The decisions of M. Malezieu,” says Madame de Staal, “were thought as +infallible as were those of Pythagoras among his disciples. The warmest +disputes were at an end the moment any one pronounced the words ‘_He_ +said it.’” There was another reason which had, perhaps no small effect +in rendering him a favourite with the duchess. He was not one of those +stately personages who think that it derogates from their dignity to +attend to graceful trifles. The duchess was fond of giving magnificent +spectacles and entertainments, and having plays acted, at Sceaux, where +she held a sort of miniature court. Malezieu had the management of them, +and when verses, and sometimes pieces, were wanted, his ready pen was +called in to supply them. From these light occupations he was taken away +for a time, to become mathematical preceptor to the youthful Duke of +Burgundy; in this task he was for four years engaged, and he performed +it in a manner which enhanced his reputation. The lessons which he +gave to his royal pupil were afterwards published, under the title of +“Elements of Geometry.” The days of Malezieu were spent in uninterrupted +tranquillity, till the period when the duchess rashly plunged into +intrigues with the Spanish court. It was not unnatural that he should +espouse warmly the cause of his noble patrons, and he was perhaps led to +the verge of treason before he was aware. His heaviest offence seems to +have been his writing, at the request of the Duchess of Maine, sketches +of two letters against the Duke of Orleans which were to be sent to the +Spanish monarch, for the purpose of being addressed by him to Louis +XV. and the parliaments. Malezieu long persisted in denying the fact, +and asserting the innocence of his employer, and for this persistency +he was kept in the Bastile after the whole of the plotters, with the +exception of himself and De Launay, had been discharged. It was not till +he knew that proof was in the hands of the government, and the duchess +had confessed, that he avowed the authorship of the letters. He was then +released, but was exiled for six months to Etampes. His decease took +place in 1727. + +There remains yet another person who suffered by the Cellamare +conspiracy, though he was not one of its agents. He had the fate of the +unlucky stork in the fable, who got into dangerous company. Bargeton, one +of the most celebrated advocates of the parliament of Paris, was born, +about 1675, at Uzès, in Languedoc. If he was not of humble birth, his +parents at least were poor; for, before he had emerged from obscurity, +all relationship with him was disclaimed by a Languedocian family +which claimed to be noble. When, however, his fortune and fame were +established, one of that family was anxious to prove his consanguinity +with the formerly despised advocate, and hoped to flatter him, by +descanting on the antiquity of their common origin. Bargeton cut short +the harangue of his would-be kinsman. “As you are a gentleman by birth,” +said he, “it is impossible that we can be relations.” + +Bargeton was the law adviser of some of the highest personages of the +kingdom. The duke and duchess of Maine placed entire confidence in him. +This circumstance gave rise to suspicion that he was connected with the +Cellamare plot, and he was consequently committed to the Bastile. In a +short time his innocence was recognized, and he was set at liberty. + +The legal reputation of Bargeton, both as a civilian and common lawyer, +induced Machault, the comptroller-general of finances, to apply to him, +in 1749, for assistance. The clergy had hitherto contributed to the +wants of the state only by voluntary gifts; and, of course, asserted +the privilege of not being compelled to contribute at all. Machault +determined to put an end to this pretended privilege, by subjecting +them, like the rest of the people, to the payment of the twentieth. Had +he succeeded, his success would have put an end to one of the abuses +which contributed to produce the Revolution, and, most probably, would +at length have caused the downfall of another equally crying abuse with +respect to the nobles. Though Bargeton was thoroughly convinced that the +clergy had no right to an exemption from imposts, yet, being aware that +the firmness of Louis XV. was not to be relied on, he advised Machault +either to prohibit the ecclesiastics from holding meetings, or to +decline a contest with them. “I have the king’s promise to stand by me,” +said Machault. “He will break it,” replied the advocate, who, in this +instance, proved to be a prophet. Bargeton, nevertheless, lent his aid to +the comptroller-general, and wrote a series of admirable letters, on the +subject of the clerical immunity. His labour was in vain. Unchangeable +in nothing but sensuality and despotism, the king yielded; the clergy +triumphed; and the letters of Bargeton were suppressed by an order of +council. The author did not live to witness this event; he died early in +1753, before his work had passed through the press. + +The suspicion of carrying on an improper correspondence with Spain, +though it does not appear that he was connected with the Duchess of +Maine’s party, gave another prisoner to the Bastile. Nicholas Mahudel, +who was born at Langres, in 1673, was by profession a physician; but +his celebrity was acquired by his profound knowledge of history and +numismatics. So extensive were his talents and information upon those +subjects, that he was chosen a member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and +he took a very active part in the proceedings of that learned body. His +servant having betrayed to the police some letters which his master had +written to Spain, at the period when all intercourse with that country +was looked upon with a jealous eye, the consequence was, that Mahudel was +lodged in the Bastile for several months. It was while he was in prison +that he wrote his “History of Medallions,” of which only four copies were +printed. His other productions are chiefly dissertations on medals, and +on historical questions. He died in 1747. + +It has seldom happened that a captive has been reluctant to quit his +prison. Such an uncommon anomaly did, however, actually occur with +respect to an individual who was implicated in the Cellamare plot. Five +years had elapsed since the discomfiture of that plot, and the government +believed that all who were connected with it had been released, when it +was by mere chance discovered that one of them, the Marquis de Bon Repos, +had been left in the Bastile by mistake. Bon Repos, an aged officer, who, +notwithstanding his title, was miserably poor, was anything but grateful +for his proffered release. He had become habituated to confinement, and +was rejoiced to be safe from want, and he manifested a strong dislike to +“a crust of bread and liberty.” It was not without much murmuring that he +consented to change his quarters in the Bastile for others in the Hôtel +des Invalides. + +It might have been supposed that the tremendous explosion of the +Mississippi scheme, which spread ruin over France, would have filled the +prisons with real or imagined offenders. But this was not the case. Law +himself, more unfortunate and imprudent perhaps than criminal, received +a passport from the regent, and reached Brussels in safety. The only +persons who appear to have at all suffered, were his brother, William +Law, and two of the directors, who were sent for a short time to the +Bastile. + +The next remarkable inmate of the Bastile, the Count de Horn, a Flemish +noble, was no less infamous by crime than he was illustrious by birth. He +was allied to several princely houses, and could even claim relationship +with the regent Duke of Orleans. So thoroughly had he disgraced himself, +by his fraudulent and debauched conduct, that at the very time when he +was meditating the atrocity which drew on him the vengeance of the +law, his family had despatched a gentleman to pay his debts, to request +his expulsion from Paris, and to bring him back, by force if necessary, +to his own country. Their agent arrived too late. Some of the count’s +freaks, disgraceful as they were, might have been charitably ascribed to +the licentious manners of the age, and the turbulent passions of a youth +of twenty-two, had he not been guilty of a crime which proved that his +heart was still more faulty than his head. + +The two indiscretions—if so mild a name may be given to them—for which +the Count de Horn was sent to the Bastile, were not too harshly punished +by his imprisonment; as they manifested a degree of brutality which was +ominous of worse deeds. In company with some of his libertine companions, +he was passing the cloisters of St. Germain, where a corpse was waiting +for interment. “What are you doing here? Get up!” he exclaimed to the +body, which was lying uncovered. He seconded his speech by striking the +corpse several blows with his sword, and overturning it among the sacred +vessels, which were placed in readiness for the funeral service. + +As no notice was taken of this outrage, he was emboldened to make +the church of St. Germain once more the scene of his exploits. It is +necessary to mention that, at the period in question, almost the whole +population of Paris was labouring under the epidemic madness of the +famous Mississippi scheme. An ordinance relative to bank notes had just +been issued by the government, and a hawker was crying it for sale in the +street. From this man the count purchased a copy of the ordinance, and +gave him a crown for it, on condition of his placing a large stone at +the great door of the church. On this stone De Horn mounted, and while +high mass was being celebrated within the building, he thundered out the +anthem which is sung when the dead are committed to the ground, and he +concluded by proclaiming the burial of bank notes. This second insult to +public decency was too much to be borne; the priest laid his complaint +before the government, and the offender was conveyed to the Bastile. + +In the course of a few days the youthful profligate was set at liberty. +But his brief imprisonment had worked no beneficial change upon him. It +seems, indeed, to have had a contrary effect. So slight a chastisement +perhaps induced him to calculate upon impunity for greater crimes. A +very short time elapsed before he dipped his hands in blood. In the +sanguinary deed which brought him to destruction, he had two accomplices, +Laurent de Mille, a half-pay captain, and Lestang, a youth of twenty, the +son of a Flemish banker. Every Frenchman, who could any how obtain the +means of speculating, was then busily engaged in the Rue Quincampoix, +which was the Parisian stock exchange. De Horn, too, was there; but his +speculation was of a more diabolical nature than that which engaged the +multitude. Having picked out a rich stock-jobber, who was known to carry +about with him a large sum in notes, he lured him by pretending to be in +possession of shares, which he was willing to sell considerably under the +market price. These bargains were usually concluded in a tavern; and, +accordingly, De Horn and his associates proceeded with their unsuspecting +victim to a house of that kind in the Rue de Venise. There he stabbed the +unfortunate stock-jobber, and robbed him of his pocket-book. He then, +with his accomplices, leaped out of the window, and endeavoured to make +his escape. Lestang got off, but the count and the half-pay captain were +less fortunate; they were overtaken, and lodged in prison. + +Justice, on this occasion, was not delayed. The trial of the delinquents +followed close upon the commission of the murder; no circumstance of +mitigation could be pleaded in their behalf, and they were both condemned +to be broken on the wheel. No sooner did the sentence become known than +the whole of the aristocratical class in France, Flanders, and Germany, +was in commotion. To subject a nobleman to such a degrading punishment +was declared to be an unprecedented and abominable measure. The regent +was beset on all sides by solicitations for a pardon, or, at least, +for a change in the mode of executing the criminal. When the first of +these boons was found to be hopeless, redoubled exertions were made to +obtain the second. Among the arguments employed to move the regent, that +of the culprit being related to him was strongly urged. But, though +Philip of Orleans was stained by many vices, there were moments when his +better nature prevailed, and he was capable of acting nobly. To the near +relations of the count, who pressed him incessantly on the subject, he +replied, “When I have impure blood in my veins, I have it drawn out.” +Then, quoting the sentiment of Corneille, “’tis crime that brands with +shame, and not the scaffold,” he added, “I must share in the disgrace of +which you complain, and this ought to console the rest of his kindred.” +It is said, however, that he was at length on the point of yielding so +far as to commute the form of punishment for one less obnoxious; but +that Mr. Law and the Abbé Dubois insisted on the absolute necessity of +allowing justice to take its course. Popular indignation would, they +justly remarked, be roused by any favour being shown to the perpetrator +of such a heinous offence. The regent acquiesced in their opinion; and, +that he might not be harassed by further appeals to his clemency, he +went privately to St. Cloud, where he remained till the murderers were +executed. + +Having lost all hope from the Regent, the Princes of Robecq and +Isengheim, who were nearly allied to De Horn, tried a new method of +evading the dreaded stigma. They gained admission to his prison, and +exhorted him to escape the wheel, by taking poison, which they offered. +But either religious scruples, or a lingering belief that he might yet be +pardoned, induced him to decline acceding to their wishes. Finding that +all their intreaties and remonstrances were unavailing, they quitted him +in a rage, exclaiming, “Go, wretch! you are fit only to die by the hand +of the executioner.” + +The firmness of the regent was worthy of applause. It was, nevertheless, +looked upon as an inexpiable insult by the aristocracy in general, and +especially by the kinsfolk of the malefactor. The regent having directed +that the confiscated property of the count should be restored to the +prince, his brother, the haughty noble rejected the proffered boon, and +gave vent to his high displeasure in the following insolent letter. +“I do not complain, Sir, of the death of my brother; he had committed +so horrible a crime, that there was no punishment he did not deserve. +But I complain, that, in his person, you have violated the rights of +the kingdom, of the nobility, and of nations. For the offer of his +confiscated property, which you have been pleased to make, I thank you; +but I should think myself as infamous as he was, if I were to accept of +the slightest favour from your Royal Highness. I hope that God and the +king will, some day, mete out to you the same rigid justice that you have +dispensed to my unfortunate brother.” + +By the death of the Duke of Orleans, in 1723, all the power of the state +fell into the worthless hands of the Duke of Bourbon. The vices of +Orleans had been at least palliated by great talents, some virtues, and a +heart which, though corrupted, was not dead to kind and noble feelings; +but Bourbon, harsh in disposition, rude in manners, repulsive in personal +appearance, and governed by an artful and profligate mistress, had no one +good quality to throw even a faint lustre over his numerous defects. The +sway of Bourbon lasted little more than two years, and, in that brief +space of time, he committed so many enormous political errors, springing +from ignorance, presumption, and intolerance, that the kingdom was thrown +into discontent and confusion. + +The minister of the war department, Claude le Blanc, was one of those +who suffered by the change which took place on the death of the Duke of +Orleans. Le Blanc was born in 1669, and had filled several important +offices before he became one of the ministers. The machinations of his +enemies, one of the most inveterate of whom was the Marshal de Villeroi, +procured his temporary banishment from court in 1723, on suspicion of +his having participated in peculation committed by the treasurer. He was +confined in the Bastile by the Duke of Bourbon, and the parliament was +directed to bring him to trial. To secure his conviction, his adversaries +calumniously asserted, that he had employed an assassin to murder one of +his principal accusers. The parliament, however, fully acquitted him of +all the charges which were brought against him. He was, nevertheless, +exiled by the duke. In 1726, Cardinal de Fleury placed him once more at +the head of the war department, where he continued till his decease, in +1728. It is in favour of his character that he died poor, and that he was +beloved by the people. + +Le Blanc was scarcely restored to his office, before his vacant place in +the Bastile was filled by one who had been among the most active of his +enemies. Joseph Paris Duverney, a native of Dauphiné, of humble birth, +was one of four brothers, all of whom were men of talent. A fortunate +chance gave them the opportunity of exercising their talents in a wider +field than, considering their primitive station in life, they could have +hoped to find. They were the sons of a man who kept a small solitary inn +at the foot of the Alps, and whom they assisted in his business. The +Duke of Vendôme was then at the head of the French army in Italy, and +all his plans were rendered abortive by the failure of supplies. This +want of subsistence was caused by the scandalous conduct of Bouchu, the +commissary general. Bouchu, who was old, had the folly to make love to +a young girl, and she had the good sense to prefer his deputy, who had +youth and personal appearance on his side. To revenge himself for this +slight, Bouchu retarded the collecting of provisions, in order to throw +the blame on his deputy, who was charged with the merely mechanical part +of the operations. Knowing that further delay would be ruin to him, the +deputy contrived to collect a portion of the supplies that were wanted; +but he was yet far from being out of his difficulties, for the Alps were +interposed between him and the French army, and he knew not where to find +in the neighbourhood a practicable pass. While he was labouring under +this embarrassment, he luckily fell in with the four brothers, and they +engaged to extricate him from it. They were thoroughly acquainted with +every path and goat track in that wild region, and they conducted the +convoy with so much skill, through apparently impassable ways, that they +reached the French camp without having suffered the slightest loss. + +This service, for which they were liberally rewarded, laid the foundation +of their fortune. The contractors and commissaries employed them, and +promoted them rapidly; and, at no distant time, the brothers became +themselves contractors, and extensive commercial speculators. Riches +rapidly flowed in upon them, and they were called to take a share +in managing the finances of the state. They experienced, however, a +temporary eclipse during the ascendancy of Law, to whom they were +hostile, and who avenged himself by procuring their exile into Dauphiné. +The flight of Law put an end to their banishment; they returned to Paris, +were in higher credit than ever, and contributed much to mitigate the +evils which had been caused by the Mississippi scheme. They continued to +have great weight in the government, till they lost it in consequence of +a political intrigue, in which Joseph Paris imprudently engaged, with the +Marchioness de Prie, the Duke of Bourbon’s mistress. Their intent was to +exclude Cardinal de Fleury from public affairs, and to give the duke an +unbounded ascendancy over the youthful monarch. Fleury discovered the +plot; the duke was deprived of power; and the brothers were once more +exiled. Joseph was soon after arrested, at his asylum near Langres, and +was sent to the Bastile, where he remained for nearly two years. In 1730, +however, he recovered his influence, and he kept it till his death, in +1770. France is indebted to Joseph Duverney for the project of the Royal +Military School, which was carried into execution in 1751. + +Two grandsons of the unfortunate Fouquet, the Count de Belleisle, and +the Chevalier de Belleisle, were involved in the fall of Le Blanc, and +were for some time inmates of the Bastile. The count was born in 1684; +the chevalier in 1693. The count had acquired a high military character, +in the war of the succession, and in the Spanish campaign of 1719, when, +with his brother, he was immured in a prison. After his release, he +served with distinction in various quarters, and rose to the rank of +marshal. Cardinal de Fleury placed entire confidence in his civil as well +as his military talents. It was not, however, till the breaking out +of the war of 1741 that his genius shone forth in its full lustre. The +secret negotiations for raising the Elector of Bavaria to the dignity of +emperor were carried on by him, and on this occasion he gave convincing +proof of his diplomatic skill. Placed at the head of the French army, +which was to maintain Charles VII. on the throne, Belleisle carried +Prague by assault. But while, as ambassador extraordinary of Louis XV., +he was securing the election of Charles at Frankfort, the Austrians +threatened to deprive him of his recent conquests. He, therefore, +hastened back to his army, obtained some advantages, and would probably +have triumphed, had not the sudden defection of Prussia and Saxony left +him to bear the whole weight of Maria Theresa’s forces. + +Prague, garrisoned by 28,000 French, was soon invested by 60,000 enemies. +Belleisle offered to give up the Bohemian capital, on condition of being +allowed to retire without molestation; but the besiegers would listen +to nothing short of a surrender at discretion. After having made a +protracted defence, he began to be threatened by famine, and, in this +extremity, he resolved to break through the Austrian quarters. At the +head of 15,000 men, with twelve days’ provisions, he sallied from Prague, +on the night of the 16th of December, 1742, and directed his march upon +Egra, which city was at the distance of thirty-eight leagues. He took +his measures so well, that, though he was closely pursued by the enemy’s +light troops, he sustained little injury. The sufferings of the French +army were, nevertheless, extreme. Compelled to bivouac for ten nights +among snow and ice, and often without wood for fires, the mortality among +the troops was appalling. The line of the retreat was marked throughout +by whole platoons frozen to death; seventeen hundred men perished in the +course of the ten days. In 1746 and 1747, Belleisle was charged with +the defence of Dauphiné; these were his last campaigns. In 1748 he was +created a duke and peer, and in 1757 he became war minister. He held the +war department for three years, and reformed many abuses. In 1761 he died +childless, the last of his family, his heir, the Count of Gisors, having +fallen at the battle of Crevelt. + +His brother, the chevalier, had gone before him, the victim of an +intemperate courage. From 1734 to 1746, the chevalier was often actively +engaged, both in fighting and negotiating, and displayed equal talents +in each occupation. It being an object of importance to open a passage +into the heart of Piedmont, the two brothers agreed that an attack +should be made on the formidable intrenched post of the Piedmontese, at +the Col de l’Assiette. The chevalier was animated by the prospect of +gaining the rank of marshal, in case of success. The position of the +enemy was all but inaccessible, and was fortified with more than usual +care, well provided with artillery, and held by a large force. Belleisle +led his men to the attack, but found it impossible even to approach his +antagonists, who scattered death among his ranks, with almost perfect +impunity to themselves. Instead of retiring from a hopeless contest, he +madly persisted in his efforts, till the slaughter became horrible. He at +last put himself at the head of a body of officers, and made a desperate +but fruitless assault, in which he fell, along with most of those who +surrounded him. Nearly four thousand of the assailants were slain, and +half as many wounded, while the loss of the Piedmontese fell far short of +a hundred men. + +We have, in the former part of this chapter seen one literary female an +inmate of the Bastile, we must now contemplate in the same situation +another, of equal talents, but with a more sullied character. The second +of these females was Madame de Tencin, sister of the cardinal of that +name. Though, like most Frenchwomen of that period, it is probable that +Madame de Staal did not preserve an inviolate chastity, she certainly +paid more respect to appearances than was paid by Madame de Tencin, and +was less stimulated by mere animal passion. “I shall paint only my bust,” +Madame de Staal is said to have replied, when she was asked how, in her +Memoirs, she would contrive to speak of her love affairs; with respect +to Madame de Tencin, it may be doubted whether, at least while she was +moving in the circle of the court, she would have hesitated to delineate +a whole-length likeness of herself. + +Tencin was a name derived from a small estate; the family name was +Guerin. The lady in question was born in 1681, and her father was +president of the parliament of Grenoble. She was placed in the convent of +Montfleury, near Grenoble, where she resided for five years. If credit +may be given to the statements of St. Simon and others, her conduct while +she wore the veil was anything but pious and decorous. The consequence +of one of her amours is said to have rendered it indispensable for her +to leave the convent, of which she was already tired. Her great object +was to shine in Paris, and this she accomplished. Through the interest of +Fontenelle, who took a great interest in her, she obtained a dispensation +from the Pope, and she then gave full swing to her pleasures. She +became the mistress of the ultra profligate Dubois; and the scandalous +chronicles of the time charge her with having joined in the orgies of the +regent and his companions, and prostituted her talents by the composition +of obscene works. With Law, the Mississippi projector, she was intimate, +and she and her brother appear to have profited largely by speculations +during that period of national madness. It is one pleasing feature in +her character, that she was more anxious to establish her brother than +herself. + +The celebrated d’Alembert was the fruit of one of her amours; the father +was the Chevalier Destouches. The infant was, in the first instance, +deserted by its parents; it was left on the steps of the church of St. +John de la Ronde, where it was found in such a state of weakness that, +instead of sending it to the Foundling Hospital, the commissary of police +humanely gave it to the wife of a poor glazier to be nursed. Such a want +of maternal feeling, had it not been in some measure atoned for, would +have justified a sarcasm of the Abbé Trublet, who, on some one praising +to him the mild disposition of Madame de Tencin, replied, “Oh, yes! if +she had an interest in poisoning you, she would choose the mildest poison +for the purpose.” The parents are, however, said to have relented in the +course of a few days; the father settled on him a pension of 1200 livres. + +It was the fatal result of another of her amours that gave her a place +in the Bastile. In 1726, La Fresnaye, one of the members of the Great +Council, shot himself through the head at her house. A paper in his +handwriting was found, in which he declared that, if ever he died a +violent death, she would be the cause of it. From this paper, which +certainly bears on the face of it a very different meaning, it was +hastily and harshly concluded, that she had a hand in his murder. She was +consequently committed to the Concièrgerie, whence she was removed to the +Bastile; but she was not long a prisoner. + +In her later years, the conduct of Madame de Tencin underwent a complete +reformation; the catastrophe of La Fresnaye perhaps contributed to the +change. She kept up a correspondence with Cardinal Lambertini, which +was not discontinued when he became Pope Benedict XIV., and her house +was the resort of all the wit and talent of Paris, with Fontenelle +and Montesquieu at their head. Her assemblage of literary men she +used jocosely to call her menagerie, and her animals, and it was her +custom, on New-year’s-day, to present each individual with two ells of +velvet, for a pair of breeches. It is not easy to suppress a smile at +the ludicrous idea of such a present. Madame de Tencin died in 1749. +Her three romances, the Count de Comminge, the Siege of Calais, and the +Misfortunes of Love, still deservedly maintain a high rank among works of +that class. It has been said, that she was assisted in writing them by +two of her nephews; but the truth of this is at least doubtful. