French Book-plates Part 8

Of the military men who acquired power few appear to have indulged in literary tastes, or to have formed libraries. Many handsome ex-libris exist, carrying warlike trophies,--cannons, drums, tents, and flags,--such, for instance, as that of Claude Martin, but few indeed of these plates bear the names of any of the more famous French commanders.

Even the plate of Murat (of later date) is doubtful, for what time had _le beau sabreur_ for books?

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF J. G. R. BOSCHERON, 1777.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF A. F. A. BOULA DE NANTEUIL, 1777.]

Of the famous Court beauties who held influence over the kings, some possessed, and others affected, a taste for books, and volumes from their collections are eagerly sought for, partly for their a.s.sociations, and partly on account of the elegance of their bindings. To name three or four of the most beautiful and most famous of these fair bibliophiles will suffice. First comes Diane de Poitiers, whose monogram, interlaced with that of her royal lover, Henri II., is to be found (along with the crescent of the chaste G.o.ddess Diana) on many books exquisitely bound by Le Faucheux.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF JEAN FRANcOIS-GILLET, 1778.]

The Marquise de Maintenon, widow of the deformed jester Scarron, who became the wife, if not the queen, of Louis XIV., was a woman of great tact and intelligence. She formed a valuable library; her books were handsomely bound, and stamped with her arms,--a lion rampant between two palm leaves.

The Marquise de Pompadour, whose books (princ.i.p.ally dedicated to the _menus plaisirs du Roi_, like their owner) were bound by Biziaux, Derome, or Padeloup, and decorated with her arms,--azure, three towers argent. Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson was born the daughter of a butcher in 1722, but was created the Marquise de Pompadour, and, what is more singular, a "dame du palais _de la Reine_" by Louis XV. But she was beautiful exceedingly, and clever, and even Voltaire himself could not resist flattering her:

"Pompadour, ton crayon divin Devait dessiner ton visage, Jamais une plus belle main N'et fait un plus bel ouvrage."

Was it her death from small-pox that suggested to Zola that awful closing chapter in "Nana"?

A book-plate was engraved for her, anonymous, but having the above-named arms; it does not appear, however, to have been fixed in her books. La Pompadour died in 1764, and her books were sold in Paris in the following year.

"But where is the Pompadour now?

_This_ was the Pompadour's fan!"

Next comes the plate of Madame Jeanne-Gomart de Vaubernier, Comtesse Du Barry (born at Vaucouleurs in 1743), the last favourite of Louis XV., who, less fortunate than her rival, la Pompadour, survived her royal protector, nay, even royalty itself, and died on the scaffold in December, 1793. Ignorant as she was, she formed a small but valuable collection, her books being bound in red morocco, all richly gilt, and ornamented on the sides with her arms, and her motto, _Boutez en avant_.

Redan was one of her binders. Louis XV. remarked, "La Pompadour had more books than the countess, but they were neither so well chosen nor so well bound, we therefore create her _Bibliothecaire de Versailles_."

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF d.u.c.h.e, 1779.]

Poor Du Barry! She could scarcely read, and could not spell; her books were selected to dispel the _ennui_ and divert the mind of the debauched old king in the last few years of his shameful life. Yet is she worthy of mention here, if for one thing only, she possessed a book-plate engraved by Le Grand, of which, however, she made but little use.

But Louis le Bien-aime died of small-pox in 1774, and henceforward the Du Barry fades from sight for nearly twenty years, until we see her once again, on the way to the guillotine, where, unlike most of the aristocrats who preceded her, she lost courage, and vainly shrieked for mercy from those who knew not what it was.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE COMTESSE DU BARRY.]

"Unclean, yet unmalignant, not unpitiable thing! What a course was thine: from that first truckle-bed where thy mother bore thee, with tears, to an unnamed father: forward, through lowest subterranean depths, and over highest sunlit heights, of Harlotdom and Rascaldom--to the guillotine-axe, which shears away thy vainly whimpering head!" Thus does Carlyle epitomize her career.

Louis XV. was known as _le Bien-aime_, but years before his death his name had lost all the influence it had ever possessed, and

"Le Bien-aime de l'Almanac, N'est pas le Bien-aime de France, Il fait tout _ab hoc_, et _ab hac_, Le Bien-aime de l'Almanac.

Il met tout dans le meme sac, Et la Justice et la Finance: Le Bien-aime de l'Almanac, N'est pas le Bien-aime de France."

It was computed that during his reign 150,000 men had been imprisoned in the Bastille, whose crimes, real or imaginary, had never been investigated in any court of justice.

They were torn without warning from liberty and friends to languish for years in dark loathsome dungeons, without even knowing of what offences they were accused, nor for what period they would be imprisoned.

A simple _Lettre de Cachet_ was all that was required, which it was by no means difficult for a king's mistress, minister, or favourite to obtain.

LETTRE DE CACHET.

