Fiction

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="040d4c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003333" FACE="Arial" ><B>TOUCHARD: One Name Study</B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TOUCHARD: One Name Study"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U>About Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U>Contact Me</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Huguenots"><U>Huguenots</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="England"><U>England</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="France"><U>France</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bethnal Green"><U>Bethnal Green</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BethnalGreen1851"><U>BethnalGreen1851</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BriansBranches"><U>Brian'sBranches</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Canada"><U>Canada</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="LondonChurches"><U>LondonChurches</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="EnglishTouchards"><U>EnglishTouchards</U></A>   |   <B>Fiction</B>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ireland"><U>Ireland</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lace"><U>Lace</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="London"><U>London</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="LondonHuguenots"><U>LondonHuguenots</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tours"><U>Tours</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tushaws"><U>Tushaws</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="UKTouchards"><U>UKTouchards</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Me"><U>Me</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="NorthAmerica"><U>NorthAmerica</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Olives Tree"><U>Olive's Tree</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PamsPods"><U>Pam'sPods</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Paris"><U>Paris</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PrintTrade"><U>PrintTrade</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rhine"><U>Rhine</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shoreditch"><U>Shoreditch</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Silkweaving"><U>Silkweaving</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TessasTwigs"><U>Tessa'sTwigs</U></A></div> <div> Fiction</div> <div> Search Terms: TOUCHE (4) </div> <div> Database: Huguenot Pedigrees, Vol. 1 Combined Matches: 4 </div> <div> Charles Buor, of Poitou, 22 years of age, appears on the List of Abjurations of the London French church of the Savoy, 23 June 1700. Brought up since the age of 8 in the Church of Rome, where he took the habit of the Cordeliers. He was probably the Charles Buor, son of Isaac and Magdalen his wife, born at Monteyn, in Poitou, naturalised in 1713. His administration (P.C.C. Dec. 1716) was granted to Alexander Geoffrey de La Touche, cousin and next of kin. Captain Alexander Geoffrey de La Touche married Angélique Buor: his son, Charles Benjamin, was baptised, 20 July 1714, in the French church of the Artillery, London: also Gabriel 16 July 1715. Charlotte Pujolas, née Buor, was godmother to both. (e) Jeanne, wife of Francois de Prévost,(A) sgr. de La Touche-Imbert et La Piagerie; (f) Marguerite. XXI. Francois de La Rochefoucauld, chev., sgr. de Font-pastour et St. Coux, etc., married, 26 Aug. 1641, Dlle. Marie de Beaucorps, daur. of Antoine de Beaucorps,(B)and of Dlle. Dorothée de La Faille, his 2nd wife. He was still a minor under the guardianship of Pierre de Beaucorps, sgr. de La Grange, in 1642. D. before 1667. His wife, Marie, was b. in 1623 and d. 17 Dec. 1683, aged 60. (Reg. Pr. Dompierre et Bourgneuf.) They had: (a) Charles Casimir, who succeeds, XXII.; (b) Francois, author of the Branch of Pardachat, who will follow XXII.; (c) Marie, wife of Pierre du Gûa,(c) (21 July 1669), chev., sgr. du Bols: she d. before 1682, leaving children, (d) Bénigne, d. before 1682, unmarried; (e) Marguerite, wife of Jacques Gourde, chev., sgr. des Ardilliers, who left a daur., Marie Gourde, wife (1st) of Francois Gabriel Grimouard, (2nd) of Charles Prévost de La Touche-Imbert, éc., sgr. de Brassac. </div> <div> Josias de Robillard left France at, or before, the Revocation, leaving property valued at 19,000 livres (T.T. 232). He and his wife, Marie de La Rochefoucauld, appear in a List