The original Blue Beard who has, during our childhood, so often served
to interest and alarm our imaginations, though for better dramatic
effect, perhaps, Mr. Colman has turned into a Turk--for surely the
murderer of seven wives could be little else--was no other than
Gilles, Marquess de Laval, a marshal of France, a general of great
intrepidity, who distinguished himself, in the reigns of Charles the
Sixth and Seventh, by his courage, especially against the English,
when they invaded France. The services that he rendered his country
might have immortalized his name, had he not for ever blotted his
glory by the most terrible murders, impieties, and debaucheries. His
revenues were princely; but his prodigalities might have made an
emperor a bankrupt. Wherever he went, he had in his suite a seraglio,
a company of actors, a band of musicians, a society of sorcerers, a
great number of cooks, packs of dogs of various kinds, and above 200
led horses. Mezeray says that he encouraged and maintained sorcerers
to discover hidden treasures, and corrupted young persons of both
sexes, that he might attach them to him; and afterwards killed them
for the sake of their blood, which was necessary to form his charms
and incantations. Such horrid excesses are credible when we recollect
the age of ignorance and barbarity in which they were practised. He
was at length (for some state crime against the Duke of Brittany)
sentenced to be burnt alive in a field at Nantes, in 1440; but the
Duke, who witnessed the execution, so far mitigated the sentence, that
he was first strangled, then burnt, and his ashes interred. He
confessed, before his death, "that all his excesses were derived from
his wretched education," though descended from one of the most
illustrious families in the kingdom.
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