ON SPANISH SHIL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9193, 24 March 1908, Page 2

ON SPANISH SHIL.

AN ECCENTRIC DUKE. Near that spot beyond the neighbourhood of La Vilette, a suburb of Paris, where the arches of bridge, of Flandre are now under, repair (says "T.P.'s Weekly" of December 20), numerous noblemen of the reign of Louis XIV. had their residences yclept " lea folies," and among the most sumptuous was that of the _©_entric and notable Duke de Roquelaure 1 . That spot was nicknamed " Terxe d ILs-pagne"—-land of Spain— and it was the discovery of the origin of the term which revealed one of the most picturesque anecdotes among the many due to the inventive genius of the subject of our artiole. Physically the Duke was not handsome, but morally he was keen-witted and sharp ot repartee. He delighted in mystifying his neighbours. „ . , , On a certain occasion Roquelaure had shown himself somewhat too demonstrative in his advances towards one ot the ladies in attendance on the <_ueenmother, who requested of the young King that She Duke should receive exemplary punishment. After due coneideration of 'the punishment which would best be adequate to the offence, the King; who was greatly attached to Roquelaure owing to his loyalty encourage, he having already been twice wounded on the field of battle, made up his mind as to what tha^ punishment should be. Then, in answer to the King's summons, the Duke appeared before him. ' ' Roquelaure," he said, «a forbidyou the soil of France. Leave %£S*3£ —t tp Spain, wherehe ordered of a cart-wright *n etengtjd narrow vehicle, which he caused to be filled with sand from, the shore oi the Bay of Biscay. Having by easy jouineys made his way back to his villa at iJ Villette, he spread two-thirds oi tS_ "Si of Spain" ™&2F3& walks, where, once a year, during th* summer, he took daily exercise as a change 'from the «^^^^ town mansion, which Vi _i™ a sni__ at No. 1, Rue Mislay. J_e remaning sandVvas left in the cart, and foimed a kind of ambulating terrace, along which Roquelaure coutd punter upland down. Two mules were hainessea to it, and he was off to Versailles. Everyone at Court burst out laughing at this singular-looking person, wearing a fantastic Spanish costume apostrophise- ™ one in Pa^cukr^ and , gesticulating as he walked and forwards in his cart. The > King himself laughed louder than the others He felt disarmed on recognising his favourite courtier ; but in order to Bare appearances he told one of his officers in attendance to go and ask Roquelaure what business he had to be' there, jus if he had forgotten that he had been forbidden ever to reappear on the soil of France. Being interpellated to that effect, the Duke said, " I have forgotten nothing, and I am only . textually and respectfully obeying his Majesty s command; but kindly inform the King that I am standing on the soil ot bpain, and that on whatever foreign soil 1 may happen to be I shall always be ready to sacrifice personal convenience to his Majesty's interests. At heart Louis XIV. was pleased to have a plausible pretext for exercising the royal clemency in Roquelaure s favour.' He considered the joke so novel and ingenioifs that he granted him leave to remain in France ' on condition that he always had Spanish soil inside the soles of his boots. There being at his villa at La Villette an ample supply of that soil, Roquelaure was at no pains to obey the royal injunction. That trick of his happened to be his last, as it was his most humorous, for he died shortly after, and was buried in that pretty chapel of the Convent of Recollets, now a military hospital, at the angle formed by the Faubourg St Martin and the Rue des Recollets, within sound of the busy pickaxe of the tenacious housebreaker. Who knows? Possibly among the shovelfuls of earth which the navvies are now piling on the slopes of the circular railway line to strengthen them there may i stiil be a little of that " soil of Spain-" which enabled the eccentric Duke de I Roquelaure to die in the land of his birth. /