The Miracle of the Great St. Nicolas / 1920

mong the bells to rejoice the heart of the cats and owls. And this was not the only objection to the lodging. Since the earthquake of 1427, which had shaken the whole church

noise of wings beating above his head, he thought it was a devil, as was very natural for him to opine, seeing how the evil spirits flock in countless swarms to torment mankind, and above all at night time. But the moon just then breaking through the clouds, he recognised Madame Ysabeau and saw she was busy with her beak pushing into a crack in the wall that served her for storehouse a blue purse broidered with silver. He let her do as she list; bu

e lace-maker ate a dish of tripe,-a tre

ale live, as he would fain live, in good and gentle peace

ER JO

poor, strongly suspected, moreover, of foul murder at the Bridge of Montereau, what had he about him to please folk withal? Scorn was the sentiment felt for him, and horror and loathing for his partisans. For ten years now had these been riding and raiding around the walls, pillaging and holding to ransom. No doubt the English and Burgun-dians did much the same; when, in the month of August, 1423, Duke Philip came to Paris, his men-at-arms had ravaged all the country about. And they were friends and allies of course; but after all they only came and went. The Armagnacs, on the contrary, were a

up to his men's mercy town and townsmen, great and small, of every rank and condition, men and women, and that he proposed to drive the plough over the site of the city. The inhabitants mostly believed the tale; so they set the St. Andrew's cross on their coats, in token that they were of the party of the Burgundians. Their hatred was dou

"A creature in shape of a woman is wit

ces of the Church. Now, at the tidings that Brother Richard was on foray with the Armagnacs and winning over for them by his well-hung tongue good towns like Troyes in Champagne, they called down on him the curse of God and his Saints. They tore ou

th moats and counter-moats. The moats, on the left bank of the river, were dug at the foot of the walls forming the old circle of fortification. But on the right bank there were faubourgs, both extensive and well built, outside the walls and almost touching them. The new

foot of the platform wherefrom he was to preach, the women sat squatted on their heels, and amongst them Guillaumette Dyonis, who was blind from birth. She was the child of an artisan who had been killed by the Burgundians in the woods of Boulogne-la-Grande. Her mother had been carried off by a Burgundian man-at-arms, and none knew what had become of her. Guillaumette was fifteen or sixteen years of age. She lived at "The Innocents" on what she made by spinning wool, at which trade there was not a better worker to be found in all the town. She

an was no honest dame. She felt a natural aversion for light women and the sort the soldiers called their sweethearts or "doxies," but it had b

sermons turn the folk to devotion more even than those of Brother Richard, who spake in these Cloisters in the springtime. He knows mor

ne la Bardine. "But are you

ait to s

ade her mantle into

nglish famine entered the town. Now is there neither bread in the bin nor firewood on the hearth. One after other the Armagnacs and the Burgundians have drunk up all the wine, and there is naught left in the cellar but a little thin, sour cider and sloe-juice. Knights armed for the tourney, pilgrims with

God," Guillaumette

not going to open the door. But they only hammered louder, swearing they were going to break in the door and come in and cut off my nose and ears. To stop their uproar I emptied a crockful of water on their heads; but the crock slipped out of my hands and broke on the back of one fellow's neck so unchancily that it felled him. His comrade called up the watch. I was haled to the C

d Guillaumctte Dyonis, "h

onde appeared. His eyes flashed like lightning. When

wallet are roses of Jericho, a branch of the olive under which Our S

ative of his pilgri

estore us our heritage, and stablish us again in the Land of Promise.' So said these Jews of Syria. Now the Scriptures teach us that he they call the Messiah is, in truth, Antichrist, of whom it is said

rother Joconde, "will bring the great

, the beast from out the abyss, the abomination of desolation. He comes from the tribe o