of Fugitives, 1685, from Saintonge. They left a daughter, aged 4, who was placed in a convent. She was probably Marie Thérèse de Robillard, whose guardian, Philippe Benjamin de Mazières, sgr. du Passage, claimed the property of Josias de Robillard and his wife, "fugitifs de Xaintonge" (Arch. Presidial de Saintes. B). Their son Josias was naturalised in England 24 March 1689, and was called "Joseph Campagne" in the Naturalisation Roll. He died at Portarlington, where he was buried, 4 May 1737, having married Lady Jane Forbes (Granard). The de Robillard family were connected by marriage with that of Prévost de Touche-Imbert (see note (A)). It was still represented at Portarlington in 1793. living formerly at La Touche, near Azay-le-Rideau in Touraine. By this marriage he had 18 children, some of whom died in infancy: (a) Marguerite, b. 20 Dec. 1710, d. 6 Jan. 1778, aged 68, m. 22 Ap. 1737 Rev. Jean Pierre Droz (Eg. Fr. Unies., Dublin); (b) Charles Daniel, b. at Southampton, 2 Nov. 1711 (French Church Register), lived in the parish of St. Peter-le-Poor, Dublin, died suddenly in London 12 Jan. 1772; (c) Henry Charles, b. 28 Sept. </div> <div> VI. Daniel Collot d'Escury, sgr. de Landauran, b. 27 June 1643, at Vitré. He left France in 1685 with his father, André Collot d'Escury. M. in France, 19 May 1677, Dlle. Anne Catherine de la Valette, youngest daur. of Pierre de la Valette, chev. governor of the Chateau Stenay, sgr. of la Touche in Touraine.(E) She d. in Dublin, x July 1699, aged 46 years and 10 months: "femme de Mr. Daniel Descury, cappne major cy-devant dans le regiment de Gallway" (Egl. Fr. St. Patrick). Daniel d'Escury was Major and Lt.-Col. in Lord Galway's regiment of Horse. On Pensions List, Civil Establishment in Ireland, 1702. "Served in King William's Irish Regiment in Holland, Ireland and Flanders 13 years: seven children & sister." He appears on the List of Oath Roll Naturalisation, 17 Nov. 1698. </div> <div> By his marriage with Anne Catherine de la Valette he had: (a) Marie Madeleine, b. in France 12 Nov. 1679, m. Charles Boileau de Castelnau, 30 Dec. 1703 (see Boileau Ped., Vol. II); (b) Daniel, b. in France, 26 Feb. 1681, Captain in the Dragoons of Waleffe, d. unmarried 1709; (c) Henri, b. in Franceat the chateau of la Touche in 1682, in 1733, at Zwolle, in Holland, Major of Cavalry in the Dutch Army. He was godfather to Henry Maret de la Rive, his nephew, at Dublin, 8 May 1724 (Egl. Unies.)[p.35] </div> <div> He appears to have been baptised again, 20 Oct. 1691, at the Fr. Ch. of Le Carré, London: "Henri, f. de Daniel, gentil-homme de la province de Bretagne, refugié, Major au Regiment de Cavalerie de Ruvigny (Lord Galway) et de Dame Anne Catherine de la Vallette." He was probably only "ondoyé" in France. He m. 23 Oct. 1716 Johanna Martina Gertruid, Baroness Sweerts de Landas, who d. in 1744 at S. Hertogenbosch, aged 56. Henri Collot d'Escury was the ancestor of the branch in Holland, Barons d'Escury, existing in 1895. (d) Simeon, b. at Tours (la Touche), 21 March 1684. Naturalised 16 July 1713 in London, "officers lately from Spain," Colonel in British Army. He m. firstly Dame N. Sulyaard de Leefdaal, 29 Jan. 1719, she d. in same year; secondly, Elizabeth Baron. By his second wife he had two sons, Henri Collot d'Escury and Simeon Collot d'Escury, both captains in British service, of whom nothing is known. (e) Anne, b. 28 July 1688 at Nymeguen, m. at St. Patrick's, Dublin, 3 Nov. 1721, to Captain Jean Maret de la Rive, son of Mr. de la Rive, of St. Anthonin, Rouergue. She d. in Jan. 1768, at Castle Comer, Kilkenny, Ireland, aged 80 years. He d. in 1763, aged 91, and was buried at Castle Comer, leaving issue; posterity living in 1895.(F) (f) Jeanne Gabrielle, bapt. 9 Ap. 1690 at Leicester Fields Fr. Ch., London. Her godfather was Gabriel Philiponneau de Montargier; (g) Lucresse Elizabeth, b. 28 Mai, bapt. 2 June 1695, at Le Carré Fr. Ch., London. Her godfather was Louis de St. Denis, Marquis de Heucourt; godmothers, Dame Lucresse, Dame de Chavernay, and Dame Elizabeth Addée, wife of Mr. de Cherres. (h) Marie Jeanne, b. in Dublin, 1699, m. at St. Patrick's Fr. Ch., Dublin, 20 June 1715, Jean Corneille. (See Corneille Ped., Vol. II.) </div> <div> page 35 (E) This family came originally from the Bourbonnais. Arms: D'azur, à la fasce d'or surmontée de 3 etoiles de même. Pierre de la Valette, or Vallet, ec. sgr. de la Touche, lived in the parish of Chillé, near Chinon. He and his brother, Rend de La Valette, ec. sgr. de