Manon Lescaut E-Book

Antoine François Prévost

• Herausgeber: Dedalus
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 328

Beschreibung

A tragic love story with a plot like an 18th c Road Movie. Abbe Prevost was a French novelist and journalist. Through his translation of Richardson's work, he introduced English literature into France. He also published a periodical journal besides some novels and short stories.

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Publishing History

First published in France in 1731

First published by Dedalus in 2001

First e-book edition 2011

Translation copyright © Steve Larkin 2001

The right of Steve Larkin to be identified as the translator of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patent Act, 1988

Printed in Finland by Bookwell

Typeset by Refine Catch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A C.I.P. listing for this book is available on request.

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THE TRANSLATOR

Steve Larkin lectured in the Department of French Studies at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne from 1968 till 1990.

He has published various articles on the life and works of Prévost‚ as well as a critical edition of the first four volumes of his periodical Le Pour et Contre. More recently he has turned his hand to writing plays‚ both original and in translation. He has a particular interest in the plays of Prévost’s contemporay‚ Marivaux.

He is currently working on dramatisations of Manon Lescaut‚ both in French and English.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Any translator of a work already translated owes a substantial debt to his predecessors and I am no exception. In addition‚ I am particularly grateful to Mike Mitchell‚ editorial director at Dedalus‚ for all his help and to my wife Jen‚ who once again has offered me the benefits of a sympathetic but critical reading. For those infelicities that remain despite their best endeavours‚ I accept full responsibility.

CONTENTS

The Translator

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Foreword

Part One

Part Two

INTRODUCTION

Manon Lescaut or‚ to give it its full title‚ The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut‚ is the one novel written by Antoine François Prévost – generally known as the abbé Prévost – to have retained its popularity in France from the time of its first publication in 1731 right down to the present day. Never out of print‚ it has inspired plays‚ operas and films and stands in marked contrast to the relative obscurity to which the rest of Prévost’s output has been consigned. It is a love-story with a shadowy heroine who has captured the imagination of successive generations of readers to such an extent that her name has become synonymous with the novel itself. It is also an adventure story crammed with incident – three infidelities‚ three abductions‚ three escapes from close confinement‚ two murders and plenty of suspense‚ all within what for Prévost is a remarkably brief narrative. Both these factors help account for the book’s enduring popularity‚ but ultimately what makes this study of an ill-fated love so fascinating is that it is so fundamentally ambiguous and so rich in its ambiguity.

Introducing des Grieux’s narrative‚ the Man of Quality (himself the protagonist of another‚ very different‚ novel by Prévost) makes it sound as if what we are letting ourselves in for is a worthy piece of literature in eighteenth-century moralistic vein‚ preaching the need for sustained moral courage if we are to overcome “the terrible power of our passions” and find redemption despite our flawed nature. Now it is certainly true that what follows can be read in that way as a cautionary tale‚ a graphic account of what can happen if we let our feelings run away with us. We see des Grieux torn between the opposing influences of Manon and Tiberge‚ each the incarnation of a very different type of love. We see his love for Manon drag him down‚ but the possibility of redemption is always there‚ as his hard-won “conversion” after Manon’s first infidelity illustrates. That conversion is largely the work of Tiberge‚ who reappears at various critical moments to offer practical help‚ sound advice and a good example. Des Grieux‚ however‚ proves infinitely more susceptible to Manon’s charms than to those of virtue and so he pursues his downward path‚ till Manon’s death finally restores him to his senses.

