A CHAPTER CHARACTERISTIC OF FRENCH ANTIQUARIES, FRENCH LADIES, FRENCH
LAWYERS, FRENCH JUDGES, FRENCH LITERATURE, AND FRENCHNESS IN GENERAL.
_Quid de pulicibus? vitæ salientia puncta._
COWLEY.
Now, Reader, having sent away the small Critic with a flea in his ear,
I will tell you something concerning one of the curiosities of
literature.
The most famous flea, for a real flea, that has yet been heard of,—for
not even the King of the Fleas, who, as Dr. Clarke and his fellow
traveller found to their cost, keeps his court at Tiberias, approaches
it in celebrity,—nor the flea of that song, which Mephistopheles sung
in the cellar at Leipzig,—that flea for whom the King ordered breeches
and hose from his own tailor; who was made prime minister; and who,
when he governed the realm, distinguished himself, like Earl Grey, by
providing for all his relations:—the most illustrious, I say, of all
fleas,—_pulicum facile princeps_—was that flea which I know not
whether to call Mademoiselle des Roches's flea, or Pasquier's flea, or
the flea of Poictiers.
In the year 1579, when the _Grands Jours_, or Great Assizes, were held
at Poictiers under President de Harlay, Pasquier, who was one of the
most celebrated advocates, most accomplished scholars, and most
learned men in France, attended in the exercise of his profession.
Calling there one day upon Madame des Roches and her daughter,
Mademoiselle Catherine, whom he describes as _l'une des plus belles et
sages de nostre France_, while he was conversing with the young lady
he espied a flea, _parquée au beau milieu de son sein_.
Upon this Pasquier made such a speech as a Frenchman might be expected
to make upon so felicitous an occasion, admiring the taste of the
flea, envying its happiness, and marvelling at its boldness _de
s'estre mise en si beau jour; parce que jaloux de son heur, peu s'en
falloit,_ he says, _que je ne misse la main sur elle, en deliberation
de luy faire un mauvais tour; et bien luy prenoit qu'elle estoit en
lieu de franchise!_ This led to a _contention mignarde_ between the
young lady and the learned lawyer, who was then more than fifty years
of age; _finalement, ayant esté l'autheur de la noise,_ says Pasquier,
_je luy dis que puisque ceste Puce avoit receu tant d'heur de se
repaistre de son sang, et d'estre reciproquement honorée de nos
propos, elle meritoit encores d'estre enchâssée dedans nos papiers, et
que tresvolontiers je m'y employerois, si cette Dame vouloit de sa
part faire le semblable; chose qu'elle m'accorda liberalement._ Each
was in earnest, but each, according to the old Advocate, supposed the
other to be in jest: both went to work upon this theme after the
visit, and each finished a copy of verses about the same time,
_tombants en quelques rencontres de mots les plus signalez pour le
subject._ Pasquier thinking to surprize the lady, sent his poem to her
as soon as he had transcribed it, on a Sunday morning,—the better the
day the better being the deed: and the lady apprehending that they
might have fallen upon some of the same thoughts, lest she should be
suspected of borrowing what she knew to be her own, sent back the
first draught of her verses by his messenger, not having had time to
write them fairly out. _Heureuse, certes, rencontre et jouyssance de
deux esprits, qui passe d'un long entrejet, toutes ces opinions
follastres et vulgaires d'amour. Que si en cecy tu me permets d'y
apporter quelque chose de mon jugement je te diray, qu'en l'un tu
trouveras les discours d'une sage fille, en l'autre les discours d'un
homme qui n'est pas trop fol; ayants l'un et l'autre par une
bienseance des nos sexes joüé tels roolles que devions._
The Demoiselle after describing in her poem the feats of the flea,
takes a hint from the resemblance in sound between _puce_ and
_pucelle_, and making an allegorical use of mythology, makes by that
means a decorous allusion to the vulgar notion concerning the unclean
circumstances by which fleas, as they say, are bred:
_Puce, si ma plume estoit digne,
Je descrirois vostre origine;
Et comment le plus grand des Dieux,
Pour la terre quittant les cieux,
Vous fit naître, comme il me semble,
Orion et vous tout ensemble._
She proceeds to say that Pan became enamoured of this sister of Orion;
that Diana to preserve her from his pursuit, metamorphosed her into a
flea (_en puce_,) and that in this transformation nothing remained of
her
_Sinon
La crainte, l'adresse, et le nom._
Pasquier in his poem gave himself a pretty free scope in his imaginary
pursuit of the flea, and in all the allusions to which its name would
on such an occasion invite an old Frenchman. If the story had ended
here, it would have been characteristic enough of French manners, _Or
voy, je te prie,_ says Pasquier, _quel fruict nous a produit cette
belle altercation, ou pour mieux dire, symbolization de deux ames. Ces
deux petits Jeux poëtiques commencerent à courir par les mains de
plusieurs, et se trouverent si agreables, que sur leur modelle,
quelques personnages de marque voulurent estre de la partie; et
s'employerent sur mesme subject à qui mieux mieux, les uns en Latin,
les autres en François, et quelquesuns en l'une et l'autre langue:
ayant chacun si bien exploté en son endroict, qu' à chacun doit
demeurer la victoire._
Among the distinguished persons who exercised their talents upon this
worthy occasion, Brisson was one; that Brisson of whom Henri III. said
that no king but himself could boast of so learned a subject; who lent
the assistance of his great name and talents towards setting up the
most lawless of all tyrannies, that of an insurrectionary government;
and who suffered death under that tyranny, as the reward which such
men always (and righteously as concerns themselves however iniquitous
the sentence) receive from the miscreants with whom they have leagued.