La Brosse, living at St. Laurent-du-Lin, near Angers, maintained their noblesse since the year 1532, commencing with their grandfather, in 1668. </div> <div> LA TOUCHE,was a noble Protestant family of the Blesois, between Blois and Orleans, where they possessed considerable estates. At the Revocation, David Digues de la TOUCHE fled into Holland and joined the army of the Prince of Orange. He served in the Irish campaigns, afterward settling in Dublin, where he founded the well-known bank which still exists. His sons, David and James, founded good families in Ireland. From them are descended the families of La TOUCHE, of Marlay, of Harristown, of Sans-Sousi, and Bellevue. </div> <div> Many members of the family have sat in Parliament and have intermarried with nobility. N. LATOUCHE, a refugee in London, was the author of an excellent French grammar. THE SMILES BIOS </div> <div> 1. Jacques1 Latouche (living status unknown). </div> <div> Jacques Latouche and Marie-Martine Baret had the following child: </div> <div> + 2 i. Roger2 Latouche was born 15 Oct 1645. </div> <div> Roger2 Latouche (Jacques1) was born in St.valery-en-caux-dieppe, Rouen, Normandie 15 Oct 1645. </div> <div> He married Marie Garneau in Boucherville, 15 Jan 1679/1680. Marie is the daughter of Dominique Gareau and Marie Pinard. </div> <div> Roger Latouche and Marie Garneau had the following child: </div> <div> 3 i. Marie-Francoise3 Latouche was born 1680. Marie-Francoise died 3 Mar 1749 in Lachenaie, at 68 years of age. She married Antoine Filion in Boucherville (notary-tailhandi, 5 Dec 1701. Antoine was born 1675. Antoine was the son of Michel Feuillon and Marie-Louise Bercier. Antoine died 24 Feb 1752 in Lachenaie, at 76 years of age. Antoine's occupation: Carpenter. (See Antoine Filion for the continuation of this line.) </div> <div> FICTION </div> <div> Project Gutenberg's Etext of A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac </div> <div> #25 in our series by Balzac </div> <div> CHAPTER I </div> <div> THAT WHICH WAS LACKING TO PIERROTIN'S HAPPINESS </div> <div> Railroads, in a future not far distant, must force certain industries to disappear forever, and modify several others, more especially those relating to the different modes of transportation in use around Paris. Therefore the persons and things which are the elements of this Scene will soon give to it the character of an archaeological work. Our </div> <div> nephews ought to be enchanted to learn the social material of an epoch which they will call the "olden time." The picturesque "coucous" which stood on the Place de la Concorde, encumbering the Cours-la-Reine,-- coucous which had flourished for a century, and were still numerous in 1830, scarcely exist in 1842, unless on the occasion of some </div> <div> attractive suburban solemnity, like that of the Grandes Eaux of Versailles. In 1820, the various celebrated places called the "Environs of Paris" did not all possess a regular stage-coach service. </div> <div> Nevertheless, the Touchards, father and son, had acquired a monopoly of travel and transportation to all the populous towns within a radius of forty-five miles; and their enterprise constituted a fine establishment in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis. In spite of their long-standing rights, in spite, too, of their efforts, their capital, and all the advantages of a powerful centralization, the Touchard coaches ("messageries") found terrible competition in the coucous for all points with a circumference of fifteen or twenty miles. The </div> <div> passion of the Parisian for the country is such that local enterprise could successfully compete with the Lesser Stage company,--Petites Messageries, the name given to the Touchard enterprise to distinguish it from that of the Grandes Messageries of the rue Montmartre. At the time of which we write, the Touchard success was stimulating speculators. For every small locality in the neighborhood of Paris there sprang up schemes of beautiful, rapid, and commodious vehicles, departing and arriving in Paris at fixed hours, which produced, </div> <div> naturally, a fierce competition. Beaten on the long distances of twelve to eighteen miles, the coucou came down to shorter trips, and so lived on for several years. At last, however, it succumbed to omnibuses, which demonstrated the possibility of carrying eighteen persons in a vehicle drawn by two horses. To-day the coucous--if by chance any of those birds of ponderous flight still