The Sun.
London, England, 1828-11-20 00:00:00

VIDOCQ, TUCF4ICiiO.FRENCII.THIEF-

~, TAK~iZ.

Vidocq, in his eliace after. tberobbers of the
capital, falls in ...with a singular character,: a
Madame Noel, the mother of 7 obbers, of whom
he gives the following zdesctiption:—“. It being.
suspected that .a female...teacher of .the piano,
whose son, named... Noel; was a celebrated bri
gand, was in thehabit of receiving .Desbots And
Montgenet -(twO-malefa'cioriai.Thoin / kat' orders
to arrest), r.cOntrived-CO. Mate lid
Madame Noel was a .:5,141--el,l4a.iea: .I'olnan, an
excellent muSicin;,.':'
actfiy-; claSl of
citizens, whose, daughter taught, looked
•sh.el
upon as a distinguished -_.The rekne-
ment of her:Amanners; the ,correetness of her.
languageithe‘
e-k_n!Yanee herdress, and a certain
air of high breeding, led to the supposition that
she belonged to one of th6Se. :numerous* noble.
families to whom the ReVOltitiOif hat left nothing
but pride, poverty, and regret,. Madame Noel
was kind and obliging, but only fur those indivi-
duals who had broken squares with justice. These
she received as the mother of a soldier would the
companions in arms of her son. To .be wel-
comed by her it was only necessary to be of the
same regiment as her son Noel ; and then; either
through affection for him; or a love for the metier,
she delighted in doing offices of kindneSs. - She
was, therefore, looked upon' ig•the mother of
robbers. It was on Irer,':(lley were certain
to call first on arriving at ' Paris., She. sup-
plied all their necessities,
_and even pushed her
complaisance so far as td =look= Out ' ieork:(robbe-
ries to commit) for thein';and.Witen 'S passport be-
came necessary to their safety she left mieffott un-
tried to procure it. MaclimeNoel having a great
many friends amongst her own, seXi it was usually
in the name of one of thoSe, that the passport
was taken. A little oxygenated .niUriatic-acid
soon washed out the lady's name and deSeriPtion,
in place of which were substituted those. of the
robber. Madame Noel had usually a provision
of those white-washed passports, -.like
post-horses, were ready for all-sorts of travellers..
Madame Noel lodYed upon all C:alerian'.S as her
children, hut was More particularly attentive to
those who were personal acqUaintincerOfber
son, for these her devOtion'l4ds',,ZyiltiOnt-bonnBs.
She was the confrdarit
.of" all'their projects; their
adventures, their escapes; and alarms;'; in fine,
they placed the most implicit confidence in her,
and never had any reasoirto repent it:" -VidOcq,
,
as an esaaped • -convict, prents-:lnTrigeir' to
_Madame N0e1.., • For 'thifS--i pliirpoSe" he letS his
beard grow, causes'blistere-tatrise as
if the result of =a kogittorri&”6 fth'i'47' And:hag
his shoes and -shlit---'rnaikeiritaV"-fWilite"
letters G. A. L. - 14-e- hititlfers'Alittilell'iV
the costume so far as:to esh'ibliShiiponllNcf-otho
and person a 'colony' of :loatlikome
'Cletus prepared .‘rent '.:to moth&i• Noers, hOtise.
in the rue Tiquetoiiirt'ait opzuinsf,f the door a
single glance at !lie enough ib'nitorrn'het of
the object of my She Made enter, .
and as I was al ,out telling:!teriiii:Storh:she Said,
Oh, my poor boy, it is not iced istu'rto ti*Al
where you come from, I am inite
and without waiting for My answer, she... Went out
and soon 'returned - with 'a Plate of hamn and
sausages; and ti'bottle oNvine; which I soon did)
justice upon." After'tellitig'her thCstory lie had
Invented for the occasion; and'infalanglier,believe.
that be was a friend' of her ion'a,.Slie -gave him. a
change of linen and otherne.cessaries. - '' in my
quality of a recently-escaped CODYid;'; I excited
all the solicitude of Maclaine-Noel; who i,Ceined
to think of nothing but•eoinforting me. Are
you known,' said t Vidocq; and` =ids
dogs, Levesque i-;',A.",.A:1414,'
I replied, they haVe 40est0 .
that case be on yotii gliititlridoc4 is OPen dis-
guised--there
is no character be Will not assume
in order to catch unfortunate poor cenows like
you.' We had been Calking for 'some time
when Madame Noel told 'int to Lathe my feet,
and brought in water for the purpose. 'When I
had taken off my stockings-,,she::i'learry fainted
away, crying out in an'excess-of
hility, How I pity you; Good Con,:h6.Ni you
must suffer ! Why did you not tell `ine'iif this at
first ? You -deserve to be scolded;
repeating these words she .went down on her
knees, pierced the blisters-; and ..after draWinga
woollen thread through them, 'anointedmy feet
with a pommatie. which she said,,frotniong ex-
perience in' similar 'cases, she knew tole nest,
effectual. -'"There 'was-'something .quite antiqUe
in this touching 'rite of- hospitality. On my
telling her of her sonVAPFOaching escape, she
wept tears of joy, tiaika teinis of enthusiaSrn
of his feats as it tiiire(aserfor,.-,atci,:sh9aed to
.have,
as much veneratithi akloteliir She after-
wards goes' Out- to-puteh4sOoth4'for Vickie",
and offers- to .piOcute
mit) for hini'; and; ;the 'irialf;..•
rials and toipls fOi"reukkg falseleys. :Through
the treacheiy of one of 'his dents, Vidocq fails
in arrestinVittrM.6ther Noel's; the two iohberS
he had been ill'!'eaitifof 'ili.Coniequence'
obliged to decaMp'Wlthoii the -Mother..
of robbeis adieu. . -

st
LORD RECTOR,--On Saturday-t - sir v /
v/,
I AL-
TER. Scan was elected Lord Rector of the :ICII-
„
Ver '
ay of
,
Glasgow. Two of the nations, the Glottiana ana:no
t ,th.,..
seyana, voted for Mr. T1f031,1.$ CtMPoELL, tne .fortrier'
Rector ; and the other Iwo, the Transforthana. and Lenditi.:
niana, gave their suffrages* for Sir:AVALTra Setvrie. Affet -
announcing the state of the voting to the students., Principti•
3IACFAIILAN mentioned, that by the law and, practice of
the University, when a circumstance ef. this kind occurred,"
the election fell to he decided by the casting"vote of the lite
Rector, or in his absence by that of the Vice-Rector.—The
late Rector not being present on Saturday, the Yice-Rector,
Dr. Gins, give his casting vote for Sir WALTESL
Glasgow Courier.'