The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-02-27

~ oSdkS, lllcIt Is slllllG ~ llllu "lkSlS
there Is much to seek.
The silence of Commines may be ex-
planned in a thousand ways, possibly
professional jealousy of minister
for another, who in so short a space of
time did so much and SO well, possibly
ignorance of the real facts of the case,
for it is fairly certain that King Louis
kept his jape and it's sequel very much
to himself. possibly because Commlnes
felt that his cold spirit was scarcely
equal to the proper recording Of so
whimsical and oriental an adventure.
Good Master Clement Marot, when
he took 1t upon himself, generations
after our poet, was dust and ashes, to
edit u poets writings, said much in
praise of the singer but said little, no
doubt because he knew little, of the
poets life.
And the great creator of Pantagruel
and G~argantua. the immeasurable AL
cofrlblas Master, whom the world loves
or hates as Rabelais, in what HI con-
tribute to u knowledge Of Francois
Vlllon has only-to use a weather.
Worn n moss-grown phrase-made
rus yet worse c~onfounded.
We should be at a deadlock, indeed,
If it were not for Poitou and it's Abbey
OF n Aventure, whose library is
luckily rich in historical manuscripts
of the period, INC richest of all in that
priceless manuscript Of Dom Gregory,
which, treating in general Of the &C.
clesiastical history of Poitou in the
hfteenth century, dealt so particularly
and SO literally with the life of Mas
ter Villon, because Master
Villon in his old age was so
excellent a patron of the church. We
say dealt advisedly, for time has treat
ed somewhat scurvily the fair skins
or parchment Upon which the good
Dom Gregory recorded his thoughts
and opinions at considerable length as
the rich setting Of the facts, too few
IN number, with which he condescend-
ca to enlighten posterity. Many pieces
or parchment are missing from the roll
of his record, and, unhappily, the
greatest gap in the story is precisely
at that point where our hero found
himself so suddenly and so strangely
taken into favor by his king, and so
suddenly n so strangely smiled upon
by his mistress. We have indeed some
admirable homiletics of the. worthy
friar's in praise Of the onduc and
carriage of Master Francois Villon at
the line of his unexpected ex%altation.
After a gracious invocation of many
saints and angels, the very elect Of
the company of heaven, Dom Gregory,
In a n spirit of rectitude, proceeds to
applaud the count of Montcorbier for
the high example he set to his fellow
men. Here, in effect says the worthy
c~hurcn1nan was a man who, having
passed the flower of his life in suualor
and all manner of capabilities, still
kept in a sense the whiteness of his
soul and allowed the brightness Of the
CELESTIAL flame to burn, family indeed
but un~extinguished, on the altar of his
heart. How many men, asks Dom
Gregory, glowing with a pious gratif-
cation, how many men who in humility
" dreamed that they might under
serener stars and happier auspices do
great deeds and win honorable honors,
would, If put to the proof, show them
selves as splendid in prosperity as
they dreamed themselves in adversely?
Master Francois Viilon, he goes on to
say is the loveliest example known to
him Of a man, who, having always be-
l1eyed in himself with a great belief,
did, on being put to the test, prove that
his belief was founded, not on the
shifting sands of vanity and vain glory,
but on the solid granite of good faith
and the inestimable doctrines of the
church.
From all this we gather dimly, as n
discerns objects in a mist, that Mas
ter Francois Villon, as count of Mont
corbfer, proved himself to be little less
than equal to the high opinion of him
self which he had confided all UNI,
Willingly into the a Of his mas
q~ueradfng sovereign. But the pages
in which Dom Gregory sets forth at
length exactly all that Master Fran
co.'s Villon did n said and thought
during the period OF his astonishing
probation, are unfortunately lost to the
Abbey of Bonne Adventure, and, in con-
sequence, to the world. No less than
six folios consecrated by the careful
pen OF Dom Gregory to this memor
able epoch have vanished from the
priceless manuscript. The custodian
Of the abbey library will tell you with
tears in his eyes that these pages dis
OF the French revolution, but travel
ers in France are too well aware
of the readiness of ecclesiastical
custodians to attribute all things evil
to the time of the great upheaval, to pay
any serious attention to his particular
allegation. However 1t happened, the
pages are lost, and there, as far as we
are concerned, is an end of them.
But In q way we are able to piece to-
gether from Dom Gregory's later state
ments. and from certain traditions
which still linger here and there in the
highways and byways Of Poitou,
enough material to enable us to ascer-
tain with something like sufficient ac-
curacy, what 1t was that Master Fran
CoIS flllOu 0luH dCCOulpuSn as count OF
Montcorbier in those seven days Of
splendor which his hooking king ac-
corded to him. We know for certain
that the king found him an admirable
counsellor, cool, wary and judicious,
and that during the period of his min
istry. Louis followed his advice with q
faith which, If it were founded indeed
upon a superstitious adherence to the
edicts Of the stars, proved itself to be
thoroughly Justified by his lord con-
stables common sense, foresight and
astonishing knowledge Of human ma
ture. We know, too, that he proved
himself no less skilled as a soldier thar
as q statesman, as capable Of pre-em-
inence in the arts Of war as in the arts
of peace. His knowledge Of Caesars
commentaries and his natural inclina-
ton to strategy, interpreted by an elo-
Iquent tongue fred by a ready mother
wit, earned him the ear and won him
the heart of the kings great captains
and wrung from them at first a re-
1uctant but finally such a delightedkad-
hefsnce as their sires had been COM
PEELED to surrender to the Maid o. Or
leans. @
YetswhYe u poet was playing these
two parts, he managed his affairs Sc
dexterously thatShe seemed to h gem