linger in the second-hand carriage-shops--might be made, as to its structure and arrangement, the subject of learned researches comparable to those of </div> <div> Cuvier on the animals discovered in the chalk pits of Montmartre. </div> <div> These petty enterprises, which had struggled since 1822 against the Touchards, usually found a strong foothold in the good-will andsympathy of the inhabitants of the districts which they served. The person undertaking the business as proprietor and conductor was nearly always an inn-keeper along the route, to whom the beings, things, and interests with which he had to do were all familiar. He could execute commissions intelligently; he never asked as much for his little stages, and therefore obtained more custom than the Touchard coaches. He managed to elude the necessity of a custom-house permit. If need were, he was willing to infringe the law as to the number of passengers he might carry. In short, he possessed the affection of the masses; and thus it happened that whenever a rival came upon the same route, if his days for running were not the same as those of the coucous, travellers would put off their journey to make it with their long-tried coachman, although his vehicle and his horses might be in a far from reassuring condition. </div> <div> One of the lines which the Touchards, father and son, endeavored to monopolize, and the one most stoutly disputed (as indeed it still is), is that of Paris to Beaumont-sur-Oise,--a line extremely profitable, for three rival enterprises worked it in 1822. In vain the Touchards lowered their price; in vain they constructed better coaches and started oftener. Competition still continued, so productive is a line on which are little towns like Saint-Denis and Saint-Brice, and villages like Pierrefitte, Groslay, Ecouen, Poncelles, Moisselles, </div> <div> Monsoult, Maffliers, Franconville, Presles, Nointel, Nerville, etc. The Touchard coaches finally extended their route to Chambly; but competition followed. To-day the Toulouse, a rival enterprise, goes as far as Beauvais. </div> <div> Along this route, which is that toward England, there lies a road which turns off at a place well-named, in view of its topography, The Cave, and leads through a most delightful valley in the basin of the Oise to the little town of Isle-Adam, doubly celebrated as the cradle of the family, now extinct, of Isle-Adam, and also as the former </div> <div> residence of the Bourbon-Contis. Isle-Adam is a little town flanked by two large villages, Nogent and Parmain, both remarkable for splendid quarries, which have furnished material for many of the finest buildings in modern Paris and in foreign lands,--for the base and capital of the columns of the Brussels theatre are of Nogent stone. </div> <div> Though remarkable for its beautiful sites, for the famous chateaux which princes, monks, and designers have built, such as Cassan, Stors, Le Val, Nointel, Persan, etc., this region had escaped competition in 1822, and was reached by two coaches only, working more or less inharmony. </div> <div> This exception to the rule of rivalry was founded on reasons that are easy to understand. From the Cave, the point on the route to England where a paved road (due to the luxury of the Princes of Conti) turned off to Isle-Adam, the distance is six miles. No speculating enterprise would make such a detour, for Isle-Adam was the terminus of the road, </div> <div> which did not go beyond it. Of late years, another road has been made between the valley of Montmorency and the valley of the Oise; but in 1822 the only road which led to Isle-Adam was the paved highway of the Princes of Conti. Pierrotin and his colleague reigned, therefore, from Paris to Isle-Adam, beloved by every one along the way. Pierrotin's vehicle, together with that of his comrade, and Pierrotin himself, were so well known that even the inhabitants on the main road as far as the Cave were in the habit of using them; for there was always better chance of a seat to be had than in the Beaumont coaches, which were almost always full. Pierrotin and his competitor were on the best of terms. When the former started from Isle-Adam, the latter was returning from Paris, and vice versa. </div> <div> It is unnecessary to speak of the rival. Pierrotin possessed the sympathies of his region; besides, he is the only one of the two who appears in this veracious narrative. Let it suffice you to know that the two coach proprietors lived under a good