XVII. La chambre de l'abbé
XVII. The Abbé's Cell
French-English alliance politics, the Tour de Nesle gang trial, and the unveiling of a statue to Admiral Duquesne dominate this issue.
- Nine accused — including a 17-year-old girl who called herself Marguerite de Bourgogne — appeared before the Paris Assize Court for assaults committed at a lodging they styled their 'Tour de Nesle'; proceedings were immediately ordered held in camera.
- Recidivist Pierre Chabriol, awaiting trial for theft and attempted murder, escaped Montpellier's new cellular prison by sprinting up a painter's plank and vaulting the wall in broad daylight.
- The Constitutionnel argues that Guizot's real crime is not humiliating France but duping Sir Robert Peel — a paradox the Journal des Débats gleefully turns back on the Opposition.
- Dieppe unveiled a bronze statue of Admiral Duquesne before a crowd of fishermen in period costume, naval detachments, and 200 choristers and instrumentalists performing a specially composed cantata.
- At Trier, more than 672,800 pilgrims had already venerated the Tunic of Jesus Christ at the cathedral; a single Metz merchant purchased 20,000 francs' worth of satin to be cut into souvenir fragments.
- The condemned assassin Tschech, sentenced to have his right hand cut off before being broken on the wheel for his attempt on Frederick William IV, calmly asked to hear chapter 22 of Jeremiah after the judgment was read to him.
- The Revue des Deux Mondes quarterly volume of 1,148 pages — including Sainte-Beuve on Pascal, Gautier on Scarron, and Vigny's La Maison du Berger — costs 12 fr. 50 c., undercutting the 500-page Edinburgh Review on both price and volume.
- A naval officer's account of climbing Tenerife's peak in December describes obsidian slopes crumbling underfoot at 11,000 feet, guides spending the night in shirtsleeves with a single blanket, and a Spanish warship at Santa Cruz unable to weigh anchor for want of crew.