The city of Paris, and the country in general, were then in a pitiable
state, owing to every party in the land combining, in the strongest
degree that it is possible to imagine, the qualities of knave and
fool. The Parliament was playing the fool in Paris, and yet
sacrificing the country to the nicest calculations of its own
interest. The party of the Duke of Bouillon was playing the fool, and
letting slip every opportunity of effecting its own objects, while it
was calling a foreign power into the heart of its native country to
obtain them. The people were playing the fool in suffering themselves
to be led by an ass, the Duke de Beaufort, and by a knave, the
Cardinal de Retz, while, at the same time, they took care to enrich
themselves by the plunder of the stores and magazines; and last, not
least, the Court was playing the fool at St. Germain, treating weakly
where it might have acted vigorously, and yet cheating all the other
parties with the most consummate art.
The situation of France at the time I entered Paris was, in a few
words, as follows:--Louis XIV. was then a mere boy, under the regency
of his mother, who, in turn, was under the government of Cardinal
Mazarin; and these three personages, together with the Prince of
Condé, and a large body of nobility, were then at St. Germain-en-laye,
shut out of the city of Paris, which they were besieging without a
sufficient body of troops to take even one of the gates. The
Parliament, which had begun the war, and the people who had seconded
it, remained in the capital, hating Mazarin, and laughing at the
Court; but heartily sick of a war which prevented the butter and cream
from the country reaching Paris in safety; while a party of clever men
and immense rogues, consisting of a number of general officers, with
the Dukes of Bouillon, Elbeuf, Beaufort, the Prince de Conti, and the
Archbishop de Retz, laboured night and day to keep both people and
Parliament in a state of agitation and excitement, in order that each
of these worthy and notable leaders might wring from the weakness of a
regency every sort of gift, honour, and emolument. For this purpose,
open war had been declared against the Court, while, as usual, the
King's name was used, and the King's standard displayed on both sides.
All the people in the realm seemed mad, and a strange spirit of
contradicting their own established characters appeared to have seized
upon every one. Acknowledged cowards led armies and rushed into
battle, the most faithful turned traitors, the most honest became
knaves, the firm were in a continual state of vacillation, the wise
showed themselves fools, and the brave ran away. However, as it became
evident to the Parisian generals that the Parliament was inclined to
separate from the people, and make peace with the Court for itself,
before the concessions were granted which they, the generals, demanded
for themselves, they determined to do their best, by means of the
people within the city and of armies without, to compel the Parliament
to be honest to them and dishonest to the Court. Negotiations were
immediately opened with the Spanish government of the Low Countries,
Spanish ambassadors were received in Paris, the Archduke began his
march into France, Turenne, himself, with the common madness of the
day, raised the standard of rebellion against his king in aid of his
brother the Duke of Bouillon, and the Duc de Longueville promised to
advance also with his forces from Rouen to support the Parisians in
their struggle.
Such was the situation of things externally when I entered the
capital, and became attached to one of the party of general officers.
At the same time, it is to be remarked, that deputies from the
Parliament were treating for peace at Ruel; and though the date of
their powers had expired, they were still continuing their
negotiations. A report even was current that they had concluded a
treaty with Mazarin; and as I had passed through the town on my way to
the house of Monsieur de Villardin, I had found the people collected
in large bodies, shouting, "Down with Mazarin! down with the
Parliament!"
By the time that we issued forth into the streets to take our way to
the building where the great judicial body was assembled, the rumour
had become still more general, and the crowds, of course, were
increased. Nothing was heard but cries and shouts, and what were then
called Mazarinades. Poniards, muskets, pikes, and swords were in all
hands; and so very indiscriminate was the use which the people seemed
inclined to make of their weapons, that it was only by constantly
joining in their shout of "Down with Mazarin!" that we made our way
through them in safety. The numbers in the neighbourhood of the
_palais_ were still more immense and vociferous; and even the crowd of
guards who were keeping the court and the doors of the building seemed
not a whit less infuriated than the people. At the same time persons
were seen continually coming out from the Parliament, and haranguing
the multitude; and those also who went in seldom failed to treat them
to a taste of their eloquence ere they entered the gates; the state of
insanity to which all this oratory raised the populace may easily be
imagined; and at one time I heard a man exclaim from amongst the
crowd, that they should hang the deputies over the gates; while one of
the town-guard added, that if Monsieur de Villardin, who was just
going in, would return and point out to them who were really the
_Mazarins_ in the Parliament itself, they would drag them out, and
poniard them in the court.
