The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. TitmarshThackeray, William Makepeace
General
The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh
Thackeray, William Makepeace
Paris (France) -- Description and travel
“Justice,” goes on Mr. Substitute (who answers for the feelings of
everybody), “DISTURBED BY THE PRE-OCCUPATIONS OF PUBLIC OPINION,
commenced, without delay, the most active researches. The bodies of the
victims were submitted to the investigations of men of art; the wounds
and projectiles were examined; the place where the event took place
explored with care. The morality of the author of this frightful scene
became the object of rigorous examination; the exigeances of the
prisoner, the forms affected by him, his calculating silence, and his
answers, coldly insulting, were feeble obstacles; and justice at length
arrived, by its prudence, and by the discoveries it made, to the most
cruel point of certainty.”
You see that a man’s demeanor is here made a crime against him; and
that Mr. Substitute wishes to consider him guilty, because he has
actually the audacity to hold his tongue. Now follows a touching
description of the domestic, Louis Rey:—
“Louis Rey, a child of the Hospital at Lyons, was confided, at a very
early age, to some honest country people, with whom he stayed until he
entered the army. At their house, and during this long period of time,
his conduct, his intelligence, and the sweetness of his manners were
such, that the family of his guardians became to him as an adopted
family; and his departure caused them the most sincere affliction. When
Louis quitted the army, he returned to his benefactors, and was
received as a son. They found him just as they had ever known him” (I
acknowledge that this pathos beats my humble defence of Peytel
entirely), “except that he had learned to read and write; and the
certificates of his commanders proved him to be a good and gallant
soldier.
“The necessity of creating some resources for himself, obliged him to
quit his friends, and to enter the service of Monsieur de Montrichard,
a lieutenant of gendarmerie, from whom he received fresh testimonials
of regard. Louis, it is true, might have a fondness for wine and a
passion for women; but he had been a soldier, and these faults were,
according to the witnesses, amply compensated for by his activity, his
intelligence, and the agreeable manner in which he performed his
service. In the month of July, 1839, Rey quitted, voluntarily, the
service of M. de Montrichard; and Peytel, about this period, meeting
him at Lyons, did not hesitate to attach him to his service. Whatever
may be the prisoner’s present language, it is certain that up to the
day of Louis’s death, he served Peytel with diligence and fidelity.
“More than once his master and mistress spoke well of him. EVERYBODY
who has worked, or been at the house of Madame Peytel, has spoken in
praise of his character; and, indeed, it may be said, that these
testimonials were general.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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