The Anglo-French Entente In The Seventeenth Century Part 15

Such sufferings and trials were not enough: impossible to read even now without some emotion the bare paragraph in which Du Gard, with official coldness and hard-heartedness, tells about the death of little Princess Elizabeth.

"Princess Elizabeth Stuart, daughter to the late King, who you know was brought together with her brother[278] to the Isle of Wight, having got overheated while playing at bowls and drenched afterwards by an unexpected fall of rain, took cold, being moreover of a weak and sickly health, and fell ill of a bad headache and fever, which increasing, she was obliged to be abed where she died on December 8th inst., though carefully attended by Mr. Mayerne, chief physician to her late Father" (September 1650, p. 41).

But the triumphs of the Parliament extend to enemies abroad; Portugal and Holland are both humbled, Barbadoes and Jamaica forced to surrender. Du Gard remained true to his promise. All Europe might peruse the famous letter, "des generaux de l'armee navale du Parlement et de la Republique d'Angleterre au tres honorable Guil. Lenthal ecuier, orateur dudit Parlement, ecrite a bord du navire le Triomfe en la baie dite de Stoake,"

and signed: Robert Blake, Richard Deane, George Monck. Sprung from the ranks of the people, those revolutionists used, when occasion needed, the language of patricians. "M. Bourdeaux (the French envoy) having delivered a copy of the letters accrediting him and subscribed: To our very dear and good friends, the people of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, it was directed to be returned, for all addresses should be subscribed: To the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England" (p. 513).

Such patriotic pride must move the writer of the _Nouvelles ordinaires_. So in one of his very few outbursts of humour he exclaims: "The King of Portugal being unable to do us harm, had tried to frighten us, but being unable to do either, on the contrary showing the most egregious cowardice and poltroonery as ever was seen, without the slightest regard for his reputation, has tried to conceal his shame by a lying account, signed by himself; if the said King thinks he has seen what he has written, it must be said that his spectacles were set awry" (p. 45).

Religious intelligence takes up a great s.p.a.ce in the _Nouvelles ordinaires_. The readers are not spared a single proclamation about days of fasting and repentance; lengthy abstracts are duly given of the sermons preached at the Abbey or St. Margaret's; nor are the wordy resolutions of the several committees on religious affairs omitted. The _quakers_ are often spoken about. The first risings of the sect are set forth with the kind of minuteness that appeals to a modern historian. They are "evil-disposed and melancholy people" (_gens malfaits et melancoliques_); most pestilent and persevering proselytisers, with an inordinate appet.i.te for martyrdom, they appear at the same time in the most unexpected quarters; driven from Boston, they cause a holy panic in Hamburgh and Bordeaux (p. 1375). Their leader, or at any rate "the chief pillar of that frenzied sect," is named George Fox. "Many think the said Fox is a popish priest, there being several of that garb among the said quakers, and what makes the opinion plausible is that he is strong for popish and arminian tenets, such, for instance, as salvation by good works." (p. 981).

With the exception of the poor Piedmont Waldenses, who had found a strenuous protector in Cromwell, the foreign Protestants interest but little the editor of the _Nouvelles ordinaires_: he was probably afraid of offending those in high places by more than casually alluding to the Huguenots who had shown themselves vehemently opposed to independency. Thus it would be difficult to find a more explicit piece of news than the following: "Letters from Paris say that of late divers outrages have been committed on the Reformed, under frivolous pretences quite contrary to their privileges, especially at La Roch.e.l.le, Metz, Amiens, Langres....

Local quarrels breaking out daily in divers places on the score of religion, together with the ma.s.sacres of Protestants in Piedmont, make it feared lest there be a universal hidden design of the Papists to endeavour to exterminate all those that make profession of the Reformed religion in all places in the world" (p. 1057).

Mention is made of the French Churches in London. "This week, the members of the French and Walloon Churches in this city have pet.i.tioned Parliament to be maintained in the enjoyment of the privileges granted to them of old; which pet.i.tion being duly read, was referred to the Council of State" (p.

668); and further on: "This week, the ministers of the French Church in this city, and six of the elders of the said Church, together with the Marquis de Cugnac, came to Whitehall to congratulate His Highness" (p.

729).

The Marquis de Cugnac was then in England on behalf of the rebel Prince de Conde, bidding against Cardinal Mazarin's envoys to gain the friends.h.i.+p of Cromwell and the help of the English fleet. Many are the allusions in the _Nouvelles ordinaires_ to the dark intrigues of the Frondeurs. A most characteristic one may be quoted here; in May 1653 the "city of Bordeaux sends four deputies to the Commonwealth, a councillor of Parliament Franquart, a gentleman La Ca.s.sagne, a man of the Reformed religion whose name is not stated, and a tin-potter named Taussin; with them have come a herald bearing the arms of England as they were when Guyenne was under English rule, and a trumpeter of the said city" (p. 597).

Many of Du Gard's readers are merchants; for them he prints the resolutions of Parliament concerning the Customs and Excise, the Post Office regulations, the treaties with foreign countries. No sooner is peace proclaimed with Portugal than Du Gard gives information as to sending letters to Lisbon, by means of frigates building at Woolwich (pp. 1326, 1328, 1333). Warnings are issued as to pirates in the Mediterranean or the piratical practices of neutrals: "Letters from Leghorn say that Mr.

