From Rogue to Everyman: A Foundling's Journey to the Bastille 9780773572249

Citation preview

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

Page i

fro m ro gue to e v e ry m a n

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

ii

Page ii

Preface

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

Page iii

preface

From Rogue to Everyman A Foundling’s Journey to the Bastille l . l . bon g i e

McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston • London • Ithaca

iii

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

Page iv

iv

preface

© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2004 isbn 0-7735-2793-1 Legal deposit fourth quarter 2004 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp) for our publishing activities.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Bongie, Laurence L. From rogue to everyman : a foundling’s journey to the Bastille / L.L. Bongie. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-7735-2793-1 1. De Julie, Charles. 2. Crime – France – Paris – History – 18th century. 3. Police – France – Paris – History – 18th century. 4. Underground press – France – Paris – History – 18th century. 5. Prisoners – France – Paris – Biography. 6. Paris (France) – Biography. I. Title. dc133.3.b65 2004

944′.361034′092

c2004-903316-6

This book was typeset by True to Type in 10/12 Sabon

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

Page v

Preface

v

Si j’ai été coupable, j’ai aussi été bien malheureux Charles de Julie, 24 November 1754

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

vi

Page vi

Preface

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

Page vii

preface

Contents

Preface

ix

part one: scenes and characters 1

The Foundling 3

2

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies 41

3

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses 70 part two: a rogue’s progress

4

Greluchon and Exempt 105

5

New Temptations 125

6

A Policeman’s Work 144

7

Clients and Protectors 167

8

Assembling a Team 180

9

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler 191 part three: the prisoner

10 Disaster Strikes 217 11 Prisoners in the Bastille 240 12 Awaiting Rescue 265

vii

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

Page viii

viii

Contents

13 Un Coup imprévu 281 14 A Change in Style 293 15 Pas encore las de vivre 317 16 Planning for Freedom 342 17 End of the Journey 369 Epilogue 381 Appendix 387 Notes 395 Index 431

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

Page ix

preface

ix

Preface

ta b l e s This book is the result of many a pleasant hour spent poking around in the police archives of eighteenth-century Paris. It concentrates on a few years in – and especially around – the life of a minor, star-crossed rogue, illegitimate by birth, a disgraced soldier, petty thief, libertine, pimp, policeman, nouvelliste à la main, and, finally, prisoner and poet in the dreaded Bastille. Apart from a fragmentary collection of amateur poetry and a remarkable series of letters written while he was in prison, he left behind no imposing legacy of personal achievement. Charles Julie (he, in fact, liked to style himself Charles de Julie) possessed few unalloyed qualities, little moral integrity, and probably not a scrap of personal heroism or anything resembling his century’s growing and nowadays much talked about ideological vision. It is true that his clandestine “journalism” was deemed criminal by an arbitrary regime bent on controlling all media and expression, and it is also true that he was severely punished for what can be loosely described as journalistic transgressions. But for all that, Charles de Julie was not a martyr to freedom of expression and he assuredly was not a crusading pioneer of the modern free press. If he indeed was a pioneer in any journalistic sense, it was as a spiritual ancestor of today’s scurrilous tabloid reporters – a species whose record of accomplishment in the annals of humanity remains thin. What, then, will the reader find that may be both worthy and interesting in these dusty relics of a middling and mostly miserable existence? First of all, a ground level, unapologetically material sense of everyday low life during one of the most fascinating periods of French

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

x

Page x

Preface

history. Charles de Julie’s dossier paints a colourful picture of his world, and his brush strokes are especially generous when it comes to depicting the darker shadings, the notorious corruption of his times. The documents relating to his story yield up vivid if fleeting images of eighteenth-century Paris, centre of the universe, city of wit and learning, of wealth and luxury, all hideously and marvellously juxtaposed with the most squalid and degrading varieties of human poverty, disease, and crime. Julie came to know intimately the sights, sounds, and smells of the French capital, its Opéra and playhouses, its law courts, its narrow dirty streets and hackney coaches, its great houses, low taverns, and splendid public gardens. He worked first as an informer and later as a police officer in nearly all of the city’s crime details and was only too familiar with the activities of the capital’s rakes, thieves, loan sharks, pickpockets, confidence men, blackmailers, crooked gamblers, rowdy bullying soldiers, not to mention its twenty or thirty thousand prostitutes – all closely watched over by as many as 3,000 spies and the eighteenth-century world’s most invasively ubiquitous police system, surpassed in efficiency perhaps only by the ‘best’ twentieth-century totalitarian models of the genre. Not surprisingly, Julie established contacts with a fair number of the capital’s leading maquerelles and he had more than a passing acquaintance with some of their most distinguished clients, from the very highest nobility to the richest of the fermiers généraux. His underground news sheets, lifted mainly from vice squad reports, provided a restricted circle of wealthy subscribers with racy accounts of the town’s sexual dalliance, recorded in a format that sometimes rivals in style and content the under-the-counter erotic fiction of the day. But readers inclined to pause on their way to take in this bustling panorama are invited to look for more than the colourful and quotidian as they examine in deeper perspective these fragmented scenes from the life of a marginal man caught up in a desperate struggle to survive by fair means or foul. That struggle, despite massive expenditures of native wit and cunning, ended in Charles de Julie’s thirtieth year when he died poor, ill, and forgotten. The precise date of his demise is unknown, and few clues relating to the last fated mile of the picaro’s hard journey have turned up despite extensive archival digging. In some ways, we can be grateful for that early departure and the shortened tragic focus it provides. Stripped of longevity’s routine accretions, our central character shows up all the more humanly vulnerable and morally naked in his small universe. The clever, manipulating rogue, the spirited liar, thief, poetaster, and libertine, ceases at last to be marginal man and assumes instead the complex contours of everyman. We sense more clearly that his life’s struggles, though largely unsuccessful,

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

Page xi

Preface

xi

were conducted eagerly and complicitly within rather than outside the broader social norms of his times. Charles de Julie (his deviant behaviour notwithstanding) was a basically engaging, sane, well-informed, and consenting participant in his variegated world. Fatherless and frequently on the wrong side of the law, he finally succumbed to the harsh salvation of a prison cell. Although his letters from the Bastille mention more than once the notion of man’s birthright to freedom, he eschewed, even as a spiritually abused prisoner, all discourse of rebellion or indignant proclamations of innocence. It would be left to others of a later generation, prisoners like the lawyer Henri Linguet, for example, to mount that kind of impassioned, ideological campaign. Eventually, the Bastille itself would be stormed by the frenzied mob, acting out its own assigned role in a psychodrama that prefaced the arrival of a new era in western European consciousness and sensibility. But Julie belonged to a time when the individual with inalienable rights had not yet been fully invented, let alone embellished with that thick impasto of Romantic self-absorption or triumphant subjectivity that today generates much lively debate on the limits of dissent within a viable social polity. Was the author of these poignant letters from the Bastille guilty and deserving of punishment? He would probably have found the question strange and the answer more than obvious. He was guilty, without a doubt! He was guilty by definition, having disobeyed the overarching family imperatives of his day. He was guilty of disobedience to his immediate superior, the magistrate Berryer, lieutenant général de police, a harsh surrogate father. Ultimately, he was guilty of disobedience to his king, recognized and glorified as the father of all. Charles de Julie experienced much mental anguish and genuine suffering in the Bastille – his letters and poetry are eloquent and moving on the subject – and yet he sometimes found himself able to commend in those same letters the “redeeming” effects of his incarceration. His contemporaries, beneficiaries of a stable albeit arbitrary order, would not have found his way of thinking so very strange. It was part of the prevailing rituals of propitiation, designed to placate the angry father and demonstrate the wayward son’s filial submission. In the Bastille, perfect submission required a marked surrender of will, knowledge, memory, and imagination – elements so precious and so fixed in the penitent’s total being that they could be given up only after a long and agonizing struggle. Julie’s letters to his chief jailor tell the day-by-day story of that moral striving. As it turned out, the prisoner had only a few months to live when he was at last released. Like all Bastillards, he was allowed to leave the grim fortress only after signing a formal soumission and only after the authorities were satisfied that he had indeed been suffi-

A-FRONT.QXD

9/1/2004 11:32 AM

xii

Page xii

Preface

ciently punished and reformed. Scarcely more than a generation later a different species of homme moyen, armed with a bright new consciousness, would arrive on the scene. Unlike Julie, the new man – again almost by definition – was innocent. His rights were natural and inalienable, a part of his inviolate self. He would proclaim those rights without fear, and he would triumph finally in the clamorous celebrations of revolutionary solidarity – fraternal now; filial no more. Dedicated to the destruction of the old paternalistic regime and its arbitrary social processes, the new everyman would join in the mob’s attack on the dark towers of despotism that had terrorized the inhabitants and defaced the landscape of the quartier Saint-Antoine for so long. We cannot be certain that a time-warped Charles de Julie, glad as he would have been to be rescued from his cell, would have applauded or even understood.

I wish to express here my sincere thanks to all of the archivists, librarians, colleagues, editors, and friends who have had some part in the making of this book. To Mme Renée Calam, I owe a special debt of gratitude for her tireless assistance with the initial transcription of the Julie and De Coin manuscripts.

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 1

Defining a Precocious Piety, 1922–1938

part o n e Scenes and Characters

1

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

2

Page 2

W. Stanford Reid

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 3

1 The Foundling

We know he was born in the French capital and that he was illegitimate. Who was his mother? His father? Under what circumstances did he come into the busy, unforgiving world of eighteenth-century Paris? The police archives are silent on those questions. At least we know the date of his birth: 17 October 1725. Was he found abandoned in a straw-lined basket, snugly protected from the autumn chill by a bonnet and blanket? Did the priest who found him on the steps of SaintEustache church that Wednesday morning also find a note tucked into his swaddling bands, requesting that the newborn be baptized with the name Charles? Normal ancien régime records of births, deaths, and marriages in the French capital have long since been lost to vandalism or fire, but a legal document of 1751, drawn up when Charles de Julie – then 26 years of age – purchased his position as an exempt de robe courte, does refer to a copy of his baptismal certificate, revealing his date of birth as well as the name of the church where he was baptized. Saint-Eustache was one of the largest and most populous parishes in Paris. Some of the great writers of the previous century, including Molière and La Fontaine, were buried there, along with France’s famous administrator, Colbert. The bustling and frequently malodorous market area, the quartier des Halles, was just next door. Neither too fashionable nor too plebeian in tone, Saint-Eustache served a socially varied population. In 1721 a certain Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, future marquise de Pompadour, had been christened in one of its chapels.

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

4

Page 4

Scenes and Characters

On the other hand, perhaps our story really begins not far away in another part of the city, in the quartier Saint-Antoine at the Hospice des Enfants-Trouvés. There, every year, several thousand children were legally abandoned, sometimes personally by the mother but most often anonymously by the midwife involved in the birth. Buffon, one of the eighteenth century’s most celebrated natural scientists, records that for the year 1746, 3,283 children were dropped off at the foundling hospital in Paris. By 1772 the number had more than doubled to 7,676, representing approximately 41 percent of all births in the capital.1 Although exposing or abandoning children was theoretically a capital offense, the practice of depositing them anonymously at the foundling hospital was common. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, justifying the serial abandonment of his bastard children, breezily defended his actions as conforming to “l’usage du pays”: “Quand on y vit on peut le suivre.”2 In short, when in Rome... Rousseau tells us that he got rid of his children “gaillardement, sans le moindre scrupule.” Mlle Gouin, the midwife, discreetly took care of Thérèse Levasseur’s first confinement and subsequently deposited the child “dans la forme ordinaire.” Other unwanted children soon followed: “L’année suivante,” writes the much celebrated humanitarian, moralist and educator, “même inconvénient et même expédient.” In fact, this inconvénient cropped up with dreary regularity in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s household five times in approximately five years, from 1746 to 1752, each occasion requiring a discreet trip by the midwife to the sheltered drop-off entrance of the Enfants-Trouvés. Several decades later, the century’s supreme sentimentalist – and most eloquently sincere hypocrite – assures us in his famous Confessions that he even found in the performance of this act a source of personal comfort and righteousness: “Tout pesé, je choisis pour mes enfans le mieux ou ce que je crus l’être. J’aurois voulu, je voudrois encore avoir été élevé et nourri comme ils l’ont été.”3 In fact, the life of the foundling, whether born legitimate or otherwise, was far from comfortable and secure. The times were harsh and a Jean-Jacques Rousseau, despite his self-serving rationalizations, would have known only too well that two out of three children deposited at the hospice usually died before reaching the end of their first year.4 If they survived the first few days, they would be put out to a designated wet-nurse in the country. After a time, most of those still alive were returned to the Enfants-Trouvés where they were given a certain level of care and instruction. As a contemporary observer proudly notes: “Il y a un ordre admirable dans cette Maison. Tous les enfans qu’on y apporte, y sont reçus sans aucune formalité, & ils y sont nourris, élevés & instruits avec soin, comme autant de dépôts confiés par l’Etat.”5 The entire process was uncomplicated. No troublesome

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 5

The Foundling

5

questions regarding parental origins – legitimate or otherwise – were ever asked. Children who remained healthy would eventually be placed with a working family. Some foundlings ended up in vastly more fortunate circumstances than others, although it is difficult to imagine in what way a child born illegitimate into a society that (especially in rural areas) shunned the bastard as a non-person, could in any sense be considered fortunate. Illegitimacy was generally seen as something to hide unless, of course, it signalled the right to claim a family crest and a noble bar sinister – unless, for example, the bastard child was lucky enough to be a Maurice de Saxe, son of the king of Poland and one of France’s popular military heroes. Reflecting similar snobbish values, the young poet Arouet, born into a traditional family, chose early on in his career to style himself “de Voltaire,” preferring the hint of a noble adulterine birth to the drab reality of being no more than the legitimate scion of a bourgeois notary. We have few clues to help us fill in the gaps in Charles de Julie’s early biography. Was his real mother indeed the servant of some important functionary in the capital? Does the surname he was given suggest some connection, for example, with Ange-Laurent La Live de Jully, also born in 1725 and son of the well-known fermier général, LouisDenis La Live de Bellegarde? Or, perhaps, somewhat lower down on the social scale, could he have been related to Antoine-Joseph Aubry de Julie, son of Antoine Aubry, a prosperous master-caterer in the rue des Deux-Écus who had fathered at least a dozen legitimate male children, all of whom were also baptized at Saint-Eustache? Worth noting, the church of Saint-Eustache was located at no more than a stone’s throw from Aubry’s well-known eating establishment.6 But then again, perhaps Charles de Julie was only the incidental by-product of random domestic lust, conceived one night in the servant’s quarters of one of the capital’s great houses when a randy valet forced his attentions on an unlucky soubrette? Or, more likely still, when the lord and master of that same house imposed his imperious will on a below-stairs maid? Judging from subsequent events, it seems most likely that the baby’s father was indeed a man of substance, one who, unlike the impoverished Jean-Jacques Rousseau, possessed sufficient means to provide – albeit at a discreet distance – a certain measure of protection for his unavowed offspring. Charles de Julie, we know, somehow received a good classical education, perhaps not quite what the sons of the wealthiest noblemen normally enjoyed, not private tutoring by a live-in précepteur in some great house, but at least residence in a good pension, like that of Messrs. Musel and Bahu located in the countryside at Pantin, for example, just a short distance from the city walls. Or perhaps he was

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

6

Page 6

Scenes and Characters

a boarder in one of the charity schools that the ancien régime’s religious orders maintained in such great numbers. Possibly, he even attended as a day pupil one of the local private establishments to which the good bourgeoisie of Paris frequently sent their sons. School discipline was uniformly strict, but a boy with Charles de Julie’s keen intelligence and verbal finesse would have soon distinguished himself in learning the basics: reading, writing, Latin, grammar, geography, and history. As an especially clever lad, he would have rapidly acquired sound fundamental prose skills and probably a taste for poetry as well. Finally, there would be a good daily dose of religious instruction, supported by carefully selected readings from Scripture.7 Some time after his first communion, he would have graduated to the more challenging and harsher regime of a Jesuit college – Louis-le-Grand, if he was lucky – where he could hobnob under a scheme of free tuition with the sons of courtiers and other members of the capital’s establishment. Here, his only major disadvantage would have been his birth, for there is little doubt that he would otherwise have been seen as one of the bright boys of the college, endowed with a phenomenal memory, a confident, lively curiosity, and a rich imagination. There is little doubt, too, that during these early years he would have made great efforts to hide the circumstances of his birth, representing himself, at the very least, as a member of the haute bourgeoisie or, more likely still, as the scion of an obscure branch of the provincial nobility. No doubt he would also have been something of a problem student. Naturally enterprising, he would have been among the ringleaders when it came to initiating some prank or other, possibly a forbidden excursion into the streets beyond the walls and barred windows of the college, to mingle with the crowd, smirking and joking with his fellows at the sight of the painted ladies, or gaping in admiration at the fierce-looking soldiers who swaggered about the town in their splendid uniforms. At what point in the process did the woman who came to be known to the authorities as his mother arrive on the scene? Clearly not his real mother, she was Nicole-Françoise Courau, widow of the prosperous bourgeois apothecary, Jacques Goubier, whom she had married in July 1713.8 Financially comfortable, she had brought to the marriage a substantial dowry of 10,000 livres. Later, we find her still sufficiently wealthy to be in a position to rescue from financial distress on more than one occasion her brother, lawyer Nicolas-Joseph Courau, a former excise administrator in the city of Caen who seems to have had a weakness for venturesome financial projects that rarely came to fruition. Nicole-Françoise had as well a number of financially successful and highly influential friends, including the wealthy fermier général Lallemant de Betz, who lived in the rue Neuve-Saint-Augustin very

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 7

The Foundling

7

near the Hôtel de Gramont, where her distant cousin, François des Écures, titled equerry to the late duc de Gramont, resided. Once considered to be one of the finer mansions of Paris, boasting attractive gardens and a flourishing orangerie, the Hôtel de Gramont had lost a good deal of its lustre in recent years. Louis-Antoine-Armand, duc de Gramont, as a lieutenant général and colonel of the French Guards, had been widely blamed for a blunder that caused the French defeat at Dettingen on 27 June 1743.9 His regiment was accused of cowardice and it must have been a discomfiting time for Nicole-Françoise’s friend des Écures. Two years after Dettingen, des Écures’ ducal patron was able to redeem himself fully at the glorious battle of Fontenoy, when he managed to get himself mowed down in an exchange of cannon fire with the forces of the Duke of Cumberland.10 Childless herself, Nicole-Françoise Goubier seems to have taken an intense maternal interest in young Charles de Julie as a charity case. The precise date of his “adoption” is not known, and since there were no legal provisions at the time for adoption in the modern sense, no formal documentation regarding the event probably exists. We do know, however, that several years later Mme Goubier took in a second “orphan” child, a girl this time, Marie-Claude Delaistre, to whom she eventually left a small bequest in her will.11 It is conceivable, of course, that Mme Goubier herself, long after she became a widow, gave birth on 17 October 1725 to the unavowable product of a liaison. We can also consider the possibility that Charles de Julie was the bastard son of her own brother, Nicolas-Joseph, but no evidence to support either speculation has surfaced in the notarial archives. In any case, we will see that the precise lineage of our principal character is less important to our narrative than the critical fact of his illegitimate birth. What especially matters in this regard is how Charles de Julie, though he started out in life socially disadvantaged, nevertheless was determined early on to extricate himself from his tainted origins by manipulating other people’s perception of his status and achievements. In this he would invariably be guided by one of the century’s most pervasive social axioms – that appearances always trump reality. Accordingly, at the earliest opportunity, like so many ambitious adventurers, pretentious bourgeois and sundry impostors of his day, he added a noble particule to his name. Charles Julie became Charles de Julie. A man of poetic talents, he would later celebrate that common peccadillo in verse: Un de adroitement placé, N’en déplaise à quiconque en glose, Relève au moins de la moitié Un nom qui ne dit pas grand-chose.

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

8

Page 8

Scenes and Characters La différence en est visible Ce de fait un effet sensible Et donne au parfait roturier Quelquefois de quoi s’oublier.12

S’oublier in a society fundamentally shaped by the notions of lineage and class posed an enormous problem for Charles de Julie. Perhaps his best opportunity to “forget” his ambiguous origins and to hobnob with the legitimate sons of the great came in 1744 when, probably with the aid of direct sponsorship by Mme Goubier’s good friend, des Écures, and possibly even the duc de Gramont himself, backed too by a generous disbursement of his foster mother’s funds, Charles de Julie entered the Gendarmes Écossois. The Écossois were one of France’s most prestigious cavalry companies, forming part of the Royal Guards regiment. The young foundling could scarcely have been more fortunate! Gaining a place in the King’s Guards generally required royal approbation and would have cost a pretty penny as well. Soldiers in the Écossois company – at one time made up of Scottish troops but now entirely French – cut a dashing figure in their blue uniforms, highlighted with silver braid and a broad bandoleer. They had a distinguished history, going back to the time of Charles VII and Joan of Arc, and they always took precedence over the three other companies that formed the royal bodyguard on special occasions.13 Despite his birth, a military career at this level could have been Charles de Julie’s passport to nearly complete social redemption. At a time when France’s military history was marked by a number of glorious victories, he had been favoured with access to membership in an elite corps of the ancien régime’s warrior class. Louis XV himself was honorary captain of the Écossois. The possibilities for advantageous contacts among the nobility and for getting rid of all traces of his dubious social origins were almost unlimited. Unfortunately, as it turned out, his brief sojourn with the Gendarmes Écossois witnessed the first in a series of botched personal opportunities. It was a case of appearances not being easily translated into substance when basic integrity of character is lacking. Maurice de Saxe, France’s leading general of the day, complained from time to time that his army, in which desertion, pillage, and cowardice had become a national embarrassment, was in fact made up of French society’s basest and most contemptible elements. “No dogs, prostitutes, lackeys or [common] soldiers allowed” was a sign at the entrance to some of the better public gardens in the capital.14 Thanks to Mme Goubier’s wealth and her influential associates, Julie had not gone into the army as a conscripted social rowdy. He lost no time, however, in gravitating morally to the lower levels of his new milieu. Like some of

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 9

The Foundling

9

the more notorious members of the elite Gardes Françaises then garrisoned in Paris, he soon became a familiar figure in the taverns and brothels of the capital, probably assuming as well, like many of his fellow guardsmen, the role of souteneur or pimp. Fortunately for the nation, by the mid-1740s, much-needed reforms were being systematically introduced throughout the army. Increased discipline (almost German, some complained!) was imposed from on high and, to the great chagrin of Charles de Julie’s foster mother and the disappointment of his distinguished protectors, his promising career in the Gendarmes Écossois came to an abrupt halt when he was unceremoniously kicked out “for roguery.” It was apparently not the first time that Mme Goubier’s charity case had dishonourably squandered her support and it would not be the last. Back on the streets of Paris, he soon returned to eager cultivation of his now well-developed low-life instincts. After some time and many promises to reform, he was given a second chance. Again with the help of the widow Goubier and her influential connections, Charles de Julie managed next to gain a place in the Hussards Bretons. The Hussards were somewhat less prestigious than the Écossois, and this time he was accepted only as a volontaire, without titular rank and no assurance of eventual tenure. Moreover, no pay was attached to the position, his defined higher purpose being only to serve king and country and to learn the harsh business of war. Still, there were compensations: the Hussards Bretons were famous for being a particularly free-spirited body of cavalry whose special function was to dash about independently in the heat of battle, engage the enemy after the fashion of irregulars, and live off the land. For the modish young warrior there was also the greatest advantage of all: the Hussard’s uniform was absolutely dazzling! Unique in the French army, it sported a short jacket, pantaloon breeches, knee-high boots, a dolman cape, and a tall busby decorated with skins – the whole set off by a shiny cavalry sabre, a long-barreled carbine, and two handsome pistols. Unfortunately, in Charles de Julie’s eyes even that was a bit plain compared to the attire of the officers of the Hussards Bretons, who dressed each according to his own taste, sense of dignity, and noble rank. Their uniforms were magnificently embellished with weapons, skins, furs, and accoutrements; their busbies were decorated with peacock feathers, while silver badges pinned to the right side of their jackets displayed each man’s record of combat. Even more conspicuous, a round silver breast plate worn while in the saddle testified to the rider’s aristocratic bona fides.15 It may already come as no surprise to the reader that the next time we encounter Charles de Julie he has just been arrested in a Paris brothel, charged with impersonating an officer and being absent without leave

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

10

Page 10

Scenes and Characters

from his regiment. Added to these serious infractions were charges of fraud, theft, and forgery. The police had found him living it up in the establishment of one of the capital’s aging courtesans, la Delisle, a former mistress of the notorious comte de Charolais, the most dissipated of the Condé princes du sang. Arrested with Charles de Julie was a fellow volontaire named Le Roy, the son of a high ranking official at the Hôtel de Condé, birthplace seven years earlier of the young marquis de Sade. Both Le Roy and Julie were, of course, wearing the magnificent uniform of the Hussard officer. Most serious of all, the complaint that initially provoked their arrest on common criminal charges had arisen from an attempt on the part of the two miscreants to extort money from the wife of a regimental captain. Caught up in the trammels of the law, Charles de Julie immediately appealed to Mme Goubier for help. This time he had gone too far. That same week, his foster mother had discovered that her young charity foundling, while partying at la Delisle’s establishment, had also engaged in several flagrantly dishonourable schemes to defraud local merchants. In addition, he had forged her signature on a number of important documents. The file relating to a police investigation of the matter has survived. The first document is a note dated 11 June 1747 addressed to Nicolas Berryer de Ravenoville (1703–1762), the newly appointed lieutenant général de police,16 from Farcy de Saint-Marc, lieutenant du Guet and probably mid-eighteenth-century France’s most celebrated criminal investigator. Widely recognized in subsequent years as the cleverest of Berryer’s officers, it would be Saint-Marc who, two years later, first saw through the famous anti-Pompadour ruse instigated for personal profit by Masers de Latude, and it would be Saint-Marc again who, in 1756, “restored the Bastille’s virginity” by recapturing Latude after the prisoner’s sensational escape.17 In the spring of 1747, Saint-Marc’s duties included keeping a sharp eye on the gambling and prostitution scene in Paris. Julie, dishonourably discharged from the Gendarmes Écossois only the year before, was already a familiar figure to him. The young rake had for some time been building up an alarming reputation in the milieu for “appalling libertinage.” His contacts were well known, and finding him had not been difficult.The great detective, accompanied on his nocturnal rounds by a commissaire, had simply dropped by several brothels, finally making the arrest at the rue SainteAnne residence of the jolly fifty-year-old courtesan.18 Saint-Marc’s report to Berryer, dated the following day, reads as follows: Du 11 juin 1747 Les sieurs Julie, ci-devant gendarme prenant la qualité d’officier du régiment des Bretons volontaires, [et] Le Roy, fils de M. Le Roy, intendant des bâtiments

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 11

The Foundling

11

de la Maison de Condé, se disant aussi officier, et portant tous deux l’habit d’officier du régiment, sont les deux particuliers qui ont insulté la dame La Barre, et qui ne sont que simples volontaires et dont le major de ce régiment a demandé qu’ils fussent arrêtés. En vertu d’ordre du Roi anticipé en date du 10 du présent, ils ont été arrêtés et conduits ès prisons du Fort l’Évêque pour y rester jusqu’à nouvel ordre. De St. Marc19

In the same police dossier, we find a letter to Berryer dated the following day from Dusseaux, the regimental adjutant of the Bretons volontaires, requesting that Julie and LeRoy be stripped of their illegal uniforms and held in prison: “Je juge à propos de ne les plus recevoir dans le régiment, vous laissant le maître d’en disposer comme vous le jugerez à propos.”20 Dusseaux’s request was accompanied by a second letter on the subject from Saint-Marc to Berryer: Monsieur, J’ai l’honneur de vous rendre compte qu’hier sur le minuit, je me suis transporté avec le sieur commissaire de Rochebrune chez plusieurs femmes du monde à l’effet d’y arrêter les sieurs Julie et Le Roy dont est parlé dans la note ci-jointe, qui ont été conduits ès prisons du Fort l’Évêque. L’ordre en vertu duquel je les ai arrêtés n’était que de police. J’ai été conseillé par ledit sieur commissaire de le laisser sans écrou pour avoir le temps de rendre compte de leurs états et d’informer le magistrat à qui ces jeunes gens appartiennent, ce qui a été fait ce matin à son hôtel, conformément à ladite note ci-jointe. Le magistrat m’a ordonné de les écrouer de l’ordre du Roi, à cause des personnes à qui ils appartiennent, et pour avoir pris la qualité et l’habit d’officier des hussards Bretons sans avoir aucun grade. M. Dusseaux, major de ce régiment à qui j’en ai parlé ce matin, prie le magistrat par une lettre ci-incluse de donner ses ordres pour faire ôter à ces deux particuliers en question l’habit d’officiers du régiment dont ils n’ont aucun droit de porter. Il assure même qu’il les abandonne et qu’il n’en voulait pas, même pour soldats, attendu que ces jeunes gens sont trop libertins. De St. Marc Du 12 Juin 174721

Following the initial complaint, Saint-Marc had acted on the basis of a simple ordre de police, that is, a normal warrant authorizing the arrest of common criminals. The application of such a judicial process was universally viewed as dishonouring to the individual involved and especially to the family of the accused. Incarceration in such dreaded hell-holes as Bicêtre, probably the vilest prison in Europe at the time, usually followed. The fact that the police in this instance hesitated to

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

12

Page 12

Scenes and Characters

carry on with ordinary criminal warrants until there had been consultation with Berryer, the lieutenant général de police, gives yet another clue to Charles de Julie’s privileged if equivocal status. Mme Goubier having been contacted, a change in the arrest order was made. Commissaire de Rochebrune and Saint-Marc agreed that in view of the social connections of the two young men, the case would be best handled through an ordre du roi, that is, the gentler procedure of a lettre de cachet designed to protect family honour. As in most cases involving lettres de cachet, it was the family itself that made the request to the appropriate minister. The king, by personally signing a royal order for confinement, was symbolically performing the function of a true father concerned with protecting his family while at the same time taking the necessary measures to correct a wayward son. Mme Goubier’s formal complaint to the magistrate, probably drafted by Saint-Marc, provides more background information and leaves no doubt that she was officially deemed to have a guardianship role in the affairs of the twenty-one-year-old roué who still had four years to go before reaching his full legal majority: mémoire Contre le nommé Charles Julie, homme sans aveu et ci-devant renvoyé des Gendarmes Écossois pour cause de friponnerie il y a un an ou environ; depuis ce temps a vécu sur le pavé de Paris dans un libertinage affreux, et pour satisfaire à ses débauches a employé toutes les friponneries imaginables dont une partie va être ci-après détaillée. Premièrement, de concert avec des libertins de son espèce, ils ont loué des chevaux à la journée chez un marchand de chevaux, rue de la Harpe, à la Croix de Fer, et les ont vendus le même jour, pour le payement desquels chevaux il a fallu payer au marchand quatre cents et tant de livres. Ledit Julie a écrit une lettre sous un nom interposé avec une écriture et signature contrefaites, à M. Lallemant de Betz, fermier général, par laquelle on le priait de donner au porteur pour la personne dénommée dans ladite lettre la somme de 600 livres. Une autre lettre à M. Lallemant de Nantouillet, pareille écriture, pour avoir la somme de 300 livres. Une autre à M. de La Loere, notaire, par laquelle on lui demandait 300 livres. Une autre à M. des Écures, écuyer de feu Monseigneur le duc de Gramont. Une autre au nommé Le Guet, marchand de vin – M. le commissaire Le Comte a connaissance de ces faits – par laquelle on lui demandait une quantité de vin de champagne, d’alicante, de côte rôtie, lunel, et de canarie, lesquels vins ont été fournis par ce marchand, ainsi qu’une partie des sommes demandées par lesdites lettres écrites aux susnommés. Il est encore accusé de différents vols et de fabrication de faux billets.

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 13

The Foundling

13

Il a été arrêté en habit uniforme d’officier de volontaires Bretons, s’en disant lieutenant sans en avoir le grade, pour désordres et violences faites avec deux autres de ses camarades chez la dame Labarre, femme d’un capitaine des volontaires Bretons. Le sieur de Saint-Marc, lieutenant du Guet, porteur de l’ordre, l’a arrêté chez la nommée Delisle, fille de mauvaise vie, rue Sainte-Anne chez un épicier, et conduit de l’ordre du Roi au Fort l’Évêque où il est actuellement détenu. On prend la liberté de demander un ordre du Roi pour faire transférer ledit Julie, qui est un très mauvais sujet (et bâtard de naissance) dans la maison des Frères de La Charité de Senlis, aux offres de payer sa pension, à laquelle la soussignée s’oblige. Goubier22

Vagabond, nefarious character, and bastard by birth – the choice of words spelled out in the petitioner’s appeal leaves little doubt about the intensity of Nicole-Françoise Goubier’s exasperation with her foster son. In addition, her unequivocal characterization of his origins as illegitimate would seem to rule out even the slightest chance that she herself could have been Julie’s natural mother. On the other hand, residual maternal feelings remain evident in her choice of the maison de force at Senlis for Julie’s prison. Initially her petition had requested that the miscreant be sent forthwith to Bicêtre (probably Saint-Marc’s suggestion) but those words were crossed out at the last minute. Julie thus escaped a fate that some prisoners of the day feared even more than death. Contrary to the sinister reputation the lettre de cachet enjoys today even in the minds of some professional historians, requests for an ordre du roi, whether made by authorized family members or by police officials, were rarely granted without a preliminary investigation of the circumstances. Before endorsing Mme Goubier’s request, Berryer addressed the appropriate inquiry to commissaire Le Comte.23 Le Comte replied the following day, after reviewing the evidence. The allegations, he assured the lieutenant général were indeed based on reliable testimony: J’ai vu, Monsieur, plusieurs des lettres originales dont il est question dans ce mémoire et j’ai parlé au sieur Le Guay, marchand de vin de mon quartier, qui a fourni les vins que ce particulier Julie lui a escroqués à la faveur d’une fausse lettre et sous le nom de la suppliante. Le surplus des faits portés dans ce mémoire m’a été certifié véritable par des personnes dignes de foi, et d’ailleurs, la représentation des lettres en original n’établit que trop les mauvaises manœuvres du mauvais et dangereux sujet dont est question, capable de se porter à toute extrémité s’il n’est promptement renfermé. Le commissaire Le Comte Du 16 juin 1747.24

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

14

Page 14

Scenes and Characters

Reinforcing the commissaire’s letter, Saint-Marc also assured Berryer that he had personally verified Mme Goubier’s statement of the facts: J’ai l’honneur de vous rendre compte que je me suis informé scrupuleusement des faits contenus au présent mémoire, lesquels m’ont été certifiés vrais par des gens dignes de foi. Le nommé Julie dont est question est connu dans Paris pour un très mauvais sujet et fabricateur de faux écrits et capable de tout entreprendre pour se déshonorer. Ce 16 juin 1747 De St. Marc.25

Saint-Marc attached to his note four of the original forgeries, each a crude masterpiece in the genre, cleverly imitating both the irregular handwriting and marginally literate spelling of Julie’s benefactress. They are worth quoting here as the earliest extant examples of Charles de Julie’s versatile prose skills, craftily employed in redressing the misfortunes of his unlucky birth: Vous enverez monsieur avec le domestique que je vous envoy un de vos garcon auquel vous ferez porter vint-cinc bouteille de vin, scavoir: six bouteille de vin de champagne six de lunelle, deux d’alicant quatre de canarie, quattre de cotte rotië et trois d’Espagne. Le tout est une commission dont je suis chargé et que lon ma prié dexecuter aujourdhuy. Cest pourquoy envoyez cela sur le champ vostre garcôn ou le domestique le condhuira. Et venez demain chez moy en recevoir largent que jay tout prest a vous donner. Je suis vostre tres humble servante veuve Goubier de paris ce 9 juin 1747.26

The letter is addressed to “Monsieur Le Guay, marchand de vin, rue de Vaugirard, à la Vierge.” Saint-Marc also enclosed for Berryer’s edification the wine merchant’s bill showing that twenty-five bottles of the finest wines, costing in excess of a hundred livres, had been delivered in good faith to the dubious establishment of Mme Deslisle on the rue Sainte-Anne. But the effrontery with which Julie managed to swindle the wine merchant Le Guay pales to insignificance when compared to the reckless cunning he had displayed earlier that same week when, in collusion with an associate, he had presented cleverly forged requests for emergency loans to a number of the widow Goubier’s well-heeled friends, three of whom, the fermiers généraux Lallemant de Betz and

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 15

The Foundling

15

Lallemant de Nantouillet,27 and her cousin des Écures at the Hôtel de Gramont, were conveniently located within minutes of each other in the rue Neuve-Saint-Augustin. A fourth victim, the widow’s notary, André-François Delaloëre lived close by in the rue Montmartre near Saint-Eustache church. Since financiers and notaries were presumed to be experienced and vigilant in matters of fraud, choosing these particular targets, all of whom were familiar with the widow Goubier’s handwriting, was obviously fraught with danger. Julie’s quick-strike scheme, based on a concocted emergency scenario, nevertheless worked to perfection. First to be honoured with a forged request was Mme Goubier’s notary: Je madresse a vous monsieur pour vous prier de me rendre un service qui est aussy essentiel que precipite. Ils est question de me tirer d’un embaras pressant et ce en me faisant le plaisirs de donner aux porteur de la presente lettre trois cent livre que je me suis engage de paiyer pour mon frere. Je seray en etat de vous remettre cette somme la premiere fois que jauray lhonneur de vous voir. Je me flate que vous me rendre ce service qui mest fort interresant. Jay lhonneur destre, Monsieur, vostre tres humble et tres obeisante servante, veüve Goubier de paris ce 4 juin 1747. Je vous prie de ne parler a qui que ce soit du service que vous me randé.28

Fearing the possibility of discovery in a scheme where hit-and-run timing was critically important, Julie, early the next day, sent a messenger to the two tax farmers. First to be approached was Lallemant de Betz, from whom he urgently requested an immediate loan of 600 livres (a significant sum, equivalent to as much as two years’ wages for an average labourer): Je suis sy enbarassé, Monsieur, que je me voit forcé davoir recour a vous pour vous prier de me rendre un service aussy precipiter quinteresant pour moy. Ils est question, Monsieur, de donner sur le champ aux porteur de la presente lettre la somme de six cent livre dont je vous tiendré compte le plutot quil me sera possible, ce qui sera aux plus tar avvant la fin de ce mois. Je ne puis confier aux papier les raison que jay de vous importuner. Elle son sy essentiel quel ne peuvent se differer dun cardeur [quart d’heure]. Je me flatte que vous me rendre ce service. Soyez persuader de ma reconnoisance et me croyer, Monsieur, vostre tres humble et tres obeisante servante. veüve Goubier de paris le 5 juin 174729

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

16

Page 16

Scenes and Characters

In a similar letter to Lallemant de Nantouillet, Julie modestly reduced the sum requested to 300 livres. The next morning, having succesfully bilked two of France’s better known financiers, Julie sent a confederate bearing a similar urgent appeal to Goubier’s cousin and good friend des Écures: Rendes moy service mon cher cousin et ce en donnant sur le chanps aux porteur de la presente lettre qui est le fils de mon avocat de Caën sent-cinquante livvre dont je vous tiendrez compte a nostre premiere entrevüe. Je suis obbliger de vous importuner parce que ce jeune homme ma assurer quil partoit sur le champ pour l’armeé et qu’il ne pouvoit rester un heure de plus a paris. Soyer persuader de ma parfaite reconnoisance et me croiez, mon chere cousin, vostre tres humble et tres obeisante servante, veüve Goubier de paris ce 6 juin 174730

In the normal course of events, any one of these fraudulent acts could have resulted in the perpetrator’s public branding, followed by a life-time sentence to the galleys or even worse. Arrested on 11 June but spared Bicêtre because of his and young Le Roy’s connections, Charles de Julie was first taken to the prison of For l’Evêque and held there for two weeks, after which, with Goubier’s assent, he was transferred to the reformatory prison of La Charité, ten leagues north-east of Paris in the town of Senlis. La Charité was one of the ancien régime’s many maisons de force, designed largely for young offenders and the financially comfortable insane. It was run by the Frères de La Charité, once described by Voltaire as the only useful order of monks in Christendom. Mortified by her foster son’s criminal actions but characteristically generous, the widow Goubier had done Charles de Julie a great favour with her lastminute offer to pay for his room and board at La Charité rather than in Bicêtre. The length of his sentence, like all prison sentences of the day, was indeterminate, but it was understood that an extended period of punishment and correction would be required. The culprit’s incarceration by lettre de cachet would end only with another ordre du roi commanding his release, again generated at the request of the family aided by police officials. Before that happened, however, the magistrate Berryer would have to receive firm assurances that complete reformation of the prisoner had been achieved. It is unlikely that a tender scene of family farewell – or even one filled with angry parental recriminations and shame-faced filial entreaties – preceded Charles de Julie’s escorted departure for Senlis. Widow Goubier in fact decided to let Saint-Marc handle all of the

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 17

The Foundling

17

details, including regular payments to La Charité for her foster son’s room and board. No evidence that she herself attempted to communicate directly with him during his incarceration has come to light. It is nevertheless fairly certain that the prisoner felt grateful to her for his narrow escape from Bicêtre and it is clear that he wrote to her from prison at regular intervals, promising to turn over a new leaf and expressing deep remorse. Later evidence suggests that Mme Goubier’s tactic of distancing herself from all of the Senlis proceedings, seeming to wash her hands of him, left him feeling nervous and insecure. For perhaps the first time since his adoption he was worried that his foster mother might not forgive him for his serial delinquencies. Life at Senlis, so different from the glamorous attractions of the Hussards and the dissipations of Paris, must have sorely tested even Charles de Julie’s talents for pragmatic adaptation.31 About forty-five inmates occupied the various buildings of the institution when Julie arrived there on 26 June 1747. A good proportion of them were mental patients of varying ages, locked up at the request of their well-off families for an indefinite period and often accompanied by a personal servant. On the other hand, offenders like Julie were mostly young males between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five, generally très mauvais sujets – arrantly unprincipled individuals – who were considered threats to the public peace as well as to the honour of their families. While their incarceration was intended more as a correction than a punishment, only the favour of a family-solicited royal order stood between them and much worse punishment in the normal criminal justice system. On arrival, prisoners were searched and given a saint’s name as a pseudonym to protect family identity. Next, all clothing, personal possessions, and papers were inventoried and removed. Inmates were required to wear an institutional uniform. Living conditions were not crowded; indeed, the prior in charge occasionally reminded the lieutenant général in Paris that he had empty rooms available and that the magistrate should remember La Charité at Senlis as a good place to send delinquents.32 Freedom of movement within the prison existed to varying degrees, depending on the pensionnaire’s classification. Offenders in Julie’s category occupied, along with the calmer mental patients, one of the Bâtiments de Demi-Liberté and were given daytime access to the courtyards and gardens. Violent mental patients and prisoners who were particularly troublesome occupied a Bâtiment de la Force. Random security inspections of all storage and living areas as well as all clothing and bedding were conducted at irregular intervals. Some recreational activities such as reading, trictrac, and chess, were allowed. Walks – and even the occasional supervised excursion beyond the walls of the institution – formed part of a system of rewards for

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

18

Page 18

Scenes and Characters

good behaviour. Tobacco was available for those who could afford to purchase it. The institution placed great emphasis on spiritual exercises, prayers, and attendance at mass – at seven o’clock in the morning in summer, eight o’clock in winter. Frequent confession, followed by communion, was required. In addition, prisoners were offered moral exhortations, readings from Scripture, and twice-weekly private visits from the père prieur, Simon Giraud. Giraud saw it as his duty to counsel and console the prisoners as he attended to their individual needs. It was also his responsibility to monitor the spiritual progress of his charges in order to be in a position to make appropriate recommendations to the lieutenant général de police and to the family when it came time to consider their release. Although it is unlikely that he took any of this very seriously, Charles de Julie kept up pious appearances and participated diligently in all the prescribed activities. It thus must have come as an unpleasant surprise to the père prieur when he learned that his new prisoner, a model of respectful decorum and submission from the day of his arrival, had managed to escape after only seven weeks of confinement, taking with him two other offenders. The eldest of the trio was Jacques Lenoir de La Cochetière, a law clerk who, after a brief sojourn in Bicêtre in 1739, had already put in two years in a similar correctional institution at Saint-Yon in the suburbs of Rouen. He too was charged with dissolute conduct likely to bring dishonour to his family. He had been dismissed by several employers because of his licentious ways and because he consorted regularly with prostitutes, frequented places of ill repute, and was a habitual layabout who turned to thievery to pay for his debaucheries. Lenoir’s police report goes on to note that his father, a minor provincial official, had formally requested his son’s incarceration: “Il meurt de douleur d’avoir un fils qui réponde si mal à l’éducation qu’il lui a donnée, dont la conduite lui fait appréhender une fin funeste.”33 Julie’s other companion during the escape, the chevalier Dumas de Paysac, was a diminutive twenty-one-year-old family runaway who looked to be about fourteen years of age. Charged with burglary, counterfeiting, and fraud, he had already spent more than a year at La Charité, where he had been sent at the request of his family.34 Led by Julie, the three young inmates made good their escape during the night of Sunday 13 August 1747. Only too conspicuous in their prison clothes, they got no farther than three leagues (approximately twelve kilometres) from the prison before being arrested by the maréchaussée and escorted back to La Charité, where they were confined to their individual rooms for a week. It was a minor setback for the trio but little harm had been done. Soon their leader, Charles de Julie, was back on track, playing the model prisoner and keenly par-

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 19

The Foundling

19

ticipating in all manner of spiritual exercises for the good of his soul. So much so that, not quite a year later, the père prieur was able to give Mme Goubier written assurances that “her son” was ready to leave. Ever optimistic and generous to a fault, the widow, on 29 May 1748, consequently addressed a second petition to Berryer: A Monseigneur le Lieutenant Général de Police Monseigneur, La Dame Goubier vous représente très humblement, qu’il vous a plu de lui accorder un ordre du Roi pour faire enfermer au couvent de Senlis le sieur Julie à cause de son libertinage. Sur la représentation que le prieur lui a faite de sa conduite actuelle, il paraît revenir à résipiscence et qu’il promet de se mieux comporter à l’avenir. La suppliante vous supplie très humblement, monseigneur, d’avoir la bonté de lui accorder un ordre du Roi pour le faire sortir dudit couvent de Senlis où il est détenu depuis environ un an. La suppliante continuera ses vœux et prières pour la conservation de votre santé. Goubier35

The petition was accompanied by a covering letter to Berryer. In it Mme Goubier made clear that she still wished to maintain a discreet distance from the proceedings. Saint-Marc would continue as her agent, making all necessary arrangements for Julie’s resettlement and directing the now-reformed penitent back to the straight and narrow: Monsieur, Je vous prie d’avoir la bonté aussitôt que vous aurez décerné l’ordre nécessaire pour faire sortir le sieur Julye dont est parlé dans le présent placet d’avoir pour agréable de le faire remettre au sieur de Saint-Marc pour prendre les arrangements nécessaires avant de le faire sortir. Comme je n’ai pas paru jusqu’à présent dans cette affaire et que ledit sieur de Saint-Marc a payé jusqu’à présent sa pension, je serais bien aise qu’il s’en mêlât jusqu’à la fin pour tâcher de lui faire prendre un parti convenable. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec un respect infini,36 Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissante servante. Goubier37 Ce 29 mai 1748.

Apparently something of a social worker as well as a super cop, Saint-Marc chose lodgings for Julie near the Palais-Royal on the rue des Bons-Enfants, where he himself lived and where he could keep an eye on the reformed delinquent. It is likely that he also encouraged Julie at this time to try once again for a career in the military or the navy, in order to get him away from the tempting fleshpots of Paris. Unfortunately, the immediate future held yet another nasty surprise

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

20

Page 20

Scenes and Characters

that would test the surviving shreds of widow Goubier’s maternal benevolence. On 7 August 1748, the prior of Senlis, Simon Giraud, paid a hasty visit to Michel Caron de La Braizière, the local representative of the Intendance de Paris, who resided in Senlis. As the person in charge at La Charité, Giraud had an embarrassing declaration of the utmost importance to make. It seems that one of the inmates in his care, Louis Chassepot de Beaumont, a long-term mental patient interned by his family at La Charité in August 1745, had been cruelly victimized by none other than the recently released prisoner Charles de Julie. Chassepot de Beaumont, former capitaine de la Grande Fauconnerie, belonged to a wealthy and powerful family who claimed membership on the Grand Conseil as well as the Cour des Aides.38 Several years earlier, because of his “dissipation notoire et une sorte de démence qui l’exposaient, lui et sa famille, à une ruine prochaine et entière,”39 his wife, Magdelaine de Beaudelot, along with senior family members, had obtained a judicial order of interdiction, depriving him of the legal capacity to manage his own affairs. Confinement at Senlis followed but his condition had not improved.40 It is no doubt a mark of Julie’s practical genius in matters mendacious that it had taken him only a few weeks after his arrival at Senlis in June 1747 to reconnoitre the terrain and hit upon his next felonious scheme for reversing the injustices of fortune. According to Chassepot’s valet, Arnould Morel, who subsequently reported the matter to Prior Giraud, the two prisoners, Paysac and Lenoir, led by Charles de Julie, had cruelly exploited the impaired mental state of his master by tricking him into signing a bogus iou, supposedly dated three years earlier in Paris and now unaccounted for.41 As he continued in his declaration, Giraud asked that formal legal proceedings be commenced immediately to determine the whereabouts of the forged document and to prevent its being negotiated. Michel Caron, the subdélégué, interrogated Paysac and Lenoir, both still inmates at La Charité, later that same day. Their answers revealed just how wily and clever Charles de Julie could be. First to be questionned, Paysac readily admitted that approximately a week before the failed escape of the preceding year, Julie had confided to him that he was not certain the widow Goubier would ever forgive him for his many misdeeds and so he intended to make his way to the sea coast, join a ship’s crew and go abroad. He would need funds and had devised a scheme to trick the mental patient Chassepot de Beaumont into signing a promissory note for ten thousand livres. He had already taken the precaution of questioning other inmates in order to determine when Chassepot’s incarceration at Senlis had begun; the promissory note payable to the

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 21

The Foundling

21

bearer at large would, of course, have to be dated well before then. Persuading the mentally impaired Chassepot to draw up a model note in his own handwriting proved to be comparatively easy. Feigning a young man’s naïve curiosity about how debts of honour were handled among gentlemen, Julie asked the unsuspecting inmate what formalities were involved in drawing up promissory notes. Using the pretext that he wished to write a letter to his mother, he then obtained writing materials and used the paper for the forged document instead. Not everything had gone smoothly, however. In providing a sample note, Chassepot had seen no need to indicate a sum or a date of payment. After a series of clever manœuvres, Julie nevertheless finally succeeded in obtaining what appeared to be an authenticated promissory note, given ostensibly in exchange for funds borrowed and merchandise supplied, in the amount of ten thousand livres and dated, as much as Paysac could recall, in either January or February of 1744. A major obstacle remained: Chassepot resolutely refused to append his signature to the sample document. Undeterred, Julie soon hit upon a scheme to counter Chassepot’s reluctance. Two or three days later, in the evening, he again approached the interdicted patient and told him of a petition that was being circulated requesting the immediate release of all inmates at La Charité. Everyone was required to sign, and the document would be presented forthwith to the intendant of Paris. There was no time to lose, a courrier was waiting to pick up the signed petition at that very moment! To his credit, Chassepot prudently asked to hear the precise wording of the appeal and Julie immediately obliged by reading aloud an eloquent plea for liberty which totally satisfied the unfortunate mental patient. Eager now, and without further hesitation, Chassepot signed the proffered document. Needless to say, what he signed was none other than the half-hidden promissory note for ten thousand livres which Julie had cleverly substituted for the supposed prisoner appeal. In his declaration, Paysac added that a day or so later Julie informed the unfortunate Chassepot that he had lost the sample note. Chassepot obligingly supplied another but he, Paysac, was not certain that the second one had been signed. During the trio’s escape on the night of 13 August, Julie, using a plausible excuse, had asked Paysac to carry the forged documents on his person. When the captured escapees were returned to La Charité by the mounted constabulary, Julie had asked Paysac to return the two notes to him. Subsequently, he informed Paysac that he had destroyed the papers but Paysac did not know if that was true.42 The declaration of the third accused in the affair, Jacques Le Noir de La Cochetière, was less useful, being based mainly on hearsay. He was nevertheless able to confirm that Julie had indeed perpetrated the fraud, and had even attempted the same with another inmate but had

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

22

Page 22

Scenes and Characters

abandoned the scheme because the intended victim was mentally impaired to a degree that rendered the fraud impracticable.43 Charles de Julie’s manipulative and duplicitous makeup (il avait plus d’un esprit, to use an expression of the times) takes on new depth and darker shadings! Shrewd and percipient, with a mimic’s gift for imitating a wide range of styles (we can only guess how plausible his bogus petition for the liberation of all prisoners must have sounded), he obviously found it very easy to deceive a mentally handicapped subject. That he could maintain his sang-froid in more challenging situations is evident in the declaration he made to the authorities the following day, 8 August 1748, when confronted by the prior Simon Giraud in Paris. Set out in a guarded and lawyerly “certificate,” Julie’s admissions regarding the charge are a model of artful obfuscation: Copie du certificat du sieur de Julie Sur les dictums qui sont venus à ma connaissance, et sur le bruit qui a couru que monsieur de Beaumont avait fait dans la maison de la Charité de Senlis des billets à ordre, je certifie à tous qu’il appartiendra que rien de ce n’existe. En foi de quoi et essentiellement pour la satisfaction des personnes intéressées je signe le présent certificat, à Paris, le huit août mil sept cent quarante-huit. [signé] De Julie44

In short, nothing untoward had occurred. The “rumoured” iou incident never happened. What is more, if, hypothetically, such an incident had taken place, the said forgeries were no longer in existence. Matters took their course. Not surprisingly, Chassepot de Beaumont’s influential family demanded immediate action. A petition for Julie’s arrest and a search of his papers was forwarded to Berryer and to the comte de Maurepas, the minister in charge. It was particularly worrisome that Julie had chosen such a vulnerable victim and that he had cunningly antedated the iou to fit a plausible time when the wealthy Chassepot de Beaumont was still a free man and widely known for his tendency to indulge in irresponsible and ruinous financial dealings. Since he was capable of carrying out such a nefarious plan, a scoundrel like Julie, the Beaumont family insisted, simply could not be trusted, despite his equivocally formal declaration that no such billets were now “in existence.” The notes had to be somewhere in his possession, there could be no doubt of that!45 The family’s petition to the minister was promptly granted. An ordre du roi for Charles de Julie’s arrest was executed two days later, at 11:00 p.m. on Saturday 31 August 1748, by commissaire Jean-Charles Levié, accompanied, not unexpectedly, by Saint-Marc. The late hour

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 23

The Foundling

23

was not an unusual time to make an arrest.46 More likely than not, the bird would be found asleep in his nest. Moreover, the operation could be carried out more safely since the other tenants in the building would be expected to remain prudently in their rooms, minding their own business. Julie, well settled down for the night in his quarters on the third floor of the Hôtel de Calais on the rue des Bons-Enfants, was probably not very surprised by the unannounced arrival of the police armed with an order authorizing his arrest and the search of his papers. In the end, nothing incriminating was found.47 The commissaire then launched into a midnight interrogation. No longer lawyerly, Julie’s responses now were uncontrived and unequivocal. For the occasion, he also dropped his noble particle, styling himself simply as “Charles Julie, bourgeois de Paris.” Even his stated motive for carrying out the forgery had a ring of desperate sincerity to it. He referred to his “family” and his general sense of insecurity. Concerned that the widow Goubier, after his numerous transgressions, might finally give up on him entirely, he had been haunted at Senlis by the thought that there was no longer a place for him in France. No father, no family, no country, in short. Indeed, the forged iou gambit was nothing more than a precautionary measure, a bit of insurance in case he went abroad and was forced to get a fresh start somewhere entirely on his own: Premièrement, interrogé de son nom, surnom, âge, qualité, et demeure: A dit s’appeler Charles Julie, bourgeois de Paris, demeurant dans la chambre où nous sommes présentement, rue des Bons-Enfants, âgé de vingt-trois ans, originaire de cette ville. Interrogé s’il n’a pas été enfermé de l’ordre du Roi au couvent de la Charité de Senlis: A dit oui. Combien de temps il y a été: A dit un an. S’il n’y a point fait connaissance avec le sieur Chassepot de Beaumont, détenu dans la même maison: A dit oui. S’il ne lui a pas persuadé de lui faire un billet de dix mille livres, abusant de sa faiblesse d’esprit: A dit qu’ayant formé, le sieur Paysac aussi détenu dans ladite maison et le répondant, le complot de sortir de ladite maison par adresse, et voulant l’un et l’autre s’assurer des ressources après en être sortis, ils se sont fait faire un billet par ledit sieur Chassepot de Beaumont d’une somme de six mille livres seulement, payable au porteur. Interrogé dans quel temps doit échoir ledit billet et s’il porte une valeur: A dit qu’il n’y a ni échéance ni valeur.

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

24

Page 24

Scenes and Characters

Interrogé de quelle date est le billet: A dit qu’il n’y en avait aucune. Interrogé de qui est écrit le corps du billet: A dit de la main dudit sieur de Beaumont. Si c’est lui, répondant, qui a dicté ledit billet: A dit en avoir seulement donné le plan et le modèle de vive voix. S’il se souvient du jour qu’il a été signé: A dit le treize août mil sept cent quarante-sept. Interrogé entre les mains de qui ledit billet a été remis: A dit entre les siennes. Sommé et interpellé de le représenter: A dit que ledit sieur Paysac et lui ayant trouvé le moyen de sortir furtivement de ladite maison de la Charité de Senlis, ils ont été arrêtés à trois lieues de là par la maréchaussée qui les a ramenés dans ladite maison où ledit Paysac et lui ont été enfermés pendant cinq à six jours dans des chambres particulières; qu’au bout de ce temps le répondant ayant eu la liberté de sortir de sa chambre, la première chose qu’il a faite a été de déchirer ledit billet et de le jeter dans les commodités de ladite maison. S’il a avoué le dernier fait à quelqu’un: A dit qu’il en a fait à l’instant la confession audit sieur Paysac. Pourquoi il a déchiré ledit billet. A dit que le billet lui devenait inutile puisqu’il avait été ramené dans ladite maison n’ayant eu le dessein de s’en servir que dans le cas d’un pressant besoin, après le recouvrement de sa liberté. Interrogé si ledit billet a été déchiré en présence de quelqu’un: A dit non parce qu’il n’était connu que du sieur Paysac seul. Pour quelle cause ledit sieur de Beaumont a été enfermé dans ladite maison? Si ce n’est pas pour démence? A dit qu’il croit qu’oui parce qu’il lui a toujours paru faible d’esprit. Pourquoi le connaissant dans cette situation il lui a subtilisé ledit billet de six mille livres: A dit que c’était pour subsister et passer dans le pays étranger en cas de refus par sa famille de le recevoir après sa liberté recouvrée. Interrogé si au lieu d’avoir déchiré ledit billet comme il le dit il n’en a point fait transport: A dit non. Lecture à lui faite du présent interrogatoire, a dit ses réponses contenir vérité, y a persisté et a signé en la minute.48

It was now well past midnight. Commissaire Levié’s judicial interrogation of the ex-prisoner was complete, allowing for his formal arrest by the examining magistrate’s police companion, Saint-Marc. For the second time, “Charles Julie, bourgeois de Paris,” was escorted to the

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 25

The Foundling

25

nearby prison of For l’Evêque and locked up by order of the king. This time, however, he was immediately placed in solitary confinement (mis au secret) in one of the dungeons. The order stipulated that he was to remain there until further notice. Located on the Quai de la Ferraille section of the Quai de la Mégisserie near the Pont-Neuf, For l’Evêque’s normal entrance for prisoners was from the rue Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois.49 Demolished in 1783 by royal order, it was one of the capital’s most socially heterogeneous prisons, among the most crowded, but also the least feared. About 250 prisoners – and sometimes twice that number – were accommodated in the four-storey building that was only nine metres wide and thirty-five metres long. It was not a prison for murderers or thieves, prostitutes or vagabonds. Common criminals were sent to prisons like Bicêtre or the maison de force at la Salpêtrière. Unlike incarceration in those demeaning institutions, a stay in For l’Evêque was not viewed as socially dishonourable. The jailed delinquent’s reputation remained legally intact and his civil status, even during the period of incarceration, was unimpaired. Wayward sons, military deserters, delinquent authors, disorderly actors, and debtors of all stripes found there the widest possible choice of accommodations. Depending on their purse, prisoners were either en chambre, or à la paille, that is, placed with several other prisoners in semi-private rooms or assigned to large crowded dormitories where the straw bedding was changed once a month in hot weather, less frequently in winter. In theory, men and women were segregated but, if not confined au secret to the cells below ground, prisoners were allowed to move about freely within the prison courtyard, enjoying what was called la liberté du préau. In general, prison authorities had great difficulty enforcing house rules and discipline, even with the help of guard dogs. Visitors were routinely allowed access to the prison, and meals could be ordered from outside. Even prostitutes occasionally gained entrance in order to perform their professional services. Winter and summer, the dark, overcrowded, and poorly ventilated building stank to high heaven. That was the lighter, more “festive” side of prison life at For l’Evêque. However, for the minority of prisoners singled out for special punishment and held in the dungeons below, conditions were far less livable. Packed into a space that was vented to the outside only by a small-diameter air hole, as many as five persons were at times confined to a cell measuring barely two square metres.50 It was here that Charles de Julie (we shall continue to accord him his aristocratic de even if, for the moment, he himself had prudently dropped it) was to spend the next forty days of his incautious youth. At the end of that period he was allowed upstairs to mingle in the cosy fug of the Parisian throng. He was on the eve of his twenty-third birthday.

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

26

Page 26

Scenes and Characters

A few days before his release from the dungeons, the authorities decided it was time to examine formally the papers seized on his person and in his room on the night of his arrest. The process was quasisacramental. In judicial matters, the ancien régime had an almost fetishistic obsession with legal papers. Papers had sacred rights that were as yet unthinkable for individual human beings. A complicated procedure for the seizure, examination, validation, and preservation of documents had to be gone through to protect their special status and integrity. Initially, all legally seized papers had to be formally sealed. Breaking the seals had to be carried out with equal formality in the presence of witnesses who carefully recorded the fact in an elaborate signed declaration. The prisoner, too, was required to be present. It was one of the most solemn and cherished of rituals, celebrated in meticulous detail at every notable interval in the legal process. On 7 October 1748, Julie was summoned to the prison’s Chambre du Conseil, where he was met by commissaire Levié and Saint-Marc. A renewed assortment of legal documents was generated by the occasion and all were duly signed by everyone present.51 The previously seized documents were now examined, but the harvest turned out to be meagre: nine personal letters, a laundry list, a memo of expenses and the lyrics of a song proved to be the only documents found in Julie’s room or on his person on the night of his arrest. Nowhere in sight was the forged promissory note for 10,000 livres. Five days later, on 12 October 1748, Julie was released from his underground dungeon and granted freedom of access to the prison courtyard. A week later, he was given permission to write a letter to Berryer, appealing for his release. The lieutenant général de police reigned supreme over all such matters, an omnipotent deity, God the Father. Once again, these dusty documents from the Paris police archives allow us to hear the young dissolute’s voice. It is unexpectedly polished and eloquent and sounds totally sincere. Of course, bearing in mind Julie’s impersonation skills, his mastery of verbal stratagems, his convincing forgeries of widow Goubier’s style and hand, we are still left with the puzzle of determining whether that voice now expresses simple candour or artful dissimulation. The first letter, surprisingly spirited (and once again confidently signed de Julie!), scarcely betrays the effects of his recent weeks of stifling confinement in a dark and malodorous underground cell. It also sets the tone for many more like it that Julie would have cause to write in the years to come. He shows no hesitation about admitting guilt, but in this confessional exercise his culpability is somehow conjured away or at least reduced to something that is far less important than the matter of his star-crossed destiny, the overriding misfortune of being born

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 27

The Foundling

27

fatherless and vulnerable. Berryer is asked to be a substitute father, the protector who will repair the injustices of fortune: Monseigneur, Mon interrogatoire et le procès-verbal de la levée des scellés de mes papiers, [ont] dû vous prouver que je suis au moins aussi malheureux que coupable. D’ailleurs, deux mois de prison, et entre autres cinq semaines de secret, m’autorisent à réclamer les droits que les infortunés peuvent exiger des cœurs bienfaisants. Ainsi, Monseigneur, j’espère que vous voudrez bien non seulement me tirer de prison, mais encore m’accorder votre protection pour me sortir de la misère où l’injuste fortune m’a réduit. Je serais toute ma vie enfermé qu’il me serait impossible de faire trouver le billet de monsieur de Beaumont, puisqu’il est exactement vrai qu’il n’existe plus. Daignez donc, Monseigneur, me laisser employer ma jeunesse à chanter vos vertus, et à mériter par une conduite irréprochable votre bienveillance. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec un très profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie Du Fort l’Évêque, le 19 octobre 174852

To gain the protection of a Berryer was indeed a worthy goal. As the eighteenth-century observer Louis-Sébastien Mercier points out in his Tableau de Paris, the position of lieutenant général de police was one of the most powerful in the kingdom: “Il a une influence secrete & prodigieuse; il fait tant de choses, qu’il peut faire beaucoup de mal ou beaucoup de bien, parce qu’il a en main une multitude de fils qu’il peut embrouiller ou débrouiller à son gré: il frappe ou il sauve; il répand les ténebres ou la lumière: son autorité est aussi délicate qu’étendue.”53 We recall that Julie had already benefited the year before from Berryer’s discretionary powers when he and his fellow miscreant Le Roy, as jeunes gens de famille, were spared the infamy of ordinary criminal justice. Even a future revolutionary like Mercier defended the elitist system: “Ainsi la police arrache aux tribunaux des coupables qui mériteraient d’être punis; mais comme ces jeunes gens sont soustraits à la société, qu’ils n’y rentrent que quand leurs fautes sont expiées & qu’ils sont corrigés, la société n’a point à se plaindre de cette indulgence.”54 Reflecting the more egalitarian ideology of a later period, Mercier does, however, point to the system’s bias in favour of the rich: “On fera seulement la remarque, qu’il n’y a guere de pendus que dans la classe de la populace: le voleur de la lie du peuple, sans famille, sans appui, sans protections, excite d’autant moins la pitié, qu’on s’est montré indulgent pour d’autres.”55 In this regard, Julie’s anomalous family status remained, of course, a special problem. If only he, a bâtard de naissance, could find some way

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

28

Page 28

Scenes and Characters

to manipulate this all-powerful tormentor, bamboozle the magistrate into playing the role of the missing father! It would be a challenging task, even for his facile pen. Julie’s initial appeal of 19 October fell on deaf ears. Though only a year into an appointment which he would occupy for nearly a decade, Berryer was already a hardened sceptic when it came to protestations of innocence and promises of reform. It was all part of what was expected of a good policeman-magistrate, a legitimate occupational bias. Mercier approvingly points out that the lieutenant de police, “à force de voir les ruses de la friponnerie, les crimes du vice, les trahisons secretes, & toute la fange impure des actions humaines,” necessarily experiences great difficulty with the notion of believing in the honesty and virtue even of honest persons: “Il est dans un état perpétuel de défiance; &, au fond, il doit posséder ce caractere-là.” The office required, in short, “un doute continu & sévere.”56 After waiting for more than three weeks for a reply that never came, Charles de Julie was granted permission to write a second letter, this time as much to Berryer the deity as to Berryer the father: Monseigneur, Si j’étais moins malheureux je n’entreprendrais pas de vous intéresser à mon infortune, mais j’éprouve un sort si rigoureux depuis près de trois mois que je suis prisonnier que je désespérerais de ma liberté si je ne connaissais votre justice. Dans l’horreur de la misère, j’ai l’unique consolation de savoir que je suis plus à plaindre que coupable. Quoi qu’il en soit, Monseigneur, je bénirai ma prison puisqu’elle m’aura procuré l’avantage de réclamer votre protection. Y dussai-je rester toute ma vie, jamais je ne trouverai le billet de monsieur de Beaumont puisqu’il est exactement vrai qu’il n’existe plus. Vous êtes l’asile des malheureux; c’est dans vos bras que je me réfugie et c’est de votre grandeur toujours équitable que j’attends mon bonheur. Daigne le juste ciel exaucer les vœux que je lui fais tous les jours pour votre pleine satisfaction. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec le plus profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie Au Fort l’Évêque, le 12 novembre 1748.57

But even such a fine admixture of beseechment and adoration was ignored by the lieutenant général. Three days later, Julie composed an even more touching appeal, and this time he hit upon the idea of reinforcing his prose with a dash of poetry, it being very much the rage at the time:

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 29

The Foundling

29

Monseigneur, Je craindrais de me rendre importun si l’horreur de ma situation ne me donnait en quelque façon la liberté d’exposer aux yeux de votre grandeur les torts infinis qu’une si longue détention cause à l’état présent des affaires d’un malheureux qui comme moi sans fortune est obligé de se donner un état par sa conduite. Je perds le plus beau de mon âge et, en proie à mille réflexions plus cruelles les unes que les autres, je me laisserais aller à mon désespoir si je ne me représentais l’étendue de votre perpétuelle bonté. C’est d’elle que j’attends ma liberté. Je prie Dieu tous les jours d’exaucer les vœux que je lui fais pour votre grandeur. J’ai pris la liberté de joindre à ma lettre quelques stances irrégulières. Je serai trop payé de mes peines si vous daignez les lire. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec un très profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie Au Fort l’Évêque, le 15 novembre 1748.58

In the verses that follow, Julie observes poetic convention and addresses “Monseigneur” Berryer in the second person singular: J’ai, De Berryer, par ton ordre Resté deux mois au secret, Et j’attends dans le désordre Avec un profond respect Que ta bonté bienfaisante Veuille avec autorité Ordonner qu’à porte ouvrante On me mette en liberté [...]. Dans l’affreuse inquiétude Nuit et jour mon faible esprit D’une dure solitude Abattu, même interdit, Se plaint à l’Auteur suprême Des maux qu’il lui fait souffrir Suis les lois d’un Dieu qui t’aime Daignant mes peines finir. Du malheureux qui t’implore Exauce l’humble placet Hélas! je respire encore, Et par hasard s’il te plaît

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

30

Page 30

Scenes and Characters

Conserver ma triste vie. Devant tout à ta grandeur, Je chanterai malgré l’envie: “Berryer fut mon protecteur.” De plus, magistrat très sage, En sortant de la prison, Je ramperai dans l’esclavage Si tu ne me fais un don, Car le sort toujours bizarre De biens m’a si peu pourvu Que j’attends, chose très rare, Ma fortune à l’imprévu. Rendre libre un prisonnier, Me tirer de la misère, C’est un trait qu’un maltôtier De sa vie ne pourra faire, Mais du soutien de la loi Que ne dois-je point attendre? De Berryer, protège-moi, Et Plutus deviendra tendre.59

Helpfully blinded by Zeus, Plutus the god of riches could be tricked into distributing gifts even to the undeserving. Charles de Julie was contritely keeping up his hopes for a sudden change of fortune. But again Berryer-Zeus refused to be moved in the direction of either generosity or compassion. Six days later, the prisoner returned to the theme, reminding the lieutenant général that the mental torture of not knowing when his incarceration would end was a punishment even more cruel than the mistreatment he had endured during six weeks of segregated suffering in the dungeons: Monseigneur, Rien n’égale les tourments que j’endure. Toutes les horreurs de la misère accompagnent ma cruelle destinée, et je puis servir à la fleur de mon âge d’exemple de malheur et d’infortune. Si votre grandeur n’a pitié de mon triste état, je péris misérablement. Soyez donc, Monseigneur, mon libérateur et mon maître. Laissez-vous toucher à la pitié, et tirez-moi d’un esclavage d’autant plus cruel que j’ignore sa durée. Dieu qui récompense les grandes actions exaucera mes vœux en votre faveur. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec le plus profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur,

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 31

The Foundling

31

De Julie Au Fort l’Évêque, le 21 novembre 1748.60

Two days later, after somehow sensing a possible shift in the dynamics of his case, Julie tried a new tack. Rather than the mental defective Chassepot de Beaumont, was it not he, poor Julie, who was the true victim in this case? He was a victim not only of nature (his unfortunate birth) and fortune, but of Mme de Beaumont’s petty tyranny as well. Surely the just and all-powerful Berryer would not allow this situation to continue! Monseigneur, J’ignore si vous êtes bien intentionné en ma faveur. Je n’ose vous supplier de m’en informer. Mais enfin, jetez les yeux sur la rigueur de mon sort et jugez si je suis dans le cas de me plaindre de la tyrannie qu’exercent sur moi Madame de Beaumont et son conseil. Qu’attend-elle donc pour me faire rendre la liberté qu’elle me ravit depuis si longtemps – je pourrais même dire si injustement? Vous êtes trop judicieux, Monseigneur, pour souffrir un pareil abus et je me flatte que puisque la nature et la fortune m’ont si rigoureusement opprimé, votre grandeur voudra bien me soulager. C’est cette espérance qui me fait supporter patiemment mes peines, et c’est dans le ciel qu’est la récompense d’une action si digne de vous. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec le plus profond respect, de votre grandeur, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très soumis serviteur, De Julie Au Fort l’Évêque, le 23 novembre 1748.61

Clever insight marks the prisoner’s new approach. With no proof that the offending iou was still in existence, would not Berryer himself be getting a little impatient with the Beaumont family? Did they really want him to hold poor Julie in prison forever? In fact, although the prisoner was not to know this, the lieutenant général had already addressed several official inquiries to Chassepot’s wife. A note to his secretary Chaban written in the margin of one of Julie’s letters reads: “Il faudrait pourtant voir à finir cette affaire.”62 Julie’s next letter, written on 28 November, is one of his shortest. Expressing as it does the hope that death will finally intervene and end his misery, it is also one of his most blatantly insincere. Charles de Julie was first and foremost a survivor, a buoyant, irrepressible lover of life: Monseigneur, Ai-je vécu jusqu’ici pour être en butte au plus triste sort? Hélas, mes larmes sont les seuls témoins qui daignent s’apercevoir de mon ennui. Encore si la

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

32

Page 32

Scenes and Characters

mort venait à mon secours! Mais non, la cruelle ne frappe que les heureux. Il n’y a que vous, Monseigneur, qui puissiez terminer mes disgrâces. J’ose espérer de votre grandeur une prompte liberté. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec le plus profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie Au Fort l’Évêque, le 28 novembre 1748.63

Another letter followed the very next day. Again Julie targets the cruelty of Mme de Beaumont. How lucky he is to have as his caring ally – yes, ally – the all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful lieutenant général de police: Monseigneur, Que peut madame de Beaumont espérer d’une aussi longue détention? Trois mois de prison, y compris six semaines de cachot, sont plus que suffisants pour punir une étourderie de jeune homme. Je vois ce qui arrivera de la dureté de cœur de mes parties adverses: vous serez indigné de leurs procédés rigoureux et, votre justice prévalant sur toutes les considérations de bienséance, vous ordonnerez mon élargissement. Oui, Monseigneur, j’ose me flatter que vous prendrez mes intérêts envers et contre tous, et qu’à vous seul, je devrai ma liberté. Je n’en ferai usage que pour chanter vos louanges et vous prouver que j’ai l’honneur d’être, avec le plus profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. De Julie Au Fort l’Évêque, le 29 novembre 1748.64

Keeping up the pressure, two more smoothly emotional appeals follow in quick succession. Of course, since a simple monotone of prayers might weary the deity, Julie adroitly modulates the pitch. But the unmistakable lamentations of an unfortunate, ill-used, and nobly longsuffering victim still resonate clearly: Monseigneur, Je suis donc condamné à périr misérablement dans une prison. Je souffre avec tranquillité les maux que ma triste situation entraîne après elle et je m’estime trop heureux si vous vous dites quelques fois que je suis plus infortuné que coupable. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec le plus profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie Au Fort l’Évêque, le 3 décembre 1748.65

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 33

The Foundling

33

And again: Monseigneur, Aurai-je l’éternel désagrément de n’oser vous écrire sans craindre de vous être à charge? Quoi qu’il en soit, Monseigneur, je ne puis rester dans une incertitude qui me désespère et que votre grandeur peut faire cesser d’un seul mot. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec le plus profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très soumis serviteur, De Julie Au Fort l’Évêque, le 5 décembre 1748.66

The solitary martyr’s rhetoric conjures up a bleak image of the illused prisoner still confined to a dank underground cell. In fact, for seven weeks now, Julie had been socializing with a motley crowd of For l’Évêque delinquents, many of them recent arrivals, who circulated freely in the prison’s courtyard and corridors. We can be fairly certain that, once freed of punitive confinement in the dungeons, he quickly caught up on current gossip of the town, the latest news concerning which plays were succeeding or failing at the ComédieFrançaise and the identity of the latest Opéra danseuse lucky enough to be showered with diamonds by an aging financier patron. Already very familiar with the seamy side of the Paris opera scene, it is highly likely that he even managed to buttonhole one of the capital’s betterknown sources of idle chit-chat, an eccentric fellow inmate, strikingly odd in appearance and boldly extravagant in discourse. Jean-François Rameau, nephew of the great composer, had entered For l’Evêque on 4 November after being arrested for causing a disturbance at the Opéra and insulting one of the directors.67 Better known today as “le neveu de Rameau,” he has become, thanks to the intense interest of modern scholarship in Diderot’s eponymous masterpiece, the archetypal eighteenth-century marginal, a genius of sorts but lacking in moral fibre as much as in fortune. Coincidentally, after enduring three weeks of noise and tumult in the steamy bear garden atmosphere of For l’Évêque prison, Diderot’s legendary cynic was also busy at this time sending appeals for his release to the lieutenant général de police. Happily, the archives retain a letter from Rameau’s celebrated nephew to Berryer which we can usefully contrast with the parallel pleas of Charles de Julie. Nine years older, Jean-François Rameau projects in his written appeal a cooler and more confident image. One senses, despite Diderot’s masterful description of his precarious circumstances, that this obstreperous original who lived in the shadow of

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

34

Page 34

Scenes and Characters

his famous uncle’s celebrity did in fact know where his next meal would be coming from once he was released: Monseigneur, Il y aura demain trois semaine que je suis au fort l’eveque pour avoir fait les plus legeres instances contre la garde de l’opera, qui me vouloit empescher l’entrée du theatre, ou chacquun se rend avant le spectacle. Si j’ai satisfais a la justice de votre grandeur j’ose vous supplier Monseigneur de vouloir bien ordonner mon elargissement. J’ai lhonneur detre avec le plus profond respect Monseigneur votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur, Rameau le neveu Au fort leveque, ce 26 9bre 174868

The brevity of the nephew’s note conveys its most essential message of confidence in the outcome of what was no more than an annoying contretemps. Rameau’s release date is not indicated in the dossier but it was probably not unduly delayed since the minister Maurepas was contacted the very next day, after Berryer had verified that a police order was not involved and that the lettre de cachet ordering the great musician’s nephew to prison had been requested by one of the Opéra directors. Charles de Julie, on the other hand, despite the fact that the lieutenant général de police was himself becoming increasingly impatient with the intransigence of the powerful Beaumont family, was left to cool his heels for one more month. Finally, the magic petitionary formula was found! Julie’s last pleading letter from For l’Evêque, touching on all the themes useful to a prisoner in his circumstances, speaks to the complete sense of contrition and remorse he now knows he is solemnly required to feel – or at least to feign – before being released. Four months of prison, he humbly affirms, have taught him the true values of a rational life. He will be turning over a new leaf. He has assumed responsibility for his acts and will no longer simply blame others or his unfortunate circumstances: Monseigneur, Je suis si persuadé que vous avez la bonté de vous intéresser à mon malheureux sort que je ne fais aucune difficulté de vous avouer qu’il est des plus tristes. Quatre mois de prison m’ont appris à mes dépens qu’il fallait penser, raisonner et réfléchir, et si jusqu’ici j’ai cru ces rares qualités inutiles en France pour y parvenir, le défaut d’expérience autorisait mon bizarre sentiment. Mais dorénavant esclave d’un austère bon sens, toutes mes actions seront dirigées par la triste raison, et je ferai l’impossible pour effacer de l’esprit de votre

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 35

The Foundling

35

grandeur les mauvaises impressions que mon infortune et mon étourderie ont pu y faire naître. J’ose donc me flatter que vous me rendrez la liberté après laquelle je soupire depuis si longtemps. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec le plus profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie Au Fort l’Évêque, le 21 décembre 1748.69

Less touched perhaps by Julie’s appeal than piqued by the absence of any sign that the Beaumonts were willing to bring the affair to a close, Berryer at last decided that it was time to intervene more actively in the affair. The Beaumont clan had promised to take various steps and come to a decision but still nothing was being done. They had to choose either to prosecute the matter of the elusive iou or withdraw their complaint. On three separate occasions Berryer had pressed them on the subject but without result. Finally, the lieutenant général penned the decisive words to the minister Maurepas: “Je pense qu’il est à propos de le mettre en liberté.”70 It is possible that by the time he received Julie’s last letter, Berryer had developed a certain compassion for his eloquent young prisoner. The youthful miscreant still glossed over the serious nature of his crime but he obviously was making some progress. His letters were perhaps not as heartfelt as they claimed to be and their blandishments were patently manipulative. On the other hand, they seemed to have a redeemingly direct quality. Perhaps little harm would result if this lessthan-perfect penitent were given a second chance – on condition, of course, that he made himself socially useful by serving his country, preferably in foreign climes and well away from the temptations of Paris. We have no record of the actual transaction involved but soon after his release from For l’Évêque on 26 December 1748 Charles de Julie was allowed to join France’s hard-pressed navy as an officier volontaire. No doubt the long-suffering widow Goubier, through the good offices of Saint-Marc, again offered her foster son some financial assistance on this occasion. It would have been one last “non-renewable” gesture to help establish the ungrateful rascal in an honourable career.71 Ten months later, the now ailing widow made her will. It is brief, written in holograph form on a single sheet of paper. Its rough, unschooled lettering is reminiscent of the cleverly imitated forgeries Charles de Julie had concocted in her name. Dated at Paris on 29 October 1749, six weeks before she died at her

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

36

Page 36

Scenes and Characters

home on the rue Saint-Honoré on 10 November, the will asks her executor to see to her burial without pomp and “avec toute la modestie chrétienne.” Small legacies are left to her lackey and her personal maid. Suggesting the existence of a close personal attachment, the will instructs that her portrait be given to “her friend,” François des Écures, living at the Hôtel de Gramont. Des Écures is also named as her executor. The widow’s brother, Nicolas-Joseph Courau, is designated sole heir but the short document also mentions the name of a special beneficiary, one Marie de Laistre, “fille orpheline dont j’ai pris soin depuis plusieurs années.” To Marie de Laistre and the maid Jeanne Dareau, “dite Touton,” she leaves all her clothing, personal effects, and toiletries. Proceeds from the sale of these are to be shared equally between the two beneficiaries. The notary Delaloëre is instructed to hold the orphan girl’s half share in trust “jusqu’à sa majorité ou son établissement.”72 Nowhere in the will is the name of the widow Goubier’s other charity case, Charles de Julie, to be found. The thirty-one-page notarial inventory listing all of Goubier’s possessions and papers found after her death in a large apartment on the fashionable rue Saint-Honoré leaves no doubt that the young foundling Julie had been fortunate enough to attract the maternal instincts and charitable inclinations of a wealthy and well-connected woman. Among her papers are receipts for unspecified payments transferred to various persons on her behalf, but there is nothing to confirm absolutely that these involved subsidies for Charles de Julie. At one point during a tour of a third-floor bedroom, the maid Touton informs those conducting the inventory that a particular bed belongs to Marie-Claude de Laistre, fille mineure, whom the widow Goubier had adopted out of charity.73 As for Charles de Julie, perhaps he was sailing on a French warship in the North Sea when his foster mother died in Paris. Or was he, during that particular week, on leave in Nantes, living it up in one of the many port establishments that catered to sailors hell-bent on robust recreation? We do not know if it was with a sense of grief or intense relief that he eventually learned of her death. In any case, we leave him momentarily to his sailing and turn our attention briefly to another wayward soul who, following a rather similar trajectory, was soon destined to cross Charles de Julie’s slippery path.

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 37

The Foundling

Initial complaint by Julie’s foster mother. ba ms 11617, f.353.

Police request for an ordre du Roy authorizing Julie’s arrest. ba ms 11617, f.348.

37

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

38

Page 38

Scenes and Characters

Example of forgeries executed by Charles de Julie. ba ms 11617, f.355.

Example of Julie’s earliest prison poetry, composed in For l’Évêque in 1748. ba ms 11617, f.401.

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 39

The Foundling

Representation of Jean-François Rameau. Frontispiece, 1821 edition of Diderot’s Neveu de Rameau.

Joseph d’Hémery, inspecteur de la Librairie. Engraving after a portrait by Nicolas-François Regnault.

39

CH01-PT1.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

40

Page 40

Scenes and Characters

Nicolas-René Berryer, lieutenant général de police. Engraving by Jean-Georges Wille, after a portrait by Jacques-François Delyen.

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 41

2 Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

The circumstances surrounding the birth of Nicolas-François Willemin de Coin contrast sharply with those of the foundling Charles de Julie. Nicolas-François was born on Christmas Day 1714, legitimate son of Magdelaine de Turgis and Charles Willemin de Coin, conseiller in the Parlement of Metz. As a member of the petite noblesse and scion of a prosperous and influential magistrate’s family his career expectations could only have been of the brightest. Also in sharp contrast with Julie’s situation is the availability of detailed documentation recording those circumstances. We know, for example, that his mother was seventeen and his father nineteen when they married in 1713. He also had a sister, Marie-Françoise, born in 1719. Her marriage in 1735 to Charles-François-Augustin Du Buat, another powerful conseiller-magistrate in the Parlement of Metz, had done much to consolidate the family’s social standing in the town. The true situation behind the scenes was, however, far less stable or auspicious than the general circumstances of the family would suggest. Indeed, in terms of early formative influences, it is possible that young Nicolas-François was not really much better off than the paternally deprived Charles de Julie. Not having any father and having a father like Charles Willemin turned out to be much the same. Following in the family tradition, Charles Willemin, an only son, had acquired the costly office of conseiller in the Parlement in 1713. Very soon, however, his magistrate colleagues realized that he suffered from serious emotional problems as well as chronic alcoholism. His frequent public exhibitions of unseemly and even dishonourable

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

42

Page 42

Scenes and Characters

behaviour provoked a good deal of comment in the town and were eventually seen as bringing discredit on the august body to which he belonged. Severe disciplinary measures were imposed. Finally, the situation degenerated to such an extent that on 27 February 1721 he was legally interdicted by an official decree of his peers.1 Inevitably, Charles Willemin’s conduct also brought great dishonour on his own family, and his young wife, Magdelaine, met with little resistance when she applied for a corps et biens legal separation. The loss in 1721 of his position, however demeaning professionally for Charles Willemin, might have had little direct influence on his then sixyear-old son, but domestic turmoil and a series of unsavoury personal incidents soon brought about a severe family crisis. In September of that year, a formal assemblée des parents was held to determine what was to be done. Surviving records concerning the official investigation of Charles Willemin’s misconduct2 convey a graphic account of the embarrassment and even terrors Nicolas-François and his mother must have suffered at the hands of a brutal husband and father. One after another, neighbours, tradespeople, servants, landlords, and even the parish priest gave evidence of Charles Willemin’s violent drunkenness and abusive behaviour. Marie Mion, the twenty-eight-year-old servant of a neighbour, testified to having one day seen the terrified wife of Charles Willemin “se sauver pieds nus de son appartement, allant chez la dame sa mère se plaignant des mauvais traitements que son mari venait de lui faire.” Charles Willemin habitually drank through the night, declared Françoise Bancelin, a forty-five-year-old occupant of the apartment below. Not wishing to drink alone, he would frequently stagger into the street, clad only in a dressing gown and armed with a sword. Wearing neither breeches nor stockings, he would seize hold of passersby in a most indecent and frightening manner as he urged them to come and drink with him, all the while “chantant, criaillant, piaillant et dansant.” His distressingly eclectic tastes in the choice of drinking partners were offensive to his upper-class peers and especially shocking to their equally snobbish servants. He caroused often with soldiers, sedan chair porters, common paupers, and even derelicts. Sometimes he went in person to low drinking establishments to fetch wine and would invite fiddlers, oboe players, and even drummers back to his quarters. His bedroom, where his violent jumping up and down was thought by at least one resident of the building to be a danse du diable, was littered with broken drinking glasses, spilled wine, and rotting food scraps. Adding to the alarming testimony of his wife and her housemaid that Charles Willemin could be extremely dangerous when drunk was the

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 43

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

43

evidence of his own father’s servants: Marie Nicolas, thirty-year-old domestic of seventy-six-year-old Nicolas Willemin, testified that Charles was frequently abusive to his father. On one occasion he had turned up at the old man’s house at five o’clock in the morning, very drunk and accompanied by two equally intoxicated officers from the local garrison, all demanding that the frightened servant girl who answered the door immediately bring them wine. On her refusal to obey, one of the officers threatened to run her through with his sword. The woman’s screams awakened the house valet, who fetched the master. Roused from his sleep, Willemin père angrily attempted to restore order, grappled with his son, and proceeded to lead him around the room by the ear. In retaliation, the drunken son pushed his father down the stairs, tearing a sleeve from his dressing gown in the process. At this point the two officers, seeing that there was no wine to be had, left the house. Preparing to follow them, Charles gave his father another great shove and knocked him to the floor, after which the old man, the servant girl, and the valet beat a hasty retreat “to escape the rage and fury of the son.” During Charles Willemin’s infrequent interludes of sobriety, his aging father would attempt to reason with him, pointing out the irreparable harm he was doing to his own reputation and to family honour. But to no avail. Even an enticing offer to augment the son’s inheritance by giving him his sister’s entire share in addition to his own had no effect. Charles Willemin’s own valet testified at the hearing that he frequently feared for his life, that on one occasion he had been shot at and chased through the streets by his enraged master after declining to drink with him and refusing to fetch more wine. Charles also suffered from a disturbing phobia. Convinced that the police were coming to arrest him, he would sometimes lock himself up in his room for days on end, or, on sudden impulse, would rush off in a panic to one of the family’s country retreats. Several disquieting incidents were cited by the townspeople, involving scenes that were probably witnessed by young Nicolas-François. The cook Jean-Claude Barrois and the journeyman upholsterer François Miromenil independently testified that they had seen Charles Willemin on more than one occasion leaving home wearing a strange fringed hat topped with a large feather, accompanied by two soldiers and a small boy who looked like a scullion or perhaps a bootblack. The boy wore a shabby cap on his head and was otherwise clothed in nothing more than a kind of jumper. Even more unsettling, the little ragamuffin always rode with the three men inside the closed and curtained carriage which would then proceed to Servigny, one of the isolated Willemin estates.

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

44

Page 44

Scenes and Characters

A time came when even the rough army garrison in Metz had had enough of Charles Willemin and his rowdy all-night drinking parties with common soldiers. The wife of Saint-Louis, a bugler in the gendarmerie, “fearing the consequences of the drunken revels her husband shared with le sieur de Coin,” complained to sergeant-major Boucher, who finally threatened Saint-Louis with harsh confinement in the guardhouse if he continued to associate in any way with Charles Willemin de Coin. The judicial investigative report runs to many pages and much of it is repetitious, but what emerges clearly for us is the certainty that young Nicolas-François de Coin was subjected early in his life to extremely troubled family circumstances. In September 1724 the Parlement renewed its interdiction, citing drunkeness of the most shameful and dishonourable kind. It had reached a point where even the poorest and most lowly petit bourgeois was ashamed to speak to him or even meet up with him. Most tellingly, Charles Willemin’s debaucheries were singled out as being particularly harmful to his children’s well-being in the community, “aussi ruineuses à ses enfants, qu’elles les couvrent de confusion et d’opprobres aux yeux du public.” Other official sanctions followed, culminating in a decision to strike Charles Willemin de Coin definitively from the register of the Parlement’s magistrates. He was also stripped of control over his personal estate and declared unfit to manage his affairs. Finally, his elderly father, was authorized to have him confined to an asylum. Charles Willemin eventually escaped from custody, taking refuge in the nearby town of Pont-à-Mousson. Despite the legal séparation de corps, intermittent periods of tacit reconciliation with his wife followed, during which he seems to have fathered several more children. He continued to make a general nuisance of himself in other ways as well until his early death in 1740. There is little doubt that young Nicolas-François was negatively affected by such events. Psychologically and perhaps even physically battered, prematurely hardened for his years and sharing as well the additional genetic burden of his mother’s mental condition – at times only slightly more stable than his father’s – the boy was well launched on a random downward trajectory that eventually intersected with the troubled career of Charles de Julie. By July 1737 Nicolas-François’s life had reached a critical impasse. He was now in his twenty-third year and had already been expelled in disgrace from two regiments. He had also acquired a reputation as an addicted gambler, a wastrel, and a womanizer. More serious still, he was well on his way to becoming a petty thief. Finally out of patience, his mother, invoking the traditional “clemency” of arbitrary authority

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 45

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

45

to preserve the honour of a respectable family, petitioned the appropriate minister to have her son locked up. Her daughter’s husband, the magistrate Du Buat, vigorously supported his mother-in-law’s petition in a letter to René Hérault, the lieutenant général de police of the day: Monsieur, Permettez-moi de vous recommander l’affaire du sieur Willemin de Coin. Sa conduite est sans exemple. Monsieur de Creil3 m’a promis qu’il vous en rendrait compte. Ce jeune homme a par devers lui des traits qui réfléchissent sur sa famille; les fautes ont beau être personnelles, un grand vent ne détache point des branches d’un arbre sans le défigurer. Il appartient au procureur général et à six conseillers du parlement de Metz, à trois trésoriers du bureau des finances, et à plusieurs gentilshommes et officiers de la province. Tout nous est possible, Monsieur. Faites s’il vous plaît que la lettre de cachet soit pour Saint-Yon. C’est une maison de force dans un faubourg de Rouen. Là les pensions sont le double moins fortes qu’à Saint-Lazare. Vous êtes bien le maître aussi, Monsieur, qu’il y soit conduit aux frais du Roi. Sa famille n’est point riche. C’est trop pour elle de payer sa pension; ménagez-lui ces premiers frais. Elle en a tant fait pour le rendre utile à l’État qu’il y a de la justice à s’intéresser pour elle. Des grâces que je vous demande là, je vous en aurai une éternelle obligation. Je suis son beau-frère. Jugez combien j’en aurai de reconnaissance. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. Du Buat, Conseiller du Parlement de Metz. A Paris, le 30 juin 17374

Tout nous est possible. Du Buat’s letter exhibits the undisguised selfassurance of a leading member of the Metz establishment directing a communication to one of his peers. Another document records with similar matter-of-factness the 16 July 1737 decision of the baillage of Metz to grant Magdelaine de Turgis authority to have her delinquent son locked up. Included with it is an official summary of the mother’s declaration justifying a plea for the incarceration of her “child.” Her petition even hints that some of her son’s transgressions, along with certain instances of his moral turpitude, were simply too offensive to describe: Quelques soins qu’elle ait pris pour l’éducation de maître Nicolas Willemin, son fils, elle n’a jamais eu la satisfaction de le voir porter au bien. Dérangé dans ses premières études, il avait paru avoir dessein d’entrer au service. Elle s’est prêtée à cette inclination, et a fait des dépenses d’autant plus considérables pour l’y soutenir qu’il y a fait des dissipations d’une espèce qu’il importait de celer et d’assoupir. Après avoir servi pendant quelque temps dans le régiment

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

46

Page 46

Scenes and Characters

de Navarre, d’où la suppliante fut obligée de le retirer, elle se flatta que peutêtre les réflexions qu’elle aurait fait faire à son fils auraient produit quelques effets. Elle s’efforça encore pour le faire entrer dans le régiment de Piedmont mais bientôt après elle eut le désagrément de l’en voir sortir par le peu de satisfaction que ses supérieurs eurent de lui. Elle fit alors de nouveaux efforts pour le rappeler à lui-même. Il souhaita de faire ses études de droit et quoique dans l’intervalle du temps qu’il demeura chez elle elle n’ait pu concevoir l’espérance d’une meilleure conduite, elle crut devoir encore déférer à ce nouveau projet, et son séjour dans la ville de Strasbourg lui a coûté considérablement. De retour en cette ville [Metz], il a prêté serment d’avocat à la Cour, et dans cette dernière situation elle commençait à se flatter que, l’âge mûrissant les réflexions de son fils, il sentirait tout le danger de nouveaux dérèglements. Mais une conduite plus licencieuse encore que celle qu’il avait tenue jusqu’alors a fait enfin connaître à la suppliante qu’elle n’avait plus rien à espérer. Toutes sortes de débauches se sont succédé les unes aux autres et le jeu, auquel il s’est livré, l’a enfin porté à des infidélités monstrueuses. Il n’a rien négligé pour pouvoir soutenir cette passion dont les suites lui auraient peut-être été funestes sans les considérations qu’on a eues pour la suppliante. Plusieurs créanciers ont formé demandes contre son fils, plusieurs autres qui ont connu sa minorité n’ont pas cru hasarder des frais dont ils ont connu l’inutilité et se sont contentés de venir gémir près la suppliante des effets du dol et de la surprise auxquels ils s’étaient laissés aller. Enfin, pressé de toute part, il a abandonné cette ville pour se rendre en celle de Paris, où la suppliante a tout lieu de craindre les suites de son libertinage. Son repos, son honneur, et celui de toute sa famille ne lui permettent pas de dissimuler les justes causes de douleur et de crainte que lui inspire la mauvaise conduite de ce fils, et comme elle ne veut rien entreprendre sans l’autorité de la justice, elle a recours à la nôtre.5

A police summary of 3 July 1737 fills in some of the details of Nicolas-François’s disastrous army and student career. Lieutenant général Hérault noted that young de Coin had been a commissioned officer in both regiments, a fact that added significantly to the dishonourable nature of his transgressions and to the scandal attached to his subsequent expulsion from the army: Le sieur Willemin de Coin est entré il y a quatre ans dans le régiment de Navarre; il en a été chassé après le siège de Kehl.6 Sa famille au commencement de la campagne suivante lui fit de nouveaux équipages et le plaça dans le régiment de Piedmont. Il s’en fit encore chasser par sa mauvaise conduite. Il alla à Strasbourg où il vendit ce qui lui restait d’équipages et se plongea dans les dernières débauches. On le retira de cette ville sur la fin de l’année 1735, six mois après on l’y renvoya pour étudier en droit. Ses débauches recommencèrent et lui firent faire quantité de dettes. Au mois de novembre de l’an-

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 47

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

47

née dernière, il fut reçu avocat à Metz. Le changement d’état n’en a point apporté à ses mœurs. Il avait fait des vols considérables dans sa famille pendant qu’il était au service; il en a fait de nouveaux cet hiver, pour fournir aux jeux affreux dans lesquels il s’est jeté. Il a été jusqu’à menacer sa mère de mettre le feu chez elle. Il a fait des dettes considérables; il a emprunté des noms étrangers pour tromper des marchands; chez d’autres il a enlevé sous de fausses lettres beaucoup de marchandises qu’il a revendues pour tirer quelque argent [...]. Des friponneries pareilles, jointes à ses menaces, font tout craindre à sa famille, pour elle et pour lui, ce jeune homme qui a déjà vingt-deux ans étant capable des actions les plus noires.7

As was often the case, the lieutenant général de police did not wait for all formalities to be completed before executing an “anticipated” ordre du Roi. Four days later, Nicolas-François Willemin de Coin found himself under arrest in Paris. The next day, 8 July 1737, he was conducted under guard and at his mother’s expense to the Saint-Yon maison de force in Rouen. It would be four years before he was allowed to leave that institution and when he did, he cleverly subtracted, as we later discover, four years from his declared age. In his subsequent dealings with the police, he also managed to suppress all references to these early prison years. Life at Saint-Yon would have seemed drab and routine for someone who had previously led such a colourful existence. Established as a model institution by the Frères des Écoles chrétiennes, Saint-Yon resembled a provincial boarding college rather than a prison, although some of the inmates were considered dangerous enough to require close surveillance and even severe discipline. Prisoners like de Coin, who were detained by lettre de cachet, were lodged in a separate building and enjoyed the privacy of individual rooms.8 Regulations at SaintYon, unlike those at La Charité in Senlis, did not allow for the mingling of delinquents and those of unsound mind. As at Senlis, inmates were given the name of a saint on arrival to prevent the staff or the other residents from discovering the newcomer’s family identity. The exact nature of each offender’s transgressions was also kept secret. Lessons in such subjects as geometry and drawing were offered to those who wished to take part, and further diversion was supplied by a modest library and a small garden. There was no overcrowding. Judging from the records that have survived, probably no more than thirty-five or forty prisoners occupied the institution at any given time during the four years that Nicolas-François was there. After being largely ignored by his family for the entire time of his stay, the delinquent was finally released on 2 February 1741, officially certified as rehabilitated. The request for his release had come as a

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

48

Page 48

Scenes and Characters

direct result of his mother’s intervention, the ironic consequence of his father’s recent death. Nicolas’s presence, it seems, was now required in Metz, since his mother and his brother-in-law wished to settle the estate. No less a personage than the premier président of the Normandy Parlement, Geoffroy Macé Camus de Pontcarré, took it upon himself to explain the matter in a letter from Rouen dated 20 January 1741 to Claude-Henri Feydeau de Marville, Hérault’s successor as lieutenant général de police. He was intervening in the affair, Pontcarré made clear, as a matter of professional courtesy to a fellow magistrate, the delinquent’s brother-in-law Du Buat.9 The proposition was forwarded without delay by Marville to Cardinal Fleury, the king’s chief minister. Though nearing his ninetieth year, the busy prelate still prided himself on his ability to micro-manage the everyday affairs of the kingdom. Indicating his favourable response, Fleury acceded to the request by adding the single word “bon” in the margin of the lieutenant général’s letter. Once free, Nicolas-François Willemin de Coin did not remain long in Metz. Within a year he was back in Paris amusing himself greatly and surviving day-to-day in the same hazardous manner that had brought him to the Rouen prison in the first place. We next catch up with him in May 1750 in the Paris police files of the celebrated inspector Jean-Baptiste Meusnier. In one of his reports to his superior, Berryer, concerning a case of larceny and conspiracy to commit fraud, Meusnier recalls having already encountered, nearly fifteen years earlier, the star villain of the piece, a certain Willemin de Coin. The inspector remembers him as a notoriously dissipated lawstudent in Strasbourg: Du 2 mai 1750, Il y a au moins 15 ans que le sieur Willemin de Coin fait le métier d’un escroc et d’un libertin. Je l’ai connu à Strasbourg dès l’année 1736 où il faisait, soi-disant, son droit. Il a été obligé de s’en absenter promptement et furtivement pour se mettre à l’abri du châtiment qui lui était réservé. Il est originaire de Metz, mais il y a longtemps que sa famille l’a abandonné. Il a effectivement un parent conseiller au Parlement de cette ville qui ne veut point entendre parler de lui. Ici le sieur de Coin ne fait que camper, et couche rarement deux nuits de suite dans un même endroit. Quoiqu’il soit connu au café de Viseux et au Jeu de Paume de Gosseaume, ils ignorent totalement sa demeure. Il est lié avec le sieur Lemery, autre intriguant et mauvais sujet comme lui. Ce Lemery était intime du sieur de Pierreville et l’a recelé plusieurs fois dans sa chambre chez Collot, rue des Boucheries. On assure que ce Pierreville, qui est échappé aux recherches qu’on en a faites, était aussi de même trempe et de leur

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 49

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

49

tripot, ainsi qu’un nommé de Richemond demeurant rue de la Harpe au Petit Hôtel de Tours. Ce Richemond se disait allié à M. le comte de Sade. Le fait est qu’il y était nourri et qu’il y faisait des fonctions peu honorables. Il vient d’en être chassé ignominieusement.10

What Meusnier meant precisely by his reference to fonctions peu honorables carried out by de Coin’s associate at the Hôtel de Condé residence of the comte Jean-Baptiste de Sade is not clear but vice squad reports for this period, including those of Meusnier’s colleague inspector Framboisier detailing the sodomitical activities of the notorious marquis’s father, depict an atmosphere of below-stairs intrigue and debauchery that would be not entirely out of place in one of Sade junior’s future novels.11 The list of dubious associates of Willemin de Coin named by inspector Meusnier gives a fairly clear idea of the kind of Parisian milieu the native of Metz had been frequenting since his arrival in Paris. The chevalier de Pierreville, a true chevalier d’industrie, is described in a contemporary police file as an “escroc qui change de demeure sans payer, fréquente les jeux, ci-devant arrêté par ordre du Roi pour avoir pris faussement la qualité d’officier.”12 It seems he had also been cheeky enough to circulate the false claim at the Hôtel de Montauban, from which he had recently absconded without paying his bill, that he was related to no less a personage than Madame Berryer, the wife of the lieutenant général de police! In addition, Pierreville had managed to gain the interest of the wealthy fermier général, Helvétius, who on one occasion had given him the substantial sum of twenty-five louis d’or (600 livres) to rescue from For l’Évêque a young prostitute known as la Darcheville, imprisoned there for practising divination and witchcraft. After ignoring a 30 November 1749 exile order to stay at a distance of at least sixty leagues from Paris, Pierreville had been arrested on 11 January 1750 and ordered transported to the île SaintDomingue.13 At the same time, another of de Coin’s rogue companions mentioned by inspector Meusnier, Dupré de Richemond, had only recently (7 January 1750) been released from the Bastille,14 where he had been held for six months. Like de Coin’s other cronies, he too commanded little official respect. Described by Berryer as something of a poet, or rather, “un jeune homme se donnant pour auteur,” he had been arrested for making copies of an irreligious tract. In his report to the minister d’Argenson, Berryer takes pleasure in describing some of the details of the arrest: “On s’y est pris du matin. On l’a trouvé couché avec une fille, et dessous le matelas de son lit s’est trouvé une prodigieuse quantité de manuscrits, presque tous écrits de sa main.”

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

50

Page 50

Scenes and Characters

Admittedly, nothing especially incriminating had been found, only “une grande quantité d’extraits de sa main tirés de Bayle, Moreri et d’autres auteurs.” But all this had happened at a time when the police were under orders to quell an epidemic of anti-Pompadour sentiment, and Berryer was of the view that Richemond’s arrest would set a good example and be a warning to all seditious writers: “Je crois qu’on peut le garder quelques mois à la Bastille pour contenir ces demi-auteurs et arrêter la licence des brochures anonymes qui inondent le public.”15 Assigned to apprehend the culprit, inspector Meusnier, whose special department was the vice squad, added his own colourful details to the arrest report. Lying with Richemond on the mattress that hid the illicit extracts of Bayle and other “dangerous” authors was the demoiselle Magdelaine Turpin, a prostitute who, as we learn from subsequent reports, eventually graduated under the expert tutoring of the wellknown procuress la Baudouin to far more distinguished conquests, including the marquis de Ximenès, the comte de Vintimille, the philosopher-financier Helvétius himself, and even the mayor of Marseilles. Mlle Turpin, Meusnier informs us, had met Richemond after her release from the prison of Saint-Martin, where she had been held on charges of common harlotry. The inspector is almost jovial as he recounts the scene of Richemond’s arrest: “On fut le saluer de l’ordre du Roi, avec injonction de venir coucher à la Bastille.” At the sight of the police, the young lady, mistakenly thinking she was the object of the raid, leaped from the bed and scrambled up the fireplace chimney as far as she could go. Only after Meusnier threatened to light a fire under her was she persuaded to come down.16 The inspector responsible for the book trade, Meusnier’s colleague Joseph d’Hémery, shows an equally cavalier attitude regarding the fate of such “low-lifes.” Noting in his journal the illness and death of this same Richemond early in 1751, he writes: “Le sieur Dupré de Richemond est depuis quelque temps [si] dangereusement malade qu’il a reçu tous ses sacrements et qu’on croit qu’il n’est pas possible qu’il en revienne. Ce serait un bien mauvais sujet de moins.”17 Obligingly, Richemond did die the following week and d’Hémery makes a note of the event, again in a style that confirms the general lack of sympathy for such expendable marginaux as Nicolas Willemin de Coin and his ilk. “Dupré de Richemond est enfin descendu dans la nuit du tombeau le 11 de ce mois, âgé d’environ 33 ans, peu d’amis, peu regretté et chargé de dettes.”18 Peu d’amis, peu regretté et chargé de dettes. The words provide a fitting epitaph for an entire class of clever young men who struggled to survive by their wits on the ragged social fringes of Europe’s most vibrant city.

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 51

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

51

De Coin’s skirmish with the Paris police in the spring of 1750 had initially been the result of a formal complaint lodged by one Auguste Billard, who had addressed a long list of grievances to Berryer on April 10th, accusing de Coin and an associate, Pierre Lemery, a twenty-eightyear-old lawyer from Rouen, of a multitude of petty crimes. The pair, Billard alleged, were rogues of the first order, vagrants “logeant sans stabilité en chambre garnie de quartier en quartier dans Paris [...], reconnus pour des insignes escrocs dans toute la ville par les différentes fraudes, dols, filouteries et faussetés énormes qu’ils y commettent tous les jours avec leurs adhérents et autres complices.”19 A report from inspector Meusnier fully supported Billard’s allegations20 but, in view of the rank and professional status of the two accused, Berryer decided to investigate further before executing an ordre du Roi obtained by Billard for the pair’s arrest. Jacques Dadvenel, another police inspector, promptly confirmed the charges21 but for reasons that will become clear soon enough, Berryer still refrained from taking action. Two months later, Nicolas Lillet, a locataire principal who had been de Coin’s landlord, submitted another long list of damning allegations, pointing to additional instances of theft, fraudulent use of aliases, and sundry other villainies.22 De Coin, it seems, had for some time been leading the shadowy life of a vagrant in the chambres garnies of eighteenth-century Paris. As a residential experience it could not have been pleasant; Louis-Sébastien Mercier23 has left us a memorable description in his Tableau de Paris of the filthy accommodations these “furnished rooms” generally afforded: “lits mal-propres, des fenêtres où sifflent tous les vents, des tapisseries à demi pourries, un escalier couvert d’ordures.” At the same time, they represented a kind of sanctuary for the dispossessed: “Les chambres garnies sont un asyle contre les créanciers: quiconque n’a pas fait des lettres de change qui contraignent par corps, & qui n’est pas marchand, arrête la voracité des huissiers: il sort de sa chambre garnie pour se promener sans risque, & dit comme Bias: omnia mecum porto.”24 Though less vulnerable to bailiffs than more adequately housed debtors, the occupants of chambres garnies had to sign a register that was submitted by their landlord to the local authorities for regular inspection. Mercier notes, however, that police arrests could be carried out in these rooms more easily than anywhere else: “L’on n’y regarde pas de si près. Quand quelqu’un est arrêté par ordre du gouvernement, l’exempt crie à tous que c’est un voleur; et comme la personne est nondomiciliée, on croit qu’elle a volé: on n’en parle plus le soir même, & sa mémoire est ensevelie pour jamais.”25 After overcoming what appears to have been a puzzling degree of

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

52

Page 52

Scenes and Characters

forbearance regarding de Coin’s case, Berryer on 3 September 1750 at last decided to make his move. The official record of Nicolas-François de Coin’s arrest leaves no doubt about standard police procedures in such matters. Timing in these delicate operations was always adjusted to particular circumstances and the risks associated with each “client.” When, the year before, Agnan-Philippe-Miché de Rochebrune, commissaire at the Châtelet de Paris, and inspector Joseph d’Hémery had set out to arrest the encyclopédiste Diderot, they chose the almost civilized hour of 7:30 in the morning to carry out their orders. Unlikely to take flight, Denis Diderot was, after all, an established citizen engaged in a major commercial enterprise that was backed by four of the capital’s leading publishers. Such a respectable hour would hardly do, however, for the elusive marginal de Coin who habitually skipped out without paying his rent and whose precise whereabouts was a perennial mystery to the police as well as to his many creditors. It was ninety minutes after midnight when Rochebrune and inspector Meusnier rousted Nicolas-François fully clothed from his bed in a shabby third-floor room on the rue de la Sourdière. A search of the premises failed to turn up any compromising evidence and no wallet was found on his person. No doubt to make at least part of his thirtysix-year-old past more difficult to trace, the prisoner falsely gave his age as thirty-two. 26 Arrested along with his co-accused, Pierre Lemery, de Coin was placed in solitary confinement at For l’Evêque pending interrogation. Not a novice in these matters, he waited patiently for events to unfold. Interrogation came a week later, on Sunday 13 September, beginning at 3:00 p.m. and lasting well into the evening. The interrogator was again commissaire Rochebrune. To every question, de Coin provided a calm and confident answer, smoothly blending truth and falsehood and volunteering here and there extra particularizing details for convincing effect.27 Functioning as examining magistrates seven days a week and at all hours of the day or night, commissaires were obviously men of steel. After grilling de Coin to no great effect for nearly six hours, Rochebrune then moved on to his associate Lemery at 9:00 p.m. that same evening. It was nearly two o’clock the following morning when he left the prison of For l’Evêque and returned to his home in the quartier Saint-Paul, not far from the Bastille. Both prisoners subsequently provided lengthy written supplements to their defense, dozens of pages churned out in their best courtroom rhetoric. Bare-faced lies (“Je ne suis jamais venu à Paris avant 1742”), obfuscating rebuttals, and countercharges of conspiracy provide the main elements of de Coin’s defense. He notes that some of the nastiest slanders against him could

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 53

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

53

have come only from Dupré de Richemond and a procuress named la Guillot, who had earlier accused him of involvement in the incarceration of Richemond’s prostitute mistress, the demoiselle Turpin. After mentioning this last point, de Coin addresses a cryptic aside to Berryer, the sense of which will soon become clear: “Vous savez, Monseigneur, ce qui en est.” Other statements follow, based for the most part on clever flimflam and designed to muddy the waters. Remarkably, the efforts of the two lawyers to demonstrate the malicious and spurious nature of all charges were successful. On 22 September 1750 both prisoners were released: “Comme ils ont été réclamés,” Berryer explained to the minister, “je les ai fait mettre en liberté.”28 Apparently Lemery and de Coin, despite their out-at-heels, marginal existence, were able at the last minute to draw some kind of advantage from family connections. A last-minute appeal from important relatives, an expression of concern – or even interest – by prominent persons, generally saved the day. As it turns out, Nicolas-François de Coin had in addition a less avowable advantage in the matter. He himself provides an important clue to the mystery in his reference to the enmity of his erstwhile companion Dupré de Richemond. It was just a small reminder to Berryer that his prisoner de Coin had for some time been – and indeed still was – one of his paid informers. It was a fact unknown at the time even to inspector Meusnier, who would probably have been astonished to learn that the layabout Nicolas-François de Coin was Berryer’s spy, assigned to report directly to the lieutenant général on the sexual peccadillos of powerful financiers, aristocratic playboys, and even those among Berryer’s professional colleagues who liked to haunt the demi-monde of the Paris theatre scene. NicolasFrançois would soon be joined in that clandestine calling by an even more wily and plausible associate, the returning navy volontaire Charles de Julie. Under the best of circumstances, mid-eighteenth-century Paris offered few stable employment opportunities for such footloose vagrants as Nicolas Willemin de Coin on his release from For l’Evêque in October 1750, or for Charles de Julie when he returned later that same year to his old haunts, after completing a twenty-two-month “voluntary” stint in the navy. As marginals who had been in trouble with the law, neither Julie nor de Coin, in terms of their legal status, effectively counted for much in a society where status and identity were sharply defined and always dealt with in terms of supportive family connections or recognized hierarchical structures. Protection of one kind or another offered the only possible escape from marginality and – ironically for the just-released prisoner – such protection was often most immediately available from the very police agencies who were

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

54

Page 54

Scenes and Characters

charged with the task of controlling the delinquent’s transgressive behaviour. Recruited as informers and spies, quick-witted ex-prisoners like Charles de Julie and Nicolas de Coin were seen as particularly well suited to the kind of work that the establishment otherwise condemned as dishonourable for decent folk. It would have been relatively easy for either man turned police informer to blend into the street life of an animated capital that presented a constant source of bustle and spectacle for rich and poor alike. Though chronically short of funds, even the batteur de pavé was seen as having a kind of legitimate freedom to wander about and explore. Mercier devotes a chapter of his Tableau de Paris to the daily habits of the species: “Il sort dès le matin de sa chambre garnie, & le voilà errant dans tous les quartiers jusqu’à onze heures du soir. Il entre dans toutes les églises sans dévotion, fait des visites à des personnes qui ne se soucient point de lui, est assidu aux tribunaux, sans avoir de procès. Il voit tout ce qui se passe dans la ville, assiste à toutes les cérémonies publiques, ne manque rien de ce qui fait spectacle, & use plus de souliers qu’un espion.” Referring to an ancient Egyptian law that required every individual once a year to give an account to the chief magistrate of his means of subsistence, Mercier remarks that if such were the case in eighteenth-century Paris “il y auroit beaucoup de gens embarrassés à répondre.”29 In fact, Nicolas Berryer, the all-seeing, all-powerful lieutenant général de police, usually did know how such persons supported themselves. To begin with, he himself employed an enormous number of them as mouches to spy on the population in every walk of life, and his activities in this regard frequently extended to the provinces as well. The philosopher Diderot, in a “mémoire” for Catherine II of Russia, described the efficiency and pervasiveness of the French police network of the day as follows: […] une police qui enveloppe tous les sujets, comme dans une nasse immense qui les touche, qui les enlace sans qu’ils s’en aperçoivent; en sorte que dans cet amas incompréhensible d’atomes agités et voisins, il ne se fait pas un mouvement qui soit ignoré, soit qu’ils se concertent, soit qu’ils se divisent, soit qu’ils se mutinent, soit qu’ils s’approchent, soit qu’ils s’éloignent; toutes nos vies et mœurs sont écrites à la police. On y a la liste des honnêtes gens et des fripons, des bons et des mauvais citoyens; on y sait toutes nos actions et tous nos propos. Si le philosophe Denis Diderot allait un soir en mauvais lieu, M. de Sartine30 le saurait avant que de se coucher. Un étranger arrive-t-il dans la capitale, en moins de vingt-quatre heures on pourra vous dire, rue NeuveSaint-Augustin, qui il est, comment il s’appelle, d’où il vient, pourquoi il vient, où il demeure, avec qui il est en correspondance, avec qui il vit, et quelque soin

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 55

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

55

qu’il se donne pour échapper, on le trouve: c’est qu’il avait fait cent lieues sous la nasse, avant que de s’en douter. Les malfaiteurs ignorants viennent chercher la sécurité à Paris; c’est là qu’ils sont attendus et qu’ils se perdent. Leur signalement était à la barrière trois ans avant leur personne.31

No stranger to police surveillance, Diderot had himself suffered more than three months of incarceration in 1749 in one of His Most Christian Majesty’s prisons for writings deemed to be contrary to religion and good morals. The great encyclopedist was also familiar with the vagaries of bohemian life. His Neveu de Rameau provides a muchcelebrated portrait of the eighteenth-century Parisian eccentric whom we have already encountered in For l’Évêque. A widower as well as a talented pimp, parasite, and social cynic, the Neveu’s greatest regret at one point in his life seems to have been that his attractive wife died young – well before he had any opportunity to sell her sexual favours to a rich fermier général. Despite such contretemps, including shortlived bouts of depression and self-doubt, Rameau’s nephew clearly considers himself to be something of a genius, at the very least a genius of vice. In the scene that ends Diderot’s famous dialogue, the Nephew (Lui) leaves the field of battle sensing a dialectical victory. He has countered every expression of solid common sense put forward by his philosophical interlocutor (Moi) with the defiant rebuttal: he laughs best who laughs last. Moi-Diderot tells us that he enjoys meeting these seedy characters only infrequently but from time to time they should be listened to, since their eccentricities force us to re-examine and rethink some of our conventional ways and our most fundamental moral assumptions. Less well known than the Neveu de Rameau is Diderot’s portrait of another pauvre diable, the copyist Glénat. Glénat is basically more likable and in many ways less eccentric than Rameau. He has talents and needs that endear him greatly to our philosopher: he knows mathematics and has a good writing style. While Rameau is a sludge-souled egocentric materialist, Glénat is just the opposite – decent and dignified in his impoverished state.32 Unlike the boastful, parasitic nephew who scorns the kind of happiness that is limited to a modest existence within four walls, Glénat lives contentedly in his little chambre garnie. His equanimity in fact reminds the philosopher of the ancient Stoic Epictetus. Diderot describes his first visit to Glénat’s quarters: “Je l’ai trouvé dans un trou grand comme ma main, presque privé du jour, sans un méchant bout de bergame qui couvrît ses murs, deux chaises de paille, un grabat avec une couverture ciselée des vers, sans draps, une malle dans un coin de la cheminée, des haillons de toute espèce accrochés

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

56

Page 56

Scenes and Characters

au-dessus, une petite lampe de fer-blanc à laquelle une bouteille servait de soutien; sur une planche une douzaine de livres excellents.” Those were all his worldly goods. He lived “nu comme un ver, maigre, noir, sec, mais serein; ne désirant rien, mangeant son morceau de pain avec appétit, et caressant de temps en temps sa voisine sur ce misérable châlit qui occupait les deux tiers de sa chambre.”33 A worthy and happy soul, in short, and so Diderot tries to help him find work as a copyist: “Je faisais le possible pour le tirer de presse. Je lui mendiais des pratiques de tous côtés. S’il venait à l’heure du repas, je le retenais. S’il manquait de souliers, je lui en donnais. Je lui donnais aussi de temps en temps la pièce de vingt-quatre sols [...]. Il avait l’air du plus honnête homme du monde; il supportait même son indigence avec une certaine gaieté qui me plaisait. J’aimais causer avec lui. Il paraissait faire assez peu de cas de la fortune, des honneurs, et de la plupart des prestiges de la vie.”34 But Glénat, it turns out, had a dark secret. More than just a good copyist and conversationalist, he was also, Diderot discovered to his dismay, a police spy. Luckily the great encyclopédiste had not confided any of his own radical writings to him during the four years Glénat had been in his employ, but Diderot’s friend and associate, Baron Grimm, had been on the point of hiring him as principal secretary for his clandestine literary correspondance. “Cela me fait frémir d’effroi,” Diderot confided to his mistress, Sophie Volland, and since he happened to be on fairly familiar terms with Sartine, an old school chum who was then the lieutenant général de police, he raised the matter with him one day, complaining about the treachery of hiring rascals to carry on such a vile and contemptible activity. Sartine good-naturedly laughed and explained that poor Glénat had really not had much choice in the matter: “C’est un bon garçon qui n’a pu faire autrement.” The result was that even Diderot, the established writer of the day with perhaps the most sympathetic attitude toward the impecunious scribblers of the capital, a man who had himself begun his writing career as an opportunistic pauvre diable and who undoubtedly projected some of his own ambivalent alter ego into the dialectical interplay of the Neveu de Rameau, makes it clear that in future he would have no choice but to keep all such dubious marginaux at a safe distance: “Malgré que j’en aie, tous ceux qui me viendront à l’avenir avec des manchettes sales et déchirées, des bas troués, des souliers percés, des cheveux plats et ébouriffés, une redingote de pluche déchirée, ou quelque mauvais habit noir dont les coutures commencent à manquer, avec le visage et le ton de la misère et de l’honnêteté, me paraîtront des émissaires du lieutenant de police, des coquins qu’on m’envoie pour m’observer.”35 Un bon garçon qui n’a pu faire autrement – Sartine’s laughingly dis-

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 57

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

57

missive remark to Diderot in September 1762 reveals the extent to which official blackmail was a standard part of the recruitment process employed by the police to staff the vast tentacular system of espionage established around the mid-century point in France by the minister, d’Argenson, and his lieutenant général de police, Berryer. It was Berryer who perfected the system of recruiting the canaille to control both the canaille and their betters. Who better to catch a thief or an underground pamphleteer, for example, than another thief or pamphleteer, especially one beholden to the police for his own liberty? Diderot could well feel appalled, but the chief magistrate had a ready answer for him: What was the alternative? Where would he find honest folk willing to perform such functions? No one really admired the police. For the most part, both police agents and their informers were perceived as figures of contempt. Mercier, writing several decades later in the 1780s, notes that “tout homme attaché à la police, sous quelque dénomination que ce puisse être, n’est plus admis dans la bonne société, & l’on a raison.”36 Looking back to the reign of Louis XV, he recalls that it was a time when there were so many spies “qu’il étoit défendu à des amis qui se réunissoient ensemble d’épancher mutuellement leurs cœurs sur des intérêts qui les affectoient vivement. L’inquisition ministérielle avoit mis ses sentinelles à la porte de toutes les salles, & des écouteurs dans tous les cabinets; on punissoit comme des complots dangereux, des confidences naïves, faites par des amis à des amis.” Of course, spies were not recruited solely among low-lifes living in chambres garnies: “le quart des domestiques servent d’espions,” continues Mercier, and sometimes their masters – hommes de qualité – were also pleased to serve. Spies were everywhere and of every station. There were “les espions de cour, les espions de ville, les espions de lit, les espions de rue, les espions de filles, les espions de beaux esprits.”37 Estimates concerning the size of that army of mouchards range from as many as 3,000 in Paris alone38 to as few as 340 persons regularly employed as mouches in the capital and supported by an amateur contingent of five or six hundred occasional informers.39 Whatever the true number, the mid-century point seems to have been a peak period of employment for police spies, following on the restlessness generated by the unpopular treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle – the “stupid peace,” as it was called – and the anti-Pompadour campaign that followed such measures as the expulsion of the Young Pretender, Charles-Edward Stuart, from Paris in December 1748. The marquis d’Argenson, ex-minister of Foreign Affairs, whose brother, the comte d’Argenson, took over the Département of Paris from the disgraced minister Maurepas, notes in May 1749 that his brother had now become the de facto prime minister of France: “Il possède aujourd’hui

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

58

Page 58

Scenes and Characters

tous les secrets de l’Etat, de la poste, l’intrigue de la cour et de Paris, il dispose de cinq cent mille livres par an en espions.40 For the times, half a million livres devoted to spying was, of course, an astronomical figure. In December of the same year, d’Argenson notes that his brother was ill from overwork, and most of that work involved spying: “Il se tue de travail pour l’espionnage de Paris que le roi a fort à cœur; il s’agit de savoir tout ce qu’on dit, tout ce qu’on fait. Quel malheureux travail, l’espionnage par les postes et par les traîtres de Paris!”41 Whether there were 300 or 3,000 paid informers actively working in Paris at the time, it was clearly a part of police strategy to exaggerate their number and even to encourage the circulation of inflated rumours in this regard. Mercier notes that “on a enflé la liste de ces hommes uniquement occupés à suivre les actions des autres; c’est une erreur utile à la police: tandis qu’on s’imagine que tout est peuplé d’espions, elle en a moins à payer, & la langue des babillards indiscrets devient plus circonspecte.” Significantly, however, despite Mercier’s fairly typical reservations about the potential for abuse and his general distaste for those engaged in such functions, he and publicists like him for the most part defended this inquisitorial system as a necessary evil. The citizens of Paris benefited from the system and enjoyed excellent levels of public safety as a result: “Ce grand avantage, cet avantage inestimable, qui nous place, pour la tranquillité particulière, au-dessus des habitans de Londres, ne sauroit subsister sans les mouchards.” Compared to London, Paris was a safe and pleasant place to visit or to live in and this was largely thanks to its army of police spies.42 Berryer’s mouches were normally specialized in their functions, as were their immediate employers, the inspectors and exempts who controlled their assignments. In Paris, the various police divisions or détails included le militaire, les jeux, les spectacles, les étrangers, les voleurs, la librairie, and, finally, les femmes. Surveillance of individuals, thanks to a highly sophisticated identification system of signalement (physical description) and the careful maintenance of individual files, was systematically developed. Historians of the age of Enlightenment may be amused, for example, to learn that the word éclairer in France’s famous city of light did not always mean “to enlighten” but could refer also to an entirely different kind of illumination. In police parlance, to be éclairé, meant being exposed to round-the-clock police surveillance, watched so closely that the subject’s every movement was known at all times. Photo identification did not, of course, exist but Mercier recounts the extent to which word portraits providing highly accurate physical descriptions had become almost an art form: “Le signalement qu’on fait de l’homme, est un véritable portrait auquel il est impossible de se méprendre; & l’art de décrire ainsi la figure avec

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 59

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

59

la parole, est poussé si loin, que le meilleur écrivain, en y réfléchissant beaucoup, n’y sauroit rien ajouter, ni se servir d’autres expressions.”43 In a later volume of his Tableau de Paris, Mercier describes the surveillance process in even greater detail: “Quand un homme est signalé, il ne peut plus faire un pas sans être suivi; livré aux mouches, il a beau modérer sa marche ou l’accélérer, un œil sûr & infatigable l’environne & ne l’abandonne point. Il est reconduit tous les soirs chez lui. Quelquefois, pour se dérober, il entre dans une porte cochère; & quand il sort, il voit un homme qui rentre. Il croit alors avoir mis en défaut les mouches; il en a six au lieu d’une. Si, passé le coin d’une rue, il s’arrête court, collé contre l’angle, on passera à dix pas de lui sans le regarder; mais si, impatienté ou furieux, il prend à la gorge une de ces mouches, elle se laisse battre, jette un coup-d’œil à un passant, & semble prendre la fuite. Ce passant ne désempare point la rue; c’est alors un enchaînement d’Argus. La rapidité de la course, ou la lenteur raisonnée, ne dérobent point celui dont on suit les pas; il lui faudroit l’anneau de Gigès; encore la mouche diroit-elle: il est disparu là.44 Un étranger s’étant apperçu que des mouches passoient successivement devant lui, & le signaloient, tira de sa poche son adresse, & la leur donna. Très-bien! dit l’un; mais vous déménagez après-demain. Cela étoit vrai.”45 Such confrontations were not always without danger, and clumsy surveillance frequently provoked the wrath of targeted individuals as well as the endemic hostility of street crowds. On 31 August 1752, for example, inspector Poussot complained to his superior, Berryer, about the antics of the footman Jean-Baptiste Prault, alias Varot, also known as Luxembourg. For the preceding four months, Luxembourg had deliberately disrupted the surveillance activities of Poussot’s team of spies and “empêché d’observer et d’arrêter plusieurs personnes. Lorsqu’il apperçoit que nos gens sont en affaires, il avertit tout le monde et fait même amasser la livrée.” His insolence was, of course, soon rewarded with a sentence to Bicêtre.46 Occasionally, individuals of higher social standing than Luxembourg’s also risked confronting the police on the issue of surveillance. In March of 1752 inspecteur Meusnier informed Berryer that the young marquis de Crussol Saint-Sulpice, an officer in the company of gendarmes despite his weedy physique and extreme myopia, had just paid him a threatening visit. The marquis had just learned that Meusnier, acting on a request originating with the marquis’s parents, had paid an official visit to his prostitute mistress, the demoiselle Jacquemart, and threatened her with confinement in the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière. During the course of his angry visit, Crussol was imprudent enough to tell Meusnier that not even Monsieur Berryer had any

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

60

Page 60

Scenes and Characters

authority over him, or the right to spy on his activities; that in any case, he would run his sword through any mouche he caught following him, Berryer’s orders notwithstanding. Naturally indulgent with members of the upper classes, but not the least intimidated, inspector Meusnier then relates how he coolly faced down the young hothead and soon brought him round to reason.47 More dangerous to the authorities than these isolated gestures of resistance by individuals were the not infrequent street demonstrations or attroupements, such as those that occurred in May 1750 during the so-called enlèvements, provoking the worst sedition in forty years in a Paris urban population that was, in fact, generally characterized as “assez doux et assez tranquille.”48 It was not unusual for the police to arrest “les petits libertins et fainéants qui jouent sur les portes et dans les carrefours.” On this occasion, it appears that in carrying out their orders to gather up young street vagrants deemed to be potential pickpockets and thieves, Berryer’s police went too far. Children with normal family connections were abducted during the operation and a panicked populace soon reacted with murderous violence. Wild rumours circulated that the entire operation had been mounted to accommodate one of the royal princesses who needed to bathe frequently in the blood of young children in order to cure a skin affliction. Riots erupted and a number of police spies were massacred by the crowd. “Il suffit,” noted d’Argenson, “qu’un homme eût l’apparence d’un officier de police pour être déchiré. Voilà le peuple de Paris devenu extrêmement cruel et déchirant les hommes comme des sauvages.”49 The memorialist Charles Collé notes on the same occasion that one of the police informers whose identity became known to the crowd was “massacré avec une inhumanité portée aux derniers excès, et traîné après sa mort, la corde au cou, jusques sur la porte de M. Berryer.” The name of the unfortunate mouche was Parisien, continues Collé. Typically recruited while a prisoner of the police, he was “très estimé dans ce métier où il était extrêmement adroit […] parce que jadis il avait été voleur de la compagnie de Raffiat,50 avec lequel il auroit été roué vif si sa grâce ne lui eût été accordée, attendu qu’il servit merveilleusement à trouver le fil de toute l’intrigue de ces assassins.” The loss of Parisien’s services was a severe blow to the theft detail: “Il étoit, dit-on, le premier homme du monde pour découvrir des voleurs, et M. Berryer le regrette véritablement.”51 On that same day, Berryer himself barely managed to escape the infuriated mob. He nevertheless later emerged from the incident more determined than ever to put down any signs of popular resistance. Memorialists of the period privately recorded dire thoughts on the subject: “Il est dangereux,” noted Barbier, “de laisser connoître au peuple

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 61

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

61

sa force, et qu’il peut être redoutable.52 The marquis d’Argenson, brother of the comte d’Argenson who was Berryer’s superior, was equally concerned, and his words on this occasion invite us to cast our minds ahead four decades to the uneasy times of revolution and the fall of the Bastille: “Quand le peuple ne craint rien, il est tout.”53 We do not know precisely when Nicolas Willemin de Coin and Charles de Julie met but it is probably safe to assume that they first ran into each other in a crowded police office soon after the returning naval volontaire began making his own contributions as an informer in exchange for protection and a modicum of financial security. The choice of specialized détails to which each man was assigned is not certain but it was probably determined by their particular expertise in matters of petty crime – the militaires and the police des mœurs under inspector Meusnier, for example, or possibly the gambling and theatre details under La Jannière, one of lieutenants in the Compagnie de Robe Courte. We know that another police inspector, Joseph d’Hémery, responsible for surveillance of the book trade, also made use of Julie’s talents early on. In terms of street smarts and cultural awareness, both of these highly intelligent and well-educated young men had special aptitudes that would have allowed them to circulate easily in the more dubious regions of the Parisian republic of letters, a territory densely populated by ambitious and quarrelsome hack authors, poetasters, and mercenary critics bent for the most part on carving out a warm niche in the status quo for themselves. Denigrating and driving out those already occupying the field was usually seen as the indispensable first step to a successful literary career. More established writers held such “scribblers” in low esteem and viewed them with suspicion and contempt. The Encyclopédie, for example, attributes no sacrosanct or dedicated mission to the lowly representatives of the press. Diderot’s article “Journaliste” alludes to their essentially parasitic function and a too common ignorance made worse by their tendency to confound “la chicane de l’art pour le fond de l’art.” Famous today for the lines, “I may disagree with what you say but shall defend to the death your right to say it” (something he, in fact, did not say and seldom had the right to say), the great humanitarian Voltaire, himself the author of a celebrated treatise on toleration and a reputed champion of free speech, did not hesitate to ask the police to lock up forthwith any hack critic impertinent enough to disagree with him: “Est-ce que Bicêtre est plein?” he writes in irritation on 24 July 1749 to his friend d’Argental concerning the publicist Fréron.54 Fréron, as it turned out, also had his affinities with the likes of Julie and de Coin, having been for a number of years a police spy secretly employed by inspector d’Hémery to keep an eye out for transgressions in the book trade.

