QUOTES AND IMAGES FROM DUMAS' "CELEBRATED CRIMES" CELEBRATED CRIMES By Alexandre Dumas (Pere) A good novelist needs be a good historian. Alexandre Dumas was anovelist who knew his history. At least in his early works, he wasmeticulous in his research. This series of books are histories whichplace most romantic novels in the shade; they cover many centuries andmany lands--those concerning the Rennaissance Popes are especiallyintriguing. CONTENTS THE BORGIAS THE CENCI MASSACRES OF THE SOUTH MARY STUART KARL-LUDWIG SAND URBAIN GRANDIER NISIDA DERUES LA CONSTANTIN JOAN OF NAPLES THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (The Essay, not the Novel) MARTIN GUERRE ALI PACHA THE COUNTESS DE SAINT GERAN MURAT THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS VANINKA THE MARQUISE DE GANGES PASSAGES FROM EACH VOLUME NOTE: Dumas's 'Celebrated Crimes' was not written for children. Thenovelist has spared no language--has minced no words--to describe theviolent scenes of a violent time. INTRODUCTION The contents of these volumes of 'Celebrated Crimes', as well as themotives which led to their inception, are unique. They are a series ofstories based upon historical records, from the pen of Alexandre Dumas, pere, when he was not "the elder, " nor yet the author of D'Artagnan orMonte Cristo, but was a rising young dramatist and a lion in theliterary set and world of fashion. Dumas, in fact, wrote his 'Crimes Celebres' just prior to launching uponhis wonderful series of historical novels, and they may therefore beconsidered as source books, whence he was to draw so much of thatfar-reaching and intimate knowledge of inner history which has perenniallyastonished his readers. The Crimes were published in Paris, in 1839-40, in eight volumes, comprising eighteen titles--all of which now appear inthe present carefully translated text. The success of the original workwas instantaneous. Dumas laughingly said that he thought he hadexhausted the subject of famous crimes, until the work was off thepress, when he immediately became deluged with letters from everyprovince in France, supplying him with material upon other deeds ofviolence! The subjects which he has chosen, however, are of bothhistoric and dramatic importance, and they have the added value ofgiving the modern reader a clear picture of the state ofsemi-lawlessness which existed in Europe, during the middle ages. "TheBorgias, the Cenci, Urbain Grandier, the Marchioness of Brinvilliers, the Marchioness of Ganges, and the rest--what subjects for the pen ofDumas!" exclaims Garnett. Space does not permit us to consider in detail the material herecollected, although each title will be found to present points ofspecial interest. The first volume comprises the annals of the Borgiasand the Cenci. The name of the noted and notorious Florentine familyhas become a synonym for intrigue and violence, and yet the Borgias havenot been without stanch defenders in history. Another famous Italian story is that of the Cenci. The beautifulBeatrice Cenci--celebrated in the painting of Guido, the sixteenthcentury romance of Guerrazi, and the poetic tragedy of Shelley, not tomention numerous succeeding works inspired by her hapless fate--willalways remain a shadowy figure and one of infinite pathos. The second volume chronicles the sanguinary deeds in the south ofFrance, carried on in the name of religion, but drenching in blood thefair country round about Avignon, for a long period of years. The third volume is devoted to the story of Mary Queen of Scots, anotherwoman who suffered a violent death, and around whose name an endlesscontroversy has waged. Dumas goes carefully into the dubious episodesof her stormy career, but does not allow these to blind his sympathy forher fate. Mary, it should be remembered, was closely allied to Franceby education and marriage, and the French never forgave Elizabeth thepart she played in the tragedy. The fourth volume comprises three widely dissimilar tales. One of thestrangest stories is that of Urbain Grandier, the innocent victim of acunning and relentless religious plot. His story was dramatised byDumas, in 1850. A famous German crime is that of Karl-Ludwig Sand, whose murder of Kotzebue, Councillor of the Russian Legation, caused aninternational upheaval which was not to subside for many years. An especially interesting volume is number six, containing, among othermaterial, the famous "Man in the Iron Mask. " This unsolved puzzle ofhistory was later incorporated by Dumas in one of the D'ArtagnanRomances a section of the Vicomte de Bragelonne, to which it gave itsname. But in this later form, the true story of this singular mandoomed to wear an iron vizor over his features during his entirelifetime could only be treated episodically. While as a special subjectin the Crimes, Dumas indulges his curiosity, and that of his reader, tothe full. Hugo's unfinished tragedy, 'Les Jumeaux', is on the samesubject; as also are others by Fournier, in French, and Zschokke, inGerman. Other stories can be given