Longland, an English merchant, having loaded a French s.h.i.+p with a cargo of tin, the captain of the said s.h.i.+p perfidiously gave notice to the Dutch, who forthwith came with two men-of-war and seized it" (p. 562).

Pirates and "sea-rovers" (_esc.u.meurs de mer_) meet with short mercy at the hands of Du Gard: "We have notice from Leghorn that our s.h.i.+ps on the Mediterranean have captured a French s.h.i.+p commanded by Captain Puille, nicknamed the Arch-pirate" (p. 194).

Robbers must be as summarily dealt with, especially Irish robbers: "Lieutenant-General Barry was taken prisoner in Ireland by the Tories and put to death. The Tories are a kind of brigands, of somewhat the same sort as the Italian banditti; they live in marshes, woods, and hills, neither till nor sow the earth, do no work, but live only on thieving and robbery"

(p. 15). Fancy Cardinal Mazarin reading about the Tories!

Such is the curious French paper in which Milton's name was mentioned for the first time. Nor should we think the old forgotten publication unworthy to record the rising fame of a future epic poet. Though the style of the _Nouvelles ordinaires_ be as rough and harsh as the manners of Roundheads and Ironsides, it served to tell in Paris and Brussels and Amsterdam of lofty thoughts and splendid deeds. The utterings of a Cromwell still ring with the haughtiness and energy that remind one of Satan's speeches in _Paradise Lost_.

Du Gard's undertaking was remembered after the Commonwealth. To the _Nouvelles ordinaires_ succeeded, with but a few years' interval, the _Gazette de Londres_, the French edition to Charles II.'s _London Gazette_.

The general editor was one Charles Perrot, an Oxford M.A.; the printer, a friend of Thurloe, as Du Gard had been, was called Thomas Newcombe; and the task of writing the French translation was entrusted to one Moranville.

Editor, printer, and translator received their inspirations from Secretary Williamson, who, the better to see his directions obeyed, placed Mrs.

Andrews, a spy, in the printing-house.

Beginning Feb. 5, 1666 (old style), the _Gazette de Londres_ was issued under the reigns of both Charles II. and James II. Numbers are extant dating from William III. and Queen Anne.

The few numbers of the _Gazette_ that we were enabled to read, appear of much less interest than the _Nouvelles ordinaires_. Even a newspaper would degenerate in the hands of Charles II. and his ministers. Here are specimens of the vague colourless political news concerning France and England: "Two of Mons. Colbert's daughters were bestowed--the elder on M.

de Chevreuse, son to the Duc de Luynes, the younger on the Count de Saint-Aignan, only son to the Duc of the same name" (No. 13, Dec. 1666).

"Mons. de Louvois is ill with a fever" (No. 2248, May 1688). "His Majesty (James II.) has begun to touch for the King's evil" (No. 1914, March 1684).

Such news the Secretary of State thought would neither stir rebellion nor cause diplomatic complications.

The _Gazette de Londres_ appeared twice a week, on Monday and Thursday, was printed on a half-sheet, and cost one penny.

Here is an advertis.e.m.e.nt that brings one back to the Great Fire: "All that wish to provide this city with timber, bricks, stones, gla.s.s, tiles and other material for building houses, are referred to the Committee of the Common Council in Gresham House, London" (No. 12, Dec. 1666). Another may be quoted: "An engineer has brought to this city the model in relief of the splendid Versailles Palace, with gardens and waterworks, the whole being 24 feet long and 18 wide" (No. 2222, Feb. 1687).

To Thomas Newcombe succeeded as printer, in 1688, Edward Jones, who till his death in 1705 published the _Gazette_, which then pa.s.sed to his widow, and ultimately to the famous bookseller Tonson.

The French edition met with some mishaps. Volume ix. of the _Journals of the House of Commons_ records a dramatic incident. On 6th Nov. 1676 a member rose in the House to point out the singular discrepancies between the Royal proclamations against the Papists printed in the _London Gazette_ and the French translation in the _Gazette de Londres_. The terms had been softened down not to cause offence to the French Court.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AT VERSAILLES

_After Bonnart_]

Immediately the House took fire, and summoned Newcombe and Moranville to appear on the very next day. "Mr. Newcombe being called in to give an account of the translation of the _Gazette_ into French, informed the House that he was only concerned in the setting the press, and that he understood not the French tongue! And that Mons. Moranville had been employed in that affair for many years and was only the corrector of it. Mons. Moranville being called in, acknowledged himself guilty of the mistake, but he endeavoured to excuse it, alleging it was through inadvertency."[279]

a.s.semblies have abundance of energy, but seldom persevere in one course of action: since no more is heard of the case, we may suppose that both delinquents got off at little cost. Moreover, there is nothing very heroical in the _Gazette de Londres_. Next to the editor of the _Nouvelles ordinaires_, Moranville sinks into insignificance. He was most probably a refugee reduced by poverty to write for a bookseller. What could an exiled Frenchman do but teach or write French? So Moranville found many to follow his example. As late as Queen Anne's time, French journalists earned a scanty livelihood in London. The _Postman_ was edited in English, mind! by Fonvive; the _Postboy_ by Boyer, whom Swift derisively called a "French dog."[280]

The refugees were but continuators of Theophraste Renaudot, the father of the modern press. The very name of _Mercury_ given to the early English papers, came from France; what wonder then that French journalists should be found in London? Why some should write in French, the forewords to the _Nouvelles ordinaires_ set forth in an illuminating phrase: French was in the seventeenth century "a language that extended and was understood throughout Europe."

