M. Champollion Figeac, the well-known _savant_ and orientalist, was
for many years conservator of the Imperial Library of the palace
at Fontainebleau. One day in 1856[109] he attended the sale of the
library of the late Marquis de Coulanges. His daughter relates that
on his return he appeared to be in a state of high mental excitement,
the main symptom of which was the manifestation of extravagant
joy. Convulsively embracing her, he exhibited a volume he had just
purchased, and which appeared to be the cause of his superlative
satisfaction. The volume was Vansleb's manuscript. Familiar with
Vansleb's published works, M. Champollion and many other scholars had
long regretted the loss of this manuscript. His joy at finding it
can readily be understood. Finding an indorsement on the manuscript
that indicated Bourron as the place of Vansleb's death and burial,
M. Champollion immediately wrote to the curé of that village for
information as to Vansleb, and as to the condition of his tomb. But
the deceased monk had passed so short a time at Bourron that he had
left absolutely no trace in the local traditions of the place, and no
one there had ever seen or heard of his tomb. However, on a careful
search of the registers, the entry of his burial was found, and his
last resting-place sufficiently indicated.
In 1859, the church was completely renovated, and advantage was taken
of that circumstance to search for and find the remains of the poor
monk. After the necessary formalities of identification had been
complied with, they were carefully re-interred, and M. Champollion,
having interested the emperor in the matter, was authorized to have
erected over the grave an appropriate and elegant monument, bearing
the inscription of which the following is a translation:
TO THE MEMORY OF
JOHN MICHAEL VANSLEB,
DOMINICAN OF THE MINERVA,
LEARNED TRAVELLER IN THE EAST,
BY ORDER OF LOUIS XIV.
DIED, VICAR OF BOURRON,
JUNE 12, 1679.
RESTORATION OF HIS TOMB
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE EMPEROR,
NAPOLEON III.,
IN THE YEAR 1861.
But a more important rehabilitation remained to be made, and M.
Champollion showed, if possible, greater zeal in this than in the
merely material one. Vansleb's MSS. and letters were carefully
examined and found to throw new and important light on capital
incidents heretofore either totally suppressed or wrested to his
disadvantage.
Too aged and infirm even to undertake a task which would have been
to him only a labor of love, M. Champollion confided the papers
to the Abbé Pougeois, the present curé of Bourron, who, under the
inspiration of the learned orientalist, prepared a careful and
elaborate memoir of the forgotten Dominican. It was eminently
fitting, and poetic in its justice, that Vansleb's vindication
should come from the double source of science and the church. On
the completion of the Abbé Pougeois' work, it was, by order of
the emperor, submitted for examination to M. Octave Feuillet,
member of the French Academy, and the successor of M. Champollion
at Fontainebleau. The report being entirely favorable, the Abbé
Pougeois' memoir was ordered to be published at the expense of
the emperor, under the title, _Vansleb, savant, orientaliste,
et voyageur. Sa Vie, sa Disgrace, ses Oeuvres. Par M. l'Abbé
Pougeois, Curé de Bourron._ Paris, 1869. The book is a large and
handsome volume of 481 octavo pages. It has been freely used in the
preparation of this article.
The current misrepresentations concerning Vansleb were taken up
into the literary history of the period, and have been ever since
repeated by successive historians and biographers. Nevertheless,
some of them were apparently struck with the inconsistencies and
contradictions involved in the charges against the defenceless monk,
and gradually the most offensive of these were dropped. Among the
modern biographical notices of Vansleb, that contained in Charles
Knight's _English Cyclopædia_ (article "Wansleben;" nearly identical
with one in the _Penny Cyclopædia_) is generally fair. It states,
however, that Vansleb "was called to account for moneys intrusted
to his disposal, and disgraced for misapplying them." Although the
writer of that notice doubtless had the warrant of half a dozen
biographies for making the statement, it is utterly devoid of truth;
so much so, indeed, that at the period of his death Vansleb was the
creditor, not the debtor, of the French government. Colbert was to
have paid Vansleb the miserable salary of two thousand francs per
annum, and one thousand francs for the purchase of MSS. and valuable
curiosities! Even allowing liberally for the difference in the values
of money then and now, two thousand francs still remains a pitiable
sum wherewith to remunerate one year's services of such a man as
Vansleb.