John Evangelist. And lo! the day of wrath is dawning, the day which 'solvet s?clum in favilla, teste David e

and deep-drawn sighs were heard. Not a few, both men

keep mandrakes at home, whic

treasured in a chest. These magic roots have the likeness of a little man, hideously ugly and misshapen in a weird and diabolic fashion. They

hundered against women

he-devils? Light bonfires, I say, in the public streets, and cast therein and burn your damnable head-ge

ose their souls, but put themselves in the grace of God, that all who hea

t him to touch medals and rosaries for them. Some plucked threads from his gown, thinking to get healing by putting them, like relics of the Saints, on the places where they were afflicted. Guillaumett

ing, were kindling fires before their doors to cast therein head-gear and mandrake roots. But on reachin

o this Kingdom to restore the same to good peace and concord. I ha

rdine took up her

ver, enough to fill three great chests; I had a feather-bed, a dresser loaded with pewter, and a little book wherein you saw in pictures the story of Our Lord. But since the wars and pillagings that devastate the Kingdom, I have lost e

nts, and thereafter the twain followed him wherever he went. Every day he preached to the people, now at "The Innocents," now at the Porte Saint

ntrusted him with a message for the Regent of England and for the Duke of Burgundy. Meantime the army of Messire Charles of Valois entered the town of Saint-Denis. And no man durst from that day go out of Paris to harvest the fields or gather aught from the market-gardens which covered the plain to the northward of the city. Instantly famine prices ruled, and the inhabitants began to suffer cruelly. And they were further exasperated because they believed themselves betrayed. It was openly said that certain folk, and in especial certain men of Religion, suborned by Messire Charles of Valois, were watching for the best time to stir up trouble and bring in th

further reported that Messire Charles of Valois was posted, for the time being, along with Brother Richard and the Maid Jeanne, in the Hog Market without the Walls. The same afternoon, through all the city, on either side the bridges, shouts of fe

es to fill up the moats, and above six hundred scaling-ladders for storming the ramparts. The Maid Jeanne, who was nowise as the Burgundians believed, but lived a pious life and guarded her chastity, set foot to ground, and was the first down into a dry moat, which for that cause was easy to cross. B

coutred, to their posts on the ramparts, knocking over as they went the brats playing about in the gutters. The

of eternal things, and deemed the vain agitation of men to be but a foolish game. They marched throu

audet, Brother Joconde pushed through the throng and mounted a great stone that stood at the door of the H?tel de la Truie, which Messire Florimont Lecocq,

the people. "Sow ye," he cried, "sow ye, good folk; sow abu

s of heaven, to judge both the quick and the dead. And it was urgent to sow these works without tarrying, for that the harvest would be soon. Guill

ir brows, thinking the Monk was foretelling the entry of Charles of Valois into his good t

her went on with his so

ye are worse than th

h! death to traitors!" All this time Messire Florimont Lecocq was within-doors doing on his armour. He now came forth at the noise, before he had buckled his leg-pieces. Seeing the Monk standin

e folk of Paris,"

ike the Brother Richard, who at this

urgundians, nor French, nor English, but only the sons of light and

" yelled Messire Florimont Lecocq,-and lugging out

ring voice, the man of G

e, and ye shall be for

tones. Two knights, Sir John Stewart and Sir George Morris, threw themselves on

of Bedford! Down with the Dauphin! Down with the mad Mai

drawing off with them Messire Flo

g corse. Simone la Bardine lay prostrate on the ground, kissing the

th her arms lifted to heaven, cried in

holds me by the hand, and it will lead me aright. Wherefore ye must follow along with me. And we will say to those who are making cruel war upon each other:

ith its hoardings of wood; so they went along in the open. They proceeded toward the Porte Saint-Honoré, by this time enveloped in clouds of dust and smoke. It was there the Maréchal de Rais and his men were making assault. Their bolts flew thick and fast against the ramparts, and they were hurling faggots into the water of the great moat. On the hog's-back parting the great moat from the little, stood the Maid, crying: "Yield, yield you to the King of France." The English had abandoned

ountry, cried: "Brethren, embrace ye one another. Live in peace and har

Company of Citizens was defiling, some from the hog's-back where the Armagnac

traitress

sus Christ upon earth and to live in innocency and brotherly love, till a c

r gown over her feet, she lay still and made no other stir, but gave up her soul,

the Chapelle Saint-Denis. What became of Jeanne Chastenier and Opportune Jadoin no one knows. They were never heard of more. Simone la Bardine and Robin the gardener were taken the same day by the citizens on guard at the Walls and handed over to the Bishop's officer, wh