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Reign of Louis XV. continued—The Bull Unigenitus—A Notary + Public—G. N. Nivelle—G. C. Buffard—Death of Deacon Paris—Rise, + progress, and acts, of the Convulsionaries—Persecution + of them, and artifices employed by them to foil their + persecutors—Lenglet Dufresnoy—La Beaumelle—F. de + Marsy—Marmontel—The Abbé Morellet—Mirabeau the elder—The + Chevalier Resseguier—Groubendal and Dulaurens—Robbé + de Beauveset—Mahé de la Bourdonnais—Count Lally—La + Chalotais—Marin—Durosoi—Prévost de Beaumont—Barletti St. + Paul—Dumouriez. + + +Religious intolerance, on the one hand, and disgusting fanaticism, on +the other, contributed largely to swell the number of captives in the +Bastile, and in other places of confinement. For many years after Pope +Clement XI., at the instigation of the bigoted Le Tellier and Louis XIV., +had thrown among the clergy of the Gallican church that ecclesiastical +firebrand the bull Unigenitus, it continued to spread the flames of +fierce contention, hatred, and persecution. The first individual for whom +the bull found an abode in a prison was, I believe, a notary public. +While the regency was held by the Duke of Orleans, the bishops of +Mirepoix, Senez, Montpellier, and Boulogne, had the boldness to sign an +act, protesting against the bull, and appealing from the pope to a future +council; and, accompanied by a notary, they solemnly presented this act +to the assembled Sorbonne. As to have imprisoned the four bishops would +scarcely have been politic, they were only ordered to retire to their +dioceses; the notary, of whom a scape-goat could more conveniently be +made, was sent to the Bastile. + +Backed by power, the supporters of the bull were finally triumphant, and +they did not fail to make the vanquished party experience the consequence +of being defeated by men who did not consider forbearance as a virtue. +It would be useless to dwell upon the many appellants who were chastised +for having ventured to doubt the pontifical infallibility, and insist on +referring the question in dispute to a future council; I will, therefore, +only make mention of two individuals. + +Among those who were most active in opposing the bull Unigenitus, and +who, consequently, were proscribed by its champions, was Gabriel Nicholas +Nivelle; he was indefatigable in drawing up memorials and tracts, and +soliciting appeals against it. He more than once contrived to elude his +pursuers; but, in 1730, he was taken and committed to the Bastile, where +he remained for four months. His zeal was, however, rather excited than +cooled by this imprisonment; and, till his decease in 1761, when he was +in his seventy-fourth year, he continued to be a determined opponent of +the bull. Nivelle edited several voluminous works relative to the contest +in which his party was engaged; the principal of which, in four folio +volumes, bears the title of The Constitution Unigenitus denounced to the +Universal Church, or a General Collection of the Acts of Appeal. + +Equally hostile to the bull, and equally persecuted by its victorious +friends, was Gabriel Charles Buffard, a native of Bayeux, who was born +in 1683. He was rector of the university of Caen, and canon of Bayeux; +but was expelled from his offices, and banished out of the diocese, in +1722. Buffard settled at Paris, where he was not long allowed to remain +in quiet. He was conveyed to the Bastile, and, after having been there +for some time, he was exiled to Auxerre. From Auxerre he was speedily +dragged to suffer another imprisonment in the Bastile. Fortunately, he +found a protector in Cardinal des Gesvres, through whose intercession he +was set at liberty. Buffard thenceforth lived in retirement, and gained +a subsistence by giving opinions as a chamber counsel, and by assisting +young scholars in the study of the canon law. He died in 1763. + +It was an opinion of Bishop Butler, the celebrated author of The Analogy +of Religion, that “whole communities and public bodies might be seized +with fits of insanity, as well as individuals;” and, indeed, that +“nothing but this principle, that they are liable to insanity, equally +at least with private persons, can account for the major part of those +transactions which we read of in history.” Singular as, at first sight, +this opinion may appear to be, there are many circumstances which ought +to induce us to pause, before we reject it as erroneous. The strange +scenes, for instance, which took place among the Jansenists,—scenes +arising out of the death of the deacon Paris,—may almost authorize a +belief, that large bodies of individuals can be simultaneously smitten +with monomania, or at least can communicate it to each other with +wonderful rapidity. + +Francis Paris, a strenuous opponent of the bull Unigenitus, was the son +of a French counsellor. Pious, humble, and benevolent, Paris relinquished +to his brother all claim to the paternal succession, renounced the +world, lived by the labour of his own hands, and spent his leisure +moments in prayer, and in succouring, consoling, and instructing the +poor. His modest estimate of his own abilities deterred him from taking +holy orders. He died on the 1st of May, 1727, and was buried in the +church-yard of St. Medard. Many of those to whom he had been a comforter +and guide, looked upon him as a beatified being, and came to pray at +his tomb. Among the number were many females. Rumours soon began to +be spread, that miracles were worked by the influence of the sainted +defunct; sight was said to be restored, and contracted limbs extended to +their full longitude. Multitudes now flocked to the sacred ground. Then +ensued, especially among the women, contortions and convulsive movements, +attended by cries, shrieks, and groans, all of which were regarded as +manifestations of divine power. All convulsive movements are catching, +and consequently, the number of persons who displayed them at St. Medard, +increased daily to an enormous extent. The jargon which was uttered by +the convulsionaries, during their paroxysms, was next supposed to be the +language of prophecy; and a whole volume of it was actually published, +under the title of “A Collection of Interesting Predictions.” Before, +however, we laugh at our Gallic neighbours for such folly, it may be well +to remember some things which have happened in England, within the last +quarter of a century. + +After these practices had gone on, with hourly increasing vigour, +for some years, the government closed the church-yard of St. Medard, +which was become the theatre of exhibitions calculated to mislead the +weak-minded, and disgust men of sound intellect. But the sect of the +convulsionaries—for it had by this time grown into a strong and regularly +organized sect,—was not discouraged by this measure. Earth from the +church-yard where the deacon Paris was interred, and water from the +spring which had supplied him with drink, became the symbols of this +buried idol, and the means of working miracles. Meetings were held in +private houses, and there fanaticism, of the darkest, wildest kind, +gave full scope to all its gloomy inspirations. A regular system of +torture was practised by the deluded votaries; women being the principal +sufferers. To be beaten with logs on the tenderest portions of the human +frame; to bend the body into a semi-circular form, and allow a weight of +fifty pounds to be dropped from the ceiling on to the abdomen; to lie +with a plank on the same part, while several men stood on it; to be tied +up with the head downwards; and to have the breasts and nipples torn +with pincers; were among the inflictions to which females submitted, and +apparently with delight. The blows were inflicted by vigorous young men, +who were called Secouristes. The highly sublimed madness of some pushed +them to still more dreadful extremities; it prompted them to be tied on +spits, and exposed to the flames, or to be nailed by the hands and feet +to a cross. The performance of these unnatural acts was denominated “the +work.” + +The Convulsionaries did not form a homogeneous body; as was to be +expected, they were split into parties, bearing various appellations, +and being, in some instances, hostile to each other. There were the +Vaillantistes, the Augustinians, the Melangistes, the Margoullistes, the +Figuristes, and many more. The Vaillantistes took their name from Peter +Vaillant, a priest, who taught that the prophet Elijah was resuscitated, +and that he would appear on earth, to convert the Jews and the court of +Rome. His disciple, Housset, maintained that Vaillant himself was the +prophet. Darnaud, another priest, boldly assumed the character of the +prophet Enoch. The Augustinians, who carried their fanaticism to such +a pitch that they were looked upon as heretical by other convulsionary +sects, were the followers of a friar of the name of Augustin. Among their +peculiar follies, was that of making nocturnal processions, with torches +in their hands, and halters round their necks, to Nôtre Dame, and thence +to the place de Grêve; these processions were a sort of rehearsal of the +tragic scene in which they expected they should ultimately be called +upon to perform. The Melangistes were those who distinguished two causes +producing convulsions; one which gave rise to useless or improper acts, +another which inspired divine and supernatural acts. The tenets of the +Margoullistes have not been handed down to us. The Figuristes were so +called from their representing, in their convulsive paroxysms, various +phases of the passion of Christ, and the martyrdom of the saints. + +The fierce enthusiasm of all these sectarians has never been exceeded. +Like American Indians, they set at defiance the utmost severity of pain. +Even slight stimulus would rouse them into violent action. “I have seen +them,” says Voltaire, “when they were talking of the miracles of St. +Paris, grow heated by degrees, till their whole frame trembled, their +faces were disfigured by rage, and they would have killed whoever dared +to contradict them. Yes, I have seen them writhe their limbs, and foam, +and cry out ‘There must be blood!’” Not the slightest concession would +they make to avoid punishment. A pardon was offered to several of them, +who were sentenced to the pillory; they refused it, for they could not, +they said, repent of having done right. No lapse of time could eradicate +this feeling from their minds. In 1775, when M. de Malesherbes visited +the Concièrgerie, he found there a male and a female convulsionary, who +had been imprisoned for forty-one years. Age had not chilled in them the +resentment which was excited by their wrongs. He offered them liberty, if +they would only ask for it; but they firmly replied, that they had been +unjustly detained, and that it was the business of justice to atone for +its errors, and to give the reparation to which they were entitled. They +were released. + +It must not be imagined that the sect of the convulsionaries consisted +merely of poor and ignorant people. Such was not the case. Strange as the +fact may appear, the sect included great numbers of pious, learned, and +intellectual men. Very many rich individuals also belonged to it, and +contributed to the maintenance of their less fortunate brethren. A Count +Daverne was sent to the Bastile “for wasting his property in supporting +the convulsionaries;” and the same crime brought a similar penalty on +other individuals. That there were, however, numerous impostors, who +pretended to espouse the doctrines of the sect in order to further their +own purposes, admits of no doubt. There were men who gave regular lessons +in the art of bringing on convulsions. + +A hot persecution was perseveringly carried on against this sect, and +with the usual result; the sect throve in spite of it, or rather, +perhaps, in consequence of it. For five-and-thirty years it mocked +all attempts to exterminate it, and it did not begin to decline till +it was left to the withering influence of ridicule and neglect. It +is believed to have retained a few votaries even to a recent period. +The Bastile and the other Parisian prisons were yearly crowded with +convulsionaries. Of those who were confined in the Bastile, one of the +earliest was Peter Vaillant, from whom the Vaillantistes derived their +name. He had previously suffered there an imprisonment of three years, +for his opposition to the bull Unigenitus. In 1734, he was again sent +thither, and, after having been there for two-and-twenty years, he was +transferred to Vincennes, where he died. Housset, his disciple; Darnaud, +who called himself the prophet Enoch; the Abbé Blondel, author of Lives +of the Saints; the Abbés Deffart, Planchon, and Deribat; Lequeux, +prior of St. Yves, the learned editor of Bossuet’s works; and Carré de +Montgeron, a counsellor of the parliament of Paris; were of the number +of those who were sent to the Bastile. Montgeron was born in the French +capital, in 1686, and we have his own word for it that, till he was +suddenly converted in St. Médard’s church-yard, he was a thoroughly +worthless unbeliever. By a natural transition, he became one of the most +credulous and enthusiastic of dupes. In 1737, he printed a quarto volume, +illustrated with twenty plates, “to demonstrate the truth of the miracles +operated by the intercession of the beatified Paris.” This volume he +presented to Louis XV. at Versailles, and the next day, by order of the +monarch, he was conveyed to the Bastile. He was afterwards an inmate of +various prisons, and died at last in the citadel of Valence. While he was +in confinement, he added two more volumes to his rhapsody. + +In hunting down the humbler class of delinquents, the police found +abundant employment, and they performed their task in the most oppressive +manner. Hénault, the lieutenant of police, an irascible and unreasoning +man, was an ardent partisan of the Jesuits, and, of course, was a +violent enemy of the proscribed sect. His myrmidons spread terror in all +directions. They are charged with having, “even in the dead of night, +penetrated into the dwellings of individuals, scaled the walls, broken +open the doors, and shown no respect to age or sex, when their object +was to discover, imprison, consign to the pillory, banish, and ruin, +those who favoured the convulsionaries.” It was dangerous to be subject +to epileptic or other fits; persons who were attacked by them in the +streets having been pitilessly hurried off to jail. + +The vigilance of the police was also kept on the stretch, and in a +majority of cases was eluded, by the prints, posting-bills, pamphlets, +and periodical writings of the convulsionaries, as well as by their +secret meetings. Of the prints, one represented the tree of religion, in +the branches of which were seated Quesnel, Paris, and other apostles of +Jansenism, while two Jesuits were striving to root it up. For this, a +rhymer and engraver, Cointre by name, was committed to the Bastile. In +another, Archbishop Vintimille was seen throwing a stone at the sainted +deacon Paris, and the lieutenant of police was holding the archiepiscopal +cross, and stimulating the prelate. This print procured for Mercier, the +vender of it, a place in the Bastile. In a third of these caricatures was +depicted the pope larded with a dozen Jesuits. + +In placarding the walls, and distributing hand-bills, all sorts of +stratagems were employed. The following is one of the most ingenious +modes which was adopted by the bill-stickers. A woman, raggedly dressed, +with a large pannier strapped on her back, leaned her pannier against +the wall, as though she wished to rest herself. In the pannier was a +child, who, as soon as she stopped, opened the cover, and fixed a bill +on the wall. As soon as his task was performed he closed the aperture, +and his bearer proceeded with him to another convenient place. The bills +and short pamphlets, which were made public in this and other ways, were +innumerable. In the library of the Duke de la Vallière, there was an +imperfect collection of them, which formed thirteen quarto volumes. Most +of them seem to have been printed in the environs of the capital; they +were often brought into the city by females, and in searching for them, +the police officers were guilty of the grossest indecency. + +But the great object which the police sought to obtain, and in which it +was utterly foiled, was the suppression of a periodical publication which +bore the title of Nouvelles Ecclesiastiques. This obnoxious work was +vigorously continued for more than twenty years, without the government +being able to lay hands on the writers, or to stop the printing and +distributing of it. Many persons were, indeed, committed to the Bastile +and other prisons, on suspicion of being its editors or contributors, +but no positive proof could ever be procured. The police were wholly at +fault; and the authors of the paper appear to have taken a provoking +pleasure in showing the lieutenant of police their contempt of his +efforts. In one instance, while his satellites were fruitlessly searching +a house which was suspected of being the printing-office, a bundle of the +papers, wet from the press, was thrown into his carriage almost before +his face. The paper was sometimes printed in the city, and sometimes in +the neighbourhood. At one time the press was secreted even under the +dome of the Luxembourg; at another, it was hidden among piles of timber, +and the printers were disguised as sawyers; on other occasions, it was +contained in a boat on the Seine. When the paper was printed in the +vicinity of Paris, various artifices were resorted to for smuggling it +into the town, one of which deserves especial notice. Water-dogs were +trained as carriers; they were closely shorn, the papers were wrapped +round them, a large rough skin was then sewn carefully over the whole, +and the sagacious animals then took their way, unsuspected, to their +several destinations. + +But enough has been said on the victims of religious delusion; and we +must now turn our view to persons of a different class. The fertile +author of little short of thirty works, and the editor of an equal +number, nearly all of which are forgotten, Lenglet Dufresnoy, who was +born at Beauvais in 1764, was perhaps a more frequent visiter to the +Bastile than any other person. It is said that he was so accustomed to +lettres de cachet, that as soon as he saw M. Tapin, the officer, enter +his apartment, he would greet him with, “Ah, M. Tapin, good day to you;” +and then say to his servant, “Come, be quick; make up my little bundle, +and put in my linen and my snuff;” which being done, he would add, “Now, +M. Tapin, I am at your service.” Between 1718 and 1751, he was at least +five times in the Bastile. He was also acquainted with Vincennes and +other jails. His first committal to the Parisian state prison was perhaps +the one which was most dishonourable to him; he was sent there to act +the part of a spy, and worm out the secrets of the persons who were in +durance for being concerned in the Cellamare conspiracy. It is asserted, +that he had already appeared in a similar degrading character at Lille, +in 1708, where he was paid for intelligence by the allies and the French, +and betrayed both parties. Lenglet was of a quarrelsome and caustic +disposition, which involved him in personal disputes, and he appears to +have paid little respect to truth; but he had at least one estimable +quality, an unconquerable love of independence,—no offers, however +flattering or lucrative, could prevail on him to place himself under the +galling yoke of the rich and the great. His death, which took place in +1755, was occasioned by his falling into the fire while he was asleep. + +The Bastile twice received Laurent Angliviel la Beaumelle, who was born +in 1727, at Vallerangue, in Lower Languedoc. His first imprisonment, in +1753, which lasted six months, was caused by his Notes on the Age of +Louis XIV.; for his second, in the following year, he was indebted to a +passage in his Memoirs of Madame de Maintenon, which charged the Austrian +court with keeping poisoners in its pay. His release, at the end of five +months, was generously obtained by the intercession of that court which +he had so grossly insulted. La Beaumelle was brought up in the Catholic +religion, but, during a residence of some years in Geneva, he became +a protestant. At the age of twenty-one, he was appointed professor of +French literature at Copenhagen, and his first work, “Mes Pensées,” was +published in the Danish capital. Lured by the patronage which Frederic of +Prussia held out to authors, La Beaumelle removed to Berlin. Voltaire, +who was then at the Prussian court, visited him, and expressed a wish +to be numbered among his friends; but their amicable intercourse was +soon changed into deadly hostility. There was a short paragraph in Mes +Pensées, which wounded the vanity of Voltaire, and La Beaumelle was +also guilty of having a respect for Maupertuis, whom Voltaire detested, +and missed no opportunity of ridiculing. The rabid hatred with which +Voltaire ever after pursued his foe, and the virulent and even low abuse +which he lavished on him, can excite only disgust. The malign influence +of Voltaire having rendered Berlin a disagreeable abode, La Beaumelle +returned to his native country. After having resided in peace at Toulouse +for several years, he obtained a place in the King’s Library, at Paris, +which, however, he did not long retain; his death, which happened in +1779, followed close upon his appointment. La Beaumelle had certainly no +mean talents; and it is much to be regretted, that they were so often +thrown away upon literary squabbles. Of his works, the best are Mes +Pensées; a Defence of the Spirit of Laws; and Letters to M. de Voltaire. + +The literary successor of La Beaumelle in the Bastile, was Francis +de Marsy, a native of Paris, born in 1714. After he had finished his +studies, he was admitted a member of the society of Jesuits. His first +productions were two Latin poems, on Tragedy and Painting, from which, +particularly the latter, he derived considerable reputation, his Latinity +being good, his versification flowing and spirited, and his imagery +poetical. Encouraged perhaps by the praise which he received for these +works, he became an author by profession, and wasted, in the ungrateful +occupation of writing for booksellers, those talents which, otherwise +employed, might have given him permanent fame. One of his tasks, an +analysis of the works of Bayle, which he published in 1755, was condemned +by the parliament of Paris, and made him, for some months, an inmate +of the Bastile. He died in 1763. Among his works are the first twelve +volumes of the History of the Chinese, Japanese, &c.; and an edition of +Rabelais in eight volumes. The former is a hasty compilation; the latter +he spoiled, by retouching and modernizing the style—it is probable, +however, that the clothing of Rabelais in a modern garb was a sagacious +scheme of the publishers. + +To hazard censure upon an individual of the privileged class, or even +to be suspected of having done so, was an infallible passport to the +Bastile. That versatile and elegant writer Marmontel was one of those who +were taught the danger of a courtier’s hostility. This enemy was the Duke +d’Aumont, whom, in his Memoirs, he truly describes as being “the most +stupid, the most vain, and the most choleric, of all the gentlemen of the +King’s chamber.” + +John Francis Marmontel, the son of parents in a humble station, was +born in 1723, at the town of Bort, in the Limousin. He has drawn a +delightful picture of the comfort and content in which his family lived. +“The property on which we all subsisted was very small. Order, domestic +arrangement, labour, a little trade, and frugality, kept us above want. +Our little garden produced nearly as many vegetables as the consumption +of the family required; the orchard afforded us fruits; and our quinces, +our apples, and our pears, preserved with the honey of our bees, were, in +winter, most exquisite breakfasts for the good old women and children. +They were clothed by the small flock of sheep that folded at St. Thomas. +My aunts spun the wool, and the hemp of the field that furnished us with +linen; and in the evenings, when, by the light of a lamp, which our +nut-trees supplied with oil, the young people of the neighbourhood came +to help us to dress our flax, the picture was exquisite. The harvest +of the little farm secured us subsistence; the wax and honey of the +bees, to which one of my aunts carefully attended, formed a revenue +that cost but little; the oil pressed from our green walnuts had a +taste and smell that we preferred to the flavour and perfume of that +of the olive. Our buck-wheat cakes, moistened, smoking hot, with the +good butter of Mont d’Or, were a delicious treat to us. I know not what +dish would have appeared to us better than our turnips and chesnuts; +and on a winter evening, while these fine turnips were roasting round +the fire, and we heard the water boiling in the vase where our chesnuts +were cooling, so relishing and sweet, how did our hearts palpitate with +joy! I well remember, too, the perfume that a fine quince used to exhale +when roasting under the ashes, and the pleasure our grandmother used +to have in dividing it amongst us. The most moderate of women made us +all gluttons. Thus, in a family where nothing was lost, trivial objects +united made plenty, and left but little to expend, in order to satisfy +all our wants. In the neighbouring forest there was an abundance of dead +wood of trifling value—there my father was permitted to make his annual +provision. The excellent butter of the mountain, and the most delicate +cheese, were common, and cost but little; wine was not dear, and my +father himself drank of it soberly.” + +Marmontel was designed by his father to be brought up to trade, but +his desire of learning was unconquerable, and was at last allowed to +be gratified. His early education he received from the Jesuits, at the +humble college of Mauriac, and he completed it at Clermont and Toulouse. +At one time he fancied that he had a vocation for the ecclesiastical +state, and he would have become one of the fraternity of Jesuits, had he +not been deterred by the pathetic entreaties and remonstrances of his +mother. It was at Toulouse that he made his first literary essay, in a +competition for one of the prizes bestowed by the academy for Floral +Games. A correspondence into which he entered with Voltaire, induced the +poet to advise him to take up his abode in Paris, and on this advice he +acted in 1745. For a considerable time after his settling in the capital, +he had to contend against poverty. The complete success which attended +his tragedy of Dionysius the Tyrant, lifted him at once into fortune +and fame. “In one day,” says he, “almost in one instant, I found myself +rich and celebrated. I made a worthy use of my riches, but it was not so +with my celebrity. My fame became the origin of my dissipation, and the +source of my errors. Till then my life had been obscure and retired.” +It is honourable to him that all his family benefited by his improved +circumstances; and, in palliation of his errors, we must consider how +difficult it was for a young and flattered poet to escape the contagious +effect of a corrupted capital. He finally renounced his licentious +habits, and became an affectionate and happy husband and father. + +Dionysius was followed by Aristomenes, Cleopatra, and other tragedies, +of which only Aristomenes was eminently successful. His wide-spread +reputation at length gained for him the patronage of Madame de +Pompadour, through whom he obtained the place of Secretary of the Royal +Buildings, and a pension on the French Mercury. It was for the Mercury +that he began those tales, which have been translated into English under +the erroneous appellation of Moral Tales. On the death of Boissy in +1758, Marmontel, by the favour of Pompadour, received the patent of the +Mercury; and, under his management, the work rose into high repute. He, +however, enjoyed this lucrative employment for only two years. Cury, +a wit, who had been deeply injured by the stupid and spiteful Duke +d’Aumont, composed a satire on his titled enemy. He repeated the verses +to Marmontel, and the latter, who had an excellent memory, repeated +them to a company at Madame Geoffrin’s. This circumstance was instantly +reported to the Duke d’Aumont, who lost not a moment in procuring a +lettre de cachet, by virtue of which Marmontel was conveyed to the +Bastile, charged with being the author of the satire. His confinement +lasted only eleven days; but as he generously refused to betray the +writer’s name, the patent of the Mercury was taken from him, and nothing +was left to him except a pension payable out of the profits of the work. + +In 1763, Marmontel became a member of the French Academy, and, twenty +years later, he was appointed its perpetual secretary. After he was +deprived of the Mercury, he pursued his literary labours, for many years, +with equal vigour and credit. Among the works which he produced during +that period are Belisarius, the Incas, a translation of the Pharsalia, +a new series of tales, various comic operas, miscellaneous pieces, a +History of the Regency of the Duke of Orleans, Elements of Literature, +and Memoirs of his own Life. During the fierce struggles between the +republican parties, after the downfall of the throne, Marmontel lived in +retirement, and in a state of penury which bordered upon poverty. He was +elected a member of the council of elders, in 1797, but the revolution +of the 18th Fructidor deprived him of his seat, and he withdrew to his +cottage in Normandy, happy in not being exiled to another hemisphere, as +was the case with many of his colleagues. Marmontel died of apoplexy, on +the last day of 1799. + +Morellet, the friend, and by marriage the relative, of Marmontel, was, +like that writer, one who suffered from the vengeance of the great. It +must be owned, however, that there was less injustice in his punishment +than in that of his friend, as he was really the author of the satire for +which he was confined, and it was published under circumstances which +made even Voltaire doubt whether the conduct of the writer was perfectly +justifiable. Andrew Morellet, to whom some of his acquaintance gave the +punning appellation of Mord-les, or Bite-’em, was born at Lyons, in 1727. +He received the early part of his education at the Jesuits’ College +in that city, and he completed his studies at Paris, in the seminary +of Trente-Trois, and the Sorbonne. He appears, however, to have paid +at least as much attention to the works of modern philosophers as to +those of the theologians. At Paris he became intimate with D’Alembert, +Diderot, and other contributors to the Encyclopædia. Returning to Paris, +after a tour which he made with a pupil, he was gladly admitted into the +most talented society in the capital. Palissot, in his comedy of the +Philosophers, having ridiculed the philosophical party, Morellet resented +the insult by a satirical production, called The Vision. In this work +there were some severe lines on the princess of Robecq, an enemy of the +encyclopedists, who was then lying on her death-bed. For these lines +Morellet suffered an imprisonment of several months in the Bastile. +Morellet was admitted into the French Academy in 1784, and he contributed +much to the Dictionary of that body. In 1803 he became a member of the +Institute, and in 1807 attained a seat in the legislature. His life was +protracted to the age of ninety-two, and, for nearly the whole of that +time his pen was actively employed on subjects of political economy and +general literature, and in translations, principally from the English +language. A selection from his writings was made by himself, in four +volumes, with the title of Literary and Philosophical Miscellanies of the +18th Century. He died in 1819. + +By Marmontel, who married his friend’s niece, he is thus characterized: +“The Abbé Morellet, with more order and clearness, in a very rich +magazine of every kind of knowledge, possessed in conversation a source +of sound, pure, profound ideas, that, without ever being exhausted, never +overflowed. He showed himself at our dinners with an openness of soul, +a just and firm mind, and with as much rectitude in his heart as in his +understanding. One of his talents, and the most distinguishing, was a +turn of pleasantry delicately ironical, of which Swift alone had found +the secret. With this facility of being severe, if he had been inclined, +no man was ever less so; and, if he ever permitted himself to indulge in +personal raillery, it was but a rod in his hand to chastise insolence or +punish malignity.” + +A less amiable captive than Marmontel and Morellet next claims our +attention. Though he was by no means destitute of talent or information, +Victor Riquetti, Marquis of Mirabeau, owes the redemption of his name +from oblivion less to his numerous literary productions than to his being +the father of the celebrated Mirabeau. The marquis, who was descended +from a Florentine family, was born at Perthes in 1715. He became a +disciple of Quesnay, and published many works, to disseminate the +doctrines of the political economists. His compositions are disfigured +by a detestable style, great affectation, and a want of method. Of his +labours, which amount to more than twenty volumes, it will suffice to +mention L’Ami des Hommes and the Théorie de l’Impôt. With reference to +the former, Voltaire satirically speaks of Mirabeau as “the friend of +man, who talks, who talks, who talks, who decides, who dictates, who +is so fond of the feudal government, who commits so many blunders, and +who gets so often into the wrong box—the pretended friend of the human +race.” He bestows equal contempt on the second work—“I have read the +Theory of Taxation,” says he, “and it seems to me no less absurd than +ridiculously written. I do not like those friends of man, who are for +ever telling the enemies of the state ‘we are ruined;—come;—you will have +an easy task.’” The government seems to have been of the same opinion as +Voltaire, for the Theory of Taxation procured for its author a lodging +in the Bastile. Mirabeau, however, continued to write and to publish +till nearly his last moments; he died in 1789. This pretended friend of +the human race, as Voltaire with justice calls him, deserved abhorrence +in all the relations of social life. He was an oppressive master, and a +tyrannical and brutal husband and father. He was perpetually soliciting +for lettres de cachet to plunge some branch or other of his family