Читать книгу The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X - Beale Sophia - Страница 10

Au tems passé du siècle d'or,

Crosse de bois, Evêque d'or, Maintenant changent les lois, Crosse d'or, Evêque de bois.

The Huguenots destroyed many of the church ornaments, ruined chapels, and worse still, "ces impies la pillerent (S. Denis) et dissiperent entierement, sans y laisser aucune chose, sinon ce qu'ils ne voulutent point. Ils ne pouuoient faire pis, sinon mettre le feu par tout le Monastere, comme ils firent en tant d'autres par la France." It was supposed that the "Prince de Condé, leur chef," was not present at these little pastimes of his valiant soldiers, for when he heard what had been done "il fit pendre vne douzaine, pour monstrer comment il detestoit leur sacrilege: mais pour cela les pertes ne furent pas reconnettes."

In a History of the Royal Abbaye of Saint Denis, published in London in 1795, we have some curious details connected with the church. "Every Sunday and Holy Day at mass, the Deacons and Sub-deacons, after having received the 'precious body of Our Lord,' repaired to a side altar to suck up through a reed, enclosed in a tube of enamelled gold, the 'precious blood,' according to a very ancient custom adopted in the church of S. Denis, which is retained without any variation to this day." Whether this was so, or whether it was the result of the anonymous writer's imagination, I cannot say, as I find nothing about it in other books that I have studied.

The same author speaks of the "miraculous silver keys of S. Denis which they apply to the faces of those persons who have been so unfortunate as to be bitten by mad dogs, and who receive a certain and immediate relief by only touching them." Alas, that these keys should have been melted up; for here was a cure for hydrophobia without any of the vicarious suffering which M. Pasteur's discovery has caused.

The legend of S. Denis, the patron of France, is exceedingly picturesque. By some ecclesiastical authorities he is said to have lived in the 1st century, by others in the 2nd or 4th, but by most he is one and the same person as Dionysius the Areopagite. Hilduin, abbot of S. Denis at the beginning of the 9th century, seems to have had no doubt upon the subject, and in art the Saint and the disciple of S. Paul have always been looked upon as the self-same personage, although tradition records the existence of another S. Denis, a bishop of Paris, in the 3rd century. Dionysius was an Athenian philosopher named Theosophus. Travelling in Egypt to study astrology with a companion named Apollophanes, they were surprised by a strange darkness that came over the heavens, and were naturally much troubled thereby. Returning to Athens, Dionysius heard S. Paul preach, and thereupon being converted to Christianity, he understood that the darkness which he had seen at Heliopolis was none other than that which fell upon the earth for the space of three hours when the Blessed Redeemer was crucified. Baptised and ordained priest, Dionysius subsequently became bishop of Athens; and in some of the writings attributed to him he relates that he travelled to Jerusalem to see the Blessed Virgin, whom he found continually surrounded by a dazzling light, and attended by a company of Angels. He also gives an account of her death at which he was present with certain of the Apostles. After this, he returned to Athens and was subsequently present at S. Paul's martyrdom in Rome. Thence he was sent by S. Clement to preach the Gospel, together with a priest named Rusticus, and a deacon Eleutherius. Arrived at Paris, an exceeding great city full of people and provided with all the good things of the earth, they found it so attractive that it seemed to them another Athens, and so they sojourned there, teaching the people, who were learned in all things but the way of truth. S. Denis then sent missionaries into other parts of Gaul, and into Germany. But these successes were not pleasing unto Satan, and so he stirred up the nobles against the good bishop, who was accused before the Emperor Trajan. Some say it was Domitian, but in either case the result was the despatch of one Frescennius, a pro-consul, from Rome, with orders to throw Denis and his companions into prison. This was done, and finding that they would not retract, they were put to death upon the Hill of Mercury (who was so much honoured by the Gauls), and which was subsequently called Montmartre (Mons Martyrum).

"Le Saint evêque Denis, et ses deux compagnons, le prêtre Rustique et le diacre Eleuthère, souffrirent leur mémorable et très-glorieuse passion, à la vue de la cité des Parisiens, sur la colline qui se nommait auparavant Mont de Mercure, parce que cette idole y était particulièrement honorée de Gaulois, et qu'on appelle aujourd'hui le Mont des Martyrs en mémoire des saints du Seigneur qui accomplirent en ce lieu même leur martyre triomphal."[11]

Then a stupendous miracle took place. S. Denis not desiring, or not being permitted, to become food for wolves, took up his decapitated head in his hands, and walked for the space of two miles, Angels singing by the way. Accompanied by this celestial body-guard, the Saint marched over the plains beyond the city, and signified, in some way unrecorded, that he desired burial where now stands the church dedicated to his memory. This was accomplished by a pious woman named Catulla, who had ministered unto the three blessed martyrs in their prison, and who now laid their mutilated remains in her own field.

