Chapter 71 p. 7: To Drs Nicolas, Bouge, & Fr. Cazin
To. Nicolas and Bouges, Doctors of Medicine, Avignon
Paris, October 1, 1818.
Dear sirs:
In 1809 I was presented to Mr. Guerin, a physician, to consult with him about the ailments that were affecting me, which I attributed to two women, one named Jeanneton Lavalette, and the other, La Mansotte, and the torments they had made me endure for several years. The doctor used all the resources of his art to restore my peace, but was not able to achieve it. He suggested that I consult you, his colleagues, and take an apartment in his offices to be better able to facilitate your operations. However, you both agreed to use a place in the botanical gardens. [1] There you had identified a tree facing north as a suitable location for the operations you had in mind. The two of you having agreed on this, you invited me to come visit you on the next morning, to take me to the chosen place. Dr. Bouge came to join us, and you magnetized the tree. Once this operation was completed you left me, recommending that I stay there several hours, and then return there every day until further notice, as you observed the effects that this treatment might have on me.
One afternoon, while I was under the tree where you had placed me, some beasts descended on my head, and of course this frightened me. I spoke to you about it, thinking that I would not return there again, but Mr. Bouge came to my house to tell me that you’d found another garden. I believe it was the garden of a Mr. Jouvier, rue de l’Hospice. We were there the next day, you had me take the same position as before, and performed the same ceremonies. A large number of distinguished people came to walk there, and several of them were interested in my circumstances. They asked me how I was, whether I had experienced some improvement in my condition. I replied to them with kindness and all the gratitude I was able to muster, I was quite well, and that I hoped God would do the rest.
However, during the time these operations lasted, several people told me that I was being deceived, that these operations were only spells and magic beans to deceive me. [2] But at the time, I did not believe what they told me, thinking I had the right to judge for myself.
Some time later, you thought it was appropriate to put an end to these operations. I went and thanked the owner of the garden, who was very gracious.
What was the result of all this? Nothing at all. I was constantly tormented during my time in you city, and Dr. Bouge, to whom I complained, dared to ask me for payment for his visits and the efforts you had taken to restore peace to my mind. I believe that all effort deserved compensation, and said as much, but since my condition was much the same, I did not believe it was time to pay him yet.
Business called me back to Carpentras, and I returned, suffering more than ever.
When you needed to visit Paris, you wrote to Mr. Moreau, who you put in charge of tormenting me in your absence. He has acquitted himself all too well.
This physician sent me to a Mr. Chaix, a land-owner in Carpentras, once the courier of the mail on the road to to Lyon, to tell me on the behalf of himself and Dr. Pinel, doctor of medicine at the Salpetriere in Paris, that they were only too happy to give them back the freedom that was my right. But you did not agree with them on that point, and they were overriding your authority. I asked Mr. Chaix to navigate this on my behalf, and be kind enough to return with any news. When the whole episode was over and I still found myself tormented with a vengeance, I reminded my friend of the promise me made before his departure from Paris. But he did not reply to my letter, nor to my second one.
Frustrated by all of this, I find myself compelled to complain to you. I believe that in the name of the faith we all profess, you will soon take pity on my suffering and put an end to it, as far as you can, through the prayers I offer to God every day. Please find it in your heart to pass this along to Doctors Moreau and Pinel.
I await your reply, your servant,
M.B.
This letter having remained unanswered, I thought I should address the following letter to Father Cazin, a priest serving at Quinze-Vingts, on October 18, 1818. [3]
Sir,
I am taking the liberty of writing you to inquire after three letters from a Mr. Etienne Prieur, one dated October 12, 1817, the next the 24th of that month, and the third, January 2, 1818. All these letters were written to you for reasons that are not foreign to you, and are not foreign to Etienne Prieur.
I beg of you to reply to me, and oblige one who has the honor of being,
Your very humble servant,
M.B.
Reply from Mr. Cazin, priest, curate at Marigny pres Belleau
Belleau, November 4, 1818.