into +a dungeon. Of those letters he is said to have obtained fifty-four, many +of which were enforced against his highly-gifted though erring son, the +Count de Mirabeau, whom he hated, and whom, by his persevering cruelty, +he contributed to drive into desperate courses. + +Among those who felt the vengeance of the vindictive Pompadour was the +Chevalier Resseguier, a native of Toulouse, who was much admired in the +Parisian circles for his gaiety and wit. An epigram which he aimed at +the royal mistress, speedily made him an inmate of the Bastile. There, +like many other unfortunate victims of the marchioness, he might perhaps +have spent the rest of his days, had not his brother, a member of the +parliament of Toulouse, hastened up to the capital and succeeded in +mollifying Pompadour. In their way home from the Bastile, the grave +magistrate began to give his brother some prudent advice. Little disposed +to listen to it, the chevalier thrust his head out of the coach window, +and, in the words of Philoxenus of Syracuse, exclaimed, “take me back +to the quarries!” The brother still persisting to administer caution +and reproof, the chevalier lost all patience, censured him bitterly for +having stooped to ask a favour from the marchioness, and then leaped from +the carriage. Resseguier of course continued to scatter his sarcasms on +all sides. For one of them, directed against the notorious President +Maupeou, who was afterwards chancellor, he ran considerable risk of +paying a second visit to the Bastile. He was dining, on a fast-day, at +the house of M. de Sartine, and some of the guests were admiring the +size of the fish. “Yes,” said Marin, (whose name the reader will meet +with again) “they are very fine fish; but I dined yesterday with the +president, and we had still larger.” “Ah!” replied Resseguier, “I do not +wonder in the least at that; it is the place for everything monstrous.” +Louis XV. was informed of this pungent attack on the instrument of his +despotism, and was greatly irritated by it. + +The next literary prisoner was the involuntary proxy of an offender, +who took care to get beyond the reach of the police. In 1761, Grouber +de Grouberdal, a German by birth, and barrister by profession, author +of Irus, ou le Savetier du Coin, and a poem with the title of Le Sexe +Triomphant, was sent to the Bastile, on suspicion of having written a +satire called the Jesuitics, to which he appears to have only contributed +some verses. Grouber, however, escaped with no more than a month’s +imprisonment. A friend of Grouber’s was the real author. Henry Joseph +Dulaurens was born at Douay, and very early displayed abilities of a +superior order. He was less amiable than talented; for he is said to +have been suspicious, sarcastic, hasty, restless, and turbulent: that he +was licentious, is proved by his works. Dulaurens was destined for the +church, but abandoned the clerical profession. His satire, the Jesuitics, +which was modelled on the celebrated Philippics of La Grange Chancel, +was aimed at the Jesuits, to whom he had long been bitterly hostile. +Fearing that it would bring him into peril, he set off for Holland, on +the morning after it was published, without warning his friend Grouber +that danger was to be apprehended. In Holland he became a writer for +the booksellers; but, though his pen was extremely fertile, and his +productions, which were generally marked by originality and spirit, +obtained an extensive sale, he was scarcely able to avoid sinking into +poverty: the booksellers throve on those fruits of his talent, by which +he himself was barely kept alive. By his flight from Paris, Dulaurens +had eluded a residence in the Bastile, but it ultimately brought on him +a more protracted confinement than he would have endured had he remained +in France. In the hope of bettering his condition, he quitted Amsterdam, +and went to Liege, whence he removed to Frankfort. While he was living +in the latter city, he was prosecuted by the ecclesiastical chamber +of Mentz, as an anti-religious writer, and was condemned to perpetual +imprisonment. He died in 1797, in a convent near Mentz, after having been +a prisoner during thirty years. Of his works, the most remarkable are, Le +Compère Mathieu, L’Evangile de la Raison, Irma, and L’Aretin Moderne, in +prose; and Le Balai, and La Chandelle d’Arras, two mock-heroic poems;—of +these poems, which are of considerable length, the first was composed in +twenty-two days, and the second in fifteen. + +Of all the writers who, during the reign of Louis XV., found or deserved +a lodging in the Bastile, Peter Robbé de Beauveset may, perhaps, be +considered as one of the most degraded, in a moral point of view. He +was born at Vendôme, in 1714, received a good education, and was not +destitute of talent. At an early age, he began to write poems of the +coarsest obscenity, and he continued the practice till almost the close +of a long life. To repeat them to all companies that would listen, +seems to have been one of his greatest pleasures. Next to licentious +composition, he delighted in satire. His verses were insufferably harsh; +but they now and then displayed happy thoughts and forcible expressions. +To give an idea of his propensity to wallow in the mire, it will be +sufficient to say, that he chose for one of his themes the only disease +which is a disgrace to the sufferer, and that the song was worthy of +the theme. This drew on him the sarcasm, likely enough to be true, that +he was “the bard of the unclean malady, and that he was full of his +subject.” Having tried his satirical skill upon Louis XV., an order was +issued to seize his papers, and he would certainly have paid a visit to +the Bastile, had he not skilfully parried the blow. Being timely warned +of his danger, he destroyed the obnoxious piece, and substituted in its +place another of an opposite kind. This stratagem was successful. Instead +of sending him to prison, the king pensioned him, and gave him apartments +in the palace of St. Germain. Severe censors have hinted, that the +debauched monarch wished to have a monopoly of the poet’s obscene rhymes. +Robbé likewise received a pension from the Archbishop of Paris, on +condition that he should not publish his objectionable pieces. He kept to +the letter of his agreement; he did not print them; he contented himself +with reciting them to as many hearers as he could find. The motive of +the archbishop we can comprehend; but it is not easy to perceive what +could have induced the duchess of Olone to leave a legacy of 15,000 +francs to so shameless a writer, and to speak in flattering terms of his +reputation as an author! Before his death, which took place in 1794, he +is said to have manifested some signs of reformation. + +The liability to be thrust into a prison, for the purpose of gratifying a +courtier, or other powerful enemy, was not the fate of authors alone; the +men who devoted their talents, and shed their blood, to enlarge or defend +the dominion of their country, were equally subject to it. Striking proof +of this fact is afforded by the persecution which fell to the lot of Mahé +de la Bourdonnais and Count Lally. + +Bernard Francis Mahé de la Bourdonnais was born in 1699, at St. Malo, +entered the service of the East India Company at an early period, and +displayed such talent, and such consummate knowledge of mercantile +as well as of naval concerns, that, in 1735, he was appointed +governor-general of the isles of France and Bourbon. On his arrival +in the Isle of France, he found everything in a state of penury and +confusion. In a very short time, however, he showed what can be done +by a man of abilities and perseverance. A new and vivifying spirit was +breathed by him into the languishing frame of the colony. Laws and police +were established; arsenals, docks, forts, magazines, and canals, were +constructed; and the cultivation of indigo, cotton, manioc, and sugar, +was introduced. All this was accomplished within the space of five +years. Twice La Bourdonnais was sent to the coast of Coromandel, with +succours for his ungenerous rival and enemy Dupleix; the first time in +1741, the second in 1746. To narrate all the exertions of La Bourdonnais, +on these occasions, would require a volume. His conduct was such as to +win the warm praise of the English, who suffered by his success. The +result of his operations, in 1746, was the surrender of Madras; but the +terms of the capitulation were dishonourably violated by Dupleix, in +spite of the remonstrances of the indignant conqueror. Dupleix having +appointed another governor at the Isle of France, La Bourdonnais returned +to Europe, and on his way homeward was taken by an English vessel. In +England he met with that reception which was due to a talented and noble +foe, and was allowed to proceed on parole to his native country. A far +different greeting awaited him in France, where his mean and malignant +enemies had long been labouring effectually for his ruin. He had only +been three days in Paris before all his papers were seized, and he was +hurried to the Bastile. There he was kept in solitary confinement for +twenty-six months, not even his wife and children being allowed access +to him; nor was he permitted to have the means of writing. One of the +charges against him, founded on the testimony of a soldier who had been +hired to perjure himself, was that he had secretly conveyed on board of +his vessel a large sum of money from Madras. To refute this charge, by +showing that it was impossible for the witness to have seen any such +proceeding from the spot where he was posted, La Bourdonnais, destitute +as he was of materials, drew from memory an exact plan of Madras, and +contrived to have it conveyed to the commissioners who were appointed +to investigate his conduct. The plan was drawn on a white handkerchief, +with a rude sort of pencil formed from a slip of box, and dipped in brown +and yellow colours, which he obtained from coffee, and the verdigris +scraped from copper coins. This curious document quickened the movements +of his judges, and they took steps to bring the question to an issue. +After having undergone an imprisonment of three years, he was pronounced +innocent, and was released. The gift of liberty came too late to +save his life; his health was undermined by grief, anxiety, and the +unwholesomeness of his dungeon, and his fortune had melted away in the +hands of his persecutors; he languished in severe pain, and in a state of +indigence, till 1755, when death put an end to his sufferings. + +A doom still more severe than that of La Bourdonnais was assigned to +the unfortunate Count Lally. Thomas Arthur Lally was born in 1702, and +was the son of Sir Gerard Lally, one of those high-minded but mistaken +Irishmen, whose ideas of duty led them to expatriate themselves rather +than renounce their allegiance to the second James. Young Lally was early +conversant with war; he was not twelve years old when he first mounted +guard, in the trenches before Barcelona. In the course of the next thirty +years, he distinguished himself in numerous battle fields, particularly +at Dettingen and Fontenoy, and was employed in missions to England and +Russia, the former of which, not a little perilous, was undertaken in +1737, for the service of the Stuart family. To the house of Hanover he +was an inveterate foe, and he was fertile in plans for its overthrow. On +the breaking out of the war between England and France in 1756, he was +made a lieutenant-general, and appointed commandant of all the French +establishments in Hindostan. Unfortunately for him, the government +unwisely delayed his departure, and withdrew a part of the force which +had been intended to accompany him. When he reached Pondicherry he found +everything in confusion, none of the resources which he had expected to +find, and, worse than all, men in office who knew that he meant to punish +peculators, and who were therefore incessantly on the alert to thwart all +his plans. Their machinations were aided by his own defects; for he was +harsh, violent, and headstrong, in an extraordinary degree. Voltaire +says of him, that “he had found the secret of making himself hated by +everybody,” and that “every one, except the executioner, had a right to +kill him.” There is much exaggeration in this; but it is certain that +Lally was, and deserved to be, an unpopular man. + +In spite of the scantiness of his means, Lally took the field against +the English, with a firm resolve to drive them out of India. His first +operations were successful. He made himself master of Goudalour, Fort St. +David, and Devicotta, but here his good fortune ended; he was foiled in +an attack on Tanjore, and was subsequently compelled to raise the siege +of Madras. His failure must not be attributed to want of military skill; +he was nearly without resources, and there was in his own army a powerful +faction which was hostile to him. The council of Pondicherry, too, hated +him with such a deadly hatred that it rejoiced in, and even helped to +cause, his disappointments. Invested at last in Pondicherry by the +English, he defended the place with desperate courage, but was compelled +by famine to surrender. + +On his return to France, Lally attacked his enemies with his wonted +impetuosity. Their influence, however, was superior to his, and he +was sent to the Bastile. Nineteen months elapsed before he was even +questioned. The trial was at last commenced, and it occupied more than +two years. The whole of the proceedings teemed with the most flagrant +injustice; there was a manifest determination to send the prisoner to the +scaffold. The language used by some of his judges deserved the severest +punishment. Sentence of death was pronounced on the 6th May, 1766. On its +being made known to him, Lally stabbed himself with a pair of compasses, +but the wound was not mortal. Three days afterwards, he was taken to +execution, and, that nothing might be wanting to lacerate his feelings, +he was conveyed in a mud-cart, and his mouth was gagged. This brutality +had a contrary effect to that which was expected; it excited for him +the sympathy of the spectators, and covered his enemies with execration +and disgrace. The son of Count Lally, advantageously known during the +revolution as Count Lally-Tolendal, obtained, some years afterwards, a +solemn reversal of the sentence, and the restoration of his parent’s +honour. + +Caradeuc de la Chalotais, a Breton magistrate, estimable for his talents +and rectitude, is the next who comes forward on the scene. He appears +to have been indebted for his misfortunes partly to the Jesuits, +whose order he had assisted to suppress in France, and partly to the +Duke d’Aiguillon, whom he had offended, by venturing to hint a doubt +of his courage. He was a native of Rennes, born in 1701, and became +attorney-general in the parliament of Brittany. His two Comptes Rendus, +against the Jesuits, which contributed much to their overthrow, and his +Essay on National Education, which forms a kind of supplement to them, +are spoken of in the most laudatory terms by Voltaire. La Chalotais +subsequently acted a conspicuous part, when the parliament of Brittany +refused to register some of the royal edicts, which violated the Breton +privileges. The Duke d’Aiguillon was then governor of the province, and +we may believe that he was not sorry to take vengeance for the sarcasm +which the attorney-general had aimed at him. The Jesuits, too, are +said to have spared no pains to accomplish their enemy’s destruction. +In November, 1765, La Chalotais, his son, and four of the parliament +counsellors, were arrested, and in the following month, they were placed +in close confinement in the citadel of St. Malo. The main charges against +La Chalotais were, that he had written two anonymous letters to one of +the secretaries of state, which contained insults upon the king and his +ministers, and that he had entered into a conspiracy against the regal +authority. With respect to the letters, though some persons accustomed +to examine handwritings asserted them to be his, the vulgar style and +incorrect spelling render it in the highest degree improbable that he +was their author. He himself denied the charge in the most emphatic +manner. La Chalotais was carefully secluded from all correspondence, and +deprived of pen and ink; he, nevertheless, contrived to produce three +eloquent memorials in his defence, and to procure a wide circulation of +them. They were written on scraps of paper which had contained sugar and +chocolate, with a pen made from a toothpick, and ink composed of soot, +sugar, vinegar, and water. A commission was at first formed to try the +prisoners, but the cause was afterwards removed into the council of +state, and the captives were transferred to the Bastile. A stop was, +however, put to the proceedings by the king, and the accused individuals +were exiled to Saintes. An attempt was made to prevail on La Chalotais +to resign his office, but he refused to listen to the messenger. On the +death of Louis XV. his successor allowed La Chalotais to resume his seat +in parliament, and the magistrate retained it till his decease in 1785. + +The celebrated Curran, whose conversational talents no one that witnessed +them could possibly forget, once said to me, in allusion to the transient +intoxication produced by champagne, that it made a runaway rap at a man’s +head. It may, perhaps, from a similar reason, be allowable to say, that a +runaway rap was made at the liberty of the person who is the subject of +this sketch. Francis Louis Marin had scarcely time to lament the loss of +his liberty before it was restored to him. Marin was a Provençal, born at +Ciotat, in 1721; after having been a chorister, and then an organist, he +adopted the clerical profession, and went to Paris, where he became tutor +to the son of a nobleman. His manner and figure, which were good, and +his talents, which were far from contemptible, gained him many patrons +in the French capital. He now quitted his ecclesiastical pursuits, was +admitted a barrister, and published various works, one of which, the +History of Saladin, is perhaps the best of all his productions, and is +still in repute; it was dedicated to St. Florentin, one of the ministers, +and gained for its author the appointment of royal censor, to which was +subsequently added that of secretary-general to Sartine, who had been +placed at the head of the inquisitorial office, to which printers and +publishers were amenable. As secretary-general he seems to have satisfied +no one; he was desirous of befriending the philosophical party, in which +he had several friends, but was still more desirous of retaining his +lucrative post. The consequence was, that he sometimes winked at, and +even aided, infractions of the law, and then sought to propitiate his +employers by additional vigilance and severity. Marin was certainly not +overburthened with delicacy; and, unless he is much belied, he increased +his income by acting as purveyor to the disgraceful amours of his royal +master. In 1763, he was confined for twenty-four hours in the Bastile, +for having, in his censorial character, neglected to expunge some lines +from one of Dorat’s tragedies. A few years afterwards, he was deprived of +a pension of 2000 livres, because he had allowed Favart’s comic opera of +the Gleaner to be acted and published. In 1771, he was made editor of the +Gazette de France, in which capacity he brought upon himself a perpetual +shower of epigrams and sarcasms. Many of these annoying shafts were aimed +at him by the Nouvelles à la Main, and he had the weakness to demand that +the editor of the paper should be arrested. He had soon the misfortune or +the folly to provoke a much more formidable enemy, the witty and eloquent +Beaumarchais, who covered him with ridicule. To complete his vexation, +no long time elapsed before the Count de Vergennes dismissed him, and +in the most humiliating manner, from the royal censorship and the +superintendence of the Gazette. Marin then retired to his native town, +where he busied himself in literary pursuits. By the revolution he lost a +considerable part of his income; but to his credit it must be owned, that +he did not lose his temper or his spirits; he died in 1809. Marin had +some praiseworthy qualities; he is said to have been ready to do acts of +kindness, and even to have often run serious risks to serve his friends. +But here we must stop, for it appears that his principles and his morals +were lamentably defective; one of his biographers, who writes of him +in a friendly spirit, owns that in extreme old age he had “a taste for +pleasure, and even for libertinism.” + +Less fortunate than Marin, Farmain De Rozoi, or, as he was generally +called Durosoi, did not pay a visit of only twenty-four hours to the +Bastile. Durosoi was a Parisian by birth, and seems to have early +betaken himself to “the idle trade” of literature. He tried many +kinds of authorship, and was far below mediocrity in all; novels, +histories, poems, and plays, especially the latter, he poured forth in +rapid succession, drawing down abundance of bitter sarcasms from the +critics, and gaining little emolument to himself. Among the dramatic +subjects which he chose was Henry IV., and he was so delighted with his +hero, that he brought him on the stage in three different pieces. The +appellation of “the Modern Ravaillac,” which he acquired by these pieces, +shows how woefully the monarch fared under his hands. But Durosoi had +worse enemies than the critics; on an erroneous suspicion of his being +the author of two obnoxious works, he was shut up for two months in the +Bastile. When the revolution broke out he espoused the royal cause, and +became editor of the Gazette de Paris. He was a zealous and certainly an +honest advocate of that cause. Though slenderly endowed with talents, he +was by no means deficient in courage and noble feelings. When Louis XVI., +after his flight to the frontier, was under restraint in the Tuileries, +Durosoi formed the romantic but generous project of obtaining the king’s +liberty, by inducing the friends of Louis to offer themselves as hostages +for him; and a great number of individuals actually consented to render +themselves personally responsible for the sovereign’s conduct. Durosoi +did not slacken in his hostility to the revolutionists, till their +final success on the 10th of August compelled him to drop the pen. He +was one of their earliest victims on the scaffold, he being executed by +torch-light only nineteen days after the downfall of the monarchy. He +died with the utmost firmness; in a letter which he left behind him, he +declared, that “a royalist like him was worthy to die on St. Louis’s day, +for his religion and his king.” It is said that, with the laudable desire +of benefiting mankind by his death, he was desirous that his blood should +be employed in trying the experiment of transfusion. + +The French revolution, which ultimately consigned Durosoi to death, +opened the prison-gates of a man, of whom few particulars are recorded, +but whose courage and unmerited sufferings deserve our admiration and +pity. It will scarcely be credited that, from a very early period of the +reign of Louis XV. there existed an infamous monopoly of grain, which was +managed for the benefit of the monarch. Corn, bought at a low price in +plentiful seasons, was hoarded up, and sold at an immense profit in times +of scarcity. The circumstance was kept as secret as possible for many +years, but the truth got out, and the name of “the compact of famine” +was popularly given to the monopoly. A patriotic individual, Prévost +de Beaumont, the secretary of the clergy, formed the daring project of +at one sweep gaining possession of all the documents relative to this +affair, and revealing to France the whole machinery of the scandalous +system. When, however, he was about to carry his plan into effect, he was +seized by the police, and conveyed to the Bastile. In that prison, and at +Vincennes, he spent twenty-two years, his hands and feet heavily ironed, +a bare board for his bed, and a scanty portion of bread and water for his +daily subsistence; he would no doubt have perished in his dungeon, had +not the chains which he had so long worn been broken by the strong hand +of the French people. + +A striking proof how liable to abuse is irresponsible power, placed in +the hands of ministers of state and of monopolizing corporations, is +afforded by the persecution of Barletti St. Paul, a man of considerable +abilities, who was born at Paris, in 1734. So precocious was his talent, +that, at the age of sixteen, he had made himself master of all that the +best teachers could communicate to him. After having been for a while +sub-preceptor of the junior branches of the royal family, he was involved +in a quarrel, in consequence of which he quitted France. He resided for +six years at Naples, after which he was intrusted by the Dauphin with a +diplomatic mission at Rome; and, when he had fulfilled this mission, he +returned to his native country. + +Rapidly as St. Paul had acquired knowledge, he was thoroughly +dissatisfied with the method of instruction then in use, and particularly +with the various and discordant systems which were followed by +preceptors. He, therefore, undertook the Herculean task of forming a +collection of elementary treatises on the sciences and arts, with new +modes of studying languages. On this encyclopedic labour he was, at +intervals, employed during nearly the whole of his life. Eighteen volumes +of it were completed, and he was on the point of seeing them brought +before the public, when his prospects were destroyed by the base jealousy +of one learned body, and the legal despotism of another. As the cost of +printing the work would be great, a society of his friends was formed, +for the purpose of accomplishing the publication in concert, and a public +meeting was announced, to deliberate on the necessary arrangements. But +the University of Paris had taken the alarm. Like all old and pampered +institutions, it hated novelty, and trembled lest its monopoly should be +shaken. To avert the dreaded evil, it had recourse to the parliament; +and the compliant parliament issued a prohibition against the meeting. +This step was backed by the appointment of four commissioners to +examine the work. It did not require the spirit of prophecy to predict +that commissioners, chosen under such auspices, would be anything but +impartial. The hackneyed joke, of suing his Satanic majesty in one of +the infernal courts, is pretty sure to be realised on such occasions. +The report which they made was so unfavourable, that a complete stop was +put to the scheme of publishing. St. Paul did not tamely submit to this +treatment. He procured to be printed, at Brussels, a pamphlet, which was +entitled The Secret Revealed. Sartine, the minister of police, who had +been one of his active enemies, was somewhat roughly handled in this +production. The king of spies, jails, and gibbets, was not a man to be +attacked with impunity, and he avenged himself in a manner which was +worthy of him, by suppressing the pamphlet, and sending its author to the +Bastile. + +At the expiration of three months, the intercession of the Cardinal de +Rohan obtained the liberation of St. Paul. He then went to Spain, where +he became professor of belles-lettres at Segovia; an appointment which +he held for three years. Returning again to France, he published a New +System of Typography, to diminish the labour of compositors. For this +the government rewarded him by a grant of twenty thousand livres, and +by printing five hundred copies of his volume at the Louvre press. His +improvement consisted in casting in one mass the diphthongs, triphthongs, +and all the most frequently occurring combinations of letters. A similar +plan, with the name of the Logographic, was tried in London, a few years +afterwards, but it was soon abandoned. + +St. Paul continued to labour indefatigably on his ameliorated system of +education; he gained in its favour the suffrage of Sicard, who was one of +three persons whom the National Institute nominated to examine it; but +he did not live to complete it, and only a small specimen of it was ever +published. He passed unhurt through the storms of the Revolution, and +died at Paris, in 1809. One of his best works, “The means of avoiding the +customary errors in the instruction of Youth,” suggests a mode by which +two scholars may reciprocally give lessons to each other. + +Almost the last prisoner, perhaps the last of any note, who was committed +to the Bastile in the closing year of Louis the Fifteenth’s reign, +was a man who subsequently acted a conspicuous part in politics and +war. Charles Francis Duperier Dumouriez, born at Cambray, in 1739, +was the son of an army commissary, who translated the Ricciardetto, +and wrote some dramatic pieces. After having been educated with much +care, Dumouriez obtained a cornetcy, and, before the close of the seven +years’ war, he had received two-and-twenty wounds, nineteen of which +were inflicted on him in a combat which he gallantly maintained against +twenty hussars, five of whom he disabled. Peace being concluded, he +travelled in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1768 and 1769, he served +with distinction in Corsica, and rose to the rank of colonel. The Duke +de Choiseul employed him, in 1770, on a mission in Poland, to support +the confederation of Bar against the Russians, but the dismissal of +the duke, which took place soon after, led to the recall of the envoy. +Dumouriez was next intrusted, by Louis XV., with a secret mission to +the court of Gustavus of Sweden, relative to the revolution which that +sovereign was then planning. This was done by Louis, who was in the habit +of taking similar steps, without the knowledge of the Duke d’Aiguillon, +the minister for foreign affairs. Dumouriez was, in consequence, arrested +at Hamburgh, by order of the duke, and conveyed to the Bastile, Louis +not having spirit enough to avow his own acts. During his six months’ +imprisonment, Dumouriez wrote various works. The accession of Louis +XVI. restored the captive to liberty; and he successively obtained +the government of Cherbourg, and the command of the country between +Nantes and Bordeaux. That such a man should not take an active part in +the French revolution was impossible. But Dumouriez was not, as the +ultra-royalists have unjustly described him to be, an enemy of the +throne; he was, in truth, a constitutional royalist. In 1792, he was +promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, and was appointed minister +for foreign affairs, from which office he was shortly afterwards removed +to the war department. That department, however, he held only for four +days, at the end of which term he resigned. The duration of his official +existence did not exceed three months. He was now placed at the head +of the army which was destined to repel the Prussians, who were led by +the Duke of Brunswick. By a masterly disposition of his troops, in the +defiles of Champagne, he completely foiled the enemy, and compelled +them to make a ruinous retreat. He then broke into the Netherlands, +gained the battle of Jemappe, revolutionized the whole country, and +carried the French arms into Holland. Quitting his army for a while, he +visited Paris, for the purpose of endeavouring to save the king, but in +that he failed, and rendered himself an object of suspicion. The tide +of military success, too, at length began to turn against him. He lost +the battle of Neerwinden, and was forced to abandon the Low Countries. +Commissioners were now sent by the Convention to arrest him; and, after +having vainly endeavoured to rally his army on his side, he was obliged +to seek for safety in flight. After having resided in various foreign +countries, he finally settled in England, where he was often consulted by +the ministers. Though he was decidedly hostile to the emperor Napoleon, +he took no share in the restoration of the Bourbons, nor did he approve +of their conduct. Dumouriez died on the 14th of March, 1823, and was +interred at Henley, in Oxfordshire. His works are numerous; the most +interesting of them are, his Memoirs, and the Present State of Portugal. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + Captivity and Sufferings of Masers de Latude—Cause of his + Imprisonment—He is removed from the Bastile to Vincennes—He + escapes—He is retaken, and sent to the Bastile—Kindness of + M. Berryer—D’Alegre is confined in the same apartment with + him—Latude forms a plan for escaping—Preparations for executing + it—The Prisoners descend from the summit of the Bastile, and + escape—They are recaptured in Holland, and brought back—Latude + is thrown into a horrible dungeon—He tames rats, and makes a + musical pipe—Plans suggested by him—His writing materials—He + attempts suicide—Pigeons tamed by him—New plans suggested + by him—Finds means to fling a packet of papers from the top + of the Bastile—He is removed to Vincennes—He escapes—Is + recaptured—Opens a communication with his fellow-prisoners—Is + transferred to Charenton—His situation there—His momentary + liberation—He is re-arrested, and sent to the Bicêtre—Horrors + of that prison—Heroic benevolence of Madame Legros—She succeeds + in obtaining his release—Subsequent fate of Latude. + + +In one of the finest passages that ever flowed from his pen, Sterne +alludes to the comparatively trifling effect produced on the mind, when +it endeavours to form a collective idea of the misery which is felt by a +throng of sufferers. “Leaning my head upon my hand,” says he, “I began to +figure to myself the miseries of confinement. I was in a right frame for +it, and so I gave full scope to my imagination. + +“I was going to begin with the millions of my fellow-creatures born to no +inheritance but slavery; but finding, however affecting the picture was, +that I could not bring it near me, but that the multitude of groups in it +did but distract me, I took a single captive, and having first shut him +up in his dungeon, I then looked through the twilight of his grated door +to take his picture. + +“I beheld his body half wasted away with long expectation and +confinement, and felt what sickness of the heart it was which arises +from hope deferred. Upon looking nearer, I saw him pale and feverish; in +thirty years the western breeze had not once fanned his blood; he had +seen no sun, no moon, in all that time—nor had the voice of friend or +kinsman breathed through his lattice.” + +It is even as Sterne asserts. The contemplation of the woes which are +undergone by a large aggregate of persons, seems indeed to act on the +mind somewhat in the manner of a heavy misfortune; it bewilders and +benumbs the feelings. When we read of a single individual falling beneath +the knife of a murderer, we are more violently startled and thrilled, and +the impression made is more permanent, than when we read of the thousands +who groan out their lives on the field of battle; though, in the latter +case, the largest part of the victims, mutilated, torn, trampled on, and +slowly dying without succour, and distant from all that is dear to them, +endure agonies far beyond those which are inflicted by the stab of an +assassin. + +Let us, therefore, now follow the example of Sterne. Hitherto the reader +has seen only a rapid succession of captives passing before him, like the +shadows of a magic lantern; he has had but glimpses of the wretchedness +that falls to the lot of a prisoner; for, with respect to nearly the +whole of the individuals chronicled in this volume, we know, as to +their situation while in durance, little beyond the circumstance of +their having been incarcerated; their persecutors ensured their silence +by retaining them till they sunk into the grave, or by the terror of +becoming once more inmates of a dungeon. While the Bastile was standing, +few would venture even to whisper what they had experienced within its +walls. Fortunately, however, there does exist one faithful record of +the severest woes, protracted by untirable tormentors, through a series +of years, extending to half the natural life of man. Let us then avail +ourselves of it, fix our attention steadily on a single individual, watch +his anguish, bodily and mental, his privations, his struggles, and his +despair, and mark how deeply the iron can be made to enter into his soul +by vindictive and ruthless tyrants. + +Henry Masers de Latude, the person alluded to, spent thirty-five years +in the Bastile and other places of confinement. If we did not know that +power, when it is held by the base-minded, is exercised by them without +mercy, to punish whoever offends them, we might suppose that Latude +brought his long agonies upon himself by the commission of some enormous +crime. That he committed a fault is undeniable, and it was a fault of +that sort which most disgusts high-spirited men, because it bears the +stamp of meanness and fraud. It deserved a sharp reprimand, perhaps +even a moderate chastisement; but no heart that was not as hard as the +nether millstone, could have made it a pretext for the infliction of such +lengthened misery as he was doomed to undergo. + +Latude, who was in his twenty-fifth year when his misfortunes began, +was the son of the Marquis de Latude, a military officer, and was born +in Languedoc. He was intended for the engineer service, but the peace +of Aix-la-Chapelle prevented him from being enrolled. The notorious +Marchioness de Pompadour, who united in herself the double demerit of +being the royal harlot and procuress, was then in the zenith of her +power, and was as much detested by the people as she was favoured by the +sovereign. As Latude was one day sitting in the garden of the Tuileries, +he heard two men vehemently inveighing against her; and a thought +struck him, that, by turning this circumstance to account, he might +obtain her patronage. His plan was a clumsy one, and it was clumsily +executed. He began by putting into the post-office a packet of harmless +powder, directed to the marchioness; he then waited on her, related the +conversation which he had overheard, said that he had seen them put a +packet into the post-office, and expressed his fears that it contained +some extremely subtle poison. She offered him a purse of gold, but he +refused it, and declared that he was only desirous of being rewarded +by her protection. Suspicious of his purpose, she wished to see his +handwriting; and therefore, under pretence of intending to communicate +with him, she asked for his address. He wrote it, and, unfortunately for +him, he wrote it in the same hand in which he had directed the pretended +poison. He was then graciously dismissed. The sameness of the writing, +and the result of the experiments which she ordered to be made on the +contents of the packet, convinced her that the whole was a fraud. It is +scarcely possible not to smile at the blundering folly of the youthful +impostor; had he sent real poison, and disguised his handwriting, he +would perhaps have succeeded. + +But this proved to be no laughing matter to the luckless Latude. The +marchioness looked upon the trick as an unpardonable insult, and she +was not slow in revenging it. In the course of a few days, while he was +indulging in golden dreams, he was painfully awoke from them by the +appearance of the officers of justice. They carried him to the Bastile, +and there he was stripped, deprived of his money, jewels, and papers, +clothed in wretched rags, and shut up in the Tower du Coin. On the +following day, the 2nd of May, 1749, he was interrogated by M. Berryer, +the lieutenant of police. Unlike many of his class, Berryer was a man of +feeling; he promised to intercede for him with the marchioness, and, in +the meanwhile, he endeavoured to make him as comfortable as a man could +be who was robbed of his liberty. To make the time pass less heavily, he +gave him a comrade, a Jew, a man of abilities, Abuzaglo by name, who was +accused of being a secret British agent. The two captives soon became +friends; Abuzaglo had hopes of speedy liberation through the influence +of the Prince of Conti, and he promised to obtain the exercise of that +influence in behalf of his companion. Latude, on his part, in case of +his being first released, bound himself to strain every nerve to rescue +Abuzaglo. + +Ever on the listen to catch the conversation of the prisoners, the +jailors appear to have obtained a knowledge of the hopes and reciprocal +engagements of the friends. When Latude had been four months at the +Bastile, three turnkeys entered, and said that an order was come to +set him free. Abuzaglo embraced him, and conjured him to remember his +promise. But no sooner had the joyful Latude crossed the threshold of +his prison, than he was told that he was only going to be removed to +Vincennes. Abuzaglo was liberated shortly after; but believing that +Latude was free, and had broken his word to him, he ceased to take an +interest in his fate. + +It is not wonderful that the health of Latude gave way under the pressure +of grief and disappointment. M. Berryer came to console him, removed +him to the most comfortable apartment in the castle, and allowed him to +walk daily for two hours in the garden. But he did not conceal that the +marchioness was inflexible, and in consequence of this, the captive, who +felt a prophetic fear that he was destined to perpetual imprisonment, +resolved to make an attempt to escape. Nearly nine months elapsed before +he could find an opportunity to carry his plan into effect. The moment +at length arrived. One of his fellow-prisoners, an ecclesiastic, was +frequently visited by an abbé; and this circumstance he made the basis of +his project. To succeed, it was necessary for him to elude the vigilance +of two turnkeys, who guarded him when he walked, and of four sentinels, +who watched the outer doors, and this was no easy matter. Of the +turnkeys, one often waited in the garden, while the other went to fetch +the prisoner. Latude began by accustoming the second turnkey to see him +hurry down stairs, and join the first in the garden. When the day came on +which he was determined to take flight, he, as usual, passed rapidly down +the stairs without exciting any suspicion, his keeper having no doubt +that he should find him in the garden. At the bottom was a door, which he +hastily bolted to prevent the second turnkey from giving the alarm to his +companion. Successful thus far, he knocked at the gate which led out of +the castle. It was opened, and, with an appearance of much eagerness, he +asked for the abbé, and was answered that the sentinel had not seen him. +“Our priest has been waiting for him in the garden more than two hours,” +exclaimed Latude; “I have been running after him in all directions to no +purpose; but, egad, he shall pay me for my running!” He was allowed to +pass; he repeated the same inquiry to the three other sentinels, received +similar answers, and at last found himself beyond his prison walls. +Avoiding as much as possible the high road, he traversed the fields and +vineyards, and finally reached Paris, where he shut himself up in a +retired lodging. + +In the first moments of recovered liberty, the feelings of Latude were +those of unmixed pleasure. They were, however, soon alloyed by doubt, +apprehension, and anxiety. What was he to do? whither was he to fly? To +remain concealed was impossible, and, even had it been possible, would +have been only another kind of captivity; to fly from the kingdom was +nearly, if not quite as difficult; and, besides, he was reluctant to give +up the gaieties of the capital and his prospects of advancement. In this +dilemma he romantically determined to throw himself upon the generosity +of his persecutor. “I drew up,” says he, “a memorial, which I addressed +to the king. I spoke in it of Madame de Pompadour with respect, and on +my fault towards her with repentance. I entreated she would be satisfied +with the punishment I had undergone; or, if fourteen months’ imprisonment +had not expiated my offence, I ventured to implore the clemency of her I +had offended, and threw myself on the mercy of my sovereign. I concluded +my memorial by naming the asylum I had chosen.” To use such language was, +indeed, sounding “the very base-string of humility.” + +This appeal of the sheep to the wolf was answered in a wolf-like manner. +Latude was arrested without delay, and immured in the Bastile. It was a +part of the tactics of the prison to inspire hopes, for the purpose of +adding the pain of disappointment to the other sufferings of a prisoner. +He was accordingly told that he was taken into custody merely to +ascertain by what means he had escaped. He gave a candid account of the +stratagem to which he had resorted; but, instead of being set free, as he +had foolishly expected, he was thrown into a dungeon, and subjected to +the harshest treatment. + +Again his compassionate friend, the lieutenant of police, came to his +relief. He could not release him from his dungeon, but did all that lay +in his power to render it less wearisome. He condoled with him; tried, +but in vain, to soften his tormentor; and, as a loop-hole in the vault +admitted light enough to allow of reading, he ordered him to be supplied +with books, pens, ink, and paper. For six months these resources enabled +Latude to bear his fate with some degree of fortitude. His patience was +then exhausted, and he gave way to rage and despair, in the paroxysms of +which he vented his angry feelings in epigrams and satirical verses. One +of these compositions, which is certainly not deficient in bitterness, +he was imprudent enough to write on the margin of a book which had been +lent to him— + + “With no wit or allurements to tempt man to sin, + With no beauty and no virgin treasure in store, + In France you the highest of lovers may win— + For a proof do you ask? Then behold Pompadour.” + +Latude had taken the precaution to write this in a feigned hand; but he +was not aware, that, whenever a prisoner returned a book, every page of +it was carefully examined. The jailers discovered the epigram, and took +the volume to John Lebel, the governor, who dutifully hastened to lay it +before the mistress of the king. The fury of the marchioness was extreme. +Sending for M. Berryer, she exclaimed to him, in a voice half smothered +with passion, “See here! learn to know the man for whom you are so much +interested, and dare again to solicit my clemency!” + +Eighteen dreary months passed away, during which Latude was strictly +confined to his dungeon, scarcely hearing the sound of a human voice. At +last M. Berryer took upon himself the responsibility of removing him to +a better apartment, and even allowing him to have the attendance of a +servant. A young man, named Cochar, was found willing to undertake the +monotonous and soul-depressing task of being domestic to a prisoner. He +was gentle and sympathising, and in so far was qualified for his office; +but he had miscalculated his own strength, and the weight of the burden +which he was to bear. He drooped, and in a short time he was stretched on +the bed of mortal sickness. Fresh air and liberty might have saved him. +Those, however, he could not obtain; for it was a rule that the fate of +any one who entered into the service of a prisoner became linked with +that of his master, and that he must not expect to quit the Bastile till +his employer was set at large. It was not till Cochar was expiring, that +the jailers would so much as consent to remove him from the chamber of +Latude. Within three months from his entrance into the Bastile, he ceased +to exist. + +Latude was inconsolable for the loss of the poor youth, who had always +endeavoured to comfort him, as long as he had spirits to do so. To +mitigate his grief, M. Berryer obtained for him the society of a +fellow-captive, who could scarcely fail to have a perfect communion of +feeling with him. This new associate, D’Alegre by name, was about his +own age, full of activity, spirit, and talent, and had committed the +irremissible crime of offending the Marchioness de Pompadour. Taking it +for granted that she was reclaimable, though on what ground he did so it +would be difficult to discover, he had written to her a letter, in which +he apprised her of the public hatred, and pointed out the means by which +he thought she might remove it, and become an object of affection. For +giving this advice, he had already spent three years within the walls +of the Bastile. Yet his woes were now only beginning. The unfortunate +D’Alegre had ample cause to lament his having forgotten the scriptural +injunction, not to cast pearls before swine. + +M. Berryer took the same warm interest in D’Alegre as in Latude. He was +indefatigable in his exertions to obtain their pardon, and for a while +he flattered himself that he should succeed. At last, wearied by his +importunity, the marchioness vowed that her vengeance should be eternal, +and she commanded him never again to mention their names. He was, +therefore, obliged to communicate to them the melancholy tidings, that +their chains could be broken only by her disgrace or death. + +D’Alegre was almost overwhelmed by the first shock of this intelligence; +it inspired Latude, on the contrary, with a sort of insane energy, and +his mind immediately began to revolve projects of escape. The very +idea of escaping would seem to be indicative of madness; egress through +the gates, tenfold guarded as they were, was utterly impossible, and to +ascend to the summit of the lofty tower, which must be done through the +grated chimney, then to descend from the dizzy height into the ditch, +and, lastly, to break through or climb the outward wall, appeared to be +equally impracticable. Yet, with no apparent means of accomplishing his +purpose, Latude firmly made up his mind to try the latter plan. He had +two things in his favour, time and perseverance, and their sovereign +efficacy has often been proved. + +When Latude mentioned to him his scheme, D’Alegre considered it as +little better than the ravings of delirium. Latude, however, continued +to meditate deeply upon it, though in silence. The first step towards +the execution of it, without the success of which no other could be +taken, was to find a hiding-place for the tools and materials which must +be employed. From his being unable to hear any of the movements of the +prisoner in the chamber below, Latude concluded that there was a space +between the floor of his own room and the ceiling of his neighbour’s, +and he immediately set himself to ascertain whether this was the fact. +As he was returning with D’Alegre from mass, he contrived that his +fellow-prisoner should drop his toothpick to the bottom of the stairs, +and request the turnkey to pick it up. While the turnkey was descending, +Latude looked into the under chamber, and estimated its height at about +ten feet and a half. He then counted the number of stairs between the two +rooms, measured one of them, and found, to his infinite delight, that +there must be a vacancy of five feet and a half between the bottom of the +one room and the top of the other. + +As soon as they were locked in, Latude embraced D’Alegre, and exclaimed +that, with patience and courage, they might be saved, now that they had a +spot where they could conceal their ropes and materials. At the mention +of ropes, D’Alegre thought that his companion’s wits were wandering, and, +when he heard him assert, that he had more than a thousand feet of rope +in his trunk, he felt sure that the assertion was prompted by madness. +“What!” said Latude, “have I not a vast quantity of linen[9]—thirteen +dozen and a half of shirts—many napkins, stockings, nightcaps, and other +articles? Will not these supply us? We will unravel them, and we shall +have abundance of rope.” + +D’Alegre began to have a gleam of hope, but he still started numerous +difficulties, among which were the want of wood for ladders, and of tools +to make them, and to wrench the iron gratings from the chimney. Latude +silenced him by replying, “My friend, it is genius which creates, and we +have that which despair supplies. It will direct our hands; and once more +I tell you, we shall be saved.” + +Their first essay in tool-making was to grind down to an edge, on the +tiled floor, two iron hooks, taken from a folding table; with these they +meant to remove the chimney gratings. The next was to convert a part +of the steel of their tinder-box into a knife, with which they made +handles for the hooks. The hooks were immediately applied to raise the +tiles, in order to find whether there was really a cavity beneath. After +six hours’ toil, the prisoners found that there was an empty space of +about four feet, and, having gained this satisfactory knowledge, they +carefully replaced the floor of their cell. The threads of two shirts +were then drawn out, one by one, tied together, wound into small balls, +and, subsequently, formed into two larger balls, each composed of fifty +threads, sixty feet in length. These were ultimately twisted into a rope, +from which was made a ladder of twenty feet, intended to support the +captives, while they extracted the bars by which the chimney was closed. + +The removal of the bars was a work of horrible labour. Cramped into the +most painful postures, it was impossible for them to work more than an +hour at a stretch, and their hands were always covered with blood. The +mortar was nearly as hard as iron, they had no means of softening it but +by blowing water on it from their mouths, and they thought themselves +lucky when they could clear away as much as an eighth of an inch in the +course of a night. As fast as the bars were extracted they replaced them, +that their operations might not be betrayed. Six months’ unremitting toil +was bestowed upon this single object. + +Having opened the passage up the chimney, they proceeded to construct +their ladders. Their fuel, which was in logs of about eighteen or twenty +inches long, supplied the rounds for the rope ladder, by which they +were to descend from the tower; and the whole of that by which they +were to scale the outward wall. More tools being required to cut the +wood, Latude converted an iron candlestick into a saw, by notching it +with the remaining half of the steel which belonged to the tinder-box. +To this implement he afterwards added others. They then set to work on +their wooden ladder, which it was necessary to make of the length of +twenty or five-and-twenty feet. It had only one upright, three inches +in diameter, through which the rounds passed, each round projecting six +inches on either side; the pieces of which it consisted were joined by +mortises and tenons, and each joint was fastened by two pegs, to keep +them perpendicular. As fast as the pieces were finished, the rounds were +tied to them with a string, that no mistake might occur when they were +put together in the dark. They were then carefully hidden under the floor. + +As in case of the prison spies chancing to overhear them talking about +their employment, it was of consequence to prevent their enemies from +understanding what was said, they invented a vocabulary of names for +all the tools and the portions of the apparatus. For instance, the saw +was _the monkey_, the reel _Anubis_, the hooks _Tubal Cain_, the wooden +ladder _Jacob_, the rounds _sheep_, the ropes _doves_, a ball of thread +_the little brother_, and the knife _the puppy dog_; the hole in which +they concealed them was christened _Polyphemus_. + +It now remained for them to make their principal rope ladder. This was +an arduous and almost endless task, as it was more than a hundred and +eighty feet long, and, consequently, double that length of rope was +wanted. “We began,” says Latude, “by unravelling all our linen, shirts, +towels, nightcaps, stockings, drawers, pocket-handkerchiefs,—every thing +which could supply thread or silk. When we had made a ball, we hid it in +_Polyphemus_; and when we had a sufficient quantity, we employed a whole +night in twisting it into a rope, and I defy the most skilful rope maker +to have done it better.” + +There was still a pressing necessity for another enormous quantity of +rope. Along the upper part of the outside of the Bastile ran a kind +of cornice, which stood out three or four feet beyond the wall. The +effect of this would be, to make the ladder hang loosely in the air, and +vibrate in such a terrific manner, that there would be great danger of +the captive who led the way being precipitated headlong to the ground. +To avert this peril, they made a second rope, three hundred and sixty +feet long, to be tied round the person first descending, and passed +gradually through a sort of block fixed above, in order to steady him. +Shorter ropes were also provided, to fasten the ladder to a cannon, and +for any other occasion that might occur. On measuring the whole of their +manufacture, they found that it extended to more than fourteen hundred +feet. Two hundred and eight rounds were required for the ladders, and, +lest their knocking against the wall should give the alarm, they covered +them with the linings of their morning gowns, waistcoats, and under +waistcoats. These last preparations for flight occupied eighteen months. + +It had originally been their intention, after having reached the ditch, +to climb the parapet, and get into the governor’s garden, and from thence +descend into the moat of the gate of St. Antoine. On consideration, +however, this plan was abandoned, because in this part they would be +more exposed than elsewhere to be detected by the sentinels. It was +therefore deemed advisable, though the labour would be greatly increased, +to break a way through the wall which divided the ditch of the Bastile +from that of the St. Antoine gate. Latude was of opinion that the mortar +of the wall on this side, having been weakened by frequent floods, might +be removed with comparative ease. Two bars from the chimney were to be +used as levers to raise the stones, and an auger, to make holes for the +insertion of the bars, was fabricated out of a screw from one of the +bedsteads, to which a wooden cross handle was added. + +All was now prepared for their flight, and they had only to decide upon +the day for attempting their hazardous enterprise. The 25th of February, +1756, was the day which they chose. A portmanteau was filled with a +change of clothes, the rounds were fastened into the rope ladder, the +wooden ladder was got ready, the two crowbars were put into cases to +prevent them from clanging, and a bottle of brandy was prudently added to +their baggage, to hearten them while they worked in the water—for the +Seine had overflowed, and at that moment there was from four to five feet +water in the moat of the Bastile, and ice was floating upon it. + +Supper being over, and the turnkey having locked them in for the +night, the captives, doubtless with throbbing hearts, began their +operations. Latude was the first to ascend the chimney. “I had the +rheumatism in my left arm,” says he, “but I thought little of the pain, +for I soon experienced one more severe.” Before he reached the top, +his knees and elbows were so excoriated, that the blood ran down from +them. When he arrived at the summit, he let down a rope, by means of +which he successively drew up the portmanteau, the ladders, and the +other articles. The end of the rope ladder he allowed to hang down, +and the upper part he fastened across the funnel with a large wooden +peg. D’Alegre was thus enabled to mount with less difficulty than his +predecessor had experienced. + +At last they breathed the free air of heaven on the platform of the +Bastile. As the du Trésor tower appeared to be the most favourable for +their descent, they carried their apparatus thither. One end of the +rope ladder was made fast to a cannon, and it was gently let down. The +safety rope was next passed through a firmly fixed block, and it was tied +securely round the body of Latude. The daring adventurer now commenced +his fearful descent of more than fifty yards; D’Alegre meanwhile slowly +letting out the rope. It was well that they had taken this precaution; +for, at every step that he took, Latude swung so violently in the air +that it is probable he would have lost his hold, had not the safety rope +given him confidence. In a few moments, which however must have seemed +hours, he reached the ditch unhurt. The portmanteau and the other effects +were then lowered to him, and he placed them on a spot to which the +water had not risen. D’Alegre himself followed; and, as Latude applied +all his strength to steady the ladder, the descent of his companion was +effected with less annoyance and hazard than his own had been. That +regret, at being unable to carry away their ladder and implements, should +have found a place among the feelings by which they were agitated, may at +the first glance seem strange, but was certainly not unnatural; articles +on which they had bestowed such persevering toil, which had proved the +instruments of their deliverance, and were also the trophies of their +triumph, they must have regarded with something like affection. + +As they heard a sentinel pacing along at the distance of ten yards, they +were obliged finally to relinquish the scheme of climbing the parapet, +which they had still cherished a hope of carrying into execution. There +was, therefore, no resource but to break a hole through the wall. +Accordingly they crossed the ditch of the Bastile, to the spot where +the wall separated it from that of the St. Antoine gate. Unluckily, the +ditch had been deepened here, and the water, on which ice was floating, +was up to their arm-pits. They, nevertheless, set to work with a vigour +which can be inspired only by circumstances like those under which they +were placed. Scarcely had they begun, when, about twelve feet above their +heads, they saw light cast upon them from the lantern which was carried +by a patrol major; they were compelled instantly to put their heads under +water, and this they had to do several times in the course of the night. +The wall at which they were working had a thickness of a yard and a half; +so that, although they plied their crowbars without intermission, they +were nine mortal hours in making a hole of sufficient size for them to +creep through. Their task was ultimately achieved, they passed through +the aperture, and were now beyond the walls of their prison. But even at +this moment of exultation, they had a narrow escape from perishing. In +their way to the road by which they were to go, there was an aqueduct; +it was not more than six feet wide, but it had ten feet of water and +two feet of mud. Into this they stumbled. Fortunately, Latude did not +lose his upright position; having shaken off his companion, who had +mechanically grasped him, he scrambled up the bank, and then drew out +D’Alegre by the hair of his head. + +The clock struck five as they entered the high road. After having +joyously clasped each other in a long and close embrace, they dropped on +their knees, and poured forth fervent thanks to the Divine Being, who had +so miraculously aided them in their dangerous undertaking. In consequence +of the evaporation which was taking place, they now began to feel more +acutely than when they were in the water the effects of their immersion; +their whole frame was rapidly becoming rigid. They, therefore, drew a +change of clothes from the portmanteau; but they were so much benumbed +and exhausted, that neither of them could dress without being assisted by +his friend. When they were somewhat recovered, they took a hackney-coach, +and eventually found shelter in the house of a kind-hearted tailor, a +native of Languedoc, who was known to Latude. + +To gain strength after their toils, as well as to let the hue and cry +die away, the friends remained nearly a month in concealment. It having +been settled between them that, in order to avoid being both caught at +once, they should quit the country separately, D’Alegre, in the disguise +of a peasant, set out on his journey to Brussels. He reached that city +in safety, and informed Latude of his success. Furnished with a parish +register of his host, who was nearly of his own age, and with some old +papers relative to a lawsuit, and dressed as a servant, Latude departed. +He went on foot a few leagues from Paris, and then took the diligence for +Valenciennes. He was several times stopped, searched, and questioned, +and, on one occasion, was in imminent danger of being detected. By dint, +however, of sticking to his story, that he was carrying law papers to his +master’s brother at Amsterdam, he got safely to Valenciennes, at which +town he removed into the stage for Brussels. He was walking when they +reached the boundary post which marks the frontier line of France and +the Netherlands. “My feelings,” says he, “got the better of my prudence; +I threw myself on the ground, and kissed it with transport. At length, +thought I, I can breathe without fear! My companions, with astonishment, +demanded the cause of this extravagance. I pretended that, just at the +very moment, in a preceding year, I had escaped a great danger, and that +I always expressed my gratitude to Providence by a similar prostration +when the day came round.” + +Latude had appointed D’Alegre to meet him at the Hôtel de Coffi, +in Brussels. Thither he went immediately on his arrival; but there +disappointment and sorrow awaited him. The landlord at first denied any +knowledge of D’Alegre, and, when further pressed, he hesitated, and +became extremely embarrassed. This was enough to convince the inquirer +that his friend had been seized; and the conviction was strengthened, by +his having heard nothing from him, though D’Alegre knew the moment when +his companion would reach Brussels. As his friend could be arrested on +the Austrian territory, it was obvious that Latude could not remain in +it without danger; and, with a heavy heart, he resolved to fly instantly +from this inhospitable soil. He secured a place in the canal boat, which +was that night to proceed to Antwerp. In the course of the voyage, he +learned the fatal truth from a fellow-passenger. He was told, that +one of the two prisoners, escaped from the Bastile, had arrived at the +Hôtel de Coffi, had been apprehended by a police officer, and had been +ultimately sent under a strong escort to Lille, and there delivered into +the custody of a French exempt; and, moreover, that all this was kept as +secret as possible, in order not to alarm the other fugitive, the search +after whom was carried on with such activity that he must inevitably fall +into the hands of his pursuers. + +Believing that, if he went on immediately to Amsterdam he would find +there an officer of the police waiting to seize him, he directed his +steps to Bergen-op-Zoom. But now another trouble fell upon him. He had +nearly exhausted his scanty stock of money, and had not found at Brussels +a remittance which he expected from his father; he afterwards learned +that it had been intercepted by the French exempt, who was employed +to trace him. While he remained at Bergen-op-Zoom, which was till he +supposed that his enemies would have lost the hope of his coming to +Amsterdam, he wrote to his father for a supply. But a considerable time +must elapse before he could receive it, and, in the meanwhile, he would +run the risk of starving. When he had paid the rent of his wretched +garret at Bergen-op-Zoom, and the fare of the boat which was to convey +him to Amsterdam, a few shillings was all that was left. In this state +of penury, unwilling to beg, he tried whether life could be supported +by grass and wild herbs alone. The experiment failed, for his stomach +rejected the loathsome food. To render his herbs less disgusting, he +bought four pounds of a black and clay-like rye bread, to eat with them. + +Hoping that by this time the bloodhounds of the marchioness had desisted +from seeking him in the Dutch capital, Latude ventured to embark. To hide +his poverty, he kept aloof as much as possible from his fellow-voyagers. +He was, however, not unobserved. There was in the boat one John +Teerhorst, who kept a sort of humble public-house, in a cellar at +Amsterdam. Under his unprepossessing exterior, he had a heart as kind as +ever beat in a human breast. Chancing to catch a sight of Latude’s sorry +fare, he could not help exclaiming, “Good God! what an extraordinary +dinner you are making! You seem to have more appetite than money!” Latude +frankly owned that it was so. The good-natured Dutchman immediately led +him to his own table. “No compliments, Mr. Frenchman,” said he, “seat +yourself there, and eat and drink with me.” On further acquaintance with +him, Latude discovered that his host was not only a truly benevolent man, +but that he had also the rare talent of conferring favours with such +delicacy as not to wound the feelings of the person whom he obliged. + +When they reached Amsterdam, Teerhorst offered to introduce him to +a Frenchman named Martin, who, judging from himself, he doubted not +would be delighted to serve him. Latude, however, found that his +fellow-countryman was one of the most soulless animals whom he had ever +seen; a being who cared only for self. He was better fitted to be a +turnkey of the Bastile than the consoler of one of its victims. The tears +and low spirits of his guest disclosed to the Dutchman the reception +which Latude had met with, and the forebodings that oppressed him. Taking +his hand, he said, “Do not weep—I will never abandon you: I am not rich, +it is true, but my heart is good; we will do the best we can for you, and +you will be satisfied.” + +Teerhorst’s underground habitation was divided by a partition into two +rooms; one of which served as kitchen, while the other was at once shop, +sitting-room, and bed-room. Though the narrow tenement was already +crowded, Teerhorst contrived to make a sleeping place for Latude in +a large closet, and he and his wife cheerfully gave him a mattress +from their own bed. Not content with feeding and lodging the fugitive, +Teerhorst strove to divert him from melancholy thoughts, by taking +him wherever there was anything that could amuse him. His charitable +efforts were but partially successful; for the mind of Latude was +deeply begloomed by his own precarious situation, and still more by his +incessantly brooding over and regretting the fate of D’Alegre. + +Though Latude had found no sympathy in Martin, he was more fortunate in +another of his countrymen, Louis Clergue, who was a native of Martagnac, +where the fugitive was born. Rich and compassionate, Clergue gave him +a room in his house, made him a constant partaker of his table, and +furnished him with clothes and linen. The linen was not the least +acceptable of these gifts; for Latude had been forty days without a +change of it. Clergue also assembled his friends, to hear the story of +his guest, and to consult what could be done for him. They were all of +opinion that Latude had nothing to fear, as neither the States General +nor the people of Amsterdam would ever consent to deliver up a persecuted +stranger, who had confidingly thrown himself on their protection. Even +Latude himself began to believe that at last he was safe. + +The unfortunate man was soon woefully undeceived. Not for a moment had +his pursuers slackened in the chase, not a single precaution had they +neglected that could lead to success. In aid of the subaltern agents, +the French ambassador had also exerted himself. By representing the +fugitive as a desperate malefactor, he had obtained the consent of the +States to arrest him. Calumny was one of the weapons uniformly employed +against prisoners, in order to insulate them from their fellow-creatures, +by extinguishing pity. But, in this instance, there seems reason for +believing that bribery was an auxiliary to calumny; the expense of +following up the fugitives was no less than 9000_l._ sterling—a sum for +which it is impossible to account, without supposing that much of it was +expended in bribes. + +Though Latude had changed his name, and the address to which his friends +were to direct their communications, the active agents of the marchioness +had succeeded in intercepting all his letters. One was at last allowed to +reach him, as the means of effecting his ruin. It does not appear whether +his residing in the house of M. Clergue was known to them; probably it +was; but, if it were, they perhaps thought that it would be imprudent +to seize him there, as his protector might proclaim to the populace the +innocence of his guest, and thus excite a tumult. A letter from Latude’s +father, containing a draft on a banker, was therefore forwarded to him. +Into this snare he fell. As he was proceeding to the banker’s, the Dutch +police officers pounced upon him, and he was immediately fettered and +dragged along. The crowd which had by this time gathered, were told that +he was a dangerous criminal; but, as the numbers nevertheless continued +to increase, the brutal officers, who were armed with heavy bludgeons, +dealt their blows liberally on all sides, to clear the way to the Town +Hall. One of these blows struck the prisoner with such violence, on the +nape of his neck, that he dropped senseless to the ground. + +When consciousness returned, he was lying on a truss of straw, in a +dungeon; there was not a ray of light visible, not a sound to be heard. +He seemed to be cut off from the human race, and he resigned himself +wholly to despair. His tumultuous reflections were interrupted, in the +morning, by a visit from St. Marc, the French exempt, who had pursued +him from Paris. This brutal caitiff had the baseness to aggravate his +sufferings by an awkward attempt at irony. “He told me,” says Latude, +“that I ought to pronounce the name of the Marchioness de Pompadour with +the most profound respect; she was anxious only to load me with favours; +far from complaining, I ought to kiss the generous hand that struck +me, every blow from which was a compliment and an obligation.” In a +second visit, some time after, the exempt brought him an ounce of snuff, +which he strongly recommended, but which Latude did not use, because he +imagined, and not unreasonably, that it was poisoned. + +Latude remained nine days in this dungeon, while his captors were +waiting for permission to carry him through the territory of the Empress +Maria Theresa. They were anxious to receive it without delay, for M. +Clergue and the other friends of the prisoner were loudly asserting his +innocence, and the citizens began to murmur at the disgrace which was +cast upon their country by his seizure being permitted. The permission +soon came, and the myrmidons of the Marchioness hastened to bear off +their prey. + +In this instance, the Dutch and Austrian governments must bear the shame +of having been ready instruments of the persecutors. It is, however, +doubtful whether, had those governments acted otherwise, the fugitives +would have escaped. To effect their purpose, the emissaries of the +Bastile did not scruple to violate the territory of foreign powers. +In 1752, a M. Bertin de Fretaux was carried off from England. He was +secretly seized at Marylebone, put on board ship at Gravesend, and +conveyed to the Bastile, where he died after having been confined for +twenty-seven years. Even foreign subjects were not safe. The publisher of +a Leyden Gazette having printed a satire on Louis XIV., he was kidnapped +in Holland, and conveyed to the rock of St. Michael, on the Norman coast, +and shut up in a cage till he died. + +At two in the morning, on the 9th of June, 1756, the jailers of Latude +came to remove him. Round his body they fastened a strong leathern belt, +on which were two large rings, fastened by padlocks. Through these rings +his hands were passed; so that his arms were pinioned down to his sides, +without the power of motion. He was then conveyed to a boat, into the +foulest corner of which he was thrown. As he could not feed himself, the +office of feeding him was committed to two men; they were so horribly +filthy that he refused, for four-and-twenty hours, to take nourishment +from them. Force was then employed to make him eat. “They brought me,” +says Latude, “a piece of beef swimming in gravy; they took the meat in +their hands, and thrust it into my mouth; they then took some bread, +which they steeped in the grease, and made me swallow it in a similar +manner. During this disgusting operation, one of these ruffians blew his +nose with his fingers, and, without wiping them, soaked some bread, and +approached it to my mouth. I turned my head aside, but it was too late. +I had seen these preliminaries, and my stomach revolted. The consequence +was, a long and severe fit of vomiting, which left me almost without +strength or motion.” + +The mode of confinement by the belt was absolute torture to the prisoner. +At length, thanks to the compassionate interference of a servant on +board, who declared that, if no one else would, he himself would cut it, +the belt was removed, and Latude was indulged, by being only handcuffed +on the right arm, and chained to one of his guards. When they arrived at +Lille, St. Marc halted for the night, and sent the prisoner to the town +jail, where he was bolted to the chain of a deserter, scarcely nineteen, +who had been told that he was to be hanged on the morrow. The despairing +youth spent the night in trying to convince him that he, too, would +be hanged, and in proposing that they should elude a public execution +by strangling themselves with their shirts. For the remainder of the +journey, Latude, with his legs ironed, travelled in a carriage with St. +Marc, who took the precaution of carrying pistols, and had likewise an +armed servant by the side of the vehicle, whose orders were to shoot the +captive if he made the slightest motion. + +By his associates at the Bastile, St. Marc was received like some victor +returning from the scene of his triumph. They swarmed round him, listened +with greedy ears to the tale of his exertions and stratagems, and +lavished praises and attentions upon him. The group must have borne no +very distant resemblance to fiends exulting over a lost soul. + +Stripped, and reclothed in rags which were dropping to pieces, his hands +and feet heavily ironed, the prisoner was thrown into one of the most +noisome dungeons of the fortress. A sprinkling of straw formed his bed; +covering it had none. The only light and air which penetrated into this +den of torment came through a loop-hole, which narrowing gradually from +the inside to the outside, had a diameter of not more than five inches +at the furthest extremity. This loop-hole was secured and darkened by +a fourfold iron grating, so ingeniously contrived that the bars of one +net-work covered the interstices of another; but there was neither glass +nor shutters, to ward off the inclemency of the weather. The interior +extremity of this aperture reached within about two feet and a half of +the ground, and served the captive for a chair and a table, and sometimes +he rested his arms and elbows on it to lighten the weight of his fetters. + +Shut out from all communication with his fellow-beings, Latude found some +amusement in the society of the rats which infested his dungeon. His +first attempt to make them companionable was tried upon a single rat, +which, in three days, by gently throwing bits of bread to it, he rendered +so tame that it would take food from his hands. The animal even changed +its abode, and established itself in another hole in order to be nearer +to him. In a few days a female joined the first comer. At the outset she +was timid; but it was not long before she acquired boldness, and would +quarrel and fight for the morsels which were given by the prisoner. + +“When my dinner was brought in (says Latude) I called my companions: the +male ran to me directly; the female, according to custom, came slowly +and timidly, but at length approached close to me, and ventured to take +what I offered her from my hand. Some time after, a third appeared, who +was much less ceremonious than my first acquaintances. After his second +visit, he constituted himself one of the family, and made himself so +perfectly at home, that he resolved to introduce his comrades. The next +day, he came, accompanied by two others, who in the course of the week +brought five more; and, thus, in less than a fortnight, our family circle +consisted of ten large rats and myself. I gave each of them names, which +they learned to distinguish. When I called them they came to eat with me, +from the dish, or off the same plate; but I found this unpleasant, and +was soon forced to find them a dish for themselves, on account of their +slovenly habits. They became so tame that they allowed me to scratch +their necks, and appeared pleased when I did; but they would never permit +me to touch them on the back. Sometimes I amused myself with making them +play, and joining in their gambols. Occasionally I threw them a piece of +meat, scalding hot: the most eager ran to seize it, burned themselves, +cried out, and left it; while the less greedy, who had waited patiently, +took it when it was cold, and escaped into a corner, where they divided +their prize: sometimes I made them jump up, by holding a piece of bread +or meat suspended in the air.” In the course of a year, his four-footed +companions increased to twenty-six. Whenever an intruder appeared he met +with a hostile reception from the old standers, and had to fight his way +before he could obtain a footing. Latude endeavoured to familiarize a +spider, but in this he was unsuccessful. + +Another source of comfort was unexpectedly opened to the solitary +captive. Among the straw which was brought for his bed, he found a piece +of elder, and he conceived the idea of converting it into a sort of +flageolet. This, however, was a task of no easy accomplishment, for his +hands were fettered, and he had no tools. But necessity is proverbially +inventive. He succeeded in getting off the buckle which fastened the +waistband of his breeches, and bending it into a kind of chisel by means +of his leg irons; and, with this clumsy instrument, after the labour of +many months, he contrived to form a rude kind of musical pipe. It was +probably much inferior to a child’s whistle, but his delight when he had +completed it was extreme; the feeling was natural, and the sounds must +have been absolute harmony to his ear. + +Though his flageolet and his animal companions made his lonely hours +somewhat less burthensome, and at moments drew his attention wholly from +maddening thoughts, the longing for liberty would perpetually recur, +and he racked his mind for plans to shake off his chains. The thought +occurred to him, that if he could be fortunate enough to suggest some +plan which would benefit the state, it might be repaid by the gift of +freedom. At that time the non-commissioned military officers were armed +only with halberts, which could be of no use but in close engagement; +Latude proposed to substitute muskets for the halberts, and thus make +effective at least 20,000 men. But how was he to communicate his idea +to the king and the ministers? he had neither pen, ink, nor paper, and +strict orders had been given that he should be debarred from the use of +them. This obstacle, however, he got over. For paper, he moulded thin +tablets of bread, six inches square; for pens he used the triangular +bones out of a carp’s belly; for ink his blood was substituted—to obtain +it he tied round a finger some threads from his shirt, and punctured the +end. As only a few drops could be procured in this way, and as they dried +up rapidly, he was compelled to repeat the operation so often, that his +fingers were covered with wounds, and enormously swelled. The necessity +of frequent punctures he ultimately obviated, by diluting the blood with +water. + +When the memorial was finished, there was yet another difficulty to be +surmounted; it must be copied. In this emergency, Latude clamorously +demanded to see the Major of the Bastile. To that officer he declared +that, being convinced he had not long to live, he wished to prepare +for his end, by receiving religious assistance. The confessor of the +prison was in consequence sent to him, was astonished and delighted by +the memorial, became interested in his favour, and obtained an order +that he should be supplied with materials for writing. The memorial was +accordingly transcribed, and presented to the king. + +The suggestion was adopted by the government; the unfortunate prisoner +was, however, left to languish unnoticed in his dungeon. Again he tasked +his faculties for a project which might benefit at once his country and +himself. At this period no provision was made in France for the widows +of those who fell in battle. The king of Prussia had recently set the +example of granting pensions; and Latude deemed it worthy of being +imitated. But, knowing that an empty treasury would be pleaded in bar, +he proposed a trifling addition to the postage of letters, which he +calculated would raise an ample fund. His memorial and the data on which +it was founded, were forwarded to the monarch and the ministers. The tax +was soon after imposed, and nominally for the purpose pointed out by +Latude; but the widows, nevertheless, continued to be destitute, and the +projector unpitied. + +Foiled in all his efforts, the firmness of Latude gave way. He had +been pent for three years and five months in a loathsome dungeon, +suffering more than pen can describe. Exposed in his horrible fireless +and windowless abode to all the blasts of heaven, three winters, one of +which was peculiarly severe, had sorely tortured his frame. The cold, the +keen winds, and a continual defluxion from his nostrils, had split his +upper lip, and destroyed his front teeth; his eyes were endangered from +the same causes, and from frequent weeping; his head was often suddenly +affected by a sort of apoplectic stroke; and his limbs were racked by +cramp and rheumatism. Hope was extinct; intense agony of mind and body +rendered existence insufferable; and the unhappy victim resolved to throw +off a burthen which he could no longer bear. No instrument of destruction +being within reach, he tried to effect his purpose by starving himself; +and for a hundred and thirty-three hours he obstinately persisted in +refusing all food. At last, his jailers wrenched open his mouth, and +frustrated his design. Still bent on dying, he contrived to obtain and +secrete a fragment of broken glass, with which he opened four of the +large veins. During the night he bled till life was all but extinct. +Once more, however, he was snatched from the grave, and he now sullenly +resigned himself to await his appointed time. + +After he had been confined a considerable time longer, a fortunate +overflowing of the Seine occasioned his removal. The turnkey complained +heavily that he was obliged to walk through the water to the prisoner, +and Latude was in consequence removed to an apartment in the tower +of La Comté. It had no chimney, and was one of the worst rooms in the +tower, but it was a paradise when compared with the pestiferous hole from +which he had emerged. Yet, so strong is the yearning for society, that, +gladdened as he was by his removal, he could not help bitterly regretting +the loss of his sociable rats. As a substitute for them, he tried to +catch some of the pigeons which perched on the window; and, by means of a +noose, formed from threads drawn out of his linen, he finally succeeded +in snaring a male and a female. “I tried,” says he, “every means to +console them for the loss of liberty. I assisted them to make their nest +and to feed their young; my cares and attention equalled their own. +They seemed sensible of this, and repaid me by every possible mark of +affection. As soon as we had established this reciprocal understanding, +I occupied myself entirely with them. How I watched their actions, and +enjoyed their expressions of tenderness! I lost myself entirely while +with them, and in my dreams continued the enjoyment.” + +This pleasure was too great to be lasting. He had been placed in his +present apartment because it was under the care of a brutal turnkey named +Daragon, who had been punished for Latude’s former escape, and cherished +a rankling feeling of revenge. It was Daragon who purchased the grain +for the pigeons, and for this service the prisoner, besides the large +profit which the turnkey made, gave him one out of the seven bottles of +wine which was his weekly allowance. Daragon now insisted on having four +bottles, without which he would purchase no more grain. It was to no +purpose that Latude pleaded that the wine was indispensably necessary to +restore his health; the turnkey was deaf to reason. Latude was provoked +into asperity; Daragon rushed out in a rage; and in a short time he +returned, pretending that he had an order from the governor to kill +the pigeons. “My despair at this,” says Latude, “exceeded all bounds, +and absolutely unsettled my reason; I could willingly have sacrificed +my life to satisfy my just vengeance on this monster. I saw him make a +motion towards the innocent victims of my misfortunes; I sprang forward +to prevent him. I seized them, and, in my agony, I crushed them myself. +This was perhaps the most miserable moment of my whole existence. I never +recall the memory of it without the bitterest pangs. I remained several +days without taking any nourishment; grief and indignation divided my +soul; my sighs were imprecations, and I held all mankind in mortal +horror.” + +Fortunately, a humane and generous man, the Count de Jumilhac, was, +soon after, appointed governor of the Bastile. He compassionated the +sufferings of Latude, and exerted himself to relieve them. He obtained +for him an interview with M. de Sartine, the minister of police, who gave +him leave to walk for two hours daily on the platform of the Bastile, +and promised to befriend him. That promise he soon broke. Hope revived +in the breast of Latude, and he again set to work to form plans for the +good of the country. Schemes for issuing a new species of currency, and +for establishing public granaries in all the principal towns, were among +the first fruits of his meditations. With respect to the latter project, +he says, “nothing could be more simple than the mode I suggested of +constructing and provisioning these magazines. It consisted in a slight +duty upon marriage, which all rich people, or those who wished to appear +so, would have paid with eagerness, as I had the address to found it upon +their vanity.” This project pleased M. de Sartine so much, that he wished +to have the merit of it to himself, and, by means of a third person, he +sounded Latude, to know whether he would relinquish his claim to it, on +having a small pension secured to him. Latude gave a brief but peremptory +refusal, and M. de Sartine was thenceforth his enemy. All letters and +messages to him remained unnoticed. + +While he was one day walking on the platform, he learned the death of +his father. The sentinel who guarded him had served under his father, +but did not know that the prisoner was the son of his old officer. +Latude was overwhelmed by this fatal intelligence, and he fainted on the +spot. His mother still lived; but she, too, was sinking into the grave +from grief. It was in vain that, in the most pathetic language, she +repeatedly implored the harlot marchioness to have mercy on the captive. +Her prayers might have moved a heart of flint, but they had no effect +on Madame de Pompadour. But the horrors of imprisonment were not enough +to be inflicted on him; he was made the victim of calumny, and a stain +was fixed upon his character. To get rid of importunity in his behalf, +the men in office replied to his advocates, “Beware how you solicit the +pardon of that miscreant. You would shudder if you knew the crimes he has +committed.” + +Thus goaded almost to madness, it is not to be wondered at that he was +eager to take vengeance on his persecutors. Since the heart of Madame de +Pompadour was inaccessible to pity, he determined that it should at least +feel the stings of mortification and rage. His plan was, to draw up a +memorial, exposing her character, and to address it to La Beaumelle, who +had himself tasted the rigours of the Bastile. “I had only,” says he, “to +place in trusty hands the true history of her birth and infamous life, +with all the particulars of which I was well acquainted; in depriving +me of existence, she would dread my dying words, and even from the tomb +I should still be an object of terror to her. There was nothing then +to restrain the blow with which I had the power of crushing her. The +faithful friends who were to become the depositaries of my vengeance, +in apprising her of the danger, would merely give her a single moment to +escape it by doing me justice.” + +It was while he was walking on the platform of the Bastile that he formed +this chimerical project, for chimerical it was, there being scarcely a +probability that any one would have courage enough to second his attack +on the potent and vindictive marchioness. Having calculated the distance +between the top of the tower and the street of St. Anthony, on which he +looked down, he perceived that it was possible to fling a packet into +the street. Nothing of this kind could, however, be done while he was +closely watched by Falconet the aid-major, and a serjeant, both of whom +always attended him in his walk. Falconet was insufferably garrulous, +particularly on his own exploits, and Latude hoped to disgust him by +perpetual sarcasm and contradiction. He succeeded in silencing him, but +Falconet still clung to him like his shadow. To tire him out, Latude +adopted the plan of almost running during the whole of the time that +he was on the platform. The aid-major remonstrated, but the prisoner +answered, that rapid motion was indispensably necessary to him, in order +to excite perspiration. At last, Falconet suffered him to move about as +he pleased, and fell into gossiping with the serjeant, in which they both +engaged so deeply that Latude was left unnoticed. + +The next step of Latude was to gaze into the windows of the opposite +houses, and scrutinise the faces of the persons whom he saw, till +he could see some one whose countenance seemed indicative of humane +feelings. It was on the female sex, as having more sensibility than the +male, that he mainly relied for pity and succour; and his attention was +finally fixed on two young women, who were sitting by themselves at work +in a chamber, and whose looks appeared to betoken that they were of kind +dispositions. Having caught the eye of one of them, he respectfully +saluted her by a motion of his hand; the sign was answered by both of +them in a similar manner. After this dumb intercourse had continued for +some days, he showed them a packet, and they motioned to him to fling it; +but he gave them to understand that it was not yet ready. + +The means of conveyance for his intended work were now secured, but, as +he no longer had materials for writing, he had still much to contrive. +But he was not of a nature to be discouraged even by serious obstacles. +He had fortunately been allowed to purchase some books, and he resolved +to write between the lines and on the margins of the pages. As a pen +made of a carp bone would not write a sufficiently small hand for +interlineations, he beat a halfpenny as thin as paper, and succeeded in +shaping it into a tolerable pen. Ink was yet to be provided, and this +was the worst task of all to accomplish. Having on the former occasion +narrowly escaped gangrene in his fingers, he was afraid to use blood, +and was therefore