Or does it? As the novel develops‚ it becomes clear that this moral reading is by no means the only possible one. Indeed‚ in choosing to portray a man who‚ rather than climbing out of the abyss into which he has sunk‚ opts to plumb the depths and take to its logical conclusion the course of action upon which he has embarked‚ Prévost enters territory where the avowed moral intention comes under severe pressure and eventually collapses. Des Grieux stops at nothing‚ up to and including murder‚ in pursuit of happiness with Manon‚ but finally‚ against all the odds‚ his perseverance seems to pay off. When he resolves to make the ultimate sacrifice and accompany Manon to Louisiana‚ it makes such a deep impression upon her that she undergoes a real change of heart and for the first time is able to love him above all else as he loves her. This is the recipe for that true happiness which he has been pursuing all along and it finally comes to fruition in the harsh surroundings of Louisiana. So when Fate or Heaven or the Moral Intention intervenes one last time and destroys that happiness irrevocably‚ we are tempted to share des Grieux’s sense of outrage and despair that he should be cheated in this way. And the final pages of the book leave us with the feeling not that he has found his way once more but that in all essentials his life is over and done with now that Manon is dead. In this way‚ what started out as a cautionary tale illustrating the destructive power of profane love begins to look instead like a celebration of that same love and its redemptive powers.

This coexistence of opposites is everywhere in evidence‚ and not only thematically. The Man of Quality‚ once he has heard des Grieux’s story‚ describes him as “an ambiguous character‚ a mixture of virtues and vices‚ a continual contrast between fine feelings and reprehensible deeds‚” and so he proves to be. But even before des Grieux’s narrative gets under way‚ this somewhat stern assessment is qualified by the instant sympathy which the Man of Quality experiences for des Grieux on first meeting him at the inn at Pacy. The scene is a striking one‚ featuring two hapless lovers who are apparently the victims of a heartless and mercenary society. The importance of first impressions cannot be overemphasised and that one lingers with us for a long time. But here too ambiguity is the keynote for‚ even as this scene enlists our sympathies for the young man who is so deeply in love‚ it also spells out graphically the depths to which that love has taken him.

The next image we receive of des Grieux builds on the initial sympathetic impression. He is a dutiful son and model scholar‚ a young nobleman with everything going for him – till he meets Manon. That first meeting highlights his naivety and inexperience and also the sincerity and intensity of his feelings for her. Whatever those feelings may in time lead him to do‚ there is never any doubt about how truly and passionately he loves her and that too earns him our sympathy. In a world characterised by lecherous individuals like M. de B. and old G... M...‚ who use their wealth to buy the favours of the women they lust after‚ des Grieux’s love – and‚ after her change of heart‚ Manon’s too – is a breath of fresh air‚ a welcome reminder that love does not have to be tainted in this way.

All these factors encourage us to view him sympathetically and that reaction is powerfully reinforced by the fact that des Grieux himself is the narrator and a very skilful one at that. It would take very little for us to swallow hook‚ line and sinker the gloss he frequently puts on events‚ according to which his is the tale of a pure young man incomprehensibly and undeservedly brought low by a passion beyond his control. But the reality is far more complex and‚ if we are not to let our sympathy for him obscure the whole truth‚ we need to be on our guard as we listen to what he has to say. Des Grieux himself is confident that‚ whatever revelations his narrative may contain‚ it will ultimately win him the sympathy of his listener. As he tells the Man of Quality at the outset: “You’ll condemn me but you’ll pity me too‚ I’m sure of that. You won’t be able to help yourself.”

So sympathy‚ certainly‚ but what about the condemnation of which he speaks? No doubt what he has in mind are the various criminal deeds of which he is guilty‚ including card- sharping‚ theft and murder‚ but if all of these are committed in the name of love and if‚ as he puts it‚ “love is an innocent passion‚” should they really be held against him? Don’t the pangs of remorse that he experiences intermittently prove his reluctance to carry out such deeds and how he was driven to them against his better nature by all those unfair and arbitrary obstacles to his love? One can see how‚ even in these extreme cases‚ the sympathy factor can get to work‚ eroding almost entirely any sense of moral responsibility. If he has been “suddenly swept far from the path of duty‚ without being able to offer any resistance or feel the slightest remorse” by a fatal passion which is his destiny in life‚ how can we help feeling anything other than sorry for him?

