Les Misérables, v. 1/5: Fantine

by Victor Hugo

  CHAPTER I.

  THE YEAR 1817.

  1817 is the year which Louis XVIII., with a certain royal coolnesswhich was not deficient in pride, entitled the twenty-second of hisreign. It is the year in which M. Brugui?re de Sorsum was celebrated.All the wig-makers' shops, hoping for powder and the return of theroyal bird, were covered with azure and fleurs de lys. It was thecandid time when Count Lynch sat every Sunday as churchwarden at St.Germain-des-Pr?s in the coat of a peer of France, with his red ribbon,his long nose, and that majestic profile peculiar to a man who has donea brilliant deed. The brilliant deed done by M. Lynch was having, whenMayor of Bordeaux, surrendered the town rather prematurely on March12, 1814, to the Duc d'Angoul?me; hence his peerage. In 1817 fashionburied little boys of the age of six and seven beneath vast moroccoleather caps with earflaps, much resembling Esquimaux fur-bonnets. TheFrench army was dressed in white, like the Austrian; the regimentswere called Legions, and bore the names of the departments instead ofnumbers. Napoleon was at St Helena, and as England refused him greencloth he had his old coats turned. In 1817 Pellegrini sang, and Mlle.Bigottini danced, Potier reigned, and Odry was not as yet. Madame Saquisucceeded Forioso. There were still Prussians in France. M. Delalotwas a personage. Legitimacy had just strengthened itself by cuttingoff the hand and then the head of Pleignier, Carbonneau, and Tolleron.Prince de Talleyrand, Lord High Chamberlain, and the Abb? Louis,Minister Designate of Finance, looked at each other with the laughof two augurs. Both had celebrated on July 14, 1790, the Mass of theconfederation in the Champ de Mars. Talleyrand had read it as bishop,Louis had served it as deacon. In 1817, in the side walks of the sameChamp de Mars, could be seen large wooden cylinders, lying in the wetand rotting in the grass, painted blue, with traces of eagles and beeswhich had lost their gilding. These were the columns which two yearspreviously supported the Emperor's balcony at the Champ de Mai. Theywere partly blackened by the bivouac fires of the Austrians encampednear Gros Caillou, and two or three of the columns had disappeared inthe bivouac fires, and warmed the coarse hands of the Kaiserlichs.The Champ de Mai had this remarkable thing about it, that it was heldin the month of June, and on the Champ de Mars. In this year, 1817,two things were popular,--the Voltaire Touquet and the snuff-box _?la charte_. The latest Parisian sensation was the crime of Dautun,who threw his brother's head into the basin on the Flower Market.People were beginning to grow anxious at the Admiralty that no newsarrived about that fatal frigate _la M?duse_, which was destined tocover Chaumareix with shame and G?ricault with glory. Colonel Selvesproceeded to Egypt to become Soliman Pacha there. The palace of theThermes, in the Rue de la Harpe, served as a shop for a cooper. On theplatform of the octagonal tower of the Hotel de Cluny, could still beseen the little wooden house, which had served as an observatory forMessier, astronomer to the Admiralty under Louis XVI. The Duchesse deDuras was reading to three or four friends in her boudoir furnishedwith sky-blue satin X's, her unpublished romance of _Ourika_. The N'swere scratched off the Louvre. The Austerlitz bridge was forsworn,and called the Kings' Gardens' bridge,--a double enigma which at oncedisguised the Austerlitz bridge and the Jardin des Plantes. LouisXVIII., while annotating Horace with his nail, was troubled by heroeswho make themselves emperors and cobblers who make themselves dauphins;he had two objects of anxiety,--Napoleon and Mathurin Bruneau. TheFrench Academy offered as subject for the prize essay the happinessproduced by study. M. Billart was officially eloquent; and in hisshadow could be seen growing up that future Advocate-General de Bro?,promised to the sarcasms of Paul Louis Courier. There was a falseCh?teaubriand called Marchangy, while waiting till there should be afalse Marchangy, called d'Arlincourt. "Claire d'Albe" and "Malek-Adel"were master-pieces; and Madame Cottin was declared the first writer ofthe age. The Institute erased from its lists the Academician NapoleonBonaparte. A royal decree constituted Angoul?me a naval school, for,as the Duc d'Angoul?me was Lord High Admiral, it was evident thatthe city from which he derived his title possessed _de jure_ all thequalifications of a seaport; if not, the monarchical principle wouldbe encroached on. In the cabinet-council the question was discussedwhether the wood-cuts representing tumblers, which seasoned Franconi'sbills and caused the street scamps to congregate, should be tolerated.M. Pa?r, author of l'Agnese, a square-faced man with a carbuncle on hischin, directed the private concerts of the Marchioness de Sassenayein the Rue de la Ville'd'Ev?que. All the young ladies were singing,"L'ermite de Saint Avelle," words by Edmond G?raud. The Yellow Dwarfwas transformed into the Mirror. The Caf? Lemblin stood up for theEmperor against the Caf? Valois, which supported the Bourbons. TheDuc de Berry, whom Louvel was already gazing at from the darkness,had just been married to a princess of Sicily. It was a year sinceMadame de Sta?l had died. The Life Guards hissed Mademoiselle Mars.The large papers were all small; their size was limited, but theliberty was great. The _Constitutionnel_ was constitutional, and the_Minerva_ called Ch?teaubriand, Ch?teaubriant; this _t_ made thecity laugh heartily, at the expense of the great writer. Prostitutedjournalists insulted in sold journals the proscripts of 1815. Davidhad no longer talent, Arnault wit, Carnot probity. Soult never had wona battle. It is true that Napoleon no longer had genius. Everybodyknows that it is rare for letters sent by post to reach an exile, forthe police make it a religious duty to intercept them. The fact isnot new, for Descartes when banished complained of it. David havingdisplayed some temper in a Belgian paper at not receiving letterswritten to him, this appeared very amusing to the Royalist journals,which ridiculed the proscribed man. The use of the words regicidesor voters, enemies or allies, Napoleon or Buonaparte, separated twomen more than an abyss. All persons of common sense were agreedthat the era of revolutions was eternally closed by Louis XVIII.,surnamed "the immortal author of the Charter." On the platform of thePont Neuf the word "Redivivus" was carved on the pedestal which wasawaiting the statue of Henri IV. M. Piet was excogitating at No. 4Rue Th?r?se his council to consolidate the monarchy. The leaders ofthe Right said in grave complications, "Bacot must be written to."Messieurs Canuel, O'Mahony, and de Chappedelaine, were sketchingunder the covert approval of Monsieur what was destined to be at alater date "the conspiracy du Bord de l'eau." The "Black Pin" wasplotting on its side. Delaverderie was coming to an understandingwith Trogoff. M. Decazes, a rather liberally-minded man, was in theascendant. Ch?teaubriand, standing each morning at his No. 27 RueSaint Dominique, in trousers and slippers, with his gray hair fastenedby a handkerchief, with his eyes fixed on a mirror, and a case ofdentist's instruments open before him,--was cleaning his teeth, whichwere splendid, while dictating "the Monarchy according to the Charter"to M. Pilorge, his secretary. Authoritative critics preferred Lafonto Talma. M. de Feletz signed A; M. Hoffman signed Z. Charles Nodierwas writing "Th?r?se Aubert." Divorce was abolished. The lyceums werecalled colleges. The collegians, with a gold fleur de lys on theircollar, were fighting about the King of Rome. The counter-police ofthe Ch?teau denounced to her Royal Highness Madame, the universallyexposed portrait of the Duc d'Orl?ans, who looked much handsomer in hisuniform of Colonel General of Hussars than the Duc de Berry did in hisuniform as Colonel General of Dragoons, which was a serious annoyance.The city of Paris was having the dome of the Invalides regilt at itsown cost. Serious-minded men asked themselves what M. de Trinquelaguewould do in such and such a case. M. Clausel de Montais diverged oncertain points from M. Clausel de Coussergues; M. de Salaberry wasnot satisfied. Picard the comedian, who belonged to the Academy ofwhich Moli?re was not a member, was playing the two Philiberts at theOd?on, on the fa?ade of which could still be distinctly read: TH??TREDE L'IMP?RATRICE, although the letters had been torn down. People weretaking sides for or against Cugnet de Montarlot. Fabvier was factious;Bavoux was revolutionary; Pelicier the publisher brought out an editionof Voltaire with the title "The Works of Voltaire, of the Acad?mieFran?aise." "That catches purchasers," the simple publisher said. Itwas the general opinion that M. Charles Loyson would be the genius ofthe age; envy was beginning to snap at him, which is a sign
of glory,and the following line was written about him.

