LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1871,

CONTENTS.-N° 164.

NOTES:-Mont Valérien, 135- Milton's "Rivers arise,"

&c., 136- The Rev. Henry Francis Cary, Ib. Witches in

Ireland, Ib.-The Meaning of "Monsieur, Monsieur " Bear-baiting-Calais and Sir Gilbert Talbot in 1512

Curious Precursors of the Pretender - Heaven Letters -Tea-Error in Neill's "History of the Virginia Company"- Pedestrian Feat of Faraday Kencott, Oxon,

138.

QUERIES: The Winchester "Domum " Song, 140

"Queen Argenis"-The Bleakley Family- Balloons and Newspapers-R. P. Bonington-Calvin and Servetus Children's Games - Cistercian Monastery - Criticism on "Merchant of Venice": Mrs. Downing-Corrupt English: "Whether or no"- Evelyn's "Diary"- Guise and Guizot-Hervey or Herrey-Alexander Jamieson, M.A. Portrait of John Kay-Sir Samuel Luke's Letter Book Feast of the Nativity Numismatic · "Palæologia Chronica" - The Piano - Print-dealers' Catalogues Rood Screens in Suffolk Churches Beauty Sleep Jeremy Taylor-"The Seven Wonders of Wales," 140. REPLIES: - Pedigree of B. R. Haydon the Historical Painter, 143- War Songs: an Imperial Letter, 145- A Scripsit, 16.- Heraldic, 146 - Book Ornamentation, 147Eleven Shilling Pieces of Charles I.- Denarius of Drusus, Senior The Swan Song of Parson Avery-"The Heaving of the Lead" Kirksanton Gun The Didactic Poetry of Italy - "Rus hoc vocari debet," &c.- La Caracole-"It's a far Cry to Loch Awe" Indexes: "Rushworth's Historical Collections" Key to "Le Grand Cyrus"- Weaver's Art- Female Saint-"The Prodigal Son"-Cannon - Benj. Carrier—"The Adoration of the

Lamb," &c., 148. Notes on Books, &c.

Notes.

MONT VALERIEN.

Who has not heard of Mont Valérien, the towering giant of the Seine, and tutelary genius of the proud city at its foot ?—

"Quâ tortuosis SEQUANA* saxosùm sonans
Ægrè urget undas vallibus, stat arduo
Arx montis apice: quæ loci ingenio, et manu
Munita, sæpe risit hostiles minas;
Fuitque belli longa præsentis mora."

Joann. Commirii Carmina. Paris, 1704, p. 17 The strategical importance of this renowned citadel invests its site with a present interest, some portion of which may seem to be reflected on a former and forgotten phase of its history.

The modern Parisian or ordinary tourist knows Mont Valérien but as a fort and a barrack; minacious with cannon and populous with soldiery; prompt for the defence, or it may be for the attack, of the fickle and unruly millions

beneath its shadow.

But the student of religious history sees Valérien under another aspect. He thinks of it as the erewhile retreat of the holy hermit; an object of pious pilgrimage; a mimic yet adorable Calvary; or, perchance, in a more degenerate

I should fear to be haunted by the offended shade of the Latin poet if I failed to confess that it is I alone who am responsible for the introduction into his first iambic of the inadmissible dactyl Sequana," instead of the tribrach "Isara," which is found in the original.

time, as a scene of licentious profligacy, which recalls the Dionysia of the elder world, or the nocturnal love-feasts of modern Revivalism.

We learn from Pierre d'Orgemont, a former bishop of Paris, that in the year 1400 and the reign of Charles de Valois there was already a hermitage on Mont Valérien, and that a penitent named Anthoine occupied a cell of narrow limits constructed on the spot. This was destroyed in the time of the civil wars between the Dukes of Orleans and Burgundy, and the hermitage of Saint Saviour built on the summit of the mount. This had for occupant Sister Guillemette Faussart, a native of Paris, who, in the reign of Henry II., and assisted by the contributions of Henry Guyot and Gilles Martine, built the chapel of Saint Saviour, and a cell of ample dimensions, as an abode.

It is related of this holy personage, that, after her nightly prayers, she occupied herself in carrying water from the foot to the summit of the mount. This she did in such quantities that it sufficed the masons, engaged in the construction of the chapel, for the entire day, and was thus regarded as a miracle. She practised the most rigid austerities; ate little but bread and water; taking, indeed, little else to support life but the Holy Communion. (Variétés historiques, physiques, et littéraires. Pais, 1752, tom. iii. partie i. p. 174.)

After five years of fasting and penitence Sister Guillemette died suddenly, in the year 1561, in the odour of sanctity, and was buried at the had been built under her auspices. entrance of the chapel of the hermitage which

The successor to this holy lady was Jean Housset, the third anchoret of Mont Valérien. He had been a retainer of Henri Guyot, to whom, and other charitable persons, he was indebted for his support. He occupied the hermitage for the long period of forty-six years, at the end of which time, on August 3, 1609, he closed a life of austerity and edification, and was buried by the side of Sister Guillemette, his predecessor, in presence of the clergy, many noblemen, and a vast concourse of spectators.