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

62

Page 62

Scenes and Characters

Incarceration in Bicêtre, as Voltaire urges, would indeed have been a punishment of disproportionate severity. Sometimes described as the poor man’s Bastille, the prison was located on the southern edge of Paris and was probably dreaded more than any other penal institution in Europe. Later in the century, because of Bicêtre’s plentiful supply of corpses, the guillotine was experimentally perfected there. Nevertheless, even such enlightened and tolerant defenders of the Encyclopédie as Malesherbes, the architect of France’s liberalized book trade, saw “gentler” prisons like For l’Évêque as insufficient punishment for the insolence of these literary opportunists, riffraff who dedicated their talents to brazen-faced personal attacks on the nation’s most important citizens: “Je ne crois pas,” he informed one of Berryer’s successors, Sartine, on 20 May 1760, “que Bicêtre soit trop forte pour ces derniers.”55 Happily, these scandal-mongering parasites of the pen attacked each other far more frequently than they attacked members of the establishment whose protection they so fervently sought. Remembered most often today as the implacable critic and enemy of Voltaire, Élie-Catherine Fréron probably started being discreetly helpful to the police soon after serving a brief sentence in the prison of Vincennes in 1746 for his satirical attacks on two relatively minor but well-protected literary figures, the abbés Le Blanc and de Bernis.56 Despite a certain reluctance on the part of Fréron’s modern-day defenders to acknowledge such unsavoury underground activities, it is clear that this particular “bon garçon qui n’a pu faire autrement” was also temperamentally well suited to his job as a police informer, managing to serve inspector d’Hémery in that capacity for more than two decades, from 1750 to 1771.57 Fréron eventually became one of the leading journalists and polemicists of the capital, but maintained his espionage functions throughout his entire career as well. Interestingly, even in his undercover reports, the critic, the gossip, and the spy are indistinguishable. Reporting to d’Hémery on a certain contraband work, he takes care to note, for example, that not only is the work illegal, it is too long. Similarly, he points out that Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s supposed scorn for wealth is mere hypocritical pretense. Rousseau’s recent piece attacking French music, he adds, has revolted honest folk and there is substantial support for the notion that he should be kicked out of France. Typically, d’Hémery’s literary spy takes pains to indicate his full agreement with that view: “C’est un esprit dangereux; il a gâté absolument Diderot, d’Alembert et beaucoup d’autres.” Next he adds a tidbit on the sexual preferences of the encyclopedist d’Alembert: “Vous ne savez pas,” he informs d’Hémery, “et j’ignorais aussi, qu’il était giton. Le fait est sûr; il ne peut pas être agent, vu son impuissance décidée; mais il est volontiers patient. On les a surpris en flagrant délit,

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 63

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

63

l’abbé Canaye et lui.”58 Of course, Fréron the spy asks his employer d’Hémery to exercise caution when exploiting such material. Some items were simply too risky to use since he would most certainly be identified as the source by his trusting fellow hacks: “Cette épigramme,” he informed d’Hémery on 14 September 1752 regarding some subversive verse, “m’a été donnée sous le plus grand secret. Personne ne l’a. Ainsi ne la donnez à personne et ne la faites point courir. Cela est essentiel pour les raisons que je vous dirai.”59 Spies lived in fear of having their cover blown and were themselves quite routinely spied upon. Those reporting to one inspector were not necessarily aware of the identity of their immediate colleagues, nor were inspectors normally in the know about each other’s mouches: “Il y a un certain abbé de Roscouet, qui est Breton,” Fréron informed his inspector late in November 1752, “et qui, dit-on, est espion de la police et de l’archevêque. Il est connu pour tel dans beaucoup de maisons, d’où il a été chassé.” Proud to show that it takes one to know one, d’Hémery’s spy then adds: “Je connais cet abbé, et la première fois que je le vis, je devinai le métier qu’il faisait à ses propos.”60 One even had to watch out for moles or counterspies higher up in Berryer’s office or in the ministry. The nouvelliste François-Jérôme Bousquet de Colomiers, arrested on 9 November 1752 for nouvelles à la main and sent to the Bastille for five months, had, for example, received an anonymous early warning that the police were about to arrest him. The innate treachery of the informer and the lack of any sense of solidarity among the nouvellistes themselves is evident in Fréron’s report to d’Hémery on the subject: “Bosquet ou Bousquet a donc été mis à la Bastille. Ce que vous ne savez peut-être pas, c’est que trois semaines avant que d’être arrêté, il reçut un billet anonyme, par lequel on lui marquait qu’il eût à prendre ses précautions, qu’on l’accusait de faire des nouvelles à la main, et qu’il y avait un ordre pour le faire arrêter. Il a montré ce billet à deux ou trois de ses amis, et méprisant l’avis, il n’a fait aucune démarche pour prévenir sa détention. Je suis bien aise de vous apprendre cette petite circonstance, afin que vous sachiez qu’il y a peut-être quelqu’un dans le bureau du ministre ou du magistrat, qui sait le secret et qui en donne avis aux gens.”61 The anonymous note in question, later discovered among Bousquet’s papers by the police, survives today in the Bastille archives.62 Bousquet himself appears not to have been a police spy, although there is some question that the reports on French military and other internal matters he included in his à la main for the British and Dutch ambassadors may have bordered on “foreign” espionage. From his mouche Fréron, d’Hémery learned too that this same Bousquet and the young Mairobert63 were courtiers littéraires who supplied nouvelles

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

64

Page 64

Scenes and Characters

and anecdotes to Pierre de Morand, one of Frederick the Great’s secret agents in Paris. The police, Fréron suggests, would do well to keep a close watch on the pair; sooner or later they were bound to slip up and provide cause for bringing them to heel.64 As a police spy, Fréron showed no compunction in denouncing even those fellow writers who trusted him as a friend. On 5 October 1752 he notes that Mairobert “a traduit ou fait traduire (car je doute qu’il soit capable de rien faire par lui-même) une vie du chancelier Bacon dans laquelle il y a des choses hardies. Je tâcherai,” he assures d’Hémery, “de vous en procurer la lecture. Il doit me la donner pour la corriger.”65 Mairobert, it is worth noting, had already spent a year in the Bastille, from 2 July 1749 to 27 June 1750, for reciting verses against Louis XV and the marquise de Pompadour in one of the cafés of the capital. Some notion of how interconnected and byzantine the police espionage network was can be had from the fact that neither inspector d’Hémery nor his informant Fréron apparently knew that the writer Pierre de Morand, whom they had under surveillance as a literary spy reporting to the Prussian king, was also a mouche in the direct employ of their superior, Berryer.66 Then there was Morand’s close friend, the “polisson” Guenet from Languedoc, also noté by the police: “60 ans […], petit, figure mesquine, pâle, livide et louche,” who, it was thought, had collaborated with Morand in writing the obscene play Le Pot de chambre cassé. Guenet was a shady character, d’Hémery decided, and his wife, who had been a prostitute in Rennes, was also a plotter and schemer.67 It was obvious that he needed watching. What d’Hémery and Fréron did not know, however, was that Guenet was also a mouche of the exempt de robe courte Vierrey. As for Vierrey’s senior robe courte colleague, Péan de La Jannière, he had on his payroll at this same time three mutually acquainted mouches of his own: first of all, Nicolas Willemin de Coin (also secretly reporting to Berryer); second, the hack writer Gaubier, and, finally, a gouty functionary in the service of the duc d’Orléans, the journalist Ignace Hugary de la Marche, co-founder of the Journal étranger, who was constantly in bad company and often seen with Gaubier “and others of the same ilk as de Coin.”68 D’Hémery’s journal provides some information on these other associates as well: La Marche “a fait un manuscrit intitulé Mémoires de Madame de G. écrits par elle-même. C’est la vie de Madame de Tencin qu’il veut faire imprimer. Elle est remplie d’ordures et est fort mal écrite; cet aut[eur] est un polisson qui a assez d’esprit et qui a déjà fait il y a quelques années les Lettres d’Aza.”69 An entry for 12 March 1752 gives his description: “30 ans, taille de cinq pieds trois pouces.

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 65

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

65

Blond et assez bien de figure.”70 “J’ai su,” d’Hémery adds, underlining the fact that the information was ferreted out, “qu’il servait de mouche à La Jannière.” D’Hémery also records that the gout-ridden (and syphilitic) La Marche “vient d’obtenir de M. de Malesherbes, par le crédit de M. le duc d’Orléans, la permission de faire un journal étranger.”71 Fréron, in turn, contributes the information that the project is actually shared by Gaubier, another La Jannière mouche, “fils d’un maître maçon de Paris, chassé de chez le Roi, où il avait une charge de valet de chambre.” Gaubier, we learn, also shared something of de Coin’s background, having been “enfermé par ordre du Roi à Saint-Lazare, ensuite au Grand-Châtelet, pour dettes, puis après à Saint-Yon sur la demande de ses parents.”72 We also learn that along with his functions as a journalist and informer, Edme-Sulpice Gaubier de Barrault found time to collaborate on plays, most notably, it seems, the same Pot de chambre cassé that was attributed to Morand and Guenet. Both La Marche and Gaubier had dealings with one of the more prolific and notorious poison-pen nouvellistes of the period, FrançoisAntoine de Chevrier. Chevrier, described by d’Hémery as “un mauvais sujet, hardi, menteur, audacieux, critique et d’une hauteur insupportable,”73 supplied items for Morand but he also spied directly for the King of Prussia.74 At one time or another, both La Marche and Gaubier were denounced by another celebrated informer and nouvelliste, the chevalier de Mouhy, who, d’Hémery points out,75 regularly reported to the police on “tout ce qu’il voit dans les cafés, spectacles et promenades où il va toujours.” Mouhy’s activities as a spy had been going on for such a long time – since the days of Berryer’s predecessor Marville – that he had earned a special place of distinction in the “pauvres diables” milieu. A copy of the following quatrain that we find circulating in 1751 survives today in d’Hémery’s papers: Flatteur banal, faiseur et colporteur de livre, Espion, maquereau, nouvelliste à la main; Avec autant de métiers pour vivre, Le pauvre Mouhy meurt de faim.76

It was an age much given to mordantly abusive verse epigrams, and the author of that one, we can be fairly certain, was only one of hundreds of pauvres hères who participated in the veritable doggerel mania that raged throughout this so-called century of prose. La rimaillerie, for good or ill, reigned supreme in the little mags.77 It was no accident that a police search of Charles de Julie’s pockets in For l’Évêque had turned up the lyrics of a song, or that soon after his

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

66

Page 66

Scenes and Characters

arrest, the prisoner would himself call upon the muse for help as he addressed a plea to Berryer for his freedom. There would be many more such propitiatory verse offerings to the lieutenant général de police in Julie’s future. Ironically, it is in connection with this poetic craze that his name first comes up in d’Hémery’s journal, where we find him acting as an informer in May 1751 regarding the activities of a certain Le Dieux: “Julie m’a dit qu’il faisait beaucoup de vers; cela est vrai, c’est un fou et un ancien peintre.”78 Another such was the already-mentioned Mathieu-François Pidansat de Mairobert, only half Le Dieux’s age: “Un jeune étourdi d’assez bonne famille, fils d’un ancien officier de M. le duc d’Orléans à qui cette famille est attachée depuis longtemps. Il fait des vers, et a la rage de passer pour en faire. Il vient d’être arrêté et conduit à la Bastille pour en avoir colporté de suspects et distribué dans les cafés contre le Roi et Mme la Marquise; on lui en a même trouvé dans ses poches en l’arrêtant. C’est le chevalier de Mouhy qui l’a dénoncé.”79 D’Hémery’s spy-generated list of dangerous writers seems endless. There is the abbé de La Porte: “Petit, maigre, chafouin, et d’une fort vilaine figure.” He is “un homme de mauvaise compagnie.” A former Jesuit, he is also very friendly with the abbé Raynal and is the author of “différentes pièces de vers assez libres qu’il a fait imprimer par La Marche.”80 The abbé Salmon, “50 ans, brun, petit crapoussin,” is another poetaster, “un poète fort médiocre qui a la fureur de l’être.”81 There was also a certain Sanadon, related to the late Jesuit by that name: “jeune homme qui fait beaucoup de vers français. [...] Il est un peu bougre.”82 Le Tenneur, “60 ans, d’une physionomie folle, brun, maigre et les yeux vifs, une espèce de fou qui a la manie de faire des vers pour la cour.”83 We have already met the wayward wife of the poetaster Turpin,84 forty years of age in January 1749. More positively than usual, d’Hémery notes in his files that this dismissed teacher from Caen has “un talent singulier pour les vers, qu’il fait mordants.” His patron, the fermier général Helvétius, has given him a pension. “Il a épousé une catin. Juin 1749, il a dit à un de ses amis qu’il connaissait l’auteur des vers contre le Roi.” We recall that it was while he was exercising his own assigned mouche functions that Nicolas de Coin first incurred the wrath of Dupré de Richemond who had absconded with Turpin’s catin-spouse in 1749. Occasionally, one or two of these impoverished versifiers are spared d’Hémery’s favourite categorization as mauvais sujets: Collet, for example, is forty-five years of age, “petit de taille, fort rouge de visage,” and the author of many songs and “jolies polisonneries.” He is also described as closely associated with Paran, Gallet, and others, but “point ivrogne comme eux.”85 Another sensible devotee of the

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 67

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

67

muse is Meslé who works as a mouche for the lieutenant du guet SaintMarc: “Trente ans, petit et marqué de petite vérole, [...] fait des vers, et en a fait mettre souvent dans le Mercure. [...] On le dit fort sage.”86 To be sage implied, of course, that the writer steered clear of politics, personalities, and religion. Reputations could be destroyed overnight, ministers could be disgraced, and the monarchy itself provoked into panicky repression at the mere thought of irreverent or seditious stanzas being peddled in the cafés along with the usual naughty miniatures and copies of the bawdy novel Thérèse philosophe – not to mention dildos and condoms.87 So worrisome was the unsettled state of affairs and so intense the degree of attention paid to “poetry” of the satirical and burlesque variety, that the powerful minister Maurepas lost his position in April 1749 and suffered a long exile, all for a few lines of unsavoury verse attributed to him concerning the marquise de Pompadour and a supposed case of leucorrhœal fleurs blanches: Vos manières nobles et franches, Pompadour, enchaînent les coeurs; Tous vos pas sont semés de fleurs; Mais ce ne sont que des fleurs blanches.

Or again, mocking the marquise de Pompadour’s maiden name: Sans esprit, sans caractère, L’âme vile et mercenaire, Le propos d’une commère: Tout est bas dans la Poisson, son, son, son.88

Worse still were the direct attacks on the king himself that followed the expulsion of the Young Pretender in December 1748, compounding popular dissatisfaction with the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which the duc de Richelieu had even dared to describe in a private gathering as “un chef d’œuvre de stupidité, s’il ne l’était de corruption.”89 One of the most determined and unremitting police investigations of the century was instituted to track down the author of a notorious poem that began with the line, Peuple jadis si fier, aujourd’hui si servile. When he was finally captured, the author, EspritJean-Baptiste Desforges, was punished with seven years of incarceration, three of which were spent in the infamous iron cage at Mont Saint-Michel: Incestueux tyran, traître, inhumain faussaire, Oses-tu t’arroger le nom de Bien-Aimé?

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

68

Page 68

Scenes and Characters

L’exil et la prison seront donc le salaire D’un digne fils de roi, d’un prince infortuné?90

With heightened police surveillance and many arrests in the offing, it was an opportune moment for the likes of Charles de Julie and Nicolas de Coin to be recruited. On 25 July 1749, d’Argenson made a note in his journal regarding the ministry’s stepped-up police campaign: “On a arrêté ces jours-ci quantités d’abbés, de savants et de beauxesprits, et on les a mis à la Bastille, comme le sieur Diderot, quelques professeurs de l’université, docteurs de Sorbonne, etc. Ils sont accusés d’avoir fait des vers contre le roi, de les avoir récités, débités, d’avoir frondé contre le ministère, d’avoir écrit et imprimé pour le déisme et contre les mœurs; à quoi l’on voudrait donner des bornes, la licence en étant devenue très-grande.” Five days later, d’Argenson made a related entry: “On a arrêté encore avant-hier deux nouveaux abbés, accusés d’écrits publics, de vers contre le roi, de brochures contre Dieu et contre les mœurs; on les interroge, on les menace, on prétend par là arrêter les mauvais discours des cafés et des promenades et tous les libelles indécents qui courent Paris.” Once again the ex-minister of Foreign Affairs notes that his brother the comte, with his well-oiled espionage machinery and huge budget for spies, has his work cut out for him: “Ainsi mon frère va-t-il rendre nos beaux-esprits, nos abbés très-morigénés, très-dévots, à force de prison et d’ennui.”91 That was not, we can be fairly certain, the kind of verse the budding poet-spy, Charles de Julie, was practising at this time. A keen lover of the Opéra and the two major playhouses of the capital, and an enthusiastic patron of brothels and gambling dens, he clearly preferred the ribald wit of such popular pieces as the notorious Clairon epigram that attacked France’s leading tragic actress of the day. It circulated through the cafés and the nouvelles à la main like wildfire during the first week of February 1752: Le prix d’un c[on] ne gît que dans l’idée. Jadis Cléron suppliait les passants De vouloir bien la baiser pour trois francs. Encore souvent elle était refusée; Mais aujourd’hui qu’elle fait du fracas, Et sur la scène étale ses appas, Tel autrefois qui l’avait méprisée Lorsqu’il pouvait choisir pour un écu De caresser ou son c[on] ou son c[ul] En donnerait présentement, je gage,

CH02.QXD

9/1/2004 11:33 AM

Page 69

Companion Misfits, Scribblers, and Spies

69

Trente fois plus et même davantage, Pour la tenir une nuit dans ses bras, Et ne croirait employer ses ducats Mal à propos; tant vraie est ma pensée Le prix d’un c[on] ne gît que dans l’idée.92

As for the kind of serious literary criticism a spy like Fréron was able to indulge in, that too was somewhat beyond Charles de Julie’s authorial interests and capacities. His talents, we shall see in due course, were better adapted to more everyday genres, although he avoided the bitter and quarrelsome exchanges common among many members of the literary underground and typified in the following example, also to be found in d’Hémery’s informative journal. The shortest of letters, it records the peevish reaction of one demi-auteur who has just received an unfavourable comment on his work from an equally undistinguished rival. D’Hémery preserves for posterity the angry recipient’s response, scrawled on the same sheet and contemptuously returned to the sender: Je t’envoie cette lettre. Compte qu’en torche-cul tu peux encore remettre, Car puisque ton écrit n’a qu’un côté merdeux, Il peut fort bien servir à deux.93

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 70

3 Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

Charles de Julie’s talents as a police informer probably found their most rewarding outlet in the semi-clandestine milieu of Paris’s twenty or thirty thousand prostitutes, a number of whom regularly spied for inspector Meusnier of the vice squad or for other members of the police organization, including Berryer. This demi-monde of sex workers serving a varied clientele from every social class and calling – soldiers, tradesmen, artisans, law clerks, and libertine ecclesiastics, to name but a few – had been familiar to him for years. It was, we recall, at the residence of the demoiselle Delisle that Julie had been arrested for forgery, theft, and sundry other felonies in 1747. Before her death at age 59 in 1756, this ci-devant Opéra danseuse and former mistress of the comte de Charolais had gained in local entertainment circles the celebrity status of a veteran courtesan. The exact nature of her relationship with the twenty-two-year-old Charles de Julie is unclear. Perhaps she was no more than another substitute “mother” for the streetwise garçon de plaisir after he was kicked out of the army. No doubt all those bottles of fine wine obtained through fraud and delivered to the address of this decaying benefactress were destined to enhance the ongoing festivities, perhaps reminding la Delisle of her more prosperous days as mistress to a prince of the blood royal. It is possible even that the handsome and virile Julie had been fortunate enough to be designated the non-paying greluchon de la maison. Whatever the truth of the matter, the demoiselle Delisle’s distinguished past and her former princely connections must have provided a special attraction for the young delinquent. Even her death did not lack in a certain stylish élan.

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 71

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

71

In one of his characteristically sardonic vice-squad notations, inspector Meusnier records her last words and gestures: “Les uns en attribuent la cause à un rhume négligé, d’autres à un tempérament usé à force de boire, et c’est à cette occasion qu’on dit qu’elle est morte les armes à la main, car le même jour elle demanda un verre de liqueur à la demoiselle Thierry, qui le lui donna, et lorsqu’elle l’eut bu, elle lui dit va ce sera le dernier. En effet, elle mourut deux heures après.”1 Inspector Jean-Baptiste Meusnier recorded many similar observations in his registers, often in a dryly elegant style that rivalled the best satirical prose of the century’s great writers. It was in 1748 that he was first charged by Berryer, the lieutenant général de police with the formidable task of overseeing the morals detail in the capital. From the beginning he was careful to keep comprehensive files on a wide variety of individual prostitutes as well as on many of the more distinguished femmes galantes and otherwise respectable loose ladies of the town, painstakingly tracking their successive professional name “mutations,” their occupations, addresses, current lovers, and changing fortunes. The events of his own life no doubt contributed extra purpose and intensity to his particular interests in this area. At the age of twenty-five, in 1740, Meusnier, then a bright and ambitious exciseman working for the fermier général Charles Savalette, had married his pretty mistress, Geneviève de Longagne. A son was born that same year, but scarcely six months into the marriage it became only too apparent to the husband that Madame was less than totally committed to a monogamous union. A series of infidelities and conjugal misadventures ended with her being forcefully confined to a nunnery at Meusnier’s behest, first at la Madeleine in La Flèche and later with the Pénitentes in Angers. On at least two occasions Mme Meusnier succeeded in escaping from her religious guardians and each time, despite the long reach of her husband’s police network, she managed to evade recapture for a considerable period, taking pains to render ever more conspicuous during each interval of freedom the already prominent cuckold’s horns on the inspector’s forehead. In all probability, cuckoldom also contributed an element of bitterness to both the style and substance of Meusnier’s wry misogyny. A jocular cynicism and world-weary tone of studied indifference permeates his official reports, many of which were based on the steamy accounts he himself regularly received from his mères abbesses, the madams who were obliged to prepare and submit to him weekly “journals” listing all comings and goings in their respective establishments. To amuse his superior Berryer, Meusnier was also in the habit of writing up polished versions of selected maquerelle reports and these, it has been traditionally alleged, the lieutenant général sometimes forwarded to Versailles, where they provided entertaining boudoir reading for Mme de Pompadour and her royal lover.

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

72

Page 72

Scenes and Characters

Such titillating communications notwithstanding, it is clear that most of the time, especially with regard to the material recorded in his private cahiers,2 the inspector’s detailed notations were intended strictly for his own personal and professional use. No one was safe from Meusnier’s spies, not even Berryer, whose own secret wenching with the demoiselle Duval from the Opéra at a rented hideaway in a quiet suburb (a petite maison was de rigueur for most wealthy libertines) was carefully tracked by the inspector. We learn, for example, that Berryer in June 1753 was disbursing the generous sum of fifty louis a month (nearly 15,000 livres a year) in exchange for la Duval’s talented favours. On another occasion, the inspector jots down a reminder to himself to ask Morange, one of his informers, to find out the identity of Berryer’s most recent mistress. Similarly, his private notes for May 1753 record the fact that Louis XV’s latest nymphet morsel, Mlle Morphy (“belles dents, beaux yeux bleus, la gorge bien faite”),3 had begun her periods only three or four months before she was conducted to the royal four-poster and that she was currently lodged on the sly in the little Parc-aux-Cerfs hunting pavilion at Versailles. Obviously, that too was one of the juicy items the inspector did not include in the more polished bordello chronicles that he sometimes passed on to his superiors for the eventual amusement of the marquise and the king. Inspector Meusnier, in fact, seems to have been aware of nearly everything that was going on in the wealthy bedrooms as well as the more fashionable brothels of the capital. He records in meticulous detail the age, physical appearance, pseudonyms, residence, gifts and stipends, notable orgies, pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases of each celebrated femme galante brought to his attention. In this last respect, his medical documentation often seems amazingly complete, frequently identifying both vectors and victims. Monsieur So-and-So’s chaude-pisse had been an unwanted gift from Madame une telle, who had caught it from a certain chevalier only a few weeks earlier. The unlucky recipient’s cure was taking place at this or that private establishment and the total cost of the treatment was such-and-such. The greatest ladies in the land did not escape the inspector’s scrutiny: “Madame la duchesse d’Orléans [...] passe actuellement les remèdes chez elle. C’est Morand4 qui est chargé de cette opération. Elle fut lundi ou mercredi dernier à la Comédie-Italienne, fort embéguinée, et quelque plaisant qui était auprès de la loge où elle était, dit qu’elle sentait fort le mercure.”5 The duc d’Orléans was also being treated, but the inspector notes that the duchess’s infection was acquired independently of her husband’s. The duke’s mistress – at the time the celebrated actress la Deschamps – had not completely cured her own recent case

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 73

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

73

of gonorrhea which she had also passed on to the comte de Coubert. By 24 January, this famous beauty who once received a hundred louis (2400 livres) from the financier Villemur l’aîné for a single night of dalliance,6 was currently going through a few painful moments: “N’ayant pas été bien guérie, elle a été obligée de se remettre dans les remèdes chez elle et […] le mercure a causé de si grands désordres qu’elle a eu la tête d’une grosseur énorme, que plusieurs dents lui sont tombées, et qu’elle sera fort heureuse si elle n’y perd pas un œil.”7 These were sad consequences indeed for the fille de joie who would be singled out by Diderot six years later as most worthy of note for having accumulated – and as quickly dissipated – two million livres before the age of thirty!8 Recently cuckolded himself by the enterprising abbé Collier, chaplain at the convent of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours in Paris, 9 Meusnier was especially keen to keep tabs on the sexual peccadillos of the senior clergy: “L’archevêque de Cambrai [Charles de Saint-Albin] soupe et couche presque toutes les nuits avec Mme O’Brien, comtesse de Lismore”;10 “L’archevêque de Strasbourg [Armand de Rohan, cardinal de Soubise] couche avec Mlle du Fresne. Il y va tous les soirs incognito [...] jusqu’à 2 ou 3 heures du matin; on la dit grosse de lui.”11 Nor do the lower ecclesiastical orders escape his notice. The demoiselle Saint-André, a native of Paris, “brune, petite et maigre, mais jolie,” was not what could be described as a brilliant success at her trade but she maintained an adequate income working out of her room at Le Riche Laboureur on the rue des Fossés-Monsieur-le-Prince, conveniently near the couvent des Cordeliers. In fact the Cordeliers residence (the very building that forty years later would house the celebrated revolutionary club of that name where Danton, Desmoulins, and Marat held forth) furnished a good part of her custom, she being the “maîtresse de trois Cordeliers qui fournissent à son entretien et couchent toutes les nuits à tour de rôle chez elle.” That graciously courteous arrangement even draws a wry philosophical comment from the hardened inspector: “La parfaite intelligence qui règne entre eux, donne lieu de croire qu’ils sont au-dessus du préjugé des gens du monde.”12 Meusnier’s files on individuals were updated regularly and with scrupulous care, even if the new information was entirely unrelated to any of his ongoing investigations. He records, for example, that the banker (and counterfeiter) Guillaume Delacroix, lover of Mlle Gallodien, a dancer at the Comédie-Française, has just been taken to the Bastille: “Cet événement,” Meusnier notes with professional dedication, “n’est point rapporté ici à titre de nouvelle, mais seulement pour conserver de l’ordre dans la tradition des faits relatifs à l’histoire de chacun de ces personnages.”13

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

74

Page 74

Scenes and Characters

Even the most secret intrigues do not escape his attention: “Depuis trois à quatre ans, la demoiselle Gauthier, chanteuse à l’Opéra, est aux appointements de M. de Villemur, receveur général des finances, sans que personne ait eu jusqu’ici le moindre soupçon de cette intrigue qui est même encore ignorée de la demoiselle Beaufort.” That fact was astonishing in itself since la demoiselle Beaufort was Villemur’s vigilant maîtresse en titre. Admittedly, surveillance in the case of this gentleman was particularly difficult: “Ce qui déroute souvent sur les allures de M. de Villemur, c’est qu’on le voit chez presque toutes les filles et qu’elles tirent toutes quelque chose de lui.”14 Women of fashion also came under the inspector’s professional surveillance: Mme de Caze, wife of the womanizing fermier général, Caze de Juvincourt, a notorious spendthrift, “loin de prendre les chagrins à cœur [...] s’indemnise avec usure des infidélités de son mari. On lui admet plusieurs consolateurs.”15 The lady’s current favourite, he continues, is a certain Le Page, a former conseiller at the Parlement of Rouen. Mme de Caze has been paying him handsomely for his services. Le Page’s own wife can obviously afford to contribute occasionally towards her husband’s maintenance since she herself is being kept by the wealthy financier Bouret de Villaumont.16 Meusnier’s eye for detail is sharp and no particularizing aspect of a female subject’s personal appearance was beneath his notice. We are informed17 that la demoiselle Hernie, “vulgairement dite Marie Trois Tétons,” formerly a dancer at the Opéra, is “une grande fille, âgée de 33 ans, fort blanche, qui fut jadis bien faite, aujourd’huy elle est un peu matérielle. Quoiqu’elle ait eu beaucoup d’enfants et de services, c’est une des filles de Paris la moins fanée pour son âge. On l’appelle Marie Trois Tétons et l’on prétend qu’elle en a effectivement trois. Cette singularité et la réputation qu’elle a encore d’être bien conformée ont donné lieu à la curiosité d’une multitude d’hommes que sa complaisance a mis en état d’en juger.” Similar excitement was generated by the “singularity” of la demoiselle Juvigny, one of the notorious Mme Pâris’s former charges whose extreme youth (dépucelée at the age of ten) and a total lack of pubic hair “excita la curiosité du maréchal de Saxe qui cependant devait en avoir vu de toutes les couleurs.” Backing up Meusnier’s informative file on la demoiselle Juvigny is a letter from her old procuress who took her in at the age of twelve and kept her for three and a half years until her own retirement. The inspector notes sarcastically that her apprenticeship with the celebrated la Pâris was not an entirely negative experience for the girl. She was now just over fifteen years of age and equipped for greater things: “Elle est sortie comme toutes ses compagnes de chez la Pâris avec peu d’argent mais bien nippée, en montre d’or, et maniérée. Cette dernière acquisition, à

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 75

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

75

la vérité, fait son éloge: passer quatre fois les remèdes en 3 ans et demi qu’elle est restée dans cette académie prouve son émulation et combien elle a fui l’oisiveté.”18 The eighteenth-century libertine’s goût des tendrons is frequently mentioned in vice squad files. Recruitment of child prostitutes by maquerelles was not uncommon, athough the practice was officially frowned upon if any “jeunes filles de bourgeois” or “jeunes personnes de famille” were discovered to have been led astray and kept against their will, or subsequently placed by the procuress at the service of debauched libertines. Such were the circumstances in the much publicized case of Jeanne Moyon in July 1750, which provoked the ire of observers as varied as the lawyer Barbier19 and the playwright Charles Collé, the latter finding the traditional punishment administered for the maquerelle’s crime entirely insufficient. Moyon had been paraded in the traditional manner, through the streets riding backwards on a donkey, wearing a crude hat made of straw, publicly flogged at each principal cross-road, and, finally, branded with the fleur de lys and imprisoned in the maison de force at la Salpêtrière: “Je ne comprends pas pourquoi elle n’a pas été condamnée à la mort,” Collé grumbles in his journal; “les lois infligent la peine capitale dans les cas de rapt, même de rapt de séduction; le crime de la Moyon [which had also involved initially kidnapping the eleven-year-old youngster] me paroît plus grand.”20 The Jeanne Moyon case presented an extreme example that caught the public eye and after her release, nearly three years later, Meusnier made a little note to himself to keep a close watch on her and to find out “promptement et exactement si elle recommence le maquerellage.”21 But the law that no maquerelle should procure a virgin was clearly honoured more often in the breach than in the observance. Frequently, the girl’s parents or other relatives (“la mère consentante” is a common police notation) were complicitous in the arrangements. As it was with many forbidden but quietly tolerated activities in the ancien régime, the full rigour of the law was brought down only when the offence provoked public scandal or a formal complaint. No action seems to have been taken, for example, when the following letter, written by the procuress La Genty to a notorious pedophile, one of King Stanislas’s chamberlains, came into inspector Meusnier’s possession: Monsieur, Pardon si j’ose espérer que vous excuserez la liberté que je prends d’avoir l’honneur de vous écrire sans avoir celui de vous connaître assez particulièrement, mais j’espère que vous ne me saurez pas mauvais gré de vous donner avis que je connais une jeune pucelle qui est une blonde des plus parfaites en beauté

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

76

Page 76

Scenes and Characters

et en douceurs. Elle appartient à père et mère de famille mais que la dureté du temps a réduit dans le besoin […] à consentir que leur fille ait un amant de condition qui puisse faire du bien à cette petite innocente, de crainte que la misère ne la réduise à se prostituer. Comme j’ai l’honneur de vous connaître de réputation j’ai pensé qu’il n’y avait pas de seigneur d’une plus judicieuse générosité et qui méritât mieux cette déférence que vous, Monsieur, et je me flatte que vous ne me voudrez pas de mal du choix que je fais de votre illustre personne. Elle n’a pas treize ans mais elle est formée comme une fille de dix-huit, ayant les plus charmantes dispositions du monde. Sachant que vous êtes un des plus délicats et connaisseurs des partisans de ce siècle du beau sexe, j’ai l’honneur d’être très respectueusement, Monsieur, Votre très humble et très zélée servante, Jeantil Ma demeure est rue Mazarine, Aux Armes de France, chez un carrossier au premier au fond de la cour.22

Except when it was a matter of abusing his police powers to intimidate his wayward wife’s lovers and accomplices, Meusnier rarely allowed personal feelings to disturb his professional imperturbability in such matters. The world was after all a harsh place and it was understandable that all sorts of people had to scramble for survival as best they could. For example, in his note on the background of a less fortunate tendron, a simple country girl from Brie named Augustine Mitaine, Meusnier sounds uncaringly cool and objective. The little girl had come to Paris directly from her peasant occupations as a cowherd and on arrival had been immediately recruited by a predatory maquerelle. She had now put in several years of hard service under the guidance of various bawds: “Elle est âgée de 15 à 16 ans, n’est nubile que depuis un mois, n’a point encore eu de mal. Elle est blonde, les dents assez bien. N’a point d’autre nom que celui de Mitaine.”23 Mitaine, in fact, had just been “ceded” by la Baudouin to la dame LaSalle for five louis but her new “owner” found her to be “méchante, jureuse et effrontée au dernier point.”24 No doubt the country waif had learned a great deal during the preceding three years but for Meusnier it was all little more than a matter for bemused reflexion and careful record keeping. Many other examples of underage subjects appear in the inspector’s private cahiers. He calmly records that the maquerelle la LeBrun, “rue du Bout-du-Monde chez un cordonnier,” regularly procures juvenile girls for the blind abbé who lives at the comte de Clermont’s town house. Or again, that the elder of two sisters living with their mother at the Café des Champs-Elysées on the rue Saint-Honoré is only thir-

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 77

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

77

teen and is regularly visited by a tall thin gentleman. Judging from the livery of his servants, the gentleman is wealthy, he is also fairly pious and attends mass every day at the couvent des Petits-Pères. It would have been an easy matter to identify him, but there is no hint in the inspector’s notes that any police action would be taken. The important thing was to know what was going on and, eventually, to be able to transform that knowledge into power over the individual should the need arise. With Mme de Pompadour now apparently content to restrict her role as royal mistress to that of being simply a “friend” of the king (and, of course, France’s de facto prime minister), Louis XV was himself in a position to set an example in this regard for all of his subjects. A well-stocked juvenile harem was established in the Parc aux Cerfs at Versailles. There, his valet de chambre, Lebel, dutifully brought fresh young devotees to the royal bed, now waggishly labelled le trébuchet by those in the know, “parce qu’on y prend de jeunes oiseaux.”25 As the officer responsible for policing the capital’s sexual morals, inspector Meusnier might have been expected to take a hard line with the Jeanne Moyons of the day. Indeed, there is evidence that in November 1752 he did set up an elaborate sting operation to entrap a certain Dame Perrin who, his spies reported, was aggressively trying to peddle the maidenhead of her young “niece,” Magdelaine Gentil, to several well-known Paris maquerelles. La Dame Perrin was apparently a toughminded aunt who claimed to be “establishing” the girl without the knowledge of the child’s father. She had initiated a guarded correspondence with la Lafosse, one of Meusnier’s protected abbesses-mouches to whom Mme Perrin finally admitted that the “niece” in question was actually her daughter, only thirteen years of age. The girl’s mother promised that if matters worked out she could eventually make available in the same manner several other daughters who were still growing up in the convent.26 It was at this point in the proceedings that Meusnier, alerted by la Lafosse and disguised as the go-between for a rich Polish client, arranged for an interview with la dame Perrin. Negotiations proceeded briskly and a few weeks later, on 23 November 1752, the inspector had tendered an interim offer and set out his terms: Il ne s’agit plus que de compter 40 louis à la Dame Perrin et 300 livres pour le premier mois d’avance des honoraires de sa nièce – le pucelage en question est à nous et l’on peut entrer en jouissance dès demain à telle heure que l’on voudra. C’est du moins le résultat de l’entrevue que nous avons eue cet aprèsmidi avec elle, sa nièce présente, chez la Lafosse, rue du Champfleury, où l’officier soussigné en qualité d’écuyer stipulant les intérêts de son maître (c’était un seigneur Polonais) remplissait le poste honorable de Mercure.27

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

78

Page 78

Scenes and Characters

Meusnier’s official memo on the case is not lacking in conventionally indignant comments on the moral turpitude of the aunt. He employs such terms as “abus criminel,” “violence contre une innocente,” “métier odieux,” and characterizes the entire situation as one that can inspire only “horreur et du mépris pour une semblable femme.” Interestingly, these disapproving verbal strictures are soon forgotten when the inspector comes to describing the little “niece” in question: “brune, les yeux noirs assez beaux, le nez retroussé, de belles dents, bien faite dans sa petite taille.” While it is true that she was perhaps slightly “moins formée que ne le sont pour la plupart des filles de douze ou 13 ans,” she had an unquestionably charming appearance, including, of course, “un petit minois chiffonné.” An enticing little bit of crumpet indeed! But other bidders for this worthy prize soon appear on the scene: M. de Caffaro, a wealthy Italian nobleman, has offered without any haggling an immediate thirty louis d’or for the honour of first possession. At this point, la Lafosse, sensing Meusnier’s own unspoken interest in the little virgin, adds a treacherously sly suggestion in her report to him: “Voyez si vous voulez en donner autant; vous aurez la préférence.” In the end, Meusnier abandoned his entrapment scheme and we learn from an entry six months later that he has even lost sight of la dame Perrin and her “niece,” as well as their faithful servant, Marthon, nicknamed “Avale Chopine,” herself something of a dabbler, having already been confined for prostitution in la Salpêtrière on three occasions.28 Meusnier’s last comment on Mme Perrin in April 1753 adds another piece of information that does not surprise us: “L’histoire qu’elle nous a faite et qui est rapportée dans les feuilles précédentes au sujet de cette petite fille qu’elle appelle sa nièce est totalement fausse. On assure qu’elle a débauché cet enfant et qu’elle appartient à de pauvres gens du Faubourg Saint-Marcel auxquels elle a fait entendre qu’elle prendrait soin de son éducation.”29 The information was of no immediate consequence, of course, but the file had to be updated and made as correct as possible. Several years later, after Meusnier’s murder in March 1757,30 his successor, inspector Louis Marais, added yet another note to the Perrin file. Meusnier, it seems, did not entirely lose interest in the case in November 1752, nor did he add to the file every relevant piece of information in his possession. Marais’s addendum, reminding us once again of the century’s moral ambivalence, stands in stark contrast to Meusnier’s earlier words of indignation on the subject of this false aunt’s depravity. Its message is brief and brutally clear: “Meusnier a baisé pour un louis la nièce de la Perrin. Vide la lettre de la Lafosse du 23 fevrier 1753.”31

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 79

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

79

We should perhaps not be surprised that the vice squad inspector, though he had long since replaced his errant spouse with a live-in gouvernante and normally prided himself on being the soul of discretion, was himself not above taking advantage from time to time of such small opportunities. Considering the going rate, the fancied pucelage at one louis would have been a bargain even if, as frequently was the case, it had already been somewhat “renewed.” Practiced libertines were usually on their guard concerning slightly used goods and Meusnier makes frequent reference to the problem, as when he points out that la dame Huet, ci-devant Morisseau, “a déjà vendu quatre à cinq fois le pucelage d’une prétendue nièce.” The first purchaser, a notary, had paid a very high price. Another well-known amateur, the fermier général Helvétius, was second “mais il n’en fut pas la dupe: car contre l’usage établi, il le paya beaucoup moins que s’il eût été neuf.” Less clever was the fermier général Grimod de La Reynière, noted in one police file as having paid fifty louis for “un pucelage peut-être déjà refait 50 fois.”32 In this same regard, Meusnier seems equally amused and unconcerned as he secretly records the antics of his young colleague Joseph d’Hémery, inspecteur de la librairie and well known to students of the ancien régime’s censorship administration as a stern enemy of smutty books.33 Like Meusnier with his femmes galantes, inspector d’Hémery kept a meticulous set of files on the capital’s “dangerous” authors. What seems not to have come to light until now, however, is the fact that this vigilant protector of the eighteenth-century French reading public, who, it turns out, was a close friend and sometime employer of Charles de Julie, was also as typical a rake as one might find described in the naughty books it was his job to seize and destroy. Like Julie, d’Hémery was of illegitimate birth (born in Stenay [Meuse], 22 February 1722). In his case, however, more early biographical information has survived, some of it in the form of specific notes and observations privately recorded by his colleague Meusnier. The vice squad inspector reveals, for example, that d’Hémery was the natural son of a minor functionary named La Motte, a clerk in one of the Treasury’s collection offices.34 It is also from Meusnier’s private cahiers that we learn of d’Hémery’s many raunchy encounters with ladies of easy virtue in the capital. As a young cavalry cadet in the Clermont Prince regiment, he had served for two years under the command of M. de Villefort. His policing career began after he left the military when he purchased the office of exempt de robe courte in 1741. The following year, at the age of twenty, he married the daughter of police inspector Bernard Roussel.35 It was at this point that he was approached by his former regimental commander, with the request that

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

80

Page 80

Scenes and Characters

he discreetly employ his police powers and resources to spy on the morals of Villefort’s mistress, the demoiselle Leduc. Eagerly accepting the assignment, young d’Hémery, Meusnier reveals, lost no time in bedding the lady himself. Unfortunately, news of his conquest soon leaked out and the enterprising exempt managed to escape his former colonel’s wrath only with the help of M. de Marville, Berryer’s predecessor as lieutenant général de police.36 In some of his early assignments with the police, d’Hémery had also worked closely with SaintMarc on the gambling detail and it was probably around then that he and Charles de Julie, three years his junior, became acquainted. In 1748 d’Hémery purchased the office of police inspector and later that same year he also acquired the charge of lieutenant in the Compagnie du lieutenant criminel de robe courte, a distinguished corps of police officers invested with traditional powers of enforcement and arrest.37 Marriage had done little to cool the sexual passions of the dashing inspector and, like his friend Charles de Julie, he initially seems to have enjoyed most of his illicit pleasures entirely gratis as the preferred greluchon rather than as entreteneur of the ladies concerned. As his career prospered, however, d’Hémery found himself able to afford the cost of more highly prized sexual trophies, notably the much-valued triumphs of juvenile defloration. In this regard, Meusnier’s notes tell a curious tale that throws new light on the celebrated inspector, who for nearly half a century during the country’s richest and most vital cultural period so carefully tended his files on immoral books and dissolute authors. Meusnier narrates the incident with his usual bonhomie: “Jusqu’à présent on avait cru que la demoiselle Thibault, constamment attachée par devoir et par reconnaissance à M. de Saint-Germain, ci-devant directeur de l’Opéra, ne faisait recrue de pucelages que pour lui, mais on a des preuves qu’elle veut bien aussi faire part de ses découvertes à quelques amis particuliers. Il est bon d’en avoir partout, même à la police, et personne ne doit mieux en connaître le prix que la demoiselle Thibault.” The collusion of the police and a notorious maquerelle who specialized in catering to pedophiles presents, we see, nothing more than an occasion for amused comment by the head of the capital’s vice squad. La demoiselle Thibault had recently advertised in the milieu her acquisition of a truly tender morsel, the thirteen-year-old Marie-AnneEdmée Monpoint. The girl’s father, a disabled soldier, resided at the Invalides. The mother lived in Paris and was determined to get the best price for her daughter. Meusnier informs us that the winner in the bidding for la Thibault’s new offering was none other than his fellow inspector, Joseph d’Hémery. The date of possession was fixed for

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 81

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

81

Shrove Tuesday, 15 February 1752. Careful to preserve his anonymity and pretending to be a visiting marquis, the thirty-year-old d’Hémery turned up in disguise for the sacrificial event and proceeded to claim his young prize, enthusiastically described by Meusnier as “grande, bien faite, gorge naissante, le nez un peu long à la vérité mais point difforme, d’assez beaux yeux, marquée de petite vérole, fort blanche, fraîche, et habillée de neuf.” Unfortunately, despite his impressive reputation for reliability and prowess in these matters, the false marquis, after “un travail assez long et pénible,” unaccountably found himself unable to consummate the act. Putting on a brave face, the inspector in charge of keeping France safe from the scourge of smutty books and uncanonical theology sought a postponement, “donna deux louis à la Thibault et la pria instamment de lui garder cette petite fille pour une autre fois, disant qu’en amour comme en guerre les armes étaient journalières.” After waiting ten days for the purchaser to return with the balance of monies owing, the girl’s mother finally managed to track down the false marquis at his home, creating what Meusnier’s spy describes as “une scène de l’autre monde.” The brouhaha and clamour ended only when d’Hémery pacified her with additional funds. A week later, Meusnier notes that his colleague had not yet returned chez la Thibault “pour faire de nouvelles tentatives sur le pucelage en question.”38 In much the same style, Meusnier relates the case of another tendron, la demoiselle Roban, who, though younger than the average, lost no time in becoming a seasoned trollop: “Jamais fille, à ce que l’on assure n’a été plus précoce [...] et l’on soutient que si elle voulait rendre hommage à la vérité elle avouerait qu’elle ne se ressouvient pas d’avoir été pucelle. En effet à 9 ans elle donnait déjà des nouvelles à la main39 aux foires Saint-Germain et Saint-Laurent; à 11 ans elle était maîtresse dans l’art et n’ignore plus rien; à 12 elle entre à l’OpéraComique en qualité de danseuse.” All this had happened despite the stern injunctions of a mother who insisted on delaying her professional debut somewhat because her daughter was still rather thin. Meusnier quotes the mother’s memorable words: “Qu’on laisse venir des tétons à ma fille; et ne la baisera qui veut!”40 Even more serious cases came to Meusnier’s attention without, however, disrupting his seemingly limitless level of bemused tolerance. La Richard notifies him, for example, of the visit she received on 10 January 1752 from the fifty-five-year old abbé du Courbe, resident of the capital and domiciled in the rue de Licorne. The abbé had come to her with a proposal to supply underage girls, “entre autres une petite de 11 ans qu’il dit avoir d’abord dépucelée préliminairement avec une grosse chandelle et puis ensuite autrement.” The industrious cleric also advised la Richard “qu’il allait

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

82

Page 82

Scenes and Characters

ordinairement deux fois par an à Lyon et que son principal objet était d’y faire recrue.”41 As an observer of the scene who was keen on keeping files on all such occurrences, Meusnier shows few gender prejudices, noting with the same apparent equanimity that similar abuse occasionally was carried out by mature women targeting young boys. The inspector records, for example, that the abbé Prévost has informed the chevalier de Mouhy (who in turn has informed him) that the forty-five-year old demoiselle La Motte (nicknamed les belles jambes) of the ComédieFrançaise “était si friande de jeunes gens qu’elle avait débauché avec des petits pâtés et des friandises deux jeunes pages de l’Hôtel de Conti; qu’elle les avait mis sur les dents et que le prince qui en avait été informé leur avait fait défendre de retourner chez elle.”42 The inspector quietly marvelled at the wicked ways of the world and dutifully made yet another stylish entry in his registers. There had, after all, been no formal complaint.43 Struck by the piquant “acidity” of Meusnier’s style, the academician Jean Delay in Avant Mémoire III, makes the comment that the inspector’s observations “n’étaient pas destinées à faire pleurer dans les chaumières.” He then brings up an intriguing hypothetical question for scholars of eighteenth-century French fiction: “On se demande ce que serait devenue sous sa plume la touchante histoire de Manon Lescaut?”44 After completing a careful search of Meusnier’s extensive reports, one is tempted to answer that the acidic inspector would not have fared all that badly as Manon’s chronicler, although he would probably have eliminated most of the hero Des Grieux’s passionate discourse and certainly added here and there elements of icy lucidity, more in the manner of the novelist Laclos. An illustrative case that comes to mind is that of his near namesake, la demoiselle Meunier. As usual, the inspector’s file on her begins with a physical description: “Du 18 juillet 1750. La demoiselle Meunier, danseuse au magasin de l’Opéra, fille de Meunier, suisse de M. le marquis de Castries, grande, bien faite, cheveux châtains, le nez un peu aquilin, âgé de 16 à 17 ans.” Admittedly, we have here a rather more detailed physical portrait than is normally found in a Prévost novel, but the inspector soon cuts from such preliminaries to the heart of the matter: “Il n’y a guère que deux ans qu’elle est dans le monde; elle a été débauchée par les demoiselles Bellenot de l’Opéra qui ont vendu son pucelage pour 5 louis à M. de Villemur, fermier général.”45 The fifteen-year-old soon graduated to other admirers. An entry dated 16 September 1750 indicates that le

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 83

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

83

sieur Morin is supporting her to the tune of 30 louis per month: “On le dit extrêmement laid garçon, petit, mal fait, agé de 35 à 40 ans mais riche. Cette perfection corrige tous les autres défauts.”46 Even the enterprising libertine inspector Joseph d’Hémery finds a place in the cast of characters. This time, however, he is allowed to appear centre stage, and at a relatively low cost: On est bien éloigné de croire ce qui se dit hautement par ceux qui connaiss[ent] la demoiselle Meunier que le sieur d’Hémery, notre très cher confrère, soit son greluchon. Cependant, on assure qu’il y est continuellement et l’on rapporte l’époque de cette connaissance à l’ouverture de la foire Saint-Laurent dernier47 où la demoiselle Meunier a eu ses entrées franches. Il est encore vrai, dit-on, que quand le carrosse du sieur Morin s’arrête à la porte de la demoiselle Meunier, et que d’Hémery se trouve chez elle, on le fait cacher dans la petite chambre sur le derrière qui communique à l’escalier, et il descend dès que l’autre est entré dans la pièce sur la rue. On ajoute encore qu’il n’en coûte rien au sieur d’Hémery et que pour le voir avec plus de liberté la demoiselle Meunier faisait chercher, il y a environ 8 jours, une petite chambre par le nommé Gallois.”48

But it is d’Hémery’s brother-in-law, Claude-Bernard Roussel, one of Charles de Julie’s closest friends, who plays the most important role in this sentimental demi-monde drama: “Le sieur Roussel, exempt des maréchaux de France, est aussi amoureux de la demoiselle Meunier et fort assidu à lui faire la cour, mais on ne croit pas qu’elle l’ait encore rendu heureux.” Not many Manon Lescaut resonances yet, but they become more apparent as inspector Meusnier warms to his subject. La demoiselle Meunier continues to receive the filthy rich fermier général, Fillion de Villemur, at an extraordinary twenty-five louis per visit. Manon, we recall, had similar life-sustaining visits from her own rich tax farmer. And like Prévost’s resourceful heroine, the practical-minded demoiselle Meunier still somehow managed to guard intact her true affections for her young suitor Roussel. Her infidelities were of the body only, not the heart. And many such infidelities there were! Morin after a time abandons the field, but de Villemur’s louis d’or remain a constant in the mix – and now there is also the young chevalier de Murali, a minor Swiss diplomat, who contibutes from time to time. A twenty-eight-year old English aristocrat, the chevalier de Gore, enters the scene early in 1751. He gives la demoiselle Meunier twenty louis per month “et paye presque toute la dépense de bouche.” A true aristocrat, Gore never rises before noon and he therefore allows his less well-born mistress to have the use of his rented coach for her morning drives. Unfortunately,

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

84

Page 84

Scenes and Characters

the time comes when he must return to London but his good friend Mr Holmes, an Irish gentleman, is only too pleased to continue paying the rent for both the lady and the coach. When Holmes too has to go back to London, he holds out hope to the demoiselle that he might be back in Paris the following year. If at that time “elle se trouve veuve, ils recommenceront à nouveau compte.” Meanwhile, Meusnier notes, there is a small problem: “La demoiselle Meunier se trouve grosse de trois mois et ne sait trop de qui, car du temps qu’elle avait le chevalier de Gore elle cultivait aussi M. Holmes son ami.”49 Readers of Manon Lescaut will not be surprised that throughout all those unpleasant turns of fortune, true love continued to blossom in the heart of her devoted suitor, Claude-Bernard Roussel, the inspector’s son, even though his fond attentiveness, gifts, prolonged sighing, and patient pining had not yet been rewarded with the lady’s ultimate favours. The problem was, of course, the relative impotence of his purse. Nevertheless, the happy day of consummation finally arrived! Love conquered in the end. Meusnier’s note of 23 March 1751 reveals all: “La demoiselle Meunier, danseuse au magasin, s’est enfin humanisée en faveur du sieur Roussel, guidon de robe courte.” She even confides the happy secret of her capitulation to her trusted friend in the vice squad, that kindly avuncular sage, inspector Meusnier: “Que l’indigence,” me dit-elle, “est un terrible obstacle à la vertu! Depuis plus de huit mois Roussel ne cessait de me faire une cour assidue: bouquets, fruits de chaque saison, soins, attentions, complaisance, tout cela n’avait pu donner la moindre atteinte à mon cœur, lorsqu’un misérable quartier de loyer (elle a pour 6 a 700 livres de loyer) devint le prix de son triomphe. Il est vrai que la façon généreuse avec laquelle il me l’offrit méritait une récompense proportionnée à l’étendue du service qu’il me rendait. Je la lui accordai le plus complètement qu’il me fut possible, la nuit du 17 au 18 février dernier.” La demoiselle Meunier displays much delicacy in her next remark, proving herself fully capable of metaphysically dissecting the subtlest feelings of the human heart. Cupid’s arrows, she reveals, conquered surreptitiously, with all the insidious grace of a Marivaudian surprise de l’amour: “Peut-être qu’alors il n’y entrait de ma part que de la reconnaissance, mais je vous avouerai sincèrement qu’ayant appris depuis que pour faire cette somme il avait mis en presse plusieurs de ses habits (car de vous à moi il est souvent brouillé avec la finance) ce procédé, disje, m’a donné pour lui une sorte d’estime qui non seulement me dispose plus favorablement pour lui, mais encore intéresse ma délicatesse au point que j’ai exigé de lui que cette somme ne serait considérée qu’à titre de prêt, jusqu’à ce que je sois en état de la lui remettre.”

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 85

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

85

The eighteenth-century novel boasts few pages of romance that reveal a clearer vision of love’s variegated realities. The tale continues but of course does not end happily. On 28 January 1752,50 inspector Meusnier finds that he has to revise his earlier entry regarding the demoiselle Meunier’s pregnancy, originally calculated as having begun in March of 1751. As it turns out, “actuellement elle ne compte être grosse que de six mois.” Perhaps he had similarly erred when he recorded his suspicions that one or other of the two foreigners, either Gore or Holmes, was the father, “puisque la besogne actuellement sur le métier a été commencée, continuée et se parachève journellement par le sieur Roussel, guidon de robe courte, qui pour fournir aux appointements, indépendamment des affaires qu’il fait pour le sieur de SaintMarc, en fait encore d’autres sur le pavé de Paris qu’il assigne vraisemblablement sur la succession de son père, car pour le présent [le père] ne lui donne pas un sol.” What was worse, Roussel along with a fellow officer, Hamard, had recently been confined to the prison of Forl’Évêque for having incurred the wrath of the aging Durey d’Harnoncourt, one of the richest and most powerful tax farmers of the capital. It had been an unfortunate case of misplaced zeal on the part of the two officers. The unlucky lover was now provisionally released from jail but we are not at all surprised to learn that while he was pining away in prison, Mlle Meunier, his devoted mistress, had visited him faithfully every day. Now life was very hard indeed; money, even for food and lodging, was in short supply, “ou pour mieux dire le tout va de mal en pire.” Dubois, Mlle Meunier’s servant of two years, “vient de demander son congé, préférant tout perdre au désagrément de mourir de faim et d’aller tout nu en servant gratis.” On 31 May 1752 Meusnier is able to report that la demoiselle Meunier has given birth: “Il y a environ quinze jours qu’elle est accouchée d’un garçon qu’elle a mis en nourrice. On ignore encore qui est celui qui en payera les mois car elle n’a personne. Il n’y a même aucun pourparler sur le tapis et pour surcroît d’infortune le sieur Roussel fils, guidon de robe courte, vient d’être réintégré dans les prisons du Forl’Évêque en vertu d’un décret de prise de corps à l’occasion de la belle affaire de M. d’Harnoncourt, fermier général, qui ne demande pas moins que des dommages et intérêts considérables contre lui et contre Hamard, exempt de robe courte, et qu’ils soient en outre obligés de se défaire de leurs charges.”51 We shall leave la demoiselle Meunier and pursue no further this urban idyll except to take note of the inspector’s next entry on the subject, dated 10 September 1752. Misfortune has now completely triumphed over love. La demoiselle Meunier has left Paris for Holland with another danseuse “sous les auspices du sieur Levié, entrepreneur

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

86

Page 86

Scenes and Characters

d’un opéra où elles doivent figurer dans les ballets. Elle laisse icy beaucoup de dettes, et son cher Roussel au For l’Évêque où elle n’avait plus la facilité de le voir depuis qu’il y a été réintégré par décret pour l’affaire de M. d’Harnoncourt, attendu qu’il était au secret.”52 Love does not conquer all, it seems. We do not know what happened finally to our Manon. As for young Claude-Bernard Roussel, we eventually learn from Charles de Julie’s prison poetry that there would be other Manons in the few remaining years of his short lifetime. We leave him for now to his solitary meditations in a suffocating but honourable underground isolation cell in For l’Évêque, ruminating no doubt on the inadvisability of getting on the wrong side of a rich and powerful fermier général. Notations in Meusnier’s private cahiers frequently reveal his sources and his data-collection methods. In the case of Roussel and his charming danseuse, much of the inspector’s information probably came from Roussel’s good friend and fellow dissolute, Charles de Julie, who by this time was working directly in Meusnier’s employ. Scattered throughout the inspector’s day register are little reminders to himself to ask this or that mouche about a particular matter. An entry for 23 September 1751, for example, reads: “Demander à M. Julie le nom et la demeure du tabletier.” Three days later: “Demander à la Beaumont quelle est une demoiselle Saint-Félix avec qui elle a été déjeuner chez M. Julie rue du Sépulcre et qui était chez elle lorsque Coutailloux53 a arrêté Moreau.” 16 octobre1751: “Savoir ce que c’est qu’un nommé de Morville qui a fait tapage chez la Dupont [...]. M. Julie me dira ce que c’est que Morville.” 24 février 1752: “M. Julie doit me donner l’histoire d’un milord avec une dame qui présentement est au petit L’abbé de l’Opéra.” 17 mars 1752: “Prévenir M. de Julie d’avertir M. Desnoyers que je ne pourrai pas lui donner à dîner mardi prochain parce que je vais chez M. Vallois.” Not to be forgotten either is another of the inspector’s helpers, Nicolas de Coin, still living in chambres garnies attached to noisy cafés or low drinking establishments, and still frequently changing residences. He too regularly reports to Meusnier on the sexual misdemeanors of the theatre and gambling crowd, not to mention the escapades of such naughty great ladies as the duchesse d’Orléans. Sometimes the inspector’s assignments are marked as especially urgent, as with the following request for information on an individual forwarded by his superior Berryer: “Le sieur Meusnier s’informera ce que c’est que M. le comte de Vitelle, son pays, les emplois qu’il a eus, son bien, s’il a des parents connus, qui sont les gens avec qui il vit communément, de quelle manière il vit. Ce 3 mars 1749. Pressé. Berryer.”54 More frequently, however, Meusnier appears to be simply adding to his

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 87

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

87

own huge data base, transforming covert surveillance reports into administrative omniscience. Data were classified and categorized for easy reference on spread sheets listing, for example, actresses at the Comédie-Française under the headings, nom, âge, demeure, amants and, finally, mutations. Also scattered throughout are notes to himself: “Savoir le nom de la maîtresse du baron de Breteuil”; “le suivre”; “vérifier si Trudaine de Montigny est à Paris”; “vérifier si le prince de Monaco a repris Coraline.” Other notes (“Parler demain à Madame Pâris”, “Voir Madame Carlier”) are there to remind him of his regular appointments with members of his most reliable informer group, the capital’s mères abbesses who, in exchange for tacit police permission to carry on their trade, regularly provide him with financial payoffs (usually described as “rent”) and detailed weekly reports setting out the activities of each of their clients under the headings, la date, le nom des hommes, le nom des filles, l’heure qu’ils sont venus, and, finally, le temps qu’ils sont restés. In addition, his team of maquerelle-mouches responded to any specific requests he might have concerning a targeted individual, usually in an unschooled hand but sometimes dictated to a passably literate secretary: “Voici, Monsieur, le petit détail que vous m’avez demandé. J’ose espérer que vous voudrez bien m’honorer de vos bontés, étant avec respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissante servante, Babet.”55 A similarly stylish covering letter from la Montbrun to Meusnier confirms a typical arrangement: “Je vous supplie de me continuer l’honneur de votre protection. Je ferai tout ce qui dépendra de moi pour me rendre utile, et pour la mériter. J’ai celui d’être, avec une parfaite considération, etc.”56 Not all of the capital’s leading maquerelles reported to Meusnier. Some arranged for their protection directly with higher authority, the lieutenant général Berryer himself, or even with the minister d’Argenson – a situation that shocked many, including the comte d’Argenson’s brother. Though very much an eighteenth-century man of the world, tolerant of filles entretenues and amour libre (“cela est respectable et selon la nature,”)57 the marquis d’Argenson was considerably less indulgent when it came to the women who ran the capital’s more celebrated brothels. Reports that Mme Pâris went about Paris in a carriage escorted by no less than four lackeys, and that she had been seen walking in the Palais Royal accompanied by two of her demoiselles and a prince of the Blood Royal, the comte de Charolais, predictably touched a nerve: “On n’a jamais vu tolérer avec tant de honte un établissement si triomphant que ce fameux b[ordel]; on crie avec raison, oh mœurs! dans un état chrétien et policé.”58 Others were less scandalized by the tacit policy of selective toleration, though few went as far in their approval of Mme Pâris’s protected establishment as the writer Charles

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

88

Page 88

Scenes and Characters

Collé: “Il seroit peut-être et sans doute à souhaiter que tous les mauvais lieux fussent connus, tenus et soutenus de même par la police. La santé des jeunes gens courroit moins de risques...... il n’arriveroit point de ces désordres, de ces vols, de ces batteries et de ces assassinats dont ces lieux inconnus sont souvent la cause.”59 Although maintaining close contact with the police did not always guarantee full protection from the perennial dangers of rampaging musketeers, vandalism, non-payment, and even horrific examples of physical assault, regular maquerelle reports such as the sustained series sent to Berryer by la d’Hosmont, also known as la dame LaSalle,60 presented a wealth of information relating to the daily operations and clientele of each establishment, including reports on members of Berryer’s own police operatives. One such was inspector Pierre-François Dumont, assigned by Berryer in 1751 to keep an eye on “usuriers, prêteurs sur gages et autres gens d’intrigue,” as well as matters relating to “les juifs et les charlatans.” For this he was granted an expense stipend of 1,800 livres per month, an allowance for room and board, and the use of two trusted assistants at 45 livres per month each.61 In addition, Dumont, sometimes with the help of Charles de Julie, watched over the prostitution scene. Both men were eminently well suited to the work although, before assigning inspector Dumont to his additional duties Berryer had consulted la d’Hosmont, one of his most trusted abbesse spies, about the new man’s loyalty: “Il me souvient,” she writes to her protector in May 1751, “que Votre Grandeur m’a fait la grâce de me demander si je croyais que M. Dumont lui parlât vrai en tout. J’ai répondu que je le croyais, me persuadant en effet qu’il le devait. L’un de ces jours derniers, je le sondai à ce sujet, en lui disant que ce que l’on aurait intérêt de cacher, il ne serait pas bon qu’un officier le sût, puisque je m’étais laissé dire qu’il rapportait tout à M. le lieutenant de police. A cela il m’a répondu: ‘Désabusez-vous de cela, nous ne disons que ce que nous jugeons à propos et ce qui paraît affaire, en apparence ou en effet; mais il est bien des choses dont le Magistrat n’a pas besoin d’être informé.’” To which la d’Hosmont had replied: “Vous avez raison et entre autres choses vous n’iriez pas dire que vous aimez pour un moment toutes les filles que vous connaissez.”62 In an earlier report to Berryer she recalls having spoken less delicately on the subject of the inspector’s predatory behaviour, telling him “pour mieux le déconcerter, que ce n’était pas sans raison qu’il voulait changer de quartier, puisqu’il n’avait demandé son changement, à ce que l’on m’avait dit, en partie parce qu’il ne trouvait plus de filles nouvelles à baiser.”63 La d’Hosmont’s reports occasionally rise to a level of analysis more

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 89

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

89

reminiscent of a Richardsonian novel than a brothel journal. On the subject of inspector Dumont’s sexual extortions and his obvious contempt for women, she continues: Il passe si bien pour vouloir voir toutes les femmes, que je viens d’apprendre que j’étais du nombre et l’on ajoute que je lui ai donné cet hiver un manchon de martre et une veste galonnée. Ceci me prouve bien qu’il n’est pas juste d’ajouter foi à tout ce qui se dit dans le monde, car il n’en est rien et je ne le crois pas capable de recevoir d’une femme plus qu’un nœud d’épée, c’est une galanterie qui peut s’accepter, et d’ailleurs une fille ou femme serait bien dupe de se voir dans la dure nécessité de gagner d’un côté pour donner de l’autre. De plus, sa façon de penser ne pourrait pas s’accorder avec la mienne parce qu’il se croit valoir beaucoup plus que toutes celles avec lesquelles il fraye; et moi, pour le contrecarrer; je lui dis qu’une femme née d’honnêtes gens et de l’allure modestement le valait bien; cela pourra bien l’obliger à m’en garder un ressentiment, mais autant vaut d’être brouillé avec les gens, comme de les voir malgré soi politiquement. Il est poli, mais il ne fut, à ce que je m’imagine, jamais sincère avec aucune femme, et de mon côté, je pense sur le compte des hommes, comme il pense sur le nôtre […]. Tout mon bien-être et ma vraie satisfaction est de penser aux bontés de Votre Grandeur, c’est tout ce qui doit me remplir le cœur et l’esprit; en sus je crois qu’il n’est pas possible de faire l’amour et sa fortune. J’irai jeudi à l’hôtel.64

Charles de Julie’s working associate, police inspector Dumont, died young, in June 1754, his reputation for harshness and corruption fully intact. La d’Hosmont, who prided herself on spying exclusively for Berryer and not for any of his subordinates unless obliged to do so, was almost forgiving when Dumont prematurely disappeared from the scene: “Je suis toujours sensible aux peines d’autrui et c’en est une grande de mourir, surtout quand on est jeune et qu’on a un revenu honnête.”65 As for her protector, Berryer, her sentiments never wavered: “Je souhaite tous les jours,” she wrote in August 1753, “que Votre Grandeur puisse quitter la magistrature parce que je sais qu’elle le désire. Malgré la perte que je ferai quand cela arrivera, je serai satisfaite puisque j’apprendrai que vous pourrez être plus content et moins fatigué. Je dois tout à Votre Grandeur et pour retour je ne puis rien, Monseigneur, que de prier Dieu pour la conservation de votre santé et la prier de me faire la grâce de me croire la plus sincère et la plus fidèle de toutes ses respectueuses servantes.”66 The image of an emotionally vulnerable and conflicted Nicolas de Berryer, lieutenant général de police, is as unexpected as the prayers of the big-hearted maquerelle for his welfare are very probably sincere.

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

90

Page 90

Scenes and Characters

As for inspector Meusnier, though far less inclined than his colleague Dumont to exploit sexually the hard-working women under his protection, and despite the fact that, when consulted on the matter, he seems occasionally to have tried to discourage potential maquerelles from entering what he describes as “un métier aussi abominable,” he nevertheless was not above profiting from the trade. At one point, la d’Hosmont complains to Berryer that Meusnier has increased her “rent” to 300 livres67 and there is evidence that she was not alone in finding the inspector’s protection practices exploitative. It is also clear that he abused his position by threatening potential witnesses in the matter of his wife’s escapades and that on at least one occasion he willingly accommodated the request made by a procuress of his acquaintance to use police intimidation on a troublesome paterfamilias who was interfering with the workaday routines of his prostitute daughter. But with all that, Meusnier’s place in the social history of eighteenthcentury Parisian low life is forever assured – if only for the comprehensive nature of his vice squad files which he selectively distilled into elegant reports that were sometimes judged literally fit for a king. The raw materials on which these were based – for example, the quaintly illiterate narratives exacted on a weekly basis from la demoiselle Lafosse – sometimes challenge the deciphering skills if not the esthetic sensibilities of the modern scholar.68 La Lafosse’s clientele included a considerable number of the capital’s elite bordello aficionados, several of whom frequented her establishment solely in order to enjoy the services of Mlle Julie, the house couturière, a specialist in domination, scourges, and whips. The philosopher Helvétius, for whom police records of passive whipping episodes go back to at least 1740 and who was known on occasion to have paid as much as forty louis for the privilege, even had an arrangement for home delivery of Mlle Julie’s precious services, as did the aging chevalier de Judde: “M. Helvétius a été fouetté de Mlle Julie [...] lundi 4 du mois chez lui. Sa femme vient d’accoucher d’un gros garçon. Il lui a donné un louis [...]. Mercredi, cette même Julie a été chez le vieux chevalier de Judde, le fouetter pour un louis.”69 Or again, as revised by Meusnier: Du 1er avril 1753. M. Helvétius n’est pas le seul qui ait du goût pour la flagellation: c’est aussi la passion dominante du vieux chevalier de Judde, commandeur de l’ordre de Malte demeurant rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs vis-à-vis la rue d’Antin où la Lafosse a déjà envoyé plusieurs fois les demoiselles La Motte, Saint-Omer, et La Tour. Il donne un louis à chaque fois, et il fournit les verges. A propos de M. Helvétius, on tient de lui-même que lorsqu’il s’acquitte vis-à-vis de son épouse du devoir conjugal, une femme de chambre de madame

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 91

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

91

lui fait pendant l’action la même opération qu’il se fait faire lorsqu’il s’amuse chez les autres femmes.70

The philosopher receives Mlle Julie in his home on another occasion but Madame and her maid are nowhere to be seen. It was perhaps just as well: “Lundi elle fut chez monsieur d’Helvétius qui lui a donné rendez-vous aujourd’hui quatorze. Elle lui a donné le fouet jusqu’au sang en lui faisant demander pardon à genoux.”71 Others beside Mlle Julie delivered home services to Madame’s distinguished customers and la Lafosse communicates all of the details to Meusnier: “La Saint-Hilaire [...] fut hier, 21, chez le vieux maréchal Duras.72 Ils ont resté 5 heures ensemble. Il l’a fait mettre toute nue et il s’est branlé deux fois, une fois sur ses tétons, une sur le ventre, elle n’a ni les uns ni l’autre beaux car elle a fait des enfants et a le ventre plissé comme une redingote.”73 Suspicions that reports of this nature were being sent to the police were frequently voiced by clients to their hostesses. One of la Lafosse’s most distinguished and most regular customers was the young Antoine-René de Voyer d’Argenson, marquis de Paulmy, son of the marquis d’Argenson, the former Foreign minister, and nephew of the current War minister, the comte d’Argenson – who was also responsible for all police matters. An author of some note who had collaborated discreetly with the dramatist Charles-Simon Favart and others at the Opéra-Comique, Paulmy was also a distinguished member of the Académie Française, an ambassador, conseiller au Parlement as well as a maître des requêtes. Few noblemen of the day could have felt more protected and securely at home in the legal system of the ancien régime than this young scion of one of France’s most influential families. Although he was known to have carried out from time to time the initiation of various pucelles on offer in the town, his tastes in that direction were not dominant. La d’Hosmont even remarks on the fact in one of her reports to Berryer: “Il n’est pas amateur de filles toutes neuves; il les aime mieux libertines que sages, et surtout qu’elles soient jolies et grandes.” Sometimes when he visited la d’Hosmont’s establishment he would arrive carefully bundled up in an old black velvet surtout, buttoned to the collar in order to hide the rather splendid decoration he frequently wore, the ordre du Saint-Esprit, the most illustrious in the history of French chivalry. The young ladies attending to his needs were given strict instructions never to undo the top buttons of their visitor’s greatcoat, a directive so unusual that finally one day their mère abbesse had to explain: “Quand il fut sorti, ces filles me demandèrent la raison pourquoi ce monsieur n’avait pas voulu laisser voir sa poitrine. Je leur ai dit que c’était parce qu’il était sujet à gagner des

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

92

Page 92

Scenes and Characters

fluxions sitôt qu’il prenait l’air et que cela le rendait malade.” Our clever madam then added a quip in her report to the lieutenant général that easily measures up to the best of Meusnier’s witty barbs: “Si elles avaient su comme moi la cause, elles auraient bien pu répondre que le Saint-Esprit peut guérir bien des maux.”74 De Paulmy’s sexual stamina drew the admiring attention of most of Meusnier’s maquerelle spies. La dame Grandjean reports that one November evening, while he was attending the court in Fontainebleau, “il a été chez la Payen, qui avait mené des filles à la suite de la cour et il y a baisé Zaïre, Agathe et Rosette.”75 Not every visit, however, was crowned with similar success. On a later occasion, la Beauchamp informs her police inspector that although the celebrated Paulmy “s’est amusé avec cinq filles qui l’ont manualisé à tour de rôle, elles ont eu toutes les peines du monde à en tirer un soupir.”76 As an official active in public affairs (he is gratefully remembered as the primary founder of the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal which today, ironically, houses these very police archives in which his name figures so prominently), Paulmy worried openly about the possibility that reports on him were being sent by the maquerelles to the police. Meusnier records how the distinguished libertine, during a visit to la Lafosse’s establishment on 3 November 1753, repeatededly questioned her about her dealings with the vice squad inspector and the lieutenant général de police. La Lafosse fended off his questions as best she could: Elle lui dit fort sérieusement: Je suis aussi mal avec l’un qu’avec l’autre, surtout avec ce B[ougre] de Meusnier qui m’a soufflé le poil de bien près car deux ou trois minutes plus tôt il me logeait à l’Hôpital; mais je lui ai brûlé le cul. Quoiqu’elle lui tînt ces propos avec un front d’airain (autant dire un front de p[utain]), elle croit cependant s’être aperçue qu’il ne les a pas pris pour argent comptant. Malgré les éclats de rire qu’il faisait, elle a conservé fort bonne contenance et en sortant il lui a donné 12 livres en lui disant: “Tiens, voilà pour avoir bien menti, si tu avais fait autrement tu n’aurais rien eu.”77 Only half believing la Lafosse’s assurances, Paulmy frequently returned to his teasing questions on the subject: “M. le marquis de Paulmy est venu chez moi. Il a manié trois filles un quart d’heure chacune, ensuite [...] il a demandé à rester seul avec moi. Nous avons beaucoup causé de choses et d’autres.” In the course of their conversation she finally acknowledged her special loyalty to Meusnier: “Toute ma vie je chercherai les occasions de mériter l’honneur de sa protection.” As for Berryer, she swears she has never laid eyes on him although she much respects and greatly fears the lieutenant général de police. In answer to another persistent question, she admits that she does not know what use Meusnier makes of the “petits mémoires” that she reg-

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 93

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

93

ularly sends him. At all events, she assured Meusnier in her report, the conversation concluded on the friendliest of terms: “Il m’a demandé si mon fils faisait quelque chose; je lui ai dit qu’il dansait aux Français; il m’a dit, ‘Il n’est donc plus à ta charge?’; je lui ai dit que je le nourrissais; il m’a répondu, ‘Il est bien heureux; je voudrais bien que l’on me nourrisse aussi!’ Je me mis à rire de sa bêtise et pendant ce temps il se branlait. Il me dit que j’étais engraissée, que je valais mieux que mes garces; je lui ai fait la révérence sans lui répondre ...” With that pretty compliment, the distinguished ambassador and academician took his leave – unfortunately, “sans donner un liard à personne.”78 Leaving without paying for services rendered was an omission that occurred quite frequently in the case of drunken soldiers and unruly law clerks but rarely with the nation’s distinguished leaders. In fact, over the years, la Lafosse grew rather fond of the marquis de Paulmy, a man of uncomplicated spirit whose suppleness of mind (described as “entièrement jésuite de caractère et de conduite” by his father) had brought him to great favour at court and even with the pious queen of France herself.79 A man in his position had, moreover, little to fear from the police. As for his own private opinion of Berryer, the marquis probably agreed with his father’s estimate: “Pauvre petit magistrat, assidu, travailleur, mais d’un esprit très-médiocre.”80 No less suspicious of brothel spies (and no less a rake) was the Pope’s representative in Paris, the celebrated “nonce aux langes,” Antonio Branciforte. The future cardinal’s extended stay in the French capital after delivering Benedict XIV’s ceremonial swaddling clothes on the occasion of the birth in September 1751 of the duc de Bourgogne, heir apparent, had become the subject of much gossip. A robustly corpulent and portly churchman who was obviously at the height of his ruttish powers, Branciforte dressed like a bishop but impressed observers as looking more like an overweight colonel of dragoons.81 He seems to have occupied himself, along with another Italian visitor of the day, his bosom companion the adventurer Casanova, with trying out every lady of pleasure in every well-known brothel in the town. Twenty years later and by then a prince of the Church, Branciforte was delighted to reminisce with his legendary compatriot about all the soupers fins they had shared in Paris with so many “jolies pécheresses.”82 Of course the mamans of all those jolies pécheresses kept Meusnier abreast of the situation. On 17 August 1753, la Baudouin reported that one of her “outside” girls, la Duchenois, was six months pregnant with the nuncio’s good works but that she was reluctant to continue her wellremunerated dalliance with the prelate, “parce que, dit-elle, il a fait venir plusieurs filles de différents endroits qui n’ont pas la réputation d’être saines, et que, d’ailleurs, il l’a plusieurs fois tourmentée pour s’en

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

94

Page 94

Scenes and Characters

servir par l’endroit opposé, suivant le goût de son pays.”83 This same la Duchenois had nevertheless tipped off the visiting emissary from Rome that several of the maquerelles he frequented were protected by the police and that Mme Deslongrais, for example, had passed on some of Branciforte’s sexual secrets to inspector Meusnier. Summoned to an anonymous rendez-vous in the Tuileries gardens by the naughty nuncio, who questioned her on the subject, Deslongrais denied the charge: “J’ai soutenu,” she immediately reported to Meusnier, “que je ne vous connaissais pas et que je n’avais jamais été chez vous. Il m’a crue et pense que cela n’est pas vrai.”84 Whether Branciforte really accepted such reassurances at face value is not clear but in any case he clearly refused to be intimidated by the police. Around this same time we find him lodging a vigorous – and entirely successful – protest, jointly with the ambassador of Naples, when two of his countrymen, the comte Girolamo de Ranuzzi and the comte Francesco de Sarcelles (Sersale), both professional sharpers, were arrested and charged in July 1752 with crooked gambling.85 The comte d’Argenson, sensitive to diplomatic niceties and the express wishes of the Pope’s special representative in Paris, immediately ordered Berryer to release the two chevaliers d’industrie. It was just another fact of life for inspector Meusnier to meditate on, another important secret to possess, and he duly made a note of it in his private cahiers.

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 95

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

La Sortie de l’Opéra. Jean-Michel Moreau (detail).

Le Souper fin. Jean-Michel Moreau (detail).

95

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

96

Page 96

Scenes and Characters

Costume for Mlle Lany. Aquarelle by Louis-René Boquet.

Pierre Jélyotte in costume, performing in an opera by JeanJoseph Mouret.

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 97

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, maréchal duc de Richelieu. Alexandre Roslin (detail).

Madame de Pompadour. François Boucher (detail).

97

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

98

Page 98

Scenes and Characters

Louis XV. Jean-Marc Nattier (detail).

Marie-Louise O’Morphy. François Boucher.

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 99

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

Note exchanged by Richelieu and Julie. ba ms 11846, f.478.

Louise-Henriette de Bourbon-Conti, duchesse de Chartres, later duchesse d’Orléans. Jean-Marc Nattier (detail). Mother of Philippe-Égalité, her reputation for incautious sexual dalliance remains memorable to this day.

99

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

100

Page 100

Scenes and Characters

Sample bulletins from Julie’s nouvelles à la main. ba ms 11846, ff.433, 449.

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 101

Inspector Meusnier and His Mouches Abbesses

Sample bulletin from Julie’s nouvelles à la main. ba ms 11846, f.460.

101

CH03.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

102

Page 102

Scenes and Characters

Sample bulletin from Julie’s nouvelles à la main. ba ms 11846, f.465.

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 103

Defining a Precocious Piety, 1922–1938

part t wo A Rogue’s Progress

103

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

104

Page 104

W. Stanford Reid

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 105

4 Greluchon and Exempt

Such was the familiar scene in Charles de Julie’s favourite Parisian milieu when he returned to the capital late in 1750 after completing a twenty-two-month stint in the French navy. We know little or nothing of his maritime adventures except that this time he does not seem to have been thrown out of the King’s service in dishonourable circumstances. He was returning to civilian life distinctly more disciplined than before and determined to make something of himself. His plans, still tentative no doubt, included a career of some sort in the Paris police establishment where he already had several well-placed friends apparently prepared to sponsor him. Notable among these were young Claude Roussel, the inspector’s son, Roussel’s brother-in-law Joseph d’Hémery, and Jean-Charles Péan de La Jannière. All were members of the Compagnie du Lieutenant Criminel de Robe Courte, a small and select branch of the Gendarmerie et Maréchaussée de France. Not everything about Charles de Julie had changed, of course. Naval service had not denied him the diversions of shore leave in various friendly ports, and he obviously continued, when opportunity allowed, to indulge his tastes for the pleasures on offer. In fact, it was in Nantes on his way back to Paris in December 1750 that he ran into an old female acquaintance. They had first met in the demi-monde entertainment circles of Paris several years before and their paths had subsequently crossed while she was touring with a small theatre troupe in the provinces. The lady was now in distress and only too pleased to find someone as clever as her friend Charles de Julie to help out with her problems.

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

106

Page 106

A Rogue’s Progress

It is not difficult to imagine what common interests, apart from the theatre, had brought Suzanne Elizabeth Le Grand – better known as la demoiselle Beaumont – and Charles de Julie together. She was born in Brest around 1732, and the first record we find of her is in a Paris police report dated 11 December 1749, where it is noted that she had been an actress in a troupe originating in Flanders. She is described by inspector Meusnier as “grande, bien faite, yeux fort beaux, la peau blanche, la bouche fort grande, ce qui la gâte un peu.”1 From a later report, we also learn that she had “l’accent breton, cependant le parler agréable,” and that she had been a member of several provincial theatre groups before coming to the capital. Her financial situation seemed to be fairly comfortable: “Elle est dans ses meubles fort bien et veut passer pour être sur le grand ton, ayant un appartement 900 livres et trois domestiques.” Her high-rent abode was in the rue des PetitsChamps and her amant en titre at the time was the chevalier de Rességuier, an officer in the Guards. Meusnier also mentions in his report that Rességuier is from Toulouse, has plenty of wit, “fait fort joliment des petits vers,” and was generally on bad terms with the writer Marmontel. Regrettably, the chevalier’s wit and poetic talents eventually led to his incarceration in the Bastille on 8 December 1750, an event that was triggered in part by an epigram he had circulated anonymously, attacking Mme de Pompadour’s extravagance in building her new château at Bellevue: Fille d’une sangsue, et sangsue elle-même, Poisson dans son palais, d’une arrogance extrême, Étale à tous les yeux, sans honte et sans effroi, Les dépouilles du peuple et l’opprobre du Roi.

The lawyer Barbier noted in his journal two weeks after the arrest that the lines were easily memorized and that everyone in Paris had heard them. Opinions were divided on the gravity of Rességuier’s offense. Collé found the punishment severe for a few verses that it would have been better simply to ignore.2 On the other hand, Barbier, more sympathetic to the fundamentally elitist ethos of the times, found the anonymous poet’s sermonizing attack on the king’s morals rather puzzling. Louis XV’s gift of a pretty maison de plaisance to his mistress was well within the norms: “A l’égard de honte,3 que veut dire le public qui, en général, doit être toujours regardé comme un sot par les gens sensés? Si c’est parce que le Roi a une maîtresse, mais qui n’en a pas?”4 Unfortunately, the lieutenant général de police was not inclined to be as broad-minded in this case. As the designated champion of Pompadour’s good name, Berryer had acted swiftly to track down the

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 107

Greluchon and Exempt

107

offending young nobleman, who was forthwith locked up in the Bastille.5 Fortunately, well before then, the prudent demoiselle Beaumont had decided not to build her hopes entirely around the notion of living inseparably with her chevalier poet. For some time she had been making supplementary arrangements. The Baron de Wolfsdorf, a Lutheran canon from Leipzig whom she met at the Opéra, briefly provided an additional stipend, as did, around February 1750, the young duc de Gramont, one of the more notorious rakes of the day. Despite her striking beauty, however, la demoiselle Beaumont did not manage to acquire an entreteneur fixe.”6 Rumour had it that when she had played in Antwerp she had narrowly escaped punishment on the wooden horse, a form of public chastisement for prostitutes that was considerably harsher physically – if no more bruising morally – than the strawhatted backward ride on a donkey that was sometimes handed out to the maquerelles of Paris. By June of 1750, Meusnier reports, she was being “entretenue tant bien que mal par un jeune homme d’une jolie figure, âgé de 19 à 20 ans.” The new young lover styled himself the marquis de Saint-Amant but always managed to hide his address and his true family status from Meusnier’s mouches. The demoiselle Beaumont’s career prospects, the inspector concluded, appeared to be at a standstill. Finally, the possibility of marriage with another handsome “near gentleman,” materialized. Louis Moreau, whose mother was a concierge at the town house of the duc de La Rochefoucauld, had appeared on la demoiselle Beaumont’s horizon. Events moved quickly. In October, the couple eloped – or rather absconded – much to the dismay of la demoiselle Beaumont’s seamstress, her decorator, a Paris money-lender, the local limonadier, and many other ill-used creditors whose funds – well over 3,000 livres in all – vanished with the pair. Rumour had it that they were on their way to the îles de l’Amérique where Moreau would obtain employment. Inspector Meusnier, already well acquainted with la demoiselle Beaumont, was not impressed with the prospective bridegroom: “C’est un mauvais sujet qui s’est engagé plusieurs fois et qui s’est rendu indigne de la protection de M. de La Rochefoucauld. Il est néanmoins d’une jolie figure.”7 The marriage took place on the Island of Guernsey on 16 October 1750, but scarcely two months later la demoiselle Beaumont’s fortunes suffered a complete reversal. In an eloquent letter dated 20 December 1750, and almost certainly dictated by her clever friend, the returning officier volontaire de marine Charles de Julie, she related her woes to Meusnier. It had been a piece of good luck for her, running into Julie again; he was so reassuring and positive about everything, and so

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

108

Page 108

A Rogue’s Progress

knowledgeable! He seemed to know all the important people and he knew exactly what she should do to make things right with the police back in Paris. Inspector Meusnier, for example, would be delighted to know that, thanks to Julie, she was now determined to rebuild her bridges and to ask forgiveness for all of her past peccadillos and little “étourderies”: Je n’ignore point de votre surprise, Monsieur, à la réception de ma lettre. J’avoue qu’elle doit être grande. Je n’aurais pas encore hasardé de vous demander de vos nouvelles sans M. Julie que j’ai rencontré ici qui m’a assurée que je ne risquais rien de vous écrire et qu’au contraire je devais implorer vos bontés au sujet de mon retour dans Paris que je désire avec empressement [...]. Mon erreur était grande quand j’ai agi avec aussi peu de réflexion. Je croyais faire une fin heureuse. Ma trop grande facilité à croire ce qu’on me disait occasionne toutes mes peines, aussi sont-elles grandes. Plaignez mon sort et rendez-vous sensible à mes infortunes; vous pouvez tout auprès de Monseigneur [Berryer]; obtenez mon retour dans votre ville. Je n’oublierai jamais vos bienfaits. Mon trop bon cœur me rend aujourd’hui la femme du monde la plus malheureuse. J’ai épousé l’homme le plus fourbe et le plus cruel, qui a pour moi toutes les mauvaises façons. Il les pousse au point de me maltraiter tous les jours. J’ai écrit à ma famille et la sienne pour rompre tout à fait le mariage, n’étant pas bon puisque je ne suis point en âge et je l’ai fait sans consentement de parents.8

Charles de Julie must have been pleased with that beginning. Decidedly, his talents in the intimate petitionary genre could still rise to the occasion when needed. “Puis-je espérer,” the letter goes on, “que vous m’obligerez? Soulagez les malheureux, c’est faire de bonnes œuvres. J’espère que vous m’accorderez quelque pitié; vous êtes bon et capable d’obliger. Tout ce que j’ai fait n’a point été par libertinage; au contraire, la trop grande envie de m’en retirer a causé mes infortunes ...” Yes, that was a nice touch! And the inspector should be made to feel that he was, in a sense, being privileged with this request; she was taking him into her confidence, knowing he would understand, knowing he would be discreet: “Je vous fais un épanchement de cœur comme à un homme dans lequel j’ai connu des sentiments d’honneur et de probité, et qui ne dira point ma peine à qui que ce soit.” Especially, he would not think of betraying her to her many creditors who were no doubt saying “mille horreurs” about her and who really had so little justification for doing so. Such nobility of feeling, such délicatesse on the good inspector’s part, deserved, of course, a reward. Yes, when she returned to Paris she would be extremely grateful and would be willing to do anything that pleases the good inspector. “Je n’aurai rien de

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 109

Greluchon and Exempt

109

plus à cœur que de vous obliger.” The kind, good and honourable inspector would surely not abandon her! “Surtout intercédez auprès de Monseigneur. Il est juste. Quand vous aurez eu la bonté de lui faire connaître la vérité, il m’accordera la grâce que je demande.” And, yes, would Meusnier also be “indulgent” about one more thing? Would he also forgive this long, rambling letter, this hurried epistle? “Elle n’a guère de fin; je l’écris dans un moment de presse [...].” Not surprisingly, the letter, anything but a hurried epistle, bore little resemblance to the next one sent by la demoiselle Beaumont to Meusnier on 11 February 1751, long after her helpful amanuensis, Charles de Julie, had left Nantes for Paris. Her situation has now grown perilous, she writes. Her brutal husband spends his days gambling and in dissipation. He cruelly abuses her. She, for her part, remains in her room, doing embroidery to earn a little money. She also knows now that he has deceived her by misrepresenting his prospects: “Je puis prouver plusieurs de cest quoquinerie” [ses coquineries]. Obviously, her spelling as well as her luck had now rapidly fallen on bad times. We will not journey much further with la demoiselle Beaumont. A few months later, she finally did manage to get back to Paris, and Meusnier made a note of the fact in his files: “Son entrée n’a pas été triomphante, sa pacotille était renfermée dans un portmanteau très modeste.” In terms of accommodation she has come down in the world. She lodges in a chambre garnie and awaits events. “Sa suite est composée de deux perroquets et d’un petit domestique.” A colleague, la Pérard, invites her for a meal from time to time “et partage avec elle le casuel de la profession, car elle n’a encore aucun entreteneur fixe.”9 And just as Julie had predicted, the police have been helpful. Her husband, conveniently arrested by inspector Coutailloux, has been shut up in Bicêtre and will soon be sent packing to les îles. Various kindly gentlemen contribute sporadically to her small revenue, including once again the mysterious young marquis de Saint-Amant. Later the husband is released from Bicêtre; he is still destined for the Islands but now understands that he can play his part by not being too formaliste or awkward in the matter of accommodating all those solicitous gentlemen who show an interest in his good wife. In fact, he does his bit by accompanying “out of decency” his “tendre et chaste épouse” to her various professional rendezvous. Meusnier notes that the husband’s discreetly protective presence in the wings apparently does not impair either the lady’s performance or the pleasure of her clients. La demoiselle Beaumont dutifully recalls as well her debt of gratitude to Charles de Julie who naturally appreciates all opportunities to renew contact with some of these lesser stars of the theatre and opera

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

110

Page 110

A Rogue’s Progress

world. Occasionally she and her special friend, la demoiselle SaintFélix, a figurante at the Opéra who is frequently bullied by Durand, one of Berryer’s lackeys (la Saint-Félix has already asked the kind inspector Meusnier for protection from the rascal!),10 are entertained at dinner by the gracious Julie.11 One inopportune development occurs, unfortunately: Meusnier reports on 13 July 1752 that la Beaumont is four months pregnant, “mais la nécessité où elle se trouve depuis longtemps de vivre des revenus casuels du métier fait qu’elle ne sait précisément contre qui elle pourra exercer son recours.”12 On 14 January 1753 she gives birth to a daughter, and Meusnier notes that “cet enfant de pièces rapportées n’a pas moins été baptisé à SaintEustache, sa paroisse, [...] sous le nom de Moreau, son mari actuellement à la Martinique.” The next month brings another entry to Meusnier’s file and reminds us how harsh both the times and the inspector’s style could be: “Du 10 février 1753: la fille dont la demoiselle Beaumont est accouchée le 14 janvier dernier, et qu’elle avait mise en nourrice à Surenne, est morte le 3 de ce mois; Événement heureux pour l’une et pour l’autre.”13 We learn that seven months later la demoiselle Beaumont is suffering the inconvenience of another pregnancy but her fortunes are on the mend. In November, she participated in a series of fundraising parties commonly organized among the femmes galantes of Paris to generate revenue and to stimulate business during the slack season when the Court was away in Fontainebleau. These events usually involved renting a hall and charging admission for a fancy ball. Each cavalier paid an admission fee of six livres, which also provided simple refreshments such as liqueurs, wine, bread, plain cake, and pâté. Dancing carried on until eight o’clock in the morning. La Baudouin, who frequently gave such fundraisers herself, attended one of la demoiselle Beaumont’s collectively sponsored balls at the end of November. She described the happening in her weekly journal to Meusnier (subsequently transcribed by inspector Durocher). The affair was well attended and a success from every point of view: “80 cavaliers de toutes espèces et autant de filles; vers les trois heures du matin des mousquetaires et jeunes gens s’avisèrent de tirer de leurs poches des condoms qu’ils remplirent d’eau, et les introduisirent dans un pâté à moitié mangé”!14 Meusnier’s files throw little light on subsequent events in la demoiselle Beaumont’s career. We gather she moved up in the world, finally achieving a stable income in August 1755, when she became the mistress of the son of a lieutenant général des armées du Roy.15 Armed with the new respectability he had earned while serving in His Most Christian Majesty’s deplorably ineffective navy, Charles de Julie too had been rapidly moving up in the world. It was perhaps only

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 111

Greluchon and Exempt

111

to be expected that native wit, personal charm, and unquestionable street smarts would eventually bring him to the favourable attention of the various police officers who had at one time or another made use of his talents on the margins of their profession. A number of them – young and dissipated kindred spirits like Roussel, La Jannière, and d’Hémery – were officers in the Compagnie du Lieutenant Criminel de Robe Courte. Four lieutenants, a guidon and approximately a dozen commissioned officers called exempts, along with several dozen archers, made up the full complement of the time-honoured company. The robe courte’s denomination and uniform (which included a fancy ceremonial baton) signalled the corps’ active law enforcement functions as opposed to the judicial duties performed by its robe longue counterparts, the commissaires. Though normally at the disposal of the lieutenant général de police, the company was also attached to the Parlement, a fact that explains, for example, its guard-duty rôle for such major public events as the execution of Damiens in 1757.16 Like all other similar offices in the ancien régime, the charge of exempt was acquired through purchase, normally requiring a capital outlay of around 7,000 livres. Though far from a paltry sum, the price tag for becoming an exempt de robe courte was still relatively modest, being only about one third the amount needed to purchase a commissaire’s position and less than half the going rate for the post of police inspector.17 While the interest accrued on the capital sum invested brought a modest return to the incumbent, office holders depended for their principal income on the honoraria or set fees attached to specific assignments. As the most powerful police administrator (whose own particular charge involved a capital investment of as much as 150,000 livres or more), the lieutenant général de police controlled the distribution of assignments and all attendant fees for cases directly under his authority. He thus had the power to make or break any individual officer’s career by regulating that member’s ability to work. Selective allocation of duties was also an easy way to exercise discipline, instill loyalty, and play favourites. Charles de Julie probably thought long and hard as he toyed with the ambitious notion of becoming an exempt de robe courte. He lacked the formal status of legitimate birth and the protection normally accorded respectable family identity. He also lacked money. Finally, his various past escapades had left him with a police dossier and a seriously depleted stock of societal credibility. Without all that, a man was nothing. Could his fortunes be reversed? Could he dare hope that, protected by his new-found family of police cronies, by the fellowship and friendships he had managed to build up among them, he would finally be able to make something of his life?

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

112

Page 112

A Rogue’s Progress

In fact, a stroke of good luck coming just at the right time made the decision for him. His friend Jean-Charles Péan de La Jannière, following on the example of Joseph d’Hémery, had recently purchased the office of lieutenant in the compagnie de robe courte, thus freeing up for sale the lesser office of exempt that La Jannière had originally purchased in 1743. In what could only have been an amicable concession to his friend Julie’s entreaties, formal arrangements to transfer the charge for the relatively modest sum of 3,400 livres – about half the usual price – were made by La Jannière on 15 July 1751 in the rue de Condé office of the notary Jean-François Roger: Fut présent Jean-Charles Péan de La Jannière, écuyer, conseiller du Roi, lieutenant dans la compagnie de monsieur le lieutenant criminel de robe courte, demeurant à Paris, cul-de-sac et paroisse Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. Lequel a par ces présentes vendu au sieur Charles de Julie, officier des volontaires de marine demeurant à Paris, rue du Sépulcre, paroisse Saint-Sulpice, à ce présent et acceptant acquéreur, l’état et office d’exempt de la compagnie de monsieur le lieutenant criminel de robe courte au Châtelet dont ledit sieur de la Jannière est titulaire [...]. Cette vente faite moyennant la somme de trois mille quatre cents livres, en déduction de laquelle ledit sieur de la Jannière reconnaît et confesse avoir présentement reçu dudit sieur de Julie en louis d’argent et monnaie au cours de ce jour, comptée, nombrée et réellement délivrée à la vue des notaires soussignés, la somme de deux mille livres [...]. Et quant aux quatorze cents livres restant, ledit sieur de Julie promet et s’oblige de les bailler et payer audit sieur de la Jannière en sa demeure à Paris ou au porteur dans deux ans à compter de ce jour au plus tard, à peine avec l’intérêt à raison du denier vingt,18 en autant de paiements qu’il conviendra audit sieur de Julie au fur et à mesure, desquels paiements ledit intérêt diminuera à proportion [...].19

Two thousand livres as a down payment, the balance of 1,400 livres payable within two years. The total represented barely the equivalent of what a fermier général of only average means and lecherous inclination routinely paid as a monthly (and sometimes even nightly) rental for the favours of a friendly danseuse, chanteuse or comédienne, favours often shared, moreover, with a handsome if penniless greluchon who would leave by the back door only moments before his wealthy entreteneur rival entered by the front. The sum represented, nevertheless, a substantial career investment of a kind usually reserved for privileged fils de famille. For Charles de Julie on his own, it was an enormous financial commitment. We wonder, in fact, how he managed to accumulate such a sum, and how he proposed to put aside sufficient funds in the next two years to pay the balance to his friend La Jannière.20

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 113

Greluchon and Exempt

113

The duties and privileges of the new position are formally set out in an official provision d’office, a document that also makes several astonishing claims regarding the brilliant military career, the exemplary moral character, and the sterling reputation of Charles de Julie, whose record of delinquency, desertion, impersonation, theft, and forgery now seems to have been wiped completely from the slate. No traces remain of Mme Goubier’s troubled foundling or the wily graduate of For l’Évêque and La Charité: Louis par la grâce de Dieu Roi de France et de Navarre, à tous ceux qui ces présentes verront, Salut. Savoir, faisons que sur le bon et louable rapport qu’on nous a fait de la personne de notre bien amé Charles Julie, officier des volontaires de la Marine, et sur les témoignages qu’on nous a rendus de l’exactitude et de la valeur avec lesquelles il nous a ci-devant servi dans nos troupes pendant plus de huit années, nous lui avons pour ces causes et autres, et en agréant et confirmant la nomination qui nous a été faite de sa personne par notre cher et bien amé le sieur Bachelier de Montcel, notre con[seiller] lieutenant criminel de robe courte en notre Châtelet de Paris, donné et octroyé, donnons et octroyons, par ces présentes l’office d’exempt en la compagnie dudit sieur lieutenant criminel de robe courte en notre Châtelet de Paris que tenait et exerçait Jean-Charles Péan de La Jannière qui en a fait sa démission en faveur dudit de Julie par acte du quinze des présents mois et an ci-attaché [...]. À condition toutefois que ledit de Julie ait atteint l’âge de vingt-cinq ans accomplis suivant son extrait baptistaire du dix-sept octobre, mil sept cent vingt-cinq, délivré le vingt des présents mois et an par le vicaire de l’église paroissiale de SaintEustache à Paris.

The official citation continues at some length, noting once again the many assurances received regarding the appointee’s “bonne vie et mœurs,” not to mention his zealous and faithful attachment to “la religion catholique, apostolique et romaine.” Finally, after enunciation of the majestic formula, Car tel est notre plaisir, followed by a routine reference to the appositioned great seal of yellow wax and a declaration of the date (“Donné à Compiègne le vingt-six jour de juillet l’an de grâce mil sept cent cinquante et un”), Charles de Julie emerged royally empowered and pure as driven snow, purged of his disorderly past by a royal enactment officially proving to all the world that, henceforth, no more obstacles stood in the way of a fruitful and brilliant professional career. After purchase of the required uniform, along with the impressive ebony and ivory baton of office whose gentlest touch signified an evil-doer’s arrest and brought down the full weight of the king’s authority on the miscreant, there remained, unfortunately, one last,

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

114

Page 114

A Rogue’s Progress

tiny formality. The new exempt had to be formally presented to the reigning deity of all police officers, the lieutenant général NicolasRené Berryer, seigneur de Ravenoville, terror of urban villains and protégé of the marquise de Pompadour. The fate of thousands and the safety of the city’s streets rested in Berryer’s all-protecting hands. What would the great magistrate remember? What would he choose to remember about a certain Charles de Julie? Some vague incidents involving an unsavoury past? That entire Chassepot de Beaumont business? The earlier forgeries? All those anguished letters and bits of poetry sent to him by a poor misguided wretch from behind the suffocating walls of For l’Evêque prison? Charles de Julie was hopeful – but filled with trepidation at the same time. His friends in the police were reassuring. A few youthful escapades, mere étourderies de jeunesse … Why would Berryer not choose this happy occasion to play the forgiving father who welcomes home the prodigal son? In fact, the meeting was catastrophic. Three and a half years later, writing to Berryer from his cell in the Bastille, a desperately depressed Charles de Julie would vividly recall that dreadful moment as the most painful memory of his entire life. Instead of choosing forgiveness, instead of welcoming the delinquent foundling’s humble gesture of atonement, the lieutenant général seized on the occasion to crush and humiliate the new exempt. His immediate response bristled with contempt and hostility: M. Julie, jamais vous ne travaillerez pour moi! It was a death sentence. Charles de Julie’s careful plans to make a fresh start, his fine career ambitions, his newly developed sense of self-worth – all suddenly annihilated! He had managed nearly two years of good and honourable behaviour, he had succeeded in scrambling back from the ragged fringes of marginality only to be rebuffed now by the one man in France who could make everything right for him. Tears flowed on that occasion and the shock, Julie later confesses, would have been unbearable had not a few of his close friends in the police encouraged him not to give up, promising to share some of their assignments with him despite Berryer’s explicit warnings and instructions to shun the outcast.21 It is too early in our story to read further down that tattered and tear-stained page, rescued from Charles de Julie’s prison dossier in the archives of the Bastille. The time for its closer examination will come soon enough. For now let us note only that the freshly minted exempt de robe courte, despite an unnerving reception from his superior, did not entirely lose heart. Ever the resourceful optimist, he remained convinced of his ability to overcome Berryer’s hostility. To show what he could do, he decided to pursue cases on his own initiative, whenever the opportunity arose. We shall see that for the most part he was not

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 115

Greluchon and Exempt

115

very successful. Moreover, most of the results that he achieved through his own unsupported efforts had to be relayed anonymously to Berryer and buried away in the investigative reports of fellow officers willing to risk defying their superior’s wishes by employing Julie’s services in their own departments – the theatre and book trade, the gambling and theft details, the departments that kept an eye on foreigners or the military, and, especially, the vice detail in which Julie’s acknowledged expertise was at least equal to the the hands-on familiarity of his sometime associate, inspector Dumont. But unlike that frenetically randy officer, though presumably in possession of those special physical attributes that traditionally earned many an arrogant garde or mousquetaire unquestioned rights to l’amour à petit frais, Charles de Julie was more inclined to genteel moderation and artistry in these matters. Indeed, his most sustained connection during this period with the world of femmes galantes seems to have been a mainly monogamous liaison with the well-known maquerelle la demoiselle Dupont, also called “la grande Dupont” to distinguish her from several lesser practitoners in the trade who used the same name. A native of Paris and twenty-five years of age in 1751, la demoiselle Dupont probably made the acquaintance of Charles de Julie as MarieAnne Boisgiroux in his pre-Senlis libertine days. Their relationship had now become mutually beneficial on a professional level, she serving as his working mistress and chief informant on the entire whore-mongering scene, he in turn acting as her greluchon, high-style client scout, and, to the best of his limited authority and means, most immediate source of police protection. When we first meet la Dupont in Meusnier’s files, that protection had just suffered a major setback. Already established in the trade in a substantial way though not quite on the grand scale of Madame Pâris’s fashionable establishment on the rue de Bagneux, she had moved her académie to a busy Latin Quarter location in May 1751, a rented house at number 9 rue des Amandiers (today’s rue Laplace).22 The street, near several of the old colleges, was extremely narrow, and vehicular traffic in the area was frequently impeded. Not surprisingly, only a few months after la demoiselle Dupont’s arrival on the scene, Berryer’s senior clerk, Chaban, received the following unsigned citizen’s complaint: J’ai toujours recours à vous, Monsieur, dans les grandes occasions. Depuis trois mois il est venu s’établir précisément devant ma porte une fameuse maquerelle nommée Mme Dupont. Quelque peu agréable que soit pareil voisinage pour quelqu’un qui n’en fait point usage, je ne m’oppose point aux plaisirs publics et à la protection qu’on accorde à ladite dame mais il n’est pas

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

116

Page 116

A Rogue’s Progress

juste que j’en souffre. L’affluence de la compagnie est si grande chez elle que presque tous les jours il me faut disputer avec les fiacres qui m’empêchent d’entrer et de sortir de chez moi. J’y en ai trouvé six la dernière nuit et je fus près d’une demi-heure sans pouvoir rentrer chez moi. Vous me ferez grand plaisir de vouloir bien me délivrer de toutes les disputes que je suis obligé d’essuyer chaque jour. Si on veut absolument laisser subsister ce mauvais lieu, au moins que je ne l’aie pas à en souffrir. Vous conservez, Monsieur, la tendre amitié que je vous ai vouée pour la vie.23

Protected or not, la Dupont was now in grave trouble. The unwritten rule was that while certain establishments like hers were tolerated, the police would nevertheless find themselves obliged to act if disturbances of the peace and public scandal elicited complaints from important people, “gens de bien,” church officials, and the like. Moreover, la Dupont’s permission tacite was seen as less secure, more vulnerable to complaints, than, for example, the formal protection afforded la Pâris’s establishment in the faubourg Saint-Germain which, everyone knew, benefited openly from ministerial support. Even the archbishop of Paris, Christophe de Beaumont, had been given the responsible minister’s smoothest assurances that nothing untoward was going on chez la “Bonne-Maman” Pâris: “Cela se passe, Monseigneur,” the comte d’Argenson had solemnly informed the archbishop, “que vous et moi pourrions y aller.”24 Moreover, only a year before la Dupont’s troubles began, la Pâris had taken the precaution of moving further out from the centre of town to her celebrated Hôtel du Roule location near Chaillot. As the maquerelle la d’Hosmont later pointed out to Berryer in her application to take over la Pâris’s profitable maison, the new location was advantageously “éloignée de messieurs les curés et de la populace.”25 In contrast, and perhaps in part because of her connections with Charles de Julie, la demoiselle Dupont fared much less well. Immediately on receiving the important neighbour’s formal complaint and urged on as well by the prévost des marchands, Louis-Basile de Bernage, who for his own reasons had decided to get involved in the case, Berryer ordered the maquerelle’s arrest. On Wednesday 13 October 1751 at precisely six-thirty in the evening, commissaire AgnanPhilippe-Miché de Rochebrune, accompanied by Jacques Doubleau, brigadier du guet, descended on the house in the rue des Amandiers. De Rochebrune’s official procès-verbal of the incident provides useful information on the age and background of sex-trade workers housed in mid-eighteenth-century Parisian brothels:

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 117

Greluchon and Exempt

117

Ayant frappé à la porte de la rue, nous avons vu un particulier qui est venu nous en faire l’ouverture, et qui nous a dit que ladite Dupont que nous avons demandée y était, et sur cette confiance, y étant entrés dans la cuisine au rezde-chaussée, nous avons appris que ladite Dupont était chez les artificiers dans ladite rue des Amandiers, où nous étant transportés à l’instant nous y avons trouvé ladite Dupont que nous avons fait conduire en ladite maison où elle demeure, où nous lui avons appris les ordres dont nous étions porteurs. Et interpellée de nous déclarer ses noms, surnoms, âge, pays, et demeure, elle nous a dit se nommer Marie Boisgiroux, dite Dupont, âgée de vingt-cinq ans, native de Paris, et occupant ladite maison où nous sommes depuis le mois de juin dernier. Et comme il y avait sept jeunes gens avec les filles de ladite Dupont, cette dernière s’est chargée de les renvoyer, ce qu’elle a exécuté à l’instant; et ayant fait paraître par-devant nous dans une chambre au premier étage toutes lesdites filles, nous les avons interpellées de nous déclarer leurs noms, surnoms, âges, pays, et depuis quel temps elles demeurent avec ladite Dupont, et elles se sont trouvées au nombre de huit et ont dit se nommer, Marie-Madelaine Houlier, dite Désirée, âgée de vingt-quatre ans, native de Paris, fille de feu Étienne Houlier, jardinier, et de Marie-Madeleine Robert, jardinière, elle demeurante depuis onze mois avec ladite Dupont. Marie-Anne Alain, dite Lolotte, âgée de vingt-deux ans, native de Paris, fille de feus Nicolas Alain, marchand-fripier, et de Louise Le Doyier demeurante depuis six mois avec ladite Dupont. Catherine Feron, dite Raton, âgée de dix-huit ans, native de Paris, fille de François Feron, porteur d’eau, et de feue [left blank], demeurante depuis onze mois avec ladite Dupont. Anne Destrées, dite Henriette, âgée de vingt ans, native de Louvet-en-Parisis, fille de Jean Destrées, arpenteur royal ayant perdu l’esprit il y a environ dix-huit ans et de feue [left blank], demeurante depuis trois mois avec ladite Dupont. Marie-Anne Fortier, dite Fatime, âgée de vingt et un ans, native de Fontainebleau, fille de feu Pierre Fortier, marchand de toile, et de feue [left blank], demeurante depuis trois jours avec ladite Dupont. Anne La Fond, dite Zaïre, âgée de quinze ans et demi, native de Périgueux, fille de feu Barthélemy La Fond, tailleur d’habits, et de Pétronille [left blank], demeurante depuis huit mois avec ladite Dupont chez laquelle sa mère d’elle, La Fond, l’a amenée après l’avoir livrée à Nantes au sieur Béguier, chirurgien. Anne-Marie Testevuide, dite Mézière, âgée de quinze ans et demi, native de Paris, fille de feu [left blank] Testevuide, cocher, et de Nicolle-Françoise Le Grand, couturière, demeurante depuis environ huit mois avec ladite Dupont chez laquelle la mère d’elle, Testevuide, l’a amenée après l’avoir précédemment livrée à un Portugais. Et Françoise Burjat, dite Sophie, âgée de dix-neuf ans, native de Riom en

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

118

Page 118

A Rogue’s Progress

Auvergne, fille d’Étienne Burjat, fermier audit lieu, et de feue Anne Grimod, demeurante depuis six mois avec ladite Dupont. Et ledit sieur Doubleau, ayant arrêté conformément aux ordres dont il est porteur, ladite Boisgiroux, dite Dupont, il s’est chargé de la conduire dans les prisons de Saint-Martin pour l’y écrouer de l’ordre du Roi, et s’est pareillement chargé de conduire lesdites Catherine Feron, Françoise Burjat, Anne La Fond, et Anne-Marie Testevuide dans lesdites prisons de Saint-Martin pour les y écrouer à l’effet de répondre à la police, et avant que d’y être conduite ladite Marie Boisgiroux a fermé son appartement au premier étage avec la clef restée en ses mains, et a chargé du soin du surplus des meubles étant dans ladite maison Marie-Anne Couturier, femme de Sébastien Dufehy, sa domestique, à laquelle elle a confiance sans qu’il soit besoin de faire aucune description que ladite Marie Boisgiroux a regardée comme inutile, attendu que la droiture et la probité de ladite Dufehy lui est connue.26

The prison of Saint-Martin served primarily as a temporary detention centre for women prisoners awaiting final disposition of their case. It was here that arresting officer Doubleau left la demoiselle Dupont along with her four youngest charges. These last could expect fairly lenient treatment when they appeared before the magistrate. La Dupont, on the other hand, would not be so fortunate. Within two days she was transferred directly to the dreaded Salpêtrière, and more particularly, to La Force, that part of l’Hôpital Général reserved for some 900 female inmates undergoing punishment for murder, debauchery, theft, and other “dishonouring” crimes. As a prison, La Force was feared almost as much as Bicêtre, and Mercier records that female detainees, on learning that it would be their destination, sometimes attempted suicide .27 Still relying no doubt on her “protection,” Marie Boisgiroux, alias la Dupont, seems to have taken matters philosophically. The day after her incarceration, almost certainly with close coaching by her good friend Charles de Julie, she composed and had delivered to the stern magistrate Nicolas Berryer a humble and eloquent petition for mercy: A Monseigneur de Berryer, conseiller d’État et lieutenant général de police Monseigneur, La Dupont représente très humblement à Votre Grandeur qu’elle connaît l’étendue de ses fautes, qu’elle sait combien vous êtes judicieux, et qu’elle souffrira sans murmure la rude pénitence qui semble lui être préparée. Elle vous supplie cependant, Monseigneur, les larmes aux yeux et le repentir dans le cœur, de vouloir être persuadé qu’elle n’a jamais eu l’intention de vous être en aucune façon désagréable, et qu’elle doit à l’étourderie et à l’imprudence de son âge le malheur où elle est plongée. Elle n’a recours qu’à votre miséricorde; elle

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 119

Greluchon and Exempt

119

ose, Monseigneur, s’y recommander. La susdite Dupont prend la liberté d’observer à Votre Grandeur qu’il est essentiel que ses intérêts soient en mains sûres. Elle vous demande la grâce de la faire transférer chez elle, pour mettre ordre à ses affaires domestiques et pour y signer une procuration à son horloger en qui elle a confiance. Le ciel, qui voit le fond de son cœur, connaît la sincérité des vœux qu’elle continue de lui adresser pour l’accomplissement des désirs de Votre Grandeur, et c’est en vos seules bontés qu’elle met toute son espérance. Daignez ne la pas regarder dans le fort de votre colère.28

Unfortunately, the desired pardon did not materialize, although two days later, on 18 October 1751, la Dupont was allowed to draw up a power of attorney in the matter of attendance to her household affairs. Nearly two weeks after that, the lieutenant général de police received a touching appeal from la Dupont’s domestic employees and from various tradesmen of her quarter. The names of not even half of the humble and largely illiterate signatories to this document are legible, but few third-party petitions that survive in these police archives convey a more authentic impression of community concern and openhearted sincerity: Monseigneur Berryer, Nous sommes si pénétrés et si fâchés de ce que vous avez fait arrêter la Dupont que je [sic] prenons la liberté de vous représenter que c’est une bonne femme qui assistait tout son quartier, elle donnait à nos enfants des hardes, et s’il y avait dans son voisinage quelques malades, elle leur donnait de l’argent, et ne les laissait manquer de rien. Nous savons bien que c’est une libertine mais elle est franche, et si les gros seigneurs de notre quartier n’avaient pas peur de prendre trop de liberté à cause de leur condition, [nous] sommes sûrs qu’ils vous prieraient de lui rendre sa liberté. Nous sommes tous de pauvres gens, Monseigneur, à qui elle faisait gagner quelques sous car le temps est si dur qu’on a bien de la peine à gagner sa pauvre vie. Nous vous prions à genoux de la laisser revenir tranquille quand elle vous aura demandé pardon de quelque sottise qu’elle [sic] faut bien qu’elle ait faite, car nous savons bien que vous êtes juste et bon. Nous sommes sûrs que Monsieur, notre prévost des marchands, Monsieur de Nicolay, et aussi Monsieur le comte d’Egmont qui sont des honnêtes seigneurs qui nous font plaisir le plus qu’ils peuvent seront aussi bien aises de la voir hors de prison. Nous prierons toujours Dieu, Monseigneur, pour votre santé et pour toute votre honorable famille. Jacob, portnour deo [porteur d’eau] de Madame Deupon Marie Serein Guillin, Boudin, fruitiers Anne Chedeville, femme de Jean LeFort,

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

120

Page 120

A Rogue’s Progress

Marie-Janne Le Claire, femme de Eloy Sacle, emploié dans la ferme du Roy Delagroux, jouaily [joaillier] Marie La Nogniat, jardinier de Madame Dupont [...].29

A practised cynic like inspector Meusnier, reading this little community tribute to la Dupont’s kindness and generosity, would no doubt have dismissed its uncultured expression of moral support, not to mention its live-and-let-live subtext, as little more than the self-serving plea of a neighbourhood populace that had suddenly lost its only profitable local industry. Not surprisingly, the petition failed. Months passed, and the heart of the lieutenant général de police remained unmoved. Finally, Berryer received another letter regarding la Dupont’s case. It was elegant and affable in tone and it was couched in terms that bespoke both the writer’s rank and authority. The signatory was no less a personage than Joseph-Pierre, comte de Laval-Montmorency, an influential favourite of the Dauphin and the son of a maréchal de France whose family could trace its origins back to Charlemagne.30 The letter was written, moreover, from l’Isle-Adam and more precisely from the château of Louis-François de Bourbon, prince de Conti, the most politically powerful of the princes du sang. In addition, LavalMontmorency clearly spelled out the news that M. de Bernage, the prévôt des marchands and effectively the “mayor” of Paris, one of the original complainants against la Dupont, was now fully in support of a plea for leniency in her case: À l’Isle-Adam, ce 6 janvier 1752 J’ai eu l’honneur, Monsieur, d’aller deux fois chez vous sans être assez heureux pour vous trouver. Comme je suis obligé de suivre M. le prince de Conti, et que nous habitons l’Isle-Adam beaucoup plus que Paris, je prends le parti d’avoir l’honneur de vous écrire pour vous demander la grâce de la nommée Dupont qui est par vos ordres habitante de la Salpêtrière. Quoique je ne connaisse pas particulièrement cette dame, je sais qu’elle tenait une maison peu honnête à Paris, et que c’est à la recommandation de M. le prévôt des marchands que vous avez eu la bonté de lui faire faire cette petite retraite. Mais M. de Bernage ne s’oppose plus à sa liberté; il a même promis à M. le marquis d’Alligny qui lui en a parlé, qu’il vous supplierait de la faire sortir. Ainsi, Monsieur, j’espère que vous voudrez bien m’accorder cette grâce. J’ai des raisons essentielles pour m’intéresser à la sortie de cette femme; elles sont trop longues pour vous être expliquées dans une lettre. J’aurai l’honneur de vous les dire moi-même en vous allant remercier. Je vous aurais une obligation entière si vous vouliez bien donner l’ordre de sa sortie à mon valet de chambre qui vous portera ma lettre, ou lui dire quand il pourra l’aller chercher.