only passing mention. The beautifulpoisoner, Marquise de Brinvilliers, must have suggested to Dumas hislater portrait of Miladi, in the Three Musketeers, the mast celebratedof his woman characters. The incredible cruelties of Ali Pacha, theTurkish despot, should not be charged entirely to Dumas, as he is saidto have been largely aided in this by one of his "ghosts, " Mallefille. "Not a mere artist"--writes M. De Villemessant, founder of theFigaro, --"he has nevertheless been able to seize on those dramaticeffects which have so much distinguished his theatrical career, and togive those sharp and distinct reproductions of character which alone canpresent to the reader the mind and spirit of an age. Not a merehistorian, he has nevertheless carefully consulted the original sourcesof information, has weighed testimonies, elicited theories, and . . . Has interpolated the poetry of history with its most thorough prose. " THE BORGIAS Indeed, Caesar (Borgia) had the power of persuasion as a gift fromheaven; and though they perfectly well knew his duplicity, they had nopower of resisting, not so much his actual eloquence as that air offrank good-nature which Macchiavelli so greatly admired, and whichindeed more than once deceived even him, wily politician as he was. At a time when he was besieged on all sides by mediocrities. . . . Forgetfulness is the best cure for the losses we suffer. The vice-chamberlain (a Cardinal) one day remarked in public, whencertain people were complaining of the venality of justice, "God willsnot that a sinner die, but that he live and pay. " The same day, the cardinal's mother sent the pope the 2000 ducats, andthe next day his mistress, in man's attire, came in person to bring themissing pearl. His Holiness, however, was so struck with her beauty inthis costume, that, we are told, he let her keep the pearl for the sameprice she had paid for it. Roderigo, retired from public affairs, was given up entirely to theaffections of a lover and a father, when he heard that his uncle, wholoved him like a son, had been elected pope under the name of CalixtusIII. But the young man was at this time so much a lover that loveimposed silence on ambition; and indeed he was almost terrified at theexaltation of his uncle, which was no doubt destined to force him oncemore into public life. THE CENCI On the 11th of August, 1492, after the lingering death-agony of InnocentVIII, during which two hundred and twenty murders were committed in thestreets of Rome, Alexander VI ascended the pontifical throne. Son of asister of Pope Calixtus III, Roderigo Lenzuoli Borgia, before beingcreated cardinal, had five children by Rosa Vanozza, whom he afterwardscaused to be married to a rich Roman. Having seen that Beatrice was sentenced to the torture ordinary andextraordinary, and having explained the nature of these tortures, weproceed to quote the official report:-- "And as in reply to everyquestion she would confess nothing, we caused her to be taken by twoofficers and led from the prison to the torture chamber, where thetorturer was in attendance; there, after cutting off her hair, he madeher sit on a small stool, undressed her, pulled off her shoes, tied herhands behind her back, fastened them to a rope passed over a pulleybolted into the ceiling of the aforesaid chamber, and wound up at theother end by a four lever windlass, worked by two men. " MASSACRES OF THE SOUTH The massacres went on during the whole of the second day, though towardsevening the search for victims relaxed somewhat; but still many isolatedacts of murder took place during the night. On the morrow, being tiredof killing, the people began to destroy, and this phase lasted a longtime, it being less fatiguing to throw stones about than corpses. Allthe convents, all the monasteries, all the houses of the priests andcanons were attacked in turn; nothing was spared except the cathedral, before which axes and crowbars seemed to lose their power, and thechurch of Ste. Eugenie, which was turned into a powder-magazine. Theday of the great butchery was called "La Michelade, " because it tookplace the day after Michaelmas, and as all this happened in the year1567 the Massacre of St. Bartholomew must be regarded as a plagiarism. But from this period, each flux and reflux bears more and more thepeculiar character of the party which for the moment is triumphant; whenthe Protestants get the upper hand, their vengeance is marked bybrutality and rage; when the Catholics are victorious, the retaliationis full of hypocrisy and greed. The Protestants pull down churches andmonasteries, expel the monks, burn the crucifixes, take the body of somecriminal from the gallows, nail it on a cross, pierce its side, put acrown of thorns round its temples and set it up in the market-place--aneffigy of Jesus on Calvary. The Catholics levy contributions, take backwhat they had been deprived of, exact indemnities, and although ruinedby each reverse, are richer than ever after each victory. MARY STUEARE Mary was a harmony in which the