Memorials of Human Superstition / being a paraphrase and commentary on the Historia Flagellantium of the Abbé Boileau, Doctor of the Sorbonne

by Jean Louis de Lolme

“This sudden conversion rejoiced the Saints. After clasping their hands, and casting up their eyes to heaven, they embraced their new Convert, and returned thanks for being made the humble means of snatching a soul from perdition. Proud of their success, they fell to exhorting him afresh; and the most zealous invited him to dinner, that they might have full time to complete their work.

“The Captain sucked in the milk of exhortation, as a new-born babe does the milk of the breast. He was as ready to listen as they were to exhort. Never was a Convert more assiduous, while his station in Boston Harbour lasted: he attended every Sabbath-day their most sanctified Meeting-house; never missed a weekly lecture; at every private Conventicle, he was most fervent and loudest in prayer. He flattered, and made presents to the Wives and Daughters of the Godly. In short, all the time he could spare from the duties of his station, was spent in entertaining them on board his Ship, or in visiting and praying at their houses.

“The Saints were delighted with him beyond measure. They compared their wooden Stocks to the voice of Heaven, and their Sea-convert to St. Paul; who, from their enemy, was become their Doctor.

“Amidst their mutual happiness, the mournful time of parting arrived. The Captain received his recall. On this he went round among the Godly, and wept and prayed, assuring them he would return, and end his days among his friends in the Lord.

“Till the day of his departure, the time was spent in regrets, professions, entertainments, and prayer. On that day, about a dozen of the principal Magistrates, including the Select-men, accompanied the Captain to Nantasket Road, where the Ship lay, with every thing ready for sailing.

“An elegant dinner was provided for them on board; after which many bowls and bottles were drained. As the blood of the Saints waxed warm, the crust of their hypocrisy melted away: their moral see-saws; and Scripture-texts, gave place to double-entendres, and wanton songs: the Captain encouraged their gaiety; and the whole Ship resounded with the roar of their merriment.

“Just at that time, into the Cabin burst a body of Sailors, who, to the inexpressible horror and amazement of the Saints, pinioned them fast. Heedless of cries and intreaties, they dragged them upon deck, where they were tied up, stripped to the buff, and their breeches let down; and the Boatswain with his Assistants, armed with dreadful cat-o’-nine-tails provided for the occasion, administered unto them the law of Moses in the most energetic manner. Vain were all their prayers, roarings, stampings, and curses: the Captain in the mean time assuring them, that it was consonant to their own doctrine and to Scripture, that the mortification of the flesh tended towards the saving of the Soul, and therefore it would be criminal in him to abate them a single lash.

“When they had suffered the whole of their discipline, which had flayed them from the nape of the neck to the hams, the Captain took a polite leave, earnestly begging them to remember him in their prayers. They were then let down into the boat that was waiting for them: the Crew saluted them with three cheers; and Captain St. Loe made sail. The Boston Select-men, to this day, when they hear of the above, grin like infernal Dæmons, out of sympathy to their predecessors[104].”

Another use that has been made of flagellations among polite people, and distinguished from the vulgar, has been to repress the aspiring views of rivals who pretended (unjustly, as the others thought) to an equality in point of birth, wit, beauty, or other accomplishments. On this occasion we might relate the treatment that was inflicted by two Ladies of noble family, near the Town of Saumur, in France, on the daughter of a wealthy Farmer, whose beauty had caused her to be invited to an entertainment that was given in a neighbouring Castle, or Manor: an affair which attracted the notice of the Public, at the time (A. 1730) as we may judge from the account of it being contained in the collection of Celebrated Causes decided in the French Courts of Law. But our attention is called off by another much more interesting instance of the same kind, which happened in the reign of Lewis the Fourteenth, and made a very great noise. I mean to speak of the flagellation that was served by the Marchioness of Tresnel, on the Dame, or Lady, of Liancourt: a fact which by all means deserves a place in this Chapter, as being in itself an extremely illustrious instance of flagellation. Indeed, one advantage the Author is proud of, which is, that he has inserted nothing vulgar in this Book, nothing but what is worthy the attention of persons of taste and sentiment.

The Story is as follows. The Lady of Liancourt was originally born of Parents in middling circumstances. Having had the good luck to marry a rich Merchant, she had address enough to prevail upon him to leave her, at his death, which happened a few years after their marriage, the bulk of his fortune; and, being now a rich, handsome Widow, she married the Sieur, or Lord, of Liancourt; a man of birth, whose fortune was somewhat impaired by his former expensive way of living. The Lady of Liancourt used to reside, during the summer, at the Castle, or Estate, of her Husband, near the town of Chaumont: and in the same neighbourhood was situated the Estate of the Marquis of Tresnel. The manner of living of the Lady of Liancourt, together with the reputation of her wit and beauty, excited the jealousy of the Marchioness of Tresnel, who, on account of her birth, considered herself as being greatly superior to the other: and a strong competition soon took place between the two Ladies, which became manifested in several places in a remarkable manner, especially at Church, where the Marchioness went once so far as violently to push the other Lady from her seat: the Lady of Liancourt, on the other hand, was said to have written a copy of verses against the Marchioness; and in short, matters were carried to such lengths between them, that the Marchioness resolved to damp at once the pretensions of her rival, and for that purpose applied to that effectual mode of correction which, as hath been seen in the course of this Book, so many great and celebrated personages have undergone, namely, a flagellation. Having well laid her scheme in that respect, and resolved that her rival should undergo the correction, not by proxy, like King Henry the Fourth, but in her own person, the Marchioness, one day she knew the Lady of Liancourt was to visit at a Castle a few miles distant from her own, got into her coach and six, accompanied by four Men behind, and three armed Servants on horseback; and care had been previously taken to lay in a stock of good disciplines, which were placed in the coach-box. Having arrived too late at the place on the highway at which she proposed to meet her antagonist, the Marchioness alighted at the house of the Curate of the Parish, in order to wait for her return, and staid there, under some pretence, several hours, till at last a Servant who had been left on the watch, came in haste, and brought tidings that the Lady Liancourt’s coach was in sight: the Marchioness thereupon got into her coach with the utmost speed, and arrived just in time to throw herself across the way, and stop the other Lady; when the Servants, who had been properly directed beforehand, without loss of time took the latter out of her coach, immediately proceeding to execute the orders they had received: and, from the complaint afterwards preferred by the suffering Lady, it really seems that they endeavoured to discharge their duty in such a manner as might convince their Mistress of their zeal in serving her.