DY, OF POITOU, OF TOURAIN

-ard in the cloister of "The Innocents," fell into talk with him of the Brother Ol

readily understand that Brother Olivier, who lived in the reign of Louis XI and whose language smacks of the coarseness of that age, uses

ames for her,-as lena, conciliatrix, also internuntia libidinum, ambassadress of naughty desires. These prudish dames perform the best of services; but seeing they busy themsel

t des Tournelles, was visited one day by a knight, who put a ring into her hands. 'It is of fine gold,' he told her, 'and hath a balass ruby mounted in the b

es the first of Picardy, the second of Poitou, the third of Touraine, another from the good

id opened, but her mistress refused to have one wo

of Poitiers and solicit her favours for t

t he is come to the wrong house, and th

less honest than the first, in

from Tours, made the same offer to her

he lady, 'but the r

s, an you wi

n it. My husband might catch me, and I shou

is a harlot, I trow,

and went straight to the

ght, and he would cut the nose off my face to hinde

I tell you, is a wort

ied to the Parisian's. She was

neyards; tell the good sir who sent y

Paris, are the degrees from good to evil amongst wo

good master

ns with Eternal Justice. I have no lights thereanent. But methinks the Lyons dame who feared havin

me to fear hell fire. Her Confessor, it may be, will bring her to do penance and give alms. For, after all,

ESSON WE

ho was comely and well-liking in all her person. She had so bright a face that Master Jacques Tribouillar

e famous city and university of Paris was of old known by the name of Lutetia or Leucecia, or some such like word coming from Leukê, that is t

lante would

ome I wot of. And, if I show it, why, 'tis to follow the fashion. I

ate prisoners. For the rest, he was of sickly habit and a weakling, of such a sort he seemed more fit to give pain to folks outside his doors than pleasure to his wife within. The o

The judicious observed a prudent silence on the point, holding that what is hid will only be made manifest at the last Judgment Day. They noted how the lady was over fond of gewgaws and laces and wore in company and at church gowns of velvet and silk and cloth of gold, purfled with miniver; but they were too fair-minded folk to d

, Brother Jean Turelure, w

St. Catherine won heaven by leading such a life as yours,

done naught and thought he had done everything when he had inspired terror.

band a meet and proper head-dress, and Messire Philippe

is bald, he will cat

r into the night, had carried her home on his crupper, while the Advocate splashed his way through the mud and mire of the kennels by the dancing light of the torches his four tipsy lackeys bore. In the course of these

ld to tell her outright what he would have of

he would m

know not what you say.

other

pe, come back a

next day she woul

ere is t

illard, that Madame Violante was indeed a Lucretia, so true is it that all men are alike in fatuous self-conceit! And we are boun

s called to Venice by the General of his Order, to pre

ernness for living a dissolute life. He exhorted her urgently to repent and pressed her to wear a hair-shirt next her ski

Good Brother, never

missions she might be pleased to entrust him with. He was in hopes she would beg him to bring her back some consecrated medal, a rosary, or, better

te preferred a qu

ch cunning workmen in this sort are to be found, I pray you bring

lure promised to

ur pleasure together?" she would answer: "Nay! 't is too hot. Look at the weathercock if the wind will not change anon." And the good folk who

re presented himself before Madame Violante

, and drew from under h

ven me for that of the prettiest woman in all Venice. S

good Father in a well-assured voice that she understood the les

e from Venice, wherein I see my likeness not as I am at present, but as doubtless

rom expecting such pious words.

omise me henceforth to govern your behaviour by the thought this fleshless skull ha

must, and he assured her

e this promise th

ell. There is no going

go back on it

e left the place, radiant with satisfaction. And as h

ecisely in the way of fornication spoken of by the Prophet, yet was wont to employ for men's temptation the clay whereof the Creator had kneaded her th

