BAD FRENCH, EXETER, 1841.

 This was different:  a hearing at Exeter Police Court but conducted in (bad) French by Mr Blackall, one of the magistrates and printed in French by The Western Times, without benefit of translation, to its Devon readers  Nor, apparently,  in 1841, did  setting the French language, accents and all, cause any problem to the hot-metal typographers at The Times.

The circumstance was this:  an impoverished German youth with a melancholy expression and tattered habilliments had , in time-honoured fashion, turned up at the Guildhall to seek relief.   The Court could speak no German.  The youth could speak no English.  Mr Blackall addressed the youth in French:

"Mr. BLACKALL - Eh bien, que voulez-vous de nous?    

"German - De l’argent, Monsieur, s’il vous plaît.  J’ai faim, Monsieur,  et, (pointing with woe-begone looks to the remnants of a once fashionable pair of boots, but which now barely kept together by the aid of a  pair of straps.) regardez mes bottes nous avons été bons amis trés long-temps, mais, helas! Monsieur, vous voyez que - 

"Mr. BLACKALL - Combien long-temps avez vous ètè en Angleterre?  

"German - Quinze jours, Monsieur.

I

"Mr. BLACKALL - Et d’ou venez-vous?

"German - J’ai été à Paris à Jersey et à Londres.

"Mr. BLACKALL - Mais de quelle ville veniez -vous à présent?

"German - Je viens à présent de Plymouth, Monsieur.

"Mr. BLACKALL - Que voulez-vous ici, donc, que cherchez-vous?

"The German appeared not to understand this question - perhaps because Mr. Blackall’s pronunciation is. as a Frenchman would say , un petit peu Anglicé - though otherwise he speaks French well and with fluency; there was a misapprehension, however, and the applicant at length replied with a bland smile and a true continental shrug  of the shoulders,  “Jene vous comprends, Monsieur; ce n’est pas bon Français ça.”

"Mr. BLACKALL - Ah! I believe you are an imposter - that’s my opinion.

"The German, who looked like a man sensible of having committed a faux pas  continued to urge his case in broken sentences,  “Ah Messieurs,  que je suis misérable - de l’argent, c’est de l’argent qu’il me faut."

"The Bench, however, after a short consultation, coincided with the opinion expressed by Mr. Blackall, and dismissed the applicant, telling him they could do nothing for him.

"The German, after making a profound congé, turned on his heel, muttering, as he left the Court,  ”Mon Dieu, que je suis bête!“ evidently thinking that he had done no good for himself by criticizing  the hon. magistrate’s ”bad French“ ".  

*

I suppose a German youth might mutter to himself in French having, as it were, once got into gear.

I am inclined to think this German youth was a romantic figure and the city of Exeter ought to have helped him.  After all he was fluent in French and he had a lively turn of phrase; his once fashionable boots had long been his good friends. I can imagine his continental shrug, and his bland smile as he fenced with the unlovely Mr. Blackall and his parting bow as he left the Guildhall.  Yes, I'm convinced he was at  the very least a Freiherr, travelling incogito, who would return to his domain and tell about the mean-minded Exeter magistrates. 

As for that Mr Blackall,  one gives him credit for his bad French but he seems, not for the first time, to have let false pride weight the scales of justice.

,

 

Source:  The Western Times, 2nd October 1841.