“Reginald de Saint-Jean-d’Angely, Clerk.
“Bedeau, Office Boy and Gutter-Jumper.
“In the year of our Lord 1787.
“Having attended Mass, we went in a body to la Courtille, and had a great breakfast, which lasted until seven in the morning.”
This was a miracle of caligraphy. An expert could have sworn that the writing dated from the eighteenth century. Then follow twenty-seven reports in full of “Welcome” breakfasts, the last dating from the fatal year 1792.
After a gap of fourteen years, the register reopened in 1806 with the appointment of Bordin to be attorney to the lower Court of the Seine. And this was the record of the re-constitution of the Kingdom of Basoche (the legal profession generally):—
“God in His clemency has granted that in the midst of the storms which have devastated France, now a great Empire, the precious archives of the most illustrious office of Master Bordin should be preserved. And we, the undersigned clerks of the most honorable and most worshipful Master Bordin, do not hesitate to ascribe this their marvelous escape, when so many other title-deeds, charters, and letters patent have vanished, to the protection of Saint Geneviève, the patron saint of this office, as likewise to the reverence paid by the last of the attorneys of the old block to all ancient use and custom. And whereas we know not what share to ascribe to the Lady Saint Geneviève and what to Master Bordin in the working of this miracle, we have resolved to go to the Church of Saint Étienne-du-Mont, there to attend a mass to be said at the altar of that saintly shepherdess who sendeth us so many lambs to fleece, and to invite our chief and master to breakfast, in the hope that he may bear the charge thereof. And to this we set our hand.
“Oignard, Head-Clerk.
“Poidevin, Second Clerk.
“Proust, Clerk.
“Brignolet, Clerk.
“Derville, Clerk.
“Augusten Coret, Office Boy.
“At the office, this 10th day of November 1806.”
“At three o’clock of the afternoon of the next day, the undersigned, being the clerks of this office, record their gratitude to their very worshipful chief, who hath feasted them at the shop of one Rolland, a cook in the Rue du Hasard, on good wines of three districts, Bordeaux, Champagne, and Burgundy, and on meats of good savor, from four o’clock of the afternoon until half-past seven, with coffee, liqueurs, and ices galore. Yet hath the presence of the worshipful master hindered us from the singing of laudes in clerkly modes, nor hath any clerk overstepped the limits of pleasing levity, inasmuch as our worthy, worshipful, and generous master had promised to take up his clerks to see Talma in Britannicus at the Théâtre Français. Long may he nourish! May heaven shed blessings on our worshipful master! May he get a good price for this his glorious office! May rich clients come to his heart’s desire! May his bills of cost be paid in gold on the nail! May all our future masters be like him! May he be ever beloved of his clerks, even when he is no more!”
Next came thirty-three reports in due form of the receptions of clerks who had joined the office, distinguished by various hand-writings in different shades of ink, distinct phraseology, and different signatures, and containing such laudatory accounts of the good cheer and wines as seemed to prove that the reports were drawn up on the spot and inter pocula.
Finally, in the month of June, 1822, at the time when Desroches himself had taken the oaths, there was this page of businesslike prose:—
“I, the undersigned François Claude Marie Godeschal, being called by Maître Desroches to fulfil the difficult duties of head-clerk in an office where there are as yet no clients, having heard from Maître Derville, whose chambers I have quitted, of the existence of certain famous archives of Basochian banquets and Festivals famous in the Courts, I besought our worshipful master to require them of his predecessor; for it was important to recover that document, which bore the date AD 1786, and was the sequel to the archives, deposited with those of the Courts of Law, of which the existence was certified by MM. Terrasse and Duclos, keepers of the said archives, going back to the year 1525, and giving historical details of the highest value as to the manners and cookery of the law-clerks in those days.
“This having been granted, the office was put in possession as at this time of these evidences of the worship constantly paid by our predecessors to the Dive Bouteille and to good cheer.
“Whereupon, for the edification of those that come after us, and to continue the sequence of time and cup, I have invited MM. Doublet, second clerk; Vassal, third clerk; Hérisson and Grandemain, assistant clerks; Dumets, office boy, to breakfast on Sunday next at the Cheval Rouge on the Quai Saint-Bernard, where we will celebrate the recovery of this volume containing the charter of our guzzlings.
“On this day, Sunday, June 27th, one dozen bottles of various wines were drunk and found excellent. Noteworthy, likewise, were two melons, pies au jus romanum, a fillet of beef, and a toast Agaricibus. Mademoiselle Mariette, the illustrious sister of the head-clerk, and leading lady at the Royal Academy of Music and Dancing, having given to the clerks of this office stalls for that evening’s performance, she is hereby to be remembered for her act of generosity. And it is furthermore resolved that the said clerks shall proceed in a body to return thanks to that noble damsel, and to assure her that on the occasion of her first lawsuit, if the Devil involves her in one, she shall pay no more than the bare costs; to which all set their hand.
“Godeschal was proclaimed the pride of his profession, and the best of good fellows. May the man who treats others so handsomely soon be treating for a business of his own!”
The document was spattered with wine-spots and with blots and flourishes
