[Mazarinades[ - Le Babillard du Temps 1649 - 1649

The Time-Babbler in Burlesque Verse, 1649.
For sale: rare journal of the Fronde The Time-Babbler, 1649, six issues of 8 pages each. Complete publication issued during the siege of Paris.
No 1: “Since Babillard they name me/ I will spare no one/ I am under and full of wine/ I want to speak of Tabarin/ Tabarin this little sailor/ This man is depraved and unjust/ Who has no God, nor Faith, nor Law/ Who has abducted our King/ And made our City seat/ Like a wicked and inept man/ By great Prince of Condé/ Whom he quickly charmed/…
It is Condé who will not listen/ This day nor rhyme nor reason/ And who in some houses/ Caused fire and flames/ Is it not a great blasphemy for him/ To allow his soldiers/ Like thieves and looters/ To strip men to their undershirts/ And steal Church property/ Violent women and young girls/ Performing indecent acts/ Such as the Turks and barbarians…
Mazarin has come on duty/ But they have shut the door on him/ Saying plainly/ That they did not want his gab/…
No 2: I want to speak of Gratelard/ This valiant champion La Rivière/ Who understands well the proper way/ To deal with Mazarin/ Making his snout redden/ With blows of more than four/…
Everyone runs to the markets/ The flour-sellers by a cabal/ Show little bread/ To cry out for hunger/ To obtain it one continues/ We quarrel, we kill each other…
No 3: I will speak of a great change/ That arrived recently/ On Friday the world swears/ Some shout, others murmur/ They say they want bread/ But the Baker, too clever/ Has said he has no flour/ Thus the people look sad/ And say they will strike down/ Those who do not give it to them/…
We do not want Mazarin/ Particularly since he has the cunning mind/… Others fearing too much the siege/ say that he will stay in Liège/ In Modena or Piombino/ Wherever he wears his domino/ His cap and bag/ Which is not too lightly mine/ Having through his unheard-of deeds/ A great full of Louis/…
No 5: God will grant us grace/ To defeat those who mean harm/ In Paris and the Cardinal may do and say/ He must die a martyr/ So says Nostradamus/ And the great Poluphémus/ In three or four centuries…
Let us speak of the Prince of Conty/ Who is worthy in beauty and grace/ … Every day he goes to the works/ With the other generals/ He makes swift, strong effort/ On the lines and the fortifications/ To prevent our enemies/ From doing what they promised/ To that devil Cardinal/ Who is worse than a horse/…
For true the Duke of Longueville/ Has a very decent army/ Which today is lodged/ In Rouen within the faubourg/ And they go off to march/ To ride as far as the Pont de l’Arche/…"
** At the end of No 2, the author indicates that the Reader should buy only the Babillard printed at La Vigne. There are probably counterfeit copies.
*** If disturbances break out in the provinces at Rouen, Bordeaux, and Aix-en-Provence, if the Parlement of Paris has managed to neutralize the municipality and the prévôt of merchants, the siege of the city is nevertheless effective. The grain stores around Paris no longer feed the city and the price of bread quadruples in two months. The Charenton battle won by the royal army on February 8, 1649 against small bands of Frondeurs prevents any relief. The king’s soldiers ravage the south of Paris. La Rochefoucauld is wounded in the throat by a gunshot during an engagement at Brie-Comte-Robert…
* Port declared value at the Post office.