Perhaps the episode of his escape from Saint-Lazare should give us pause for thought. We see him shoot a man without compunction‚ then pass the blame for this murder first onto the Father Superior – “See what you’ve done‚ Father” – and then onto Lescaut‚ who supplied the pistol: “It’s your fault. Why did you bring it loaded?” When he blames Heaven or Fate or Passion or Society or G... M... or his father or anyone else for what happens‚ isn’t it the same instinctive reaction at work‚ placing responsibility for his behaviour anywhere except where it belongs?

We catch a glimpse here of a more fundamental ambiguity in des Grieux and one of which he himself seems blissfully unaware. His narrative is marked by a keen sense that he belongs to an élite of noble souls distinguished above all by their rare capacity for feeling – this‚ after all‚ is the Age not of Sense but of Sensibility – and so he looks down in truly aristocratic scorn on the common herd who do not share that capacity. In this scheme of things‚ it is not what you do but how you feel that counts and so he can appeal to M. de T. as one noble soul to another and win an appropriate response.

This self-assessment can seem persuasive‚ if we allow ourselves to be swept along on a wave of sympathy for this young man who seems so open about himself. But other facets of his narrative strike a rather different chord. He may be naive and inexperienced at the outset‚ but he adapts almost effortlessly to the amoral way of life which is necessary if he is to keep Manon. The speed with which he becomes a highly successful card-sharper is a case in point. As for the fine feelings and moral scruples he makes so much of‚ they prove easy enough to argue away when it comes to the crunch and he duly settles for living off Manon’s immoral earnings or even sharing her with old G... M...

He is adept too at manipulating other people to his own ends. Tiberge is a frequent victim as des Grieux plays on his compassion to get what he wants. He exploits his father too‚ appealing to paternal affection more than once‚ only to round on him eventually when he fails to get his way. And throughout he proves a past master in the art of self-justification. He convinces Tiberge he is a latter-day Jansenist predestined to doom through a passion he cannot control. To his father he justifies his behaviour by reference to the example of his contemporaries‚ as though this in some way made his own actions less reprehensible. This elastic conscience of his enables him to justify virtually everything he does and to find someone or something else to blame. There is clearly much more to him than his own self-assessment would suggest and‚ provided that we are alive to the unwitting self-revelation which marks so much of his narrative‚ we will find that we are dealing with a far more complex and absorbing character than might appear at first sight.

It is Manon who brings out the flaws in des Grieux’s character. As a commoner from a morally dubious background which has produced not only her with her insatiable craving for pleasure but also her frankly amoral brother‚ she brings with her quite naturally a world of sexploitation‚ pimps‚ prostitutes‚ thieving servants‚ organized crime in the shape of the gang of card-sharpers to which her brother belongs‚ forcible abductions and street murders. Money and the pursuit of it are omnipresent. It is a violent‚ amoral world light years away from that inhabited by des Grieux at the outset of his tale. For this fortunate young nobleman‚ who would normally expect to go through life without giving money a second thought and for whom love and the happiness it brings have nothing whatever to do with such sordid considerations‚ it is a source of constant exasperation to find himself desperately in need of money if he is to ensure that Manon remains with him. But however much he may rail against this situation‚ there is no escaping it so long as he is committed to Manon. For money is an essential condition of Manon’s happiness‚ not‚ as des Grieux is careful to point out‚ that she covets it for its own sake‚ but it alone makes possible all those things she cannot do without – fine clothes‚ a carriage and horses‚ outings to the Opera‚ somewhere to stay in Paris and somewhere in the country. And so the young man whom everything – birth‚ education‚ temperament – had prepared for a quite different experience of life is obliged to abandon his exalted notions of eternal constancy in a world free from all material constraints and to compromise with a sordid reality.

Even here‚ though‚ the situation is not black and white. If Manon’s behaviour frequently reflects a shallow‚ self-centred‚ grasping nature‚ that is not at all how she is presented. Our first glimpse of her‚ as of des Grieux‚ is through the eyes of the Man of Quality and he is deeply impressed. Thereafter we see her essentially through des Grieux’s eyes and cannot help but be influenced by his view of her first as a beautiful and fascinating enigma‚ later as a tragic figure hounded undeservedly by a harsh and corrupt social order‚ and ultimately as a truly noble soul whose love lifts her far above her station in life.

