The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-10-23
:. :S.5I0MoS 3ET, GAYS ~ TAEr PARIS
BEDLAM. -''

this month, is from an original picture by
Jacques Lecurieux This painting appeared in
the Louvre in lS45, and was the subject Of
general admiration as work of art During
the exhibition 1t became an object of universal
attention, for the interesting history it perpetu-
ates of that invention or discovery which has
since made steam so useful an agent IN the
economy of the civilized world 49,,
From private memoirs Of the French Court
we find that in l6ll an English nobleman, Ed
ward Somerset, Marquis of Worcester, being
IN Paris. was accompanied by the celebrated
Marion Delorme, while visiting the various
places Of curiosity and interest in that great
metropolis. To the correspondence of that lady
history is indebted for the only authentic ac-
count of tho interview with De Caus from
waom the Marquis of Worcester learned the
theory of steam power, and afterwards pub
lished it. in 1868, as his own discovery in Il
work entitled "A Century of Inventions"
The following translation of II letter from
Marion Deorme to the Marquis de Cling Mars,
contains a very explicit account of the inter
view between De Caus and Worcester, and fur
nishes the text from which Lecurieux designed
his picture;
"FEBRuARY 3, I64l.
My DEAR DEFFIAT: While you forget
,ne at Narbonne, and arc giving yourself up
| To the pleasures of the Court and the Joy of
meeting Monsieur the Cardinal, !, following
your wish do the honors of Paris to your Eng
lish lord the Marquis of Worcester, and lead
him. or rather he leads me- from one object of
curiosity to another, choosing always the sad
dest and most serious, and fixing his large blue
eyes on those he questions, rs if to penetrate
their inmost thoughts. To speak further OF
him. he is never contented with the explana-
tons given and never regards objects in the
same light with those who show them TO him
for instance, visit that we made together to
the Bicetre, where he pretends to have discoy-
cred II man of genius in lunatic If this ma
MAC had not been raging mad, verify believe
the Marquis would have demanded his liberty
and taken him to London, there to hear his
follies from morning till night As we crossed
the lunatic quarters, and more dead than
alive with fear, leaned on my companion, an
ugly face showed itself behind great bars, and
commenced crying in broken voice, am
not mad hare made a discovery which wW
enrich any country that wiH put ii M opera
| hon'
"Ahp said he, struggling his shoulders,
something very simple. and what you could
never gucss-it is the employment of the vapor
of boiling water
III commenced laughing
"'This man. continued he, is named Salo-
mon de Caus He came from Normandy four
years since, to present TO the notice OF the King
a treatise on the marvellous effect that can be
obtained by his invention that is, by steam to
propel machines, drive carriages, and do for
aught know, thousand other miracles. The
Cardinal dismissed the mailman without an
audience but Solomon de Ca,is, instead of
being discouraged commenced following Mon
scgneur the Cardinal everywhere, until he,
tired of finding him Mt his hecls, and impor-
tuned by his foes ordered him to be shut up
in the Bcetre, where he has now been three
wears and half and where, as you have heard,
he erics to every stranger that he IL not mad,
and that he has made wonderful discovery
He has even written, to prove THU, book which
have here
any Lord Worcester, who had been all at
tention demanded the book, and, after having
read some pages in it, said, This man is not
mad and in my country instead of imprison-
ing him, they would have heaped riches and
honor on him: lead me to him.
"Tboy d;A ~; hmt lao rntn"nedy sad aud pen
sve
"'He il now. in truth crazy said he mis-
fortune and captivity have deprived him Of rea-
son. You have made him mad and when you
threw him into that cell, you shut up the great
est genius Of the age
After this we LETT and since that time the
Marquis has continually spoken of Solomon de
Caus.
Farewell my beloved and faithful Henry.
Return soon, and in the happiness you now en-
Joy, let there be still some love left for your
own MARION DELoRMEn
The authenticity of this letter is beyond
doubt and it was found among the effects Of
Henri Golfer de Rugs fEfia Marquis de Cinq
Mars, who, for suspected court intrigues, was
beheaded at Lyons in 1912, only one year after
the date Of this interesting letter from the cele-
brated woman to whom it was said he had been
secretly married
The artist has treated this subject in very
mastery style The scene is well chosen, tho
grouping admirable, and the tabeaux beaut-
fully designed. The composition is original
and could not be improved The head Of DE
Caus is finely conceived, contrasting nobly with
the various expressions Of the lunatics around
The figures Of the Marquis and his lovely CON-
panion are highly characteristic Of the courtly
elegance Of that luxurious age We feel in
debted 10 M. Lecuricux for the conception Of
such work OF art the embodiment and exc
cution Of which have served 10 awaken most
absorbing interest in the mourniul story Of poor
DE Caus
We may easily believe that Richeleu denied
DE Caus an audience with the King The willy
Cardinal had diplomatic schemes enough to
employ all the money in his treasury, without
assisting man whose theory, even If correct
would call for additional expenditures But we
can find no excuse for the incarceration Of poor
Solomon Dc Caus II Ia dif6cult To conceive a
more melancholy fate than his We can ina.
CINE the feeling, the aspirations Of man Of