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 121

Greluchon and Exempt

121

J’ai l’honneur d’être très respectueusement, Monsieur, Votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur Montmorency Laval31

Two very puzzling questions arise from this remarkable document: Why, given the weighty intercession of such influential persons, did la Dupont’s release not follow almost immediately upon its receipt? The writer obviously expected nothing less. Secondly, why did the simple case of a maquerelle’s arrest attract such a dazzling display of concern to begin with? The answer to the last question, made all the more intriguing by the writer’s cryptic allusion to raisons essentielles that could be communicated only in person, is not at all obvious. Perhaps it had something to do with the prince de Conti’s many political intrigues and la Dupont’s possible role as an informer. It is also possible that it was the result of a behind-the-scenes lobbying manœuvre on the part of her intimate friend and most immediate protector, Charles de Julie, who by now had managed to establish useful “outside” contacts with another maréchal de France, the powerful duc de Richelieu. As for why such a high-powered act of intercession failed to move Berryer, the answer probably lies in the fact that the lieutenant général, as everyone knew, was “tout entier à Mme de Pompadour.”32 Berryer, in fact, had no need to worry about the wishes of anyone else in the kingdom, except, of course, Louis XV himself. Throughout his tenure, he consistently pursued a course that was primarily dictated by the interests of la marquise rather than those of his administrative superior, the comte d’Argenson, whom Pompadour basically mistrusted. He was also well aware that the king’s mistress during this period was locked in a high-stakes power struggle at court with the prince de Conti, the prince of the Blood Royal whom she feared most. Conti, with the active collusion of the prévost des marchands (later suitably rewarded for his role in the matter), was at that very moment negotiating the sale of his great townhouse – at a highly inflated price – to the city of Paris, to provide a building site for the new Hôtel de Ville.33 But whatever the real reasons behind both the high-level intervention in la Dupont’s favour and its puzzling failure, Charles de Julie’s versatile mistress of the rue des Amandiers was obliged to continue serving out her harsh sentence for another five months of forced labour and personal degradation in the crowded and horrifyingly inhumane conditions of la Salpêtrière. She was finally released on 30 May 1752.34 Only a month after her release, la Dupont was back in business, using the name Decamp and operating on a much less ambitious scale. Meusnier routinely notes her reappearance in the milieu and her new

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

122

Page 122

A Rogue’s Progress

address, “au coin du cul-de-sac du Coq et de la rue Saint-Honoré, au premier dans l’appartement qu’occupait avant elle la demoiselle de Longpré qui y donnait à jouer.” In his usual acerbically jocular style, Meusnier adds that the abbesse’s “retreat” of nearly eight months at La Salpêtrière had given her an entirely new perspective on things, having allowed her “tout le temps de faire des réflexions sur le métier périlleux qu’elle faisait rue des Amandiers.” No longer jealous of the “gloire” of la Pâris and la Carlier, she now confines her good works and her “bonne volonté à servir le public” to more restricted and more secure boundaries. She was now twenty-six and the inspector allows himself a derisive allusion to her maturing years: “Et comme le goût des hommes est assez dépravé pour la trouver encore de mise, elle a déjà trouvé chaland dans la personne du sieur Geoffroy l’aîné, fils de l’apothicaire, qui a succédé à son père.”35 The wealthy Geoffroy was in fact a former devotee who had lived on and off with la Dupont for five years before taking a wife in 1749. Now, in addition to visiting his favourite selection of brothels three times a week, he was lavishing money right and left on “femmes et filles.” His brother, a commissaire des guerres and also married, was “aussi libertin que lui.” Illustrating his classical culture, Meusnier adds that both brothers were currently suffering from “un rhume de Lampsaque que le cadet a charitablement communiqué à madame son épouse.”36 In December 1752, la demoiselle Dupont moved again, this time to a first-floor apartment on the somewhat disreputable rue Fromenteau, just opposite the Hôtel de Berg-op-Zoom. Geoffroy, the rich apothecary, had withdrawn from her life and her main breadwinner was now M. Destournelles, a captain in the intrepid Carabiniers regiment. Meusnier notes that in addition to paying la demoiselle Dupont a monthly allowance of 100 livres, the new entreteneur actually has moved in with her and takes care of the rent and household expenses.37 But there were dark clouds on the horizon: she was apparently still welcoming Charles de Julie, her long-time non-paying greluchon, rather too warmly. The gruff captain was showing alarming signs of hostility to this cozy arrangement: “On assure que dans les conditions du traité il avait spécialement stipulé qu’elle n’aurait aucune relation directe ni indirecte avec le sieur de Julie, exempt de robe courte, qui continuait d’avoir ses grandes entrées38 et qu’elle assistait toujours de quelques écus. Mais elle ne lui a pas tenu parole car sur les deux habits qu’il [Julie] vient de se donner, il y est entré 6 louis provenant de la Dupont, le surplus à credit, et c’est à cette occasion qu’elle a manqué de perdre M. Destournelles qui fut instruit de cette infraction. Néanmoins, après bien de supplication, il la lui a pardonnée, non sans peine, à condition qu’elle n’y retournerait plus.” As usual, Meusnier was well

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

Page 123

Greluchon and Exempt

123

informed, having just received from la Lafosse a report that in the first week of December, la Dupont had given Julie her total monthly support payment from Destournelles and then half as much again, “pour l’aider a sabie [à s’habiller].”39 Such loyalty on la demoiselle Dupont’s part must have been well earned by Julie, although he later assured Berryer that after her arrest and sentencing to La Salpêtrière in October 1751, their relationship had become one of simple “amitié.”40 That he was now no longer the preferred amant de cœur but only a friend is, however, far from certain. What will become clear later in our story is that Charles de Julie, as a vice squad operative heavily engaged in underground “journalism” on the side, continued secretly throughout this period to make use of la demoiselle Dupont as his chief informer. Meanwhile, a Meusnier report of 14 July 1753 points out that the procuress had now considerably broadened the scope of her operations and was offering a full range of exotic services, including those of her little fifteen–year-old “niece,” la petite Zaïre, now recycled as a pristine thirteen-year-old. But other treats were available in the Dupont boutique as well. Meusnier’s report continues: Mercredi dernier, onze de ce mois, sur les cinq heures du soir, on a vu le duc d’Aumont descendre de son carrosse sur la place du Palais Royal et aller de là à pied rue Fromenteau chez la demoiselle Dupont, connue présentement sous le nom Decamp, et l’on tient qu’il s’est fait fouetter par elle jusqu’au sang. Elle n’a cependant eu qu’un louis pour ses peines. L’histoire rapporte qu’elle s’est beaucoup intriguée pour connaître celui à qui elle venait de rendre un service aussi important, mais que ça a été en vain. Il y a lieu de présumer que le sieur Destournelles qui fait toujours chambrée avec elle devient traitable et qu’il ne se formalise plus de ces sortes de recréations, non plus que des parties qu’elle fait, et fait faire en ville.41

Unbeknownst to inspector Meusnier, la Dupont’s need to discover the identity of the incognito client she had just flagellated so thoroughly arose, of course, from her duty to pass on such secrets to Charles de Julie, who by then was clandestinely supplying an illicit news-sheet filled with just such juicy gossip to a very select group of wealthy subscribers in the capital – dukes or fermiers généraux to a man. The last item we shall cite concerning la demoiselle Dupont’s professional activities underscores the point: Le vieux duc de Duras voit tous les jours des filles nouvelles; on lui a mené la semaine dernière la Dupont qu’on lui a fait passer pour la femme d’un conseiller au Parlement. Il l’a très bien reçue. Il était vêtu en jeune homme et à la

CH04-PT2.QXD

9/1/2004 11:34 AM

124

Page 124

A Rogue’s Progress

légère; il a badiné si longtemps avec cette femme qu’elle est convenue que ce vieux paillard l’avait plus fatiguée que si elle eût eu affaire à trois jeunes gens. Il lui a donné 6 louis et l’a priée de le revenir voir.”42

That bit of news sounds, of course, very much like one of inspector Meusnier’s own jaunty reports to Berryer, one that no doubt could have been relayed to Versailles for the private amusement of la marquise and Louis le Bien-Aimé. In fact it is nothing of the sort. We find this spicy tidbit in one of Charles de Julie’s newly launched bulletins galants, a savoury anecdote made available to him by the professional lady directly involved, who also happened to be his intimate friend and loyal informer. Here was dangerous ground. It would be intolerable indeed if such private secrets, normally ferreted out by an expensive army of police mouches assigned to probe every hidden recess of private and public life in the capital, were all of a sudden being shared outside the administrative family. By embarking on this new enterprise, the exempt Charles de Julie, reformed libertine and budding nouvelliste, was again well on his way down another treacherous path.

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 125

5 New Temptations

Becoming an exempt de robe courte had been only one of Charles de Julie’s ambitions when he returned from the navy. Another was to find some way to exploit the contacts he had already begun to cultivate with some of the grands seigneurs and other important personages who regularly ventured into the fringes of the capital’s demi-monde in search of sexual diversion. There was profit and social standing to be gained in that quarter for someone willing to scramble a little. Becoming an exempt was in a way part of that scrambling process. It is even possible that Julie acquired financial backing for the purchase of his office only after managing to interest one or two dissolute gentlemen in the potential usefulness of having a member of the vice squad on their informal payroll. One of Julie’s earliest “protectors” along such lines was the celebrated fermier général and philosopher, Claude-Adrien Helvétius. We can be quite certain, I think, that Julie and Helvétius did not meet originally in either the capital’s elegant literary salons or in its counting houses. Helvétius’s active involvement in the dissolute activities of the town was no secret to the police, even if it seems to have been unknown to many of his well-wishers in the beau monde, including Marie Leszczynska, Louis XV’s pious spouse, who lobbied hard in May 1749 to ensure the philosopher’s appointment as her (largely honorific) maître d’hôtel.1 Helvétius’s name frequently comes up in the files of inspector Meusnier, where his sexual tastes, categorized for the most part as bizarre, are regularly chronicled in some detail. Vice squad notations concerning the future author of De l’Esprit – ten years

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

126

Page 126

A Rogue’s Progress

Julie’s senior and possessing a tax-farmer charge that brought him a very large annual income – date back to at least the late 1730s when his rather special liaison with the attractive demoiselle Brezay, one of la Carlier’s understudies, presented, as inspector Meusnier notes, an early illustration of the extent to which “il avait déjà du goût pour se faire fouetter par des femmes.”2 That inclination, if anything, grew stronger with the passing years. By 1750 la demoiselle Brezay, then thirty-eight-years-old, was – according to Meusnier – much changed: “grosse, courte, le visage enluminé d’une physionomie commune.” With the help of her greluchon, police inspector Jacques Dadvenel, she was now more involved as a facilitator in the trade than as an active participant. Helvétius still made use of her services from time to time, but for the most part he had graduated to younger wielders of the scourge and was currently in serious negotiations with la demoiselle Fautis, la cadette, of the rue du Gros Chenet. Meusnier reveals in November of that year that the amateur philosopher and the professional dominatrix had so far been unable to agree on a regular price for her services: “Elle demande 100 louis pour le bien fouetter, d’autres en donneroient 200 pour ne l’être pas. Il en offre déjà 40.”3 The wealthy philosopher’s marriage in August 1751, though apparently based on true love, seems scarcely to have interrupted these activities; indeed, the presence of a wife appears to have opened up new opportunities for weekly home delivery of such special treats. Colourful references to Helvétius’s involvement in masochistic floggings, as well as testimonials to his gift for shrewd haggling when it came to determining a fair price for the privilege of dubious deflorations (in the case of obviously recycled virgins) continue to appear in the police files well into the 1750s.4 It is likely that Charles de Julie helped to initiate a number of these contacts for Helvétius. As someone who was himself a minor facilitator in the local sex trade as well as a fringe member of the world’s most corruptly omniscient vice squad, he knew he could be a valuable resource for wealthy gentlemen interested in devoting substantial amounts of time and money to their quest for life’s carnal pleasures. But the ambitions of the newly installed exempt went well beyond acting as a mere broker in such matters. In the fermier général Helvétius, his quick entrepreneurial eye had spied an especially useful contact, not only a source of friendly “loans” from time to time but also a sympathetic patron who could network on his behalf with other like-minded financiers, men of influence who would be interested in the streetsmart expertise of a well-disposed and well-informed exempt who could be discreetly helpful in their business dealings as well as in their more exotic pursuits.

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 127

New Temptations

127

It was not an easy task to break into that restricted circle. Two letters from Helvétius to Julie, the first written only a month after the exempt acquired his office, define with some clarity the insecurity of his situation: J’ay été si affairé, Monsieur, pendant les derniers tems que j’ay resté à Paris que je ne me souviens plus de ce que j’ay fais de votre memoire. Mais comme vous en avez vraisemblablement copie, vous pouvez aller trouver Mr Bouret luy dire que nous avons plusieurs fois cauzé ensemble des moiens de s’oppozer à la contrebande et que je m’etois meme chargé de luy en parler, et que je crois meme m’etre acquitté de ma commission. Vous pouvez etre sûr qu’il vous recevra bien en vous annonçant de ma part, et qu’il connoit trop bien la régie des fermes pour ne pas sentir l’utilité dont un homme comme vous nous pourroit etre. A l’egard de la personne dont vous me parlez, vous jugez bien que les discours de ces gens-là me font peu d’effet et que meme je n’y ai pas donné lieu, puisqu’il y avoit fort longtems que je n’y allois point. Je compte aller dans quelque tems à Paris; si je puis vous y etre utile, j’en saisiray l’occasion avec grand plaisir. Je suis, avec tout l’attachement possible, Monsieur, votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur, Helvetius A Voré, ce 31 aoust 17515

Helvétius’s letter, written only two weeks after his marriage to the young Anne-Catherine de Ligniville d’Autricourt, bespeaks the active man of affairs long since inured to importunate appeals from petitioners and seekers of patronage. The year 1751, moreover, was for Helvétius one of busy disengagement. He was negotiating the purchase of property in the country and also arranging for the sale of his lucrative tax office to François Bouret d’Érigny, a member of the wellknown financial clan. Had he in fact spoken to his fellow fermier général Étienne-Michel Bouret (the gentleman we meet in Diderot’s Neveu de Rameau) on Charles de Julie’s behalf? We cannot be certain but it is likely, in any case, that Étienne-Michel Bouret, frequently cited in Meusnier’s vice squad notes, would have been more interested in exploiting Julie’s contacts in the demi-monde than in sitting down to listen to his ideas on how to control smuggling and tax evasion. What is most evident in Helvétius’s note is the polite but only halfconcealed brush-off in the second paragraph. In his own letter, Julie had apparently presumed to inform the wealthy tax-farmer of some low-life gossip recently communicated to the police about him, probably by one of Meusnier’s maquerelles. It was the sort of favour a

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

128

Page 128

A Rogue’s Progress

social equal, a helpful comrade-in-arms, might presume to pass on. But here, Julie’s solicitude is politely set aside. The libertine fermiergénéral is not about to get into epistolary explanations regarding such delicate questions with a social inferior – however useful he might be from time to time in arranging certain intimate matters. The message is explicit: Charles de Julie should not be concerned; indeed, he should not presume to be concerned. A second note, sent to Julie’s new address in the rue Guénégaud, makes the situation even more clear. We are not surprised to learn that Charles de Julie has already wangled several loans from the philosophical tax farmer. Perennially out of funds and presuming on his special relationship with his distinguished patron, he was again testing the waters. Knowing his man, Helvétius turns him down with what is little more than a thinly disguised form-letter: Je serois enchanté, Monsieur, de pouvoir encor vous tirer de l’embarras où vous etes. Je suis fort faché de ce qui vous arrive, mais vous sentez que dans la premiere année d’un mariage, où l’on a beaucoup depensé, l’on ne se trouve pas trop en argent, et c’est precizement l’etat où je [me tro]uve. Je suis au desespoir de ce contretems qui m’ote une occassion de vous obliger et de vous prouver l’attachement avec lequel je suis, Monsieur, Votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur, Helvetius À Lumigny, ce 4 8bre 17516

Happily, there were other important grands seigneurs in the capital interested in the services that Charles de Julie could provide. In fact, his next important client-patron, none other than the mighty duc de Richelieu, was apparently willing to offer him more benefits than he was prudently able to accept. The first response to Julie’s exploratory overtures in Richelieu’s direction had come, not from the grand seigneur himself, but from the maréchal-duc’s most trusted factotum, Desnoyers, a man whose secret intrigues and undercover machinations routinely facilitated Richelieu’s legendary philandering. Not a great deal is known about Richelieu’s Desnoyers, a shadowy figure whose first name, date of birth, and other particulars still remain something of a mystery. In its disguised contemporary portrait of Richelieu and his entourage, François Génard’s L’École de l’homme (1752) refers obliquely to the functions of Desnoyers and his associates: “Pendant vingt ans Clitandre [Richelieu] s’est rendu le fléau de mille familles. Filles, femmes, veuves; il a tout séduit, il a tout débauché ... Il a fait de

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 129

New Temptations

129

l’adultère & de la fornication, ses amusemens, ses occupations & ses devoirs. Il avoit des gens à la découverte des femmes mécontentes de leurs maris, des joueuses à crédit, & des filles que leur état ennuyoit.”7 Desnoyers maintained close familiarity with a number of police officers. We know, for example, that he occasionally socialized with inspector Meusnier and quite regularly got together with Charles de Julie.8 It is possible that he was related in some way (son, nephew?) to the commissaire de police Abraham Desnoyers, who acquired his office in 1726 and lived in the rue Montmartre.9 He may also have been related to Jean-Charles Desnoyers, the wealthy and dissipated Intendant des Menus Plaisirs of the even more dissipated premier prince du sang, the duc d’Orléans. Jean-Charles Desnoyers lived in the Palais Royal complex (Cour des Bons-Enfants), close to his mistress, MarieLouise Morel, a danseuse at the Opéra who resided in the nearby rue Froidmanteau and who was known to market her favours in that general area.10 Richelieu’s mysterious intendant first comes to our attention as a result of the key role he played in one of the century’s most talkedabout scandals. Few amateurs of eighteenth-century France’s petite histoire have not heard of the famous Richelieu fireplace caper, an ingenious bit of skulduggery by means of which the notorious maréchal managed to gain secure and discreet access to the bedroom of Mme de La Popelinière, wife of the well-known fermier général who lived on the rue de Richelieu. All of the standard memorialists of the day mention the incident, generally in tones of mocking good humour, and even Mme de Pompadour and Louis XV seem to have enjoyed a good chuckle on this occasion at the expense of all concerned.11 It had all started when the great seducer Richelieu, challenged by the suspicions and constant surveillance of a jealous husband, hit upon the ingenious scheme of renting, under an agent’s name, an apartment in a house on the rue de Richelieu situated next to that of the wealthy La Popelinière. Once the duke’s basic plan to break through an exterior wall into a fireplace located in the adjoining building was conceived, it was left to his man Desnoyers to determine the best means of carrying it out during the husband’s absence. The nineteenth-century historian Campardon takes up the story: “Desnoyers, en homme de précaution, choisit pour cette besogne délicate deux maçons d’une habileté incontestable, et une nuit, après leur avoir bandé les yeux et leur avoir fait mille détours dans une voiture, il les conduisit dans la chambre où ils devaient opérer. Là il leur ôta leur bandeau, leur expliqua ce qu’il y avait à faire et leur promit cinquante louis si le travail était fini avant le jour et sans bruit.”12 After completing the work in record time and concealing the

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

130

Page 130

A Rogue’s Progress

opening with cleverly hinged panels, the two workmen were again blindfolded and driven away, leaving them none the wiser regarding the precise location of their nocturnal labours. The stratagem worked very well for a time. Eventually, however, warned by a disaffected maid, the husband discovered the secret and sent Madame packing in a great storm of public scandal. Barbier13 provides a sampling of the satirical verses that circulated in Paris after the event, as well as the latest witticism, which pointed out how lucky it was that La Popelinière was a fermier général, since otherwise, without his tax immunity, “on l’auroit fait payer, aux Barrières, comme bête à cornes”! As for the clever Desnoyers, it must have been with some awe and admiration that Charles de Julie finally met the passe-muraille factotum, probably sometime in early 1751 in one of the more dissipated libertine playpens of the capital. It would have been very much a meeting of kindred spirits, although Desnoyers, it is true, outranked Julie in social status and wealth, and he patronized higher-class brothels, such as la Pâris’s establishment, from which he had recently spirited away, for a paltry ransom of twenty-five louis, la demoiselle Agathe, one of la Pâris’s younger charges. Some time later, la demoiselle Agathe meekly returned to her old “Bonne Maman,” only to be enticed away once more (again for twenty-five louis) by young Klinglin, son of the influential Strasbourg magistrate. Later still, now styled la demoiselle Marbourg, she became a very good friend of Fréron’s journalistic rival, the abbé Joseph de La Porte who, Meusnier notes sarcastically, “parle fort bien de la religion.”14 Ladies who combined easy virtue and a weakness for enterprising ecclesiastics seem to have drifted into Desnoyers’s purview more than once. Catherine Brochart, whom inspector Poussot years before had initiated at a very early age in her career, was in her midthirties in 1753. Meusnier notes that she had some faults: “Point jolie (elle a été assez bien), brune de cheveux, blanche de peau, belle gorge, jambe fine et dégagée, alerte, les dents laides, la bouche grande. Elle donne présentement un peu dans la bouteille.” Such minor deficiencies did not, however, trouble her sexagenarian entreteneur, the abbé de Coste, prêtre chanoine of Notre Dame. What did bother this seasoned churchman, however, were the lady’s numerous greluchons, close associates, it turns out, of Charles de Julie: “La Jannière fils y va souvent,” notes Meusnier, also Desnoyers “de chez M. de Richelieu,” not to mention the actor who usually played Arlequin at the Comédie-Italienne, “et nombre d’autres.”15 Unlike his master, Richelieu, who – at least in his first two marriages – had probably been fortunate enough to escape cuckoldom,16 the maréchal’s intendant, Desnoyers, seems to have suffered the all-too-

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 131

New Temptations

131

common fate on more than one occasion. Among his more fortunate rivals for Mme Desnoyer’s affections, still according to Meusnier, was the dashing and ubiquitous inspector Joseph d’Hémery, as well as an oboe player from the Opéra.17 If Desnoyers was aware of his misfortune, he seems not to have been excessively concerned. He himself enjoyed a stable relationship with an attractive gouvernante whom we know only as la Louison (a common nom de guerre at the time), a professional lady of pleasure whose activities paralleled in many ways those of Charles de Julie’s demoiselle Dupont. Like her friend la Dupont, la Louison would eventually prove to be one of Julie’s most valuable gatherers of spicy intelligence concerning the illicit activities of the town’s rich and famous. As Richelieu’s personal intendant and emissary, Desnoyers exercised substantial power. All approaches to the duc regarding raptorial matters of the heart had to go through him. We learn, for example, that in 1752 a frequent visitor to France, milord Hyde, the wealthy eldest son of the Earl of Clarendon, was having a small problem. The problem was with a young lady—or rather, with her uncooperative mother. Milord Hyde, the very person to whom Lord Bolingbroke dedicated his memorable Letters on the Study and Use of History, the celebrated wit praised by Pope, Swift, and Horace Walpole and who today lies buried in Westminster Abbey, took his problem to Richelieu’s man. It seems that the mother of his fifteen-year-old mistress, la demoiselle Roux, a.k.a. la Chaumart, a.k.a. Mlle Cénie, a danseuse at the Opéra, was proving difficult and a little greedy in her interfering matronly ways. Milord would much appreciate it if something could be done to scare off this troublesome parent.18 Kept up to date on the affair by his faithful exempt Julie, Meusnier notes that “le fidèle Desnoyers n’a épargné ni soins ni stratagèmes pour déterminer la mère à abandonner Paris.” Unfortunately, despite his eloquence and his best persuasive efforts, the versatile factotum failed, at least temporarily, to get rid of her. Finally, with the aid of “supplementary funding,” the matter sorted itself out to everyone’s satisfaction and, indeed, five years later, it would be the turn of the duc de Richelieu’s son, the notorious duc de Fronsac, to take on the same damsel. By then, her fee had increased to 40 louis per month plus an initial retainer of 100 louis.19 It had not escaped inspector Meusnier’s attention that his junior associate, Charles de Julie, had rather quickly established close ties with Richelieu’s special intendant. Desnoyers, it seems, had been doing the social rounds with the exempt and was going out of his way to introduce him to a number of very distinguished gentlemen of the town. The inspector was also aware that Desnoyers – no doubt using the maréchal-duc’s deep purse – had recently settled several of Julie’s

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

132

Page 132

A Rogue’s Progress

large debts, including one in the amount of 600 livres. That bountiful gesture, followed by payment of eighty livres in miscellaneous expenses, had effected a last-minute rescue of the improvident Julie from the clutches of Marion, the bailiff.20 Such generous donors of course assumed that they could legitimately expect some return on their investment. In the parlance of the day, the police regularly “recevait des présents,” though less blatantly, it seems, than during the administration of Berryer’s predecessor, Marville.21 Already under a cloud and feeling insecure in his position, Julie was understandably nervous about committing himself to a formal Richelieu connection. Obviously, he would have to keep his superior, Berryer, informed, especially given the identity of the particular patron on whose behalf Desnoyers had extended such attractive offers of protection. Also obvious was his need to find a way to have his cake and eat it too. It was common knowledge that Berryer was entirely beholden to la favorite, the marquise de Pompadour. Julie also knew that le favori, the redoubtable maréchal-duc de Richelieu, was la marquise’s chief rival in an ongoing power struggle to influence the King. To manoeuvre successfully between the two camps required a careful sense of balance. Any false move and his entire prospects could come crashing down. Even Berryer himself had to be careful. The extent of Richelieu’s true power was not known. From time to time it was rumoured that he was about to be appointed prime minister, a possibility that worried many, including the marquis d’Argenson,22 who was concerned with the career well-being of his brother, the comte, theoretically Berryer’s superior but himself in danger of being caught in a diplomatic battle between the determined marquise and the cunning duke. Richelieu, great-grand-nephew of the famous cardinal who had been France’s most powerful minister ever, was a war hero and a close intimate of the king. Despite his wrinkled countenance that reminded some of an old prune, the duke’s success as a seducer was legendary. Along with a complete self-confidence that he invariably expressed in a “voix rauque et hautaine,” he possessed all the characteristics essential to becoming the chief power behind the throne: “Il a tout le ton qu’il faut avec le roi pour décider et faire décider; il en impose, il crie, il a des vues et de l’élévation, beaucoup de courage dans le cœur et dans l’esprit; il a du bonheur dans ce qu’il entreprend.”23 But if the marquis d’Argenson was concerned about Richelieu’s potential advancement, he was not as concerned as the marquise de Pompadour who constantly reminded Louis XV that this “rival” was dangerous. Fortunately for her, Richelieu also tended to make enemies and to discredit himself at court from time to time: “On le représente,”

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 133

New Temptations

133

continues d’Argenson, “pour étourdi, précipité, hautain, d’une grande imprudence.”24 Berryer carefully bided his time and prudently weighed all of the possibilities. Unfortunately, the maréchal could be unpredictable; he liked to keep his enemies guessing and the ministers trembling. What were they to make, d’Argenson wonders, of so much “variation dans ses principes, dans ses sentiments, dans ses volontés”?25 At times he played the iconoclastic role of frondeur, especially when it came to denouncing current foreign policy. At other times, he seemed to be on the marquise’s side, all friendly and polite, although he deftly declined her conciliatory suggestion (conveyed to him by Louis XV himself) that his own son, the duc de Fronsac, should marry Pompadour’s daughter.26 On another occasion, he even seemed to be joining forces with the marquise in an unholy alliance against the comte d’Argenson, as did Berryer himself, who always kept her directly informed “de tout ce qui se passe et se dit à Paris.”27 The situation was such that, at one point, the comte d’Argenson assured his brother that Berryer was, without any doubt, his “secret enemy.”28 In such a perilous situation, what was an impoverished and minimally honest policeman to do? It was difficult to read all the signs. On receiving, through Desnoyers, Richelieu’s first offer of protection, coupled with an invitation to meet with the duke personally to discuss his initial “assignment,” Julie hesitated. How would Berryer – the man who had been routinely denying him access to any official duties – react? It would be prudent to begin by writing a letter to the lieutenant général, informing him of everything – or nearly everything. In it he would assure the magistrate of his fundamental loyalty and he would make it crystal clear that he was accepting Richelieu’s offer only with the secret intention of being a double agent, working behind the scenes exclusively in Berryer’s interests. The duke would not be aware of anything. Of course, Julie would need Berryer’s explicit permission to accept such a rôle, and, naturally, for his own protection, that permission would have to be in writing. And so it was that, only a few months after Berryer’s chilly reception, Julie wrote a carefully crafted letter to his superior, knowing that he was treading on very dangerous terrain. Berryer’s power was on the rise. He was now, some thought, even more powerful than the minister to whom he reported. That very year, thanks again to the influence of la marquise, he had been appointed a conseiller d’État. Louis XV had gone out of his way to congratulate the lieutenant général warmly on that occasion and had even expressed the hope that he would continue to perform his function for a long time to come, “puisqu’il la faisait très-bien.”29 What would Berryer make of Julie’s request for permission to act as an agent for someone he considered dangerous and

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

134

Page 134

A Rogue’s Progress

“trop déclaré contre la maîtresse”? Rumour had it that the King himself was worried about Richelieu’s possible plans for mischief. Louis had even hinted publicly at that concern when one day, for no apparent reason, during the intimate semi-débotté ceremony at Versailles, he had suddenly asked the maréchal in the presence of various courtiers “combien il avoit été de fois à la Bastille?” “Trois fois,” Richelieu had instantly replied. “Sur cela,” notes the marquis d’Argenson, “Sa Majesté en discuta les trois causes.” Then the memorialist adds with classic understatement: “On dit que cette question est de très mauvaise augure.” Despite all that, desperate to make his way, denied legitimate employment by the very person who should normally have welcomed his collaboration, Julie decided to send his letter: Du 11 novembre 1751, Le sieur Desnoyers m’a dit hier au soir qu’il avait renouvelé à M. le maréchal de Richelieu les soins qu’il a déjà pris de faire mon éloge à ce seigneur. En conséquence, la première affaire qui se présentera, je dois en être chargé par les mains mêmes du duc qui veut me voir avant que de me mettre en besogne. Je ne puis vous dissimuler l’inquiétude que me cause une semblable entremise. Je n’ai eu en entrant en charge qu’un seul objet qui est celui de tout entreprendre pour vous faire oublier les fautes que j’ai faites par le passé. Je ne suis pas peu flatté des bontés dont vous m’honorez déjà, et cette équité si distinguée, en répandant sur moi ses faveurs, aurait aussi mon zèle et ma reconnaissance s’il eût été possible d’augmenter mon attachement. Daignez donc, Monsieur, ne pas m’éloigner de vous. L’argent, qui chez moi n’a que le mérite de la nécessité, ne me fera jamais faire de démarches contraires à l’ambition que j’ai de vous devoir ma fortune. Je consens à travailler pour M. le maréchal de Richelieu mais avec votre agrément, avec encore la certitude que vous me donnerez de ne me point abandonner et, en outre, en conséquence de vos ordres que je vous prie de m’adresser par écrit. Je vous rendrai un compte exact et secret de tout ce qui parviendra à ma connaissance, et sûr de votre protection, je ne négligerai rien pour m’en rendre digne. Je sais, Monsieur, combien est délicate la gestion de ma marotte. Je ne brave point le crédit de mon commettant, mais je m’en mettrai à couvert par la prudence, et sans compromettre qui que ce soit. Déterminez, je vous prie, le chemin que vous voulez que je suive afin que je remplisse strictement vos vues, &c.30

Julie was probably genuinely shocked when his proposition to play a double game as Richelieu’s ostensible creature but really as Berryer’s loyal spy was rejected by the magistrate out of hand – indeed, rejected “avec mépris et méfiance.”31 What happened next is not entirely clear.

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 135

New Temptations

135

For a short time, Julie apparently avoided committing himself to Richelieu. Regular contacts with Desnoyers continued, however, as did renewed offers of special employment from the maréchal himself. Julie several times repeated his request to Berryer for permission to go along with Richelieu’s schemes. Surprisingly, on a number of specific occasions, permission was granted (though not in writing as he had pointedly requested). In the matter of Milord Hyde, for example, he was tacitly authorized to go along with Desnoyers’s request for covert surveillance of milord’s young mistress, la demoiselle Roux. After all, Richelieu in this instance was simply extending a professional courtesy to a distinguished foreign visitor and worthy friend, a case of one rich gentleman seducer helping out another. Also evident from the following note addressed by Richelieu with flattering inaccuracy directly to “Monsieur Julie, inspecteur de police à Paris,” is the fact that Julie was by now meeting with the maréchal personally in order to discuss matters and receive instructions: J’ai dit à Desnoyers [la façon] dont je croyais qu’il fallait s’y prendre pour vos entrées à la comédie et j’ai plus d’envie de vous les donner, je vous assure, mon cher Julie, que vous n’en avez d’en jouir. Je vous conjure de suivre l’affaire du sieur Le Blond. Elle m’est de la plus grande conséquence. Assure-le du plus grand et inviolable secret. Je n’ai rien à vous dire sur les moyens; vous saurez les trouver et je n’ai qu’à vous répéter que c’est la chose du monde de la plus grande conséquence pour moi et que je désire le plus et dont, par conséquent, je vous serai le plus obligé. Vous concerterez avec Desnoyers l’affaire, et j’aimerais encore mieux en raisonner avec vous un quart d’heure avant mon départ. Ce samedi au soir32

How exhilarating it must have been for Charles de Julie to receive such a note from one of France’s most powerful men, the legendary hero of Fontenoy, the governor-general of Languedoc, and Louis XV’s premier gentilhomme de la chambre! The renowned maréchal was telling him that he, Julie, was needed, that his ideas and initiatives were welcome, indeed essential, in a matter that was of the greatest importance, closest to the heart of this great man, la chose du monde de la plus grande conséquence pour moi et que je désire le plus! He was, moreover, to be taken intimately into the great man’s confidence; they would meet and chat and reason discreetly together for a quarter of an hour in the ducal residence, just minutes before the fabled hero had to leave the capital, no doubt to deal with the nation’s pressing business. And then, too, he, a lover of the theatre (and of actresses), was to be granted his free entrées to the Comédie-Française by the Gentleman of

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

136

Page 136

A Rogue’s Progress

the King’s Chamber, the very person who was responsible for granting such a rare privilege. Few officials, few of France’s great authors even, were granted that honour – one conferred now on him, on Charles de Julie, by the man who ruled the Comédie with an iron hand, who in April of that very year, for example, had personally seen to the summary demolition of six petites loges merely because their construction had been initiated without his permission by actors interested in increasing their revenues!33 Other little notes from Richelieu, backed up with invitations to consult on important private matters, soon followed. One arrived in the middle of June 1752, addressed – correctly this time – to “Monsieur Julie, exempt de police”; its message was as flattering as ever: Vous me rendriez un grand service mon cher Julie si vous pouviez m’avoir la copie dont vous me parlez; passez-y le temps nécessaire, rien ne presse, mais la chose me serait fort importante. Ce 13 juin34

Flattering, indeed, but also disquieting. The overriding truth of the matter was that, without Berryer’s blessing, there could be no future for him as an exempt. Again he tried to hold firm, trying to survive by soliciting from sympathetic colleagues whatever crumbs of official police business they could pass on to him. As usual, money was in short supply. He would have to borrow again, if only to keep up appearances. For a man of his tastes, a fashionable wardrobe was, after all, de rigueur. There were other difficulties as well, and not just with Berryer. Another important dignitary, the prévost des marchands, Louis-Basile de Bernage, was giving him and some of his good friends a lot of trouble. First appointed prévost des marchands in July 1743, Bernage, the de facto mayor of Paris, had been obliged in August 1749 to take on new duties when the city of Paris assumed responsibility for administration of the troubled Opéra. The marquis d’Argenson expressed great hopes at the time that his cousin the prévost would be able to provide better management for the scandal-plagued Royal Academy of Music, “avec de meilleures intentions pour la ville de Paris, avec plus de désintéressement, d’ordre et de magnificence.” One of Bernage’s strong points, according to d’Argenson, was that he liked French music, “et que comme moi il abhorre l’italienne.”35 Under his tutelage, renewal of France’s central cultural ornament, more prestigious even than the Comédie-Française, had indeed begun, but the Opéra nevertheless remained a hotbed of turbulence and intrigue. Two of the influential principals, the directors François Rebel and François Francœur, the

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 137

New Temptations

137

petits violons as they were called, were especially notorious for their unremittingly thorough casting-couch practices, requiring “talent testing” of all aspiring danseuses and actresses. Meusnier’s files frequently refer to these initial screening techniques and to the fact that even the more seasoned young performers who had already received their “first lessons” and paid their dues elsewhere, were nonetheless subjected to “l’usage établi” by the two lecherous musician directors.36 Bernage soon found his new administrative tasks burdensome. Describing the chaos that reigned at the Opéra, he informed his cousin the marquis d’Argenson in May 1751 that “chacun y était le maître, puisque chacun y avait sa protection particulière et s’en targuait; que les deux conducteurs [...], Rebel et Francœur, avaient celle de Madame de Pompadour, d’autres, celle des entreteneurs de filles, et qu’on ne pouvait ainsi mettre aucun ordre à ce spectacle.”37 Two years later, the forced retirement (accompanied by generous royal pensions) of both directors, traditionally seen as enemies of the great composer, JeanPhilippe Rameau afforded temporary relief. Bernage graciously marked the occasion of their departure by holding a little farewell ceremony after a rehearsal in December 1753. Unhappily, the solemn event almost ended in scandal, provoked by Rameau’s notorious nephew, Jean-François, who, we recall,38 had already been jailed in For l’Évêque five years earlier for a similar display of aggressive behaviour in the very same locale. Meusnier tells the story: “Hier, 12 décembre sur les 5 heures 1/2 du soir, à la répétition de Castor et Pollux, M. le prevôt des marchands, accompagné de 4 échevins se transporta à l’Opéra, et étant monté sur le théâtre, il annonça à la troupe assemblée que les sieurs Rebel et Francœur ayant remontré que les différents détails dont ils avaient été chargés depuis plusieurs années les mettaient aujourd’hui dans le cas de désirer un peu de repos, le Roi en statuant sur leurs demandes avait nommé le sieur Thuret inspecteur général de l’Opéra et le sieur Royer maître de la musique de cette académie [...].”39 Louis-Bazile de Bernage had scarcely finished these introductory remarks and pronounced the names of the new appointees when Rameau’s eccentric nephew, who happened to be in the parterre, “aussi fol qu’il est grand musicien” and a sworn enemy of the two departing directors, sarcastically broke into loud and obviously gloating applause. Others joined in, “à l’unisson du sieur Rameau.” Suddenly, the atmosphere was electric and an awkward silence ensued. The tension finally eased when some good soul among those present came to Bernage’s rescue, pointing out that the seemingly ungracious applause led by Rameau could have had no other purpose than to express warm approval of the prévost des marchands’ eloquent and generous speech of farewell to

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

138

Page 138

A Rogue’s Progress

the two departing directors and his equally appreciative congratulations to their replacements. A sexagenarian widower, Bernage was himself not averse to emulating – at least to the extent permitted by his diminished physical capacities – the sexual exploits of the two notorious petits violons. Gouty and suffering from a persistent problem of audible flatus (to the point of achieving a citywide reputation for his offending symptoms), he was not yet beyond casting his own “mouchoir à celles des actrices de l’Opéra qui lui plaisent.” Most notoriously, he had persuaded the vivacious young dancer, the demoiselle Lany, to become his mistress. To his friends, Bernage confided that his personal physician had even suggested that a sexual relationship was an excellent specific “contre les coliques venteuses dont il est suffoqué.”40 The story spread rapidly among the malicious wits of the town and soon a satirical verse was making the rounds. Meusnier, of course, records it in his cahiers: Monsieur le prévôt des marchands N’a plus rien à craindre des vents Depuis qu’au Théâtre Lyrique Il s’amuse par-ci par-là Et qu’il court, en cas de colique, Vite à l’any de l’Opéra.41

The prévost des marchand’s breezy affair with la demoiselle Lany, sister of the Opéra’s maître des ballets, unfortunately did not last. She soon became enamoured of the young, handsome, and fabulously wealthy milord “Hottington,”42 just over from London. Milord apparently thought nothing of handing the young danseuse an initial downpayment of 20,000 livres. A child resulted from their liaison, and the father was so taken with it that he all but legally acknowledged his responsibility, had it baptized (the godfather was Lord Albermarle, the English ambassador), and subsequently endowed the mother with a 4,000 livres rente viagère.43 Eventually, several other rich milords were conquered by Mlle Lany’s charms, including Richelieu’s friend Henry Hyde (who was unfortunately killed by a fall from his horse in April 1753) and Lord Powerscourt, another avid horseman (occasionally invited by Louis XV to join in the royal stag hunt), who was reputed to have an annual income in excess of 300,000 livres and who, because of his many affairs with the ladies, was better known among the Palais Royal locals as “milord Trousse-cotte.”44 The loss of a favourite mistress (not to mention, presumably, her uniquely valuable curative powers) to an English rival turned into a public indignity for Bernage. Inevitably, it reminded people of a simi-

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 139

New Temptations

139

lar humiliating loss he had suffered earlier – the defection of the celebrated “Baronne Blanche,” a previous mistress who had also on numerous occasions given the “riche mais non ragoûtant” prévost des marchands a goodly number of rival adjoints. To make matters worse, most of those rivals had come from across the Channel.45 But the English were guilty as well of stealing other precious resources from Bernage, namely, some of his most talented performers from the Opéra, especially members of the Academy’s corps de ballet. It was a classic poaching problem, this business of France’s artists “escaping” to London, lured there by the attraction of English guineas. The case of the dancer Eloy Devisse, occurring at around the same time that Milord Hottington stole the affections of the demoiselle Lany, left the aging prévost des marchands furious. A police report of 21 August 1750 relates how the Devisse affair began: “Le sieur Devisse, danseur à l’Opéra, est parti furtivement de Paris le mardi 11 de ce mois à 4 heures du matin en chaise de poste avec une fille (de bonne volonté) et l’on croit qu’ils ont pris la route d’Angleterre. Il a laissé ici sa femme, ses enfants et beaucoup de dettes.”46 The young lady in question, a dancer-in-training at the Opéra, was la demoiselle Henriette Petit, only sixteen years of age. Meusnier’s account continues: “C’est un petit minois chiffonné, assez drôle mais elle n’a point de dents, ce qui la défigure beaucoup lorsqu’elle rit. Elle dansait au magasin de l’Opéra; elle en a été chassée.” The situation was viewed as sufficiently grave that the prévost des marchands immediately dispatched a letter to the marquis de Mirepoix, France’s ambassadeur extraordinaire in London, asking him to have Devisse placed under arrest “dans le cas où il apprendrait sa retraite dans l’étendue des États du Roi de la Grande Bretagne.” By October, Meusnier was able to confirm that Devisse had been sighted in London and, as Bernage had feared, he was indeed engaged in the criminal enterprise of encouraging talented French actors and dancers to defect to the London stage: “Il travaille sous l’agrément de la nation à former une troupe française pour y jouer la comédie, à condition de donner un tiers du produit aux comédiens anglais.”47 Previous initiatives of this kind had been unsuccessful because of a failure to make such payoff concessions to the English actors. But this time the celebrated actor David Garrick had apparently stepped in to help Devisse with negotiations. As for Henriette Petit, Devisse’s engaging companion, such was the reputed charm of French womanhood among members of the English aristocracy that she had scarcely set foot in London “qu’elle a fait la conquête d’un riche milord qui l’entretient.” Devisse, Meusnier adds, had ungrudgingly lent himself

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

140

Page 140

A Rogue’s Progress

to the arrangement, all in the interests of keeping his little pigeon happy. With the help of local spies, the Paris police continued to monitor events in the English capital. Information was finally received about an important new development: the great Garrick, accompanied by Levié from the Paris Opéra (the very same entrepreneur who the following year would spirit young Roussel’s demoiselle Meusnier off to Holland),48 was on his way to Paris! It was assumed that the pair would be following up on the clandestine recruitment schemes already initiated by Devisse in London. The report, as it turns out, was correct, at least in most respects. On 30 May 1751, the renowned English actor and his wife (herself a former dancer) left London for Dover where they took ship for Boulogne. Reports also indicated that Devisse had by now made his way back to Paris, clandestinely, of course, and that Garrick knew where he was hiding. A brief entry in Garrick’s personal diary for Tuesday 4 June49 shows this to be true: “So Hot I did not stir out all ye morning, saw Devisse from London [...].” The very next day he also looked up Bernage’s rival, Lord Huntingdon.50 Alerted to Garrick’s activities, Bernage urged Berryer to increase police efforts to apprehend the fugitive Devisse: A Paris le 1er Juillet 1751 Sur ce que vous avez bien voulu, Monsieur, me faire l’honneur de me marquer du dessein qui devait conduire ici le sieur Garrik et Levié, j’ai fait faire des recherches sans avoir pu les découvrir. Vous m’aviez fait espérer de m’informer de ce qui pourrait venir à votre connaissance à ce sujet et j’ai lieu de croire que vous n’en avez rien appris; mais je sais à n’en pouvoir douter, qu’un de nos danseurs nommé Devisse qui est parti furtivement dans le mois d’août de l’année dernière, et passé en Angleterre, est actuellement à Paris. Un de nos acteurs a assuré l’avoir vu et lui avoir parlé dans cette ville depuis quelques jours, et j’ai lieu de croire que l’objet de son voyage pour lequel il avait employé auprès de moi quelques sollicitations sous prétexte d’affaires, est d’aider par ses connaissances les démarches que pourront faire les sieurs Garrik et Levié pour débaucher quelques-uns de nos acteurs et actrices, et les emmener avec eux. Peut-être a-t-il déjà pris ses mesures pour y réussir. J’espère, Monsieur, qu’indépendamment de ces raisons, sa contravention aux règlements et ordonnances du Roi vous déterminera à donner des ordres pour le faire arrêter et conduire au Fort l’Évêque. M. le Duc de Gesvres auquel j’en ai rendu compte pense comme moi, et M. d’Argenson l’approuvera. C’est un exemple véritablement essentiel, premièrement pour contenir nos acteurs et actrices et assurer le service public; secondement, pour prévenir les mauvaises intentions du sieur Devisse et les manœuvres de ces étrangers.

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 141

New Temptations

141

Je vous supplie d’être toujours persuadé de l’attachement et du respect avec lesquels j’ai l’honneur d’être, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. de Bernage51

Despite the alert, Berryer’s informers came up empty-handed. Puzzled, and not at all satisfied with police efforts to track down Devisse, Bernage instructed his own people to keep a sharp lookout for the defector. On Sunday 25 July he was able to report to the lieutenant général that the dancer had been seen that very day in the parterre of the Opéra, accompanied by le sieur Pitrot, a notorious libertine and maître des ballets at the Comédie-Italienne.52 “Il a pris et payé son billet au Bureau,” Bernage informed Berryer; “plusieurs personnes ont été surprises de le voir.”53 The next day, from Compiègne, Bernage renewed his appeal for immediate action. Devisse was not only in Paris and successfully eluding capture, he was getting cocky about it and showing himself in public: “Comme ce mauvais exemple et les manœuvres qu’il pourrait faire ne sauraient être que préjudiciables à l’Académie Royale de Musique, je vous serai sensiblement obligé si vous voulez bien renouveler vos ordres pour sa capture.”54 Acting swiftly, Berryer asked his aide Chaban to have Devisse’s old lettre de cachet reactivated and this was done on 27 July 1751. It was not until two months later, however, that the magistrate had the satisfaction of learning that the defector had been arrested by his trustworthy team of inspector Meusnier and commissaire de Rochebrune. It had been an unusually difficult manhunt: Devisse, it seems, had been hiding out in the Séminaire des Missions Etrangères on the rue du Bac, a training centre for young missionaries preparing to be sent off to distant lands to convert the heathen. Even more surprising, it was discovered that one of Berryer’s exempts had been providing the fugitive with aid and comfort all the while! Devisse, we learn, was finally cornered at the nearby rue du Sépulcre apartment of his good friend and fellow bon vivant, Charles de Julie. A lover of the musical arts, Julie had been entertaining Devisse and a few musician friends at dinner when Meusnier and Rochebrune burst in on the happy scene around midnight. Unfortunately the occasion turned into yet another opportunity for the irrepressible Julie to get himself into trouble with his betters: Étant montés au deuxième étage et entrés dans une chambre ayant vue sur ladite rue du Sépulcre, nous y avons trouvé autour d’une table le sieur Julie exempt de robe courte, le sieur Perier, violon de l’Opéra, le sieur Constantin, maître de flûte, et le sieur Eloy Devisse, âgé de vingt-six ans, natif de Paris, ci-

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

142

Page 142

A Rogue’s Progress

devant danseur à l’Opéra demeurant à Paris rue du Bac aux Missions Étrangères, et ledit sieur Meusnier ayant arrêté ledit sieur Devisse en notre présence, il s’est chargé de le conduire dans les prisons du Fort l’Évêque, conformément aux ordres de Sa Majesté, desquels il est porteur, ce qui n’a eu son exécution qu’après bien des propos tenus avec beaucoup d’indécence par le dit sieur Julie qui ne peut être excusable qu’en opposant qu’il était plein de vin. De Rochebrune55

It would no doubt have been wiser for Julie to go straight to bed and sleep it off once the inspector and the commissaire had departed with their prisoner. Instead, still furious, he sat down at his table strewn with the cold remains of a rudely interrupted feast, poured himself yet another glass of wine, took pen in hand, and wrote an indignant note to the great Berryer, lieutenant général de police. If words always came easily to Charles de Julie they now flowed like the wine that fuelled his eloquent displeasure: Monsieur J’ai lieu d’être étonné de la démarche que vient de faire chez moi le sieur Meusnier. Il a arrêté le sieur Devisse en vertu d’un ordre du Roi qu’il m’a montré. Je crois, Monsieur, qu’il aurait pu choisir un autre champ de bataille que ma maison. Cette catastrophe est d’autant plus désagréable qu’elle me met en compromis vis-à-vis plusieurs personnes que je considère, et que mes intérêts particuliers me laissaient dans le cas de ménager. Je crois que vous n’approuverez pas une pareille conduite et que vous ne trouverez pas mauvais que j’ose me plaindre du manque d’égards de la part de l’officier porteur de l’ordre du roi. Il me reste la satisfaction de me flatter que j’aurais conduit ma barque de façon à ne mettre personne dans le soupçon, si j’eusse été chargé d’une pareille affaire. Ce 27 septembre 1751 De Julie56

By now it was past 1:00 a.m. Julie closed up his note and went to bed. Instead of bringing calm counsel, however, the morning found him still irate, and he made arrangements to have his missive carried to Berryer first thing. He also indignantly informed his young colleague and friend Roussel, guidon in the Compagnie de Robe Courte, of the unfortunate occurrence. Roussel, equally a friend of the arts (we recall his tender liaison at the time with la demoiselle Meusnier, the 16–yearold danseuse au magasin at the Opéra), was hot-headed enough to add his own expostulations to those of his boon companion Julie. What happened next is not spelled out but is made amply clear by three ominously brief office notations on Julie’s letter. The first is by Berryer:

CH05.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 143

New Temptations

143

“Mr.Chaban, m’en parler – 28 septembre 1751”; then two notations by the clerk Chaban: “M. Julie et Roussel, pour avertir”; finally: “Le magistrat leur a parlé ce 2 octobre 1751.” The incident, in fact, earned Charles de Julie a severe reprimand and only added to Berryer’s already deep distrust of his exempt. Indeed, the lieutenant général now became more opposed than ever to the notion of allocating official police assignments to him. One player on the scene was, however, extremely happy at events: Louis-Basile de Bernage, the flatulent prévost des marchands, sent Berryer a fulsome congratulatory note on 5 October: Recevez, je vous supplie, Monsieur, mes remerciements de l’avis que vous avez bien voulu me donner sur la capture de Devisse et de son emprisonnement au Fort l’Évêque. On ne peut être plus sensible que je le suis à votre attention, et je vous supplie d’être aussi persuadé de ma reconnaissance que de l’attachement et du respect avec lesquels je suis, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. de Bernage”57

Devisse was released after serving one month in For l’Évêque, a relatively light sentence. Bernage continued to watch over the administration of the Opéra and continued as well to lose ground to marauding milords in affairs of the heart. His bumbling reputation continued to sink. In January 1757, the dramatist Charles Collé noted that a pervasive anarchy, aggravated by the “imbécillité de M. de Bernage, le prévôt des marchands,” was ruining the Opéra’s prospects for success. “On ne sait qui commande, aussi personne n’obéit.”58 Finally, in March of that year, the city of Paris took a step backward and farmed out the administration of the Opéra for a thirty-year term to the two talent-testing petits violons, Rebel and Francœur. They began by reconciling with the great Jean-Philippe Rameau who was now granted a pension of 1,500 livres.59 The Devisse affair, in the end, had not amounted to much. Unfortunately, it allowed the imprudent Charles de Julie, an occasion to further blot his official copy book.

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 144

6 A Policeman’s Work

Unable to derive much-needed income from his charge because of the lieutenant général’s refusal to assign him cases, but reluctant to risk alienating Berryer even more by accepting Richelieu’s offers, Charles de Julie, cultural bon vivant, lover of fine wines, fine clothes – indeed of all life’s little luxuries – found himself going deeper and deeper into debt. The temptations to stray were great but for the moment fear of the consequences was greater. Several years later, as he reviewed the events of this period of his life in a long prison memoir addressed to Berryer, he would recall how he had decided to be patient, to try harder, even after the magistrate’s rebuff.1 Some of Berryer’s officers had tried to help out by sharing assignments with him and sending in his reports under their own names.2 Others looked down on him, it being no secret that he was Berryer’s pet pariah. It was now a matter of demonstrating to his unforgiving superior just how much he had reformed and how well he could do the job if only he were called upon. Sooner or later the lieutenant général de police would realize that he could count on both the loyalty and the skills of Charles de Julie. He was prepared to swear solemnly that he owed everything to his superior, that no sacrifice would be too great, not even, presumably, the betrayal of his fine artistic friends. The letter of protest he had had the misfortune to write to Berryer in a fit of temper immediately after Devisse’s arrest at his dinner party had made that clear. Indeed, Berryer should have asked him to take care of the matter himself! He would have managed things much more discreetly than Meusnier. What

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 145

A Policeman’s Work

145

greater proof of trustworthiness and fidelity could he have provided than that? But Berryer remained adamant. One of the consequences for us is that very few of the many surviving case files in the police archives of the period can be related with certainty to investigative work directly attributable to Charles de Julie. Patient digging has, however, turned up a few scattered items. No doubt others could be found but their discovery will likely remain pretty much a matter of chance since, of necessity, none are filed under his name. The cases that follow will convey, however, some notion of Charles de Julie’s police activities and the extent to which he made conscientious efforts to measure up to at least the minimal norms of honesty and integrity then expected of Paris police officers. Indeed, the first Julie investigation we come across shows him to be considerably more honest than many of his colleagues, even though there are some curious ironies attached to a case in which we find him vigorously condemning dissipated behaviour as he goes about defending one of the capital’s maquerelles from the villainy of a corrupt and debauched former representative of the law. Julie’s involvement in the Helmans case was no doubt facilitated by his many contacts on the fringes of the capital’s sex trade. One of his acquaintances in the field, Mme de Ligné, also known as la Helmans, came to him one day with a problem. A native of Lille, she had first come to the vice squad’s attention in June 1751 when she approached inspector Meusnier for tacit permission to set up trade in Paris.3 Reacting favourably to her proposal, Meusnier was pleased to note among her qualities the ability to read and write – “par elle-meme, sans se confier à personne.” It was a signal advantage for a potential mouche abbesse who might be required to submit occasional discreet reports to the police. Once her application was approved, she opened shop in the Roule quarter, not far from Madame Pâris’s establishment, though on a far more modest scale. There she enjoyed the protection of a former exempt du Guet, now a chevalier d’industrie, the 31–yearold Nicolas-Louis Coquerel de Saint-Aubin, a native of Normandy who had sold his police charge only the year before. A rogue of the first order and totally unscrupulous, Saint-Aubin did not hesitate to make use of his police-acquired legal expertise to further his own career interests in pimping, fraud, and blackmail. In la Helmans he at first found an easy victim but it was not long before she decided that her situation was intolerable and appealed for help to Charles de Julie, he being well known in the milieu for his friendly good offices in such matters. No doubt believing that here was an excellent opportunity to prove to Berryer that he was now totally reformed as well as an efficient policeman, Julie immediately took up her cause. Early in 1752,

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 146

146

A Rogue’s Progress

he sent the lieutenant général a report detailing Saint-Aubin’s blatant acts of extortion: Monsieur, J’ai l’honneur de vous rendre compte que le sieur Coquerel de Saint-Aubin, ci-devant exempt du Guet, mène dans Paris la conduite la plus déréglée. Il a fait un tour qui peut être caractérisé friponnerie, dont voici le détail.

Julie goes on to describe how this corrupt ex-policeman, while living with la Helmans as her pimp, had tricked her into signing a bill of exchange for 6,000 livres, which he then perfidiously used to have her locked up in Saint-Eloy prison for debt, recommending at the same time that she be held incommunicado. He next approached her in prison, proposing to withdraw all financial claims against her in return for a written consent giving him the right to seize all of her furniture and household effects. Unable to get help, la Helmans signed the fraudulent paper under duress. Julie continues: Ce consentement est des plus informes. Il a été fait dans une prison, écrit tout au long de la main de Saint-Aubin sous approbation d’écriture et signé de la Helmans. Le sieur de Saint-Aubin s’est néanmoins contenté de cette faible pièce et avec ce faux titre s’est transporté dans la maison de la Helmans avant la pointe du jour, a renvoyé tout ce qui était dans la maison, et a généralement enlevé tous les meubles et effets appartenant à cette femme, effractionné les serrures des commodes et armoires pour en tirer le linge, etc. [...]. Lorsque Saint-Aubin a eu vendu ou mis en sûreté tous les susdits effets, il est venu à la prison de Saint-Eloy où il a donné à la Helmans un désistement de la lettre de change, et l’a fait mettre en liberté. Cette femme, qui a été conseillée de porter cette affaire au criminel, est venue me faire part de ses desseins. J’ai conféré longtemps de cette affaire avec M. Meusnier qui a cru qu’il était plus sage d’avertir la famille de Saint-Aubin qui sont de fort honnêtes gens et qui seraient déshonorés par la poursuite de ce procès, ce que j’ai fait par une lettre écrite au curé de Graveron, son oncle, le 8 du présent mois.

But there was more: Le sieur de Saint-Aubin, outre ce tour, a escroqué une montre d’argent au sieur Ibert, élève chez M. Laideguive notaire, que le sieur Ibert a reconnu dans une maison où le susdit Saint-Aubin avait donné la montre à dorer afin de la dénaturer pour la rendre méconnaissable. M. Meusnier, ainsi que moi, a été témoin de la reconnaissance de la montre par le sieur Ibert à qui elle appartient. Ce M. Ibert est du même pays que Saint-Aubin, et a mieux aimé perdre sa mon-

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 147

A Policeman’s Work

147

tre que de faire une déclaration contre Saint-Aubin. Le curé de Graveron, pour répondre à la lettre que je lui ai adressée, a écrit à M. Doublet de Bandeville, président au Parlement avec lequel j’ai conféré hier fort longtemps sur le déshonneur qui résulte des affaires que fait le sieur de Saint-Aubin, et sur les moyens d’y mettre ordre. Ce président s’intéresse vivement à cette famille et m’a beaucoup remercié d’avoir empêché que cette affaire ait été suivie au criminel. Il attend un mémoire signé des principaux parents de Saint-Aubin qui vous sera présenté pour demander vos ordres pour le faire conduire dans la maison de force qu’ils choisiront. M. de Bandeville doit avoir l’honneur de vous parler aujourd’hui à ce sujet. Il désirerait que vous eussiez la bonté de faire arrêter le sieur de Saint-Aubin pour empêcher le cours de ses friponneries, et pour le soustraire à la connaissance de ceux qui pourraient faire des poursuites criminelles contre lui, jusqu’au temps qu’il vous plaira faire accorder les ordres du Roi pour le transférer. Le sieur de Saint-Aubin court tous les mauvais lieux de Paris où il fait résidence journalière. J’ose me flatter que vous voudrez bien adresser vos ordres à M. Meusnier, avec qui j’ai travaillé cette affaire. Ce 21 janvier 1752 De Julie4

Berryer, who had a long and unforgiving memory, probably allowed himself a faint smile on reading his exempt’s letter. Only a few years earlier, the great detective Saint-Marc had used very similar language to describe the young scoundrel Charles de Julie! Admittedly, the thirty-one-year-old Saint-Aubin was a more mature specimen of the genre and, as other documents in his dossier make clear, a more hardened case, “depuis longtemps connu pour un escroc, qui prête sur gages et à gros intérêts, retient et s’approprie les effets, lié avec les plus fameuses prêteuses. D’ailleurs un libertin, souteneur de mauvais lieux, qui loue différents appartements pour y loger des filles de débauche, abuse de sa qualité pour les soutenir ou les intimider.”5 In fact, as Berryer informed the comte d’Argenson in his subsequent request for an arrest order, Saint-Aubin’s numerous felonies were of such a serious nature that he did not merit the “family honour” protection of a lettre de cachet normally accorded the well-born: “La plus grande partie des commissaires et des officiers de police reçoivent fréquemment des plaintes contre lui et il m’en est aussi revenu plusieurs.” Having pointed that out, the lieutenant général then pronounced one of the most dreaded prison sentences that any petty criminal of the day could hear: “Je pense qu’il mérite d’être conduit à Bicêtre.”6 We hear no more about Julie’s delicate negotiations with the aforementioned magistrate Doublet de Bandeville, a dignitary whose own extra-curricular activities are occasionally mentioned in Meusnier’s

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

148

Page 148

A Rogue’s Progress

vice files. In all probability, the case was taken summarily out of Julie’s hands at this point and the investigation was officially concluded early one Sunday morning in October when Nicolas-Louis Coquerel de Saint-Aubin, “bourgeois de Paris,” now cohabiting with la dame Aubry, dite Chatillon, was rudely hauled from his bed and taken to the prison of Bicêtre. Interrogated there three days later, he denied everything, including any involvement with pimping activities. Indeed, he swore that he had not even been near a prostitute in eighteen months. As a last line of defense, but also to no avail, he dropped heavy hints that he enjoyed the protection of the duc d’Orléans and the prince de Conti. In December 1753, after more than a year in Bicêtre, Saint-Aubin was released on condition that he immediately join a regiment. Shortly before his release, he had sent a petition to Berryer, pleading for his day in court and insisting that he was the victim of a heinous conspiracy: Nicolas Coquerel de Saint-Aubin a l’honneur de représenter très respectueusement à Votre Grandeur que depuis le 22e octobre de l’année dernière il est à Bicêtre sans savoir le sujet de l’ordre du Roi subrepticement obtenu par les ennemis du suppliant, qu’il n’a jamais entendu ni su de plaignant, ni d’ordre pour paraître devant commissaire ou en police. dumont et julie, exempts, par haine particulière, ont manœuvré avec coquinerie, suivant même le mémoire ci-joint, l’obtention de cet ordre, ayant même écrit en police, publié et fait publier contre le suppliant mille faussetés [...].[Le suppliant] offre de prouver juridiquement par tous les domiciliés de son quartier une vie non suspecte, sans nulle débauche de jeu, de vin, ni même de femme; une vie très laborieuse [...]. Le commissaire Chenon, ami desdits exempts, ne s’est pas fait de scrupule d’insérer dans un procès-verbal les mêmes faussetés pour se trouver conforme en police aux dires desdits exempts qui avec ces manœuvres surprennent la religion du magistrat pour l’obtention des ordres du Roi.

Saint-Aubin claimed, in short, that he had been framed by Julie and Dumont; he was the victim of false testimony by “leurs gens postiches, dévoués prêteurs sur gages, femmes publiques exilées sous différents noms.” His health had suffered as a direct result of the unspeakable conditions at Bicêtre and he was “en danger évident, de peur de maladie scorbutique ordinaire en ces cabanons.”7 Although what we know of Charles de Julie and inspector PierreFrançois Dumont (whose brothel reports and feats of sexual endurance have already been mentioned8) does not automatically eliminate the possibility that Saint-Aubin’s accusations against them were true, there is no evidence in the dossier to suggest that he was indeed victimized

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 149

A Policeman’s Work

149

by the pair. In any case, after his conditional release from Bicêtre, the ex-prisoner did little to improve his lot. Unwisely, he neglected to show up as promised for duty at his designated regiment9 and instead went into hiding in Paris, where he was discovered several months later. On 16 June 1754 he was returned for a time to Bicêtre. In 1758 SaintAubin, then living in Paris under the name Du Chesnay, appealed to Bertin, the new lieutenant général,10 and repeated his charges against his two accusers, both of whom were then dead. Eventually he dropped out of sight.11 During his initial interrogation at Bicêtre in 1752, Saint-Aubin, a known thief, procurer and extortionist, had been asked why he was no longer an exempt du Guet. He had answered that the office, for which he had paid a considerable sum, had not lived up to his financial expectations. He had hoped to be put in charge of the chain gang that conducted prisoners to the galleys but had failed to obtain that lucrative position. Consequently, he had sold the office after a year.12 Saint-Aubin, in fact, had sold his charge on 28 August 1751 for a capital sum of 14,000 livres to Louis-François Pouvillon,13 an individual of equally unsavoury character. Coincidentally, the paths of Charles de Julie and of Saint-Aubin’s successor were also destined to cross in an encounter that allowed Julie again to play the role of shining knight and intrepid defender of victimized prostitutes. Inspector Meusnier’s notes on Louis-François Pouvillon go back to 1748, the year that Pouvillon, a former customs and excise employee in Caen, returned to his native Paris with a new wife. They proved to be an enterprising couple: “La femme Pouvillon se mit couturière et revendit à la toilette. Son mari leva une boutique d’écrivain pour le public à la porte du Palais Royal. Il faisait alors les affaires de plusieurs des ces femmes compatissantes qu’on nomme vulgairement maquerelles et par la même occasion la dame, son épouse, fournissait dans les mêmes maisons quelques articles de son métier.” Eventually they moved from their lodgings in the cul-de-sac de l’Opéra and took up residence at “L’Ami du cœur” on the rue Fromenteau. Other moves followed, and soon they were running a modest bordello, boasting a crew of three or four young ladies, including a 13–year old orphan, Janneton by name, whom Pouvillon had retrieved from la Salpêtrière prison-hospital. Meusnier describes her rather enthusiastically as petite, blonde, and extrêmement jolie: “La femme Pouvillon la débarbouilla,” the inspector continues, “et en tira 50 écus du sieur Bertin de Blagny, jadis mousquetaire,14 qui coucha trois nuits avec cet enfant chez Pouvillon. Quelques-uns prétendent que Bertin n’en eut pas les gants et que la Pouvillon en avait déjà tiré parti d’un officier de chez le Roi qui paya gros.” Whatever the truth of the matter, “la petite,”

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

150

Page 150

A Rogue’s Progress

Meusnier continues, “y gagna la chaude-p[isse], Blagny en fut quitte ensuite pour soutenir que c’était elle qui la lui avait donnée et Pouvillon, craignant que cette aventure ne fît de l’éclat, et que cette petite fille, interrogée, ne découvrît le pot aux roses, il la fit renfermer à l’Hôpital.”15 Among Pouvillon’s older pensionnaires at the time was no less a personage than la Montbrun, a hard-working lesbian who would later become a well-known procuress in her own right. The Pouvillon couple charged her 30 sous per day for room and board, sexually exploited her themselves, retained a major portion of her client earnings, and, in general, robbed her blind during the five months she spent with them.16 It was not to protect la Montbrun but rather another underage victim of the Pouvillon couple that Charles de Julie, again to his credit, managed to leave for posterity an additional line or two in the archives marking his – admittedly pragmatic – struggles in defense of virtue and public order. Meusnier, in his ususal detached style, tells the tale. The Pouvillons, while lodging at “L’Ami du cœur” near the Place du Palais-Royal, were up to their usual tricks. This time the chief victim was a young girl who complained to the exempt Charles de Julie “que la Pouvillon l’avait non seulement débauchée, elle, mais encore sa petite sœur de 10 à 11 ans, et qu’elle refusait de leur rendre leurs effets et quelqu’argent.” Without hesitation and entirely on his own authority, Julie arrested the couple and brought them before a commissaire. Normally, his own account of the matter would be in the file. However, given Berryer’s hostility towards him, the task of exposing the circumstances of the case was left to inspector Meusnier: Le commissaire ayant entendu les parties séparément, ainsi que la petite fille, voulait envoyer Pouvillon au Fort l’Évêque et sa femme à Saint-Martin. Mais touché des prières qu’ils lui firent, il décida qu’ils rendraient les effets, l’argent, et la petite fille à la sœur plaignante; ce que la femme Pouvillon fit à regret, crainte de pire. Elle aurait bien voulu surseoir cette dernière restitution jusqu’au lendemain, car la personne qui avait entamé les premières faveurs de cette petite fille devait revenir le matin pour essayer de rendre sa victoire complète. Et vraisemblablement il y aurait eu une nouvelle finance.17

Judged by more recent standards, Julie’s mission must be deemed at best a qualified success. The Pouvillon duo did not go to jail after he arrested them but at least the rights of property – if not of children – were maintained. Very different is the next Julie case we more or less fortuitously encounter, one involving a very modest surveillance function not unlike

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 151

A Policeman’s Work

151

his early police duties as a mouche. Again, the assignment was one that a friendly colleague in the robbery detail, inspector Jacques Dadvenel, risked Berryer’s wrath in passing on to Julie. The crime itself was one of the most banal among workmen in the capital’s construction trades: the theft and resale of lead roofing material from public building sites. Several patrols had been carried out in early January 1753 by Dadvenel and commissaire de Rochebrune in an attempt to gather evidence against a certain Vigneron, a pewterer in the rue Phelippeaux near the enclos du Temple who was suspected of being the major receiver of stolen lead in Paris. Vigneron and his accomplices were proving difficult to catch red-handed, however. Finally, as Dadvenel makes clear in a deposition sworn before commissaire de Rochebrune several weeks later, his bringing Charles de Julie into the case had resulted in several successful arrests: Il a chargé le sieur Julie, exempt de la compagnie de monsieur le lieutenant criminel de robe courte, d’examiner aujourd’hui dans l’après-midi les ouvriers couvreurs et autres qui entreraient chez le nommé Vigneron, demeurant rue Phelippeaux, pour lui porter [et] vendre du plomb; qu’en conséquence ledit sieur Julie qui est ici présent a vu sur les six heures un quart du soir ou environ, susdite rue Phelippeaux, un particulier paraissant compagnon couvreur, lequel est entré dans la maison dudit Vigneron et dans l’escalier duquel il a été arrêté; et ledit sieur de Julie a observé que ledit particulier avait du plomb autour de lui; que ledit sieur de Julie l’ayant fait arrêter a remarqué en sortant de ladite maison un autre particulier ouvrier qui se présentait pour y entrer et qui ayant aperçu les personnes qui sortaient de ladite maison et qui accompagnaient ledit sieur de Julie a pris la fuite et [...] a déposé le plomb qu’il portait chez ledit Vigneron; que ce particulier s’est ensuite enfui et a été arrêté par le nommé Petit qui l’a poursuivi jusqu’au bout de la rue des Gravilliers près la rue Saint-Martin, et en l’arrêtant il lui a saisi son marteau à couvreur.

Rochebrune’s procès-verbal continues with other details, including Charles de Julie’s deposition. The first person arrested, twenty-oneyear-old apprentice roofer François Postel, a native of Bayeux, had worked that day and had been paid twelve francs. He claimed that he was on his way to sell Vigneron “du plomb qu’il a trouvé aujourd’hui dans l’allée d’une maison [...] lequel plomb est sur lui [...]; ajoute qu’il ne se souvient pas où est la dite maison.” He had heard that Vigneron purchased lead but could not remember who told him. “En cet endroit,” the report goes on, “nous avons fait déboutonner le gilet croisé du répondant et nous avons remarqué qu’il avait autour de lui près sa ceinture un mouchoir de toile à carreaux noirs et qui soutenait du plomb plié.” The workman was carrying nearly twenty-three

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

152

Page 152

A Rogue’s Progress

pounds of roofing lead wrapped around his midriff! Julie’s other prisoner, also an apprentice of Yvon, maître couvreur in the Bâtiments du Roy, was 26–year-old Guillaume Desjardins, a native of Coutances now living in the rue Froidmenteau. He had worked that day at the École Militaire and claimed to have found the lead he was carrying under his clothing “sur un tas d’ordures à la place du Palais-Royal.” Justice of the day was swift if often practical in its applications. Both workmen, having “rendu mauvais compte de ce plomb qu’ils ont vraisemblablement volé” were taken off to prison by inspector Dadvenel. Two weeks later, on being “recommandés” (no doubt by their employer), they were released.18 Inspector Dadvenel had occasion to call on Charles de Julie on another, very different, matter, an “uprising” in the maison de Force at la Salpêtrière. That section of the Hôpital Général was normally reserved for female thieves, prostitutes, and vagabonds. Sometimes, however, it was also the assigned prison facility for women who had run afoul of the law in a minor way but were poor and lacked the social standing to escape the routine judgments of the criminal courts. As in Bicêtre, discipline at la Force was severe and incarceration within its walls was considered déshonorant. The open-ended, indefinite duration of each individual’s sentence common to all French prisons of the time added an element of mental torture to the uncompromisingly harsh physical conditions. The two documents relating to this particular revolt of la Force’s women prisoners paint a grim picture of the infamous prison and are worth quoting in some detail. The first is a report by inspector Dadvenel to Berryer, dated 28 October 1752: Monsieur J’ai l’honneur de vous rendre compte que je me suis transporté hier à l’Hôpital avec les sieurs commissaire Maillot, Poussot, Roullier, Bouton, Julie et douze archers dont six à hautes armes à l’occasion de la révolte des femmes de la Force. Nous les avons trouvées aussi soumises que dociles, excepté qu’elles ne voulaient point travailler, rapport que leur nombre étant trop grand elles sont obligées de coucher cinq dans chaque lit, ce qui n’est guère possible, et ce qui fait que plusieurs couchent par terre sur le pavé; joint à la mauvaise nourriture qui est cependant ordinaire. Elles souhaitent et attendent très fort votre visite, Monsieur, parce qu’elles disent que si elles ne sortent pas, il en sortira d’autres, et qui les mettra à leur aise et ne coucheront plus par terre, et ce qui a principalement occasionné leur rumeur, c’est que lundi dernier on leur dit qu’on vous attendait incessamment. Un des gardes dudit Hôpital étant venu en votre hôtel, demanda au suisse s’il

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 153

A Policeman’s Work

153

savait le jour que vous iriez à la Salpêtrière; il lui répondit qu’il n’en savait rien; ce garde de retour à l’hôpital fut leur porter cette réponse, et toutes d’un commun accord dirent qu’elles ne travailleraient plus, qu’il ne leur était pas possible, et que pour preuve qu’elles ne se révoltaient pas, c’est qu’elles ont continué et même augmenté leur exercice de prières. Elles ont été fort tranquilles, n’ont pas dit la moindre parole grossière et ont écouté attentivement nos remontrances, à quoi elles ont répondu qu’elles ne demandaient leur liberté qu’autant qu’elles sont dans le cas de la mériter, mais que du moins elles ne soient pas obligées de coucher par terre, ce qui leur ôte les forces pour travailler. Nous en avons cependant fait mettre huit au cachot pour l’exemple, n’étant pas plus coupables que les autres; je joins ici les noms, savoir: Anne Quesne, native de Rouen, détenue depuis 17 mois Marie-Jeanne Lévêque, de Compiègne, depuis 26 mois Geneviève Nanterre, de Nanterre, depuis 18 mois Marie-Jeanne Contesse, de Châtillon sur Marne, depuis 13 mois Suzanne Delhomme, de Noyers en Bourgogne, depuis 25 mois Thérèse Lefèvre, d’Amiens, depuis 21 mois Françoise Brunet, de Mamers au Maine, depuis 13 mois Marie Quain, de Paris, depuis 11 mois Mesdames supérieures trouvent que ces huit particulières seront assez punies de deux jours de cachot, et que n’étant pas plus coupables que les autres, il faudrait donc les y mettre toutes; il m’a cependant paru que les Sœurs de Service avaient des raisons pour nous indiquer ces huit particulières, mais les faits ne me paraissent pas graves. Il serait à souhaiter que l’on pût mettre les femmes flétries dans un autre endroit que les femmes du monde, car cela occasionne toujours des rumeurs, et les femmes flétries qui savent être détenues pour longtemps excitent les femmes du monde. Il y a 910 personnes dans la maison de Force. Dadvenel19

In less than a year, Charles de Julie would himself experience from an inmate’s perspective the inside of the Bastille, a very different kind of prison. There, in the gloom and stillness behind the chateau’s thick towering walls, prisoner uprisings were unthinkable, indeed, physically impossible. But now, surrounded by a roiling mass of cheerless humanity, even from the secure vantage point he occupied as the group’s police enforcer and backed by a squad of heavily armed men, the exempt must have been impressed. Uprisings in these crowded “popular” prisons were not infrequent and they sometimes ended in bloodshed.20 This particular demonstration turned out to be a fairly calm affair but still the organized rebellion extending over several days of nearly a thousand women housed in unspeakably

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

154

Page 154

A Rogue’s Progress

overcrowded conditions must have presented an alarming scene. Louis-Sébastien Mercier, more than two decades later, describes the usual pattern of such events: Quand ces Filles ont à se plaindre de la nourriture, ou de quelques mauvais traitemens, alors elles forment entr’elles une révolte: la conspiration vole de bouche en bouche; or, savez-vous en quoi consiste cette révolte? à pousser toutes, en même temps & au même signal, des cris & des hurlemens épouvantables. Ces explosions de poitrine qui se manifestent par des accens aigus & prolongés, se répètent à différens intervalles dans le jour, dans la nuit, & d’une manière inattendue. Quand on entend cette clameur pour la première fois, on est véritablement saisi: ces cris se propagent à près d’une lieue. Les menaces, les châtimens n’y font rien; cette révolte de gosier se soutient, jusqu’à ce que le tort réel ou apparent soit réparé.21

The uprising that Dadvenel had been summoned to quell with the aid of Julie’s Robe Courte archers had been going on for three days and had initially taken the form of a protest strike. Commissaire Nicolas Maillot began his 27 October 1752 report to Berryer with an account of his arrival at the prison and his meeting with the supérieure, Mme Moysan, who along with several of the lay “sisters” on her staff informed him of the situation: Depuis trois jours lesdites femmes de la Force leur résistaient et ne voulaient pas sous différents prétextes continuer de travailler à carder et filer de la laine ainsi qu’elles avaient coutume de faire et qu’actuellement elles étaient toutes répandues dans la cour sans vouloir rentrer dans leurs ouvroirs. Et un instant après est sortie de la Force une autre sœur qui a dit que sur ce qu’elle venait dire auxdites femmes de la Force, notre arrivée ainsi que celle desdits sieurs officiers, elles étaient toutes rentrées dans leurs ouvroirs mais qu’elles ne s’étaient pas mises à leur ouvrage. Et ayant été à l’instant introduit dans cette partie de maison surnommée la Force, sommes entrés dans la cour où ne se sont trouvées aucunes femmes, puis sommes entrés dans l’un des deux ouvroirs dont les portes donnent sur ladite cour, lequel ouvroir nous avons trouvé presque rempli de femmes, les unes assises, et les autres debout, à rien faire, et leur ayant demandé pourquoi elles étaient ainsi à rien faire et avaient quitté leur travail depuis trois jours et ne voulaient pas le reprendre, elles nous ont d’abord dit que c’était parce qu’elles étaient couchées cinq dans un lit et qu’elles ne pouvaient pas reposer, et ensuite que c’était parce que les sœurs qui les gouvernaient ne disaient pas à monsieur le lieutenant général de police, leur juge, le long temps qu’il y avait qu’aucunes d’elles étaient renfermées, et qu’elles empêchaient monsieur le lieutenant général de police de les faire sortir. Et comme la commune voix de toutes ces femmes renfermées appuyait très fort

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 155

A Policeman’s Work

155

sur ces dernières raisons, nous leur avons fait entendre que ce qu’elles disaient ne pouvait pas être vrai, attendu que les sœurs qui les gouvernaient n’avaient uniquement que l’inspection du dedans de la maison pour avoir soin d’elles [...] et leur faire observer les règles, et qu’il ne dépendait point du tout desdites sœurs de les faire sortir ou de les faire rester plus longtemps qu’elles ne devaient être renfermées; que cela dépendait du sujet de leur détention et que chacune d’elles pouvait se rendre justice en son particulier. Et enfin avons sous le bon plaisir de monsieur le lieutenant général de police ordonné à toutes les femmes de reprendre leur travail journalier dès lundi prochain du matin, ce qu’elles ont promis de faire. Sommes ensuite entrés dans le second ouvroir dont l’entrée donne pareillement dans ladite cour où nous avons trouvé une assez grande quantité de femmes tant assises que debout à rien faire, et leur ayant demandé le sujet de leur repos, elles nous ont apporté les mêmes raisons que les précédentes, pour quoi leur avons aussi fait entendre le contraire et leur avons pareillement ordonné de reprendre leur travail dès lundi prochain du matin.22

As well as referring to the brutishly overcrowded conditions, the reports of both Dadvenel and Maillot suggest that favouritism on the part of the Salpêtrière officières was a likely problem at La Force. We do not know whether Charles de Julie was troubled by that notion or by any signs that the eight women “randomly” selected for confinement in the cachot may have been unfairly singled out by the staff. What would certainly have attracted his special interest, however, was the opportunity to see face to face the woman who ran the institution and who had been since her controversial appointment in 1749 very much in the underground news, all part of the Parlement’s ongoing war with Christophe de Beaumont, the archbishop of Paris. Only the month before, one of his former grub street associates, the nouvelliste Bousquet (soon destined for a cell in the Bastille), had helped to circulate the Jansenist-inspired and entirely scurrilous rumour that the archbishop “couchait tous les soirs avec Mme Moysan,” the very person Julie could now observe actively negotiating with her 910 prisoners and who was responsible for enforcing both religious exercises and work discipline in the infamous prison.23 Finally, random digging through the archives has turned up one last case, perhaps Charles de Julie’s most important. In its outcome, it was also probably his most frustrating. Again, his basic difficulty would originate with lack of support from his superior, Berryer. The background to the case, which for Julie began as yet another personal assignment from the duc de Richelieu, has its origins in the horrendous vehicular traffic of eighteenth-century Paris. Mercier’s Tableau de Paris points out some of the problems:

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

156

Page 156

A Rogue’s Progress

Fouette Cocher. C’est le mot que dit encore le provincial en montant dans un remise. Oui, oui, fouette cocher; tu crois d’arriver comme cela, mon bel ami. As-tu calculé les embarras qui arrêteront le pas de tes chevaux? Ici les boueurs barent la rue & restent deux heures à relever les ordures; là est une charrette chargée d’une pierre [...]; c’est à chaque pas un vrai miracle. Les voitures à tonneaux d’eau, dont le nombre est considérable, obstruent le passage [...]. C’est le chaos à débrouiller. On croit appercevoir un débouché; mais les pierres à bâtir, qui restent des mois entiers irrégulièrement rangées dans des rues déjà étroites, interceptent le passage. Cependant les cochers serrent le plus qu’ils peuvent, gênent par leur impatience maladroite la libre circulation; c’est à qui obtiendra un pouce de terrain. Tu veux passer avec ton équipage, & le malheureux piéton ne doit qu’à son ventre plat & rentrant le bonheur d’échapper à l’essieu du paysan, qui excede quelquefois d’un pied. Il ne faut que la voiture d’une blanchisseuse, qui reste là plantée pendant trois heures, faisant son compte dans la maison, pour arrêter quatre cents équipages. Mais voici qu’un cabriolet scélérat, profitant d’un jour ouvert, rasant de près la borne, s’échappe de la bagarre. C’est la foudre qui part d’un nuage orageux: sauve qui peut. Le pervers conducteur veut regagner le tems perdu, en passant sur le corps de ses concitoyens.24

Speeding, road rage, and murderous driving manners, made worse by the lack of safe sidewalks for pedestrians, set a wild, unregulated scene, intensified by the arrogance of the privileged, “le prince [qui] court à six chevaux ventre à terre, comme s’il était en rase campagne.” The police showed little concern: “Quand un cocher vous a moulu tout vif, on examine chez le commissaire si c’est la grande ou la petite roue; le cocher ne répond que de la petite; & si vous expirez sous la grande roue, il n’y a point de dédommagemens pécuniaires pour vos héritiers. Puis il est un tarif pour les bras, les jambes, les cuisses; & c’est un prix fait d’avance. Que faire? Bien écouter quand on crie, gare! gare!”25 The incident that took place at one of the traffic entrances to the Louvre on Thursday 20 July 1752 around eight o’clock in the evening had been caused by the refusal of a speeding coachman to give way to another carriage already on the point of exiting the narrow guichet passageway. In itself, it was not an unusual occurrence, but several innocent bystanders had been hurt and the offending coachman had somehow managed to escape unidentified after brutally lashing out right and left with his whip, severely injuring both the dignity and the limbs of the sturdy lackeys protecting the rival coach. To make matters worse, it was soon learned that the occupant of the vehicle that had been abruptly cut off was no less a personage than Diane-Adelaïde de Mailly-Nesle, duchesse de Lauraguais, dame d’atours of the Dauphine. That largely honorific office was, however, only her second claim to

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 157

A Policeman’s Work

157

fame. The first was her well-publicized status as the occasional mistress of both Louis XV and the maréchal duc de Richelieu. For both town and court, the guichet du Louvre incident was suddenly transformed into a cause célèbre. Born in 1714 and married to the duc de Lauraguais in 1742, the duchesse was not the great beauty her sister the duchesse de Châteauroux, Louis XV’s first publicly acknowledged mistress, had been. Still her attractions were undeniable and rumour had it that the obliging duc de Richelieu had arranged for both sisters to bed down Louis le Bien-Aimé that hot August night in 1744 in Metz when the king suddenly fell deathly ill, some said from total sexual exhaustion.26 After her sister’s sudden death in December that same year, “la grosse duchesse,” whose versatility, warm intelligence, and sharp wit made lovers generally overlook her more than bountiful circumference, had continued to share the royal four-poster from time to time. With the advent of Pompadour, her long-standing and devoted relationship with Richelieu – political mainly but physically intimate, too, on occasion – flourished even more. In addition, as the Dauphine’s mistress of the robes, the duchesse de Lauraguais’s social standing at Versailles was among the highest. Determined efforts on the part of the police over a four-month period failed to establish the identity of the ferocious coachman who had caused so much mayhem and scandal. Indignant at the insult anonymously offered someone he deemed to be under his personal protection, the duc de Richelieu finally decided that extraordinary investigative measures were needed to track down the culprit. Once more he sent for his trusty exempt, Charles de Julie, who had already served him well in several other delicate matters. Subsequently approached by Julie for permission to proceed, Berryer (as he had already done in the case of la demoiselle Roux) grudgingly gave verbal consent through one of his clerks. Julie’s first report to Berryer, written nearly five months after the incident, reveals that he was making good progress on the case, thanks to some unorthodox methods and the help of an old female contact: Monsieur Depuis les ordres que vous m’avez fait donner par M. Le Roy, j’ai travaillé à me rendre digne de cette bonté en suivant de très près l’aventure arrivée à Madame la duchesse de Lauraguais le 20 juillet dernier. En conséquence, j’ai vérifié nombre de cochers qui, avec le même signalement et le même habit, n’étaient pas celui dont était question. Enfin, dans la quantité, j’ai violemment soupçonné le nommé Toussaint, cocher de M. de Saint-Roman, maître des comptes, rue des Fossés-Montmartre. Cet homme, naturellement brusque et

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

158

Page 158

A Rogue’s Progress

ivrogne, et à qui il est arrivé plusieurs scènes de cette espèce, a excité ma curiosité. Je l’ai fait donner à souper mercredi dernier par la nommée Lapierre, femme de sa connaissance avec laquelle il a vécu longtemps. Le nommé Lapierre, cocher et soldat aux gardes se disant mari de cette femme, était de cette partie. J’avais recommandé sur toutes choses beaucoup de vin. Cette femme qui n’est pas maladroite a fait rouler la conversation sur des choses indifférentes, et enfin en est venue à notre histoire. Voici leurs propos, mot pour mot: “A propos, Toussaint,” lui a dit cette femme; “comment t’es-tu tiré de cette aventure qui t’est arrivée il y a 4 à 5 mois sous le guichet? On dit que tu as eu chaud.” “Ma foi, ma fille,” a répondu Toussaint, “je m’en suis fort bien tiré; j’ai donné des coups de fouet à tort et à travers et il a fallu que je mette toute ma science en usage car ils étaient cinq ou six grands diables de laquais qui ont été chercher le guet; mais il ont eu beau se jeter aux guides de mes chevaux, je m’en suis débarrassé; tout ce qui m’a fait plus de peur, c’est qu’en m’en allant grand train comme tu penses, je crois avoir cassé la jambe à une femme au vin de la rue l’Arbre-Sec, mais je m’en moque car mon maître ne s’en est pas aperçu; j’ai pardieu bien fait car on m’a dit que c’était une dame de qualité.” “Mais,” a repris Lapierre, “était-ce ton vis-à-vis que tu menais?” “Non, c’était ma berline,” a répliqué Toussaint. “Ta maîtresse y était-elle?” a toujours demandé Lapierre. “Non, c’était des amis de mon maître.” Ils ont beaucoup exalté l’un et l’autre la hardiesse de Toussaint et on a continué de boire. Cette semi-preuve ne m’a pas satisfait. J’ai envoyé chercher le nommé Doré, domestique de Madame la comtesse de La Guiche, qui me fut indiqué dans le temps pour celui de tous les spectateurs qui reconnaîtrait le mieux le cocher en question. Effectivement, il lui a trouvé, non seulement le même habit, la même taille, mais encore il a été frappé de sa physionomie. Je ne me suis pas tenu à toutes ces preuves, j’ai pris la liberté d’écrire à Madame la duchesse de Lauraguais pour la prier de m’envoyer le nommé Masse, son domestique, qui a été aussi spectateur de la scène. Je l’ai envoyé avec le susdit Doré boire dans le cabaret où va souvent le susdit Toussaint, et tous deux s’accordent à dire que c’est lui. De Julie Ce 11 décembre 1752.27

The situation was obviously delicate. Serre de Saint-Roman was one of the privileged conseillers-maîtres of the powerful Chambre des Comptes. Berryer decided to wait. In fact, he did not even respond. Julie pressed on with the investigation, fortified by the thought that here, finally, was his big chance to establish his credentials. His second report followed ten days later:

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 159

A Policeman’s Work

159

Monsieur Depuis que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous écrire le 11 du présent mois, au sujet de l’aventure arrivée sous le guichet du Louvre à Madame la duchesse de Lauraguais, j’ai continué mes informations. Il en résulte que le 17 de ce mois, un invalide manchot qui porte la gazette chez Madame la comtesse de La Guiche, qui a été spectateur de la scène et qui même a reçu du cocher un coup de fouet sur son bras estropié, a vu, avec un homme que je lui ai donné, le nommé Toussaint dont j’ai eu l’honneur de vous parler. Il était sur la porte de son maître. Cet invalide, après l’avoir considéré, a dit affirmativement qu’il croyait que c’était celui en question. Le lendemain 18, j’ai de nouveau fait griser ledit Toussaint par la même femme Lapierre dont a été question dans mon premier rapport. Elle a saisi le moment qu’il criait haut, et qu’il voulait faire tapage, pour lui dire, “Eh bien b[ougre] de fou, voilà comme tu as fait au guichet quand tu n’as pas voulu céder le pas à cet autre carrosse! Tu aurais bien mérité d’être arrêté par le guet.” “Je m’en f[ous],” a-t-il répondu, “et si cela était encore à faire j’agirais de même.” Le sieur Poursaint, secrétaire de Monsieur le duc de Luxembourg, a été, ainsi qu’un de ses amis, présent à l’aventure en question et a dit à plusieurs personnes qu’il reconnaîtrait le cocher et même les maîtres qui étaient dans le carrosse. Je n’ai pas cru devoir faire aucune démarche vis-à-vis ce monsieur dans la crainte d’un refus, et encore dans l’incertitude qu’une pareille confidence ne devînt indiscrète. Le laquais du sieur de Saint-Roman, nommé Fagé, est du même signalement que celui qui a été indiqué par ceux qui ont été présents à l’affaire; d’ailleurs on a remarqué que ce M. de Saint-Roman a évité depuis ce temps-là les spectacles, promenades et endroits publics où ses gens auraient pu être reconnus. Cette berline dans laquelle on prétend qu’il était avec sa compagne le jour de l’insulte faite à la duchesse a, dès ce même jour, été recelée sous sa remise, entourée partout d’une grosse toile qui en dérobe la vue à tout le monde. Je me suis faufilé sous un faux prétexte dans la maison dudit sieur de Saint-Roman. J’y ai vu cette berline sous le cercueil qui la cache. Le sieur de Saint-Roman ne s’en est pas servi depuis. De Julie Ce 21 décembre 1752.28

Julie’s third letter to his superior, dated more than two weeks after the last, makes it clear that Berryer was still refusing to acknowledge directly his various reports. It also revealed two highly disturbing facts. First, Berryer had informed several of Julie’s police colleagues that he had not found Julie’s conclusions very convincing. Second (and perhaps not unrelated to the lieutenant général’s puzzling scepticism in the

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

160

Page 160

A Rogue’s Progress

matter), it now turned out that the coachman Toussaint had solicited and obtained police protection of the highest order in the person of Monsieur Jean-Charles-Joseph Le Noir, the senior lieutenant particulier at the Châtelet. Le Noir happened to be the father of Mme de Saint-Roman, mistress of the household! Apart from Berryer himself, no higher police authority existed in the kingdom. Even worse, Le Noir’s son, Jean-Charles-Pierre Le Noir, was himself a high-ranking magistrate at the Châtelet criminal court, the very person who was soon destined to succeed his father as lieutenant particulier, (and ultimately destined to become eighteenth-century France’s most celebrated lieutenant général de police). Moreover, all of the principals, M. and Mme de Saint-Roman, the Le Noirs, father and son, and, of course, their jolly coachman, lived cheek by jowl in the same great family town house on the rue des Fossés-Montmartre. At this point, many would have abandoned the chase. Julie, desperate to succeed, decided to soldier on: Monsieur, J’allais joindre M. Dadvenel, lorsque je me suis avisé d’entrer chez la Lapierre dont j’ai eu l’honneur de vous parler dans mes lettres sur l’affaire arrivée à Madame la duchesse de Lauraguais. Mon dessein était de lui demander ce qu’elle avait découvert de nouveau sur cet article et sur celui de la nommée Barbe Marchand, que je lui fais chercher depuis longtemps. Le nommé Toussaint, cocher soupçonné, y était. J’ai voulu y entrer, tant parce que j’ai su que les aveux inéquivoques qu’il a précédemment faits à cette femme Lapierre, et à son mari, ne vous avaient pas suffisamment contenté, que pour tirer par moi-même le nœud gordien de cette affaire. J’ai fait différentes questions à ce cocher qui n’a pas hésité à me convenir de tous les faits, sur chacun desquels je lui ai fait subir un long examen. Il m’a avoué qu’il avait eu il y a environ six mois une affaire au premier guichet du Louvre, parce qu’il n’avait pas voulu céder le pas à un autre carrosse dans lequel il y avait deux dames; que le guet était venu, qu’il avait donné des coups de fouet à tort et à travers, entre autres à un invalide qui n’avait qu’un bras, qu’il revenait de chez M. de Chamoi qui demeure rue des Rosiers, qu’il menait sa berline, que cette affaire l’avait inquiété et qu’il avait été chez M. Le Noir, lieutenant particulier, parent de sa maîtresse, à qui il avait conté son aventure, qui lui avait dit de demeurer tranquille, et que si quelqu’un venait s’en informer, il n’avait qu’à s’adresser à lui. Ce cocher m’a tenu bien d’autres propos concluants pour quelqu’un qui connaît l’affaire, et qui perdraient à être rendus. De Julie Ce 6 janvier 175329

There are two more letters from Julie to the lieutenant général de police in the Toussaint Monbron file. Both evince his growing sense of

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 161

A Policeman’s Work

161

failure. In a society where protection was the be all and end all of public policy, he knew that without Berryer’s active support he was bound to lose. Berryer, moreover, remained unimpressed. Julie’s magnificent opportunity, perhaps his best chance ever to show his superior what he could do, was slipping away. Would he never be forgiven for all those youthful “mistakes”? Monsieur, J’ai, suivant vos ordres, envoyé à Monseigneur le maréchal de Richelieu le détail du souper que j’ai fait avec Toussaint, cocher de M. de Saint-Roman. J’ai exposé combien il était essentiel pour moi de viser juste dans une semblable découverte et j’ai conclu par la nécessité que je croyais qu’il y avait à faire reconnaître ce cocher par le sieur Poursaint, intendant de Monsieur le duc de Luxembourg qui a été témoin oculaire et auriculaire de la scène, ainsi que j’ai déjà eu l’honneur de vous le marquer. En conséquence, j’ai été trouver ce monsieur Poursaint qui a bien voulu se prêter à mes vues. Aujourd’hui ou demain, je prendrai la liberté de vous informer quel en sera l’effet.

Unable to contain his feelings any longer, Charles de Julie suddenly shifted to another topic – and a very personal register: Ne trouverez-vous pas mauvais, Monsieur, que je saisisse encore cette occasion pour vous remettre devant les yeux l’infortune et l’indigence dans laquelle votre prévention, jadis juste, me laisse tristement exister? Ne voudriezvous jamais être persuadé que vous plaire est mon unique ambition, et que je voudrais être à même de pouvoir faire un sacrifice qui pût me rendre digne de votre confiance? Ne soyez donc plus insensible à mes peines; vous n’aurez pas lieu de vous repentir de votre indulgence. Enfin, Monsieur, il ne tient qu’à vous de tarir au commencement de cette année la source des larmes que votre opiniâtreté m’a fait verser pendant tout le cours de la dernière. De Julie Ce 11 janvier 1753.30

It is probable that Julie later regretted adding that last paragraph to his letter. For a subordinate to suggest that his superior was guilty of stubbornness, injustice, and insensibility was unwise. It was also unseemly for a policeman to admit that his days and nights were filled with tears. Sensing that Berryer was about to cut the ground out from under him, Charles de Julie made his last letter relating to the case fairly short: Monsieur, J’ai jusqu’à présent fait d’inutiles démarches pour parvenir à faire connaître à M. Poursaint, intendant de Monsieur le duc de Luxembourg, le cocher qui a

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

162

Page 162

A Rogue’s Progress

insulté Madame la duchesse de Lauraguais. Quand j’ai eu l’un, l’autre manquait, de façon que j’ai beaucoup dépensé pour avancer ma besogne. Je ferai encore ce soir une nouvelle tentative, quoique je puisse vous assurer que cette démarche est inutile. Le cocher est encore convenu du fait hier au soir. Ce 14 fevrier 1753 De Julie31

For reasons best known to himself, Berryer had indeed moved to reassign the case that Charles de Julie, at great personal expense, had already prepared with such care and ingenuity. The new investigator was Berthelin, an officer of the maréchaussée générale de l’Île de France whose parallel inquiry into the matter confirmed Julie’s findings on all points. Of course, the awkward business of Toussaint’s powerful protection remained: Monsieur J’ai l’honneur de vous rendre compte que je suis parvenu le 18 du courant à faire boire le nommé Toussaint, cocher de M. de Saint-Roman, avec le nommé Lavier, duquel je me sers ordinairement, et le nommé Champagne, garçonmaréchal, demeurant chez le sieur Brier [...] rue des Fossés-Montmartre, presque vis-à-vis le cabaret où pend pour enseigne “La Corne,” dans lequel ils ont bu plusieurs bouteilles de vin dans l’espace de quatre heures qu’ils ont resté ensemble; que dans les différentes conversations qu’ils ont tenues ledit Toussaint est convenu que c’était lui qui avait eu dispute vers la fin du mois de juillet de l’année dernière avec le cocher et les domestiques d’une dame de qualité de laquelle il ignorait le nom, et qu’il s’en était f[outu], attendu la bonté et la vivacité de ses chevaux; qu’il n’avait jamais cédé le pas à qui que ce fût, et ne le céderait jamais; que cette affaire n’avait pas laissé que de lui donner de l’inquiétude pendant quelques jours mais que M. Le Noir, lieutenant particulier du Châtelet, qui est le père de sa maîtresse, auquel il avait conté son affaire, l’avait tranquillisé, en lui disant qu’il n’avait que faire de craindre; que si l’on formait quelques plaintes contre lui au cas qu’il fût reconnu, il en serait instruit et lui donnerait conseil sur ce qu’il aurait à faire; qu’au surplus, l’affaire était toute simple, qu’il avait donné des coups de fouet, et qu’il en avait reçus, partant quitte. J’ai fait plus, ayant découvert que ledit Toussaint a sa femme, ravaudeuse et ouvrière en linge demeurante rue du Bouchoir chez un limonadier au 2e étage, chez laquelle j’ai envoyé différentes personnes qui lui ont porté des bas et du linge à raccommoder pour la faire jaser sur le compte de son mari avec lequel il paraît qu’elle ne vit pas des mieux, ayant répondu que c’était un ivrogne, et un brutal, et que lorsqu’il venait chez elle ce n’était que pour lui demander de l’argent, qu’elle savait parfaitement qu’il lui était arrivé à plusieurs fois d’avoir

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 163

A Policeman’s Work

163

des disputes avec des cochers, mais qu’elle ignorait celle de laquelle l’on lui parlait. Voilà tous les éclaircissements que j’ai pu tirer sur cette affaire. Berthelin A Paris, ce 26 janvier 1753.32

We will not follow to the end what must have seemed a highly frustrating investigation, now continued by Julie’s replacement. Finally convinced that the evidence gathered by Julie could no longer be decently ignored, Berryer reluctantly made formal arrangements for an arrest order on 18 March 1753, but almost certainly only after he had arranged for a courtesy consultation with his colleague Le Noir, the lieutenant particulier. It was probably agreed between the two police dignitaries that Le Noir’s son-in-law, the maître des comptes SaintRoman, and his 36–year old coachman, Toussaint Monbron, should prepare responses for an anticipated visit from commissaire de Rochebrune. Three days after the arrest order was issued, Berthelin called on Saint-Roman and presented him with a gracious letter from Berryer. After reading it, the already forewarned maitre des comptes declared that he was most appreciative of the courtesy that lieutenant général Berryer was extending to him in this delicate matter. The coachman, tutored in advance for the encounter and waiting in another room, was then summoned and sternly informed that he had done something extremely foolish and that it was fitting that he be punished. Indeed, he should go to the duchesse de Lauraguais and beg her to ask for his freedom. At which point in this well-rehearsed domestic farce, Toussaint, making a great show of astonishment, pointed out that there had to be some mistake; he could not have been the coachman in question since on the stated day of the accident, at the very time indicated, he had in fact been with his master and mistress in the country. Indignantly and earnestly, Toussaint went on to demand that he be confronted forthwith by his accusers, at which point his master, making a show of moderation and indulgence, asked the arresting officer if there was not some way to avoid taking the coachman to prison, to have him questioned instead by a commissaire and confronted as to his supposed identity and involvement by the servants of Madame la duchesse de Lauraguais. Given the circumstances, and knowing that Berryer would approve any action that avoided giving offense to his aristocratic peers, Berthelin then took his leave without executing the arrest order.33 Not surprisingly, the interrogation at de Rochebrune’s followed much the same pattern and produced the same inconclusive result. Toussaint protested his innocence throughout. On being asked under

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

164

Page 164

A Rogue’s Progress

oath if he was certain that on the day in question he had been driving in the country as he claimed, rather than in Paris on his way back from M. de Chamoi’s residence, Toussaint provided a well-counselled and devilishly clever reply: If such a disruptive incident had in fact occurred, surely his master and mistress, whom he was driving that day, would have been aware of it. The onus was neatly placed now on the police to do the unthinkable, namely, to confront the maître des comptes directly by asking him if he or his wife had been lying from the beginning in this matter. Given the status of the principals, the question could not, of course, be asked. As for any legally inappropriate reassurances he might have received from the lieutenant particulier, the coachman replied that, yes, he may indeed have brought up an entirely hypothetical situation in a conversation with monsieur de Saint Roman’s father-in-law, perhaps something to the effect “que s’il lui arrivait quelque affaire il n’hésiterait point d’implorer la protection de monsieur Le Noir, lieutenant particulier, qui est beau-père dudit sieur de Saint-Roman et qui rendrait service au répondant…” Toussaint rounded off his testimony by categorically denying that he had ever discussed the affair, over wine or otherwise, with anyone. Rochebrune’s conclusions in his report to Berryer were predictable: despite his very best efforts, he had been unable to get anything out of the coachman: “Il m’a parlé avec tant de sécurité qu’il est de la prudence de suspendre un jugement sur son compte jusqu’à ce qu’il ait été confronté aux trois domestiques de Madame de Lauraguais.”34 With seeming reluctance, Berryer agreed to the procedure, but only verbally. It was no doubt the very least that could be done to satisfy the duc de Richelieu, who had been kept generally informed on the matter by Julie. It was not until nearly two months later, however, that Julie was allowed to bring his witnesses to commissaire de Rochebrune’s house and then only for a highly restricted line of inquiry. Before being allowed to confront the coachman, the three witnesses would be required to reaffirm under oath their original declarations, stating that they would be able to recognize with absolute certainty the offender. Unfortunately, after such a long delay, only one of the servants felt able to testify but, because so much time had elapsed, he declared himself unable to swear with absolute certainty that Toussaint was the driver in question. Not surprisingly, the other two servants followed suit. Only a fourth witness invited by Julie, the soldier Jean-Baptiste Caron who had been on guard duty near the guichet in question, was able to swear that Toussaint was indeed the culprit. Caron recognized him all the more easily since at one point he had managed to seize the horses’ reins but had been subsequently forced to let go when he was almost

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

Page 165

A Policeman’s Work

165

crushed to death between the careening vehicle and one of the large stacks of wood piled up near the port Saint-Nicolas loading dock. Rochebrune’s follow-up letter to Berryer relates the rest of the sorry tale: Monsieur, Suivant les ordres que vous m’avez donnés verbalement, le sieur de Julie m’a amené samedi dernier les personnes qu’il prétendait pouvoir reconnaître le cocher qui a insulté madame la duchesse de Lauragais au mois de juillet dernier. Pour constater les faits qui pouvaient donner lieu à la confrontation, j’ai vu nécessaire de recevoir préalablement les déclarations des quatre personnes sur le témoignage desquels ledit sieur Julie comptait beaucoup; mais comme un seul a prétendu le reconnaître et que les trois autres ont assuré au contraire qu’ils ne le reconnaissaient point, j’ai pensé qu’il n’y avait point lieu de procéder à la confrontation, suivant l’axiome de droit, unus testis nullus testis. J’ai l’honneur de vous envoyer ces quatre déclarations au sujet desquelles j’ai besoin d’ordres pour m’autoriser dans les opérations que j’ai faites. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec le respect le plus profond, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur De Rochebrune À Paris le 21 mai 1753.35

After reviewing the purely formal aspects of the Toussaint Montbron case, a modern reader might be forgiven for concluding, quite erroneously, that it demonstrates how surprisingly well the “civil rights” of an accused individual were protected in the ancien régime’s system of jurisprudence. Granted the benefit of the doubt, Toussaint Montbron in the end suffered no punishment, although for the next few months he probably drove his master’s berline through the streets of Paris with more care and courtesy than usual. Paternalistic “family protection” structures had been his salvation. As for Charles de Julie, exempt de robe courte, the case proved to be both another professional failure and a bitter object lesson. He as much as anyone knew how quickly those who showed disrespect for their betters were hauled off to jail. And the key here, as everywhere else, was protection. Protection defined Toussaint’s individual identity and rights just as it defined the identity and rights that Julie could pretend to. In a situation of conflict, the competing claims of the established families were simply “adjusted” by the father, that is, by the king or the king’s representative. Ideally differences among the great were always worked out without recourse to the demeaning and annoying interference of the police or small-minded bureaucratic officials bent

CH06.QXD

9/1/2004 11:35 AM

166

Page 166

A Rogue’s Progress

on imposing a fictional equality of individuals before the law. Protection was the key, and for Julie the great lesson surely was that if he was to keep the wolf from the door, he would henceforth have to find his own protectors and depend a little less on lieutenant général Berryer, the preferred father who, no matter how hard he tried, continued to spurn his every filial effort to please.

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 167

7 Clients and Protectors

Charles de Julie had initially become involved in the Lauraguais coach investigation at the specific request of the duchess’s good friend, the duc de Richelieu. Other assignments had come to him from the maréchal from time to time and were always much appreciated. Here, finally, was proper recognition of his worth! How flattering it had been, for example, to receive in June 1752, directly from the great courtier himself, that intimate little note which began with the magic words, Vous me rendriez un grand service, mon cher Julie, si vous pouviez...1 He was losing hope that Berryer would ever write to him in anything even faintly approaching that civil and regardful style. The nature of the particular “grand service” referred to in Richelieu’s note is not made clear, except that we know the maréchal wanted access to a certain document, perhaps one relating to a private police matter, possibly something as simple as a baptismal certificate that would help in ferreting out background details for one of the duke’s prospective conquests. The police could sometimes persuade parish authorities to break their strict rules and release information that was otherwise jealously guarded from prying inquiries. In any case, Julie was soon sending Richelieu a broad selection of police materials, including an informal chronicle of miscellaneous news items on the scandalous happenings in the capital that were being monitored by Meusnier’s mouches. The maréchal-duc liked that sort of thing and had for years employed various police-friendly nouvellistes for such purposes, including the well-known publicist, the chevalier de Mouhy, already noted by enemies in the milieu as a failed hack and police-spy

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

168

Page 168

A Rogue’s Progress

who, despite his multifarious activities, was still “starving to death.”2 In fact, Mouhy was one of Berryer’s most favoured mouches, benefiting from more official undercover assignments and corresponding emoluments than Charles de Julie could ever hope to receive from the lieutenant général de police. In the case of Richelieu, however, Julie had a distinct advantage. When it came to “news” the maréchal was known to have the highest standards, expecting only the very best from any of his journalist spies. Nothing short of original and uncontaminated reports would do. Mouhy had finally run afoul of the duke for that very reason. One day, it had come to Richelieu’s attention that Mouhy’s nouvelles à la main were being vetted by the police before they were approved for release to him. The duke immediately cancelled his subscription and informed the author that his sheets, if received, would henceforth be thrown unread into the fire.3 Nor was Richelieu interested in receiving nouvelles that contained banal political punditry on the events of the day or the usual open secrets that could be easily gleaned by anyone listening in on the everyday chitchat of the capital’s cafés, theatres, and promenades. Underground nouvelles à la main featuring such items glutted the market and even gossip-starved provincials sometimes refused to continue their subscriptions to these hand-copied news sheets that purported to reveal all the secrets of town and court but were often mere repetitions of stale reports available even in the freely printed gazettes.4 Very much a sophisticate in these matters, the duc de Richelieu had recognized in Julie a man with both special talents and exceptional sources, someone uniquely well placed and well qualified to gather the kind of intelligence that would satisfy the rigorous tastes and curiosity of the century’s leading rake. In his specific instructions to the exempt, the maréchal made no bones about what he wanted: Julie’s reports were to focus exclusively on the alcove and, more particularly, on the clandestine sexual adventures of Parisian “women of quality.” Charles de Julie could hardly believe his luck! Such an assignment suited his news-gathering capacities to perfection, and he responded immediately. Yes, he was prepared to provide anything along those lines that his eminent patron desired. Indeed, had he known, he would have responded in that direction sooner: Du 3 octobre 1752 Monseigneur le maréchal de Richelieu, Je m’attacherai dorénavant à vous donner des aventures de femmes de condition. Si j’eusse su plus tôt vos intentions, j’aurais dressé mes batteries en conséquence. Je me flatte que vous aurez lieu d’être satisfait.

