IGNACE THOMAS MARTIN was by calling a husbandman. A native of Gallardon in Eure-et-Loir, he dwelt there with his wife and four children in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Those who knew him tell us that he was of average height, with brown straight hair, a calm glance, a thin countenance1 and an air of quiet and assurance. A pencil portrait, which his son, M. le Docteur Martin, has kindly2 sent me, gives a more exact idea of the visionary. The portrait, which is in profile, presents a forehead curiously3 high and straight, a long narrow head, round eyes, broad nostrils4, a compressed mouth, a protruding5 chin, hollow cheeks and an air of austerity. He is dressed as a bourgeois6, with a collar and white cravat7.
According to the evidence of his brother, a man both physically8 and mentally sound, his was the gentlest of natures; he never sought to attract attention; in his regular piety9 there was nothing ecstatic. Both the mayor and the priest of Gallardon confirmed this description. They agreed in representing him to have been a good simple creature, with an intellect well-balanced although not very active.
In 1816 he was thirty-three. On January 15 in this year he was alone in his field, over which he was spreading manure10, when in his ear he heard a voice which had[Pg ii.414] not been preceded by footsteps. Then he turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw a figure which alarmed him. In comparison with human size it was but slight; its countenance, which was very thin, dazzled by its unnatural11 whiteness. It was wearing a high hat and a frock-coat of a light colour, with laced shoes.
It said in a kindly tone: "You must go to the King; you must warn him that his person is in danger, that wicked people are seeking to overthrow12 his Government."
It added further recommendations to Louis XVIII touching13 the necessity of having an efficient police, of keeping holy the Sabbath, of ordering public prayers and of suppressing the disorders14 of the Carnival15. If such measures be neglected, it said, "France will fall into yet greater misfortunes." All this was doubtless nothing more or less than what M. La Perruque, Priest of Gallardon, had a hundred times repeated from the pulpit on Sunday.
Martin replied:
"Since you know so much about it, why don't you perform your errand yourself? Why do you appeal to a poor man like me who knows not how to express himself?"
Then the unknown replied to Martin:
"It is not I who will go, but you; do as I command you."
As soon as he had uttered these words, his feet rose from the ground, his body bent16, and with this double movement he vanished.
From this time onwards, Martin was haunted by the mysterious being. One day, having gone down into his cellar, he found him there. On another occasion, during vespers, he saw him in church, near the holy water stoup, in a devout17 attitude. When the service was over, the unknown accompanied Martin on his way home and again commanded him to go and see the King. The farmer told his relatives who were with him, but neither of them had seen or heard anything.
Tormented18 by these apparitions19, Martin communicated[Pg ii.415] them to his priest, M. La Perruque. He, being certain of the good faith of his parishioner and deeming that the case ought to be submitted to the diocesan authority, sent the visionary to the Bishop21 of Versailles. The Bishop was then M. Louis Charrier de la Roche, a priest who in the days of the Revolution had taken the oath to the Republic. He resolved to subject Martin to a thorough examination; and from the first he told him to ask the unknown what was his name, and who it was who sent him.
But when the messenger in the light-coloured frock-coat appeared again, he declared that his name must remain unknown.
"I come," he added, "from him who has sent me, and he who has sent me is above me."
He may have wished to conceal22 his name; but at least he did not conceal his views; the vexation he displayed on the escape of La Valette[1168] proved that in politics he was an ultra Royalist of the most violent type.
Meanwhile the Comte de Bréteuil, Prefect of Eure-et-Loir, had been told of the visionary at the same time as the Bishop. He also questioned Martin. He expected to find him a nervous, agitated23 person; but when he found him tranquil24, speaking simply, but with logical sequence and precision, he was very astonished.
Like M. l'Abbé La Perruque he deemed the matter sufficiently25 important to bring before the higher authorities. Accordingly he sent Martin, under the escort of a lieutenant26 of gendarmerie, to the Ministre de la Police Générale.
Having reached Paris on March 8, Martin lodged28 with the gendarme27 at the H?tel de Calais, in the Rue29 Montmartre. They occupied a double-bedded room. One morning, when Martin was in bed, he beheld30 an apparition20 and told Lieutenant André, who could see nothing, although it was broad daylight. Indeed, Martin's visita[Pg ii.416]tions became so frequent that they ceased to cause him either surprise or concern. It was only to the abrupt31 disappearance32 of the unknown that he could never grow accustomed. The voice continued to give the same command. One day it told him that if it were not obeyed France would not know peace until 1840.
In 1816 the Ministre de la Police Générale was the Comte Decazes who was afterwards created a duke. He was in the King's confidence. But he knew that the extreme Royalists were hatching plots against his royal master. Decazes wished to see the good man from Gallardon, suspecting doubtless, that he was but a tool in the hands of the Extremists. Martin was brought to the Minister, who questioned him and at once perceived that the poor creature was in no way dangerous. He spoke33 to him as he would to a madman, endeavouring to regard the subject of his mania34 as if it were real, and so he said:
"Don't be agitated; the man who has been troubling you is arrested; you will have nothing more to fear from him."