Paris formerly, even as late as the last century, contained many spots sacred to the memory of S. Denis and his three companions. At Notre-Dame-des-Champs a crypt used to be shown where they preached to their first disciples. At S. Benoît, now destroyed, there was formerly an oratory, on the wall of which was an inscription recording that S. Denis first invoked the name of the Most High on that spot. At S. Denis-de-la-Chartre was the prison where the martyrs were visited by our Lord, and where He administered His Blessed Body and Blood to them. At S. Denis-du-Pas was the ground upon which they suffered their first tortures; and upon Montmartre the church of S. Pierre records the spot upon which they were decapitated. The way across the plain from Montmartre to the place of burial was marked by a succession of crosses, and the field where the Saint's remains were laid subsequently became the precincts of the famous abbey.

The first church is said to have been erected before the invasion of the Franks, but this had fallen into ruins in the 5th century, and it was through the piety of S. Geneviève and the people of Paris that it was rebuilt. This Saint, like all good Parisians, held S. Denis in great esteem; and it was during a visit paid to his shrine that her taper, maliciously blown out by the arch-enemy, was successfully relighted through the fervour of her prayers. Gregoire de Tours relates many wondrous miracles which took place in the new church for the benefit of the faithful and the chastisement of the wicked.

SILVER STATUETTE FORMERLY IN THE TREASURY.

But the magnificence with which Dagobert rebuilt and endowed S. Denis completely eclipsed the work of the maid of Nanterre; and so effectually was the king looked upon as the founder of the abbey that, up to the dissolution of the monasteries, the monks celebrated his festival upon the 19th of January with great solemnity and splendour. It was about the year 630 that Dagobert undertook the rebuilding of the church, which is said to have been decorated with precious marbles, magnificent bronze doors, and gold and silver vessels enriched with precious stones. These latter, and the shrine of the Saint, as well as the great cross at the entrance of the choir, were the work of the famous artificer in metals, S. Eloy, who was also the maker of the shrines of SS. Martin, Germain, and Geneviève. These, and, in fact, all this great smith's works (as far as is known) have perished; but his memory is still preserved by pictures and sculptures representing some of the legendary incidents of his life. In the Firenze Academy is a picture by Botticelli, and at the church of Or San Michele is a statue and a bas-relief, both of which represent one of the great events of the Saint's life. A horse having been brought to him to be shod, the animal proved restive, and the Saint being exercised in his mind as to how he should keep the beast still, bethought him of an excellent plan. He calmly cut off the leg, and placing it upon his anvil, fastened on the shoe; this done, he replaced the leg upon the horse, to the amazement of the beast and the edification of his owner. Another picture, painted for the Company of the Goldsmiths, represents S. Eloy under the form of Benvenuto Cellini, presenting a shrine to King Dagobert, who figures in the costume of François I^er. In 754, Pépin and his queen Berthe, after being anointed at S. Denis by Pope Stephen II., began the reconstruction of the Merovingian church which Charlemagne finished and dedicated in 775. From that year until the 12th century, little is known of the history of the abbey. Like all churches and monasteries in the north of France, it was probably destroyed, and its lands laid waste by the invasions of the Northmen and the disastrous civil wars which characterised the end of the Carlovingian dynasty, for nothing remains of the magnificence of the churches of Dagobert and of Charlemagne but a few columns and marble capitals in the crypt.

TOMB OF HENRI II. IN THE VALOIS CHAPEL BUILT BY PHILIBERT DELORME.

The third and present church was commenced by the great Abbot Suger, and is considered by many French architects to be the earliest example of Pointed architecture. Suger erected the tower, the portals, the nave, and the choir in rapid succession, and subsequently the chevet and chapels; he filled the windows with the most exquisite jewel-like stained glass, and loaded the shrines and altars with precious stones. Some of the sacred vessels formerly belonging to the church are now in the Salle d'Apollon of the Louvre, and testify to the exquisite artistic taste as well as to the religious enthusiasm of the good abbot. "As it is our duty to present unto God oblations of gems and of gold, I, Suger, offer this vase unto the Lord," is the inscription upon an antique sardonyx amphora which he converted into a vessel for the altar. The dedication of this church took place twice, in 1140 and 1144, but it was only to remain intact some 70 years. In 1219, the day after the feast of the nativity of the Virgin, its flèche was struck by lightning, and a few years after, the church itself was partially destroyed. Abbot Eudes Clément replaced the wooden flèche by a stone one, and raised the interior of the apse; and his third successor, Matthieu de Vendôme, finished the transept and the nave. The chapels of the nave upon the north side were built in the 14th century, and a few unimportant additions were made in the succeeding century. Of the magnificent circular chapel of the Valois erected for Henri II. and Catherine de'Medici, nothing remains but a beautiful colonnade, now forming a sham ruin in the Parc Monceau. The chapel was situated upon the north of the apse, near the steps, and was destroyed during the regency of Philippe d'Orléans, in 1719.