understanding, rivaled each other loyally, and obtained customers by honorable proceedings. In Paris they used, for economy's sake, the same yard, hotel, and stable, the same coach-house, office, and clerk. This detail is alone sufficient to show that Pierrotin and his competitor were, as the popular saying is, "good dough." The hotel at which they put up in Paris, at the corner of the rue d'Enghien, is still there, and is called the "Lion d'Argent." The proprietor of the establishment, which from time immemorial had lodged coachmen and coaches, drove himself for the great company of Daumartin, which was so firmly established </div> <div> that its neighbors, the Touchards, whose place of business was directly opposite, never dreamed of starting a rival coach on the Daumartin line. </div> <div> Though the departures for Isle-Adam professed to take place at a fixed hour, Pierrotin and his co-rival practised an indulgence in that respect which won for them the grateful affection of the country-people, and also violent remonstrances on the part of strangersaccustomed to the regularity of the great lines of public conveyances. </div> <div> But the two conductors of these vehicles, which were half diligence,half coucou, were invariably defended by their regular customers. The afternoon departure at four o'clock usually lagged on till half-past,while that of the morning, fixed for eight o'clock, was seldom knownto take place before nine. In this respect, however, the system was elastic. In summer, that golden period for the coaching business, the rule of departure, rigorous toward strangers, was often relaxed for country customers. This method not infrequently enabled Pierrotin to pocket two fares for one place, if a countryman came early and wanted a seat already booked and paid for by some "bird of passage" who was, unluckily for himself, a little late. Such elasticity will certainly not commend itself to purists in morality; but Pierrotin and his colleague justified it on the varied grounds of "hard times," of their losses during the winter months, of the necessity of soon getting better coaches, and of the duty of keeping exactly to the rules written on the tariff, copies of which were, however, never shown, unless some chance traveller was obstinate enough to demand it. </div> <div> Pierrotin, a man about forty years of age, was already the father of a family. Released from the cavalry on the great disbandment of 1815, the worthy fellow had succeeded his father, who for many years had driven a coucou of capricious flight between Paris and Isle-Adam. Having married the daughter of a small inn-keeper, he enlarged his business, made it a regular service, and became noted for his intelligence and a certain military precision. Active and decided in his ways, Pierrotin (the name seems to have been a sobriquet) contrived to give, by the vivacity of his countenance, an expression of sly shrewdness to his ruddy and weather-stained visage which acquired chiefly through "seeing life" and other countries. His voice, by dint of talking to his horses and shouting "Gare!" was rough; but he managed to tone it down with the bourgeois. His clothing, like that of all coachmen of the second class, consisted of stout boots, heavy with nails, made at Isle-Adam, trousers of bottle-green velveteen, waistcoat of the same, over which he wore, while exercising his functions, a blue blouse, ornamented on the collar, shoulder-straps and cuffs, with many-colored embroidery. A cap with a visor covered his head. His military career had left in Pierrotin's manners and customs a great respect for all social superiority, and a habit of obedience to persons of the upper classes; and though he never willingly mingled with the lesser bourgeoisie, he always respected women in whatever station of life they belonged. Nevertheless, by dint of "trundling the world,"--one of his own expressions,--he had come to look upon those he conveyed as so many walking parcels, who required less care than the inanimate ones,--the essential object of a coaching business. </div> <div> Warned by the general movement which, since the Peace, was revolutionizing his calling, Pierrotin would not allow himself to be outdone by the progress of new lights. Since the beginning of the summer season he had talked much of a certain large coach, ordered from Farry, Breilmann, and Company, the best makers of diligences,--apurchase necessitated by an increasing influx of travellers.Pierrotin's present