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I am glad to find you here, with my son. I have spoken to some of my friends of your offer to go to Tonneins, but they think not well of it. It is a small place, and a stranger would be sure to be questioned; but it was agreed that, if you would ride through Agen, you might do us great service.
Jasmin's success at Tonneins led to numerous invitations of a like character. "Come over and help us," was the general cry during that winter of famine. The barber's shop was invaded by numerous deputations; and the postman was constantly delivering letters of invitation at his door. He was no longer master of his time, and had considerable difficulty in attending to his own proper business.
In one of the little French towns where they stopped they had an amusing experience, which Irving has described in his journal. "In one of our strolls in the town of Tonneins," says he, "we entered a house where a number of girls were quilting. They gave me a needle and set me to work. My bad French seemed to give them much amusement.
The poor people were suffering greatly, and the usual appeal was made to Jasmin to come to their help. A concert was advertised to be given at Tonneins, a considerable town to the north-west of Agen, when the local musicians were to give their services, and Jasmin was to recite a poem. It was addressed to the ladies and musicians who assisted at the entertainment.
"It is the glory of the people," he said at a meeting of workmen, "to protect themselves from evil, and to preserve throughout their purity of character." This was the spirit in which Jasmin laboured. He put his own soul into his poems. At Tonneins, the emotion he excited by his reading of Charity was very great, and the subscriptions for the afflicted poor were correspondingly large.
"I may tell you it is already arranged that I shall set forward this evening. Monsieur D'Escars has, I hear, some four thousand gentlemen under arms; but these are widely scattered, and I hope to have a sufficient force to overcome them at any point we may make for. Some friends have secretly collected two or three boats near Tonneins, where there is but a small part of the Catholics assembled.
I am here at the order of her majesty, the Queen of Navarre; who, I trust, has arrived here safely." "The queen arrived here three hours since, Monsieur Fletcher; and I may say that she did you the honour to inquire, at once, if a gentleman of your name had arrived." "I should have met her at the river near Tonneins, but the governor of Agen laid an embargo on me.
Says he: "As my carriage rattled through the quiet streets of Tonneins, and the postilion smacked his whip with the French love of racket, I looked out for the house where, forty years before, I had seen the quilting party.
If you should hear of any movements of troops, ride down on the other side of the river till within two miles of Tonneins; then, if you place your men at intervals of three or four hundred yards apart, you will be sure to see us cross, and can give us warning of danger, and such indications as you may gather as to the points where the troops are likely to be posted.
Du Vair died at Tonneins, August 3, 1621, six weeks after receiving Grotius's Letter. This was a great loss to him: but it would have been advantageously repaired, had the Seals, agreeable to the wishes of the Public, been given to the President Jeannin, the most esteemed Magistrate in the kingdom for his excellent talents and virtue.
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