The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-01-29
THE ORIGINAL nLUEnEAuD
Historical Facts, Versus uhc uHumuD-
mime and GIae Nursery Tale.

Even pantouimes have historical truth
and a traditional basis. How tho mys-
teries Cor moral plays) left us the vice,
how the Pantaloou represents the arI-tOc-
racy and the clown the common people,
has been often told. But it is curious t1
learn that one Of the favorite poutommo
heroes of our childhood, of whose face
and domestic history we are sure to ho
informed year after year, really was au
historical parsonage, and lived and carried
! through his career of Wickedncss, and IDIt
records of his crimes aud vices, which cN
| ist to the present day for scholars and Hu
| tiquarians The Bluebeard OF history ~
not quite the Bluebeard of pant1mmo.
In succeeding ages, when tyrant bias to
| be brought on the stage in "a turm cusy
to be recognized, he must be modified
| slightly for stage purposes. Nothing
pleases many and pleases long, says DR.
johnson, but lust Representations of gen.
eral nature. What can be more general
than the curiosity of women That quality
in them is not for an age, but for all time.
What can be more just than that the man
who attemps to restrain lt should oc re-
garded as "a tyrant, and should also fail
miserably in his effort. This BE- Che Blue
beard of the drama. The Bluebelrd of
history was not a jealous man, nor bad he
a room with a particular key ln which hc
kept his horrors, nor did be go through
any part of the familiar stage of business.
Indeed, he was not "a king at all, but
merely Marshal Of France. lie was
born 470 years ago, served under Joan
of Arc, fought against the English, and
after the King was crowned at Rheims
was created Marshal. Marshal de Retz
was one Of the welthiest Of French subj
iects, and lived like king IN his castles
He had a guard Of honor Of two hundred
horsemen, besides fifty chorster- chap
lains and musicians. He was q wild
prohigate, but with bis wilduess had "a
taste for pomp and ceremony. Ills
chapel was hung round with cloth of g0Idi
the priests who ohicated were styled
deans, archdeacons and bishops He
even applied to the Pope that "a cross
might be carried in procession iu front of
him. But there came an end to all these
glories His expenditures swallowed up
some Of the richest revenues IN France,
and then it was that Marshal de kc'Z
sought to obtain by foul means what ho
had held originally fairly. An English
man named Messre Jean and an Italian
named Francisco Prelati indocuiuated
him in the study Of magic and sorcary
The Bluebeard of the pautJmIme appeau
i'm history horrible az the murderer of
Young children From the ucigh10rug
village little boys and girls were induced
into the strong-holds Of the real monster.
and there inundated according to hi- Pa
Gan rites. At last this system OF BUTCH
cry was suspected. The Marshal and
two Of his myrmidOns were arrested.
He was put to the torture, and everything
was revealed His trial lasted i9r
mouth. and Ms. records Of ID are stlI Iu
existence in the Bibliotheque lmpera.e
at Paris. The fortunes he used t1 IuNIe.
upon his victims were fully made known
and in one Of his castles The bones
Of forty-six, and IN another Of eight chile
dren were discovered. He was condemned
to be strangled to death, and the day of
his execution was the 22nd Of December
That this historical parsonage wa- the
type of the pantomime hero is proved Dy
one strange Circumstance. Marshal as
Retz was known in his lifetime by the
sobriquet OF Barbe Bleu. The circum-
stances that led to his death were too h0r-
rible to allow the nickname % be forgot
ten. Barbe Bleu became common
word in the French language 10 expires
a monster of cruelty and vice. The term
took such root amongst the people that DO
was transferred to England, and boIiing
shed, in his Chronicles, speaks of q pop
ular rising in the reign Of Henry W. ou
the committal of the Duke Of Suffolk
and tells how the people assembled to-
gether in great companies and chose t1
them a CAPTAIN whom they called Blue.
beard, but ere they had attempted amy
enterprise their leaders were aPprehend-
ed" Not only the historical bIue5eaTd
comes 10 us from the French, but Che
nantomtme hero is due 10 the same source.
| Perraull, a writer in the time OF LOUIS
| XIV, was the author Of that wonderful
tale whose incidents are still the terror
and delight Of children.