most ardent enthusiast for sculpturedform could have found nothing to reproach. This was indeed Mary's greatand real crime: one single imperfection in face or figure, and she wouldnot have died upon the scaffold. Besides, to Elizabeth, who had neverseen her, and who consequently could only judge by hearsay, this beautywas a great cause of uneasiness and of jealousy, which she could noteven disguise, and which showed itself unceasingly in eager questions. Unfortunately for her honour, Mary, always more the woman than thequeen, while, on the contrary, Elizabeth was always more the queen thanthe woman, had no sooner regained her power than her first royal act wasto exhume Rizzio, who had been quietly buried on the threshold of thechapel nearest Holyrood Palace, and to have him removed to theburial-place of the Scottish kings, compromising herself still more bythe honours she paid him dead, than by the favour she had granted himliving. NISIDA The priests had already begun to sing the death hymn; the executionerwas ready, the procession had set out, when Solomon the fishermanappeared suddenly on the threshold of the prison, his eyes aflame andhis brow radiant with the halo of the patriarchs. The old man drewhimself up to his full height, and raising in one hand the reddenedknife, said in a sublime voice, "The sacrifice is fulfilled. God didnot send His angel to stay the hand of Abraham. " The crowd carried him in triumph! [The details of this case are recorded in the archives of the CriminalCourt at Naples. We have changed nothing in the age or position of thepersons who appear in this narrative. One of the most celebratedadvocates at the Neapolitan bar secured the acquittal of the old man. ] KARL LUDWIG SAND Fundamentally nothing is great, you see, and nothing small, when thingsare looked at apart from one another. URBAIN GRANDIER Danger of driving the vanquished to despair. Let fall from the height of his superiority a few of those disdainfulwords which brand as deeply as a red-hot iron. The more absurd the reports, the more credence did they gain. . . . . Crowd of prejudices, which are sacred to the vulgar. Fourneau having saluted Grandier, proceeded to carry out his orders, whereupon a judge said it was not sufficient to shave the body of theprisoner, but that his nails must also be torn out, lest the devilshould hide beneath them. Grandier looked at the speaker with anexpression of unutterable pity, and held out his hands to Fourneau; butForneau put them gently aside, and said he would do nothing of the kind, even were the order given by the cardinal-duke himself. LA CONSTANTIN Madly in love, which is the same as saying that he was hopelessly blind, silly, and dense to everything around him. It is singular how very clear-sighted we can be about things that don'ttouch us. There in semi-isolation and despoiled of her greatness livedAngelique-Louise de Guerchi, formerly companion to Mademoiselle de Ponsand then maid of honour to Anne of Austria. Her love intrigues and thescandals they gave rise to had led to her dismissal from court. Notthat she was a greater sinner than many who remained behind, only shewas unlucky enough or stupid enough to be found out. Her admirers wereso indiscreet that they had not left her a shred of reputation, andin a court where a cardinal is the lover of a queen, a hypocriticalappearance of decorum is indispensable to success. So Angelique had tosuffer for the faults she was not clever enough to hide. DERUES "All passions, " says La Bruyere, --"all passions are deceitful; theydisguise themselves as much as possible from the public eye; they hidefrom themselves. There is no vice which has not a counterfeitresemblance to some virtue, and which does not profit by it. " The whole life of Derues bears testimony to the truth of thisobservation. An avaricious poisoner, he attracted his victims by thepretence of fervent and devoted piety, and drew them into the snarewhere he silently destroyed them. As soon as his head was covered, the executioner gave the signal. Onewould have thought a very few blows would have finished so frail abeing, but he seemed as hard to kill as the venomous reptiles which mustbe crushed and cut to pieces before life is extinct, and the 'coup degrace' was found necessary. The executioner uncovered his head andshowed the confessor that the eyes were closed and that the heart hadceased to beat. The body was then removed from the cross, the hands andfeet fastened together, and it was thrown on the funeral pile. While theexecution was proceeding the people applauded. On the morrow theybought up the fragments of bone, and hastened to buy lottery tickets, inthe firm conviction that these precious relics would bring luck to thefortunate possessors! THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK ironm10. Txt or ironm. Zip [Etext #2751] THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK Voltaire added a few further details which had been given him by M. DeBernaville, the successor of M. De Saint-Mars, and by