2'«» S. yill. Oct. 22. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



339 



belais, the old fabliaux are the most genuine exponents 

 of th^t light-hearted brigade who lately lost in the illus- 

 trious Beranger the truest representative they perhaps 

 ever had. Francois Villon, the subject of M. Campaux's 

 tiiography, deserves also a prominent place in the same 

 category*; and we may safely say that he produced in 

 French literature a revolution as beneficial as any it has 

 £one through since the sixteenth century. 



" Villon sut le premier dans ces sibcles grossiers 

 Debrouiller I'art confus de nos vieux romanciers." 



Such is the opinion of Boileau ; and although perhaps it 

 is not suflScienth' clear, yet we must admit that the 

 author of the Ballade des Dames da Temps Jadis did de- 

 hrouUler, and something more, the heavy, tedious st}-le of 

 composition which was so universal amongst the media;- 

 val poets. 



The two celebrated works of Villon are his Testaments, 

 and M. Campaux gives of them a very complete and 

 correct analysis. " Le Petit Testament," says he, " se 

 compose de 45 octaves ou huitains qui se balancent 

 chacun sur trois rimes croisees, dont 25 de legs, en- 

 cadres entre un preambule plein d'emotion, et une sorte 

 d'epilogue qui, de religieux qu'il promettait d'etre, tourne 

 brusquement au burlesque, par un de ces soubresants 

 beaucoup trop frequents chez notre poete." 



The Petit Testament is chiefly of a satirical character ; 

 it is evidently the work of a young man whose experi- 

 ence has not yet brought him into contact with the real 

 calamities of life ; but after the publication of that poem 

 we find Villon gradually sinking lower and lower, carried 

 away by the evil example of his friends: he commits 

 crimes gross enough to bring him to the gallows, and 

 when Montfaucon is within sight, his imagination brings 

 forth before him the following anticipated picture of his 

 melancholy end : — 



" La pluye nous a debuez et lavez, 

 Et le soleil dess^chez et noirciz ; 

 Pies, corbeaulx nous ont les j^eux cavez, 

 Et arrachez la barbe et les sourcilz. 

 Jamais nul temps nous ne sommes rassiz ; 

 Puis (ja, puis 1^ cotnme le vent varie, 

 A son plaisir, sans cesser nous charrie, 

 Plus becquetez d'oj'seaulx que dez h, couldre. 

 Hommes icy n'usez de mocquerie, 

 Mais priez Dieu que tous nous veuille absouldre ! " 



The clemency of King Louis XL fortunately saved 

 Villon from being hung. This circumstance led him to 

 reflect, and the Grand Testament, which he subsequently 

 published, though containing here and there many out- 

 bursts of coarse invective, has on the whole a solemn 

 character, which proves that the poet had learnt a profit- 

 able lesson in the school of adversit3'. He died, it is 

 presumed, about 1482 or 1484. 



M. Campaux gives us a list of Villon'sVmitators ; they 

 were numerous, and distinguished by all the stupiditj' 

 which generally belongs to the serviim pecus. The Codi- 

 cille et Testament de Monseigneur des Barres ; Testament 

 tTung Amoureux qui mourut par Amour ; Testament de 

 TasteviH Roi des Pions ; Testament de la Mule Barbeau, 

 &c. &c. Such are the titles of the most remarkable 

 amongst them. But besides these clumsy productions of 

 third-rate scribblers, tliere exist many poems of a totally 

 difterent order, and Avhicli can be said to belong to the 

 school of Villon bj' their elegance, their pungency, and 

 their wit. M. Campaux subjoins some extracts from 

 these compositions in his appendix. A bibliographical 

 chapter terminates the volume, and states all the re- 

 sources available for those sauanfs who would feel inclined 

 to undertake a new edition of Villon, even after the one 

 lately published by M. Paul Lacroix. 



2. Pellisson. Etude sur sa Vie et ses CEuvres snivie d'une 

 Correspondance inedite du meme, par F. L. Marcou, ancien 

 eleve de I'Ecole Normale. 8». Paris, Durand. 



Paul Pellisson-Fontanier is associated with three famous 

 institutions of the seventeenth century in France ; 1", the 

 Samedis, or Saturday-reunions of IMademoiselle de Scu- 

 de'ry ; 2°, the dungeons of the Bastille ; and 3", the Revo- 

 cation of the Edict of Nantes. For a man who never 

 attained any real celebritj' either as a litterateur or as a 

 politician, this is pretty well ; but in addition to such 

 honour, imagine a personage obscure like Pellisson being 

 made the subject of a biography extending over a thick 

 volume of 500 closely-printed pages ! 



Mademoiselle de Scudery's salon, however, occupies in 

 the history of French literature a prominent part; and 

 whilst describing the early life of his hero, M. Marcou 

 was naturally led to take a general survey of the intel- 

 lectual movement which marked the beginning of the 

 seventeenth centurj'. This he has done in a most inter- 

 esting manner. We assist at the first meetings held bj' 

 the Acaddmie Frangaise ; we watch those curious quarrels 

 arising from the structure of a sonnet or the wording of a 

 metaphor ; we follow the progress of taste and the deve- 

 lopment of that elegant, though somewhat formal, school 

 of literature which afterwards found imitators even in 

 England during the reign of Queen Anne. Pellisson's 

 merits as a writer will not be deemed very great by those 

 who peruse the work we are now noticing ; the two fol- 

 lowing epigrams are amongst the best of his poesies fugi- 

 tives : — 



" Centre un Envieux. 

 "Paul, cet envieux maraud, 



Sur I'echelle meme enrage 



Qu'un autre ait eu pour partage 



Ue deux gibets le plus haut." 



" Lorsque B., I'homme de Dieu, 

 Se mit k songer que le traitre 

 Vendit trente deniers son Seigneur et son maitre ■ 

 Le malheureux, dit-il, I'avoit vendu si peu!" 



Pellisson was councillor of state ; in that quality' he be- 

 came connected with Nicolas Fouquet, served him as his 

 private secretary', and shared his disgrace. Under such a 

 sj'stem of government as the one which prevailed two 

 hundred 3'ears ago in France, it was impossible for Pel- 

 lisson, really esteemed though he was by the king, to 

 escape imprisonment. Ilis position had led him to know 

 many secrets of the most delicate character; the corrup- 

 tion of the court, the intrigues of Louis XIV., the repu- 

 tations of persons belonging to the highest families, all 

 these were, so to saj', in his hands, and his acquittal 

 would have been the condemnation of le grand monarque 

 himself. He was accordingly sent to the Bastille, and 

 remained confined there for six years. When lie entered 

 the precincts of the state prison, Pellisson was a Pro- 

 testant; he had scarcely left them than he abjured his 

 faith, took orders in the Romish church, and became one 

 of the most zealous convertisseurs employed to enforce 

 the edicts promulgated against his quondam fellow-reli- 

 gionists. 



Of course Pellisson's conduct has been appreciated in 

 the most contradictorj' manner; and whilst in some books 

 it is still represented as a highly meritorious act, origin- 

 ating with genuine faith and inspired by disinterested 

 motives, on the other hand there are authors who assert 

 that it was the hypocritical adhesion of an ambitious 

 time-server eager for promotion, and caring only for tem- 

 poral advantages. We would not attempt to sit in judg- 

 ment over other people, but still we think that the favour 

 which Pellisson obtained from Louis XIV. subsequently to 

 his abjuration tells rather against him. At all events, 



