The fast youth
was compelled to give in to this arrangement, but declined to take full
orders; so that while drawing the revenue of his stall, he had nothing
to do with the duties of his calling. Then, too, it was rather a
fashionable thing to be an abbe, especially a gay one. The position
placed you on a level with people of all ranks. Half the court was
composed of love-making ecclesiastics, and the _soutane_ was a kind of
diploma for wit and wickedness. Viewed in this light, the church was as
jovial a profession as the army, and the young Scarron went to the full
extent of the letter allowed to the black gown. It was only such stupid
superstitious louts as those of Mans, who did not know anything of the
ways of Paris life, who could object to such little freaks as he loved
to indulge in.
The merry little abbe was soon the delight of the Marais. This distinct
and antiquated quarter of Paris was then the Mayfair of that capital.
Here lived in ease, and contempt of the bourgeoisie, the great, the gay,
the courtier, and the wit. Here Marion de Lorme received old Cardinals
and young abbes; here were the salons of Madame de Martel, of the
Comtesse de la Suze, who changed her creed in order to avoid seeing her
husband in this world or the next, and the famous--or infamous--Ninon de
l'Enclos; and at these houses young Scarron met the courtly
Saint-Evremond, the witty Sarrazin, and the learned but arrogant
Voiture.
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