54 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 116. 



evaded the vigilance of his keepers. By living in 

 the vilest and least frequented quarters of Paris, 

 by disguises, false names, and constant changes of 

 residence, they succeeded in baffling the pursuit 

 of the police for three years, when Le Noble was 

 accidentally discovered; the judgment of the 

 Chatelet was confirmed, and he was reconducted 

 to prison. It was then that his great resources 

 were displayed. He retained his gaiety, and as- 

 sured his friends he still enjoyed " une parfaite 

 tranquillitc d' esprit, inseparable de I'innocence ! " 

 A man of this kind, with a venal and capacious 

 intellect, and a heart utterly unconscious of the 

 slightest moral feeling, could not with advantage 

 be suffered to remain unemployed. There was 

 work to be done for James II., and the hireling 

 was worthy of his hire. It was simply to lie and 

 libel with ability, with caution, with the appear- 

 ance of loyalty, and an ardent zeal for religion. 

 Le Noble was equal to the task. He had written 

 histories burnt by the hangman ; Bayle had praised 

 him for his skill in judicial astrology; he had 

 composed treatises on money, and on Catholic 

 doctrine ; compiled historical romances, and trans- 

 lated the Psalms of David! In poetry he had 

 attempted to rival La Fo.;taIne ; written the 

 Eulogy of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 

 and translated Persius, — substituting French cus- 

 toms for the Roman, and praising or censuring 

 his contemporaries as though he were the Roman 

 poet and not the Paris scribe ! An ability so 

 various was at least well paid. He received from 

 the booksellers, and others by whom he was re- 

 tained, a hundred pistoles a month ; Peignot 

 states, in all, about one hundred thousand crowns. 

 There cannot be the least doubt this was but a 

 portion of his earnings, or that the work I have 

 described was not written for the Jacobite inte- 

 rest of James II. But no success in such characters 

 is ever accompanied with prudence. Although 

 the penalty t)f banivshment from France was sus- 

 pended, that his venal abilities might assist the 

 designs of others, he was always living between 

 luxury and the direst want. As he advanced in 

 years, he was less useful, and was consequently 

 driven from doors where he had formerly been 

 welcomed. D'Argenson allowed him a louis-d'or 

 for charity per week ; but all other resources 

 failed, until, in his sixty-eighth year, after a long 

 period of misery, and of the uttermost mental and 

 bodily degradation, he died on the 31st January, 

 1711, and was buried at the communal expense. 

 It cannot be denied that Le Noble united many 

 pleasing qualities as a writer. He had read much, 

 could condense ably, and united to a strong 

 memory a rare facility in employing its resources. 

 He touched with light ridicule the weaker points 

 of a case, and could wield both reason, sarcasm, 

 and polished inuenda in misstating facts, or 

 damaging the argument of his adversaries. Such 



a man was well adapted to the French advisers of 

 James. Public attention was to be engaged and 

 won by falsehoods in the disguise of truth ; bad 

 designs were to be cloaked under moral purposes ; 

 and the revolution was to be discredited in the 

 name of loyalty and religion. All this Le Noble 

 did with infinite ability, and infinite obliquity. 

 I can give but a slight sketch of his work. The 

 Couronnement de Guillemot is a violent tirade 

 against William. Marforio and Pasquin converse 

 about his coronation, and the king is described as 

 one " qui vouloit estre le bourreau du Prince de 

 Galles." Churchill is " I'infarae comble de tant de 

 bienfaitz par son bon maitre, et qui I'a vendu, 

 trahi et livre." In the decorations of the abbey, 

 consisting of tapestry, &c., there is stated to be a 

 representation of Pilate placing Jesus Christ and 

 Barabbas before the people, and the choice of 

 Barabbas by the latter ; James occupying, in Le 

 Noble's opinion, the place of the former. The 

 people he describes as preferring even " ce voleur 

 public, ce scelerat, ce seditieux de Barabbas, ce 

 meurtrier qui a poignarde les Withs (Witts), a cet 

 aimable maistre qui n'a jamais eu pour eux que de 

 la douceur et de la bonte." The Sermon du grand 

 Docteur Burnet is very clever, light, pungent, and 

 satirical, especially against the king : the text 

 being " Dominus regnavit, exultet terras, la^tentur 

 insulae." In the L' Ombre de Monmouth, AVilliam 

 is described as wishing to be " le singe du glorieux 

 Cromwell;" Portland, Shrewsbury, Burnet, and 

 Dykvelt, are "ses quatre Evangelistes ;" and the 

 king is made to utter violent complaints against 

 the Parliament, which he calls " une etrange 

 beste," and adds : " Si je n'avois pas casse celui 

 que j'ai'rompu pour en convoquer un autre, toutes 

 nies affaires s'en alloient sens dessus dessous." In 

 the Estrennes d'Esope, which was burnt by order 

 of the States-General, there is the following de- 

 scription of England : 



" L'Angleterre sous son Roi legitime et ne hii don- 

 nant qu'avec epargne comme elle faisoit le necessaire 

 pour son entretien, estoit justement comme ces sages et 

 vertueuses femmes qui, fideles a leurs epoux, gouvernen 

 avec un prudent economie leur menage regie, et cette 

 mesme Angleterre, qui s'epuise pour satisfaire a I'avi- 

 dite d'un tyran, est aujourd'hui comme une de ces 

 infames debauchees qui, emportee de fureur pour une 

 adultere qui I'enleve a son mari, lui fait une profusion 

 criminelle de son bien." 



In illustrations such as these, Le Noble was 

 most happy, as with the vice he was most familiar. 

 The length of this paper precludes my sending 

 to you a pasquinade, in the epitaph written for 

 Innocent XI., which, considering its purport, is of 

 value as indicating the opinions of the Jacobites 

 against the policy of the Pope. This I will do in 

 another paper. S. H. 