This latter view of Manon is not entirely fanciful‚ for as the book progresses she does move a little closer to the Chevalier’s notion of true love. Her first infidelity‚ with M. de B.‚ shows her in a poor light as a good-time girl with an eye to the main chance. But her subsequent infidelities are dictated above all by a desire to give stability to her relationship with des Grieux. When she abandons him for young G... M... and sends him an attractive young prostitute with whom to console himself‚ it is paradoxically an expression of her on-going love for him. As she puts it: “I want you to be faithful to me‚ but in your heart.” Clearly there is still a huge gap between them concerning the kind of fidelity each has in mind‚ but equally clearly des Grieux’s love has effected some sort of change in her. That process is completed when he resolves to turn his back on everything that life could hold for him and accompany her to Louisiana. The scale of this sacrifice opens her eyes to what fidelity in des Grieux’s terms really means and thereafter the two lovers are in perfect harmony.

Manon is inseparable from the society of which she is a product and that society‚ it is made clear‚ is a fundamentally corrupt one. The pursuit of wealth by criminal means extends to all levels of society‚ from the dubious circles in which Manon’s brother moves to the most exalted. The gambling- den where des Grieux practises his newly acquired skills as a card-sharper is run by a prince. Another prince and a duke “head a gang of organised card-sharpers‚” des Grieux tells his father‚ citing this as one instance among many of his own behaviour simply reflecting “well-known examples of the same thing.”

The wealthy lovers Manon takes do nothing to make this society appear more attractive. M. de B.‚ the financial speculator‚ makes his approach to Manon in the crude manner of a man used to buying whatever he wants‚ while old G... M...‚ ostensibly a respectable figure in society‚ is in reality a hypocrite who lectures des Grieux on the moral dangers of life in Paris while using his wealth to indulge his lecherous instincts.

While des Grieux and Manon‚ by their behaviour‚ may belong to this society‚ they are distinguished from it by their sincere love. It may be argued that‚ if des Grieux falls foul of society and ends up in prison‚ it is because he is not an out- and-out libertine like old G... M... Likewise Manon’s dealings with her various lovers are hampered by her own particular brand of fidelity to des Grieux. It is because she is not uniquely preoccupied with feathering her own nest that she ends up falling foul of the lovers she cheats and finds herself heading for Louisiana.

For this immoral‚ get-rich-quick society (France during the Regency of the Duke of Orleans‚ an age – 1715–1723 – famous for its excesses and which saw the rise and fall of John Law’s Mississippi company‚ which flourished amid a fever of speculative investment only for the bubble to burst in 1720) is also one based on privilege‚ as the different treatment meted out to Manon and to des Grieux demonstrates most vividly. The Chevalier is set free from the Châtelet prison purely on account of his family background and the intervention of his father and old G... M... – a closing of ranks by the privileged – while Manon is viewed as a serious threat to society who must be either locked up for life or transported to America.

It is the latter fate which is reserved for her‚ just as it really was reserved for convoys of female undesirables who‚ in 1719 and 1720‚ were carted from Paris across the north of France‚ prior to being shipped off to Louisiana. Prévost himself may well have witnessed scenes similar to that which greets the Man of Quality at Pacy. Certainly the latter’s description is both vivid and historically accurate‚ as is des Grieux’s later account of the convoy. By that stage of the book‚ our sympathies are firmly with the young couple‚ whose selfless love stands out in such sharp contrast to the callous behaviour of the guards accompanying them and indeed of the society that has condemned them to this plight. As they live out their brief idyll in Louisiana‚ it is constantly implied that it was Parisian society which turned their love into something criminal and that it is only by escaping from that society and all the temptations and pressures it brings to bear that true love can have a chance to flourish. If we are to believe des Grieux‚ he and Manon are victims of the arbitrary conventions of a society whose values are topsy-turvy and the true fault lies not with the young lovers but with European civilization.

