“ ... Men may come,
And men may go,
But I go on for ever.”
CHAPTER VI
WILLS OF FAMOUS FOREIGNERS
“Farewell! a long farewell, to all my greatness!”
Will of the Marquis d’Aligre
Before quoting the will of the Marquis d’Aligre, we will recall a little incident of his life, which, though it serves to show his character, does not prepare us for the various phases of his shrewd and humorous mind.
One day the marquis went to pay a visit to the Duc de X., one of his friends, a man of scrupulous propriety and a great stickler for etiquette. Hardly had he taken leave, after an hour’s chat, before the duke perceived on the mantelpiece a pair of brown gloves; he looked at them and then drew back with horror; these gloves of an indescribable hue had evidently once been white! and it was actual wear that had tinted them. The tips of the fingers were twisted about and stiff, and the gaping buttonholes testified to their protracted and loyal service. No housemaid would have worn them to clean her stoves.
The duke took his tongs, seized the gloves, and laying them on a folded newspaper, rolled them up with precaution, and having written on a slip of paper, “Gloves belonging to a great nobleman, one of the largest landowners in France,” he fixed it with a pin to this singular parcel. Not many minutes later arrives the valet of the marquis, who, presenting himself before the duke, begs to know, not without some embarrassment, and blushing up to his ears, whether his master had not forgotten his gloves. Needless to say they were forthwith handed to him.
We now proceed to the will of this gentleman, of which we propose to transcribe the most remarkable clauses, which, however, we must remark, seem to have been penned in a spirit of justice.
“Art. IV.—I leave to M. de Boissey, my blessing, to compensate him for the curses which M. Pasquier heaped upon him every day. May it be of use to him on the judgment-day.”
“Art. VII.—I withdraw from M. A ..., and M ... x the sums I had left them by a former will; they have so often proclaimed that I am a man who would cut a farthing in four, that I would on no account oblige them to change their opinion.”