Events failed to bear out the fan’s predictions. The news of the defeat of Stanislaus was carefully concealed from Queen Marie, the king causing a special copy of the Gazette to be printed announcing her father’s successes.
The queen, however, remained in ignorance but a short while; the fan, the popular newspaper of the period, very speedily announced—‘Capture of Dantzic by the Russians, unconditional surrender.’ The picture—Stanislaus escaping through a gateway with his band of mounted followers.
| The Four Ages. | Abraham Bosse |
‘Malbrouk’ crops up again towards the middle of the century; the folly of ‘Pantins’[134] and Bilboquets had been superseded by le ‘fureur de cabriolets,’ to be in turn driven away by ‘Malbrouk.’ ‘Une Folie chasse l’autre’ exhibits ‘Malbrouk’ fully equipped with sword and buckler, issuing from a tent held open by a fool in cap and motley, driving away figures of a woman playing bilboquet, a dancing abbé with Pantin, a cabaret-keeper, and a man with flag and lantern.
To the air of ‘Chacun à son Tour,’ the fan sings:
‘Un rien suffit pour nous séduire
La nouvauté par son attrait
Nous enflame jusqu’au delire
Nous fait en rire on à tout fait