compelled to find a substitute. To make his ink of +lampblack was the mode which occurred to him; but as he was allowed +neither fire nor candle, how was the black to be obtained? By a series +of stratagems he managed to surmount the difficulty. Under pretence of +severe tooth-ache, he borrowed from the serjeant, who attended him on +the platform, a pipe and the articles for lighting it, and he secreted a +piece of the tinder. By a simulated fit of colic, he got some oil from +the doctor. This he put into a pomatum pot, and made a wick from threads +drawn out of the sheets. He then made a bow and peg, like a drill, and +with this and the piece of tinder, by dint of rapid friction, he ignited +two small bits of dry wood, and lighted his lamp. The first view of the +light threw him, he says, into a delirium of joy. The condensed smoke he +collected on the bottom of a plate, and in six hours he had sufficient +for his purpose. But here he was stopped short, and all his trouble +seemed likely to be thrown away; for the light and oily black floated +on the water instead of mixing with it. He got over this by affecting +to have a violent cold. The prison apothecary sent him some syrup, and +Latude employed it to render the lamp black miscible with water. + +Thus provided with materials for writing, Latude sat down to compose +his work. “My whole heart and soul were in it,” says he, “and I steeped +my pen in the gall with which they were overflowing.” Having completed +the history of his persecutor, he wrote a letter of instructions to La +Beaumelle, another to a friend, the Chevalier de Mehegan, in case of La +Beaumelle being absent, and a third to his two female friends, in which +he directed them how to proceed, and entreated them to exert themselves +in his behalf. The whole of the papers he packed up in a leathern bag, +which he formed out of the lining of a pair of breeches. As the packet +was rather bulky, and the carrying of it about his person was dangerous, +he was anxious to get rid of it as soon as possible. Some time, however, +elapsed before he could catch sight of his friendly neighbours. At length +one of them saw his signal, descended into the street, and caught the +packet. Three months and a half passed away, during which he frequently +saw them, and they seemed to be pleased with something that related to +him, but he was unable to comprehend their signs. At last, on the 18th of +April, 1764, they approached the window, and displayed a roll of paper, +on which was written in large characters, “The Marchioness of Pompadour +died yesterday.” + +“I thought I saw the heavens open before me!” exclaimed Latude. His +oppressor was gone, and he felt an undoubting confidence that his +liberation would immediately follow as a necessary consequence. He was +soon cruelly undeceived. After some days had passed over, he wrote to the +lieutenant of police, and claimed his freedom. Sartine had given strict +orders to all the officers of the Bastile to conceal the death of the +marchioness, and he instantly hurried to the prison, to discover how the +news had reached Latude. He summoned the prisoner into his presence, and +harshly questioned him on the subject. Latude perceived that a disclosure +might be prejudicial to the kind females, and, with equal firmness and +honour, he refused to make it. “The avowal,” said Sartine, “is the price +of your liberty.” The captive, however, again declared that he would +rather perish than purchase the blessing at such a cost. Finding him +inflexible, the baffled lieutenant of police retired in anger. Irritated +by repeated letters, petitions, and remonstrances being neglected, and +having been led to fear that he was to be perpetually imprisoned, to +prevent him from suing Pompadour’s heirs, Latude in an evil hour lost all +command over himself, and wrote a violent epistle to Sartine, avowedly +for the purpose of enraging him. This act of insane passion was punished +by instant removal to one of the worst dungeons, where his fare was bread +and water. + +After Latude had been for eighteen days in the dungeon, M. de Sartine +obtained an order to transfer him to Vincennes, and immure him in an +oubliette. Before he removed the prisoner, he circulated a report “that +he meant to deliver him, but that, to accustom him by degrees to a change +of air, he was going to place him for a few months in a convent of +monks.” On the night of the 14th of August, 1764, an officer of police, +with two assistants, came to convey him to his new prison. “My keepers,” +says he, “fastened an iron chain round my neck, the end of which they +placed under the bend of my knees; one of them placed one hand upon my +mouth, and the other behind my head, whilst his companion pulled the +chain with all his might, and completely bent me double. The pain I +suffered was so intense, that I thought my loins and spine were crushed; +I have no doubt it equalled that endured by the wretch who is broken on +the wheel. In this state I was conveyed from the Bastile to Vincennes.” + +At Vincennes he was placed in a cell. His mind and body were now both +overpowered by the severity of his fate, dangerous illness came on, +and he every day grew weaker. Fortunately for Latude, M. Guyonnet, the +governor of the fortress, had nothing of “the steeled jailer” about him; +he was a generous, humane man, of amiable manners. He listened to the +mournful tale of the captive, wept for his misfortunes, took on himself +the responsibility of giving him a good apartment, and obtained for him +the privilege of walking daily for two hours in the garden. + +Despairing, as well he might, of being ever released by his inflexible +enemies, Latude meditated incessantly on the means of escaping. Fifteen +months elapsed before an opportunity occurred, and then it was brought +about by chance. He was walking in the garden, on a November afternoon, +when a thick fog suddenly came on. The idea of turning it to account +rushed into his mind. He was guarded by two sentries and a serjeant, who +never quitted his side for an instant; but he determined to make a bold +attempt. By a violent push of his elbows he threw off the sentries, then +pushed down the serjeant, and darted past a third sentry, who did not +perceive him till he was gone by. All four set up the cry of “Seize him!” +and Latude joined in it still more loudly, pointing with his finger, to +mislead the pursuers. There remained only one sentry to elude, but he +was on the alert, and unfortunately knew him. Presenting his bayonet, he +threatened to kill the prisoner if he did not stop. “My dear Chenu,” +said I to him, “you are incapable of such an action; your orders are +to arrest, and not to kill me. I had slackened my pace, and came up to +him slowly; as soon as I was close to him, I sprang upon his musket, I +wrenched it from him with such violence, that he was thrown down in the +struggle; I jumped over his body, flinging the musket to a distance of +ten paces, lest he should fire it after me, and once more I achieved my +liberty.” + +Favoured by the fog, Latude contrived to hide himself in the park till +night, when he scaled the wall, and proceeded, by by-ways, to Paris. +He sought a refuge with the two kind females to whom he had entrusted +his packet. They were the daughters of a hair-dresser, named Lebrun. +The asylum for which he asked was granted in the kindest manner. They +procured for him some linen, and an apartment in the house, gave him +fifteen livres which they had saved, and supplied him with food from all +their own meals. The papers confided to them they had endeavoured, but in +vain, to deliver to the persons for whom they were intended: two of those +persons were absent from France; the third was recently married, and his +wife, on hearing that the packet was from the Bastile, would not suffer +her husband to receive it. + +Latude was out of prison, but he was not out of danger. He was convinced +that, to whatever quarter he might bend his steps, it would be next +to impossible to elude M. de Sartine, who, by means of his spies, was +omnipresent. In this emergency, he deemed it prudent to conciliate +his persecutor; and he accordingly wrote a letter to him, entreating +forgiveness for insults offered in a moment of madness, promising future +silence and submission, and pathetically imploring him to become his +protector. This overture had no result. He tried the influence of various +persons, among whom was the prince of Conti, but everywhere he was met +by the prejudice which Sartine had raised against him; and, to add to his +alarm and vexation, he learned that a strict search was making for him, +and that a reward of a thousand crowns was offered for his apprehension. + +As a last resource, he determined to make a personal appeal to the +duke of Choiseul, the first minister, who was then with the court at +Fontainebleau. It was mid-December when he set out, the ground was +covered with ice and snow, and the cold was intense. A morsel of bread +was his whole stock of provisions, he had no money, and he dared not +approach a house, proceed on the high road, or travel by day, lest he +should be intercepted. In his nightly circuitous journey, of more than +forty miles, he often fell into ditches, or tore himself in scrambling +through the hedges. “I hid myself in a field,” says he, “during the whole +of the 16th; and, after walking for two successive nights, I arrived on +the morning of the 17th at Fontainebleau, worn out by fatigue, hunger, +grief, and despair.” + +Latude was too soon convinced that there was no chance of escaping from +the vengeance of M. de Sartine. As soon as he had announced his arrival +to the duke, two officers of the police came to convey him, as they said, +to the minister; but their mask was speedily thrown off, and he found +that they were to escort him back to Vincennes. They told him that every +road had been beset, and every vehicle watched, to discover him, and they +expressed their wonder at his having been able to reach Fontainebleau +undetected. “I now learned,” says he, “for the first time, that there +was no crime so great, or so severely punished, as a complaint against +a minister. These exempts quoted to me the case of some deputies from +the provinces, who, having been sent a short time before to denounce to +the king the exactions of certain intendants, had been arrested, and +punished as dangerous incendiaries!” + +On his reaching Vincennes, he was thrown into a horrible dungeon, barely +six feet by six and a half in diameter, which was secured by four +iron-plated, treble-bolted doors, distant a foot from each other. To +aggravate his misery, he was told that he deserved a thousand times worse +treatment; for that he had been the cause of the serjeant who guarded +him being hanged. This appalling news entirely overwhelmed him; he gave +himself up to frantic despair, and incessantly accused himself as the +murderer of the unfortunate man. In the course of a few days, however, a +compassionate sentinel, who was moved by his cries and groans, relieved +his heart, by informing him that the serjeant was well, and had only been +imprisoned. + +The kind-hearted governor sometimes visited Latude, but the information +which he brought was not consolatory. He had tried to move M. de Sartine, +and had found him inflexible. Sartine, however, sent to offer the +prisoner his liberty, on condition that he would name the person who held +his papers, and he pledged his honour that no harm should come to that +person. Latude knew him too well to trust him. He resolutely answered, “I +entered my dungeon an honest man, and I will die rather than leave it a +dastard and a knave.” + +Into the den, where he was as it were walled up, no ray of light entered; +the air was never changed but at the moment when the turnkey opened the +wicket; the straw on which he lay was always rotten with damp, and the +narrowness of the space scarcely allowed him room to move. His health +of course rapidly declined, and his body swelled enormously, retaining +in every part of it, when touched, the impression of the finger. Such +were his agonies that he implored his keepers, as an act of mercy, to +terminate his existence. At last, after having endured months of intense +suffering, he was removed to a habitable apartment, where his strength +gradually returned. + +Though his situation was improved, he was still entirely secluded from +society. Hopeless of escape, he pondered on the means of at least opening +an intercourse with his fellow-prisoners. On the outer side of his +chamber was the garden, in which each of the prisoners, Latude alone +being excluded, was daily allowed to walk by himself for a certain time. +This wall was five feet thick; so that to penetrate it seemed almost as +difficult as to escape. But what cannot time and perseverance accomplish! +His only instruments were a broken piece of a sword and an iron hoop of +a bucket, which he had contrived to secrete; yet with these, by dint of +twenty-six months’ labour, he managed to perforate the mass of stone. +The hole was made in a dark corner of the chimney, and he stopped the +interior opening with a plug, formed of sand and plaster. A long wooden +peg, rather shorter than the hole, was inserted into it, that, in case of +the external opening being noticed and sounded, it might seem to be not +more than three inches in depth. + +For a signal to the prisoner walking in the garden, he tied several +pieces of wood so as to form a stick about six feet long, at the end of +which hung a bit of riband. The twine with which it was tied was made +from threads drawn out of his linen. He thrust the stick through the +hole, and succeeded in attracting the attention of a fellow-captive, +the Baron de Venac, who had been nineteen years confined for having +presumed to give advice to Madame de Pompadour. He successively became +acquainted with several others, two of whom were also the victims of +the marchioness; one of them had been seventeen years in prison, on +suspicion of having spoken ill of her; the other had been twenty-three +years, because he was suspected of having written against her a pamphlet, +which he had never even seen. The prisoners contrived to convey ink and +paper to Latude through the hole; he opened a correspondence with them, +encouraged them to write to each other, and became the medium through +which they transmitted their letters. The burthen of captivity was much +lightened to him by this new occupation. + +An unfortunate change for the prisoners now took place. The benevolent +and amiable-mannered Guyonnet was succeeded by Rougemont, a man who was +a contrast to him in every respect; he was avaricious, flinty-hearted, +brutal, and a devoted tool of M. de Sartine. The diet which he provided +for the captives was of the worst kind; and their scanty comforts were +as much as possible abridged. That he might not be thwarted in the +exercise of his tyranny, he dismissed such of the prison attendants as he +suspected of being humane, and replaced them by men whose dispositions +harmonised with his own. How utterly devoid of feeling were the beings +whom he selected, may be judged by the language of his cook. This libel +on the human race is known to have said, “If the prisoners were ordered +to be fed upon straw, I would give them stable-litter;” and, on other +occasions, he declared, “If I thought there was a single drop of juice in +the meat of the prisoners, I would trample it under my foot to squeeze it +out.” Such a wretch would not have scrupled to put poison into the food, +had not his master had an interest in keeping the captives alive. When +any one complained of the provisions, he was insultingly answered, “It is +but too good for prisoners;” when he applied for the use of an article, +however insignificant, the reply was, “It is contrary to the rules.” So +horrible was the despotism of the governor that, within three months, +four of the prisoners strangled themselves in despair. “The Inquisition +itself,” says Latude, “might envy his proficiency in torture!” + +Latude was one of the first to suffer from the brutality of Rougemont. +The apartment in which Guyonnet had placed him commanded a fine view. +The enjoyment of a prospect was thought to be too great a luxury for a +prisoner, and, accordingly, Rougemont set about depriving him of it. He +partly built up the windows, filled the interstices of the bars with +close iron net-work; and then, lest a blade of grass should still be +visible, blockaded the outside with a blind like a mill-hopper, so that +nothing could be perceived but a narrow slip of sky. But his situation +was soon made far worse. In a fit of anger, caused by his being refused +the means of writing to the lieutenant of police, he imprudently chanced +to wish himself in his former cell again. He was taken at his word. On +the following morning, when he had forgotten his unguarded speech, he was +led back to his dark and noisome dungeon. “Few will believe,” says he, +“that such inhuman jests could be practised in a civilised country.” + +M. de Sartine, being now appointed minister of the marine, was replaced +by M. Le Noir. It was some time before Latude knew of this change, and +he derived no benefit from it, the new head of the police being the +friend of Sartine. He wished to address the minister, but the means were +refused, and he again tasked his skill to remove the obstacle. The only +light he enjoyed was when his food was brought to him. The turnkey then +set down the lamp at the entrance of the wicket, and went away to attend +to other business. Of the turnkey’s short absence Latude availed himself +to write a letter; it was written on a piece of his shirt, with a straw +dipped in blood. His appeal was disregarded; and, to prevent him from +repeating it in the same manner, the governor ordered a socket for the +candle to be fixed on the outside of the wicket, so that only a few +feeble rays might penetrate into the dungeon. But the captive was not +to be easily discouraged; and, besides, he took a delight in baffling +his persecutors. He had remaining in a pomatum pot some oil, sent by the +surgeon to alleviate the colic pains which were caused by the dampness +of his abode. Cotton drawn from his stockings supplied him with a wick. +He then twisted some of his straw into a rope, which he coiled up, and +fastened, in the shape of a bee-hive. With another portion of straw he +made a sort of stick, five feet long, with a bit of linen at the end of +it. The turnkey was always obliged to bring his food at twice; and, while +he was fetching the second portion, Latude thrust out the stick, obtained +a light from the candle, lighted his taper, and then closely covered it +over with the bee-hive basket. When he was left by himself he unhooded +the lamp, and wrote a second letter with his own blood. The only result +was, to make his jailers believe that he was aided by the prince of +darkness. + +It was not till Latude was again at death’s-door that he was removed +from his dungeon; on being taken out he fainted, and remained for a long +while insensible. When he came to himself his mind wandered, and for +some time he imagined that he had passed into the other world. Medical +aid was granted to him, and he slowly recovered his health. The turnkeys +now occasionally dropped obscure hints of some beneficial change, which +he was at a loss to understand. The mystery was at length explained. +The benevolent M. de Malesherbes had lately been appointed a cabinet +minister, and one of his first acts was to inspect the state prisons. +He saw Latude, listened to his mournful story, was indignant at his +six-and-twenty years’ captivity, and promised redress. + +Latude had been more than eleven years at Vincennes, when the order +arrived for his release. His heart beat high with exultation; but he was +doomed to suffer severe disappointment. At the moment when he imagined +that he was free, an officer informed him, that the minister thought +it expedient to accustom him gradually to a purer air, and that he was +therefore directed to convey him to a convent, where he was to remain for +a few months. These were the very same words which had been spoken to +him when he was sent from the Bastile to Vincennes; and, knowing their +meaning but too well, they almost palsied his faculties. His enemies +had been busily at work; by gross misrepresentations, and by forging in +his name an extravagant memorial to the king, they had induced M. de +Malesherbes to believe that the prisoner’s intellects were disordered, +and that he could not be immediately released without peril. + +It was to the hospital of Charenton, the Parisian bedlam, that the +officers were removing Latude. When he was about to quit Vincennes, +he heard the brutal Rougemont describe him to them as a dangerous and +hardened criminal, who could not be too rigorously confined. It was also +hinted, that the prisoner was gifted with magical powers, by virtue of +which he had thrice escaped in an extraordinary manner. When he was +turned over to the monks, called the Brothers of Charity, who had the +management of Charenton, these particulars were faithfully reported to +them, and he was introduced under the name of Danger, in order to excite +an idea of his formidable character. + +Unacquainted with the nature of Charenton, Latude, on seeing the monks, +had supposed that he was in a monastery. On finding that he was in a +mad-house, he dropped lifeless to the ground. He was conducted to a cell, +which was over the vault where the furious lunatics were chained, and +their shrieks and groans were horrible. In the night he heard the sound +of voices, and discovered that two prisoners, one in the adjoining +room, and the other in that above, were talking about him, out of their +windows. They were both of them state prisoners, the hospital being +occasionally converted into a jail by the ministers; one was named St. +Magloire, the other the Baron de Prilles. Latude introduced himself to +them, and they promised him all the services in their power. De Prilles +possessed considerable influence with the officers of the establishment, +and he exerted it so effectually, that he obtained permission for Latude +to be visited by his fellow-captives. He had, however, enjoyed this +comfort only for a short time, when Rougemont came and gave orders for +his being placed in close and solitary confinement. + +Latude remained in seclusion for a considerable time; but, at length, by +dint of incessant remonstrances, De Prilles induced the superiors of the +hospital to allow his new friend to take his meals in the apartment of +St. Bernard, one of his fellow-captives. Another favour was soon after +granted; he was permitted to take some exercise in the smaller court, +when all the inmates of the place had been shut up for the night. It was +then winter; and, at eight o’clock, the keeper led him to the court; and, +when he was not disposed to walk with him, he placed his lantern on a +stone, and watched him through some holes purposely bored in the door. + +Trifling as were these indulgences, the worthy monks had disobeyed +positive orders in allowing them. But they did not stop here. The head of +the hospital, Father Facio, was so deeply moved by the injustice done to +the captive, that he waited on M. de Malesherbes to intercede for him. +On his assuring the minister that the prisoner was submissive, docile, +and perfectly sane, his hearer, who had been told that Latude was a +furious madman, was astonished and indignant at having been deceived. He +promised that he would speedily release him, and desired that he might, +in the meanwhile, enjoy as much liberty as the hospital regulations would +allow. Unfortunately, however, for Latude, Malesherbes very shortly after +ceased to be one of the ministers. + +Though he failed to obtain his freedom, the situation of Latude was +much ameliorated; he might roam wherever he would, within the bounds +of the establishment. He derived additional comfort from several of +the state prisoners being now suffered to take their meals together, +instead of having them separately in their apartments. The party thus +formed admitted to their society several of the lunatics who had been +liberally educated, and were harmless. One of these unfortunate men +asserted himself to be the Divinity, another claimed to be a son of +Louis XV., a third took a higher flight, and was the reigning monarch. +These aspiring pretensions were strongly contrasted with the humility +of others. A barrister, whose intellect love had shaken, manifested his +insanity by throwing himself at every one’s feet and imploring pardon. +Another individual, who had been a hermit, obstinately persisted in +believing that Latude was a German elector, and, in spite of all attempts +to prevent it, would perform for him the meanest domestic offices. “If +I told him in the morning,” says Latude, “that a flea had disturbed my +rest, he would not leave my chamber till he had killed it: he would bring +it to me in the hollow of his hand, to show me what he had done. ‘My +lord,’ he would say, ‘it will bite no more, and will never again disturb +the sleep of your most serene highness.’” + +A fellow prisoner who had recently been confined in a cell during a +furious paroxysm of insanity, now gave some information to Latude, +which deeply wounded his feelings. From him Latude learned that his +early friend D’Alegre was in the prison, a raving maniac, shut up in an +iron cage. His entreaties were so pressing, that the monks granted him +permission to visit this unfortunate being. He found him a lamentable +spectacle, shrunk to a skeleton, his hair matted, and his eyes sunken +and haggard. Latude rushed to embrace him, but was repelled with signs +of aversion by the maniac. In vain he strove to recall himself to the +maniac’s recollection; the lost being only looked fiercely at him, and +exclaimed, in a hollow tone, “I know you not!—begone!—I am God!” This +victim of despotism had been ten years at Charenton, and he continued +there, in the same melancholy state, during the remainder of his +existence, which was protracted till a very late period. + +After Latude had been for nearly two years at Charenton, his friends +succeeded in obtaining an order for his release, on condition that he +should permanently fix his abode at Montagnac, his native place. He +quitted the prison without hat or coat; all his dress consisting of +a tattered pair of breeches and stockings, a pair of slippers, and a +great-coat thirty years old, which damp had reduced to rottenness. He +was penniless, too; “but,” says he, “I was regardless of all these +circumstances; it was enough that I was free!” + +With some money, which he borrowed from a person who knew his family, +Latude procured decent clothing. He called on M. Le Noir, who received +him not unfavourably, and desired him to depart without delay for +Montagnac. Unfortunately, he did not follow this advice. He lingered in +Paris to draw up a memorial to the king, soliciting a recompense for his +plans; and he had an interview with the Prince de Beauveau, to whom he +related his woeful story. In his memorial, he mentioned M. de Sartine; +and, though he intimates that he said nothing offensive, we may doubt +whether he manifested much forbearance. The ministers now gave him +peremptory orders to quit Paris; it is obvious that they were acquainted +with his memorial, and were irritated by it beyond measure. He had +proceeded forty-three leagues on his journey to the south of France, when +he was overtaken by an officer of police, who carried him back a prisoner +to the capital. + +Latude was now taught that hitherto he had not reached the lowest depth +of misery; he was doomed to experience “a bitter change, severer for +severe.” Till this time his companions in suffering had been men with +whom it was no disgrace to associate; but, in this instance, he was +tossed among a horde of the most abandoned ruffians on earth; he was +immured in the Bicêtre, in that part of the jail which was appropriated +to swindlers, thieves, murderers, and other atrocious criminals, the scum +and offscouring of France. On his arrival there, he was stripped, clad +in the coarse and degrading prison attire, thrust into a dungeon, and +supplied with a scanty portion of bread and water. + +He was now in the midst of wretches, who tormented him with questions +as to what robberies and murders he had committed, boasted of their own +numerous crimes, and laughed at his pretending to innocence. “I was +condemned,” says he, “to endure their gross and disgusting language, +to listen to their unprincipled projects, in short to breathe the very +atmosphere of vice.” It was in vain that, to procure his liberation from +this den of infamy, he wrote to the friends who had rescued him from +Charenton; some of them were silenced by the old falsehood that he was +a dangerous madman, and others were alienated by being told that he had +broken into the house of a lady of rank, and by threats had terrified +her into giving him a large sum of money. This last calumny stung him +to the soul, and he wrote to M. de Sartine to demand a trial; but his +letter produced no other effect than the issuing of an order to take from +him the means of writing. Such accumulated injustice soured his mind, +and, brooding over the hope of revenge, he assumed the name of Jedor, in +allusion to a dog so called, the figure of which he had seen on the gate +of a citadel, with a bone between its paws, and underneath, as a motto, +“I gnaw my bone, expecting the day when I may bite him who has bitten me.” + +While the money lasted which Latude had taken into the prison, he could +obtain a supply of food, bad indeed in quality, and villanously cooked, +but still capable of supporting nature. But the money was soon spent, +and he was then reduced to the prison allowance, which was scanty in +quantity, of the worst kind, and often polluted by an admixture of filth +and vermin. Latude was a large eater, and the portion of food allowed to +him was so trifling, that he was tortured by hunger. To such extremity +was he driven, that he was compelled to petition the sweepers to give him +some of the hard crusts which were thrown into the passages by the richer +prisoners, and which were collected every morning for the pigs. + +Bad as the fare of Latude was, his lodging was far worse. His windowless +cell, only eight feet square, swarmed with fleas and rats to such a +degree that to sleep was all but impossible; fifty rats at a time were +under his coverlet. He had neither fire nor candle, his clothing was +insufficient, and the wind, rain, and snow beat furiously through the +iron grating, which barely admitted the light. In rainy weather, and +during thaws, the water ran in streams down the walls of the dungeon. + +Eight-and-thirty months were spent in this infernal abode. Rheumatism, +that prevented him from quitting his pallet, was the first consequence +of his exposed situation. This brought with it an aggravation of another +evil; for when Latude was unable to approach the wicket, the keeper flung +in his bread, and gave him no soup. Scurvy of the most inveterate kind +at length attacked him, his limbs were swelled and blackened, his gums +became spongy, and his teeth loose, and he could no longer masticate the +bread. For three days he lay without sustenance, voiceless and moveless, +and he was just on the point of expiring, when he was conveyed to the +infirmary. The infirmary was a loathsome place, little better than a +charnel-house, but the medical aid which he obtained there restored him, +after a struggle of many months, to a tolerable state of health. + +On his recovery he was placed in a decent apartment. He did not, +however, long enjoy it. Having attempted to present a petition to a +princess of the house of Bouillon, who came to see the Bicêtre, he was +punished by being thrust into a dungeon more horrible than that which +he had previously inhabited. His own words