New-York tribune., 1919-08-30

notoriety as anything but a desirable
one, and history will hardly reproach
them"
Events, hardly to be called beyond
MS own control. caused him to become
the wolf that watches for an oppor-
tunity of spelling the fold, rather than
the shepherd whose duty it is to guard
it. Among his friends were the CAB
bess of Port Royal, as shining light
in debauchery as any of his male
friends, and la petite Macee of Or
leans, whom he characterizes as tres
mauvaise ordure'"
Payne refers to certain of Vilon's
cronies as deserving their hangings for
"sacrilegious thefts,' lock picking,
"gambols, the least of which appears
to have been rape or highway robbery ~
counterfeiting, sneak thievery and the
spreading OF false rumor=.
Payne gives a good deal of space
to the Abbess of Port Royal, who was
UNIQUE stionably one Of the vilest women
in the history Of the world. She and
Nillon imposed themselves for q week
on poor terrorized barber and ate up
all his pigs.
Payne thinks that Villon probably
was presented to a sem-eccles iastical
post. yet this did not prevent him from
fiinging away his life "in the quagmres
of dissipation" "debased Desires "a
maze of crime and disaster Payne
tells Of his methods OF cheating tavern
keepers out of wine and of how he
stole fourteen hogsheads from one
landlord
Payne describes the unutterably cad
dish and whining love affair of Villon
for Catherine de Nauceles, who would
not have him. He describes and lists
his boon companions among women
whose profession may be the oldest,
bat it is certainty the dirtiest, in the
world.
Payne describes how one of Villon's
rivals in love had him stripped and
beaten like a pile of laundry; how
Villon killed priest in brawl over
O woman and fled into the country for
several months; how he was pardoned
and came back to revert to his "habits
of criminality." Nillon stabbed the
priest in the groin and broke his face
with rock, then skipped the town.
| Nillon was concerned in three ugly
burglaries; one from priest. whom he
robbed Of five or six hundred gold
crowns; one a foiled attempt TO steal
| the sacred vessels from a church; one
a theft Of five or six hundred gold
crowns from the treasury Of the college
where Villon had studied. He knew
/
student there,
He and his gang had accomplices
who made false keys and melted down
the holy or other vessels they stole
Surely this is one of the least hand
some forms of theft.
Nillon organized a gang to rob his
own uncle, priest. But one of the
thugs got drunk and talked too much
and Villon was arrested, tortured and
condemned to the gallows. His sentence
was changed to exile, and during th,
time he probably picked up a living as
thief in the disguise of a pedler.
At other times Nillon was brilliant
member of gang called the "Coquil-
disguised as religious pilgrims and
approached their victims holding out
the she'll with which holy mendcants
solicited aims. This was the shell
game gone wrong
Villon was once more arrested, thi:
time for stealing a silver lamp from {
church-oh. sweet thief, with d
melting love for religious objectsi
He was kept in a horrible dungeon
where what strength his debaucherie.
had left was lost He was pardonec
they were, seized by three creditor.
in satisfaction of debts, or, as Payne
suggests, of thefts.
At thirty Villon was a complete
wreck, with no hair, beard or eye
brows, and every limb one anguish o
disease" His subsequent life is un
known.
1t is surely evident that Mr.. Des
mond had forgotten his Payne wher
he rebuked Stevenson and me fo
criticising Villon. Curiously enough
though Longnon tried to prove tina
Villon was not necessarily telling tn,
truth when he described how he livet
on the earnings of the street-walker
la Crosse Margot, Payne will no
permit even this slight dab of white
wash. He insists that Villon was wha
Villon says he was-the yellowest an,
most loathsome of creatures-a pimr
| wonder if Mr.. Desmond ever rea,
this "Ballade of Villon and la gross
Margot"? 1t has not been translate,
into English, so far as l am aware
Gautier in his essay says it is impos
sible even to translate it into moderl
! French, since it is so hdeously in
, decent and ignoble that it "diseust
you with womankind for two weeks.
!, The poet himself describes how h
!, rushed the growler" for Margot an
.. her visitors, how gay and drunk the
| were when Margot earned money, an
how, when she didn't, he beat her.
have an old illustration showing tn