Expedition to the Luxembourg.--No admittance for
Females.--Portraits of "Henri."--Republican Costume.--Quai
Voltaire.--Mural Inscriptions.--Anecdote of Marshal
Lobau.--Arrest.
Ever since the trials at the Luxembourg commenced, we have intended to
make an excursion thither, in order to look at the encampment in the
garden, at the military array around the palace, and, in short, to see
all that is visible for female eyes in the general aspect of the
place, so interesting at the present moment from the important
business going on there.
I have done all that could be done to obtain admission to the Chamber
during their sittings, and have not been without friends who very
kindly interested themselves to render my efforts successful--but in
vain; no ladies have been permitted to enter. Whether the feminine
regrets have been lessened or increased by the daily accounts that are
published of the outrageous conduct of the prisoners, I will not
venture to say. _C'est égal_; get in we cannot, whether we wish it or
not. It is said, indeed, that in one of the tribunes set apart for
the public, a small white hand has been seen to caress some jet-black
curls upon the head of a boy; and it was said, too, that the boy
called himself George S----d: but I have heard of no other instance of
any one not furnished with that important symbol of prerogative, _une
barbe au menton_, who has ventured within the proscribed limits.
Our humble-minded project of looking at the walls which enclose the
blustering rebels and their patient judges has been at length happily
accomplished, and not without affording us considerable amusement.
In addition to our usual party, we had the pleasure of being
accompanied by two agreeable Frenchmen, who promised to explain
whatever signs and symbols might meet our eyes but mock our
comprehension. As the morning was delightful, we agreed to walk to the
place of our destination, and repose ourselves as much as the tossings
of a _fiacre_ would permit on the way home.
That our route lay through the Tuileries Gardens was one reason for
this arrangement; and, as usual, we indulged ourselves for a
delightful half-hour by sitting under the trees.
Whenever six or eight persons wish to converse together--not in
_tête-à-tête_, but in a general confabulation, I would recommend
exactly the place we occupied for the purpose, with the chairs of the
party drawn together, not spread into a circle, but collected in a
group, so that every one can hear, and every one can be heard.
Our conversation was upon the subject of various prints which we had
seen exposed upon the Boulevards as we passed; and though our two
Frenchmen were excellent friends, it was very evident that they did
not hold the same opinions in politics;--so we had some very pleasant
sparring.
We have been constantly in the habit of remarking a variety of
portraits of a pretty, elegant-looking youth, sometimes totally
without letters--and yet they were not proofs, excepting of an antique
loyalty,--sometimes with the single word "Henri!"--sometimes with a
sprig of the pretty weed we call "Forget-me-not,"--and sometimes with
the name of "Le Duc de Bordeaux." As we passed one of the cases this
morning which stand out before a large shop on the Boulevards, I
remarked a new one: it was a pretty lithographic print, and being very
like an original miniature which had been kindly shown me during a
visit I paid in the Faubourg St. Germain, I stopped to buy it, and
writing my name on the envelope, ordered it to be sent home.
M. P----, the gentleman who was walking beside me when I stopped,
confirmed my opinion that it was a likeness, by his personal knowledge
of the original; and it was not difficult to perceive, though he spoke
but little on the subject, that an affectionate feeling for "THE
CAUSE" and its young hero was at his heart.
M. de L----, the other gentleman who had joined our party, was walking
behind us, and came up as I was making my purchase. He smiled. "I see
what you are about," said he: "if you and P---- continue to walk
together, I am sure you will plot some terrible treason before you get
to the Luxembourg."
When we were seated in the Tuileries Gardens, M. de L---- renewed his
attack upon me for what he called my seditious conduct in having
encouraged the vender of a prohibited article, and declared that he
thought he should but do his duty if he left M. P---- and myself in
safe custody among the other rebellious characters at the Luxembourg.
"My sedition," replied M. P----, "is but speculative. The best among
us now can only sigh that things are not quite as they should be, and
be thankful that they are not quite as bad as they might be."
"I rejoice to find that you allow so much, mon cher," replied his
friend. "Yes, I think it might be worse; par exemple, if such gentry
as those yonder were to have their way with us."
He looked towards three youths who were stalking up the walk before us
with the air of being deeply intent on some business of dire import.
They looked like walking caricatures--and in truth they were nothing
else.
They were republicans. Similar figures are constantly seen strutting
upon the Boulevards, or sauntering, like those before us, in the
Tuileries, or hovering in sinister groups about the Bois de Boulogne,
each one believing himself to bear the brow of a Brutus and the heart
of a Cato. But see them where or when you will, they take good care to
be unmistakable; there is not a child of ten years old in Paris who
cannot tell a republican when he sees him. In several print-shops I
have seen a key to their mystical toilet which may enable the ignorant
to read them right. A hat, whose crown if raised for a few inches more
would be conical, is highest in importance, as in place; and the shade
of Cromwell may perhaps glory in seeing how many desperate wrongheads
still mimic his beaver. Then come the long and matted locks, that hang
in heavy ominous dirtiness beneath it. The throat is bare, at least
from linen; but a plentiful and very disgusting profusion of hair
supplies its place. The waistcoat, like the hat, bears an immortal
name--"GILET À LA ROBESPIERRE" being its awful designation; and the
extent of its wide-spreading lapels is held to be a criterion of the
expansive principles of the wearer. _Au reste_, a general air of grim
and savage blackguardism is all that is necessary to make up the
outward man of a republican of Paris in 1835.