will best describe what he +underwent. “I was,” says he, “still enduring a physical torture which I +had experienced before, though never to so cruel and dangerous an extent. +After having triumphed over so many disasters, and vanquished so many +enemies by my unshaken constancy, I was on the point of yielding to the +intolerable pain occasioned by the vermin which infested my person. My +dungeon was totally dark, my eye-sight was nearly extinguished, and I +tried in vain to deliver myself from the myriads of these noxious animals +that assailed me at once; the dreadful irritation made me tear my flesh +with my teeth and nails, until my whole body became covered with ulcers; +insects generated in the wounds, and literally devoured me alive. It was +impossible to sleep: I was driven mad with agony, my sufferings were +drawing to a close, and death in its most horrid shape awaited me.” + +Gloomy as appearances were, the dawn of a brighter day was at hand. A +providential occurrence, which seemed calculated to destroy his last +hope, was the cause of his redemption. In 1781, the President de Gourgue +visited the Bicêtre, heard the story of Latude, desired that the captive +would draw up a memorial, and promised to exert himself in his behalf. +Latude wrote the memorial, and intrusted it to a careless messenger, who +dropped it in the street. The packet was found by a young female, Madame +Legros, who carried on in a humble way the business of a mercer, and +whose husband was a private teacher. The envelope being torn by lying +in the wet, and the seal broken, she looked at the contents, which were +signed “Masers de Latude, a prisoner during thirty-two years, at the +Bastile, at Vincennes, and at the Bicêtre, where he is confined on bread +and water, in a dungeon ten feet under ground.” + +The gentle heart of Madame Legros was shocked at the idea of the +protracted agony which the prisoner must have suffered. After she +had taken a copy of the memorial, her husband, who participated in +her feelings, carried it to the president. But the magistrate had +been deceived by the falsehood, that the captive was a dangerous +incurable lunatic, and he advised them to desist from efforts which +must be fruitless. Madame Legros, however, who had much good sense and +acuteness, would not believe that the captive was mad; she again read +the memorial attentively, and could perceive in it no indication of +disordered intellect. She was firmly convinced that he was the victim of +persecution, and she resolved to devote her time and her faculties to +his deliverance. Never, perhaps, was the sublime of benevolence so fully +displayed as by this glorious woman, whose image ought to have been +handed down to posterity by the painter’s and the sculptor’s hand. In +the course of her philanthropic struggles, she had to endure calumny and +severe privations, she was reduced to sell her ornaments and part of her +furniture, and to subsist on hard and scanty fare, yet she never paused +for a moment from the pursuit of her object, never uttered a sentence +of regret that she had engaged in it. Her husband, too, though less +personally active, has the merit of having entirely coincided with her in +opinion, and aided her as far as he had the power. + +It is delightful to know that her noble labours were crowned with +success. Her toils, and the result of them, are thus summed up by Latude, +who has also narrated them at great length. “Being thoroughly convinced +of my innocence, she resolved to attempt my liberation; she succeeded, +after occupying three years in unparalleled efforts, and unwearied +perseverance. Every feeling heart will be deeply moved at the recital +of the means she employed, and the difficulties she surmounted. Without +relations, friends, fortune, or assistance, she undertook everything, +and shrank from no danger and no fatigue. She penetrated to the levées +of ministers, and forced her way to the presence of the great; she spoke +with the natural eloquence of truth, and falsehood fled before her words. +They excited her hopes and extinguished them, received her with kindness +and repulsed her rudely; she reiterated her petitions, and returned a +hundred times to the attack, emboldened by defeat itself. The friends +her virtues had created trembled for her liberty, even for her life. +She resisted all their entreaties, disregarded their remonstrances, and +continued to plead the cause of humanity. When seven months pregnant, she +went on foot to Versailles, in the midst of winter; she returned home +exhausted with fatigue and worn out with disappointment; she worked more +than half the night to obtain subsistence for the following day, and then +repaired again to Versailles. At the expiration of eighteen months, she +visited me in my dungeon, and communicated her efforts and her hopes. +For the first time I saw my generous protectress; I became acquainted +with her exertions, and I poured forth my gratitude in her presence. +She redoubled her anxiety, and resolved to brave everything. Often, on +the same day, she has gone to Montmartre to visit her infant, which was +placed there at nurse, and then came to the Bicêtre to console me and +inform me of her progress. At last, after three years, she triumphed, and +procured my liberty!” + +In the first instance, the boon of liberty could not be said to be more +than half granted; Latude being ordered to fix his abode at Montagnac, +and not to leave the town without the permission of the police officer +of the district. As his fortune was entirely lost, a miserable pension +of four hundred livres (about £16) was assigned for his subsistence. By +the renewed exertions of Madame Legros, however, the decree of exile was +rescinded, and he was allowed to remain at Paris, on condition of his +never appearing in the coffee-houses, on the public walks, or in any +place of public amusement. The government might well be ashamed that such +a living proof of its injustice should be contemplated by the people. + +It was on the 24th of March, 1784, that Latude emerged into the world, +from which he had for five-and-thirty years been secluded. He and his +noble-minded benefactress were, for a considerable time, objects of +general curiosity. Happily, that curiosity did not end in barren pity and +wonder, but proved beneficial to those who excited it. A subscription +was raised, by which two annuities, each of 300 livres, were purchased, +one for Latude, the other for his deliverer. Two other pensions, of 600 +livres and 100 crowns, were soon after granted by individuals to Madame +Legros, and the Montyon gold medal, annually given as the prize of +virtue, was unanimously adjudged to her by the French Academy. The income +of Latude also obtained some increase; but it was not till 1793 that it +received any addition of importance; in that year he brought an action +against the heirs of the Marchioness de Pompadour, and heavy damages +were awarded to him. Notwithstanding the severe shocks his frame had +undergone, the existence of Latude was protracted till 1805, when he died +at the age of eighty. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + Reign of Louis XVI.—Enormous number of Lettres de Cachet + issued in two reigns—William Debure the elder—Blaizot + imprisoned for obeying the King—Pelisseri—Prisoners from + St. Domingo—Linguet—Duvernet—The Count de Paradès—Marquis + de Sade—Brissot—The Countess de la Motte—Cardinal de + Rohan—Cagliostro—The affair of the Diamond Necklace—Reveillon + takes shelter in the Bastile—Attack and capture of the Bastile + by the Parisians—Conclusion. + + +The reign of Louis XV., which, as far as regarded himself, was every +way inglorious, was protracted to the length of fifty-nine years; a +duration which has rarely been equalled. Popular enthusiasm, or rather +popular folly—the terms are often synonymous—at one time conferred on +him the title of “the Well-beloved;” he lived to be sincerely hated, +and he died unlamented, except by such of his flatterers and parasites +as feared that they would be cast off by a new monarch. Of the enormous +amount of private misery which, during the period of his sway, he must +have inflicted, in exercising only one attribute of his despotism, some +idea may be formed, from the circumstance of more than 150,000 _lettres +de cachet_ having been issued while he occupied the throne; an annual +average of more than 2500. How many wives, parents, children, must have +been yearly driven to despair by this atrocious tyranny! Though it is +certain that the prisoners were not all treated with the same brutality +as Masers de Latude, the mass of suffering must, nevertheless, have been +more than can be contemplated without a shudder by any one who is not +dead to the feelings of humanity. + +In 1774, Louis XVI. ascended the throne. He was a perfect contrast to +his predecessor. In his manners there was little of the dignity of a +sovereign, and he was deficient in firmness and penetration; but, pure +in morals, kind in heart, and honest in principle, he was unfeignedly +desirous to do justice to his people, and to contribute to their welfare. +Yet, so difficult is it to uproot a long-established abuse, and such is +the power of ministers and men in office, that, even under the government +of this well-meaning king, no fewer than 14,000 _lettres de cachet_ are +said to have been granted in the fifteen years which elapsed between the +accession of Louis and the meeting of the States General. + +The very first instances which I shall bring forward of the use made of +_lettres de cachet_, in this reign, will afford proof of the unprincipled +and arbitrary spirit of the men who held authority. We commence with +William Debure the elder, one of the most eminent and intelligent of the +Parisian booksellers. The family of the Debures carried on, from father +to son, the same business in Paris, for nearly two centuries. The subject +of this sketch was in habits of intimacy with the most distinguished +literary characters. His catalogues of celebrated libraries, to the +number of forty-three, are much esteemed. At the time of his decease, +in 1820, when he was eighty-six, he was the oldest bookseller in France, +and was considered as the patriarch of bibliography. It was in 1778 +that he was sent to the Bastile. In 1777, the Council of State thought +proper to issue an ordinance, decreeing that the term of copyright should +not in future extend beyond the time which was required to defray the +expense of publishing. The Council followed this up by another ordinance, +authorizing the sale of pirated editions, on payment of a stamp duty. +These acts, equally absurd and unjust, were, in fact, licenses to commit +robbery upon authors and publishers, for the benefit of the treasury, +which shared the spoil with the robbers. Debure then held in his company +the place of syndic, which seems to be analogous to that of master in +our stationers’ company. To him fell the task of stamping the pirated +works. Well knowing that a great number of booksellers would inevitably +be ruined by the new law, or rather violation of law, which the Council +had promulgated, Debure declined to comply with it, and desired that he +might be allowed to resign. His resignation was not accepted, and he was +thrice summoned to proceed to the stamping of the spurious books; and in +each instance the significant hint was thrown out, “Stamp, or if you do +not——.” Debure remained immovable, and he was at length committed to the +Bastile. The ministers, however, either became ashamed of their conduct, +or, which is more probable, were overruled by the monarch; for, in the +course of a few days, he recovered his liberty. + +Another bookseller is said to have been punished in the same manner, for +the extraordinary offence of executing, in the way of trade, an order +which was given to him by his sovereign. Suspecting that his ministers +kept him in ignorance of the sentiments and wishes of the people, Louis +determined to obtain some knowledge of them from another quarter. To +peruse the various political pamphlets of the day seemed to him the best +mode of accomplishing his purpose. Accordingly, he directed a bookseller, +named Blaizot, to send them regularly and secretly to a certain place, +whence they were to be conveyed to him. This was done for about two +months. Alarmed to find the king possessed of so much information, +upon subjects with which they had believed him to be unacquainted, the +ministers set to work to discover the source of it. Either Blaizot’s +imprudence, or the activity of their spies, soon made them masters of +the secret. The luckless bookseller was speedily taught that there +was an influence behind the throne which was greater than the throne +itself. The Bastile received him. This audacious act is attributed to +the Baron de Breteuil; of whom, however, it is but justice to state, +that he is said to have liberated many prisoners, and much ameliorated +the prison discipline. But he was at times harsh and impetuous, and may, +perhaps, on this occasion, have yielded to passion, or to the wish of his +colleagues. Surprised by the customary supply of pamphlets being abruptly +stopped, Louis inquired into the cause of it, and was equally astonished +and indignant to find that Blaizot had been lodged in the Bastile, by +virtue of one of those laconic billets which were signed Louis, and +countersigned by a cabinet minister. Blaizot was instantly released, and +the Baron de Breteuil was reprimanded, in the severest language, by his +offended master. + +That Breteuil, highly aristocratic in his principles, and believing the +established order of things to be perfection itself, should consider it +as a matter of course to silence all opponents by means of the Bastile, +can excite no wonder; but, if a minister who sprang from the people, +a republican by birth, and a professed friend of reform, could punish +by imprisonment a man who ventured to criticise his measures, we must +wonder indeed! Yet, if M. Linguet was not misinformed, such a case did +actually happen. He tells us that, while he was in the Bastile, there +was in the prison a captive named Pelisseri, who had been three years +in confinement, and whose sole crime was that he had made some remarks +on the financial operations of M. Necker. The story is not probable. +With some important faults, the minister had many virtues, and certainly +had nothing cruel in his nature. It is very likely that the captivity +of Pelisseri was the work of some secret enemy, who hated both him and +Necker, and doubly gratified his vindictive feelings, by incarcerating +the one and calumniating the other. + +The agents of the French government in the colonies seem not to have +been backward in following the example of tyranny which was set to them +by their superiors at home. In one instance, a governor of St. Domingo, +who had quarrelled with all the members of a court of justice, adopted a +summary mode of proceeding against them. He shipped the whole of them, +and sent them off to France as criminals. On their arrival they were +placed in the Bastile, and kept separate from each other; and in this +painful situation they remained for eight months. They were at length +pronounced innocent, and were conveyed back to St. Domingo; but they +received not the slightest compensation for more than a year’s endurance +of bodily and mental suffering. + +The Bastile received, in September, 1780, a man whose talents were +more worthy of praise than his temper. This was Simon Nicholas Henry +Linguet, a native of Rheims, who was born in 1736. He was learned, acute, +and eloquent both in speech and writing; but paradoxical, changeful, +suspicious, violent, and wrong-headed. At the age of sixteen, he gained +the three highest University prizes. After having visited Poland with +the Duke of Deux Ponts, and Portugal with the Prince de Beauveau, he +commenced his literary career by a History of the Times of Alexander the +Great. Disappointed by D’Alembert, in his wish to obtain a seat in the +French Academy, he became an inveterate enemy of D’Alembert, and the +party which was called the philosophical. His works succeeded each other +with uncommon rapidity: the most remarkable of those which he published +at this period are, the History of the Revolutions of the Roman Empire, +and the Theory of Civil Laws. Both these works, which in many respects +have great merit, excited a loud clamour, especially the latter, by the +leaning which they manifest towards despotism. Linguet had soon reason to +change his opinion on this subject. + +The literary labours of Linguet might seem sufficient to occupy all +his time; but the fact was not so. He was all the while a barrister +in extensive practice. In splendid eloquence, and in the successful +management of causes, he had few if any rivals. He boasted that he +never lost more than two causes, “and those,” said he, “I had a strong +inclination to lose.” It was mainly by his efforts that the obnoxious +Duke d’Aiguillon escaped from deserved punishment. The duke proved +ungrateful, and his irritated counsellor wrote him word that he had +“stolen him from the scaffold,” and that, if the peer did not do what was +right with regard to his advocate, “he would keep him hanging for ten +years at the point of his pen.” D’Aiguillon thought it prudent to yield, +but he took care to avenge himself in the end. The lucrative career of +Linguet, as a barrister, was suddenly brought to a close by his brethren +of the bar, some of whom envied his superior gains, and all of whom +had been irritated by his violent and sarcastic language. They refused +to plead with him, and the parliament sanctioned this resolution, and +expunged his name from the roll of counsellors. + +Shut out from forensic honours and emoluments, Linguet devoted himself +to literature and politics. He began to publish a journal in 1774, but, +in 1776, it was suppressed by the minister Maurepas. Apprehensive for +his liberty, he quitted France, and successively resided in Switzerland, +Holland, and England. It was in 1777, while he was in exile, that he +established his well-known work, the Political, Civil, and Literary +Annals of the Eighteenth Century, which forms nineteen volumes. The Count +de Vergennes gave him permission to return to France; but scarcely had +he availed himself of it ere he was shut up in the Bastile, where he +continued for above two years. On his release, he settled at Brussels, +and gained the good-will of the emperor Joseph, which, however, he +soon lost, by espousing the party of the Belgian revolutionists. In +1791, he returned to France. During the reign of terror, he withdrew +into retirement. He was, however, unable to elude the vigilance of the +Jacobins; he was sent by them before the revolutionary tribunal, which, +without suffering him to make any defence, condemned him to death, and he +was accordingly executed in the summer of 1794. + +While Linguet was in the Bastile, one of his opponents was sharing the +same fate, though for a much shorter term. Duvernet, an ecclesiastic, +published a pamphlet, anonymously, in 1781, in which he indulged his +wit at the expense of Linguet, D’Espremenil, and other well-known +characters. This he might have done with impunity; but he also attacked +the government; and the government, in return, sent him to the Bastile +for three weeks, to learn prudence. The lesson was thrown away upon him; +for, soon after his release, he ventured to animadvert upon the conduct +of the Count de Maurepas, and was again lodged in the Bastile. His +confinement lasted longer than in the first instance; and he availed +himself of this compulsory leisure to write a life of Voltaire. The +minister of police detained the manuscript; but the work, nevertheless, +found its way into print in 1786, and had such an extensive sale, that +the French bishops took the alarm, and commissioned the keeper of the +seals to complain to the king. Louis XVI., however, replied, “I will not +meddle with this affair; if Duvernet is wrong, let him be refuted,—that +is the business of the bishops.” The author afterwards enlarged and +remodelled his work; but he died in 1796, the year before the new edition +was published. + +Another prisoner, who was also contemporary with Linguet in the Bastile, +was an individual of mysterious origin and conduct, who ought to have +found a place in an English prison rather than in a French one. This +was a person who assumed the title of the Count de Paradès. He himself +claimed to be descended from an ancient Spanish family of the same name; +some affirmed him to be the natural son of a Count de Paradès; but he +was generally believed to be of far humbler origin, the offspring of +a pastry-cook named Richard, who resided at Phalsburg. Of his early +life nothing is known; it is at the age of twenty-five that we find him +entering on his public career; and, by some means or other, he contrived +to procure an extremely flattering reception at the French court. +Fearing that he was too old to attain elevated rank in the military +profession, he looked about for another road to fortune, and thought he +had found it in adopting the perilous and undignified occupation of a +spy. France was at that period secretly preparing for hostilities against +England, the revolt of the British American colonies seeming to afford +her a favourable opportunity of taking vengeance for the defeats and +disgrace which she had suffered in the seven years’ war. Deeming this +an excellent opportunity to bring himself forward, Paradès voluntarily +visited England, where he gathered some valuable information relative to +our arsenals, ports, and naval and military establishments. The memorial +which, on his return, he presented to Sartine, the French minister of +marine, was so much approved of, that he was despatched to procure +further particulars. He was so successful in his inquiries, that he was +regularly engaged as a spy by Sartine, and was profusely supplied with +the means to purchase the services of British traitors. Paradès was not +idle; he bribed highly, and, if his own assertion may be credited, he +found no difficulty in corrupting many clerks and officers of an inferior +class. Though he may have exaggerated in this respect, there can be no +doubt that there were too many base-minded wretches who were willing +to sell their country. This fact is established by the circumstances +which came out on the trial of La Motte, his less fortunate successor. +Paradès reconnoitred all the English and Irish ports. In a part of his +journeys he was accompanied by an officer of engineers, and they were +several times in the utmost danger of being discovered. For the purpose +of keeping up an intercourse with the French ministry, he fitted out a +vessel, and had a regular establishment of messengers; the vessel served +the double purpose of trading and conveying his despatches. Many of +the communications which he made were highly important; he complains, +in his memoirs, that some of them, which would have enabled France to +strike fatal blows, were unaccountably neglected. One of his projects +was to set fire to the British fleet in the harbour of Portsmouth. His +services were not unrewarded; he was pensioned, and appointed a colonel +of cavalry. In the short time that he had been acting his part, he had +also contrived to amass about £35,000 by speculations in commerce +and the funds, and perhaps by pocketing a heavy per centage on the +remittances from the French ministry. Nearly £30,000 was sent to him by +his employers, and it is obvious that, as to the disbursement of it, they +could have no check whatever upon him. It was with a scheme for seizing +upon Plymouth that he closed his career as a spy. In that port he either +had, or pretended to have emissaries, and to have corrupted a serjeant +and several soldiers of the feeble garrison. It was in pursuance of this +plan that D’Orvilliers, with the combined French and Spanish squadrons, +consisting of sixty-five sail, entered the Channel. It is notorious that +Plymouth was then in an extremely imperfect state of defence, and would +have been much endangered by a vigorous attack. Fortunately, however, +D’Orvilliers, in spite of the remonstrances of Paradès, declined to make +an attempt upon the place. Paradès now visited France, and immediately +received instructions to return to England; but, before he could depart, +his adventurous occupation was brought to an abrupt close. He is said to +have been suspected of playing the Janus-faced traitor, equally bribed +by England and by France. The suspicion, though natural, was probably +unjust, and may have been prompted by the friends of those officers whom +he had accused of missing favourable opportunities. He was committed to +the Bastile in April 1780, and was not liberated till April 1781. He was +allowed to have what books he pleased, to carry on a free correspondence, +and to be visited by his friends. The presumptions against him could not +have been strong; if they had been so, he would have been rigorously +treated, and permanently confined. For three years after he was set free, +Paradès continued to press the government for the payment of £25,000, +which he asserted to be due to him. The war, however, had exhausted the +French treasury, and he consequently solicited in vain. In 1784 he +sailed to St. Domingo, where he had purchased an estate, and he died +there in the course of the following year. + +He who appears next on the list of captives was a man—if indeed the name +of man is not misapplied to him—whose crimes were of so dark a dye that +to imprison him for them was unjust, solely because it was nothing less +than assisting him to evade the punishment which justice would have +inflicted on him. This abandoned individual has been correctly described, +by a French writer, as “the profound villain named the Marquis de Sade, +who, by his atrocious examples, and his equally horrible writings, +proved himself to be the apostle of every crime,—of assassination, of +poisoning,—and the enemy of all social order; this monster spent great +part of his life in prison, and was twenty times saved from the scaffold +by his title of marquis.” + +The Marquis de Sade, who was descended from an ancient family of the +Comtat Venaissin, was born at Paris, in 1740. He embraced the military +profession, and served in all the German campaigns of the seven years’ +war. In 1766, he married an amiable and virtuous woman, to whom he proved +a perpetual source of wretchedness. A sense of duty induced her, for a +considerable period, to aid in extricating him from the difficulties in +which he involved himself, but she was finally obliged to give him up. In +the same year that he was united to her, one of his infamous adventures +caused him to be imprisoned and exiled; and no sooner was he allowed +to return to Paris than he took an actress into keeping, carried her +to Provence, and introduced her as his wife to the gentry around his +mansion. These, however, were merely the venial offences of Sade. His +criminality took a far higher flight. In 1778, he would have fallen a +victim to the justice of his country, for horrible cruelty to a female, +had he not been snatched from it by a _lettre de cachet_, which confined +him for a time at Saumur, whence he was removed to Pierre-Encise. + +This danger did not operate as a warning to him. At Marseilles, in 1772, +in company with his valet, who was the companion of his debaucheries, +he acted in such a manner that the parliament of Aix prosecuted him and +his servant, and ultimately pronounced them guilty of unnatural acts +and of poisoning; the persons poisoned are said to have been two loose +women, to whom they administered stimulants of the most dangerous kind. +Sade took flight, but was seized in Savoy by the king of Sardinia, and +sent to the castle of Miolans. He made his escape from the castle, and +concealed himself in Paris, where, in 1777, he was discovered, and sent +to Vincennes. He escaped, was retaken, was lodged again at Vincennes, and +was treated with great rigour for two years. In 1784, he was transferred +to the Bastile. + +At Vincennes and the Bastile he wrote the earliest of those works which +alone would suffice to brand his name with indelible infamy. It is truly +said of them, that “everything the most monstrous and revolting, that +can be dreamt by the most frenzied, obscene, and sanguinary imagination, +seems to be combined in these works, the mere conception of which ought +to be looked upon as a crime against social order.” Sade was a voluminous +writer, and produced many other works, plays, romances, verses, and +miscellanies, which have never seen the light. + +At the Bastile, but a short time before the attack on it, he quarrelled +with the governor, and, by means of a sort of speaking trumpet, harangued +the passengers in St. Anthony’s Street, and endeavoured to excite them +to arms. For this he was sent off to Charenton. In 1790, the decree of +the National Assembly, which liberated all the victims of _lettres des +cachet_, put an end to his imprisonment, after it had continued for +thirteen years. Sade was a partisan of the revolution, in its worst +aspect; but even the revolutionists of 1793 shrank from contact with +so foul a being. He was arrested by them, and for nearly a year was an +inmate of various prisons. After this, he remained at large till the +reins of government were assumed by Napoleon. The First Consul put a +stop, in 1801, to the publication of Sade’s works, and sent him to St. +Pelagie; from that prison he was removed to Charenton, in 1803, and there +he spent his days till the close of his dishonoured existence in 1814, +when he was seventy-five years of age. To the very last his detestable +doctrines and habits experienced not the slightest change. + +One of the most eminent of the French revolutionists, from whom a +considerable party took its denomination, was among the latest prisoners +of the Bastile. John Peter Brissot was born in 1754, at the village of +Ouarville, near Chartres, where his father, who was a pastry-cook in +Chartres, had a trifling property. It was from his native place, the name +of which he anglicised, that he afterwards styled himself Brissot de +Warville. He received a good education, and, as he also read with great +avidity, he accumulated a large stock of miscellaneous but undigested +knowledge. In the English language he acquired a proficiency which was +unusual among Frenchmen at that period, and his study of it contributed +powerfully to give his sentiments a republican tinge; for he dwelt with +delight on the characters of the great men who withstood the tyranny +of Charles the First. Brissot was placed in an attorney’s office at +Paris; and it is a curious circumstance, that one of his fellow-clerks +was Robespierre, who afterwards became his deadly political foe. In +two years Brissot got tired of legal drudgery, and determined to look +to literature for subsistence. His first essay was a satire, which he +subsequently owned to contain much injustice, and for which he narrowly +escaped being lodged in the Bastile. A pamphlet which he published +attracted the notice of Swinton, an Englishman, a man utterly devoid of +honourable feelings, who engaged him to superintend the reprinting of the +Courrier de l’Europe, at Boulogne. This engagement was soon terminated; +and Brissot, who had received two hundred pounds on his father’s death, +purchased the necessary titles for practising at the bar. The money thus +laid out was thrown away, he being soon compelled to resign all hope of +succeeding as an advocate. His next scheme, of the success of which he +did not allow himself to doubt, was to establish, in the British capital, +a Lyceum, which was to serve as a point of union to literary men of all +countries, and was to carry on a universal correspondence with them, +and to issue a periodical work for the more wide diffusion of English +literature. As might have been