Montauban

“ Bassompierre replied that no one would be so presumptuous as to name a day by which a place like Montauban could be taken, and that the duration of the siege would{322} depend on many circumstances. “We have bidders much more determined than you are,” rejoined the Jesuit. And he told him that the leaders of the Le Moustier division had pledged “their heads and their honour” to take Montauban in twelve days, provided that the Guards would hand over to them the greater part of their cannon; and that it was with the object of deliberating upon this proposal that the council had been summoned. ”

“ But, if you push things to extremity, and the torrent of your successes does not continue,—and you are on the eve of seeing it stopped in front of Montauban,—every one will recover his as yet flurried senses, and will give you a difficult business to unravel. Bethink you that you have gathered in the harvest of all that promises mingled with threats could enable you to gain, and that the remnant is fighting for the religion in which it believes. ”

“ The Place Nationale is a square of the 17th century, entered at each corner by gateways giving access to a large open space surrounded by houses carried on double rows of arcades. The prefecture, the law-courts and the remaining public buildings are modern. The chief churches of Montauban are the cathedral, remarkable only for the possession of the “Vow of Louis XIII.,” one of the masterpieces of Ingres, and the church of St Jacques (14th and 15th centuries) , the façade of which is surmounted by a handsome octagonal tower. Montauban is the seat of a bishop, a prefect and a court of assize. ”

“ A man of distinguished mind and noble character, often wild in his views and hopes, and so deeply absorbed in the interests of his party and of his church, that he had sometimes the misfortune to forget those of his country.
Meanwhile the king had set out for Paris, and the cardinal was marching on Montauban. Being obliged to halt at Pezenas because he had a fever, he there received a deputation from Montauban, asking to have its fortifications preserved. ”

“ This refugee divine, the knowledge of whom as of so many other refugees I owe to the Messieurs Haag, was a member of a Montauban Protestant family which still exists in that academic town. Jaques Debia was born at Montauban on 10th March 1652, son of Jean Debia, merchant, and Marguerite Pelleport. The story of his banishment from France is curious, and a characteristic specimen of Romish trickery. The Protestant Academy of Montauban having been suppressed, this youth was sent for education in the classics as a day-scholar in the Jesuits’ College. ”

“ The family of De Péchels had long been settled at Montauban. Being regarded as among the heads of the Protestant party in Montauban, they were marked out by the King's ministers for the most vigorous treatment. When the troops entered the town on the 20th of August, 1685, they treated the inhabitants as if the town had been taken by assault. The officers and soldiers vied with each other in committing acts of violence. They were sanctioned by the magistrate, who authorised their excesses, in conformity with the King's will. Tumult and disorder prevailed everywhere. ”

“ As the red light of the torches fell on steel caps and polished hauberks, on the serried ranks of pikemen, and the circle of white-faced townsmen, the picturesque old square looked doubly picturesque. Every five minutes, with a clatter of iron on the rough pavement and a shower of sparks, a horseman sprang away to tell the news at Montauban or Cahors; and every time that this occurred, the captain, astride on his charger, felt a new sense of power and triumph. ”

“ Montauban, in a formal written protest, washed his hands of all responsibility, and declined to participate in, what he considered a hopeless undertaking, though at the last moment, with a prudent care for possibilities, he despatched four hundred infantry and two batteries to 'put in an appearance.' After the unsoundness of his opinions had been practically demonstrated, he sent to beg for the return of his protest. ”

“ Marie of Montauban was as pretty a girl as the traveler might see in going through all of southern France; and a pretty girl of southern France, is more than pretty in any other quarter of France.
Her father had been a small propriétaire, and had married a descendant of an old family, under circumstances of that vague and wild romance which grew up a little after the old Revolution. Both the parents, however, died early in life: she inherited from the mother exceeding delicacy, and a refinement, which agreed very poorly with the poverty to which her father's improvidence had left her an heir. ”