As we are by now well aware‚ des Grieux is an expert at finding scapegoats for his own and Manon’s shortcomings‚ but all the same we are bound to recognize that there is at least a grain of truth in what he says. To the end of this profoundly ambiguous book‚ sympathy and condemnation continue to coexist in ever-shifting proportions‚ leaving us wondering quite where the author stands in relation to it all.

Perhaps one reason for this uncertainty is that the affinities between author and protagonist run deep and doubtless deeper than Prévost himself would have been prepared to admit. A brief survey of his life will help to illustrate this fact.

He was born in 1693 at Hesdin‚ in the present Pas de Calais‚ the second of ten children. The family was a prominent one‚ his father being qualified in the law and holding various official positions during his career. Antoine-François was educated by the Jesuits‚ whom he left at the age of sixteen to serve in the army as a volunteer. In due course he returned to the Jesuits with a view to entering the Society‚ only to leave them to pursue a military career once more. He ended up in Holland where he seems to have led something of a bohemian existence. In 1720‚ as a result of what he was later to call “the unhappy conclusion to an all too tender attachment‚” he entered the Benedictine order and went on to take his vows in November 1721. During his time with the Benedictines he was ordained a priest‚ preached‚ taught and collaborated on a major work of historical scholarship‚ the Gallia Christiana.

By 1728‚ though‚ he had had enough‚ abandoned his monastery in Paris and fled to England to avoid arrest. There‚ it seems‚ he converted to Anglicanism as a matter of expediency – there were charitable funds available for converts from Catholicism – and obtained a post as tutor/companion to Francis Eyles whose father‚ Sir John Eyles‚ was a major figure in London political and commercial circles. If‚ after two years‚ Prévost lost this plum post and had to leave the country‚ it was probably because of his feelings for Sir John’s daughter and hers for him.

He settled in Holland and tried to make a living by his pen. His first novel‚ the Memoirs and Adventures of a Man of Quality (the same Man of Quality who appears in Manon Lescaut) had begun to appear in 1728 and publication was completed in 1731‚ the seventh and final volume being devoted exclusively to the story of des Grieux and Manon. The same year saw publication of the first four volumes of Prévost’s next novel‚ The Story of Cleveland‚ Cromwell’s natural son. But despite the income generated by these and other publications‚ Prévost found himself increasingly in debt. Once again it was his weakness for the female sex which caused his problems. It seems that he seduced the wife of his host and publisher and then became infatuated with a woman called Lenki‚ who apparently had a colourful past and who clearly helped him to spend a great deal of money he didn’t have. When his publishers grew tired of making him advances against manuscripts which failed to materialize‚ his position became desperate and in January 1733 he fled back to England with Lenki in tow and leaving behind him an array of unpaid debts and two unfinished works. His circumstances did not improve in England and in December 1733 he found himself in the Gatehouse prison in London‚ charged with forging a promissory note to the value of fifty pounds. This was a capital offence and if he escaped with his life it was probably due to the intervention of the Eyles family on his behalf. He returned to France incognito and eventually obtained permission to rejoin the Benedictines. After a second noviciate in the provinces‚ he went to Paris‚ where he eked out a living from fiction and journalism. Further financial difficulties in 1740 led to his exile from France for nearly two years‚ but from 1743 onwards he seems to have achieved a more stable life and produced a steady stream of works‚ particularly translations from English‚ until his death in 1763.

As even this brief account makes clear‚ he had a great deal in common with des Grieux. Sincere religious faith and a real love of study on the one hand were matched against a capacity to ruin himself and his prospects and to engage in dishonest and even criminal behaviour once love had taken hold of him. This is not to claim that in writing Manon Lescaut he was simply recording personal experience. If anything‚ the evidence tends to suggest that it is a case rather of literature anticipating on life‚ for Manon was finished before the relationship with Lenki – the one which on the face of it most closely resembles des Grieux’s experience – had begun. The real point of interest is that the capacity for such behaviour lay within Prévost.

