The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-06-02
A KNIGHTLY ROAD AGENT.

Claude Duval, Over Whose Death a PIN
daric Ode Was Written.
In the days of King Charles. the Second,
there lived one of the most noted gentle
men of the road, Claude Duval, as gallant
and pretty fellow as ever danced upon
nothing at all under 1.-The three trees at
Tyburn,' upon the occasion of whose death
the author of ''Hudibras' wrote a Pindaric
ode, and who had such a taking way with
the women that in his last hours. as Captain
johnson tells us, abundance of ladies, and
those not of the meanest quality, visited
him in prison, and not few accompanied
him to tho gallows. under their WARDS,
with swollen eyes and blubbered Cheeks"
writes Howard Pyle, in Harper's Magazine
| for June. -..gE
OF him it is told that one day, on hearing
news of a KIN ght and his lady travelling into
the country with t4O0 in their coach, he
and three others spurred after them, and
by-aud-by came up with them upon lone
" heath a little way out of the town. The
coach was stopped, and when the knight
looked out of the window he saw q wicked
looking scamp in ylzard-masx ~ tne
horses, heads, another holding the cold rim
of a pistol against his coachman's ear, ana
} still another standing over the postliion. :,
} polite gentleman, most excellentiy Wen
, dressed, rode up to the coach upon me
horse, and dotted his hat with an ar t Una
} be it mentioned, the lady in the coaoh was
"a fine, sprightly creature" u:
The polite gentleman was Monsieur
l Claude Duval.
} Sir" said he to the knight, II MAKE no
S doubt that your lady dances excellently
S we'll. Will you be pleased to step out OF the
: coach and let me have the honor OF dane
g ing one courant with her upon the heath!'
!. 'There ISL said the knight, lifting hlf
It hat with an air almost equal to that OF the
: other--"there is no refusing such polite
i request sir, You seem to be man OF gen
Q crosby. and that which you ask is perfectly
. | reasonable" ,Yy,
J. Thereuron the footman was called, the
{. steps were dropped, the door opened, an
y the knight clambered out. Duval himself
a handed the lady down: "a,
re ut was, bursts forth the old chronicle
that speaks of this-'it was surprising te
v see how gracefully he moved upon ths
lie heath, Scarce dancing master in Londor
le but would have been proud to have shown
&c such agility in a pair of dancing pumps a
1t. Dnval showed in great pair OF French fld
x ing boots"
er At last the dance was ended, and he hand
he ed the lady back into the coach again witt
en- all the sallantry conceivable. But as tn
ad knight was about to follow, Sir" said he
you have forgot to pay the piper
ne His worship pulled long face. but thei
. seat of the coach he pulled bag containin
hundred guineas, and handed it to DIVA
who received it with bow that was almot
worth the money to see. -.
Sir" said he, your generosity and III
emit crafty are only exceeded by your noble b
hayior, and have saved you the other -
do which you have in the coach with you
Fo, the rogue had knowledge of ever
hp' farthing of the money and where 1t "
DIRK hidden. and might have had it all, had
I'D. not, by some sudden quirk of his era;
ed. wits, been pleased to dance 1890 of 1t aw;
49,, in a heavy pair of riding boots on gras
cry heath with u fine lady of quality.
ast Such is one of a legion of similar cha
or book stories, all ringing with certain fe'
err ing of open handed generosity, and all
Ito counterfeit metal; for as in this the po
~ good knight lost one hundred guineas
ms honest money, SO in them all some innoce
lree victim suffers. But always he is rich
snt, powerful. aud SO chapbook Literature Sc:
tier nothing of the smart he suffers: it is blu
III upon that side.-From ''Chapbook Heroes
written and illustrated by Howard Pyle.
ou- Harper's Magazine for June.