With the miserable stipend of one thousand francs per annum, he
purchased and sent (in 1671-72 and 1673) to the Royal Library, where
they still remain, four hundred and fifty-seven valuable MSS. and
books, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Coptic, and Ethiopian, besides a
large quantity of inscriptions on stone and metal, marbles, medals,
and animals, living and dead.
If we must believe Vansleb's traducers, we witness the strange
spectacle of a defaulter insisting upon and with difficulty obtaining
an interview with his principal. And this not once, but twice and
thrice. In one of his letters to Colbert, written March 20th, 1677,
more than a month after his return to Paris, Vansleb claims as due
him--_First._ The amount expended in preparation for the journey he
was about to undertake when ordered back by the minister. _Second._
The balance of his last account rendered. _Third._ The amount
still unpaid him for books, MSS., etc., sent to the Royal Library.
_Fourth._ His salary up to the time he was definitely discharged, at
the third and last audience accorded him by the minister. The letter
referred to is dignified, firm, and moderate--as unlike as possible
in its tone that of a defaulter and a dishonest man. Thus, he tells
Colbert,
"Perceiving that I have good reason to expect from your excellency
neither munificence nor liberality, nor even such an honorable
recompense as I had every just reason to look for after such long
and important labors, I at least do not anticipate from your
excellency's justice, since you insist upon a rigorous settlement,
a refusal to pay the balance due me for expenditures in the
service of his majesty, and which I have not claimed until now,
for the reason that I was warranted in presuming upon such a fair
remuneration as would cover it. In as few words as possible, then,
my lord, and with rigorous exactitude, there is due me--"[110]
And here follows the recapitulation already presented.
The injustice and indignity with which Vansleb was treated by Colbert
is in marked contrast to the liberality usually displayed by Louis
XIV. and his administration toward travellers whose merits were far
inferior to those of the Dominican monk. On Tavernier, who brought
back with him from his travels precious stones to the value of
three millions, distinguished honors and letters of nobility were
conferred. Sanson, the geographer, besides honorary titles, received
a salary of two thousand livres. Vaillant, who made a journey
somewhat similar to that of Vansleb, was honored with a position
in one of the academies, and endowed with a pension. Tournefort,
who travelled in the east under order of the court, was absent but
two years, had all his expenses paid, and received a salary (in
advance) of three thousand livres. He returned in 1702, at a period
when the French finances were far from prosperous, and was awarded
a recompense beyond his salary. Paul Lucas, toward the end of
Louis XIV.'s reign, was also an eastern explorer. His travels were
published by the king's command. They are filled with amusing but
absurd stories, which diverted the king and made the traveller's
fortune.
Vansleb's solid erudition was not so profitable. His published works,
which are of a nature to interest none but the archæologist, the
ethnographer, and the theologian, may soon be forgotten, and need
no further notice than the few words we have given them; but it is
eminently proper that we should, in his case, contribute our mite
to the vindication of truth and the rehabilitation of a too long
suffering reputation.
FOOTNOTES:
[109] He died in the palace at Fontainebleau May 9th, 1867, aged
eighty-nine years.
[110] "Voyant que V. E. ne me fait plus rien espérer qui sente la
magnificence et la libéralité, ni même quelque honnête récompense,
que je croyais justement pouvoir espérer, après de si longues et
de si grandes peines, je me promets pourtant de la justice de V.
E., puisqu'elle veut traiter les choses à la rigueur, qu'elle ne
me refusera pas le paiement de quelques restes de dépenses que
j'ai faites comme les autres au service de sa majesté, et dont je
n'ai osé parler jusqu'à présent, dans la pensée que j'avais qu'une
honnête récompense me tiendrait lieu de tout cela. En trois mots,
Monseigneur, parlant dans la dernière rigueur, il me reste encore,"
etc.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF CONRAD VON BOLANDEN.
ANGELA.