Upon this, the Duke, of course, favoured them with an oration also,
and a curious piece of composition it was; consisting of a series of
pleasantries upon the Parliament, upon Mazarin, upon himself, upon the
Court, and upon everything, mingled with a few apophthegms upon
policy, religion, and morals, which all tended to captivate the
people, and make them think him wondrous wise, without tending in the
least to calm them, or reduce them to order and decency. Now Monsieur
de Villardin was not only a polished speaker, and, where his own
passions were not concerned, a close reasoner, but he was also really
a patriotic, generous, disinterested man; and the fact of his speaking
for half an hour, as he did on the present occasion, a tissue of
high-sounding, disjointed nonsense, which could only serve to inflame
still farther the minds of a mad and excited populace, can only be
accounted for upon the grounds of the general insanity which seemed at
that time to have seized upon all ranks and classes.
This oration being finished, we entered the Parliament House; and, by
the special favour of one of the door-keepers, my new lord was
permitted to take me with him into the interior of the building,
perhaps anticipating one of those scenes in which the prompt hand and
ready perception that had been my principal recommendation in his
eyes, might be serviceable to him in more ways than one. We took our
way by the great staircase in the right wing, and soon found ourselves
in what is called the _Salle des pas perdus_, which was full of people
of all sorts and descriptions; guards, doorkeepers, and officers of
the _palais_; counsellors, statesmen, members of the different
chambers, and the mixed crowd of attendants belonging to all those who
were thronging to the Parliament on the present momentous occasion.
Passing onward, through the small refreshment rooms called _Les
Buvettes_, where no obstacle was presented to my following my master,
we were soon in the midst of the hall in which the Parliament were
assembled; and such a scene of disgraceful confusion has seldom,
perhaps, been witnessed. Half-a-dozen people were upon their feet
haranguing at once; and several minutes elapsed before anything could
be heard except a confused gabble of tongues, which might have done
honour to the top of the tower of Babel.
At length, the Duke d'Elbeuf, whom I had seen before, and who seemed
to have the longest breath, the loudest voice, and the most determined
pertinacity of the party, obtained the ascendancy; and one by one
sitting down, he was left speaking alone.
"Now, Sir President," he continued, turning to a man of dignified
appearance, who, habited as a high law officer, occupied one of the
principal places of the assembly,--"now, Sir President, since I can
make myself heard, I demand distinctly whether you or any of your
fellow-deputies have, at your conference with Mazarin and the Court,
made any provision whatever for the security and remuneration of the
generals and other officers who have sacrificed so much in the cause
of the Parliament and the people?"
"Before I reply to any particular questions," answered the President,
"I will, with the permission of the Parliament, read the _procès
verbal_ of our proceedings at the conference at Ruel. Then having seen
what we have really done, the chambers will be enabled to judge
whether they can approve of the treaty of peace we have concluded."
"You had no power, you had no power," shouted forty or fifty voices at
once,--"you had no power to conclude anything! Your authority expired
four or five days ago! There is no peace; we will have no peace! The
deputies have gone beyond their powers; they have abandoned
disgracefully our generals and our friends!"
In vain the Chief President attempted to read the paper which he had
in his hand. Every time he opened his mouth his words were drowned in
murmurs and reproaches; and, even when he abandoned the endeavour and
sat down, it was clear that the rest of the assembly only waited for
some new word to break forth again into tumult and invective. All
solemnity, all dignity, was laid aside: the turbulence had not even
the impressiveness derived from being terrible: it was simply
ridiculous; and the only image presented to the mind by the whole
scene was a body of fishwomen scolding in a market.