foreseen, this magnificent institution, of +which he was of course to be the presiding genius, proved to be nothing +more than an abortion. Instead of reaping fame and profit from the +periodical, Brissot found that no one would buy it, and he was arrested +and imprisoned by the printer. Having, however, contrived to get free, +he returned penniless to France in 1784, where another prison was ready +to receive him. Merely, it is said, because he had spoken lightly of +the works of D’Aguesseau, he was sent to the Bastile. Others attribute +his imprisonment to the malice of his inveterate and unprincipled enemy +Morande, who accused him of having written a libel, entitled le Diable à +Quatre, which was from the pen of the Marquis de Pelleport. Through the +influence of Madame de Genlis, Brissot was released at the expiration +of two months. This visit to the Bastile was not calculated to diminish +his republican fervour. That fervour was no doubt much increased by his +visit to the United States, whither he went early in 1788, and whence he +returned in the following year. + +Brissot, on his return, threw himself with all his heart and soul into +the Revolution. His mind was heated by the reading of ancient and +modern writers, who have held up republican heroes to our admiration, +and it was irritated by wrongs which arbitrary power had inflicted; +and he rashly and illogically concluded, that under a monarchy it was +impossible for liberty to exist. Such was the case, also, with many of +the talented, eloquent, and warm-hearted men who, acting in concert +with him, were known by the title of Brissotins and Girondists. No one +who has attentively perused the numerous documents relative to the +French revolution can deny that, at a moment when, according to their +own confession, there was not a handful of republicans in France, the +Brissotins had determined to subvert the monarchical government and +establish their favourite system. It is as certain, too, that they were +not delicate in the choice of means, and that truth was not allowed to +stand in the way of their designs. Believing a republican order of things +to be the perfection of human wisdom, they seem to have thought that, “to +do a great right, they might do a little wrong.” They were soon taught +by woeful experience that the strict rule of right can never be violated +without danger; and that, however good his intentions may be, he who does +a little wrong opens the way for the commission of the worst of crimes. + +Brissot was elected a member of the Parisian Common Council, an assembly +which, in less than four years, became infamous for its ferocious and +sanguinary proceedings. It must have been gratifying to his feelings, +that one of the first acts which it fell to his lot to perform, was +to receive the keys of the Bastile. He now established a newspaper +called the French Patriot, in which he made daily violent attacks on the +monarch, the ministers, and all the institutions of the state. It was +he who, in conjunction with Laclos, after the flight of Louis XVI. to +Varennes, drew up the petition which called on the Constituent Assembly +to depose the king, and which gave rise to a riot that cost some blood. +At the period when the election of members to the Legislative Assembly +was going forward, the court exerted itself to prevent him from being +chosen a representative. Its misdirected efforts, however, as was the +case in many other instances, only produced a diametrically opposite +effect to that which was intended; the attention of the electors was +directed to Brissot, and he was unanimously returned as one of the +Parisian members. + +Brissot was nominated a member of the diplomatic committee, and its +reports were almost uniformly drawn up by him. It was principally by +his exertions that a war was brought about with Austria; his purpose in +producing that war was to forward the dethroning of the king. In the +Legislative Assembly he, for a while, enjoyed great popularity, and +he availed himself of it to batter in breach the tottering fabric of +the monarchy. But the Jacobins, meanwhile, with Robespierre at their +head, all animated by a deadly hatred of Brissot and his friends, +were gradually gaining influence; and, in proportion as they won over +the populace and the most hot-headed of the legislators, the power +of Brissot declined. For a moment he meditated making common cause +with the constitutional royalists, in order to avert the disastrous +consequences which he began to dread would ensue, in case the Jacobins +should triumph. The plan, however, was abandoned. In the revolution +of the 10th of August he did not participate; Danton was the prime +mover in that transaction. The department of the Eure deputed Brissot +to the convention; and thenceforth, with a few exceptions, his conduct +was prudent and moderate. From the moment that he and his friends took +their seats, they were daily and furiously assailed by the Jacobins. +They maintained the contest for several months, but they were finally +overthrown, and the majority of them perished on the scaffold. Brissot +was put to death on the 31st of October, 1793, and met his fate as calmly +as though he had only been ascending the tribune to read a report to his +late colleagues. The few tears which he shed during his imprisonment were +not for himself, they were wrung from him by the agonizing thought that +he must leave a beloved wife and children in a state of destitution. + +The last prisoners that remain to be noticed, owed their residence +in the Bastile to an affair which excited the public attention in an +extraordinary degree, and contributed greatly to render the Queen of +France an object of suspicion and unpopularity. This was the affair of +the diamond necklace, in which the principal part was played by the +Countess de la Motte. The countess, and a brother and sister, were +descendants of Henry de St. Remi, a natural son of Henry II., but her +family had been reduced to beggary. The three children, two of whom she +had found asking alms, were taken under the protection of the Marchioness +of Boulainvilliers, who charitably brought them up at her own expense. +D’Hozier, the eminent genealogist, having ascertained that they really +sprang from the house of Valois, the Duke of Brancas presented to the +queen a memorial in their favour, and a small pension was in consequence +granted to each of them. + +In 1780, Jane, the eldest, married the Count de la Motte, who was +one of the guards of the Count d’Artois. Their united resources being +exceedingly scanty, the Countess looked about for the means of improving +them at the cost of some dupe. She had a prepossessing appearance, +fluency of speech, and considerable talents for intrigue, masked by +a semblance of openness and candour. The personage whom she selected +to try her experiment on, was the Cardinal Prince de Rohan, Bishop of +Strasburgh, who was then in his fiftieth year. Rohan, though a bishop +and a cardinal, did not think it necessary to assume even the appearance +of decorum and virtue. He was weak, vain, dissolute, presumptuous, +and extravagant. For a long time he had been in great disfavour with +Maria Antoinetta, the Queen of France. She, as well as her mother, the +Empress Queen, had been disgusted by his unseemly conduct, some years +before this, while he was ambassador at Vienna, and the queen’s disgust +was heightened by his indiscreet language respecting her, and by the +insulting manner in which he had spoken of her mother, in a letter to +the Duke d’Aiguillon. She, however, did not interfere to prevent his +obtaining several ill-deserved appointments from the government, but she +manifested her resentment by refusing to admit him into her presence, and +by expressing her unbounded contempt of him. + +Rohan was in despair at not being admitted into the society of the +queen. All that he enjoyed seemed worthless, while he was denied that +privilege. It was on this egregious weakness that Madame de la Motte +founded her hopes of success. The deceiver acted her part with much +skill; she gradually led the besotted cardinal to believe that she +had acquired the queen’s entire confidence, and could exercise great +influence over her. She was, therefore, obviously the fittest person to +bring about the reconciliation for which he was so eager. The countess +readily undertook to be the mediator. Week after week she deluded him by +tales of her pleadings to the queen, and of the slow but sure progress +that she made in restoring him to the royal favour. At last he was told, +that though the queen had forgiven him, there were reasons why she could +not alter her behaviour towards him at court, and that all intercourse +between them must be carried on through the medium of Madame de la Motte. +Billets, forged by a M. Villette, now began to be addressed to him in her +Majesty’s name; twice the writer requested a loan from Rohan, and the +request was granted by the delighted dupe. To lure him on still further, +he was informed, that Maria Antoinetta would admit him to an interview at +night, in the Bois du Boulogne. To play this character, a lady of easy +virtue, named d’Oliva, whose person and voice resembled the queen’s, +was tutored by La Motte. The cardinal saw her for a moment, and was in +raptures, but he had not time to express them before the nocturnal farce +was put an end to, by a preconcerted interruption. This last fraud having +raised the infatuation of the cardinal to the highest pitch, measures +were taken to turn his folly to advantage. There was in the hands of +Bœhmer and Bossange, the court jewellers, a splendid diamond necklace, +valued at 1,800,000 francs, which the queen had recently declined to +purchase, on the ground that it was too expensive. It was this rich prize +which La Motte had in view. To get possession of it, she made Rohan her +tool; she succeeded in making him believe—for his fund of credulity +appears to have been inexhaustible—that the queen was extremely desirous +to be mistress of the necklace; but that, as she did not choose to be +seen in the affair, she wished him to negotiate for her, and to purchase +it on his own credit. A forged authority, from Maria Antoinetta, was +produced, in support of this fiction. Rohan rushed blindly into the +snare; he bought the necklace, giving for it four bills, payable at +intervals of six months, which the jewellers consented to receive, on his +showing them the paper authorizing him to treat with them. Another forged +document, bearing the queen’s signature, enabled Madame de la Motte to +get the necklace into her own possession. Her husband is said to have +been immediately sent off to London, to dispose of a part of the diamonds. + +When the first bill became due, it was dishonoured, for Rohan had no +money, and had relied upon receiving the amount from the queen. The +alarmed jewellers hastened to the palace, to remonstrate with her majesty +on the subject. The queen was indignant and astonished at the story +which they told. Cardinal de Rohan, the Countess de la Motte, and some +others, were arrested, and conveyed to the Bastile. The parliament was +charged with the trial of the prisoners. The trial was not brought to a +conclusion till the 31st of May, 1786. Rohan was acquitted, but Madame +de la Motte was sentenced to make the _amende honorable_, to be branded +on both shoulders, and publicly whipped, and be confined for the rest +of her days in the prison of the Salpêtrière. Villette, the forger, and +d’Etionville, his accomplice, were condemned to the galleys for life. +After having undergone the ignominious part of her sentence, the countess +contrived to escape, and joined her husband in London, where she died in +1791. + +Rohan, though acquitted, was compelled by the king to resign the office +of high almoner, and the Order of the Holy Ghost, and was exiled to one +of his abbeys. In the early part of the Revolution, he for a short time +seemed friendly to it; but, his aristocratic feelings soon getting the +upper hand, he became one of its most inveterate enemies, and strained +every nerve to forward the designs of the emigrants. He died in Germany, +in 1803. + +Besides La Motte and Rohan, there were committed to the Bastile some +subordinate actors in the affair of the diamond necklace, and also a +singular adventurer, who was known to the world under the title of +Count Cagliostro. The count himself, while he threw a veil of mystery +over his birth, appeared to claim an oriental and illustrious origin; +but his enemies assert that his real name was Joseph Balsamo, and that +he was the son of poor parents at Palermo, where he was born in 1743. +They represent him, too, as a degraded being, sometimes living by the +sale of chemical compositions, sometimes by swindling, and, still more +frequently, by the prostitution of a handsome wife. Yet it is certain +that, in his travels over the largest portion of Europe, he gained the +esteem and confidence of many distinguished characters. That he was a man +of talents is undeniable; his person and manners were attractive, he was +acquainted with most of the European and Asiatic languages, his knowledge +is said to have been extensive, and he had a powerful flow of eloquence. +Where he procured the funds, by which he kept up the appearance of a man +of distinction, it would not be easy to ascertain. He was intimate with +Cardinal de Rohan, who had sought his friendship, and this intimacy was +the cause of his being incarcerated, on suspicion of being an accomplice +of the cardinal. He was acquitted by the parliament. Cagliostro +subsequently spent two years in England, whence he passed into Italy. At +Rome, his wanderings were brought to a close; he was arrested in 1791, +and sent to the castle of St. Angelo, on a charge of having established +a masonic lodge, and written a seditious, heretical, and blasphemous +work, entitled Egyptian Masonry. He was condemned to death, but for this +penalty the Pope substituted perpetual imprisonment. He is believed to +have died in confinement in 1795. + +The long catalogue of captives is now exhausted; ruin impends over +the fortress in which they spent their solitary and mournful hours; +but, before its doom is sealed, we must see it changing its character, +and becoming, for the first time, a place of refuge to a persecuted +individual. In April 1789, at a period when the minds of all Frenchmen +were in a state of fermentation, and when, like the ground-swell, which +announces a coming tempest, popular outbreaks were happening in various +quarters, there occurred a riot of a very serious nature in the suburb of +St. Antoine. Reveillon, a man of good character, who had himself risen +from the working class, was the person against whom the fury of the mob +was directed. He was a paper-hanging manufacturer, and employed three +hundred men. The charge against him, which was calumniously made by an +abbé, who was in his debt, was, that he had declared bread to be not yet +dear enough, and expressed a hope that hunger would compel the workmen +to labour for half their present wages. The thoughtless multitude, +always too ready to credit such slanders, immediately determined to take +summary vengeance on him; the first step of the rioters was to hang him +in effigy. On the first day they were prevented from going further, but +on the following day, they returned to the charge with increased numbers +and means of offence. Reveillon’s house and manufactory were plundered +of everything that was portable, and were then burned to the ground. It +was not till the mischief was completed, that the troops arrived. They +seem to have thought it necessary to atone for their extraordinary delay +by extraordinary severity; a furious contest ensued, and between four +and five hundred of the rioters are said to have been slaughtered on +the spot. Each of the political parties accused its rival of having, for +sinister purposes, been the planner of this sanguinary scene. In the +midst of the confusion, Reveillon was so fortunate as to escape from the +mob, and he sought for shelter in the Bastile, where, during a whole +month, he deemed it prudent to remain. + +In little more than three months after the destruction of Reveillon’s +establishment, the storm of popular anger, which had long been gathering +in the capital, burst forth with irresistible violence, and shook to its +very basis the throne of France. Matters were, indeed, come to a crisis, +between the royalist and the reforming parties. The court seemed resolved +to commit the question to the decision of the sword; a formidable +force, consisting chiefly of foreign troops, was accumulated around the +metropolis; and the language held by some of the courtiers and ministers +was of the most sanguinary kind. The Baron de Breteuil did not hesitate +to say, “If it should be necessary to burn Paris, it shall be burned, +and the inhabitants decimated: desperate diseases require desperate +remedies.” To dissolve the National Assembly by force, and to consign +to the scaffold its most distinguished members, were among the remedies +which this political Sangrado designed to administer for the purpose of +checking the disease. + +As a preliminary to the projected operations, the ministry of M. Necker +was abruptly broken up, and another was formed, composed of men notorious +for their hostility to the rights of the people. It was a sufficient +indication of what was intended, that Necker, Montmorin, De la Lezarne, +De Puysegur, and De St. Priest, were replaced by Breteuil, Broglie, De la +Vauguyon, and others of the same stamp. Necker was ordered to quit the +kingdom, and to keep his departure a profound secret. + +The dismissed minister obeyed the order so strictly that not even his +daughter knew of his setting out; but the ridiculous silence which +was required of him was of no avail. On the following day, which was +Sunday, the 12th of July, it was known at Paris that the favourite of +the people was expelled from office, and was leaving the country. All +the citizens were instantly in alarm. Groups assembled in every street, +and more than ten thousand persons were soon congregated at the Palais +Royal. Every one was enraged, but no one knew what to propose, till +Camille Desmoulins ascended a table, in the Palais Royal, and exhorted +his hearers to take up arms; he then plucked a green leaf, which he put +into his hat, as a rallying-sign, and the symbol of hope. His example +was universally followed. The crowd now proceeded to a waxwork museum, +took from it the busts of Necker and the Duke of Orleans, covered +them with crape, carried them in procession through the streets, and +compelled the passengers to take off their hats. Near the place Vendôme, +they were assailed by a detachment of the Royal German regiment, and +several persons were wounded. The Germans were, however, repulsed. At +the place de Louis XV. there was another contest. They were charged by +the dragoons of the Prince de Lambesc, who dispersed them, and killed a +soldier of the French guards, and one of the bearers of the busts. The +prince himself, a brutal character, followed some of them into the garden +of the Tuileries, sabring indiscriminately the fugitives and those who +were walking; among those who fell beneath his hand were a female and +an aged man. The multitude rallied, and chairs, stones, and everything +that could be converted into a weapon, was employed against the dragoons, +who were finally compelled to fly. By this time the French guards, who +were confined in their barracks, because they favoured the people, +had learned the death of their comrade. It was impossible to restrain +their rage; they broke out, fired on the Royal German regiment, and then +took post to cover the multitude from further attack. Some of the Swiss +regiments were ordered to reduce them to obedience, but they refused +to obey; and it was thus rendered obvious, that the court had fatally +miscalculated in relying upon the army for support. + +During that night, and the whole of the succeeding day, Paris was like a +hive about to send forth a swarm. In the course of the night, the most +disorderly part of the populace burned the custom-houses at the barriers, +and plundered the gunsmiths’ shops. Weapons of every kind, and of all +ages and countries, were eagerly sought for and brought into use. In +the morning, the electors met at the town-hall to decide upon the steps +which ought to be taken. It was manifest that they had nothing to expect +from the leniency of the court; it was, in fact, understood that Paris +was to be attacked on seven points in the evening of the 14th, and it +was therefore absolutely necessary to provide the means of defence. In +a few hours a plan was matured and proclaimed, for arraying forty-eight +thousand Parisian militia. The alarm-bells were kept incessantly ringing +throughout Paris, and drums were beating in every street, to summon +the inhabitants to their posts. The scanty supply of arms was the most +serious obstacle which the citizens had to overcome. To remove it in +part, pikes were fabricated, fifty thousand of which were distributed +within six-and-thirty hours. Fortunately, it was discovered that there +was a large quantity of arms at the Hôtel des Invalides; these were +immediately seized upon, and thus 28,000 muskets, besides sabres and some +cannon, were obtained. Sufficient powder was procured, and hundreds of +men were occupied in casting balls. + +The position of the Bastile, interrupting the communication between +various parts of the capital, and commanding a considerable portion +of the city, was a cause of much embarrassment to the citizens. M. +de Launey had received instructions to defend his post to the last +extremity. He was provided with ample means, as far as regarded +ammunition and arms; for he had on the ramparts fifteen cannon, and +twelve wall-pieces, each of which carried a ball of a pound and a half; +he had also plenty of shot, 15,000 cartridges, and 31,000 pounds of +powder. Besides these, there were, on the summit of the building, six +cartloads of paving-stones, bars of iron, and other missiles, to hurl on +an approaching enemy, when the cannon could no longer reach him. But, +with unaccountable negligence, no magazine of provisions had been formed; +there was not food enough in the place to last for twenty-four hours. The +garrison consisted of 32 Swiss and 82 invalids. + +It is certain that the Committee of Electors, sitting at the town-hall, +did not entertain any idea of reducing the Bastile by arms. A sort of +neutrality was the most for which they hoped. That this is the fact, +is proved by their having twice sent a deputation to the governor, +calling on him to admit a detachment of the Parisian militia, to act in +conjunction with the garrison. The ground on which they claimed this +admission was, that the city ought to have a control over any military +force which was stationed within its limits. To such a proposal the +governor could not accede without perilling his head. + +A M. Thuriot was now sent, by the district of St. Louis de la Culture, +to desire that the cannon might be removed from the towers. De Launey +replied that this could not be done without the king’s orders, but that +he would withdraw them from the embrasures to prevent their appearance +from exciting alarm. Thuriot was permitted to ascend to the summit of the +fortress, that he might be enabled to report to those who sent him the +real state of things, and he availed himself of this permission to exhort +the soldiers to surrender. This they refused to do, but they unanimously +and solemnly promised that they would not be the first to fire. + +But though the Committee of Electors was not disposed to engage in +hostilities which seemed likely to be both fruitless and dangerous, there +were others, who were more daring, and some, perhaps, who were aware that +the garrison had no provisions, and little inclination to fight. From +various parts, but especially from the suburb of St. Antoine, an enormous +multitude, with every variety of weapon, hurried to the fortress, +shouting “We will have the Bastile! down with the troops!” Two of them +boldly ascended the roof of the guard-house, and with axes broke the +chains of the great drawbridge. The throng then pressed into the court, +and advanced towards the second bridge, firing all the while upon the +garrison. The latter replied with such effect, that the assailants were +driven back; but they placed themselves under shelter, whence they kept +up an incessant discharge of musketry. + +A despatch to the governor, informing him that succour was at hand, +having been intercepted by the committee, that body sent a third +deputation to prevail on him to admit the Parisian forces. It reached the +outer court, and was invited to enter the place by some officers of the +garrison; but either it mistook the meaning of the invitation, or was +intimidated by the scene of carnage, for it retired without fulfilling +its mission. The firing was recommenced by the people, and was answered +with deadly effect by their antagonists. Three waggon-loads of straw were +now brought in and set on fire, to burn the buildings near the fortress; +but they were so unskilfully managed, that they proved obstacles to the +besiegers, who were compelled to remove them. While they were thus +employed, they received a discharge of grape-shot from the only cannon +which the garrison fired during the conflict. + +The French guards now arrived with four pieces of cannon, to take a part +in the attack. The sight of this reinforcement entirely depressed the +spirits of the besieged, which had already begun to sink. They called on +their commander to capitulate. Anticipating, no doubt, the fate which was +reserved for him, he is said to have seized a lighted match, intending +to apply it to the powder-magazine. A large portion of the neighbourhood +would have been destroyed with the Bastile, had not two non-commissioned +officers repelled him with their bayonets from the dangerous spot. A +white handkerchief was hoisted on one of the towers as a flag of truce, +and a parley was beaten by the drums of the invalids. These signs were +unnoticed for a considerable time by the besiegers, who continued their +fire. At length, finding that all was silent in the Bastile, they +advanced towards the last drawbridge, and called to the garrison to let +it down. A Swiss officer looked through a loop-hole, and required that +his comrades should be allowed to march out with the honours of war. That +being refused, he declared that they were willing to submit, on condition +of not being massacred. “Let down the bridge, and nothing shall happen to +you,” was the reply. On this assurance, the governor gave up the key of +the bridge, and the conquerors entered in triumph. + +A vast majority of the assailants were undoubtedly brave and honourable +men; but there were among them numbers of the most infamous of mankind; +men who lent their aid in tumults only that they might gratify their +love of plunder and blood. To these degraded wretches must be attributed +the cruelties which sullied the victory. No sooner was the day won, +than they began to gratify their diabolical propensities. Their first +achievement was to attempt to throw into the flames a young girl, whom +they found in a fainting fit, and supposed to be the governor’s daughter. +She was, however, saved by one of the Parisian volunteers. Others were +less happy. The unfortunate De Launey was massacred on his way to the +town-hall, after having received innumerable sword and bayonet stabs from +the savages around him. Five of his officers were put to death in an +almost equally barbarous manner. + +The loss of the besiegers was eighty-three killed on the spot, fifteen +who died afterwards, thirteen crippled, and sixty wounded. + +In the Bastile there were found only seven prisoners; four of them had +forged bills to an immense amount, two were insane, and the last, the +Count de Solange, had been confined at the request of his father for +dissipated conduct. + +The Bastile soon ceased to exist. It was demolished by order of the civic +authorities of Paris; and, when the demolition was completed, a grand +ball was given on the levelled space. The capture and downfall of this +obnoxious fabric were hailed with delight by the friends of liberty in +every part of the globe, and they long furnished a favourite and fertile +theme for moralists, orators, and poets. + + +THE END. + + LONDON: + BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, + WHITEFRIARS. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] M. Linguet says, that each of these niches was but just large enough +for one person, and had neither light nor air except at the moment when +the door was opened. + +[2] M. de Fratteaux was seized in England, and carried off, by the +French officers of police. “His misfortunes seem to have been owing to +an unnatural father, who being on terms of intimacy with the minister, +obtained a _lettre de cachet_ to arrest and confine his son.” + +[3] Prisoners who were not allowed to have a servant of their own, +sometimes were indulged with an invalid soldier to attend them; but those +who had neither, made their bed, lighted their fire, and swept their +room, themselves. + +[4] I have passed lightly over the life of Palissy, because I shall have +occasion to dwell upon it, in another volume of the Family Library. + +[5] Henry pointed his advice with a pun, which is not translatable. He +recommended to Biron, “Qu’il l’otât d’auprès de lui, sinon que _La Fin +l’affineroit_.” In English, if such a deceiver’s name were Cousin, we +might similarly say, “If you do not get rid of that Cousin, he will cozen +you.” + +[6] Biographers and historians differ with respect to the circumstances +which ensued on the pardon being announced. While some give the statement +which I have adopted, others affirm that, when de Jars was taken back to +prison, he remained for a long while speechless, and seemingly deprived +of all consciousness. This is asserted by Madame de Motteville; and, +as she was his intimate friend, her authority has considerable weight. +But her assertion may be correct, and yet it is more than probable +that de Jars may have made the reply which is attributed to him. I +think the conduct ascribed to him in the text more consonant than any +other with his intrepid character. Nature, however, can endure only to +a certain point, and the effort that is made to bear up, and which, +as long as danger is present, seldom fails with the honourable and +brave, necessarily produces exhaustion when the struggle is over. It +may therefore, easily be believed, that, though de Jars was capable of +answering Laffemas with his wonted spirit—and the very sight of such a +monster would stimulate that spirit—he might sink into insensibility on +his return to prison. + +[7] It has been conjectured, by some writers, that Richelieu was +stimulated to this new attack upon the queen by the circumstance of her +being pregnant, which induced him to dread that her influence would be +greatly increased, if he did not find the means of rendering her an +object of suspicion. But the conjecture is erroneous, as a comparison +of dates will prove. The attack upon her was commenced in the summer of +1637 (La Porte was sent to the Bastile in August), and the queen was not +brought to bed till September 1638, thirteen months afterwards. + +[8] The mask is said to have been improperly described as being of iron; +it being formed of black velvet. Only the frame work and the springs were +of metal. + +[9] This seems to be a quantity of linen so enormous as to stagger +belief. But Latude is probably correct in his assertion. In some of the +French provinces, families have an immense stock of linen; and it is +necessary that they should, as the operation of washing is not performed +more than twice or thrice a year. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76902 *** |