The ground on which he defers the execution of
Montigny and De Cayeux beyond the date of their trials seems
insufficient. There is a law of parsimony for the
construction of historical documents; simplicity is the first
duty of narration; and hanged they were.
VILLON AND THE GALLOWS.
Villon was still absent on the Angers expedition when the
Prior of Paray sent such a bombshell among his accomplices;
and the dates of his return and arrest remain undiscoverable.
M. Campaux plausibly enough opined for the autumn of 1457,
which would make him closely follow on Montigny, and the
first of those denounced by the Prior to fall into the toils.
We may suppose, at least, that it was not long thereafter; we
may suppose him competed for between lay and clerical Courts;
and we may suppose him alternately pert and impudent, humble
and fawning, in his defence. But at the end of all
supposing, we come upon some nuggets of fact. For first, he
was put to the question by water. He who had tossed off so
many cups of white Baigneux or red Beaune, now drank water
through linen folds, until his bowels were flooded and his
heart stood still. After so much raising of the elbow, so
much outcry of fictitious thirst, here at last was enough
drinking for a lifetime. Truly, of our pleasant vices, the
gods make whips to scourge us.
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