The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-11

dYvetot from his body. Grinning. CHASTITY
and streaming with blood, the head rolled on
the very steps of the altar. Such was the
unlucky result of Vauthier's return
Unlucky no less for Clotare. He had
committed sacrilege, and when he cooled,
the full enormity of his guilt flashed upon
him. The Pope's letters, now read for the
first time, did not lessen his remorse. They
attested the entire innocence of our we'll
beloved son Vauthier, and around the I'M
happy Clotaire rose chorus of clergy
''Sacrilege sacrlege! Your Majesty has
committed sacrilege
Thereat Clotaire grew pale, and his knees
shook. What to do? Send an envoy TO his
Holiness, suggested the clergy, and beg abso-
lution and Clotaire caught ardently at the
suggestion The envoy was despatched;
came to Rome heard that the Pope
was dying, and hastened to his bedside,
! where Clotairc prayer was set forth for the
pontiff's action The affair was embarrassing
the pope was dying. He did what men
often doin difficult matter; he compromised.
| "Clotaire he said family, could expect to
receive pardon-only-' (here Pope Agapet
began to cough painfully, and gasp for
breath &c only--when-he had given-the
| highest possibe-satisfaction to the-heirs-
Of (here the coughing returned, became
more violent, convulsion shook the pontitf,
and before he could finish the sentence he
| expired.)
with the ambiguous dying words of Pope
Agapet, the envoy returned to Clotaire; and
for long time the king pondered, with knit
brows and troubled mind, on that phrase,
''the highest possible satisfaction to the heirs
of-Vauthier What ,r0s the highest
possible satisfaction p At last he came
to a decision upon the knotty point
presented. There was, according to the
opinion of people in the sixth century no
higher earthly satisfaction than that of being
a aroyal parsonage; and the impetuous Clotaire,
lashed by remorse, determined to make the
Vauthiers royal. As the King ordered, so it
was done On huge sheet Of the whitest
parchment, decorated with seals and ilou-
rishes, and attested 10y the royal mark it
was written that thenceforh, to the end of
time, the seigniory of Yyetot should be
kingdom, and the seigneurs thereof kings
owing allegiance to no one, coming their own
money, leyying their own taxes, issuing their
sovereign decrees, making or not making
war. as seemed to them best-in every ac-
ceptation of the word, and without reserva-
ton, kings.
Hence the Kings of Yyctot. The account
we have given may appear romantic, but,
whatever be the measure of faith attached to
it, the existence Of ,he Kingdom IS mat
ter of record.
Proof of this statement:
l. A decree of the Court of EXcheQuer of
Normandy, of date 1892, mentions the King
of Yvetot, and recognizes his royalty.
H. Letters patent granted by various Kings
of France, in 14oi, 1850, and liG4, acknow-
ledge and confirm the sovereignty of the King
of Yvetot.
III. In the same century when Normandy
was under English sway, Henry VI claimed
certain taxes and feudil duties from the King
of Yvetot; the question was solemnly ad-
Judged; and the decision given against the
King of England, in favor of the King of
Yvetot.
~. A letter of Francis I, addressed to the
Queen of Yvetot, is still in the French
archives.
V. At the coronation of Marie de Medci
Henry " publicly rebukedhis grand chamber
lain for not assigning to the King of Yvetot
position suitable to his royal dignity.
IF we lose France said the same jovial
monarch, Henry ", when he was retreating
once, during the wars Of the League, I'VE
must take possession of the fair kingdom of
Yvetot!"
Thus Jest and earnest, fiction (doubtess)
and fact, history and romance, mingle and
are fused with each other here. The reader
will regard the whole subject in the light
which peases him best-seriOusly, in the
light of the charters, decrees and letters
patent referred to; or romantcally, in the
light of the Clotaire tradition; or humor-
ously, in the light of the donkey, the fatdog,
and the nightcap, of Beranger's chanSon. The
latter made the Joa raj d Y0ct0t popular for
ever, by hitting from behind him at other
royal personages:-
"Il n'agrandit point ses Etats
Fut un VOiSOn COmmOde,
Et, mOde.e 0eS pOtentats,
Prlt le palsr pour code.
&c Test que lorsquil eNpra
que lie peuple qul lenterra
Pleura.
Oh! Oh! oh. Oh! an! ah! an! ah!
Quel bon petit ro c'etait la,
La, la!'
This was written in 1918, and there were a
large number of persons, especially the
French mothers, who had lost their boys Dy
Napoleons merciless conscriptions, who saw
in the first lines hit at the great Emperor
With these political matters, however, we
have nothing to do. Looking across the years
to the small Chateau d'Yvetot, what we see
is picture of royalty in miniature" and an
extremely fat and respectable line of monarchs,
who appear to have had an amount of good
sense not often found beneath kingly
crowns. In fact, these rustic sove-
relgns appear TO have been the most sensible
men Of history s%%sS They never declared war on
anybody, never interfered OF quarrelled with
their neighbOrs, INDUCED in no heartburn
lngs, were rendered unhappy by no undue
aspirations; they simply lived at the ldcoun-
try-house OF Yvetot, with their tenants around
them, ate good dinners, drank good wine,
rode out on successive generations of fat
little donkeys, followed by fat little dogs,
chatted with their subjects, slept in peace,
with comfortable nightcaps drawn over their
royal old ears, and were buried in the royal