Dear Sir,
It is true that I received several of your letters at Ville-Saint-Geny, which you said were sent to me, including the one you sent October 12. I was not able to reply, not having your address. I thought they were written by young students, ages 15 to 20. I see I was mistaken. [4]
If you would kindly greet the very reverend Father Lumbert and Father Auginau, superiors of the orders of St. Frances, living at No. 4 Rue Saint-Jacques [5]? Ask him if he could not send me an “immaculate conception”, as well as a Saint Francis, to put in two chapels of our Church, where we have a space. If you would do so, you would oblige,
your very humble and very obedient servant,
Cazin,
Priest-Curate, dess. de Beileau, by Château-Thierry
Although earlier in date, I must make known the letters written by Mr. Etienne Prieur to Mr. Cazin.
To Mr. Cazin, priest at Saint-Genest.
Paris, December 12, 1817,
Dear Sir,
Since you have neglected Mr. Berbiguier, he has been tormented by Moreau, Pinel Vandeval, and all the rabble you know too well. He is tormented day and night by strange noises and smells, and the goblins show him no respect at all, attacking him in the street, climbing on him when he’s in bed. He’s afraid of an evil spirit, and his health is all the worse for it He will tell you that the goblins knocked over his hot chocolate, and they’re scaring Coco, who’s jumping all around, she’s been very wild since her tail was cut.
We ask that he be released on the 17th of December, as you promised. In doing so, you will be fulfilling the wishes of Mr. Bigbuier, but also myself, who respects you deeply. He hopes that when he is released from him, he will never again be in anyone’s power, having never agreed to share in the works of the infernal spirit.
With respect,
Etienne
To Mr. Cazin, priest
December 20? 1817
Dear sir:
I’m surprised you have not written to me. You owe Mr. Berbiguier a reply, with an exact account of the work you are doing for him. If you wish us to bind his fate to the master of the house, we will. On the 17th, he thought he was freed from them, as you promised. Coco is still jumping, her tail has been cut off by evil spirits.
Mr. Papon, who is a sorcerer, is pulling Mr. Berbiguier’s legs.
Eagerly awaiting your reply.
Your respectful servant,
Etienne
To Mr. Cazin, priest.
January 2, 1818.
Sir,
Your negligence astonishes me. Your delays and your carelessness for Mr. Berbiguier are scandalous. However, you have received two letters, one dated the 11th, the other dated the 8th. They were filled with details of the mistreatment Mr. Berbiguier receives every day. His condition is neither better nor worse. Only Mr. Lomini is working with him, tormenting him night and day. You had promised to release him on the 17th, yet he still complains. And furthermore, he’s ready to complain to the higher authority to put an end to all these evil schemes. If we were so unfortunate that he did complain, you would be in a bad position, for he was accusing you, as well as everyone else, and I believe he would do quite well.
Of course you are aware of the severe penalties imposed on sorcerers, witches, magicians, and enchanters; you also know what the conditions are between us. Give the dreadful fate to whomever you wish, I do not care. There is no point in reminding you of anything else. Coco is clever and lively, her tail grows back, she runs and jumps very well. Mr. Berbiguier no longer thrashes her, and she sleeps with him. Farewell, sir, I wish you a happy new year.
Prieur
I was not satisfied with Cazin’s first reply, it contained nothing of what I needed to know for my relief. I decided to write him again, acknowledging receipt of his first. I explained the reasons that obliged me to write to him. It was clear that this gentleman knew nothing about what was afflicting me, and I wasn’t sure who to blame: him, or Mr. Prieur, who had given me hope that this worthy pastor could be of great help to me.
And therefore I wrote to him again, dated the 13th of November, the following letter:
To Mr. Cazin, officiating priest.
November 13, 1818.
Dear Sir,
I had the honor of receiving your letter of November 4, in response to all those that I took the liberty of writing to you.
I could not be more surprised by the silence you maintain regarding the motives that chiefly motivated me to write you. They were substantial enough to merit your attention. You tell me you regarded this as a mere game! But the esteem you have for Prieur should have–based on what he has told you about what troubles me, and what he has written to you since your departure–should have caught your attention. And the letters I addressed to you contained my address, yet you still play at being ignorant of it.
Sir, I dare to hope that, based on this letter, you no longer doubt the truth of the facts contained in my previous ones; that you will do me the kindness of taking me into consideration, by providing a prompt remedy; the ignorance in which you appear to be mired regarding the ailments I suffer makes me suspect your young friend. He spoke of you with the greatest respect at the time when you served at the Quinze-Vingts branch. It was he who inspired me to meet you, telling me that you had the means to cure me, and I asked him to take me to your presbytery. We wrote you and put our letters in the same envelope.