_Monsieur le Gouverneur_, envoyant en mon chateau de la Bastille le sieur _N----_, je vous fais cette lettre pour vous dire que mon intention est que vous ayez a l'y recevoir et retenir en toute serete, jusques a nouvel ordre de moy. Et la presente n'estant pour autre fin, je prie Dieu qu'il vous ait, Monsieur le Gouverneur, en sa sainte garde.

Ecrit a ---- le ---- de l'an ----.

_Signature du Roi._

Once issued, this condemned a man to perpetual imprisonment, unless by some happy chance some one could prevail on the king to sign the following _Ordre de mise en Liberte:_ "Monsieur le Gouverneur, ayant bien voulu accorder la liberte au sieur _N----_ detenu par mes ordres en mon chateau de la Bastille, je vous fais cette lettre pour vous dire que mon intention est qu'aussitot qu'elle vous aura ete remise, vous aiez a faire mettre le dit sieur _N----_ en pleine et entiere liberte. Et la presente n'estant pour autre fin, je prie Dieu qu'il vous ait, Monsieur le Gouverneur, en sa sainte garde.

Ecrit a ---- le ---- de l'an ----.

_Signature du Roi._

Many prisoners became lunatics, others died there whose friends never knew their fate, for a man's name and individuality were lost when once he pa.s.sed the gates.

Those who regained their liberty were sworn to secrecy concerning all that they had seen or heard in the Bastille: "Etant en liberte, je promets, conformement aux ordres du Roi, de ne parler a qui que ce soit, d'aucune maniere que ce puisse etre, des prisonniers ni autre chose concernant le chateau de la Bastille, qui auraient pu parvenir a ma connaissance."

As a rule this oath was observed, the dread of another incarceration being sufficient to inculcate the wisdom of silence, the well-known memoirs of Linguet being an exception.

Under Louis XVI., committals were less numerous, and when the Marquis de Launay surrendered the Bastille to the Parisian revolutionaries in July, 1789, only seven prisoners were found in it, although it must be remembered that the governor, recognizing the possibility of an attack, had sent away some of the most important prisoners to Vincennes. If he had had the forethought at the same time to have caused the Bastille to be well supplied with provisions he, with his small garrison of 114 men, might have held out for an almost indefinite period against the attacks of the half-armed, undisciplined Parisian mob.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF CLAUDE MARTIN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE COLONEL DE CUZIEU.]

As it was, the Marquis behaved during a trying time as a brave soldier and a humane gentleman. At length, but only when his scanty provisions were exhausted, he yielded up the castle on condition that the lives of the garrison should be spared. But the inrus.h.i.+ng crowd cared nothing for conditions, nor for the rules of civilized warfare, and in a few minutes nearly every man was killed. De Launay himself was aimlessly dragged about for some time, then killed, and his head paraded on a pike round the streets of Paris.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE CHaTEAU ROYAL DE LA BASTILLE.]

The Bastille itself was demolished by the people, the place where it stood alone preserves its name, and the stones which once formed its melancholy walls are now trodden under foot by the countless myriads who pa.s.s over the Pont de la Concorde.

Most of the books found in the prison were destroyed, but a few escaped, and these contained the ex-libris of the Chateau Royal de la Bastille, certainly one of the scarcest and most interesting in the world.

The accession of Louis XVI. gave rise to great hopes for the regeneration of France, retrenchment in her finances, and reformation in the morals of her court.

The king was young, married to a beautiful and virtuous princess, and was himself credited with the domestic virtues of chast.i.ty and sobriety.

Indeed, as a master locksmith he might no doubt have earned a comfortable livelihood, for in that occupation, if in no other, he displayed considerable skill and dexterity.

The French have always had a knack of affixing very humorous and catching nicknames to their kings and public men; they might appropriately have christened their new king Louis Trop-tard. He was always Lewis the Too-Late; he was born too late, he resisted the wishes of his people till it was too late; he made concessions when they were too late to conciliate anyone; he practised economy when it only brought him into ridicule; too late he fled from Paris; drank Burgundy, and ate bread and cheese at Varennes until it was too late to escape across the frontier, and finally he died when his death was too late to save his good name, his family, or the monarchy.

He lacked decision of character, and clearness of purpose or perception.

He was incapable of reading the signs of the times, or of reforming the vicious system of government he had inherited from his forefathers. So he, who was in many respects the best of the later Bourbons, had to pay the penalty for the crimes, the cruelty, and the follies of his ancestors.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF PASQUIER DE MESSANGE, 1792.]

In the best period of French heraldry, supporters were less frequently found than in British heraldry, and it was a rule, or a tradition, that, as marking the divine right of kings, only members of the royal family of France should carry angels as supporters. They were, however, a.s.sumed by the illegitimate descendants of the kings, who carried the royal arms with the usual differences.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ACHIEVEMENT OF LOUIS XVI.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF MONSIEUR LEJOURDAN, CONSEILLER EN L'AMIRAUTe, 1786]