The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-05

naQ maze IOluS ABOUT MS eyes, eNll SHHllco
had puckered his mouth. The wolf and pig
struggled together in his face. 1t was an
eloquent, sharp, earthly, ugly c~ountenance.
His hands were small and prehensile, with
fingers knotted like a cord: and they were
continually Pickering in front OF him in
violent and expressive pantomime."
villon lived his life in misery and died
away from Paris, no one knows where.
He knew what he was. and once. when he
expected no better than to be hanged with
five of his comrades in crime, he wrote a
ballad beginning thus:
Brothers, that after us on life remain,
Harden your hearts against US not as
For, If to pity US poor wights you're faln,
God shall the rather grant you BENSON.
You see US six, the sibbet hereupon;
AS for the flesh that We too well have fed,
IT'S all devoured and rotted, shred by
shred.
Let mons make merry of Our piteous case,
Whose crumblng bones the life long since
hath fed;
The rather, pray God grant us of His
grace.
The Francois Villon designed by Mr.. Nc
Carthy and embodied at English's Opera
House last night by Mr.. Sothern for the
public's amusement entered upon the great
dlldiIS - Ills Career y ~ III INdl
vilon conducted himself. The curtain rose
to show the interior of an inn. Young men
and women. ragged and dirty. were drink
ing and shaking dice at a table, making a
noise like that which rose from the
Broken. Here and there a fellow kissed
his girl with fine relish. The host, a pot of
a man with an liberated face, scurried
about rehlling mugs. Louis XII, King of
France, attended by one of his minister's,
entered disguised as a citizen. He was 60
ing among his people, like a Cailiff of the
Arabian Nights tales, to see and hear
what he could. Came then Francois Viii
lon. He had made bold to send some of his
verses to a lady of the court with whom
he had fallen in love on sight, and he had
been beaten with clubs for his impudence.
He was sick at heart and bemoaned his in
while drinking heavily. The ribald CONVEX
sation turning upon the fact that the Bur-
gundians were storming the wells of Paris.
Villon gave expression to his contempt for
the King in a ballad.
The lady of the court whose charms had
ensnared the heart of Villon also came to
the tavern. Villon's verses had made an
impression on her; she wondered If the
poet were man enough to Stay the grand
constable of France, who had insulted her.
Villon was overwhelmed at her appear
ance, but he promised to kill this mean per-
son, and when he, too, came into the place,
he V2s set upon by the poet. The wall
light we're put out, and Villon and the
gran constable, each with a lantern in
one hand and a sword in the other, had
at each other, and the poet wounded the
high official after a sharp conflict. The
wounded man cried out for Villon to be
hanged Immediately, but the king, reveal
ing himself, ordered otherwise. Villon was
drugged, and, going to sleep in a cell, he
fine linen, was dressed in gorgeous raiment,
like Sir Christopher Sly, and was tod that
he was the new grand constable. second
only to the king In power.
XXX
The change in Villon's position was not
greater than the change of scene from the
filthy cabaret to the rose garden of the
kings palace. The ground was covered
with a thick lawn, blossoming rose vines
covered the walls and the marble stairway
that led up TO the piazza Here it was
Villon's first duty as grand constable to
pass judgment on his one-time companions,
who had been arrested the night before
at the inn. They did not recognize him in
his fine clothes and with his beard gone.
After terrifying them by exposing his
knowledge of their misdeeds, he gave them
money and told them to go free. He had
especial words of kindness for the women,
who made their living so wretchedly by
pray that God might make men better.
Having had the pleasure of thus literally
dispensing favOrS and airing beautiful
sentiments. he had the pain of hearing the
king describe the extent of his jest. I'm
less he should win katherine de Vaucelles,
whom he already loved, Villon should die
at the end of a week; or, If he did not wish
to be grand constable of France for a week
he would be stripped of his robes then
and be drubbed out into the streets. The
regenerated poet decided TO a the
chance. The lady told him that she could
not love the starveling poet, but she finally
came 10 love the grand constable; In turn,
the grand constable lost her love by re-
vealing himself TO her as the poet. She
declared she hated him for his deceit.
There was nothing left but the hang
mans moose on the next day. so Villon de-
cided to squeeze joy into the few hours
that remained 10 him by leading the army
against the Burgundians. Even this pleas
ure almost was denied TO him, for the man
whom he had wounded in the inn tried now
to stab him and would have succeeded if a
girl, ore OF the lost sisterhOOd, had not
slipped in and taken the knife into her
own breast. She loved Villon.
The closing scene was in a court yard
In front of a cathedral was A throne foT
the King and the Queen, and in front OF
this was a gibbet wherein Villon was "a
die. He came 10 the place followed by his
soldiers and the populace. all cheering
madly. They had driven of the Burgun.
dians. But the King was determined tC
have his joke out. and Vtllon must hang
unless some one would be his substitute
on the gallows, Just when il seemed that
no one would volunteer Villon's mother, a
bent and shabby old woman, hobbled from
the crowd and offered herself. or course
she was not accepted. Then Katherine dc
Vaucelles appeared. beautifully gowned
and said she would die for Nillon, for she
truly loved him. Villon would not permit
the sacrifice. but he and Katherine agreed
that he should kill her and then himself
with his dagger. Even this proved unnec.
essary, for Katherine bethought herself OF
the simple trick OF matrimony. which
through a convenient complication OF law
would save her lover. The penalty for life
was exile. which they accepted gladly. and
the series OF incidents closed with Vilor
holding Katherine with one arm and hi.
mother with the other, while the mot
shouted gleefu1ly.
<
The activity described had an elaborate
setting. The stage was filled with people
when occasion demanded. and all the cha
aoters were costumed richly. Mr.. Sothern's
impersonaticn Of Villon was effective in
high degree end was applsuded enthusiasts
tically. lie suggested In the first act th'
morbidity and reeklessness OF the vaga