establishment consisted of two vehicles. One,which served in winter, and the only one he reported to the tax-gatherer, was the coucou which he inherited from his father. Therounded flanks of this vehicle allowed him to put six travellers on two seats, of metallic hardness in spite of the yellow Utrecht velvet with which they were covered. These seats were separated by a wooden bar inserted in the sides of the carriage at the height of the travellers' shoulders, which could be placed or removed at will. This bar, specially covered with velvet (Pierrotin called it "a back"), was </div> <div> the despair of the passengers, from the great difficulty they found in placing and removing it. If the "back" was difficult and even painful to handle, that was nothing to the suffering caused to the omoplates when the bar was in place. But when it was left to lie loose across the coach, it made both ingress and egress extremely perilous, especially to women. </div> <div> Though each seat of this vehicle, with rounded sides like those of a pregnant woman, could rightfully carry only three passengers, it was not uncommon to see eight persons on the two seats jammed together like herrings in a barrel. Pierrotin declared that the travellers were far more comfortable in a solid, immovable mass; whereas when only three were on a seat they banged each other perpetually, and ran much risk of injuring their hats against the roof by the violent jolting of the roads. In front of the vehicle was a wooden bench where Pierrotin sat, on which three travellers could perch; when there, they went, as everybody knows, by the name of "rabbits." On certain trips Pierrotin placed four rabbits on the bench, and sat himself at the side, on a sort of box placed below the body of the coach as a foot-rest for the rabbits, which was always full of straw, or of packages that feared no damage. The body of this particular coucou was painted yellow, embellished along the top with a band of barber's blue, on which could be read, on the sides, in silvery white letters, "Isle-Adam, Paris," and across the back, "Line to Isle-Adam." </div> <div> Our descendants will be mightily mistaken if they fancy that thirteen persons including Pierrotin were all that this vehicle could carry. On great occasions it could take three more in a square compartment covered with an awning, where the trunks, cases, and packages were piled; but the prudent Pierrotin only allowed his regular customers to sit there, and even they were not allowed to get in until at some distance beyond the "barriere." The occupants of the "hen-roost" (the name given by conductors to this section of their vehicles) were made to get down outside of every village or town where there was a post of gendarmerie; the overloading forbidden by law, "for the safety of passengers," being too obvious to allow the gendarme on duty--always a friend to Pierrotin--to avoid the necessity of reporting this flagrant violation of the ordinances. Thus on certain Saturday nights and Monday mornings, Pierrotin's coucou "trundled" fifteen travellers; but on such occasions, in order to drag it along, he gave his stout old horse, called Rougeot, a mate in the person of a little beast no bigger than a pony, about whose merits he had much to say. This little horse was a mare named Bichette; she ate little, she was spirited, she was indefatigable, she was worth her weight in gold. </div> <div> "My wife wouldn't give her for that fat lazybones of a Rougeot!" cried Pierrotin, when some traveller would joke him about his epitome of a horse. </div> <div> The difference between this vehicle and the other consisted chiefly in the fact that the other was on four wheels. This coach, of comical construction, called the "four-wheel-coach," held seventeen travellers, though it was bound not to carry more than fourteen. It rumbled so noisily that the inhabitants of Isle-Adam frequently said, "Here comes Pierrotin!" when he was scarcely out of the forest which crowns the slope of the valley. It was divided into two lobes, so to speak: one, called the "interior," contained six passengers on two seats; the other, a sort of cabriolet constructed in front, was called the "coupe." This coupe was closed in with very inconvenient and fantastic glass sashes, a description of which would take too much space to allow of its being given here. The four-wheeled coach was surmounted by a hooded "imperial," into which Pierrotin managed to poke six passengers; this space was inclosed