Please, take the trouble to review our letters, especially mine in particular, and you will be assured of the truth of what I say to you. We were about to leave with Mr. Prieur when a young abbot, a friend of his, came to see him and informed him that you had been appointed to a new post, the name of which he did not know. He was very upset that you had not warned him, and please believe me when I say that I was no less so. I could see the obstacle this would pose to my peace of mind and the pleasure I had hoped to receive from knowing you.
Mr. Etienne thought that it was his duty to write you and urged me to travel to your old parish. I did so, and there found a priest in the sacristy, whom I asked to be kind enough to tell me the name of the place where your new parish was located. He did so with all the honesty that distinguishes people of your character.
I am very sorry that I cannot fulfill the commissions you have entrusted to me. An illness deprives me of this pleasure. I assume it will not be long, and upon receipt of the reply I ask you to kindly send me, I will fulfill them, if there is still time.
I have the honor to be your very humble servant
M.B.
Cazin to M.B.:
Sir,
November 17, 1818.
Please rest assured that if I had your address, as you indicated, I would not have waited so long to reply to you, as you complain about, and I would have taken the liberty of asking for you when I was with Mr. Demerson at the hotel where Mr. Preur was staying, and which he left more than six months ago.
I do not remember having received one of your letters attached to another from this young ma. The last time I saw him, he left the church when I was saying mass ther,e and has disappeared from me since then, without returning. I stayed at the Quinze-Vingts for six months after his departure, and have not been able to meet him since. True, I have heard a lot about you from him.
The rest of this letter, which I am not transcribing, suggests that Mr. Prieur was deceiving Mr. Cazin, just as he was deceiving me.
If your health permits you to carry out the errands I have taken the liberty of giving you, it would be very much appreciated. There is no reason to repeat them here, you have them in writing in my letter of the 4th of this month.
I am very sorry not to have seen you when you were at your hotel. You must believe that during the six months I stayed at the Hotel Pelletier, near Saint-Sulpice, If I had your address as you said that I did I would have made it my duty to ask for news of you, as well as of the young Mr. Prieur.
I am very sorry not to have seen you when we were at your hotel. You must believe that during the six months that I have lived at the Hôtel Pelletier, near Saint-Sulpice, if I had had your address, as you tell me, I would have made it my duty to ask for news of you, as well as that of the young Prior.
I would like to have news of my package, which I left at Vrilly, at the Mayor’s, on returning from Gardon.
By asking for it from the chantor of Saint-Sulpice, who wrote me about this, you would be kind enough to let him know I had not heard from him. After writing to the business director in Amiens, I went to every dispatch office in Paris, and could not get any news. The chantor of Picquigny in Saint-Sulpice had entrusted it to his brother-in-law, who wrote to him, and forwarded his letter to me in Belleau after writing to Amiens.
I have the honor to greet you and to be with esteem and consideration, your very humble and very obedient servant,
Cazin
Priest-servant of the Church of Belleau.
P. S. If you have news of Etienne Prieur, and you see him, I beg you to let me know and greet him for me, as well as Mr. Demerson and the very reverend Father Humbert, without forgetting Brother Michel, sacristan of the Ladies of the Legion of Honor, rue Barbette, at the Mere de Famille.
N.B. When I go to Paris for my great-niece’s wedding, if I am invited, I would like to be offered lodging, not wanting to stay at Picpus for two weeks, inconveniencing the people who lived there and who are indebted to me. Then I will have the pleasure of seeing Mr. Demerson. [7]
I could clearly see from these letters that these worthy ministers of the altar had no knowledge whatever of my ills, and that his replies were fabrications, my letters never having reached a man as respectable as the Rev. Cazin. Nothing can excuse such a deception, which truly shows the measure of his character. That, I leave to my readers to assess.[8]
The “Quinze-Vingts” is a hospital historically for the blind, and still a hospital for eye disease and ophthalmology research.
Quinze-Vingts” means 15 of 20, or a 300-bed hospital.
[7] N.B., “nota bene” or “note well,” used to draw attention to something important, particularly in legal/academic writing.
[8] Language here is a bit obscure for me, “I have to assume his letters were supposed,” given the context I’m assuming this meant “were created by Etienne.”
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