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Passage Illustrated: A Potential Rival eliminates himself from Competition

A little French débonnaire captain, who came dancing down the street, showed me it was the easiest thing in the world: for, popping in betwixt us, just as the lady was returning back to the door of the Remise, he introduced himself to my acquaintance, and before he had well got announced, begg’d I would do him the honour to present him to the lady. I had not been presented myself; so turning about to her, he did it just as well, by asking her if she had come from Paris? No: she was going that route, she said. "Vous n’êtes pas de Londres?" She was not, she replied. Then Madame must have come through Flanders. "Apparemment vous êtes Flammande?" said the French captain. The lady answered, she was. "Peut-être de Lisle?" added he. She said, she was not of Lisle. — Nor Arras? — nor Cambray? — nor Ghent? — nor Brussels? She answered, she was of Brussels.

He had had the honour, he said, to be at the bombardment of it last war — that it was finely situated, pour cela — and full of noblesse when the Imperialists were driven out by the French (the lady made a slight curtesy) — so giving her an account of the affair, and of the share he had had in it — he begged the honour to know her name — so made his bow.

"Et Madame a son mari?" said he, looking back when he had made two steps — and, without staying for an answer—danced down the street.

Had I served seven years apprenticeship to good breeding, I could not have done as much. ["In the Street. Calais," pp. 38-39]

Commentary

The dialogue initiated by the French captain alludes to the recent conflict in Flanders (present-day Belgium ) during hostilities in the War of Spanish Succession (1740-48). The Captain describes his part in the French siege and capture of Brussels (February 1746) against the combined forces of Austria, Great Britain, and Holland. Perhaps his making such an allusion to the Lady is not entirely tactful; however, although the Belgians were largely neutral. Nonetheless, as a Francophone as well as a resident of Flanders, the Lady may have been inclined to favour the French.

The Austrian occupation of the Low Countries proved beneficial to the port of Antwerp, as well as the mining and agricultural interests, so that, in the 1760s the upper-middle class Lady from Brussels may have been inclined to consider that the allies ("the Imperialists," as the Frenchman calls them) were in the right during the protracted war over which claimant would occupy the throne of Spain, a Bourbon or a Hapsburg.

Having scored his point by introducing himself to the Lady, the Captain then abandons the field upon the mistaken assumption that Yorick is her husband. Thus, Yorick is left the victor, and is able to persuade the Lady to share his carriage — which accords with his romantic intentions. At this point, then, Fortune appears to favour the soberly-clad clergyman (centre) over the dashingly dressed, fine-figured French officer — a victory which Johannot underscores by making the moment the subject of his third full-page illustration.

Bibliography

Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. With 100 illustrations by Tony Johannot. London: Willoughby, 1857.

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Last modified 21 September 2018