After the silence of perhaps a minute which ensued, a little pale
young man, who seemed to be slightly deformed, and who I afterwards
found was the Prince de Conti, rose near the head of the hall, and
said, in a mild and sweet-toned voice, that he did wonder that the
deputies from the Parliament had thought fit to conclude a peace with
the Court, without consulting himself and the generals of the army.
Another person, who was afterwards addressed as the Duke de Bouillon,
with a broad, unmeaning countenance, which, however, lighted up in an
extraordinary manner when he began to speak, followed the Prince de
Conti in addressing the Parliament:--
"Gentlemen," he said, "since you have thought fit to conclude a peace
with the Court, and allowed the Cardinal Mazarin, whose enmity I have
so highly provoked in your service, to remain prime minister, the only
favour and reward that I shall require of you is, to obtain me a
passport, as speedily as possible, to quit the country with my
family."
"We have not concluded a peace; we disavow it. The deputies had no
power," cried a dozen voices at once; and everybody again began
speaking together, as if the sense of hearing had suddenly left the
whole assembly. One man, the Duke de Beaufort, who was handsome
enough, indeed, but whose good looks were principally composed of high
health and stupidity, laid his hand upon the hilt of his sword, and
declared that it should never draw blood for Mazarin. Another
protested that the Parliament had rendered itself for ever unworthy of
the confidence of the people; and, what between reproaches and tumult,
more than an hour passed without anything being concluded.
In the midst of all this uproar, however, a piece of buffoonery,
performed by the well-known Bachaumont, restored some sort of good
humour to the assembly; for, seizing a momentary pause, when every
tongue, as if by common consent, halted to take breath, he passed
behind the famous De Retz, then archbishop-coadjutor of Paris,
snatched forth a poniard, which he had espied lying concealed in the
bosom of that factious prelate, and, holding it up to the eyes of the
Parliament, exclaimed, "Gentlemen, gentlemen, look at the breviary of
our archbishop!"
A roar of laughter succeeded, which left the whole of that grave
assembly so much out of countenance, that it was some time before they
could speak of any serious business, much more return to the angry
disputation in which they had been interrupted.
Taking advantage of the change, one of the lawyers, called the
President de Coigneux, rose, and made the most sensible proposition
which had yet been heard; namely, that, as the deputies had acted
without authority, and as the responsibility of what they had done, of
course rested upon themselves, they should be sent back with the
treaty they had framed, and, though permitted to take it for the basis
of a new one, should be directed, in addition, to stipulate for
immunity and recompence to the generals and nobles who had engaged in
the cause of the Parliament.
He had not yet concluded his harangue, however, when a tremendous
noise in the court below, and even in the hall without, together with
loud shouts of "Down with Mazarin! Down with the Parliament! Hang up
the deputies! Long live the noble generals! Let us have a republic!
Set fire to the _palais!_" and other such sweet and delectable
exhortations, roared by the stentorian voices of the crowd, caused the
orator to turn very pale, and to sit down before he had finished his
oration. Another lawyer rose, to second the proposal of the first: but
by this time the noise had become so tremendous that what he said
could not be distinguished; and the moment after the great door of the
hall opened, and one of the doorkeepers entered, pale and trembling,
announcing, in a voice scarcely articulate with fear, that the
populace had forced their way into the _Salle des pas perdus_, and
demanded to speak with the Duc de Beaufort.
That prince--who, with scarcely common sense to carry him through the
world, was the great popular leader both at that time, and for many
years afterwards--went out and tranquillised the people for a few
minutes; but scarcely had he again entered the hall when the tumult
recommenced, and it was found absolutely necessary to break up the
sitting.
Nevertheless, the Chief President--although against himself
personally, as the principal member of the deputation which had signed
the peace, the anger of the multitude was most fiercely excited--still
maintained his place with calm dignity; and declared, without the
slightest shade of fear detracting from his perfect self-possession,
that a proposition being before the Parliament, it could not separate
without coming to some decision on the subject. The motion that the
deputies should be sent back was immediately put, and was carried with
somewhat timid rapidity. The next question was, how to get the
obnoxious deputies to their houses with their lives, especially the
Chief President, who, notwithstanding political differences, was
admired and esteemed by every nobler spirit present.