It is generally supposed that the destruction of churches and the despoiling of monasteries in France were the work of the enemies of religion in the form of the "people." But the kings did not hesitate to rob the church when they could drain no more money out of their long-suffering subjects. To Francis I.[12] and Louis XIV. the eighth commandment was no more binding than the seventh; laws, divine or otherwise, were made for the vulgar herd, not for their most Christian Majesties; and so, when the "Grand Monarque" saw fit to please Mme. de Maintenon by founding St. Cyr, he suppressed the abbacy of S. Denis, and relieved the monastery of the abbot's revenues for an endowment. This was the beginning of the downfall, and in 1791, the Benedictines were dispersed after an occupation of twelve centuries. In the memoirs of the organist attached to the abbey at the time, there is a touching account of the last mass celebrated by the prior upon the day of departure. But the church remained intact, and was even made the dépôt of the relics of the Sainte-Chapelle,[13] after the suppression of the chaplains belonging to the latter. The Moniteur of 3rd September, 1791, gives an account of the sittings of the commission of savants, established at the Bibliothèque des Quatre-Nations, for the consideration of the preservation of works of art. This commission was appointed by the National Assembly after the passing of the law for the appropriation of the property of the clergy by la chose publique. M. De Larochefoucauld was the president of this "Commission des Monuments," assisted by many artists and connoisseurs. They first of all chose certain places as receptacles for the works of art, and then decided what to keep and what to destroy. The former quarters of the Petits-Augustins became the museum of tombs and sepulchral sculptures; and to the Capucins, the Grands-Jésuites, and the Cordeliers were sent the books and manuscripts. A descriptive catalogue was drawn up by Alexandre Lenoir,[14] who was appointed curator in 1790. Unfortunately, much was destroyed, as, for instance, at the abbey of Royaumont, where two Benedictines, Poirier and Puthod, were sent by the commission to superintend matters. The mausoleum of the princes of S. Louis' family was "démoli avec adresse," says the Moniteur; the coffins were opened "avec circonspection," the ashes taken up with care, and then, ticketed and sealed, sent to S. Denis. Les sieurs Puthod and Poirier carried off the remains of seven princes and six monuments, which arrived just in time to be packed off to the museum of the Petits-Augustins.

Many of the seventy-three abbots, from Dodon, the first (living in 637), to the last, Jean-François-Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, were distinguished for their piety, for their learning, their greed, or their vices. Amongst them we find the names of Fulrad, Hilduin, Suger, Mathieu de Vendôme, the Emperor Charles the Bald, the Kings Eudes, Robert and Hugues Capet,[15] the Cardinals de Bourbon, de Lorraine, de Guise, and Mazarin. The conventual buildings were all destroyed in the reign of Louis XV., and during the Revolution the church suffered in the same way as Notre-Dame and S. Eustache, by being secularized in the most revolting manner. But if the Revolutionists destroyed and carried away monuments, the Imperial architects did worse, for they began a restoration in their own hideous taste and "style"; and it was not until a few years ago that the old church was restored to its pristine beauty.

Perhaps few churches have seen more changes than the silent walls of S. Denis have witnessed. The burial place of most of the kings of France, it was also upon its High Altar that Louis le Gros deposited the oriflamme, the famous standard of France,[16] while some seven centuries later, its tombs were only preserved from utter ruin by the wit of Alexandre Lenoir. Even the church itself was threatened with destruction, and was only saved by an architect seriously suggesting that it should be turned into a market, the side chapels forming shops. By turns a Temple of Reason, a dépôt of artillery, a theatre of acrobats, a flour warehouse, and a granary, its desecration was not consummated until the glass was removed, and the leaden covering of its roof converted into bullets. Napoleon saved what remained, and began restoring it as a resting-place for the defunct members of his dynasty. The Concordat guaranteed it a chapter, and religious services were restored.[17] But the 19th century proved as disastrous as wars and revolutions. Lightning once more brought down the flèche in 1837, and again in 1846; and scrapings and cleanings carried away all the old surfaces of the walls. Still, through the talent and learning of Viollet-le-Duc, it is one of the finest of 13th century churches, and now that the tombs have all been replaced in their former positions, one of the most interesting.

THE NORTH-WEST DOORWAY.