But these words did not produce the desired effect. Three or four hours after this interview, Martin again beheld the unknown, who, after speaking to him in his usual manner, said: "When you were told that I had been arrested, you were told a lie; he who said so has no power over me."
On Sunday, March 10, the unknown returned; and on that day he disclosed the matter concerning which the Bishop of Versailles had inquired, and which he had said at first he would never reveal.
"I am," he declared, "the Archangel Rapha?l, an angel of great renown35 in the presence of God, and I have received power to afflict36 France with all manner of suffering."
Three days later, Martin was shut up in Charenton on the certificate of Doctor Pinel, who stated him to be suffering from intermittent37 mania with alienation38 of mind.
He was treated in the kindest manner and was even per[Pg ii.417]mitted to enjoy some appearance of liberty. Pinel himself originated the humane39 treatment of the insane. Martin in the asylum40 was not forsaken41 by the blessed Rapha?l. On Friday, the 15th, as the peasant was tying his shoe laces, the Archangel in his frock-coat of a light colour, spoke to him these words:
"Have faith in God. If France persists in her incredulity, the misfortunes I have predicted will happen. Moreover, if they doubt the truth of your visions, they have but to cause you to be examined by doctors in theology."
These words Martin repeated to M. Legros; Director of the Royal Institution of Charenton, and asked him what a doctor in theology was. He did not know the meaning of the term. In the same manner, when he was at Gallardon he had asked the priest, M. La Perruque, the meaning of certain expressions the voice had used. For example, he did not understand the wild frenzy42 of France [le délvie de la France] nor the evils to which she would fall a victim [elle serait en proie]. But there is nothing that need puzzle us in such ignorance, if it really existed. Martin may well have remembered the words he did not understand and which he afterwards attributed to his Archangel still without understanding them.
The visions recurred43 at brief intervals44. On Sunday, March 31, the Archangel appeared to him in the garden, took his hand, which he pressed affectionately, opened his coat and displayed a bosom45 of so dazzling a whiteness that Martin could not bear to gaze on it. Then he took off his hat.
"Behold46 my forehead," he said, "and give heed47 that it beareth not the mark of the beast whereby the fallen angels were sealed."
Louis XVIII expressed a desire to see Martin and to question him. The King, like his favourite Minister, believed the visionary to be a tool in the hands of the extreme party.
On Tuesday, April 2, Martin was taken to the Tuileries[Pg ii.418] and brought into the King's closet, where was also M. Decazes. As soon as the King saw the farmer, he said to him: "Martin, I salute48 you."
Then he signed to his Minister to withdraw. Thereupon Martin, according to his own telling, repeated to the King all that the Archangel had revealed to him, and disclosed to Louis XVIII sundry49 secret matters concerning the years he had spent in exile; finally he made known to him certain plots which had been formed against his person. Then the King, profoundly agitated and in tears, raised his hands and his eyes to heaven and said to Martin:
"Martin, these are things which must never be known save to you and to me."
Such was the interview of April 2, according to the account given of it by Martin, who then, under the influence of M. La Perruque's sermons, was an infatuated Royalist. It would be interesting to know more of this priest whose inspiration is obvious throughout the whole story. Louis XVIII agreed with M. Decazes that the man was quite harmless; and he was sent back to his plough.
Later, the agents of one of those false dauphins so numerous under the Restoration, got hold of Martin and made use of him in their own interest. After Louis XVIII's death, under the influence of these adventurers, the poor man, reconstituting the story of his interview with the late King, introduced into it other revelations he claimed to have received and completely changed the whole character of the incident. In this second version the passionate51 Royalist of 1816 was transformed into an accusing prophet, who came to the King's own palace to denounce him as a usurper52 and a regicide, forbidding him in God's name to be crowned at Reims.
Such ramblings I cannot relate at length. They are to be found fully53 detailed54 in the book of M. Paul Marin. The author of this work would have done well to indicate that these follies55 were suggested to the unhappy man by the[Pg ii.419] partisans56 of Naundorf, who was passing himself off as the Duke of Normandy, who had escaped from the Temple.
Thomas Ignace Martin died at Chartres in 1834. It is alleged57, but it has never been proved, that he was poisoned.
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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manure
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| n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥 | |
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unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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carnival
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| n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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apparitions
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| n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 )；幽灵；鬼；（特异景象等的）出现 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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25
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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gendarme
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| n.宪兵 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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30
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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afflict
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| vt.使身体或精神受痛苦，折磨 | |
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intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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38
alienation
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| n.疏远；离间；异化 | |
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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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40
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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41
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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45
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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46
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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47
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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48
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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51
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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52
usurper
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| n. 篡夺者, 僭取者 | |
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53
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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55
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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56
partisans
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| 游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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