Droll Stories, vol 3 | Page 6

century after the coming of our
Divine Saviour there happened in the City of Paris an amorous
adventure, through the deed of a man of Tours, of which the town and
even the king's court was never tired of speaking. As to the clergy, you
will see by that which is related the part they played in this history, the
testimony of which was by them preserved. This said man, called the
Touranian by the common people, because he had been born in our
merry Touraine, had for his true name that of Anseau. In his latter days
the good man returned into his own country and was mayor of St.
Martin, according to the chronicles of the abbey of that town; but at
Paris he was a great silversmith.
But now in his prime, by his great honesty, his labours, and so forth, he
became a citizen of Paris and subject of the king, whose protection he
bought, according to the custom of the period. He had a house built for
him free of all quit-rent, close the Church of St. Leu, in the Rue St.
Denis, where his forge was well-known by those in want of fine jewels.
Although he was a Touranian, and had plenty of spirit and animation,
he kept himself virtuous as a true saint, in spite of the blandishments of
the city, and had passed the days of his green season without once
dragging his good name through the mire. Many will say this passes the
bounds of that faculty of belief which God has placed in us to aid that
faith due to the mysteries of our holy religion; so it is needful to
demonstrate abundantly the secret cause of this silversmith's chastity.
And, first remember that he came into the town on foot, poor as Job,
according to the old saying; and unlike all the inhabitants of our part of
the country, who have but one passion, he had a character of iron, and
persevered in the path he had chosen as steadily as a monk in
vengeance. As a workman, he laboured from morn to night; become a
master, he laboured still, always learning new secrets, seeking new
receipts, and in seeking, meeting with inventions of all kinds. Late
idlers, watchmen, and vagrants saw always a modest lamp shining
through the silversmith's window, and the good man tapping, sculpting,
rounding, distilling, modeling, and finishing, with his apprentices, his
door closed and his ears open. Poverty engendered hard work, hard
work engendered his wonderful virtue, and his virtue engendered his
great wealth. Take this to heart, ye children of Cain who eat doubloons

and micturate water. If the good silversmith felt himself possessed with
wild desires, which now in one way, now another, seize upon an
unhappy bachelor when the devil tries to get hold of him, making the
sign of the cross, the Touranian hammered away at his metal, drove out
the rebellious spirits from his brain by bending down over the exquisite
works of art, little engravings, figures of gold and silver forms, with
which he appeased the anger of his Venus. Add to this that this
Touranian was an artless man, of simple understanding, fearing God
above all things, then robbers, next to that of nobles, and more than all,
a disturbance. Although if he had two hands, he never did more than
one thing at a time. His voice was as gentle as that of a bridegroom
before marriage. Although the clergy, the military, and others gave him
no reputation for knowledge, he knew well his mother's Latin, and
spoke it correctly without waiting to be asked. Latterly the Parisians
had taught him to walk uprightly, not to beat the bush for others, to
measure his passions by the rule of his revenues, not to let them take
his leather to make other's shoes, to trust no one farther then he could
see them, never to say what he did, and always to do what he said;
never to spill anything but water; to have a better memory than flies
usually have; to keep his hands to himself, to do the same with his
purse; to avoid a crowd at the corner of a street, and sell his jewels for
more than they cost him; all things, the sage observance of which gave
him as much wisdom as he had need of to do business comfortably and
pleasantly. And so he did, without troubling anyone else. And watching
this good little man unobserved, many said,
"By my faith, I should like to be this jeweller, even were I obliged to
splash myself up to the eyes with the mud of Paris during a hundred
years for it."
They might just as well have wished to be king of France,