And he would
have other grounds of intimacy with Villon. A room looking
upon Windsor gardens is a different matter from Villon's
dungeon at Meun; yet each in his own degree had been tried in
prison. Each in his own way also, loved the good things of
this life and the service of the Muses. But the same gulf
that separated Burns from his Edinburgh patrons would
separate the singer of Bohemia from the rhyming duke. And it
is hard to imagine that Villon's training amongst thieves,
loose women, and vagabond students, had fitted him to move in
a society of any dignity and courtliness. Ballades are very
admirable things; and a poet is doubtless a most interesting
visitor. But among the courtiers of Charles, there would be
considerable regard for the proprieties of etiquette; and
even a duke will sometimes have an eye to his teaspoons.
Moreover, as a poet, I can conceive he may have disappointed
expectation. It need surprise nobody if Villon's ballade on
the theme,
"I die of thirst beside the fountain's edge,"
was but a poor performance. He would make better verses on
the lee-side of a flagon at the sign of the Pomme du Pin,
than in a cushioned settle in the halls of Blois.
Charles liked change of place. He was often not so much
travelling as making a progress; now to join the king for
some great tournament; now to visit King Rene, at Tarascon,
where he had a study of his own and saw all manner of
interesting things - oriental curios, King Rene painting
birds, and, what particularly pleased him, Triboulet, the
dwarf jester, whose skull-cap was no bigger than an orange.
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