He had just taken the voices of the assembly, as calmly as he would
have done at any ordinary time, and on any ordinary occasion; and for
a moment after, there followed a general pause, while the whole
assembly looked upon him with a feeling of interest and apprehension
that is difficult to describe. Even I, myself, who had never seen him
before, and now, as I stood behind, under one of the arches, only
caught an occasional view of him through the crowd, felt that I would
have shed my own blood to save him. Everybody present was well aware
that there existed a thousand chances to one that he would be
massacred the moment he showed his face amongst the infuriated mob
without; but he himself did not seem to feel that he was an object of
any particular attention, or to suppose that there was any imminent
danger, though he must have been internally convinced that his life
was not certain for a moment. Calmly rising, however, after he had
declared the vote of the chambers, and had pronounced the sitting at
an end, he prepared to leave the hall without any apparent agitation.
As he took the first step towards the door, the Duke de Bouillon and
several other officers, amongst whom my new lord was one, pressed
about him, and entreated him to pass round by the writing-rooms at the
back of the building, by which means he would avoid encountering the
people.
"Gentlemen," he replied, "the Court of Parliament never conceals
itself; and if I were certain of being torn in pieces the moment I set
my foot beyond this hall, I would not commit such an act of cowardice
as to go out by any but the way to which I am accustomed."
"At least," cried the Archbishop, "do not attempt to proceed till I
have endeavoured to calm the people."
A bitter smile curled the lip of the President, who well knew that
prelate to be the instigator of half the sedition which took place in
the city; but he replied, with a low bow, "Well, well, my very good
lord, go and give them the word, by all means;" and, almost as soon as
De Retz had left him, he again began to move towards the door. Several
of the more popular amongst the officers surrounded him as he
advanced, in order to protect him; and Monsieur de Villardin, placing
himself on his right hand, bade me go on immediately before, and do
what I thought best to assist in clearing the way.
"You seem to have great confidence in your page, Monsieur le Duc,"
said the President, in a calm, easy tone.
"You will see whether I have not cause, sir," replied the Duke; "but
let me beseech you not to utter one word, either good or bad, till you
are safe in your own dwelling."
It is a certain fact, that to teach people that we expect great things
from them is the best of all ways to cause them to use great
exertions; and the words that I overheard at once made me determine to
leave nothing undone that could show my zeal or activity. The rest of
the popular nobles and lawyers now approached to protect the other
deputies, and thus we advanced to the door. When we were close to it,
the _huissier_ threw it open, and a sight certainly somewhat appalling
presented itself. The outer hall was filled to suffocation with a
dense mass of ill-favoured vagabonds, who presented themselves, with
fury in their eyes and weapons in their hands, shouting all sorts of
imprecations upon the deputies, upon Mazarin, and upon the Court. They
were led by a ruined advocate, called Du Boisle, who was almost as
ragged as his followers, and equally well furnished with arms. Indeed,
the combination of swords, guns, and daggers, with rags and tatters,
had a very strange effect to the eye when it first lighted upon the
multitude, which presented the aspect of a strong force of armed
beggars.
However, we moved on directly towards the opposite door; and as all
looks were turned upon the Parliament, none upon me, I advanced,
keeping a step before the President, till I almost touched the front
rank man, in the centre of the crowd. He showed not the slightest
disposition to move out of the way; and, although I kept my hand upon
my dagger, I thought it might be as well to try mild means first; and,
therefore, setting my heel upon his toes, I gave them a gentle
squeeze, which made him start back, roaring, upon those behind him.
The tumult was still so great, that the cry of pain he uttered passed
almost unnoticed, while his rush back made those behind him retreat
also, so that a passage was cleared for us half way through the hall.