by leather curtains. Pierrotin himself sat on an almost invisible seat perched just below the sashes of the coupe. </div> <div> The master of the establishment paid the tax which was levied upon all public conveyances on his coucou only, which was rated to carry six persons; and he took out a special permit each time that he drove the four-wheeler. This may seem extraordinary in these days, but when the tax on vehicles was first imposed, it was done very timidly, and such deceptions were easily practised by the coach proprietors, always pleased to "faire la queue" (cheat of their dues) the government officials, to use the argot of their vocabulary. Gradually the greedy Treasury became severe; it forced all public conveyances not to roll unless they carried two certificates,--one showing that they had been weighed, the other that their taxes were duly paid. All things have their salad days, even the Treasury; and in 1822 those days still lasted. Often in summer, the "four-wheel-coach," and the coucou journeyed together, carrying between them thirty-two passengers, though Pierrotin was only paying a tax on six. On these specially lucky days the convoy started from the faubourg Saint-Denis at half- past four o'clock in the afternoon, and arrived gallantly at Isle-Adam by ten at night. Proud of this service, which necessitated the hire of an extra horse, Pierrotin was wont to say:-- </div> <div> "We went at a fine pace!" </div> <div> But in order to do the twenty-seven miles in five hours with his caravan, he was forced to omit certain stoppages along the road,--at Saint-Brice, Moisselles, and La Cave. </div> <div> The hotel du Lion d'Argent occupies a piece of land which is very deep for its width. Though its frontage has only three or four windows on the faubourg Saint-Denis, the building extends back through a long court-yard, at the end of which are the stables, forming a large house standing close against the division wall of the adjoining property. The entrance is through a sort of passage-way beneath the floor of the second story, in which two or three coaches had room to stand. In 1822 the offices of all the lines of coaches which started from the Lion d'Argent were kept by the wife of the inn-keeper, who had as many books as there were lines. She received the fares, booked the passengers, and stowed away, good-naturedly, in her vast kitchen the various packages and parcels to be transported. Travellers were satisfied with this easy-going, patriarchal system. If they arrived too soon, they seated themselves beneath the hood of the huge kitchen chimney, or stood within the passage-way, or crossed to the Cafe de l'Echiquier, which forms the corner of the street so named. </div> <div> In the early days of the autumn of 1822, on a Saturday morning, Pierrotin was standing, with his hands thrust into his pockets through the apertures of his blouse, beneath the porte-cochere of the Lion d'Argent, whence he could see, diagonally, the kitchen of the inn, and through the long court-yard to the stables, which were defined in black at the end of it. Daumartin's diligence had just started, plunging heavily after those of the Touchards. It was past eight o'clock. Under the enormous porch or passage, above which could be read on a long sign, "Hotel du Lion d'Argent," stood the stablemen and porters of the coaching-lines watching the lively start of the vehicles which deceives so many travellers, making them believe that the horses will be kept to that vigorous gait. </div> <div> "Shall I harness up, master?" asked Pierrotin's hostler, when there was nothing more to be seen along the road. </div> <div> "It is a quarter-past eight, and I don't see any travellers," replied Pierrotin. "Where have they poked themselves? Yes, harness up all the same. And there are no parcels either! Twenty good Gods! a fine day like this, and I've only four booked! A pretty state of things for a Saturday! It is always the same when you want money! A dog's life, and a dog's business!" </div> <div> "If you had more, where would you put them? There's nothing left but the cabriolet," said the hostler, intending to soothe Pierrotin. </div> <div> "You forget the new coach!" cried Pierrotin. </div> <div> "Have you really got it?" asked the man, laughing, and showing a set of teeth as white and broad as almonds. </div> <div> "You old good-for-nothing! It starts to-morrow, I tell you; and I want at least eighteen passengers for it." </div> <div> "Ha, ha! a fine affair; it'll