Violante's door. She welcomed him with a beaming smile, and led him into a closet, furnished with carpets and cushions

dame; they are sweet and sugared

s a vain, silly fop to make boas

tly, kissing her fo

ngratulated her and advised her not to lock up this jewel of hers in such close keeping that no

g him daintily over the ears

ake whatsoever he wished of her. Sh

! You must not do it. Oh! sweetheart... oh

one sighing and dyin

spite the tenderness of your wooing, I did not before grant you what you have just won with my consent, 't was because I had no true understanding of things. I had no thought of the flight of time and the shortness of life and love; plunged in a soft languor of indolence, I reaped no harvest of my youth and beauty. However,

good account, to set to work afresh to his own honour and profit and the pleasure and glory of his mistress, and t

him by the hand, she guided him back to the do

ell done to follow the precepts o

S TONG

of Hell, finding their patient had a white tongue, inferred he was suffering f

certain earthly dish, which women excel in maki

was nothing could better

set before the King; but he f

Cook and asked him wh

is very morning, in the Marais Quarter, by a dozen g

but they lack delicacy, they lack the fine touch of genius. Women of the people are clumsier still. For a real good tongue-pie a Nunnery is the place to go to. There's nobody to mat

on of the good Father Gillotin La

AN HORRIB

IN A TEMPLE AND OF

MOROUS SORT THE WHI

BRARIE AND OF A NOBL

H THE AFORESAID PHI

HER LI

ther with a savage furie and in divers strange fashions. And the said work was right cunningly wrought and in very close mimicrie of nature. And none, an they were in the hot and lustie season of their life, could cast a look thereon without being stirred incontinent to be striking and killing poor harmlesse folk for the sole sake of donning so rich an harnesse and bestriding such high-stepping chargers as did these good codp

ng-helmed) by reason of the terrifying hideousness of their head-gear, and that the portrayal of these same fighting fellows was in very truth unseemly, as contrarie to good and peaceable manners, immodest, no

any other fine artifice the scenes of the Golden Age, to wit maidens and young men interlacing limbs in accord with the craving of kindly Nature

ind, being yet barbarous and silly folk, had known naught at all thereof; but that, an the said age could not credibly be deemed to have been at the beginni

e same in great mouthfuls, and one unhappie wretch that hath been felled to the earth and is striving to get to his feet againe, but is pinned down by an horse's hoof pressing on his chops, and another that looketh piteously about him for that his pennon hath been shorn from him and his hand with it,-so

in of his freak and seemed to be saying: The body of this young goddess is so sweet and refreshing as that the fountaine springing in the shade of the woods is not more delightsome. How I do love to look upon you, soft sweet lap, and prettie whit

ing in his cabinet writing at a table by candle-light. The said cabinet was fully furnished with globes, gnomons, and astrolabes, proper for meting the movements

natomy. And he had likewise, the said doctor, amid his belongings, the books of the most excellent philosophers of Antiquity and eke the treatises of Hippocrates. And

d man, his beard white as the flowers of the hawthorn and his temples bound about with the fillets sacred to the god Apollo, which had loved

E DOUCINE'S NE

him to face the chilly air and the bleak streets which were full of half-melted snow. He had refused to take his coach by way of mortifying the flesh, having grown very solicitous since hi

s seeking presents for this New Year's Day of 1696. You could scarce move for the host of mechanical figures of dancers and tipplers, birds in the bush that clapped their wings and sang, cabinets full of wax puppets, soldier

al in France, on November 4th. The head was a mass of bows and ribbons; she wore a very stiff corsag

Madame Pinson handed him the Princess of Savoy wrapped up in silk paper, a gleam of sensuous satisfaction fl

nd walked away, dragging his leg painfully, towards the house where he kne

-Sec, he met M. Spon, whose great no

"I wish you a happy New Year, and I pray God ev

. "'T is often for our chastisement that God gra

as a curse; but I see now it is a blessing, since it has removed me from the abominable life I was leading at the play-houses and in society. This complaint, which tortures my limbs and is like to turn my brain, i

rew up his arms and gav

some profligate libertine? Is it possible, sir, that living as you do a religiou

erelle, trembling all over. "But I sorely lack a lamp of guidance. I

to-day is meeter to be called an idol, a devilish simulacrum, than a doll. Are you not aware, sir

know that," sai

ngs, held the beginning of the year holy also. Hence, to act as they did is to do idolatry. You make New Year's offerings, sir,

egged M. Spon to give him his arm, and while th

e presents on that day? Pray, what call have you to revive at that precise date the affection of your friends. Was their love dying t

nds with civility and govern my behaviour by the principles of honesty and honour. Providence hath deigned to rescue me from this abyss, and I direct my conduct since my conversion by the admonitions the Director of my conscience gives me. But

