Page:Man Who Laughs (Estes and Lauriat 1869) v1.djvu/325



ET us note a circumstance. Josiana had le tour. This is easily understood when we reflect that she was, although illegitimate, the queen's sister,—that is to say, a princely personage.

To have le tour,—what does it mean? Viscount St. John, otherwise Bolingbroke, wrote as follows to Thomas Lennard, Earl of Sussex: "Two things mark the great: in England, they have le tour; in France, le pour." When the king of France travelled, the courier of the court stopped at the halting-place in the evening, and assigned lodgings to his Majesty's suite. Among the gentlemen some had an immense privilege. "They have le pour," says the "Journal Historique" for the year 1694, page 6; "which means that the quarter-master who marks the billets puts pour before their names, as 'Pour M. le Prince de Soubise;' instead of which, when he marks the lodging of one who is not royal, he does not put, pour, but simply the name, as 'Le Duc de Gesvres,' 'Le Duc de Mazarin. This pour on a door indicated a prince or a favourite. A favourite is worse than a prince. The king granted le pour, like a blue ribbon or a peerage.

Avoir le tour in England was less glorious, but more tangible. It was a sign of intimacy with the reigning sovereign. Any persons who, either by reason of birth, or royal favour were likely to receive direct