But the portion of
renown which belonged to a young thief, distinguished (if, at
the period when he wrote this legacy, he was distinguished at
all) for having written some more or less obscene and
scurrilous ballads, must have been little fitted to gratify
the self-respect or increase the reputation of a benevolent
ecclesiastic. The same remark applies to a subsequent legacy
of the poet's library, with specification of one work which
was plainly neither decent nor devout. We are thus left on
the horns of a dilemma. If the chaplain was a godly,
philanthropic personage, who had tried to graft good
principles and good behaviour on this wild slip of an adopted
son, these jesting legacies would obviously cut him to the
heart. The position of an adopted son towards his adoptive
father is one full of delicacy; where a man lends his name he
looks for great consideration. And this legacy of Villon's
portion of renown may be taken as the mere fling of an
unregenerate scapegrace who has wit enough to recognise in
his own shame the readiest weapon of offence against a prosy
benefactor's feelings. The gratitude of Master Francis
figures, on this reading, as a frightful MINUS quantity. If,
on the other hand, those jests were given and taken in good
humour, the whole relation between the pair degenerates into
the unedifying complicity of a debauched old chaplain and a
witty and dissolute young scholar.
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