The façade has three doorways, which are rich in the somewhat rude sculpture of the time of Suger. The subject of the central tympanum and voussure is The Last Judgment. Christ is pronouncing the last sentence, surrounded by the dead who are rising from their graves. His Blessed Mother is interceding for sinners, and Abraham is receiving the elect into his bosom. The Apostles, and the four-and-twenty elders, holding musical instruments, and vases for the reception of the prayers of the just as a sweet-smelling incense, are there, looking on at the damned tossed into hell. Upon the stylobate of the portal we read the parable of the Wise and foolish Virgins.

The southern doorway is decorated with the Martyrdom of S. Denis, and the appearance of our Blessed Lord to the holy martyrs while in prison. Unfortunately, much of these bas-reliefs is modern.

Some statues on one of the transept doorways are curious examples of how a fraud may be perpetuated. They represent, without doubt, some members of the royal house of David, but at some period they were said to be kings of the Capétien line, and as such, casts were taken and sent to Versailles, where they figured as portrait statues of Hugues Capet, Robert, Henri, Philippe, Louis VI., and Louis VII. The capitals of the columns and the foliage ornament of these portals are vastly superior in style to the figures.

On each side of the western rose-window are some bands of black and white marble, after the manner of the churches of Pisa and Genoa, souvenirs, probably, of Suger's travels in Italy. Indeed, he tells us in the account of his administration that he took much trouble in preserving a mosaic which he had brought home and placed in the tympanum of one of the doors. This was unfortunately replaced, in 1774, by a bas-relief of the meanest possible workmanship.

The interior consists of a nave and two aisles, with a chevet of seven chapels at the east end, considerably raised above the level of the nave. Access to these chapels is gained by a flight of steps on each side of the High Altar, and under them is the royal crypt. The whole of the east end of the church, the double aisles, with their single-shaft pillars, the chapels, the vaulting, and the glass, form a mass of colour, and a most beautiful coup d'œil;[18] indeed, there is but one eyesore in the whole building, the aforesaid series of windows representing Louis Philippe's heroic deeds. Blue swallow-tailed coats and white trousers scarcely form a costume which is either effective or appropriate as designs for church windows.

The wood carving of the stalls is of the 15th century, and was brought from the abbey of S. Lucien-lez-Beauvais; the inlaid marquetry work at the backs of the seats is from the Château de Gaillon, built by Cardinal d'Amboise. Many of the misérérés have the usual quaint conceits which one sees everywhere. Portions of the old glass were preserved by Lenoir in the museum of the Petits-Augustins during the stormy period, and were afterwards replaced in the windows of the apse. They consist mainly of fragments of a tree of Jesse, and may be found in the chapel of the Virgin. There are in all eleven lozenge-shaped medallions representing scenes in the life of Moses, and mystical subjects from the Apocalypse, bearing inscriptions by Suger. Upon the medallion of the Annunciation, the good abbot himself is portrayed prostrate before the Blessed Virgin. In one or two of the other chapels there are a few fragments of the legend of S. Laurence.

THE LADY CHAPEL.

Of the early kings of France Dagobert was the first to be buried at S. Denis, and his memorial tomb (much restored) still stands on the right of the High Altar. Clovis and Clotilde were buried in the crypt of the first church erected upon the site of S. Geneviève, then called the Church of the Holy Apostles. Childebert was laid in the church of the Abbey of S. Vincent (founded by him), afterwards called S. Germain-des-Près. Chlodoald was buried at S. Cloud; S. Radegonde, wife of Clotaire I., at Poitiers; Chilpéric and Frédégonde laid the body of one of their children in the first church of S. Denis. Besides Dagobert I., his queen, Nanthilde, and their sons, Sigebert II. and Clovis II. were buried at S. Denis; and although it is thought that other Merovingian princes also received burial there, many repose at Chelles, S. Waast d'Arras, S. Bertin, S. Etienne de Choisy, Metz, Angoulême, S. Romain de Blaye, Jumièges, and S. Crépin de Soissons. The monuments of Charles-Martel, Pépin and Berthe, Carloman, Charles the Bald, Ermentrude, Louis, Carloman, and Eudes were all at S. Denis. Charlemagne was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle, where the magnificent châsses containing his skull and some of his bones may still be seen. His descendants were distributed all over Europe: at Köln, Mainz, Prüm, Regensburg, Loresheim, Oettinghen, Reichenau, Audlau, Verona, Milan, and Piacenza; those in France, at Metz, Sens, Bourges, S. Laurent, S. Sulpice, Tours, Angers, Lyon, Portiers, Compiègne, Reims, Péronne, and Soissons.

URN SCULPTURED FOR THE HEART OF FRANÇOIS Ier.