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 169

Clients and Protectors

169

Je compte sous peu de temps connaître les insolents qui ont insulté la duchesse de Lauraguais. J’ose vous supplier, Monseigneur, de me continuer votre auguste protection, trop heureux si, avant votre départ, j’apprenais de vous-même la confirmation d’un aussi grand avantage.5

Probably without realizing the full extent of what was happening, Julie now found himself launched on an enterprise of great potential. The maréchal was on the point of leaving for Montpellier to attend to his routine duties as governor of Languedoc. The royal Court had already departed for its regular autumn sojourn in Fontainebleau and the usual camp-followers, high-stake gamblers, and sundry socialites had taken up seasonal residence there as well. Obviously, many of his normal sources of juicy scandal had temporarily dried up but Julie promised to send on to his protector whatever became available. Three weeks, later, he wrote again to the duke, enclosing a new bulletin: Monseigneur, Je prends la liberté de vous adresser ce qui a pu parvenir à ma connaissance depuis votre départ de Paris. Je serai trop dédommagé de mes peines si je puis parvenir au bonheur de vous amuser un moment. La campagne où sont actuellement presque tous les gens du bon air a rendu ma marchandise un peu rare. Je ferai de mon mieux pour en fournir meilleure quantité le prochain ordinaire. Je serais au comble de mes vœux si vous m’honoriez de quelque commission particulière pendant votre absence.6

Clearly, it was now time to expand his enterprise. Over the next six months Julie cautiously approached several of the wealthiest financiers of the capital in an effort to determine whether they too would be interested in subscribing to a specialized private news sheet of “anecdotes galantes,” tailored, of course, to each client’s individual preferences. Desnoyers, as usual, provided Julie with the introductions. Word was getting around that this enterprising exempt de robe courte was also the man to see if one wished to conduct discreet inquiries into all sorts of matters; for example, the trustworthiness of a mistress, the existence or identity of a rival – possibly a free-loading greluchon who was being quietly smuggled out through a back exit only moments before the paying amant en titre arrived. A gentleman might also wish to have a secret report on the availability – perhaps even the price – of a competitor’s current mistress. Benefiting from privileged access to police reports and additionally well informed through his trustworthy brothel connections, Charles de Julie was in the happy position of a good salesman who knew that his

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

170

Page 170

A Rogue’s Progress

“marchandise,” as he called it, was a highly marketable product. Moreover, the service he would be providing could be efficiently managed and easily concealed as part of his undercover police work. Early in the spring of 1753, Julie decided to test his business plan by once more approaching the celebrated fermier général Étienne-Michel Bouret. This time he had a new proposal to make regarding measures to combat smuggling in general and the possibility of his being granted a special commission to watch over the fraudulent importation of printed cotton-goods from the Indies.7 Bouret, something of a cynic’s cynic, was much in the public eye and his genius in astute matters, immortalized in the famous anecdote of the trained dog recorded in Diderot’s Neveu de Rameau, was already legendary.8 During his interview with the fermier général at his residence on the rue de La Grange-Batelière, Charles de Julie managed to keep the conversation focused on current gossip and racy histoires galantes, all freshly gleaned from police reports and spicy enough to impress even the most jaded of libertines. Won over by his young visitor’s marvellous stories and his assurances that such a chronique could be provided on a regular basis, Bouret decided to subscribe. A deal was struck on the spot. Julie would regularly send the fermier général selected reports dealing exclusively with “les femmes de financiers.” For this he would receive 100 livres per month. It was now Bouret’s turn to spread the word to a few friends. Not three weeks later, Julie received an invitation to call on the celebrated receveur général des finances, Marie-Camille de Villemur, known as Villemur l’aîné to distinguish him from the well-known fermier général, his equally dissipated younger brother Alexis. Charles de Julie would have been familiar with the activities of the notorious receveur général long before he was summoned to Villemur’s fine town house on the rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs. We have already noted the extent to which the financier’s innumerable dealings with the high and low-style tarts of the capital were the despair of even the blasé inspector Meusnier. So many different women were involved and Villemur’s dissipations were so varied and so lavish that it was a challenge to keep the vice squad file on him properly updated.9 Villemur had a great deal of money and he spent it freely. Over the years, his longstanding mistress, la demoiselle Beaufort, a danseuse in the ballets of the Opéra, had been doing her best to lighten his apparently bottomless purse but most of the time she had been only one of many competing players on the scene. In addition to satisfying his own eclectic needs, Villemur was famous for his generosity in supplying women to guests at his private dinner parties. It was all part of the hospitality. Indeed. friends knew him to be a man who loved women almost as much as he loved his celebrated pack of staghounds.10

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 171

Clients and Protectors

171

La demoiselle Beaufort had been Villemur’s maîtresse en titre since April 1751,11 and for this she received – not counting many extras – a handsome stipend of 15,000 livres. Most of the time she occupied her off-hours at his petite maison in Pantin, where the financier visited her three or four times a week. Meusnier’s mouches kept a close watch, reporting, for example, that her New Year’s gift from Villemur for 1753 had amounted to “une bague fine de 1000 livres, une demidouzaine de couverts, et deux cuillères à ragoût.” Such facts had to be checked, of course. After carefully copying out his informer’s detailed note on the subject, the inspector characteristically added the comment: “Vérifier.” Meusnier’s cahiers also inform us that on Sunday 6 May 1753, de Villemur took the demoiselle Beaufort and a few good friends, to the guinguette of his fermier-général brother in Neuilly. That recently constructed “petite” maison de campagne, like his own at Pantin, had cost around 600,000 livres, only slightly more than the sum paid one month earlier by Mme de Pompadour for the late comte d’Évreux’s attractive town house in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré (which survives today as part of the Élysée Palace, official residence of the president of France).12 Lavish spending of that kind during a period when there was great fear in the land of both famine and bread riots – necessitating the importation of emergency supplies of wheat even from an unfriendly power like England – left observers like the marquis d’Argenson amazed and indignant.13 Such plebeian concerns did not, however, dampen the spirits of the Villemur brothers. Police reports indicate that this particular Sunday outing was an enormous success – at least up to a point: Mlle Briseval, Mlle Vestris, and several other much celebrated and well-subsidized danseuses were in attendance, as were Bay de Curys, Louis XV’s mischievous intendant des Menus Plaisirs, and Auguste-Louis Bertin, the king’s treasurer for the parties casuelles. It was very much a family affair: Mlle Vestris was at the time entretenue by Curys, a Richelieu crony, but she was also being greluchonnée by the much celebrated Opéra singer Pierre Jelyotte.14 According to police spy reports gathered from the servants in attendance, “la débauche a été poussée très loin.” Unfortunately, as the evening progressed, the troubled alimentary canal of one talented participant, Mlle La Catte, became something of a hazard to the other guests and she had to be bundled up and carried to the waiting carriage of Villemur l’aîné “parce qu’elle était si soûle qu’elle rendait par haut et par bas et qu’elle aurait gâté toutes ses camarades.”15 On meeting Julie, Villemur immediately informed his visitor that he had received very favourable reports about him. He had heard, for example, that the exempt could be trusted to take on special

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

172

Page 172

A Rogue’s Progress

assignments and ultra-confidential private inquiries. As it happened, he had just such a delicate mission in mind. Would Monsieur de Julie be so good as to carry out discreet surveillance on the activities of his maîtresse en titre la demoiselle Beaufort? She was at the moment staying at his petite maison in Pantin with another danseuse, la demoiselle Briseval. A detailed report on what the two young ladies were up to would be much appreciated. And, yes, on quite another subject, he had heard the most favourable reports about Monsieur de Julie’s little chronique galante. He too wished to subscribe. In his case, however, he would like to have reports exclusively focused on “ce qui se passait parmi les filles de l’Opéra.” Julie would understand that they represented a particular group of young ladies about whom he was “fort curieux.” A subscription price of 120 livres every three months was agreed upon.16 Emboldened by success, Julie next approached several other great financiers, among them the nation’s most honoured cuckold, the fermier général Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d’Étioles, husband of Jeanne Poisson, now marquise de Pompadour. Le Normant was a trusty friend of Étienne-Michel Bouret and for a time they even good naturedly shared the favours of the beautiful and talented demoiselle Fauconnier.17 After bringing up the cotton-goods surveillance proposal he had already discussed with Bouret, Julie tested out the possibility of providing the financier with a subscription to his news sheet. Le Normant declined.18 Barthélémy Thoynard de Jouy, the powerful maître des requêtes allied through marriage with the Lallemant family, was also approached but he too declined to subscribe. Perhaps it was because he could still recall only too well the scandalous reports that had been circulated a few years earlier about his own cocuage, when Madame Thoynard had been caught frolicking in her bedroom with a young Capuchin friar.19 Julie in any case seized the opportunity of his visit to ask Thoynard de Jouy to put in a good word on his behalf with the fermier général Lallemant de Betz. Scarcely five years had elapsed since Charles de Julie, Mme Goubier’s delinquent foster child, had victimized Lallemant de Betz with that unfortunate forged bill of exchange and there was still a chance that the tax farmer had not forgotten. Julie next visited his old contact Helvétius and showed him a sampling of his little bulletins. To his great disappointment, the philosopher also refused to subscribe. His past association with the exempt, who was always trying to borrow money, was apparently something he did not wish to renew. Patient attendance in the antechambers of several other wealthy reprobates brought one or two additional assignments but few sub-

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 173

Clients and Protectors

173

scriptions. One day Julie was invited to visit the aging financier Francès père at his residence on the Place Vendôme. The near octagenarian had a delicate mission for him, involving the preparation of a secret report on la demoiselle Dunivret, a dancer at the Opéra-Comique “qu’il avait dessein d’entretenir.”20 Despite his advanced age, Francès père had a well-earned reputation for alertness and precaution in matters of the heart. Only a year and a half earlier, at the age of 78, he had defeated a cunning attempt by la Lafosse to exploit his well-known weakness for underage virgins. The demoiselle La Pleye, formerly the demoiselle Petit, fifteen years of age and already a mother (she had been seduced at the age of twelve by the marquis de Bauffremont), had been presented to Francès as absolutely intact and fresh out of the convent. For a mere 50 louis, her “aunt” was pleased to offer the old man this innocent little treasure! But years of experience had taught the one-time garçon apothicaire a healthy mistrust and the attempted fraud was soon defeated by the aging financier’s well-practiced digital verification. As for “auntie’s” explanation that her silly niece had been foolish enough to do minor damage to her hymen at the convent, using a traditional godemiché, Francès would have none of it! In the end, the young lady and her “aunt” had to be content with providing a rather prolonged session of fellatio in exchange for keeping the elderly gentleman’s initial deposit of six louis. Luckily, the pair soon managed to recoup their loss by selling Mlle La Pleye’s false pucelage to a trusting English colonel named Craig.21 Even at the height of these delicate negotiations to promote his journalistic enterprise, Julie never lost sight of his larger ambitions – to capitalize properly on his financial investment in the office of exempt de robe courte and gain official recognition of his police skills. What seemed like a golden opportunity finally presented itself, opening up the possibility of obtaining a long-term position of trust that would require precisely the kind of expertise he had spent his entire misspent youth acquiring. As a former resident of the Palais Royal quarter, Julie had been keeping an eye on recent developments in that section of Paris sometimes characterized as “le plus riant de la Ville.”22 Scene of his childhood wanderings, the palace and gardens complex housed the Opéra and served as the traditional home base of the ducs d’Orléans. In the immediate vicinity were some of the capital’s most animated streets, including the notorious rue Froidmenteau, the rue des Bons-Enfants to the east, and the rue des Petits-Champs to the north. To the south was the river, and to the west, the faubourgs du Roule and Saint-Honoré. It was a lively and for the most part opulent quarter, the residence of financiers, wealthy merchants, goldsmiths, jewelers, and dealers in all

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

174

Page 174

A Rogue’s Progress

kinds of fashion. If Paris was the centre of the universe, then here, surely, was the true centre of Paris! The Palais Royal gardens were a gathering place for all varieties of humanity, “le temple ou le prostibulum de l’observation,” as Restif de la Bretonne would later describe it in Monsieur Nicolas.23 Here was the favourite rendez-vous of poets, chess players, gossipy pundits and gazetteers, the place where Diderot’s philosopher “Moi,” no matter the weather, liked to stroll about in the afternoon, meditating and observing the scene, amused by the endless parade of jeunes dissolus in tireless pursuit of a courtisane “à l’air éventé, au visage riant, à l’œil vif, au nez retroussé, quitter celle-ci pour une autre, les attaquant toutes et ne s’attachant à aucune.”24 “Decent” women preferred the relative safety and decorum of the Tuileries with its lavish flower-beds, spacious tree-bordered allées, fountains and statues. Undesirables, “le peuple,” including common soldiers and servants were – theoretically at least – excluded from the Tuileries gardens by watchful if not overly competent suisses. In the Palais Royal, on the other hand, the attendants faced an impossible task, in their attempts to prevent not merely importunate soliciting, but sometimes overt acts of prostitution as well, usually in the darker corners of the park and generally involving the expeditious performance of eighteenth-century Paris’s favourite form of safe sex, la manualisation.25 As France’s “alternate court,” the Palais Royal retained even in the 1750s something of the splendour and flavour of the Regency period, and while there was still concern over matters of sanitation and public order, the place no longer “puait le pissat à ne pouvoir y tenir,” as the Regent’s mother used to say. The hell-raising Régent was succeeded by his only son, Louis d’Orléans, known – in sharp contrast to his father – for a religious devoutness that was to culminate in an eleven-year retreat from the world within the walls of the convent of SainteGeneviève where he busied himself translating Holy Writ. His successor, Louis-Philippe d’Orléans, had none of his father’s piety, learning, or mysticism. As the young duc de Chartres, he was described as “grand, gros, robuste, le teint coloré, joufflu [...] figure de poupon gras.”26 The marquis d’Argenson saw him as “allemand jusqu’au bout des ongles” and totally lacking in either imagination, taste, or wit.27 In 1743, he had married – unwisely as it turned out – Louise-Henriette de Bourbon-Conti, a woman who seems to have combined in her makeup a particularly explosive mixture of sexual passion and loose morals. Soon the couple were living completely apart, neither making any secret of their extra-marital liaisons: “Il a des maîtresses,” notes the disapproving d’Argenson; “malheureusement ce ne sont que des p[utes] à b[aiser], et dont il change souvent, avec grand risque pour sa santé.”28 D’Argenson, an old family friend, further noted that the

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 175

Clients and Protectors

175

young duke was constantly “entouré de misérables godelureaux qui le portent à toutes les dépenses de libertinage; on le fait courir toutes les nuits de boucans en boucans, de petites maisons de courtisanes, de vin et de débauche [...]; il ne se couche jamais que le matin, il dort peu et s’échauffe le sang. La duchesse a toujours le même amant29 avec beaucoup d’autres, elle s’est trouvée grosse; on a engagé son époux à couvrir cette œuvre de quelques nuits avec elle pour se croire l’auteur d’un ouvrage déjà complet.”30 Such was the state of things when this grandson of the notorious Regent succeeded his pious father as duc d’Orléans in February 1752. While the new duke did not inherit his father’s predilection for mystical hallucinations, he soon made it known, on the other hand, that he had a grand architectural vision in mind for the family’s traditional residence. Almost immediately after his father’s death, he put out the news that he intended to make many changes in the Palais Royal and that an extensive building and renovation program, costing as much as eight million livres, would soon be in the works.31 No stranger to the band of “misérables godelureaux” who had been eagerly helping the new master of the Palais Royal in his pursuit of sensual pleasures, Charles de Julie had been waiting for just such an opportunity! He knew the Palais Royal like the back of his hand. If the new duke had plans to change things, he, Charles de Julie, had a fine proposal for improving the effectiveness of policing in his celebrated gardens. He quickly sketched out his plan and set about finding someone to sponsor its presentation to the duc d’Orléans. Helped along by Desnoyers, the marquis de Fimarcon (a debt-ridden Richelieu crony who along with Bay de Curys, intendant des Menus Plaisirs, partied regularly with the maréchal) agreed to speak on Julie’s behalf.32 Julie had, after all, been useful more than once to members of the maréchal’s jolly coterie. There is also ample evidence in Meusnier’s files to suggest that Curys and Fimarcon additionally employed the pimping services of individuals who were more securely positioned on the capital’s social ladder than Charles de Julie; for example, the opera composer François Francœur. Of course, if Francœur sometimes pimped for Curys and Fimarcon, and fetched young aspirants from the Opéra for their parties, it was often Fimarcon and Curys who pimped for the duc de Richelieu. In April 1751, for example, la d’Hosmont describes to Berryer how the two had promised to introduce her to the maréchal: they would be dining with him at his country house and, “à cet effet je n’avais qu’à y envoyer trois demoiselles, ce que j’ai fait.” As for her personal introduction to the duke, Fimarcon and Curys proved as good as their word: “A minuit,” she recounts, “j’y suis allée sous prétexte de ramener les filles. M. de Curys m’est venu chercher et m’a présentée à

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

176

Page 176

A Rogue’s Progress

monsieur le duc qui a eu la bonté de me faire asseoir et m’a engagée de boire à sa santé et a bien voulu en buvant à la mienne me faire des compliments fort obligeants. Il m’a dit qu’il me donnerait de fort bonnes connaissances de ses amis.” It was two o’clock in the morning when the marquis de Fimarcon drove la d’Hosmont and her girls home from Richelieu’s petite maison at la Barrière Blanche, leaving Curys and the duke conversing alone in the duke’s bedroom.33 Fimarcon did, in fact, pass on Julie’s proposal to the duc d’Orléans but thanks to his growing reputation as a discreet and clever investigator, the exempt soon found an even better opportunity to bring his mémoire on policing the Palais-Royal gardens to the attention of France’s premier prince of the blood. On returning one day to his rooms in the rue Guénégaud to which he had recently removed, he found an important caller waiting for him. It was the young baron de Besenval, only four years Julie’s senior and destined to play one of the most critical roles in French history during the fateful days in July 1789 when, as commander-in-chief of the army, he would abandon Paris to the mob. In 1753 Besenval was a captain in the Régiment des Gardes Suisses and directly attached to the service of the duc d’Orléans. He was calling on Charles de Julie because he hoped to engage his services in a private investigation to discover the identity of the person who had written a nasty anonymous letter about him to a certain lady in the duc d’Orléans’s household. Besenval voiced his suspicions that the author was the notorious Neapolitan gambler, the comte de Sarcelles. As the two chatted, Julie managed not only to press the matter of his PalaisRoyal project but also to dazzle his visitor with his comprehensive knowledge of many little-known scandals that had recently taken place at the duc d’Orléans’ court. Here and there, Besenval was able to fill in a minor gap or two but in the end he was so impressed with the exempt’s command of “inside” information that he willingly subscribed on behalf of his master the duc to Julie’s underground chronicle. The price agreed upon was four louis per month. Julie never did manage to track down de Besenval’s anonymous letter writer, in great measure because the offending epistle was apparently of such a vicious personal nature that he was not allowed to see it, nor was he given access to any supplementary information that might have helped him to develop useful leads. As for his Palais Royal policing project, events in the next two months were to catch up with him in such a way that they left the duc d’Orléans little opportunity to respond to his proposal. As a document relating to Charles de Julie’s personal perspective on one of the most densely frequented recreational areas of eighteenth-century Europe, it is nevertheless worth a brief look.

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 177

Clients and Protectors

177

Along with his mémoire, Julie sent a covering letter to the duc d’Orléans. It was conceived in a style that clearly exhibits his continuing mastery of the soliciting genre: Monseigneur, Le désir d’être attaché à Votre Altesse Sérénissime aiguillonne trop puissamment les cœurs pour qu’on ne recherche pas avec le zèle le plus ardent les occasions qui peuvent faire naître un honneur aussi distingué. C’est plein de cette ambition, Monseigneur, que je prends la liberté d’adresser à Votre Altesse Sérénissime le mémoire ci-joint. J’ai pensé que peut-être elle serait curieuse qu’on l’informât exactement de tout ce qui se passe dans le jardin de son palais, ce soin étant confié à des gens peu capables de rendre avec justesse les différentes aventures qui y arrivent journellement. J’ose offrir à Votre Altesse Sérénissime, tout ce dont je puis être capable, pour lui donner pleine et entière satisfaction sur cet article, trop heureux si mon travail et mon exactitude me méritent un jour son approbation. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monseigneur, de Votre Altesse Sérénissime le très humble, très obéissant, et très soumis serviteur. De Julie Ce 4 avril 175334

Like the covering letter, the mémoire glows with self-confidence and bright initiative. The task of policing the gardens, Julie points out, required sensitivity, tact, and the special expertise of someone who “knew his Paris.” That person was, without a doubt, Charles de Julie! In addition to more effective policing of his gardens, the duke could expect a significant bonus. Once selected and charged with maintaining order, a talented and qualified officer like himself would be in a position to provide a regular report, agréable et galant, concerning the many jolies aventures that occurred in the gardens daily. Julie, in short, was still building up his subscription list! Mémoire L’inspection du Palais Royal demande plus d’attention qu’on ne pense. Le goût que le public prend pour cette promenade se fortifie tous les jours par les égards de S.A.S. monseigneur le duc d’Orléans qui ne laisse rien négliger de tout ce qui peut contribuer à la commodité et à l’embellissement de cet agréable séjour. Cette inspection est confiée depuis plusieurs années à deux archers de Robe Courte qui, avec les suisses, se promènent continuellement et voient, ou font semblant de voir, tout ce qui s’y passe. Il y avait jadis à leur tête un officier de la même compagnie qui ne devait pas être inutile; en voici les raisons: Un suisse et un archer, gens ordinairement mal éduqués et peu intrigants,

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

178

Page 178

A Rogue’s Progress

brusquent une chose, passent sur une autre qui deviendrait conséquente si on l’approfondissait et, semblables à des automates organisés, ils répètent aujourd’hui ce qu’ils ont fait hier et continuent le lendemain la besogne de la veille. Un officier, au contraire, attentif et ambitieux de mériter la protection de Monseigneur le duc d’Orléans, aurait plus d’ouvrage, et outre la politesse que l’on doit employer pour ramener quelqu’un qui dans cette promenade s’écarterait du respect qu’il doit y conserver, il y a bien d’autres articles qui ne sont pas à négliger. Par exemple: Combien de fois dans l’année, n’arrive-t-il pas des huées et des cohues d’ambulateurs qui s’attachent en foule à suivre quelqu’un parce qu’ils l’ont vu remarquer de deux ou trois polissons qui ont hasardé à leur égard une mauvaise plaisanterie, auquel désordre les suisses et archers ne savent remédier qu’en faisant sortir de la promenade les malheureuses victimes de ce désagrément; mal qui serait fort aisé à réparer si ceux chargés de ce détail connaissaient leur Paris et y avaient à leurs frais quelques curieux de Jardin qui découvriraient finement les auteurs de ces bouffées que le Prince ferait sévèrement punir. Deux exemples de cette espèce détruiraient infailliblement ce genre de courtoisie. Un autre abus aussi facile à réparer est celui que commettent ceux qui ont des grilles sur le Palais Royal. Bien des jours dans l’année les propriétaires de ces grilles passent la nuit dans le jardin, soit pour s’y promener, soit souvent pour y donner des rendez-vous galants. Les domestiques imitent les maîtres et y mènent la femme de chambre ou quelque femelle de cette espèce, et profitent de l’obscurité de la nuit et de l’assurance qu’ils ont de ne pas être recherchés pour y commettre des indécences punissables dans un pareil endroit. Les filles du monde viennent aussi effrontément dans le courant du jour y chercher publiquement des bonnes fortunes, ce qui est fort facile à empêcher. S’il se commet de pareils abus dans cette promenade, combien aussi n’y arrive-t-il pas de jolies aventures qui attireraient l’attention du prince s’il en était bien informé; il n’y aurait pas de grand jour de Palais Royal que l’officier chargé de cette inspection ne fût en état de faire un rapport agréable et galant. Cet officier ne demande rien de neuf; il renouvelle simplement ce qui a été jadis observé dans le Palais des ducs d’Orléans.35

Certain ironies spring to mind as we read through Charles de Julie’s formal proposals for eliminating unseemly assignations and indictable indecencies from the gardens. These take on even more savour and colouring as we peruse the following account in Meusnier’s files, recorded precisely four months later. The principals involved in Meusnier’s little narrative are none other than the duc d’Orléans himself and his helpful companion, the baron de Besenval: On rapporte une aventure arrivée au duc d’Orléans quelques jours avant le voyage de Compiègne.36 Si elle est vraie elle est originale. Voici le fait. Il se

CH07.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 179

Clients and Protectors

179

promenait un soir entre chien et loup dans le jardin du Palais Royal avec le baron de Besenval. Après avoir fait quelques tours il se sentit en belle humeur et dit au baron, “Comment, je ne trouverai pas une p[ute] pour me manualiser?” (en tranchant le terme). Un moment après le baron en vit une qui était désœuvrée; il fut la provoquer, et sa proposition fut acceptée. Le prince la suivit au fond de l’allée dite présentement d’Argenson, autrefois celle de Bulgarie à cause des b[ougres] qui s’y assemblaient. Pendant qu’ils dépêchaient leur besogne, M. Besenval faisant mine par respect de se retirer, courut bien vite chez le suisse qui est à la porte de la rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs et lui demanda si c’était ainsi qu’il s’acquittait de son devoir; qu’il n’avait qu’à aller dans tel endroit et qu’il y verrait de belles choses. Aussitôt le suisse y courut, bien disposé à faire un mauvais parti à ceux qu’il trouverait en flagrant délit; mais le duc d’Orléans l’ayant aperçu, il prit ses jambes à son col et court encore, laissant la donzelle aussi déconcertée que mécontente car il ne l’avait pas encore payée. Ce ne fut pas tout: elle eut bien de la peine à se tirer des mains du suisse qui l’aurait arrêtée si après lui avoir protesté qu’elle n’était là que pour rendre service à Monseigneur, il n’eût effectivement entrevu son maître dans le lointain qui se sauvait. On tient cette aventure du sieur de Guldimay d’Attainville, lieutenant du baron de Besenval, auquel ce dernier l’a racontée.37

It was just the kind of jolie aventure Charles de Julie had in mind when he mentioned the possibility – were he fortunate enough to be offered the position – of including des rapports agréables et galants in his formal Palais-Royal inspection narratives. Of course, that particular anecdote could not be included in the copy of his petits bulletins currently being prepared for delivery to his latest subscriber, the duc d’Orléans himself.

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 180

8 Assembling a Team

Although it is possible to situate Charles de Julie’s short-lived experiment in underground “journalism” in the context of an already longestablished tradition of nouvelles à la main,1 it was in fact a fairly atypical example of the genre. Julie’s news sheets were limited, first of all, to only four subscribers, all from Paris, each of whom demanded an individualized “editorial” focus: les femmes de condition for Richelieu, les femmes de financiers for Bouret, and les filles de l’Opéra for de Villemur. As for the duc d’Orléans, it was understood that Julie would enhance his copy of the “news” with a spicy chronicle of the most notable jolies aventures occurring in the duke’s Palais-Royal pleasure gardens. Purely in terms of the limited number of copies, it was thus more exclusive even than the now much celebrated Correspondance littéraire that the critic Grimm began sending at around this same time to various titled and wealthy foreign subscribers.2 Julie’s was also an unusual enterprise in terms of sheer logistics, since the “journalists” ultimately responsible for the production and distribution of his bulletins outnumbered his subscribers by almost two to one. Leadership qualities and organizational skills were an undeniable part of Charles de Julie’s arsenal, and before launching his new career as a nouvelliste he had been careful to assemble an efficient team of collaborators. Soon the exempt and his helpers were busily delivering his “dispatches,” tied neatly with a ribbon and sealed in an envelope, to the maréchal-duc de Richelieu at the Place Royale (or else to his special intendant Desnoyers, rue de l’Université), the duc d’Orléans at the Palais Royal (or again, alternatively, care of de Besenval, rue de

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 181

Assembling a Team

181

Grenelle), to Bouret in the rue de la Grange-Batelière, and to Villemur l’aîné, rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs. Julie’s chief collaborator in the work – and not always a willing one as it turns out – was none other than his old grub street associate and fellow mouche, Nicolas Willemin de Coin. Apart from one unhappy interruption, de Coin had been slogging faithfully along as a police informer since his initial recruitment by Berryer around October 1749. Now even less a pillar of the community and more than ever inclined to be comfortably idle, he had continued to find his work as a mouche sufficiently rewarding to satisfy his basic needs. Like Julie, he had at some point established a useful contact with Jean-Charles Péan de La Jannière, the lieutenant de robe courte from whom Charles de Julie had purchased his office of exempt in 1751. La Jannière’s police specialization was the theatre detail, and he had recruited de Coin at the rate of 150 livres per month to report on what was going on backstage and in the wings of the “trois spectacles,” that is, the three major entertainment establishments of mid-eighteenth-century Paris: the ComédieFrançaise, the Comédie-Italienne, and the Opéra. It was an ideal vantage point from which to observe the activities of the libertine actrices, danseuses, and chanteuses who were constantly being pursued, purchased, and traded by their well-heeled, ever-changing lotharios. Since the lives of theatre people seemed to centre as much on vice as upon the arts, inspector Meusnier soon found it advantageous as well to subsidize de Coin’s undercover reports with an allowance of 800 livres per annum drawn from his own vice squad budget, bringing de Coin’s total annual income to 2,600 livres. Realizing the advantage of having a “reporter” already well established in the field, Charles de Julie cleverly promised to add eighty-four livres per month to de Coin’s total stipend. In exchange, it was understood that the former lawyer from Metz would give Julie direct access to the confidential reports he regularly submitted to La Jannière and to inspector Meusnier.3 Despite this additional financial inducement, it had not been an easy task to persuade de Coin to agree to such a perilous dereliction of duty. His initial hesitations were, however, eased to some extent by Julie’s assurances that the items de Coin would be surreptitiously dictating to him from official police reports (de Coin the lawyer cautiously declined to pass on anything in his own handwriting) were exclusively for the amusement of the duc de Richelieu. Dictation sessions took place either in de Coin’s own chambre garnie on the rue du Marais or at Julie’s nearby apartment on the rue Guénégaud. It was not until the spring of 1753 that de Coin, to his considerable alarm, discovered that the wily and smooth-talking Julie had in fact enlarged the number of subscribers to include three additional clients. De Coin would later

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

182

Page 182

A Rogue’s Progress

claim that he had tried to withdraw from the scheme at that point but that Julie overcame his reluctance by figuratively “holding a gun to his head.” Heavily in debt as usual, de Coin at the time owed a certain linen draper (and money lender), Nicolas Le Dantu,4 more than 7,000 livres. It was an old debt, dating back to 1746, but Le Dantu had recently succeeded in winning a judgement against the wayward lawyer for that sum and for fraudulent misrepresentation. It was de Coin’s bad luck that the exempt Charles de Julie had somehow acquired the “arrest rights” in the case, having been entrusted with enforcing the Châtelet court judgment won by Le Dantu against him. Stating that Julie had threatened him with certain imprisonment, de Coin would later claim that he had had no choice but to comply with the exempt’s blackmail request for illegal access to his secret police reports. He would offer other excuses as well, maintaining, for example, that his participation in Julie’s enterprise, though seemingly extensive and, of course, reprehensible, was in fact fairly insignificant. He had been able to supply Julie with only the stalest of scandals and the maréchal de Richelieu was, as everyone knew, not the slightest bit interested in threadbare stories that all and sundry had already heard. Julie, moreover, had far better sources at his disposal than these mouche reports, de Coin maintained. His old mistress la Grande Dupont brought him new material practically every day. The exempt also received on a regular basis many histoires galantes from his other maquerelle contacts and from Richelieu’s man, Desnoyers, who got them from La Louison, Desnoyers’ gouvernante.5 Julie’s next most valuable collaborator, Jean Mahudel, 39 years of age in 1753, was also a police mouche. Far less educated than the lawyer de Coin, Mahudel was nevertheless reputed to be among the most clever of the many informers then employed by the Paris police. A native of Lyons, he was the former valet de chambre of GérardMichel de La Jonchère, the notorious Regency financier whose restitution of several millions in embezzled funds in the 1720s had not saved him from an extensive period of incarceration in the Bastille.6 It was Mahudel’s good fortune to have come into La Jonchère’s service at a fairly late stage in the financier’s professional career, since, at the time of his imprisonment, the embezzler’s then personal valet had been obliged to accompany his master to the Bastille and was ultimately driven mad by the experience. When his wealthy master died on 14 May 1750,7 Mahudel had returned to his tailoring profession, but it was not long before the valet’s chief occupation became that of police informer, first for La Jannière in the theatre detail and subsequently for inspector Buhot, who headed the department that maintained surveillance over all foreign visitors to the city. From time to time, Mahudel also

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 183

Assembling a Team

183

worked for other officers. It was he, for example, who had done much of Julie’s legwork in the Lauraguais investigation. Though some small doubt remains, it is likely that Mahudel was unaware of the mercenary nature of Julie’s interest in his mouche reports, believing in good faith that the investigative assignments he carried out for the exempt were part of official police business. Indeed, one day while he was in the antechamber of Berryer’s office waiting to deliver a report for La Jannière, he had seen one of Berryer’s senior clerks give Julie the sum of fifty écus. Julie had immediately passed on to him an écu, worth six livres. As for de Coin, Mahudel knew him to be a police officer of some kind, one who spent a lot of time at Charles de Julie’s apartment dictating reports. He had not found it unreasonable that de Coin and Julie always asked him to leave the room when the dictation sessions began. It appeared to him that the pair had an established working relationship and that they depended closely on each other professionally. It was true that he had on one occasion received a mysterious warning from de Coin, urging him not to give Julie any “women” stories in his own handwriting. De Coin had likewise warned him on another puzzling occasion that Julie was a babbler (babillard).8 Mahudel was also aware – in fact, Julie had told him so directly – that de Coin and he shared equally in the revenues generated by their “special” police work. Given Julie’s need for difficult-to-obtain secrets of the alcove that could usually be elicited only from the loose tongues of unwary, corrupt, or gossipy servants, Jean Mahudel proved to be something of a treasure. Unassuming and sensitive in manner, he seems to have had an extraordinary ability to gain the confidence of those whose secrets he was assigned to ferret out – whether reluctant laquais, giggly soubrettes, boastful coachmen, or loquacious limonadiers. In later years he became a highly trusted and skilled mouton (planted cellmate) in regular service with the Paris police, and his name comes up frequently in that context in the records of the Bastille administration. In 1759, for example, after many failed attempts to get the truth from a servant by the name of Thorin, a particularly clever and resourceful prisoner who had concocted a story about a scheme to kill Louis XV, the prison officers decided that a mouton or ange was the only possible solution. Given Thorin’s wily nature as a “devil of the first order, capable of outwitting both God and man,” it was decided that the mouton would have to be the best available: “Il faudrait,” wrote Chevalier, major at the Bastille to the lieutenant général de police, “quelqu’un fort adroit pour lui dérober son secret, de la trempe et aussi fin au moins que Mahudel.”9 Known for his patience and for getting results, Mahudel would spend as much as an entire month in prison,

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

184

Page 184

A Rogue’s Progress

playing the role of sympathetic fellow sufferer in order to obtain information from a cell mate. His numerous police reports, despite their challenging misspellings and occasionally dubious syntax, are often small masterpieces of efficient narration that would have required, apart from radical orthographical correction, very little modification by Julie before being recycled as bulletins for Richelieu and the other subscribers. Here is a typical example: L’on a su du cocher de monsieur le prince de Turenne que le jour qu’il a été à l’Opéra, en sortant il a été chez le sieur Gilles et a passé par la rue Coquillière et entré dans la rue des Vieux-Augustins, et s’est arrêté au coin de la rue Pagevin chez le sieur Gilles qui est son confident. Il est bien sûr qu’il lui procure des filles. On n’a pas pu savoir le nom de la demoiselle mais l’on soupçonne qu’elle pourrait demeurer dans la maison de Gilles, rue Pagevin, qui fait le coin de la rue des Vieux-Augustins. La chose et très sûre que le sieur Gilles lui est commode. Il n’y aurait aucune liaison d’amitié qui fût capable de les lier d’une si étroite amitié, attendu que Gilles est inférieur à ce prince et qu’il ne possède aucun bien pour vivre. Cela n’empêche pas qu’il ne fasse très grande figure. Le cocher, que l’on a questionné, ne sait pas le nom de la demoiselle, ou il ne l’a pas voulu dire.10

A request from Julie for background information on la dame Clerdun, her young daughter, and the ultra-rich fermier général Durey d’Harnoncourt similarly elicited five pages of colourful details. We learn that the widow Clerdun’s fifteen-year-old daughter “ne s’occupe qu’à jouer du clavecin et la mère lui fait apprendre la musique et à danser [...]. Cette fille est une des beautés de Paris [...]. La mère, qui ne manque pas d’esprit [...], tâche de mettre à profit les charmes de sa fille.” Some very interested visitors turn up to view the stunningly beautiful daughter, including one of nuncio Branciforte’s secretaries, and the abbé de Meran, who is already keeping on a modest stipend la demoiselle Masson, a danseuse at the Comédie-Italienne. To the lecherous abbé’s credit, however, immediately on seeing “la beauté éclatante de la demoiselle Clerdun,” he realized that she was out of his price range and that “ce n’était pas un morceau pour lui.” Mahudel notes, however, that the attentive ecclesiastic also had the good sense to do what had to be done: “A cet effet, il fut voir monsieur d’Harnoncourt, fermier général, lui fit le récit de la beauté et des grâces de la demoiselle Clerdun: C’est un morceau de fermier général, lui dit-il.” A number of closely chaperoned soupers fins with the tax farmer ensued, and several token rouleaux of 50 louis were pressed into the young lady’s hands “pour s’acheter quelque drôlerie.” Finally, Mahudel reveals, it was agreed that negociations would be completed on the fol-

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 185

Assembling a Team

185

lowing Saturday, 7 April, “car il tarde beaucoup à ce vieux d’avoir la jouissance de ce tendron.”11 We see that for an uneducated tailor Jean Mahudel’s colourful writing style equalled at least in some respects that of his chief employer, inspector Meusnier. Witness this jaunty description of the celebrated demoiselle Deschamps: “La demoiselle est d’une taille moyenne, fort blanche, la gorge assez bien placée, le minois sans être régulier plein de grâce, la jambe très bien faite; capable d’inspirer de l’amour par son esprit, l’on croit même qu’à la première bonne occasion qui se rencontrera, elle est très capable d’en profiter et de grossir son histoire par de nouvelles aventures.”12 Julie first recruited Mahudel as a “reporter” for his bulletins when both he and the former valet were working for inspector Buhot in the étrangers detail, Buhot being one of several inspectors who in spite of Berryer’s unbending hostility dared from time to time to pass on the odd assignment to the under-employed exempt. Aided no doubt by many similarities in the work of the two details, Mahudel easily adjusted his vice squad style to his foreign visitor reports: Madame Cohen, Anglaise, est de Londres, séparée d’avec son mari qui est un très riche négociant. Elle est venue à Paris loger à l’Hôtel de Tours, depuis cinq mois, avec deux femmes de chambre. Cette dame a fait le divertissement de tous les Anglais qui ont logé dans l’hôtel depuis ledit temps. Comme Madame Cohen est une femme qui aime la joie, et d’un âge à avoir des passions, aimant de son naturel beaucoup les hommes, elle a d’abord fait connaissance avec M. de Sandec et M. Auguière qui l’ont baisée et rebaisée, chacun leur tour, mais comme ladite dame est une commère elle [ne] s’en est pas tenue à ses deux ordinaires. M. Baget, Anglais, et plusieurs autres de ses amis comme milord Estermont13 lui ont passé sur le corps, de sorte que l’hôte de la maison s’est aperçu qu’elle mettait le désordre dans l’Hôtel de Tours. Ils l’ont congédiée et elle a été loger rue du Colombier à l’Hôtel de Luynes14 où elle a resté quelque temps. M. de Sandec lui a toujours rendu de fréquentes visites. L’on dit qu’il l’aime bien et qu’il est un grand riboteur mais comme la réputation de ladite dame commençait à faire du bruit, elle a pris le parti d’aller passer quelque temps dans un couvent à Paris. (Note: depuis 15 jours aux Petites-Cordelières, rue de Grenelle. Elle a quitté l’Hôtel de Luynes pour s’y rendre jusqu’à nouvel ordre).15

Julie normally corrected, edited, and recopied Mahudel’s reports before passing them on officially to inspector Buhot. Of course, a private copy was also kept of any material deemed suitable for inclusion in his clandestine bulletins. The following letter throws some light on the nature of the exempt’s easy working relationship with his mouche.

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

186

Page 186

A Rogue’s Progress

It also makes clear that Julie trusted Mahudel to keep any little secrets from the inspector and even trusted him to carry on with their joint duties if he, for some reason, had to leave town: Comme je serai à la campagne, mon cher M. Mahudel, jusqu’à vendredi prochain, je vous serai très obligé d’aller toujours en avant pour les Étrangers et de donner vos feuilles à Marianne. Elles seront copiées par le petit commissaire qui les enverra au sieur Buhot. Je vous prie de faire en sorte que ledit sieur ne s’aperçoive pas de mon absence. A mon retour je vous donnerai des preuves de ma sincère reconnaissance et de l’attachement avec lequel j’ai l’honneur d’être, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. De Julie Ce 24 mars 175316

Julie’s note to his clever assistant introduces us to two more members of his team, Marianne and le petit commissaire. Marianne Légeat, whom he had hired around the time his former mistress, la Dupont, was arrested, was Julie’s young servant as well as his bed-sharing gouvernante. She was a sister of the limonadier at the strategically located Café de la Samaritaine on the quai de la Mégisserie and she knew her way around Paris. Though she could not read or write, this new mistress proved herself to be a resourceful and tough-minded business associate who could be counted upon to keep a close watch over matters. Delivery of the bulletins had initially been entrusted to a young man named Cordier, eighteen years of age, “veste rouge, petit de taille (quatre pieds 10 pouces) et portant ses cheveux,” residing with his mother who was engaged in the rag trade in the carré SainteGeneviève. Cordier, unfortunately, proved to be unreliable and soon gave Julie cause to complain of his “mauvaise foi et infidélité.”17 Dismissed after only two months, he was replaced by Marianne who performed the risky duties of courier apparently to everyone’s satisfaction. Julie himself handled any deliveries to Richelieu, and if Richelieu was away from Paris, he delivered the “dispatches” in person to Desnoyers.18 Julie’s brief note to Mahudel also identifies another key player in the enterprise; namely, “le petit commissaire,” Benoist-Louis Chazé, 23 years of age in 1753 and a native of Paris whom Julie first met in 1748, perhaps around the time he was incarcerated at For l’Évêque or perhaps even as a fellow inmate of La Charité at Senlis. Despite his rather imposing title, Chazé was not, like Rochebrune, Chenon, or La Vergée, one of the forty-eight powerful and well-renumerated police commissaires working out of the Châtelet. His father, Jacques Chazé, a prosperous retailer in small wares living in the rue des Moulins in the Butte-

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 187

Assembling a Team

187

Saint-Roch quarter, had purchased for him in January 1751 for 6,000 livres plus a gratuity of fifty livres, the municipal charge or office of huissier audiencier et commissaire de police sur les ports et les quays de la ville de Paris. It was intended as a modest career investment for his second son from his first marriage. Benoist-Louis’s mother, Constance Pollet, had died in 1738 when he was only eight years old. Jacques Chazé had remarried the year after, and seven more children followed. Young Benoist-Louis was sent off to Pantin for schooling at the pension of Musel et Bahu. His elder brother, Eloy-Constant, destined for greater things in an ecclesiastical career, was enrolled at the University of Paris, where he acquired a master of arts degree before ending up as curate in Neuilly. Eloy-Constant’s formal education had been a costly business and it was no doubt to give Eloy’s younger brother a semblance of equal treatment that Jacques Chazé purchased the charge when he did.19 Despite the family’s comfortable circumstances, Benoist-Louis’s adolescent years were anything but serene and we can easily imagine how, five years earlier, as something of a street-wise and rebellious teenager, Chazé first met up with the older and more experienced delinquent Charles de Julie. The manner in which their relationship evolved from that point is not clear. It seems, in any case, to have been based entirely on personal friendship rather than professional considerations. It was, in fact, during one of young Chazé’s purely social visits to Julie in March 1753 that the exempt, who was busily copying out a bulletin concerning “les dames et filles de Paris,” suggested that Chazé, who had a passable hand, might like to help out. The petit commissaire accepted without hesitation and proceeded immediately to write up several bulletins. He continued to give assistance on subsequent occasions, but always as a gesture of friendship, refusing any payment for his services. It is true that he sometimes tried Julie’s patience by not being available when there was a good deal of work to rush through, but he obviously put in very long hours for his friend. On the eve of a delivery, he would sleep over at Julie’s apartment after copying bulletins late into the night. He made no secret of the fact that he enjoyed watching Julie at work, much impressed by the skill the exempt displayed in editing the spicy reports concerning, as he himself noted, “les nouveaux amants que les femmes et filles avaient; les amants qui les quittaient pour prendre d’autres maîtresses, les infidélités réciproques et les présents que les femmes et filles recevaient: le tout accompagné de traits propres à aiguiser la malignité et la curiosité.”20 Traits propres à aiguiser la malignité et la curiosité – here, presumably, was the very essence of a good nouvelle à la main! Charles de Julie may not have been an ideological precursor of the modern

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

188

Page 188

A Rogue’s Progress

crusading reporter but he clearly deserves to be counted among the unsung pioneers of yellow journalism. While the sexual activities of their rich and famous peers represented a subject of singular importance to Julie’s powerful subscribers, one other topic in the spring of 1753 was perceived as almost worthy of competing with it, namely, the ever-intensifying dispute between Louis XV and his recalcitrant Parlement, a jurisdictional conflict that culminated in the exile of the Jansenist-oriented parlementaires on 9 May 1753. Despite his determination to focus essentially on the chronique de Cythère, even Julie was unable to ignore this burning issue, or at least its “human interest” side as mirrored in the sufferings of the suddenly “widowed” and frequently faithless mistresses of these grave magistrates who had been so unceremoniously torn from the comforts of the bench and the alcove and sent off into exile in the provinces. As a source for this vital data on the Parlement magistrates, Charles de Julie was able to call on the talents of yet another old acquaintance who was ready and able to supply him with copy, one Hyacinthe Veissière de La Combe. “Intrigant et faiseur d’affaires,” is the description inspector Meusnier applied21 to La Combe who, like his father Joseph (and like Meusnier himself), had once been a Customs and Excise employee. Originally from Saint-Leu-d’Esserent, the forty-three-year-old Hyacinthe was, in 1753, living in a fourth-floor room on the rue Mazarine, very near Charles de Julie’s residence on the rue Guénégaud. Residing with him, in a domestic situation parallel to that of Julie and Marianne Légeat, was his loyal and illiterate “gouvernante-domestique,” Suzanne Saunier. La Combe had first run into Charles de Julie in the early forties – where, exactly, is not clear. Perhaps their paths crossed as a result of having mutual connections in the Customs and Excises administration in which Nicolas-Joseph Courau, the brother of Julie’s foster mother, had also been engaged. At one time, La Combe was employed as well in the régie des cartes – playing cards being a popular consumer commodity that was taxed by the ancien régime in the same manner as tobacco. He had graduated from that to his current occupation as a distributor of lottery tickets, another popular source of government revenue.22 La Combe had lost sight of Charles de Julie for a number of years but had run into him again late in 1751. That was when he himself had begun to supplement his regular income by supplying news items concerning the activities of the Parlement to one of the better nouvellistes à la main then operating in Paris, FrançoisJérôme Bousquet de Colomiers. A former lawyer and subdélégué at the Parlement de Toulouse, Bousquet had deserted wife and children in the provinces in the early thirties for a life of fast women and chronic

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

Page 189

Assembling a Team

189

debt in the capital. Exiled back to Toulouse after a time by Cardinal Fleury in response to an appeal from Bousquet’s family, he had stubbornly returned to Paris after the Cardinal’s death in 1743, becoming something of a grub street fixture as a courtier littéraire for various journalists, including Pierre de Morand,23 before finally striking out on his own as a nouvelliste, specializing mainly in “les affaires du temps,” a general label for any controversial political events of the day. In addition to being one of Bousquet’s chief reporters, Lacombe had from time to time acted as his copyist24 for nouvelles that were sent mainly to the Toulouse and Bordeaux areas, as well as to the British and Dutch embassies in Paris. It was during the fall of 1752, when Charles de Julie was toying with the notion of becoming a “full-spectrum” nouvelliste, that his old acquaintance Hyacinthe de La Combe had tried to convince him that he should merge his chronique galante material with the more serious (and often mildly seditious) newsletters currently being sent out by Bousquet. With that possibility in mind, Julie then began negotiations to purchase a five-month run of Bousquet’s nouvelles at a bargain pro-rated price of less than two hundred livres.25 Anticipating a small profit, La Combe had even gone to the trouble of having each of Bousquet’s bulletins for the period 2 April–31 August 1752 neatly recopied by a certain Rémy. Unfortunately, it turned out to be money wasted, since Julie was disinclined to pursue the arrangement after learning that his principal client, the duc de Richelieu, wanted him to concentrate exclusively on the sexual adventures of the capital’s femmes de condition.26 The entire matter soon became, in any case, a non-issue when inspector Buhot, Charles de Julie’s part-time employer in the étrangers detail, suddenly arrested Bousquet on 9 November 1752 and took him to the Bastille, where he was obliged to exercise patience until he was released and exiled once more to Toulouse on 3 March of the following year. Julie was on good terms with Buhot and even stored some of his own compromising papers with him for safekeeping. Aware, certainly, that the inspector had been carrying orders for Bousquet’s apprehension since October 23, Julie may well have been the author of an anonymous note sent to the Toulousain, warning him of his imminent arrest.27 So there it was, finally, a complete bureau de correspondance, featuring talented investigative reporters (in addition to la demoiselle Dupont and other friendly maquerelles), a small but very select group of subscribers, and a relatively secure system of distribution – the whole expertly managed by an exempt de robe courte whose experience and particular genius, despite a certain lack of prudence and discretion, made him nearly the ideal general editor for the job.

CH08.QXD

9/1/2004 11:36 AM

190

Page 190

A Rogue’s Progress

And the nouvelles themselves? Happily, a representative sampling has survived among the papers seized by inspector Meusnier and commissaire de Rochebrune when Charles de Julie’s day of reckoning finally arrived – as it inevitably did. We will see that these bulletins for the most part fully lived up to the requirements and expectations of the subscribers – rarely the case with the nouvelles à la main of the period. Much of the material distributed was of a private and highly compromising nature, a fact that makes us wonder what the even more compromising material must have been like that Julie either burned or deposited for safekeeping with his friend inspector Buhot soon after being warned by helpful police colleagues that his arrest was imminent.

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 191

9 Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

Social historians have sometimes viewed nouvelles à la main as a radical subgenre of ancien régime journalism, part of a nascent, underground free press that struggled both to reflect and shape advanced political opinion of the day, providing unique channels of communication in what was otherwise a censorship-blighted information desert, a closed society cut off from any exchange of real news. In fact, it is not an easy matter to demonstrate that there was a shortage of “real” news in eighteenth-century Paris. The list of what was made available in print journalism, local or imported, officially or tacitly permitted, is surprisingly long.1 As for the adequacy or inadequacy of the “nouvelles” in nouvelles à la main, their supposed “shortage” relates perhaps more to considerations of quality than quantity. Nouvellistes usually flourished or failed in their journalistic undertakings according to how successfully – that is, entertainingly – they supplied their clientele with ephemeral scraps of gossip and questionable information. The information they peddled – fanciful or factual, it mattered little – often purported to reveal what was going on in the innermost councils and elegant social circles of the capital’s ruling classes. Sometimes mercilessly hounded by the authorities and sent to prison but often tacitly tolerated and even manipulated by the police, mid-century nouvellistes rarely assumed the role of radical frondeurs, even less that of crusading pioneers of a free press. For that matter, neither did their customers, among whom few rebellious spirits or amateurs of politically seditious intelligence are to be found.

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

192

Page 192

A Rogue’s Progress

With the notable exception of Jansenist ideologues, underground journalists of the 1740s and 1750s were likely to be the usual pauvres hères, opportunistic marginaux who displayed mediocre investigative talents and defended no particular cause. Their productions, moreover, rarely provide the social historian with that rich trove of materials found in the private correspondence of the day or in the personal journal notations of such memorialists as Barbier or d’Argenson. As Montesquieu’s visiting Persians had already pointed out three decades earlier, the nouvellistes of Paris, whether à la bouche or à la main, performed few useful functions: “Ils sont très inutiles à l’État, et leurs discours de cinquante ans n’ont pas un effet différent de celui qu’auroit pu produire un silence aussi long.”2 Today it is tempting to find their modern equivalent in the sensational supermarket tabloids that spew out with astonishing regularity and impunity, idle gossip, unverifiable speculation, and generally impertinent prattle about celebrities in the news. In short, the general function of “underground” nouvelles, then as now, was more ludic than informational; their aim was to provide teasingly entertaining semblances and hints of news as much as news itself. How, indeed, could it have been otherwise, since the alcoves and council rooms of the great in the eighteenth century were not so easily penetrated by obscure hacks claiming to reveal the keyhole secrets of Paris in exchange for a subscription costing only a few livres per month? While there are some worthy exceptions, such at least was the case for the more common variety of nouvelles à la main, generally filled with stale secrets or pretentious pontifications on foreign affairs, the whole distributed for a modest fee to nostalgic provincials hoping to maintain the illusion of intimate contact with the distant court and town. We shall see, however, that Charles de Julie’s bulletins were in some respects rather different and that they had really little to do with the more common à la main tradition. Our hero’s restricted circle of elite subscribers included two of mid-century France’s most prominent and powerful noblemen and two of its most notoriously dissolute financiers. These were not wistful provincials looking in from the outside but were themselves among the leading “newsmakers” of the day. Moreover, circulation of Julie’s bulletins was intended to be private in the extreme and ultra-discreet. The highly specialized “news” items he featured were drawn from the first-hand reports of a sophisticated police spy network in which he and others on his team were directly employed. Louis XV and the marquise, even if occasionally favoured with the stylish bulletins passed on to Versailles by lieutenant général Berryer and the minister d’Argenson, were not as well served. A number of Charles de Julie’s draft bulletins survive today in the

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 193

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

193

exempt’s police file, preserved in the archives of the Bastille. Selecting a diverse yet representative sampling from among the many items available is not, however, an easy task, there being a certain sameness throughout that reflects the single-minded preoccupations of his dissolute subscribers. The assortment that follows is drawn from the collected raw materials used to compose the bulletins. Interestingly, we do not read in the collection any compromising tittle-tattle relating directly to the maréchal-duc de Richelieu – legendary gamahucheur though he was3 – or to his numerous sexual escapades, whereas the other three subscribers, the duc d’Orléans and the financiers Bouret and Villemur, are more than once the subject of pointedly waggish comment. Obviously, in the final editing of the bulletins prepared specifically for each of these individuals, all such embarrassing references to the recipient subscriber would have been omitted. Most of the surviving copy used in the bulletins is undated but relates mainly to events occurring in June and July of 1753. All of the items appear to conform to the instructions Julie received from his clients, being almost exclusively concerned with the sexual intrigues of celebrities, especially the more notoriously promiscuous actresses, dancers, and singers at the Comédie-Française, the Comédie-Italienne, and the Opéra. Mlle Hus, well remembered today for her role as Bertin’s mistress in Diderot’s Neveu de Rameau, receives her full share of attention: “Mlle Hus voit actuellement le comte de Sarcelles; cet étranger a dîné hier avec elle, et est entré chez elle l’instant d’après que Bertin en a été sorti. Il y a resté jusqu’à 4 heures après-midi; il y a apparence qu’elle tirera bon parti de ce joueur qui est toujours avec beaucoup d’argent et qui est fort généreux ...”4 The Neapolitan comte Francesco Sersale, friend of Casanova and of the lecherous nuncio, Branciforte, was indeed a notorious gambler as well as a ubiquitous rake. Mlle Hus, barely nineteen years of age, was, it seems, in fairly dangerous company! It was just the sort of behaviour that, some eight years later, finally caused Bertin to send her packing despite a long-term relationship that had produced over the years “une poussinière d’enfants.”5 More gossip on Hus follows: La Noue, comédien français,6 a fait des difficultés pour jouer avec la demoiselle Hus. L’impertinence naturelle de cette demoiselle lui attire le mépris et l’inimitié de tous ses camarades. On est très scandalisé à la Comédie que cette demoiselle ait resté trois heures entières, samedi 7 dernier,7 seule avec La Vaupalière8 dans sa loge. Mlle Beauménard a dit que l’on pouvait être putain à la Comédie mais pas tant. La petite Hus se moque de tout ce qu’ils disent et les envoie tous au diable. Elle se déchaîne particulièrement tout haut contre la

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

194

Page 194

A Rogue’s Progress

petite Guéant9 et tout bas contre la Beauménard.10 Elle est en partie cause que M. Le Normant a quitté Mlle Astraudi.11 Mlle Fauconnier l’aînée est fort souvent avec Mlle Hus et Mlle Astraudi. Ce mardi dernier elles ont soupé toutes trois avec M. de La Vaupalière et le chevalier de Villefort à Chaillot. Ces parties arrivent autant de fois que ladite demoiselle Hus et la demoiselle Astraudi ne sont point embarrassées par leurs entreteneurs. La demoiselle Hus a tous les jours de nouvelles tracasseries avec Mlle Beauménard qui ne peut pas la souffrir. La petite Hus est déterminée à faire la partie de coups de poing avec sa camarade si cette méchante femelle ne cesse pas de la faire endiabler.12

We are not entirely surprised to learn that one of the tax farmers who had earlier declined to subscribe to Julie’s news sheet, CharlesGuillaume Le Normant d’Étioles, figures prominently in the bulletins. In May 1753, the accommodating husband of Mme de Pompadour had apparently been in the process of separating from Mlle Astraudi, la demoiselle Hus’s cousin: M. Le Normant a tout à fait quitté Mlle Astraudi. La cause de leur séparation tient en partie de ce qu’elle voyait le baron de Breteuil qui la greluchonnait, et en partie de l’avarice de ce fermier général qui a eu peur de lui donner les meubles qu’il lui avait promis. La demoiselle Astraudi publie par tout le monde que c’est elle qui a quitté M. Le Normant et le jour de leur rupture elle a écrit à la demoiselle Hus sa cousine qu’elle venait de donner congé à son crasseux d’entreteneur, qu’elle était charmée d’en être débarrassée puisque cela lui laisserait la liberté de la voir souvent. M. Le Normant de son côté est charmé de s’être ôté cette épine du pied; il dit dans le monde qu’il a renoncé pour jamais à ce genre de vie et qu’il veut s’occuper sérieusement de ses affaires. Ce qu’il y a néanmoins de certain c’est qu’il est prévenu en faveur de Mlle Fauconnier qui, plus expérimentée que Mlle Astraudi, l’aura déterminé de quitter cette comédienne pour en tirer meilleur parti pour elle-même.13

As often with matters of the heart, we learn only a few weeks later that Le Normant’s sentiments had changed once again. The occasion was a gala dinner given by his brother-in-law, M. de Vandières, early in June 1753, which was attended by some of the capital’s most fashionable catins and their ultra-rich patrons: 7 juin 1753: M. Le Normant est venu exprès de Compiègne, vendredi 1er du présent mois, pour aller souper au petit pavillon des Tuileries où M. de Vandières14 faisait les honneurs d’un souper galant composé de Mlle Vestris, avec M. de Curis, Mlle Astraudi, M. Le Normant, Mlle Hus et M. Bertin, Mlle La Valette, maîtresse de M. de Vandières, Mme Pitrot,15 neutre, et, à ce qu’on

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 195

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

195

dit, M. le duc de La Vallière avec Mlle Arnaud. Ce souper a été poussé fort avant dans la nuit. Ces demoiselles ont profité de la situation de ce joli pavillon pour se promener la nuit dans le jardin des Tuileries; elles se sont retirées toutes fort contentes des politesses dont leur hôte les avait comblées, et chacune s’en est retournée avec son chacun, M. Bertin a laissé Mlle Hus à sa porte dans la crainte de trouver le lit occupé, M. Le Normant a emmené Mlle Astraudi chez lui coucher. Il n’est plus douteux qu’il lui donne des meubles; ils sont prêts à être placés. On assure que ce qu’il lui donne montera à 14 ou 15000 livres.16

Despite that happy turn of events, rumours of an impending rupture continued to circulate. Only a few weeks later, Julie’s subscribers were able to read the following: On dit que M. Le Normant veut se brouiller avec la demoiselle Astraudi. On allègue pour raison la défense qu’il lui a faite de voir si souvent Mlle Hus et le chevalier de Villefort. Ce fermier général court toutes les filles de Paris; il était dernièrement seul dans un taudion où il voulait souper; on envoya chercher le rôtisseur. Pour n’en pas être connu, il mit la tête dans la cheminée et demandait dans cette posture au garçon rôtisseur ce qu’il avait dans sa boutique. Le garçon lui détailla toutes les pièces de rôtisserie que son maître avait à sa disposition; à chaque demande du rôtisseur, M. Le Normant, toujours la tête dans la cheminée, lui disait: “Bien, mets-le à la broche.” Le rôtisseur qui continuait toujours à citer de nouveaux mets […] impatienta si fort le fermier général qu’il lui cria de sa cheminée: “Apporte toute la boutique si tu veux et va-t’en!”17

One last item on Le Normant (who might have been wiser, after all, to subscribe to these informative little bulletins!) illustrates yet another challenge the fermier général had to face: M. Le Normant qui a su les tours que lui jouait la demoiselle Astraudi avec le chevalier de Villefort, l’a donnée en garde à la Fauconnier chez laquelle la demoiselle Astraudi est obligée d’aller coucher tous les jours. Cette demoiselle Fauconnier est d’autant plus charmée de ce dépôt, qu’elle aime les femmes et qu’elle fatigue la demoiselle Astraudi à un point qu’un de ces jours en venant faire sa toilette chez elle, on a remarqué qu’elle avait les yeux battus et qu’à peine elle pouvait marcher.18

So much for the precautions taken by the unlucky husband of Louis XV’s powerful mistress! Years before, he had been briefly devastated by his conspicuous cuckoldom, there being little doubt that he was at the time deeply in love with his wife, Jeanne Poisson. Mortification had not, however, progressed to the point of ostentatiously mounting a pair of

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

196

Page 196

A Rogue’s Progress

antlers on his coach in the tradition of Louis XIV’s less reasonable cuckold, the marquis de Montespan, who never managed to persuade himself that he felt truly enchanted when the Sun King honoured him in this way and who finally had to be exiled after a therapeutic sojourn in the prison of For l’Évêque to cool his spousal ardour. Much wiser was Pompadour’s husband, who knew, along with Molière, that un partage avec Jupiter / n’a rien du tout qui déshonore.19 Le Normant, in fact, finally accepted his fate in so gentlemanly a fashion that Louis XV himself was heard to opine one day that his mistress’s spouse was truly “un mari bien honnête.” Such gracious behaviour on the part of honoured cuckolds was routinely expected by the royal princes as well. We learn, for example, from a 25 July 1753 item in Julie’s bulletins, that the notorious comte de Charolais, present one day at the rue de Richelieu home of his current mistress, made a point of demonstrating in front of the husband that he and madame “étaient fort bien ensemble.” Terrified at the compromising situation, the lady discreetly chided the prince for putting their intimate arrangement at risk, to which the prince grandly replied that “si son mari faisait le méchant elle n’avait qu’à l’avertir, et qu’il y mettrait ordre.”20 Dalliance had other familiar dangers. Venereal disease was common and the afflicted were obliged to undergo les grands remèdes, the devastating mercury treatments of the day, administered in the case of the poor at l’Hôpital or Bicêtre. The rich placed themselves in the private care of fashionable physicians who charged princely sums for each “cure.”21 Disputes among the principals frequently arose concerning the likely vectors of infection – which danseuse had given the unwanted present to which fermier général, who in turn had given it to this or that actress. We have already noted how remarkably well informed inspector Meusnier was regarding such mishaps; not surprisingly, the members of Charles de Julie’s news team proved to be equally adept at satisfying the prurient curiosity of their subscribers: Le sieur de La Live de l’Épinay a poivré d’importance la demoiselle Verrière cadette, sa maîtresse. Ils sont tous les deux dans un état pitoyable, et malgré cela La Live de l’Épinay voit la Deschamps et toutes les autres filles qui lui plaisent. Il a donné hier à dîner chez lui aux deux demoiselles Verrière et aux demoiselles Fauconnier. Il y avait en hommes, M. Duman des postes, M. Vallée, et quelques autres. M. Le Normant et Mlle Astraudi devaient être de cette partie mais ni l’un ni l’autre ne s’y sont trouvés dans la crainte, à ce qu’ils disent tous deux, de renouer ensemble.22

The handsome, witty and talented Denis-Joseph de La Live d’Épinay, born in 1724, was married to Louise-Florence-Pétronille d’Esclavelles,

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 197

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

197

the famous memorialist friend of Diderot, Grimm, and, for a time, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Mme d’Épinay’s autobiographical novel reveals that she too had been “poivrée” (with painfully embarrassing consequences) by her wayward husband.23 M. d’Épinay’s debauched ways are mentioned frequently in Meusnier’s files and they command proportionate attention in Julie’s bulletins. The rich financier eventually lost much of his huge fortune as well as his position as a tax farmer, but he continued to find consolation in the arts and in the company of such luminaries of the Paris stage as la Deschamps and the celebrated sisters, Marie and Geneviève de Verrière, whom he rather tactlessly housed in a petite maison at Épinay near la Chevrette, his residential château. The two women were introduced to the local curé as “femmes très-honnêtes,”24 much to the chagrin of his spouse and the discomfort of their neighbour, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.25 As we learn from another Julie bulletin, however, such tender gestures on the financier’s part were not always rewarded with a mistress’s fidelity: “M. le marquis de Puységur, colonel servant dans les Grenadiers Royaux, en a fait porter dimanche passé à La Live de l’Épinay, fermier général qui entretient la demoiselle Verrière cadette. Il a été souper avec le prince de Turenne, la Vaupalière, les deux demoiselles Verrière, Mlle Victoire de l’Opéra, à la petite maison de la barrière de Vaugirard. Après souper la scène a été vigoureusement ensanglantée; il n’y a eu que Victoire qui s’en soit allée bredouille, parce qu’aucun des soupants n’en a voulu.”26 Other bulletins make it clear that La Live d’Épinay was no luckier in avoiding the infidelities of yet another mistress, La Deschamps. We have already met Anne-Marie Pagès, danseuse at the Opéra and one of the most celebrated courtesans of the century. Neither extremely beautiful nor intelligent, according to one of Diderot’s characters in Ceci n’est pas un conte, she nevertheless possessed, according to the same source, one all-important talent, namely, the ability to make men happier in her arms than they could ever be in the arms of any other woman.27 In this respect, perhaps a model for Diderot’s love-struck interlocutor can be found in the much-smitten sieur de La Coullande, featured in another Julie bulletin: Mlle Deschamps a toujours M. de La Coullande, gentilhomme de Normandie. Elle en a tiré la semaine passée un millier d’écus, et samedi dernier ledit sieur de La Coullande ayant mené la danseuse à la répétition, ils convinrent tous deux qu’ils souperaient et coucheraient ensemble. A l’heure ordinaire, il arriva chez la demoiselle Deschamps qui était dans son lit et qui se plaignait d’une grande colique. Le pauvre Normand aperçut dans la ruelle du lit, le sieur de Saulgeon qui attendait son départ pour se mettre dans le lit avec la donzelle.

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

198

Page 198

A Rogue’s Progress

De La Coullande ne fut pas plus tôt certain du tour qu’il décampa, et étant venu le lendemain en faire des plaintes à sa perfide, elle tomba sur lui à coups de pincettes et le chassa de son appartement. Ce benêt qui est amoureux fou de cette danseuse a passé sur toutes ces mauvaises plaisanteries, et s’estime trop heureux de ce qu’elle ait bien voulu se raccommoder avec lui. Ils sont mieux que jamais ensemble.28

La Deschamps’s charms in fact routinely attracted suitors with means well beyond the reach of such provincial ninnies. One of Julie’s own subscribers heads the list of the fortunate elite who are prominently mentioned in another of his bulletins circulated soon after. The item, we may be quite certain, was not included in the version that was copied out for the chief resident of the Palais Royal: Monseigneur le duc d’Orléans a couché lundi dernier, deux du présent mois, avec la demoiselle Deschamps. M. de La Live de l’Épinay a aussi repris avec elle et lui a renvoyé quelques jours après deux douzaines d’assiettes d’argent. Le sieur de La Coullande dont on a déjà parlé lui a fait un billet de 100 louis, payable dans trois mois, et lui a donné un habit vert galonné en or à la bourgogne pour faire ses chevauchées. M. Saulgeon lui a acheté un petit cheval que Mlle Charolais nourrit dans son écurie, comptant qu’il lui appartient. Cela n’empêche pas que depuis qu’il est a Villers-Cotterêts avec Monseigneur le duc d’Orléans, elle n’a pas cessé de coucher avec Pilleton, écuyer du Roi.29

Saulgeon, one of the duc d’Orléans’s junior household officers, nevertheless remained devoted to his dear little “Chant Chant,” as he called her, and Julie gives a sampling of some hopelessly blank verse just composed in her honour by the love-struck inamorato: Je me suis mis au lit pour n’y Goûter d’autre douceur que celle De penser à Chant Chant [...].30

Of course there are dangers in dalliance and what better way to make the point than to cite one of the more startling news items in Julie’s chronicle, illustrating the extent to which the seductive Deschamps, suffering from various venereal maladies, was apparently also an environmental threat to sensitive ecosystems: “La semaine passé [la Deschamps] s’est avisée d’aller faire la visite dans une petite maison au faubourg Saint-Laurent que son mari a louée pendant la foire. Après avoir examiné tous les meubles, elle est descendue à la cave, où elle a fait tourner 200 bouteilles de bière et deux pièces de vin; de là on doit conclure qu’elle n’est pas saine.”31

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 199

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

199

All of which must make us marvel, no doubt, that Diderot, one of the century’s most talented practitioners of fictional realism, has one of his characters, who is hopelessly captivated by the charms of la Deschamps, admit to having uttered the following cri du cœur: “Si cette malheureuse, si cette infâme s’obstine à me chasser de chez elle, je prends un pistolet et je me brise la cervelle dans son antichambre.” Such is the uncontrollable violence of nature’s attractions, “surtout pour les âmes chaudes et les imaginations ardentes.”32 Diderot’s dialogue cites that impassioned outburst as an example of true love, a mad, all-consuming form of passion that we scarcely expect to encounter in Julie’s objectively cynical bulletins where the Crébillonesque contact de deux épidermes formula usually leaves little room for even a modest échange de deux fantaisies. Julie is pleased, however, to cite from time to time minor exceptions to the general rule – for example, the moving story of the exiled président of the Cour des Aides, Jean-Charles Coste de Champeron, caught up in the constitutional disputes between the Parlement and the king and deeply in love with la demoiselle Raymond, a novice ballerina still in her early teens and carrying his child: “La demoiselle Raymond, danseuse de l’Opéra, est grosse de trois mois des œuvres de M. de Champeron, président à la Cour des Aides, qui a eu les prémices de cette danseuse. Il lui a fait bâtir une maison rue [Basse-du-Rempart] où il loge avec elle. Il l’a mise sur le bon ton, lui a donné des diamants, et le bruit court qu’il en est si fou qu’il lui a promis de l’épouser et que cette alliance ne doit pas tarder à se conclure.”33 As we note from a subsequent bulletin, the exiled young parlementaire’s love was intense and passionate to the point of incautious defiance: “M. de Champeron, conseiller au Parlement, impatient de revoir Mlle Raymond, danseuse de l’Opéra qu’il entretient depuis longtemps, s’est avisé de quitter son exil et de venir à Paris pour la voir; et de peur qu’on ignorât qu’il y fût, il mena samedi passé la demoiselle Raymond à la Comédie-Italienne, et mardi dernier il fut encore avec elle à la Comédie-Française, au sortir de laquelle il soupa en partie carrée avec ladite Raymond, Dumay fils le cadet, et la demoiselle Dazenoncourt. Il a couché avec sa maîtresse et est reparti le lendemain pour le lieu de son exil.”34 The child was born in November 1753 and baptized in the old church of la Madeleine. Champeron was present incognito at the ceremony.35 Another exception might well be found in the case of milord Huntingdon and Mlle Lany, the erstwhile mistress of the flatulent Bernage, prévost des marchands.36 On 24 June 1753, Julie brought his subscribers up to date on more recent developments in the young lady’s affairs: “Mlle Lany, danseuse de l’Opéra, a différé sa première sortie

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

200

Page 200

A Rogue’s Progress

depuis ses couches jusqu’à l’arrivée de milord Huntingdon avec qui elle vit depuis deux ans, qui lui a fait deux enfants, et qui est revenu la semaine passée d’Espagne plus amoureux que jamais, et lui a apporté de ce pays les choses les plus rares dont il lui a fait présent. Ils ont été pour première sortie au Bois de Boulogne ensemble, ont renouvelé bail la même nuit, et si cela prend comme par le passé, Mlle Lany en tient encore pour ses neuf mois. Il a fait il y a trois jours un contrat de rente en faveur de chacun des enfants qu’il a eus de cette danseuse.”37 The birth of both children had been carefully recorded in Meusnier’s files, which even reproduce copies of two baptismal certificates taken from the registers of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois. Church policy allowed delivery of these confidential documents only to the mother or to the midwife who had assisted at the birth. Nevertheless, as Meusnier dryly notes, the police in this instance had managed to find a way: “Avec un peu d’adresse nous sommes parvenus à les avoir tous deux.”38 The illicitly obtained certificates proved that on 12 May 1752 and 7 April 1753, two sons, Charles and François respectively, were born to “Magdeleine Lany and Henry Edouard Neumarck, milord.” The children, as was the custom, were put out to nurse and in a subsequent bulletin Julie reveals that the heart-warming idyll continued for some time unabated: “Milord Huntingdon donne tous les jours à la demoiselle Lany sa maîtresse de nouvelles preuves de son attachement. Il vient de lui faire présent d’un nécessaire émaillé qui lui a coûté 100 louis. Ces deux amants vivent dans la meilleure intelligence et paraissent réciproquement s’aimer véritablement. Depuis que la demoiselle Lany est relevée de ses couches, il en prend un soin particulier; il la mène promener à la campagne et doit lui louer une petite maison à Passy pour lui faire passer agréablement le reste de l’été.”39 Unfortunately, family duties eventually recalled the starry-eyed young milord to England, blissfully ignorant of the fact (revealed to police spies by Marguerite, the demoiselle Lany’s cook, and confirmed by La Montagne, her footman) that his beautiful danseuse had, for several months already, been consorting with M. Boutin de La Columière, maître des requêtes. Boutin would himself soon be supplanted by another rich and titled Englishman, milord Powerscourt, who was at the time renting a luxurious furnished apartment on the rue de Condé at the handsome rate of 600 livres per month. Of course, it was not long before “Milord Trousse-cotte” was himself replaced, leaving the idealistic modern readers of Charles de Julie’s chronique de Cythère with few illusions about the permanent realities of true love among the roués and courtisanes of mid-eighteenth-century Paris. It was the mother of la demoiselle Puvigné, another young danseuse at the Opéra, who had apparently first come up with the nickname

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 201

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

201

“Milord Trousse-cotte.” Herself a dancer and almost as well known in the milieu as her daughter, she had come by such witticisms honestly, having sold her celebrated daughter’s maidenhead for the first time when the girl was only twelve or thirteen to the marquis de Courtanvaux. In return, the good marquis had given the mother a few louis and offered the traditional present of a gold watch to her sacrificial offspring.40 Profitable renewal of pristine virginity and its normal recycling soon followed. In 1751, the prince de Soubise was successfully lulled into believing that he was first to purchase the precious trophy and Julie’s bulletin for 11 July 1753 discloses that the prince – destined four years later for military defeat by Frederick the Great at Rossbach – was still contributing sporadically to the young lady’s financial wellbeing: “M. Le Prince de Soubise a, dit-on, fait trois mille livres de rente à Mlle Puvigné, tant pour les services qu’elle lui a rendus en particulier que pour les soins qu’elle s’est donnés pour apprendre à danser à la princesse de Condé, sa fille.”41 Meanwhile, a fair number of additional Puvigné passades were in the works, including brief but highly profitable liaisons with the duc des Deux-Ponts, the marquis de Voyer, the comte de Kaunitz, the duc de La Vallière, and the duc de Luxembourg. We are indebted to standard police reports for that crowded and extremely distinguished list, but the excellence of Julie’s supplementary intelligence sources is well demonstrated by the fact that his subscribers were informed of an additional Puvigné entreteneur, one that Meusnier’s regular spies had somehow overlooked: “Mlle Puvigné voit en bonne fortune le duc de Ruffec. Ce commerce est fort secret, et pour mieux dépayser son monde, elle va trois fois la semaine en fiacre sous prétexte d’aller donner des leçons de danse chez ledit duc avec sa respectable mère qui veut bien se prêter à ces arrangements.”42 Julie’s bulletins are crammed with such items, clearly providing his four subscribers with their money’s worth in this respect. In addition, the exempt continued to make available his supplementary investigative services. We recall how the elder Villemur had recently hired him to check on the fidelity of his mistress, la demoiselle Beaufort. As it turns out, the crafty financier had been wise to take such precautions, since Julie soon found evidence that confirmed his client’s suspicions. What Villemur did not know, however, was that his enterprising nouvelliste also immediately included the gist of his findings in the copies of bulletins supplied to Villemur’s three fellow subscribers: “M. de Villemur l’aîné, qui se repose beaucoup sur la bonne foi de Mlle Beaufort, danseuse à l’Opéra qu’il entretient depuis fort longtemps, n’en est pas moins cocu. Cette demoiselle avec un air doucereux l’a si bien endormi qu’il ne s’aperçoit pas qu’elle s’en donne au parfait avec le

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

202

Page 202

A Rogue’s Progress

chevalier du Limon, capitaine réformé à la suite du régiment de Moustier cavalerie. Elle est si contente des services de ce militaire qu’elle lui a donné la semaine dernière une tabatière d’or de 50 louis, et que peu de temps auparavant elle lui avait fait présent de quatre paires de manchettes de dentelles fort belles.”43 Julie’s bulletins chronicle extensively this constant interplay of infidélités and what Meusnier in his files referred to as mutations. No one, with the possible exception of Julie’s primary subscriber, the maréchal-duc de Richelieu, emerges from the pages of his news sheets unscathed and antler-free.44 Even the most powerful ministers of state are seen to suffer the apparently common fate of serial cuckoldom: “La comtesse de Sabatiny, maîtresse de monsieur le comte de SaintFlorentin, lui paie en même monnaie les infidélités qu’il lui fait. Il y a deux ans qu’elle avait le chevalier d’Audigny, gentilhomme Breton et mousquetaire. La crainte de monsieur de Saint-Florentin le lui avait fait quitter, mais maintenant il est incognito à Paris et voit fort secrètement ladite comtesse qui de son côté prend toutes les précautions imaginables pour cacher ce commerce. Elle a eu un garçon de M. de SaintFlorentin que ce seigneur vient de faire légitimer et à qui il a donné la qualité de comte de Vitry.”45 Of course, in the delicately adjusted etiquette of dalliance it was not always a simple matter to determine what being cuckolded meant exactly. A certain ambiguous balance of conflicting claims among the members of a lady’s circle of admirers was recognized as legitimate. First in importance was the entreteneur who, in the idiom of the day, “donnait gros.” Here the all-too-common affliction, impuissance du portefeuille, could never be tolerated even if other forms of impotence occasionally were. The discreet presence of a greluchon, efficiently defined by Meusnier as “celui qui paie beaucoup moins que l’entreteneur,”46 was often tacitly accepted. But even among greluchons there were recognized sub-categories. La demoiselle Pouchon, a danseuse at the Opéra who had originally been talent-tested by the director Francœur and who later enjoyed the special protection of Charles de Julie’s friend Devisse, had, according to Meusnier, no less than three greluchons, “deux payant et un mangeant,” the last being “logé et nourri gratis chez elle.”47 The most basic distinction is made equally clear by la d’Hosmont, perhaps the capital’s most articulate maquerelle at this time, in a note to Berryer wherein she relates a brief conversation she has just had with one of her young pensionnaires. Mlle Coëtmadeu, the young woman in question, was seeking advice on the relative merits of wealth versus youth and physical performance in a lover. She had been consoling herself lately by allowing Viard, a lusty young gendarme in the Guards, “de l’aller dissiper les après-midi,” a

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 203

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

203

time during which her wealthy and distinguished entreteneur was occupied with important affairs of state. “Elle est venue demander sur cela mon avis,” la d’Hosmont explains, “sur quoi je lui ai dit que cette conquête ne lui ferait pas d’honneur, parce qu’il était plus disposé à être greluchon qu’entreteneur [...]. Elle m’a répondu à cela qu’elle aimait autant les bons ouvriers que l’argent et qu’elle s’en accommoderait jusqu’à ce qu’elle ait trouvé mieux pour l’intérêt.”48 One can only admire Mlle Coëtmadeu’s clear-headed sense of the fitness of things as well as the integrity of her basic priorities, not too unlike the policy proclaimed only a month later by a more distinguished but equally independent-minded lady who is mentioned in the following Julie bulletin: “Mlle d’Urfé, fille de condition qui avait depuis longtemps sur son compte le marquis du Châtelet, grand-croix de Saint-Louis, vient de se brouiller avec lui on ne sait trop pourquoi. Depuis cette querelle, cette demoiselle court les spectacles, les promenades, les endroits où elle pourra trouver un amant; elle ne fait pas mystère de ce qu’elle cherche, en a déjà refusé beaucoup, mais dit à qui veut l’entendre qu’elle choisira si bien que ce sera le dernier de sa vie.”49 Rank and wealth commanded almost universal respect, and greluchons generally accepted their subordinate role without complaint. Readers of Manon Lescaut will recognize a familiar situation in the following Julie bulletin, even if the particular nobleman involved, the young son of the prince de Conti, Louis-François-Joseph de Bourbon, comte de La Marche, obviously outranks Des Grieux’s fictional rivals. In addition, we should possibly note that displaced lovers in real life apparently showed on occasion more understanding of the ways of the world than does Prévost’s troubled hero: Dimanche passé [22 July 1753], M. le comte de La Marche étant à l’Opéra avec le marquis de Saint-Simon, Mlle Rey lui donna dans la vue et au sortir de l’Opéra, après avoir fait faire plusieurs tours à son carrosse pour dépayser ceux qui auraient pu l’observer, il fut chez elle avec ledit marquis et entra brusquement dans son appartement. La demoiselle Rey, surprise d’une pareille visite, fut d’abord fort embarrassée; mais le comte la tira bientôt de peine et lui dit sans façon qu’il avait été enchanté de sa figure et de ses talents, et lui demanda la permission de le prouver. Mlle Rey ne se fit pas tirer l’oreille et pendant qu’ils étaient en besogne arriva le chevalier d’Égreville, amant de la demoiselle Rey, qui comptant entrer chez elle librement comme il a coutume de faire fut fort étonné de trouver dans l’antichambre le marquis de Saint-Simon qui lui dit que Monseigneur était avec Mademoiselle. Ce fut à lui à attendre que la place fût vacante, mais il y a toute apparence que la demoiselle Rey a tourné cet incident à son avantage car le chevalier et elle sont aussi bons amis que jamais.50

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

204

Page 204

A Rogue’s Progress

Julie’s bulletins inform us also of a hybrid category of suitor that we could perhaps best label as the importunate crapuleux. Such was apparently Joseph-Jean-Baptiste Gilbert de Saint-Lubin, président of the Chambre des Comptes, a magistrate in his mid-forties, separated from his wife who, following a time-honoured tradition for wives in her situation, had wisely retreated to a convent. Saint-Lubin’s latest would-be trophy, the demoiselle Saint-Hilaire, a singer and dancer at the Opéra, is noted:51 Le président de Saint-Lubin qui voit toutes les filles de Paris et qui les paie fort mal a eu une crise violente lundi dernier avec la demoiselle Saint-Hilaire, actrice de l’Opéra, demeurante rue des Bons-Enfants. Quoique cette demoiselle ait plus d’une fois témoigné au président la peine qu’il lui faisait de la venir voir, il ne se rebutait pas et continuait à lui rendre de fréquentes visites. Le sieur Vallier, ci-devant capitaine au régiment de Champagne qui entretient ladite demoiselle, arriva comme le président lui faisait de grands compliments. Il fut scandalisé de trouver avec elle quelqu’un qu’il ne connaissait pas; il en fit des reproches à la demoiselle Saint-Hilaire et à sa mère. Ces deux femmes, furieuses contre Saint-Lubin qui était cause de cette scène, se sont jetées sur son pauvre individu, lui ont donné cent coups de poing et ont jeté sa perruque par la fenêtre qu’un maçon du Palais Royal a ramassée et emportée. Le président a été obligé d’en envoyer chercher une autre et a attendu chez la demoiselle Saint-Hilaire, grâce qui lui a été accordée à la sollicitation du sieur Vallier qui a exigé cette complaisance de sa maîtresse. Il lui est arrivé une semblable aventure il y a près d’un an, rue du Chantre chez la demoiselle Coupée, danseuse de l’Opéra.52

La Saint-Hilaire’s gracious captain was obviously a moderate man and a defender of social niceties but sometimes the defense of a lady’s honour led to much graver consequences. In this regard, one of Julie’s bulletins provided his four privileged subscribers with an account of a duel known only to a few insiders: “On assure fort et ferme que la maladie du comte d’Egmont vient d’un bon coup d’épée que lui a donné le marquis de Villeroi au sujet de quelques plaisanteries que le comte d’Egmont débitait sur la petite Marquise, sa maîtresse. Ce qu’il y a de certain c’est que ce marquis n’est plus à Paris, et a parti pour son régiment beaucoup plus tôt qu’il ne devait puisque presque tous les colonels sont encore à Paris.”53 The unlucky comte d’Egmont did not survive his injuries. De Luynes,54 discreetly referring to the cause as an accidental coup de fleuret, records his death at the age of 32 on 3 July 1753. Julie’s bulletin gives, however, more intimate details than were generally known

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 205

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

205

and reveals the extent of the dying man’s tender feelings for the demoiselle Astraudi of the Comédie-Italienne, the mother of his bastard child: M. le comte d’Egmont est mort mardi dernier à 6 heures du matin dans les sentiments les plus dévotieux et avec une fermeté et une résignation édifiante. Il avait quelques jours avant sa mort envoyé son chirurgien demander excuse à la demoiselle Astraudi des mauvais traitements qu’il avait pu lui faire. Ce comte a laissé à l’enfant qu’il a eu de cette comédienne 4000 livres de rente; c’est Madame d’Egmont douairière qui en prendra soin. M. de Pignatelli, frère du défunt, lui a promis aussi de protéger cet enfant et de lui acheter à ses frais une compagnie lorsqu’il serait en état de la posséder. M. le comte d’Egmont aimait véritablement cette demoiselle; il s’est fait informer de la conduite qu’elle a tenue pendant sa maladie, et de la sensibilité qu’elle a témoignée de son indisposition. On assure qu’il lui aurait fait du bien s’il n’avait pas appris que ladite demoiselle Astraudi n’a pas cessé de courir les bals et les promenades et de faire la folle et vingt parties de plaisir avec la demoiselle Hus, sa cousine.55

The comte, who had in fact physically battered his mistress only two months earlier and taken back many gifts after finding her in bed with the chevalier de Bonac, had good reason no doubt both to apologize to Mlle Astraudi and to withhold further favours. Soon after d’Egmont’s death, she was abandoned by le Normant d’Étioles, who proved to be less generous than the count. In any case, no one that summer seemed disposed to defend the honour of this celebrated actress when the following scurrilous poem began to circulate in Paris: Chanson sur l’air: Votre cœur, aimable Aurore Astraudi dans son jeune âge Des catins prit la leçon. Nature la fit peu sage; Sans cesse aussi la voit-on Au sein du libertinage Prêter à chacun son c[on]. Donezan pour la passade Fut par elle trouvé bon, Vilgagnon, quoique bien fade, Parvint à ce beau tendron, Et le Normant, le maussade, Lui paie le greluchon.

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

206

Page 206

A Rogue’s Progress

Arrogante, tracassière, La voix aigre comme un chat, Suffisante, minaudière, Le dos bossu, le pied plat, Sans esprit, sans caractère, Indécente avec éclat. Plus gueuse que Messaline Aussi maigre qu’Alecton, Jamais la plus grosse p[ine] Ne remplit son vaste c[on] Et vingt fois, dans la cuisine, Elle eut recours au pilon. Le diable, plein de malice, Suscita cette putain Pour prêcher partout le vice, Tourmenter le genre humain, Et la fit mauvaise actrice Pour ennuyer son prochain.56

The surviving Julie bulletins do not cite that particular ditty. He, in fact, took some pride in eschewing what he himself later described as indécence and obscénité,57 even though he comes very close to sinning in that direction from time to time: “On ne sait pas ce que le sieur de Moncrif, lecteur de la Reine, va faire chez Mlle Labatte, danseuse de l’Opéra. Le plus grand nombre de ses amis s’imagine que la demoiselle Labatte est la partie agente parce qu’elle paraît plus homme que le sieur de Moncrif. Quoi qu’il en soit, il est certain que Moncrif soupe et couche souvent avec la Labatte.”58 Or again: “M. de Boullongne, intendant des finances, se déclare pour les danseuses. Il a sauté de chez Mlle Bellenot chez Mlle Destrée, à laquelle il donne gros. On ne sait pas s’il aura pour cette demoiselle la complaisance qu’elle exige de tous ses amants; personne n’ignore qu’elle oblige ceux à qui elle accorde ses plus rares faveurs, de laisser leur paquet à la porte, crainte de gâter sa belle taille.”59 But even this last example illustrates Julie’s relative restraint. In fact, he had at hand a much more graphic anecdote concerning the indiscretions of the gentleman in question, Jean de Boullongne, comte de Nogent, at the time one of Louis XV’s rich and powerful intendants des finances. Married in 1719 to Charlotte-Catherine de Beaufort, Boullongne’s reputation for ordering home delivery of kinky sex from the more reputable brothels of the capital surpassed even that of the

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 207

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

207

wealthy philosopher Helvétius. Both men were regular customers of the remarkable Mlle Julie who worked out of la Lafosse’s establishment. In one of her weekly reports to Meusnier, la Lafosse reveals the following confidence made to her after some hesitation by her star specialist in flagellation: “Aujourd’hui, 14 juillet, Julie a été chez M. de Boullongne. Il a été si satisfait de ses complaisances qu’il a fait marché avec elle. Toutes les semaines, le jeudi à 7 heures, elle ira le trouver au lit. Il lui donnera un louis. J’ai eu beaucoup de peine de tirer le secret de Julie car [M. de Boullongne] ne voit qu’une fois la même personne. Elle m’a dit qu’après l’avoir bien fouetté, elle lui met la langue dans le derrière, lui lèche, et le vit dans la bouche. Je ne suis plus étonnée qu’il la voit si souvent car peu de filles auraient cette complaisance. Elle m’a dit qu’il avait le trou d’une grandeur prodigieuse.”60 While prudently leaving aside that anecdote, Charles de Julie nevertheless supplied his subscribers with other highly seasoned stories concerning Jean de Boullongne, an important public figure who within a few years, with France engaged in a disastrous war, was destined to occupy the critical position of contrôleur général des finances, an office no doubt more frequently associated in our minds with the likes of such greats as Colbert and Turgot. A few items in Charles de Julie’s bulletins go beyond the fairly narrow editorial specifications stipulated by his subscribers and are more typical of what is found in the literary news sheet collections of the period. One, for example, concerns the abbé Jean-Bernard Le Blanc, a self-important but undistinguished author who, decade after decade, laboured without success in an assortment of literary vineyards, hoping to become an Immortal of the French Academy. For some time the literati of Paris had been in the habit of poking fun at his vanity and pretentions: “[Écrivain] qui a rêvé qu’il était un grand homme,” was the acid comment of Raynal, who also notes that the portrait Le Blanc had commissioned by La Tour “lui a conservé son air arrogant, bas et sot.”61 A Julie note concerning la demoiselle Vestris and M. de Vandières, the marquise de Pompadour’s brother, leads the exempt-nouvelliste, who had not forgotten his earlier literary interests, to an additional observation: L’abbé Leblanc, historiographe des bâtiments qui a suivi M. de Vandières dans son voyage d’Italie, a eu l’impertinence de faire faire deux de ses portraits en marbre blanc par un des célèbres sculpteurs de Rome. Ces bustes sont arrivés il y a quelques jours dans une caisse, où était un autre buste de M. de Vandières qui, trouvant la vanité de l’abbé fort déplacée, lui en fit des reproches, mais il eut la sottise de lui répondre qu’il en fallait bien un pour

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

208

Page 208

A Rogue’s Progress

Dijon, et l’autre pour Paris (cet abbé est fils du geôlier des prisons de Dijon). Un poète qui n’est pas de ses amis a fait six vers pour mettre au bas du buste qui doit aller à Dijon; il les fait dire à un malheureux de cette ville: Je suis heureux dans ma misère Que l’abbé Leblanc de son père Ait abjuré le vil métier. Le sort qui toujours m’importune Pour couronner mon infortune Peut être en eût fait mon geôlier.62

Finally, no florilegium of eighteenth-century dalliance would be complete without one or two contributions by the period’s lusty men of the cloth. One of Julie’s entries for 8 July 1753 features the classic theme of the moine paillard pursued by la populace attroupée, a street scene more than once celebrated in Diderot’s writings:63 La fille d’un cordonnier de la rue Mazarine, jeune et jolie, étant avant-hier à Saint-Sulpice y fut accostée par un moine qui lui fit compliment sur sa figure, et qui de propos à autre la pria de le mener dans sa chambre. Cette fille qui est une égrillarde s’amusa de l’aventure, et sortit avec lui de l’église. Chemin faisant, le moine lui dit qu’il ne pouvait lui donner que 12 s[ols]. Elle se récria très fort sur la modicité du prix, mais le moine lui répondit qu’elle en aurait tout le plaisir, et qu’elle ne se repentirait pas de sa complaisance. Elle parut se rendre à ses raisons, et l’amena rue Mazarine dans une porte cochère audessous de la boutique de son père, où il ne fut pas plus tôt entré qu’elle le prit au collet et lui donna 20 soufflets, en criant au secours. La populace accourut au bruit de ce tapage, la fille conta son aventure, le pauvre moine cherchait à s’esquiver en disant, “Elle est folle, que veut-elle dire avec ses 12 s[ols] … Je ne la connais pas!” Mais le pauvre moine fut suivi par toute la canaille jusqu’au bout de la rue, chacune lui criait 12 s[ols]. Il était alors 5 heures après-midi.64

The monetary difficulties of a rather more worldly member of the clergy are the subject of another item drawn from one of Julie’s maquerelle sources: Mardi dernier, M. de Fitelbourg, M. de La Cerda fils, et M. l’abbé Deristère, en revenant du Bois de Boulogne, fondirent chez la dame Pitrot, maquerelle ordinaire du comte de Fitelbourg, et lui demandèrent à souper. Elle qui sait ce qu’on doit faire en pareille occasion envoya chercher Mlles Herny et Garnier aînée. M. de Fitelbourg prit pour lui Mlle Herny, M. de La Cerda, Mlle Garnier, La Pitrot resta à l’abbé. Après le souper ils allèrent chacun coucher avec leur demoiselle. L’abbé en fit autant avec La Pitrot et se chargea des frais du souper. Le lendemain, lorsqu’il fut question de partir, il tira de sa poche 3 ou 4

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 209

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

209

louis qui faisaient le fond de sa bourse et les présenta à la Pitrot qui les reçut de fort mauvaise grâce et qui dit à l’abbé qu’elle s’en plaindrait au comte de Fitelbourg qui savait comment on devait en agir chez elle. L’abbé la laissa dire ce qu’elle voulut et prit congé d’elle qui était fort mécontente d’avoir battu les buissons pour faire prendre les oiseaux aux autres.65

Few of the period’s randy-men-of-the-cloth stories can, however, rival those concerning the Papal nuncio extraordinaire, Antonio Branciforte, companion of Casanova and later cardinal of the Church. We have already encountered this singular ecclesiastic in the brothel reports received by inspector Meusnier from several of his mouches abbesses.66 Julie’s bulletins reveal, however, that the “gros, gras et dodu” nuncio did not restrict his pursuit of pleasure just to the more lowly professional purveyors on the scene. “M. de Branciforte et Madame de Brignole avaient sûrement arrangé ensemble un rendezvous. Leurs deux carrosses se sont trouvés lundi dernier à l’Étoile à 5 heures après-midi. Ils ont affecté tous deux de la surprise de se rencontrer si à propos. Le nonce a descendu de son carrosse et a monté dans celui de la comtesse. Il a laissé tout son monde avec son équipage et a été se promener avec Madame de Brignole dans le Bois de Boulogne jusqu’à 8 heures qu’il est revenu joindre son carrosse. Ils ne sont pas rentrés à Paris ensemble. Madame de Brignole a fait un tour à pied dans l’allée du Cours pour retarder son arrivée.”67 The highly recognizable Papal nuncio’s carriage was hardly the best vehicle to choose for an illicit rendez-vous. Luynes informs us that the Pope’s special ambassador had in fact four splendid carriages, two drawn by eight horses and two requiring only six: “Les deux plus beaux ont été faits à Rome; ils sont fort grands, fort hauts et fort chargés de sculpture.”68 In Paris to present the infant duc de Bourgogne’s langes, the nuncio overstayed his visit by more than a year, “passa en revue toutes les filles de Paris, et s’endetta prodigieusement.” The French Court, desperate to get rid of him, finally presented him with the traditional parting gift: “C’est le portrait du Roi, entouré d’une garniture de diamants, valant depuis 15,000 livres jusqu’à 1000 louis.” The very next day it was discovered that the libidinal legate had pawned the present for a quick price of 12,000 livres, and had not even bothered to keep Louis le Bien-Aimé’s portrait!69 The last historiette we will cite from Julie’s bulletins will illustrate not only what Branciforte did with some of the proceeds of that speedy transaction but also the full extent of his scorn for portraits, be they of kings or popes: “Monsieur de Branciforte a été la semaine passée chez la dame Deslongrais, appareilleuse rue Beaurepaire. Elle lui a envoyé chercher Mlle Fontaine, rue du Chantre, fille spirituelle et assez jolie.

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

210

Page 210

A Rogue’s Progress

Elle a si fort été du goût de Son Excellence qu’après avoir fait avec elle ce qu’il a jugé à propos, il l’a priée de le venir voir à son hôtel avec un mémoire à la main, comme si elle avait quelque grâce à lui demander. La demoiselle a exécuté ses ordres deux jours après. Quand ils ont été tête-à-tête, il a pris fantaisie à cette fille de se vautrer dans un fauteuil au-dessus duquel est le portrait du pape sous un dais. M. le Nonce sans plus de respect pour Sa Sainteté a trouvé les singeries de cette fille si fort de son goût qu’il a fait servir ce riche fauteuil d’autel au sacrifice qu’il a offert à l’amour.”70 There is little doubt that Charles de Julie faithfully lived up to the editorial commitment he had made to his four distinguished subscribers. His material was new, authentic for the most part and entertainingly packaged. In fact, once the bulletins had begun to circulate in several copies, they proved to be too good to survive unpunished for more than a few months. However carefully and discreetly distributed, sooner or later his impertinent little bulletins, naming names and revealing the most intimate secrets of some very important people of the town and the court, were bound to leak. The notion of “private gossip” was – then, as now – something of an oxymoron. The essential function of gossip, true or false, is to spread. Given the restrictive laws of the land and the explosive contents of Julie’s nouvelles, any breakdown in the channels of communication, any small act of sabotage by competing “journalists” (they were numerous!) could be fatal. And so we must not be too surprised that on Saturday 11 August 1753, in conformity with a lettre d’anticipation issued earlier that day by Nicolas Berryer, lieutenant général de police, Louis XV and his minister the comte d’Argenson, jointly at Compiègne, attached their signatures to a formal ordre du Roi commanding inspector Meusnier “d’arrêter le sieur Julie, les nommés Benoist-Louis Chazé, Hyacinthe de La Combe, Nicolas Villemin de Coin et Jean Mahudel, et de les conduire à la Bastille.”71 The most arduous portion of Charles de Julie’s star-crossed journey was about to begin.

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 211

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

211

La Bastille. Plan de Louis Bretez. Detail showing the château’s western elevation and the Porte Sainte-Antoine.

2

3

1

5

4

6

7

8

Plan of the Bastille by Pierre-François Palloy. La Bazinière, Julie’s corner tower, is marked No. 8.

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

212

Page 212

Scenes and Characters

Copy of one of the Bastille’s keys.

Royal order for the arrest of Charles de Julie and his four accomplices. ba ms 11846, f.54.

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

Page 213

Bulletins Galants: A Sampler

213

Police spy report written on a playing card, noting Jean Mahudel’s address. ba ms 11846, f.24.

Preamble to the minutes of Julie’s Bastille interrogation. ba ms 11846, f.75.

CH09.QXD

9/1/2004 11:37 AM

214

Page 214

Scenes and Characters

Extracts from Julie’s letters to Berryer, spanning two years of incarceration. ba ms 11846, f.97; ba ms 11829, f.134.

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 215

Defining a Precocious Piety, 1922–1938

part t h r e e The Prisoner

215

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

216

Page 216

W. Stanford Reid

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 217

10 Disaster Strikes

What precise event occurring around the first week of August 1753 brought about the collapse of Charles de Julie’s precarious enterprise? The risk that something could go wrong, that one of the celebrities or personnes de considération skewered in a Julie bulletin would get wind of the dubious honour and complain to the authorities was, of course, ever present. The flow of idle gossip emanating from the tittle-tattle of household servants – Paris had perhaps as many as 50,000 of them at the time, one tenth, approximately, of the total population – could be easily traced. Venal or disaffected servants often served as informants. Julie’s clever collaborator Jean Mahudel had, for example, recently been able to gather some compromising intelligence about the prince de Monaco’s mistress, the demoiselle Coraline, thanks mainly to the fact that la Coraline had severely pummelled and then summarily dismissed her personal maid for having revealed “quelques particularités de ses parties.”1 Not surprisingly, that action had led to the revelation of even more particularités, a sampling of which soon appeared, of course, in the bulletins delivered to Julie’s subscribers, who were undoubtedly more amused by the disclosure than would have been either the prince de Monaco or the demoiselle Coraline: Coraline a joué dimanche dernier un bon tour au prince de Monaco. Il avait soupé avec elle, et lui avait aidé à se mettre au lit, et était parti pour aller luimême se coucher à son hôtel. Il pouvait être minuit. A peine fut-il à la porte que Coraline sauta au bas de son lit, passa une petite robe et un bonnet rond, et un mantelet de mousseline. Elle prit une chaise à porteur qui la conduisit

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

218

Page 218

The Prisoner

chez la Pitrot où elle trouva le comte de Fitelbourg à qui elle avait donné rendez-vous. Ils ont pris quelques rafraîchissements et se sont mis au lit tous deux jusqu’à 4 heures du matin, qu’une autre chaise à porteur reconduisit Coraline chez elle, qui sûrement aura tiré bon parti de l’étranger.2

Another possible trigger of police action against Julie may have been the indirect result of a complaint made by one of Julie’s own subscribers, the fermier général Étienne-Michel Bouret, concerning an obscene petite nouvelle that was being circulated about his niece Mme de Préaudeau and the Opéra singer Jelyotte. Counter-tenor Pierre Jelyotte was at the time probably Europe’s most adored performing artist, whose fame may have come close to equalling in intensity if not in breadth our current worship of sports and entertainment celebrities. By common accord Catherine Préaudeau was admired as one of the capital’s most beautiful women. She was also widely credited with being intellectually one of the dimmest of God’s creatures; she would eventually achieve her crowning glory in the bêtise department several years later at Damiens’s execution when, from her rented window vantage point, seeing the untidy difficulties the lunging horses were having in pulling the poor wretch asunder, she was heard to cry out: Ah Jésus! les pauvres chevaux, que je les plains!3 Bouret did more than merely complain to Berryer about the scurrilous Jelyotte-Préaudeau libel. Around the end of July 1753, he asked his trusty exempt acquaintance Charles de Julie to track down the culprit. Julie’s preliminary suspicions had centred on the notorious hack writer, François-Antoine de Chevrier, already well-known to the police for generating a steady stream of nasty indecencies.4 Indeed, the maliciousness of Chevrier’s often misogynistic prose was such that even years later, on hearing he had died suddenly in Rotterdam, the witty cantatrice Sophie Arnould exclaimed: “Juste ciel! Il aura sucé sa plume!”5 Given Charles de Julie’s familiarity with the underground scribbler’s scene, his suspicions that the offending piece concerning Bouret’s niece had been secretly authored by Chevrier were probably well founded but his own post-arrest interrogation conducted by commissaire Rochebrune reveals that Berryer may have suspected Julie himself of the crime. In fact, the entering prisoner would be questioned at some length specifically on that point. It was a particularly sensitive issue, since Bouret was a close friend of the marquise de Pompadour’s brother and consequently merited, in Berryer’s eyes, every possible courtesy in the matter. The lieutenant général had been hearing rumours for some time now that his least favourite exempt was distributing scandalous petites nouvelles. He was also aware of the fact

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 219

Disaster Strikes

219

that several of his inspectors, including Dadvenel, Roullier, Poussot, Bourgouin, and Durocher, had befriended Julie and were giving him assignments from time to time, contrary to their superior officer’s explicit directives. In addition, it was fairly widely known that one of the lieutenants de robe courte, Charles Péan de La Jannière, had passed on at least two friendly warnings to Julie about the perilous nature of his journalistic activities. During her own interrogation, Julie’s gouvernante, Marianne Légeat, revealed that her master had been aware of the fact that his petites nouvelles “commençaient à faire du bruit dans le monde.” Indeed, he had been expecting for some time a visit from the police and possibly even a formal search of his papers.6 Though he was not counting on being arrested, he had, as a precaution, burned certain documents and had carefully bundled up others, which Marianne had herself delivered to inspector Buhot for safekeeping. Despite such minor twinges of anxiety, Julie nevertheless had remained confident. Much in his cups one evening at a café on the quai de la Mégisserie run by one of his own informers, a certain Dobell, Julie had imprudently boasted to a small circle of friends that, given his powerful protectors, the duc d’Orléans and the maréchal de Richelieu, he really had no need to worry about anything.7 That boast, apparently overheard by one of Berryer’s mouches, probably sealed Charles de Julie’s fate. The lieutenant général viewed Richelieu as a political enemy, hostile to his own patron the marquise. Arresting Julie and implicitly daring the maréchal to come to the defense of a scurrilous scandalmonger and law-breaker presented a safe and easy way to triumph over the opposition. Events moved very quickly after that. Inspector Meusnier first set in motion a covert operation to gather direct explicit evidence of Julie’s guilt. Almost immediately, his initiative was rewarded with success. On 4 August 1753, one of the inspector’s mouches, a person whom Julie trusted implicitly, was able to gain clandestine access to the exempt’s lodgings and to his private papers. The spy apparently had no difficulty in turning up proof that copies of police reports Meusnier normally received from Willemin de Coin for his own vice squad files were being passed on as well to Charles de Julie. Worse still, clear evidence was found that Julie was retailing these reports at a handsome profit to several grands seigneurs. The inspector, in short, was paying for the privilege of being cheated by one of his own men! In a letter to Berryer, Meusnier exposed the situation: Du 4 août 1753, 7 heures du soir. La note ci-jointe a été prise aujourd’hui sur le bureau du sieur Julie par une personne qui a accès chez lui, et qui nous a rapporté qu’elle la croit de la main

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

220

Page 220

The Prisoner

du sieur Chanssay, surnommé le petit commissaire, demeurant rue Geoffroyl’Asnier, qui travaille actuellement chez Julie avec un autre particulier, dont j’ignore le nom, mais que je connais parfaitement de vue, attendu qu’il m’a apporté plusieurs lettres de la part du sieur de Coin. Cette même personne ajoute que Julie a envoyé chercher ce matin huit cahiers de papier à extrait et a dit qu’il fallait que tout cela fût rempli dans les 24 heures; que les dépêches qu’il fait sont ordinairement attachées avec de petits rubans et mises sous enveloppes pour être envoyées aux différentes personnes auxquelles elles sont destinées et s’expédient actuellement parlant chez lui. Hier sur les quatre heures de l’après-midi, je rencontrai près la place Royale, le petit commissaire avec le particulier en question, qui allaient grand train et paraissaient fort affairés. Il n’est pas douteux, d’après la note que l’on joint ici, dont le précis se trouve dans la feuille que nous avons donnée le 23 juillet dernier à l’article de la demoiselle Verrière l’aînée, que le sieur de Coin ne soit en correspondance avec Julie et ses associés, puisque c’est de lui que nous la tenons, et lorsque l’on saisira les papiers de Julie on pourra trouver beaucoup de feuilles de l’écriture de de Coin, ou tout au moins des détails qui se rapporteront avec ceux que nous avons de lui sur le même sujet. Il est bon d’avouer que le sieur de Coin nous coûte au moins 800 livres par an. Meusnier On omet de dire que la personne en question qui fréquente chez Julie nous fait espérer d’escamoter, avant peu, quelque chose de meilleur sans qu’il s’en aperçoive; peut-être aussi, par l’événement, lui confiera-t-il quelques paquets à porter. Meusnier8

No doubt relying on his current copy of the Almanach Royal which lists “Huissiers. Audienciers & Commissaires de Police sur les Ports & Quays de la Ville de Paris,”9 Meusnier had mistakenly identified le petit commissaire as a certain Chanssay, whose name also appears in the relevant section, showing an address on the rue Geoffroy-l’Asnier. Soon after, however, the inspector was able to correctly identify Julie’s youthful collaborator as Benoist-Louis Chazé, living in the rue des Moulins not far from Julie’s old Palais Royal stamping grounds. The purloined note attached by Meusnier to his August 4 report for Berryer concerned the nocturnal activities of the fermier général Anne-Nicolas-Robert de Caze, known to some as le beau danseur. Despite a recent bankruptcy, de Caze had been engaged in the extravagant pursuit of la demoiselle Verrière l’aînée, the former mistress of the late maréchal de Saxe who was currently accommodating, apart from Caze, the prince de Turenne, the writer Marmontel, and indeed so many other wealthy or handsome entreteneurs and greluchons that

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 221

Disaster Strikes

221

Meusnier’s filing system could scarcely keep track of them all. On the other hand, as Meusnier’s report of 23 July summarizing Julie’s bulletin of a week earlier makes clear, Caze’s wife was having no such difficulties: Du 23 juillet 1753. La demoiselle Verrière, l’aînée. Rue des Vieilles-Tuileries. M. Caze, fermier général, voit, à ce que l’on assure, fort secrètement la demoiselle Verrière l’aînée. Cependant on dit que les mesures qu’il prend ne sont pas tant pour ménager les intérêts de cette fille qui courrait risque de perdre encore une fois le prince de Turenne, que pour dérouter les mouches que madame Caze son épouse a mises après lui. Aussi prend-il des précautions extraordinaires pour cacher cette intrigue. Il descend de son carrosse dans la rue du Cherche-Midi, vis-à-vis la rue du Regard, ensuite il dit à ses gens de l’aller attendre sur le Pont Royal où il rejoint son carrosse à 4 heures du matin.10

Stung by incontrovertible proof that one of his best informers, Nicolas Willemin de Coin, was playing a double game, and now in possession of a document confirming that his own vice squad budget was subsidizing Charles de Julie’s illegal activities, Meusnier intensified efforts to gather evidence. A second report to Berryer followed three days later: Du 7 août 1753. Le troisième particulier dont on ignorait le nom dans la note donnée samedi dernier sur le compte de Julie se nomme Mahudel, demeurant rue Saint-Martin, au coin de celle de Venise, conformément à l’adresse ci-jointe écrite de sa main, de même, je crois, que la note du 16 juillet au sujet de M. Caze, soustraite des papiers de Julie et remise au magistrat. C’est ce même particulier qui m’a souventes fois apporté le travail du sieur de Coin, et que j’ai rencontré vendredi dernier rue des Francs-Bourgeois au Marais avec le petit commissaire. Il a jadis été à La Jannière, maintenant il est de la société de Julie. Néanmoins, comme de Coin est encore occupé par La Jannière qui lui donne, dit-on, 50 écus par mois pour les trois spectacles, il se sert aussi de ce Mahudel pour le seconder dans la suite de cet objet de détail et de celui des femmes. On voit par là que le sieur de Coin est payé tant par La Jannière que par moi, du travail qu’il donne également à Julie, et sûrement il n’oblige pas celui-ci gratis. On a tiré adroitement de Mahudel que de Coin est toujours chez Julie, ou ce dernier chez l’autre. En voilà donc quatre qu’on croit être de bonne prise. Savoir: Julie, Chanssay, dit le petit commissaire, Villemin de Coin, et Mahudel. Outre ceux-là, il en est un 5e nommé La Combe – c’est un intrigant, faiseur d’affaires – demeurant rue Mazarine à côté du Fer-à-cheval, qui sert encore de scribe.

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

222

Page 222

The Prisoner

La 6e est la fameuse Dupont, maquerelle qui va souvent chez Julie et qui l’instruit de tout ce qui se passe à sa connaissance chez les femmes et ailleurs. Depuis l’établissement de ce nouveau bureau de correspondance, on remarque qu’elle est alerte à recueillir des nouvelles. Julie et ses scribes ont passé une partie de la nuit de samedi à dimanche dernier à expédier les dépêches en question. Le petit commissaire y couche ordinairement ces jours-là. On me promet dans cette semaine quelques nouvelles pièces de conviction.11

Before ending his report, Meusnier added a piece of information that must have increased Berryer’s irritation tenfold. It seems that only the week before, on 31 July, the duc de Richelieu had provided Julie with generous proofs of his continuing protection. Heavily in debt as always, Julie had been on the point of being arrested that very day by the bailiff Marion but had been rescued by Richelieu’s man Desnoyers, who managed to hush up the affair at the last minute by handing over a total of 680 livres. Four days after receiving Meusnier’s evidence, on Saturday 11 August 1753, Berryer issued a series of anticipatory ordres du roi for the arrest of the five men. It was still not quite light when, at 4:30 the following morning, commissaire Agnan-Philippe-Miché de Rochebrune and police inspector Jean-Baptiste Meusnier turned up at the house on the rue Guénégaud that was occupied on the main floor by le sieur Pochet, master chandler. After identifying themselves to the startled locataire principal, they quickly made their way up the stairs to the third-floor quarters of their colleague Charles de Julie and roused him from his bed. After informing him of the purpose of their visit, they proceeded in his presence to search his writing desk. All of his papers were gathered up and placed in a folder, which was then neatly fastened shut with a cord and sealed in three places with black Spanish wax stamped with the arresting officer’s insignia. Custody of the papers was then solemnly assumed by inspector Meusnier. Finally, citing the royal orders in his possession, inspector Meusnier formally arrested Charles de Julie, indicating at the same time that he would be taken forthwith to the Bastille. Before leaving, the prisoner handed over his key and the care of his apartment to his servant and mistress, Marianne Légeat. On being asked to sign a copy of the recorded arrest proceedings, Marianne declined, stating that she was unable to read or write. That, essentially, is the official account of events found in commissaire Rochebrune’s formal minutes. In fact, the scene must have been somewhat different: Charles de Julie was a social and professional acquaintance of both Rochebrune and Meusnier. No doubt some feel-

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 223

Disaster Strikes

223

ings of awkwardness along with a few words of personal regret were expressed by the arresting officers, especially by commissaire Rochebrune. Orders were orders, of course, and duty had to be done. Still, how imprudent of Julie to have got himself so deeply involved in such a hazardous venture! Not mentioned in Rochebrune’s official procès-verbal is the fact that, without taking another step, the two officers were able to lay their hands immediately on another of the nouvellistes named on their arrest list. Benoist-Louis Chazé, the twenty-three-year-old petit commissaire who had spent the preceding evening copying out bulletins in Julie’s apartment, was still on the premises, having stayed over after finishing his task. The fresh pile of petits bulletins in Chazé’s handwriting stacked on a nearby table made a tidy package of incriminating evidence. After these were properly secured, Chazé was asked to empty his pockets. No additional “écrits suspects” were found.12 Again referring to his royal warrant, Meusnier then arrested the young culprit and informed him that he too would be taken to the Bastille. It was now getting on past 6:00 a.m. Athough there were two more arrests to be carried out in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, Meusnier and Rochebrune decided to make only one more stop, this time at the hôtel Saint-Joseph on the adjoining rue Mazarine to pick up forty-threeyear-old Hyacinthe de La Combe. Leaving Julie and Chazé under close guard in the street, the arresting officers entered the building and announced their presence to le sieur Daret, La Combe’s locataire principal. It was 6:30 a.m. when they finally entered La Combe’s fourthfloor apartment and set about their business. After the usual search, La Combe was informed that he was under arrest. Before being taken away, he consigned his apartment and belongings to the care of his servant-mistress, Suzanne Saunier. She, like Julie’s Marianne earlier, declared that she was unable to sign the official minutes of the proceedings since she did not know how to read or write.13 The trio of anxious prisoners now under guard in Rochebrune’s coach knew only too well the route their escort would be taking. After heading north toward the Seine, they crossed over the nearby PontNeuf, then proceeded eastward along the quai de la Mégisserie, where the police inspectors maintained their administrative headquarters. Next, the all too familiar prison of For l’Évêque came into view and then the café Dobell, where only the week before Julie had boasted so imprudently about how the maréchal de Richelieu and the duc d’Orléans would protect him from any trouble. After skirting the Place de Grève where the city’s great feux de joie celebrations – and also its public executions – took place, the carriage turned north again, toward the Hôtel de Ville, and then east, into the rue Saint-Antoine. In the

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

224

Page 224

The Prisoner

distance, at the end of that noisy and populous thoroughfare, loomed the grim, hulking mass of the Bastille, its dark medieval towers bulging out from the ugly central pile. For the three prisoners, as for the inhabitants of Paris generally, it was a dreaded place, shrouded in mystery, and usually mentioned only in fearful whispers. By the time they reached the prison, the signs that it was going to be an exceptionally hot August day were already in evidence. It was Sunday morning and the bells of nearby Saint-Paul’s Church had just finished summoning worshipers to seven o’clock mass when Rochebrune’s coach passed unchallenged through an outer gate leading down a narrow cobblestoned passage off to the right of the rue Saint-Antoine and ending at the Pont-Levi de l’Avancé. Here, the exterior perimeter walls of the fortress and the first of two heavily guarded drawbridges blocked access to the inner compound. Even though there were standing orders to admit Rochebrune, the Bastille’s designated commissaire, “sans retard et toutes les fois qu’il se présentera,”14 elaborate precautions were taken by the château’s guards. On being informed that it was a question of ordres du Roi and that several prisoners would be entering, the duty officer at the first drawbridge repaired immediately to the Governor’s residence to fetch the keys. Once the petit pont was lowered, four fusiliers with fixed bayonets stood guard while the prisoners’ coach entered. In his role as custodian of the newly arrived trio, inspector Meusnier then spoke with the prison governor, Pierre Baisle, a cousin of Mme de Pompadour who had been appointed to the lucrative post four years earlier. Individual orders for each of the prisoners, made out and signed by Berryer on the preceding day, were handed to the governor. The order pertaining to Charles de Julie’s confinement can still be examined in the Bastille’s archives. It reads as follows: Je vous prie, Monsieur, de recevoir au château de la Bastille le sieur Julie, exempt de robe courte, en attendant l’ordre du roi en forme que je vous ferai passer incessamment pour votre décharge. On ne peut être plus sincèrement que je le suis, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. Berryer Ce 11 août 1753.15

Similar provisional warrants were presented for the prisoners Chazé and Lacombe. They, like Julie, now became the responsibility of the Bastille’s administrative officers. Still under close guard, the three men were driven from the exterior Cour du Gouvernement over a second drawbridge guarding the main entrance of the fortress proper. There they were delivered into the custody of guards and met by two of the Bastille’s senior officers, the lieutenant de roi, François-Jérôme

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 225

Disaster Strikes

225

d’Abadie, who would eventually succeed Baisle as governor, and the major, Henri Godillon Chevalier, easily the most devoted and hardworking functionary in the prison. In his early thirties when he was first appointed in 1749, Chevalier would serve as major for nearly four decades, until 1787. Unlike governor Baisle, both Abadie and Chevalier resided permanently in family apartments located within the walls of the château itself. Once the inner pont-levis was raised behind the entering prisoners, the outer drawbridge was lowered, allowing the waiting Meusnier and Rochebrune to exit the prison and return to their unfinished business. Two more culprits remained to be picked up. It was decided to leave Jean Mahudel, who lived in the nearby quartier Saint-Martin to the last. Nicolas Willemin de Coin lived on the other side of the river in the rue des Marais-Saint-Germain not far from Julie’s lodgings, but Meusnier and Rochebrune had had their reasons earlier that morning for not bringing him in with the others. Retracing their route, Rochebrune’s party made excellent time and by 7:30 a.m. the two officers were knocking on the door of a shabby first-floor chambre garnie rented out to de Coin by le sieur Bauge, coach hirer and principal locataire at the Cheval Noir. Formally invited to declare his identity, the thirty-eight-year-old de Coin, personally well known to both officers, stated his full name, gave his age as thirty-five, and his profession as lawyer. A thorough search of the premises was carried out and various papers were bundled up and officially sealed. By 8:30 a.m., Meusnier and Rochebrune were once more back at the Bastille, completing delivery of their fourth prisoner to governor Baisle. Residing closer to the Bastille than the others, Jean Mahudel occupied a fourth-floor room in a house belonging to the architect Aubry, located at the intersection of the rue Saint-Martin and the rue de Venise, one of the narrowest streets in Paris. As with the other prisoners, Mahudel’s papers were carefully bundled together and sealed. By 9:45 a.m. the thirty-nine-year-old former valet de chambre was also securely locked up. Ironically, this would be only the first of many prison “entrances” for the clever mouche who, during the next decade, would visit the fortress many times in a newly acquired role as a prison mouton in the direct employ of the lieutenant général de police. The Bastille’s Salle du Conseil, the room to which new prisoners were individually taken for the purpose of “making their entrance,” was situated across the Grande Cour on the ground floor of a somewhat dilapidated three-storey building that partitioned the nearly fourhundred-year-old château’s interior compound into two courtyards of unequal size. Since the identity of all inmates was considered to be a

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

226

Page 226

The Prisoner

state secret, guards in the immediate area either had to be temporarily confined to quarters or, while the prisoner was escorted past by a duty officer, required to look away and face a wall so that the anonymity of the new arrivals could be respected.16 Once in the Salle du Conseil, each prisoner was searched and relieved of all personal possessions – money, papers, books, writing materials, jewelry, pen knives, and so forth – anything that could present a potential danger to others or a source of comfort to themselves. It was the first small step in an elaborate and unremitting process of depersonalization and isolation. No article that provided a familiar psychological or physical link with the outside world could be retained. Among the precious documents rescued from the looting mob of 14 July 1789 is the Bastille’s Livres des Entrées covering the period 1734–1784. The admissions register, now preserved among the manuscripts of the British Library,17 records the precise time of each prisoner’s committal as well as the exact room assigned to each. It also gives a detailed inventory of any items taken from newly arrived prisoners. All personal possessions and papers were gathered up, labelled, sealed, and then stored away for safekeeping and future reference. Charles de Julie, first to be processed, is recorded as having on his person only a gold watch with its various accessories, and “un petit livre qui a pour titre Calendrier historique.” Perhaps he had decided at the last minute to take these items along in the mistaken belief that he would be allowed to keep track of the passing hours at the same time as he whiled away the tedium of prison confinement with study and reading. Unfortunately, both items were confiscated. He was then placed in the custody of one of the château’s four porte-clefs and escorted by an armed sentry to his assigned room on the first floor of the Tour de la Bazinière, one of the prison’s eight towers.18 Henceforth, “Première Bazinière” would be the only name the turnkeys, the guards, the prison doctor and all other minor functionaries in the château would know him by. Next to be admitted to the Salle du Conseil was the petit commissaire. Benoist-Louis Chazé’s possessions were few: “une clef de porte” (probably for the door of his father’s house on the rue des Moulins) and “deux petits morceaux de papier qui ont été mis sous enveloppe, étiquetés de la main du prisonnier.” Chazé was then summarily assigned to the “deuxième Comté,” considered to be one of the least desirable of the “normal” above-ground rooms in the entire château.19 Three months later, on 11 November 1753, he was shifted to more comfortable quarters, the “Première du Coin.”20 Hyacinthe Vessière de La Combe, last of the initial group to be dealt with, had rather optimistically brought along with him several personal

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 227

Disaster Strikes

227

articles of comfort, including: “une petite Étrenne mignonne,21 un portecrayon d’os, un livre qui a pour titre Le Nouvelliste aérien,22 plusieurs papiers qui ont été mis sous enveloppe [...] et quarante-sept livres en argent qui ont été mis dans un sac cacheté, et six petites pièces d’argent n’ayant pas cours.”23 Everything was handed over, sealed, signed, labelled, and stored away. The prisoner was then conducted to the “troisième Liberté.” By the time La Combe had been processed, inspector Meusnier was back at the château delivering his fourth prisoner, Nicolas Willemin de Coin. A search of de Coin’s person produced a wooden pencil, “six livres, deux sols, six deniers en argent,” and a number of papers and documents, including, surprisingly, a prohibited brochure, described as “la harangue des habitants de Sarcelles, et le Philotanus.” The lawyer’s choice of reading materials, pocketed at the last minute before he was taken from his grubby room in the rue des Marais, must have struck Rochebrune and Meusnier as puzzling. The Philotanus, a poem in dialogue form, was a well-known anonymous Jansenist tract attacking the papal bull Unigenitus. Although not confirmed as the author, Nicolas Jouin, a one-time banker, was listed in inspector d’Hémery’s files for January 1753 as a septuagenarian pamphleteer “qui a de l’esprit, fait des vers et en a fait quantité contre les chefs du Molinisme.”24 Jouin’s clandestine sarcelades, rhymed harangues supposedly addressed in popular and occasionally crude language to the archbishop of Paris by the inhabitants of Sarcelles (Val d’Oise), whose priests had been relieved of their duties because of Jansenist leanings, had appeared anonymously from time to time combined in the same volume with the Philotanus. D’Hémery’s efforts to discover the author of both offending pieces, and especially of an updated 1753 version of the sarcelades which viciously attacked Christophe de Beaumont, were to be greatly aided later that year by an anonymous denunciation of the author that was secretly mailed to Berryer by, as it turned out, Jouin’s 22–year old son (himself a poet and also in d’Hémery’s files). It was the son’s way of seeking revenge after his father had obtained an ordre du roi for the incarceration of his mistress in the Salpêtrière.25 The result was that the elder Jouin was himself locked up in the Bastille less than five months after the latest version of his forbidden book arrived there in the pockets of the prisoner de Coin.26 All of which does not explain why Nicolas de Coin had brought along a contraband book to the Bastille, but we can perhaps speculate that, having already discovered Jouin père’s secret, he had brought the evidence with him as a reminder to his superior, Berryer, that in spite of any recent derelictions of duty he could still be a valuable operative for the police. Whatever de Coin’s reasons, none of that mattered now: the packages, the prohibited book, the cheap pencil, and coins were gathered

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

228

Page 228

The Prisoner

up, stuffed into a cloth bag, sealed and duly labelled. De Coin was then taken to the “quatrième Bazinière,” considered to be one of the Bastille’s better rooms. It was located (although he was not to know this at the time) in the same tower as Julie’s room but three floors higher up. Situated at that level, the room afforded through its narrow recessed embrasure unobstructed if limited glimpses over the city toward the south-west. It was also high enough to catch an occasional breeze in the stifling August heat. Some fifty feet lower down, Charles de Julie’s airless first-floor chambre, located just above the dungeons, looked out onto nothing more consoling than the high stone wall that enclosed the inner moat. The “première Bazinière” was the Bastille’s least desirable room. In summer, at that low level, the stench rising from the nearby rue Saint-Antoine sewer and the slimy mud in the almost empty moat was overpowering. Finally it was the turn of Jean Mahudel, formerly a valet de chambre, now a tailor and a highly valued police mouche. During the search he was relieved of a thimble, a dilapidated pouch belt, and a very modest collection of silver coins worth a total of twenty-five sols and six deniers. He was then escorted to the “quatrième du Coin,” diagonally opposite the Bazinière Tower where the prisoners Julie and de Coin were now housed. Ten days later, for reasons not entirely clear but perhaps already having something to do with his eventual role as a prison mouton, he was shifted to the second-floor level of the du Coin tower. Inspector Meusnier’s work on the Julie case was now essentially complete. Commissaire Rochebrune, on the other hand, had to plan for one more very long and very difficult day. Within twenty-four hours at the latest, the prisoners would have to be brought down, one at a time, to the Salle du Conseil. They would be asked formally to acknowledge ownership of the papers that had been seized and sealed at the time of their arrest. After that, the commissaire would have to interrogate each of them, the sooner the better to keep them off balance in their strange new surroundings. It would be important, too, to decide in which order these interrogations should take place: the small fry first, obviously. They had been arrested mainly to implicate the principals, Julie and de Coin. Julie, especially, no doubt ... For a fixed honorarium of four livres per day, Rochebrune performed all of these supplementary duties as Berryer’s designated commissaire at the prison. His role was now more that of prosecuting judge than policeman and, athough his interrogations were always conducted with business-like decorum, he could be relentless and untiring in the process. De Coin, surely, would not have forgotten their last interrogation session at For l’Évêque nearly three years before. It had gone on without interruption from 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon until

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 229

Disaster Strikes

229

9:00 at night! “Grand et gros,” “droit comme un terme,” generally wrapped in a bulky gray frock coat that hid his magistrate’s robe and rabat,27 Rochebrune was an imposing figure of a man who commanded attention and respect. His less formal Bastille duties included acting as a kind of institutional quartermaster, ordering articles of clothing for the prisoners, and authorizing (or denying) the provision of various small items requested by them. Unlike most of his commissaire colleagues, he was also a man of solid culture, learning, and means. He resided comfortably with his family in his own town house in the rue Geoffroy-l’Asnier, not far from the Bastille. His scholarly interests were broad and in later years he seems to have played a role in the editing of a posthumous work by the celebrated linguist César Chesneau Du Marsais.28 When he died on 7 June 1774, he left a large private library that was put up for sale in September of that same year.29 Whether the redoubtable commissaire could, in addition, boast of ancestral bloodlines that made him a distant relative of Voltaire (who persistently claimed to be – rather than the legitimate son of a common notary – the bastard of a certain Rochebrune, “homme d’esprit ... mousquetaire, officier, auteur,”) is not clear.30 Rochebrune decided to begin his interrogations with Jean Mahudel, calculating no doubt that the pragmatic and resourceful mouche would be the most cooperative and perhaps even the best informed among the minor players in Charles de Julie’s entire operation. The commissaire had guessed correctly. Mahudel was indeed disposed to be helpful and was acquainted with most aspects of Julie’s enterprise. He had already worked in a number of police details and had acted as an informer for several of Julie’s officer colleagues. In this regard, he readily admitted that on various occasions, while working with inspector Buhot in the Étrangers detail, he had provided Julie with police reports. He had done so, however, only because he believed Julie – an exempt de robe courte, after all – was making use of these reports in the course of carrying out his own police assignments. He also knew for a fact that Julie was working for Berryer. Rochebrune’s interrogation continues: Du lundi 13 août. Interrogé si ledit sieur Julie ne lui a point demandé des notes sur des dames et des filles de Paris, et nous l’avons interpellé de nous circonstancier tout ce qui peut avoir trait à ladite demande. A dit qu’ayant porté, il y a environ trois mois, un jour dans la matinée à M. Le Roy, secrétaire de M. le lieutenant général de police, une lettre de la part dudit sieur de La Jannière, il trouva dans le bureau dudit sieur Le Roy, ledit sieur Julie qui reçut dudit sieur Le Roy cinquante écus que ledit sieur de Julie

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

230

Page 230

The Prisoner

dit au répondant être la récompense de son travail pour le magistrat; que ledit sieur Julie ayant donné alors un écu de six livres au répondant, qui lui avait donné des éclaircissements dans l’affaire de madame la duchesse de Lauraguais qui se plaignait de l’insolence d’un cocher bourgeois, il pria avec instance le répondant de lui apporter les affaires qu’il découvrirait, en lui faisant entendre que lui Julie, qui voulait en faire sa cour au magistrat, en récompenserait le répondant [...]. Interrogé s’il a connaissance de l’usage que ledit sieur Julie voulait faire desdites notes. A dit que ledit sieur Julie a toujours fait entendre qu’il voulait en donner connaissance à M. le lieutenant général de police, et le répondant y a d’autant plus ajouté foi, que ce travail convient à un officier de police, et que ledit sieur Julie assura au répondant que les cinquante écus qui lui avaient été donnés par ledit sieur Le Roy étaient la récompense que le magistrat lui faisait donner pour le travail de lui, Julie.31

Rochebrune then got down to the heart of the matter. What precisely was the “motif des liaisons intimes” between Charles de Julie and Willemin de Coin? A dit que ledit sieur Julie a vu très assidûment il y a environ six mois comme chargé de la créance du sieur Le Dantu marchand linger ledit sieur de Coin qui en était débiteur, et que depuis que cette affaire a été consommée, ledit sieur de Coin a dit au répondant depuis environ quatre mois, que ledit sieur Julie était un babillard en qui il n’avait aucune confiance et qu’il se garderait bien de lui donner jamais de son écriture; que depuis ce discours ils ont paru être raccommodés ensemble, et le répondant a entendu dire audit sieur Julie qu’il avait quelque chose en vue qui lui serait d’une grande utilité, et où il ne pouvait se passer dudit sieur de Coin, et que ce dernier ne pouvait se passer, de son coté, de lui, Julie.