  "M?me quand Loyson vole, on sent qu'il a des pattes."

  As Cardinal Fesch refused to resign, M. de Pins, Archbishop of Amasia,was administering the diocese of Lyons. The quarrel about the Dappesvalley began between Switzerland and France, through a memorial ofCaptain Dufour, who has since become a general. Saint Simon, utterlyignored, was building up his sublime dream. There were in the Academyof Sciences a celebrated Fourier whom posterity has forgotten, and insome obscure garret a Fourier whom the future will remember. Lord Byronwas beginning to culminate; a note to a poem of Millevoye's announcedhim to France in these terms, "un certain Lord Baron." David d'Angerswas trying to mould marble. The Abb? Caron spoke in terms of praiseto a select audience in the Alley of the Feuillantines of an unknownpriest called F?licit? Robert, who was at a later date Lamennais.A thing that smoked and plashed on the Seine with the noise of aswimming dog, went under the Tuileries windows from the Pont Royalto the Pont Louis XV.; it was a mechanism not worth much, a sort ofplaything, a reverie of a dreamy inventor, an Utopia: a steamboat.The Parisians looked at this useless thing with indifference. M. deVaublanc, reformer of the Institute by coup d'?tat, and distinguishedauthor of several academicians, after making them, could not succeedin becoming one himself. The Faubourg St Germain and the PavilionMarson desired to have M. Delvau as Prefect of police on account ofhis devotion. Dupuytren and R?camier quarrelled in the theatre of theSchool of Medicine, and were going to fight about the divinity of theSaviour. Cuvier, with one eye on Genesis and the other on nature, wasstriving to please the bigoted reaction by placing forms in harmonywith texts, and letting Moses be flattered by the Mastodons. M.Fran?ois de Neufch?teau, the praiseworthy cultivator of the memory ofParmentier, was making a thousand efforts to have "pommes de terre"pronounced "parmenti?re," but did not succeed. The Abb? Gr?goire,ex-bishop, ex-conventionalist, and ex-senator, had reached in the royalpolemics the state of the "infamous Gr?goire," which was denounced as aneologism by M. Royer-Collard. In the third arch of the Pont de J?na,the new stone could still be distinguished through its whiteness, withwhich two years previously the mine formed by Blucher to blow up thebridge was stopped up. Justice summoned to her bar a man who, on seeingthe Comte d'Artois enter Notre Dame, said aloud: "Sapristi! I regretthe days when I saw Napoleon and Talma enter the Bal Sauvage arm inarm," seditious remarks punished with six months' imprisonment.

  Traitors displayed themselves unblushingly; some, who had passed overto the enemy on the eve of a battle, did not conceal their reward,but walked immodestly in the sunshine with the cynicism of wealth anddignities; the deserters at Ligny and Quatre Bras, well rewarded fortheir turpitude, openly displayed their monarchical devotion.

  Such are a few recollections of the year 1817, which is now forgotten.History neglects nearly all these details, and cannot do otherwise,as the infinity would crush it. Still these details, wrongly calledlittle,--there are no little facts in humanity or little leaves invegetation,--are useful, for the face of ages is composed of thephysiognomy of years.

  In this year 1817 four young Parisians played a capital joke.