He began his poem much as a scholar might be expected to do, by
alluding to the well known pieces which had been composed upon
somewhat similar subjects.
_Fœlices meritò Mures Ranæque loquaces
Queis cæci vatis contigit ore cani:
Vivet et extento lepidus Passerculus ævo
Cantatus numeris, culte Catulle tuis.
Te quoque, parve Culex, nulla unquam muta silebit
Posteritas, docti suave Maronis opus.
Ausoniusque Pulex, dubius quem condidit auctor,
Canescet sæclis innumerabilibus.
Pictonici at Pulicis longè præclarior est sors,
Quem fovet in tepido casta puella sinu.
Fortunate Pulex nimium, tua si bona noris,
Alternis vatum nobilitate metris._
In the remainder of his poem Brisson takes the kind of range which, if
the subject did not actually invite, it seemed at least to permit. He
produced also four Latin epigrams against such persons as might
censure him for such a production, and these, as well as the poem
itself, were translated into French by Pasquier. This was necessary
for the public, not for Madame des Roches, and her daughter, who were
versed both in Latin and Greek. Among the numerous persons whom the
Assizes had brought to Poictiers, whether as judges, advocates,
suitors, or idlers, every one who could write a Latin or a French
verse tried his skill upon this small subject. _Tout le Parnasse latin
et françois du royaume,_ says Titon du Tillet, _voulut prendre part a
cette rare decouverte, sur tout apres avoir reconnu que la fille,
quoique tressage, entendoit raillerie._ There is one Italian sonnet in
the collection, one Spanish, and, according to the Abbe Goujet, there
are some Greek verses, but in the republication of Pasquier's works
these do not appear: they were probably omitted, as not being likely
ever again to meet with readers. Some of the writers were men whose
names would have been altogether forgotten if they had not been thus
preserved; and others might as well have been forgotten for the value
of any thing which they have left; but some were deservedly
distinguished in their generation, and had won for themselves an
honourable remembrance, which will not pass away. The President Harlay
himself encouraged Pasquier by an eulogistic epigram, and no less a
person than Joseph Scaliger figures in Catullian verse among the
flea-poets.
The name of the Demoiselle des Roches afforded occasion for such
allusions to the rocks of Parnassus as the dealers in common place
poetry could not fail to profit by.
_Nil rerum variat perennis ordo.
Et constant sibi Phæbus et sorores;
Nec Pulex modo tot simul Poetas,
Sed Parnassia fecit ipsa rupes
Rupes, aut Heliconia Hippocrene._
These verses were written by Pithou, to whose satirical talents his
own age was greatly indebted for the part which he took in the Satyre
Menippée; and to whose collections and serious researches his country
will always remain so. Many others harped upon the same string; and
Claude Binet, in one of his poems, compared the Lady to Rochelle,
because all suitors had found her impregnable.
Nicolas Rapin, by way of varying the subject, wrote a poem in
vituperation of the aforesaid flea, and called it _La Contrepuce_. He
would rather, he said, write in praise of a less mentionable insect;
which however he did mention; and moreover broadly explained, and in
the coarsest terms, the Lady's allusion to Orion.
The flea having thus become the business, as well as the talk of
Poictiers, some epigrams were sported upon the occasion.
_Causidicos habuit vigilantes Curia; namque
Illis perpetuus tinnit in aure Pulex._
The name of Nicolas Rapinus is affixed to this; that of Raphael
Gallodonius to the following,
_Ad consultissimos Supremi Senatus Gallici Patronos, in Rupeæ Pulicem
ludentes._
_Abdita causarum si vis responsa referre,
Hos tam perspicuos consule Causidicos:
Qui juris callent apices, vestigia morsu
Metiri pulicum carmine certa sciunt.
