Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1874-01-09
"Desforges."
els this his handwriting?"

"And how shall I reward you, my
child ?' asked the Marquise, overjoyed.
Il will first see, in the severity with
which you punish Desforges, how great a
recompense you think my service
merits"
"Ha! if you wait till then, l fear there
is nothing you will not have the courage
to ask" replied the Marquise, laughing.
Before morning Desforges was securely
lodged in the Bastile.
For several days Nine de Pompadour
occupied herself in devising some mode
of punishment for the satirist, that should
be as original as it was severe. Finally
she solved the interesting problem, and
took the necessary steps to put her plan
into immediate execution. -
Desforges. in the meantime, was not
only in prison, but in the worst of all
possible moods. He had presentiment
that the most unrelenting of Nemeses, in
the persons of two women, as beautiful
as they were heartless, were planning his
destruction.
Finally the day came on which he was
to learn his fate He was led into large
hall, in which, behind long table with a
green cover, there sat three judges, in
long robes, and a little one-eyed secre-
tary. Behind the court stood large
folding screen, while half dozen guards
surrounded the prisoner. The proceed
ings of the court were remarkable only
for their brevity. A copy of the satire
was shown Desforges, and he was asked
if he had seen it before. He said he had.
He was then asked if he was its author,
and, as he denied it, his manuscript was
shown him.
He saw that he was lost, that further
denial was useless; he therefore con-
fessed that he wrote the Objectionable
verses, and asked the clemency of the
court.
The judges conferred but few mo-
ments; the sentence was that he should
first be exposed in the pillory, and then
imprisoned for life.
The severity of the sentence for mo-
ment completely unnamed him, and,
before he could regain his selfpOssessiOn,
lady, slight in figure, and elegantly at
tired IN light silk, stepped from behind
the screen, and fixed her eyes triumphant
ly upon him.
Expect no mercy from the king" said
she. ''The court has sentenced you, and
his majesty has left the manner in which
your punishment shall be inflicted en-
tirely to me- Do you understand me, Sir
Satirist t?-entirely to me-"
"Good heavens, you are" stammered
Desforges.
"The Marquise de Pompadour" inter-
rupted the lady; 'the same Pompadour
whom you have exercised your wit in
slandering, and who will now exercise
hers in devising some mode of punish
ment worthy of so gifted criminal"
Desforges stood like statue, his eyes
fixed ON space, and seeming unconscious
of what was going on around him.
In obedience to gesture of the mar
quise, the screen was removed, discover
ing cage made of strong rods of iron.
Il propose to preserve this rare speci-
men Of a poet" continued the marquise,
"here in this cage his wonderful imagina-
tion will enable him, / doubt not, to en-
large this narrow prison to the dimen-
sions of Bastile. It is small, you see,
very small: it's dimensions are such that
man in it can neither stand up, sit, nor
lie down; but poet is not human
being of the everyday sort, and therefore
| would not see him imprisoned after the
manner of your vulgar, everyday felons. "
Another gesture Of the Marquise's fair
hand intimated that her victim should be
placed in the cage She was instantly
obeyed, the door being securely locked,
she herself taking the key.
There, my youthful Juvenal," she con-
tinued, looking at him through her
lergnop, "now you shall be shown to the
cG7adSIe of Paris, that they may amuse
themselves with you as they do with the
monkeys in the menagerie at Versailles. "
With this the beautiful executioner left
her victim to the frightful doom she had
so ingeniously prepared for him. Des-
forges the while spoke not word; he
felt that he was at the mercy of heartless
woman whom no prayers of his could
move.
1t was not accidental that the Marquis
dc Beauvoir and Mile. de Marneville were
married in the church of Notre-Dame on
the same day the unfortunate satirist was
conveyed to the pillory in his cage, to be
pelted with rotten apples and bespattered
with mud by the dregs of the people,
Beauvoir had arranged it so.
Years had passed Desforges mad long
since been forgotten, even by the two
marquises, who were virtually worse than
his murderers,- was not his fate worse
than death ?-when one day a rusty key
was found in the drawer OF the Marquise's
dressing bureau, which no one recolected
to have ever seen before. 1t was tried in
all the locks it was at all likely to fit, and
found to belong to none of them.
ooh, | have it," cried the Marquise
suddenly. "I'll wager it's the key to the
cage had that poor devil of a satiris
put into some years ago. What was his
name?"
''Desforges," replied one of her women
ouise. II wonder if he is still alive
Well, am in a gracious mood to-day; il
he still lives he his pardoned. Let some
one go Immediately to the Bastile and
give him his liberty; on one condition
however-that he leave France within ter
days"
A SwitZer fastened to the Bastile tC
execute the orders of his mistress.
When Desforges was told that he could
| leave his narrow prison, he stared vacant
| ly for some moments at his liberator, anG
| then began to weep and laugh alternately
| like child.
"I cannot, monseigneur," he stammer
ed; my limbs have become SO stiff that
cannot"
| 1t was with not a little difficulty they
were able to get him out of his cage, and
some days elapsed before he could make
sufficient use of his legs to leave the Bas
tile even with the aid of crutches.
1t was midday. Paris shone brightly
in the spring-time sun, when a bent rag
| clad figure tottered across the Place Louis
XIV, looking to the right and left at the
| houses, show-windows and passers-by
with all the curiosity of a peasant.
Suddenly runner crossed the square
crying:
"Room! roomt . for the Marquis dt
| Beauvoir!''
| aBeauvoiri" murmured the man il
akRa hax-c, haarci II,