AN IMPARTIAL GLANCE AT THE ANCIENT MAGISTRACY.
A very happy in the year of 1482, was the Robert d’Estouteville, chevalier, Sieur de Beyne, Baron d’Ivry and Saint Andry en la Marche, and to the king, and of the of Paris. It was already nearly seventeen years since he had from the king, on November 7, 1465, the year,[27] that of the of Paris, which was a than an office. Dignitas, says Joannes Lœmnœus, quæ concernente, prærogativis et est. A thing in ’82 was a the king’s commission, and of ran to the of the marriage of the natural of Louis XI. with Monsieur the Bastard of Bourbon.
The same day on which Robert d’Estouteville took the place of Jacques de Villiers in the of Paris, Master Jehan Dauvet replaced Messire Helye de Thorrettes in the of the Court of Parliament, Jehan Jouvenel Ursins Pierre de Morvilliers in the office of of France, Regnault Dormans Pierre Puy from the of master of in ordinary of the king’s household. Now, upon how many had the presidency, the chancellorship, the passed since Robert d’Estouteville had the of Paris. It had been “granted to him for safekeeping,” as the said; and he it well. He had to it, he had himself with it, he had so himself with it that he had that for which Louis XI., a and king, policy it was to maintain the of his power by and revocations. More than this; the had the of the office for his son, and for two years already, the name of the man Jacques d’Estouteville, equerry, had his at the of the register of the salary list of the of Paris. A and indeed! It is true that Robert d’Estouteville was a good soldier, that he had his against “the of public good,” and that he had presented to the queen a very in on the day of her entrance to Paris in 14.... Moreover, he the good of Messire Tristan l’Hermite, of the of the king’s household. Hence a very sweet and was that of Messire Robert. In the place, very good wages, to which were attached, and from which hung, like of on his vine, the revenues of the and of the provostship, plus the and revenues of the of Embas of the Châtelet, without some little from the of Mantes and of Corbeil, and the profits on the of Shagreen-makers of Paris, on the of and the of salt. Add to this the of himself in about the city, and of making his costume, which you may still on his in the of Valmont in Normandy, and his morion, all at Montlhéry, out a against the parti-colored red and of the and police. And then, was it nothing to over the of the police, the and watch of the Châtelet, the two of the Châtelet, castelleti, the sixteen of the sixteen quarters, the of the Châtelet, the four sergeants, the hundred and twenty sergeants, with maces, the of the watch with his watch, his sub-watch, his counter-watch and his rear-watch? Was it nothing to high and low justice, the right to interrogate, to and to draw, without in the (in instantia, as the say), on that of Paris, so with seven bailiwicks? Can anything be than and decisions, as Messire Robert d’Estouteville daily did in the Grand Châtelet, under the large and of Philip Augustus? and going, as he was to do every evening, to that house in the Rue Galilée, in the of the palace, which he in right of his wife, Madame Ambroise de Loré, to after the of having sent some to pass the night in “that little of the Rue de Escorcherie, which the and of Paris used to make their prison; the same being eleven long, seven and four wide, and eleven high?”[28]
And not only had Messire Robert d’Estouteville his special as and of Paris; but in he had a share, for and tooth, in the of the king. There was no in the least which had not passed through his hands it came to the headsman. It was he who to M. de Nemours at the Bastille Saint Antoine, in order to him to the Halles; and to to the Grève M. de Saint-Pol, who and resisted, to the great of the provost, who did not love the constable.
Here, assuredly, is more than to a life happy and illustrious, and to some day a page in that history of the of Paris, where one that Oudard de Villeneuve had a house in the Rue Boucheries, that Guillaume de Hangest purchased the great and the little Savoy, that Guillaume Thiboust gave the of Sainte-Geneviève his houses in the Rue Clopin, that Hugues Aubriot in the Hôtel du Porc-Épic, and other facts.
Nevertheless, with so many for taking life and joyously, Messire Robert d’Estouteville up on the of the seventh of January, 1482, in a very and mood. Whence came this temper? He not have told himself. Was it the sky was gray? or was the of his old of Montlhéry fastened, so that it his too closely? had he fellows, in of four, his window, and setting him at defiance, in but no shirts, without crowns, with and bottle at their side? Was it a of the three hundred and seventy livres, sixteen sous, eight farthings, which the King Charles VII. was to cut off from the in the year? The reader can take his choice; we, for our part, are much to that he was in a humor, he was in a humor.
Moreover, it was the day after a festival, a day for every one, and above all for the who is with away all the filth, properly and speaking, which a day produces in Paris. And then he had to a at the Grand Châtelet. Now, we have noticed that in so that their day of audience shall also be their day of humor, so that they may always have some one upon to it conveniently, in the name of the king, law, and justice.
However, the audience had without him. His lieutenants, civil, criminal, and private, were doing his work, according to usage; and from eight o’clock in the morning, some of and bourgeoises, and into an of the audience of Embas du Châtelet, a and the wall, had been at the and of and by Master Florian Barbedienne, of the Châtelet, of the provost, in a and manner.