We lost no time in taking advantage of this favourable circumstance;
but, before we had proceeded far, Du Boisle threw himself in the way
of the President, and addressed him in language which at once showed
why his oratory was so much more successful in a mob than in a court
of justice. As his harangue was rather lengthy, and a crowd, like damp
hay, always heats itself by standing close packed together, I soon saw
brandishing of weapons, and caught a sight of two or three men
mounting upon the benches at the back, and calmly taking aim, with
their muskets, at various persons in our little party. It therefore
seemed necessary to bring the advocate's oration to a conclusion; and
as he was so near the President as sometimes to take him by the robe,
I easily got in behind him, and catching his coat, so as to throw him
over amongst the people, I tripped up his heels, in the very fury of
his declamation. My size, of course, greatly contributed to my
success, and also shielded me from notice and retribution; and in the
confusion which followed, the President and his companions pushed
forward, and descended the great staircase in safety.
The crowd without were not prepared for our issuing forth without any
notice from their friends within, and thus we got a considerable start
of them, which enabled us to convey the President to his house unhurt.
Our movements, however, were soon perceived: the multitude followed,
shouting imprecations upon us; and as we endeavoured to disperse,
after having accomplished our purpose, a thousand scenes of confusion
and brutality ensued. What became of the other nobles and counsellors,
I did not see. Monsieur de Villardin turned again towards the _palais_
to find his grooms and his horses; but as he had made himself one of
the most conspicuous in defending the President, he was surrounded and
attacked by a party of butchers, who threw him down upon the pavement.
I was three steps behind: one of his assailants knelt over him with a
poniard in his hand, shouting, "Death to the Mazarin!" and as long
practice in cutting throats seemed to have rendered him expert and
quick, it is possible that, ere I could have come up to afford any
assistance, Monsieur de Villardin would have lost his life, on the
very first day of my attendance upon him. At that moment, however, a
young cavalier, of not more than four or five and twenty years of age,
followed by two or three servants, dashed in amongst the butchers,
received in his own arm the blow of the dagger which was intended for
the duke's throat, and cleared the space round him.
At the same time, though he was sharply wounded, he exclaimed, with
the utmost good humour, "What! gentlemen, are you going to kill your
friends? This is no Mazarin! This is one of the generals. Do you not
remember Monsieur de Villardin?" It is astonishing how few words will
convince a mob of anything under the sun. The butchers looked utterly
confounded when they heard that they had just been engaged in the
laudable employment of assaulting one of the generals of their own
armies, though they were told so by a person of whom they apparently
knew as little. It was quite sufficient for them that some one said
so; and a few more words from the Duke himself, who had by this time
regained his feet, finished the impression, and sent them away to
assault somebody else with as much reason.
As soon as we were left alone, the Duke turned to his deliverer, and
expressed his gratitude for the service he had received. "It would be
a shame to me," he added, after his first thanks had been poured
forth, "if I were to remain one moment longer ignorant of the name of
one to whom I am so deeply indebted."
"I can well believe that you have forgot me," answered the young
gentleman, "for you have not seen me for seven or eight years; which
at my time of life effects a great change; but you cannot have
forgotten the name of Charles de Mesnil, your nearest neighbour, I
believe, in Brittany."
"Good Heaven, my dear Count, is it possible?" exclaimed Monsieur de
Villardin: "I had indeed forgot you; but you were merely a boy when I
last saw you. You are changed indeed. I never thought to see you such
a height. You are taller by full two inches than your father was.
Gracious Heaven! but you are bleeding," he added, remarking the wound
in his arm.
"Oh, it is a mere nothing," answered the other; "I will seek some
surgeon, and have it dressed."
"Nowhere but in my house," replied Monsieur de Villardin. "Call up my
horses. Are those yours standing yonder, Count?"
The reply was in the affirmative; and the young cavalier added, that
seeing Monsieur de Villardin coming out of the _palais_, he had
followed on foot to claim acquaintance with him.
I was not long in finding the grooms; and the two gentlemen having
mounted, we rode home, after having spent a morning as full of bustle
as even I could wish.
A surgeon was instantly sent for; and the young cavalier's wound
having been dressed, he was presented by Monsieur de Villardin to his
lady, as the son of an old friend, and the saviour of his life. What
passed further, I do not know; but the day closed, and I felt myself
very well contented with my situation.