VW: Second Life
Location: Paris
Country: FR
ANECDOTES, SIDE STORIES AND CHARACTERS, Part Three
The Battle of Sedan Chairs ( pamphlet in the manner of Beaumarchais)
Listening recently to some comments in Royal Courts corridors, it seemed that sedan chairs are back in style again. New models should be available soon, and I have no doubt that they will be beautifully crafted. Perhaps events will follow like sedan chairs races, who knows? Anyhow, we cannot but be grateful to those who provide us, day in and day out, with their remarkable skills, all the commodities of our late 18 th century.
However, you will NEVER see me in a sedan chair. I have a strong personal dislike for this invention, based on the fact that I hate to see men ( porters, in this case) treated as low as horses replacement.
Some may argue that it is only a practical and funny mean of transportation, but it is not: it is slower than walking , highly uncomfortable, and I miss the amusing part in it. I can understand , in some circumstances, that Ladies use them to keep their formal shoes and dresses clean before a ceremony or event, and for short distances, but no more. Men should stay away from a sedan chair, they look ridiculous in it, and besides, I often stated that some of them use it more as a way to show off their pretended superiority , and their actual domination, with some disdain to other human beings. I do not belong in this , and I have the weakness to believe more in reconciling the traditional values of Nobility( protecting the people, and centering on our duties more than on our privileges) with the contemporary ideals of Enlightenment.
But , this being only a matter of opinion, after all, I would not have posted this pamphlet, had I not a funny and revealing story of sedan chairs to tell you.
One day, I rode through the narrow streets of Paris on my dear horse Sultan, when I was blocked by two sedan chairs, moving slowly forward and side by side, ( de conserve as we say in French), so that their owners could continuously converse through their side windows.
I recognized their arms on the chairs: Madame la Comtesse de Marsan, et Madame la Marquise dEsparbs, two long-time best gossip friends, two of a kind ( the kind of stuff that nightmares are made of, according to me).
Now you must know that the porters and valets of the Maison de Marsan and the Maison dEsparbs, were all Southerners: these Ladies had married a Comte from Languedoc, and a Marquis from Armagnac, regions were people (except nobles and grand bourgeois) still spoke the ancient langue dOc, or Provencal, quite different from the langue doil, spoken in the North, from which French was derived. The Ladies, as superior as they thought they were, could not understand their porters, but the valets could very well understand them.
By then, a long string of horsemen, carriages, merchants and passers-by was now queuing up behind the sedan chairs, and the Ladies did not seem to bother: I could even have sworn they enjoyed it.
Suddenly, as I was losing patience, the four porters began to sing, alternatively, a charming traditional melody, with lyrics in their language. I distinctly heardthe Comtesse de Marsan say:Oh, Ma Chre, listen to their beautiful song! Dont they sound like modern day troubadours?
-O Yes, lovely, indeed, Ma Chre! answered the Marquise. And how it shows they enjoy their work!
It was difficult for me to hold back a laugh: as you may know, I was born in Provence, and I understand the langue dOc. And the translation of the lyrics of this beautiful song was approximately the following:
-Marsan porters: Our Comtesse eats too much, and she weighs bout a ton
-dEsparbes porters: -Our Marquise is lighter, but her feet are stinking
-Marsan Porters: -Lets toss em and bump em for the next mile
-dEsparbes porters: -Oh yes, and if they dont know why, we do!
Thats the way the world goes
And why youll NEVER see me in a sedan chair.
but dear,
the sedan chair is a symbol of noble priviledge...where would we end up if everybody would HAVE to go by foot...such confusion! I doubt that will ever happen anyway
*sighs and puts on her powder and rouge not knwoing that her own children will have her head chopped off in the revolution*
(seriously, you are right here. its a humiliating means of transportation and must have been rather painful for the porters. I do see your point here...I think it depends on what the roleplayer wants to convey. I am personally a rather ironic and sarcastic person :P I like to make fun of this ancient society and sometimes even tend to exaggerate in order to make a stress in particular situations. that clearly shows how this perverted part of society was condemned to disappear...or at least lose their social role and status they had abused for many centuries...)
Madame la Comtesse, et Chre Amie,
the point of view expressed in my little story is 'politically correct' according to nowadays standards, probably, but it was certainly not so at the Court of Versailles, or in the parisian Faubourg Saint-Germainby the end of 18th century. It is not completely anachronistic, though, since a minor, but increasing part of the Nobilitywas adoptingthe 'enlightenment' ideals, even if they seemed contrary to their actual interests in the short term.
In those days, the French writer Beaumarchais , author of 'the Barber of Sevilla' and 'The Marriage of Figaro' introduced on the French Theater stage a new character: the valets or servants, not just as a secondary comedy acts, but as main characters, whose strong personality and eloquent subversive speechesoutdid or ridiculedthe idle and decadent wit and abuses of their masters. Following Beaumarchais steps with a few centuries latency, I only wanted toput the emphasis on this other voice of the Century -that we don't hear this often in our SL Royal Courts- the Voice of the People.
I certainly did not intend to put the blame on anyone, particularly not on those whoseinteresting and amusing roleplay isto impersonate the qualities and defects of theNobles: I enjoy greatly being among them, even if'Myron, Baron de Verne'is rather a disciple of Montesquieu and Voltaire than of
Madame Bertin or Leonard:-)
I would be sorry if this story discouraged anyone who feels like it to use a sedan chair in SL...but I am quite sure our friends here have enough personality not to be impressed by the writings of a simple Baron:-)
Oh Myron..how amusing!!! I don't believe in the degragation of humans. I have 2 beautifully formed pair of legs and convey myself around quite nicely with them. Besides I can flaunt my money in other ways, and certainly not in a way that causes others to be sat upon as though they are merely service animals to carry me here or there. It is a part of history for many and it was bound to happen where the chair would be made and used here. It will be interesting to see if it becomes a status thing. I remember when I could not get away to mass, (yes i do attend mass, even if it is just to temptthe cardinal to see if i can becomeoneof his sins),as I was sitting in my carriage and a Duchesse was sitting in hers. We were dead locked! It was so funny because it was2 large ornately decoratedcarriages that was stuck, that we used for a distance that we could have easily traversed on foot. I could not move and she could not move. I wound up having to ride in hers because we both could not get out. I can't wait to see what amusing happenings will occur with all the sedan chairs that will appear. Besides mybeautiful self cannot be seen in all my glory to be fullyappreciated, as the chairs are a bit confining...as it is no secret that i am very beautiful and vain.Smiling, It would not affordmany theglimpse they deserved.
I read a couple of interesting recent articles pointed out to me by the ever-fabulous MariaTheresa Milneaux on this subject:
http://marie-antoinettequeenoffrance.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-even-uses-sedan-chair-everyone.html
http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/sedan-chairs-an-efficient-mode-of-transportation-in-georgian-london/
I recently saw a TV programme which compared personal carriages not to family cars but to helicopters in terms of cost and status for a family - it's interesting that here the Sedan Chair is compared to a taxi (even with the late-night double-fare charges so standard to our modern ears). They also remind me of the bicycle rickshaws I see so often on the streets of London.
Although I now feel the need to get a howler - both for SL, and my RL journeys