From Hugues Capet to Louis XV. most of the kings were interred at S. Denis; but it must be borne in mind that almost all the tombs of the earlier sovereigns are modern, either wholly or in part. In the 13th century the strange custom came into fashion of dividing the bodies of royal personages, and burying the parts in different places. The Benedictine monks of S. Denis protested against this division of valuable property, asserting their right to possess the entire remains of the kings; but the Dominicans and the Cordeliers contested these claims, and subsequently gained permission for their own churches to share in the spoil. Later on, other religious orders obtained the same privileges; and the ladies of Val-de-Grâce were distinguished by the possession of the hearts of nearly all the royal princes and princesses from Anne d'Autriche, the founder of the monastery. Naturally, when each defunct sovereign was divided into three portions—the body, the heart, and the intestines—great opportunities were afforded to architects and sculptors; and we thus find three marble monuments with recumbent figures erected for the remains of Charles V., that at S. Denis containing his body, while Rouen and Maubuisson respectively possessed his heart and his et ceteras.[19] Francis I.'s heart was placed in an exquisite urn in the church of the nuns of Haute-Bruyère; while his body was buried in the grand monument at S. Denis. The urn was the work of Pierre Bontems, and is now in the same chapel as the tomb, which was the joint work of Philibert Delorme and Bontems. The beautiful group of the Three Graces, by Germain Pilon, formerly in the church of the Célestins, and now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre, supported an urn containing the heart of Henri II.;[20] the hearts of the 13th and 14th Louis, enveloped in shrines in the form of silver Angels, being the property of the church of the Jesuits. The number of monuments erected at S. Denis to the memory of the families of the sovereigns was small; and none of them were to be compared, as works of art, to the beautiful tombs of the Dukes of Bourgogne and of Brétagne at Dijon, at Bruges, and at Nantes. Most of the princes of the different families, the Condés, the Contis, the Valois, the Bourbons, &c., had founded chapels or monasteries where they were afterwards buried; as, for instance, the Orléans chapel at the Célestins, which was celebrated for its magnificence.[21]

THE CHOIR AND SANCTUARY.

None of the monuments of the early kings are anterior to the 13th century; consequently, even the original portions of the effigies which remain cannot be looked upon as in the slightest degree portrait statues. On the other hand, the magnificent tombs in bronze, and the brasses which adorned them, erected to the memory of Philippe Auguste, S. Louis, and his father, and which were destroyed centuries ago, were most probably as valuable as contemporary portraits as they were for their workmanship; likewise the 13th century effigies which remain are remarkable for the beauty of their workmanship. Louis IV. was the last prince who was laid under a simple stone monument. The last tomb erected was that of Henri II., the sovereigns who followed him having had no memorials. They were laid together in one great crypt, and when disturbed by the Revolutionists for the sake of the lead of their coffins ("of the coffins of our old tyrants let us make bullets to hurl at our enemies"), there were fifty-four bodies arranged upon iron trestles side by side, Henri IV.[22] heading the list, and the Dauphin, elder son of Louis XVI., ending it. The monuments now occupy the same position that they did before the Revolution; and if we stand upon the raised platform of the apse behind the High Altar we can gaze down upon what may be called the history of France, from the artistic point of view, during four or five centuries. On the left, the 13th century tomb of Dagobert stands erect; beyond it, the Renaissance mausoleum of Francis I., one of the chefs-d'œuvres of that grand sculptor, Philibert Delorme. On the right, the enamelled brasses of the children of S. Louis and the tomb of Henri II. A mosaic effigy of Frédégonde, the Orléans monument, and the tomb of Louis XII. by the brothers Juste, of Tours, complete the list of important works, while all about are recumbent figures upon arcaded monuments. The resting-places of the abbots were simply marked by inscriptions or flat slabs. The historian of the Abbey, Dom Michel Félibien, records the number of thirteen stones of grand priors with effigies, besides the abbots' tombs.

Among the distinguished men buried at S. Denis were the following:—

Pierre Chambellan, of whom Joinville writes, "Messire Pierre Chambellan fut le plus loial homme et le plus droicturier que je veisse oncques en la maision du roi … l'homme du monde en qui le roy croirit plus"; and Alphonse, son of Jean de Brienne, King of Jerusalem and uncle of S. Louis, whose epitaph designates him as "moult saige et moult loial chevaliers." Both of them died "au service de Dieu et de Monsieur Loys, roy de France, dessous Cartaige l'an de l'incarnation de Nostre-Seigneur MCCLXX," and were "enterrés en l'église Monsieur Saint Denis" in the year MCCLXXI, "le vendredi devant la Penthecoste le jour et l'heure quand Monsieur le roy Loys fut enterré"; indeed, the old chronicler says, "aus pieds du bon roys tout en la manière qu'il gisoit à ses pieds quand il estoit en vie." Pierre accompanied S. Louis in the disastrous crusade which terminated his reign. No doubt his tomb was of metal, destroyed with many others long before the Revolution, as for example, that of the Comte d'Eu, in gilt copper, enriched with enamels, which succumbed to the greed of the Huguenots.

