COLLEGE AND COURT
In the year 1768 the boy Lafayette, then eleven years old, left his
mountain home and went to Paris, where he was placed by his mother in
the Collège du Plessis, a school for boys of the nobility.
The arrangements for the student in a French college at that time were
simple. A room scarcely wider than a cell was assigned to each boy. It
was locked at night; but holes were cut in the door so that the fresh
air might come in. This, at least, was the theory. Practically,
however, the little cell must have been very stuffy, for the windows
in the halls were shut tight in order that the health of the pupils
might not be injured by currents of damp air from outside.
Special attention was given to diet, care being taken that the boys
should not eat any uncooked fruit lest it should injure them. Parents
might come to visit their children, but they were not allowed to pass
beyond the threshold--a familiar chat on home matters might interfere
with the studious mood of the scholars.
What were the studies of this young aristocrat?
First and foremost, heraldry. From earliest days his tutors had
instilled into him the idea that the study of the coats of arms of
reigning and noble families, together with all that they stood for,
was first in importance.
Then the young student must dance, write, and draw. He must be able to
converse wittily and with apt repartee. Fencing and vaulting were
considered essential, as well as riding with grace and skill and
knowing all about the management of the horse.
As far as books were concerned, the Latin masters--Cæsar, Sallust,
Virgil, Terence, Cicero--were carefully studied. The boys were obliged
to translate from Latin into French and from French into Latin.
Occasionally this training proved useful. It is related that one of
the French soldiers who came to New England and who could not speak
English resorted to Latin and found to his joy that the inhabitant of
Connecticut, from whom he wished to purchase supplies for his
regiment, could be communicated with by that obsolete medium; and what
would Lafayette have done when imprisoned in an Austrian dungeon if he
had not been able to converse with his official jailers in the Latin
tongue!
In historical studies the greatest attention was given to wars and
treaties and acquisitions of territory. The royal families of his
native country and of neighboring kingdoms were made familiar. History
was taught as if it were a record of battles only. Swords and coats of
mail decorated the mantelpieces in the school and the latest methods
of warfare were studied.
In addition to all these military matters, a great deal of attention
must have been given to acquiring the power of clear and forcible
expression in the French language. While Lafayette can never be
included among the great orators of the world, he possessed a
wonderfully pellucid and concise diction. He was a voluminous writer.
If all the letters he sent across the ocean from America could be
recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic, there would be enough to
make several large volumes. Sometimes he dispatched as many as thirty
letters at one time. He sent them by way of Spain, by way of Holland,
or by any other roundabout route that offered promise of final
delivery. But privateersmen frequently captured the boats that carried
them, and very often the letter-bags were dropped overboard. Still
another circumstance deprived the world of many of his writings. When
revolutionists took possession of the Lafayette home in Chaviniac,
they sought in every nook and cranny to find evidence that they would
have been glad to use against these representatives of the nobility.
Madame de Lafayette had carefully stuffed all the letters she could
find into the maw of the immense old range in the castle kitchen.
Other treasures were buried in the garden, there to rot before they
could be found again.
Of the extant writings of Lafayette there are six volumes in French,
made up of letters and miscellaneous papers, many of them on weighty
subjects, while numerous letters of Lafayette are to be found among
the correspondence of George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin
Franklin, and other statesmen and generals of Revolutionary days.
Of the English language Lafayette's knowledge was mainly gained during
the six long weeks of his first voyage to America. And what he
acquired he at once put into practice. He learned the language from
books, and from good books. As a result his English, both spoken and
written, had a special polish.
At the Collège du Plessis Lafayette was an industrious student. All
his life he regarded time as a gift of which the best use was to be
made, and, according to his own expression, he was "not at liberty to
lose it himself, and still less to be the occasion of the loss of it
to others." Therefore he would not, unless it was absolutely
unavoidable, be unpunctual to engagements, or keep people waiting his
pleasure. As a boy in college he never had to be urged to study;
neither was he in any way an unmanageable boy. In spite of the
intensity of his nature, he never deserved to be chastised.
It should be understood that corporal chastisement was the rule in the
schools of that time. In the year 1789 one simple-hearted old
school-master solemnly reported that during the fifty years of his
experience as teacher he administered nine hundred thousand canings,
twenty thousand beatings, one hundred thousand slaps, and twenty
thousand switchings. Among smaller items he mentions ten thousand
fillips and a million and a quarter raps and hits. He hurled a Bible,
a catechism, or a singing-book at some hapless child twelve thousand
times, and caused seven hundred to kneel on peas as a punishment. Then
he punished eight hundred thousand for not learning their lessons and
seventy-six thousand for not learning their Bible verses. So much for
one teacher a half century before Lafayette's day! And people still
talk and write about "the good old times"!
The surroundings of Lafayette during his youth must have been of a
kind to develop strength of character. He was to be one of the
historical personages against whom scandalmongers have not been able
to unearth a mass of detraction. His close companions during army days
testified that they never heard him swear or use gross language of any
kind. As Edward Everett in his great eulogy said, from Lafayette's
home, his ancestry, his education, his aristocratic marriage, and his
college life, he "escaped unhurt."