In answer to questions concerning production of the bulletins, Mahudel replied that he personally had never copied out any. Julie did that himself with the help of La Combe and Chazé, the petit commissaire. Meusnier, we recall, had counted on finding among Julie’s papers “beaucoup de feuilles de l’écriture de de Coin.” The commissaire’s next question to Mahudel – had de Coin ever given written reports to Julie? – elicited a negative response: “A dit que ledit Julie allait voir les matins ledit de Coin sous la dictée duquel il écrivait ce qu’il y avait de nouveau, et lorsque le répondant se trouvait chez ledit de Coin, à l’arrivée dudit Julie, ils le renvoyaient pour être seuls parce qu’ils se défiaient de lui.”32

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 231

Disaster Strikes

231

Further questioning soon brought to light the entire structure of Julie’s distribution system and the respective roles of Cordier, Marianne Légeat, and Chazé. Mahudel also admitted to delivering Julie’s packages or letters – without knowing what they contained – to the residence of Helvétius on the rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs, to Francès père, Place Vendôme, and even to the maréchal de Richelieu at his town house on the Place Royale. He had also accompanied Julie during the latter’s visit to the home of the fermier général Bouret on the rue de la Grange-Batelière. Finally, Rochebrune asked a critical question about the nature of the money arrangements between Julie and de Coin: Interrogé s’il a connaissance de ce que ledit Julie donnait audit de Coin pour le récompenser [...]: A dit avoir entendu dire audit Julie il y a environ huit jours qu’ils partageaient ensemble et que ce qu’il donnait audit de Coin égalait ce que ce dernier recevait du sieur La Jannière.33

On the whole, Rochebrune must have been very satisfied with Mahudel’s evidence. He was probably even more pleased when, ten days later, he received orders from Berryer to interrogate Mahudel a second time. The cooperative mouche had somehow got word to the lieutenant général that he wished to add to his previous testimony. He had, he said, been casting his mind back and now recalled that, with Meusnier’s permission, he had passed on some priest stories to a certain abbé du Roscouet, sometime around the beginning of 1752. The unscrupulous abbé had made compromising use of these scandalous reports.34 More à propos, Mahudel recalled that at the beginning of the year he had made a manuscript copy of the anonymous Apologie de M. l’abbé de Prades35 and had given it to de Coin for transmission to Berryer through La Jannière. Several days later, de Coin had informed him that Berryer already had a copy of the forbidden tract.36 But it was Mahudel’s last little confession that Rochebrune found most helpful. It seems that de Coin may indeed have known that Julie was making illicit use of the police reports that were being passed on to him: “Ajoute encore le déclarant que le huit ou neuf du présent mois il a été voir ledit de Coin qui dans la conversation lui a dit de ne point donner aucune histoire de fille au sieur de Julie exempt de robe courte afin que l’écriture du déclarant ne parût point; que ce conseil a fort surpris le déclarant qui a dit audit de Coin en ces termes: ‘Est-ce que ce que fait ledit de Julie ne serait point pour le magistrat, ainsi qu’il me l’a fait entendre?’ et que ledit de Coin lui a répondu en ces termes: ‘Je

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

232

Page 232

The Prisoner

n’ai point d’autres choses à vous dire,’ sans avoir voulu s’expliquer plus particulièrement.”37 Rochebrune had begun Mahudel’s original interrogation at 11:30 a.m. on Monday 13 August. By 3:00 p.m. he had completed the lengthy interview and was ready to begin questioning La Combe. The forty-three-year-old La Combe – already known to Meusnier as something of a schemer – freely admitted to having passed on to Julie, an old acquaintance whom he had lost sight of for several years, various “nouvelles et pièces fugitives qui couraient au sujet des affaires du temps, et notamment sur tout ce qui a paru depuis l’exil du Parlement.”38 These bits and pieces included the material drawn from Bousquet de Colomier’s nouvelles à la main, which Meusnier and Rochebrune had seized in his room the previous day. Not unexpectedly, La Combe insisted that his motivation in all this had been entirely innocent. He had not, moreover, got involved in anything that could be described as morally indecent: Interrogé s’il sait quel usage ledit sieur Julie faisait des notes qui lui étaient remises par lui répondant. A dit qu’il a toujours pensé qu’il obligeait ledit Julie qui se servait desdites notes pour faire sa cour à M. le lieutenant général de police. Interrogé s’il n’a point donné des notes audit sieur Julie sur les liaisons qu’on attribue à des dames et des filles de Paris. A dit que non. Interrogé s’il sait quels étaient les motifs des liaisons que ledit sieur Julie avait avec le sieur de Coin. A dit qu’il a cru que ledit sieur de Coin était officier de police et que les discours que ce dernier tenait lorsqu’il venait voir ledit sieur Julie ont toujours confirmé dans ce sentiment le répondant. Interrogé ce que venait faire le nommé Mahudel chez le sieur de Julie. A dit qu’il s’est aperçu que ledit Mahudel donnait audit Julie des notes sur les Étrangers et sur des filles de Paris, et que ledit Julie lui donnait quelquefois des pièces de vingt-quatre sols et de douze sols, ainsi que de vieilles hardes.39

La Combe, the member of Julie’s team who best fits the profile of the usual nouvelliste of the day, went on to deny once again any involvement in the “indecent” aspects of Julie’s bulletins. On the other hand, he had often seen Chazé, who visited Julie once or twice a week, occupied with writing out “bulletins de femmes et de filles.” Indeed, he had himself occasionally (perhaps to relieve the tedium of being only a Parlement watcher!) perused these naughty accounts during his own visits to Julie. He had also delivered sealed letters from Julie to M. Le Normant, fermier général, to Thoynard de Jouy, maître des requêtes, and once even to Berryer himself.

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 233

Disaster Strikes

233

After only one hour of a fairly restrained and less than illuminating session of questions and answers, commissaire Rochebrune sent La Combe back to his room in the “troisième Liberté.” Rochebrune probably did not know what to expect from his upcoming examination of the next prisoner, Benoist-Louis Chazé. The involvement of the petit commissaire was obviously serious, and there had been hints of contumacy and defiance in his behaviour when he had been roused from his cot at Julie’s apartment the previous morning. Unlike the other four prisoners, he had refused to sign the official procès-verbal of his arrest40 and had consequently not been summoned to the Salle du Conseil later on to witness the unsealing of the papers seized on his person. Moreover, other members of the team seemed fully aware of young Chazé’s defiant nature – indeed, they were evidently counting on it! Meusnier’s spy – someone whom Julie trusted and who was obviously still trusted by his gouvernante as well – had continued even after the Sunday morning arrests to quietly gather evidence at Julie’s apartment. He would later report that Marianne Légeat’s only fear seemed to be that La Combe would spill his guts during interrogation. On the other hand, Julie’s gouvernante was confident that the petit commissaire would tell the police only what he wanted them to hear. Meusnier’s undercover agent took the remark seriously: “Comme elle était initiée dans tous les mystères; que le plus souvent c’était elle qui portait les paquets et faisait le guet dans la rue (outre qu’elle servait à deux fins au sieur Julie), elle sait ce que chacun des associés a dans l’âme.”41 It was on that same occasion that Marianne Légeat confidently asserted: “que son maître ne restera pas longtemps en presse parce que M. le duc d’Orléans, M. le maréchal de Richelieu et plusieurs autres seigneurs pour qui il travaillait le tireront d’affaire.” As it turned out, she was wrong on all counts. Probably warned off by the minister d’Argenson, the duc d’Orléans and the legendary maréchal made no attempt to intervene on Julie’s behalf and, contrary to expectations, during an interrogation that lasted several hours, Chazé proved to be entirely cooperative. Such perhaps was the effect of sudden translation to the dreaded Bastille on the untested nerves of a twenty-three-yearold middle-class Parisian. What Rochebrune said to the petit commissaire before his formal examination began, whether he employed avuncular or threatening tones, is not indicated in the official minutes. Indeed, what is recorded is quite brief, very much to the point, comprehensive, and entirely frank. The interrogation, parts of which were obviously “off the record,” lasted nearly three hours and probably progressed through various stages of verbal fencing before it ended with the prisoner making a surprisingly open and objective statement of the basic facts:

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

234

Page 234

The Prisoner

Interrogé depuis quel temps et à quelle occasion il connaît le sieur Julie, exempt de robe courte: A dit qu’il connaît cet officier depuis mil sept cent quarante-huit. Interrogé s’il n’a pas été engagé par ledit Julie il y a environ cinq mois d’écrire des bulletins concernant les dames et les filles de Paris, avec les anecdotes les plus satiriques et propres à exciter la curiosité: A dit que ledit Julie, qu’il alla voir un jour à la fin de l’hiver dernier et qui écrivait alors un bulletin concernant les dames et filles de Paris, proposa au répondant de l’écrire et depuis ce temps le répondant en a écrit plusieurs ordinaires sans en avoir jamais retiré aucun émolument. Interrogé de qui ledit Julie tirait les instructions nécessaires pour composer lesdits bulletins: A dit que La Combe fournissait les anecdotes ayant trait aux affaires du Parlement, Mahudel celles regardant les Étrangers; et que ledit de Coin qui venait voir ledit Julie lui dictait les histoires qui couraient sur les dames et sur les filles, ou Julie allait voir ledit de Coin, sous la dictée duquel il les écrivait. Qu’il est arrivé, mais très rarement, que ledit de Coin a donné audit Julie des notes par écrit lesquelles ont été déchirées après en avoir pris copie. Interrogé à quelles personnes ledit Julie fournissait lesdits bulletins et quel profit il en retirait: A dit qu’il les fournissait à M. Bouret, fermier général, qui les lui payait quinze à dix-huit cents livres par an, à M. le baron de Besenval pour M. le duc d’Orleans, et à M. le maréchal de Richelieu, sans que le répondant sache quel paiement ledit Julie en recevait. A connaissance encore que ledit Julie fournissait les mêmes bulletins à M. de Villemur l’aîné, receveur général des finances, et que Messieurs Helvétius et Le Normant, fermiers généraux, et le sieur Francès, à qui ils ont été proposés, ne s’en sont point souciés. Interrogé à qui ledit Julie confiait le port desdits bulletins mis sous enveloppe et pliés en forme de lettre: A dit que le nommé Cordier demeurant au carré de Sainte-Geneviève les a portés pendant quelque temps et que depuis la nommée Marianne Légeat, domestique dudit Julie, et le répondant les ont portés auxdits sieurs Bouret, Villemur et baron de Besenval, et que ledit Julie les portait lui-même, soit à M. le maréchal de Richelieu, soit en son absence audit Desnoyers demeurant à Paris rue de l’Université. Interrogé si lesdits bulletins paraissaient à certains jours fixes de la semaine: A dit qu’ils ne paraissaient pas régulièrement un certain jour de la semaine, et que ledit Julie en réglait la composition suivant les matériaux que lui donnait ledit de Coin, et qui concernaient les nouveaux amants que les femmes et filles avaient; les amants qui les quittaient pour prendre d’autres maîtresses, les infidélités réciproques, et les présents que les femmes et filles recevaient; le tout accompagné de traits propres à aiguiser la malignité et la curiosité [...].42

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 235

Disaster Strikes

235

Commissaire de Rochebrune probably did not hesitate long before deciding which of the two remaining prisoners – Julie or de Coin – should be interrogated next. Julie’s goose was by now thoroughly cooked, but his testimony might throw light on the line of questioning that could best determine whether de Coin was merely a secondary player in Julie’s illegal enterprise or a knowing equal partner. The interrogation of Charles de Julie, personally well known to Rochebrune – indeed, something of a family friend – began as soon as Chazé was sent back to the “deuxième Comté” at around 7:00 p.m. As he stated his name, the exempt de robe courte was careful to include his decorative particle, Charles de Julie. That was how Rochebrune knew him and it was hardly the right moment to abandon the reassuring fiction of aristocratic birth! Then, in answer to the friendly commissaire’s preliminary questions, Julie freely admitted that he had used Mahudel’s notes from the Étrangers detail to fill out his bulletins galants. In his own defence, however, he pointed out that – as Rochebrune knew very well – he had at first made every effort to work at his profession of exempt in a regular manner, “sans avoir pu réussir et s’être garanti de la misère dans laquelle il se voyait plongé de jour en jour par le nombre de créanciers qui le poursuivaient, même par corps.”43 Knowing that Berryer would later be reviewing Rochebrune’s official record of the interrogation, Julie carefully avoided any direct suggestion that it was all the fault of the lieutenant général, the adamantine magistrate who had deliberately frustrated his every attempt to work at his chosen profession. Instead, the prisoner drew attention to the fact that Berryer had specifically allowed him to accept the duc de Richelieu’s invitation to keep an eye on the activities of the demoiselle Roux, the mistress of Richelieu’s good friend milord Hyde. The maréchal-duc had been well pleased with his work and had next asked him to try to track down the insolent coachman who had shown disrespect to Madame la duchesse de Lauraguais. That assignment had also been undertaken “du consentement du magistrat.” It was while he was reporting regularly to Richelieu on the Lauraguais affair that, “vers le mois de septembre de l’année dernière, le répondant a fait des bulletins concernant les histoires de ville et qu’il a donnés à M. le maréchal de Richelieu pour lui faire sa cour, et il a continué de lui faire passer lesdits bulletins contenant les anecdotes galantes du temps.” Admittedly, one thing had led to another. Having seen a sampling of Julie’s handiwork, Bouret had approached him wanting reports on the peccadillos of the femmes de financiers. Similarly, Villemur l’aîné was “fort curieux” concerning “ce qui se passait parmi les filles de l’Opéra”; and then there was the baron de Besenval who, on behalf of his master the duc d’Orléans, “l’engagea à lui donner par écrit” all of

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

236

Page 236

The Prisoner

the “histoires courantes” that came his way. None of that, Julie implied, would have happened if he hadn’t started working for Richelieu, and the work for Richelieu had been authorized by Berryer. Would not Berryer, reading between the lines of Rochebrune’s report, feel compelled by conscience to recognize his own primary responsibility in the matter of Charles de Julie’s downfall? How could he not understand, not forgive? It was at this point that Rochebrune asked a question designed to bring to light the true nature and extent of de Coin’s involvement: Interrogé de qui le répondant tenait les matériaux qui lui servaient à la composition desdites feuilles ou bulletins: A dit que différentes personnes l’instruisaient dans la conversation qu’il avait avec elles, soit dans les spectacles et autres endroits publics, des histoires nouvelles sur lesquelles le répondant se faisait donner des instructions par le nommé Mahudel qui ignorait l’usage que le répondant en voulait faire. Que souvent le répondant avait des entretiens sur les mêmes objets avec le sieur de Coin qui fréquente les spectacles et qui est fort répandu, et ce que le répondant apprenait par ces différentes voies, et en prenant des extraits chez ledit sieur de Coin, lui servait à composer lesdits bulletins qui étaient écrits avec décence et sans grossièreté.44

Charles de Julie’s claims to editorial decency and respect for the proprieties gave Rochebrune an opening to bring up another point: the unpleasant business of Jelyotte and Mme Préaudeau, and the source of the obscene petites nouvelles circulating about Bouret’s niece. Had the prisoner Julie been in any way involved in that? Julie’s response was righteously indignant: No, that was not his style. It might be Chevrier’s style but he, Julie, knew better than to “intermix the sacred and the profane.” His own petites historiettes were always composed “sans obscénité.” Ignoring the fact that scurrilous gossip tends to spread, Charles de Julie went even further, insisting that his elite clients would, in any case, have been careful to avoid circulating any of the material he had supplied. Rochebrune decided to move on: Interrogé ce que lui rapportaient lesdits bulletins et ce qu’il donnait audit sieur de Coin:

In his answer Julie demonstrated a degree of personal integrity that may have surprised in this instance even himself. As he had already in the case of Mahudel, he attempted to minimize de Coin’s culpability: A dit que M. le maréchal de Richelieu lui faisait donner de temps en temps quelques louis, sans avoir de prix fixe: Que le sieur Bouret lui donnait cent

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 237

Disaster Strikes

237

francs par mois; le sieur de Villemur cent vingt livres tous les trois mois, et M. de Besenval quatre louis tous les mois. Que le répondant donnait quatre-vingtquatre livres par mois audit sieur de Coin, qui dans le commencement croyait que les notes que lui demandait le répondant étaient pour M. le maréchal de Richelieu, et qui ensuite a eu connaissance de toutes les personnes ci-dessus nommées à qui le répondant donnait lesdits bulletins; et qu’enfin ledit sieur de Coin n’y a eu de part qu’après bien des instances qui lui ont été faites par le répondant.45

Julie’s admission that he had resorted to a certain amount of badgering – bien des instances – in order to persuade de Coin to collaborate in his enterprise would be confirmed (albeit without the benefit of Julie’s euphemistic phrasing) by de Coin himself before the night was over. Responding to a related question about Chazé and La Combe, Julie again assumed the burden of culpability: Chazé had indeed copied out bulletins but he received no payment for doing so “et même n’écrivait lesdits bulletins que pour faire plaisir au répondant et sans en sentir les conséquences.”46 The same was true for La Combe who, “dans la crise du Parlement et avant l’exil, allait au Palais et rapportait au répondant ce qu’il avait appris sur cet objet.” La Combe had, however, done this in the belief that Julie was transmitting the material to Berryer through the good offices of inspector Roulier, to whom La Combe occasionally reported. In short, both Mahudel and La Combe thought they were working for the police. Chazé had not profited in any way and had not, moreover, been aware of the consequences of his actions. Finally, La Combe had not involved himself in reporting scandal and “n’a jamais donné au répondant aucunes notes sur les histoires courantes.” In his testimony, Julie was, of course, not above using sincerity as a ploy, and it is possible that this show of loyalty to his co-accused was little more than a tactic to impress his captors. In any case, while his admissions may have lessened the punishment of his associates, they did little to diminish his own. In this respect, the interrogation of Willemin de Coin, which followed immediately on the exempt’s threehour session with Rochebrune, did not help Charles de Julie’s cause in the slightest. It was 10:00 p.m., still Monday 13 August, when a weary commissaire Rochebrune finished with Julie and instructed one of the turnkeys to bring de Coin from his fourth-floor room in the Bazinière Tower to the Salle du Conseil. On their way down the spiral staircase, the prisoner and his guard passed noisily in front of the entrance to Julie’s double-locked room on the first floor of the same tower. The Bastille was, however, a most secretive place and, for the moment at least, there

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

238

Page 238

The Prisoner

was no way either prisoner could have known they were neighbours or, indeed, even occupants of the same prison. Rochebrune had only a few questions for de Coin – far fewer, certainly, than when they had last faced each other during a marathon interrogation three years earlier at For l’Évêque. The delinquent police informer had obviously played a major role in Julie’s enterprise. It was also clear that he knew at the time of his derelictions how his officially sanctioned histoires galantes were being illegally recycled. The challenge now for the commissaire would be to get the cagey lawyer to admit as much. Less supple-minded than Charles de Julie, he would undoubtedly simply choose to play the victim and try to shift the blame: Interrogé s’il ne connaît pas le sieur Julie, exempt de robe courte, et s’il ne lui a point donné des notes, soit de vive voix, soit sous la dictée, et que ledit Julie lui a dit être pour M. le maréchal de Richelieu. A dit que oui. S’il n’est pas vrai que depuis environ quatre mois ledit Julie a fait confidence au répondant qu’il distribuait des bulletins ou petites nouvelles à M. Bouret, fermier général, à M. Villemur, receveur général des finances, à M. le baron de Besenval pour M. le duc d’Orléans; et que pour intéresser le répondant à lui communiquer les histoires courantes sur les femmes et filles de Paris, il a donné jusqu’à la somme de quatre-vingt-quatre livres par mois au répondant, en lui faisant entendre qu’il partageait avec lui le fruit de ce nouveau travail.47

Sensing grave danger, the prisoner de Coin chose to answer only part of the question: A dit que depuis environ deux mois il a donné de pareilles notes audit Julie qui lui a seulement donné quatre louis d’or de vingt-quatre livres, sans que le répondant ait connu d’autres personnes que ledit sieur Julie.

But Rochebrune patiently came back to the critical point: Did the prisoner de Coin know how Julie intended to use his police notes? A lui représenté que le répondant n’a point parlé auxdits sieurs Bouret, de Villemur, et baron de Besenval, mais que le répondant a été instruit par ledit Julie que les notes que le répondant lui donnait servaient de matériaux pour les petites nouvelles que ledit Julie fournissait auxdites personnes, et que le répondant sachant l’usage que faisait desdites notes ledit Julie, il est inexcusable et a manqué son devoir.

CH10-PT3.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 239

Disaster Strikes

239

No getting around that! De Coin now chose the only escape route possible: he had, in fact, been coerced into a dereliction of duty. Julie had blackmailed him into collaborating in a crime: A dit que le sieur Julie, qui était porteur d’une sentence obtenue au Châtelet à la requête du sieur Le Dantu contre le répondant comme stellionataire portant condamnation de sept mille et tant de livres, est venu il y a environ six mois trouver le répondant pour en avoir le payement, et il s’est servi du pouvoir qu’il avait d’arrêter le répondant pour l’engager à venir voir lui, Julie, et il a même écrit plusieurs lettres menaçantes au répondant qui par la crainte qu’il avait dudit Julie a succombé aux propositions qu’il a faites au répondant qui y a malheureusement acquiescé et qui a donné audit Julie lesdites notes et pour lesquelles il n’a jamais reçu dudit Julie que quatre louis d’or de vingt-quatre livres. Ajouté que ledit Julie lui a fait confidence qu’il fournissait lesdites petites nouvelles à M. Bouret et M. le baron de Besenval, et que M. de Villemur ne s’en souciait point.48

The truth, or almost, at last! Presented, moreover, rather more graphically than in Julie’s bland admission that de Coin had gone along with the scheme only after “much urging.” After a brief query to confirm that Julie and Chazé were the copistes, Rochebrune came to his last question: Interrogé si le répondant fournissait beaucoup d’anecdotes audit Julie: A dit que ledit Julie tenait beaucoup d’histoires de la grande Dupont et de la nommée Louison, gouvernante du sieur Desnoyers; qu’outre ces ressources ledit Julie savait encore beaucoup d’histoires galantes chez plusieurs maquerelles de Paris et qu’enfin, lorsqu’il avait recours au répondant, qu’il persécutait, il [i.e de Coin] n’avait que des histoires usées et si anciennes que ledit Julie a dit au répondant que M. le maréchal de Richelieu en était dégoûté.

Finally, de Coin put forward the notion that part of his motivation in all this had been his desire to serve Berryer as a source of secret information since Julie “tenait dudit sieur Desnoyers beaucoup d’histoires courantes qui pouvaient intéresser le travail du magistrat.”49 Rochebrune probably found that last excuse by de Coin a trifle overdone. But never mind; he now had an ironclad case to hand on to Berryer. It had been a long day. It was past midnight when he sent for his carriage and headed home.

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 240

11 Prisoners in the Bastille

Julie and his associates had been arrested, searched, and incarcerated by authority of ordres du Roi. The entire process from beginning to end had been quick and uncomplicated. Now, following Rochebrune’s interrogations and his report to Berryer, all judicial proceedings were essentially complete. A specific lettre de cachet had arbitrarily committed each prisoner to an indefinite sentence in the Bastille; another specific ordre du Roi would be required before any of them could be released. When that would be – within two months or two years, or more – was determined theoretically by a recommendation of the designated king’s minister, currently the comte d’Argenson; but in fact the decision normally hinged on the recommendation of Nicolas-René Berryer de Ravenoville, now fifty years of age, former intendant of Poitou (1743–1747), future member of the powerful Conseil des Dépêches (1757), future Secretary of the Navy (1758–1761) and still remembered with mixed feelings today in French Canada for choosing “not to worry about the stables burning when the château was on fire.” In 1761 he was appointed Garde des Sceaux, a uniquely influential position which he retained until his death the following year. Julie’s little bulletins, which disclosed to Richelieu and others the kind of gossip Berryer himself is thought to have passed on for the amusement of the king and the marquise, must have been especially infuriating to the lieutenant général. Married in 1738 to the wealthy daughter of a sous-fermier but himself not averse to entertaining the occasional Opéra danseuse at his own petite maison located in the suburbs a safe distance from his respectable town house on the rue de

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 241

Prisoners in the Bastille

241

l’Université, Julie’s superior would have quickly grasped the possibility that at some point even his own name might turn up in such a scurrilous sheet. Ambitious but generally rated as professionally mediocre by his peers, Berryer had a flair for proving, time after time, his complete dedication to the marquise de Pompadour. Her âme damnée as well as her protégé, Berryer throughout his career defended the interests of the royal mistress even more diligently than those of their common master, the king. Purely in terms of legal process, the situation of Charles de Julie and his prison associates was not unlike that of naughty children sent off to reform school – confined there indefinitely without much fuss or bother at the behest of a father hoping to effect a much-needed moral transformation in the outlook and behaviour of his delinquent offspring. In the patriarchal society of the Old Regime, the king’s subjects were his children, and in his paternal wisdom he could choose to deal with the delinquents in his extended family in precisely this expeditious and discreet way through the application of personal justice. A sojourn in the Bastille, long or short, was not construed by any of the parties involved as déshonorant. Guilt could eventually be cleansed through a challenging spiritual process that ideally ended with the culprit’s total repentance and formal submission to authority. No one denied that wayward sons had to be brought to heel, but it was essential in a society whose highest social imperative was the notion of honour that this be carried out without at the same time causing irreversible damage to family reputations. Among decent upper-crust people, dirty linen had to be washed quietly and secretly in private. Since it was clearly impossible to predict how much incarceration was needed to bring about a prisoner’s reform, indeterminate sentencing was seen as a necessary corollary to the prevailing correctional policy. Complete spiritual submission had to be achieved through an active process of penitence and inner assent that allowed the offender to reflect on himself – rentrer en lui-même being the standard expression – acknowledging his faults and transgressions unconditionally. Only then would he be deemed ready for release. Of course, the length of confinement varied not only according to the subject’s receptiveness to correction but also according to the gravity of the crime committed. Somewhere at the back of the lieutenant général’s mind was a complex formula that he, with apparently little hesitation or doubt, applied in each case. Other intangible variables also affected the equation, most notably the degree to which the penitent’s family enjoyed – through the happenstance of birth, wealth or position – the benefits of “quality” protection. Finally, there was perhaps the most mysterious variable of all, not only the need to punir and corriger, to discipline and reform,

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

242

Page 242

The Prisoner

but also the implicit requirement in certain cases to punir and tourmenter, to discipline and torment. Those are the words chosen by Linguet,1 one of the Bastille’s brightest alumni, who concluded that the guiding maxim of the Bastilleurs must have something in common with the instructions favoured by Caligula when ordering an assassination: “Frappez de façon qu’il se sente mourir.”2 And if the word tourmenter seems not quite right, Berryer’s presiding over the fate of the Bastille’s inmates gives every sign of his having something close to it in mind. A clear illustration of the process can be found in a case already referred to, that of Jouin, author of the pro-Jansenist sarcelades that Nicolas de Coin brought with him to the Bastille at the time of his arrest. Both the ruined seventy-year-old ex-banker, Jouin, and his forty-fiveyear old printer, Briard-Descoutures, were sent to the Bastille on the same day, 9 January 1754. Their crime was direct involvement in the sarcelades attacking the Archbishop of Paris, Christophe de Beaumont. The association of Nicolas Jouin de Soreuil and Cosme-Louis BriardDescoutures went back many years, Descoutures having also printed Jouin’s earlier sarcelade attacks on Beaumont’s predecessor, archbishop Charles-Gaspard-Guillaume de Vintimille. Descoutures’s wife, who had peddled copies of the work, was not arrested on January 9th because, as inspector d’Hémery reported to Berryer, “elle a 5 ou 6 petits enfants.”3 Scarcely a month had passed, however, when Archbishop de Beaumont, moved by an appeal from Jouin’s wife and in a gesture that belies at least some of the negative press he has received from historians over the past two centuries, petitioned Berryer to release the aging author: 5 février 1754 Permettez-moi de vous demander grâce pour Jouin qui a été mis à la Bastille le 9 du mois dernier à cause des Sarcelades qui ont été faites contre moi, et dont on l’accuse d’être l’auteur. Je lui pardonne de tout mon cœur ce qui m’est personnel, et je suis persuadé que l’indulgence dont vous userez à son égard le portera à se repentir de ce qu’il y a mis de contraire à la religion. Sa femme et ses enfants ne peuvent subsister sans lui, et vous m’obligerez sensiblement si vous voulez bien le rendre à leurs besoins. Je vous demande cette grâce avec la plus vive instance.4

The victim’s magnanimous appeal succeeded. Jouin, seemingly “très repentant” (his later publications indicate that he had not, in fact, repented or reformed in the slightest)5 was released without delay. Several weeks later, again moved by a suffering family’s plight, the archbishop wrote to Berryer requesting leniency for Jouin’s printer, BriardDescoutures:

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 243

Prisoners in the Bastille

243

18 mars 1754 J’ai l’honneur de vous envoyer une lettre de M. le curé de Saint-Eustache, par laquelle vous verrez que la famille de Briard-Descoutures est dans un extrême besoin, et qu’il conviendrait, pour cette raison, d’user d’indulgence à son égard; vous me ferez plaisir de le faire mettre en liberté si vous n’y voyez pas d’inconvénient.

This time the response from Berryer was immediate, negative, and highly revealing: 19 mars 1754 Quelque disposé que je sois à déférer à vos désirs et à vous en donner des preuves dans les choses qui dépendent de moi, trouvez bon que je ne propose pas au ministre la liberté de Briard, dit Descoutures, en faveur duquel vous m’écrivez. Ce particulier mérite d’être en pénitence pendant du temps; sa mauvaise foi et sa dissimulation n’annoncent que trop qu’il est bien éloigné de se corriger, et il aurait mérité une peine plus humiliante que celle qu’il éprouve.

Une peine humiliante: The words Berryer chooses speak volumes about the hidden formula, calling as it does for the prisoner’s demoralization and debasement as well as his reformation. For some prisoners, the notions of avilir and tourmenter had to be considered in addition to punir and corriger. Here, the petitioner for clemency – the victim of the crime – was the same person in both cases, but Berryer’s personal sentencing protocol seems to have prevailed over any misgivings he may have felt about meting out unequal or inconsistent justice. Even five months later, after receiving a second eloquent appeal in favour of equal clemency for Descoutures, Berryer remained firm, hinting – very probably in bad faith – that his superior, d’Argenson, would be opposed. What becomes clear in the following exchange is the privileged role that purely arbitrary and subjective considerations played in the decision. Building on the archbishop’s initial petition, the second appeal was sent by Bridou de Belleville on 23 July 1754: La connaissance que j’ai de la misère affreuse de la femme de BriardDescoutures, détenu à la Bastille depuis le 9 janvier dernier pour l’impression criminelle d’une Sarcelade, dont vous avez pardonné à l’auteur, m’engage à vous demander la même grâce pour l’imprimeur, en considération de sa femme et de ses enfants qui sont les innocentes victimes de sa faute. M. l’archevêque vous a demandé cette grâce et la désire; j’ai l’honneur de vous représenter que sa malheureuse famille mérite votre charitable attention et compassion. Je vous la demande par une connaissance de cause la plus vive et la plus touchante.6

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

244

Page 244

The Prisoner

To which Berryer replied with another firm negative four days later: “La liberté de Descoutures, prisonnier à la Bastille, ne dépend pas de moi seul, c’est à M. le comte d’Argenson d’en ordonner; je désirerais, par considération pour votre recommandation, pouvoir la solliciter auprès du ministre; mais il le connaît trop pour que j’en fasse la démarche. L’auteur du libelle en question a obtenu, à la vérité, sa liberté; mais il est capable de se corriger, au lieu que l’on ne peut se promettre la même chose de Descoutures qu’après une pénitence de plus longue durée.”7 Given Berryer’s estimate, we are not surpised to learn that it was more than a year before the architect and sometime printer BriardDescoutures finally satisfied the requirements of Berryer’s correctional recipe. He was released on 28 January 1755. An early hint of how Nicolas Berryer would similarly concentrate his afflictive formula on Charles de Julie can be seen in a routine administrative document of 19 August 1753, which details formal completion of the team’s arrest. After studying Rochebrune’s account of the five interrogations, Berryer, a week later, sent a brief report to the minister d’Argenson asking for backdated ordres en forme to replace the anticipatory warrants on which the arrests had been based: Ayant été informé que le sieur Julie, exempt de robe courte, donnait à beaucoup de personnes pour de l’argent des feuilles de nouvelles fort impertinentes où la réputation et conduite de bien des gens étaient cruellement déchirées, je l’ai fait arrêter et conduire à la Bastille de l’ordre du Roi sous le bon plaisir du ministre. J’ai en même temps fait arrêter et conduire au même lieu ses quatre copistes et mouches dont les noms sont ci-après: Benoist-Louis Chazé, Hyacinthe de la Combe, Nicolas Villemin de Coin, et Jean Mahudel. On a saisi leurs papiers où s’est trouvé beaucoup de feuilles de nouvelles.8

For obvious reasons, Julie is singled out as the main culprit in the affair, and for the time being no distinctions are made among the others, all being described as “his” copistes (the words et mouches were inserted later as an afterthought). Varying release dates and other marked refinements in the treatment of Julie would, however, soon reveal the lieutenant général’s true thinking on the matter. The prisoners, meanwhile, were coping with the initial shock of their new surroundings. Their entire physical world was now reduced to the confines of their cell or chambre in one or other of the Bastille’s eight stout towers whose tapering stone walls – nearly two metres thick at the top and much thicker at the base – were linked together by an equally sturdy masonry curtain, the whole forming a massive, quasi-

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 245

Prisoners in the Bastille

245

rectangular structure. Both in itself and in the way it partially interrupted the alignment of the rue Saint-Antoine, which continued through to the adjoining faubourg, the huge prison château was not regarded as a pretty sight.9 A spiral staircase in each tower gave access to a single room on each floor, beginning at the underground cachot level and rising to the cramped, low-ceilinged calotte at the top. Unbearable in the heat of summer, the calottes resembled to some extent the infamous Leads of Venice. The best that could be said of them was that in winter they were better than the cachots at the level of the moat. Perennially damp and dark, those underground cells crawled with rats year-round and were often flooded in the rainy season. Even more than the above-ground rooms, they were also constantly bathed in the malodorous effluvium of the surrounding moat. Recalcitrant prisoners were sometimes assigned to the calottes for punishment, but detainees considered especially difficult were placed in the cachots, sometimes held there in irons, typically for a few days of specific “correction,” but occasionally for months or even years at a time. Both the calottes and the cachots were normally left unoccupied and well before the Revolution their use was abolished. In contrast, the intervening octagonal-shaped chambres were relatively spacious, averaging about 5 metres in diameter, with ceilings 4 metres high. Two or more separately locked doors in the short passageway leading from a stairwell landing secured the entrance to each room. Most of the rooms had a small fireplace, some only a stove. In addition to the single heavily barred window that let in light and air, some rooms had a narrow meurtrière that allowed a supplementary shaft of light to penetrate to the chill interior. Furnishings were sparse: “Deux matelas rongés des vers, un fauteuil de canne dont le siège ne tenoit qu’avec des ficelles, une table pliante, une cruche pour l’eau, deux pots de fayance dont un pour boire; et deux pavés pour soutenir le feu; voilà l’inventaire.”10 Some of the towers had as many as six usable chambres stacked between the cachot and the calotte, while others had as few as three. In Julie’s tower, the “Bazinière,” four rooms were in use. De Coin occupied the one immediately under the calotte and Julie’s was just above the cachot, which at the time housed one of the prison’s most violent inmates, Antoine Allègre, an associate of the celebrated escapee Masers de Latude. Bright, hot-headed, and dangerous, Allègre had been transferred there from a “du Puits” tower room two years earlier as punishment for having attempted to murder a prison attendant with an improvised knife. It was only because the cachots were threatened with flooding from the moat that Allègre was again moved on 29 December 1753 to the “quatrième Comté,” the room from which he and his cell mate Latude eventually managed the only

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

246

Page 246

The Prisoner

successful escape from the Bastille that occurred during the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI.11 France at this mid-century point was undergoing an unusual degree of social upheaval and the police were kept busy making arrests. The marquis d’Argenson, writing in his journal on 12 August 1753 – the very day Julie and his associates were taken into custody – noted that Paris prisons were packed to the limit: “Les prisons de la conciergerie du palais à Paris sont remplies et regorgent, quoique l’on ait averti les lieutenants criminels de province de n’y plus envoyer de prisonniers, et les prisons de province sont encore plus dans le même cas.”12 D’Argenson was referring mainly to the capital’s prisons for common criminals. It is unlikely that even he could have had any precise knowledge of the situation behind the walls of the Bastille, where total secrecy about such details was imposed. But in fact, the Bastille, too, was overflowing, although the notion of “crowding” in the château’s vast reaches, housing at the time an average total inmate population of around forty in nearly as many chambres, seems ludicrous when compared to the thousands suffering under incredibly miserable conditions in Bicêtre and la Salpêtrière, where five and even six prisoners were routinely assigned to one dormitory bed. The situation of hundreds of prisoners occupying the crowded “straw” rooms of such “honourable” prisons as For l’Evêque was also deplorable. Nevertheless, relatively speaking, the Bastille with every room occupied and occasionally two prisoners assigned to one spacious room was officially perceived to be jammed. On 20 November 1753, the château’s major, Henri-Godillon Chevalier, wrote to Berryer pointing out the gravity of the problem: “Je joins ici un état des prisonniers. Je vous prie d’observer que nous n’avons plus de chambre de vacante dans aucune des tours. Nous ne pouvons plus disposer que de deux appartements où vous savez que l’on entend tout ce qui se passe dans le château et souvent même on le voit.”13 The two apartments mentioned by the major were on the first floor of the administration building that bisected the Bastille’s inner courtyard. The ground floor housed the kitchens as well as the Salle du Conseil, while the top floor provided living quarters for the major and the lieutenant de Roi. In fact, only very special prisoners were normally offered the luxury of incarceration in the apartments. The journalist Fréron, inspector d’Hémery’s zealous mouche and a staunch defender of orthodoxy, was locked up in one of them for eight days in January 1757 as a gesture to placate the Spanish ambassador. Fréron had unwisely published a colleague’s account of a book deemed unacceptable to the Spanish nation. Berryer’s instructions to Chevalier on this occasion make it clear just how favourably he, as lieutenant général, could treat a prisoner in the Bastille if he had a mind to:

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 247

Prisoners in the Bastille

247

Paris, le 24 janvier 1757 Lorsque vous recevrez au château de la Bastille, monsieur, le sieur Fréron, qui y sera conduit de l’ordre du Roy par le sieur d’Hémery, inspecteur de police, vous lui donnerez un des deux appartements à feu, la promenade, des livres et de quoi écrire pour s’amuser dans sa chambre. Vous lui permettrez d’entendre la messe, s’il le veut; en un mot, vous lui procurerez tous les adoucissements que l’on peut accorder à un prisonnier avec sûreté de sa personne, et vous me marquerez s’il profite des facilités que je veux bien avoir pour lui.14

The next day we find Berryer instructing Chevalier to heap even more privileges on the writer, who is especially remembered today as one of Voltaire’s greatest enemies: “Voulant bien faciliter au sieur Fréron, détenu à la Bastille, de continuer un ouvrage qu’il fait, vous recevrez, monsieur, du sieur d’Hémery les épreuves de cet ouvrage à mesure qu’il les lui portera pour les corriger, et ensuite vous les remettrez au sieur d’Hémery qui se chargera de les rendre à l’imprimeur.”15 And finally on 28 January 1757, only five days before Fréron’s release, the lieutenant général de police showed that it did not much matter what his favourite journalist-informer saw or heard from the Bastille’s central apartment windows. He was even to be allowed direct contact with the outside world in the form of a supervised visit from his wife: “Je vous prie, monsieur, de permettre au sieur Fréron, détenu de l’ordre du Roy à la Bastille, de parler à sa femme au sujet de leurs affaires de famille, en observant les précautions ordinaires.”16 Such was not, to be sure, the general rule. Indeed, it bespeaks treatment so different from what Charles de Julie was soon to experience that one has difficulty imagining that the two detainees were in the same prison on instructions originating with the same lieutenant général de police. There can be little doubt, first of all, that Julie’s assignment to the “première Bazinière” was made with careful thought to its isolated location as well as its general undesirability. One of the room’s more recent occupants, for example, had been the chevalier Le Boulleur de Chassan, incarcerated in June 1749 for propos séditieux on such popular transgressive themes as the king’s adultery with Pompadour and the paix honteuse et déshonorante of Aix-la-Chapelle. After two years in a more comfortable room higher up, Chassan had been transferred in June 1751 to the “première Bazinière” in order to put a stop to his increasingly feverish attempts to shout messages from his tower window to passers-by in the nearby rue Saint-Antoine. On 23 June 1751 the Bastille’s major Chevalier reports the incident to Berryer and describes the scene as follows:

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

248

Page 248

The Prisoner

Hier, après midi, le chevalier de Chassan étant ou contrefaisant le fou depuis plus d’un mois, criait comme un aigle par sa fenêtre, et disant ces mots avec une voix de tonnerre: “Allez, peuple, avertir le Parlement que l’on me veut pendre ici dedans, et que je suis innocent, et je veux que ce soit le Parlement qui me juge.” Puis, redoublant sa voix: “M’entendez-vous?” La populace qui était amassée en très grand nombre à la porte Saint-Antoine, à qui cette scène faisait plaisir, lui répondait: “Oui, on y est allé,” il redoublait: “Je ne demande pas de grâce, mais je veux être jugé par le Parlement,” et puis disait: “M’entendez-vous?” Il a été entendu jusque dans le faubourg Saint-Antoine, qu’il criait. M. le lieutenant de Roi, lassé de cela, lui a dit et fait dire d’être tranquille; il n’en a voulu rien faire. Somme totale, on a été obligé de le changer. Il a été mis dans la première chambre de la Bazinière, où il ne peut être vu ni aperçu de personne; ce matin, ce prisonnier paraît un peu plus tranquille.17

Readers familiar with the prison career of the marquis de Sade will recall how a more receptive crowd in the rue Saint-Antoine reacted later in the century when the marquis, enraged at being denied his usual promenades on the Bastille’s platform terrace where canon were now deployed, attempted to stir up the local citizenry by shouting inflammatory messages through an improvised megaphone from his “sixième Liberté” window.18 But despite the occasional leather-lunged effort to convey dire warnings and reports to the outside world from the upper tower windows, the problem of illicit prisoner communications within the fortress itself was judged far more serious. Some of the towers were especially vulnerable to what were called “les correspondances,” providing opportunities for inmates to carry on furtive conversations among themselves by means of the interconnected chimney system. In addition, some prisoners managed to hide messages in books that were circulated through the prison library while others, during their promenade or on the way to mass, left notes in secret recesses, under loose tiles in passageways, or attached to chapel furniture with candle wax. Guards regularly checked for messages scratched out in tiny lettering on the metal dinner plates that circulated throughout the prison. Access to writing materials was a privilege that was controlled with absolute strictness. If granted permission to write – usually it would be only to the lieutenant général in the case of letter communications – prisoners were given papier à compte, numbered sheets, each of which had to be strictly accounted for at the end of a given period of time. Despite constant precautions, however, a fair number of illicit exchanges did take place. For example, only three days before Julie’s assignment to the “première Bazinière,” Berryer had ordered the removal of all writing privileges as well as the right to regular promenades and attendance at mass from the prisoner Jacques Rhinville, who occupied the room immediately above his.

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 249

Prisoners in the Bastille

249

While Julie’s room was effectively blocked from all visual access to the outside world by its low situation relative to the inner perimeter wall, the “première Bazinière” had, in fact, a long-standing reputation for vulnerability to intramural communication. Indeed, athough the Bastille’s most celebrated prisoner ever, the mysterious “Man in the Iron Mask,” was first assigned to this room after his arrival at the Bastille on the afternoon of 18 September 1698 because of its isolation, he was moved the very next day because the Bazinière Tower was held to be the most permeable in terms of possibilities for illicit exchange of internal news, and it was of vital importance that the masked prisoner not be allowed to reveal his identity to anyone.19 Next to ensuring that physical escape was impossible, preventing any form of inmate communication, either within or beyond the walls, seems to have been the prison administration’s chief preoccupation. Everything revolved around the notion that absolute secrecy and total “opacity” had to be maintained within the institution. Strict regulations governing the behaviour of the four turnkeys were framed to guarantee compliance with the policy. The porte-clefs were forbidden to speak of the prisoners under their care to anyone other than the Bastille’s officers. No substantive issues could be discussed with prisoners. Conversations had to be restricted to routine service matters or banal generalities – “seulement de la pluye et du beau tems.” Every metal dish removed from a prisoner’s room was scrutinized for hidden writing, and books borrowed from the prison library examined to make certain that no prisoner had scrawled a message between the lines of printed text. “On voit par là,” the regulation goes on to state, “qu’il est nécessaire que les porte-clefs sachent lire et écrire.” Floors and fireplaces had to be regularly checked for loose stones or tiles, or any small openings where messages could be concealed. All potential hiding places had to be stopped up or blocked off. Prisoners leaving or returning to their rooms required special surveillance: “Toutes les fois qu’un prisonnier sort de sa chambre, les porte-clefs doivent toujours le suivre par derrière, ainsi qu’en remontant dans sa chambre, afin d’examiner s’il ne laisse point tomber quelque billet, soit dans la cour ou dans l’escalier de la tour.” Prisoners had to be completely “invisible,” unseen by other prisoners and even by the château’s on-duty sentinels: “Lorsqu’on fait descendre les prisonniers à la messe, les porte-clefs font retirer les sentinelles de la cage du corps de garde et ferment les portes de la cuisine et du passage entre la salle du conseil et la cuisine, et ont grande attention que les prisonniers ne se voyent les uns et les autres, soit en descendant ou en remontant dans leur chambre.” Once in the chapel, located between the Bertaudière and the Liberté towers, the worshipping prisoner was required to enter one of four

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

250

Page 250

The Prisoner

cabinet enclosures, from which vantage point, staring straight ahead through a small opening, he could see only the officiating priest. The same curtained opening allowed the priest access for giving communion to the unseen prisoner. After mass, the porte-clefs were required to examine with great care the interior of the just-vacated enclosure to make certain that no message had been surreptitiously scrawled on its interior walls and no notes secreted in the cabinetry. The priest himself was kept under constant surveillance from the moment he entered the chapel, and no communication with him of any kind was permitted.20 Sometimes, nevertheless, inmates found notes that had escaped the vigilance of the porte-clefs. The following was turned in to major Chevalier after being found by the imprisoned bookseller Laurent Prault in June 1753: “Monsieur et cher confrère de captivité, si mes services peuvent vous être de quelque utilité, je vous offre tout ce qui dépendra de moi: ainsi, si vous manquez de papier et de plumes, faites-le-moi savoir, je vous en ferai tenir dans le temps et endroit que je vous indiquerai. Si vous jugez à propos de me faire réponse, vous la mettrez dimanche prochain au-dessus de la porte de ce cabinet et vous la collerez avec un peu de cire. Je la trouverai lundi en allant à la messe.”21 Any infringement of the rules by the turnkeys was punished with the greatest severity, sometimes even by a week or two in the cachots. The four porte-clefs, Baron, Bellot, Bourguignon, and Darragon, paid 1 livre 5 sols each per day and quartered within the prison itself,22 were considered to be well remunerated and were held strictly to account for any infractions committed by prisoners under their care. Barely two weeks after Charles de Julie’s arrival at the Bastille, major Chevalier decided to begin a systematic follow-up on measures recently instituted by Berryer to halt the growing problem of communication among prisoners within the various towers. In the afternoon of Saturday 1 September, choosing the quiet interval between meals (breakfast was at 7:00 a.m., lunch 11:00 a.m. and supper 6:00 p.m.), he quietly posted himself in the lower stairwell of the Bazinière Tower to see if anything untoward was going on. What Chevalier learned while eavesdropping outside the door of the recently disciplined prisoner JeanJacques Rhinville astonished him. A journeyman printer recently involved in the production of slanderous brochures attacking the archbishop of Paris, Rhinville had begun eleven months earlier what turned out to be only the first of several stays in the Bastille. Classified by inspector d’Hémery as “un homme dangereux capable de faire les coups les plus hardis,” he was initially assigned to one of the cachots but was moved after a time to the “deuxième Bazinière.”23 As far as surreptitious communications went, it was the Bastille’s leakiest tower. Chevalier’s decision to begin his investigation by listening in at

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 251

Prisoners in the Bastille

251

Rhinville’s door was also, no doubt, an unspoken tribute to Rhinville’s reputation as a troublemaker. Engaging in forbidden communications with other prisoners was, after all, a form of social disobedience, reminiscent of Rhinville’s illegal printing activities that had apparently supported dissenting groups as unlike as the Jansenists and the Paris philosophes. Chevalier’s choice of vantage point that afternoon for his first spying expedition paid off. Rhinville, he quickly discovered, had already managed to establish voice communication with Charles de Julie, his recently arrived downstairs neighbour. But what was most astonishing, during the lengthy exchange overheard by Chevalier, the journeyman printer managed to reveal to Julie many secrets of the Bastille, such as the physical layout of the entire château, the identity of the prisoners confined in the various towers and the nature of their individual transgressions. It was all information that was supposed to remain completely hidden from the prisoners and the outside world. For the officer of a prison renowned as much for opaqueness and impenetrability as for its power to reduce to tears and transparency the souls of its reprobate inmates, the discovery was a huge disappointment. A week later, on 8 September 1753, Chevalier sent a detailed report of his preliminary findings to Berryer: Depuis quelques jours, j’ai résolu d’aller dans les tours, pendant les entr’actes des repas, pour m’informer de ce qui s’y passe. J’ai commencé par la tour Bazinière, que j’ai cru la plus suspecte, et de cette tour je passerai aux autres, au cas que vous approuviez cette manœuvre, qui, je crois, est la seule qui vous puisse informer de ce qui s’y passe. Voici, en substance, ce que j’ai entendu le premier de ce mois, dans le courant de l’après-midi: Étant sur l’escalier, entre la chambre de la première [Bazinière] où est Julie, et la seconde où demeure Rhinville, ces deux prisonniers, conjointement avec Allègre qui est au cachot dessous, étaient en conversation. Ils s’entretenaient et disaient que la nourriture du château devait être meilleure, mais qu’il ne fallait pas s’en étonner, parce que M. de Rys, le major et l’aide-major s’entendaient tous ensemble, ce qui en était la cause. Allègre s’est informé à Julie, d’une Louison qui demeurait ci-devant dans la rue Fromenteau; il lui a répondu qu’il la connaissait fort bien, et qu’elle n’avait jamais été si bien qu’elle est aujourd’hui. Après quoi Julie lui a rendu compte du dernier voyage que Rys a fait de Compiègne à la Muette, surtout des deux ballets qui s’y sont exécutés; après quoi Julie a passé du tabac à Rhinville, au bout d’un fil ou ficelle, lequel Rhinville n’a pas trouvé bon, disant qu’il était sec, et que le sien était plus frais; il lui en a offert; Julie l’a remercié; après quoi, Rhinville a démontré à Julie tout ce que renfermait la Bastille, tout le local en général, les noms et qualités de ceux qui l’habitent; je crois réellement qu’il n’a

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

252

Page 252

The Prisoner

rien oublié; j’en suis encore surpris d’étonnement; l’heure du repas est venue, je me suis retiré.24

However ingenious his method of communicating with Julie through adjacent chimneys that were apparently connected by a cleverly disguised opening, there remains some doubt whether Rhinville, even after a year’s experience in the château, could have demonstrated such detailed knowledge of the prison and its inmates. On the other hand, given the elaborate precautions taken by an administration determined to protect the legendary secrecy of the royal prison by preventing any form of communication among the prisoners, there is little doubt that Chevalier’s findings would have been taken very seriously by his superior, Berryer. And who were these fellow prisoners “introduced” to Julie by his upstairs neighbour during a leisurely exchange of tobacco and conversation on the afternoon of 1 September 1753? One of them, the occupant of the Bazinière’s cachot just below Julie’s own room, had obviously already introduced himself. The former boarding-school master from Marseilles, Antoine Allègre, guilty of concocting evidence of a supposedly deadly conspiracy against the marquise de Pompadour in the vain hope of being subsequently rewarded for bringing it to light, had been transferred to the Bastille from Montpellier on 31 May 1750. His crime was not uncommon at the time and seems to have attracted a surprising number of naïve opportunists around the mid-century. Highly unpopular, the king’s mistress was targeted as an all-powerful yet constantly besieged fairy godmother whose special protection, once earned, would be the salvation of any individual who showed exceptional loyalty and talent in protecting her person. It was essentially the same kind of crime that had brought Allègre’s roommate, Danry Masers de Latude, to the Bastille in a transfer from Vincennes on 1 July 1750 after he had escaped custody from the capital’s other famous prison d’État. For much of the time that their sentences overlapped with Charles de Julie’s, Latude and Allègre, sharing the “quatrième Comté” on the south-east corner of the Château, had been quietly preparing the escape of the century, filing through iron bars that blocked access to their chimney and patiently fashioning an incredibly long rope ladder from firewood sticks and clothing threads.25 The sensational escape took place on the night of 25 February 1756. Both prisoners were, however, soon tracked down – Latude in Amsterdam by Charles de Julie’s old nemesis, the celebrated detective Saint-Marc. Long periods of harsh incarceration followed and the two prisoners met for the last time in the asylum of Charenton where Allègre, now completely mad

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 253

Prisoners in the Bastille

253

and claiming to be God, denied even knowing his old cellmate Latude.26 There were several women prisoners in the Bastille during the time of Julie’s incarceration. One of these, la dame Sauvé, had also been imprisoned as punishment for hatching yet another false conspiracy plot in an attempt to earn the gratitude of Louis XV. In October 1751, as première femme de chambre assigned to the care of the king’s infant grandson, Marie-Anne Sauvé claimed that she had caught sight of someone from behind a curtain tossing a suspicious package into the duc de Bourgogne’s crib. The case had its delicate aspects, since it was known that the head chambermaid in question had acquired her position at Court as a result of the comte d’Argenson’s special protection, having, in the words of the author Collé,27 “un peu couché” with the influential minister, a rumour confirmed by the count’s brother, the marquis, who noted in his journal at the time that the lady had been both a whore and a maquerelle and had been deeply involved in various intrigues “avec la protection de mon frère.”28 As it happens, Julie and his companions would probably not have had to crane their necks very far into their chimney listening posts to learn of the dame Sauvé’s presence in the Château. Both she and her maid, also implicated in the affair and incarcerated with her, incurred frequent disciplinary measures for creating disturbances, shouting so persistently and with such force that they could be heard, as Chevalier recounted to Berryer, “même de dessus la place de la Bastille et de presque tout l’Arsenal.”29 The major’s reports on the subject inevitably gave rise to several letters of instruction concerning Sauvé from the lieutenant général: A la réception de ma lettre, vous lui retirerez ses ciseaux, son couteau, aiguilles et ouvrages si elle en a. Vous ne la ferez plus descendre ni pour la messe ni pour toute autre chose, et vous lui direz que si elle continue à faire du bruit elle sera punie très sévèrement. Vous lui ajouterez qu’on ne lui donnera point de papier pour écrire, jusqu’à ce qu’elle ait reconnu sa faute et promis de se corriger de ses violences.30

For similar reasons, the prison population was well aware of the presence of another woman inmate at this time, Marie-Anne Poirier, who had been transferred to the Bastille from Châtelet prison in August 1754, allowed out to have a baby in October, and brought back in December of the same year. The specific reason for her incarceration was never revealed to the officers of the Bastille but she quite obviously was not one of the gentler or weaker members of her sex and she seems to have been more than a match for an exasperated major Chevalier.

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

254

Page 254

The Prisoner

Berryer’s chilling instructions to Chevalier survive in the Bastille’s archives: “Puisque la Poirier continue d’être méchante et extravagante, à la première frasque qu’elle fera, vous la ferez descendre au cachot, où vous la tiendrez tout le temps qu’il faudra pour la faire revenir dans un état de douceur et de tranquillité.”31 But douceur et tranquillité were not so easily attained, as the following note from the major to the lieutenant général makes clear, reminding us at the same time of an older meaning of the verb dévisager: “La veuve Poirier, qui est au cachot depuis bientôt 6 mois, n’est pas plus sage que le premier jour; cette prisonnière, cejourd’hui, a voulu dévisager son porte-clefs, l’ayant tout machuré au visage, et cela n’est pas la première fois que cela lui est arrivé. Nous vous demandons la permission de lui faire mettre les fers aux pieds et aux mains, de même qu’au pain et à l’eau pour toute nourriture. Nous attendons vos ordres en conséquence; cette femme est une infâme, la plus sale, la plus ordurière que l’on puisse trouver.”32 In the case of Poirier, shackles on her hands and feet proved quite insufficient, however. No padlocks, not even the masterpieces crafted by two expert locksmiths, could resist either the corpulent widow’s lockpicking skills or her apparently superhuman strength: “C’est un Lucifer que cette femme,” exclaimed a much perturbed Chevalier to his superior a few weeks later, “à moins que de lui faire river, ou de lui mettre une machine de fer que nous avons au château [...] il ne sera pas question que cette femme soit mise aux fers.”33 Imprisoned for “motifs inconnus,”34 Marie-Anne Poirier was finally transferred to the donjon of Vincennes the following year. Much more accommodating and discreet was Marie-Madeleine Leclercq de Bougie, a sixty-year-old widow who made her entrance to the Bastille three weeks before the arrival of Julie and his team. In her own gentle way, she had managed to defraud a well-known official of the Chambre des Comptes named Dieuxivoye of the tidy sum of 10,380 livres. Her stay in the Bastille was short. Soon after her committal, Leclercq de Bougie fell ill and died, but not before le père Griffet, the Bastille’s official confessor, administered the sacrament of penance. Berryer sent the usual instructions to Chevalier regarding burial: “Vous enverrez à Saint-Paul pour qu’on vienne chercher le corps, et vous ferez faire l’enterrement à la nuit et sans éclat à la manière accoutumée.”35 Julie could not have been in the Bastille for more than two or three weeks before the prison grapevine brought to his attention the presence in the château of the Bastille’s then longest-serving prisoner, the Jansenist abbé Vaillant. Pierre Vaillant, one of the pioneer contributors

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 255

Prisoners in the Bastille

255

to the underground Nouvelles ecclésiastiques, first entered the prison in 1728 during the early Jansenist troubles. Released and exiled in 1731, he was rearrested in 1734; by 1753 he had served a total of 22 years. Never easy to deal with, he was frequently the object of special punishment for unruly behaviour and for setting a troubling example to any prisoners who happened to come within earshot of his “insolent and immoderate” shouting. Such incidents usually occurred while he was being escorted to the chapel for mass. Worshipped as the prophet Elijah by his followers, the sect of Vaillantistes, his second incarceration in the Bastille had resulted from the scandal caused when he organized an unsuccessful expedition to Metz of some thirty Jansenist clergy in 1734 to fulfil the prophecy of converting all Jews. His presence in the château was known to his votaries, and crowds of Vaillantiste worshippers occasionally assembled by prearrangement in the Place Saint-Antoine in hopes of witnessing his promised ascension to the heavens in a fiery chariot that would rise in a great whirlwind from the summit of the Bastille’s towers. Already in 1740, the then lieutenant général Hérault, writing to Cardinal Fleury, had stated his opinion that “il serait nécessaire de le tenir toujours renfermé.”36 More than a decade later, Berryer was of the same view: “Cet homme paraît destiné pour mourir en captivité, parce qu’il est chef d’une secte de convulsionnistes qui le croient le véritable prophète Élie, prédit par les Écritures.”37 Charles de Julie’s path never directly crossed that of the eccentric prophet who, as a result of an effort to prevent the long-time inmate from communicating information to incoming prisoners, would himself be tranferred to the “première Bazinière” soon after the exempt’s release. In the end, Julie’s old room would prove to be too stuffy and isolated even for a holy prophet. After a few months, the old priest, now suffering from an enormous hernia, petitioned for a better location and finally asked to be transferred to Vincennes, hoping for a more abundant supply of fresh air. He died there on 20 February 1761 at the age of 71 and was buried secretly at midnight under the counterfeit name “comte d’Ipsum, étranger.” The measure was necessary, the lieutenant général informed the minister, “pour empêcher qu’il ne vienne du monde par dévotion.”38 Zealous Jansenists, opportunistic schemers, and the odd high-style swindler represented a significant sampling of Bastille prisoners during Julie’s incarceration. Equally important was the contingent of hack writers apprehended for churning out slander against Louis XV and his celebrated mistress. Among them was the chevalier Louis-Joseph de La Rochegérault, accused of having authored La Voix des persécutés and L’Histoire africaine ou la Vie de Melotta Ossompay, who turned up in

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

256

Page 256

The Prisoner

the Bastille’s Salle du Conseil two months after Julie’s arrival and who subsequently proved to be one of the château’s most difficult prisoners. His specialty in that regard involved making frequent threats on the life of Baron, his porte-clefs, and indulging in other forms of violent behaviour. Even the usually mild-mannered bureaucrat Chevalier found him repugnant. In 1756, a year before La Rochegérault was transferred to the donjon of Vincennes, he had finally succeeded in gaining permission from Berryer to have access to writing materials. Shocked at the thought of rewarding bad behaviour, the major registered an unprecedented protest and requested confirmation of the order before supplying the prisoner with pen, paper, and ink: “Je pense que c’est le prisonnier de toute la Bastille qui en peut faire le plus mauvais usage, ayant l’esprit le plus inquiet, même le plus rusé et l’homme qui a le moins de frein que je connaisse. Je vous supplie de m’envoyer un second ordre en conséquence.”39 Needless to say, Berryer quickly withdrew the authorization. We have already noted in the category of writers the case of Nicolas Jouin, author of the Sarcelades. Other victims of press censorship present during Julie’s time in the Bastille included the young critic La Beaumelle who was then finishing off what turned out to be the last two months of his first incarceration in the Bastille. His penance in 1753 had been inflicted less for having provoked the wrath of the ancien régime’s censorship authorities than for having irritated the century’s most celebrated defender of toleration, François Arouet de Voltaire. La Beaumelle’s stay lasted from 24 April to 12 October 1753. The twenty-seven-year-old author of the Qu’en dira-t-on had been specifically condemned for adding notes to an unauthorized edition of Voltaire’s Siècle de Louis XIV that were deemed offensive to the House of Orléans. “Je suis le plus malheureux des hommes,” La Beaumelle wrote in a cyphered letter smuggled out to a friend; “Je ne me fais point à l’infortune ni à l’esclavage. Je mourrai si je ne sors bientôt. J’ai perdu l’appétit et le sommeil et ne suis plus qu’un squelette.”40 Despite his complaints about hard times and unappetizing prison food, La Beaumelle’s treatment was comparatively gentle. The governor even made special culinary arrangements with his own maître d’hôtel to accommodate the prisoner’s delicate tastes, and he was granted almost immediately the privilege of having books, writing materials – and even furniture – from the outside. Powerful friends like the writers Montesquieu and Maupertuis lobbied for his release, the astronomer La Condamine was allowed to visit, and the duc d’Orléans made it known officially that he had personally pardoned the author for any offence to the Orléans family’s reputation. His sentence finally over, La Beaumelle was glad enough on leaving the prison château to sign the institution’s standard oath of secrecy:

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 257

Prisoners in the Bastille

257

Estant en liberté, je promets, conformément aux ordres du Roy, de ne parler à qui que ce soit, ni en aucune manière que ce puisse estre, des prisonniers ni d’autre chose concernant le château de la Bastille, qui auroit pu parvenir à ma connoissance.41

Before his own eventual release from the Bastille, Julie would be joined there by another writer, one far less respectful of the established order than La Beaumelle (or Julie himself, for that matter), indeed, one of the leading folliculaires-frondeurs of the period, Jean-Louis Fougeret de Monbron, author of such unorthodox works as Margot la Ravaudeuse (1750) and Le Cosmopolite ou le Citoyen du monde (1751). Charles de Julie, in fact, had probably already encountered Montbron, along with Rameau’s notorious nephew, in the prison of For l’Évêque in November 1748. Diderot has left a vivid sketch of the man: “J’étais un jour à l’Opéra entre l’abbé de Canaye [...] et un certain Monbron, auteur de quelques brochures où l’on trouve beaucoup de fiel et peu, très peu de talent. Je venais d’entendre un morceau pathétique, dont les paroles et la musique m’avaient transporté [...]. Dans le transport de mon ivresse je saisis mon voisin Monbron par le bras et lui dis: ‘Convenez, monsieur, que cela est beau.’ L’homme au teint jaune, aux sourcils noirs et touffus, à l’œil féroce et couvert, me répond: ‘Je ne sens pas cela. – Vous ne sentez pas cela? – Non; j’ai le cœur velu ...’42 Startled, the keenly sensitive Diderot later recalls his reaction: “Je frissonne, je m’éloigne du tigre à deux pieds.” Even Berryer had not escaped the fearful sting of Monbron’s caustic wit: “Nicolas ou Blaise Berryer,” we read in Monbron’s celebrated libertine novel Margot la Ravaudeuse, “qui s’est établi un renom immortel par le fameux Prostibule de Mad. Paris, dont il se déclara le Souteneur et le Protecteur, pour le soulagement des Étrangers.”43 The lieutenant général de police had been trying for some time to give the arrogant and well-connected former garde du corps, later a valet de chambre ordinaire du roi, another taste of His Most Christian Majesty’s prisons and the “général de la pousse,” as de Monbron had mockingly called him in the preface to Margot, finally succeeded in arranging for his Bastille entrée on 12 April 1755. Surprisingly, the ferocious hack was released five months later after a fairly easy sojourn during which time nearly all of his requests for additional comforts were granted with little delay or resistance. Compared with what would be the fate of Charles de Julie, Fougeret de Monbron’s prison career presents yet another example of inconsistent treatment that renders nearly all generalizations regarding the severity or leniency of sentences served in the Bastille during this period extremely risky.

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

258

Page 258

The Prisoner

Book peddlers and printers – humble warriors in the scuffles of the eighteenth-century clandestine book trade – were also well represented in the château’s prison population during Julie’s stay. Briard-Descoutures has already been noted. Another was Louis Cloche. Approaching thirty years of age, a former associate of Rhinville who, after the latter’s arrest, moved his press eight times in two weeks to elude the police,44 Cloche had been apprehended by inspector d’Hémery and commissaire de Rochebrune in the faubourg Saint-Antoine on 27 April 1754 while engaged in printing such works as the Apologie de l’abbé de Prades and Deux lettres adressées à l’archevêque de Paris. According to d’Hémery, two of Julie’s robe courte colleagues, Cadot de Condé and Vierrey, had actually discovered Cloche’s press several months earlier but had corruptly accepted a bribe of 300 livres – all the money the printer had at hand – to look the other way.45 On being questioned, Cloche, not surprisingly, denied the incident. An unlucky man (his wife took the abbé Morin, one of the canons at the church of Saint-Marcel, as her lover during his two-year sentence), Cloche suffered his final troubles after his release from the Bastille on 25 March 1756: “Ayant voulu aller à son pays seul, et à pied, il a été trouvé volé et assassiné à coups de couteau à côté de Nemours, sans qu’on ait pu découvrir les auteurs.”46 Other victims of inspector d’Hémery’s zealous efforts to protect the morals and theological correctness of France’s reading public joined Julie in the Bastille soon after his arrival. Accused of reciting in public impertinent verses satirizing the king and various court officials, the lawyer Louis-Étienne Berlan d’Haloury entered the Bastille on 28 October 1753 after first undergoing a two-hour interrogation from 2:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. in the governor’s residence outside the main entrance to the château. As it turned out, the proofs against him were somewhat less than satisfactory, since inspector d’Hémery was unwilling to reveal the identity of his informer in the case. Already in his midthirties, Berlan d’Haloury had long since dissipated a modest annuity of 1,200 livres inherited from his father and had been living for some time with his mother in Rennes. Fed up with supporting a son who seemed chronically unwilling to make any effort to earn his keep, the mother finally sent him packing, thus launching an unremarkable literary career that was soon interrupted by an eight-month stay in the Bastille.47 Sentences of similar duration for “uttering remarks against the King” were being served at around this same time by Victor Hespergues, a minor customs and excise official from Sartrouville near Paris, as well as by Charles Mallat, a member of the Gardes françaises regiment who had similarly succumbed to the irreverent

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 259

Prisoners in the Bastille

259

fashion of composing satirical pieces attacking Louis XV and Mme de Pompadour.48 What were termed les affaires du temps – matters of public controversy centring on the king’s jurisdictional disputes with the Parlements – claimed their share of victims during the Julie period. The theology student Jean-Zorobabel Aublet de Maubuy, imprisoned in November 1752 for writing such scurrilous pieces as Lettre en réponse à celle des jésuites and Remerciement des colporteurs à Nos Seigneurs du Parlement, was released fifteen months later and exiled to Sens.49 More directly involved in the billets de confession problems were various members of the Châtelet court. In November 1753 Roger de Monthuchet was imprisoned after opposing the enactments of the Chambre royale du Louvre, set up by Louis XV to dispense justice in place of the exiled Parlement de Paris. In March and April 1754 he was joined by three of his fellow conseillers or procureurs, Bourdin, Granjan de La Croix, and Quillet, all persons of some standing and all implicated in the affair of the curé of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs, who had refused the sacraments to one of his parishioners accused of Jansenism.50 The treatment of these public officials was rather more courteous than what most of the prison inmates received. No difficulty was made, for example, about passing on to Monthuchet and Quillet letters sent to them by their mothers.51 Routine family news was also solicitously passed on: “Je vous prie, Monsieur,” writes Berryer to Chevalier, “de dire à M. Quillet, prisonnier, que madame sa mère se porte bien et qu’elle lui fait savoir qu’elle a reçu sa bougie par le sieur Duval, et que M. Le Bègue la vient voir de temps en temps.”52 Or again: “M. Chevalier major de la Bastille remettra au sieur Quillet, prisonnier, le papier ci-joint qui est un extrait de la lettre que la dame sa mère lui écrit en date du 20 juillet 1754.” When Quillet, whose sentence extended from 8 April to 2 September 1754, complained that he had been temporarily deprived of his promenade privileges because workmen were repairing one of the towers, Berryer made a thoughtful suggestion to the major: “Ne pourriez-vous pas le faire promener dans l’intervalle que les ouvriers mettent à aller dîner? Vous lui direz qu’il ne m’est pas possible de lui accorder la promenade du jardin qu’il me demande.”53 The garden atop the vast bastion to the east of the château had in fact been appropriated by prison governor Baisle and rented out for commercial exploitation. As a result, it was declared off limits for exercising prisoners. Nevertheless, for certain prisoners with good connections the rules could be bent. We learn from one of Berryer’s letters to Chevalier written a week later that the minister himself finally interceded: “M. le comte d’Argenson m’ayant adressé des ordres, Monsieur, pour permettre la promenade du jardin aux sieurs Quillet, Monthuchet et Bourdin, (the fourth official, Granjan de La Croix, had been released

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

260

Page 260

The Prisoner

in April), je vous prie en conséquence de la leur procurer en observant que ce ne soit que les uns après les autres, afin qu’ils ne puissent se voir ni communiquer en aucune façon.”54 At any given time, dispensations from the normal rules could be arranged. During Lenten fasting periods, for example, certain prisoners were allowed to order in roast chicken at their own expense. Similarly, although wood for heating the prisoners’ rooms was, by regulation, distributed strictly in conformity with fixed calendar dates and not according to the exterior temperature, the lieutenant général could arrange for a longer heating season in the case of certain prisoners: “Comme il fait encore froid, Monsieur,” Berryer writes to Chevalier on 16 April 1754, vous continuerez de faire donner du bois à la dame Sauvé et aux sieurs de Monthuchet, Quillet, Bourdin.” Obviously, in Berryer’s view, less important prisoners would not feel the cold. Special privileges were, moreover, always granted with the clearly implied caveat that easing a rule for one individual in no way affected what was meted out to the others. Some prisoners seem to have benefited from particularly generous treatment: Hespergues, despite his propos contre le roi, was granted permission to write to his wife and, on occasion, to speak with her.55 Even so, all letters destined for outside recipients (very few were allowed during this period) were carefully censored. On 8 June 1754, Berryer instructed Chevalier to inform Hespergues that a letter he had written to his wife four days earlier would not be passed on “parce que partie de la lettre est pour elle, et l’autre pour moi où il dit des choses fort inutiles et où il n’y a pas de sens. S’il souhaite que sa femme reçoive de ses nouvelles il faut qu’il ne lui parle uniquement que de ses affaires domestiques et d’intérêt, sans quoi elles resteront à mon bureau.”56 Also among Julie’s fellow prisoners at the beginning of his detention were three skilled workmen accused of being ouvriers infidèles. JeanMatthias Caillat, one of the specialist artisans at the royal porcelain factory in Vincennes, was accused of selling to the rival Chantilly works, for the sum of 4,000 livres, the secret formula for gold-leaf and other ceramic colour applications. He was also charged with making preparations to flee the country with a view to establishing a competing factory in Switzerland in collaboration with associates who had already obtained Swiss letters of permission to set up business in the cantons. Caillat entered the Bastille on 17 April 1753 and was transferred to the harsher isolation of Mont Saint-Michel prison eight months later.57 Implicated with him in the same matter were PierreNoël-Mathieu Dubuisson, associated with the Chantilly porcelain works, and Philippe Saint-Omer, a kiln worker at the royal manufactory in Vincennes, both of whom were released late in December.58

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 261

Prisoners in the Bastille

261

Another of Charles de Julie’s prison colleagues was the young nouvelliste à la main, Jean-Baptiste Du Thuilé, an associate of the notorious Chevrier. Fairly new to the business, Du Thuillé spent a year in the Bastille (January 1754–January 1755) meditating on his journalistic sins.59 Berryer’s punishment formula in his case proved to be fairly lenient: reading privileges were granted in February 1754, only one month after his entrée; permission to attend mass followed in May. Unlike Julie, Du Thuilé had the advantage of a solicitous mother on the outside; by July he was given permission to write to her.60 In August, and again in November, his progress in achieving a proper attitude of submission being judged satisfactory, he was also allowed to receive his mother’s replies. In September, Berryer informed the major that Du Thuilé wanted to see the prison chaplain for confession: “J’y consens et vous pouvez faire avertir à cet effet le père Griffet.”61 When the weather started turning cold in October, Berryer notified major Chevalier that Du Thuillé was asking for a room with a fireplace and added: “Vous pouvez, Monsieur, lui en donner une.”62 Louis-Sébastien Mercier, an alert observer of the eighteenth-century Parisian scene, comments on the extraordinary powers invested in the person who held the office of lieutenant général de police: “Un lieutenant de police est devenu un ministre important, quoiqu’il n’en porte pas le nom; il a une influence secrete & prodigieuse; il fait tant de choses, qu’il peut faire beaucoup de mal ou beaucoup de bien, parce qu’il a en main une multitude de fils qu’il peut embrouiller ou débrouiller à son gré: il frappe ou il sauve; il répand les ténèbres ou la lumiere: son autorité est aussi délicate qu’étendue.”63 In the préface to his edition of the correspondence of Feydeau de Marville, Berryer’s predecessor, the academician Arthur de Boislisle, gives some idea of the lieutenant général’s many duties: Chaque jour, au matin, recevoir les commissaires, prendre connaissance de leurs rapports, de ceux des inspecteurs ou du guet, et donner les ordres en conséquence; une fois par semaine, réunir tous les inspecteurs, une fois par quinzaine les magistrats criminels et les officiers des troupes de police; de temps en temps, faire la visite des hôpitaux et maisons de force, halles et marchés, maisons d’éducation et bureaux de charité; à l’occasion, se rendre sur le lieu des accidents, incendies, inondations, etc.; puis, revêtir la robe de magistrat chaque vendredi, ou le mardi en surcroît, pour le jugement des contraventions et causes contentieuses, plusieurs fois aussi, rendre des jugements de commission, notamment sur les saisies d’objets prohibés; recevoir les particuliers en audience publique, ou en audience privée, sur demande; entretenir une correspondance qui parfois s’élève à deux cents lettres par jour; enfin, travailler directement, ou par lettres et rapports, non seulement avec le secrétaire d’État

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

262

Page 262

The Prisoner

chargé de Paris, mais avec le Conseil et avec les autres ministres, suivant que quelque affaire met la police en contact avec eux.64

We cannot help but be impressed. But we are perhaps even more impressed by the implications of the following note from Berryer to Chevalier, which shows how the busiest bureaucratic deity in Paris was apparently in complete command of even the smallest details: À Paris, le 13 novembre 1754 Du Thuilé prisonnier de la Bastille m’a écrit, Monsieur, pour me dire que l’habit que je lui ai fait donner au mois de mai dernier est très bon, mais qu’il lui est trop étroit et qu’en s’en servant tel qu’il est il le gâtera; qu’une robe de chambre lui serait plus commode. Vous en avez une neuve au Magasin où il manque une doublure et une veste. J’écris au commissaire Rochebrune d’en faire la fourniture et quand elle sera en état, vous la donnerez à ce prisonnier et vous mettrez son habit au Magasin où l’on prendra soin qu’il ne soit mangé des vers.65

In a series of poignant letters to lieutenant général Berryer, which we shall look at in some detail presently, Charles de Julie often respectfully bemoans the conditions of his incarceration, implying that other prisoners were getting more favourable treatment. On balance, we will see that his speculations and disconsolate reminders on the subject were mainly correct, although the secrecy that reigned throughout the prison château prevented him from having much supporting evidence in the matter. On the other hand, had he known the particular circumstances of Bertin de Frateaux, the last of his fellow prisoners that we shall comment on, he might have modified his view somewhat. Louis-Mathieu Bertin de Frateaux, a former captain of cavalry, had made his entrée on 11 April 1752, arrested for having published in a foreign country (England) violently negative views regarding Louis XV and the royal family.66 Helping him in the composition of these libelles was the Franciscan friar Guillaume Cazes, who was transferred to the Bastille in 1754 and is remembered for having discovered a way to saw through an iron bar in his cell using only strands of his own hair.67 In fact Bertin de Frateaux’s own family, fearing his “dangerous and violent” character, had requested that he be incarcerated for the duration of his lifetime, and he himself paid the costs of his stay in the Bastille with his own pension. Frateaux was probably one of the prisoners Rhinville identified to his neighbour Julie soon after the venturesome exempt-nouvelliste took up involuntary lodgings in the “première Bazinière” in August 1753. But if Julie did not hear of him then, he most assuredly made his

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

Page 263

Prisoners in the Bastille

263

acquaintance a year later when Bertin de Frateaux, having set fire to his cell, was thrown into Allègre’s old Bazinière cachot just below his room. On 8 August 1754, Chevalier confirmed the execution of Berryer’s orders, not without a final hint of irony: Dans l’instant où je reçois votre ordre pour mettre M. Bertin de Frateaux au cachot, ce que j’ai exécuté dans la minute, ce prisonnier n’a fait aucune résistance et a obéi, sans me dire rien de désagréable. Il m’a battu la campagne sur le feu qu’il a mis dans sa chambre hier, disant que ce n’était point lui et que c’était un tour qu’on lui a joué exprès pour lui faire de la peine, et a fini son discours par me prier instamment de vous mander qu’il vous suppliait d’avoir quelque charité et bonté pour lui, qu’il était bien malheureux et misérable, et l’homme le plus à plaindre de ce siècle, sans être coupable, pour quoi il s’allait mettre entre les mains du Seigneur, où il prierait Dieu le Père pour moi. Ces dernières paroles peuvent mériter attention.68

Not only did the incident bring Julie a new neighbour, but a month later it temporarily cost him the services of his porte-clefs, Michel Darragon. Chevalier explained the case to Berryer: 7 septembre 1754 Ce matin, Darragon, porte-clefs de Bertin de Frateaux, en allant vider la chaise percée de ce prisonnier, qui est au cachot de la tour Bazinière, après avoir poussé la porte du cachot, a cru avoir mis le verrou dans son trou, ce qui n’était pas; Bertin de Frateaux s’en était apparemment aperçu, il s’est levé de dessus son grabat, et a monté les escaliers, a paru dans la cour et a voulu parler à la sentinelle qui est à la porte, qui, pour toute réponse, l’a fait rentrer à l’instant. M. d’Abbadie a vu cela par la fenêtre, a crié après un porte-clefs. J’ai descendu dans l’instant et me suis transporté audit cachot, et après que Bertin de Frateaux a été renfermé, j’ai donné de paroles une savonnade d’importance au porte-clefs, et après toutes réflexions faites et interprétant vos intentions, j’ai cru ne pouvoir mieux faire que de mettre Darragon au cachot, en attendant vos ordres, pour savoir le temps que vous jugerez à propos qu’il y demeure. D’ailleurs, ce porte-clefs, nous le croyons un fort honnête homme, et incorruptible dans ses fonctions. Depuis ma lettre écrite, j’ai été voir M. Bertin de Frateaux, qui m’a dit que le diable l’avait tenté, que s’étant aperçu que la porte était mal fermée, il avait voulu hasarder, que tout autre que lui en aurait fait de même, et qu’il s’offrait en holocauste, et qu’on pouvait lui imposer toutes les peines que l’on voudrait, qu’il était résigné à tout.69

Chevalier, as it turns out, had correctly anticipated Berryer’s punishment formula for the turnkey’s negligence. Darragon’s incarceration in

CH11.QXD

9/1/2004 11:38 AM

264

Page 264

The Prisoner

the cachot was confirmed for a period of precisely one week but the lieutenant général added a warning for the future: “A une seconde faute il n’en serait pas quitte à si bon marché; vous pouvez le lui dire et en faire part à ses camarades, afin qu’ils se tiennent sur leurs gardes. Comme ils sont fort bien payés et qu’ils ont un bon traitement, il faut qu’ils servent bien.” In fear and trembling, the turnkey Darragon solemnly promised that it would never happen again. He also begged Chevalier to inform Berryer that he fully appreciated the great kindness that was being done him. In fact, Michel Darragon, porte-clefs for the Comté as well as the Bazinière tower, was most unlucky, for he could not have known that a year and a half later he would again be consigned to a dank dungeon, this time for a longer period, immediately after the escape of his two Comté tower prisoners, Latude and Allègre, on 26 February 1756. As for Julie’s neighbour, Bertin de Frateaux, after three months of penitence in the Bazinière cachot, he was transferred to the “première du Puits.” For having uttered negative and unfilial sentiments about the father of the nation, he still had a quarter of a century to serve in the dark and ugly fortress that ruined the view at the end of the rue Saint-Antoine. Death brought him release on 3 March 1779.

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 265

12 Awaiting Rescue

Only a few weeks after Charles de Julie’s arrest, two of his accomplices, Hyacinthe de La Combe and Jean Mahudel, were released from the Bastille. In his recommendation to the minister d’Argenson, Berryer made it clear that the two men had been detained mainly to get more detailed evidence against Julie. Both had cooperated fully with the police inquiry.1 Also helpful to Lacombe’s case was the fact that his father, Joseph Vessière, “ci-devant employé dans les fermes du Roi,” had come in from Chantilly and had petitioned the lieutenant général de police on his son’s behalf, earnestly assuring Berryer that “les mœurs et la conduite” of his son “ont toujours été rangées.” The elder Lacombe’s entreaties concluded with the usual supplicatory formula: “Le suppliant, pénetré de la plus vive reconnaissance, ne cessera de faire au Ciel des vœux pour la santé et prospérité de Votre Grandeur.”2 As for Mahudel, his situation was no doubt helped by the fact that his already-established functions as a talented police informer were scarcely interrupted during the time of his brief incarceration as an unwitting member of the Julie team. The other three prisoners waited anxiously, totally in the dark regarding what might be their fate. No family connections were available to help in petitioning the lieutenant général on Julie’s behalf. However, for the first few weeks, he remained hopeful that his exceptionally powerful client-protectors would somehow rescue him. No doubt he would be hearing soon from his good friend Desnoyers, the maréchal’s man. And surely some of his former police cronies – d’Hémery or Buhot, or possibly Poussot or La Jannière – would be putting in a good word for him with his unforgiving superior.

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

266

Page 266

The Prisoner

But the weeks passed and no sign of help appeared. Increasingly worried, the prisoner made repeated requests for permission to write to the lieutenant général. Finally, Berryer consented. Julie’s letter of 4 September 1753 is a model of petitionary eloquence: Quelque cruelle que soit ma situation, quelques fautes que j’aie commises pour la mériter, la pitié suit ordinairement la punition. Dieu, seul scrutateur des cœurs, sait avec combien d’ardeur j’ai toujours désiré de mériter l’honneur de votre attention. La nécessité qui m’a écarté de cette douce voie a fait le plus fort de mon crime et ma volonté n’y a eu part que forcée par la misère la plus urgente et les besoins les plus pressants de la vie animale. C’est encore dans cet esprit que j’existe. Le dérangement de mes affaires ne m’occupera plus si vous daignez avoir compassion, je puis dire d’un malheureux, malgré la prévention que des gens mal intentionnés vous ont donnée sur mon compte. Ce n’est cependant rien moins que ma cruelle destinée qui me procure la satisfaction de vous écrire. M. le major vient de venir faire une visite dans ma chambre sur (à ce qu’il m’a juré) la certitude qu’il a que je communiquais au cachot. Il n’est rien de cette communication et c’est à vous-même que j’ose l’écrire. Il est bien vrai que je communiquais au-dessus de moi, mais dans l’intention de vous être utile et de mériter par les découvertes que j’ai tâché de faire une moins longue punition; voilà ce qui m’a déterminé à jaser peu souvent avec ce prisonnier, par un trou auquel je n’ai jamais travaillé, et que ce même prisonnier m’a indiqué. Si vous êtes curieux de savoir sur quoi ont roulé nos conversations, daignez vous donner la peine de me venir voir. Vous savez que la fausseté n’a jamais fait partie de mon caractère et je vous donnerai à cet égard la satisfaction que vous n’avez peut-être pas encore eue sur les correspondances de la Bastille. Oserais-je vous répéter, Monsieur, que quelque criminel que vous me croyiez, je n’ai pas cessé un moment d’espérer en votre miséricorde? N’y ai-je pas plus de droit que bien des gens? Mon état que vous connaissez mieux que personne, mon âge, ma misère, tout enfin ce qui peut vous intéresser en ma faveur, est-il trop peu suffisant pour m’être de quelques secours? Voilà 24 jours que je passe ici, sans livres, et sans aucune des douceurs que vous ne refusez pas aux prisonniers qui sont sous vos lois. Livré aux tristes réflexions que ma dure destinée me met sans cesse devant les yeux, je n’existe que dans la tristesse; mes larmes continuelles sont mon seul soulagement. Daignez ne me les pas faire verser longtemps, j’ose vous en conjurer par tout ce que vous avez de plus cher. Faites-moi, de grâce, donner des livres. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie [P.-S.] Si je vous étais bon à quelque chose ici, j’y emploierais ce que je sais.3

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 267

Awaiting Rescue

267

It would be the first of many such letters and one that reminds us of similar pleas sent by the prisoner Julie to Berryer from For L’Évêque five years earlier. Professionally hardened to such entreaties, the lieutenant général dryly summed up the contents two days later with a curt marginal comment for his filing clerk: “Julie demande des livres et offre ses services.” True to his old habits, the exempt was offering to play the role of prison informer to get on Berryer’s good side but this time his superior was having none of it. No action was taken on Julie’s request for books, although during one of his subsequent visits to the Bastille, Berryer informed the prisoner that he might be allowed reading privileges at some time in the future. In all other respects his letter was ignored. For Berryer there could be no other response to Julie’s excuses. His plea of poverty and necessity, the mitigating circumstance of his “état” (i.e., his illegitimacy and consequent lack of normal family protection), all had to be brushed aside. Rightly ignored too were the miscreant’s tears, his earnest professions of fidelity and integrity, and the questionable claim that “la fausseté n’a jamais fait partie de mon caractère.” The lieutenant général had heard all that before! This slippery scoundrel Charles de Julie obviously required a lengthy period of unpleasant correction in an unpleasant place. How typical of him to imagine that twenty-four days represented a sufficient punishment! Little did he know that what Berryer had in mind was more like twenty-four months. The prisoner would have to be softened up, would have to arrive at full consciousness of his unworthiness and guilt. The evidence was clear that even now, as before, the cunning rogue was not taking responsibility for his actions, blaming others instead, those so-called secret enemies, those nebulous gens mal-intentionnés. Most important, perhaps, even if Berryer had been in some way moved by Julie’s impassioned letter when he received it on 6 September, any good effect was entirely destroyed two days later when Chevalier’s report arrived, detailing how Julie, despite his solemn denials, had indeed communicated with Allègre, the occupant of the cachot below his room, and not just with his neighbour Rhinville on the floor above. More lies and duplicity! Over the years he had come to expect nothing better from Charles de Julie. There would be no need to take any notice of the wily prisoner’s entreaties. The scoundrel would simply have to sweat it out. He would have to realize that he was a long way from achieving a proper sense of contrition, that full and entire tranparency of conscience which alone could eventually justify his release. In short, the prisoner had barely begun to suffer his well-merited quota of methodical punishment and misery.

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

268

Page 268

The Prisoner

It was probably in order to clarify the matter of his having communicated illicitly with other prisoners in the Bazinière Tower that Charles de Julie had been allowed to write to Berryer after his first three weeks in the Bastille. Three weeks later, another opportunity to send a letter arose. Several petitions from Julie’s angry creditors, clamouring for justice, had arrived in Berryer’s office. These provoked a demand on the lieutenant général’s part for explanations from the prisoner. Enclosed with the petition forwarded by the linen draper (and sometime money-lender) Nicolas Le Dantu, was one of Julie’s dishonoured promissory notes in the amount of 310 livres. The loan (in fact a bolt of cloth that Julie had subsequently used as collateral for additional credit)4 had saved Julie on one occasion from debtor’s prison. But the exempt had subsequently neglected to make good on his obligations to Le Dantu. Another letter in the file, sent to Berryer by a distressed landlady in Caen, citing a large unpaid bill for wine and clothing, also speaks to the generally sorry state of Charles de Julie’s finances: Monsieur, J’ai l’honneur de vous écrire pour vous réitérer la prière que je vous ai faite au sujet de monsieur Julie pour 57 livres, 6 deniers qu’il me doit tant pour vin à lui vendu que pour chapeaux. Je lui ai écrit plusieurs lettres; il ne me fait aucune réponse. Il m’est bien triste d’avoir été obligée à vendre mon bien pour payer mes marchands et de me voir réduite avec ma petite famille dans une chambre. C’est le désespoir où je suis qui m’oblige à vous importuner, comptant, Monsieur, que vous me rendrez ce service par votre autorité étant un des vos exempts. C’est la grâce que je vous demande au nom de Dieu et de vouloir bien m’honorer, Monsieur, de votre réponse. Je vous en aurai une éternelle obligation comme de me croire avec un très profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et obéissante servante, femme de Montigny l’aîné, devant le puits des Croisiers à Caen Caen, ce 29 septembre 17535

In addition to providing Berryer with the requested background details concerning the Le Dantu debt and other matters,6 Julie seized on the opportunity to write the lieutenant général a follow-up letter reinforcing his earlier plea for forgiveness. A plan was already taking shape in his mind. He had used his writing talents to good effect with Berryer before, while he was a prisoner in For l’Évêque. He had always been clever with his pen. If only he could obtain permission to write to the lieutenant général on a regular basis he was confident that he

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 269

Awaiting Rescue

269

would, little by little, be able to charm him, wear down his resistance and eventually write his way out of jail. It was now six weeks since his arrest and he had almost given up hope of being rescued by his grands seigneurs protectors. Richelieu and the others obviously intended to abandon him to his fate. Only Berryer could save him now. It would take much effort and require a good plan to win over the disdainful magistrate and make him forget the Julie of old: Monsieur, L’occasion des deux réponses que vous me demandez est d’un prix trop inestimable pour ne la pas mettre à profit. Recevez de grâce mon sincère compliment de condoléance sur l’indisposition que M. le major m’a dit que vous veniez d’essuyer. Quelque peu de crédit que mes prières aient dans le firmament, je les ai mises en usage pour demander à Dieu le prompt rétablissement d’une santé qui m’est chère en dépit de ce que vous en pourrez croire; et quelque venin que répandent sur mon misérable individu mes cruels ennemis dont vous êtes, malheureusement pour moi, trop souvent entourés, je vous réitère que quelque dure que soit la punition que vous me faites subir, le respect et la tranquillité, et mes larmes, sont le seul remède que j’y apporte. Les laisserez-vous longtemps couler ces tristes larmes? Si vous étiez le témoin de leur sincérité, elles vous attendriraient certainement. Daignez donc, au nom de tout ce que vous avez de plus cher, prendre en pitié mon état dont je n’ose envisager l’avenir sans trembler. Il y a apparence que tout le monde m’a abandonné. Hélas! Que de tristes réflexions à faire, et que l’endroit où vous me tenez en est bien la véritable fabrique! Vous m’aviez fait la grâce de me dire que vous verriez dans quelque temps à me donner des livres. Si je mesure celui que je dois rester ici à la distance que vous mettez à m’accorder cette grâce ne dois-je pas trembler? Mais non, votre équité me rassure. Je sais que vous êtes juste. J’ose vous prier d’ordonner que l’on me donne quelques livres. Je vous demande en même temps la permission de vous écrire une fois par semaine. Me refuserez-vous toujours? Et Julie, le trop malheureux Julie, ne participera-t-il jamais aux bontés que vous répandez sur tant d’autres qui, peut-être dans le fond du cœur, ne vous sont pas aussi réellement attachés que lui? Sans vous commander, Monsieur, puis-je me flatter que vous aurez la bonté de dire à M. Desnoyers que je l’aime toujours et qu’il en fasse de même à mon égard? J’en verse actuellement des larmes et c’est le sincère repentir qui me les fait répandre. Je vous dirai ce que je sais sur les correspondances quand vous viendrez. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur De Julie A la Bastille, le 1er octobre 17537

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

270

Page 270

The Prisoner

More tears, more promises; perhaps even a first hint of prison alienation (or simply engaging rhetoric?) in the reference to himself in the third person – “Julie, le trop malheureux Julie.” The prisoner asks for books. And key to his new strategy, he asks for permission to write frequently to his omnibenevolent and omnipotent jailor. Finally, he repeats his offer to become the lieutenant général’s trusted informer on the inside. Surely, Berryer would respond at last!8 But again there was no response. For the benefit of his office clerk, Duval, Berryer added a single word of instruction in the margin of Julie’s letter: “Attendre.” Eight weeks after the arrest of Julie’s team, Berryer received his first letter from Nicolas Willemin de Coin, judged to be the exempt’s principal accomplice. A long-time member of the lieutenant général’s crew of undercover agents, de Coin had waited more than twice as long as Julie before seeking authorization to send a letter. In tone and style it was calmer, more controlled and business-like than Julie’s. Even the letter’s salutation strategically employed the more respectful Monseigneur in addressing the great magistrate rather than Julie’s egalitarian Monsieur. There is a hint of austerity in de Coin’s appeal and few signs of Julie’s flattering, manipulative rhetoric. The lawyer from Metz had been faithfully working as an informer for Berryer since October 1749 and had never before blotted his copy book. Berryer would understand that his present predicament was entirely the fault of one Charles de Julie: Monseigneur, Permettez-moi d’implorer vos bontés dans l’état misérable où je me trouve. La faute pour laquelle j’ai eu le malheur d’encourir votre disgrâce n’est presque pas volontaire. La position malheureuse de mes affaires et les détours de l’esprit souple et rusé du sieur Julie m’ont fait tomber dans le piège malgré moi, et si j’ai péché, c’est par une pure fragilité si pardonnable à l’homme lorsque le cœur n’est pas coupable. Il y a quatre ans que j’ai l’honneur de vous servir sans avoir jamais bronché le moins du monde, quoique j’en aie été sollicité par des personnes qui m’auraient fait des avantages plus réels que le sieur Julie, qui ne m’a fait entrer dans ses projets que le pistolet sur la gorge. Vous savez le détail de tout ce mystère d’iniquité. C’est pourquoi, Monseigneur, je vous supplie d’avoir pitié de moi. Je me trouve dans la plus fâcheuse circonstance du monde. La mort de ma mère qui n’a laissé que des affaires fort embrouillées, un beaufrère qui voudrait tout avoir, et M. de Bulé, maître des comptes à Rouen, fort chicaneur et à qui j’ai affaire, me font envisager ma captivité comme ma ruine totale. D’ailleurs, je suis ici actuellement en taffetas et s’il faut que j’y fasse un plus long séjour je vous supplie de me faire avoir une veste qui puisse me mettre en état de supporter les rigueurs de la saison et de m’accorder des livres.

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 271

Awaiting Rescue

271

Voilà bientôt deux mois que je suis vis-à-vis de moi-même et j’ai eu tout le temps de faire toutes les réflexions possibles. Je vous supplie très instamment, Monseigneur, de m’accorder cette dernière grâce en cas que vous jugiez à propos de prolonger ma captivité. L’oisiveté est la mère de tous les vices et à qui peut-on demander plus efficacement du remède contre elle qu’à vous, Monseigneur, qui mettez toute votre étude à les déraciner. Si je puis avoir l’honneur de vous voir quand vous viendrez ici, j’aurais des choses assez particulières à vous dire sur le compte de Julie et du maréchal qui sont trop longues pour une lettre que je finis en protestant que je n’attends ma grâce que de vos seules bontés. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec le plus profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, Willemin de Coin À la Bastille, ce 5 octobre 17539

Although the file contains no written evidence to this effect, it is difficult to imagine Berryer not taking advantage of an offer from de Coin to reveal secrets of the mighty maréchal de Richelieu, the behind-thescenes enemy of his own benefactress the marquise de Pompadour. In all likelihood, the lieutenant général did respond discreetly to his informant’s offer, without for all that, making any apparent concessions to a prisoner who, almost as culpably as Julie, had clearly betrayed his professional obligations. It is likely that what de Coin eventually told Berryer about the maréchal and Julie was enough to bury the exempt even deeper in Berryer’s bad books. On the other hand, the lawyer’s revelations probably helped to shorten his own sentence. In any case, de Coin’s first petitionary letter to the magistrate clearly brought more positive results than Julie’s first, second, or even third appeal. In an office note to Duval, Berryer sardonically commented the next day: “Il ne fait pas l’éloge de Julie.” More importantly for the shivering de Coin, the magistrate added: “Willemin de Coin demande une veste et des livres pour s’amuser. Il a des choses particulières à dire sur le compte du maréchal et de Julie. Bon pour la veste et des livres.” Only a week later, still without books, Julie once more obtained permission to write to Berryer. Returning to the attack, he made little effort this time to rein in his manipulative literary skills. Words were, after all, his only weapon in this struggle. Now he asked not only for books and the permission to write at regular intervals to the man who held the keys to his eventual freedom, but also for a stock of writing paper, numbered sheets for which he would remain fully accountable but which he could use freely for purposes other than simply writing to his supreme jailor. Many literary bits and pieces were already

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

272

Page 272

The Prisoner

coming to mind, and he was confident that, properly employed, those numbered sheets would win him freedom and a triumphant exit from the Bastille: À la Bastille, le 13 octobre 1753 Monsieur, La liberté de vous écrire est si précieuse que je ne me suis pas lassé de la demander. Me pardonnerez-vous cette importunité? Deux mois entiers, livré à moi-même. Que j’aurais de choses à vous dire si je ne respectais un temps qui est si cher! Vous répéterais-je, Monsieur, que la tristesse de ma situation attendrirait quelqu’un qui, moins que vous, aurait à se plaindre de mes écarts? Mais n’oserais-je jamais me flatter que vous voudrez bien les oublier? Heureux si je pouvais vous donner un jour des preuves inéquivoques de la plus respectueuse reconnaissance! Je n’ai jamais désiré que vous plaire. Mon ambition était fixée à vous devoir ma fortune. Tout le monde le sait. Elle est encore la même et si je vous trouve toujours dans les mêmes sentiments, mon parti est pris: j’irai, réduit à l’aumône, chercher un asile où les hommes plus humains auront pitié des malheureux. Cette humanité fait une de vos belles qualités. Ne daignerezvous pas l’employer en ma faveur? Que vous répéterais-je que vous ne sachiez déjà? Mon état, le délabrement infaillible de mes affaires, tout enfin vous parlerait pour moi si vous laissiez agir votre indulgence. Dans un réduit où, livré tout le jour à des monceaux de réflexions, j’en ai fait d’assez solides pour vous faire oublier le passé. Hélas, le sommeil, présent sans contredit le plus précieux que la nature ait accordé aux malheureux, me refuse ses faveurs et semble jaloux de l’oubli moment[an]é de mes peines que m’occasionnerait sa douceur. J’ai pris la liberté de vous demander deux fois des livres pour remédier à une oisiveté continuelle qui comme vous savez est la mère de tous les vices. Je vous réitère cette prière. Si vous voulez aussi me faire donner du papier en compte j’aurais bien de petites choses à écrire que je prendrais la liberté de vous faire voir. Je me repose entièrement sur vos bontés. Je ne suis point inquiet de mon sort. Vous êtes juste, et peut-être, hélas, que ce malheur me sera avantageux. Oui, Monsieur, j’ose vous l’assurer: si la première fois que j’ai encouru votre disgrâce vous m’eussiez fait mettre à la Bastille, je crois que jamais vous n’auriez eu à vous plaindre de moi. Cette prison est un spécifique radical pour faire rentrer en soi-même, et soyez certain que ce remède a fait sur moi tout l’effet que vous en devez attendre si vous ne voulez pas me perdre. Il ne me reste qu’une lueur d’espérance. Qui seminant in lacrimis, In exsultatione metent. A quelle abondante récolte ne dois-je pas m’attendre si vous m’honorez de votre bienveillance! Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie10

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 273

Awaiting Rescue

273

Clever, pleading rhetoric but perhaps too patently disingenuous and precious to have any effect on the cynical lieutenant général who was constantly bombarded by flattering supplications from every quarter. Still, we cannot help but be impressed by the resources that Julie, without reference books of any kind, is able to marshal: Qui seminant in lacrimis, In exsultatione metent, indeed! Julie the newly pious martyr quotes Psalm 126 from the Vulgate, the song of the returning exiles, to illustrate his point that if Berryer had put the young delinquent Julie in the Bastille rather than in For l’Évêque when he had first run into trouble with the police, he would have turned out to be a better man. It would have meant more tears then but now it would be all joy and song: Those who went sowing in tears now sing as they reap, They went away, went away weeping, carrying the seed; They come back, come back singing, carrying their sheaves.11

Julie had obviously put his time with the monks at Senlis to good use, impressing his religious guardians with sedulous application to Biblical study in preparation for an early release. Prior Simon Giraud and his foster mother Goubier had been so pleased! Now he had a more difficult authority figure to lull into forgiveness, the stern and almighty Yahweh Berryer who with a simple stroke of the pen could bring the unhappy captive Julie home to freedom. Showing that confidence in his powerful friends had not yet been entirely extinguished, Julie added a postscript to his 13 October letter, a little greeting he hoped would be passed on to the maréchal’s man, his good friend Desnoyers. He inserted as well an exquisitely diffident inquiry about a possible visit from inspector d’Hémery, his fellow bâtard de naissance and occasional brothel buddy: “Je me recommande toujours à M. Desnoyers. J’ose vous supplier de le lui dire. Si M. d’Hémery vous avait demandé la permission de me parler vous la lui auriez peut-être accordée?”12 Not surprisingly, both postscript requests were ignored. But this time, for whatever reason, at least some of his efforts were successful. Impressed perhaps by what Julie could do without the aid of books, Berryer made a note for his clerk in the top margin of the letter: “Julie demande des livres et du papier pour écrire. Bon pour des livres.” In a separate note to major Chevalier, he wrote: “Julie, prisonnier, me

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

274

Page 274

The Prisoner

demande, Monsieur, des livres pour s’amuser. Vous pouvez lui en donner du château.”13 Books from the modestly furnished prison library, then, but writing paper for personal use would have to wait. And soon there was another – very minor – encouraging sign from the lieutenant général. The money-lender Le Dantu had been trying to lay claim to some of Julie’s clothing and personal effects but had been frustrated by Marianne Légeat who, after her employer’s arrest, had cleverly spirited away the exempt’s entire wardrobe and was holding it for ransom until her own claim for unpaid wages was satisfied. Le Dantu had now appealed to Berryer to seize Julie’s wardrobe from the servant-concubine and allow the sale of a sufficient quantity of items to satisfy the debt in question. Though aware that Julie had previously used an old Le Dantu debt to force de Coin’s initial collaboration in his illegal enterprise, Berryer decided to postpone a decision on the request: “Je ne puis pas déshabiller cet homme à moins qu’il n’y consente,” he noted in the margin of the linen draper’s petition.14 On being asked afterwards to indicate his preferences in the matter, Julie deftly seized the opportunity to plead his entire case once more with the magistrate. Still looming large in his defence was his notion that he was the unfortunate victim of malicious enemies: Monsieur, L’adversité, cette dure mais utile maîtresse, m’a donné de trop rudes leçons pour m’y exposer davantage. S’il est possible d’être plus malheureux que je suis, j’y consens. Je laisse à votre jugement la vente de mes habits, tristes restes des effets que le sort a bien voulu laisser à la disposition d’une domestique fidèle. Décidez, Monsieur, si vous voulez qu’ils soient vendus, ou si vous croyez plus naturel que le sieur Le Dantu attende qu’il vous ait plu me donner ma liberté, ce qui à la vérité retardera son payement mais du moins ne me laissera pas nu comme un ver de terre. Vous n’ignorez pas la faiblesse de mes ressources. Je me jette tout entier entre les bras de votre miséricorde. Hélas, Monsieur, il n’y a pas d’apparence que vous pensiez à me remettre si tôt en liberté. Quelles que soient mes fautes, sont-elles irrémissibles? Dieu n’est-il pas miséricordieux? Daignez l’être en ma faveur. Car enfin, quelque grand que soit le nombre de mes ennemis, quelque acharnés qu’ils soient à me perdre, les croyez-vous tous orthodoxes? Et quand on est dans le cas d’en craindre un aussi bon nombre, quel est l’homme que l’on ne puisse habiller en mauvais sujet quand, se laissant aller à la malignité qu’inspirent la méchanceté et un esprit prévenu, on voudra juger jusqu’à ses intentions et ne lui en attribuer que de perverses? Je vous suis sensiblement obligé des livres qu’il vous a plu me faire donner. Je vous avais demandé des plumes et de l’encre: vous êtes le maître de m’accorder ces faveurs ainsi que les autres dont vous gratifiez les prisonniers qui sont ici quand vous devenez moins aigri sur leur compte.

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 275

Awaiting Rescue

275

Je vous répète, Monsieur, que j’espère que ce sera la dernière fois que je me serai mis dans le cas de mériter votre disgrâce. J’ose vous demander ma liberté. Vingt-huit ans accomplis, aussi gueux qu’un rat d’église, les réflexions que je fais tous les jours sont de bon aloi et me mèneront, si Dieu est touché des prières que je lui adresse tous les jours, dans le chemin d’une félicité tranquille que j’ai jusqu’à présent ignorée. Daignez donc, au nom de tout ce que vous avez de plus cher, être sensible à ma situation. Je ne sacrifierai ce bienfait qu’à la plus respectueuse reconnaissance. Encore une fois, ayez pitié de moi. Je suis avec respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur De Julie Bastille, le 8 novembre 175315

Responding to this latest cri du cœur, Berryer decided finally to disappoint Le Dantu. In the margin of Julie’s letter he simply noted: “Je n’ordonnerai rien sur cela. Affaire finie.” Meanwhile, some of Julie’s friends on the outside, notably his fellow exempt Roussel and his old working sweetheart, la grande Dupont, were trying to put some order into his affairs. Claude-Bernard Roussel, guidon de Robe Courte and brother-in-law of inspector d’Hémery, was Charles de Julie’s closest friend. His father, the prosperous inspector Bernard Roussel, had all but disowned his playboy son and more than once had refused to pay off any of his improvident debts, preferring to see the young wastrel taught a lesson, even if it meant confinement in For l’Évêque. On 24 November 1753, Claude Roussel sent the following letter to Berryer: Monsieur, J’ai l’honneur de vous rendre compte que les meubles du sieur Julie ont été vendus le mercredi 14 du présent, que le prix de la vente a monté à 400 livres, somme qui a servi pour payer partie des frais que ses créanciers ont faits pour en poursuivre la vente. Ledit sieur Julie avait pour servante lorsqu’il fut arrêté la nommée Marianne, sœur du nommé Légeat, limonadier au Café de la Samaritaine, quai de la Mégisserie. Le jour qu’il fut arrêté, cette fille a soustrait de chez son maître à l’aide de son frère les effets contenus dans le mémoire ci-joint, dont elle ne veut rendre compte à personne sous prétexte qu’il lui est dû environ soixante livres du restant de ses gages depuis deux ans, à raison de vingt écus par an. Passant mardi dernier rue Froidmenteau, la dame Dupont m’a appelé par sa fenêtre pour me rendre un bâton d’exempt qui était chez Julie à moi, et m’a dit qu’elle avait appris par plusieurs personnes que ladite Marianne louait partie du linge de son maître ainsi que ses habits. J’ai parlé plusieurs fois à cette fille pour savoir ce qu’étaient devenus les effets de son maître et particulièrement

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

276

Page 276

The Prisoner

l’uniforme. Elle a dit les avoir mis chez des personnes qui étaient en campagne, et qu’elle n’en rendrait compte qu’aux personnes qui lui payeraient ses gages. La dame Dupont qui s’est chargée de toutes les affaires de Julie offre sous votre bon plaisir, Monsieur, de payer les gages de cette servante en ayant à rapporter devant telle personne qu’il vous plaira nommer les habits, linges, et effets contenus dans le mémoire, et principalement l’uniforme pour être déposé en mains sûres, ainsi que les dits effets. Roussel Ce 24 novembre 175316

Attached to young Roussel’s letter is a list of the personal effects and items from Julie’s wardrobe purloined by Marianne Légeat on the day of her master’s arrest: État des effets soustraits de chez le sieur de Julie par la nommée Marianne, le jour qu’il a été arrêté, – Savoir L’habit, veste, culotte, chapeau, et bas uniforme, et les bâtons Un habit, veste et culotte de drap brun à boutons dorés Un habit, veste, et deux culottes de lustrine Un habit, veste, et culotte de drap noir Deux culottes de velours neuves Cinq paires de bas de soie blanc Deux paires de noir Quatre paires de fil Douze chemises Douze cols Vingt-cinq serviettes Quatre nappes Cinq draps Douze torchons Une paire de flambeaux argentés avec leurs mouchettes et porte-mouchettes Deux flambeaux de cuivre Un chapeau bordé d’or Une épée Un couteau de chasse Une canne Un manchon de martre Dix mouchoirs de poche Trois vestes de basin Une redingote Une veste rouge galonnée en or et un habit blanc; on croit que c’est celui qu’il a à la Bastille.17

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 277

Awaiting Rescue

277

Surprised by the quantity of items, Berryer forwarded the list to Chevalier, who then showed it to Julie. Having constantly pleaded poverty as his excuse for dereliction of duty, the prisoner felt a momentary twinge of embarrassment. Obviously, so many clothes, one of the century’s key indicators of social status and personal wealth, deserved an explanation. It probably took Charles de Julie no more than a few seconds to come up with one: “M. Roussel a fait cet état de sa tête car je ne me crois pas si riche.”18 In addition, given the nature of his past associations with la Dupont, he also felt it necessary to explain her willingness to be so helpful in the matter. Berryer, of course, knew that he had been her pimp, protector, and lover at least until the time of her arrest and the closing of her establishment in October 1751. Her release on 30 May 1752 had come with the help of some very influential people,19 including, no doubt, some of Julie’s own patrons. When she once more set up in business, she continued in her role as his special informer – perhaps even more – but Julie no doubt hoped that Berryer was unaware of that fact. Now, he took pains to assure the lieutenant général that he and his old flame were just good friends: Monsieur, La vente de mes meubles n’a rien qui me surprenne; je m’y étais attendu, et quelque grands que soient les malheurs qui se succèdent les uns aux autres, j’apprends ici à faire des réflexions héroïques et à supporter tout sans murmurer, rendant grâces à la Providence de m’avoir donné un juge équitable qui ne me punira qu’autant de temps qu’il croira que je l’aurai mérité. Je craignais que mes habits n’eussent suivi le même sort. J’imagine que M. Roussel ne s’est donné ces soins que pour mes intérêts, que je le prie de continuer de les prendre. Mes effets ne peuvent être mieux par rapport à moi qu’entre les mains de la demoiselle en question. Je consens qu’elle [la Dupont] les retire si le magistrat le trouve bon et si ce consentement ne lui fait pas croire que ce soit un reste de libertinage qui me détermine à donner la préférence à cette demoiselle. Mais non, ce magistrat équitable et bien instruit doit savoir qu’il y a deux ans que je ne vois cette demoiselle que par amitié, et pour ne pas joindre au nombre de mes défauts celui de l’ingratitude. Voilà déjà près de quatre mois que je suis ici. Cette nouvelle demande me prouve que je ne suis pas près d’en sortir. Quoi qu’il en soit, j’ose me recommander à vos bontés. Vous savez combien j’en ai actuellement besoin et qu’elles me deviendront indispensablement nécessaires par la suite. Je n’ose vous protester que je réparerai toutes mes fautes; vous n’en croiriez rien. J’ai des livres ici, mais comme le nombre de ceux qui les lisent les rendent extraordinairement rares, on a beaucoup de peine à les joindre, et jamais ils

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

278

Page 278

The Prisoner

ne se suivent. Je serais bien charmé de lire l’histoire de France que je ne connais qu’imparfaitement. Je ne puis m’adresser qu’à vous pour me faire ce plaisir. J’aurais bien désiré voir quelqu’un, soit M. Desnoyers, M. d’Hémery, ou M. Buhot. Vous en êtes le maître. Enfin, Monsieur, je vous prie d’être persuadé de mon sincère repentir, et de l’envie que j’ai de vous faire oublier toutes mes frasques. Je vous prie de faire attention que ma jeunesse se passe, et que cette dernière punition est plus que capable de me faire rentrer en moi-même. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie A la Bastille, le 29 novembre 1753 [P.-S.] Il ne tient qu’à vous de me faire donner les douceurs que vous accordez à la Bastille. Si vous me faites passer l’hiver ici je ne serais pas fâché d’avoir un camarade. Le tout à votre volonté pour le mieux.20

Julie, sociable Julie, was starving for company. The prison grapevine would have informed him that sometimes, because of a shortage of space, certain prisoners were housed together in the same room. Being given a roommate was normally viewed as a kind of douceur, not granted to everyone. Julie may even have learned that Chazé, his petit commissaire, had lately been given shared accommodation with the abbé Étienne Rouzier, imprisoned in the Bastille (also in August 1753) for having published a work deemed highly offensive to the Prussian court.21 There is little doubt, moreover, that Julie’s motivation here is social rather than sexual. It derives from the same feelings that prompted his earlier comparison of the Bastille with For l’Évêque, a prison that was cramped and crowded to the rafters but where companionship and the coziness generated by the immediate presence of others made incarceration – however rank and redolent – more bearable. The mental suffering imposed by the Bastille’s silence and isolation was getting to him. Perhaps by now, even his repeated requests to see some of his old friends like Desnoyers, d’Hémery, and Buhot had less to do with the hope of garnering support from protectors on the outside than with the simple desire for social contact with a friend and fellow human being – someone like inspector Pierre Buhot, for example, a policeman pimp in every respect after his own heart. Buhot had his own modest entrepreneurial investments in the capital’s sex trade and had, for example, recently established la demoiselle Darcheville (a.k.a., Montfort) in the rue Guénégaud under the name de Bercy.22 Julie had worked with him in the Étrangers detail and had entrusted

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 279

Awaiting Rescue

279

him with his most compromising papers. A visit from Buhot would certainly allow the prisoner an opportunity to enjoy some congenial shop talk. Similarly, Desnoyers would be able to regale him with the latest stories passed on by Louison. And then, too, there might still be a chance to learn whether the maréchal was thinking of intervening on his behalf – without, of course, further irritating the great magistrate Berryer. On 2 December 1753, Julie signed the required legal papers authorizing la Dupont to pay off Marianne, who had served him faithfully and well since 27 October 1751: “Je donne plein et entier pouvoir à Mademoiselle Du Pont de retirer des mains de Marianne Légeat, ma domestique, les hardes et effets qu’elle a entre les mains en lui payant ce qui lui est dû de gages dont je tiendrai compte à la demoiselle Du Pont.”23 The authorization is shown as having been drawn up “in Paris.” That certainly gave a far better impression than “à la Bastille.” The approaching winter had now begun its invasion of the Bazinière Tower. How long could it all go on? Surely four months was nearly enough! It was time to keep an extra sharp lookout for signs of Berryer’s intentions? Perhaps it would turn out precisely as it had five years earlier in For L’Évêque when Berrryer had released him the day after Christmas? Yes, that was it! The lieutenant général must simply be waiting for just such a suitable occasion. For his étrennes, surely poor Julie would be granted his freedom! In the first week of December, Julie probably learned from the prison grapevine that the petit commissaire was being set free. From the very beginning of Benoist-Louis’s incarceration, Chazé père had been making great efforts on his son’s behalf, petitioning Berryer, providing the prisoner with comfort funds and extra clothing.24 By November, responding to the father’s latest petition, Berryer agreed to recommend Chazé’s release. The lieutenant général explained to the minister d’Argenson: “Comme on ne s’était assuré de lui que pour savoir les allures de Julie, et qu’il a tout déclaré ce qu’il en savait dans son interrogatoire, je pense qu’on peut le rendre libre.”25 The royal order for his release was duly executed by the prison governor in the first week of December 1753. In an intensely paternalistic society, having a father, supportive or otherwise, obviously was an enormous advantage. In contrast, the response to Julie’s various requests for a few creature comforts was minimal. In October, to counter the autumn chill, Berryer did instruct commissaire Rochebrune to have a pair of woollen stockings made up for the prisoner Julie. But the most discouraging sign that he would not soon be liberated came precisely on New Year’s Eve.

CH12.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

280

Page 280

The Prisoner

For Julie’s étrennes, Berryer authorized not his freedom but a new pair of prison shoes.26 Conveying the lieutenant général’s order to Chevalier, Rochebrune added his own warm greeting for the officers of the Bastille: “Je vous souhaite une bonne fin d’année, ainsi qu’à tous ces messieurs, en attendant le plaisir de vous souhaiter la nouvelle.”

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 281

13 Un Coup imprévu

Calmer and less reactive than Charles de Julie, whose repeated emotional appeals seemed only to increase Berryer’s irritation, Nicolas Willemin de Coin had meanwhile been quietly waiting for events to unfold. Knowing the inflexible disposition of the man for whom he had worked as an informer for four years, familiar too with the protocol-ridden nature of the judicial bureaucracy, he had prudently kept his peace. Finally, nearly four months after his arrest, he requested permission to address a second letter to the lieutenant général de police: Monseigneur, Permettez-moi de vous faire ressouvenir de moi et de vous représenter la situation critique où je me trouve. La mort de ma mère1 qui a laissé ses affaires en très mauvais état et ma détention actuelle m’ôtent toute espérance de me relever un jour de mes malheurs. J’ai des parents qui ne manqueront point de profiter de ma captivité pour envahir le peu qui me reste. Cependant, Monseigneur, j’ose vous assurer que jamais je n’ai eu dessein de vous manquer de fidélité. Le travail que j’ai fait avec Julie était forcé en quelque façon et ce qu’il fournissait aux sieurs Bouret et de Besenval n’étaient que des notes particulières qui n’avaient aucun rapport à votre ouvrage et encore y ai-je si peu de part que cela ne vaut pas la peine d’en parler. Daignez donc, Monseigneur, jeter un œil de bonté sur moi qui n’ai jamais eu de plus forte envie que celle de mériter vos bonnes grâces. Je suis maintenant plus en état que du passé de vous servir puisque ma détention aura effacé tous les soupçons qu’on aurait pu avoir contre moi, supposé qu’on en ait eu, et j’ose vous promettre que dans la suite vous ne me verrez pas faire le moindre faux pas, toute ma plus forte envie

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

282

Page 282

The Prisoner

n’étant que d’effacer les mauvaises impressions que ma conduite passée a pu vous donner contre moi. Vos bontés redoubleront mon zèle et je vous aurai d’autant plus d’obligation de la liberté que par là vous me procurerez et ma fortune et mon bien-être pour le reste de ma vie. Si néanmoins c’était votre intention, Monseigneur, de me retenir plus longtemps, je vous supplie de me procurer du linge, n’ayant plus que deux chemises, et du papier, des plumes et de l’encre. J’ose pourtant renouveler de nouveau mes instances pour ma liberté car si ma prison dure longtemps je ne peux éviter ma ruine. Je vous serai redevable toute ma vie de ce bienfait et ne cesserai d’être avec le plus profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. Willemin de Coin à la Bastille, ce 5 décembre 17532

A man of fewer words than Charles de Julie, whom he considered a babillard, de Coin, even as he admitted to dereliction of professional duty, probably provoked an assenting nod from Berryer when he placed the blame for most of his problems on the artful exempt. On the other hand, his rather optimistic suggestion that in future he would be able to serve the lieutenant général more effectively as a spy – now that his cover as an informer had been reinforced by the fact of his imprisonment – did little to impress his former employer. Such considerations were, at all events, a long way off in the future. The lieutenant général’s sentencing formula for the delinquent lawyer from Metz had not yet been satisfied. As for the prisoner’s comfort requests, Berryer gave a mixed response: “Néant pour le papier,” he instructed his clerk, Duval. Then he added: “Écrire au major pour le linge.” The impoverished state of de Coin’s wardrobe compared to that of the other prisoners had been apparent from the day he first entered the Bastille. His associates Lacombe and Chazé had been fortunate enough to receive a supply of clothing from immediate relatives, once Rochebrune had notified each family of the need following their arrest. Similarly, Marianne Légeat, before hiding most of Julie’s wardrobe from the bailiffs, had had the wit to bring a bundle of clothing to the commissaire to ensure a modicum of comfort for her master. The conscientious Rochebrune took such extra-judicial duties very seriously and almost always tried to accommodate the special preferences of prisoners in these matters. For example, in a letter to the Bastille’s major that came with a package containing “une chemise, une culotte, une paire de bas, une paire de chaussons, un mouchoir et un col,” supplied by Lacombe’s father for his son, Rochebrune also directed Chevalier to inform la dame Sauvé that the “ruban de tête” she had requested could be of any colour of her choice.3

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 283

Un Coup imprévu

283

De Coin’s clothing needs were considerably more basic. Soon after the lawyer’s arrest, Rochebrune had asked Bauge, his landlord at the Cheval Noir, to gather up any wearables left behind in the prisoner’s grungy chambre garnie, only to discover that the vagabond mouche owned little more than the clothes he had on his back.4 As a result, for the next five months, various clothing supplies and toiletries were provided for him from the Bastille’s stores. On 15 September, the château’s hosier was ordered to supply de Coin with a pair of stockings. Two weeks after that, the Bastille’s shoemaker was directed to make him a pair of shoes.5 A warm veste de peluche was delivered on 15 October and on 7 December, Revel, the prison tailor, was ordered to measure the prisoner Willemin de Coin for a pair of breeches. In addition, on 19 December, Berryer forwarded the following directive to Chevalier: “Vous retirerez, Monsieur, du magasin des hardes du château de la Bastille qui appartiennent au Roi, trois chemises, quatre mouchoirs, deux coiffes de nuit, et quatre paires de chaussons que vous donnerez à Willemin de Coin, prisonnier audit Château, qui n’a pas le moyen de se les procurer et qui en a besoin, suivant votre état du 16 de ce mois.”6 Berryer’s instructions are surprisingly detailed and the major’s subsequent confirmation that the order had been acted upon is worth noting since, as luck would have it, it provides one of the few surviving physical descriptions, albeit fragmentary, of any member of Charles de Julie’s nouvelliste team: “Donné au sieur Willemain de Coin le contenu de cette lettre, à la réserve des 4 paires de chaussons parce que nous n’en avons point d’assez grands.”7 Nicolas-François, it seems, had unusually large feet! Paying no heed to this observation, Berryer repeated the order on 29 December: “Vous me marquez, Monsieur, que Willemin de Coin, prisonnier, a besoin de chaussons. Donnez-lui-en quatre paires de ceux qui sont au magasin des hardes du Château.” The renewed order elicited another memorandum the following day from Chevalier: “Récrit à M. de Berryer que les chaussons que nous avons au magasin du Château ne peuvent servir à ce prisonnier parce qu’il a le pied trop grand et que nos chaussons sont trop petits pour lui.”8 We do not know how the problem of providing the over-sized de Coin with warm foot wear was finally resolved but it is probable that the busiest administrator in the kingdom personally had a hand in finding a solution. Indeed, Berryer seems to have taken a special pride in playing God the Housekeeper, maintaining an up-to-date bureaucratic omniscience regarding the smallest details of the Bastille’s clothing inventory.9 It was not until six months after his arrest that de Coin’s relatives in Metz got wind that something was amiss. Normally, they were only

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

284

Page 284

The Prisoner

too happy to have no news of the family’s black sheep, but now legal and financial matters relating to his late mother’s estate urgently required some kind of contact. In February 1754, de Coin’s brother-inlaw, the parlementaire Charles-François-Augustin Du Buat, wrote to the lieutenant général from Metz asking for information on NicolasFrançois’s whereabouts.10 Although the identity of persons detained in the Bastille was always a closely guarded state secret, Berryer, no doubt suitably impressed by the legal and social standing of his correspondent, immediately instructed his clerk to cooperate, albeit in a manner that would not reveal de Coin’s status as a prisoner.11 In the succeeding weeks, he also facilitated an exchange of private legal papers between the prisoner and his brother-in-law. Though grateful for Berryer’s assistance, de Coin was astute enough to realize that such cooperation was also a sure sign that his release was not imminent. With that concern in mind, he now asked the lieutenant général to grant him some additional privileges to ease his plight: Monseigneur, La conjonction critique où je me trouve et le besoin que j’aurais de ma liberté pour arranger mes affaires devraient m’engager à renouveler mes instances pour vous la demander de nouveau, mais je dois respecter votre justice qui sans doute n’est point encore satisfaite puisque par la démarche qu’elle vient de faire, elle me fait entrevoir que la fin de ma captivité est encore éloignée. Permettez-moi cependant, Monseigneur, de vous demander la permission de prendre un peu l’air dans la cour, non comme un adoucissement à ma peine mais une chose indispensablement nécessaire à ma santé, car je puis vous assurer que je n’ose plus manger parce que je ne digère plus, et qu’infailliblement je tomberai malade si je ne prends pas un peu d’exercice. Les réflexions que produit la solitude m’ont fait de plus envisager qu’il y avait d’autres devoirs encore plus essentiels que ceux que nous devons à notre conservation. C’est ce qui m’engage à vous supplier très instamment de me permettre d’entendre la messe, au moins les fêtes et dimanche. J’ose encore ajouter à toutes ces demandes, qu’il vous plaise me faire tenir ici les Mémoires de Castelnau, en deux tomes in-folio12 dont M. de La Jannière a le premier, et quelques autres livres que j’ai laissés chez le sieur Bauge, rue des Marais, dans la maison duquel j’ai été arrêté. J’espère que monsieur de La Jannière voudra bien avoir la bonté de les faire transporter ici si vous lui en donnez l’ordre. Je vous aurai, Monseigneur, une obligation infinie de ce petit secours, ayant épuisé la bibliothèque de la Bastille depuis cinq mois que je lis et étant d’ailleurs fort difficile d’avoir ici des livres de suite. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec un profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur,

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 285

Un Coup imprévu

285

Willemin de Coin à la Bastille ce 4 mars 1754.13

De Coin had indeed been granted reading privileges nearly five months earlier (on 14 October 1753, five days before Julie),14 and his complaint about the availability of books in the Bastille’s very modest collection was not uncommon. Berryer, perhaps not surprisingly, agreed to allow La Jannière, one of the lieutenants de robe courte and a close associate of Charles de Julie, to transfer de Coin’s own private stock of books to his room in the Bastille.15 He also agreed to the prisoner’s request for outdoor exercise.16 As for allowing him to attend mass – a highly restricted privilege that despite all precautionary counter-measures was viewed as the source of much illicit communication among the Bastille’s inmates – Berryer’s answer was a blunt no. Meanwhile, Du Buat, realizing finally that de Coin was an inmate in one of the royal prisons, cunningly decided that now was perhaps a good time to be rid of his ne’er-do-well brother-in-law once and for all. His proposal on the subject, sent to Berryer from Metz on 14 March 1754, raises a possibility frequently mentioned by families wishing to despatch their difficult relatives – banishment to the colonies: La cause de la détention du sieur Willemin me donne beaucoup d’inquiétude. Il dit qu’il est peut-être à la veille d’aller habiter une terre étrangère. Il y a longtemps qu’il eût été avantageux pour lui et pour sa famille qu’il y fût relégué. Il est capable de tout. Un jugement flétrit, l’ordre du Roi ménage l’honneur d’une famille. Je le souhaite innocent, mais si ma crainte est fondée comme il y a toute apparence, pourrais-je me flatter de trouver en vous, Monsieur, un protecteur? Il est jeune encore. Il a de l’esprit. Il pourrait se corriger dans une colonie éloignée. Sa famille serait à l’abri d’un déshonneur que sa mauvaise conduite fait regarder comme inévitable, surtout dans la situation où il se trouve d’avoir plus de dettes que de bien. Vous ne pouvez plus douter, Monsieur, de l’intérêt que je dois y prendre. Je tremble en vous demandant la cause de sa prison. Cependant, si vous pouvez me l’apprendre, vous sentez, Monsieur, combien il est à propos que je la sache. En vous remerciant de vos bontés, je vous en demande la continuation.17

It was a plausible if obviously self-serving suggestion and it brought a malicious thought to Berryer’s mind: “J’ai presque envie,” he wrote to his clerk Duval, “de le faire sortir en l’exilant à Metz.” Aware of the intense animosity between Du Buat and his brother-in-law, the magistrate toyed only momentarily with this mischievous notion. In the end he decided to wait and do nothing. At around this same time, Charles de Julie was also entertaining

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

286

Page 286

The Prisoner

thoughts of starting life anew in some distant land. Would Berryer, he wondered, allow him to purchase his release with a promise to go into exile? On 28 March 1754 he wrote to the lieutenant général, suggesting that he was ready to pay that ultimate price for his freedom, “l’acheter aux conditions les plus dures”: C’est pourquoi, Monsieur, si toujours irrité contre moi, vous voulez me l’accorder, je vous offre de sortir non seulement de Paris mais même du royaume, et ce huit jours après ma délivrance. Je vous fais cette proposition non que je ne sois convaincu de votre justice et de votre équité, desquelles j’ai si souvent rendu témoignage qu’il me serait facile de vous en donner une preuve authentique; mais malheureux pour malheureux, j’aime autant l’être dans un pays inconnu que dans celui où bien des [gens] sont persuadés que j’aurais dû faire mon chemin. Enfin, Monsieur, le Dieu que nous adorons, qui nourrit les oiseaux du Ciel, aura peut-être pitié de moi. Je l’en prierai du moins de bon cœur, et le long séjour que vous me faites faire ici ne me fait peu réfléchir sur la nécessité de mettre ce Souverain Être dans mon parti. Recevez, je vous prie, mon compliment sur le bon état de votre santé que M. le major m’a dit être parfaite. Mes vœux ne cesseront pas d’en demander au Ciel la continuation. Soyez-en persuadé et me croyez avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur De Julie A La Bastille, ce 28 mars 1754. [P.-S.] Je ne vous réitère pas la prière de permettre à quelqu’un de me venir parler. Cela n’est peut-etre pas de votre goût.18

Unfortunately, the initial page of this letter is missing and we consequently have no formal record of Berryer’s immediate reaction (usually noted in the top margin of the first page) to Julie’s offer to vanish quietly from the scene. We know from subsequent letters, however, that the lieutenant général on this occasion rejected out of hand all of Julie’s requests, including his offer to go into exile. Interestingly, the 28 March letter hints at a new note of sensitivity on Julie’s part concerning his own image and reputation. He would be unhappy in foreign exile but he would be even more unhappy if he remained in France where he had disappointed the hopes and expectations of so many people. Apart from wondering who those “many” disappointed people could have been, we have to suspect that the resourceful prisoner is here mainly indulging his gift for tactical rhetoric, hoping to tease to the surface Berryer’s well-buried sense of compassion. Julie’s new mindfulness of religion, this sudden need to have God on his side (coincidentally expressed by de Coin as well around this same time), also smacks of manipulation. On the other hand, the almost wistful request

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 287

Un Coup imprévu

287

for a visitor, for someone to talk to, rings poignantly true. Sociability was probably the most vital component of Charles de Julie’s character. Instinctively he knew that companionship could make his difficult situation more bearable. Again, Berryer remained unmoved. In his eyes, Julie was still pretty much at the beginning of a long and richly deserved apprenticeship in suffering and corrective discipline. For the prisoner de Coin, on the other hand, that apprenticeship was nearing its end. Two months after confiding to Duval that he was tempted to release de Coin and exile him to Metz, the lieutenant général de police recommended precisely that in a memorandum to the minister d’Argenson: Le sieur Willemin de Coin, avocat de Metz détenu à la Bastille depuis le mois d’août 1753, demande sa liberté. A été arrêté dans l’affaire de Julie, exempt de robe courte, qui est pareillement prisonnier à la Bastille, parce qu’il lui servait de mouche et lui donnait des anecdotes pour composer des feuilles de nouvelles fort impertinentes sur différentes personnes de considération. Comme cet homme a déclaré ce qu’il savait sur le compte de Julie et le sien et qu’il coûte assez inutilement de l’argent au Roi où il est, j’estime qu’on pourrait le mettre en liberté en le reléguant toutefois à Metz, son pays, attendu que s’il restait à Paris il retournerait à ses intrigues de nouvelles, n’ayant pas d’autre allure pour vivre. Si Monsieur le comte d’Argenson y consent, il est supplié de faire expédier les deux ordres pour la liberté et l’exil à Metz.19

For some unspecified reason, before the memo was delivered to the minister, the designation Metz was crossed out and the words “50 lieues de Paris” were substituted. It is possible that the prisoner himself was consulted in the interim and given some preference in the matter. Certainly, de Coin would have been reluctant to return to the city of his in-laws and his turbulent youth. Moreover, he really had to find some way to stay close enough to Paris to attend to a lawsuit that was already well underway in the capital. Specific orders for de Coin’s release and exile fifty French leagues (approximately 200 kilometres) from Paris were issued by d’Argenson on Berryer’s recommendation on 5 May 1754. Five days later, on Friday 10 May at around two o’clock in the afternoon, after making his soumission, a solemn promise not to reoffend, and then swearing an oath of secrecy, promising to communicate to no one any information that might have come to his attention concerning the Bastille or its prisoners, Nicolas-François de Coin was escorted from the château by

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

288

Page 288

The Prisoner

inspector Meusnier. The inspector had been summoned for the specific purpose of notifying the prisoner of the severe penalties that would ensue if the exile order was flouted in any way. Major Chevalier then presented the released prisoner with a package containing his personal effects, as well as a memorandum listing the still usable items of clothing furnished by the prison administration which the prisoner would be required to leave behind: Le 10 mai 1754 Mémoire du linge et hardes restés au Château lors de la liberté du sieur Willemin de Coin: Deux chemises neuves garnies, trois coiffes de nuit, trois paires de chaussons, un mauvais mouchoir, et une veste de ratine. A la blanchisseuse: un mouchoir, une chemise.20

In short, Nicolas Willemin de Coin left the Bastille with little more than the tattered remnants of the clothes he was wearing on his arrival. He was also ill, indeed, running a high fever. The exile order provided for four days grace, allowing time for various preparations and the official unsealing of his papers by commissaire Rochebrune. Unfortunately, there was a delay and the elaborate ceremony had to be put off until the following week. Anxious nevertheless to demonstrate his willingness to comply with Berryer’s deadline, de Coin turned up the day after his release at the office of the clerk Duval to give assurances that he still hoped to leave Paris on time. The police report of his visit, dated 11 May, notes that the ex-prisoner was “dans un état pitoyable.”21 Finally on Tuesday the 14th, his last day of grace, the procedure of unsealing was carried out at Rochebrune’s town house.22 A number of additional bureaucratic formalities ensued, all lovingly recorded in multiple copies on stamped paper. It was two o’clock in the afternoon when de Coin finally found himself in legal possession of his documents with only a few hours left before he had to be gone from Paris. His fever still raging, he wrote a hasty letter to the lieutenant général de police, pleading for extra time to recover. The delay in getting his papers had not, after all, been the result of any failing on his part. Surely Berryer would understand: Monseigneur, Je me serais conformé dès aujourd’hui aux ordres que vous m’avez donnés de partir dans quatre jours si j’avais pu obtenir plus tôt la levée de mes scellés, ce qui n’a été fait qu’aujourd’hui à deux heures après midi. Ce petit retard m’oblige à vous supplier de prolonger mon délai de deux ou trois jours au bout desquels je serai en état d’exécuter vos ordres. Si je ne craignais pas que vous me soupçonniez de feindre, je vous alléguerais de plus mon peu de santé, car

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 289

Un Coup imprévu

289

dans l’instant même où j’ai l’honneur de vous écrire j’ai un violent accès de fièvre. Cet inconvénient cependant ne m’empêchera pas d’obéir et me servira à vous prouver ma soumission à votre volonté. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec un profond respect, Monseigneur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. Willemin de Coin Paris, ce 14 mai 1754

The clerk Duval, who had noted de Coin’s “état pitoyable” three days earlier, was probably moved as he passed the request on to his superior the following morning. But despite the ex-prisoner’s lamentable situation, the impassive Berryer did not budge. In precise, almost tiny lettering he penned his response at the top of the left-hand margin of the ex-prisoner’s letter. Short of giving a command that de Coin be shot on sight if found skulking in Paris after the deadline had passed, his instructions could not have been more brutally clear: M. Duval, S’il reste, le faire mettre à Bicêtre. 15 mai 1754.23

On the same day that de Coin finally set out on the road to exile, Charles de Julie, suddenly overcome with despair and anxiety, sat down at a makeshift desk in the stifling atmosphere of his room in the Bazinière Tower and began to compose a very special letter to the man who ruled his destiny: Monsieur, Grâce au ciel mon malheur passe mon espérance. Le destin fatal qui me poursuit sans relâche ne cessera-t-il pas de m’être contraire, et ne pourrais-je jamais me flatter de voir la fin des maux dont je suis comblé depuis si longtemps? Je vivais dans une espèce de tranquillité, autant qu’on en peut avoir dans un séjour semblable à celui que j’habite. J’osais espérer que mes maux touchaient à leur terme. Je priais Dieu de bon cœur de m’être favorable et j’attendais de sa miséricorde et de la vôtre le bris de mes chaînes, quand un coup imprévu, cruel et désespérant, est venu subitement me porter la mort dans le cœur, m’anéantir, me réduire à la situation du monde la plus accablante, m’enlever l’usage de la raison, et ne me laisser de ressources que dans des larmes si abondantes, et si continuelles, que depuis ce détestable moment, celles qui coulent sans cesse de mes yeux attendriraient les pierres dont je suis entouré si elles avaient une âme sensible. Enfin, Monsieur, pour ne vous pas ennuyer par un plus long préambule qui ne vous touche point, je vous dirai que vendredi dernier à l’heure que l’on

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

290

Page 290

The Prisoner

dessert le dîner, le porte-clef au lieu d’entrer d’abord dans ma chambre comme à son ordinaire a passé outre. J’ai reconnu au bruit qu’il n’était pas seul. Ce mouvement extraordinaire a excité ma curiosité. J’ai approché mon oreille de ma porte. Après un quart d’heure dans cette pénible situation, je les ai entendu descendre en plus grand nombre qu’ils n’étaient montés. Un d’eux a dit très distinctement à ma porte: Adieu donc la Bastille. Ces trois mots n’avaient pas de quoi me désespérer mais la voix, que j’ai reconnue, m’a fait perdre sur le champ l’usage de mes sens.24 Revenu un peu à moi, j’ai imaginé que mon tour allait venir, et qu’il fallait commencer par quelqu’un mais, hélas, que cette frivole espérance a été bientôt détruite! Le porte-clef est venu desservir mon dîner une heure et demie après. Un mot équivoque que je lui ai lâché et contre lequel il ne pouvait être sur la défensive m’a confirmé que je n’étais pas compris dans la dispensation de vos bienfaits. Jugez de mon désespoir! Vous êtes trop judicieux pour le blâmer. Je vous dirais trop de folies si je vous racontais les extrémités féroces auxquelles je me suis abandonné malgré moi. Il n’est donc plus douteux que vous continuiez de m’en vouloir et que je ne suis pas au bout de mes maux. L’heureux de Coin a trouvé grâce devant vos yeux. L’éternel malheureux Julie ne l’y trouvera-t-il jamais? Je suis cependant certain que si ma situation vous était connue elle vous attendrirait. Enfin, Monsieur, quoi qu’il en soit, je le boirai ce cruel calice jusqu’à la lie, et quelque amère qu’en soit la liqueur, je ferai mon possible pour voir d’un œil sec et tranquille couler dans mes veines son poison lent et mortel, trop heureux si un jour, oubliant toutes mes fautes, vous me faites participant de vos bontés dont le défaut jusqu’à présent a été l’unique cause de tous mes malheurs. Je suis, depuis que je suis à la Bastille, dans une chambre par bas assez malsaine. Une fenêtre de 4 pieds de haut sur 2 1/2 de large est la seule ouverture qui y donne du jour. Ni le soleil ni la lune ne l’honorent de leurs visites, et il n’y a point du tout d’air. Il y aurait de la cruauté à me faire passer l’été dans cette chambre. Ma santé qui n’est, je vous assure, pas trop bonne a besoin d’être soutenue par un air vif. Comme je sais que l’on ne fait rien ici sans vos ordres, je vous prie d’en donner en conséquence et de me faire changer de chambre. Quoique vous ne m’ayez accordé aucune des grâces que je vous ai demandées jusqu’à présent, j’imagine que vous ne me refuserez pas celle-là qui est nécessaire à mon tempérament. Je vous réitère néanmoins la demande des autres, comme la promenade, la messe, et des plumes et de l’encre pour trouver le temps moins long. Je n’ose, Monsieur, vous prier de me rendre ma liberté quoique je vous aie proposé de l’acheter aux plus dures conditions. Le dernier événement me prouve que vous ne me voulez faire aucune capitulation. Enfin, quelque mal que vous me traitiez, je ne sortirai jamais des bornes du très profond respect avec lequel je suis, Monsieur, votre très humble, et très obéissant serviteur De Julie Je n’ose vous demander la consolation de me faire parler à quelqu’un, et une

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

Page 291

Un Coup imprévu

291

bien plus grande, si vous daigniez vous-même m’honorer de cette faveur quand vous viendrez ici.25

It is a dramatic and touching letter, among the most noteworthy sent by Julie from the Bastille. Though still embellished with orotund touches, including a calculated reference to his préambule and mention of the poisoned chalice he will perforce drain to the dregs, the prisoner’s writing nevertheless exhibits vital spontaneity and candour. We cannot help but sense the private agony of waiting day after day in the fetid semi-darkness of the Bastille’s worst above-ground chamber, totally ignorant of surrounding events, trying desperately to discover what was happening, constantly straining to defeat the château’s impenetrable barriers of silence and trying to decipher the sounds and meaning of muffled footsteps or scraps of conversation coming from the stairwell. Then one day, to hear those fateful – perhaps even malicious – words, to recognize the voice telling him that others are being freed but that he must remain captive! But then, momentarily, another thought and a glimmer of hope: someone had to be first, after all! Perhaps he too would be leaving the Bastille within the hour? And finally the spine-chilling truth, so devastating that it knocks him senseless. Extrémités féroces follow regained consciousness. We can only imagine the deluge of emotion that spilled through his being in those ensuing moments. And afterwards the endless tears, tears of rage, of self-pity, tears that had so often in the past rescued him, that had placated the wrath of stern authority figures and brought him forgiveness in his fortuneless and fatherless world. Would Berryer never forgive him? He was guilty, yes, but surely he did not deserve such harsh, such unequal treatment! Now it was at least time to give him a better room, la promenade and mass, pen and paper, an occasional visitor to ease the misery of isolation. We do not know how much time Berryer spent going over Julie’s letter. Perhaps he even read it more than once. After several days, he jotted a notation in the margin. One solitary, unfeeling word: Néant.26 No to each request – and no response. There is little doubt that Berryer had singled out Charles de Julie as his pariah of choice. In contrast, only a few days before, the lieutenant général de police had relented somewhat and eased the stringent exile conditions he had just placed on Willemin de Coin. As a favour to his fellow magistrate Du Buat, who had now made it very plain that his own financial interests would benefit if his brother-in-law’s current litigation was allowed to advance, the original deadline was temporarily extended. The required minimum distance from Paris was also reduced from 50 to 30 leagues, in order to make it possible for the ex-prisoner

CH13.QXD

9/1/2004 11:39 AM

292

Page 292

The Prisoner

to prosecute his lawsuit from Rouen. Nicolas Willemain de Coin was unquestionably an untrustworthy rascal, but he did have some powerful connections who, in the end, had seen fit to intervene actively on his behalf. For the lieutenant général that was an important consideration, it being always a pleasure – and perhaps even a duty – to advance the interests of well placed personnes de considération. With uncharacteristic graciousness, Berryer immediately responded to Du Buat’s last-minute plea for a relaxation with a four-word note of instruction to his clerk Duval: “Je le veux bien.”27

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 293

14 A Change in Style

On Sunday 26 May 1754, for the first time since his arrival nine months earlier, Charles de Julie, closely escorted by his turnkey Michel Darragon, was allowed to leave his gloomy cell on the ground level of the Bazinière Tower to attend mass. After a suitable delay designed to show that he had in no way allowed himself to be influenced by the predictably desperate pleadings in Julie’s letter, Berryer had finally granted him one of his requests! Three days later, the prisoner was given permission to acknowledge the new privilege with a letter of thanks. As he read it, a somewhat bemused Berryer underlined several passages. Afterwards, he commented to his subordinate Chaban on what he perceived to be a marked change in the prisoner’s tone: “Julie a le style singulier.”1 In fact, Julie’s letter suggests not only a change in tone and “style” but a change in tactics as well. De Coin was now free, but he, Julie, was still behind bars, with no end to his ordeal in sight. He had come to a realization, finally, that tears alone would not move the stern magistrate. Pleading would not bring him his freedom. It was his misfortune to be caught up in the jaws of an inexorable machine that would not spit him out until he had been made to suffer the full measure of torment arbitrarily predetermined in the magistrate’s mind. Little by little, Charles de Julie was becoming – not resigned to his fate – but distinctly more calm and detached in outlook. The omnipotent Berryer now assumes the persona of a more distant but also less forbidding deity, an unsparing father who must still be approached with deference, of course, but who could also be addressed with frankness

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

294

Page 294

The Prisoner

and perhaps even in a businesslike manner. Julie informs the lieutenant général that at mass – perhaps his first religious service since those days of obligatory chapel attendance at La Charité – he had said a prayer for him. At the same time, he is bold enough to suggest that Berryer probably granted him the privilege of worship in a spirit of pure cynicism and mockery. In the lieutenant général’s eyes, Charles de Julie was doubtless nothing more than a wanton and godless libertine. But, Julie insists, Berryer was wrong to question his good faith; all his life he has held religion in the highest regard: Monsieur, J’ai été dimanche dernier à la messe par votre ordre. J’y ai prié Dieu pour vous et pour tout ce qui vous appartient. Ce commencement de grâce me fait espérer que vous n’en resterez pas là. Je suis néanmoins persuadé qu’il y a plus de malice dans votre fait qu’autre chose: vous n’avez pas imaginé me faire un cadeau en me faisant cette faveur. Permettez-moi cependant de vous désabuser. J’ai toute ma vie eu pour la religion et pour ses divins mystères le respect qu’un honnête homme doit avoir. Je vous fais cette observation parce que je n’ai pas oublié, le jour que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous voir à la Bastille, où, après vous avoir demandé des livres de dévotion, vous me répondîtes avec votre ton: “Eh? Qu’en feriez-vous, Monsieur Julie?” Je suis bien aise de vous dire, Monsieur, que depuis qu’il vous a plu me permettre de lire je n’en ai presque pas demandé d’autres, autant je l’avoue pour m’instruire que par dévotion. Il aurait été bien essentiel que vous eussiez eu la bonté de me donner la promenade, ainsi que de me faire changer de chambre. Si vous me refusez l’un et l’autre je sortirai d’ici fourbu. J’ai usé à la Bastille 7 chemises, un surtout, une veste rouge galonnée, une culotte de velours, une culotte de parme, une redingote de drap, et deux paires de bas de soie. Combien d’argent ne faudra-t-il pas pour en acheter autant, et où le prendrais-je? Il ne tiendrait qu’à vous de me tirer de cet embarras. Vous l’avez fait à tant d’autres que si je n’étais pas Julie j’aurais bonne espérance. Une pareille rencontre me serait d’un grand secours. A quelle reconnaissance sacrifierais-je un si grand bienfait, et où et à qui ne publierais-je pas que si vous châtiez sévèrement ceux qui vous offensent vous vous réservez toujours la bonté de père pour adoucir de temps en temps par des actions de clémence, de générosité, et de grandeur d’âme, la rigueur que vous êtes obligé d’avoir selon les lois. Laissez-vous toucher, Monsieur. Un acte de charité semblable n’est pas du ressort de tout le monde, et il n’y a que vous qui puissiez me rendre un aussi grand service que je n’oublierai jamais. Je vous assure de nouveau que je ne me porte pas bien du tout. Je suis sourd comme un bœuf et si vous ne me donnez pas la promenade, j’y succomberai certainement. Je ne vous demande plus ma liberté; le temps que je dois rester ici est arrangé chez vous, et je sais que rien n’est capable de démonter une

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 295

A Change in Style

295

machine si bien organisée. Il est cependant temps que vous y songiez. Sans vous observer que personne ne s’emploiera en ma faveur auprès de vous, j’attends tout de votre justice, et je crois ne devoir pas craindre les coups cruels que des gens mal intentionnés pourraient me porter en mon absence. Comme il y en a beaucoup de cette espèce auprès de vous, j’en aurais de l’inquiétude si je ne connaissais votre intégrité. Enfin à tout péché miséricorde. Il faut que tout finisse. Le temps est un grand maître. J’attends de lui et de vous la guérison des maux dont je suis accablé, et dont tous deux seuls vous pouvez être les médecins. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. De Julie A La Bastille Ce 29 May 175[4] [P.-S.] Je vous ai prié dans ma dernière, de me faire l’honneur de me dire un mot quand vous viendriez à La Bastille mais vous auriez peur de me faire trop de plaisir. Enfin, Monsieur, je vous prie de vous souvenir que de Coin est sorti et que je suis encore entre quatre murailles.2

In spite of the risks (Berryer’s pencilled underlinings clearly point to the danger!), Julie once more brought up the matter of de Coin’s freedom. Here was a painful and puzzling instance of paternal injustice that could not help but rankle even a “respectful” and “loving” son such as he. In fact, had he known that soon after his release his former chief partner in crime would be subjected to the torments and indignities of a prison infinitely less comfortable and less honourable than the privileged Bastille, Charles de Julie would probably not have repeated his fretful reference to de Coin’s recent liberation. Knowledge of such details represented, after all, a form of disobedience to the Bastille’s strict rules of secrecy and silence. Deeply entangled in one of his perennial lawsuits, Nicolas de Coin had indeed not waited long before disobeying the exile order requiring that he come no closer to the capital than Rouen. Well-known to the police, he was soon spotted by Berryer’s spies, and on 25 July 1754 orders for his arrest were assigned to inspector Joseph-François Coutailloux. Try as he might, however, Coutailloux had been unable to discover where his quarry normally holed up in the city at night, the street-smart de Coin having cleverly managed to foil every attempt to follow him. It was for this reason that the inspector, after catching sight of his man on the afternoon of 8 August near les Halles, had thrown caution and recommended practice aside and attempted to arrest his man in broad daylight in the crowded and perennially restive market

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

296

Page 296

The Prisoner

area. Aware that capture meant certain imprisonment in Bicêtre, the big-footed lawyer from Metz had pulled a knife on the officer and run off, finally taking refuge in an ironmonger’s shop. The result had been a dangerous attroupement of the local populace, ever ready to cause trouble for the authorities and now additionally stirred up in their opposition to the arrest by de Coin’s vociferous protests about a violation of sanctuary. Fearing a full-scale riot, François Merlin, commissaire for the area, finally sent for an armed squad to control the crowd and assure apprehension of the prisoner.3 By the end of the day, the exprisoner was securely locked up in For l’Évêque. Early the next morning, he was escorted under guard to Bicêtre and handed over to the économe, Alexandre-Crespin Honnet, who presided over the huge multipurpose prison for common criminals, vagrants, the indigent, and the violently insane. Louis-Sébastien Mercier’s contemporary description of the dreaded penal institution remains a classic: Ulcere terrible sur le corps politique, ulcère large, profond, sanieux, qu’on ne sauroit envisager qu’en détournant les regards. Jusqu’à l’air du lieu, que l’on sent à quatre cents toises, tout vous dit que vous approchez d’un lieu de force, d’un asyle de misere, de dégradation, d’infortune […]. Ce nom de Bicêtre est un mot que personne ne peut prononcer sans je ne sais quel sentiment de répugnance, d’horreur & de mépris. Comme il est devenu le réceptacle de tout ce que la société a de plus immonde, de plus vil, & qu’il n’est presque composé que de libertins de toute espece, d’escrocs, de mouchards, de filoux, de voleurs, de faux monnoyeurs, de pédérastes, &c. l’imagination est blessée dès qu’on profere ce mot qui rappelle toutes les turpitudes.4

A most chilling testimony to the terror inspired by a threat of imprisonment in Bicêtre is given by the minister Choiseul in an admonishing letter of 21 November 1767 to the then lieutenant général de police Sartine.5 Louis Drouard, a Bastille prisoner about to transferred to the hated prison, had just committed suicide: “L’événement dont vous me rendez compte servira sans doute à inspirer plus d’attention à ceux qui sont chargés de l’exécution des ordres du roi. Il est certain que l’accident arrivé à Drouhart n’aurait point eu lieu si l’on avait eu la précaution de le fouiller et de lui ôter toute arme offensive avant de lui signifier qu’il allait être transféré à Bicêtre.”6 In a note informing Du Buat, the prisoner’s magistrate brother-inlaw, of de Coin’s arrest, Berryer could not help sounding a note of triumph as he described a capture whose success was due in no small part to the excellence of his spy network: “Je lui avais fait dire à sa sortie

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 297

A Change in Style

297

de la Bastille que s’il reparaissait à Paris il serait arrêté. Il y est revenu croyant que je n’en saurais rien et il s’est trompé.”7 Entirely respectful of prevailing class values, Berryer in the weeks that followed nevertheless did what he could to spare permanent embarrassment to the family. It was unthinkable, for example, that even the black sheep of an important noblesse de robe clan with many powerful connections in the Parlement of Metz could be described in legal documents related to his ongoing civil action as a resident of Bicêtre! Extraordinary arrangements were therefore made to transfer the prisoner temporarily to For l’Évêque on the day a notarized signature specifying a place of residence was required.8 Once he had completed all of his own legal dealings with a pesky brother-in-law who was again safely locked up in the filthy cabanons of Bicêtre, a grateful Du Buat next turned to the last urgent item on his personal agenda: getting rid of de Coin permanently by having him exiled to Saint-Domingue. Several letters from Metz urging Berryer to proceed along such lines arrived on the lieutenant général’s desk.9 In the end, Berryer chose simply to reimpose the original terms of exile when he recommended de Coin’s release to d’Argenson on 24 October 1754, informing the minister that the prisoner had now been “suffisamment puni de sa désobéissance.”10 For the next several months, nothing more was heard from the ex-prisoner. Finally, in August 1755, a petition from an angry Rouen merchant reached the lieutenant général, informing him that de Coin had recently won his lawsuit along with a settlement of 8,000 livres but had skipped town, leaving behind a number of unhappy creditors. He had last been seen in Paris but all efforts by his creditors to find him there had also failed.11 We do not know if the petition moved Berryer to set his spies on the trail of the unruly lawyer from Metz. Quite possibly de Coin was apprehended – and then discreetly encouraged to slip away to the Islands with his small nest egg. It may be that he prospered abroad – cursing all the while the day that fate first brought him into contact with Charles de Julie.12 Meanwhile, for three stifling months following his gently reproachful letter of 29 May 1754 to the lieutenant général, Julie found himself paying a heavy price for his use of a “style singulier.” His right to address letters to the magistrate was suspended indefinitely and his urgent pleas for a change of room and for la promenade were ignored. June and July passed in silence. Could he hope for release in August, the month that would mark the completion of a full year of punishment? The torture of waiting without knowing was the worst punishment of all! Finally, September arrived and there was some good news.

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

298

Page 298

The Prisoner

His irritation now somewhat diminished, Berryer decided that for reasons of health Julie could be granted another of his requests. The matter of the prisoner’s deteriorating physical condition had been raised during one of the lieutenant général’s routine inspection visits to the Bastille. On 6 September, Berryer wrote a short note to Chevalier on the subject: “Vous pouvez, Monsieur, donner la promenade dans la cour intérieure au sieur Julie, prisonnier à la Bastille, deux fois par semaine. Il me l’a demandée avec instance pour sa santé.” Several days later, Chevalier informed Berryer that his orders had been carried out: “Le sieur Julie a commencé la promenade le 8 septembre 1754 qui était un dimanche et le jour de la Nativité de la Vierge.”13 For Julie it was good news but it brought an additional worry. More than a year had now passed and he had so far been granted only two of the half dozen privileges that normally marked a prisoner’s progress through the gauntlet of punishment. Did it mean he would be spending another winter in the Bastille? Two days after enjoying his first “outside” exercise in over a year – unfortunately at the bottom of the airless well formed by the steep tower walls around the inner courtyard—he was granted permission to write a letter of thanks to the lieutenant général. Suitably restrained in tone, it nevertheless repeated his earlier requests for writing materials and a comforting visit from his friend, inspector d’Hémery.The letter also noted that his wardrobe was now threadbare: Monsieur, Je vous suis sensiblement obligé de la promenade que vous avez bien voulu me donner. Cela ne laisse cependant pas de m’inquiéter et me prouve que vous n’êtes pas près de me faire grâce. Il est facile de punir quand on est le maître, mais il est rare de pardonner. Quoi qu’il en soit, j’attendrai qu’il vous plaise briser mes fers. Mais puisque vous avez commencé à me faire donner la douceur de la promenade dont j’avais bien besoin pour ma santé, il faut que vous fassiez encore en ma faveur un généreux effort. Donnez-moi, de grâce, plume, encre et papier. L’emploi que j’en ferai vous fera certainement plaisir. Au nom de Dieu, ayez pour moi cette complaisance! Je vous en aurai une éternelle obligation et, je vous le répète encore, je n’en ferai qu’un bon usage. Faites donc, je vous prie, attention à la triste situation à laquelle je suis depuis si longtemps exposé, et à une sans doute pire qui suivra celle-ci. C’est pour me distraire de réflexions aussi tristes que je vous supplie humblement de me procurer des occupations qui puissent m’en éloigner. Je continuerai les vœux que je fais à Dieu pour la prospérité de tout ce qui vous appartient. Au nom de ces chères personnes, ne soyez point insensible à mes sollicitations Je suis, Monsieur, exactement tout nu. Je n’ai plus ni veste, ni culotte, ni redingote, ni chemises, ni mouchoirs. Je vous prie de donner des ordres en con-

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 299

A Change in Style

299

séquence, ou de permettre que je renvoie mon linge à Paris pour le faire raccommoder, et que par le même moyen, je puisse réparer ma garde-robe délabrée. Si vous vouliez permettre à M. d’Hémery de me parler ainsi que je vous l’ai déjà demandé cela me ferait un grand plaisir. Mais je vous en demande peutêtre trop. Pardonnez. Vous savez qu’à la Bastille on n’est jamais tout seul. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. Ce 10 septembre 1754 De Julie14

This time, Berryer refrained from underlining any light-hearted words in the prisoner’s missive but his volley of one-word replies to the summary that Duval made of the letter indicates that he remained, for the most part, unmoved: “Julie demande du papier pour écrire [des] choses qui feront plaisir.” – Néant “Demande de parler au sieur d’Hémery.” – Néant “Demande des hardes.” – Bon At least the prisoner would not go naked, and Chevalier was instructed to withdraw from the Bastille’s clothing stores, veste, culottes, mouchoirs and chaussons “qui appartiennent au Roi,” to tide the prisoner over the winter.15 Three weeks later, Julie was allowed to write again, this time to thank the magistrate for restoring his wardrobe. As before, he seized the opportunity to renew his plea for writing materials, for a roommate, and a visit from inspector d’Hémery, who could be asked to bring him new books, since he had by now exhausted the prison library’s limited resources. His style is energetic and varied, alternating easily between a tone of deferential supplication and a new buoyancy that at times verges on light irony and even self-mockery. An intelligent and sensitive writer, Julie desperately plays all the notes, hoping at some point to break through Berryer’s seemingly impenetrable wall of hostility and mistrust. Though highly emotional, the prisoner nevertheless remains fully in control of his style. As Berryer perused the letter, he knew that it would be some time yet before he would have the satisfaction of seeing Julie’s resourceful spirit properly ground down: Monsieur, J’ai reçu les preuves authentiques de votre générosité. J’en suis si reconnaissant que je ne connais pas de termes propres à vous l’exprimer. Que ne gagnet-on pas par les bienfaits? Hélas, que ne les ai-je connus plus tôt? Vous

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

300

Page 300

The Prisoner

n’auriez pas eu affaire à un ingrat et mon cœur qui vous a toujours chéri, quoi que vous en ayez cru jusqu’à présent, vous en aurait donné d’assurés témoignages. La veste et la culotte que l’on m’a données sont parfaitement conditionnées. J’en suis extrêmement content. Dieu veuille que ce ne soit pas un serpent caché sous des fleurs; il n’y a que vous qui sachiez ce mystère impénétrable au reste des humains. Voilà bien des grâces, coup sur coup; aussi je désire être à même de payer le tribut qui leur est dû. Ne vous lassez pas de répandre sur moi vos faveurs. Il est beau et digne de vous d’adoucir le sort des malheureux que votre justice vous oblige de punir. Il en est encore une que je vous supplie ardemment de ne me pas refuser. Elle est d’autant plus désirable que vous ne la prodiguez pas. Vous me voyez venir, Monsieur: c’est de quoi écrire. J’ai eu l’honneur de vous marquer dans mes précédentes que je n’en ferais aucun mauvais usage. Mais laissez-moi toute la mauvaise volonté que vous me soupçonnez, les moyens, je n’en connais aucun. Ignoré-je qu’il n’y a pour moi de porte de sortie que par votre canal? Je ne compte sur la sollicitation de qui que ce soit, et c’est de vous seul que j’attends ma délivrance. Comme il y a apparence qu’elle n’est pas encore proche, cette grâce en devient pour ainsi dire d’une plus grande nécessité. J’y joindrai, Monsieur, que je suis obligé actuellement de relire les livres que j’ai déjà lus. Jugez combien le temps doit me paraître long! Vous pourriez si vous vouliez vous humaniser en ma faveur et réparer ce malheur. Je suis persuadé que M. d’Hémery, sous vos ordres, se chargerait avec plaisir de ce soin. Pour de camarade il ne faut pas vous en demander; vous auriez peur que je ne le pervertisse. Ma grâce, Monsieur, je vous la redemande encore avec empressement, et vous en serez content. Comme ma redingote n’est presque plus mettable, s’il y avait ici quelque mauvaise robe de chambre qui me fût propre, vous me feriez plaisir de me la faire donner. Il n’y a rien à gagner avec de vieux prisonniers: ce sont des demandeurs éternels qui sont insupportables. Aussi, Monsieur, ai-je acquis ici droit de bourgeoisie. Voilà le second hiver qui vient. Hélas, l’y passerai-je? Le devine qui pourra. Pour moi, je n’ai jamais appris à être moins curieux que depuis que je suis à la Bastille, et je crois que par le défaut de cette qualité je ne serais plus propre à faire mon métier où elle est si nécessaire. Je me recommande cependant à votre indulgence. Vous connaissez ma situation et vous ne pouvez disconvenir qu’elle est touchante. Faites, je vous prie, là-dessus les réflexions dont je vous connais capable. J’attends tout d’elles. Quand on en est comme vous plein de toutes les grandes qualités, on voit tout du premier coup d’œil. Je suis sincère. C’est mon cœur qui parle. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie A La Bastille ce 30 septembre [1754]16

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 301

A Change in Style

301

[P.-S.] Il est inutile de vous parler du jour que de Coin est sorti. Vous le savez mieux que moi. De grâce, exaucez mes prières.17

Julie’s continuing reference to Berryer’s unequal treatment of himself and de Coin no doubt made it easier for the lieutenant général to give an unmixed response this time to his clerk’s summary of the prisoner’s appeal: “Julie demande du papier pour écrire. Que M. d’Hémery lui envoie des livres. Une vieille robe de chambre pour lui servir de redingote, et un camarade de chambre.” The one-word answer came back immediately, like a cold spark struck from the magistrate’s flinty heart: Néant. After another month of imposed silence, Julie was again allowed to write, and once again he tried to persuade the unyielding magistrate to ease the conditions of his imprisonment, conditions that were obviously designed to oppress not only the body but also the mind of a naturally high-spirited prisoner such as himself. Without books, without the ability to write, he would, Julie insisted, almost certainly go mad. But now he was hatching a specific plan – a proposal to seduce his tormentor. Berryer was a hard-headed, practical man; he would respond to a practical, no-nonsense proposition, especially one that promised him a pleasant surprise. Paper for two weeks was all Julie needed. If he failed, he was willing to pay the price. Berryer had nothing to lose and everything to gain: Monsieur, La triste situation où je vais être cet hiver m’effraie. Je n’ai exactement plus de livres. Je suis dans le mystique et dans le contemplatif, bonne nourriture pour l’âme. Dieu [veuille] qu’elle opère en moi. Je vous avais prié de trouver bon que M. d’Hémery réparât cet inconvénient. J’ai pensé depuis que son temps était trop cher pour l’employer à cette opération. Mais Monsieur, permettez-moi de vous observer que M. de Rochebrune est fort à portée de me rendre ce grand service. On va souvent d’ici chez lui, et on en fait autant de chez lui ici. Quoique ce soit une nouveauté, j’ose me flatter que vous voudrez bien vous prêter à ce soulagement, d’autant plus précieux qu’il aide à passer un temps bien long. J’ose encore vous réitérer la demande de ce qui est nécessaire pour écrire. Je vous ai assuré par plusieurs lettres que vous n’auriez aucun sujet de vous en repentir. Je vous proteste par celle-ci qu’au contraire vous en serez content et je vous offre de satisfaire à la promesse que j’ai l’honneur de vous en faire sous quinze jours. Je me flatte sans doute beaucoup, mais la preuve ne vous coûtera rien et vous serez à même de révoquer cette faveur si je ne vous tiens pas parole. Daignez, Monsieur, m’accorder cette satisfaction si nécessaire pour empêcher le dérangement d’un esprit naturellement vif et actuellement plein de

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

302

Page 302

The Prisoner

tristes réflexions. Soyez persuadé de toute la reconnaissance que j’en aurai. Voilà quinze mois que vous tenez mon corps captif. Laissez au moins à l’esprit la liberté dont il se passe si difficilement. Je vous le répète encore: vous en serez content et peut être surpris. Il n’y a aucun inconvénient après les précautions que je pense que l’on prendra. Ayez donc pitié une fois dans votre vie d’un malheureux qui a toujours ambitionné de vous devoir son bonheur.18

Having got that far in his letter, Julie next had to broach an extremely delicate subject. Chevalier, the Bastille’s major, would be sending a report to Berryer concerning a little incident that had occurred. One of the prison guards had reported the noise of hammering and chiseling coming from Julie’s cell in the Bazinière Tower. There had been an investigation: Il vient de m’arriver ici un petit accident. Je tracassais hier sur ma fenêtre. Une sentinelle qui l’a apparemment trouvé mauvais en a fait son rapport à M. le major et comme je n’ai fait aucune difficulté de montrer un petit morceau de fer long comme le petit doigt, aiguisé en ciseau, avec lequel je m’amusais à tuer un peu le temps, il a exigé que je lui remisse ce méchant outil ainsi que quelques clous. J’ose vous demander grâce pour mon arsenal. Jusqu’à présent il ne m’a servi ni à miner ni à contre-miner et M. le major vous en rendra un bon compte mais je vais néanmoins vous en détailler toute l’utilité. Il m’a servi toute l’année dernière, premièrement à passer un peu de temps, ensuite je me mets à l’air quoiqu’il fasse froid, et au moyen de mon travail avec mon outil sur lequel je frappe quelques coups je ne sens pas le froid et je profite de l’air. Enfin, ce gros ciseau, utile à ma santé et propre à me procurer quelques moments d’un moindre ennui, je vous le redemande avec instance. Daignez, Monsieur, penser au plus solide, c’est-à-dire à ma liberté. Soyez persuadé que j’en ferai un bon usage et que je ne la désire que pour vous prouver qu’une aussi forte [dose] de Bastille fait une furieuse impression sur un jeune homme de mon âge. La veste que vous m’avez fait la grâce de me donner est fort légère, et comme ma redingote ne vaut rien, si vous me laissez ici cet hiver, je vous serais obligé de me faire faire un gilet. Je suis avec respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie Ce 1er novembre 1754.19

A note from Chevalier to Berryer accompanies Julie’s letter: “Je joins ici une autre lettre du sieur Julie à qui j’ai ôté aujourd’hui plusieurs morceaux de fer très petits que ce prisonnier avait que nous avons su par la sentinelle du chemin des Rondes, nous ayant avertis qu’il entendait frapper dans cette chambre. J’y ai été. Il n’a fait aucune

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 303

A Change in Style

303

difficulté de me les remettre. Il me dit que cela lui servait à fendre des petits morceaux pour s’amuser et rien de plus.”20 Apart from confiscation of the offending tools, no punitive action was taken. It would be a little more than a year before the Bastille would temporarily “lose its virginity”21 with the spectacular ropeladder break-out of the prisoners Latude and Allègre. The thought that anyone could escape from the fortress probably never even crossed the minds of its officers. All of which helps to explain Chevalier’s fairly benevolent reaction on learning that one of his prisoners for almost a year now had been pottering about and lightly chiseling away at small fragments of masonry in the heavily barred window opening of his room at the base of the Bazinière Tower, where the walls were well over six feet thick. Julie, the major concluded, was obviously not trying for an impossible escape but doing something purely for his own “amusement.” It may have been something else as well – a small gesture of control and autonomy, a liberating act for a mind striving to maintain contact with bearings and coordinates despite the stifling murk and monotony of prison walls. The unusual note of urgency, the almost panicky sense of loss expressed in Julie’s next letter to Berryer reveals the extent to which his makeshift chisel, a tiny scrap of discarded metal, like the pen, ink, and paper he continued to beg for at every opportunity, was part of his coveted arsenal in a do-or-die battle to retain his sanity: Monsieur, L’oisiveté continuelle dans laquelle j’existe depuis la prise de mon morceau de fer est dure à supporter. Quelquefois il me faisait passer quatre ou cinq heures par jour, souvent plus. Comme c’est un malheur sans remède il n’y faut plus penser. Il serait heureux que Satan qui a l’œil à tout, ne profitât pas de cette inaction. Cet ennemi du genre humain fait, comme vous savez, le plus de ravage qu’il peut. Il faut donc que vous me prêtiez des armes contre Lui. Je vous réitère la demande que je vous ai faite de me faire la grâce de me donner ce qu’il faut pour écrire. Ce que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous marquer dans ma dernière n’est point apocryphe. Je vous réitère que le travail que je me propose de faire vous surprendra. Il ne regarde ni ma situation ni rien qui y ait rapport. En un mot, le titre et l’espèce sont d’une nature si opposée, que j’ose vous répéter que vous en serez étonné. Croyez-vous que je vous sollicite avec tant d’instance pour vous tromper? J’ai mis des bornes à votre bonté. Je vous ai demandé quinze jours. Peut-être qu’en huit ou en six je me serai acquitté de la parole que je vous en donne encore à présent. Il est bien douloureux que vous ne cessiez pas un moment d’avoir mauvaise opinion de moi. Enfin, risquez le paquet, et si je ne vous contente pas et que je n’accomplisse pas de point en point ce dont j’ose me flatter, la grâce que vous m’aurez faite n’aura plus lieu.

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

304

Page 304

The Prisoner

Voulez-vous bien me permettre, Monsieur, de vous faire faire attention qu’il y a déjà fort longtemps que je suis ici, seul, et plus malheureux qu’un autre dans le malheur même? On m’y a logé dans une chambre où ma vue est bornée à 40 pas par une triste et aride muraille qui est le seul objet sur lequel je puisse arrêter mes yeux. Outre ce désagrément, j’ai celui d’être vu jusque dans l’âme par ces sentinelles et autres qui passent continuellement et qui de dessus la galerie découvrent les deux tiers de ma chambre. Ce n’est [pas] que j’y fasse des choses que je veuille cacher, mais enfin vous conviendrez que cela est désagréable [s’] il faut y finir sa carrière. J’ose me flatter que le moment où doit finir le cours que vous lui avez marqué arrivera bientôt. Ayez donc, au nom de tout ce que vous avez de plus cher, pitié d’un malheureux à qui vous pouvez rendre le sort moins rigoureux. Soyez certain d’une reconnaissance qui ne finira qu’avec ma vie. Si vous me refusez ce que je vous prie de m’accorder, en vérité j’ignore de quelle ressource je me servirai pour passer un temps aussi long et aussi cruel que le présente la situation où j’existe. Tous les expédients que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous proposer pour des livres ne sont pas de votre goût.22 J’en trouverais bien encore d’autres auxquels vous n’auriez pas plus d’égards. C’est pourquoi j’y renonce. Il n’en est pas de même de la grâce que je regarde comme le seul remède aux maux que je souffre. Je ne puis trop vous conjurer de me l’accorder. Vous en aurez de la satisfaction, je l’avance hardiment. Et si je suis un téméraire vous me punirez comme je l’aurai mérité. Vous avez coutume de donner au bout d’un certain temps un camarade. Si vous me refusez tout, accordez-moi ce dernier point. Mais j’aime beaucoup mieux l’autre.23 Encore une fois, Monsieur, soyez persuadé que je ne sacrifierai ce rare bienfait qu’à la plus vive et à la plus respectueuse reconnaissance. Je compte sur votre bonté. Je suis avec respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie Ce 8 novembre [1754]24

This time the challenge to the lieutenant général’s curiosity proved too great. Conceding a defeat of sorts, Berryer three days later issued specific instructions to Chevalier: “Puisque Julie persiste à me demander du papier pour me faire, dit-il, un ouvrage ou un mémoire qui n’aura rien de commun avec les lettres qu’il m’écrit, vous pouvez lui en donner et vous numéroterez les feuilles pour qu’il vous rende les mêmes. Je ne lui donne que 15 jours pour faire ses écritures, passé lequel temps, s’il ne les a pas finies vous lui reprendrez le tout que vous m’enverrez en l’état qu’il sera.”25 As he distributed the numbered sheets of paper to the prisoner, Chevalier was careful to point out the strict time limit involved. Julie in turn was required to sign a formal soumission indicating his acceptance of the conditions imposed. In his letter of thanks to the lieutenant

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 305

A Change in Style

305

général for the writing materials (and for the requested warm waistcoat given to him at the same time) Julie once again pulled out all the rhetorical stops, risking more alarmed comments from his jailors about his light-hearted and perhaps even light-headed style: Monsieur, Que d’actions de grâce n’ai-je point à vous rendre! Je suis bien malheureux de ne pouvoir trouver des termes propres à vous dépeindre la vivacité de ma reconnaissance. Je vous ai donc enfin vaincu! Quelle gloire! Vous êtes encore seul engagé. Vous avez fait toutes les avances. Enfin, vous vous êtes fié à moi. Mais vous ne serez pas trompé. Je vous réitère les promesses que je vous ai faites. J’ai à cœur leur accomplissement et j’ose me flatter que vous ne vous repentirez pas de la rare faveur que vous venez de m’accorder. C’est à moi actuellement à vous donner les preuves que je vous ai promises. J’y vais travailler avec plaisir et je tiendrai ma parole le plus tôt qu’il me sera possible. Je n’entre actuellement dans aucun des détails de la soumission limitée que M. le major m’a fait faire. C’est à moi à vous engager – par ce que je me propose de vous donner – à ne pas mettre à exécution cette fatale soumission. Vous avez seul [mis] au jeu. Il est juste que j’y mette aussi et alors vous me permettrez de disputer pour le gain de la partie. Je ne puis trop, Monsieur, vous témoigner combien je suis sensible à l’empressement que M. le major a toujours fait paraître pour moi dans toutes les occasions qui m’ont pu être agréables. Je voudrais bien que vous lui témoignassiez combien j’en suis pénétré. J’ai encore tout plein d’autres remerciements à vous faire et quoique ce gilet soit un meuble d’hiver, et que son arrivée ait un peu dérangé ma raison, je ne vous remercie pas moins de ce soin paternel que je n’oublierai jamais. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. De Julie Ce 15 novembre 1754.26

Managing to repress the urge to underline several more examples of Julie’s audacious style singulier (“je vous ai donc enfin vaincu!”) Berryer nevertheless did not allow the matter to go entirely unnoticed. A brief notation to his clerk the following day marks his disapproval: “M. Duval: Son style est toujours léger.”27 Style léger, coming on the heels of style singulier, was proof enough that Charles de Julie still had much salutary suffering to undergo and some distance yet to travel on the road to moral transparency. Happily, the prisoner also seemed alert enough to understand the implications of a having been given a warm gilet. It would be a long winter ...

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

306

Page 306

The Prisoner

On the other hand, the lieutenant général must have been truly astounded when, less than two weeks after supplying the presumptuous prisoner with a stock of quills, ink, and writing paper, a bundle of Julie’s poems, including a narrative verse epic of 1,120 lines, divided into four cantos, was delivered to him from the Bastille! Unfortunately, the epic has not survived among the many literary compositions still to be found in Charles de Julie’s police portfolio, but we know that it celebrated the exploits of Judith, the wily and seductive Old Testament heroine who cut off the head of Nebuchadnezzar’s general-in-chief, Holofernes, as he lay helplessly drunk in his tent, thereby saving her native town of Bethulia from destruction. The subject reflected a popular theme in the dramatic and pictorial art of the time28 and in his treatment of it Julie presumably skirted the moral dilemmas implied in the notion of righteous assassination which had been discussed at some length, for example, by Bayle in the article “Judith” of his Dictionnaire historique et critique (1697). Julie had obviously worked frantically to meet his writing deadline. Like a wily Scheherazade postponing certain execution by composing every day a new tale for the tyrant, the prisoner now concentrated on finding a way to gain an extension on his two-week contractual agreement: Monsieur, Pour satisfaire aux obligations que je me suis imposées dans les lettres que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous écrire, je vous envoie un poème intitulé Judith, divisé en quatre chants, 1120 vers. Ce sujet m’a paru si propre à être traité (d’ailleurs on fait flèche du bois qu’on a) que j’ai hasardé ce travail malgré mon inexpérience et le peu d’usage que j’avais de ce genre d’ouvrage. Mais il était question de faire honneur à mes engagements et rien ne m’a paru capable d’y mettre obstacle. Cette histoire, ingrate par elle-même, est dénuée de tous les agréments que l’on trouve dans le profane. Il n’y a pas moyen d’y employer des figures de rhétorique ni d’avoir recours aux fictions de l’Antiquité. Il faut absolument se renfermer dans le texte, et c’est ce que j’ai fait avec le plus d’exactitude que j’ai pu. Vous en jugerez si, à vos moments les moins chers, vous en faites la confrontation. Il suit de cette géhenne une dureté dans les vers qu’il est difficile d’éviter. Je compte bien que mon ouvrage est rempli de défauts mais, Monsieur, tenez-moi compte de ma bonne volonté. Je ne fus jamais poète; c’est un rêve et il ne fallait pas moins que l’envie de donner atteinte à cette ancienne opinion que je trompe tout le monde pour opérer cette métamorphose. J’y joins un portrait dont vous reconnaîtrez l’original, et une petite pièce sans nom, qui ne dit pas à beaucoup près ce que sent mon cœur. Daignez, Monsieur, accepter le tout

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 307

A Change in Style

307

sous de bons auspices. Un apprenti n’est pas maître et à force de forger on devient forgeron. C’est actuellement, Monsieur, qu’il faut vous faire part de mes inquiétudes. Une soumission limitée à quinze jours, suivant l’esprit de votre lettre, ne me laisse aucune ressource pour conserver les attributs de la faveur dont vous venez de m’honorer. Mais comme le remède est entre vos mains, j’ose me flatter que vous ne me réservez pas à un genre de tourment semblable. N’en doutez pas, Monsieur; vous avez bien voulu adoucir la rigueur de mon sort. Si actuellement vous me remettez dans ma précédente situation, j’en mourrai de chagrin. On ne fait pas ces retours sans que la nature en souffre et, enfin, l’homme fait pour passer du mal au bien ne quitte le bien pour le mal que quand il y est contraint. Si je suis assez malheureux pour que vous n’ayez aucun égard à ma juste sollicitation, ne différez pas davantage; une plus longue jouissance ne pouvant que m’y attacher encore plus, auquel cas il aurait bien mieux valu ne me faire cette grâce en aucune façon. Je me rassure, Monsieur; vous connaissez trop l’effet d’un semblable coup pour me le porter. Soyez persuadé que je ferai tout mon possible pour reconnaître ce rare présent. Mon dessein est actuellement de traiter la Passion de J.C. Il y en a ici une explication fort ample, et j’espère avec ce secours en venir à bout. Si vous le trouvez bon, ayez la bonté d’ordonner à M. le major de m’en faire remettre tous les volumes. Ce n’est pas une demande indiscrète. Elle ne fait aucun tort aux autres prisonniers, y en ayant très peu qui les lisent, et je suis certain qu’ils sont tous à la Bibliothèque. Reste à vous répéter que je vous conjure au nom de Dieu (qui y gagnera sûrement) d’annuler la soumission, et me continuer la faveur dont vous m’avez honoré. Seize mois de prison ne font pas mon titre. Je ne compte que sur votre indulgence. Hélas, Monsieur, seize mois de prison, je le répète, cela fait un temps bien long. Je ne puis pas me persuader que vous voulez me perdre sans ressources. Je ne suis plus jeune. Daignez faire attention que si j’ai été coupable, j’ai aussi été bien malheureux. Vous pouvez me tirer de l’inquiétude où j’existe en permettant à Monsieur Duval de me dire dimanche un petit mot de votre part à la promenade où j’irai. Chargez-le en même temps, je vous supplie, de dire à M. le major de me donner les livres en question. Si je démérite la grâce que je vous prie de me continuer, je me soumets à tous les châtiments qu’il vous plaira m’infliger Acceptez aussi ma soumission sur le méchant ouvrage que je vous envoie. Niaiserie incomparable, ce faible essai est un temps perdu pour vous. Je ferai en vérité de mon mieux par la suite pour que vous ne le regrettiez pas. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. De Julie A la Bastille, ce 24 novembre 1754.29

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

308

Page 308

The Prisoner

Along with Judith, Julie enclosed several short pieces totalling an additional 164 lines. Included also was a promise, in somewhat awkward verse, of much more to come: Car j’y ai mis tout mon esprit, Je n’en ai plus une miette; Il faudra m’en faire crédit Au moins la semaine complète. Après cela sur nouveaux frais Je vous enverrai des portraits, Une chanson, une épigramme, Un bouquet, une épithalame. Je compte sur votre indulgence, Si malgré ma pressante instance Mes écrits vous n’aimez pas. Cela causera mon trépas.30

Inundated by this unexpected deluge of verse, Berryer hazarded the next day a characteristically mocking comment to his clerk: “Mr Duval, Il ne manquait plus à Julie que d’être poète fou pour être fou tout à fait.”31 However, one of the poems immediately caught the lieutenant général’s eye. It was a rather clever verse portrait of one of his most important officers, Julie’s friend inspector d’Hémery, the celebrated guardian of the nation’s book trade. For the modern reader steeped in the liberal traditions of Enlightenment hermeneutics, Charles de Julie’s perspective on press censorship may sound somewhat novel: Portrait Tout aussi fin que le renard, Tantôt matin tantôt fort tard, Accompagné d’un commissaire Tu vas visiter le libraire. Après grande précaution Tu y fais perquisition, Et souvent avec politesse Tu trouves le nid sous la presse. Tu n’épargnes pas plus l’auteur, Et presque toujours en douceur Tu sais par un adroit manège Le faire donner dans ton piège. Ton air de bonté en imposera

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 309

A Change in Style

309

A l’homme le moins indiscret, Et parfois il te dit les choses Qu’il voulait garder en secret. Le colporteur et le relieur, Quand ils t’aperçoivent, ont grand peur. C’est que ta prudence ordinaire Sait déterrer le téméraire Qui va dans les bonnes maisons Débiter les productions D’un esprit malin et critique Qu’on n’ose vendre à la boutique. De toi l’on fait cas à la foire Qui est au faubourg Saint-Laurent, Et quantité d’honnêtes gens De t’y saluer se font gloire. Aussi tu gouvernes ce poste Avec de la distinction, Et sans embarras tu ripostes Fermement dans l’occasion. Le gouvernement de la France T’a décoré avec éclat De l’honorable récompense Des zélés serviteurs d’État. Ce n’est pas faveur très commune, Cette modique pension, Sans ajouter à la fortune, Accroît ta réputation. Tu tires de ton ministère Tout l’honneur qu’on en peut tirer. Le magistrat te considère Et se plaît à te distinguer. C’est un assuré témoignage De ton illustre probité, Tu mérites cet avantage Et n’en sera jamais privé.32

Also included in this initial batch of poems for the magistrate are verse portraits of several other fellow-officers, all candidly illustrating Julie’s acceptance of the moral ambiguities governing the behaviour of

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

310

Page 310

The Prisoner

the Paris police. Fighting crime in the gambling detail, for example, exposed officers like his friend La Jannière to many temptations: Tu es expert en tous les jeux Et de hasard, et de commerce, Et ton talent ingénieux Jusqu’au plus secret tripot perce. On estime ta probité, C’est faire hautement ton éloge. Quelquefois la fidélité Chez l’exempt des jeux n’a pas loge.33

Accepting gratuities for protecting – sometimes by turning a blind eye – the commerce of the capital brought enviable rewards to another officer blessed with a special talent to succeed: Favorisé de la fortune, Ami décidé de Plutus, Tu répares avec tes écus Ta naissance un peu trop commune. Pardonne si je suis sincère, Je ne prétends point te déplaire; L’éponge a passé par-dessus, Et tu as nombre de vertus. Pour amasser tant de richesses Tu as sué le sang et l’eau. Ce serait un trop lourd fardeau S’il n’était payé de largesses. Tu sais concilier l’estime De l’équitable commerçant, Et tu occupes ton talent A la destruction du crime. Tu braves hardiment l’inconstance De cet élément orageux Qui paye de reconnaissance Et fait souvent des malheureux; Mais toujours sur la terre et l’onde En poupe te pousse un bon vent Et chaque jour nouvel argent Chez toi de tous côtés abonde.34

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 311

A Change in Style

311

With “Judith” and these sample portraits as his supporting evidence, Julie hoped to convince Berryer that he deserved a generous extension of the two-week agreement. To bolster his chances even further, he set out his sentiments of gratitude in verse: Je chante hautement ma victoire; Je l’ai remporté cette gloire De vous avoir fait consentir A mon impatient désir. Quelle vive reconnaissance Ne dois-je pas à ce bienfait! Du temps la frivole inconstance N’en effacera pas l’effet. Mon remerciement est sincère, Il part du plus profond du cœur, Agréez-le, c’est la prière Que je vous fais en sa faveur [...]. Mais cette grâce inestimable Est limitée exactement A quinze journées seulement, Si vous ne m’êtes favorable. Je suis engagé par écrit, Il faudra par ma foi tout rendre Si votre bienfaisant crédit Mon parti ne daigne pas prendre. Ne soyez donc pas insensible A ma sollicitation, D’honneur, je ferai mon possible Pour votre satisfaction [...]. Voilà d’ailleurs mon savoir faire Cet envoi m’a beaucoup coûté Donnez-moi la facilité De pouvoir mieux vous satisfaire.35

His two weeks were nearly up and the all-important decision now rested with Berryer. Would poor Julie be granted time to write his long work on the Passion of Christ? Anticipating a positive response, the prisoner asked Chevalier to have all of the books in the Bastille library relating to Holy Scripture brought to his room. Chevalier informed Berryer of the strange request on 23 November: “Le sieur Julie nous demande tous les livres sacrés qui traitent de l’Écriture Sainte que nous avons au Château pour faire un ouvrage qu’il se propose de vous

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

312

Page 312

The Prisoner

envoyer. Comme ils sont en grand nombre nous attendons vos ordres en conséquence.”36 Not until the very last day before his special contract with the prisoner expired did Berryer resign himself to receiving more poetry from the fou Julie. As much as he could judge, at least some of the verse seemed promising. On 29 November 1754, the order went out to Chevalier: “Lui donner des livres et du papier pour écrire.”37

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 313

A Change in Style

313

An example of Charles de Julie’s poetry in rough draft. Note the quill-testing “mon dieus” in the lower right-hand corner. ba ms 11829, f.138.

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

314

Page 314

The Prisoner

Quill-sharpening techniques. (Encyclopédie).

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 315

A Change in Style

Final draft of a poem sent to Berryer. ba ms 11846, f.487.

315

CH14.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

316

Page 316

The Prisoner

Title page of a poem sent to Berryer. ba ms 11846, f.503.

Execution of Damiens, Place de Grève.

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 317

15 Pas encore las de vivre

On the last day of his signed two-week agreement, Julie reluctantly gathered up every remaining sheet of numbered paper and handed everything he had written to Chevalier. Along with the papers he enclosed a brief note for Berryer: “Monsieur le major va faire une enveloppe de tous mes papiers et vous les envoyer. Ce ne sont que les brouillons de ce que je vous ai écrit, et Judith que j’ai remis au net. Vous y trouverez de plus quelques petites drogues que j’ai faites depuis mercredi que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous écrire. Je profite de ce petit mot pour vous renouveler mes instances. Ayez pitié de moi, au nom de Dieu, et prescrivez-moi les règles que vous voudrez me faire suivre. Je les exécuterai à la lettre.”1 When the news of his extension arrived the following day, Julie was ecstatic. Berryer the father had taken pity on the poor orphan Julie! Now it was time for Julie the writer to show how he aspired to great things. Another letter to the lieutenant général followed, promising an immediate start on the theme of Christ’s Passion. It would be a work of piety that might even bring about a miracle, the miracle of Charles de Julie’s conversion! News of such a remarkable event would surely cause a stir in Parisian society, he having such a reputation as a rake. And, best of all, Berryer would be responsible for that miracle and would get public credit for it: Monsieur, Comment reconnaître la rare faveur que vous avez bien voulu me faire. Les termes ordinaires ne suffisent pas pour vous remercier de tous les bienfaits dont

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

318

Page 318

The Prisoner

vous m’avez honoré. Ingrate imagination! Pourquoi m’abandonnes-tu dans un aussi pressant besoin? C’est aujourd’hui que ton secours me serait nécessaire pour rendre avec vivacité tout ce que sent mon cœur. Oui, Monsieur, je suis pénétré de toutes vos bontés. Je ne les oublierai jamais, et tant qu’une goutte de sang coulera dans mes veines, je publierai hautement ces rares qualités qui vous distinguent si fort du reste des hommes. Les obligations que je vous ai ne sortiront pas de ma mémoire. Tant que je vivrai je ne cesserai d’adresser des vœux au Ciel pour votre entière satisfaction et je me regarderais comme un monstre si je devenais ingrat [...]. Je vais travailler à la Passion de Jésus Christ. Veuille ce Souverain Rédempteur pendant le cours de cet ouvrage toucher ce cœur endurci qui l’a tant offensé. Vous seriez l’auteur de cette conversion qui sûrement ne ferait pas peu de bruit dans le monde. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie Ce 1er décembre 1754

In a postscript acknowledging that subjects less saintly than the story of Christ’s sufferings on the cross might hold greater appeal for Berryer, Julie promised more police portraits: “Si, Monsieur, ces portraits que je vous ai envoyés ne vous plaisent pas, je vous prie de m’imposer silence à cet égard, car mon dessein est de vous faire celui de tous les officiers qui ont l’honneur de travailler sous vos ordres. Je vous préviens aussi que je les rendrai le plus amusant que je pourrai, sans cependant sortir de la plus exacte vérité, et sans manquer en aucune façon à quelqu’un qui vous appartient; le tout sans conséquence et par rapport à vous seul que je dois dans la moindre partie respecter exactement.”2 Julie had guessed correctly, of course. Berryer’s notation to Duval suggests that he found the proposal intriguing: “Voilà une curieuse lettre. Julie propose de faire des portraits des officiers. Ils seront amusants et ne blesseront aucun d’eux, quoique vrais.”3 Two days later, Julie found a good excuse to send yet another fulsome panegyric to Berryer de Ravenoville, whose first name happened to be Nicolas. The occasion was the upcoming feast day of St. Nicholas (6 December). By Thursday 5 December, Charles de Julie had already composed a fine bouquet of verses honouring the lieutenant général: Je prends la liberté, de vous envoyer un Bouquet; ne jugez pas sévèrement la production d’un faible esprit. Je me serais étendu sur les vertus de votre saint et j’en aurais fait la comparaison avec les vôtres si cela m’eût été possible, mais

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 319

Pas encore las de vivre

319

c’est qu’on en dit si peu de choses que je vous envoie exactement tout ce qu’on en dit dans une Vie des saints très complète que M. le major m’a envoyée. Le voici; cela n’est pas long: “A Myre en Lycie, Saint-Nicolas: On dit qu’il était évêque de cette ville et qu’il assista au concile de Nicée. Dieu a fait connaître sa sainteté par un nombre prodigieux de miracles mais n’a pas permis que nous eussions aucune connaissance de ses actions. Demandons-lui par l’intercession de Saint-Nicolas quelque part à sa sainteté.” Voilà tout. Vous voyez, Monsieur, qu’il n’y a pas à s’étendre sur Saint-Nicolas, aussi m’en suis-je passé. Je vous prie, Monsieur, de recevoir mon compliment et d’être persuadé que je vous [souhaite] tout ce qui peut vous faire plaisir. Je vous envoie un portrait. C’est peut-être témérité, mais comme vous ne m’avez encore fait aucune défense, j’ai hasardé celui-ci. J’ai fait 600 vers du poème sur la Passion. Je vous l’enverrai vraisemblablement dans le courant de la semaine prochaine.

The bouquet follows. Paper was a scarce commodity at the Bastille and Julie’s rough drafts are typically crowded into double and triple columns, densely spread over every square inch of the sheet and liberally spattered with corrections, crossed out words, and smudged and indecipherable fragments. We may be certain that the final copy Berryer received (and probably discarded forthwith!) was presented in a much clearer version. Some parts of the surviving draft are sufficiently legible, however, to give the gist of Julie’s rhymed hosanna to the enigmatic saint’s namesake on earth. Again following poetic convention,4 Julie addresses the lieutenant général in what would otherwise be an unthinkably familiar second person singular: C’est cependant demain ta fête; Je veux te faire un compliment Qui soit respectueux, honnête. Commencer, je ne sais comment [...] En vérité je te souhaite En grande sincérité Une santé toujours parfaite Et entière félicité [...]. Que ton mérite incomparable Soit récompensé tout en plein [...] Que notre invincible monarque Qui sait quelle est ta probité Augmente ton autorité! Pour toi quelle honorable marque, Que Thémis5 de ton cabinet

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

320

Page 320

The Prisoner

Ne retire pas ses balances Et qu’on ait beaucoup de respect Pour tes équitables sentences.6

It would be more than hazardous to assume that every line of this encomium detailing the probity and fairness of the magistrate who held Charles de Julie’s fate in his hands was sincere. The prisoner had obviously only one concern – to gain his freedom as quickly as possible. On the other hand, his rhymed portraits of his fellow officers are surprisingly forthright, sometimes brusque, and even caustic. A pardonable hint of envy can be heard, for example, in the prisoner’s incisive sketch of a police colleague who, from impecunious beginnings, had made his way in the world by marrying into money: Outre ton esprit, ta finesse À t’informer avec adresse De ce que l’on dit aux cafés Des vivants et des trépassés Tu es encore original [...]. Depuis ton nouveau mariage Tu portes un superbe étalage, Et tu as pour chaque saison Des habits à discrétion. Tu ne couches plus sur la dure; Dans un bon lit très mollement Tu te reposes maintenant. Pour toi quelle heureuse aventure [...]! Tu étais n’y a pas longtemps Sous le dur joug de l’indigence; Aujourd’hui c’est dans l’opulence Que tu passes tous tes moments. Cette métamorphose prompte A surpris presque tout Paris, Tu n’aurais pas dans ton pays Trouvé si richement ton compte. C’est, on le dit, que ton épouse Qui a beaucoup d’ambition A toujours été très jalouse D’ajouter un Dé à son nom [...]. Conserve-toi cet avantage; Celle qui te l’a procuré Est capricieuse et volage

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 321

Pas encore las de vivre

321

Et pleine de légèreté. Quelquefois l’inconstance abaisse Ses amis les plus opulents, Et souvent elle ne leur laisse Pas de quoi mettre sous les dents.7

Achieving personal prosperity was clearly a major goal of good police work, but most of Julie’s verse sketches evince admiration as well for officers who cultivate a fearsome reputation as crime fighters. The city had many villains of every kind. As one who had experienced his share of problems with the loan sharks of the day, Julie has an especially high regard for the inspector in charge of the usury detail: Furet de tous les furets, Le plus grand furet de la terre, Lorsque tu te mets aux aguets Et que tu prends ton air sévère, Chapeau rabattu sur les yeux [...], Malheur à vous, prêteurs sur gages! ...8

Though he laboured feverishly on the Passion, the work advanced more slowly than expected. A week later, the prisoner wrote again to the lieutenant général to explain the delay: Je ne pourrai vous envoyer mon travail que la semaine prochaine. Les raisons qui m’en empêchent sont plausibles: premièrement, il m’a manqué quatre volumes au moins, ce qui m’a occasionné une opération longue et difficile pour y suppléer. En second lieu, il passe 1700 vers [...]. Vous l’aurez cependant dans quelques jours. Je l’ai fini ce matin. Je vous prie instamment de me renvoyer mon brouillon. Je n’ai, d’honneur, jamais lu Judith en entier. J’étais pressé de vous l’envoyer. [...] Ces papiers seront au moins aussi bien ici que chez vous, car je pense qu’ils ne feront que changer de demeure, et non pas de propriétaire. Vous êtes sans contredit ici plus chez vous que chez vous; donc, la disposition de mes brouillons sera toujours entre vos mains, quoique vous me les rendiez. Je vous prie instamment de me faire ce plaisir. Je l’attends avec impatience. N’oubliez pas non plus, Monsieur, que je date du 17e mois de Bastille et que c’est un temps bien long quand encore on n’en entrevoit pas la fin. Je vous serais bien obligé si vous vouliez laisser à Monsieur le major la liberté de disposer de ma promenade en levant la limitation que vous y avez mise. Je ne puis trop vous répéter combien il se prête à ce qui peut adoucir mon sort. Il n’y a que vous qui puissiez me venger de ses attentions; j’ose vous en charger.9

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

322

Page 322

The Prisoner

Six days later, the prisoner was able to forward his second completed epic to Berryer. Like “Judith,” it still needed polishing but Julie presumes that the task can be accomplished after his release from the Bastille. That event, he fervently hopes, must be close at hand: Bien de sincères remerciements de ce que vous avez bien voulu me renvoyer mes brouillons. Je vous envoie à mon tour le poème que j’avais pris la liberté de vous promettre. Il contient 1724 vers, divisés en cinq chants. J’ai préféré à vous les donner détachés, plutôt que de joindre ensemble tout l’ouvrage. Je n’ai demandé qu’hier de la faveur mais on est ici ponctuellement servi quand cela vous regarde. Daignez, Monsieur, au nom des souffrances de Jésus-Christ avoir pitié des miennes et terminer une captivité qui a déjà été bien longue. Je prierai le divin Sauveur de mettre dans mon cœur les vifs sentiments de reconnaissance que mérite un si rare bienfait.

Meanwhile, he has several other ambitious projects in mind: Mon dessein est de donner dans un nouveau genre, et j’ai besoin de votre secours pour en venir à bout. J’ose donc vous demander, Monsieur, L’Art poétique de Voltaire10 et quelques drogues sur la mythologie et l’histoire des dieux. Je ne puis entreprendre sans ce secours ce que je veux faire. Vous savez que dans ce pays-ci, la forme emporte le fonds. C’est pourquoi, comme j’ignore bien des choses que je trouverai dans ces livres, je ne pourrais entreprendre mon ouvrage sans eux. Donnez-moi ma liberté pour mes étrennes. Vous ne vous en repentirez jamais. Il m’est arrivé hier matin un grand malheur. M. le major m’a fait donner une seconde table pour mettre mes livres. Comme elle sert aussi à porter ma bouteille, mon pot à l’eau, une petite cafetière et autres ustensiles, en posant dessus un tome de la Bible je l’ai fait tomber et tout l’équipage a été cassé. Ce n’est pas là le plus grand du malheur, mais c’est qu’il faut payer tout cela en vin à M. le gouverneur qui est inexorable sur ce chapitre [...]. Si M. Dumont avait inspection ici, je crois qu’il m’aurait fait faire restitution, au moins de moitié. C’est pourquoi, Monsieur, je compte qu’il m’en coûtera pour payer ma sottise au moins trois bouteilles de vin. Vous ne mettez pas au nombre de mes défauts celui d’aimer le vin, ainsi vous jugez combien peu je suis sensible à cette perte.

Shut up in the Bastille since August 1753, Julie could not have known that his old brothel associate, inspector Dumont, had died suddenly in June 1754 and, of course, Berryer was not about to enlighten him on that or any other point. In any case, it would have been clear to the lieutenant général that the prisoner was telling him of the inci-

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 323

Pas encore las de vivre

323

dent as a ploy, attempting to show that he was still willing to act as his secret informer on the inside: “Je vous prie instamment,” Julie continues, “d’enterrer dans un éternel oubli cette petite aventure. Je vous l’écris pour vous amuser, sans que je désire qu’elle aille plus loin. Ils me prendraient, dans cette maison-ci, pour un homme suspect, et vous jugez que j’en aurais du desagrément si vous parliez [...]. Je vous prie, du secret là-dessus.”11 Two days after receiving Julie’s latest offer to play the role of mouchard at the Bastille, Berryer surprised the prisoner by authorizing the delivery of a gift parcel from two very proper young ladies. It was the first time any gesture of kindness from the outside had been allowed to reach him and Julie’s gratitude to his jailor is boundless: “Vous me comblez de biens. J’ai reçu hier tout plein de choses. J’en suis si étourdi que je ne sais pas comment vous remercier. Vous m’avez déjà mis dans le cas d’user toutes les différentes façons de vous exprimer ma reconnaissance. Recevez donc purement et simplement ma gratitude sincère et soyez assuré que tous vos bienfaits ne sortiront jamais de ma mémoire.”12 The gifts, including toiletries and hair grooming items, were anonymous, but Julie easily guessed that they had been sent to him by commissaire Rochebrune’s two young daughters, both obviously goodhumoured admirers of the handsome if rascally exempt who was something of a family friend. To thank them he immediately set about composing a whimsical piece in their honour, affably mocking the impracticality of their selections: L’on m’a donné ici de la poudre et de la pommade. La boîte est fort jolie, et dans le goût de celles qui sont sur les toilettes des femmes. La houppe est aussi houppe à femme. J’ai en conséquence soupçonné que c’était les demoiselles Rochebrune qui avaient acheté ces drogues et, embarrassé pour vous envoyer quelque chose, j’ai fait cette misère. Je vous ai demandé ma liberté pour mes étrennes. Je vous le répète, vous ne vous en repentirez jamais. Parmi vos présents il y a deux aunes de beau ruban de soie noir pour ma queue. Ce sont sûrement les demoiselles Rochebrune qui ont fait cet achat. Comme elles ne se connaissent pas en queues d’hommes, je ne suis pas surpris qu’elles aient choisi ce ruban. Il ne durera rien et c’est de l’argent perdu. J’ai voulu le renvoyer pour avoir à la place du padou, mais M. le major n’y a pas consenti. Je l’userai en votre honneur. Je suis actuellement coiffé à la Charolaise. Les cheveux du toupet vont dans la queue. Cela prouve un peu mon ancienneté.”13

Julie is nevertheless amused and pleased by the gesture and he pokes gentle fun at the ingenuousness of Rochebrune’s mischievous daughters in their choice of implements for gentlemanly grooming:

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

324

Page 324

The Prisoner

C’est sans contredit vous, Mesdames, Qui par la bonté de vos âmes Avez daigné prendre le soin De m’acheter pour mon besoin De la poudre et de la pommade; Une boîte d’un joli goût Une houppe, en un mot un tout Qui a distrait mon air maussade [...], Car ce n’était pas sans finesse Que vous auriez préféré Cette houppe, meuble usité Par le vieil âge, et la jeunesse, Acte charmant, jeu enchanteur, Qui sait avec beaucoup d’adresse Répandre une poudre d’odeur Sur un chignon ou une tresse; C’est donc un outil de coquette Que par malice on m’a choisi, Je vais pour m’en venger ici Rimer un peu sur la cadette [...].14

Despite the appeal of such witty pieces, Berryer clearly was more interested in Julie’s sharply delineated word-sketches of his officers. But there were difficulties. Not all of the exempt’s allusions were immediately obvious to the reader. His phenomenal rate of production was, moreover, alarming. Duval passed on the lieutenant général’s concerns in that respect to Chevalier, who had a long chat with the prisoner during one of his exercise periods. On 22 December, the major reported back to Berryer: “J’ai fait tomber notre conversation sur les portraits en question, suivant l’avis que m’en a donné ce matin M. Duval de votre part. Il m’a dit qu’il vous en a envoyé quatre en premier; deux autres hier qu’il a finis, que je vous ai envoyés ce matin, et successivement il vous fera passer le reste.” Then Chevalier added a postscript that indicated something new might soon be afoot: “Dans quelque temps, je toucherai l’autre corde au sieur Julie.”15 Enclosed with Chevalier’s letter was one from the prisoner, brimming with praise for the helpful major. Now that his writing talents were attracting positive attention, life at the Bastille seemed more bearable: Monsieur, Je ne puis différer un instant à vous marquer combien j’ai lieu d’être content des attentions de M. le major. Hier, étant à la promenade, il me fit prêter son canif. Pendant cet intervalle, il en eut besoin lui-même pour tailler une plume

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 325

Pas encore las de vivre

325

qu’il allait porter à un prisonnier. Il se donna la peine de venir me trouver. Il avait sous le bras un livre que je ne connaissais pas. Je lui demandai s’il appartenait à la maison. Il me répondit que oui. Aussitôt, je le tirai moi-même de dessous son bras et je reconnus au titre que c’était un abrégé chronologique de l’histoire de France. Je lui dis alors combien je vous avais fait d’instances pour avoir cette histoire et je le priai instamment de me la prêter si cela lui était possible. Je n’y comptais pas et je m’apprêtais à solliciter vos bons offices à ce sujet mais, surprise agréable, Monsieur le major vient de m’en apporter luimême deux volumes. Ce trait-là n’est il pas charmant? Il n’y a que vous qui puissiez le remercier pour moi comme il convient. Ne me refusez pas cette grâce, je vous en conjure. Je ne l’oublierai jamais. Je vous en voudrais à la mort, si vous me refusiez ce plaisir. Je n’ai pris la liberté de vous écrire que pour cela – et j’ai bien fait car il faudrait être le plus ingrat de tous les hommes pour n’être pas sensible à un aussi beau procédé. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie A La Bastille, ce 22 décembre [1754]16

Berryer did not underline any passages identifying examples of a reprehensible style léger in this letter, an indication perhaps that Julie’s literary campaign was making some headway. He did, however, inscribe an ominous X in the margin of the letter opposite Julie’s impertinently precious line, “Je vous en voudrais à la mort si vous me refusiez ce plaisir.” At least the prisoner had shown a certain degree of forbearance by not repeating his usual tiresome request for release by the New Year! That omission was, however, quickly repaired. Writing to Berryer the next day to provide a requested clarification of certain portraits, Julie again inserted a passionate plea that he be freed by the New Year. His poetic muse would benefit greatly as a result: “Ma liberté pour mes étrennes. Un peintre qui a l’objet devant ses yeux, travaille avec beaucoup plus de justesse que quand il ne le fait que d’idée. Vous voyez, Monsieur, que ma raison est fort bonne. Il ne tient qu’à vous d’en faire l’expérience. Encore une fois, vous ne vous en repentirez jamais. Jamais.”17 Four days later, Julie wrote again to report that his prose exegesis of the Passion was not yet ready. It had turned into an enormously long work that included an exacting transcription of documentation in both Latin and Greek. Julie mentions this last fact casually in a paragraph that urges his need for a penknife to sharpen his quills, but we cannot help but be impressed. His apparent knowledge of both classical languages supplies yet more evidence of a better than average gentleman’s

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

326

Page 326

The Prisoner

education. He goes on to wonder (no doubt with good reason) whether Berryer will be interested in reading such a long work on the sufferings of Jesus Christ. He knows, certainly, that he is on safer ground in sending the magistrate an extended character sketch of his fellow-exempt, Roussel, with whom he had shared many riotous adventures before the endearing young wastrel ended up in For l’Évêque prison: Monsieur, Je prends la liberté de vous envoyer deux travaux et une petite pièce sur quelqu’un que vous connaissez. Je [souhaite] que le tout vous amuse. Mon travail sur la Passion ne sera fini que dans quatre ou cinq jours au plus tôt. Il est beaucoup plus long que je ne m’y étais attendu et il aura au moins cinquante rôles de minute de mon grand papier.18 Il a fallu que je prenne le parti de le continuer, y renoncer ou faire un mauvais ouvrage. Néanmoins, Monsieur, je ne vous le ferai passer que je n’aie reçu vos ordres. La longueur m’effraie et je connais trop le précieux de votre temps pour en abuser à ce point. Mon dessein n’est très sûrement pas de vous causer un moment d’ennui. Je suis cependant persuadé que je vous en ai déjà donné beaucoup d’heures, mais ce n’était pas mon intention.19 A l’égard de cette explication de la Passion, si vous voulez l’avoir je suis prêt à vous obéir et je travaillerai en conséquence. Je ne vous en dirai ni bien ni mal, afin que vous n’ayez rien à me reprocher. Comme il est divisé par chapitres et qu’il y faut plusieurs écritures, même grec et latin, je vous demande un canif à ma disposition et un crayon. La première demande vous étonne peut-être mais voici mes raisons: J’ai celui de M. le major à ma volonté et je m’en sers ordinairement à la promenade. Il me l’a cependant envoyé quelquefois dans ma chambre, le porte-clefs présent quand je taillais mes plumes. Comme j’ai remarqué que cela lui faisait plus de plaisir que je les taillasse à la promenade, j’ai eu cette attention, que je lui dois au moins. Mais voici l’inconvénient: il n’est pas possible de couper plusieurs plumes égales, au moyen de quoi l’écriture n’est jamais semblable, et avec une seule plume on fait souvent plus d’ouvrage qu’avec six quand on a un canif pour la rafraîchir, et on est sûr d’écrire toujours du même caractère, et à ce travail où il y aura pour le moins trois mains de papier à la tellière,20 je veux y donner tous mes soins. Je n’imagine pas qu’il vous soit jamais venu dans l’idée, ni qu’il vous y vienne même encore, que j’aie envie de me percer le cœur ou de me couper le col. Vous ne me traitez pas assez mal pour cela et, d’ailleurs, je vous avoue que je ne suis pas encore las de vivre. Je sens, cependant, Monsieur, que c’est une demande indiscrète pour cette maison-ci mais il n’y a pas de règle sans exception, et je vous ai exposé mes raisons. Si vous ne voulez pas voir mon travail, je n’ai besoin ni de canif ni de crayon. Je vous le donnerai toujours au premier ordre. J’ai tiré de mon ingrat revenu la petite pièce sur Roussel. Je suis au bout de mes ressources.

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 327

Pas encore las de vivre

327

Je me trompe. L’envie de vous amuser me fournira sûrement encore quelque chose. Le temps en décidera. Je serais au désespoir si le petit morceau que je vous envoie faisait la moindre impression sur vous au désavantage de Roussel que j’aime de tout mon cœur. Mais je n’ai point d’inquiétude là-dessus. Je serai en vérité charmé si après ma délivrance je le trouve au nombre de ceux qui partagent vos bonnes grâces. Je vous envoie une petite clef sur cette pièce, non que vous n’eussiez pu la trouver chez vous, mais il ne me convient pas de le risquer. Je n’aurais pas longtemps à attendre si vous me donniez ma liberté pour mes étrennes. Enfin, Monsieur, je ne désespère pas de vos bontés, trop heureux si la punition méritée que vous m’avez fait subir, me rend à vous dépris de la meilleure partie de mes mauvaises qualités. Daignez faire attention que voilà presque le double de De Coin que je suis ici et ayez pitié d’un malheureux qui se fera un devoir éternel de travailler sans relâche à vous faire oublier tout le passé. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie A la Bastille, ce 27 décembre 175421

The final version of the “petit morceau” on Roussel, one of Julie’s closest friends, has apparently been lost but much of the draft version, difficult to decipher in parts, survives.22 It is a long and occasionally racy piece detailing several of Roussel’s affairs of the heart, notably a protracted liaison with a widow in her forties who had a daughter thirteen years of age destined to become a dancer at the Opéra. Julie was familiar with the widow’s lurid past, apparently unknown to Roussel. In the course of the narrative it becomes clear that inspector d’Hémery, Roussel’s brother-in-law and a well-known amateur de tendrons, had several times reproached Roussel for not seizing the opportunity to seduce the daughter on occasions when the widow was absent. Julie begins by describing Claude-Bernard Roussel’s passionate temperament, which was very much like his own: Ce naturel qui s’enflamme, Qui fait souvent du grand fracas, Et surprend autant qu’il étonne, N’a dessein d’offenser personne. Mais par un génie trop ardent D’un esprit vif et dominant Dont le feu facile à éteindre Ne dure jamais qu’un moment.

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

328

Page 328

The Prisoner

He will concentrate on only one or two of Roussel’s love affairs: Je ne parlerai simplement Encore très brièvement Que de quelqu’une des maîtresses Qui ont partagé tes caresses, À compter du temps qu’à Paris Nous sommes devenus amis.

The greater part of the surviving draft details Roussel’s relationship with Madame Humblot, a “quadragenaire” whose “froide carcasse” and “antique” sexual fires nevertheless managed to warm the cockles of Roussel’s heart for several years. Julie’s audacious muse does not recoil from bawdy imagery as he describes the couple’s physical encounters: De cette antique et vaste porte Où tout à ton aise dedans Tu n’avais pas de temps de reste Pour tirer de ce vieux gazon Quelque triste et langoureux zeste Du doux élixir de Junon.

Regrettably, he continues, Roussel’s sense of loyalty to this “surannée beauté” even prevented him from enjoying the widow’s juvenile daughter: Si comme disait ton beau-frère,23 Sur la fille en quittant la mère, Tu eusses su te dédommager Et prendre le premier baiser De ce tendron dont la jeunesse, Supplément à la gentillesse, Le teint frais, la légèreté, L’esprit et la vivacité, Le goût de ce mets délicat, Auront ranimé ton courage, Et dans cet amoureux combat Pour toi seul était l’avantage.

Such loyalty was, of course, misplaced but Julie never blabbed to his friend Roussel about the lady’s licentious past, which had included more than one harsh session of les grands remèdes:

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 329

Pas encore las de vivre

329

Moins pour toi elle eût été chère Si quelqu’un t’avait informé De son très mauvais caractère Que l’on ne m’a que trop prouvé. Longtemps avant de te connaître, La belle danse avec plus d’un amant Pour son honneur fit trop paraître Son pernicieux tempérament. Plus d’une fois dans la fournaise Pour purger son sang corrompu Le grand choc elle a soutenu Quoiqu’elle y fût mal à son aise.

Julie notes that it would have required an entire in-folio volume to catalogue all of the widow’s passades but for Berryer’s benefit he adds several explanatory notes about the woman and her daughter: “Elle en impose par le maintien et par la conversation, mais elle est méchante comme un diable, et souvent montre sa mauvaise humeur à Roussel. Je sais des tours d’elle qui sont uniques et que Roussel ignore.” As for the thirteen-year-old daughter: “Il est certain que dans le temps que Roussel voyait cette personne il aurait pu en conter à la fille, qui était encore sans nulle expérience et M. [d’Hémery] lui en a souvent fait reproche.”24 Deprived of normal sexual contact and brooding in his solitary room in the Bastille, Julie makes it clear that, given the opportunity, he himself would probably have taken full advantage of the tendron in question. That at least seems to be the message of a short piece he sent to Berryer about two weeks later. Despite its ribald character, it is probably safe to assume that the lieutenant général found the poem more to his taste than the Greek and Latin passages promised for the long exegesis of the New Testament that Julie was working on at the same time. The ode is addressed to languishing young virgins and offers Charles de Julie’s special therapeutic advice for such innocent fillettes: Fillettes qui dans les langueurs Passez votre jeune âge, Et à qui les pâles couleurs Ternissent le visage, L’amour est le seul médecin Qui toutes vous guérisse, Et son remède c’est pour certain Un bâton de réglisse.

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 330

330

The Prisoner

Achetez-en pour secourir Le mal qui vous afflige, Surtout ayez soin de choisir Une très grosse tige. Cela n’est point indifférent Pour votre maladie, Car un petit bien moins qu’un grand Donne du jus de vie. On s’en sert naturellement, Par le bout on le suce, Et on l’enfonce plus avant À proportion qu’il use. Il faut pousser et repousser, Le suc en sort plus vite, Et fort souvent recommencer, On sera bientôt quitte. Si un n’était pas suffisant, Prenez-en davantage; Ce naturel médicament Est d’un fort bon usage. Surtout le soir et le matin, Il est très efficace; Quand il est dur il est plus sain Et se tient mieux en place. Vous voyez qu’à fort peu de frais Je soulage les belles, J’en ai déjà fait des essais Sur nombre de pucelles. On trouve partout aisément Un bâton de réglisse, Et quand on se le sert promptement On chasse la jaunisse.25

The year 1754 finally drew to a close, but the lieutenant général’s gift of delivrance did not arrive for Charles de Julie’s étrennes on New Year’s Day. He expressed his disappointment in his seasonal greeting to Berryer on 1 January 1755: Recevez, j’ose vous en prier, mon compliment de nouvelle année. Que son cours soit heureux, et qu’à sa fin il ne vous reste rien à désirer. Qu’un grand nombre d’autres la suivent [...].

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 331

Pas encore las de vivre

331

Hélas, Monsieur, ne mériterai-je jamais mon pardon? Voilà les étrennes arrivées et je suis encore à la Bastille. Daignez donc, Monsieur, me sortir d’ici. Vous verrez que comme l’année, je serai un homme nouveau et que j’y laisserai le vieil homme dont je me suis dépouillé avec plaisir. N’en doutez pas, Monsieur; les réflexions que j’ai faites dans ma captivité auront certainement l’effet que vous en attendez, car enfin je ne puis me persuader que vous vouliez me perdre sans ressource. Mettez-moi donc à même de vous prouver ce que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous avancer dans plusieurs de mes lettres et attendez tout de ma reconnaissance. Il y a deux jours que je ne me porte pas bien, sans quoi j’aurais fait quelque chose pour vous au commencement de cette année, mais j’ai la tête si lourde qu’il ne m’a presque pas été possible d’en disposer. Je vous envoie malgré cela deux portraits. Mon travail sur la Passion est retardé par mon indisposition; cependant, je n’ai plus qu’un volume à traiter. Il sera encore plus long que je ne vous l’ai annoncé, mais il n’est pas possible de le rendre moins [étendu]; c’est l’extrait de neuf volumes qui ont chacun 500 à 600 pages. Ce style n’est point du tout dur ni aride, comme vous croiriez que le sujet le fait attendre. Il règne au contraire dans cet ouvrage un goût historique qui, quoique sur une matière aussi profonde et aussi sainte, est dégagé du sérieux par des citations curieuses et par une morale naturelle et à la portée de tout le monde. Je crois que le petit extrait que j’en ai fait plaira aux dames qui pensent d’une certaine façon. Il me manque des volumes qui feront un vide, mais il sera possible avec le temps d’y remédier. J’attends toujours vos ordres pour me disposer à vous envoyer ce travail si vous le voulez. J’ose renouveler mon compliment d’année. Ayez pitié de ce pauvre captif qui n’a rien tant à cœur que de vous donner des preuves de son changement total.26

With the coming of the New Year, there was, however, at least one encouraging sign that a change in the prisoner’s fortunes might soon be in the offing. On 8 January, acting on Berryer’s orders, the major took Julie aside for a long talk during the prisoner’s mid-week exercise session in the courtyard. For the first time since Charles de Julie’s arrival, the question of his eventual release was mentioned by a prison official. It turned out to be the friendliest of chats, mostly about the seafaring life, and before it ended Chevalier had brought the conversation around to the possibility that exile to the colonies or compulsory enlistment in the French navy and service abroad might be a condition of the prisoner’s freedom. Later that same day, the major sent a brief report to Berryer: A la Bastille, le 8e janvier 1755 Monsieur, J’ai choisi le moment de la promenade du sieur Julie ce jourd’hui, pour parler avec ce prisonnier. J’ai fait tomber notre conversation sur nos colonies que

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

332

Page 332

The Prisoner

nous avons dans les îles. Il m’a raconté un grand voyage qu’il a fait sur mer, et il parle marin comme s’il n’avait fait d’autre métier de sa vie, et après bien des raisonnements, je lui ai conseillé d’y retourner. Il m’a paru qu’il ne demande pas mieux et m’a dit qu’il vous en écrirait au premier jour. Il m’a même dit qu’il vous a déjà écrit à ce sujet depuis qu’il est à la Bastille, cinq ou six mois après sa détention.27 J’ai l’honneur d’être avec un profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. Chevalier28

Chevalier reveals in a postscript that others have now become involved in facilitating the prisoner’s literary career: “J’ai remis au sieur Julie aujourd’hui le Traité du poème épique, par le père Le Bossu29 que M. de Rochebrune m’a envoyé pour le prisonnier.” Encouraged by the major’s recent conversation, Julie set about writing a long mémoire concerning his eventual release. Having failed to obtain his freedom with the coming of the New Year, he now looked for another plausible calendar interval and speculated that his sentence would end in time for Lent. If he was not released by then, he would surely end up in the graveyard of nearby Saint Paul’s Church! Meanwhile, not only had he reached the end of his voluminous exegesis of Christ’s suffering but flattered himself that he had managed to write it in a style popular enough to attract the interest of even the ladies. His ambitions had grown and he toyed now with the notion of composing literary pieces whose purpose might go well beyond simply amusing the lieutenant général. In a letter to Berryer of 10 January 1755, he enclosed a poem of 500 lines entitled “Les Tambours.” More than a minor poetic tour de force, it was probably also an important mental exercise in creative self-rescue. The prisoner, totally isolated behind prison walls, reduced to only haphazard auditory links with external reality, makes an effort to regain psychological contact. The attempt is audacious. Physically unwell, suffering also from a year and a half of sensory deprivation, the once buoyant Julie hesitates as he tries to predict Berryer’s reaction. As a prisoner he is aware that possession of the “old Julie’s” residual knowledge has somehow become culpable. His salvation can come only after the slate has been wiped clean and the authorities have certified the complete makeover of his inner being. In a sense, memory itself was proscribed along with the forbidden distractions of transmuted memory, the rich gifts of imagination. But beyond his insurmountable prison walls was Paris, the city of his birth. Its streets had shaped his destiny. He still knew intimately its foods and its fashions, its arts and commerce, its joys, vices, and crimes. Especially, he still knew its sounds and sometimes, even though

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 333

Pas encore las de vivre

333

buried away at the bottom of the Bazinière Tower, he could hear those sounds in the distance. Remembering Paris – speculating on the meaning of the shouting and street clamour that occasionally reached his ears despite the thick stone walls – all that was part of remaining in charge of himself and his cognitive faculties. But would it be allowed? Would Berryer forgive him for daring to remember, daring to imagine his Paris even now? Monsieur, Je prends la liberté de vous adresser une petite pièce de cinq cents vers qui tire son origine du battement nouveau des tambours. Dans le courant de cet ouvrage, c’est à Paris que je parle, et toujours par conjecture. Vous savez beaucoup mieux que moi tout ce qui le compose. Je n’ai point hésité à vous faire ce petit travail, non que je ne sois certain que s’il vous fait plaisir et vous amuse, il pourra bien aussi m’être contraire en ce qu’il vous représentera que je connais toujours Paris. Mais enfin, Monsieur, j’ai tout sacrifié au plaisir de vous amuser et, dussé-je en souffrir, je voudrais être en état de vous en faire encore autant. J’imagine que j’ai tort d’alambiquer mon esprit. Vous êtes trop judicieux pour trouver mauvais que je connaisse Paris. Vous me regarderiez comme un butor si je ne le connaissais pas après y avoir travaillé dans au moins cinq ou six détails différents. Je ne vous en impose pas, vous le savez: le Militaire, les Jeux, les Étrangers, les Voleurs, un peu de Librairie, un peu encore d’autres choses que vous savez que je connais par moi-même.30 Il y a un portrait. Je ne m’étendrai pas davantage dans cette lettre. J’aurai l’honneur de vous adresser dans quelques jours un très court mémoire, tendant aux moyens de me procurer ma liberté. Je vous prie, Monsieur, d’en recevoir l’annonce sous bon augure, et d’avoir pitié d’un malheureux qui n’attend son bonheur que de vous seul. J’oublie de vous marquer que je joins à ceci une petite clef sur le morceau en question. Ce n’est pas que vous n’eussiez pu vous en passer, mais comme il y a quelques endroits qui ne sont pas assez détaillés pour être reconnus au premier coup de vue, je l’ai crue nécessaire, et je l’ai faite générale. J’ai demandé à Monsieur le major un réchaud qu’il m’a fait le plaisir de me donner. Cela est un meuble fort utile ici quand, comme moi, on soupe tard. Ne vous avisez pas, Monsieur, de me faire passer ici le Carême. J’irais certainement avant Pâques à Saint-Paul et ce n’est pas là votre intention. Je compte beaucoup sur mon petit mémoire. Je vous mettrai à portée de disposer de moi à votre fantaisie, et de différentes façons. J’ose me flatter que vous choisirez le parti que vous me croirez le plus avantageux. J’ai fini il n’y a que deux jours mon travail sur la Passion. Il contient cent huit rôles de minute. Il est vrai que j’ai tout au long l’histoire du siège de Jérusalem que j’ai rassemblée tant dans l’histoire ecclésiastique que dans

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

334

Page 334

The Prisoner

l’auteur de la Passion. Vous voyez, Monsieur, que ce travail est long quoiqu’il ne soit pas à beaucoup près complet. J’ai reçu un Traité du poème épique que M. le major m’a fait remettre. C’est une nouvelle obligation que je vous ai et dont je m’acquitterai avec bien du plaisir. Ce livre est profond et savant mais peu instructif. Il est borné uniquement au poème épique et à des commentaires sur les poèmes des anciens, l’Iliade, l’Odyssée, Virgile. C’est un très bon livre et je vous en réitère mon remerciement. Je suis au bout de mon rouleau. Vous verrez que dans le petit travail qui est ci-joint j’ai furieusement fouillé mon imagination. Fournissez-moi des matériaux, je les mettrai en œuvre. Il n’y a rien que je ne fasse pour vous. Je vous ai déjà supplié de me dire un petit mot quand vous venez ici, mais vous auriez peur de me faire trop aise. Vous ne sauriez croire le plaisir que j’aurais à vous voir un moment. Permettez donc au moins à M. Duval de me dire un petit mot de votre part. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. De Julie A la Bastille, ce 10 janvier 1755.31

We will not reproduce here all of “Les Tambours.” It is fairly long and the key to many of its allusions supplied by Julie for Berryer’s benefit has been lost. Even a brief sampling, however, conveys the essential. Using random sounds as his only source of incoming data, the prisoner has managed to glean a good deal about what has been happening beyond the Bastille’s walls since his incarceration. His poetic exercise was triggered initially when he noticed a marked change in the drumming patterns of the château’s military garrison: Voilà déjà, je crois, deux jours Que de ce château les tambours Battent autrement qu’à l’ordinaire.

Familiar with the precise style of individual regimental drummers, Julie knows that there has been a change of some kind in the garrison but he is not certain what such a change implies. He is led to speculate about other innovations that may have occurred while he has been locked away: Paris depuis plus d’une année Que dans ta superbe cité Le sort fatal qui me poursuit De me chagriner entreprit, Je n’ai du tout vu tes murailles,

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 335

Pas encore las de vivre

335

Et quoique né dans tes entrailles, Le défaut de ma liberté De cet agrément m’a privé. Que d’intéressantes nouvelles Et aussi que de bagatelles! Quel grand nombre d’événements Pendant cet espace de temps Dans la vaste et brillante ville Se sont passés publiquement! Vraiment quand je te reverrai, Point je ne te reconnaîtrai, Car dans ton enclos je suis sûre Que tout est changé de nature. À cause de ma longue absence Tu me crois peut-être ignorant; Je vais te donner connaissance De ce que je sais à présent. Avec sincérité j’assure Que je pourrai bien me tromper Mais comme c’est par conjecture Que je m’apprête à te parler Tu ne prendras pas à la lettre Ce qu’après ceci je vais mettre.

Prisoners at the Bastille were not allowed news of any kind but he knows, for example, that the Dauphine gave birth on 8 September 1753 to a second prince: J’ai entendu de ma clôture Par cinq à six fois le canon. Comme c’est pour bonne aventure, J’en étais content tout de bon. C’était le huitième septembre L’an mil sept cent cinquante-trois Que tout indolent dans ma chambre Ce brutal m’a surpris trois fois. Je sentis une joie extrême; Alors je savais par moi-même Que la Dauphine dans son sein Portait le fruit de son Dauphin.

Julie, of course, could not know that the child, given the title duc d’Aquitaine, had died five months later, on 22 February 1754. The

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

336

Page 336

The Prisoner

prisoner also did not know that, meanwhile, the Dauphine had given birth on 23 August 1754 to another prince, the duc de Berry, destined to become Louis XVI, the ancien régime’s last king. As for the fireworks he had heard on 29 August, the day Paris celebrated the birth, that too had remained an enigma to him: Dans une parfaite ignorance Je suis de la réjouissance Qui le vingt-neuf du mois d’août A fait illuminer partout.

Sometimes, the prisoner’s knowledge of important events is more precise. He knows, for example, that the Parlement was recalled from exile in the summer of 1754 – a fact probably still unnoticed by some on the outside: Je sais que le corps respectable De notre illustre Parlement Est rappelé certainement. Un homme qui crie comme un diable Débite aux voisins les arrêts De ces vénérables sujets. De si loin il se fait entendre Que plus qu’un autre il en doit vendre. Ce n’est pas là fort peu de chose; Beaucoup n’en savent pas autant. Ici c’est une courte prose Qui répond à tout dans l’instant.

Of course, he has many more questions than answers about what has been going on. He wonders whether the bitter jurisdictional disputes between the Opéra and the Comédie-Française are still raging? And has there been a truce in the famous guerre des Bouffons? Mais que d’admirables merveilles Et de raretés sans pareilles Se sont passées à mon insu Depuis que je ne l’ai plus vu? Par exemple, à la Comédie Danse-t-on toujours des ballets De Melpomène et de Thalie?

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 337

Pas encore las de vivre

337

His ability to guess what has happened is naturally limited. The fact that he is where he is is proof enough that he cannot predict the future. Still, he speculates on the extent that the city has changed. What, for example, has happened in ladies’ fashions? Mais il faudrait que je devine, Et si j’avais été sorcier, J’aurais prévu tout le premier Qu’on travaillait à ma ruine. J’ai encore à te faire part De quelques frivoles pensées Qui pourraient être mal fondées, Puisqu’elles sont toutes au hasard: Dans cette riche capitale Que nulle autre en beauté n’égale, Combien de nouveaux bâtiments En augmentent les ornements? On a vingt fois changé de mode Depuis que j’en suis séparé, Car un seul cheveu mal rangé Est un embarras incommode. Peut-être aussi que les coquettes Ont de nouveaux ajustements Pour falbalas d’autres agréments Et à la Turque des aigrettes. Ce serait aventure heureuse Si aujourd’hui la scrupuleuse Était enterrée dans l’oubli; Elle eut jadis un grand crédit. Il pourrait aisément se faire Que le large et long mantelet Fût à présent court et ginguet; Ce changement est ordinaire. Il peut bien y avoir aussi Du supplément dans la coiffure Et une très courte chaussure Où le pied n’entre qu’à demi. Point du tout je ne désespère De voir aux dames quelque jour À la ville ainsi qu’à la Cour Les robes ouvertes par derrière ...

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

338

Page 338

The Prisoner

Women no doubt are still fickle, as are their dashing soldier-lovers who leave war aside and pursue love in the city during the winter season: Cette naturelle inconstance S’étend jusque sur les amants; Les femmes du bon ton en France En changent autant que de rubans. Vos guerriers au combat si braves Ne seront pas devenus graves; Ces Césars, et ces Scipions Sont en hiver des Céladons. Je les verrai sans doute encore Essencés, parfumés, musqués, Tromper hardiment les beautés Par ce grand mot, Je vous adore.

On the other hand, he would be pleased to learn when he is released from prison that many undesirable characteristics of the general population have disappeared: Je ne cesserais pas d’écrire, Si j’entreprenais de tout dire Ce qui se sera fait, je crois, De nouveau dans ce vaste endroit, Car à mon retour il peut être Que je trouve tout renversé: Ce serait une nouveauté De voir discret un petit-maître, Une danseuse négligée, La financière point fardée, La maîtresse aimer son amant, Tout cela serait fort plaisant.

Nor are fragments from his bulletins galants entirely forgotten. Recollections in “Les Tambours” include some of the racy items that finally got him thrown into the Bastille. He would be astonished, for example, if he were to learn that one of the Opéra dancers (Mlle d’Estrée)32 had abandoned her insistence on coitus interruptus as a preferred method of birth control: Je ne serais pas sans surprise Si j’apprenais qu’avec franchise

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 339

Pas encore las de vivre

339

Une belle de l’Opéra, Grande, bien faite et cetera, Pour ne plus ménager sa taille, Satisfait ses tendres désirs Et que personne ne la raille Sur ses précautionnés plaisirs.

Dozens of similar sketches follow, good-naturedly detailing his spicy recollections of the amorous affairs of various actresses, singers, and dancers of the capital. But in a far less indulgent tone, he recalls the opprobrious behaviour of the libertine receveur général des finances, Masson de Maisonrouge, whose marriage to a pregnant mistress, the demi mondaine Opéra singer Cécile Rotisset de Romainville, in February 1752, only two months after the death of his first wife, had caused a major scandal: Je serais réjoui dans l’âme Si je trouvais ce gros cochon, Qui de Maison Rouge a le nom, Avec encore une autre femme ...

On the other hand, such trifles would perhaps hold little interest for him now. More important would be news that during his absence great moral changes had taken place, that selfishness had been put to death, along with envy, artifice, ingratitude, calumny, and a dozen other vices. Their notional annihilation provides a quick tour of the capital’s places of execution: Mais je serais charmé d’apprendre Que la justice va reprendre Sur le nombreux peuple français Indistinctement tous les droits: Que dans la place de la Grève L’intérêt a été brûlé, Et qu’un foudroyant vent enlève Les cendres de ce forcené; Que l’ambition orgueilleuse Meurt de dépit subitement Près la statue victorieuse De notre Roi Louis le Grand; Que la vengeance est enchaînée Et va être sacrifiée Par l’infâme main d’un bourreau

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

340

Page 340

The Prisoner

Au bout du Pont Neuf au flambeau; Que l’on va mener la Colère À la vue de tous les passants À pied à la Salpêtrière Pour y mourir dans les tourments; Que l’envie et la calomnie Ont toutes deux perdu la vie Pour expier à tout jamais Leurs abominables forfaits; Que le monstre d’ingratitude Qu’on allait mettre en servitude S’est poignardé de désespoir; Que le mensonge et l’artifice Que l’on avait cherchés partout Sont dans les filets de Saint-Cloud33 Noyés, ainsi que la malice...

Finally, the poem closes with a paean to the reigning monarch, Louis le Bien-Aimé: Ce qui me touche davantage Est d’être très vite informé De la précieuse santé Du monarque dont le courage, La bienveillance, et la bonté, Lui ont justement mérité Les couronnes et la victoire, Ainsi que l’immortelle gloire D’être le seul qui ait porté Le rare nom de Bien-Aimé [...]. Grand Dieu, exauce les prières Et les vœux ardents et sincères Que nous t’adressons toujours Pour la conservation des jours De ce grand Roi qui est le père Du plus petit de ses sujets; Que cette Majesté si chère Ne connaisse pas les regrets, Que sa postérité royale Sur les Français règne à jamais, Ce sont là les communs souhaits De son royaume et de sa capitale.34

CH15.QXD

9/1/2004 11:40 AM

Page 341

Pas encore las de vivre

341

The sentiments, though conventional, are unmistakably sincere. Charles de Julie in 1755, even as a long suffering prisoner in His Most Christian Majesty’s hated Bastille, had no thought, and certainly no desire, that Louis le Bien-Aimé’s postérité royale should ever come to an unhappy end.

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 342

16 Planning for Freedom

After his long conversation with Chevalier during their extended walk in the courtyard of the Bastille on 8 January 1755, Charles de Julie thought long and hard about the mémoire he had promised to send Berryer regarding his future. He knew it would be a major writing challenge, perhaps his most important composition ever, a key document explaining what had brought him to this point in his life and where he hoped to end up once he was released. It would have to be many things at once – his own story, first of all, part confession, part justification. He would include a tiny mention of Berryer’s shared reponsibility for the situation, but of course that was a particularly delicate theme and one he could touch upon only with all deference. Elements of self-criticism as well as self-justification would have to be blended with exquisite care and seasoned with an engaging dash of candour and plain-speaking. The risks were formidable. The great magistrate would have to be convinced once and for all that in his heart Julie was not, and had never been, disloyal to his only lord and master. Berryer had only to grant his unfortunate prisoner a fair hearing of the true facts. The magistrate’s own heart, his own sense of justice, would surely do the rest. To understand is to forgive. Fortune would smile at last on poor Julie! Not surprisingly, Julie devoted the first paragraph of his mémoire to an eloquent commentary on the fragility and uncertainties of the human condition:

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 343

Planning for Freedom

343

À la Bastille, le 12 janvier 1755 Monsieur, Il y a des conjectures délicates où l’homme le plus sage se prend à tout, et ne sait à quoi se tenir. L’ambition, l’intérêt, l’honneur, toutes les passions en mouvement à la fois agitent l’esprit et le cœur, souvent peu d’accord l’un avec l’autre: on veut sans vouloir, on se détermine à ce qui déplaît, on exécute ce qu’on n’a qu’à demi résolu et ce qu’on voudrait ensuite n’avoir pas fait. Enfin, on se tient au parti qui s’est présenté le dernier, parce que l’impression en est plus récente et que partout autour de soi on ne découvre qu’embarras, qu’écueils, et que précipices. Voilà, je crois, l’état postérieur de ma situation. Dans ce peu de lignes je ne vous l’exposerai que depuis que je suis en charge. Hélas, puis-je me souvenir de cet instant fatal sans verser un torrent de larmes? Il me souvient encore de la réception cruelle que vous me fîtes, le jour qu’après en avoir pris possession j’allai vous présenter mon profond respect. M. Julie, me dîtes-vous, jamais vous ne travaillerez pour moi. Quelles paroles, Grand Dieu! La plaie qu’elles ont faite à mon cœur est incurable. J’envisageai alors les malheurs qui vraisemblablement allaient m’accabler, puisque j’étais certain de votre total abandon. Ma constance n’aurait pas soutenu ce choc si quelques amis ne fussent venus à mon secours dans un moment aussi critique. Enfin revenu à moi-même, je pris dès lors la résolution de faire mon possible pour vaincre par une conduite différente de la précédente l’assommante résolution qui me désespérait. J’ai passé plus d’un an à gémir sur mon état, ne sachant à quoi me prendre ni à quoi me tenir, tantôt avec l’un et tantôt avec l’autre, et effectivement avec personne. Je menais une vie languissante et peu convenable à satisfaire mon amour-propre. Mon malheur devenait encore moins supportable par l’opposition que vous mettiez à la bonne volonté de quelques-uns de vos officiers qui voulaient m’employer. Réduit à ce que l’on appelle la mendicité, point de pain, point de bois dans le plus fort de l’hiver, des huissiers à ma porte et aux deux bouts de ma rue prêts à m’emprisonner pour dettes, les voilà, Monsieur, ces embarras, ces écueils, et ces précipices qui m’ont à la fin déterminé à prendre la résolution forcée qui m’a conduit ici, mais après combien de précautions! N’ai-je pas eu l’honneur de vous prévenir plusieurs fois par lettre sur le travail que l’on me proposait? Ne vous ai-je point assuré que je ne serais qu’à vous étant à un autre? Mes propositions ne vous ont point plu. Vous les avez rejetées avec mépris et méfiance. J’ai différé longtemps à entrer dans un engagement où je prévoyais ma perte infaillible, mais qui n’a qu’un moment à vivre n’a plus rien à dissimuler. Il n’y a pas d’alternatif entre exister et mourir de faim. La misère m’a déterminé. J’ai pris le parti qui me déplaisait. Les différentes passions qui m’agitaient, irritaient mon esprit et mon cœur qui, l’un et l’autre, n’étaient presque jamais d’accord ensemble. L’orgueil excitait en moi l’envie et la jalousie de ce que vous ne daigniez pas me donner une faible part dans votre

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

344

Page 344

The Prisoner

confiance, qui était la seule que je chérissais et que je respectais. Mon amourpropre était choqué de la voir réunie, et comme affectée, à peu de personnes que je ne pouvais me persuader avoir à elles seules le mérite de toutes les autres. Je vous peins, Monsieur, avec sincérité et sans détour, la perplexité qui agitait alors mon âme. Vous savez que l’orgueil est de tous les vices celui dont on se défait le moins aisément et qui renaît le plus vite. Je n’ai pas vu sans humeur que plusieurs de ceux qui ont le bonheur de vous approcher me regardaient audessous d’eux parce que je ne partageais pas la même faveur. Qu’aurait fait tout autre à ma place? J’ai voulu éloigner la misère qui m’obsédait. Ceux pour qui j’ai travaillé étaient en état chacun de me faire un sort heureux et mes yeux prévenus les voyaient à leur avantage. Différentes raisons que vous avez sues m’ont procuré leur connaissance et enfin vous auriez peut-être fermé les yeux sur la conduite que je tenais (et vous les avez fermés quelque temps) si l’on ne m’avait rendu bien des mauvais offices auprès de vous. Je n’ai pas oublié pendant ce cours de temps que vous étiez mon véritable supérieur. Je vous envoyais ce que je pouvais par moi-même, et pour remplir tous les objets, il vous allait, je vous le jure, par d’autres canaux, beaucoup du mien par semaine. Je n’ai fait que ce que j’ai dû, mais je n’aurais jamais rien fait pour d’autres, équitable magistrat, si vous aviez daigné jeter un œil de miséricorde sur le malheureux qui expie aujourd’hui justement ses fautes. Je ne m’en plains point. Les hauts et les bas que j’ai essuyés me feront peut-être revenir à moi, et ce sera sans doute pour mon bien que j’aurai été si sévèrement puni, tant la légèreté de la fortune et l’inconstance des choses humaines dont tous les hommes se plaignent est [sic] utile aux heureux et aux malheureux, pour réprimer la hauteur des uns dans la prospérité qui les élève, et pour relever l’espérance des autres dans l’adversité qui les abat. Voilà une partie des raisons que je prends la liberté d’exposer aux yeux d’un sage qui comme vous protège l’infortuné et n’agit ni par esprit de parti ni par esprit de prévention. C’est dans l’intime persuasion où je suis de votre rare équité que je vais vous proposer les moyens de changer la tristesse de mon état actuel. L’homme né pour la liberté ne s’apprivoise pas avec l’esclavage. Le plus doux l’irrite et le révolte. Voilà, Monsieur, le dix-huitième mois que je suis dans des fers dont vous connaissez le poids. Si ce temps n’est pas suffisant pour acquitter mes fautes, n’en ayez pas moins pitié de moi. Je me jette entre les bras de votre miséricorde. Sera-t-elle encore longtemps sourde à ma voix? Ce bienfaisant magistrat verra-t-il sans compassion un misérable jeune homme qui ne tient à rien dans l’univers, plus à plaindre mille fois qu’une fourmi que tout le monde peut fouler aux pieds mais qui peut néanmoins éviter ce malheur en se retirant dans le trou que l’auteur de la nature lui a donné l’industrie de bâtir? Il est temps de finir mes maux. Ma santé s’affaiblit, mon tempérament perd de sa vigueur. J’y succomberai infailliblement si vous n’êtes pas sensible à mes cris.

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 345

Planning for Freedom

345

Voilà trois propositions différentes que j’ose vous faire sur mon état à venir. Je vous laisse non seulement le maître de choisir celle que vous jugerez la plus convenable, mais encore d’en adopter telle autre qui sera à votre volonté. Je me remets entièrement à votre discrétion. Vous ferez de moi tout ce qu’il vous plaira et je suis prêt à acheter ma liberté à telles conditions que vous voudrez imposer, bien persuadé qu’elles seront toutes justes et que vous êtes incapable de profiter de mon malheur et de m’en faire de déraisonnables. Première Proposition Si le Magistrat veut faire travailler Julie à Paris, il lui donnera pendant six mois ou davantage à son choix, 150 livres par mois, et il l’emploiera à ce qu’il jugera à propos. Si Julie n’est plus en charge, il agira sous les auspices du Magistrat, jusqu’à ce qu’il lui ait permis d’en acquérir une autre. Au bout de ces six mois ou du temps qu’il aura plu au Magistrat de fixer, il augmentera ses bienfaits selon qu’il sera content. Seconde Proposition Si le Magistrat ne veut pas laisser Julie à Paris, il lui obtiendra un poste d’exempt de maréchaussée dans une ville de province où il n’y ait pas de lieutenant. Troisième Proposition Si ces deux partis ne conviennent pas au Magistrat, comme il est fort bien avec Monseigneur le contrôleur général, et avec Monsieur Rouillé, il fera avoir à Julie par le canal de l’un des deux un bon emploi sur mer, soit militaire ou d’une autre espèce.1 Vous voyez bien, Monsieur, que je vous regarde comme mon protecteur et comme mon père puisque je prends la liberté de vous charger de ma fortune future. Ce n’est pas sans raison que je suis fondé à vous donner ces deux qualités. Dieu, de qui vous tenez l’autorité que vous avez, vous l’a confiée pour avoir soin de la veuve et de l’orphelin. Nos rois très chrétiens ont pourvu par des lois sages aux nécessités de la veuve et de l’orphelin, en divisant leur puissance et leur autorité à des magistrats équitables et clairvoyants en qui ils ont toujours mis leur confiance, et qui sont les exécuteurs et les protecteurs des lois. C’est donc avec justice, Monsieur, que je vous appelle mon protecteur et mon père, puisque de droit divin et de droit humain vous avez les deux titres à mon égard, vu mon état que vous n’ignorez pas.2 Ayez donc pitié du malheureux que la Providence a mis entre vos mains. Répondez à ses sacrées intentions et vous en recevrez la juste récompense. Je vais dire un mot sur chacune des propositions ci-dessus avancées: Je n’ai rien à vous observer sur le travail dont vous me chargeriez à Paris. Vous savez ce que je suis capable d’y faire, mes défauts à part. Il est donc question, Monsieur, de vous assurer que je sortirai d’ici aussi pur que l’or du creuset, et que si j’étais assez ennemi de moi-même pour vous donner l’occasion d’un moment de repentir, c’est le sort le plus rigoureux auquel je me soumets.

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

346

Page 346

The Prisoner

A l’égard de l’emploi d’exempt de maréchaussée de province, sans amourpropre, je me crois en état de le gérer avec distinction, et de faire honneur à votre recommandation et à votre choix. Je le demande dans une ville où il n’y ait pas de lieutenant afin d’être à portée de donner des preuves plus authentiques de mon zèle, ce que je ne pourrais pas faire étant commandé. Pour la mer, je n’y suis point neuf. J’ai navigué vingt-deux mois dans différents parages, entre autres dans la mer du Nord. Je me flatte de connaître la manœuvre d’un vaisseau et tout ce qui en dépend presque aussi bien que ma chambre. C’est pourquoi je suis en état d’être employé à plusieurs usages sur mer, et prêt à partir au premier bon vent. Voilà bien des moyens que je vous donne pour me tirer de ma captivité, en m’assurant en même temps un sort qui ne mettra point de bornes à ma reconnaissance. Oui, Monsieur, vous pouvez compter que dans quelque endroit du monde que j’existe vos bienfaits ne sortiront jamais de ma mémoire. Je les publierai hautement jusqu’au dernier moment de ma vie, trop heureux si le sort qui m’a jusqu’à présent persécuté me réserve le plaisir et la satisfaction de vous donner des preuves inéquivoques et complètes de ce que j’ai l’honneur de vous avancer. De Julie3

It was, all in all, a masterful presentation! Well thought out, well written, circumspect, and judicious. Above all, it was confident in tone and there can be little doubt that Charles de Julie expected that it would earn a favourable response. Completed on Sunday 12 January, Julie’s mémoire was delivered to the lieutenant général at his town house on the rue de l’Université4 the following day. Berryer got around to examining it two days later. When he had finished his perusal, he handed the five sheets covered with writing on both sides back to Duval for filing. Before doing so, however, he scrawled a remarkably dull-witted, unfeeling and meanspirited comment in the margin at the top of the first page. Three words in all: Julie est fou.5 The road ahead for Charles de Julie was not yet smooth. Along with the mémoire, the prisoner had sent a covering letter. To entertain the lieutenant général de police, he also enclosed samplings of his most recent literary compositions: Monsieur, Je prends la liberté de vous envoyer le petit mémoire en forme de lettre que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous annoncer. Je vous prie de le prendre sous votre respectable protection. Je vous envoie deux petites pièces, intitulée chacune, Le Dé. L’une est le dé

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 347

Planning for Freedom

347

lettre, et l’autre le dé à jouer. Dans la dernière, je parle toujours aux dés à la seconde personne du singulier, mais néanmoins il faut le supposer au jeu de trictrac avec un camarade, et au passe-dix avec deux. J’ai même fait en sorte de lever cette difficulté en nommant deux ou trois dés dans différents endroits.6 La prise du Dé lettre s’est passée sous vos yeux, et vous reconnaîtrez aisément le polypersonnage qu’elle regarde. Je vous envoie aussi deux portraits et deux chansons d’un seul couplet chacune. Il y en a une où j’ai mis toi qui es équitable humain. On peut y substituer – et vous le verrez par le fond de la pensée – à la place de toi qui es, le mot de magistrat, mais j’ai cru vous devoir laisser le maître du choix. Tout ce que je vous ai annoncé ci-dessus était prêt hier au matin mais on n’a pas envoyé d’ici à votre hôtel. À la fin de ma promenade, quand j’ai vu que ce paquet me resterait jusqu’à ce matin, je vous ai copié les deux petites pièces qui étaient dans les brouillons que vous avez eu la bonté de me renvoyer, afin que vous ayez tout ce que j’ai fait. J’ai profité aussi de ce temps pour vous faire un troisième portrait que vous trouverez ci-joint. Me voilà presque au bout non seulement des portraits, mais généralement de mes idées. Je ne sais, ma foi, plus de quel bois faire flèche; je tâcherai cependant de vous faire quelques portraits de commissaires mais je voudrais auparavant que vous approuvassiez mon dessein et ce travail n’ira pas loin. J’espère aussi que vous allez jeter un œil de pitié sur moi, et que je ne serai pas longtemps dans le cas de mettre mon esprit à l’alambic pour en tirer de quoi vous amuser. Je ne me porte pas bien du tout. Lecocq me va mettre à la tisane, et il me purgera. C’est un bon garçon7 qui a bien soin des prisonniers malades, à en juger par moi, mais il a beau mettre son art en usage, c’est vous, Monsieur, qui êtes l’unique médecin en possession de ce sirop de rue, seul capable de me guérir. Je vous assure que quand il vous aura plu me donner de ce médicament, je n’en aurai pas pris cinq à six fois que ma santé reprendra le dessus. J’oublie de vous dire que je m’aperçois bien que vous n’avez pas laissé M. le major le maître de ma promenade. Je m’en serais senti.8 Je vous dirai, Monsieur, que M. le lieutenant de Roi m’aurait prêté une mythologie qu’il a si je ne faisais pas de vers mais il en est l’ennemi décidé et il ne peut pas en entendre parler sans chagrin. M. le major m’a promis de s’intéresser en ma faveur auprès de lui. Ce livre me réveillerait un peu l’imagination car ce traité du genre épique est sérieux comme un bonnet de nuit [...]. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie À la Bastille, le 13 janvier 1755 [P.-S.] Tout ce que je vous avance dans les portraits que je vous fais est dans la plus exacte vérité et vous le connaissez bien.9

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

348

Page 348

The Prisoner

An astonishing number of literary bits and pieces accompanied Julie’s 13 January letter. A brief sampling of these follows. First, a despondently lyrical plea for freedom: Aujourd’hui tout comme demain, Le jour suivant les mêmes choses; Plein d’amertume et de chagrin Je pleure du soir au matin. Toi qui es équitable humain, Brise le joug que tu m’imposes; Mon cœur libre sur ton chemin Sèmera des lys, et des roses.10

We have already cited11 several lines from Charles de Julie’s poetic tribute to the common practice of inserting a noble particle before a family name in order to help the parfait roturier “forget” his undistinguished origins. Of course, sometimes the added de is the result of a simple error at the baptismal font. He knows of such a case but the person in question takes no particular advantage of this “frivole supplément”: De tout le monde il a l’estime Fort au-dessus de son état. Son maintien et sa bonne mine Annoncent qu’il n’est point un fat. Ce Dé n’est point Dé dérobé C’est une faute d’orthographe Que le jour qu’il fut baptisé A fait le prêtre typographe.12

Of course, there are those (he obviously does not include himself) who make abusive use of the practice: Il n’en est pas toujours de même D’un petit faquin mal tourné Qui croit gagner un diadème Quand d’un Dé son nom est orné.

While the Dé lettre has some positive features, nothing good can be said of dice, the gambler’s Dé à jouer, a notorious source of crime and human suffering:

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 349

Planning for Freedom

349

Dé, instrument le plus fatal Qui fût jamais dessus la terre Tu désoles en paix comme en guerre, Car tu es sans cesse inégal. Rien de si capricieux que toi Tu serais dans la main d’un roi, Que toujours à ta fantaisie Tu montrerais ta perfidie. Ô que tu fais de malheureux Pendant le cours de chaque année! Si tu protèges quelque heureux, Cela est de courte durée. Combien tu fais donner au diable De braves gens dans un hiver A qui ton nombre variable Procure un chagrin fort amer!13

A number of portraits are also enclosed. One in particular lampoons a fellow exempt, a bachelor colleague inclined to be stingy: Dieu vous garde, Monsieur mille affaires, Où allez-vous si promptement? Quelque fâcheux événement Rendrait-il mes soins nécessaires? [...] Point du tout, il s’en va si vite Souper chez un de ses amis; Toujours d’un repas il profite Et ne mange jamais chez lui.

His parsimonious friend will undoubtedly have to be careful if he marries: Quand une femme il choisira, Sa vie il lui reprochera. Malheur à lui, ce sexe aimable Est sur ce point fort intraitable; Il portera certainement De cornes une très haute paire, S’il fixe à trop peu d’argent Ce qu’il faut pour son nécessaire. 14

While he waited for a response from Berryer to his long mémoire,

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

350

Page 350

The Prisoner

Julie continued to read up on classical mythology. The embattled life he shared with dozens of Bastille rats in his ground-floor Bazinière Tower room had given him a novel idea for a mock-heroic epic, “Les Rats.” As usual, he dashed off the verses at lightning speed. By 17 January, the work was finished and ready for delivery to the magistrate: Je prends la liberté de vous adresser sous enveloppe tous les rats de la tour où je demeure, à l’exception des miens que je veux confier dans ma chambre à mon successeur. Vous verrez par cette petite misère (qui est précédée d’une dédicace à M. Darragon, mon porte-clefs, vraiment destructeur et persécuteur des rats) qu’il faut que mon imagination soit bien stérile. Enfin, Monsieur, pour vous faire paraître moins long le temps que vous emploierez à lire cette pièce, j’ai fait en sorte de l’égayer le plus que j’ai pu. Tous les faits qu’elle contient sont fondés sur la plus exacte vérité. Je ne doute pas que j’aurais eu une ample matière si j’avais su les aventures ratières de toutes les autres tours, mais il faut ici se passer de secours étrangers; aussi, Monsieur, je vous assure que je suis un des héros de mon ouvrage, et que j’ai tué depuis que je suis ici de ma propre main au moins vingt rats. Quel carnage! Vous ne vous seriez jamais imaginé que j’eusse tué tant de monde, et versé tant de sang, depuis que je n’ai eu l’honneur de vous voir. Autre aventure. Messieurs les officiers de la Bastille ont sans doute prévu tous trois que les prisonniers leur demanderaient la raison du changement de la marche des tambours. Pour y répondre ils ont composé l’histoire que voici: Nous avons changé de tambour, et celui que l’on a envoyé sort du régiment du Roi, et il ne sait pas battre d’autre marche que celle de cette troupe; c’est pourquoi nous sommes obligés de nous y conformer. Voilà, Monsieur, la production de ces Messieurs. Je leur ai fait sentir tout ce que je pensais de leur invention; ils n’en démordent pas. Je leur ai cependant dit que leur peine était en pure perte, puisqu’à la Bastille les moindres questions doivent rester sans réponse. Je prends la liberté de vous faire part d’une conjecture que j’ai tirée de ce changement. Si elle n’est pas vraie, elle [est] au moins vraisemblable et vous y aurez eu beaucoup de part. C’est, Monsieur, que je crois fermement que le régiment des Gardes n’est plus à Paris, et que le régiment du Roi en a pris la place; qu’en conséquence [...] les places de sa dépendance sont obligées d’adopter la marche du commandant. Je fonde mon soupçon sur les plaintes réitérées que tout Paris – et vous par-dessus tout – avait fait des désordres que causaient dans cette capitale les soldats de ce régiment, et encore, Monsieur, sur ce que depuis plus de six mois je n’entends plus de Gardes Françaises passer par ici, quoiqu’il y en ait une compagnie au coin de la rue Charonne et que pour monter et descendre la garde à Versailles il faut qu’ils passent par la porte SaintAntoine. Si mon doute est faux, ce doit être une ordonnance du roi. On ne change rien dans le plus petit château, dans le service, sans être ainsi autorisé.

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 351

Planning for Freedom

351

Permettez-moi actuellement d’entrer dans un détail qui m’intéresse davantage: c’est ma liberté, Monsieur, dont je vous parle. Voilà le dix-huitième mois commencé et je compte bien le finir. Nouvelle conjecture: vous ne me ferez pas sortir d’ici avant le carnaval fini. Vous avez (prudence consommée!) réfléchi qu’il ne fallait pas induire à tentation un jeune homme naturellement adonné au plaisir en le mettant en liberté dans un temps où Paris en est rempli. Je ne vous en sais pas mauvais gré, d’honneur, et j’ose me flatter que vous aurez la bonté de penser à moi après qu’il sera fini afin de me mettre à portée de profiter de ce temps de pénitence et de mortification pour amollir la dureté de mon cœur. Ayez donc la bonté de terminer la rigueur de mon sort, il est entre vos mains et j’attends tout de votre bon cœur. Je vous supplie de m’être favorable sur ce que je vous ai demandé par le petit mémoire que je vous ai adressé il y a huit jours. Soyez sûr, Monsieur, que vous n’aurez pas lieu de vous repentir du bien que vous me ferez, et recevez-en les nouvelles protestations de ma reconnaissance éternelle, et d’un attachement qui ne finira qu’avec ma vie.15

As promised, Julie’s poem, “Les Rats,” begins with a dedication to his porte-clefs, Darragon: Comme vous êtes la terreur De cette gent grignotière, Je vous prends pour le protecteur De ma narration ratière.16

The epic itself begins with a disclaimer by the author. His narrative will not celebrate the heroic achievements of legendary personages such as those familiar to readers of the Iliad or the Odyssey. His subjects will be, rather, the “coursiers infatigables,” those insatiable four-legged thieves of the Bazinière Tower who remain entirely unintimidated by the exploits of Darragon, the valiant: Lorsque quelqu’un de vous par trop d’effronterie Tombe dessous sa main, c’en est fait de sa vie. Malgré cela, pourtant, fort souvent à son nez Au pain du prisonnier, hardiment vous rongez. Ce n’est pas tout: encore, lorsque sur la chandelle Finement vous mettez votre dent si cruelle, Toute entière à la gueule vous allez la porter Dans un lieu si secret qu’on ne peut l’y trouver. Ne vous souvient-t-il plus du rigoureux carnage Que l’on fit récemment d’un de vos vieux routiers? Muni de son larcin jusqu’au troisième étage Il en avait déjà plus d’un tiers avalé.

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

352

Page 352

The Prisoner

Mais toujours poursuivi par son vif adversaire Qui voulait se venger d’un coup si téméraire, Il fut bientôt forcé dans son retranchement Et d’un grand coup de bûche assommé sur-le-champ. De ce tragique fait pour garder la mémoire, Et pour en conserver le détail dans l’histoire, Son corps mort, tout un jour, sans nulle charité, Fut aux yeux des passants, dans la cour exposé.

As someone only too familiar with the argument of necessity, the prisoner does admit to a certain feeling of sympathy for these intrusive housemates: C’est besoin direz-vous, sans quoi pauvre cuisine [...] Il faut vivre, en un mot, sans cela rien de bon.

But these “gaillards d’appétit” go too far, invading en masse and harrassing their victim even in his bed at night. It is then that the wary occupant, lying in wait in the dark, springs into action: Bat vite le briquet, allume la chandelle, S’arme de son balai et frappe de plus belle Sur chaque grignoteur qui court et cherche en vain A se mettre à couvert, d’un si fâcheux destin.

Julie’s concluding meditation on a life perpetually tortured by uncertainty is also not without elements of self-reference: Ma foi j’en fais l’aveu, si la métempsycose, Suivant ce que l’on dit, est une assurée chose, Il ne faut pas choisir la carcasse d’un rat; Pour vivre ils risquent trop; en outre maître chat Dont je n’ai point parlé est pour eux redoutable. Il vaudrait beaucoup mieux être bête de table On a pour s’engraisser, à manger tout son soûl; Il est vrai qu’à la fin, on vous coupe le cou Mais on va jusques-là sans nulle inquiétude, Ce malheur à passer ne dure qu’un moment Et puisque de mourir c’est ancienne habitude Heureux, cent fois heureux, qui meurt en un instant!17

Julie handed his rat epic to Chevalier early on Friday 17 January, only to learn that the major would not be delivering it to Berryer until

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 353

Planning for Freedom

353

the following day. Taking advantage of the delay, he immediately set about composing another portrait. It would be his first portrait of a female subject, a likable, industrious woman, the limonadière who worked with her husband at the Café de l’Opéra. This was familiar territory for him and he composed quickly. By the next morning, another eighty lines of verse were ready for delivery: Monsieur, M. le major m’a dit hier en faisant le paquet que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous adresser, qu’il aurait celui de vous voir aujourd’hui. Pour profiter de sa bonne aventure, j’ai fait le petit morceau qu’il vous remettra. Je n’y ai pas mis de titre, car je vous avoue que ces titres m’embarrassent furieusement. Je crains toujours de ne pas rencontrer juste. Ce sera vous dorénavant qui aurez la bonté de prendre ce soin; vous ne vous y tromperez certainement pas. Cette madame Aubert dont je vous parle dans ma petite pièce est la limonadière de l’Opéra et demeure à l’entrée de la rue Fromenteau au Café de l’Opéra. Elle a eu l’honneur de vous présenter il y a environ deux ans un placet contre un garçon sorti de chez elle qui tenait de mauvais propos sur son compte. Je me souviens (car j’étais dans votre antichambre) que le jour qu’elle vous remit ce placet, vous la fixâtes et je suis presque sûr que vous vous remettrez sa physionomie.18 C’est une grosse maman, grande et bien faite, qui est très blanche et dont la figure est fort revenante. Elle est la meilleure femme du monde et l’éloge que j’en ai fait n’a rien de trop. Je vous serai sensiblement obligé si vous vouliez permettre à M. le major de me remettre ma montre. La plupart du temps le soir je ne sais pas l’heure qu’il est. Cela est cause que quelquefois je vais jusqu’à la retraite sans souper, et cela m’incommode. La nuit, je ne suis pas moins embarrassé car ces invalides dorment pendant leurs factions et ils ne sont rien moins qu’attentifs à leurs clochettes. Raison qui vaut encore mieux, c’est que cela lui fera du bien, le repos ne pouvant que lui nuire, et il vaut mieux que je l’aie que de la laisser immobile. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie À la Bastille, le 18 janvier 1755.19

The installation of the Bastille’s infamous inner courtyard clock, its face insensitively decorated with two large chained figures,20 would not take place until ten years later and there can be little doubt that Charles de Julie derived great comfort from having a watch to mark the passing hours. His request also represents, of course, yet another oblique effort to prove to Berryer that he was still the vigilantly loyal policeman, prepared as always to act as the magistrate’s friendly informer on the inside. The escape of the prisoners Latude and Allègre, already in

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

354

Page 354

The Prisoner

secret preparation, was only a year away and slack discipline among members of the aging garrison would eventually be identified as a major flaw in the Bastille’s security arrangements. Possibly as a result of Julie’s disturbing report that the sentinels were sleeping on duty and not ringing the hours, the lieutenant général immediately instructed Chevalier to comply with the prisoner’s request.21 It is possible too that Berryer was pleased to be reminded that he had once stared – presumably in decorous admiration – at the “sein blanc comme l’albâtre,” the “belle bouche,” “beaux yeux,” and attractive “embonpoint” of the charming Madame Aubert the “best woman in the world,” who served customers with such grace and good humour at the Café de l’Opéra: Ton très excellent caractère De ta beauté point ne diffère; Tu vis sous les paisibles lois De l’époux dont tu as fait choix [...]. Tu es polie, gracieuse, affable, Juste, bienfaisante et serviable. Tu as beaucoup d’attention Pour ceux qui vont dans ta maison. Ton entretien est fort honnête, Sans t’offenser mal à propos Lorsque l’on dit quelques bons mots Décemment tu tournes la tête. Enfin chacun te rend justice Et fait cas de ta probité, Le médisant plein de malice De toi n’a jamais mal parlé. Vivez heureux couple équitable, Passez sans chagrin vos beaux jours, La divinité des amours À vos vœux sera favorable.22

Four days later, Julie was ready with a multipaneled word-picture gallery, this time a group portrait of the entire Rochebrune family: Monsieur, Voilà ci-joint tout l’hôtel de Rochebrune, époux, épouse, jeune sœur, cousine, et, enfin, le papa cousin. Vous trouverez peut-être cette petite pièce23 un peu froide; j’en serai fâché, car mon intention n’est pas de vous ennuyer. Je vous fais un million de remerciements d’avoir exaucé sur-le-champ la demande de ma montre. Ce n’est pas là la seule chose pour laquelle je vous doive de nouvelles actions de grâces. J’ai appris que le livre qui m’a été envoyé

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 355

Planning for Freedom

355

par M. de Rochebrune vient de votre générosité. Je suis fort fâché, Monsieur, de ne l’avoir pas su le jour même. Vous imaginez-vous donc que je ne suis pas sensible à vos bienfaits, et qu’ils ne me touchent pas pour me les laisser ainsi ignorer? Je n’avais rien dit sur ce livre parce que je le croyais un prêt. Mais je ne sais où M. de Rochebrune avait mis son bon sens le jour qu’il l’a acheté, et il est étonnant qu’un savant comme lui ait choisi pour un jeune homme ignorant un vieux livre qui est fait il y a soixante et dix ans, qui ne parle uniquement que du poème épique, et qui ne contient en effet autre chose qu’une explication des différentes figures employées dans les poèmes de l’Iliade, de l’Odyssée et de l’Énéide. M. de Rochebrune s’imagine peut-être que j’ai ici de la matière pour des poèmes épiques à discrétion,24 et c’est vraisemblablement pour cela qu’il a fait l’emplette de ce livre qui ne peut effectivement donner aucun autre fruit. Il me fallait quelque livre instructif25 qui me mît à portée de travailler sur-le-champ pour vous à quelque nouvel ouvrage.26 Mon obligation n’en est pas moins sincère à votre égard et je suis si pénétré de vos bontés que les expressions me manquent pour vous rendre la vivacité de ma reconnaissance. Le carnaval est court cette année. C’est le douze de février le mercredi des Cendres. Hélas, Monsieur, j’ai dans l’idée que vous aurez pitié [de] moi ce carême. Je suis bien éloigné de me plaindre de ma détention pendant ces jours de plaisir. Je reconnais là cette prudence consommée qui ne néglige aucun objet. Je suis touché de voir que cet équitable magistrat n’a pas voulu m’exposer à la tentation dans un temps critique. Loin que cela diminue mon espérance, elle prend une nouvelle force et j’ose me flatter que vous voudrez bien ne la pas rendre frivole. Ma petite comédie va tout doucement.27 Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie À la Bastille, le 21 janvier 1755.28

A surviving draft of the letter just quoted reveals that Charles de Julie eliminated from his final version a remarkable fantasy relating to himself and major Chevalier’s young niece who at the time was residing with her uncle in one of the Bastille’s staff apartments. Why he suppressed it is not clear, although the unabashed nature of his proposal is probably explanation enough: Je vais vous raconter une petite folie. Dimanche dernier, en allant à la messe, j’ai vu un petit, petit coin de la nièce de M. le major qui était sur la porte du bâtiment et qui s’est retirée aussitôt qu’elle a vu quelqu’un. Je n’ai pu apercevoir qu’un côté de sa taille: elle m’a paru bien faite. Voilà le fond de l’aventure.

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

356

Page 356

The Prisoner

Il faut actuellement vous faire part de la réflexion qui l’a suivie. J’ai dit en moi-même: certainement M. Berryer veut du bien à M. le major; s’il m’en voulait aussi il n’aurait qu’à me faire épouser cette femme et se charger de notre fortune. N’est-ce pas là une petite folie? Je vous en fais juge. Cela ne serait cependant pas un si mauvais coup, si vous l’approuviez.29

Let it not be said that Charles de Julie, even in his moments of despondency, lacked gumption! Nevertheless, in this instance his candour wisely gave way to prudence and before sending his letter to Berryer he suppressed the fantasy paragraph. The magistrate might not think it wise to release during Carnival, or even during Lent, a prisoner whose sexual fantasies were so easily aroused by a fleeting glimpse of a pretty girl’s waist. In fact, Julie had caught sight of more than the young lady’s taille, as we learn from an almost indecipherably scripted love poem that he seems to have left unfinished in his collection of draft letters. For the lusty young rake, eighteen months of isolation and celibacy were obviously taking their toll: Oui, ma foi, la jambe est jolie! Et malgré ta légèreté Je l’ai, toute à ma fantaisie, Jusqu’au mollet considérée. À peine ai-je vu ton visage Tu as sauté si promptement Dehors la porte de devant Que j’ai perdu cet avantage. Je n’en ai pas mauvais augure Il a sans doute de beaux yeux Vifs et brillants, c’est chose sûre, Petite bouche faite au mieux. De plus, le bel éclat de rose Fait l’ornement de ton blanc teint Qu’il doit être gentil, ton sein, Mais sur cela parler je n’ose. La taille a sauté à ma vue Elle est bien prise et très menue. [...] Ton pied petit et bien fait Tu sais si vite en faire usage Que l’on peut juger qu’à ton âge Le reste n’est pas moins parfait [...]. Que j’en veux à la sentinelle

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 357

Planning for Freedom

357

De ne t’avoir pas refermé Improprement la porte au nez! J’aurais vu si tu étais belle.30

Although he suppressed this bit of whimsy on the subject of Chevalier’s young niece, Julie did not hesitate to send the magistrate a lighthearted ditty relating an imagined carnal encounter in the Bois de Boulogne between a randy man of the cloth and a reluctant (initially!) nun: A Passy, Près Paris, Un Jésuite Qui allait prêcher l’avent Au couvent de Longchamps Trouva sœur Hippolyte; Tout d’abord, À l’abord, le bon père, Très respectueusement, Salue profondément la mère. Mais dans le Bois de Boulogne Ce gros moine à rouge trogne De près suit Et saisit la nonnette Et la jette Sur le plus prochain gazon: — Vite, point de façon Je suis hors de raison. — Arrête! Dit la sœur, De douleur, en colère: Cherche ailleurs tes passe-temps; Crains au moins les passants ... Ah! tu me désespères! Mais, hélas, Dans tes bras Je me pâme; Contente tous tes désirs; Je goûte les plaisirs De l’âme.31

Still awaiting a sign of acknowledgement from Berryer that his mémoire had been received and read, Julie continued turning out verse

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

358

Page 358

The Prisoner

compositions at a frenetic pace. His piece on the Bastille rats soon prompted him to try his hand at composing other animal fables and in the following weeks he bombarded Berryer with a half dozen examples of the genre, some of substantial length, featuring monkeys, rabbits, snakes, and mice, not to mention a variety of farm animals, all exhibiting clever admixtures of human and animal characteristics.32 Included among these bulky submissions were a half-dozen portraits of various commissaires. With the beginning of Lent approaching, the prisoner worried that Berryer might not release him on 12 February, Ash Wednesday. What if his hopes were dashed once again? Meanwhile, he intensified his efforts to impress and amuse the magistrate, to convince him that his relentless punishment, a chastisement he meekly accepted as fair and just, had gone on long enough: Monsieur J’ai eu l’honneur de vous envoyer les Rats; c’est aujourd’hui le tour des Singes.33 J’ai qualifié cette pièce de fable. Je la crois cependant trop longue pour porter ce nom. Il vaudrait peut-être mieux l’appeler conte. Vous savez, Monsieur, que j’ai pris la liberté de vous prier de baptiser mes pièces. Je ne sais pas trop si vous trouverez celle-ci seulement passable, car elle est en grands et petits vers et je ne sais pas s’il n’y a pas quelque règle particulière pour ces sortes d’ouvrages. Comme je n’en sais pas davantage, je suis excusable. J’ai donné indistinctement le nom de Juge et de Chef aux deux singes dont les autres avaient fait choix, parce qu’effectivement, ils avaient toute l’autorité du canton. [...] Je vais me remettre à ma petite comédie qui n’est point du tout avancée. Je tâcherai avant sa fin de vous envoyer quelque petite drogue. Si je ne réussis guère à vous amuser ce n’est pas ma faute car j’en ai bonne envie. Je vous avoue que je compte les jours et les heures. Je voudrais bien voir le mardi gras passé. Hélas, peut-être me trompé-je? Mais non, vous vous souviendrez de ce pauvre Julie au commencement du carême. Il vous répète encore hardiment que vous ne vous en repentirez jamais. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie À la Bastille, ce 26 janvier 1755.34

Four days later, more animal fables and miscellaneous writings arrived on the lieutenant général de police’s desk: Monsieur, Encore des petits animaux, un lapin, un serpent, un chat, et une souris; de

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 359

Planning for Freedom

359

plus (bande à part), un commissaire, un inspecteur de police, et un lieutenant de robe courte. En voilà beaucoup et si cela tiendra sous une petite enveloppe, ce total comprend deux fables et trois portraits. Je n’ai fait ni les uns ni les autres pour vous ennuyer, soyez-en certain, mais souvent l’événement ne répond pas à l’intention. Il est toujours fort flatteur pour moi d’avoir pour critique un mécène qui juge de tout sainement et qui, s’il n’est pas content de mon travail, rendra certainement justice à ma bonne volonté. Permettez-moi, Monsieur, de vous dire un petit mot sur ces jours de votre miséricorde que j’attends avec confiance. Voilà ce carnaval, ce temps critique, qui tire à sa fin. Regarderez-vous ce pauvre Julie au commencement du carême avec un œil de pitié et de commisération? Sera-ce là ce temps de vos jours de miséricorde? Hélas, il ose l’espérer! Que ne lui coûtera pas cette erreur si vous êtes insensible à ses gémissements? Mais non, Monsieur, vous avez un cœur, et ce cœur est tendre et compatissant. Il l’aurait sans doute déjà fléchi si vous étiez intimement persuadé qu’il y aura du changement en lui. Quelles protestations peut-il vous en faire qui soient exemptes de tout soupçon? Quel autre que Dieu peut voir dans le fond des cœurs et en scruter les replis cachés? Daignez donc, Monsieur, être assuré que Julie ne vous trompe point, qu’il n’ambitionne que les occasions de vous prouver que tout ce qu’il vous a écrit est sincère et que rien ne sera capable d’altérer son immuable reconnaissance dont il se propose de vous donner des preuves dans tous les temps et dans tous les événements qu’il pourra saisir. J’ai déjà eu l’honneur de vous marquer que je vous laissais sans restrictions le maître de mon sort. De telle façon que vous le décidiez, j’obéirai à vos ordres. Je connais trop votre rare façon de penser pour ne pas prendre ardemment avec vous un engagement sans réserve. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie À la Bastille, le 30 janvier 1755.35

Increasing his extraordinary rate of production even more, Julie was soon ready to add three new pieces to Berryer’s reading list. It was now February 4th. Only a week to go if his hunch about being released at the beginning of Lent was correct! But what if the unthinkable occurred and the lieutenant général refused to budge? For the first time, perhaps, the prisoner was on the point of losing all hope. He was ill and he was desperate. Surely, Berryer would free him by Ash Wednesday! Surely, mercy would trump justice if justice demanded even more suffering: Je prends la liberté de vous adresser, une fable,36 un portrait et un songe. Dans la première pièce j’ai employé le mot de bourrique comme synonyme au

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

360

Page 360

The Prisoner

mâle et à la femelle. Je puis bien m’être trompé mais j’en ai ici la correction toute prête. Je ne dirai rien du portrait. Quant au songe, il est imaginaire. Je n’en fais pas ici d’agréables [...]. Au nom de Dieu, Monsieur, ne me laissez pas passer le carême ici! Ma santé déjà languissante ne me laisse pas assez de force pour le soutenir; et si mon tempérament s’affaiblit j’irai donc mourir misérablement dans un hôpital car il est vrai, vous le savez, que je ne tiens plus [qu’]à un fil, à un cheveu, à une toile d’araignée. J’attends, comme j’ai eu l’honneur de vous le marquer avec confiance, vos jours de miséricorde. Ayez donc pitié de moi. Est-il décidé de toute éternité que je serai un mauvais sujet le reste de ma vie? Cela est-il arrêté dans les décrets de Dieu, et n’y a-t-il plus jamais aucune espérance de retour à mon égard? Daignez donc finir mes maux! Rendez-moi ma liberté. Éprouvez si j’exécuterais ce que je vous ai promis. On éprouve bien les métaux, les outils, et autres choses matérielles; pourquoi donc n’éprouveriez-vous Julie, qui est un homme, un mortel, un chrétien? Et enfin, Monsieur, si vous ne voulez pas risquer cette épreuve, rendez-moi libre à tel prix qu’il vous plaira. Tous les pays du monde sont ma patrie et celui qui nourrit les oiseaux du ciel aura soin de moi. Si j’ai le malheur de n’être pas au bout du terme que vous avez fixé pour l’expiation de mes fautes, faites-moi grâce du reste. Vous [ne] déplairez pas – j’ai déjà eu l’honneur de vous le marquer il y a longtemps – à un dieu infiniment juste et miséricordieux, quand [même] votre miséricorde surpasserait votre justice. Je compte donc, Monsieur, sur vos bontés. Je vous promets tout et je tiendrai tout. Vous avez l’autorité en main et vous êtes le maître de ne rien hasarder. Soyez cependant certain – je l’ai déjà dit bien des fois – que vous ne vous en repentirez jamais. M. le major a beaucoup de bontés pour moi. Je reste toujours à la promenade plus longtemps qu’autrefois. Ce n’est pas que je ne reconnaisse là votre main bienfaisante, mais je ne dois pas non plus priver M. le major de la reconnaissance qui lui est due. J’ose vous supplier de m’en acquitter. Soyez donc persuadé une bonne fois que le pauvre Julie sera un nouvel homme. Les porte-clefs se prêtent aussi le plus qu’ils peuvent pour ma promenade. C’est une preuve de leur bonne volonté dont je leur sais gré.37

Only an unpolished draft of the “imaginary” dream enclosed in the preceding letter has survived. It is in every respect a worthy piece and, despite the poet’s disclaimer, its note of melancholy lyricism suggests that not all of Charles de Julie’s nocturnal reveries in the Bastille were unpleasant: Songe Cette nuit en dormant dans tes bras, chère amante, J’ai goûté les plaisirs les plus délicieux. Sensible à mon amour, tu paraissais contente,

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 361

Planning for Freedom

361

Un tendre égarement obscurcissait tes yeux. Je tétais à longs traits ton immobile ivresse Mon cœur avec le tien déjà se confondait, Chacun d’eux à l’envi signalait sa tendresse, L’amour, ce dieu charmant, à lui nous égalait. Quelle félicité! toi qui règnes à Cythère, Jamais plus doux transport ne couronna ta mère, Mais hélas ce plaisir n’a duré qu’un moment, Il s’est évanoui, ce charme séduisant. De la vivacité, mon âme transportée Se plaint amèrement de son peu de durée. Le sommeil l’a fait naître, le réveil l’a détruit, Te reverrai-je encore, courte et charmante nuit?38

Unfortunately, Julie’s innocent remark concerning the good will of the major and the turnkeys, combined with another casual observation he made in a letter to Berryer four days later, soon resulted in a minor crisis for all parties concerned. On Saturday 8 February, Julie sent the lieutenant général a new portrait and then proceeded in his usual style of propitiation to praise the magistrate-deity as the true creator of his poetry: C’est à vous que j’en ai l’obligation. C’est vous qui remuez mon imagination et qui en faites sortir tout ce que je vous envoie. C’est vous encore qui l’avez tirée de son néant car, enfin, à Paris j’étais Julie; j’avais la même tête et la même cervelle; je n’y faisais pas de vers. C’est donc vous, je le répète, qui avez opéré ce miracle. Il vous appartient en entier. Vous en êtes l’architecte et j’en suis tout au plus l’ouvrier. Chaque fois que je vous adresse quelque chose, c’est chaque fois un nouveau miracle de votre façon. Pourquoi donc n’en voulez-vous pas faire d’une autre espèce de ce pauvre Julie? Tirez-le de sa captivité, et mettezle à portée de vous prouver qu’il est dans la ferme résolution de répondre avec empressement et indistinctement à toutes vos vues?

After that clever transition to the matter closest to his heart, Julie momentarily forgot the Bastille’s cardinal rule that banished “news” of any kind from its inner precincts: J’ai dans l’idée que vous êtes venu jeudi dernier à la Bastille. Voilà ma raison: le matin du même jour, j’ai chargé le porte-clefs de prier M. le major de se donner la peine de me chercher dans l’Almanach royal le département de M. de Maisonrouge, en lui en envoyant le nom et la qualité. On m’a fait faire réponse que je n’avais qu’à prendre la liberté de vous le demander. J’ai su que messieurs les officiers de la Bastille étaient assemblés [...].

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

362

Page 362

The Prisoner

Hier matin, M. le major m’a fait dire qu’il me donnerait le département que je demandais à la promenade. Vu le mauvais temps, il a eu la bonté de me l’envoyer plus tôt.39

The original of Julie’s 8 February letter, rashly speculating that Berryer had come to the Bastille two days earlier to attend a meeting with the prison’s officers, has apparently been lost. When he read it, Berryer angrily concluded that one of the porte-clefs, recently praised by Julie as “helpful,” had breached the official rule of silence. The offending words in Julie’s letter were marked in red and the clerk Duval was instructed to demand an immediate explanation from Chevalier: Monsieur Berryer voudrait savoir l’explication de ce que le sieur Julie lui mande par sa lettre d’aujourd’hui, 8 février. Et pour que vous puissiez vous mettre au fait, je vous renvoie cette lettre que j’ai crayonnée en rouge à côté des articles que M. Berryer n’entend pas, et vous lui renverrez le tout avec votre réponse Ce 8 février 1755, Duval.40

Chevalier replied the following day: Le sieur Julie a commencé par me demander l’Almanach royal de cette année. Je n’ai point voulu lui donner parce qu’il aurait vu toutes les mutations qui se sont faites dans le royaume depuis sa détention. Je lui fis dire que je le verrais à la promenade l’après-midi, à dessein de lui demander ce qu’il voulait, pour me décider suivant ce qu’il désirait d’être instruit. Alors il me renvoie dire par son porte-clefs qu’il ne voulait savoir que le département de M. de Maisonrouge. Alors je lui fis dire que c’était à Amiens en Picardie, étant une chose très simple, vu qu’il y a longtemps que M. de Maisonrouge a ce département. Voilà tout ce que je puis vous dire à ce sujet. Ce prisonnier a dans la tête que vous êtes venu jeudi dernier à la Bastille.41

Along with Chevalier, Julie too was required to write an explanation to Berryer. Anxious about the potential consequences, he stated unequivocally that he had merely guessed that the lieutenant général had visited the Bastille on the day in question. No one had blabbed. His “knowledge” that the officers had met that day was based on nothing more than a fortuitous inference on his part: Je soupçonne, je ne suis pas sûr. Ce n’est point une chose réelle. Le porteclefs que je charge de faire la demande en question me vient dire en propres termes: “Ces messieurs ont dit que vous n’aviez qu’à prendre la liberté de la

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 363

Planning for Freedom

363

demander à Monsieur Berryer quand vous aurez l’honneur de lui écrire.” A l’égard de l’assemblée que la réponse du porte-clefs me fait savoir, c’est le hasard qui l’a fait, comme vous le savez bien [...]. Ainsi, Monsieur, sans entrer dans aucune des sages raisons qui vous ont déterminé à me demander l’explication d’une partie de ma lettre du 8 du présent mois, et sans sortir du respect que je dois à toutes indistinctement, je prends la liberté de vous assurer que si ma lettre vous a fait croire que quelqu’un m’avait dit affirmativement que vous étiez venu à la Bastille, il n’y a rien qui en ait seulement l’ombre. Je vous proteste, et vous en êtes sûr, que l’on garde ici un secret inviolable sur tout en général, et si depuis que j’y suis je m’étais aperçu de la moindre chose à cet égard, vous en auriez été informé surle-champ quand [même] ce serait à mon avantage.Vous n’avez point dans Julie (je crois que vous en êtes persuadé) un ennemi à la Bastille, mais un sujet dévoué et zélé, qui n’espère qu’en vous, qui compte quelque jour trouver un asile dans les bras de votre miséricorde, et qui se sacrifiera toute sa vie selon vos vues si vous daignez le regarder avec vos yeux de bonté. [...] Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie À la Bastille, le 9 février 1755.42

With his hoped-for deadline of 12 February now only three days away, Julie waited nervously for word to come that he would be freed. When Ash Wednesday finally arrived, he did indeed receive a special visit, but it was not from Berryer and it had nothing to do with any plans for his release. Instead, the lieutenant de roi, François-Jérôme d’Abadie, destined three years later to succeed Pierre Baisle as governor, had come to his room, mainly to talk to him about his poetry. Weeks before, Abadie had made it clear that he thoroughly disapproved of Julie’s rhyming activities43 and during the Ash Wednesday visit he continued emphatically with that same message. Now, with his hopes for a timely liberation almost entirely dashed, Julie was suddenly confronted with an additional worry: apparently the sheer quantity of his verse production, turned out in such a short time, was making a negative impression on everyone, even on Berryer, the very person he had been trying to win over with his display of poetic prowess! Despite the many long days and nights he had spent preparing these rhymed offerings that were regularly laid at the feet of this distant demi-urge, not a single sign of encouragement, not even a murmur of acknowledgement, had come back to him. For all he knew, Berryer was no more impressed than Abadie! What to do? To stop now was unimaginable. He had other pieces ready to send, including a whimsical account of a war between Bacchus and Venus,44 and even after

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

364

Page 364

The Prisoner

Abadie’s discouraging visit he worked late into the night to finish a petition in verse. He sent it to Berryer three days later, along with several other pieces and an explanation he hoped might ease any disapproval of what Abadie had termed his “frighteningly excessive” production: Monsieur, J’ai l’honneur de vous adresser une petite pièce de fantaisie et d’invention. Vous reconnaîtrez aisément qui elle regarde. Elle vous prouvera en même temps combien je suis au bout de mes ressources. J’y joins un placet qui s’adresse à vous. Chaque vers m’a coûté un torrent de larmes. Ayez pitié de ma situation. Elle y est dépeinte au vrai et daignez, Monsieur, mettre au bas, Soit fait ainsi qu’il est requis. Laissez à ce cœur auquel je me recommande la liberté d’agir à son gré. Je n’exige rien de lui; qu’il fasse librement ce qu’il voudra; qu’il vous gouverne à sa volonté, ma victoire sera complète. Ne lui ôtez donc pas le pouvoir qu’il a sur vous. Qu’il jouisse de tous ses droits et Julie sera heureux. Monsieur le lieutenant de Roi est venu le mercredi des Cendres, rendre une visite consolante aux prisonniers de ma tour. Il a resté avec moi une bonne demi-heure. Il m’a beaucoup parlé de mes vers. La quantité que je vous en ai envoyée l’effraie et il ne peut pas se persuader qu’ils soient passables. Je ne l’ai point désabusé; il a raison. Je vous fais ce petit détail pour entrer dans un autre: effectivement, Monsieur, vous ne devez pas regarder ce que j’ai pris la liberté de vous envoyer jusqu’à présent comme le travail de trois mois. Quand j’ai commencé de vous demander du papier je n’avais aucun dessein. J’ai bien senti que ce n’était pas là le moyen de l’obtenir. Alors j’ai fait réflexion qu’il n’y aurait que quelque chose d’extraordinaire qui vous déterminerait en ma faveur. Dès ce moment, j’ai remué mon imagination. Je l’éprouvais de temps en temps, soit en faisant une chanson, soit en faisant quelques petits vers indifférents, et enfin sur les stances de la liberté que j’avais exprès composées par huit vers pour faciliter ma mémoire et mon travail, qui n’étant pas long, devenait plus facile. Mais un début de cette espèce ne me plaisait pas. Je lisais l’Ancien Testament, je tombai sur Judith. Je connus tout le mérite de cette histoire. Je prenais à droite et à gauche un verset que je rendais en vers dans mon imagination. Quand j’ai vu que cela allait à ma fantaisie, j’ai frappé les grands coups. J’aurais été le plus téméraire de tous les hommes si je vous avais proposé une chose que je n’aurais pu exécuter. Vous avez été longtemps à vous rendre mais je ne perdais pas espérance, et je profitais de ce temps, nuit et jour, pour prémunir mon imagination et y inculquer les idées qui étaient nécessaires à l’accomplissement de la parole que j’osais vous donner. Vous avez eu pitié de moi, et vous avez écrit, je m’en souviens, Puisque Julie persiste. Je me suis mis aussitôt en besogne. L’envie de vous plaire a déterminé mon imagination. Je lui ai redemandé ce que je lui avais confié. Je l’ai trouvée docile, et sans se trop

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 365

Planning for Freedom

365

faire prier elle m’a fourni ce que vous avez vu. Il en a été de même du poème de la Passion dont j’avais lu beaucoup de volumes. A toutes ces raisons la vivacité que vous seul me connaissez fait une preuve que vous admettez en faveur de mon prompt travail. Vous voyez donc bien, Monsieur, que dans le dessein de bâtir une maison, j’en avais déjà préparé les pierres. Elles étaient toutes taillées. Il ne me fallait que les ustensiles propres à les mettre en place et à les arranger les unes sur les autres pour faire mon bâtiment. Vous avez bien voulu, Monsieur, me les fournir, ces ustensiles, ainsi ce bâtiment vous appartient. Quant à moi, je ne réclame qu’un petit logement dans votre cœur qui payera le centuple plus que ne valent les pierres que je taille tous les jours pour vous. C’est donc un travail d’environ un an que je vous ai envoyé – trop heureux, Monsieur, s’il me procure quelque jour l’avantage de vous prouver que vous n’avez pas obligé un ingrat, et s’il me fournit des expressions assez vives pour vous rendre une reconnaissance qui n’aura jamais de bornes ni de fin. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie À la Bastille, le 15 février 1755.45

Julie’s accompanying petition reveals a sombre rhetorical power that would do honour to many poetasters: Placet Hélas, n’est-il pas temps de m’être favorable? Des maux que je ressens, n’auras-tu pas pitié? Et toujours insensible au destin qui m’accable, À d’éternels malheurs m’as-tu donc condamné? Depuis près de deux ans, dans de trop justes chaînes, Je pleure et je gémis du matin jusqu’au soir. Le chagrin inquiet, l’emporté désespoir Augmentent tour à tour mes douloureuses peines. Entre quatre murailles, à mon ennui livré, L’esprit lourd, le cœur noir, à moi-même contraire, Je maudis mille fois le jour que je suis né. Tout m’afflige et me nuit, mon fougueux caractère Renverse ma raison, détruit mon jugement, M’abandonne à l’horreur du sort qui m’assassine, Loin de me consoler, sans cesse il me chagrine. Est-il dans l’univers un plus cruel tourment? J’invoque tendrement ta bonté, ta clémence, Laisse parler pour moi ta sensibilité, Sur un infortuné, jette un œil d’indulgence,

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

366

Page 366

The Prisoner

Et que ton cœur ému te gouverne à son gré. Reprends en ma faveur tes secourables armes, Apaise ton courroux, sois touché de mes larmes, Brise enfin le dur joug que j’ai longtemps porté. Accorde mon pardon, rends-moi ma liberté, Je jure par le Ciel que ma reconnaissance Hautement publiera ce signalé bienfait, Et que jamais du temps la frivole inconstance D’un si précieux don n’effacera l’effet.46

It is unlikely that a more heartfelt prisoner’s petition in verse ever left the precincts of the Bastille for the desk of a lieutenant général de police. Eloquent as it was, it fell, unfortunately, on deaf ears. Berryer remained cold as steel. Duval’s résumé was again dismissive: “Le placet en vers et la lettre se réduisent simplement à demander sa liberté sans conditions.” A week later, perhaps after a second reading, Berryer returned the verse petition and its accompanying letter to Duval for filing. At the top he added four words, the least unfriendly he had yet pronounced on the fate of Charles de Julie: On verra après Pâques.47 Had Julie known that Berryer was considering the possibility of releasing him after Easter (30 March in 1755), now only a month away, he would have been transported with joy. He would probably also have concluded that the persuasive rhetoric of his verse petition had moved (finally!) the magistrate in the direction of mercy. Or perhaps he would have attributed Berryer’s mention of a possible liberation date to the force and pertinence of the well-reasoned letter sent to the lieutenant général on 22 February, a full week after his petition. In it he had mentioned that he was now into his nineteenth month of incarceration: Monsieur, J’ai l’honneur de vous adresser deux fables. Il y en a une qui est longue; c’est plutôt une histoire qu’une fable, aussi je ferai en sorte de n’en plus faire de semblable. Voilà, Monsieur, le dix-neuvième mois que je passe à la Bastille. Il me paraît que vous n’êtes pas bien sûr qu’une aussi longue captivité m’ait changé, puisque vous ne la terminez pas. Vous ne me refusez pas cependant ce qu’il faut de jugement pour pouvoir déterminer les effets de la bonne ou de la mauvaise conduite, et pour connaître les avantages que l’on retire de l’une et les inconvénients qui résultent de l’autre. Cela posé, pourquoi donc n’avez-vous pas la bonté48 d’être persuadé que je suis totalement déterminé à vivre différemment que par le passé, puisque je ne puis douter qu’en suivant cette ancienne route je tomberai infailliblement de Charybde en Scylla. Au contraire, qu’en menant

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 367

Planning for Freedom

367

une conduite opposée, je puis faire mon chemin comme un autre, jouir d’une tranquillité d’esprit parfaite, mériter l’honneur de votre illustre protection, et avoir part dans l’estime des honnêtes gens. Ces différences si certaines ne font-elles aucune impression sur un jeune homme qui a été toute sa vie malheureux, et qui commence à entrer dans l’âge mûr? Quand, encore, il a été pendant dix-neuf mois livré à lui-même et à portée de faire des réflexions sérieuses et solides? Si un temps aussi long n’attendrit votre compatissant cœur, qui plus à plaindre que moi? Je ne la puis plus souffrir qu’avec beaucoup de peine, cette captivité. Ma santé s’affaiblit à vue d’œil tous les jours. Ma raison me refuse les secours dont j’ai besoin pour supporter avec patience mes maux. Daignez donc me rendre une liberté qui m’est chère, pour laquelle Dieu m’a fait naître, et que j’achèterais aux dépens de mon sang.49 Ne voyez pas sans pitié mon chagrin. Il est digne d’un grand magistrat comme vous de faire des grâces. Accordez-moi la rémission du reste du temps que méritent mes fautes. Laissez-vous aller à la compassion en faveur d’un infortuné qui ne peut vous dire autre chose, sinon que de vous répéter que vous ne vous en repentirez jamais. Je suis à la dernière scène de la petite comédie que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous annoncer il y a plus d’un mois. Elle passera six cents vers. Vous ne l’aurez pas sitôt parce que mon dessein est de vous l’envoyer dans le moins mauvais état que je pourrai. Quelle différence pour moi si votre éclatante lumière éclairait de ses resplendissants rayons l’obscurité de mon travail! Il prendrait certainement une autre face. Avec quelle satisfaction, quelle gloire, et quelle docilité ne recevrais-je pas les leçons d’un aussi grand maître! Quel profit mon faible esprit n’en retirerait-il pas! Mais ici, vous savez que je n’ai aucun secours. Il faut que je prenne tout dans mon propre et aride fonds. Aussi connais-je bien le besoin que ses productions ont de votre indulgence et de vos corrections. Si vous ne voulez pas que ce pauvre Julie travaille à l’ombre de vos talents, laissez-le aller en province chercher quelque lanterne fêlée qui au moins l’empêchera de tomber dans le précipice. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur De Julie À la Bastille, le 22 février 1755.50

Although he made no notation in the margin of Julie’s letter of 22 February, Berryer had certainly got around to reading it by the time he hinted to Duval four days later that the wily prisoner might finally be considered for release after Easter. What happened then, some time around the end of February, remains, however, a mystery. Julie was not released après Pâques. Worse still, and even more puzzling in view of the previous regularity of his correspondence, his writing privileges were abruptly cancelled. For the next few months, Charles de Julie was

CH16.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

368

Page 368

The Prisoner

not allowed to send letters or compositions of any kind to the lieutenant général. Moreover, his name comes up only rarely in various prison documents during this period and only in connection with routine housekeeping matters. We know, for example, that on 22 March 1755, Berryer instructed Chevalier to provide Julie with “une chemise et trois paires de chaussons.” Seven weeks later, on 10 May, the prisoner was given “deux mouchoirs.”51 On Monday 17 March, Julie asked the Bastille’s doctor for “la confection de hyacinthe,” a wellknown herbal remedy of the day, sometimes prescribed for nausea and parasitic worms but more usually employed as a tonic for the heart, stomach, and brain.52 Poor health may have played a role but in itself does not explain the lengthy hiatus. Several unusual notations crowded into the margin of a heavily corrected draft sheet suggest that something quite untoward occurred in either late February or early March: “Samedi 8, D. [the porte-clefs Darragon] m’a manqué pour la promenade.” A number of lines on the page are entirely inked over to render them unreadable. There is a barely legible mention of a locksmith along with the name of another porte-clefs, Baron. On the other hand, a March 1755 jotting, “J’ai tout lu à la bibliothèque,” suggests that the sudden loss of his writing privileges was a limited form of punishment. Other privileges were apparently retained. A single line at the very top of this strange folio perhaps explains some of the mystery: “Brouille le jeudi 27 février.” What kind of “quarrel” took place on that date? Did the usually cautious prisoner who had waited for many weeks to hear back from Berryer about the formal proposals he had made in his January mémoire finally let slip an injudicious word, reflecting negatively perhaps on the justice or integrity of the magistrate? With tortured anticipation, he had watched the beginning of Lent come and go. His petitions and entreaties had evidently been ignored. Did he finally fall victim to a fit of anger on the 27th, lashing out in exasperation – perhaps at his porte-clefs – in a way that cost him the release tentatively scheduled in Berryer’s mind for the end of the following month? Whatever the explanation, the result was a total blackout in Charles de Julie’s correspondence that lasted nearly three months. The prisoner’s letter-writing privileges would eventually be restored but on a much reduced scale. As for his quite extraordinary career as a prison poet, that too, perhaps because his inspiration had run out in the absence of any sign of encouragement from his designated reader, was rapidly drawing to a close.

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 369

17 End of the Journey

Before the mysterious incident leading to the loss of his writing privileges, Julie had been sending the lieutenant général letters and copies of his literary compositions almost weekly and sometimes as frequently as every four days. The suspension lasted through March and April, 1755. Finally, after more than two months of imposed silence, he was allowed to write again, but only at infrequent intervals and under rigidly defined conditions. He could write to Berryer only if he had some extraordinary matter to bring to the magistrate’s attention or perhaps a new composition that he wished to forward for his perusal. Letters written merely for the purpose of repeating his “incessant” pleas for liberty were no longer allowed. Berryer, it seems, was becoming rather bored with Charles de Julie’s petitionary gestures. Satisfying the new requirements was not easy. Unfortunately for the prisoner, his poetic inspiration, once so fertile, had now almost completely dried up. Serious illness and a general loss of hope had crippled his muse. During the second week of May, matters were made worse when a horde of stone masons descended on the Bastille to carry out structural repairs on the building’s upper platform. The work site was accessible mainly through the Bazinière Tower stairwell. In his exposed ground-floor location, Julie found the noise outside his door intolerable. Despondent and desperate, he was given permission on 9 May to write to Berryer on the subject: Monsieur, Surcroît de malheur, les maçons sont ici. Vous le savez certainement. Il n’y a

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

370

Page 370

The Prisoner

plus de promenade que les dimanches et fêtes, mais ce qui me contrarie le plus c’est que ces maçons passent par ma tour, de façon que depuis six heures du matin qu’ils arrivent, il n’y a plus moyen de clore l’œil. Ils sont continuellement par voies et par chemins; ils crient dans cet escalier comme des aveugles, et je vous jure que ce n’est plus ici le royaume du silence. Vous savez, Monsieur, qu’une mouche qui vole de travers, un rien, inquiète un prisonnier, et vous conviendrez que d’entendre toujours du bruit à ses oreilles et quelqu’un à sa porte quand surtout il a longtemps vécu dans la plus paisible tranquillité, c’est une situation à laquelle il lui est difficile de s’accoutumer et ma santé, qui est en assez mauvais état, n’avait pas besoin de ce contretemps. Je profite de cette occasion pour vous renouveler mes instances et les promesses que j’ai eu l’honneur de vous faire dans mes précédentes. Je vous proteste de nouveau que l’exécution les suivra toutes. N’en doutez nullement, Monsieur, et si je ne vous tiens pas parole, je me remets à votre discrétion. Daignez donc avancer le moment fortuné qui doit finir mes peines. Faites grâce du reste du temps au malheureux Julie. Vous verrez qu’il aura mis à profit la correction salutaire que ses fautes ont méritée. Hâtez vos heures de miséricorde; changez mes jours tristes en jours sereins; rendez le calme à mon cœur agité; procurez-lui un port sûr et favorable où il puisse être à l’abri des orages. Prêtez l’oreille aux cris douloureux; rendez-moi la vie en me rendant ma liberté. Enfin, Monsieur, exaucez les vœux d’un infortuné qui ne la désire que pour vous donner des preuves authentiques de son changement et pour vous convaincre que vous n’aurez pas obligé un ingrat. Il y a longtemps, Monsieur, que je n’ai pas la liberté de vous adresser une lettre seule, mais c’est la faute de mon imagination qui est sourde à toutes mes sollicitations, et qui ne se prête plus à ce que j’exige d’elle. J’ose me flatter qu’elle reprendra vigueur quand, à couvert de vos ailes, il lui sera permis de puiser dans cette source intarissable les eaux vives qui y coulent en abondance et avec rapidité. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie À la Bastille, le 9 mai 1755.1

By directly touching on the all too familiar question of his release, the last half of the prisoner’s letter constituted, of course, a technical violation of Berryer’s new rule. As a result, it was only after another punitive interval of silence that Julie was allowed to write again, this time in the form of a covering note for a literary piece he was forwarding. It was a composition he had been working on sporadically for several weeks, in parallel with his ever-expanding analysis of the Passion. The new piece was another “bouquet,” a poetic tribute to St Peter whose feast day was coming up on June 29th. The subject held a

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 371

End of the Journey

371

special meaning for the prisoner. Despite a regrettable show of human frailty at the time of the Crucifixion when he denied his leader on three occasions, the apostle had not permanently forfeited his master’s confidence. Indeed, he was eventually entrusted with the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Forgiveness for human foibles, for past weaknesses especially, was a theme understandably close to Charles de Julie’s heart: Monsieur, Voilà un bouquet pour un Pierre. Comme je ne le destine à personne (quoique j’en connaisse trois ou quatre) je ne me suis pas étendu sur les qualités personnelles. J’ai tout de suite passé à celles du saint. Vous verrez ce que j’en ai dit. Saint-Pierre a les clefs du paradis; vous, Monsieur, vous avez celles de la Bastille. Convenez que ces différentes clefs ne sont point du tout faciles à trouver. Hélas, j’ose espérer cependant que vous les enverrez quelque jour, ces heureuses clefs, qui me feront, au même moment, ouvrir toutes les portes. Elles sont à votre disposition. Daignez donc vous en servir promptement en ma faveur. Celles qui m’ouvrent et me ferment nécessairement tous les jours, sont bien différentes des vôtres. Aussi, autant elles me déplaisent, autant désiré-je les autres avec empressement. Venez, Monsieur, donner sans différer ce tour de clef qui rendra à Julie ce qu’il a de plus cher au monde. Jetez des yeux pitoyables sur sa situation. Finissez des maux qui durent depuis si longtemps, et qu’il ne peut plus supporter. Enfin, Monsieur, soyez persuadé qu’il ne profitera du secours de ces clefs que pour chercher sans relâche les moyens de vous témoigner sa reconnaissance. J’ai rejoint, Monsieur, il y a trois semaines, le treizième volume de la Passion que je n’avais jamais eu. Cela m’a fait plaisir pour deux raisons: la première parce qu’il m’a donné un petit travail que j’ai ménagé et qui m’a tiré de mon oisiveté pendant plusieurs jours; la seconde, c’est que ce livre rend mon travail sur la Passion, non pas complet, mais sans interruption. Il n’y a rien eu à changer à mon poème, ce qui me fait espérer que j’aurai également attrapé le travail de mon guide dans la sépulture et la résurrection de Jésus Christ que j’ai été obligé de faire sans secours. Vous savez le temps qu’il y a que ce pauvre Julie est ici. Ayez pitié de lui, au nom de Dieu! Vous n’obligerez pas un ingrat, je vous le répète. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie À la Bastille, le 27 juin 1755.2

No trace of Julie’s bouquet for St Peter or of any other literary piece submitted after the February 1755 crisis seems to have survived. After

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

372

Page 372

The Prisoner

sending this last tribute to a frowning magistrate deity who now seemed more remote than ever, the prisoner appears to have abandoned all thought of poetry. His purpose in writing verse had never got much beyond the desire to placate, amuse, and astonish his master. Now, for some undefined reason, Berryer no longer wished to be amused or astonished. Two weeks passed. On 11 July 1755, a much troubled Charles de Julie obtained permission to send another letter to the lieutenant général. It was to be the last he would write from the Bastille: Monsieur, Voilà bientôt deux ans que je suis ici, sans voir la fin de mes maux. L’incertitude dans laquelle je vis, mille fois plus cruelle que la mort, me jette dans un abîme de réflexions d’où je ne puis plus me tirer. La vie m’est à charge et je regarderais sa fin comme celle de tous mes malheurs. Je ne me nourris plus que de pain, de douleur et d’amertume. Arrosée de mes larmes, une tristesse continuelle m’accable, l’avenir m’inquiète, ma raison me refuse son secours. Daignez donc, Monsieur, être sensible à ma situation que je vous peins au naturel. Essuyez ces larmes dont vous pouvez tarir la source, rassurez mon esprit agité; ne m’abandonnez pas dans le fort d’un chagrin sous lequel je succomberai si vous n’avez pas la bonté de le guérir. Accordez-moi le pardon généreux de mes fautes; oubliez-les même. Sont-elles irrémissibles? Rendez-moi ma chère liberté. Enfin, Monsieur, ayez pitié d’un Chrétien pour qui un Dieu a versé tout son sang sur une Croix. J’ose vous supplier de ne pas regarder indifféremment ce que j’ai l’honneur de vous écrire. Ayez pitié de ma situation. Je vous le répète, elle est telle que je vous la rends. Si vous ne venez pas à mon secours je ne sais ce que je deviendrai. Toutes les protestations que je vous ai faites jusqu’à présent ont vraisemblablement été sans succès. Comment donc voulez-vous, Monsieur, que je fasse pour vous persuader qu’elles sont sincères? Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie À la Bastille, le 11 juillet 1755.3

There is no posturing or pretense in Julie’s final letter from prison. Ill in body and spirit, no longer the manipulative, resilient, and resourceful survivor he once was, he now finds life itself a burden. After two years, prison has stripped him of his outer protection and he stands morally naked before his tormentor. For Berryer, here finally was proof of success, clear evidence at last that the machinery of punishment had functioned as intended and that all the necessary conditions of submission and transparency had been

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 373

End of the Journey

373

met. The prisoner’s spirit had predictably crumbled, his irritatingly intemperate zest for living was gone and with it that last stubborn flicker of rebellious passion. As chief magistrate, the lieutenant général de police could take proper satisfaction in knowing that the incarcerative process he had supervised in its smallest details had done its work. Even so, the case of the prisoner Julie had presented a special challenge. It had not been an easy task to purge this wily individual, this vibrant human being, of his breezy and buoyant vitality. But now, the impertinent “style léger” of this “poète fou” was gone forever. Broken, submissive and obedient, this creature, blemished from the beginning by the absence of a father, was ready to be returned to the bleaker reaches of the family fold. Perhaps it was the prisoner’s heartfelt and unaffected presentation that finally made an impression on the flinty-souled magistrate. More likely, the true magic of Julie’s last-ditch appeal is contained in its four opening words, Voilà bientot deux ans, words that may have served as a simple reminder to Berryer that the sentence he had long before mentally predetermined for Charles de Julie was about to end. Whatever the truth of the matter, the next day, on reading Julie’s letter, Berryer immediately penned in the margin a terse instruction to his clerk: “M. Duval, 12 juillet 1755. Extraire pour proposer la liberté.”4

It was the height of summer and Paris was experiencing an intense heat wave. The Court had departed for Compiègne nearly two weeks before and most of the important functionaries, including the government ministers had soon followed. As Minister of War, Berryer’s superior, the comte d’Argenson, was much preoccupied with troubling signs that an all-out conflict with England was in the offing. Louis XV, anticipating the need for additional military funding, was considering ways to reduce some of the Court’s more extravagant expenses. Of course, pursuit of the usual refinements would have to continue. One of the events celebrated at Compiègne that summer was the opening of Mme de Pompadour’s newly constructed country residence – yet another richly ornamented structure, built this time in the Italian manner. Elegant musical and theatrical entertainments filled the evening hours. Dispatches arrived at frequent intervals from the capital. Not unexpectedly, the usual controversies with the Parlement raged on. On July 9th, the august body of intractable magistrates had seen fit to order the public executioner to burn three recent publications. Queen Marie Leszczynska spent the entire morning of the 18th in tears, having just received news that her chief physician, Helvétius senior, had died the

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

374

Page 374

The Prisoner

day before after a prolonged illness. All in all, it was a very busy time and it was not until the 27th that Berryer, during a working session with d’Argenson, was able to bring forward the matter of Charles de Julie’s release. The magistrate’s memo to the minister reads as follows: M. le Comte d’Argenson, pour le travail du 27 juillet 1755: Julie, exempt de robe courte, détenu à la Bastille depuis le mois d’août 1753, ne cesse de demander sa liberté, promettant que sa conduite sera plus circonspecte à l’avenir et qu’il ne se mêlera jamais de petites nouvelles. A été arrêté parce qu’il fournissait à différentes personnes des nouvelles à la main fort impertinentes. Je crois que deux années de Bastille est une pénitence suffisante pour le corriger. Si Monsieur le comte d’Argenson consent à sa liberté, il est supplié d’en faire expédier l’ordre.5

In a final draft of the memo, Berryer substituted the words “demande sa liberté” for “ne cesse de demander sa liberté.” The effect, if less accurate, was more gracious. And just as Julie had implied all along, this simple proposal from the lieutenant général de police proved to be all that was needed to bring about his liberation. Without hesitation or delay, the minister automatically appended the magic words, “Bon pour la liberté.” That was it! Two years of soul-destroying misery, grandly brought to an end with the stroke of a pen. A marginal notation on the document records the fact that the signed order was dispatched on the same day to the Bastille governor, Pierre Baisle: “Envoyé à M. le gouverneur l’ordre du 27 juillet 1755 pour la liberté.” It was Sunday and Julie was at last free to return to his beloved Paris. Left behind in the Bastille were his papers and some articles of clothing that had been supplied for his personal use from the prison stores. An itemized list of all borrowed apparel was carefully drawn up three days after his departure: Le 30 juillet 1755. Mémoire du linge que le sieur Julie a laissé à la Bastille lors de sa liberté, qui lui a été fourni par le Roi, Savoir: Deux chemises Une coiffe de nuit Deux paires de chaussons Un gilet Un bonnet de laine Plus, à la blanchisseuse:

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 375

End of the Journey

375

Trois chemises Deux mouchoirs Une paire de chaussons.6

A week later, Berrryer instructed commissaire de Rochebrune to arrange for the return of Julie’s personal papers: A Paris le 6 août 1755, Depuis que le sieur Julie exempt de robe courte a eu sa liberté de la Bastille, Monsieur, il m’a prié de lui faire rendre ses papiers qui lui ont été saisis quand il a été arrêté de l’ordre du Roi au mois d’août 1753, et qui ne concernent point l’affaire pour laquelle il fut arrêté. Ces papiers sont dans une serviette sous votre scellé à la garde du sieur Chevalier, major de la Bastille. Je viens de lui écrire de vous les représenter chez vous en présence dudit Julie, ensuite de quoi vous lèverez votre scellé et vous le remettrez en possession desdits papiers en prenant de lui sur votre procès-verbal toutes décharges nécessaires. Je suis, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur.7

Midway through the afternoon on the following day, Chevalier, carrying a sealed folder containing the personal papers seized in Charles de Julie’s room at the time of his arrest, met with his former prisoner at Rochebrune’s town house on the rue Geoffroy-l’Asnier. Although the occasion called for the usual legal solemnities,8 the atmosphere was fairly informal. The three seals of red Spanish wax securing the package were duly broken and the papers were handed back to Julie unread. In the Rochebrune household, he was among old friends. Later that same day, Chevalier gave Berryer a brief account of the meeting: À la Bastille, le 7 août 1755 Monsieur, J’ai été ce matin chez M. le commissaire de Rochebrune pour concerter avec lui au sujet des papiers du sieur Julie qui étaient restés à ma garde. Il m’a remis ce jourd’hui à trois heures après midi pour faire cette opération. Je me suis rendu chez lui à l’heure indiquée avec lesdits papiers où le sieur Julie s’est rendu, devant qui M. de Rochebrune a reconnu ses scellés sains et entiers, après quoi il les a levés, et ensuite dressé un procès-verbal que le sieur Julie a signé avec moi. Le tout conformément à votre ordre du 6e de ce mois. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec un profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. Chevalier9

During the meeting with Chevalier at Rochebrune’s house, Julie made two supplementary requests. First, he asked if he could keep a pair of breeches that the Bastille tailor had made for him. The request

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

376

Page 376

The Prisoner

was unusual but he justified it on the grounds that he was now penniless. On leaving the Bastille he had been unable to recover any surviving remnants of his former life. Most of his personal effects had been stolen. Secondly, he inquired whether drafts of his Bastille literary pieces (“ses minutes et brouillons”) left behind in the Bazinière Tower room might be returned to him. In a brief, spiritless letter to Berryer – his first since his release – he repeated the request for his literary drafts. Berryer could do as he pleased with them, of course, since they had been written only to entertain him. In the remainder of his note, Julie quietly described the devastation to which he had returned on his release. His former grand protectors and friends were apparently not interested in helping him get back on his feet. His few belongings had been pilfered. He was destitute and destroyed: Monsieur, Je vous suis très sensiblement obligé d’avoir bien voulu donner des ordres pour me faire rendre les papiers indifférents qui sont à la Bastille. J’ose vous prier aussi d’en donner à l’égard de mon travail. Comme vous en avez été le seul objet, vous en disposerez à votre choix. Je vous le sacrifie de nouveau, trop heureux, Monsieur, si vous êtes persuadé un jour qu’il est le fruit de l’envie que j’ai eu de vous plaire. Je ne vous parle point de ma misère; elle est telle qu’elle ne souffre pas d’expression. Il semble que tout doit conspirer contre moi et que personne ne veuille s’intéresser à mon malheur. J’ose espérer que le temps dissipera cet orage et que le calme lui succédera. Je suis toujours dans la résolution de quitter Paris. Je ne néglige aucune des occasions qui peuvent me conduire à mon but. Elles seraient bientôt trouvées si vous daigniez vous y intéresser. J’ai fait une déclaration du vol qui m’a été fait pendant mon absence. J’ai eu l’honneur de voir en conséquence monsieur le procureur du Roi afin qu’il eût la bonté de mettre cette affaire à sa requête, sans quoi je serais obligé de l’abandonner. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur. De Julie A Paris ce 7 août 1755.10

Berryer did not reply to Julie’s letter. He did, however, instruct Chevalier in the matter of the ex-prisoner’s minor requests. Charles de Julie could keep the breeches made for him at royal expense. He could also, if he so desired, have his Bastille writings. What happened subsequently with works such as his comedy or his extended commentary on

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 377

End of the Journey

377

the Passion is not clear, but it seems unlikely that any of the manuscripts he recovered from the Bastille survived for long. Julie signed for the material five days later. Unfortunately, unlike the care given to itemizing every chemise, mouchoir, and paire de chaussons that he had been required to leave behind at the prison two weeks earlier, no detailed inventory of the literary items he either left in his room at the Bastille or took with him shows up on the one-page receipt he endorsed at Berryer’s office on Tuesday 12 August. Under the simple heading, “Brouillons des travaux du sieur Julie qu’il a faits à la Bastille pendant le temps de sa détention,” Julie added the words: “Reçu de Monsieur Berryer les brouillons cy-dessus, à Paris, ce 12 août 1755. De Julie.”11 Julie’s statement on 7 August that he was still determined to leave Paris no doubt refers back to what he had told the lieutenant général sometime during the preceding week when he had visited the magistrate’s office to convey thanks for his release. The ex-prisoner’s hope, obviously, was that Berryer would now act on one or other of the three propositions he had put forward in his mémoire of 12 January. Unfortunately, the magistrate’s attitude towards him had not changed. Berryer had responded to the visit, not with offers of help, but with the usual dire threats and baleful warnings. This poète fou should be under no illusions! Although Julie apparently still possessed his office of exempt de robe courte (thanks no doubt to the forbearance of the company’s lieutenant, Jean-Charles Péan de La Jannière, who had not yet received Julie’s overdue final payment of 1,400 livres on the purchase price), the magistrate made it clear that the title would do him little good. Berryer also withheld any assurances that he would help the exprisoner make other arrangements. Indeed, it was made very clear that the sooner Charles de Julie got out of his sight, the better. To make matters worse, Julie soon learned the full extent to which he was now damaged goods in the eyes of his former patrons and protectors. The maréchal duc de Richelieu was in no mood to lend money to a poor soul who had just spent two years in the Bastille for having indulged him with illicit copies of the vice squad’s files. Moreover, Richelieu himself was now deeply embroiled in a major lawsuit relating to his claim of ownership over a considerable number of houses in the immediate area of the Palais Royal. Litigation had been going on for years but was now drawing to an inauspicious close. By the end of August, a negative verdict came down, resulting in a major financial loss for the duke. Less than a week later and much to the joy of the Parisian rabble, Richelieu sustained yet another financial blow when he lost an unrelated lawsuit and had to pay an immediate fine of 50,000 écus. Times were hard and the threat of war had suddenly made such ready money scarce, even for the wealthy.

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

378

Page 378

The Prisoner

A few of Julie’s old friends did remain loyal. One of his first visitors to the modest lodgings he now occupied on the rue de Seine was his former companion libertine, young Claude Roussel. Unfortunately, after two detentions in For l’Évêque and effective disownment by his own family, Roussel’s purse was nearly as empty as Charles de Julie’s and he too was suffering from deteriorating health. Other visitors included two of his old nouvelles à la main associates, Chazé and Lacombe. They brought him up to date on various happenings and chatted about their own experiences in the Bastille. No doubt they also talked about the other members of the team, Willemin de Coin and Jean Mahudel, but the police archives are silent on the matter. Those archives do contain one last letter penned by Charles de Julie to the lieutenant général de police. It is dated 19 August 1755 and was written probably in a last-ditch attempt to convince Berryer that his former prisoner was still potentially an alert, zealous, and reliable policeman, a man who could be entirely loyal to his superior and fully worthy of his protection and help. Julie had several times tried to convey that message to Berryer during his time in prison. He had pointed out instances of laxness on the part of the sentries on duty and had offered to serve as the magistrate’s informer regarding illicit communication among the inmates. Now he decided to make much the same point by revealing instances of corruption and malfeasance on the part of the prison’s porte-clefs: Monsieur, Le jour qu’il vous a plu de me faire rendre mes papiers chez M. de Rochebrune, j’ai prévenu M. le major que le sieur de La Combe avait payé à Bellot12 son tabac après sa sortie. Il vous a sans doute montré la note que je lui ai donnée à cet égard. Aujourd’hui tout à l’heure que Chazé, dit le Petit Commissaire, est venu me voir pour la première fois,13 il m’a dit mot pour mot qu’étant logé avec l’abbé des Roziers,14 quand ils avaient besoin de tabac, le porte-clefs leur apportait une plume de canard et un petit carré de papier sur lequel on écrivait un pouvoir adressé à Monsieur le major, couché dans les termes et dans la forme de celui que j’ai l’honneur de joindre à ma lettre. Ce pouvoir n’était signé que de l’abbé des Roziers. Le tabac qui composait un quarteron s’apportait dans du papier gris que l’on déchirait, et l’abbé le mettait dans un pot blanc de faïence qu’il avait. Chazé après sa sortie a donné environ trois livres au porte-clefs. J’ai cru, Monsieur, devoir vous informer de cette malversation. Je connais à cet égard votre façon de penser et j’ai trop à cœur ce qui vous intéresse pour vous taire une pareille contravention.15

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

Page 379

End of the Journey

379

Julie’s letter continues with the charge at some length, pointing out that both Chazé and Lacombe had been required to pay the turnkeys for every ounce of tobacco supplied to them. Neither had been given the two-ounce weekly ration normally supplied at no charge to prisoners “by the king.” He, Julie, had never been asked to pay. Obviously, the turnkeys were selectively misappropriating the king’s property for their own private benefit. Sufficiently impressed with the allegation, even though it had come from Charles de Julie, Berryer immediately asked for clarification from Chevalier. The major wrote back the following week and explained that only those prisoners who had funds at their disposal were in fact asked to pay. Satisfied with Chevalier’s explanation,16 Berryer dismissed the ex-prisoner’s accusations with the words: “Rien à faire.” Once again Charles de Julie had failed to convince the lieutenant général de police that he should be taken seriously. His letter ends with yet another supplication and the last words we hear from him point to the final torments that lay ahead: Il est inutile de vous parler de ma misère; vous la connaissez dans tout son jour. La verrez-vous, Monsieur, toujours avec des yeux indifférents? Il faut si peu pour lui donner un peu de relâche. [...] Ce n’est pas l’intérêt qui me domine mais la faim chasse le loup du bois. Je suis avec le plus profond respect, Monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, De Julie A Paris, ce 19 août 1755.17

La faim chasse le loup du bois. Julie’s final words to his nemesis and to us foreshadow a quick ending to his story. Driven by misfortune, poverty, and illness from the relative safety of his former haunts, he would not survive for long. We do not know how the end came, or even precisely when, although it is certain that only a few months later, probably by the end of December 1755, Charles de Julie was dead. Months of dogged searching in the répertoires of the Minutier central des notaires and elsewhere have not, however, turned up any of the usual surviving death documents, such as an inventaire après décès, a notarized last will and testament, or the records of a commissaire’s scellé. Perhaps he drew his last breath somewhere in the provinces but more likely he died a pauper in Paris in some chilly chambre garnie, bedridden and with only a few close friends in attendance. Since he was illegitimate in law, leaving no estate and no heirs, his death would not have given rise to any formal legal proceedings. Unhappily, as with all

CH17.QXD

9/1/2004 11:41 AM

380

Page 380

The Prisoner

of his Parisian contemporaries both high and low, details of his burial, along with his état civil records, were destroyed a century later during the catastrophic Tuileries fire of May 1871, a sorry event that has ever since impaired the ability of scholars to carry out research on the ancien régime populations of the capital. In contrast, Claude Roussel, the friend whom Charles de Julie “loved with all his heart,” died a well-documented death only a few months later, on 8 May 1756. Indeed, it is thanks to Roussel’s fortyfour–page scellé, drawn up soon after he expired in his third-floor chambre garnie at Le Riche Laboureur on the rue des Fossés de Monsieur le Prince,18 and thanks also to his notarized inventaire après décès, dated 19 May 1756,19 that we know Charles de Julie died a pauper, too poor even to pay a shoemaker’s bill in the amount of 6 livres. Roussel’s papers reveal that at the beginning of 1756, soon after his friend’s demise, he was called upon to settle several of the ex-prisoner’s small debts. On 14 June 1756,20 the office of exempt de robe courte “que tenait et exerçait défunt Charles Julie” (even his usurped noble particle was taken from him at the end!), having been declared vacant, was sold to Augustin-François Bouton, the son of Pierre-François Bouton, a senior member of the robe courte company and one of the exempts frequently called upon to write up official reports for the lieutenant général.21 Soon after, Berryer extended a warm personal welcome to his new exempt. It was good, finally, to have someone solid and respectable joining the team.

CH99.QXD

9/1/2004 11:42 AM

Page 381

17 Epilogue

Though abandoned in the end by the grands seigneurs whose protection and favour he had once sought with such persistence and ingenuity, Charles de Julie probably never entirely lost the friendship of his former police associates or their rough-and-ready estimation of him as a crafty but basically honourable man. Had Berryer made even the smallest gesture to help him get a position either in Paris or in the provinces, he would in all likelihood have survived the aftermath of his prison ordeal and made a creditable success of his chosen career. Certainly, he fitted in well enough with the majority of his colleagues whose borderline principles and practices were much in harmony with his own. That comfortably ambiguous situation was made especially clear after Berryer resigned his post in October 1757 in order to take up a quasi-ministerial position on the powerful Conseil des Dépêches. He was immediately replaced as lieutenant général de police by HenriLéonard-Jean-Baptiste Bertin, the intendant of Lyon. A few weeks after taking up his duties, Bertin received an anonymous letter underlining the corruption and sundry shortcomings of the police establishment he had just inherited: Du 1er décembre 1757 Monsieur, Il est juste de vous donner, en arrivant, une idée certaine des officiers de police employés jusqu’à présent et ramassés par votre devancier de tous les coins du royaume.

CH99.QXD

9/1/2004 11:42 AM

382

Page 382

The Prisoner

Roullier, ou plutôt Routtier a barré les deux ls de son nom parce qu’un de ses parents a été pendu. La Chassaigne, ancien maquereau sur le pavé de Paris, a trompé M. Berryer pour les jeux; il vous trompera aussi. Bourgouin, garçon perruquier soutenant encore aujourd’hui les bordels de son quartier, a prouvé à M. Berryer la friponnerie de La Chassaigne. Coutailloux, inconnu, le plus grand coquin de Paris; la preuve par écrit. Buhot, son père porteur d’eau, fontaine Maubuée; lui apprenti cordonnier. La Villegodin, chassé des gardes du Roi. Durocher, le plus grand maquereau de Paris. Montrond, Dunant, Roussel,1 tous trois ont été des laquais. Ferry, racoleur maquereau des Célestins, faisant venir des filles chez lui pour les religieux. Arborat, aussi laquais; d’Hémery, bâtard; Dupuis, bête; Marais, domestique.2 Voilà le portrait des officiers que vous avez sous vos ordres: Jugez de leur probité et capacité, et de la confiance que vous devez avoir en eux. N’en croyez pas M. Berryer qui les a choisis; il partageait avec eux le montant des ordres qu’il leur donnait à mettre à exécution; réglez-vous sur cet avertissement que vous donnent vos amis.3

It did not take the new lieutenant général long to discover that the letter attacking a substantial number of his police inspectors as well as his predecessor, Berryer (who was now well on his way to becoming the minister in charge of the French navy) had been sent by one JosephSimon Cadot de Condé, a forty-year-old exempt de robe courte. Much like his late colleague Charles de Julie, Cadot had been largely unsuccessful over the years in his efforts to persuade the capricious lieutenant général to assign him work. Describing the letter’s anonymous author as “un sujet peu favorable, dont M. Berryer ne se servait pas,” Bertin immediately urged Saint-Florentin, the minister in charge, to make an example of the culprit.4 Despite the undoubted merits of at least portions of Cadot’s anonymous indictment (give or take his blatant class snobbery), accusing the highest police authority in the kingdom (and now more than ever Pompadour’s favourite) of corruption was clearly a heinous crime that deserved the severest punishment. A lettre de cachet was issued and the disgruntled exempt was arrested on 21 February 1758 by his colleague inspector d’Hémery, accompanied by commissaire de Rochebrune. After a lengthy interrogation, Cadot de Condé admitted his guilt. His explanation was that he had been desperate at not being assigned work by the magistrate and he had simply lost his head. Now, of course, he wished to stipulate that, contrary to

CH99.QXD

9/1/2004 11:42 AM

Page 383

Epilogue

383

what his anonymous letter had stated, Monsieur Berryer had actually been a thoroughly honest and exemplary lieutenant général who fully deserved the praise and great honours that were then being heaped upon him by a grateful sovereign. After making a complete retraction and an abject apology, Cadot received his reward. First, he was branded with the letters gal (galérien) burned into his flesh with a red-hot iron; next, he was pilloried, chained to an iron collar and exposed to the populace for three consecutive days in three different locations in Paris; finally, for good measure, he was condemned to serve nine years of harsh penal servitude (later reduced to three years) in one of Louis le Bien-Aimé’s convict ships in the Mediterranean. We close Cadot de Condé’s archive file firmly convinced that his late colleague Charles de Julie, faced with similar employment discrimination on the part of Nicolas Berryer, had shown far more intelligence and flair in his search for a solution. The fact that Cadot himself was probably as corrupt as those he accused (he himself had helped to gain the release of the notorious maquerelle Jeanne Moyon several years earlier and he was also suspected of taking bribes)5 was not at issue. He had by his disloyal accusations broken a cardinal rule of solidarity and brought dishonour on his peers and the company in which he served. There is little doubt that Charles de Julie, had he been alive, would have been proud to join with his friends Joseph d’Hémery, Jean-Charles Péan de la Jannière, and others at a solemn public ceremony on 12 May 1758, during which the disgraced prisoner Cadot de Condé was stripped of his office and title. After his name was struck from the official register of the robe courte company a royal order forbidding the miscreant from ever referring to himself as an “exempt” was proclaimed.6 As for Cadot’s subsequent public exposure in the carcan, grim as it must have been it was not without its burlesque moments – well summed up by his fellow exempt Pierre-François Bouton in a 5 August 1758 report to the lieutenant général: Le bruit court que sitôt que cet arrêt fut rendu, une trentaine de femmes du monde se cotisèrent et firent entre elles une somme de 6 à 700 livres qui a été remise à la femme dudit Condé pour faire les frais de voyage à la Cour, ailleurs, et dans Paris, pour solliciter des Lettres de Commutation. Je n’assure point ce fait. Mercredi dernier, ledit Condé fut conduit et attaché au carcan au bout du Pont Neuf, où étant, il but une demi-bouteille de vin; l’exécuteur lui ôta le chapeau qu’il mit à ses pieds sur le pavé, et lequel, au bout de deux heures, se trouva tout rempli de menue monnaie donnée par le public. Ce jour-là, on

CH99.QXD

9/1/2004 11:42 AM

384

Page 384

The Prisoner

compta l’argent au retour dans les guichets du Grand Châtelet; il s’y trouva 52 livres, 6 sols. Le lendemain, jeudi, il fut mis au carcan, place de la Croix-du-Tiroir.7 On mit encore son chapeau à ses pieds; la recette ne fut pas moindre; arrivé au Grand Châtelet, il s’y trouva en menue monnaie, 54 livres, 1 sol, 3 deniers. Ledit Condé a dit lors de son arrivée auxdits guichets que la première personne qui avait mis dans son chapeau à ladite place est un particulier qui y a jeté une pièce de 12 sols et lui a dit à l’oreille en ces termes, Tiens, jean-foutre, voilà pour m’avoir mené à Bicêtre! Hier vendredi, même cérémonie à la Grève, et de là à la Tournelle-SaintBernard; sa recette est montée à 64 livres, quelques sols. Bouton, père8

While it is more than likely that Charles de Julie would have been present in spirit with his confreres at Cadot’s destitution ceremony, stoutly defending the system and the honourable reputation of the former lieutenant général who had made his own life as an exempt miserable in the extreme, it is absolutely certain that he would also have joined them a year earlier, on 28 March 1757, when the company of exempts de robe courte was called upon to act as the principal security guard at the Place de Grève for the public execution of Robert-François Damiens, thus lending the corps’s loyal support to what was perhaps the most monstrous individual punishment ever recorded in the juridical annals of the French nation. Subsequent to his “warning assassination” attack on Louis XV carried out with a penknife at Versailles on 5 January 1757, the mentally unbalanced Damiens was condemned to several prolonged sessions of torture. On the day of his execution, his offending hand was burned with sulphur. Pieces of his flesh were then torn from his body with pincers, after which a mixture of molten lead and boiling pitch was ladled into the wounds. Still much alive and conscious though howling in agony, the victim then watched as, first four, then six lunging horses harnessed to his four limbs proceeded to tear his legs and arms from his body. Still quivering, the severed remains, along with the prisoner’s head and torso were finally thrown onto a nearby bonfire where it took approximately four hours for every trace of bone and tissue to be consumed. Held back by a sturdy barricade, the crowd of applauding spectators who filled the square had nearly all dispersed by the time the fire burned down. Gone too were the hundreds of wealthy gentry who, at a cost of three to fifteen louis d’or each, had rented every available window in the surrounding buildings in order to enjoy the spectacle from a ringside seat.

CH99.QXD

9/1/2004 11:42 AM

Page 385

Epilogue

385

Augustin-François Bouton, the young man who had purchased Charles de Julie’s charge nine months earlier, remained on guard at the scene until one hour before midnight, as did his father, the exempt Pierre-François Bouton. Bouton senior, with watch in hand and with scrupulous attention, carefully recorded every last detail of the hideous event.9 Damiens had been sentenced to suffer the same punishment as Henri IV’s assassin in 1610 but, as Bouton points out, “les souffrances de ce misérable ont été sans contredit pis que celles de Ravaillac.”10 Indeed, it soon became the common opinion that Damiens had suffered – and, of course, deservedly so – “le plus grand supplice que jamais homme ait essuyé, pour la longueur des grandes douleurs.”11 One of the attending priests was informed by an executioner that Damiens had expired the moment the last of his limbs was torn from his body but the elder Bouton begs to differ and notes that “la vérité est que je lui voyais encore l’estomac agité et la mâchoire inférieure aller et venir comme s’il parlait.”12 If anyone present was in a position to see clearly what was going on it was the two exempts, Bouton father and son. Also in attendance, Julie’s old brothel companion inspector d’Hémery later pointed out that the elder Bouton’s horse was so close to the execution platform that it ate a fair amount of the straw “brought there for the purpose of incinerating this poor wretch.”13 It was the kind of subsidiary anecdote that Charles de Julie would have been delighted to insert in his petites nouvelles and perhaps even allude to in the good-humoured verse portraits he at one time liked to sketch of his colleagues for the amusement of the lieutenant général. No doubt, like his friend d’Hémery, Charles de Julie would also have thought of Damiens as “this poor wretch” but it is likely too that he would have found little that was morally amiss in the dreadful scene taking place that day at the Place de Grève in Paris. His own experience and the temper of the times had taught him much about the daunting ferocities of justice. For two long years, he who had no father of his own had painfully acted out the logic of paternal chastisement in the Bastille. He had sought absolution for his filial disobedience in agonizing appeals to Berryer, his duly authorized substitute father. Even after his lengthy incarceration, he would have understood perfectly what was happening to Damiens on that stomach-churning day at the Place de Grève. It was nothing more nor less than the commensurate punishment by the nation’s father of an unworthy son who had had the misfortune to attempt the ultimate transgression of patricide. When, a little more than three decades later and about two kilometres further to the west, Louis le Bien-Aimé’s successor, Louis XVI, was guillotined, a fundamental transformation in political and ideological sensibilities had taken place. An immense crowd had gathered in and

CH99.QXD

9/1/2004 11:42 AM

386

Page 386

The Prisoner

around the Place de la Révolution (today’s place de la Concorde) on 21 January 1793 to witness the king’s decapitation. When the executioner held the dripping head aloft for all to see, many in the crowd responded with shouts of “Vive la république!” Others turned away in silent horror. Alertly pragmatic and adaptable though he was, Charles de Julie would probably have stood quietly among these last.

D-APPEND.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 387

two

Appendix

la guer r e d e vénu s e t d e bac c h u s Bacchus a déclaré la guerre À la déesse de Cythère, Jaloux de ce que sa beauté Diminue son autorité. Pour manifester sa puissance, Et satisfaire à sa vengeance, Il a décidé que l’honneur Exigeait qu’il fût l’agresseur. Dans la Champagne et la Bourgogne Il a montré sa rouge trogne, Ainsi que dans tous les pays Où il a de puissants amis. Par une nouvelle ordonnance Il fait expressément défense À tous bourgeois et vignerons, Sans excepter aucuns cantons, De se servir de vendangeuses. Toutes, dit-il, sont amoureuses Et font souvent tourner le vin Lorsque la lune est au déclin. Ce sont aussi des paresseuses, Des criardes et des causeuses, Qui depuis le matin au soir Ne fournissent pas au pressoir Ce que des hommes de courage,

Qui boivent un coup de temps en temps, Feraient porter de leur ouvrage Qui n’aurait pas duré longtemps. Après avoir voulu détruire De Vénus le riant empire Dans cette agréable saison Qui occupe tant Cupidon D’une vitesse sans égale Il a pris le plus court chemin Pour arriver de grand matin Au milieu de la capitale. Dans les bouchons et les tavernes Où le soir on met des lanternes, Ainsi que dans les cabarets, Il a prononcé des arrêts Portant inhibitions expresses De laisser entrer les prêtresses De Vénus et de Cupidon Qui iraient dans chaque maison. Il alla de même aux guinguettes Pour expulser les coquettes Qui à la reine des amours Sacrifiaient leurs plus beaux jours. Vénus restait dans l’indolence,

D-APPEND.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 388

388 Ne s’imaginant pas qu’en France, Il fût possible d’affaiblir Son culte qui porte au plaisir. Jupiter du haut de l’Olympe Qui vit que sa tranquillité Ferait tort à sa déité Ordonne que Mercure grimpe Dans le moment pour lui parler. Aussitôt ce fier messager, Au son de cette voix sensible, Paraît devant ce dieu terrible. Va, lui dit-il, en diligence Apprendre à la belle Vénus Quelle est l’espèce de vengeance Que lui fera sentir Bacchus. Aussitôt le prudent Mercure, Qui savait toute l’aventure, Son caducée dans une main, Fait route vers le genre humain. Il ne chercha pas bien longtemps Celle à qui il avait affaire, Les Dieux plus que les autres gens Trouvent l’obscurité très claire. La déesse parut surprise De la visite du courrier N’ayant pas à se reprocher D’avoir commis quelque sottise. Pour la tirer d’inquiétude, Il lui raconta promptement L’ordre que Jupin d’un ton rude Lui donna dans le firmament. Elle avoua son imprudence Et connut de quelle importance Il était pour Sa Majesté De laisser son trône opprimé. Après avoir prié Mercure De remercier Jupiter, En courageuse créature, Elle entreprit de se venger. Son fils équipé comme un prince Eut ordre d’aller en province Réparer les torts que Bacchus Aurait pu causer à Vénus.

Appendix Il emplit son carquois de flèches Et mit à son flambeau des mèches Pour se servir avec grand soin De ses armes dans le besoin. En se séparant de sa mère, Furieuse et fort en colère, Il lui promit de faire voir Combien grand était son pouvoir. Cette gentille ménagère, Pour abattre son adversaire, Crut qu’il fallait un coup d’éclat Et sur-le-champ changea d’état. La capitale était pour elle Ce qui touchait le plus son zèle Aussi, pour sortir d’embarras, Elle eut recours à ses appas. Aussitôt, les grâces elle appelle, Qui par le secours de leurs mains, La rendirent tout aussi belle Qu’elle était avant ses chagrins. Sans communiquer à personne Le projet qu’elle avait formé, D’un pas leste ainsi qu’assuré, Elle part sans que rien l’étonne. À l’Enseigne de la Glacière, Elle alla prendre logement, Et s’établit cabaretière Dont le quartier fut fort content. Aisément elle achalandise Ce nouvel établissement En donnant bonne marchandise Au riche comme à l’indigent. Avec très grande politesse Elle recevait le buveur Et savait par beaucoup d’adresse Le prévenir en sa faveur. Dans les quatre coins de Paris On débita cette nouvelle, Chacun accourt à ce logis Pour y contempler cette belle. Les fauteurs du dieu de la vigne Y viennent tous pour l’admirer, Et quand il faut s’en retourner

D-APPEND.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 389

Appendix L’un et l’autre hautement rechigne. Bacchus de ces récits troublé, Pour approfondir ce mystère, Chez la belle cabaretière Se transporta tout irrité. À peine eut-il vu son visage, Que lui-même il rendit hommage À l’aimable divinité Qu’il avait tant persécutée.

389

Cupidon, sur ces entrefaites, Arriva couvert de lauriers Des conquêtes qu’il avait faites Dans tous les différents quartiers. Bacchus convint de sa défaite, Et auparavant sa retraite, Il fit avec Vénus la paix Qui doit durer à tout jamais. [BA ms 11846 ff.312–15]

les s i n g e s Fable Des singes en petit nombre, peuplaient en peu de temps Tellement un canton où régnait l’abondance Qu’il y avait tant d’habitants Que l’un de son voisin n’avait pas connaissance. Ils y vivaient sans lois, tout ainsi que sans maître, Et celui qui était un traître, Dès qu’on le connaissait pour être le plus fort, On n’osait lui donner le tort. Chacun d’eux agissait selon sa fantaisie: L’un s’appropriait le terrain Qui fournissait à son voisin Les besoins qui étaient nécessaires à la vie; L’autre chassait de sa maison Celui qui en était le vrai propriétaire Et lui refusait sans raison Jusqu’au plus simple nécessaire. Certains encore plus méchants Guettaient hardiment les passants Afin de les voler, et pour cacher leurs crimes, Souvent ces scélérats immolaient leurs victimes.

Enfin le peu d’intelligence Qui régnait parmi ces tyrans Allait causer la décadence Des pères et mères et des enfants. Plusieurs d’entre les anciens De cette bande de vauriens Sentirent qu’il était d’une grande importance De réprimer cette licence Qui détruirait non seulement du canton le gouvernement Mais causerait leur perte entière, Les mettant hors d’état de soutenir la guerre Contre ceux de leurs ennemis Qui voudraient les chasser de leur propre pays. Donc quelques-uns d’entre eux, aux plus déraisonnables, S’adressèrent amicalement Et leur prouvèrent évidemment Que s’ils ne devenaient traitables, Bientôt leurs voisins, informés De leurs divisions et de leurs cruautés, Les chasseraient sans grand-peine D’un aussi fertile domaine. Ces cœurs durs un peu s’amollirent Et tous d’accord ils consentirent Que dès le lendemain matin

D-APPEND.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

390

Page 390

Appendix

Ils s’assembleraient pour certain Dans une large et vaste place, Les grands comme la populace, Chacun devait donner sa voix Pour d’entre eux tous, faire le juste choix De deux des citoyens, instruits de leurs usages, Et qui seraient connus, pour être les plus sages. Les singes dans l’endroit nommé Se trouvèrent à l’heure marquée Et ils avaient la liberté De choisir suivant leur idée; Peu de temps ils délibérèrent, Tous d’un commun consentement, Par des cris redoublés, hautement proclamèrent Les deux de leur canton qui passaient sûrement Pour être les plus équitables, Les plus habiles, et les plus respectables. Tous, ils promirent avec serment D’obéir au commandement Des deux qui avaient eu, sans nulle connivence, Sur tous les habitants entière préférence. À tous les sujets du canton Ces sages et prudents personnages Pensèrent à procurer de très grands avantages; Chacun ne vécut plus à sa discrétion, L’artisan qui par industrie Devenait riche en peu de temps, Nul comme auparavant ne lui portait envie Et n’ambitionnait ses talents. Le riche dormait fort tranquille, Le pauvre était en sûreté Et ce peuple si indocile Paraissait tout à fait dompté.

Mais bientôt après les douceurs De la séduisante opulence Firent naître en peu de temps, dans leurs inconstants cœurs, L’ambition et la vengeance. L’intérêt fut de la partie C’était à qui plus gagnerait; Et par esprit de jalousie, Chacun le plus grand se croyait. Ce fut alors que les deux juges Avaient matin et soir de l’occupation Ils étaient de la nation Les seuls et souverains refuges. Chacun des chefs avait dans son département Un absolu pouvoir, et pour certaines affaires Ils étaient quelquefois tous les deux nécessaires. Mais sans cela, absolument, Un seul ne devait pas prendre la connaissance Que de ce qui était dessous sa dépendance, Néanmoins leur commun district Se rapportait au bien public. Dans les critiques circonstances Qui avaient divisé les singes du canton, Comme ils savaient les conséquences De ne pas se soumettre à la droite raison, Tous d’un semblable accord entre eux ils décidèrent Que chaque singe irait porter son différend Devant son juge compétent; De plus, ils se déterminèrent À subir tous avec tranquillité Le jugement qui serait prononcé Par celui de leurs chefs qui aurait la puissance De prendre seul la connaissance

D-APPEND.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 391

Appendix De leurs divisions et de leurs intérêts. Or donc tous ces singes, étant prêts, Allèrent avec grande assurance Exposer à leur juge leurs moyens de défense. Mais ils ne furent pas longtemps À connaître la différence Qui était dans les sentiments Des juges qui devaient réprimer leur licence: L’un était plein de probité, Et pour le pauvre et pour le riche; De son temps il n’était pas chiche Et les traitait l’un l’autre avec égalité. L’innocent trouvait un refuge Dans les bras de ce savant juge Toujours prêt à le protéger Il savait lui faire éviter Les pièges du méchant dont il châtiait l’audace Se réservant le droit de lui accorder grâce Quand un sincère repentir Venait à temps le secourir. Ce chef prudent et équitable, Égal dans ses décisions, N’avait aucun égard pour les protections; Le grand et le petit le trouvait favorable Sitôt que le bon droit était de son côté. Il devenait inexorable Quand celui reconnu coupable Ne parlait pas avec sincérité. Ce sage fut inaccessible Aux vils appas de l’intérêt, L’honneur était le seul objet Qui rendait ce grand cœur sensible. Il agissait toujours avec grande justice, Sous ses pieds il foulait l’envie et l’artifice, Aussi était-il respecté

391

De tous les autres singes, et sa rare équité Lui avait tellement mérité leur estime Qu’ils auraient cru faire un grand crime De ne pas suivre exactement De ce juste le jugement. Quant à l’autre, tout au contraire, Il ne terminait pas d’affaire Qu’il n’eût auparavant exigé un présent; Personne n’en était exempt; Tel qui vivait dans l’opulence Un plus grand don de lui ce juge demandait, Et plus il agissait avec magnificence Plus il était certain de se donner bon droit Pour tirer de tout avantage. L’indigent il faisait languir Quand il ne pouvait pas fournir Un assez honnête arrérage Car l’intérêt était sa passion favorite; Le singe qui sans rien venait Sans le voir chez lui retournait Mais pour sa seule peine, il n’en était pas quitte; S’il voulait gagner son procès Il fallait tout d’abord faire une politesse, Car auprès de ce chef il n’aurait eu d’accès Avec une simple promesse. On reconnaissait fort souvent Le coupable pour innocent Quand il avait su par adresse Trouver le bon chemin pour se tirer de presse. Les singes étaient chagrins et remplis de tristesse Quand ils faisaient comparaison Du premier avec le second;

D-APPEND.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

392

Page 392

Appendix

Ils connaissaient de l’un l’esprit et la sagesse Et savaient fort bien distinguer Les défauts qu’avait le dernier. Entre eux tout bas ils se disaient Que bien plus heureux ils seraient Si les chefs qu’ils s’étaient choisis Avaient également un mérite accompli. Nous vivrions dans l’abondance, Disaient-ils tristement, si toute la puissance Était seule au premier; mais nous devons trembler De la conduite du dernier, Car il est l’intérêt, un très dangereux vice, Qui entraîne après lui l’envie et l’avarice, L’ambition, l’orgueil, aussi la cruauté, De tout respect humain, un mépris très marqué; Avec la probité, il est incompatible, La justice est pour lui une ennemie terrible,

Enfin, il est certainement De tous les vices le plus grand. Ces singes auraient voulu, chacun, n’avoir affaire Qu’au chef qui était bon; ils déploraient leur sort Car ils ne pouvaient pas, de l’autre se défaire Il fallait attendre sa mort. C’était dans leur canton un usage ancien Que quand ils choisissaient, dans tous un citoyen, Pour l’élever en grade, pendant toute sa vie Il usait de ses droits, selon sa fantaisie. Un cœur droit, bienfaisant, sincère, Des singes fut considéré, Un cœur intéressé, insensible et sévère, De tous a été détesté. [BA ms 11846 ff.503–7]

le bœuf et l’ â n e Fable Un bœuf qui était fatigué D’avoir à la charrue tiré, Étant rentré dans son étable, Déplorait son sort misérable; Et s’adressant à son voisin, C’était une très grasse bourrique Qui n’avait presque pas de peine, N’allant que deux fois par semaine À la ville pour y porter, Ou sa maîtresse, ou bien son maître; Après on la laissait aller Aux champs à sa volonté paître.

Mais lui pauvre bœuf, au contraire, Depuis le matin jusqu’au soir, Travaillait comme un mercenaire. À l’âne dans son désespoir, Il lui dit: quelle différence! On vous occupe rarement Et vous vivez dans l’abondance; Mais moi, qui suis journellement À la charrue pour labourer, On me donne pour récompense, Le matin et soir à manger, Une très petite pâture

D-APPEND.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 393

Appendix De cosses pour ma nourriture. Voilà comme je suis traité: Si aux champs je vais en pâture, Une heure après j’en suis retiré. L’âne lui répondit: compère, Je suis touché de ta misère, Mais c’est ta faute, assurément; Tu es fort comme un éléphant: Que ne fais-tu le diable à quatre Et ne sembler de vouloir battre Celui qui vient te préparer Pour te faire aller labourer? De plus, affecte le malade; Crois-moi, aussi ne mange pas Du tout de ton mauvais repas. Le conseil de son camarade Le bœuf suivit exactement, Et même dès le jour suivant Il sut si bien se contrefaire Que le valet à l’ordinaire, Allant lui mettre son harnois, Il remarqua pour cette fois L’auge où il mangeait, toute pleine. Mais il ne s’en mit guère en peine Et voulait toujours emmener Le bœuf pour aller travailler. C’est alors qu’il montra ses cornes, Rua des pieds, cassa les bornes Qui le tenaient dans un carré. Le valet en fut effrayé Et alla dire en diligence Au fermier cette résistance. Comme le maître était pressé De finir aux champs quelque ouvrage, Au valet il fut ordonné De prendre pour le labourage, Au lieu du bœuf, maître baudet. Cet ordre fut exécuté Et la bourrique, à cet effet, Fut aux champs à l’instant menée. En y arrivant, tout d’abord,

393

À la charrue elle fut mise, Convenant que son triste sort Venait de sa pure sottise. Aux brûlants rayons du soleil, Ce jour elle fut exposée, Avec grands coups souvent frappés. Hélas! c’est par mon seul conseil, Disait-elle, que l’on me traite Avec tant d’inhumanité. Si je n’avais pas eu pitié De ce gros bœuf, d’un maltraité, Je serais à présent couchée Et dormirais tranquillement. De cette éternelle journée La fin arriva, cependant; À l’étable étant retournée, Le bœuf lui dit en arrivant, Je vous remercie humblement; Depuis que je suis votre idée J’ai été nourri amplement, Et dès que vous fûtes partie Mon auge a été bien remplie De bonne paille de froment. Tous les jours je ferais de même Afin de demeurer ici. Ce serait pour vous un malheur entier, Dit l’âne; écoute bien ceci: Le maître au valet vient de dire, Si ce bœuf va de pire en pire, Dès demain il faut le mener Pour être tué chez le boucher. Le bœuf n’eut plus de fantaisie; Et pour se conserver la vie, Il promit qu’il travaillerait Nuit et jour si on le voulait. Souvent un conseil salutaire Arme confère sur son ami; Souvent un avis téméraire Déconcerte son ennemi. [Rough draft; composed 4 February 1755; BA ms 11829, f.159]

D-APPEND.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

394

Page 394

Appendix

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 395

two

Notes

an ba bl bnf mc svec

Archives nationales Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal British Library Bibliothèque nationale de France Minutier central des notaires Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century

chapter one 1 Approximately 15 percent of newborns left at the Enfants-Trouvés were legitimate. See Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Les Confessions, in Œuvres complètes, ed. Bernard Gagnebin and Marcel Raymond (Pléiade, 1964), 1416; also, Claude Grimmer, La Femme et le bâtard (Paris: Presses de la Renaissance, 1983), passim. 2 Les Confessions, Livre Septième (Œuvres complètes, I, 344). This controversial aspect of Rousseau’s biographical record is discussed at length by Gagnebin and Raymond, Œuvres complètes, I, 1416–23. 3 I, 358; my emphasis. 4 Ibid., 1416. 5 Germain Brice, Description de la ville de Paris et de tout ce qu’elle contient de plus remarquable (Paris: Les Libraires Associés, 1752), IV, 270–1. 6 See ba ms 12430, ff.100–12, 207–9; 10139, f.186. 7 See Guy Chaussinand-Nogaret, La Vie quotidienne des Français sous Louis XV, Paris 1979.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

396

Page 396

Notes to pages 6–19

8 Her marriage contract survives in the Archives Nationales, Minutier central des notaires, XXXII, 13 July 1713. 9 See Voltaire, Précis du siècle de Louis XV, Œuvres historiques (Pléiade), 1355–6; E.-J.-F. Barbier, Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (Paris: Charpentier, 1866), III, 456. 10 Barbier, Chronique de la Régence, IV, 38. 11 Minutier central, LXX.359, 29 November 1749 (Delaloëre). 12 ba ms 11846, f.515. Spelling of French texts drawn directly from original eighteenth-century archival sources has been modernized. 13 See the article “Gendarme” by Guillaume Le Blond, in the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, volume VII (1757), 547–8. 14 Chaussinand-Nogaret, La Vie quotidienne des Français, 216. 15 Le père Gabriel Daniel, Histoire de la milice françoise, quoted in the article “Hussards” of the Encyclopédie, VIII (1765), 356–7. 16 Berryer took up his position on 21 May 1747, succeeding Claude-Henri Feydeau de Marville. 17 See Claude Quétel, La Bastille; Histoire vraie d’une prison légendaire, (Paris: Laffont, 1989), 315–16. 18 Mme Delisle, a former dancer at the Opéra, died at the age of 59 on 22 July 1756; see ba ms 10236, ff.73–83. 19 ba ms 11617, f.348. 20 ba ms 11617, f.349. 21 ba ms 11617, ff.351–2. 22 ba ms 11617, f.353. 23 ba ms 11617, f.352. 24 Ibid. 25 ba ms 11617, f.363. 26 ba ms 11617, ff. 355–6. 27 Michel-Joseph-Hyacinthe Lallemant de Betz (c. 1693–1773) and his brother Étienne-Charles-Félix Lallemant de Nantouillet (1696–1781). 28 ba ms 11617, ff.357–8. 29 ba ms 11617, f.359. 30 ba ms 11617, f.361–2. 31 As a general reference, see Hélène Bonnafous-Sérieux, Une Maison d’aliénés et de correctionnaires au XVIIIe siècle: La Charité de Senlis, d’après des documents en grande partie inédits. (Paris: puf, 1936). 32 Bonnafous-Sérieux, Une Maison d’aliénés, 266. 33 ba ms 11430, ff.232–3. 34 See Lettres de M. de Marville, lieutenant général de police au ministre Maurepas (Paris: Champion, 1896) II, 275 (du 8 avril 1746); also, Bonnafous-Sérieux, Une Maison d’aliénés, 75. 35 ba ms 11617, f.371.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 397

Notes to pages 19–35

397

36 The four italicized words were added in Goubier’s hand to Saint-Marc’s draft. 37 ba ms 11617, f.369. 38 See Minutier central, CXII.706 bis, 24 May 1752. 39 ba ms 11617, f.380. 40 After five years at La Charité he was finally transferred by judicial order of the Châtelet’s high court in 1750 to the asylum for the insane at Charenton. ba ms 11617, f.378; Bonnafous-Sérieux, Une Maison d’aliénés, 55. 41 ba ms 11617, f.374. 42 ba ms 11617, ff.375–6. 43 ba ms 11617, f.376. 44 ba ms 11617, f.372. 45 ba ms 11617, ff.378–9. 46 See Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Tableau de Paris, nouvelle édition, Amsterdam, 1782, I, 149; V, 272. 47 ba ms 11617, f.382. 48 ba ms 11617, ff.382–3. 49 See Frantz Funck-Brentano, La Bastille des comédiens, le For l’Evêque, Paris, 1903. 50 Ibid., 134. 51 ba ms 11617, f.393. 52 ba ms 11617, f.395. 53 Mercier, Tableau de Paris, I, 201. 54 Ibid., 202. 55 Ibid. 56 Ibid., 208. 57 ba ms 11617, f.397. 58 ba ms 11617, f.399. 59 ba ms 11617, ff.401–2. 60 ba ms 11617, f.403. 61 ba ms 11617, ff.405–6. 62 ba ms 11617, f.396; 13 November 1748. 63 ba ms 11617, f.410. 64 ba ms 11617, ff.412–13. 65 ba ms 11617, f.414. 66 ba ms 11617, f.416. 67 ba ms 11656, f.86. 68 ba ms 11656, f.90. See also Funck-Brentano, La Bastille des comédiens, 299–302, and André Magnan, Rameau le neveu; textes et documents (Paris: cnrs Éditions, 1993), 46–7. 69 ba ms 11617, f.420. 70 ba ms 11617, f.422; Berryer to Maurepas, 26 December 1748.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

398

Page 398

Notes to pages 35–50

71 A search of various archives, Marine C1 (Officiers militaires), Colonies D2C (Troupes et personnel civil. Matricules et revues), as well as the index of Marine B2 (Ordres et dépêches), B3 (Lettres reçues), C7 (Dossiers individuels) and Colonies E (Personnel colonial ancien) has, unfortunately, failed to turn up any record of Julie’s 22 months of service in the Marine volontaire (probably to November 1750). I am indebted to the Direction des Archives de France, and particularly M. Gérard Ermisse, for help in this search. 72 Minutier central, LXX.359; Dépôt de testament du 29 novembre 1749. 73 Minutier central, LXX, 359; Inventaire du 29 novembre 1749. François des Écures, Mme Goubier’s good friend and cousin, died 25 March 1756; his wife, Charlotte, the year before. (See LXX, 385; Inventaire du 2 juin 1756).

chapter two 1 E. Michel, Biographie du Parlement de Metz, (Metz: Nouvian, 1853), incorrectly gives the date of interdiction as 17 September 1724. See Registre des délibérations de 1721 (B 371, ff.6–7). I am grateful to Madame Lucie Roux of the Archives de la Région Lorraine for these and other particulars regarding the surviving archival records of the Parlement de Metz. 2 Archives de la Région Lorraine, Parlement de Metz, B 877, B 1338. 3 Jean-François de Creil de Bournezeau, intendant of Metz from 1721 to 1754. 4 ba ms 11376, ff.78–9. 5 ba ms 11376, ff.80–1. 6 The siege of Kehl, part of the opening campaign in the war of Polish Succession, lasted from the 13th to the 29th of October, 1733. 7 ba ms 11376, f.82. 8 Ch.-A. de Beaurepaire, La Maison de force de Saint-Yon et le Parlement de Normandie (Rouen: Lainé, 1946), 28. 9 ba ms 11376, f.86. 10 ba ms 11376, f.92. 11 See my Sade: A Biographical Essay (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 65–8. 12 ba ms 11686, f.292. 13 For additional information on Catherine Darcheville and Armand-PierreJean Lainé, chevalier de Pierreville, see David Smith et al., ed. Correspondance générale d’Helvétius, IV, 292–4. 14 ba ms 11687, ff.96–106. 15 ba ms 11687; François Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille (Paris: PedoneLauriel, 1881), XII, 311–12.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 399

Notes to pages 50–9

399

16 ba ms 10238, f.264. 17 “Nouvelles d’Auteurs,” 4 March 1751; bnf. ms.fr. 22156, f.43. See The Journal d’Hémery, 1750–1751: an edition by Marlinda Ruth Bruno (Ann Arbor: Xerox University Microfilms, 1977), I, 91. 18 Bruno, Journal d’Hémery, I, 99. 19 ba ms 11376, f.103. 20 ba ms 11376, f.93. 21 ba ms 11376, f.99. 22 ba ms 11376, f.101. 23 Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Tableau de Paris, nouvelle édition, Amsterdam, 1782, I, 148. 24 Bias, one of the “Seven Wise Men” of Greece: “I carry with me all my worldly goods.” 25 Mercier, Tableau de Paris, I, 149. 26 Procès-verbal, 4 September 1750; ba ms 11376, ff.109–10. 27 ba ms 11376, ff.123–30. 28 ba ms 11376, ff.151–4, 157. 29 Mercier, Tableau de Paris, I, 251. 30 Antoine-Gabriel de Sartine, lieutenant général de police from 1759 to 1774. 31 Denis Diderot, Mémoires pour Catherine II: Œuvres complètes, ed. Lewinter, X, 702–3. 32 Diderot, Œuvres complètes, V, 755. 33 Ibid., V, 703. 34 Ibid., V, 755–6. 35 Ibid., V, 757. 36 Mercier, Tableau de Paris, I, 194. 37 Ibid., 193–5. See also, Pierre Manuel, La Police de Paris dévoilée (Paris An II) I, 13–14. 38 See A. de Boislisle, ed. Lettres de M. de Marville, lieutenant général de police au ministre Maurepas (Paris: Champion, 1896–1905), I, x, xvi. 39 See Alan Williams, The Police of Paris 1718–1789 (Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1979), 110–11. 40 René-Louis, marquis d’Argenson, Journal et mémoires du marquis d’Argenson, ed. E.J.B. Rathéry (Paris: Société de l’Histoire de France, 1859–1867), V, 469; my emphasis. 41 Ibid., VI, 108. 42 Mercier, Tableau de Paris, IX, 308. 43 Ibid., I, 193. 44 According to legend, Gyges, king of Lydia, possessed a magic ring that could make him invisible. See Plato, The Republic, [II.359]. 45 Mercier, Tableau de Paris, IX, 307–8. 46 ba ms 11801, f.170.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

400

Page 400

Notes to pages 60–5

47 ba ms 10239, f.656. 48 E.-J.-F. Barbier, Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (Paris: Charpentier, 1866), IV, 432. 49 D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VI, 204. 50 Leader of the assommeurs, executed in Paris, 6 December 1742. 51 Journal et mémoires de Charles Collé, ed. Honoré Bonhomme (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1868), I, 170–1. 52 Barbier, Chronique de la Régence, IV, 432. 53 D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VI, 205, 28 mai 1750. 54 Voltaire, Correspondence, ed. T. Besterman, The Complete Works of Voltaire (Geneva, Banbury, and Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation, 1968–77), vols. 85–135. Letter D3965. 55 Frantz Funck-Brentano, Légendes et archives de La Bastille (Paris: Hachette, 1914), 137. 56 See Jean Balcou, Fréron contre les philosophes, (Genève: Droz, 1975), 30–1. 57 See Marlinda Ruth Bruno, “Fréron, police spy,” svec, 1976, vol. 148, 177–99. 58 26 novembre 1753; bnf. ms fr. 22158, f.193. See also Jean Balcou, Le Dossier Fréron, correspondances et documents (Genève: Droz, 1975), 120–1. 59 bnf. ms fr. 22157, f.168. 60 bnf. ms fr. 22157, f.188; the year indication “1753” is an error for 1752. 61 Ibid. f.184; 10 November 1752. 62 ba ms 11774, f.35; see also my “Les Nouvelles à la main: la perspective du client,” in De bonne main: la communication manuscrite au XVIIIe siècle, ed. François Moureau (Paris: Universitas, 1993), 135–42. 63 Mathieu-François Pidansat de Mairobert (1727–1779). See Dictionnaire des Journalistes, 1600–1789, ed. Jean Sgard (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1999), II, 787–9. 64 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10782, f.175. On Pierre de Morand (1701–1757), see Dictionnaire des journalistes, II, 728–9. 65 bnf. ms fr. 22157, f.174. 66 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10782, f.175. 67 bnf. ms fr.10782, f.66. 68 bnf. ms fr. 22157, f.86. 69 bnf. ms fr. 22157, f.87. 70 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10782, f.138. 71 Ibid. 72 Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XII, 464; police report of May 1762. 73 BnF. ms n.a.fr. 10781, ff.92–3; Bruno, Journal d’Hémery, II, 638. 74 On Chevrier, see Françoise Weil’s article in Dictionnaire des journalistes, I, 225–8.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 401

Notes to pages 65–9

401

75 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10782, f.186; Bruno, Journal d’Hémery, II, 728. 76 bnf. ms fr. 22156, f.133; Bruno, Journal d’Hémery, I, 236. For an essentially belletristic overview of Mouhy’s career, see Patrick Wald Lasowski, Le Traité des mouches secrètes (Paris: Gallimard, 2003). 77 See Rivarol’s scathing thumbnail sketches in Le Petit almanach de nos grands hommes, (Œuvres complètes, V, Slatkine Reprints, Genève 1968); also Mercier’s trenchant references to the “poëtereaux qui s’entichent reciproquement de cette puérilité.” (Mercier, Tableau de Paris, VIII, 287). Robert Darnton has published many invaluable studies of eighteenth-century France’s literary underground. For a readily available example that includes a multimedia Internet presentation, see his “Presidential Address: An Early Information Society: News and Media in Eighteenth-Century Paris,” The American Historical Review, 105, 1, February 2000, 1–35; http://www.indiana.edu/~ahr/darnton/. See also, The Literary Underground of the Old Regime (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982); The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (New York: Basic Books, 1984); Public Opinion and Communication Networks in Eighteenth-Century Paris at http://www.indiana.edu/~ahr/darnton/pocn/index.html. 78 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10781, f.148 (23 May 1751); Bruno, Journal d’Hémery, II, 661. 79 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10783, f.31 (2 July 1749); Bruno, Journal d’Hémery, II, 732. 80 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10783, f.40; Bruno, Journal d’Hémery, II, 736. 81 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10783, f.91; 1 Jan 1753. 82 Ibid. 83 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10783, 17 November 1750. 84 See above, pp. 50–3. 85 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10781, f.105; Bruno, Journal d’Hémery, II, 643. 86 bnf. ms n.a.fr. 10782, f.153; Bruno, Journal d’Hémery, II, 719. 87 See ba ms 10095, inspector Meusnier’s report on the arrest of MauriceJoseph Bregeant, 6 February 1752. 88 See Mémoires du comte de Maurepas (Paris: Chez Buisson, 1792), IV, 265–7; also, Charles Collé, Journal et mémoires, ed. H. Bonhomme (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1868), I, 49–51. 89 D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VI, 380; 30 mars 1751. 90 See my The Love of a Prince, Bonnie Prince Charlie in France, 1744–1748 (Vancouver: ubc Press, 1986), 263–5. On Desforges, see Frantz Funck-Brentano, Les Lettres de cachet à Paris, étude suivie d’une liste des prisonniers de la Bastille (1659–1789) (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1903), No. 4104. 91 D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VI, 10–11. 92 bnf. ms fr. 22157, ff.33–4; also ba ms 10235, f.349.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

402

Page 402

Notes to pages 69–76

93 bnf. ms fr. 22158, f.105.

chapter three 1 ba ms 10236, f.83; du 6 août 1756. 2 See ba ms 10234; no folio numbers. 3 See p. 98, Boucher’s celebrated “reclining” portrait of Louise O’Morphy, Alte Pinakothek, Munich. 4 Sauveur-François Morand (1697–1773), chirurgien-major at the Hôtel des Invalides as well as the Hôpital de la Charité, was a respected member of the Académie des Sciences who often charged wealthy clients twelve hundred livres for a cure. See ba ms 10238, f.155. 5 18 August 1753. 6 See ba ms 10236, f.189. 7 ba ms 10236, f.139; du 24 janvier 1754. 8 See letter to Sophie Volland, 26 October 1760; Denis Diderot, Œuvres complètes, ed. Lewinter, IV, 937. Barbier E.-J.-F., Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (Paris: Charpentier, 1866), (VII, 244–7) provides a detailed account of the ten-day sale of her surplus chattels held at her residence on the rue Saint-Nicaise in April 1760. 9 See my “La chasse aux abbés, l’abbé de Gua de Malves et la morale diderotienne,” Recherches sur Diderot et sur l’Encyclopédie, (April 1993) XIV, 7–22. 10 20 November 1753. 11 3 January 1753. 12 ba ms 10239, f.484; 28 May 1749. 13 ba ms 10236, f.269; 4 June 1755. 14 ba ms 10236, ff.316, 317; 31 December 1756. 15 ba ms 10236, f.405; 30 January 1754. 16 Ibid. On the various Bouret brothers, see J.N. Dufort, comte de Cheverny, Mémoires sur les règnes de Louis XV et Louis XVI et sur la Révolution, ed. Robert de Crèvecœur (Paris: Plon, 1886), I, 368–9. 17 ba ms 10236, f.423; 26 December 1752. 18 ba ms 10239, ff.91–2; 30 November 1751. 19 Barbier, Chronique de la Régence, IV, 448–9. 20 Charles Collé, Journal et mémoires, ed. H. Bonhomme (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1868), I, 200. 21 ba ms 10234; 2 March 1753. Her release, it turns out, was eventually facilitated by one of Charles de Julie’s robe courte colleagues, Cadot de Condé. See Epilogue. 22 ba ms 10251, f.98. 23 ba ms 10234; 29 January 1755.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 403

Notes to pages 76–82

403

24 See ba ms 10253, f.343. 25 René-Louis, marquis d’Argenson, Journal et mémoires du marquis d’Argenson, ed. E.J.B. Rathéry (Paris: Société de l’Histoire de France, 1858–1867), VII, 409; 21 February 1753. 26 ba ms 10252, f.102; 10238, f.297. 27 ba ms 10238, f.292. 28 ba ms 10238, f.300; 12 April 1753. 29 Ibid. 30 A police file notation (ba ms 10251, f.2) states that Meusnier was killed by a prisoner he was escorting to the Château d’If. The allegation is contested (on fairly shaky grounds) by Paul d’Estrée, “Une Colonie francorusse au XVIIIe siècle,” La Revue des revues (1896), XIX, 1–16; see also Erica-Marie Benabou, La Prostitution et la police des mœurs au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Perrin, 1987), 101. 31 ba ms 10252, f.120. 32 ba ms 10239, f. 33. 33 See, for example, Robert Darnton’s chapter on d’Hémery in The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (New York: Basic Books, 1984), 145–89. 34 See also, Ernest Coyecque, Inventaire de la Collection Anisson, Paris 1900, I, xxxvi; Marlinda Ruth Bruno, The Journal D’Hémery, 1750–1751, I, 8–9, and Robert Shackleton, “Deux policiers du XVIIIe. siècle: Berryer et d’Hémery,” in Thèmes et figures du siècle des lumières: mélanges offerts à Roland Mortier, ed. R.Trousson (Genève: Droz, 1980), 251–8. 35 See an Minutier central, LXIV.320, 20 March 1742, Contrat de mariage entre sieur Joseph d’Hémery et demoiselle Marie Magdelaine Gabrielle Roussel. Not surprisingly, the wording of the contract disguises the fact of his illegitimacy by listing him as “fils majeur de défunts sieur Joseph d’Hémery et Françoise Blondeau (in fact, his real birth mother), sa femme, négociants à Stenay.” 36 ba ms 10234; 6 August 1751. 37 ba ms 10268. 38 ba ms 10243, ff.160–1; 1 March 1752. 39 The alert reader will note that Meusnier is not referring here to clandestine journalism. 40 ba ms 10243, ff.185–7. 41 ba ms 10246, f.39. 42 ba ms 10236, f.494; 3 August 1749. 43 See also in ba ms 10237, ff.332–3, the extraordinary case of the demoiselles Ramont and La Vérité, both of the Opéra-Comique, brought before Marville; in addition, Meusnier’s note on a woman named Linière, alias

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

404

44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68

69 70 71

Page 404

Notes to pages 82–91

Robolle, “demeurant rue des Boucheries, laquelle a déjà été à l’hôpital pendant neuf mois. Débauche actuellement un jeune homme de 12 à 13 ans, fils de M. Le Lièvre, marchand de bas.” (ba ms 10251, f.54). Jean Delay, Avant mémoire: La Fauconnier (à Paris sous Louis XV), (Paris: Gallimard, 1985), III, 81. ba ms 10237, f.194. ba ms 10237, f.195. That is, around 25 July 1750. ba ms 10237, f.195. ba ms 10237, f.200; 29 September 1751. ba ms 10237, f.201. ba ms 10237, f.202. ba ms 10237, f.203. Police inspector Joseph-François Coutailloux. ba ms 10243, f.35. See ba ms 10252, ff.43–8, feuilles de Babet, dite Desmaretz. ba ms 10253, f.73; 27 April 1752. D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires IX, 173. Ibid., VI, 160, 182; 2 and 28 March 1750. Collé, Journal et mémoires I, 136–7. Later in the century, Restif de la Bretonne’s Le Pornographe ou Idées d’un honnête-homme sur un projet de réglement pour les prostituées (Londres: Jean Nourse, 1769) defended a similar notion. ba ms 10253, ff.104–419; published in part by Gaston Capon, Les Maisons closes au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Daragon, 1903), 55–102. ba ms 10251, f.128. ba ms 10253, f.161. ba ms 10253, f. 144. ba ms 10253, f.162. ba ms 10253, f.317; also 11860, f.196. ba ms 10253, f.288. ba ms 10253, f.292. Claude Mauriac has made use of some Lafosse material as transcribed with numerous errors from ba ms 10252 by Capon in Les Maisons closes. See, for example, Capon, 139, n.2 and C. Mauriac, La Marquise sortit à cinq heures (Albin Michel, 1961), 290, 297–9. ba ms 10252, f.107; see also, Correspondance générale d’Helvétius, ed. D. Smith et al, University of Toronto Press, IV (1998), Letter 149 bis. ba ms 10252, f.25. ba ms 10252, f.104. The original spelling of the last sentence describing Mlle Julie’s visit to the home of “Mr delvestiusse” illustrates some of the deciphering puzzles occasionally encountered in these abbesse reports:

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 405

Notes to pages 91–108

72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85

405

Elle lui a donnée le foit jus cau sanc en lui fesans demander pardonc a genoux. Jean-Baptiste, duc de Duras (1684–1770), awarded the maréchal’s bâton in 1741. ba ms 10252, f.124. ba ms 10253, f.201. ba ms 10253, f.4. See Camille Piton, Paris sous Louis XV, (Paris: Mercure de France, 1908), II, 135. ba ms 10253, f.29. ba ms 10252, f.123. See d’Argenson, Journal et mémoires VIII, 292; IX, 187. Ibid., IX, 220. Dufort, Mémoires sur les règnes de Louis XV et Louis XVI, I, 150–1. Mémoires de J. Casanova de Seingalt, écrits par lui-même, ed. G. Sigaux (Paris: Cercle du Bibliophile, 1967), XII, 321. ba ms 10252, ff.246–7. ba ms 10243, f.37. ba ms 11805, f.211.

chapter four 1 ba ms 10238, f.105. 2 See Charles Collé, Journal et mémoires, ed. H. Bonhomme (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1868), I, 268. 3 The last line in some versions of Rességuier’s poem reads, “La dépouille du peuple et la honte du roi.” 4 E.-J.-F. Barbier, Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (Paris: Charpentier, 1866), IV, 495–7. 5 Clément-Jérôme-Ignace de Rességuier, author of Voyage d’Amatonthe (also condemned that same year), was transferred from the Bastille to Pierre-Encize prison near Lyons in February 1751. Following his release in October 1752, he was exiled to his country estate. See Frantz FunckBrentano, Les Lettres de cachet à Paris, étude suivie d’une liste des prisonniers de la Bastille (1659–1789) (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1903), No. 4143; also, Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille (Paris: Pedone-Lauriel, 1881), XII, 355–60. In the end, the marquise herself interceded behind the scenes to ease young Rességuier’s punishment. 6 ba ms 10238, f.106. 7 ba ms 10238, f.108; 14 October 1750. 8 ba ms 10238, f.109. The minimum age for marriage without parental consent was twenty-five.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

406 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

33 34 35 36 37

Page 406

Notes to pages 109–22

ba ms 10238 f.116. See ba ms 10251, f.33. ba ms 10234, 26 September 1751. ba ms 10238, f.129. ba ms 10238, f.136; my emphasis. ba ms 10252, f.262. ba ms 10238, f.139. See below, Epilogue. There were 48 commissaires and 20 inspectors in the Paris jurisdiction. That is, at a 5% rate of interest (100 divided by 20). an Minutier Central, XCII.572. To illustrate the relative importance of such a sum, it is perhaps enough to note that La Jannière had leased out, only two months before, jointly with his sister Marie-Anne, wife of Louis-Alexandre Framboisier, the police inspector in charge of the sodomy detail, a small house on the Place de Fourcy (de l’Estrapade) for 300 livres per annum to “la demoiselle Françoise de Gueffrouse Le Picard, fille majeure, and Marc-Antoine Saint Saurlieu, prêtre du diocèse de Paris, vivant ensemble.” (an Minutier central, CIX.582. Bail, 18 mai 1751). The encyclopédiste Diderot lived, we see, in a reasonably priced as well as domestically colourful neighbourhood. See ba ms 11846, f.291; from the Bastille, 12 January 1755. ba ms 10234; 19 May 1751. ba ms 11745, f.28; 4 October 1751. See Gaston Capon, Les Maisons closes au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Daragon, 1903), 46. ba ms 10253, f,170; 14 June 1751. ba ms 11745, ff.28–9. Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Tableau de Paris, nouvelle édition, Amsterdam, 1782, XI, 84. ba ms 11745, f.34. And more, all fairly indecipherable; ba ms 11745, f.37. See Charles-Philippe d’Albret, duc de Luynes, Mémoires du duc de Luynes sur la cour de Louis XV (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1865), XVII, 51–2. ba ms 11745, f.38. Emphasis mine. René-Louis, marquis d’Argenson, Journal et mémoires du marquis d’Argenson, ed. E.J.B. Rathéry (Paris: Société de l’Histoire de France, 1859–1867), VII, 383. Ibid., VII, 74, 146; January and March 1752. ba ms 10240, f.82. ba ms 10240, f.83; 18 July 1752. Lampsacus, ancient centre of Priapic worship. ba ms 10240, f.84.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 407

Notes to pages 122–9

407

38 Meusnier, we see, remains the droll stylist! 39 ba ms 10252, f.117. 40 ba ms 11846, f.139. Julie to Berryer from the Bastille, 29 November 1753. 41 ba ms 10240, f.85. 42 ba ms 11846, f.459; 8 July 1753.

chapter five 1 See Charles-Philippe d’Albret, duc de Luynes, Mémoires du duc de Luynes sur la cour de Louis XV (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1865), X,140. 2 ba ms 10239, f.382. 3 Ibid. 4 See above, chapter 3, 90–1. 5 Correspondance générale d’Helvétius, I, 286–7. The letter is addressed to “Monsieur de Julie, officier de robbe courte, rue du Sepulcre, chez un tonnelier, fauxbourg St-Germain à Paris.” 6 Correspondance générale, I, 290–1. 7 François Génard, L’Ecole de l’homme ou Parallèle des portraits du siècle & des tableaux de l’Ecriture Sainte. Ouvrage Moral, Critique & Anecdotique, Nouvelle Edition, Londres 1753, I, 83. The same work attacks Berryer under the name “Orgon,” and also Helvétius (“Moncade”) who is accused of having contracted a secret marriage in his past. Génard, a true eighteenth-century martyr to freedom of the press, was sent to the Bastille for his pains and was rearrested several times after his release. He died in Bicêtre on 10 October 1764. See ba ms 11810. 8 See Meusnier’s note to himself, 17 March 1752: “Prévenir M. de Julie d’avertir M. Desnoyers que je ne pourrai lui donner à dîner mardi prochain parce que je vais chez M. Vallois” (ba ms 10234, 4e cahier). 9 And died there on 1 February 1762, an, scellés, Y.11952; see also Almanach Royal, 1753, 263–4. 10 Jean-Charles Desnoyers died in November 1755, survived by his wife, Marie-Anne Lemire whom he had married in 1731. See an Minutier Central, XXXIX.432 (Martel, Michel), Inventaire après décès, 2 décembre 1755; constitution de rente, 8 novembre 1755. Meusnier has extensive notes on la demoiselle Morel, cadette, ba ms 10237, ff.224–30. 11 See, for example, E.-J.-F. Barbier, Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (Paris: Charpentier, 1866), IV, 326–9; René-Louis, marquis d’Argenson, Journal et mémoires du marquis d’Argenson, ed. E.J.B. Rathéry (Paris: Société de l’Histoire de France, 1859–1867), V, 292–4; Jean-François Marmontel, Mémoires (Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1967), I, 227–43. Very little new material on the incident has come to light since E. Campardon’s La Cheminée de Madame de la Poupelinière (Paris:

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

408

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31 32

33 34 35 36 37 38 39

Page 408

Notes to pages 129–37

Charavay, 1880), which quotes (112–15) commissaire De La Vergée’s procès-verbal of 28 November 1748. La Cheminée, 29–30. Barbier, Chronique de la Régence, IV, 329. ba ms 10240, f.47; 30 August 1749; 16 March and 19 April 1752. ba ms 10234; 9 April 1753. See d’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, IV, 350. ba ms 10234; 14 June 1752. See Hyde to Richelieu from Paris, 30 September 1752, ba ms 10252, f.18. See ba ms 10235, ff.301–4; other examples of Desnoyers’ handiwork for Richelieu are mentioned in ba ms 10,239, ff.326–8; see also Camille Piton, Paris sous Louis XV (Paris: Mercure de France, 1912), IV, 209–26. ba ms 11846, f.23; Meusnier to Berryer, 7 August 1753. See Meusnier, ba ms 10234; 9 April 1753. D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VI, 47. Ibid., VI, 83. Ibid., VI, 84. Ibid., VI, 226; 13 July 1750. Ibid., VII, 3; 4 October 1751. Ibid., VI, 342; 23 January 1751. Ibid., VII, 159. Ibid., VI, 329, 10 January 1751. De Luynes (Mémoires, XV, 432) notes that “la place de conseiller d’État est la plus grande récompense qu’un homme de robe puisse espérer, à l’exception des charges.” Draft. ba ms 11846, f.474. ba ms 11846, f.292. Undated but probably early 1752; ba ms 11846, f.476. I have found no information in the files that throws light on the precise nature of the Le Blond affair alluded to here. See Charles Collé, Journal et mémoires, ed. H. Bonhomme (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1868), I, 309–310. ba ms 11846, f.478. D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VI, 32. Dozens of cases can be cited; see, for example, ba ms 10236, f.221, du 13 juin 1750, regarding Mlle Duperay, actrice récitante at the Opéra. D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VI, 405. See above, chapter I, 33–4. ba ms 10252, f.135, 13 December 1753; also 10234, 5e cahier, 12 December 1753. A secondary version of this original document (erroneously described as “introuvable”) is quoted with variants from J.G. Prod’homme’s unidentified source in André Magnan, Rameau le neveu,

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 409

Notes to pages 138–43

40 41

42 43 44

45 46 47 48 49 50

51

52

53 54 55 56 57

409

textes et documents (Sainte-Étienne: cnrs Éditions, 1993), pp. 57–9; 230, note 20. D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VI, 79. ba ms 10236, f.505. We should point out that the Encyclopédie (article “Anis”) notes among the many therapeutic properties of aniseed its power to calm “les coliques.” Francis Hastings, tenth Earl of Huntingdon (1729–1789). ba ms 10236, ff.501–17; 22 September 1751; 16 March and 5 October 1752. ba ms 10236, f.523; 26 March 1754. Edward Wingfield (1729–1764), second viscount Powerscourt, impressed Parisians immensely in October 1754 by wagering 1500 louis d’or (36,000 livres), chiefly with the duc d’Orléans, that he could ride from Fontainebleau to Paris – 42 English miles – in under two hours. To facilitate the wager, the road was cleared of all traffic by order of the king. Milord won his bet with nearly a half hour to spare, but he killed off two of his prize English thoroughbreds in the process. See J.N. Dufort, Mémoires sur les règnes de Louis XV et Louis XVI et sur la Révolution, ed. Robert de Crèvecœur (Paris: Plon, 1886), I, 146–7; also, Barbier, Chroniques de la Régence, VI, 70. See inspector Buhot’s report to Meusnier, ba ms 10235, f.229. ba ms 10240, f.156. ba ms 10240, f.157; 4 October 1750. See above, p. 85, and ba ms 10237, f.203. i.e., 15 June 1751 new style. See The Diary of David Garrick, being a record of his memorable trip to Paris in 1751, ed. Ryllis Clair Alexander (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1928), 20. ba ms 11743, ff.358–9; the letter is published with omissions in Frantz Funck-Brentano, La Bastille des Comédiens, Le For L’Evêque (Paris: Albert Fontemoing, 1903), 178. Pitrot’s name frequently comes up in the vice squad files, as does that of his equally libertine dancer wife. See, for example, Camille Piton, Paris sous Louis XV (Paris: Mercure de France, 1908), II, 228; III, 218, 247. Later reports describe a diseased Pitrot as “pourri jusqu’à la moelle” (Gaston Capon, Les Maisons closes au XVIIIe siècle [Paris: Daragon, 1903], 165). ba ms 11743, f.362. ba ms 11743, f.360. ba ms 11743, ff.367–8; my emphasis. ba ms 11743, f.369. ba ms 11743, f.371.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

410

Page 410

Notes to pages 143–53

58 Collé, Journal et mémoires, II, 67. 59 Ibid., II, 86.

chapter six 1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9

10

11 12

13 14

15 16

17 18

19 20

See below, chapter 16, p. 343. ba ms 11846, f.292. ba ms 10234; 13 June 1751. ba ms 11805, dossier Coquerel de Saint-Aubin, ff.21–4. The parlementaire in question (troisième chambre des enquêtes) was Pierre-François Doublet de Bandeville who resided in the rue des Blancs Manteaux. ba ms 11805, f.29. Ibid. ba ms 11805, ff.31–40. See above, pp. 88–9. The régiment de Briqueville, in this instance. Such conditional “regimental” releases were sufficiently common in the case of able-bodied male prisoners that a standard printed release form was in routine use at the time. See, for example, ba ms 10028, f.548, the case of Charles Banois. Berryer de Ravenoville (Nicolas-René), lieutenant général de police from 27 May 1747 to 29 October 1757, was succeeded by Bertin de Bellisle (Henri-Léonard-Jean-Baptiste), who held the office from 29 October 1757 to 21 November 1759. See police report of 18 December 1760, ba ms 11805, f.81. ba ms 11805, procès-verbal, ff.31–40. Readers of Manon Lescaut will be familiar with some of the gentler features of chain gangs, conducted in the case of Manon by low-status archers whose positions or charges would have cost them less than one-tenth what Saint-Aubin had paid for his office of exempt. an ms V1 366, 1751. A mousquetaire from 1748 to 1752, Antoine-Louis Bertin de Blagny (brother of Auguste-Louis Bertin, who figures so prominently in Diderot’s Neveu de Rameau), eventually became a fermier général in 1765. ba ms 10239, f.612. La Montbrun later became one of Meusnier’s most faithful mouches. See above, p. 87, her note of appreciation for the inspector’s – obviously much needed – protection; 27 April 1752; ba ms 10253, f.73. ba ms 10239, f.613. ba ms 11839, ff.94–103; see also the case of Charles Hérault, “potier d’étain suspect de recelage de plomb,” sent to For l’Évêque, 2 January 1752, ba ms 11749, f.101. ba ms 10035, ff.168–9. See, for example, d’Argenson’s account of a riot at For l’Évêque in

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 411

Notes to pages 154–71

21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

411

December 1751, VII, 46–7; also, on overcrowding in the Paris prisons, VIII, 99, August 1753. Tableau de Paris, XI, 86. ba ms 10035, ff.170–1. See British Library, add. mss, 35445, f.335; 24 September 1752. On the controversial nature of Louise de Moysan’s appointment as supérieure at the Hôpital général, see Henry Légier Desgranges, Madame de Moysan et l’extravagante affaire de l’Hôpital général (1749–1758) (Paris: Hachette, 1954). Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Tableau de Paris, nouvelle édition, Amsterdam, 1782, VI, 79–81. Ibid., I, 117–20. See E.-J.-F. Barbier, Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (Paris: Charpentier, 1866), III, 538. ba ms 11836, ff.144–5. ba ms 11836, ff.142–3. ba ms 11836, ff.146–7. ba ms 11836, f.148. ba ms 11836, f.150. ba ms 11836, ff.152–3. ba ms 11836, ff.158–60; Berthelin to Berryer, 23 March 1753. ba ms 11836, ff.154–6. ba ms 11836, ff.154–66.

chapter seven 1 See above, chapter 5, 136. 2 See above, chapter 2, 65. 3 See Paul d’Estrée, “Un journaliste policier: le chevalier de Mouhy,” Revue d’histoire littéraire de la France (1897), 232. 4 See my “Les Nouvelles à la main: la perspective du client,” in De bonne main, ed. F. Moureau, 135–42. 5 Draft; ba ms 11846, f.469. 6 Draft; ba ms 11846, f.468; 26 October 1752. 7 ba ms 11846, f.69. 8 See Denis Diderot, Mémoires pour Catherine II, Œuvres complètes, ed. Lewinter (Paris: Club Français du Livre, 1969–1972), X, 351–3. 9 See above, chapter 3, 74. 10 See Pierre Manuel, La Police de Paris dévoilée, (Paris, An II), II,129. 11 ba ms 10234, Meusnier’s note of 13 May 1751. 12 See Charles-Philippe d’Albret, duc de Luynes, Mémoires du duc de Luynes sur la cour de Louis XV (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1865), XII, 406. 13 René-Louis, marquis d’Argenson, Journal et mémoires du marquis

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

412

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30

31 32

33

34

Page 412

Notes to pages 171–7

d’Argenson, ed. E.J.B. Rathéry (Paris: Société de l’Histoire de France, 1859–1867), VII, 82; 26 January 1752. ba ms 10237, f.422; 18 April 1752. ba ms 10239, f.320; 9 May 1752. ba ms 11846, f.20. See Jean Delay, Avant mémoire: La Fauconnier (Paris: Gallimard, 1985), III, 175. ba ms 11846, f.78. See d’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, V, 335. ba ms 11846, f.71. ba ms 10242, ff.404–6. So described in the commentary added in 1739 to the Plan de Louis Bretez (better known as the Plan de Turgot). Neuvième Époque, (Pléiade) II, 429. Diderot, Œuvres complètes, ed. Lewinter, X, 299. See Erica-Marie Benabou, La Prostitution et la police des mœurs au XVIIIe siècle, (Paris: Perrin, 1987), 197. A. Augustin-Thierry, Trois Amuseurs d’autrefois. Paradis de Moncrif. Carmontelle. Charles Collé, (Paris: Plan-Nourrit, 1924), 95–6. D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, II, 386. Ibid., V, 411. Her current favourite being the celebrated milord Melfort, whom the complacent duke, a frequent target of public ridicule, eventually threatened to throw out of the Palais Royal windows (see Charles Collé, Journal et mémoires, ed. H. Bonhomme (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1868), I, 366). D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VI, 86; 8 December 1749. The duchess was credited at various times with a veritable platoon of lovers, including Louis XV, the prince de Soubise, the duc de Richelieu, maréchal Saxe, maréchal Lowendal, the abbé de Bernis, not to mention “la Cour, l’armée et les gens du peuple qu’elle allait chercher revêtue d’un déguisement, dans le jardin de son palais.” Jacques Hillairet, Évocation du vieux Paris (Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1953), II, 22. D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VII, 180. Curys, or Curis, is described by Marmontel as a “bon plaisant” who was “plus espiègle que malin” (Jean-François Marmontel, Mémoires (Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1967), I, 275–6; see also II, 117–37). Marmontel spent ten days (28 December 1759–7 January 1760) in the Bastille as punishment for reciting lines from Curys’s parody of Corneille’s Cinna that attacked the duc d’Aumont, premier gentilhomme de la chambre. ba ms 10253, ff.159–160, report of 14 April 1751. See Meusnier’s “État des papiers concernant les petites maisons galantes, remis au sieur Marais,” ba ms 10252, f.146. ba ms 11846, ff.418–19.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 413

Notes to pages 178–84

413

35 ba ms 11846, ff.420–1. 36 In 1753, the Court left for Compiègne on 5 July and returned to Versailles in the second week of August. 37 ba ms 10244; 4 August 1753.

chapter eight 1 F. Funck-Brentano and Paul d’Estrée, for example, devote a brief chapter to it: “Les petites nouvelles,” in Figaro et ses devanciers (Paris: Hachette, 1909), 185–200; see also, François Moureau, Répertoire des nouvelles à la main, Dictionnaire de la presse manuscrite clandestine, XVIe–XVIIIe siècle (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1999), 268–9. 2 See Ulla Kölving and Jeanne Carriat, Inventaire de la Correspondance littéraire de Grimm et Meister (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1984), I, xv–xxxi. 3 ba ms 11846, ff.19, 22. 4 See Archives de Paris, DC6 18, f.276. 5 ba ms 11846, ff.72–3. 6 See E.-J.-F. Barbier, Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (Paris: Charpentier, 1866), I, 339–40; also, Journal et mémoires de Mathieu Marais, ed. A.M. de Lescure (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1863–1868), II, 458; F. Funck-Brentano, Les lettres de cachet à Paris, étude suivie d’une liste des prisonniers de la Bastille (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1903), 206–7, Nos. 2684–5. 7 an Minutier Central, CVII.465; 14 May 1750, Dépôt de testament. 8 ba ms 11846, f.461. 9 François Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille (Paris: Pedone-Lauriel, 1881), XVII, 179. Using the name Aubert in another similar case, Mahudel was placed with the prisoner Du Truch de La Chaux and several other Bastille inmates in January 1762; Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVIII, 198. 10 ba ms 11846, f.416. Some notion of Mahudel’s basic spelling abilities may be derived from the original transcription of the passage cited: “Lon na scu du coche de mr le prince de turenne que le jour qui la eté a lopera en sortant il la esté ches le Sr gille et a passé par la rue coquillière et entré dans la rue des vieux augustin et se aretté au coin de la rue pagevin ches le sr gille qui et son confident il le bien sur qui luy procure des filles on na pas peut savoir le nom de la dlle mais lon soupsonne quelle pouvoit demuré dans la maison de gille rue pagevin qui fait le coin de la rue des vieux augustin La chosse et tres sure que le Sr gille luy et comode il niauroit aucune lieson damitie qui fut capable de les lieé dune sy etroite amitiée atendu que gille et inferieur a ce prince et qui ne posede aucun bien pour vivre cela nempeche pas qui ne face tres grand figure le coché que lon a questionne ne se pas le nom de la dlle ou il ne la pas voulu dire.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

414

Page 414

Notes to pages 185–94

11 ba ms 11846, ff.427–8. 12 ba ms 11846, f.458. 13 Possibly two friends of Francis Hastings, Lord Huntingdon (see above, chapter 5), William Bagot (1728–1798) and David Murray (1727–1796), who assumed the title viscount Stormont in 1748. 14 The lesser of two contemporary town houses by that name, it was located at what is today number 3, rue Jacob. 15 ba ms 11846, f.449. 16 ba ms 11846, f.46. The letter is addressed to “Monsieur de Mahudel, rue St. Martin au coin de la rue de Venise au Caffé Genois, au 3e, à Paris.” 17 ba ms 11846, f.61. 18 ba ms 11846, f.68. 19 See an Minutier Central, XLV, 515, 18 December 1761, Dépôt de Testament de Jacques Chazé; also, 30 December 1761, Inventaire. 20 ba ms 11846, f.68. 21 ba ms 11846, f.22. 22 See an Minutier Central, CVI, 386; 23 March 1762, Inventaire de Hyacinthe Veissière de La Combe. 23 See above, chapter 2, 63–4. 24 See ba ms 11774, ff.18–19. 25 ba ms 11846, f.65. 26 The recopied Bousquet sheets were later seized by the police. See, ba ms 11846, ff.345–404. 27 See above, chapter 2, 63.

chapter nine 1 See, for example, the two-volume Dictionnaire des journaux, 1600–1789, ed. Jean Sgard (Paris: Universitas; Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1991). 2 Lettres persanes, Lettre CXXX, Œuvres complètes, ed. Roger Caillois (Paris: Gallimard), collection “Bibliothèque de la Pléiade,” I, 324. 3 See, for example, inspector Marais’s 21 February 1766 report in Camille Piton, Paris sous Louis XV, III, 93–4. 4 ba ms 11846, f.459. 5 See Diderot to Sophie Volland, 12 September 1761, Œuvres complètes, ed. Lewinter (Paris: Club Français du Livre, 1969–1972), V, 613–15. 6 Jean-Baptiste Sauvé, known as La Noue (1701–1760). 7 I.e., 7 July 1753. 8 Pierre-Charles-Étienne Maignard, marquis de La Vaupalière. 9 Victoire Guéant (1733–1758). 10 Rose-Perrine Bellecour (1730–1799). 11 ba ms 11846, f.423; see also, Jean Delay. Avant mémoire: La Fauconnier (à Paris sous Louis XV), (Paris: Gallimard, 1985), III, 175. On Mlle Hus,

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 415

Notes to pages 194–9

12 13 14

15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

415

see Charles Collé, Journal et mémoires, ed. H. Bonhomme (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1868), I, 333–4; also, Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique par Grimm, Diderot, Raynal, Meister, etc., ed. M. Tourneux, (Paris: Garnier, 1877) 15 July 1753, II, 265. ba ms 11846, f.439. ba ms 11846, f.423. Abel-François Poisson de Vandières (1727–1781), brother of the marquise de Pompadour. He was granted the title marquis de Marigny in 1754. Anne-Madeleine Rabon (died 1758), first wife of Antoine-Bonaventure Pitrot, maître des ballets at the Comédie-Italienne. Her “neutral” status at the gathering can be explained by the fact that she frequently played the role of high-style maquerelle and go-between for various grands seigneurs of the day. ba ms 11846, f.434. ba ms 11846, f.462. ba ms 11846, ff.463–4. Amphitryon, III.10. ba ms 11846, f.435; my italics. See, for example, ba ms 10238, ff.155–66. ba ms 11846, ff.423–4. See Les Contre-Confessions. Histoire de Madame de Montbrillant, préface Élisabeth Badinter, notes de Georges Roth revues par Élisabeth Badinter (Paris: Mercure de France, 1989), 438–45; also, J.-J. Rousseau, Les Confessions, Livre Septième, Œuvres complètes, ed. Bernard Gagnebin and Marcel Raymond (Pléiade, 1964), 345. Les Contre-Confessions, 837. Amateurs of literary trivia will recall that the maréchal de Saxe fathered a child in 1748 with Marie de Verrière, the elder of the sisters. Acknowledged by her renowned father and named Marie-Aurore de Saxe, she is remembered today as the grandmother of George Sand. See Jean-François Marmontel, Mémoires (Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1967), I, 220–5. ba ms 11846, f.464. Diderot, ed. Lewinter, X, 159. ba ms 11846, f. 440; 8 June 1753. ba ms 11846, f. 442. ba ms 11846, f.455. ba ms 11846, f. 442. Ceci n’est pas un conte, Œuvres complètes, ed. Lewinter, X, 159–60. ba ms 11846, f.442; 11 July 1753. ba ms 11846, f.454. ba ms 10237, f.335; 15 December 1753. See above, chapter 5, 138.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

416 37 38 39 40 41

42 43 44

45

46 47

48 49

50 51 52 53

Page 416

Notes to pages 200–4 ba ms 11846, f.463. ba ms 10236, ff.526, 528. ba ms 11846, f.471; 4 July 1753. ba ms 10237, f.281. ba ms 11846, f. 443. Charlotte-Godefride-Elisabeth de Rohan-Soubise (1737–1760) married in 1753 Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé. ba ms 11846, f.452. ba ms 11846, f.463. The sexual intrigues of Madame de La Popelinière, the maréchal’s mistress at the time of the notorious fireplace gambit, do not, however, go unnoticed; see ba ms 11846, f.435. ba ms 11846, f. 452. References to Mme Sabattin (also known as Mme de Langeac) and to the son in question will be found in Diderot’s correspondence, Œuvres complètes, ed. Lewinter, VII, 762; 769; also IX, 1130–1. See also Piton, Paris sous Louis XV (Paris: Mercure de France, 1908), I, 182. The marquis d’Argenson, who describes the powerful minister as an ugly dwarf, notes that Mme de Saint-Florentin was paying her wayward husband back in kind by consorting with the contrôleur général, Machault d’Arnouville. (René-Louis, marquis d’Argenson, Journal et mémoires du marquis d’Argenson, ed. E.J.B. Rathéry (Paris: Société de l’Histoire de France, 1859–1867: V, 475; VI, 155, 195). See ba ms 10236, f.309. ba ms 10237, f.256. Piton, Paris sous Louis XV (I, 32), refers to the appellations qu’importe and farfadet for non-paying lovers but it is my impression that those particular designations were rarely employed in the vice squad jargon of the day. ba ms 10253; 15 May 1753. ba ms 11846, f.463. By April of the following year, a reconciliation had occurred and de Luynes (XIII, 238) notes the impending marriage of Mlle d’Urfé and M. du Châtelet, écuyer de main du Roi. (Charles-Philippe d’Albret, duc de Luynes, Mémoires du duc de Luynes sur la cour de Louis XV [Paris: Firmin Didot, 1865]). ba ms 11846, f.435. See ba ms 10237, ff. 373–5. ba ms 11846, f.465. ba ms 11846; f.438. Gabriel-Louis-François de Neufville, marquis, then duc de Villeroi, born in 1731, was guillotined in 1794. Described as having “peu d’esprit” but “puissamment riche” (J.N. Dufort, Mémoires sur les règnes de Louis XV et Louis XVI et sur la Révolution, ed. Robert de Crèvecœur (Paris: Plon, 1886), I, 75), he eventually lost Étiennette-MariePerrine Lemarquis, a figurante at the Comédie-Italienne, to the duc d’Orléans. See Collé, Journal et mémoires, III, 110–12.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 417

Notes to pages 204–21

417

54 Mémoires, XIII, 4–5. 55 ba ms 11846, f.471. 56 12 August 1753; see Piton, Paris sous Louis XV, IV, 44–5. CharlesArmand d’Usson, marquis de Donnezan, brother of the marquis de Bonac, whose inopportune poaching occasioned Astraudi’s battering by the comte d’Egmont. The name of the comte de Villegagnon figures occasionally in the vice squad files. 57 ba ms 11846, f.70. 58 ba ms 11846, f. 433. 59 ba ms 11846, f. 423. 60 ba ms 10252, f.104. 61 See “Nouvelles littéraires” in Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique, I, 94; also, I, 350–1. 62 ba ms 11846, f.437; 22 July 1753. De Vandières was directeur général des Bâtiments du Roi. 63 See Jacques le fataliste, Œuvres complètes, ed. Lewinter, XII, 222; also, Salon de 1765, VI, 126. 64 ba ms 11846, f.459. 65 ba ms 11846, f.467. 66 See above, chapter 3, 93–4. 67 ba ms 11846, f.471. 68 De Luynes, Mémoires, XII, 488. 69 Dufort, Mémoires, I, 151. 70 12 juillet 1753; ba ms 11846, f.465. 71 ba ms 11846, f.54. See illustration, p. 212.

chapter ten 1 ba ms 11846, f.431. 2 ba ms 11846, f.436. 3 See Charles Collé, Journal et mémoires, ed. H. Bonhomme (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1868), II, 86; also Marmontel, Mémoires, II, 224. 4 See Bruno, Marlinda Ruth, The Journal d’Hémery, 1750–1751: an edition (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1977), II, 638; also Dictionnaire des journalistes, I, 225–8. 5 Frantz Funck-Brentano, Figaro et ses devanciers (Paris: Hachette, 1909), 256; also, François Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille (Paris: PedoneLauriel, 1881), XII, 464ff. 6 ba ms 11846, f.87. 7 Ibid., Meusnier to Berryer, 18 August 1753. 8 ba ms 11846, ff.18–19. 9 Année 1753, 294. 10 ba ms 10238, f.795. We learn six months later that Mme Caze, far from

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

418

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28

Page 418

Notes to pages 222–9

taking her sorrows to heart, “s’indemnisait avec usure” (to use Meusnier’s words) for her husband’s infidelities. ba ms 10236, f.405; du 30 janvier 1754. ba ms 11846, ff.22–3. ba ms 11846, f.50. ba ms 11846, f.42. See Fernand Bournon, La Bastille (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1893), 287. ba ms 11846, f.29. Bournon, La Bastille, 288. bl, Egerton ms 1667. See illustration p. 211. Beginning clockwise with Tour de la Bazinière, the first tower to the left of the main entrance, the towers bore the following names: Tour de la Bertaudière, Tour de la Liberté, Tour du Puits, Tour du Coin, Tour de la Chapelle, Tour du Trésor, and finally, Tour de la Comté, situated to the right of the main entrance. Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 48. bl, Egerton ms 1667, f.173. Étrenne: here, a contemporary generic term for a small-format almanac offered as a New Year’s gift. Le Nouvelliste aérien, ou Le Sylphe amoureux (Amsterdam, 1734). bl, Egerton ms 1667, f.174. Bruno, Journal d’Hémery, II, 691–2. Inspector Dumont made the arrest; see Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 305. Entered on 9 January 1754, along with his printer Descoutures, whose sentence lasted more than a year. See Frantz Funck-Brentano, Liste des prisonniers de la Bastille (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1903), Nos. 4259 and 4260. See Diderot, Œuvres complètes, ed. Lewinter (Paris: Club Français du Livre, 1969–1972), IV, 772. Logique et principes de grammaire, par M. Du Marsais, ouvrages posthumes en partie et en partie extraits de plusieurs traités qui ont déjà paru de cet auteur (Paris: Briasson, LeBreton et Hérissant fils, 1769). The eighteenth-century bibliographer Johann-Samuel Ersch in his La France littéraire contenant les auteurs français de 1771 à 1796 (Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1971), names Rochebrune as the anonymous editor, but Antoine-Alexandre Barbier’s later Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes (Reprint: Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose, 1964), II, 1336, credits as editor Étienne-François Drouet, adding only that “le manuscrit de ces ouvrages était entre les mains du commissaire de Rochebrune.” Quérard’s La France littéraire ou Dictionnaire bibliographique (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1828), II, 667 also credits Drouet.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 419

Notes to pages 229–42

419

29 Catalogue des livres de feu M. de Rochebrune, commissaire au Châtelet de Paris (Paris: Musier fils, 1774). 30 See René Pomeau, D’Arouet à Voltaire, 1694–1734, Oxford, 1985, 22–5. 31 ba ms 11846, f.60. 32 ba ms 11846, f.61. 33 Ibid. 34 ba ms 11846, f.62. The archbishop of Paris, Christophe de Beaumont, would soon to be in a position to share Jean Mahudel’s low opinion of du Roscouet. The following year, on 1 March 1754, he asked d’Argenson for the abbé’s immediate incarceration: “Vous me ferez plaisir, Monsieur, de demander un ordre du Roi pour faire arrêter le sieur Du Roscouet, même dans les maisons privilégiées, maisons royales et autres. On m’a fait les plaintes les plus graves sur le compte de cet ecclésiastique, et elles ne sont que trop fondées.” (ba ms 11860, f.295). Two days later, the abbé found himself in For l’Évêque. 35 Authored by the abbé Jean-Martin de Prades, Diderot, and others; Amsterdam and Berlin, 1752. Another edition appeared in 1753. 36 D’Hémery’s journal for 12 October 1752 notes that he has not yet discovered the identity of the printer (bnf. ms fr. 22157, f.123); see also, A. Wilson, Diderot (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972), 748. 37 ba ms 11846, f.62. 38 ba ms 11846, f.65. 39 ba ms 11846, ff.65–6. 40 ba ms 11846, f.50. 41 ba ms 11846, f.87, Meusnier to Berryer, 18 August 1753; my emphasis. 42 ba ms 11846, ff.67–8. 43 ba ms 11846, f.69. 44 ba ms 11846, f.70. 45 Ibid. 46 ba ms 11846, f.71. 47 ba ms 11846, f.72. 48 Ibid. 49 ba ms 11846, f.73.

chapter eleven 1 Henry Linguet, Mémoires sur la Bastille, et la détention de l’auteur dans ce château royal depuis le 27 Septembre 1780, jusqu’au 19 Mai 1782 (Londres: T. Spilsbury, 1783), 144. 2 Ibid., 73. 3 François Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille (Paris: Pedone-Lauriel, 1881), XVI, 315. 4 Ibid., 318.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

420

Page 420

Notes to pages 242–52

5 See Dictionnaire des lettres françaises; le XVIIIe siècle, ed. François Moureau (Paris: Fayard, 1995), 631. 6 Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 321–2. 7 Ibid., 322. 8 ba ms 11846, f.90. 9 See Germain Brice, Description de la ville de Paris et de tout ce qu’elle contient de remarquable. Nouvelle édition (Paris: Libraires Associés, 1752), II, 236. 10 Linguet, Mémoires sur la Bastille, 70. Conditions improved significantly later in the century; wealthy prisoners like the marquis de Sade, for example, were allowed to furnish their rooms luxuriously at their own expense. See Maurice Lever, Donatien Alphonse François, marquis de Sade (Paris: Fayard, 1991), 377–9; 730–1. 11 Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 49. General reference, Claude Quétel, La Bastille: Histoire vraie d’une prison légendaire (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1989). 12 René-Louis, marquis d’Argenson, Journal et mémoires du marquis d’Argenson, ed. E.-J.-B. Rathéry (Paris: Société de l’Histoire de France, 1859–1867), VIII, 99. 13 bnf. ms fr. 22105. 14 J. Delort, Histoire de la détention des philosophes et des gens de lettres à la Bastille et à Vincennes (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1829), II, 182. 15 Ibid., 182–3. 16 Ibid., 183. 17 Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 20; my emphasis. 18 The incident resulted in his abrupt removal to Charenton – unluckily, ten days before the storming of the Bastille. 19 See J.C. Petitfils, La Vie quotidienne à la Bastille du Moyen Age à la Révolution (Paris: Hachette, 1975), 141. 20 For the 1764 version of the turnkeys’ consigne de service, see Bournon, Pièce justificative XXIV, 289–91. 21 Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XII, 405. 22 ba ms 12575, États des prisonniers, 1754. 23 Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XII, 390. 24 Ibid., XVI, 47. I have not found the original of Ravaisson’s unreferenced quotation and have thus been unable to verify his transcription of the appellation, “M. de Rys.” The name may be an internal code designation for Louis XV, the supreme overseer of all arrangements within his royal prison. Well up on social gossip, Julie would have known details of the Court’s recent summer migration to Compiègne. Louis XV, accompanied by his regular entourage, had left for Compiègne on 5 July (De Luynes, Mémoires, XIII, 10). Entertainments attended by the king before his return to Versailles on 11 August, the day before Julie’s arrest, had, in

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 421

Notes to pages 252–9

25 26

27 28

29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

44 45 46 47 48

421

fact, included events at the château of La Muette in the Bois de Boulogne. Recovered after the fall of the Bastille, it is now in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. A good deal of fanciful material is available on the famous escapee Latude, much of it drawn from his mainly ghost-written, post-1789 Mémoires that can best be characterized as a blend of fact, paranoid fantasy, and ideological fiction. For a recent sympathetic account see André Nos, Jean-Henri Masers de Latude (1725–1805) ou le Fou de la liberté, Enquête historique et psychologique (Pézenas: Éditions Domens, 1994). Journal et mémoires, I, 355. D’Argenson, Journal et mémoires, VII, 15; see also, E.-J.-F. Barbier, Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (Paris: Charpentier, 1866), V, 114. Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 175. ba ms 12496, f.195, 15 July 1755. Incarcerated 18 October 1751, Sauvé was released and ordered exiled from Paris on 12 March 1757. 21 January 1756; Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 330. Ibid., 18 June 1756. 4 July 1756; Ibid., XVI, 331. Frantz Funck-Brentano, Liste des prisonniers de la Bastille (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1903), No. 4273. 4 October 1753; Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 303. Ibid., XIV, 384. To the comte d’Argenson, 20 October 1756; Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XIV, 392. Sartine to Saint-Florentin, Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XIV, 397. Ibid., XVI, 328. See Claude Lauriol, La Beaumelle, un protestant cévenol entre Montesquieu et Voltaire (Genève 1978), 360. J. Delort, Histoire de la détention des philosophes et des gens de lettres à la Bastille et à Vincennes (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1829), II, 246. Denis Diderot, Satire première, Œuvres complètes, ed. Lewinter (Club Français du Livre), X, 274–5. Margot la Ravaudeuse, postface de Maurice Saillet (Paris: J.J. Pauvert, 1965), 201–2. See J.H. Broome, “L’homme au cœur velu: the turbulent career of Fougeret de Monbron,” svec (1963), XXIII, 179–213. bnf. ms fr 22092, f.306. D’Hémery to Berryer, 23 May 1754, Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 320. bnf. ms fr 22092, f.306. Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 310–11. See Funck-Brentano, Liste des prisonniers, Nos. 4241 and 4254.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

422

Page 422

Notes to pages 259–73

49 Ibid., No. 4218. 50 Ibid., Nos. 4255, 4263, 4264, and 4267. All were released by September 1754. 51 ba ms 12494, f.149. 52 ba ms 12494, f.176. 53 ba ms 12494, f.208. 54 ba ms 12494, f.217. 55 ba ms 12494, f.207. 56 ba ms 12494, f.168. 57 See Funck-Brentano, Liste des prisonniers, No. 4228. 58 Ibid., Nos. 4230, 4229. 59 ba ms 10095, ff.325–412; also ba ms 7082. 60 ba ms 12494, f.200. 61 ba ms 12494, f.243. 62 ba ms 12494, f.272 63 Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Tableau de Paris, nouvelle édition, Amsterdam, 1782, I, 201. 64 Lettres de M. de Marville, lieutenant général de police, au ministre Maurepas (1742–1747) (Paris: Champion, 1896), I, xix. 65 ba ms 12494, f.289. 66 Funck-Brentano, Liste des prisonniers, No. 4183. 67 Ibid., No. 4271. 68 Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XII, 416. 69 Ibid., 417.

chapter twelve 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11

17 September 1753; ba ms 11846, f.99. ba ms 11846, f.96. ba ms 11846, f.97–8. 23 September 1753; ba ms 11846, f.104. ba ms 11846, f.126. Julie to Berryer, 1 October 1753, ba ms 11846, f.120; see also a letter of the same date denying any abuse of his exempt’s status to enforce an illegal seizure of goods (Julie to Berryer, ba ms 11846, f.122): “Quelque dure que fût ma misère, [les affaires] de cette espèce n’ont jamais été mes ressources.” ba ms 11846, ff.118–19. ba ms 11846, f.120. ba ms 11846, ff.128–9. ba ms 11846, ff.130–1. Jerusalem Bible, Psalm 126.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 423

Notes to pages 273–84 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26

423

ba ms 11846, f.131. 19 October 1753; ba ms 12493, f.270. 31 October 1753; ba ms 11846, f.132. ba ms 11846, ff. 135–6. ba ms 11846, ff.137–8. ba ms 11846, f.141. Ibid. Given his catastrophic financial situation, Julie’s wardrobe was indeed fairly lavish. For comparative data, see Daniel Roche, Histoire des choses banales (Paris: Fayard, 1997), chapter viii. See above, chapter 4. ba ms 11846, ff.139–40. See ba ms 12493, f.288, Berryer to Chevalier, 10 November 1753: “Pour vous donner quelques chambres, j’ai fait, Monsieur, l’arrangement suivant. Vous mettrez Caillat et Cretot ensemble, Chazé et l’abbé Rouzier ensemble, et Philippe dit Saint-Omer et Dubuisson ensemble. Après quoi vous referez un nouvel état.” On the abbé Rouzier, see Frantz FunckBrentano, Liste des prisonniers (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1903), No. 4249; François Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille (Paris: Pedone-Lauriel, 1881), XII, 407. See ba ms 10239, f.254. ba ms 11846, f.147. ba ms 12518, f.260. ba ms 11846, ff. 134; 143. ba ms 12518, f.291.

chapter thirteen 1 De Coin’s mother, Magdelaine de Turgis, widow of Charles Willemin de Coin, had died in Metz on 27 December 1752; see an, Minutier central, XIV, 353; 16 September 1754. 2 ba ms 11846, ff.145–6. 3 See ba ms 12518, ff.260–8. 4 ba ms 12518, f.262. 5 ba ms 12518, ff.264, 269, 271. 6 ba ms 12493, f.334. 7 ba ms 12518, f.334; 20 December 1753. 8 ba ms 12518, f.349. 9 Witness the letter (see above, chapter 11, 262, ba ms 12494, f.289) already referred to regarding the prisoner Du Thuillé’s ill-fitting coat. 10 ba ms 11846, ff.151–2; letter of 3 February 1754. 11 ba ms 11846, f.153. 12 De Coin seems to have had fairly expensive tastes in books. His two-

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

424

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Page 424

Notes to pages 285–97

volume folio version of Les Mémoires de messire Michel de Castelnau, seigneur de Mauvissière was probably the illustrated edition published by P. Lamy in Paris in 1659. ba ms 11846, ff.168–9. Berryer to Chevalier, 12 October 1753, ba ms 12493, ff.263, 270. ba ms 12494, f.130. ba ms 12494, f.5; 12 March 1754. ba ms 11846, f.170. ba ms 11846, ff.172–3. ba ms 11846, f.173. ba ms 11846, f.180. ba ms 11846, f.186. ba ms 11846, ff.163, 182. ba ms 11846, f.185. Underlined in the original. ba ms 11846, ff.188–9. ba ms 11846, f. 188; 18 May 1754. Added in the margin of Du Buat’s letter from Metz, 15 May 1754; ba ms 11846, f.190.

chapter fourteen 1 ba ms 11846, f.192; 31 May 1754. 2 ba ms 11846, ff.192–3; the underlinings are Berryer’s. The date is erroneously written as 1753. 3 Procès-verbal of commissaire Merlin, ba ms 11376, ff.158–9. See also ba ms 11846, ff.160, 161. On the not uncommon phenomenon of attroupements in eighteenth-century Paris, see Arlette Farge, Vivre dans la rue à Paris au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Gallimard, 1979), 148– 50. 4 Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Tableau de Paris, nouvelle édition, Amsterdam, 1782, VIII, 1–2. 5 Antoine-Raimond-Jean-Gualbert-Gabriel de Sartine (1729–1801). 6 François Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille (Paris: Pedone-Lauriel, 1881), XIX, 219. 7 ba ms 11846, f.201. 8 See ba ms 11846, ff.209, 211 and 216; also an Minutier central, notarial records of Nicolas-Jacques-Étienne Laisné, XIV, 352,353, 16 July 1754. Barely legible in parts, the family transaction document, one of the most dilapidated and worm-eaten notarial actes I have yet encountered, neatly solves the awkward residency dilemma by referring to the presence of “Nicolas-François Willemin, avocat au Parlement de Metz demeurant ordinairement à Paris, rue des Marais, Faubourg Saint-Germain paroisse

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 425

Notes to pages 298–317

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

425

Saint-Sulpice, de présent prisonnier détenu ès prisons royales de For l’Évêque, Paris, rue Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois.” The honour of a solid ancien régime family was saved! ba ms 11846, ff.218–19, 226 ba ms 11846, f.231. See petition of J. Le Prévot, 12 August 1755, ba ms 11376, f.166. See letter to Berryer from Rouen, 9 December 1754, ba ms 11846, f.251. ba ms 12496, f.246. ba ms 11846, ff.205–6. ba ms 12496, f.250; 13 September 1754. Julie mistakenly writes 1753. ba ms 11846, ff.220–1. ba ms 11846, ff.235–6. Ibid. ba ms 12495, f.156; 1 November 1754. See Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 55, Duval to Chevalier, 8 June 1756, announcing Latude’s capture by Saint-Marc in Holland: “Je me hâte de vous apprendre bonne nouvelle [...] voilà donc la Bastille qui va redevenir vierge.” That is, his suggestion that d’Hémery or possibly de Rochebrune be allowed to bring him books. Julie is referring to the writing materials he has requested for a two-week period. ba ms 11846, ff.241–2; the letter is erroneously dated 1753. 12 November 1754; ba ms 11846, f.246. ba ms 12495, f.160. Ibid. See, for example, Mireille Herr, Les Tragédies bibliques au XVIIIe siècle (Paris-Genève: Champion-Slatkine, 1988), 165–95. ba ms 11846, ff.257–8. ba ms 11846, f.259. ba ms 11846, f.257; 25 November 1754. ba ms 11846, f.259. ba ms 11846, f.263. ba ms 11846, ff.261–2. ba ms 11846, f.260. ba ms 12495, f.162. Ibid.

chapter fifteen 1 ba ms 11846, f.263; 30 November 1754. The “Wednesday” (27 November 1754) letter mentioned here is missing in the file.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

426 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27

Page 426

Notes to pages 318–32

ba ms 11846, ff.249–50. ba ms 11846, f.250; 3 December 1754. See chapter 1, 29. Goddess who, with Zeus, presides over law, order and justice. ba ms 11829, f.137; draft, 5 December 1754. ba ms 11846, ff.485–6. ba ms 11829, f.136. ba ms 11829, f.137; draft, 12 December 1754. Julie probably has in mind the popular work published anonymously in 1749 by the Protestant minister David Durand, Connaissance des beautez et des défauts de la poésie et de l’éloquence dans la langue française, à l’usage des jeunes gens et surtout des étrangers, avec des exemples, par ordre alphabétique, a title commonly attributed at the time to Voltaire. Indeed, Moland, Voltaire’s major nineteenth-century editor, still found sufficient justification for including it in his standard edition, Œuvres complètes de Voltaire (Paris: Garnier frères, 1879, XXIII, 327–424). With articles on such topics as caractères et portraits, chansons, fable, langage, métaphore, opéra, and satire, Durand’s distinctly pedagogical but sprightly “art poétique” would have gone a long way toward meeting Charles de Julie’s basic needs. See also, Voltaire’s Correspondence, ed. T. Besterman, Letters D3980, D5755, and D5758. ba ms 11829, ff. 137–8; 18 December 1754; draft. ba ms 11829, f.139. Ibid., 21 December 1754; draft. ba ms 11829, f.138. ba ms 11846, f.253. ba ms 11846, f.149. The manuscript reads 22 December 1753 but the draft version (ba ms 11829, f.139) shows the correct date. À la Bastille, ce 23 décembre 1754; ba ms 11846, ff.255–6. That is, 50 double-sided sheets. Words wisely substituted for “mais ce n’est pas ma faute,” which Julie had initially written in the draft version (ba ms 11829, f.139). A total of 75 sheets of foolscap. ba ms 11846, ff.265–6. The bottom margin of the draft version (ba ms 11829, f.139v) includes the notations, “22. 8bre. 1753, des Livres; La messe, le 2. Juin 1754; La promenade, le 8. 7bre 1754.” ba ms 11829, ff.144–6. Inspector Joseph d’Hémery. ba ms 11829, ff.144–5. ba ms 11829, f.150. ba ms 11829, f.140; daft, 1 January 1755. See above, p. 286. Julie’s memory of the date is faulty. He made the proposition to Berryer in a letter of 28 March 1754 (ba ms 11846, f.171).

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 427

Notes to pages 332–52

427

28 ba ms 11846, f.267. 29 René Le Bossu, Traité du poème épique (Paris: M. Le Petit, 1675). Abbé Le Bossu (1631–1680) was considered at the time to be Europe’s major theoretician of the epic genre. See Stuart Curran, Le Bossu and Voltaire on the Epic (Gainesville: Scholars’ Facsimiles & Reprints, 1970), v–xiii. 30 My emphasis; Julie hesitates here to remind Berryer of his all too intimate acquaintance with matters relating to the vice detail. 31 ba ms 11846, ff.271–2. 32 See above, chapter 9 and ba ms 11846, f.423. 33 Where, traditionally, the bodies of Parisians who committed suicide by drowning themselves in the Seine were recovered. See Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Tableau de Paris, “Filets de Saint-Cloud,” III, nouvelle édition, Amsterdam, 1782, 197–8. 34 ba ms 11846, ff.272–82.

chapter sixteen 1 Jean-Baptiste de Machault, comte d’Arnouville (1701–1794), contrôleur général des finances from 1745 to 1754, later became secrétaire d’état de la marine (1754–1757). His predecessor in the naval ministry during the years 1749–1754 was Antoine-Louis de Rouillé, comte de Jouy (1689–1761). Berryer himself was to hold the naval post from 1758 to 1761. Had Julie’s proposal been accepted, his career prospects in the French navy would obviously have been in very good hands! 2 Berryer was, of course, aware of Julie’s illegitimate birth. 3 ba ms 11846, ff.291–5. 4 The Hôtel d’Aligre, today’s No. 15. 5 ba ms 11846, f.291. 6 “Trictrac” is played with two dice; “passe-dix” requires three. 7 The youthful physician Lecocq was appointed resident chirurgien and apothicaire-major at the Bastille in 1750; he retired after 37 years of service in 1787. 8 In his letter of 12 December 1754 (see above, p. 321), Julie had requested a relaxation of the restrictions on his exercise privileges. 9 ba ms 11846, ff.285–6. 10 ba ms 11846, f.489. 11 See chapter 1, 7–8. 12 ba ms 11846, f.515. Julie may be thinking here of his friend d’Hémery. 13 ba ms 11846, f.495. 14 ba ms 11846, f.492. 15 ba ms 11829, f.141; draft of letter sent on 17 January 1755. 16 ba ms 11846, f.509. 17 ba ms 11846, ff.510–12.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

428

Page 428

Notes to pages 353–62

18 The additional words, “car rien ne vous échappe,” are struck out in the draft (ba ms 11829, f.141). Clever and manipulative, Julie generally (but not always) knows when he is pushing flattery too far. 19 ba ms 11846, f.287. 20 See Linguet’s scathing description of it in Mémoires sur la Bastille (Londres: T. Spilsbury, 1783), 92. 21 ba ms 12496, f.121; 8 January 1755. 22 ba ms 11846, ff.289–90. 23 See rough draft, ba ms 11829, ff.151–2. 24 Julie’s draft (ba ms 11829, f.142) goes on to add: “mais je voudrais bien qu’il me fît savoir sur quoi, à moins que je n’en entreprenne un sur le sommeil des sentinelles de la Bastille.” The prisoner once more hints at his willingness to play the informer but he hesitates in his final draft, having already made the point about the guards sleeping on duty in a previous letter justifying his need for a watch. 25 See above, p. 322, Julie’s request for Voltaire’s “art poétique.” 26 Julie was not alone in finding the Abbé Le Bossu’s treatise a ponderous and less-than-useful tome. In his Siècle de Louis XIV, Voltaire notes that Le Bossu’s Traité “a beaucoup de réputation, mais il ne fera jamais de poètes.” (Œuvres complètes, XIV, 96). See also Voltaire’s Essay [...] upon the Epick poetry of the European Nations from Homer down to Milton (London: Samuel Jallasson, 1727) and the article “Épopée” by Marmontel in the Encyclopédie. 27 ba ms 11829, f.154 contains a draft list of characters as follows: “Géronte, père de Clarine et de Célie; Mme Géronte, mère etc.; Cléon, père de Dorante; Clarine, maîtresse de Dorante; Dorante, amoureux de Clarine; Célie, sœur de Clarine; Constance, femme de chambre de Clarine; Allain, domestique de Dorante; un notaire.” 28 ba ms 11846, ff.297–8. 29 ba ms 11829, f.142. 30 ba ms 11829, f.160; draft. 31 ba ms 11846, f.487. 32 See, for example, Appendix: “Le Bœuf et l’Âne” and “Les Singes.” 33 See Appendix, 389–92. 34 ba ms 11846, f.299. 35 ba ms 11846, ff.301–2. 36 “Le Boeuf et l’Âne,” Appendix, 392–3. 37 ba ms 11828, f.143; 4 February 1755; draft. Prisoners were allowed to take advantage of their authorized exercise privileges only to the extent that porte-clefs were available to accompany them while they were out of their rooms. 38 ba ms 11829, f.158. 39 Draft, 8 February 1755; ba ms 11829, f.142. 40 ba ms 12496, f.19.

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

Page 429

Notes to pages 362–78

429

41 ba ms 12496, f.20; also 12499, f.2. Étienne-Pierre Masson de Maisonrouge was the receveur général des finances for the généralité of Amiens. A detailed account of the scandal already referred to (Chapter 15, 339) is provided by Barbier, who describes the middle-aged libertine financier as “une bête et un peu bœuf;” (Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (Paris: Charpentier, 1866, V, 160–1). Meusnier, aided by Julie and others, had kept close watch on Maisonrouge three years earlier; see ba ms 10237, ff.352–9; also 10243, f.136: “2 juin 1752. On est enfin parvenu non seulement à savoir où l’enfant dont est accouchée la dame de Maisonrouge le 20 avril dernier a été mis en nourrice, mais encore à le voir.” See also Charles Collé, Journal et mémoires, ed. H. Bonhomme (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1868), I, 207–8 and Jean Delay, Avant mémoire, La Fauconnier (Paris: Gallimard, 1985), III, 166–9. 42 ba ms 11846, ff.303–5. 43 See above, p. 347. 44 See Appendix 387–9. 45 ba ms 11846, ff.309–10. 46 ba ms 11846, f.311. 47 ba ms 11846, f.309; 26 February 1755. 48 A hazardous choice of words! 49 That is, as a combattant in the service of king and country. 50 ba ms 11846, ff.305–6. 51 ba ms 12496, ff.47, 75. 52 See the article “Confection,” Encyclopédie, III, 847.

chapter seventeen 1 ba ms 11846, ff.317–18. 2 ba ms 11846, ff.319–20. 3 ba ms 11829, ff.134–5. Though not a draft, this letter was filed with the prisoner’s collection of draft papers that were retained in the Bastille archives. 4 ba ms 11829, f.134. 5 ba ms 11846, f.321. 6 ba ms 11846, f.323. 7 ba ms 11846, f.325; draft. 8 See ba ms 11846 ff.334–9. 9 ba ms 11846, f.326. 10 ba ms 11846, ff.328–9. 11 ba ms 11846, f.330. 12 Jean-Baptiste Capin, known as Bellot. Probably no more dishonest than the other three turnkeys, Bellot was, however, eventually incarcerated for a brief period in 1781 and later exiled 20 leagues from Paris for corruption and dereliction of duty. (See Frantz Funck-Brentano, Les Lettres de

D-NOTES.QXD

9/1/2004 11:43 AM

430

13

14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21

Page 430

Notes to pages 378–85

cachet à Paris, étude suivie d’une liste des prisonniers de la Bastille (1659–1789) (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1903), No. 5122). My emphasis; Julie is obviously anxious to avoid giving Berryer the impression that he has sought out his old accomplices or relapsed into his old ways. The abbé Rouzier; see above, p. 278. ba ms 11846, ff.340–1. “Il est d’usage à la Bastille de donner aux prisonniers qui usent du tabac et qui n’ont pas le moyen de s’en fournir, deux onces par semaine. Il y en a même à qui je donne davantage, mais pour ceux qui ont de l’argent, c’est sur leur compte que cette emplette se fait. C’est le porte-clefs qui l’achète, ainsi que fruits et autres douceurs lorsque vous en avez donné la permission dont il en dresse un mémoire à la fin de chaque mois qu’il fait signer à son prisonnier, ensuite me le remet et je le paye sur les fonds que j’ai audit prisonnier. Ainsi, il n’est pas douteux que les sieurs Rouzier, La Combe et Chazé eussent de l’argent lors de leurs détentions, et les porteclefs par conséquent ne sont point répréhensibles.” (Chevalier to Berryer, 24 August 1755; ba ms 12499, f.36). ba ms 11846, f.341. an Y15808B. an Minutier central, LXIV.353. See an, V1 387, Provisions d’office, 1756. See various examples in ba ms 10035.

epilogue 1 Inspector Bernard Roussel, father of Julie’s friend Claude Roussel. 2 Louis Marais replaced inspector Meusnier as head of the vice detail in March 1757. 3 ba ms 11990, f.61. 4 ba ms 11990, f.10. 5 See above, pp. 75, 258; also Meusnier’s cahiers for Friday, 2 March 1753, ba ms 10234, and d’Hémery to Berryer, 23 May 1754, François Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille (Paris: Pedone-Lauriel, 1881), XVI, 320. 6 bn ms Fr. 22092, ff.403–6. 7 Better known today as the legendary Place de la Croix-du-Trahoir. 8 ba ms 11990, f.118. 9 See Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 472–480. 10 Ibid., 479. 11 Journal inédit du duc de Croÿ, ed. E. de Grouchy and P. Cottin (Paris: Flammarion, 1906), I, 403. 12 Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, XVI, 479. 13 Ibid., 472.

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

Page 431

two

Index

À Passy, 357 Abadie, François-Jérôme d’, lieutenant de roi, 224–5, 248, 263, 347, 363–4 Aeneid, 355 Agathe, Dlle, alias Marbourg, 92, 130, 92, 130 Alain, Marie-Anne, fille publique, alias Lolotte, 117 Alain, Nicolas, marchand-fripier, 117 Albermarle, William Anne van Keppel, second Earl of, 138 Alembert, Jean Le Rond d’, 62 Allègre, Antoine, 245–6, 251–3, 263, 264, 266–7, 303, 353 Alligny, marquis d’, 120 Almanach Royal, 361–2 Amphitryon (Molière), 415n19 “Anis” (Encyclopédie), 409n41 Apologie de M. l’abbé de Prades, 231, 258 Aquitaine, duc d’, 335 Arborat, inspecteur de police, 382 Archives de la Bastille (F. Ravaisson-L. Ravaisson-Mollien), 398n15 Argenson, Marc-Pierre de Voyer de Paulmy, comte d’, 49, 57–8, 68, 87, 91, 94, 116, 121, 132–3, 192, 210, 233, 240, 242, 244, 253, 259, 265, 279, 287, 297, 373–4, 419n34 Argenson, René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d’, 57–8, 60–1, 68, 87, 91, 93, 132–33, 136–7, 174–5, 192, 246, 253, 416n45

Argental, Charles-Augustin de Ferriol, comte d’, 61 Arnaud, Mlle, 195 Arnould, MadeleineSophie, cantatrice, 218 Astraudi, Rosalie, comédienne, 194–6, 205–6, 417n56 Aubert, Mme, limonadière, Café de l’Opéra, 353–4 Aublet de Maubuy, Jean-Zorobabel, 259 Aubry de Julie, Antoine-Joseph, traiteur, 5 Aubry, Antoine, 5 Aubry, architecte, 225 Aubry, Mme, alias Chatillon, 148 Audigny, chevalier d’, 202 Auguière, M., 185 Aumont, Louis-Marie-Auguste de La Rochebaron, duc d’, 123, 412n32 Avant Mémoire (Jean Delay), 82, 404n44 Babet, Mme, (alias la Desmaretz), procuress, 87, 404n55 Bachelier de Montcel, lieutenant criminel de Robe Courte, 113 Bacon, Sir Francis, 64 Baget, see Bagot Bagot, William, 185, 414n13 Bahu, maître de pension, 5, 187 Baisle, Pierre, gouverneur de la Bastille, 224, 258, 322, 363, 374 Bancelin, Françoise, 42 Banois, Charles, prisonnier, 410n9 Barbier, Antoine-Alexandre, 418n28

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

432

Page 432

Index

Barbier, Edmond-Jean-François, 60–1, 75, 107, 130, 192, 396n9, 429n41 Baron, porte-clefs, 250, 256, 368 Baronne Blanche, la, 139 Barrois, Jean-Claude, cuisinier, 43 Bastille des Comédiens, Le For L’Evêque, La (Funck-Brentano), 397n49, 409n51 Batailhe de Francès, Jean-Fauste, receveur général des finances, 173, 231, 234 Baudouin, la, procuress, 50, 76, 93, 110 Bauffremont, Louis-Bénigne, marquis de, 173 Bauge, coach-hirer at the Cheval Noir, 225, 283, 284–5 Bay de Curys, intendant des Menus Plaisirs, 171, 175–6, 194, 412n32 Bayle, Pierre, 50 Beauchamp, la, procuress, 92 Beaufort, Charlotte-Catherine de, 206 Beaufort, Dlle, danseuse, 74, 170–2, 201–2 Beauménard, see Bellecour Beaumont, Christophe de, archevêque de Paris, 116, 155, 227, 242–3, 419n34 Beaumont, Dlle, (Suzanne-Elizabeth Le Grand), 86, 105–10 Béguier, chirurgien, 117 Bellecour, Rose-Perrine, comédienne, 193–4, 414n10 Bellenot, Dlle, danseuse, 82, 206 Bellot, porte-clefs, see Capin Benabou, Erica-Marie, 403n30 Benedict XIV, 209–10 Berlan d’Haloury, Louis-Étienne, avocat, 258 Bernage, Louis-Basile de, prévost des marchands, 116, 119, 120, 136–43, 199 Bernis, abbé François-Joachim de Pierres de, 62, 412n30 Berry, duc de, see Louis XVI Berryer, Catherine-Madeleine, née Fribois, 49 Berryer de Ravenoville, Nicolas-René, lieutenant général de police, xi, 10, 16, 26–33, 34, 40, 49–50, 53, 54–57, 59–60, 66, 70–2, 86–7, 89, 93, 107–9, 110, 114, 118–19, 121, 132–5, 140, 142–5, 147–8, 150–2, 154–5, 157–66, 168, 175, 181, 183, 192, 210, 214, 218–22, 227–32, 234–5, 237–9, 240–4, 246, 248, 251–61 passim, 265–80 passim, 281–92, 293–312, 317–41, 342–68, 369, 377–8, 380–4, 396n16, 407n7, 410n10, 427n1, 427n30

Berthelin, officier de la maréchaussée, 162–3 Bertin, Auguste-Louis, trésorier des parties casuelles, 171, 193–5, 410n14 Bertin de Bellisle, Henri-Léonard-JeanBaptiste, lieutenant général de police, 149, 381, 410n10 Bertin de Blagny, Antoine-Louis, mousquetaire, 149–50, 410n14 Bertin de Frateaux, Louis-Mathieu, capitaine de cavalerie, 262–4 Besenval, Pierre-Victor, baron de, 178–9, 180, 234, 237–9, 281 Billard, Auguste, 51 Biographie du Parlement de Metz (E. Michel), 398n1 Blondeau, Françoise, 403n35 Boisgiroux, Marie-Anne, procuress, 115–24, 131, 182, 189, 221, 239, 275–9 Boislisle, Arthur de, 261 Bolingbroke, Henry St John, Viscount, 131 Bonac, François-Armand d’Usson, marquis de, 417n56 Bonac, Victor-Timoléon d’Usson, chevalier de, 205 Boquet, Louis-René, 96 Boucher, François, 97, 98, 401n87 Boucher, sergeant-major, 44 Boudin, fruitier, 119 Boullongne, Jean de, contrôleur général des Finances, 206–7 Bourdin, procureur au Châtelet, 259–60 Bouret, Étienne-Michel, fermier général, 127, 170, 172, 180–1, 193, 218, 231–9 passim, 281 Bouret de Villaumont, Augustin, trésorier de la Maison du Roi, 74 Bouret d’Érigny, François, fermier général, 127 Bourgogne, Louis-Joseph-Xavier de France, duc de, 209 Bourgouin, inspecteur de police, 219, 382 Bourguignon, porte-clefs, 250 Bournon, Fernand, 418n14, 420n20 Bousquet de Colomiers, François-Jérôme, nouvelliste, 63–4, 155, 188–9, 232, 414n26 Boutin de la Columière, maître des requêtes, 200 Bouton, Augustin-François, exempt de Robe Courte, 380, 385 Bouton, Pierre-François, exempt de Robe Courte, 152, 380, 383–4, 385

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

Page 433

Index Branciforte, cardinal Antonio, 93–4, 184, 193, 209–10 Bregeant, Maurice-Joseph, 401n87 Breteuil, Louis-Auguste Le Tonnelier, baron de, 87, 194 Bretez, Louis, 211, 412n22 Brezay, Dlle, dominatrix, 126 Briard-Descoutures, Cosme-Louis, imprimeur, 242–4, 258, 418n26 Bridou de Belleville, M., 243 Brignole, Mme de, 209 Briseval, Mlle, danseuse, 171–2 Brochart, Catherine, 130 Broome, J.H., 421n43 Brunet, Françoise, prisonnière à la Salpêtrière, 153 Bruno, Marlinda Ruth, 399n17 Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de, 4 Buhot, Pierre-Étienne, inspecteur de police, 182, 185–6, 189–90, 219, 265, 278–9, 382, 409n45 Bulé, M. de, maître des comptes, 270 Burjat, Étienne, fermier, 118 Burjat, Françoise, (alias Sophie), fille publique, 117–18 Cadot de Condé, Joseph-Simon, exempt de Robe Courte, 258, 382–4, 402n21 Caffaro, M. de, 78 Caillat, Jean-Matthias, ouvrier infidèle, 260, 423n21 Calendrier historique, 226 Caligula, 242 Campardon, Émile, 407n11 Canaye, abbé Étienne de, 62–3, 257 Capin, Jean-Baptiste, 250, 378 Capon, Gaston, 404n60, 429n12 Carlier, la, procuress, 87, 122, 126 Caron, Jean-Baptiste, soldat, 164–5 Caron de la Braizière, Michel, subdélégué, 20 Casanova de Seingalt, Giovanni-Giacomo, 93, 193, 209, 405n82 Castor et Pollux (Rameau), 137 Castries, Charles-Eugène-Gabriel de La Croix, marquis de, 82 Catalogue des livres de feu M. de Rochebrune, 419n29 Catherine II, 54 Caze, Suzanne-Félix de, née Lescarmotier, 74, 221, 417n10 Caze de Juvincourt, Anne-Nicolas-Robert de, fermier général, 74, 220–1

433

Cazes, Guillaume, cordelier, 262 Ceci n’est pas un conte (Diderot), 197, 415n32 Cénie, Mlle, see Roux Chaban, premier-commis, bureau du lieutenant général de police, 115, 141, 143, 293 Chamoi, M. de, 160, 164 Champagne, garçon-maréchal, 162 Chanssay, commissaire de police sur les ports et quais de Paris, 220 Charles VII, 8 Charles-Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, 57, 67–8 Charolais, Charles de Bourbon-Condé, comte de, 10, 70, 87, 196 Charolais, Mlle (Louise-Anne de BourbonCondé), 198 Chassepot de Beaumont, Louis, 20–4, 28, 31, 114 Chassepot de Beaumont, Magdelaine, née Beaudelot, 20, 31–2 Chateauroux, Marie-Anne de MaillyNesle, duchesse de, 157 Châtelet, marquis du, écuyer de main du Roi, 203, 416n49 Chaumart, see Roux Chaussinand-Nogaret, Guy, 395n7 Chazé, Benoist-Louis, petit commissaire, 186–7, 210, 220–2, 223, 224, 226, 230–4, 237, 239, 244, 278, 279, 282, 378–9, 423n21, 430n16 Chazé, Eloy-Constant, 187 Chazé, Jacques, marchand mercier, 186–7, 279, 414n19 Chedeville, Anne, 119 Cheminée de Madame de la Poupelinière, La (Campardon), 407n11 Chenon, Pierre, commissaire, 148 Chevalier, Henry Godillon, major de la Bastille, 183, 225, 246, 247–8, 250–6, 259–64, 266, 269, 273, 277, 282, 283, 288, 298–9, 302–5, 307, 311–12, 317–34 passim, 342–68 passim, 375–6, 378–9 Chevrier, François-Antoine de, 63, 218, 236, 261, 400n64 Choiseul, Étienne-François de ChoiseulStainville, duc de, 296 Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (Barbier), 399n48 Cinna (Corneille), 412n32 Clairon, Claire-Josèphe-Hippolyte Leyris de Latude, alias Mlle, comédienne, 68–9

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

434

Page 434

Index

Clarendon, Henry Hyde, fourth Earl of, 131 Clerdun, Mlle, 184 Clerdun, Mme, 184 Clermont, Louis de Bourbon-Condé, comte de, 76 Cloche, Louis, imprimeur, 258 Coëtmadeu, Mlle, fille publique, 202–3 Cohen, Mme, Anglaise, 185 Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, 3, 207 Collé, Charles, 60, 75, 88, 107, 143, 253 Collet, chansonnier, 66 Collier, abbé, 73 Collot, locataire principal, 48 Condé, Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, prince de, 416n41 “Confection” (Encyclopédie), 368, 429n52 Confessions, Les (Rousseau), 395n1, 395n2 Connaissance des beautez et des défauts de la poésie et de l’éloquence (Durand), 426n10 Constantin, maître de flûte de l’Opéra, 141 Contesse, Marie-Jeanne, prisonnière à la Salpêtrière, 153 Conti, Louis-François de Bourbon, prince de, 82, 120–1, 148 Coquerel de Saint-Aubin, Nicolas-Louis, exempt du Guet, 145–9, 410n4, 410n12 Coraline, la dlle, see Véronèse Cordier, courrier, 186, 231, 234 Corneille, Pierre, 412n32 Correspondance générale d’Helvétius (ed. Smith et al), 398n13 Correspondance littéraire (Grimm), 415n11 Cosmopolite ou le Citoyen du monde, Le (Fougeret de Monbron), 257 Coste, abbé de, 130 Coste de Champeron, Jean-Charles, conseiller au Parlement, 199 Coubert, Samuel-Jacques Bernard, comte de, 73 Coupée, Edmée, danseuse, 204 Courau, Nicolas-Joseph, 6, 7, 36, 188 Courtanvaux, François-César Le Tellier, marquis de, 201 Coutailloux, Joseph-François, inspecteur de police, 86, 109, 295, 382 Couturier, Marie-Anne, domestique, 118 Craig, Colonel, 173 Crébillon, Claude-Prosper Jolyot de, 199

Creil de Bournezeau, Jean-François, intendant de Metz, 45, 398n3 Crétot, Étienne-Philippe, colporteur, 423n21 Croÿ, Emmanuel, duc de, 430n11 Crussol Saint-Sulpice, marquis de, 59 Cumberland, William Augustus, duke of, 7 Curis, see Bay de Curys Curran, Stuart, 427n29 d’Estrée, Paul, 403n30 Dadvenel, Jacques, inspecteur de police, 5, 126, 151–5, 219 Damiens, Robert-François, 111, 218, 316, 384–5 Daniel, le père Gabriel, 396n15 Danry Masers de Latude, see Latude Danton, Georges-Jacques, 73 Darcheville, Catherine, alias Montfort, alias de Bercy, 49, 278, 398n13 Dareau, Jeanne, servante, 36 Daret, locataire principal, 223 Darnton, Robert, 401n77, 403n33 D’Arouet à Voltaire (Pomeau), 419n30 Darragon, Michel, porte-clefs, 250, 263–4, 293, 350–1, 368 Dazenoncourt, Dlle, 199 Dé à jouer, 346–9 De bonne main: la communication manuscrite au XVIII siècle (ed. Moureau), 400n62 Decamp, la, see Boisgiroux. De Coin, Charles Willemin, 41–4, 48, 423n1 De Coin, Nicolas-François Willemin, 41–54, 61, 64–65, 86, 181–3, 210, 219, 220–1, 225, 227–8, 230–2, 234, 236, 237–9, 242–4, 270–1, 281–92, 293–7, 327, 378, 423n12, 424n8 De Gua de Malves, Jean-Paul de, 402n9 De Gueffrouse Le Picard, Françoise, 406n20 De La Jonchère, Gérard-Michel, 182 De La Vergée, Charles-Elisabeth, commissaire, 186, 408n11 De l’Esprit (Helvétius), 125 Dé lettre, 346–9 De Longpré, Dlle, 122 De Sandec, M., 185 De Villemur, see Fillion de Villemur Delacroix, Guillaume, faussaire, 73 Delagroux, joaillier, 120 Delaistre, Marie-Claude, 7, 36

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

Page 435

Index Delaloëre, André-François, notaire, 12, 15, 36 Delay, Jean, 82, 404n44 Delhomme, Suzanne, prisonnière à la Salpêtrière, 153 Delisle, la, ci-devant danseuse, 10, 13–14, 70, 396n18 Delort, Joseph, 420n14 Deristère, l’abbé, 208–9 Deschamps, la, see Pagès Descoutures, see Briard-Descoutures Description de la ville de Paris (Brice), 395n5 Des Écures, Charlotte, 398n73 Des Écures, François, 7–8, 15, 36, 398n73 Desforges, Esprit-Jean-Baptiste-Jacques, 67 Des Grieux, 82, 203 Desjardins, Guillaume, couvreur, 152 Deslongrais, la, procuress, 94, 209–10 Desmoulins, Camille, 73 Desnoyers, Abraham, commissaire, 129 Desnoyers, Jean-Charles, 129, 407n10 Desnoyers, Richelieu, factotum, 86, 128–35, 169, 175, 180, 185, 222, 234, 239, 265, 269, 273, 278, 279, 407n8 Destournelles, capitaine des Carabiniers, 122–3 Destrée, Mlle, danseuse, 206 d’Estrée, Paul, 403n30 Destrées, Anne, (alias Henriette), fille publique, 117 Destrées, Jean, arpenteur royal, 117 Deux lettres adressées à l’archevêque de Paris, 258 Deux-Ponts, Christian IV, duc de Bavière, prince de Birkenfeld, duc de, 201 Devisse, Eloy, danseur, 139–43, 144, 202 d’Hosmont, la, alias LaSalle, procuress, 76, 88–92, 116, 175–6, 202–3 Diary of David Garrick, 409n50 Dictionnaire des journalistes (ed. Sgard), 400n63 Dictionnaire des journaux, 1600–1789 (ed. Sgard), 414n1 Dictionnaire des lettres françaises; le XVIIIe siècle (ed. Moureau), 420n5 Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes (Barbier), 418n28 Dictionnaire historique et critique (Bayle), 306 Diderot (Wilson), 419n36 Diderot, Denis, 33, 54–6, 62, 68, 73, 170, 174, 193, 197, 199, 208, 406n20, 419n35

435

Dieuxivoye, correcteur des comptes, 254 Dobell, limonadier, mouche, 223 Donatien Alphonse François, marquis de Sade (Lever), 420n10 Donnezan, Charles-Armand d’Usson, marquis de, 205, 417n56 Doré, domestique, 158 Doubleau, Jacques, brigadier du Guet, 116–18 Doublet de Bandeville, Pierre-François, 147–8, 410n4 Drouard, Louis, 296 Drouet, Étienne-François, 418n28 Dubois, domestique, 85 Du Buat, Charles-François-Augustin, 41, 45, 48, 284–5, 291–2, 296–7 Du Buat, Marie-Françoise, née Willemin, 41, 43 Dubuisson, Pierre-Noël-Mathieu, ouvrier infidèle, 260, 423n21 Duchenois, la, fille publique, 93–4 Du Chesnay, see Coquerel Du Courbe, abbé, 81–2 Dufehy, Sébastien, 118 Dufort, J.N., comte de Cheverny, 402n16 Du Fresne, Mlle, 73 Duman, M., 196 Du Marsais, César Chesneau, 229, 418n28 Dumas de Paysac, chevalier, 18, 20–1, 24 Dumay fils, le cadet, 199 Dumont, Pierre-François, inspecteur de police, 88–90, 115, 148, 322, 418n25 Dunant, inspecteur de police, 382 Dunivret, Dlle, danseuse, 173 Duperay, Mlle, actrice récitante, 408n36 Dupont, la, see Boisgiroux Dupré de Richemond, 49–50, 53, 66 Dupuis, lieutenant de Robe Courte, 382 Durand, David, 426n10 Durand, laquais, 110 Duras, Jean-Baptiste, duc de, 91, 123–4 Durey d’Harnoncourt, Pierre, fermier général, 85–6, 184–5 Durocher, inspecteur de police, 110, 219, 382 Du Roscouet, abbé, 231, 419n34 Dusseaux, regimental adjutant, Bretons volontaires, 11 Du Thuilé, nouvelliste, Jean-Baptiste, 261–2, 423n9 Du Truch de La Chaux, Paul-René, garde du roi, 413n9 Duval, Dlle, danseuse, 72

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

436

Page 436

Index

Duval, premier commis, bureau du lieutenant général de police, 259, 270, 271, 282, 287–8, 282–92 passim, 305, 307, 308, 324, 334, 346, 362, 366–7, 373, 425n21 École de l’homme, l’ (Génard), 128, 407n7 Egmont, Guy-Félix Pignatelli, comte d’, 119, 204–5, 417n56 Égreville, chevalier d’, 203 Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 62, 314, 396n13 Épinay, Louise-Florence-Pétronille d’Esclavelles, Mme d’, 196–7 “Épopée” (Marmontel), 428n26 Ermisse, Gérard, 398n71 Ersch, Johann-Samuel, 418n28 Essay [...] upon the Epick poetry of the European Nations (Voltaire), 428n26 Estermont, see Stormont Estrée, Mlle d’, danseuse, 338 Évocation du vieux Paris (Hillairet), 412n30 Évreux, Henri-Louis de La Tour d’Auvergne, comte d’, 171 Fagé, laquais, 159 Farcy de Saint-Marc, Martin, lieutenant du Guet, 10–17, 19, 23, 26, 35, 67, 80, 85, 147 Farge, Arlette, 424n3 Fauconnier l’aînée, Madelaine-Josèphe, 172, 194–5, 196 Fauconnier, la cadette, Marie-Anne, 196 Fautis, Dlle, dominatrix, 126 Favart, Charles-Simon, 91 Femme et le bâtard, La (Grimmer), 395n1 Feron, Catherine, fille publique, alias Raton, 117 Feron, François, porteur d’eau, 117–18 Ferry, inspecteur de police, 382 Figaro et ses devanciers (F. FunckBrentano / P. d’Estrée), 413n1 Fillion de Villemur, l’aîné, Marie-Camille, receveur général, 73, 74, 82, 83, 170–2, 180–1, 193, 234, 236, 238, 239 Fillion de Villemur, le cadet, AlexisRoland, fermier général, 170–1 Fimarcon, Aimery de Cassagnet de Tilladet, marquis de, 175–6 Fitelbourg, comte de, 208–9, 218 Fleury, André-Hercule, cardinal de, 48, 189, 255

Fontaine, Mlle, alias Fatime, fille publique, 209–10 Fortier, Marie-Anne, alias Fatime, fille publique, 117 Fortier, Pierre, marchand de toile, 117 Fougeret de Monbron, Jean-Louis, 257 Framboisier, Louis-Alexandre, inspecteur de police, 49, 406n20 Framboisier, Marie-Anne, 406n20 Francès père, see Batailhe de Francès Francœur, François, 136–8, 143, 175, 202 Frederick II, the Great, 64, 65, 201 Fréron contre les philosophes (Balcou), 400n56 Fréron, Élie-Catherine, 61–4, 69, 130, 246–7 Fronsac, Louis-Antoine-Sophie de Vignerot du Duplessis-Richelieu, duc de, 131 Funck-Brentano, Frantz, 397n49, 401n90, 413n1, 413n6 Gagnebin, Bernard, 395n1 Gallet, poète, 66 Gallodien, Mlle, danseuse, 73 Garnier, l’aînée, Mlle, 208 Garrick, David, 139–40, 409n50 Garrick, Eva-Marie, alias Violette, 140 Gaubier de Barrault, Sulpice-Edmé, 64, 65 Gauthier, Mlle, chanteuse, 74 Génard, François, 128–9, 407n7 “Gendarme” (Le Blond), 396n13 Gentil, Magdelaine, 77 Geoffroy l’aîné, apothicaire, 122 Geoffroy le cadet, commissaire des guerres, 122 Gesvres, François-Joachim-Bernard Potier, duc de, 140 Gilles, le sieur, 184 Giraud, Simon, père prieur, 18–20, 22, 273 Glénat, copyist, 55–6 Gore, chevalier de, 83 Goubier, Jacques, apothicaire, 6 Goubier, Nicole-Françoise Courau, veuve, 6–17, 19, 20, 35–6, 113, 172, 188, 273, 397n36 Gouin, Mlle, midwife, 4 Gramont, Antoine-Antonin, duc de, 107 Gramont, Louis-Antoine-Armand, duc de, 7, 8, 12 Grandjean, la, procuress, 92 Granjan de La Croix, conseiller au Châtelet, 259 Griffet, le père Henri, 254, 261

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

Page 437

Index Grimm, Frédéric-Melchior, baron de, 56, 180, 197, 415n11 Grimod de La Reynière, Antoine-Gaspard, fermier général, 79 Grimod, Anne, paysanne, 118 Guéant, Victoire, comédienne, 194, 414n9 Guenet, mouche, 64 Guillin, fruitier, 119 Guillot, la, procuress, 53 Guldimay d’Attainville, lieutenant, 179 Hamard, exempt de Robe Courte, 85 Helmans, la, procuress, 145–8 Helvétius, Claude-Adrien, 49, 50, 66, 79, 90–1, 125–8, 172, 207, 231, 234, 404n71, 407n7 Helvétius, Jean-Claude-Adrien, 373–4 Hémery, Joseph d’, inspecteur de police, 39, 50, 61, 62–9, 79–81, 105, 111, 131, 227, 242, 246–7, 250, 258, 265, 273, 275, 278, 298, 300–1, 308–9, 327–9, 382, 383, 403n35, 419n36, 425n22, 426n23 Henri IV, 385 Hérault, Charles, potier d’étain, 410n18 Hérault, René, lieutenant général de police, 45–6, 255 Hernie, Dlle, danseuse, alias Marie Trois Tétons, 74 Herny, Dlle, fille publique, 208 Herr, Mireille, 425n28 Hespergues, Victor, receveur des aides, 258, 260 Hillairet, Jacques, 412n30 Histoire africaine ou la Vie de Melotta Ossompay, L’ (La Rochegérault), 255 Histoire de la détention des philosophes et des gens de lettres (Delort), 420n14 Histoire de la milice françoise (le père Daniel), 396n15 Histoire des choses banales (Roche), 423n18 Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (Prévost), 82, 83–4, 203, 410n12 Holmes, Mr, 84 Holofernes, 306 Honnet, Alexandre-Crespin, économe de Bicêtre, 296 Hottington, see Huntingdon Houlier, Étienne, jardinier, 117 Houlier, Marie-Madelaine, (alias Désirée), fille publique, 117 Huet, Mme, ci-devant Morisseau, procuress, 79

437

Humblot, Mme, 328–9 Huntingdon, Francis Hastings, tenth Earl of, 138, 140, 199–200, 409n42, 414n13 Hus, Adélaïde-Louise-Pauline, comédienne, 193–5, 205, 414n11 “Hussards” (Encyclopédie), 396n15 Hyde, Henry, Viscount Cornbury, 131, 135, 138, 234, 408n18 Ibert, élève notaire, 146 Iliad, 334, 351, 355 Inventaire de la Collection Anisson (Coyecque), 403n34 Inventaire de la Correspondance littéraire de Grimm et Meister (U. Kölving / J. Carriat), 413n2 Jacob, porteur d’eau, 119 Jacquemart, la dlle, fille publique, 59 Jacques le fataliste (Diderot), 417n63 Janneton, orpheline, 149 Jean-Henri Masers de Latude (Nos), 421n26 Jelyotte, Pierre, 96, 171, 218, 236 Joan of Arc, 8 Jouin de Soreuil, Nicolas, 227, 242–4, 256, 418n26 Journal d’Hémery (Bruno), 399n17 Journal et mémoires (Collé), 400n51 Journal et mémoires (d’Argenson), 399n40 Journal et Mémoires de Mathieu Marais, 413n6 Journal Étranger, 64 Journal inédit du duc de Croÿ, 430n11 “Journaliste” (Diderot), 61 Judde, Nicolas-Michel, chevalier de, 90 Judith, 306, 308, 321–2, 364 “Judith” (Bayle), 306 Julie, Charles de, see Contents, vii–viii Julie, Mlle, dominatrix, 90–1, 207, 404n71 Juvigny, Dlle, fille publique, 74 Kaunitz, Wenceslas-Antoine, comte de, 201 Klinglin, François-Christophe-Honoré de, 130 Klinglin, François-Joseph de, préteur royal à Strasbourg, 130 L’abbé, Joseph-Barnabé de Saint-Sevin, alias, 86 La Barre, capitaine, Bretons volontaires, 10 La Bastille, (Bournon), 418n14, 420n20

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

438

Page 438

Index

La Bastille: Histoire vraie d’une prison légendaire (Quétel), 396n17 La Bastille des comédiens: le For l’Evêque (Funck-Brentano), 397n49 Labatte, Mlle, danseuse, 206 La Beaumelle, Laurent Angliviel de, 256–7 La Beaumelle, un protestant cévenol (Lauriol), 421n40 La Catte, Mlle, danseuse, 171 La Cerda, fils, 208 La Chassaigne, inspecteur de police, 382 Laclos, Pierre-Antoine-François, Choderlos de, 82 La Combe, Hyacinthe Vessière de, 188, 210, 221, 223, 224, 226–7, 230, 232–3, 234, 237, 244, 265, 282, 378–9, 414n22, 430n16 La Combe, Joseph Vessière de, 188–9, 265, 282 La Condamine, Charles-Marie de, 256 La Coullande, M. de, 197–8 La Fond, Anne, alias Zaïre, fille publique, 117–18 La Fond, Barthélemy, tailleur d’habits, 117 La Fond, Pétronille, 117 La Fontaine, Jean de, 3 Lafosse, la, procuress, 77–8, 90, 91–3, 123, 173, 207, 404n68 La France littéraire (Ersch), 418n28 La France littéraire ou Dictionnaire bibliographique (Quérard), 418n28 La Genty, la, procuress, 75–6 La Guerre de Vénus et de Bacchus, 363, 387–9 La Guiche, Henriette de Bourbon, comtesse de, 158–9 Laideguive, Pierre-Louis, notaire, 146 Laisné, Nicolas-Jacques-Étienne, notaire, 424n8 La Jannière, Jean-Charles, Péan de, lieutenant de Robe Courte, 61, 64, 65, 105, 111, 112, 130, 181–3, 219, 221, 229, 231, 265, 284–5, 310, 377, 383, 406n20 La Live de Bellegarde, Louis-Denis, fermier général, 4 La Live de Jully, Ange-Laurent, avocat au Châtelet, 4 La Live d’Épinay, Denis-Joseph, fermier général, 196–8 Lallemant de Betz, Michel-JosephHyacinthe, fermier général, 6, 12, 14–16, 172, 396n27 Lallemant de Nantouillet, Étienne-Charles-

Félix, fermier général, 12, 15–16, 396n27 La Marche, Ignace Hugary de, 64–6 La Marche, Louis-François-Joseph de Bourbon, comte de, 203 La Montagne, laquais, 200 La Motte, Dlle (alias les belles jambes), dominatrix, 90 La Motte, treasury clerk, 79 La Nogniat, Marie, jardinière, 120 La Noue, Jean-Baptiste Sauvé, alias, 193, 414n6 Lany, Louise-Magdeleine, danseuse, 96, 138–9, 199–200 Lapierre, Mme, mouche, 158–60 Lapierre, soldat aux gardes, 158 La Pleye, Dlle, alias Petit, fille publique, 173 La Popelinière, Françoise-CatherineThérèse Boutinon Des Hayes, Mme Le Riche de, 129–30, 416n44 La Popelinière, Alexandre-Jean-Joseph Le Riche de, fermier général, 129–30 La Porte, abbé Joseph de, 66, 130 La Rochefoucauld, Alexandre, duc de, 107 La Rochegérault, Louis-Joseph de, 255 LaSalle, la, see d’Hosmont La Tour, Dlle, dominatrix, 90 La Tour, Maurice Quentin de, 207 Latude, Jean-Henry, alias Masers de Latude, 10, 245–6, 252–3, 264, 303, 353, 421n26, 425n21 Lauraguais, Diane-Adelaïde de MaillyNesle, duchesse de, 156–65, 167, 169, 182, 230, 234 Lauraguais, Louis de Brancas, duc de, 157 Lauriol, Claude, 421n40 La Valette, Mlle, 194 La Vallière, Louis-César de la Baume-leBlanc, duc de, 195, 201 Laval-Montmorency, Joseph-Pierre, comte de, 120 La Vaupalière, Pierre-Charles-Étienne Maignard, marquis de, 193, 194, 197, 414n8 La Vérité, Dlle, danseuse, 403n43 Lavier, mouche, 162 La Villegodin, inspecteur de police, 382 Le Bègue, M., 259 Lebel, Dominique-Guillaume, valet de chambre, 77 Le Blanc, abbé Jean-Bernard, 62, 207–8 Le Blond, Guillaume, 396n13 Le Blond, le sieur, 135, 408n32

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

Page 439

Index Le Bœuf et l’Âne, 359, 392–3, 428n32 Le Bossu, abbé René, 332, 427n29, 428n26 Le Bossu and Voltaire on the Epic (Curran), 427n29 Le Boulleur de Chassan, le chevalier, 247 LeBrun, la, procuress, 76 Le Clair, Marie-Jeanne, 120 Leclercq de Bougie, Marie-Madeleine, 254 Lecocq, chirurgien de la Bastille, 347, 427n7 Le Comte, commissaire, 12 Le Dantu, Nicolas, 182, 230, 239, 268, 274–5 Le Dieux, peintre, 66 Le Dossier Fréron (Balcou), 400n56 Le Doyier, Louise, 117 Leduc, Dlle, 80 Lefèvre, Thérèse, prisonnière à la Salpêtrière, 153 LeFort, Jean, 119 Légeat, limonadier au Café de la Samaritaine, 186, 275 Légeat, Marianne, 186, 188, 219, 222, 223, 231, 233, 234, 274–7, 279, 282 Légendes et archives de la Bastille (FunckBrentano), 400n55 Le Grand, Nicolle-Françoise, couturière, 117 Le Guay, marchand de vin, 12–14 Le Lièvre, marchand de bas, 404n43 Lemarquis, Étiennette-Marie-Perrine, 204, 416n53 Lemery, Pierre, avocat, 48, 51–3 Lemire, Marie-Anne, 407n10 Lenoir de la Cochetière, Jacques, 18, 20, 21–2 Le Noir fils, Jean-Charles-Pierre, lieutenant général de police, 160 Le Noir père, Jean-Charles-Joseph, lieutenant particulier, 160–4 Le Normant d’Étioles, Alexandrine, 133 Le Normant d’Étioles, Charles-Guillaume, fermier général, 172, 194–6, 205, 232, 234 Le Nouvelliste aérien, 227, 418n22 Le Page, conseiller, 74 Le Pornographe (Restif de la Bretonne), 404n59 Le Pot de chambre cassé (Morand), 64, 65 Le Prévot, J., 425n11 Le Roy fils, 10 Le Roy, commis au bureau du lieutenant général de police, 157, 229

439

Le Roy, intendant des bâtiments de la Maison de Condé, 10 Le Tenneur, poète, 66 Les Contre-Confessions: Histoire de Madame de Montbrillant (Mme d’Épinay), 415n23 Les Lettres de cachet à Paris (FunckBrentano), 401n90, 413n6 Les Maisons closes au XVIIIe siècle (Capon), 404n60 Les Rats, 350–2, 358 Les Singes, 358, 389–92, 428n32 Les Tambours, 332–41, 350 Letters on the Study and Use of History (Bolingbroke), 131 Lettre en réponse à celle des jésuites (Aublet de Maubuy), 259 Lettres d’Aza (La Marche), 64 Lettres de M. de Marville (ed. Boislisle), 396n34 Lettres persanes (Montesquieu), 414n2 Levasseur, Marie-Thérèse, 4 Lévêque, Marie-Jeanne, prisonnière à la Salpêtrière, 153 Lever, Maurice, 420n10 Levié, entrepreneur d’opéras, 85, 140 Levié, Jean-Charles, commissaire, 22–4, 26 Ligné, Mme de, see Helmans Ligniville d’Autricourt, Anne-Catherine de, 127 Lillet, Nicolas, locataire principal, 51 Limon, chevalier du, 202 Linguet, Henry, xi, 242, 419n1, 428n20 Linière, Dlle, alias Robolle, 403n43 Liste des prisonniers de la Bastille, see Les Lettres de cachet à Paris (FunckBrentano) Livres des Entrées (Bastille, 1734–1784), 226 Logique et principes de grammaire (Du Marsais), 418n28 Longagne, Geneviève de, 71, 90 Louis, dauphin de France, 120 Louis XIV, 196, 339 Louis XV, 8, 64, 65, 77, 107, 121, 124, 132, 134, 138, 157, 171, 183, 188, 192, 195–6, 209–10, 240–1, 246, 253, 255, 259, 262, 340–1, 373, 383, 384–5, 412n30, 420n24 Louis XVI, 246, 336, 385–6 Louison, la, 131, 182, 239, 279 Lowendal, Ulric-Frédéric-Woldemar, comte de, 412n30

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

440

Page 440

Index

Luxembourg, Charles-François-Frédéric de Montmorency, duc de, 159, 161, 201 Luynes, Charles-Philippe d’Albret, duc de, 204 Machault d’Arnouville, Jean-Baptiste, contrôleur général, 345, 416n45, 427n1 Mahudel, Jean, 182–6, 210, 213, 217, 221, 225, 228, 229–32, 234–6, 244, 265, 378, 413n9, 413n10, 419n34 Maillot, Nicolas, commissaire, 152, 154–5 Mairobert, see Pidansat Maison de force de Saint-Yon, La (Beaurepaire), 398n8 Maisonrouge, Jeanne-Philiberte Durand de Chalus, Mme de, 339, 361–2 Malesherbes, Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de, 61, 65 Mallat, Charles, soldat aux gardes françaises, 258 Man in the Iron Mask, 249 Manon Lescaut, see Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut Manuel, Pierre, 399n37 Marais, Louis, inspecteur de police, 78, 382, 412n33, 414n3, 430n2 Marat, Jean-Paul, 73 Marbourg, see Agathe Margot la Ravaudeuse (Fougeret de Monbron), 257, 421n43 Marguerite, cuisinière, 200 Marie-Josèphe de Saxe, dauphine de France, 156–7, 335–6 Marie Leszczynska, queen of France, 93, 125, 373 Marigny, Abel-François Poisson de Vandières, marquis de, 194, 207, 415n14, 417n62 Marion, bailiff, 132, 222 Marmontel, Jean-François, 107, 220, 407n11, 412n32, 428n26 Marquise, see Lemarquis Martel, Michel, notaire, 407n10 Marthon, alias Avale Chopine, 78 Marville, Claude-Henri Feydeau de, lieutenant général de police, 48, 65, 80, 132, 261, 396n16 Masse, domestique, 158 Masson, Dlle, danseuse, 184 Masson de Maisonrouge, Étienne, 339, 429n41 Maupertuis, Pierre-Louis Moreau de, 256 Maurepas, Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de, 34–5, 57, 67

Mauriac, Claude, 404n68 Melfort, Louis Drummond, comte de, 412n29 Mémoires de Castelnau, 284, 424n12 Mémoires de J. Casanova de Seingelt, 405n82 Mémoires de Madame de G (La Marche), 64 Mémoires de Marmontel, 407n11, 412n32 Mémoires du comte de Maurepas, 401n88 Mémoires du duc de Luynes sur la cour de Louis XV, 406n30, 408n29, 416n49 Mémoires pour Catherine II (Diderot), 54, 399n31 Mémoires sur la Bastille (Linguet), 419n1 Mémoires sur les règnes de Louis XV et Louis XVI (Dufort), 402n16 Meran, abbé de, 184 Mercier, Louis-Sébastien, 27–8, 51, 54, 57–9, 118, 154, 155–6, 261, 296, 397n46, 427n33 Mercure de France, 67 Merlin, François, commissaire, 296, 424n3 Meslé, poète-mouche, 67 Meunier, Dlle, danseuse, 82–6, 142 Meusnier, Jean-Baptiste, inspecteur de police, 48–50, 52, 53, 59, 61, 70–94, 106, 108–10, 120, 121–4, 126, 129, 130, 131, 138, 141–2, 144, 145, 146–7, 149–50, 167, 170–1, 178–9, 181, 185, 188, 190, 196, 197, 200, 201, 202, 207, 209, 210, 219–25, 227–8, 230–2, 288, 403n30, 407n38, 418n10, 429n41, 430n2 Mion, Marie, servante, 42 Mirepoix, Gaston-Pierre de Lévis, marquis de, 139 Miromenil, François, tapissier, 43 Mitaine, Augustine, tendron, 75 Moland, Louis, 426n10 Molière, 3, 196 Monaco, Honoré-Camille-Léonor de Grimaldi, prince de, 87, 217 Monbron, ravaudeuse, 162 Monbron, Toussaint, cocher, 157–66 Moncrif, François-Augustin Paradis de, 206 Monpoint, Marie-Anne-Edmée, tendron, 80–1 Monsieur Nicolas (Restif de la Bretonne), 174 Montbrun, la, procuress, 87, 150, 410n16 Montespan, Louis-Henri de Pardaillon, marquis de, 196

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

Page 441

Index Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, baron de, 192, 256 Monthuchet, Roger de, conseiller au Châtelet, 259–60 Montigny, marchande, 268 Montrond, inspecteur de police, 382 Morand, Pierre de, 64, 65, 189, 400n64 Morand, Sauveur-François, 72, 402n4 Morange, mouche, 72 Moreau, Jean-Michel, 95 Moreau, Louis, 86, 107 Morel, Arnould, valet de chambre, 20 Morel, Marie-Louise, danseuse, 129, 407n10 Moreri, Louis, 50 Morin, abbé, 258 Morin, M., 83 Morville de, 86 Mouhy, Charles de Fieux, chevalier de, 65, 66, 82, 167–8, 411n3 Moureau, François, 413n1, 420n5 Mouret, Joseph, 96 Moyon, Jeanne, procuress, 75, 383 Moysan, Louise de, 154–5, 411n23 Murali, chevalier de, 83 Musel, maître de pension, 5, 187 Nanterre, Geneviève, prisonnière à la Salpêtrière, 153 Nattier, Jean-Marc, 98, 99 Neumarck, Henry-Edouard, milord, see Huntingdon Neveu de Rameau, Le (Diderot), 33, 54–6, 127, 170, 193, 410n14 Nicholas, Saint, 318–19 Nicolas, Marie, servante, 43 Nicolay, M. de, 119 Nogent, comte de, see Boullongne Nos, André, 421n26 Nouvelles ecclésiastiques, 255 “Nouvelles littéraires” (Raynal), 417n61 O’Brien, Margaret-Josepha, 73 O’Morphy, Marie-Louise, 72, 98, 402n3 Odyssey, 334, 351, 355 Old Testament, 306, 364 Orléans, Charlotte-Elisabeth de Bavière, duchesse d’, 174 Orléans, Louis, duc d’, 174, 175 Orléans, Louise-Henriette de BourbonConti, duchesse d’, 72, 99, 174–5 Orléans, Louis-Philippe de Bourbon, duc de Chartres, later duc d’, 65, 66, 72,

441

129, 148, 174–5, 176–9, 180, 193, 198, 219, 223, 233, 234, 238, 256, 409n44, 412n29, 416n53 Orléans, Philippe, Régent de France, duc d’, 174, 175 Pagès, Anne-Marie, courtisane, 72–3, 185, 196–9 Palloy, Pierre-François, 211 Paran, poète, 66 Pâris, Mme Justine (Françoise Bienfait), procuress, 87, 115, 116, 122, 130, 145, 257 Parisien, mouche, 60 Paris sous Louis XV (Piton), 405n76 Paulmy, Antoine-René de Voyer d’Argenson, marquis de, 91–3 Payen, la, procuress, 92 Paysac, see Dumas de Paysac Pérard, la, procuress, 109 Perrier, violon de l’Opéra, 141 Perrin, Mme, procuress, 77 Peter, Saint, 370–1 Petit, exempt, 151 Petit, Henriette, danseuse, 139 Petit Almanach de nos grands hommes (Rivarol), 401n77 Petitfils, Jean-Christian, 420n19 Philotanus, Le (Jouin), 227 Pidansat de Mairobert, Mathieu-François, 63–4, 66, 400n63 Pierreville, Armand-Pierre-Jean Lainé, chevalier de, 48–9, 398n13 Pignatelli, Casimir, comte d’Egmont de, 205 Pilleton, écuyer du Roi, 198 Piton, Camille, 405n76 Pitrot, Anne-Madeleine, née Rabon, procuress, 194, 208–9, 218, 409n52, 415n15 Pitrot, Antoine-Bonaventure, maître des ballets, 141, 409n52 Placet, 364–6 Pochet, maître chandelier, 222 Poirier, Marie-Anne, 253–4 Poisson, see Pompadour Police de Paris dévoilée, La (Manuel), 399n37 Police of Paris (Williams), 399n39 Pollet, Constance, 187 Pompadour, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Mme Le Normant d’Étioles, marquise de, 3, 10, 57, 64, 66, 67, 72, 77, 97, 107–8, 121, 124, 132, 137, 157, 171,

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

Page 442

442

Index

172, 192, 194, 195–6, 207, 218, 224, 240–1, 255, 259, 271, 373, 382 Pontcarré, Geoffroy Macé Camus de, 48 Pope, Alexander, 131 Postel, François, couvreur,151 Pouchon, Dlle, danseuse, 202 Poursaint, secrétaire-intendant du duc de Luxembourg, 159, 161 Poussot, Jean, inspecteur de police, 59, 130, 152, 219, 265 Pouvillon, Louis-François, exempt du Guet, 149–50 Pouvillon, Mme, procuress, 149–50 Powerscourt, Edward Wingfield, second Viscount, 138, 200–1, 409n44 Prades, abbé Jean-Martin de, 419n35 Prault, Jean-Baptiste, alias Varot, laquais, 59 Prault, Laurent, libraire, 250 Préaudeau, Catherine, 218, 236 Précis du siècle de Louis XV (Voltaire), 396n8 Prévost d’Exiles, abbé Antoine-François, 82, 203 Prostitution et la police des mœurs au XVIIIe siècle, La (Benabou), 403n30 Puvigné, Dlle, danseuse, 200–1 Puységur, Jacques-François de Chastenet, marquis de, 197 Quain, Marie, prisonnière à la Salpêtrière, 153 Qu’en dira-t-on, Le (La Beaumelle), 256 Quérard, Joseph-Marie, 418n28 Quesne, Anne, prisonnière à la Salpêtrière, 153 Quétel, Claude, 396n17 Quillet, conseiller au Châtelet, 259–60 Raffiat, assommeur, 60 Rainteau, Claudine-Geneviève, alias la dlle Verrière cadette, 196–7 Rainteau, Marie, alias la dlle Verrière aînée, 196–7, 220–1, 415n25 Rameau le neveu (Magnan), 397n68, 408n39 Rameau, Jean-François, 33–4, 39, 137–8, 357 Rameau, Jean-Philippe, 33–4, 137, 143 Ramont, Dlle, danseuse, 403n43 Ranuzzi, comte Girolamo de, 94 Ravaillac, François, 385 Ravaisson, François, 420n24 Raymond, Dlle, danseuse, 199

Raymond, Marcel, 395n1, 395n2 Raynal, abbé Guillaume-Thomas-François, 66, 207 Rebel, François, 136–8, 143 Régis, Louise, alias Rey, 203 Remerciement des colporteurs à Nos Seigneurs du Parlement (Aublet de Maubuy), 259 Rémy, copyist, 189 Répertoire des nouvelles à la main (Moureau), 412n1 Rességuier, Clément-Jérôme-Ignace, chevalier de, 106–7, 405n5 Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas, 174, 404n59 Revel, tailleur, 283 Rey, Mlle, see Régis Rhinville, Jean-Jacques, imprimeur, 248, 250–2, 258, 262, 266–7 Richard, la, procuress, 81 Richelieu, Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, maréchal-duc de, 67, 97, 98, 121, 128–36, 144, 157, 161, 167, 171, 175–6, 180, 181, 184, 185, 189, 193, 202, 219, 222, 223, 231–40 passim, 265, 269, 271, 279, 377, 408n18, 412n30, 416n44 Roban, Dlle, danseuse, 81 Robert, Marie-Madeleine, jardinière, 117 Roche, Daniel, 423n18 Rochebrune, Agnan-Philippe-Miché de, commissaire, 12, 52, 116–18, 141–2, 151, 163–5, 186, 190, 218, 222–5, 227, 228–39, 244, 258, 262, 279–80, 282, 283, 288, 301, 323–4, 354–5, 375, 378, 382, 418n28, 419n29, 425n22 Roger, Jean-François, notaire, 112 Rohan-Soubise, Charlotte-Godefride-Elisabeth de, 416n41 Roscouet, abbé de, mouche, 63, 231, 419n34 Rosette, Dlle (Jeanne Tronchet), 92 Roslin, Alexandre, 97 Rotisset de Romainville, Cécile, 339 Rouillé, Antoine-Louis de, ministre de la Marine, 345, 427n1 Roullier, Philippe-Édouard, inspecteur de police, 152, 219, 382 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 4–5, 62, 197, 395n1, 395n2 Roussel, Bernard, inspecteur de police, 79, 275, 382, 430n1 Roussel, Claude-Bernard, exempt (guidon) de Robe Courte, 83–6, 105, 111,

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

Page 443

Index 142–3, 275–7, 326–9, 375, 380, 430n1 Roussel, Marie-Magdelaine-Gabrielle, 403n35 Routtier, see Roullier Roux, Dlle, alias la Chaumart, alias Mlle Cénie, danseuse, 131, 135, 157, 234 Roux, Lucie, 398n1 Rouzier, abbé Étienne, 278, 378, 423n21, 430n14 Royer, Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace, 137 Roziers, see Rouzier Ruffec, Armand-Jean de Rouvroy de SaintSimon, duc de, 201 Sabatiny, comtesse de, (also Langeac), 202, 416n45 Sacle, employé, 120 Sade, Donatien-Alphonse-François, marquis de, 10, 49, 248, 420n10 Sade, Jean-Baptiste, comte de, 49 Saint-Albin, Charles de, archevêque de Cambrai, 73 Saint-Amant, marquis de, 107, 109 Saint-André, Dlle, fille publique, 73 Saint-Aubin, see Coquerel Saint-Félix, Dlle, figurante, 86, 110 Saint-Florentin, Amélie-Ernestine, comtesse de, 416n45 Saint-Florentin, Louis Phélypeaux, comte de, 202, 382, 416n45 Saint-Germain, Louis Douet, écuyer, seigneur de, 80 Saint-Hilaire, Marie-Madeleine de, 91, 204 Saint-Louis, bugler, 44 Saint-Lubin, Joseph-Jean-Baptiste-Gilbert de, 204 Saint-Marc, lieutenant du Guet, see Farcy Saint-Omer, Dlle, dominatrix, 90 Saint-Omer, Philippe, ouvrier infidèle, 260, 423n21 Saint Saurlieu, Marc-Antoine, prêtre, 406n20 Saint-Roman, see Serre de Saint-Roman Saint-Simon, Maximilien-Henri, marquis de, 203 Salmon, abbé, poète, 66 Salon de 1765 (Diderot), 417n63 Sanadon, poète, 66 Sand, George, 415n25 Sandec, M. de, 185 Sarcelades (Jouin), 256 Sarcelles, comte Francesco de, 94, 176, 193

443

Sartine, Antoine-Gabriel de, lieutenant général de police, 54, 56, 62, 296, 399n30 Satire première (Diderot), 421n42 Saulgeon, M. de, 197–8 Saunier, Suzanne, 188, 223 Sauvé, Marie-Anne, 253, 260, 282, 421n30 Savalette, Charles, fermier général, 71 Saxe, Marie-Aurore de, 415n25 Saxe, Maurice, comte de, 4, 8, 412n30, 415n25 Scheherazade, 306 Serein, Marie, 119 Serre de Saint-Roman, Étienne, 157–65 Serre de Saint-Roman, Jeanne-Suzanne de (née Le Noir), 160 Sersale, see Sarcelles Siècle de Louis XIV, Le (Voltaire), 256, 428n26 Songe, 359–61 Soubise, Armand de Rohan, cardinal de, 73 Soubise, Charles de Rohan, prince de, 201, 412n30 Stanislas Leszczynski, king of Poland, 75 Stormont, David Murray, 7th Viscount, 185, 414n13 Swift, Jonathan, 131 Tableau de Paris (Mercier), 27–8, 51, 54, 59, 155–6 Tencin, Claudine-Alexandrine de Guérin, marquise de, 64 Testevuide, Anne-Marie, alias Mézière, fille publique, 117–18 Testevuide, cocher, 117 Themis, 319, 426n5 Thérèse philosophe, 67 Thibault, Dlle, procuress, 80–1 Thorin, domestique, 183 Thoynard de Jouy, Anne-Marie-Josèphe, 172 Thoynard de Jouy, Barthélémy, fermier général, 172, 232 Thuret, Louis-Armand-Eugène de, 137 Tragédies bibliques au XVIIIe siècle, Les (Herr), 425n28 Traité du poème épique (Le Bossu), 332, 334, 355, 427n29 Trousse-cotte, Milord, see Powerscourt Trudaine de Montigny, Jean-CharlesPhilibert de, 87 Turenne, Godefroy-Charles-Henri de La

INDEX.QXD

9/1/2004 11:44 AM

Page 444

444

Index

Tour d’Auvergne, prince de, 184, 197, 220–1 Turgis, Magdelaine de, 41–2, 45–6, 48, 281, 423n1 Turgot, Anne-Robert-Jacques, baron de L’Aulne, 207 Turpin, Magdelaine, 50, 53, 66 Une Maison d’aliénés et de correctionnaires au XVIIIe siècle (BonnafousSérieux), 396n31 Unigenitus (Clement XI), 227 Urfé, Mlle, 203, 416n49 Vaillant, abbé Pierre, 254–5 Vallée, M., 196 Vallier, ci-devant capitaine au régiment de Champagne, 204 Vallois, M., 86, 407n8 Vandières, see Marigny Véronèse, Anne-Marie, alias Coraline, comédienne, 87, 217–18 Verrière, see Rainteau Vestris, Marie-Françoise-Thérèse, danseuse, 171, 194, 207 Viard, gendarme des Gardes, 202–3 Victoire, Mlle, chanteuse, 197 Vie des saints, 319 Vie quotidienne à la Bastille, La (Petitfils), 420n19 Vie quotidienne des Français sous Louis XV, La (Chaussinand-Nogaret), 395n7 Vierrey, exempt de Robe Courte, 64, 258 Vigneron, potier d’étain, 151–2 Vilgagnon, see Villegagnon

Villefort, Louis-Philippe, chevalier de, 79, 194–5 Villegagnon, officier des mousquetaires noirs, 205, 417n56 Villeroi, Gabriel-Louis-François de Neufville, marquis de, 204, 416n53 Vintimille, Charles-Gaspard-Guillaume de, archevêque de Paris, 242 Vintimille, Jean-Baptiste-Félix-Hubert, comte de, 50 Virgil, 334 Vitelle, comte de, 86 Vitry, comte de, 202 Vivre dans la rue à Paris au XVIIIe siècle (Farge), 424n3 Voix des persécutés, La (La Rochegérault), 255 Volland, Sophie, 56, 402n8 Voltaire, François-Marie Arouet de, 4, 61–2, 229, 247, 256, 322, 426n10, 427n26 Voltaire’s Correspondence (ed. Besterman), 400n54, 426n10 Voyage d’Amatonthe (Rességuier), 405n5 Voyer, Marc-René, marquis de, 201 Walpole, Horace, 131 Weil, Françoise, 400n74 Willemin, Nicolas, 43 Willemin de Coin, see De Coin Wolfsdorf, baron de, 107 Ximénès, Augustin-Louis, marquis de, 50 Yvon, maître couvreur, 152 Zaïre, Dlle, fille publique, 92, 123