Boileau, in his _Lutrin_, gives an amusing account of an unseemly squabble which took place between the canons of the chapel, and which was in this wise. On a certain Sunday in 1667, one of the precentors named Barrin found a huge lectern placed in front of his stall. He protested against the intruder, and the other canons taking his part, it was ordered to be removed. But here the treasurer stepped in with objections, and a whole month was passed in discussions, orders, and counter-orders; the dispute only being ended through the mediation of the first president, Guillaume de Lamoignon, who decreed that the precentor should remain imprisoned behind the lectern an entire morning, until the end of the High Mass, the treasurer undertaking to remove the offending piece of furniture before the hour of vespers.
It was the president who suggested this subject to the poet. Boileau had remarked to M. de Lamoignon that an epic poem could be written upon the most trivial incident, if only a poet had sufficient imagination to work it out. "_Faites donc un poème sur le débat de la Sainte-Chapelle. Vous pourrez l'intituler 'Le Lutrin enlevé,' ou 'La Conquête du Lutrin._"
"_Pourquoi non_," replied Boileau. "_Il ne faut jamais défier un fou; et je le suis assez, non seulement pour entreprendre ce poème, mais encore pour le dédier à Monsieur le premier president._"
The result of defying the "fool," who was withal a wit, is a series of portraits in verse, of the canons, the singers, the precentor, and the treasurer. The latter was not spared, as may be seen by the following lines:--
"Dans le réduit obscur d'une alcove enfoncée, S'élève un lit de plume à grands frais amassée. Quatre rideaux pompeux, par un double contour, En défendent l'entrée à la clarté du jour. Là, parmi les douceurs d'un tranquille silence, Règne sur le duvet une heureuse indolence. C'est là que le prélat, muni d'un déjeuner, Dormant d'un léger sommeil, attendait le dîner. La jeunesse en sa fleur brille sur son visage; Son menton sur son sein descend à double étage, Et son corps, ramassé dans sa courte grosseur, Fait gémir les coussins sous sa molle épaisseur."
The canons are touched off with an equal vivacity; all their failings and follies, their idleness and their gluttony, brought into the pure light of day: