CHAPTER IX.
After supping with the pages, whose meals were taken in a separatechamber, I inquired of the old major-domo, who I found was to be myoracle in the house, whether the Duke was likely to require myattendance upon him during the course of the evening; and, learningthat I might absent myself in security, I told my old adviser that Ishould go out into the streets of Paris, and take a stroll through thecity, which I had not seen since I left it with Lord Masterton, manymonths before. The good old man gave me a great many sage and prudentcautions as to my behaviour; but, at the same time, having a billet tosend to his nephew, one Jacques Marlot, a printer, who lived upon theKey of the Goldsmiths, he did not at all oppose my expedition, but, onthe contrary, requested me to deliver the note as I went.
I willingly undertook the task, and sallied forth full of gladthoughts, and well disposed to be pleased with everything that a greatcity could present.
To tell the truth, my freedom from the irksome restraint and wearisomeapplication which my late studies demanded, made me feel very muchlike a bird escaped from its cage, and I walked along through thestreets of Paris far happier than if I had been lord of one half ofthe universe. That capital, nevertheless, was not, perhaps, one of thebest schools in which a boy, who, like myself, had run on far beyondhis years in the race of life, could complete his education. Alwaysthe great emporium of vice and debauchery, Paris, in its presentstate, offers but a faint picture of its former self. The licence ofevery kind that then existed in the city, no tongue can tell, nor pencan describe. Everything the most sacred had become a jest. Everymoral tie was broken, without shame or care; and never did liberty ofspeech and action arrive at the consummation of a total demoralizationof the whole people, more completely than it had done, by this time,in the French capital. It luckily happened, however, that, thoughdoubtless I might have found plenty to initiate me into all sorts ofmysteries which I had better not have known, I was too young for thesort of instruction I might otherwise have received, and my nature wastoo quick and vehement to take pleasure in vice without passion.
All that I found then to amuse me in the streets of Paris, was thegaiety, the bustle, and the liveliness of the people, the wittyribaldry of their songs and jests, their easily excited merriment, andtheir extravagant grimaces. All this certainly pleased and interestedme; and I met with many a sight to attract my attention and arrest mysteps as I walked on to the Quai des Orf?vres. However, I at lengtharrived there; and, having discovered the dwelling of Jacques Marlot,I went in, and delivered his uncle's note.
He was a little, gay, joyful-looking man, not in the least resemblingthe worthy major-domo, but with a face not unlike the busts ofSocrates, if we can conceive the countenance of the philosophercovered over with a florid and somewhat wine-imbued skin, and lightedup with two sparkling small black eyes, full of unquenchable fire andmalice.
At the time that I entered, he was busily engaged, though in totalsolitude, in despatching the goodly form of a fat roasted capon, whichhe took care to bathe in repeated draughts from a tankard of warmwine, which stood in his chimney corner. He received me with the sortof gay civility which his whole demeanour bespoke; and, opening hisuncle's note, grinned merrily at the contents; observing, that hisrelation warned him to beware of printing anything against the Court,as the Parliament and the generals were all racing against each otherto see which should make peace fastest.
"_Ma foi_," he added, "I will make my peace as they have made theirs,with arms in my hand;" and, setting me down a cup, he insisted on mystaying to drink with him, which, after having once tasted hispotations, I felt very well inclined to do. It struck me, perhaps, asa little extraordinary, that a poor printer, whose trade was not atthat time the most lucrative in Paris, should be able to afford richBurgundy, and to feed upon fat capon; but I soon found that, being ofa very unscrupulous nature, Master Jacques Marlot obtained largeprices for printing all those defamatory libels against Mazarin, theQueen, and the whole Court, which then formed the amusement and thereproach of the city. It was his rule never to inquire who the authorswere, provided they paid him largely. The more unceremonious the wit,and biting the satire, the more it agreed with the tastes of theprinter himself; and many a noble, and, I believe I might add, many areverend pen, poured forth its gall from under the mantle of Jacques.Marlot.
My promptitude in catching his _bons mots_, my readiness in replyingto them, my English accent, and my insular notions, as he called them,all seemed to please and to amuse the printer much; and after having,with a rueful glance, divided the last drop in the flagon equallybetween himself and me, he invited me cordially to come back and seehim again in a few days at the same hour, which I did not fail to domore than once; and many a merry laugh have we had together at thefollies and the vices of persons of every rank, class, and conditionin the state. Indeed, there was such a strange mixture of the cynic,the stoic, and the epicurean, in the whole life and conduct of JacquesMarlot, that I could not help looking upon him as a great philosopher.
Whether any one, who by chance may read these pages, will coincide inmy opinion, I cannot tell; but every one shall have an opportunity ofjudging; for this casual acquaintance, formed under such verycommon-place circumstances, went on into after years, and followed methrough many a strange scene to distant parts of the land. Thosescenes, however, will, themselves, require too long detail for me topause upon our less interesting interviews; though the conversation ofJacques Marlot would, at the time I speak of, have formed no badjest-book for the Fronde; and on that very night I heard more _bonsmots_ and anecdotes in half an hour than had met my ear for many a daybefore.
On my return home, I found a neat small room, not far from theapartments of the good major-domo, prepared as my lodging; and by thetime I had half undressed myself, in order to go to bed, I wassurprised to see the door open, and Monsieur de Villardin himselfenter the room. As his brow was somewhat grave and stern, I imaginedthat he had come to chide me for my absence during the evening; and Iinstantly began to feel a spirit of rebellion at the very thought,partly engendered by my old habits of independence, partly by thesense of having in a degree recovered it anew. To my good young lord,whom I had lately left, I had been bound by ties of affection andgratitude, which would have made me do anything to please him, andwhich caused me to submit to his orders or to his rebuke with patienceand good-will. Such, however, was not the case in regard to Monsieurde Villardin, at least as yet; and I determined to show him that,though I was perfectly willing to give him every sort of attendancewhen he required it, yet that I looked upon the rest of my time as atmy own disposal. I resolved to let him know also, that, though thefortunes of my family had been for some time at a low ebb, I had asgentle blood in my veins as he had; and, in short, I was prepared tobe as saucy and impertinent, I doubt not, as any wild, ungovernable,and hot-headed boy could be, when, to my surprise, he began upon quitea different topic, without taking the slightest notice of my lateabsence.
Setting down the taper that he carried, he threw himself into a largechair that stood by the fire, and bidding me put on my vest again, ashe had a good deal to say to me, he continued, "Well, my page, we havebegun together, this morning, as well as I could wish, and I find thatthe character I have received with you does you no more than justice:I doubt not that every hour will increase my regard for you; and Ishall take care that you have every opportunity of distinguishingyourself that you could desire through life."
This discourse, so different from that I had expected, was certainlyvery pleasing to me; but at the same time I had learned too much ofthe world not to understand that it was a prelude to something else,which perhaps might not be so gratifying; and, consequently, Ianswered with the words which mean less than any others in the world,"Your lordship is very good."
"Nevertheless," proceeded Monsieur de Villardin, "it is but right thatwe should clearly understand upon what terms we are to go on together.Now," he continued, assuming a frank and easy air,--which whe
n you seemen do you may be perfectly sure that they are cheating themselves,and are trying to cheat you also,--"now, I am not in the least asuspicious man; far from it; by nature I am quite the contrary;nevertheless, I think it but right that every master of a largehousehold like this should be thoroughly acquainted with all thattakes place in his dwelling. Of course you will have a great manyopportunities of observing what passes in my family, and I mustrequire of you to be frank and free with me on all such subjects."
I did not like the matter at all, for I understood very well what hemeant; and I was sure that, although he felt some difficulty inexplaining himself at first, he would not be long before he found anopportunity of doing so completely. However, I thought my usualstraightforward way was the best, and I answered, "I am always frankand free, my lord. I say what I think to everybody, and of everybody."
"So I have heard, so I have heard," said the Duke; "and I must desirethat you do so, particularly towards me, remembering that I look upona person who would see his master wronged as fully more culpable thanthe person who wrongs him."
"My lord," I replied, seeing that we must come to the point at last,"I certainly never will see you wronged without endeavouring to rightyou; and if I cannot do it in my own person, I shall hold myself boundto tell you, in order that you may do it. I am sure your lordship doesnot wish me to become a spy upon anybody, nor would it have any effectif you did; for I would not remain in the house of any one half anhour who was to require such a thing of me."
It is wonderful how many things people will do, from the very name ofwhich they would shrink with shame if put into plain terms; and thoughI am perfectly convinced that Monsieur de Villardin,--from some ofthose vague and visionary doubts which haunt the minds of suspiciousmen, the spectres of a diseased imagination,--would have liked me towatch all the events of any importance that took place in his house,and make him a full report thereof, yet he immediately testified greatdisgust at the very name of a spy, and replied, "Far from me be such athought for a moment, as to propose to you, young man, anything meanor dishonourable. I know you are of gentle blood, and have served wellin a noble cause; and therefore, though I hold you bound by your duty,as you are also by the promise you have just made, to give me instantinformation if you see any one attempt to wrong me in any way, yet, ofcourse, I do not desire you to become a spy upon those around you."
I saw evidently that he caught at the promise I had made, and, to tellthe truth, I was sorry that I had made it. Not that I did not considermyself bound by the station I held in his family to do exactly as Ihad said; but I was a little afraid that my good lord might construemy words rather more liberally than I had intended them to beunderstood. As they were spoken, however, there was no help for it;and though I repeated over again,--to make the engagement as clear anddefinite as possible,--that I would never see him wronged withoutendeavouring to right him, or without giving him an opportunity ofdoing so himself, still I was afraid he might be inclined to exact,under that promise, more than I should be inclined to concede. I foundindeed, afterwards, that he himself very well understood, that therewas another way of making it a point of honour with me to do as hedesired, which was by loading me with benefits, and bestowing on methat confidence which would have rendered it an act of the greatestingratitude on my part to conceal from him any attempt to injure him.
Satisfied with the promise I had made, and determined with regard tothe course he would pursue towards me, he dropped that part of theconversation there; but made me give him a long history of my familyand my adventures; told me that he had been well acquainted with LordWilmerton, my mother's father, some fifteen years before; and ended bygiving me an assurance, which he nobly accomplished, that thenceforthhe would treat me more as his son than as his attendant. He then tookup the light and quitted the chamber, leaving me to meditate over thefuture, which, notwithstanding the promises he had made, and which Ifully believed he would keep, still presented some clouds and shadowsthat I certainly could have wished away.
After this conversation, I was almost continually with Monsieur deVillardin, especially as, in all those exercises in which noblemen ofthat day held themselves bound to have their pages well instructed, Iwas already as skilful as necessary, and, consequently, had scarcelyany other occupation than that of attending upon the Duke. In thepages' room matters soon assumed the state into which I could havewished them to fall. Master Gaspard de Belleville, the eldest of mythree companions, submitted to necessity with a somewhat bad grace;and the two younger, as soon as they had become reconciled to me astheir new comrade, and accustomed to my manners and accent, soughtshelter under my protection from the tyranny of their former despot.The old major-domo ere long acquired a great affection for me; and asI was quite willing, from the novelty of the thing, to be petted asmuch as any one pleased, he made quite a favourite of me, providing mewith all those little comforts and luxuries which the chief domesticof a great house has always at his disposal.
Monsieur de Villardin himself was, as Lord Langleigh had said, a manwho let no moment slip past him unmarked by some event; and, with aspirit of restless activity,--not unlike what was my own at thattime,--he took part in everything that was going on. By day he waseither busy in the intrigues of his faction, or in the field with histroops; and even at night he was very often as busy in beating up theenemy's quarters, or in stirring up the Parisians to some newabsurdity. In all his expeditions I formed one of his attendants: Ihad constant employment,--and both at home and abroad was as happy asI could wish.
This state of things, however, could not, of course, last for ever;and had no other circumstance occurred to interrupt its duration, thegradual recovery of Monsieur de Villardin from the madness of theFronde would ultimately have put an end to it; but an incident soonhappened, to which I shall now turn, and which eventually occasionedmy departure from Paris rather faster than I approved of. The firsttreaty of peace which had been signed was indignantly rejected, as wehave seen, by the Parliament, the populace, and the generals; and thedeputies were again sent back to treat at Ruel. During theirconferences, as an armistice had been refused, Monsieur de Villardinand others took care to amuse Mazarin by frequent excursions, whichsometimes were pushed to the gates of St. Germain. Mazarin, alwaystimid, made concessions in proportion to his alarm; but, at the sametime, as he loved not the sort of arms with which the Parisiangenerals fought him, he took care to combat them with weaponspeculiarly his own. Three fresh armies, as I have said, were directingtheir course towards Paris in support of the Parliament. In regard tothe one promised from Normandy, the Cardinal tampered with thegeneral, the Duke de Longueville, and delayed its march. In regard tothe other, commanded by Turenne, knowing the chief to beincorruptible, Mazarin corrupted the men. The whole army was literallybought; and when its general was about to begin his advance upon thecapital, he was at once abandoned by his troops. The third, consistingof Spaniards, the Cardinal well knew would not march without theothers; and having thus placed himself on more equal terms with theParisian leaders, he took advantage of the consternation which theseevents produced to press the treaty of peace, which was soon afterconcluded and ratified by all parties, but the populace, and one ortwo of the leaders who had too great a love of faction, in theabstract, to yield to any measure calculated to put it down. Thus,then, the war was brought to an end; but still so turbulent anddisorganized was the state of Paris, that the Court dared not set footwithin its walls; and, while the people were committing every sort ofexcess, and the most scandalous libels upon Mazarin and the royalfamily were every day published, the Parliament, in order to signalisetheir zeal for their new allies, the Court, proceeded against theauthors and printers with the most tyrannical severity.
Of course my good friend Jacques Marlot could not escape, and I oneday found old Jerome Laborde, the major-domo, in great affliction onaccount of his nephew, who had been arrested that morning for thepublication of the famous attack upon the Queen, called "La Custode."It so happened that, by my master's
permission, I passed the twofollowing days at St. Maur, with Lord Masterton, who was kindnessitself towards me; and on the third morning I was sent by the Duke,immediately after my return, to gain some intelligence in the FaubourgSt. Germain. As I came back, I saw an immense crowd advancing rapidlytowards the Place de Gr?ve, and crying "Honte! honte! Aux Mazarins!aux Mazarins!" Running my eye a little forward, I soon perceived thatthe cause of the tumult originated in the procession of the criminallieutenant and his archers towards the place of execution, whitherthey were carrying some condemned criminal to make his last publicappearance in the most disagreeable manner. As it was evident that theprincipal personage on the scene was in favour with the public, Ihastened forward to obtain a glance, when, to my horror andastonishment, I beheld the jovial face of my poor acquaintance,Jacques Marlot, still as jovial as ever, notwithstanding hisendeavours to assume a sober and sedate demeanour under the very gravecircumstances in which he was placed.
Every sort of mad enterprise was then as common as a hedge sparrow,and some evil demon put it in my head to rescue the unhappy printerfrom the hands of Monsieur le Bourreau.
Amongst the mob were a great number of printers' devils, booksellers'boys, and other shopmen; and speaking a word or two to those whoseemed the most zealous, our plan was quickly arranged, and spreadlike wild-fire amongst the people. The crowd was every minuteincreasing; their cries and execrations were gaining new strength ateach vociferation; and I saw Grani, the criminal lieutenant, turn hishead more than once to scan the aspect of the very unwelcome trainwhich now accompanied him. He soon, however, reached the gibbet in thePlace de Gr?ve, and poor Marlot turned,--with a face out of which evenhis rueful situation could not banish entirely habitual fun,--topronounce, as usual, his last oration:--"My friends, my friends," hecried, "take warning! See what comes of a Mazarinade!"
The name acted as a watchword, and the moment it was pronounced, awell-directed volley of stones was let fly at the criminal lieutenantand his archers, who were not prepared for that sort of attack. One ofthe men was knocked down; the rest were thrown into confusion; and,taking advantage of the moment, we pushed on and charged thepanic-struck officers of justice.[2] Some of the guards were felled tothe earth; some of them fled as fast as their legs would carry them.The criminal lieutenant was beaten severely, and glad to escape withhis life; Jacques Marlot was in an instant set at liberty, amidst theshouts and gratulations of the populace.