It is to this pious man that Raoul Boutrays, better known under his Latinised name of Rodolphus Botereius, refers in the following not very elegant hexameters :

"Imminet Etherio propè vertice VALERIUS MONS.
Inclusi spelunca senis qui limen Eremi

Sex propè ab hinc lustris non exit, ille vetustos
Ægypti Patres, Syriæque horrentis adæquat.
Qualis erat nigro qui pastus ab alite Paulus,
Hirsutæque hujus tunicæ, qui Antonius hæres,
Fortunate senex, qui summa à rupe jacentes
Despicis urbis opes, et vere despicis, urbs est
Magna tibi, Mons exiguus, Provincia et ingens
Scruptaque in horrenti defossa ergastula saxo."
Lutetia, 8vo, Parisiis, 1612.
The next and fourth tenant of the hermit's cell
was Séraphin de la Noué, a Parisian, who was

placed in possession by the Abbé of St. Denis and Henry de Gondy, Cardinal de Retz, August 8, 1609. He was supported in the solitary practice of piety and austerity by: he celebrated and lovely Marguerite de Valois, first wife of Henry of Navarre, and last princess of her illustrious house. By some one of these hermits three lofty crosses had been erected on the summit of their mount. These, from their elevated position, were seen from afar, and recalled to the pious spectator the Calvary of old, where his Saviour had suffered between the hardened and the repentant thief. Struck by the similitude, a priest and licentiate of the Sorbonne, Hubert Charpentier, conceived the idea of establishing on Mont Valérien a community of priests and religious men for the maintenance and exercise of the worship of the Cross, similar to one which he had previously founded on Mount Betharam in Béarn, and a second at Nôtre Dame de Garaison, in the diocese of Auch. The king, Louis XIII., favoured the scheme with his approbation; and Richelieu, who had a splendid seat at Ruel, hard by, promoted it by his liberality. The congregation of the Calvary consisted of thirteen priests, of whom the founder, Charpentier, was the first superior. This eminent man, who had been the intimate friend of the Abbé de Saint Cyran, and the solitaries of Port Royal died in 1650, in the very year in which Louis XIV. confirmed the letters-patent given by his father, permitting the community to build the church of the Holy Cross, and a convent for the accommodation of the ministering priests and other persons of piety who might be desirous of leading a life of edification therein.

Le Calvaire profané par les Jacobins de la rue Saint-Honoré.

It was probably at this period that the mount. began to be known as the "Calvary." In 1666, the curés of Paris were affiliated to the congregation, and the custom was established by the paroisses of the capital of making a yearly pilgrimage to the holy mount on two nights specially consecrated to the worship of the Cross. Behind the great altar of their church the priests of the community had constructed a mimic representation of the sepulchre of our Saviour. To facilitate access to the summit, the precipitous sides of the mount were hewn into terraces, with steps between, and chapels at regular intervals, affording representations of the various stations of the Passion, were constructed to serve as resting-places for the pilgrims.

Availing themselves of these facilities, during the whole of Passion Week, Mont Valérien was thronged by an army of devotees, making their way from chapel to chapel, up its terraced sides, till they reached the church on the summit. But it was on the nights of Ascension Day and Good Friday that the pilgrim-crowd became most numeThe graphic pen of Dulaure shall here describe the midnight doings of these Orgiasts of modern times:

rous.

The religious zeal which had animated pentier does not appear to have been participated by the confraternity, and ten years later the number had dwindled to two, who lingered on till 1663, when they sold their commonalty to the Jacobins of the Rue Saint-Honoré, an example which the hermits, tired also of their life of solitude and austerity, lost no time in following.

These bargains, however, found no favour with the chapter of the cathedral of Paris, who endeavoured to prevent them taking effect by despatching another relay of priests to the abandoned mount. Hence a collision between the two bodies. The Jacobins, arriving to take possession of their acquisition, found another party in possession, and laid regular siege to the mount. The good folks of the neighbouring villages took one or the other side; a baker was killed; others were wounded; the Jacobins remaining masters of the situation. The affair, however, had made considerable noise; the king ordered an investigation, and this resulted in a decree by which the disputed property was restored to its original possessors. Sainte-Foix gives full details in his Essais sur Paris, and a poem of some two thousand verses was composed by Jean David, a bachelor of theology, entitled

étaient commis au lieu même de l'expiation. Ces pèlerinages et les désordres qu'ils entraînaient, furent enfin sagement réformés.”

At length, to put a stop to the flagrant scandal, the Cardinal de Noailles, the then Archbishop of Paris, effectually suppressed the "devotion," in 1697, by forbidding the priests of the Cross to keep their chapels open on the nights of Holy Thursday and Friday. Finally, the two communities of priests and hermits were formally suppressed by a decree of the Constituent Assembly, dated August 18, 1791.

The church of the Cross and the convent buildings still remained; but, a few years later, Napoleon, informed by Fouché that they had become the nightly resort of a great number of priests and others who held secret meetings therein, took alarm, and ordered the grenadiers of the guard, in garrison at Courbevoie, to betake themselves to the dangerous spot, arrest the supposed conspirators, and raze the church and convent to the ground. His commands were executed to the letter, and after some delay, arising from fickleness of intention, the great man gave orders, just

"Mr. C. C. Russell appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. J. Dinnen for the defendant.