The was small, low, vaulted. A table with fleurs-de-lis at one end, with a large arm-chair of oak, which to the and was empty, and a on the left for the auditor, Master Florian. Below sat the of the court, scribbling; opposite was the populace; and in of the door, and in of the table were many of the in of camlet, with white crosses. Two of the Parloir-aux-Bourgeois, in their of Toussaint, red, blue, were posted as a low, closed door, which was visible at the of the hall, the table. A single pointed window, in the thick wall, with a of January sun two figures,—the of as a tail-piece in the of the ceiling, and the judge seated at the end of the on the fleurs-de-lis.
Imagine, in fact, at the provost’s table, upon his two of documents of cases, with his on the train of his of plain cloth, his in his of white lamb’s skin, of which his to be of a piece, red, crabbed, winking, the of on his which met under his chin, Master Florian Barbedienne, of the Châtelet.
Now, the was deaf. A in an auditor. Master Florian delivered judgment, none the less, without and very suitably. It is for a judge to have the air of listening; and the this condition, the one in justice, all the his attention not be by any noise.
Moreover, he had in the audience, a of his and gestures, in the person of our friend Jehan Frollo du Moulin, that little student of yesterday, that “stroller,” one was sure of all over Paris, the of the professors.
“Stay,” he said in a low to his companion, Robin Poussepain, who was at his side, while he was making his on the which were being his eyes, “yonder is Jehanneton du Buisson. The of the lazy dog at the Marché-Neuf!—Upon my soul, he is her, the old rascal! he has no more than ears. Fifteen sous, four farthings, parisian, for having two rosaries! ’Tis dear. Lex carminis. Who’s that? Robin Chief-de-Ville, hauberkmaker. For having been passed and master of the said trade! That’s his entrance money. He! two among these knaves! Aiglet de Soins, Hutin de Mailly Two equerries, Corpus Christi! Ah! they have been playing at dice. When shall I see our here? A hundred parisian, to the king! That Barbedienne like a man,—as he is! I’ll be my the archdeacon, if that me from gaming; by day, by night, at play, at play, and away my after my shirt. Holy Virgin, what damsels! One after the other my lambs. Ambroise Lécuyère, Isabeau la Paynette, Bérarde Gironin! I know them all, by Heavens! A fine! a fine! That’s what will teach you to wear girdles! ten parisis! you coquettes! Oh! the old of a judge! and imbecile! Oh! Florian the dolt! Oh! Barbedienne the blockhead! There he is at the table! He’s the plaintiff, he’s the suits, he eats, he chews, he crams, he himself. Fines, goods, taxes, expenses, charges, salaries, damages, and interests, gehenna, prison, and jail, and with are Christmas cake and of Saint-John to him! Look at him, the pig!—Come! Good! Another woman! Thibaud-la-Thibaude, neither more less! For having come from the Rue Glatigny! What is this? Gieffroy Mabonne, the crossbow. He has the name of the Father. A for la Thibaude! A for Gieffroy! A for them both! The old fool! he must have mixed up the two cases! Ten to one that he makes the pay for the and the for the amour! Attention, Robin Poussepain! What are they going to in? Here are many sergeants! By Jupiter! all the of the pack are there. It must be the great of the hunt—a wild boar. And ’tis one, Robin, ’tis one. And a one too! Hercle! ’tis our of yesterday, our Pope of the Fools, our bellringer, our one-eyed man, our hunchback, our grimace! ’Tis Quasimodo!”
It was he indeed.
It was Quasimodo, bound, encircled, roped, pinioned, and under good guard. The of who him was by the of the watch in person, the arms of France on his breast, and the arms of the city on his back. There was nothing, however, about Quasimodo, his deformity, which the of and arquebuses; he was gloomy, silent, and tranquil. Only now and then did his single a and upon the with which he was loaded.
He the same about him, but it was so and that the only pointed him out to each other in derision.
Meanwhile Master Florian, the auditor, over the document in the entered against Quasimodo, which the him, and, having thus at it, appeared to for a moment. Thanks to this precaution, which he always was to take at the moment when on the point of an examination, he the names, titles, and of the accused, cut and to questions foreseen, and succeeded in himself from all the of the without his to be too apparent. The were to him what the dog is to the man. If his did to him here and there, by some or some question, it passed for with some, and for with others. In neither case did the of the any injury; for it is that a judge should be or than deaf. Hence he took great to his from the of all, and he succeeded so well that he had the point of himself, which is, by the way, than is supposed. All walk with their high, all harangue, all people speak low. As for him, he believed, at the most, that his ear was a little refractory. It was the which he on this point to public opinion, in his moments of and of his conscience.
Having, then, Quasimodo’s affair, he his and closed his eyes, for the of more and impartiality, so that, at that moment, he was and blind. A condition, without which no judge is perfect. It was in this that he the examination.
“Your name?”
Now this was a case which had not been “provided for by law,” where a man should be to question a man.