an old physicianof the Bastille who had attended the prisoner whenever his healthrequired a doctor, but who had never seen his face, although he had"often seen his tongue and his body. " He also asserted that M. DeChamillart was the last minister who was in the secret, and that whenhis son-in-law, Marshal de la Feuillade, besought him on his knees, deChamillart being on his deathbed, to tell him the name of the Man in theIron Mask, the minister replied that he was under a solemn oath never toreveal the secret, it being an affair of state. To all these details, which the marshal acknowledges to be correct, Voltaire adds a remarkablenote: "What increases our wonder is, that when the unknown captive wassent to the Iles Sainte-Marguerite no personage of note disappeared fromthe European stage. " JOAN OF NAPLES The next morning the people were beforehand with the executioner, loudlydemanding their prey. All the national troops and mercenaries that thejudicial authorities could command were echelonned in the streets, opposing a sort of dam to the torrent of the raging crowd. The suddeninsatiable cruelty that too often degrades human nature had awaked inthe populace: all heads were turned with hatred and frenzy; allimaginations inflamed with the passion for revenge; groups of men andwomen, roaring like wild beasts, threatened to knock down the walls ofthe prison, if the condemned were not handed over to them to take to theplace of punishment: a great murmur arose, continuous, ever the same, like the growling of thunder: the queen's heart was petrified withterror. That same evening the sentence, to the great joy of all, was proclaimed, that Joan was innocent and acquitted of all concern in the assassinationof her husband. But as her conduct after the event and the indifferenceshe had shown about pursuing the authors of the crime admitted of novalid excuse, the pope declared that there were plain traces of magic, and that the wrong-doing attributed to Joan was the result of somebaneful charm cast upon her, which she could by no possible meansresist. MARTIN GUERRE mguer10. Txt or mguer10. Zip [Etext #2752] MARTIN GUERRE On the 10th of, August 1557, an inauspicious day in the history ofFrance, the roar of cannon was still heard at six in the evening in theplains of St. Quentin; where the French army had just been destroyed bythe united troops of England and Spain, commanded by the famous CaptainEmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. An utterly beaten infantry, theConstable Montmorency and several generals taken prisoner, the Duked'Enghien mortally wounded, the flower of the nobility cut down likegrass, --such were the terrible results of a battle which plunged Franceinto mourning, and which would have been a blot on the reign of HenryII, had not the Duke of Guise obtained a brilliant revenge the followingyear. This sentence substituted the gallows for the decapitation decreed bythe first judge, inasmuch as the latter punishment was reserved forcriminals of noble birth, while hanging was inflicted on meaner persons. ALI PACHA Albania was one of the most difficult provinces to manage. Itsinhabitants were poor, brave, and, the nature of the country wasmountainous and inaccessible. The pashas had great difficulty incollecting tribute, because the people were given to fighting for theirbread. Whether Mahomedans or Christians, the Albanians were above allsoldiers. Descended on the one side from the unconquerable Scythians, on the other from the ancient Macedonians, not long since masters of theworld; crossed with Norman adventurers brought eastwards by the greatmovement of the Crusades; they felt the blood of warriors flow in theirveins, and that war was their element. Sometimes at feud with oneanother, canton against canton, village against village, often evenhouse against house; sometimes rebelling against the government theirsanjaks; sometimes in league with these against the sultan; they neverrested from combat except in an armed peace. Each tribe had itsmilitary organisation, each family its fortified stronghold, each manhis gun on his shoulder. When they had nothing better to do, theytilled their fields, or mowed their neighbours', carrying off, it shouldbe noted, the crop; or pastured their, flocks, watching the opportunityto trespass over pasture limits. This was the normal and regular lifeof the population of Epirus, Thesprotia, Thessaly, and Upper Albania. MURAT On the 18th June, 1815, at the very moment when the destiny of Europewas being decided at Waterloo, a man dressed like a beggar was silentlyfollowing the road from Toulon to Marseilles. Arrived at the entrance of the Gorge of Ollioulles, he halted on alittle eminence from which he could see all the surrounding country;then either because he had reached the end of his journey, or because, before attempting that forbidding, sombre pass which is called theThermopylae of Provence, he wished to enjoy the magnificent view whichspread to the southern horizon a little longer, he went and sat down