you, and to illumine you, not indeed by my own lights, which burn fee

his pocket a little parchment-bound book, which he opened, and after hunting through the pages, lighted on a passage which he proceeded to

and the Calends of January, with the Matronalia and the Feast of the Winter Solstice; New Year's gifts and foolish presents fill all our thoughts; merrymakings and junketings are in every house. The Heathens gua

how 'New Year's gifts and foolish presents fill all your thoughts. You keep holy the feasts of the Heathen.' I have not the honour to know your Confessor. But I shudder, sir, to think of the way he neglects

s pocket and marched off with angry strides, followed at

d thinking how he was risking the eternal pains of hell fire for giving a doll to Mademoi

s, refused to carry him, and he felt as unhappy as

sful mood on his post for some minutes when

presents to the Little Brethren w

le burst out, "you are a man of religio

he Capuchins wherewith to make a good meal this day, that they may endure with cheerfulness the abstine

azed at the holy

hat this custom of New Year's

am not

omes to us fr

s, never refuse a boon to our poor little ones. We have a home for foundlings. With this poor crown I shall buy each child a little paper windmill and a cake. They will owe you

r friar's palm and got him down from his post, sayin

laugh, they p

f with a firmer step to carry the Princess of

ISELLE

of it was he turned tavern-keeper at The Hague. He was now returned to France and living precariously by the sermons he composed, which were full of high argument and eloquence. After supper he had read us these same calamities of Mam'zelle Fanchon, source of his own, and the reading had kept us there till a late hour. At last I found myself without

ting sergeant, a clerk of M. Gaulot's mercer at the sign of the Truie-qui-file, and the younger son of M. le Lieutenant-Crimine

avowal, and quoted some verses of Lucretius to persuade me that l

uf. Leaning our elbows on the parapet, we looked over at the gre

sary for the safeguarding of States, seeing how from time to time one and another legal cruelty is done away with without hurt to the commonweal. And I hold it likely that the severities they still maintain are no whit more useful than those they have abolished. But men a

ed together on the door-step of a hucksters booth. They seemed well enough content, both of them, to mingle their joint wretchedness, and when we went by were thinking of quite other

back to the consciousness of their misery. I pray they may

long with a notable air of resolution. Hastening our pace to get a nearer view, we saw she had a slim wais

e Abbé; "how comes it she is out of

he sort one generally encounte

ext moment she suddenly grasped her skirts and dragged them forward with the gesture a woman always uses when she is going to jump. My good master and I came up with her just as she was taking the fatal leap, and we hauled her forcibly backward. She struggled to get free of our arms; and as the bank was all slimy and slippery with ooze deposited by the receding waters (for the river was already beginning to fall), M. l'Abbé Coignard came very near being dragged in too. I was losing my foothold myself. Bu

s place b

d have no fear. Say nothing just yet, bu

to me, my ma

l its lace and is thread-bare with long service, it was still good to guard my old head, sorely tried by years and labours, against sun and rain. Go see, my son, if it may still be found where I d

ver all my life seen my good master with more than one shoe buckle. When I returned to the tree, I found the damsel still in the same state, sitting quite motionless with her head leant against the trunk

, and casting a look that was still misty at M. Coignard and me, she began in a

ngs of humanity; but I cannot truthfully tell you I am glad, for the li

compassion, smiled softly, for he could not really think life

Such as I am, and brought to this sorry plight by the buffets of time and fortune, I yet make shift to endure a life wherein my pleasures are to transl

d, and she shook her head. Then, resuming h

l the world so unha

to force your confidence. But your looks betray you; any one can see you are sick of disappointed love. W

thousand tokens of his sympat

ght, or what is left of it. My present lodging is in an old chateau a long way from here, whe

c, at the Chateau des Sablons, in the village of Neuilly, and were in

"if you should know of any place where you think yo

on being admitted at any hour; but that she had rather not return before daylight. She was fain, she said, not to disturb qui

rs rained down from her ey

our eyes. Then I will take you to wait for daybreak under the archways of

iled throug

much trouble. Go your way, sir, and rest

re growing paler and fainter. We could hear the first of the market-gardeners' carts rumbling along to the Halles, drawn by a slow-stepping horse, half asleep in the shafts. Arrived at the archways, we chose a place in the r