Nor are we talking only about behaviour. On various occasions during the 1730s‚ he was obliged to respond in print to comments about his behaviour which had come into the public domain. These texts make very interesting reading and show him to have been no less a master of self- justification than des Grieux proves to be. Like the Chevalier‚ he can be economical with the truth‚ deliberately equivocal‚ long on protestations of fine moral feelings and high ethical standards but short on recognition of personal responsibility. He too‚ both in what he does and what he says‚ comes across as “an ambiguous character‚ a mixture of virtues and vices‚ a continual contrast between fine feelings and reprehensible deeds.”

There can be no doubt that des Grieux incarnates those less readily avowable facets of Prévost’s own personality to a far greater extent than any of his other fictional characters. Perhaps that‚ ultimately‚ is why this novel has stood the test of time so much better than the others. In choosing to explore a young man’s passion for a woman who for once is not a paragon of virtue‚ Prévost is able to depict the weaknesses‚ the capitulations and the compromises which that entails not merely from the outside‚ as a moralist with a lesson for the reader‚ but also from the inside‚ as a man capable of such weaknesses himself. Hence‚ perhaps‚ the strong current of sympathy for the young lovers despite the avowed moral intention. In the end‚ what we have is a narrative rich in complexity and ambiguity worthy of the man who created it and one which leaves us with the unmistakable impression of truthfulness to life.

STEVE LARKIN

FOREWORD

by the author of

Memoirs of a Man of Quality

Though I could have included the Chevalier des Grieux’s adventures in my own Memoirs‚ it seemed to me that‚ since there is no essential connection between the two‚ it would be more satisfactory from the reader’s point of view if they were kept separate. An account as extensive as his would have interrupted the thread of my own story for too long. I am far from claiming that‚ as a writer‚ I apply rules rigorously‚ but I am well aware that a narrative should be free from anything that would make it heavy going and confusing. As Horace puts it:

Ut jam nunc dicat jam nunc debentia dici

Pleraque differat‚ ac proesens in tempus omittat.*

But there is no need to invoke such an august authority to establish such a simple truth‚ for common sense is the prime source of this rule.

If the public has found the story of my life enjoyable and interesting‚ to some extent at least‚ then I can vouch for the fact that this addition will prove no less satisfying. The behaviour of M. des Grieux illustrates the terrible power of our passions. My subject is a young man‚ wilfully blind‚ who turns his back on happiness and deliberately exposes himself to the very worst misfortunes. Though endowed with the most outstanding personal qualities‚ he opts of his own accord for an obscure and unsettled existence‚ in preference to all the advantages which fortune and nature have bestowed on him. He sees his misfortunes coming but chooses not to avoid them. He is devastated by them but turns his back on the remedies he is constantly being offered and which could end them at any moment. In short he is an ambiguous character‚ a mixture of virtues and vices‚ a continual contrast between fine feelings and reprehensible deeds. That is the essence of what is portrayed here. Sensible people will not dismiss a work of this kind as wasted effort. Apart from the pleasure of reading something enjoyable‚ they will find there are few events from which some moral lesson cannot be learned and‚ in my opinion‚ to instruct one’s readers whilst entertaining them is to do them no small service.

That the rules of morality should be at once admired and neglected is a source of constant amazement. Why should the human heart be so strangely at odds with itself that it warms towards notions of good and perfection‚ only to depart from them in practice? If people of a certain refined turn of mind care to consider what is the most frequent topic of their conversations‚ or even of their meditations when alone‚ they will find that almost invariably it comes down to moral considerations. The sweetest moments of their lives are those they spend‚ either alone or with a friend‚ reflecting in all sincerity upon the charms of virtue‚ the delights of friendship‚ the ways of achieving happiness‚ the natural flaws which lead us astray and the remedies for them. Horace and Boileau single out such reflection as one of the finest features in their portrayal of a happy life. So how does it happen that we descend so easily from these lofty speculations and find ourselves in no time at all back on a level with the mass of mankind? Unless I am mistaken‚ the reason for this contradiction between our ideas and our conduct lies in this fact: it is extremely difficult to apply moral precepts‚ all of which take the form of vague and general principles‚ to our own particular circumstances.