“ Thus, Montauban was evidently its headquarters in the district, and at Gourdon and Montcucq there were vigorous colonies.
They had a regular organization—schools for the young where their doctrines were doubtless implanted in the children of orthodox parents; cemeteries where their dead were buried; missionaries who traversed the land diligently to spread the faith, and who customarily refused all alms, save hospitality. A certain Pierre des Vaux is frequently referred to as one of the most active and most beloved of these, regarded, according to one of his disciples, as an angel of light. ”

“ Those of Montauban exhausted their men and wealth for the same purpose. The town of Saint Jean d’Angély, which had nothing but dismantled walls, defended itself against the rebels. The province of the Vivarais and the Cevennes furnished devoted soldiers, and nearly all the Reformed nobility of the southern provinces, rising against the Prince de Condé, kept Languedoc, Saintonge, and a part of Guienne for the king.
These services were of great importance; Mazarin said, “I have no cause to complain of the little flock; if they browse on bad herbage, at least they do not stray away.” ”

“ In these delineations of common & natural feelings, in the familiar walks of poetry, you seem to resemble Montauban dancing with Roubigne's tenants, "much of his native loftiness remained in the execution." I was reading your Religious Musings the other day, & sincerely I think it the noblest poem in the language, next after the Paradise lost; & even that was not made the vehicle of such grand truths. "There is one mind," &c., down to "Almighty's Throne," are without a rival in the whole compass of my poetical reading. ”

“ The slopes are big and gradual, either up or down. Little breaks the monotony of the expanse except a few copses or sites of copses; the eye is always turning to the distance.
View of MametzToList
In front, more than half a mile away, the ground reaches its highest point in the ridge or bank which marks the road to Montauban. The big gradual sweep up is only broken by lines of trenches and by mud heaped up from 84the road. Some of the trees which once made Montauban pleasant and shady still stand over the little heaps of brick and solitary iron gate which show where the village used to stand. ”

“ He then turned monk, and through the support of his brother, John de Montauban (1412–1466) , Louis XI.’s favourite, obtained the archbishopric of Bordeaux in 1468. He died in Paris on the 9th of March 1479. ”

“ Meanwhile, Montauban had been transferred to another command, and for a twelvemonth after his successor's arrival the inquiry was allowed to fall in abeyance. When it was finally resumed, the French prisoner had died, but, from a document written in his native language found upon him and brought to Oran, there remained little doubt that he was Captain de Géreaux. ”

“ The road passes a cross (photo above) in the village, at the junction of two ways. Take the one on the right, which leads to the site of the late church. Of the latter, nothing remains but a few iron crosses in the surrounding cemetery (photo below) .
Montauban was captured by the British on the first day of their offensive (July 1, 1916) . The struggle was short, but fierce and sanguinary. Numerous machine-guns posted in the cellars of the houses directed a continuous and murderous fire upon the assailants through the vent-holes, and had to be destroyed one by one, by means of grenades. ”

“ He explained that, for a man of his age, the journey which he had performed that day was fatiguing, so that it had prevented him coming so far as Montauban, besides which it would have been difficult to find suitable accommodation there for himself and his suite. I executed this embassy to the Cardinal, who took it extremely ill and imagined that M. d’Épernon refused to humble his pride to the point of coming to visit him in his government of Guienne, in which the King had given the Cardinal absolute power. ”

“ Its councillors were men of head and action, and the firmness of their faith redoubled their energy. The Marquis de la Force had the command. The Duke de Rohan held his head-quarters at a little distance, and supplied it with succours of men and ammunition.
Louis XIII. presented himself before the walls of Montauban with the Constable, the dukes de Mayenne, d’Angoulême, de Montmorency, the Count de Bassompierre, and the élite of the nobility of the kingdom. He also, during the [245] siege, enlisted an auxiliary of a very different kind. ”

