Dumas' Paris Part 19

"'Ah, good!'"

The Rue de l'Arbre-Sec is of itself historic, though it was baptized as l'Arbre-Sel. Two legends of more than ordinary interest are connected with this once important though unimposing street. The first applies to its early nomenclature, and is to the effect that in the thirteenth century it contained an oak-tree, which, in the snows of winter, always remained free of the white blanket which otherwise covered everything around about. For this reason the tree was said to be so full of salt that the snow that fell upon it melted immediately, and the name was created for the thoroughfare, which then first rose to the dignity of a recognized _rue_.

The second legend in a similar way accounts for the change of name to _arbre-sec_. At a certain rainy period, when the pavements and the walls of the houses were "_ruisselants d'eau_," the same tree remained absolutely dry. It is curious, too, to note that the Rue de l'Arbre-Sec is identified with a certain personage who lived in Mazarin's time, by the name of Mathieu Molle, whose fame as the first president of the _Parlement_ is preserved in the neighbouring Rue Mathieu Molle. It was in the hotel of "La Belle Etoile" that Dumas ensconced his character De la Mole--showing once again that Dumas dealt with very real characters.

Opposite the colonnade of the Louvre is the eglise St. Germain l'Auxerrois. From this church--founded by Childebert in 606--rang out the tocsin which was the signal for that infamous ma.s.sacre of the Protestants in the time of Charles IX. In "Marguerite de Valois" Dumas has vividly described the event; not, perhaps, without certain embroidered embellishment, but, nevertheless, with a graphicness which the dry-as-dust historian of fact could hardly hope to equal.

This cruel inspiration of Catherine de Medici's is recorded by Dumas thus:

"'Hus.h.!.+' said La Huriere.

"'What is it?' inquired Coconnas and Maurevel together.

"They heard the first stroke of the bell of St. Germain de l'Auxerrois vibrate.

"'The signal!' exclaimed Maurevel. 'The time is put ahead, for it was agreed for midnight. So much the better. When it is the interest of G.o.d and the king, it is better that the clock should be put forward than backward.' And the sinister sound of the church-bell was distinctly heard.

Then a shot was fired, and, in an instant, the light of several flambeaux blazed up like flashes of lightning in the Rue de l'Arbre-Sec."

There is much more of moment that happened before and afterward "on this b.l.o.o.d.y ground;" all of which is fully recounted by the historians.

At No. 7 Rue du Helder, just off the Boulevard des Italiens, in a region so well known to Dumas and his a.s.sociates, lived De Franchi, the hero of the "Corsican Brothers." The _locale_ and the action of that rapid review of emotions to which Dumas gave the name of the "Corsican Brothers" ("Les Freres du Corse"), was not of the mean or sordid order, but rather of the well-to-do, a sort of semi-luxuriousness of the middle-cla.s.s life of the time.

The scene of the novelette bears the date of 1841, and Paris, especially in many of what are known as the newer parts, has changed but little since. A new shop-front here and there, the addition of a huge gilt sign, of which the proprietors of Parisian establishments are so fond, somewhat changes the outside aspect of things, but, on the whole, the _locale_ often remains much as it was before, and, in this case, with but scarce three-quarters of a century past, the view down the Rue du Helder from its junction with Rue Taitbout differs little.

"Hotel Picardie," in the Rue Tiquetonne,--still to be seen,--may or may not be the "La Chevrette" of "Twenty Years After," to which D'Artagnan repaired in the later years of his life. D'Artagnan's residence in the Rue Tiquetonne has, in the minds of many, made the street famous. It was famous, though, even before it was popularized by Dumas, and now that we are not able even to place the inn where D'Artagnan lived after he had retired from active service--it is still famous.

At No. 12 and 16 are two grand habitations of former times. The former served as a residence to Henri de Talleyrand, who died in 1626, and later to the Marquis de Mauge, then to Daubonne, a _tap.i.s.sier_, much in the favour of Louis XIII.

The other is known as the "Hotel d'Artagnan," but it is difficult to trace its evolution from the comfortable inn of which Dumas wrote.

[Ill.u.s.tration: D'ARTAGNAN'S LODGINGS, RUE TIQUETONNE]

At No. 23 is about the only _relique_ left which bespeaks the gallant days of D'Artagnan and his fellows. It is a square tower of five _etages_, and, from the character of its architecture, we know it to be of the fourteenth or fifteenth century. It is known as the "Tour de Jean-sans-Peur."