Close to the tomb of Charles V. were those of Duguesclin, Louis de Sancerre, Bureau de la Rivière, Arnaud de Guilhem seigneur de Barbazan, who, before Bayard, was called le chevalier sans reproche, and who, with six others, was victorious over seven English knights in 1404. Near Duguesclin Charles V. had marked the spot for the burial place of Jean Pastourel, one of his principal councillors, whose wife was laid at S. Denis in 1380, but having, sick of the world, retired to the Abbey of S. Victor towards the end of his life, he desired to be buried there rather than amidst the splendours of the royal tombs. He was the only civilian who was offered this much-coveted privilege.

Guillaume de Chastel was another non-royal personage whom it pleased his master, Charles VII., pour sa grande vaillance et les services qui lui avoit faiz en maintes manières, to bury at S. Denis. The warrior held the town of Pontoise against the English, and died during the siege, 20th July, 1441. Another vaillant capitaine de gendarmes, the chevalier Louis de Pontoise, fell by the side of Louis XI. at the assault of the town of Crotoy, and was rewarded by being laid to rest amongst the Royalties.

Louis XIV. of course accorded burial at S. Denis to his great commanders. First, the Duc de Châtillon, for his magnificent services. Feu nostre très-cher cousin was killed at the taking, in 1649, of Charenton, that peaceful suburb of Paris just outside the Bois de Vincennes; and the King, wishing to tesmoigner le ressentiment que nous avons d'une si grande perte, honoured the valiant Duc with burial at S. Denis. The service was to be at the King's expense, which looks as if the honour were sometimes a costly one to the relatives; and no pomp or ceremony was to be omitted—such were the instructions of his most glorious majesty.

The Marquis de Saint Maigrin seems, according to the King's epistle, to have been of a valeur extraordinaire, dans toutes les occasions où il s'est trouvé; his majesty felt avec beaucoup de douleur la perte que nous en avons faite au dernier combat qui s'est fait dans les fauxbourgs de nostre bonne ville de Paris; and so he, too, was to rest with the great ones, socially, of the earth.

Louis seems to have been a sort of complete letter writer; the note in which he eulogises Turenne might serve as a model for those masters of style amongst us who delight in long sentences and a scarcity of full-stops; but, unlike the moderns, "la grande monarque" never gets involved, he only causes a slight shortness of breath to his readers. Witness the following page: "Chers et bien amez, les grands et signalez services qui ont esté rendus à cet Estat par feu nostre cousin, le vicomte de Turenne, et les preuves éclatantes qu'il a données de son zèle, de son affection à nostre service, et de sa capacité dans le commandement de nos armées que nous luy avons confiées avec une espérance certaine des heureux et grands succès que sa prudence consommée et sa valeur extraordinaire ont procuré à nos armes, nous ayant fait ressentir avec beaucoup de douleur la perte d'un aussi grand homme et d'un sujet aussi nécessaire et aussi distingué par sa vertu et par sa mérite, nous avons voulu donner un tesmoignage public digne de nostre estime et de ses grandes actions, en ordonnant qu'il fust rendu à sa mémoire tous les honneurs qui peuvent marquer à la postérité l'extrême satisfaction qui nous reste, et le souvenir que nous voulons conserver de tout ce qu'il a faict pour la gloire de nos armes et pour le soutien de nostre Estat; et comme nous ne pouvons en donner des marques plus publiques et plus certaines qu'en prenant soin de sa sépulture, nous avons voulu y pourvoir en telle sorte que le lieu où elle séroit, fust un tesmoignage de la grandeur de ses services et de nostre reconnoissance; c'est pourquoy, ayant résolu de faire bastir dans l'église de Saint-Denys une chapelle pour la sépulture des rois et des princes de la branche royale de Bourbon, nous voulons que, lorsqu'elle sera achevée, le corps de nostredit cousin y soit transféré, pour y estre mis en lieu honorable, suivant l'ordre que nous en donnerons; et cependant nous avons permis à nos cousins le cardinal et le duc de Bouillon, ses neveux, de mettre son corps en dépost dans la chapelle de Saint-Eustache de ladite église de Saint-Denys, et d'y eslever un monument à la mémoire de leur oncle, suivant les desseins qui en ont esté arrestez; c'est de quoy nous avons bien voulu vous donner avis, et vous dire en mesme temps que nous voulons que vous exécutiez ce qui est en cela de nostre volonté, en faisant mettre ledit corps dans la cave de ladite chapelle et en laissant la liberté aux ouvriers de travailler audit monument jusqu'à son entière perfection. Si n'y faictes fautes; car tel est nostre plaisir. Donné à Saint-Germain en Laye, le XXII^e jour de Novembre 1675. Signé, Louis. Et plus bas, Colbert. Et sur le reply: A nos chers et amez les abbé, prieur et religieux de l'abbaye royale de Saint-Denys, en France."

