Читать книгу A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Complete - Charlotte Biggs - Страница 65

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We are diſturbed almoſt nightly by the arrival of freſh priſoners, and my firſt queſtion of a morning is always "N'eſt il pas du monde entre la nuit?"—Angelique's uſual reply is a groan, and "Ah, mon Dieu, oui;" "Une dixaine de pretres;" or, "Une trentaine de nobles:" ["Did not ſome people arrive in the night?"]—"Yes, God help uſ—half a ſcore prieſts, or twenty or thirty gentry." And I obſerve the depth of the groan is nearly in proportion to the quality of the perſon ſhe commiſerates. Thus, a groan for a Comte, a Marquiſe, or a Prieſt, is much more audible than one for a ſimple gentlewoman or a merchant; and the arrival of a Biſhop (eſpecially if not one of the conſtitutional clergy) is announced in a more ſorrowful key than either.

While I was walking in the yard this morning, I was accoſted by a female whom I immediately recollected to be Victoire, a very pretty couturiere, [Sempſtreſs.] who uſed to work for me when I was at Panthemont, and who made your laſt holland ſhirts. I was not a little ſurprized to ſee her in ſuch a ſituation, and took her aſide to enquire her hiſtory. I found that her mother was dead, and that her brother having ſet up a little ſhop at St. Omer, had engaged her to go and live with him. Being under five-and-twenty, the laſt requiſition obliged him to depart for the army, and leave her to carry on the buſineſs alone. Three weeks after, ſhe was arreſted at midnight, put into a cart, and brought hither. She had no time to take any precautions, and their little commerce, which was in haberdaſhery, as well as ſome work ſhe had in hand, is abandoned to the mercy of the people that arreſted her. She has reaſon to ſuppoſe that her crime conſiſts in not having frequented the conſtitutional maſs; and that her accuſer is a member of one of the town committees, who, ſince her brother's abſence, has perſecuted her with diſhonourable propoſals, and, having been repulſed, has taken thiſ method of revenging himſelf. Her conjecture is moſt probably right, as, ſince her impriſonment, this man has been endeavouring to make a ſort of barter with her for her releaſe.

I am really concerned for this poor creature, who is at preſent a very good girl, but if ſhe remain here ſhe will not only be deprived of her means of living, but perhaps her morals may be irremediably corrupted. She is now lodged in a room with ten or dozen men, and the houſe is ſo crouded that I doubt whether I have intereſt enough to procure her a more decent apartment.

What can this ſtrange policy tend to, that thus expoſes to ruin and want a girl of one-and-twenty—not for any open violation of the law, but merely for her religious opinions; and this, too, in a country which profeſſes toleration as the baſis of its government?

My friend, Mad. de ____ ſ'ennui terribly; ſhe is not incapable of amuſing herſelf, but is here deprived of the means. We have no corner we can call our own to ſit in, and no retreat when we wiſh to be out of a croud except my cloſet, where we can only ſee by candle-light. Beſides, ſhe regrets her employments, and projects for the winter. She had begun painting a St. Thereſa, and tranſlating an Italian romance, and had nearly completed the education of a dozen canary birds, who would in a month's time have accompanied the harp ſo delightfully, as to overpower the ſound of the inſtrument. I believe if we had a few more ſquare inches of room, ſhe would be tempted, if not to bring the whole chorus, at leaſt to conſole herſelf with two particular favourites, diſtinguiſhed by curious topknots, and rings about their necks.

With all theſe feminine propenſities, ſhe is very amiable, and her caſe is indeed ſingularly cruel and unjuſt.—Left, at an early age, under the care of her brother, ſhe was placed by him at Panthemont (where I firſt became acquainted with her) with an intention of having her perſuaded to take the veil; but finding her averſe from a cloiſter, ſhe remained as a penſioner only, till a very advantageous marriage with the Marquis de ____, who was old enough to be her father, procured her releaſe. About two years ago he died, and left her a very conſiderable fortune, which the revolution has reduced to nearly one-third of its former value. The Comte de ____, her brother, was one of the original patriots, and embraced with great warmth the cauſe of the people; but having very narrowly eſcaped the maſſacres of September, 1792, he immediately after emigrated.

Thus, my poor friend, immured by her brother till the age of twenty-two in a convent, then ſacrificed three years to a huſband of a diſagreeable temper and unſuitable age, is now deprived of the firſt liberty ſhe ever enjoyed, and is made anſwerable for the conduct of a man over whom ſhe has no ſort of influence. It is not, therefore, extraordinary that ſhe cannot reconcile herſelf to her preſent ſituation, and I am really often more concerned on her account than my own. Cut off from her uſual reſources, ſhe has no amuſement but wandering about the houſe; and if her other cauſes of uneaſineſs be not augmented, they are at leaſt rendered more intolerable by her inability to fill up her time.—This does not ariſe from a deficiency of underſtanding, but from never having been accuſtomed to think. Her mind reſembles a body that is weak, not by nature, but from want of exerciſe; and the number of years ſhe has paſſed in a convent has given her that mixture of childiſhneſs and romance, which, my making frivolities neceſſary, renders the mind incapable of exertion or ſelf-ſupport.