Ecquid eos latuisse putas dum seria tractant,
Qui dum nugantur, tam bene parva canunt?_
The President of the Parliament of Paris, Pierre de Soulfour, compared
the flea to the Trojan horse, and introduced this gigantic compliment
with a stroke of satire.
_Quid Magni peperêre Dies? res mira canenda est,
Vera tamen; Pulicem progenuere brevem.
Quicquid id est, tamen est magnum; Magnisque Diebus
Non sine divino numine progenitum.
Ille utero potuit plures gestare poetas,
Quam tulit audaces techna Pelasga duces.
Tros equus heröes tantos non fudit ab alvo,
Dulcisonos vates quot tulit iste Pulex:_
Pasquier was proud of what he had done in starting the flea, and of
the numerous and distinguished persons who had been pleased to follow
his example in poetizing upon it; _pour memorial de laquelle,_ he
says, _jai voulu dresser ce trophée, qui est la publication de leurs
vers._ So he collected all these verses in a small quarto volume, and
published them in 1582, with this title. LA PUCE; _ou Jeux Poëtiques
Francois et Latins: composez sur la Puce aux Grands Jours de Poictiers
l'an 1579: dont Pasquier fut le premier motif._ He dedicated the
volume to the President Harlay, in the following sonnet:
_Pendant que du Harlay de Themis la lumiere,
Pour bannir de Poictou l'espouventable mal,
Exerçant la justice à tous de poids égal,
Restablessoit l'Astrée en sa chaire premiere;
Quelques nobles esprits, pour se donner carriere,
Voulourent exalter un petit animal,
Et luy coler aux flancs les aisles du cheval
Qui prend jusque au ciel sa course coutumiere.
Harlay, mon Achille, relasche tes esprits;
Sousguigne d'un bon œil tant soit peu ces escrits,
Il attendent de toy, ou la mort, ou la vie:
Si tu pers à les lire un seul point de ton temps,
Ils vivront immortels dans le temple des ans,
Malgre l'oubly, la mort, le mesdire et l'envie._
The original volume would have passed away with the generation to
which it belonged, or if preserved, it would, like many others more
worthy of preservation, have been found only in the cabinets of those
who value books for their rarity rather than their intrinsic worth:
this would have been its fate if it had not been comprized in the
collective edition of Pasquier's works, which, as relating to his own
times, to the antiquities of his country, and to French literature,
are of the greatest importance. It was properly included there, not
merely because it is characteristic of the nation, and of the age, but
because it belongs to the history of the individual.
Here in England the Circuit always serves to sharpen the wits of those
who are waiting, some of them hungrily, and but too many hopelessly,
for practice; and as nowhere there is more talent running to seed than
at the bar, epigrams circulate there as freely as opinions,—and much
more harmlessly. But that the elders of the profession, and the judges
should take part in such levities as the _Jeux Poetiques_ of
Poictiers, would at all times have been as much out of character in
England, as it would be still in character among our lighter-heeled,
lighter-hearted, and lighter-headed neighbours. The same facility in
composing Latin verse would not now be found at the French bar; but if
a flea were started there, a full cry might as easily be raised after
it, as it was at the _Grands Jours_ held under the President Harlay;
and they who joined in the cry would take exactly the same tone. You
would find in their poetry just as much of what Pasquier calls
_mignardise_, and just as little exertion of intellect in any other
direction.
It is not language alone, all but all-powerful in this respect as
language is, which makes the difference in whatever belongs to poetry,
between the French and the English. We know how Donne has treated this
very subject; and we know how Cleveland, and Randolph and Cowley would
have treated it, licentiously indeed, but with such a profusion of
fantastic thought, that a prodigality of talent would seem even
greater than the abuse. In later times, if such a theme had presented
itself, Darwin would have put the flea in a solar microscope, and
painted the monster with surprizing accuracy in the most elaborate
rhymes: he would then have told of fleas which had been taken and
tamed, and bound in chains, or yoked to carriages; and this he would
have done in couplets so nicely turned, and so highly polished, that
the poetical artist might seem to vie with the flea-tamer and
carriage-builder in patience and in minute skill. Cowper would have
passed with playful but melancholy grace
From gay to grave, from lively to severe,
and might have produced a second Task. And in our own days, Rogers
would case the flea, like his own gnat, in imperishable amber. Leigh
Hunt would luxuriate in a fairy poem, fanciful as Drayton's Nymphidia,
or in the best style of Herrick. Charles Lamb would crack a joke upon
the subject; but then he would lead his readers to think while he was
amusing them, make them feel if they were capable of feeling, and
perhaps leave them in tears. Southey would give us a strain of
scornful satire and meditative playfulness in blank verse of the
Elizabethan standard. Wordsworth,—no, Wordsworth would disdain the
flea: but some imitator of Wordsworth would enshrine the flea in a
Sonnet the thought and diction of which would be as proportionate to
the subject matter, as the Great Pyramid is to the nameless one of the
Pharaohs for whose tomb it was constructed. Oxford and Cambridge would
produce Latin verses, good in their manner as the best of Pasquier's
collection, and better in every thing else; they would give us Greek
verses also, as many and as good. Landor would prove himself as
recondite a Latinist as Scaliger, and a better poet; but his
hendecasyllables would not be so easily construed. Cruikshank would
illustrate the whole collection with immortal designs, such as no
other country, and no other man could produce. The flea would be
introduced upon the stage in the next new Pantomime; Mr. Irving would
discover it in the Apocalypse; and some preacher of Rowland Hill's
school would improve it (as the phrase is) in a sermon, and exhort his
congregation to _flee_ from sin.