Lafayette's mother took up her residence in Paris in order to be near
her son. She allowed herself to be presented at court that she might
be in touch with what was going on and give her boy all the aid
possible. She saw to it that her uncle should place him in the army
lists that he might secure the advantage of early promotion.
After a while the tall boy was entered in the regiment of the Black
Musketeers, and it became a favorite occupation of his to watch the
picturesque reviews of those highly trained soldiers. This entertainment
was for holidays, however, and did not interfere with his studies.
It was not for very many years that Lafayette was to profit by his
highborn mother's devoted care and foresight. In 1770, when her son
was only thirteen years old, she died in Paris. In a painting on the
walls of the château to-day the face of that aristocratic lady shines
out in its delicate beauty. A pointed bodice of cardinal-colored
velvet folds the slender form and loose sleeves cover the arms. In the
romantic fashion of the pre-revolutionary period, the arm is held out
in a dramatic gesture, and one tiny, jeweled hand clasps the
shepherd's crook, the consecrated symbol of the story-book lady of
that period.
About the time of her death, one of her uncles passed away, leaving to
the young student at the Collège du Plessis a large and valuable
estate. This placed Lafayette in a very advantageous position so far
as worldly matters were concerned. His fortune being now princely, his
record at college without blemish, his rank unexceptionable among the
titles of nobility, he was quickly mentioned as an eligible partner in
marriage for a young daughter of one of the most influential families
in France,--a family that lived, said one American observer, in the
splendor and magnificence of a viceroy, which was little inferior to
that of a king. This daughter was named, in the grand fashion of the
French nobility, Marie-Adrienne-Françoise de Noailles. In her family
she was called simply Adrienne.
Adrienne de Noailles was not old enough to give promise of the
greatness of character of which she later showed herself possessed;
but, as it proved, Lafayette found that in her he had a companion who
was indeed to be his good genius. She became the object of the
unwavering devotion of his whole life; and she responded with an
affection that was without limit; she gave a quick and perfect
understanding to all his projects and his ideals; she followed his
career with an utterly unselfish zeal; and when heavy sorrows came,
her courage and her cleverness were Lafayette's resource. Her name
should appear among those of the world's heroines.
At the time of the proposed alliance, Lafayette was fourteen; the
suggested fiancée was scarcely twelve. Her mother, the Duchess d'Ayen,
a woman of great efficiency and of lofty character, knew that the
Marquis de Lafayette was almost alone in the world, with no one to
guide him in his further education or to lend aid in advancing his
career. Moreover, she held that to have so large a fortune was rather
a disadvantage than otherwise, since it might be a help or a
hindrance, according to the wisdom of the owner, and she rightly saw
that the allurements of the Paris of 1770 to an unprotected youth of
fortune would be almost irresistible. She therefore refused to allow a
daughter of hers to accept the proposal. For several months she
withheld her consent, but at last she relented, on consideration that
the young people should wait for two years before the marriage should
take place. This admirable mother, who had carefully educated and
trained her daughters, now took the further education of Lafayette
into her care; she soon became very fond of him and cherished him as
tenderly as if he had been her own son.
The marriage took place in Paris on the 11th of April, 1774. It was an
affair of great splendor. There were many grand banquets; there were
visits of ceremony, with new and elaborate toilettes for each visit;
there were numberless beautiful presents, the families represented and
their many connections vying with each other in the richness and
fineness of their gifts. Diamonds and jewels in settings of quaint
design were among them, and besides all these there were the ancestral
jewels of Julie de la Rivière, the mother of Lafayette, to be
received by the new bride, and by her handed down to her descendants.
The arrangement was that the wedded pair should make their home with
the mother of the bride, the young husband paying eight thousand
livres a year as his share of the expense. The sumptuous home was the
family mansion of the Noailles family; it was situated in the rue St.
Honoré, not far from the palace of the Tuileries, at the corner where
the rue d'Alger has now been cut through. The Hôtel de Noailles it was
called, and it was so large that to an observer of to-day it would
appear more like a splendid hotel than like a private residence. When,
a few years after Lafayette's wedding, John Adams was representing the
United States in Paris, and was entertained in this palatial home, he
was so amazed that he could not find words in English or in French to
describe the elegance and the richness of the residence. In it were
suites of rooms for several families, for troops of guests, and for
vast retinues of servants. The building measured from six hundred to
seven hundred feet from end to end. There were splendid halls and
galleries and arcades. Toward the street the façade was plain but the
interior was decorated with astonishing richness. The inner rooms
faced on a garden so large that a small hunt could be carried on
within it, with fox, horses, and hounds, all in full cry. Magnificent
trees waved their branches above the great garden, and rabbits
burrowed below.
Here was a delightful place for a few people to pursue beautiful
lives. John Adams made a note of the fact that the Noailles family
held so many offices under the king that they received no less than
eighteen million livres (more than three and a half million dollars)
income each year. It must be remembered that the streets of Paris
about this time were crowded with a rabble of beggars. But of this the
dwellers in such magical palaces and parks saw but little and thought
less.
Conditions such as these give a hint of the causes that led to the
French Revolution and explain in some degree why thoughts of liberty,
fraternity, and equality were haunting the minds of the youth of
France, and, to some of the more open-minded among them, suggesting
dreams of noble exploit.