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[Footnote 2: The Cardinal de Retz mentions in his Memoirs, that twocriminals were rescued, and seems to imply that they were saved fromthe gallows together. Joly, whose work forms a running commentary uponthat of De Retz, shows that the Cardinal spoke of Jacques Marlot, theprinter, as one of these culprits, and mentions his crime,--though thepunishment of death for writing, or rather for printing, a libel, mayseem a little severe. It must be acknowledged, indeed, that "LaCustode," a copy of which exists in the British Museum, is a mostdirty and scurrilous attack upon the Queen; but still the tyranny ofthe whole proceeding against this unhappy man seemed to justify thehatred which the people conceived, about this time, towards the greatbody of Parisian lawyers.]
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Feeling that I had perhaps done a foolish thing, and--from a knowledgeof the delicate situation in which the Duke stood with the Court--moreapprehensive of the consequences to him than to myself, I made as muchhaste as I could to get away quietly, without even staying tocongratulate the printer on his deliverance. As we had completely putthe archers to flight, and had quite satisfied them with their airingin the Place de Gr?ve for one day, no one opposed me on my way home,and I found Monsieur de Villardin in the hall ready to go out onhorseback, accompanied by the page I have mentioned under the name ofGaspard de Belleville. I had generally found it a good plan throughoutmy little life, whenever I had committed a fault which I was consciousmight affect some other persons, to make them acquainted with itimmediately, that they might be upon their guard against theconsequences; and, following this rule, I at once went up to Monsieurde Villardin, and informed him that I believed I had done a veryfoolish thing.
"It is half repaired by acknowledging it so frankly," replied theDuke; "but what is it, my boy, that we may do the best to remedy it?"
Without farther circumlocution I informed him of the facts, whichseemed to startle him a good deal.
"This is unpleasant, indeed," he replied; "but, in truth, I cannotfind in my heart to be angry with you; for I doubt not I should havedone just the same: and what the master would do, he cannot well blamein the page. We will hope, however, that you have not been recognised.Nevertheless," he added, in a low tone, "have what clothes you mayneed packed up, and be ready to set out at a minute's notice; for inthese times no one can tell one moment what they may have to do thenext."
I followed my lord's orders to the letter; and as soon as he had goneout, cast everything that I had that was well worth carrying, into twolarge saddle-bags. In this occupation I proceeded most zealously, nothaving the slightest inclination to act as substitute for JacquesMarlot in the elevated station which the criminal judge of theTournelle Court had destined him to fill that very morning. Thethoughts of such a consummation to my enterprises disgusted meconsiderably, as, of all deaths under the sun, I had the greatestobjection to that of hanging; and the idea thereof occupied me socompletely, that it was not till I had finished the preparation of mysaddle-bags, that I bethought me how much interested the oldmajor-domo might feel in the mutual adventures which his nephew andmyself had gone through that morning. As soon as the idea crossed mymind, however, I took my way to the old man's apartments; and, as hehad heard of his nephew's condemnation, but not of his deliverance, Ifound him in a state of great agitation and distress.
"Cheer up, cheer up, Monsieur Jerome Laborde," I said, as soon as Ihad obtained admission; "cheer up, things are not so bad as yousuppose."
The old man shook his head, but I went on and told him that I hadheard from certain authority that his nephew had been delivered by thehands of the people. He was at first incredulous, and although I couldhave given him stronger proof than mere hearsay, that what I assertedwas correct, I did not think it necessary or right to make any oneacquainted with the share I had borne in the rescue, except my lordand master: I added, however, so many assurances, that the old man atlength began to have some faith in my statement, and went out himselfto ascertain the facts. I did not see him afterwards till night; but Iwas very well assured that he must soon receive satisfactoryconfirmation of the good tidings which I had brought him.
The Little Ball O' Fire; or, the Life and Adventures of John Marston Hall Page 9