Quasimodo, nothing that a question had been to him, to at the judge, and no reply. The judge, being deaf, and being in no way of the of the accused, that the had answered, as all do in general, and therefore he pursued, with his and self-possession,—
“Very well. And your age?”
Again Quasimodo no reply to this question. The judge that it had been to, and continued,—
“Now, your profession?”
Still the same silence. The had begun, meanwhile, to together, and to glances.
“That will do,” on the auditor, when he that the had his third reply. “You are us, primo, of disturbance; secundo, of a act of upon the person of a woman, in præjudicium meretricis; tertio, of and the of the police of our lord, the king. Explain upon all these points.—Clerk, have you what the has said thus far?”
At this unlucky question, a of rose from the clerk’s table by the audience, so violent, so wild, so contagious, so universal, that the two men were to it. Quasimodo round, his with disdain, while Master Florian, astonished, and that the of the had been by some reply from the accused, visible to him by that of the shoulders, him indignantly,—
“You have a reply, knave, which the halter. Do you know to you are speaking?”
This was not to the of merriment. It all as so whimsical, and so ridiculous, that the wild the of the Parloi-aux-Bourgeois, a of pikemen, was part of their uniform. Quasimodo alone his seriousness, for the good that he nothing of what was going on around him. The judge, more and more irritated, it his to continue in the same tone, to the with a terror which should upon the audience, and it to respect.
“So this is as much as to say, and that you are, that you permit to be in respect the Auditor of the Châtelet, to the to the popular police of Paris, with out crimes, delinquencies, and conduct; with all trades, and monopoly; with the pavements; with the of chickens, poultry, and water-fowl; of the of and other of wood; of the city of mud, and the air of maladies; in a word, with to public affairs, without or of salary! Do you know that I am called Florian Barbedienne, to the provost, and, moreover, commissioner, inquisitor, controller, and examiner, with equal power in provostship, bailiwick, preservation, and of judicature?—”
There is no why a man talking to a man should stop. God where and when Master Florian would have landed, when thus at full speed in eloquence, if the low door at the end of the room had not opened, and entrance to the in person. At his entrance Master Florian did not stop short, but, making a half-turn on his heels, and at the the with which he had been Quasimodo a moment before,—
“Monseigneur,” said he, “I such as you shall against the here present, for and against the court.”
And he seated himself, breathless, away the great of which from his and drenched, like tears, the spread out him. Messire Robert d’Estouteville and a so and to Quasimodo, that the man in some measure it.
The him with severity, “What have you done that you have been hither, knave?”
The fellow, that the was his name, the which he preserved, and replied, in a and voice, “Quasimodo.”
The reply matched the question so little that the wild laugh to once more, and Messire Robert exclaimed, red with wrath,—
“Are you me also, you knave?”
“Bellringer of Notre-Dame,” Quasimodo, that what was of him was to to the judge who he was.
“Bellringer!” the provost, who had up early to be in a temper, as we have said, not to to have his by such responses. “Bellringer! I’ll play you a of on your through the of Paris! Do you hear, knave?”
“If it is my age that you wish to know,” said Quasimodo, “I think that I shall be twenty at Saint Martin’s day.”
This was too much; the no longer himself.
“Ah! you are at the provostship, wretch! Messieurs the of the mace, you will take me this to the of the Grève, you will him, and turn him for an hour. He shall pay me for it, tête Dieu! And I order that the present shall be cried, with the of four trumpeters, in the seven of the of Paris.”
The set to work to up the account of the sentence.
“Ventre Dieu! ’tis well adjudged!” the little scholar, Jehan Frollo du Moulin, from his corner.
The and his once more on Quasimodo. “I the said ‘Ventre Dieu!’ Clerk, add twelve Parisian for the oath, and let the of Saint Eustache have the of it; I have a particular for Saint Eustache.”
In a minutes the was up. Its was and brief. The of the and the had not yet been over by President Thibaut Baillet, and by Roger Barmne, the king’s advocate; they had not been obstructed, at that time, by that of and procedures, which the two planted there at the of the sixteenth century. All was clear, expeditious, explicit. One to the point then, and at the end of every path there was visible, without and without turnings; the wheel, the gibbet, or the pillory. One at least one was going.
The presented the to the provost, who his seal to it, and to his of the audience hall, in a of mind which to all the in Paris that day. Jehan Frollo and Robin Poussepain laughed in their sleeves. Quasimodo on the whole with an and air.
However, at the moment when Master Florian Barbedienne was reading the in his turn, it, the himself moved with for the of a prisoner, and, in the of some of the penalty, he approached as near the auditor’s ear as possible, and said, pointing to Quasimodo, “That man is deaf.”
He that this of would Master Florian’s in of the man. But, in the place, we have already that Master Florian did not to have his noticed. In the next place, he was so hard of that he did not catch a single word of what the said to him; nevertheless, he to have the of hearing, and replied, “Ah! ah! that is different; I did not know that. An hour more of the pillory, in that case.”
And he the thus modified.
“’Tis well done,” said Robin Poussepain, who a against Quasimodo. “That will teach him to people roughly.”