ts that might assail our companion's mind. He told her he accounted this rencounter the most fortunate he had ever chanced on all his life, and that

sently tell him what he refrained from asking. She broke i

guessed the truth; 'tis the betrayal of a lover I was too fondly attached to has brought me to despair. If you deem my grief excessive, that is

lovely eyes to our

home in a shipwreck, he and his merchandise with him. My mother was so overwhelmed by these calamities that she fell into a decline and died, leaving me, while still a child, to the char

ce in her handkerchief. Pres

ons,-because her affection for me made her indulgent, and because my dear lover's high position impressed her imagination. I lived a year of perfect happiness only equalled by the wretchedness I now endure. This morning he came to see me at my aunt's, with whom I live. I was haunt

er lids, and was able to finish her tale, which my good master d

f Finances; the connection was advantageous to his fortune and would bring him means adequate to support his rank and make a figure in the world. And the traitor, never deigning to notice my pale looks, added in his soft, caressing voice which had ma

ords he held ou

that I could know nothing of the paramount obligations that fill the existence of a man of quality, adding that he hoped eventually, when I looked at things quietly, I should come to see his behaviour in a better light. Then, returning the purse to his pocket, he declared he would readily find a way of putting the contents at my disposal in such a manner as to make it impossible for me to refuse his liberality. Thus leaving me with the odious, the intolerable implication that he was going to make full amends by these sordid means, he made for the door to which I pointed without a word. When he was gone, I felt a calmness of mind that surprised myself. It arose from the resolution I had formed to die. I dressed with some care, wrote a letter to my aunt asking her forgiveness for th

eeping afresh. My good master took

fish, cruel-hearted libertine, but I see plainly your love for him was only an impulse of the senses and the effect of your own sensibility, the particular object of which mattered far less than you imagine. What there was rare and excellent in the liaison came from y

to. But, as he talked on, Sophie, who for some while had let her pretty head droop on the shoulder of this best of men, fell softly asleep. When M. l'Abbé Coignard

chuckled, "my sermons h

autions, amongst others constraining himself to talk on uninterruptedl

a certain pride and overweening conceit that goes along with love and makes it very exacting. For, in truth, if only we loved in humbleness of spirit and forgetfulness of self, or merely with a simple heart, we should be content with what is vouchsafe

song of the birds grew so loud it drowned my good

e sparrows. They make love

ed with a delicate pearly-grey. She seemed somewhat reconciled to life, and did not refuse a cup of choc

ion of her wits, she began to trouble about sundry pr

nd whatever can I tell he

r we escorted her niece; and M. l'Abbé Coignard, who had quite a venerable look, though one shoe was un

not quick enough to escape the sergeants who, by the rarest chance, ran up in answer to my outcries. They arrested the villains after a desperate tussle. I took my share of the rough and tumble, and I thought at first I had lost my hat in the fray. When

to say the truth, is not the risk a girl of her age need fear t

s; but Mademoiselle Sophie spoke up

Aunt, Monsieur l'A

record them elsewhere; they are indeed memorable, and will never, I think, be forgotten. I may add that this journey was in all ways unfortunate, for after losing the best of masters on the road, I was likewise forsaken by a mistress who loved me, but did not love me alone, and whose loss nearly br

icularly struck by the charm and beauty, no less than the originality and talent, of the actress who took the part of Roxane. She expressed with a delig

, je sens que j

ajazet, I fee

I had the better leisure to scrutinize these adorable charms as she happened to face in my direction to deliver several important portions of her r?le. And the more I looked, the more I felt convinced I had seen her before, though I found it impossible to recall anything connected with our previous meeting. My neighbour i

nce when a "femme de chambre" handed me a not

waiting for you in her c

or me; and I asked the abigail who had deliver

nfidently, "then you cannot be Mon

of the House, and inside I recognized Mademoisel

get in, and when I w

ize Sophie, whom you rescued from d

oxane-Mademoiselle B

, but she appeared to vi

it. I knew you instantly and played for you. Say,

nd when I told her my good master had just

o inform me of the ch

had a face that interested her. She then asked me to read some verses, and concluded I was not without wits. She had me trained. I made my first appearance at the Comédie last year. I interpret passions I have felt myself, and the public credits me with some

vexation in my

ople to go the longest way