onthe edge of the ditch which bordered the road, turning his back on themountains which rise like an amphitheatre to the north of the town, andhaving at his feet a rich plain covered with tropical vegetation, exotics of a conservatory, trees and flowers quite unknown in any otherpart of France. THE COUNTESS OF SAINT GERAN "Could not, for instance, " said the marquis, "a confinement be effectedwithout pain?" "I don't know about that, but this I do" know, that I shall take verygood care not to practise any method contrary to the laws of nature. " "You are deceiving me: you are acquainted with this method, you havealready practised it upon a certain person whom I could name to you. " "Who has dared to calumniate me thus? I operate only after the decisionof the Faculty. God forbid that I should be stoned by all thephysicians, and perhaps expelled from France!" THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS When the prayer was done and the doctor raised his head, he saw beforehim the executioner wiping his face. "Well, sir, " said he, "was notthat a good stroke? I always put up a prayer on these occasions, andGod has always assisted me; but I have been anxious for several daysabout this lady. I had six masses said, and I felt strengthened in handand heart. " He then pulled out a bottle from under his cloak, and dranka dram; and taking the body under one arm, all dressed as it was, andthe head in his other hand, the eyes still bandaged, he threw both uponthe faggots, which his assistant lighted. "The next day, " says Madame de Sevigne, "people were looking for thecharred bones of Madame de Brinvilliers, because they said she was asaint. " THE MARQUISE DE GANGES The beginnings of this union were perfectly happy; the marquis was inlove for the first time, and the marquise did not remember ever to havebeen in love. A son and a daughter came to complete their happiness. The marquise had entirely forgotten the fatal prediction, or, if sheoccasionally thought of it now, it was to wonder that she could everhave believed in it. Such happiness is not of this world, and when bychance it lingers here a while, it seems sent rather by the anger thanby the goodness of God. Better, indeed, would it be for him whopossesses and who loses it, never to have known it. VANINKA About the end of the reign of the Emperor Paul I--that is to say, towards the middle of the first year of the nineteenth century--just asfour o'clock in the afternoon was sounding from the church of St. Peterand St. Paul, whose gilded vane overlooks the ramparts of the fortress, a crowd, composed of all sorts and conditions of people, began to gatherin front of a house which belonged to General Count Tchermayloff, formerly military governor of a fair-sized town in the government ofPultava. The first spectators had been attracted by the preparationswhich they saw had been made in the middle of the courtyard foradministering torture with the knout. One of the general's serfs, hewho acted as barber, was to be the victim. Although this kind of punishment was a common enough sight in St. Petersburg, it nevertheless attracted all passers-by when it waspublicly administered. This was the occurrence which had caused acrowd, as just mentioned, before General Tchermayloff's house. SOME FAVORITE QUOTATIONS Air of frank good-nature which Macchiavelli so greatly admiredAll passions are deceitfulAlways in extremes, whether of enthusiasm or hatredBesieged on all sides by mediocritiesDanger of driving the vanquished to despairDetermination to exact his strict legal rightsDisdainful words which brand as deeply as a red-hot ironDoubting spirit which was unhappily so prevalentForgetfulness is the best cure for the losses we sufferFundamentally nothing is great, you see, and nothing smallGod wills not that a sinner die, but that he live and payInfluence he had gained over the narrow-mindedInterpolated according to the needs of the prosecutionItaly and Greece seemed to be mere suburbs of VeniceJesus, Son of David and MaryKnew how short was the space between a prison and a tombLet her keep the pearl for the same price she had paid for itMadly in love-that is to say silly and blindMethod contrary to the laws of natureMore absurd the reports, the more credence did they gainNo vice which has not a counterfeit resemblance to some virtuePrejudices, which are sacred to the vulgarPut to the question ordinary and extraordinarySo much a lover that love imposed silence on ambitionThe last thing I should desire would be to be as dead as heTo draw back was to acknowledge one's guiltToo commonplace ever to arrive at a high positionVanity and self-satisfactionVery clear-sighted we can be about things that don't touch usWithout fear of being called to account If you wish to read the entire context of any of these quotations, select a short segment and copy it into your clipboard memory--then open the plain text eBook below and paste the phrase into your computer's find or search operation. 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