But, oh! the grimaces by which I have seen human face distorted by
persons wearing this masquerading attire! Some roll their eyes and
knit their brows as if they would bully the whole universe; others fix
their dark glances on the ground in fearful meditation; while other
some there be who, while gloomily leaning against a statue or a tree,
throw such terrific meaning into their looks as might naturally be
interpreted into the language of the witches in Macbeth--
"We must, we will--we must, we will
Have much more blood,--and become worse,
And become worse" ... &c. &c.
The three young men who had just passed us were exactly of this stamp.
Our legitimate friend looked after them and laughed heartily.
"C'est à nous autres, mon cher," said de L----, "to enjoy that sight.
You and yours would have but small reason to laugh at such as these,
if it were not the business of us and ours to take care that they
should do you no harm. You may thank the eighty thousand National
Guards of Paris for the pleasure of quizzing with such a complacent
feeling of security these very ferocious-looking persons."
"For that I thank them heartily," replied M. P----; "only I think the
business would have been quite as well done if those who performed it
had the right to do so."
"Bah! Have you not tried, and found you could make nothing of it?"
"I think not, my friend," replied the legitimatist: "we were doing
very well, and exerting ourselves to keep the unruly spirits in order,
when you stepped in, and promised all the naughty boys in Paris a
holiday if they would but make you master. They did make you
master--they have had their holiday, and now...."
"And now ..." said I, "what will come next?"
Both the gentlemen answered me at once.
"Riots," said the legitimatist.
"Good order," said the doctrinaire.
We proceeded in our walk, and having crossed the Pont Royal, kept
along the Quai Voltaire, to avoid the Rue du Bac; as we all agreed
that, notwithstanding Madame de Staël spoke so lovingly of it at a
distance, it was far from agreeable when near.
Were it not for a sort of English horror of standing before
shop-windows, the walking along that Quai Voltaire might occupy an
entire morning. From the first wide-spread display of "remarkable
people" for five sous apiece--and there are heads among them which
even in their rude lithography would repay some study--from this
five-sous gallery of fame to the entrance of the Rue de Seine, it is
an almost uninterrupted show;--books, old and new--rich, rare, and
worthless; engravings that may be classed likewise,--_articles
d'occasion_ of all sorts,--but, far above all the rest, the most
glorious museums of old carving and gilding, of monstrous chairs,
stupendous candlesticks, grotesque timepieces, and ornaments without a
name, that can be found in the world. It is here that the wealthy
fancier of the massive splendour of Louis Quinze comes with a full
purse, and it is hence that beyond all hope he departs with a light
one. The present royal family of France, it is said, profess a taste
for this princely but ponderous style of decoration; and royal
carriages are often seen to stop at the door of _magasins_ so
heterogeneous in their contents as to admit all titles excepting only
that of "_magasin de nouveautés_," but having at the first glance very
greatly the air of a pawnbroker's shop.
During this lounge along the Quai Voltaire, I saw for the first time
some marvellously uncomely portraits, with the names of each inscribed
below, and a running title for all, classing them _en masse_ as "_Les
Prévenus d'Avril_." If these be faithful portraits, the originals are
to be greatly pitied; for they seem by nature predestined to the evil
work they have been about. Every one of them looks
"Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him."
It should seem that the materials for rebellion were in Shakspeare's
days much of the same kind as they are in ours. If these be portraits,
the originals need have no fear of the caricaturist before their
eyes--their "villanies of nature" could hardly be exaggerated; and I
should think that H. B. himself would try his pencil upon them in
vain.
On the subject which the examination of these _prévenus d'Avril_
naturally led to, our two French friends seemed to be almost entirely
of the same opinion; the legitimatist confessing that "any king was
better than none," and the doctrinaire declaring that he would rather
the country should have gone without the last revolution, glorious and
immortal as it was, than that it should be exposed to another,
especially such a one as MM. les Prévenus were about to prepare for
them.
Being arrived at _le quartier Latin_, we amused ourselves by
speculating upon the propensity manifested by very young men, who were
still subjected to restraint, for the overthrow and destruction of
everything that denotes authority or threatens discipline. Thus the
walls in this neighbourhood abounded with inscriptions to that effect;
"_A bas Philippe!_"--"_Les Pairs sont des assassins!_"--"_Vive la
République!_" and the like. Pears of every size and form, with
scratches signifying eyes, nose, and mouth, were to be seen in all
directions: which being interpreted, denotes the contempt of the
juvenile students for the reigning monarch. A more troublesome
evidence of this distaste for authority was displayed a few days ago
by four or five hundred of these disorderly young men, who assembling
themselves together, followed with hootings and shoutings M. Royer
Collard, a professor lately appointed by the government to the medical
school, from the college to his home in the Rue de Provence.