The projected Bourbon chapel was never built, and the Revolution found the monument of Turenne in the same chapel, that of S. Eustache, whence it was trundled out as late as April, 1796, and transported to the Petits-Augustins; for up to that time Turenne, not being a royal person, had been left in peace. The demolition of the tombs seems to have gone on fitfully from 1793 to 1795, as a little diversion between more exciting events. After the emigration of the nobility in 1790; the flight of the King to Varennes, and his false swearing to uphold the constitution in 1792; and his treachery in carrying on a correspondence with the enemies at the frontier; the popular anger waxed strong, and led to the storming of the Tuileries on the 10th August,[23] which event was to be celebrated the next year by the demolition of the tombs of S. Denis. Louis XVI. had paid the penalty of his crimes; and like his forerunner, Charles I., had shown that if he did not know how to live, he at least had learnt how to die; but his ancestors had got off scot-free. Why should they be allowed to rest peacefully, what remained of them? Besides, lead was wanted for ammunition; and, just as the church bells were in requisition for guns, and gold and silver vessels for coinage, so the leaden coffins and roofs of churches could be melted up into cannon balls. Imagine the stampede of Parisians along that paved road that led from Paris to S. Denis. Only the other day, when the trams were instituted, were those great rough stones taken up. At Versailles you may still see the like, the paved part of the road very much curved, with mud paths on each side—side walks for the people, while the centre pavement was reserved for the quality. They radiate from the palace, and enabled the "Roi Soleil" to visit his satellites at Bellevue, the Trianon, Meudon, and S. Germain, without danger of his lumbering coach sticking in the mire, to which he and his belonged. Many must have been the journeys from the capital to S. Denis, which the decree of the Convention sanctioned—journeys accompanied by crowbars and pickaxes for the better destruction of the tombs. It was a ghastly idea, but in no wise an exaggerated revenge for the kingly brutalities perpetrated upon the living bodies of Ravaillac, Damiens, and such like canaille.[24] We have a full account of the whole affair from the pen of an eye-witness, one Dom Poirier, the custodian of the archives of the monastery, who was present when the commission carried out the decree of the Convention of the 31st July, 1793. The report of this commission is so curious that I will quote it in full. After assigning to the children of Louis le conspirateur[25] the portion of simple citizens, Barrère continued as to the proposed arrangements to be carried out at "la Franciade": "Enfin, le comité a pensé que, pour célébrer la journée du 10 août, qui a abattu le trône, il fallait, dans son anniversaire, détruire les mausolées fastueux qui sont à Saint-Denis. Dans la monarchie, les tombeaux même avaient appris à flatter les rois. L'orgueil et le faste royal ne pouvaient s'adoucir sur ce théâtre de la mort; et les porte-sceptre qui ont fait tant de maux à la France et à l'humanité semblent encore, même dans la tombe, s'enorgueillir d'une grandeur évanouie. La main puissante de la république doit effacer impitoyablement ces épitaphes superbes et démolir ces mausolées qui rappeleraient des rois l'effrayant souvenir." Thereupon a discussion ensued. One member suggested that the nation being in peril, and wanting guns to carry on its defence, a commission should proceed to Franciade, otherwise S. Denis, in order to commence "l'exhumation des ci-devant rois et reines, princes et princesses, dont les corps étaient renfermés dans les caveaux de cette église." Their coffins were to be broken, the lead and the bronze to be melted up, and sent to the arsenals for conversion into arms and munitions of war. The former Benedictine Dom Poirier was nominated commissioner for the Institut, and ordered to be present at the performance. Some days after, the Moniteur triumphantly records the commencement of the business. Then there must have been a lull, for on the 7th September the Conventionnel Lequinio cried from the Tribune: "Je dénonce l'inexécution du décret qui ordonne l'entière démolition des tombeaux de nos anciens tyrans à Saint-Denis. Sans doute, en détruisant ces restes du despotisme, il faut conserver les monuments des arts; mais il faut qu'au lieu d'être des objets d'idolâtrie, il ne servent plus qu'à nourrir l'admiration des amis des arts, l'émulation et le génie des artistes."

The notes taken by Dom Poirier are full of interesting details, told with a certain naïveté; as, for instance, "in the morning, after dinner, they descended into the tomb." Or "early in the morning they began the work, but left off while they went to déjeûner." It must be remembered, also (to quote M. Guilhermy), that the destruction "des tombeaux et l'extraction des corps ont été deux opérations distinctes. Au mois d'août, 1793, pour célébrer l'anniversaire de la victoire du peuple (10 août), on fit disparaître de l'église la plupart des tombeaux et des statues; mais le temps pressait, on ne profana que les restes déposés dans les massifs des monuments. Au mois d'octobre, on acheva l'œuvre commencée, en fouillant toutes les fosses et tous les caveaux qu'il fut possible de retrouver. On n'épargna ni le temps ni les recherches."