I say nothing of Mr. Moore, and the half dozen Lords who would
_mignardise_ the subject like so many Frenchmen. But how would Bernard
Barton treat it? Perhaps Friend Barton will let us see in one of the
next year's Annuals.
I must not leave the reader with an unfavourable opinion of the lady
whose flea obtained such singular celebrity, and who _quoique tres
sage entendoit raillerie_. Titon du Tillet intended nothing equivocal
by that expression; and the tone which the Flea-poets took was in no
degree derogatory to her, for the manners of the age permitted it. Les
Dames des Roches both mother and daughter, were remarkable, and
exemplary women; and there was a time when Poictiers derived as much
glory from these blue ladies as from the Black Prince. The mother
after living most happily with her husband eight and twenty years,
suffered greatly in her widowhood from vexatious lawsuits, difficult
circumstances, and broken health; but she had great resources in
herself, and in the dutiful attachment of Catherine, who was her only
child, and whom she herself had nursed and educated; the society of
that daughter enabled her to bear her afflictions, not only with
patience but with cheerfulness. No solicitations could induce
Catherine to marry; she refused offers which might in all other
respects have been deemed eligible, because she would not be separated
from her mother, from whom she said death itself could not divide her.
And this was literally verified, for in 1587 they both died of the
plague on the same day.
Both were women of great talents and great attainments. Their joint
works in prose and verse were published in their life time, and have
been several times reprinted, but not since the year 1604. The poetry
is said to be of little value; but the philosophical dialogues are
praised as being neither deficient in genius nor in solidity, and as
compositions which may still be perused with pleasure and advantage.
This is the opinion of a benevolent and competent critic, the Abbe
Goujet. I have never seen the book.
Before I skip back to the point from which my own flea and the
Poictiers' flea have led me, I must tell a story of an English lady
who under a similar circumstance was not so fortunate as Pasquier's
accomplished friend. This lady, who lived in the country, and was
about to have a large dinner party, was ambitious of making as great a
display as her husband's establishment, a tolerably large one, could
furnish; so that there might seem to be no lack of servants, a great
lad who had been employed only in farm work was trimmed and dressed
for the occasion, and ordered to take his stand behind his Mistress's
chair, with strict injunctions not to stir from the place, nor do any
thing unless she directed him; the lady well knowing that altho' no
footman could make a better appearance as a piece of still life, some
awkwardness would be inevitable, if he were put in motion. Accordingly
Thomas having thus been duly drilled and repeatedly enjoined took his
post at the head of the table behind his mistress, and for awhile he
found sufficient amusement in looking at the grand set-out, and
staring at the guests: when he was weary of this, and of an inaction
to which he was so little used, his eyes began to pry about nearer
objects. It was at a time when our ladies followed the French fashion
of having the back and shoulders under the name of the neck uncovered
much lower than accords either with the English climate, or with old
English notions;—a time when, as Landor expresses it, the usurped
dominion of _neck_ had extended from the ear downwards, almost to
where mermaids become fish. This lady was in the height, or lowness of
that fashion; and between her shoulder-blades, in the hollow of the
back, not far from the confines where nakedness and clothing met,
Thomas espied what Pasquier had seen upon the neck of Mademoiselle des
Roches. The guests were too much engaged with the business and the
courtesies of the table to see what must have been worth seeing, the
transfiguration produced in Thomas's countenance by delight, when he
saw so fine an opportunity of shewing himself attentive, and making
himself useful. The Lady was too much occupied with her company to
feel the flea; but to her horror she felt the great finger and thumb
of Thomas upon her back, and to her greater horror heard him exclaim
in exultation, to the still greater amusement of the party—_a vlea, a
vlea! my lady, ecod I've caucht 'en!_