Upon all such occasions, this government, or any other, would do well
to follow the hint given them by an admirable manoeuvre of General
Lobau's, the commander-in-chief of the National Guard. I believe the
anecdote is very generally known; but, in the hope that you may not
have heard it, I will indulge myself by telling you the story, which
amused me infinitely; and it is better that I should run the risk of
your hearing it twice, than of your not hearing it at all.
A party of _les jeunes gens de Paris_, who were exerting themselves to
get up a little republican _émeute_, had assembled in considerable
numbers in the Place Vendôme. The drums beat--the commandant was
summoned and appeared. The young malcontents closed their ranks,
handled their pocket-knives and walking-sticks, and prepared to stand
firm. The general was seen to dismiss an aide-de-camp, and a few
anxious moments followed, when something looking fearfully like a
military engine appeared advancing from the Rue de la Paix. Was it
cannon?... A crowd of high-capped engineers surrounded it, as with
military order and address it wheeled about and approached the spot
where the rioters had formed their thickest phalanx. The word of
command was given, and in an instant the whole host were drenched to
their skins with water.
Many who saw this memorable rout, in which the laughing _pompiers_
followed with their leather pipes the scampering heroes, declare that
no military manoeuvre ever produced so rapid an evacuation of
troops. There is something in the tone and temper of this proceeding
of the National Guard which appears to me strikingly indicative of the
easy, quiet, contemptuous spirit in which these powerful guardians of
the existing government contemplate its republican enemies.
Having reached the Luxembourg and obtained admission to the gardens,
we again rested ourselves, that we might look about at our ease upon a
scene that was not only quite novel, but certainly very singular to
those who were accustomed to the ordinary aspect of the place.
In the midst of lilacs and roses an encampment of small white tents
showed their warlike fronts. Arms, drums, and all sorts of military
accoutrements were visible among them; while loitering troops, some
smoking, some reading, some sleeping, completed the unwonted
appearance of the scene.
It would have been impossible, I believe, in all France to have fixed
ourselves on a spot where our two French friends would have found so
many incitements to unity of opinion and feeling as this. Our
conversation, therefore, was not only very amicable, but ran some risk
of being dull from the mere want of contradiction; for to a hearty
conscientious condemnation of the proceedings which led to this trial
of the _prévenus d'Avril_ there was an unanimous sentence passed _nem.
con._ throughout the whole party.
M. de L---- gave us some anecdotes of one or two of the persons best
known among the prisoners; but upon being questioned respecting the
others, he burst out indignantly in the words of Corneille--
----"Le reste ne vaut pas l'honneur d'être nommé:
Un tas d'hommes perdus de dettes et de crimes,
Que pressent de nos loix les ordres légitimes,
Et qui désespérant de les plus éviter,
Si tout n'est renversé, ne sauraient subsister."
"Ben trovato!" exclaimed P----; "you could not have described them
better--but...."
This "but" would very probably have led to observations that might
have put our _belle harmonie_ out of tune, or at least have produced
the renewal of our peaceable sparring, had not a little bustle among
the trees at a short distance behind us cut short our session.
It seems that ever since the trials began, the chief duty of the
gendarmes--(I beg pardon, I should say, of _la Garde de Paris_)--has
been to prevent any assembling together of the people in knots for
conversation and gossipings in the courts and gardens of the
Luxembourg. No sooner are two or three persons observed standing
together, than a policeman approaches, and with a tone of command
pronounces, "Circulez, messieurs!--circulez, s'il vous plaît." The
reason for this precaution is, that nightly at the Porte St. Martin a
few score of _jeunes gens_ assemble to make a very idle and unmeaning
noise, the echo of which regularly runs from street to street till the
reiterated report amounts to the announcement of an _émeute_. We are
all now so used to these harmless little _émeutes_ at the Porte St.
Martin, that we mind them no more than General Lobau himself:
nevertheless, it is deemed proper, trumpery as the cause may be, to
prevent anything like a gathering together of the mob in the vicinity
of the Luxembourg, lest the same hundred-tongued lady who constantly
magnifies the hootings of a few idle mechanics into an _émeute_ should
spread a report throughout France that the Luxembourg was besieged by
the people. The noise which had disturbed us was occasioned by the
gathering together of about a dozen persons; but a policeman was in
the midst of the group, and we heard rumours of an _arrestation_. In
less than five minutes, however, everything was quiet again: but we
marked two figures so picturesque in their republicanism, that we
resumed our seats while a sketch was made from them, and amused
ourselves the while in fancying what the ominous words could be that
were so cautiously exchanged between them. M. de L---- said that there
could be no doubt that they ran thus:
"Ce soir, à la Porte St. Martin!"
_Answer._--"J'y serai."
[Illustration: Drawn & Etched by A. Hervieu.
"CE SOIR À LA PORTE ST. MARTIN!"
"J'Y SERAI."
London, Published by Richard Bentley, 1836.]