The work went on merrily. Marble tombs were smashed up as effectually as the bodies, which were thrown into a pit dug upon the site of the demolished Orléans chapel. Quick-lime helped the business as far as the kings were concerned, but to the assistants it was of no use; and so they had recourse to the burning of strong smelling powders, and the firing of guns, in order to purify the air. Here is one of Dom Poirier's notes:—

"Nota.—Rièn n'a été remarquable dans l'extraction des cercueils faite dans la journée du mardi 15 Oct^bre, 1793: la plupart de ces corps étaient en putréfaction; il en sortait une vapeur noire et épaisse, d'une odeur infecte, qu'on chassait à force de vinaigre et de poudre qu'on eut la précaution de brûler; ce qui n'empêcha pas les ouvriers de gagner des dévoiements et des fièvres, qui n'ont pas eu de mauvaises suites."

What say the modern sanitary authorities to that!

The body of Henri IV. was found in a perfect state of preservation; and he was kept some time in the church lying-in-state, as it were, while a cast was taken of his face; but it may be noted that Dom Poirier makes no allusion to the story of a soldier cutting off his beard and sticking it on his own face.

The names of the princes and princesses were engraved upon little brass plates attached to the covers of the coffins; and a few years ago three or four of these brasses were found in the shop of a coppersmith, that of Louis XIV. having served as the bottom of a stewpan. How are the mighty fallen!

Let me quote some more of Dom Poirier's jottings:—

Remarques.—In Charles V.'s coffin they found a crown in silver, gilt, in a good state of preservation, a hand of justice of silver, a sceptre 5 feet in length surmounted with acanthus leaves in silver, exquisitely gilt, the gold possessing all its freshness and brilliancy. "Ce sceptre était surmonté d'un bouquet en feuillage, an milieu duquel s'élevait une grappe de corymbe, ce qui lui donne à peu prés la forme d'un thyrse, tel qu'on en voit dans Monfaucon, article de sceptres; morceau d'orfévrerie assez bien travaillé pour son époque." (Alexandre Lenoir, Musée des Monuments français.)

"Remarque. Une singularité de l'embaumement du corps de Charles VII., c'est qu'on y avait parsemé du vif-argent, qui avait conservé toute sa fluidité. On a observé la même singularité dans quelques autres embaumements de corps du XIV^e et du XV^e siècles."

The following may interest some persons:—

"Le mercredi, 16 Octobre, 1793.

"Towards 7 o'clock in the morning the work was continued in the vault of the Bourbons. They began with the coffin of Henriette Marie, daughter of Henri IV. and wife of the unfortunate Charles I., King of England, d. in 1669, aged 60;[26] and continued with Anne Stuart, her daughter, the wife of Monsieur, only brother of Louis XIV. d. in 1670, aged 26."

The body of Louis VIII., the father of S. Louis, had almost disappeared. A cross was sculptured upon the lid of the stone coffin; in it was found a sceptre of rotten wood, and a skull-cap of satin surrounded by a band of gold woven stuff, forming a diadem. The body had been enveloped in a winding sheet of gold tissue, some pieces of which were in a good state of preservation.

Remarques.—His body thus enveloped had been sewn up in a strong leather covering.[27] "Il est vraisemblable qu'on ne l'a fait pour lui que pour que son cadavre n'exhalât pas au dehors de mauvaise odeur, dans le transport qu'on en fit de Montpensier en Auvergne, où il mourut à son retour de la guerre contre les Albigeois."

"Ce cuir avait conservé toute son élasticité. … Dans les fouilles de Saint-Germain-des-Près, on trouva un corps également enveloppé dans un cuir. (Alexandre Lenoir, Musée des Monuments Français.) Nous pourrions citer quelques autres exemples. Les corps de plusieurs princes de la maison des Plantagenets, au douzième siècle, furent apportés à Rouen, cousus dans une enveloppe de cuir; c'étaient ceux de Henry I., de Henry-le-Jeune, de Richard-Cœur-de-Lion. Hugues de Grantemaisnil, mort à Londres en 1098, ayant demandé à être inhumé à l'abbaye de Saint-Évrould, en Normandie, son corps y fut transféré salé, et cousu dans une peau de bœuf. Enfin on sait que saint Bernard fut enseveli dans un sac de cuir" (v. B. de Peterborough; Orderic Vital; Histoire de Saint Bernard, &c.) (Guilhermy).

There are notes upon the height of François I., by Alexandre Lenoir:—