XXIII.
TOLLS OF FLATULENCE EXACTED OF PROSTITUTES IN FRANCE.
Another odd usage of which no explanation has been transmitted is thus described by Ducange, Dulaure, and others:—
“En outre, chaque fille publique qui se livre à quelque homme que ce soit, lorsqu’elle entre pour la première fois dans la ville de Montlucon, doit payer sur le pont de cette ville quatre deniers, ou y faire un pet.”—(Dulaure, “des Divin. Générat.” p. 279, quoting from Ducange, “Glossarium,” article “Bombus.”)
In a work by the Abbé Roubaud, entitled “La Pétérade, poême en quatre chants,” we are informed, “Il renvoie à Ducange pour prouver qu’en France on admettait les pets comme monnaie de cours en paiement des péages.... Bombi pro scudis valebant.”—(“Bib. Scatalogica,” p. 48.)
If we may believe Victor Hugo, the custom of the “péage” at the bridge of Montluc was generally known to the people of France in the fifteenth century. Thus, in the first chapter of “Notre Dame,” the populace of Paris, at the Feast of Fools, are represented as indulging in much badinage,—
“Dr. Claude Choart, are you seeking Marie la Giffards?”
“She’s in the Rue de Glatigny.”
“She’s paying her four deniers,—quatuor denarios.”
“Aut unum bumbum.”