“ Montauband frequently ravaged the coasts of New Spain, Carthagena, Florida, and North America, as far as Newfoundland. In 1694 he escorted to France a great number of prizes that he had taken in the West Indies, but the excesses that were committed by his crew at Bordeaux forced him to abandon that port in January, 1695, and he cruised for some time on the coast of Guinea, capturing many ships from the Dutch and English. After nearly losing his life by the explosion of a powder-magazine he returned to Tortuga, but resolved to abandon his mode of life, and returned to Bordeaux, where he died. ”

“ Page 189. line 5. Montauban.] Oliver V. lord of Montauban, a great house in Bretagne, died soon after 1386, leaving five sons,—1. William, who died in 1432; 2. Robert, bailiff of Cotentin, at the siege of Orleans in 1420; 3. Bertrand, killed at Agincourt; 4. Renaud, lord of Crêpon; 5. John.
Page 189. line 12. Lens.] John de Récourt, castellan of Lens, brother to Charles, admiral of France, was killed at this battle; but I find no others of the family.
[Pg 415]
Page 190. line 4. D'Aumont.] John Hutin lord of Aumont, Chars and Chapes, echanson du roi, &c. ”

“ Montague, Earl of Salisbury, had a bold, bad face, and his words, though honeyed and low, had a false ring in them.
"My humblest greetings, fair lady," he cried; "my life is at thy service, for I heard but yesterday that thy lord, caitiff that he be, hath left thee alone among rough men, in this lonely wind-swept Castle. Methinks thou art accustomed to kinder treatment and therefore am I come to beg thee to open thy gates, and allow me to enter. By my soul, if thou wilt, I shall be thy servant to the death. Such beauty as thine was never meant to be wasted in the desert. ”

“ He wore a murrey-coloured coat, a small grey peruke, and a little brooch of rubies in a plain lace cravat. When Mr. Montague entered he was seated at a table covered with a multitude of papers. He looked up instantly; his delicate features expressed a very winning composed dignity.
"I wished to speak to you about the new Mint at Chester, Mr. Newton," said the Chancellor; his manner was totally different from that he had used to the Ministers at Whitehall.
"Another Mint, yes, Mr. Montague," answered the Warden, in the same grave tone. ”

“ At six years old Montaigne was sent to the College of Guienne, at Bordeaux, an establishment which then enjoyed a very high reputation. He soon made his way to the higher classes; and at thirteen years of age had completed his college education. Having no taste for military life, which was then the usual career of young noblemen, he studied the law; and in 1554 was made Councillor (or Judge) in the Parliament of Bordeaux, in which capacity he acted for several years. ”

“ The unique book which I packed was the sixth volume of Montaigne in the Temple Classics edition. We are all aware, from the writings of Mr. A.B. Walkley, Sir William Robertson Nicoll, Mr. Hall Caine, and others, what a peerless companion is Montaigne; how in Montaigne there is a page to suit every mood; how the most diverse mentalities—the pious, the refined, the libertine, the philosophic, the egoistic, the altruistic, the merely silly—may find in him the food of sympathy. I knew I should be all right with Montaigne. ”

“ Montague had struck harder than he had intended, and would gladly have recalled the words. But the door was closed, and the strange woman out of sight and hearing. He walked away to his lodging in Ryder Street, very well content with his day's work, and opening the door of his parlour on the first floor was at once incommoded by a thick fog of tobacco-smoke. But through the fog he saw, comfortably stretched in his best armchair, with his peruke pushed back and his waistcoat unbuttoned, a lackey in Lady Oxford's livery. Montague lifted up his voice and swore. ”

“ He was sound throughout; and if he lacked the genius and the philosophy of Montaigne, he was his equal in worldly knowledge and in tolerant good temper. He heard, enjoyed, and repeated all the gossip of foreign courts, all the "severe jests" which passed from lip to lip. He loved the beauty of Italy, the wit of France, the spirit of the Netherlands, and the valor of Spain. The first handsome woman that earth ever saw, he tells us, was made of Venice glass, as beautiful and as brittle as are her descendants to-day. ”