"The plaintiff and defendant are brothers, and the point in dispute was whether the engagement was 71. a-year or 71. the half-year, the plaintiff alleging the latter. As the evidence was conflicting, his worship referred it and another case between the same parties to the arbitration of three gentlemen in court.

"It appeared from the evidence of the plaintiff, who was examined by Mr. Russell, that on one occasion during the period he was in the defendant's service he was employed in banishing witches out of the house, and off the land. Witches were believed to sojourn on the plaintiff's farm, and in consequence some of his cows died, and his crops were of inferior quality. Belief existed in the efficacy of a certain charm, potent in expelling witches; but, although considered unfailing, the experiment was attended with dangerous consequences, and no person could be found bad enough to undertake the carrying out of the necessary directions. The danger lay in the fact that if any one of the requisites of the charm remained unfulfilled, the person endeavouring to effect the banishment would be carried off by the witches, and would never more be heard of. Plaintiff, who was himself a believer in witchcraft, was induced to undertake the hazardous attempt to work the charm.

An evening was agreed upon to put the witches to flight. They were supposed to take up their residence in the house after a certain hour, and to remain there till break of day; and if the charm was successfully worked they would not only be for ever dislodged from the dwelling, but would never more set foot upon the farm. The mode adopted was as follows: All the inhabitants left the house with the exception of the plaintiff, who had to face the witches alone. He locked himself in, closed the windows, stuffed all keyholes and apertures, and put sods on the tops of the chimneys. He then put a large pot of sweet milk on the fire. In the pot he put three rows of pins that had never been used, and three packages of new needles. The milk, needles, and pins were allowed to boil together for half an hour. As there was no outlet for the smoke, plaintiff was nearly smothered, and during the time the charm was maturing, he believed he had an encounter with the witches, and succeeded in driving them from the house. At all events, none of them had appeared in the place since, and he had never heard any complaints about the cows milking badly, or the crops not giving satisfaction.

"The court was convulsed with laughter during this extraordinary recital.

"On the return of the arbitrators into court, they stated that in the case for wages, they found for the plaintiff in the sum of 10s. The other case was dismissed.” W. H. P.

THE MEANING OF "MONSIEUR, MONSIEUR."I have frequently been asked in Britain why, in our country, they put the word Monsieur twice on the address: "A Monsieur, Monsieur," etc. My answer was that the first Monsieur should be written in two words, and translated "my lord" (mon sieur, mon seigneur).

If you open the Dictionnaire de la Langue francaise-so ably compiled by my learned friend Mons. Littré-you will find under the word "Monsieur" (vol. ii. p. 611, col. 3) that the same,

united with the name of a town, was formerly used to designate the bishop of the diocese of which that town was the capital; but he omitted to add that it meant also the hangman, as you may see by the Mémoires de Samson, and About's Les Mariages de Paris. This double acceptation led lately to a very ludicrous misunderstanding, the narrative of which may amuse your readers.

A young orderly, who had learnt imperfectly the German language (but, however, boasted of being a thorough master of it), having been sent to the Prussian outposts with a flag of truce, appeared in the company of a stately gentleman, much dignified, and dressed like a reverend one. This gentleman the young officer (who, I suspect, is the author of the song you lately printed) introduced to the German commander as "Monsieur de Paris," and I beg to introduce him to you as Mons. Hendrick, the hangman of Paris, who, being a German, or at least of German extraction, speaks fluently the language of the invader. Now it happened the Teuton was a pious Roman Catholic, more conversant with the language of Madame de Maintenon and of the Concordat than with the phraseology in use at present. He accordingly prostrated himself before the lugubrious gentleman, kissed his hands, and acted so many fantastic extravagances, after the German fashion, that the young wag and his interpreter were put extremely out of countenance. Still the latter took great care, for the sake of his own life, not to show la corde.

One word more, to be added to Littré's article. In the nautical language, the title of monsieur is particularly given by the crew to the lowest of them, the mousse, the ship-boy, and the reason of that is obvious: it is a joke founded on the likeness between mousse and monsieur, pronounced at Marseilles and Bordeaux moussu.

Athenæum Club.

FRANCISQUE-MICHEL

BEAR-BAITING.-I was never a witness of a bear-bait, but I well remember a poor brute who was kept alive for this sole purpose, at F― in Lancashire. He was confined, as a general rule, in a small back yard, where sightless, dirty, stinking, and perhaps half-starved, his sole and constant exercise appeared to be moving his head and forequarters from side to side. When taken to other villages to be baited, his advent there was announced by a wretched fiddler, who walked before him and the bear-ward. Upon one occasion the story goes that he and a second champion of the like kind arrived at W. on the wakes-day, before the evening church service was completed. This, however, was rapidly brought to a close by the beadle calling to the preacher from the church door: "Mestur, th' bear's come; and what's more, there's two of 'em." This