Let me give an example. Those who are capable of the finer feelings are instinctively aware that mildness and kindness are attractive virtues. They feel inclined to practise them but‚ when it comes to the point‚ they are often hesitant. Is it really the right moment? Are they quite sure how far they should go? Might they be mistaken about the object of their attentions? A host of difficulties paralyse them. In their desire to be helpful and generous they are afraid of being exploited. They fear they may be considered weak if they show too much compassion and concern. In short‚ they are afraid of going too far or not far enough in their attempts to fulfil obligations which the general notions of kindness and mildness leave ill- defined. In such a situation‚ experience and example alone offer a reasonable way of resolving the inner dilemma. But experience is not an advantage we are all free to acquire‚ for it depends upon the circumstances in which life places us. So for many people example is the only guide to the practice of virtue. It is precisely for such readers that works like this can be so useful‚ at least when the author is a person of honour and good sense. Each incident is instructive‚ opening the reader’s eyes in a way which makes up for lack of experience. Each episode offers a model whose lessons the reader can apply to himself; he has only to adapt it to his particular circumstances. The entire work is a treatise on morality‚ translated into action in an entertaining way.

On seeing me take up my pen once more‚ at my age‚ to write a story of love and adventure‚ a stern reader might take exception to my behaviour. But if the notion I have just expounded is sound‚ it provides my justification; if false‚ my defence will be that I was labouring under an illusion.

*“Say straightaway what needs to be said straightaway‚ and keep all the rest for later.”

PART ONE

I must ask my reader to go back in time to that point in my life when I first met the Chevalier des Grieux. It was about six months before I set off for Spain. I lived alone then and rarely ventured far but I did occasionally travel a little on my daughter’s behalf‚ though I kept these journeys as short as possible. I was on my way back from Rouen one day‚ having attended the Normandy law-courts at her request‚ as she had a claim to some land through my maternal grandfather. I spent the first night of my return journey at Évreux and arrived next day at Pacy‚ some five or six leagues further on‚ in time for dinner.

I was surprised‚ on riding into the town‚ to find the inhabitants in a state of high excitement‚ rushing out of their houses and swarming towards the doorway of a run-down inn‚ before which stood two covered waggons. These had evidently just arrived‚ for the horses were still harnessed to them and stood steaming with heat and fatigue. I stopped a moment to learn the cause of the commotion but could get no sense out of the jostling mob‚ who ignored all my questions and pressed on towards the inn‚ driven by curiosity.

Eventually a soldier with bandolier and musket appeared at the door. I beckoned to him and asked him to tell me what was going on. “It’s nothing‚ sir‚” he said. “Just a dozen prostitutes me and the other guards are taking to Le Havre for transportation to America. Some of them are good-looking too. That’s why the locals are so keen to see them‚ I suppose.” I might have gone on my way after that if it hadn’t been for the cries of an old woman who came out of the inn‚ wringing her hands and declaring to all and sundry that it was nothing short of barbaric‚ horrifying‚ and a crying shame.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Oh‚ step inside‚ sir‚” she replied‚ “and see for yourself. Fit to break your heart‚ it is.”

Out of curiosity I dismounted and‚ leaving my horse with my groom‚ forced my way in through the crowd. The sight which greeted my eyes was indeed a moving one. Amongst the twelve women‚ chained together by the waist in sixes‚ was one whose demeanour was so at odds with her situation that in any other circumstances I would have taken her for a person of the highest rank. She was visibly distressed and her clothes were filthy‚ but these things detracted so little from the impression she made that I found myself filled with respect and pity for her. She was trying‚ as far as the chains would permit‚ to turn away from the onlookers and this attempt to conceal her face from them was so natural that it seemed inspired by female modesty.