warm up the road," said the hostler. </div> <div> "A coach like that which runs to Beaumont, hey? Flaming! painted red and gold to make Touchard burst with envy! It takes three horses! I have bought a mate for Rougeot, and Bichette will go finely in unicorn. Come, harness up!" added Pierrotin, glancing out towards the street, and stuffing the tobacco into his clay pipe. "I see a lady and lad over there with packages under their arms; they are coming to the Lion d'Argent, for they've turned a deaf ear to the coucous. Tiens, tiens! seems to me I know that lady for an old customer." </div> <div> "You've often started empty, and arrived full," said his porter, still by way of consolation. </div> <div> "But no parcels! Twenty good Gods! What a fate!" </div> <div> And Pierrotin sat down on one of the huge stone posts which protected the walls of the building from the wheels of the coaches; but he did so with an anxious, reflective air that was not habitual with him. </div> <div> This conversation, apparently insignificant, had stirred up cruel anxieties which were slumbering in his breast. What could there be to trouble the heart of Pierrotin in a fine new coach? To shine upon "the road," to rival the Touchards, to magnify his own line, to carry passengers who would compliment him on the conveniences due to the progress of coach-building, instead of having to listen to perpetual complaints of his "sabots" (tires of enormous width),--such was Pierrotin's laudable ambition; but, carried away with the desire to outstrip his comrade on the line, hoping that the latter might some day retire and leave to him alone the transportation to Isle-Adam, he had gone too far. The coach was indeed ordered from Barry, Breilmann, and Company, coach-builders, who had just substituted square English springs for those called "swan-necks," and other old-fashioned French contrivances. But these hard and distrustful manufacturers would only deliver over the diligence in return for coin. Not particularly pleased to build a vehicle which would be difficult to sell if it remained upon their hands, these long-headed dealers declined to undertake it at all until Pierrotin had made a preliminary payment of two thousand francs. To satisfy this precautionary demand, Pierrotin had exhausted all his resources and all his credit. His wife, his father-in-law, and his friends had bled. This superb diligence he had been to see the evening before at the painter's; all it needed now was to be set a-rolling, but to make it roll, payment in full must, alas! be made. </div> <div> BERND BAUER VERLAG NEW PLAYS </div> <div> THE GIRL FROM ORLÉANS </div> <div> by Ralph Benatzky and Tamás Emöd </div> <div> Desperate about her experiences in Paris, the yet untouched Colette from Orléans wants to jump into the Seine. So far every employer wanted to jump into bed with the attractive girl. But just in time Servien, the old dock worker, who knows a lot about potential suicides, helps her to gain new courage to face life. By chance they find a stolen wallet with a lottery ticket, which belongs to the young bank employeeTouchard. The following day Colette takes the lost property to its owner. She falls in love with himimmediately . In high spirits she has the idea to offer herself as a virgin for a raffle organized by the bank house. Over night the young Colette becomes the most desired woman of Paris. This is a slightly frivolous musical comedy with the charm of the twenties. In his Benatzky monograph 'Esmuß was wunderbares sein' Fritz Henneberg writes: 'Benatzky suffers with Colette and he put some of hismost beautiful musical inspirations into her mouth.' 4 W, 8 M, Choral, Deko German Premiere: September 25, 1998, Staatstheater Kassel </div> <div> Even William Le Queux had started his scaremongering career as a Francophobe and Russophobe, not a Germanophobe: his The Poisoned Bullet (also 1893) has the Russians and French invading Britain. The later England's Peril: A Story of the Secret Service has as its villain the chief of the French Secret Service `Gaston La Touche'. </div> <div> Touche: Adventures of the 5th Musketeer </div> <div> RUSKIN </div> <div> he also met Rose La Touche, a young Irish Protestant girl with whom he was later to fall deeply and tragically in love. In 1875 Rose la Touche died insane, 239 John Ruskin Portrait of Rose La Touche 1874 Pencil 38.8 x 31 (oval) Ruskin Foundation (Ruskin Library, University of Lancaster) </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>