FOOTNOTES:

[267] The few extant letters--written in Latin--of William Du Gard bear the signature: "Guil. du Gard." Now an Englishman would naturally sign "Dugard"

or "Du Gard" (Bodleian MSS. Rawl. A. 9. 123). He certainly knew French and received intelligence from the Continent. The very slender clue that relates his family to Jersey is yielded by the mention of one William Du Gard, born in Jersey in 1677 (Rawl. MSS. T. 4to. 6, 202).

[268] _Calendars of State Papers, Dom._, 1649-1650, p. 500. Three months before he had been called upon to enter into 300 recognizances. _Ibid._ p.

523.

[269] The following information is yielded by the State Papers: Du Gard signs an agreement on 7th March 1649-50, _Dom._ 1650, p. 27; the next day he gives sureties in 1000, p. 514; 2nd April, he recovers his press, pp.

76, 535; but must enter into 500 recognizances, p. 515; 11th September, he becomes once more headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School, p. 235. The Council, among other orders concerning the diffusion of Parliamentary publications abroad, directs the Customs to "permit Mons. Rosin to transport Customs free the impression of a book in French relating some proceedings of Parliament against the late king, for dispersion in foreign parts" (_Dom._ 1650, p. 527).

[270] _Dom._ 1660, p. 223.

[271] Further information on Du Gard may be found in Ma.s.son, _Life of Milton_, Ch. Wordsworth, _Who Wrote Eikon Basilike?_ and the _Dictionary of National Biography_. No one, however, seems to have taken the trouble to read Du Gard's letters in the Bodleian Library and to connect him with the _Nouvelles ordinaires de Londres_.

[272] To M. Jusserand we owe the appreciation on Milton penned in 1663 by Amba.s.sador Cominges for his royal master, Louis XIV., _Shakespeare en France sous l'ancien regime_, p. 107. Two letters of Elie Bouhereau, a physician of La Roch.e.l.le, asking, in 1672, for information on Milton, were published in _Proceedings of the Huguenot Society_, vol. ix. pp. 241-42. I pointed out a few years ago (_Revue critique_, 21st November 1904) Bayle's severe strictures on Milton in the _Avis aux refugies_, 1690. The appreciation of Cominges alone is quoted both by J. Telleen, _Milton dans la litterature francaise_, and J. G. Robertson, _Milton's Fame on the Continent_.

[273] The book is ent.i.tled [Greek: Eikonoklastes] _ou Reponse au Livre int.i.tule_ [Greek: Eikon Basilike] _ou le Pourtrait de sa Sacree Majeste durant sa solitude et ses souffrances_. Par le Sr. Jean Milton. Traduite de l'Anglois sur la seconde et plus ample edition. A Londres. Par Guill. Du Gard, imprimeur du Conseil d'Etat. 1652.

[274] Ma.n.u.script notes in the margin have recorded the names of two Paris subscribers: MM. de la Mare and Paul du Jardin. Cardinal Mazarin seems to have been a reader of the paper, for he writes to the Count d'Estrades, 23rd April 1652: "S'il est vrai, comme les _Nouvelles publiques_ de Londres le portant, que la Republique d'Angleterre soit en termes de s'accommoder avec Messieurs les Etats."

[275] For instance, _eaux fortes_ (strong waters) for _eaux-de-vie_, p.

167; _moyens efficacieux_, p. 633; _toleration_, p. 691; _ejection des ministres scandaleux_, p. 770; _retaliation_, p. 96; _lever et presser_ (to press) _des soldats_, p. 169; _sergent en loy_ (sergeant at law), p. 213; _le recorder seroit demis_ (dismissed) _de sa charge_, p. 221, etc.

[276] _Au parc dit Hide park_, p. 64; _la place dite Tower Hill_, p. 152; _la rue dite le Strand_, p. 156; _la paroisse dite Martin-des-Champs_, St.

Martin-in-the-Fields, p. 182; _la prison dite la Fleet_, p. 370; _l'ile dite Holy Island_, p. 442, etc.

[277] _Messenger_ he renders by _messager_, instead of _huissier_, p. 749.

More often, through mere indolence, he suffers the English word to stand: _recorder_, p. 61; _commission d'oyer et terminer_, p. 841; _ranter_, p.

189; _quaker_, p. 1375. He indifferently writes _aldermens_, p. 61, and _aldermans_, p. 717. He apparently does not know the French word _tabac_, always preferring the form _tobac_ (tobacco).

[278] The Duke of Gloucester.

[279] _Journal_, _House of Commons_, ix. 534.

[280] See Chapter III.