Jean-sans-Peur was the grandfather of Charles-le-Temeraire. Monstrelet has said that it was built to contain a strong chamber, in which its owner might sleep safely at night. It formed originally a part of the Hotel de Bourgogne, but to-day, though but partially disengaged from the neighbouring houses, it is evidently the only member of the original establishment which remains.

Not far from the precincts of the Louvre was the Rue de la Martellerie, where lived Marie Touchet.

The portraiture of Dumas forms a wonderfully complete list of the royalties and n.o.bilities of France. Both the D'Artagnan gallery and the Valois series literally reek with the names of celebrated personages, and this, too, in the mere romances, for it must be remembered that, in spite of his reputation as a romancist, Dumas' historical sketches and travels were both numerous and of great extent.

One significant portrait, though it is not one of n.o.ble birth, is that of Marie Touchet, extracted from "Marguerite de Valois," and reprinted here.

"When Charles IX. and Henri of Navarre visited the Rue de la Martellerie, it was to see the celebrated Marie, who, though 'only a poor, simple girl,' as she referred to herself, was the Eve of Charles' paradise.

'Your Eden, Sire,' said the gallant Henri.

"'Dearest Marie,' said Charles, 'I have brought you another king happier than myself, for he has no crown; more unhappy than me, for he has no Marie Touchet.'

"'Sire, it is, then, the King of Navarre?'

"'It is, love.'

"Henri went toward her, and Charles took his right hand.

"'Look at this hand, Marie,' said he; 'it is the hand of a good brother and a loyal friend; and but for this hand--'

"'Well, Sire!'

"'But for this hand, this day, Marie, our boy had been fatherless.'

"Marie uttered a cry, seized Henri's hand, and kissed it.

"The king went to the bed where the child was still asleep.

"'Eh!' said he, 'if this stout boy slept in the Louvre, instead of sleeping in this small house, he would change the aspect of things at present, and perhaps for the future.'

"'Sire,' said Marie, 'without offence to your Majesty, I prefer his sleeping here; he sleeps better.'"

This ill.u.s.trates only one phase of Dumas' power of portraiture, based on historical fact, of course, and casting no new light on matters which are otherwise well known, but still a very fresh and vivifying method of projecting the features of those famous in the history of France, and a method, perhaps, which will serve to impress them upon the reader in a more nearly indelible fas.h.i.+on than any other.

"It was this child of Marie Touchet and Charles IX. who afterward was the famous Duke d'Angouleme, who died in 1650; and, had he been legitimate, would have taken precedence of Henri III., Henri IV., Louis XIII., Louis XIV., etc., and altered the whole line of the royal succession of France."

It was a pleasurable visit for all three, that of which Dumas writes.

Charles, Henri, and Marie supped together, and the accomplished Prince of Bearn made the famous anagram from the letters of the lady's name, "_Je charme tout_," which Charles declared he would present to her worked in diamonds, and that it should be her motto.

History does not state that he did so, but no doubt that was a detail which the chroniclers have overlooked, or, of course, it may have been an interpolation of Dumas'.

Dumas' pen-pictures of the great Napoleon--whom he referred to as "The Ogre of Corsica"--will hardly please the great Corsican's admirers, though it is in no manner contemptuous. The following is from "The Count of Monte Cristo":

"'Monsieur,' said the baron to the count, 'all the servants of his Majesty must approve of the latest intelligence which we have from the island of Elba. Bonaparte--' M. Dandre looked at Louis XVIII., who, employed in writing a note, did not even raise his head. 'Bonaparte,' continued the baron, 'is mortally wearied, and pa.s.ses whole days in watching his miners at work at Porto-Longone.'

"'And scratches himself for amus.e.m.e.nt,' added the king.

"'Scratches himself?' inquired the count. 'What does your Majesty mean?'

"'Yes, indeed, my dear count. Did you forget that this great man, this hero, this demiG.o.d, is attacked with a malady of the skin which worries him to death, _prurigo_?'

"'And, moreover, M. le Comte,' continued the minister of police, 'we are almost a.s.sured that, in a very short time, the usurper will be insane.'

"'Insane?'

"'Insane to a degree; his head becomes weaker. Sometimes he weeps bitterly, sometimes laughs boisterously; at other times he pa.s.ses hours on the seash.o.r.e, flinging stones in the water, and when the flint makes "ducks and drakes" five or six times, he appears as delighted as if he had gained another Marengo or Austerlitz. Now, you must agree these are indubitable symptoms of weakness?'

"'Or of wisdom, M. le Baron--or of wisdom,' said Louis XVIII., laughing; 'the greatest captains of antiquity recreated themselves with casting pebbles into the ocean--see Plutarch's life of Scipio Africa.n.u.s.'"