A French Vicar of Bray in Grasse

Maximin Isnard seems to have been a real-life (and, obviously, French!) Vicar of Bray. If you're not familiar with the Vicar, I've put the lyrics to the song about him at the bottom of this blog. Suffice to say that whatever the political changes which happened in the seventeenth and eighteenth century England, he was going to keep his job!

To see where the story of his French equivalent starts, just go to the Place des Aires in the middle of the old town and you'll see the Isnard House at the eastern end:

Isnard Mansion, Place aux Aires

There's an identifying plaque on it which indicates that the house is significant, but it doesn't tell the full story!

Maximin was an early revolutionery who was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1791 as an extreme left-winger. As the Revolution unfolded, he was elected to the National Convention in September 1792; he voted for the death of Louis XVI in January 1793 and became a member of the Committee of General Security, which shortly afterwards became the notorious Committee of Public Safety.

By May 1793, he was President of the National Convention, but in the volatile and dangerous politics of the day had to flee for his own safety in October of the same year. In December 1794, he was back, but now on the right of the Convention; by 1795, he was sitting as deputy for the Var as a royalist, but had to flee again, this time to Draguignan in 1797. But, a great survivor, he published pamphlets in 1802 in praise of Catholicism and in 1804 an 'enthusiastic' apology for the new Empire. Here he is in 1804 surrounded by his family in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Provence:

Isnard family painting, Musée d'Art & d'Histoire de Provence, Grasse

At the restoration of royalty under Louis XVIII, he seems to have successfully switched sides yet again - despite laws which denounced those who had voted for the execution of his predecessor and brother, he successfully declared himself a convinced royalist.

He died in his bed in 1825. In his own town, it's possibly his image which appears on the wall of the hall and stairway of the Villa Musée Jean-Honoré Fragonard (see right) as one of the symbols of the Revolution. My thanks to guide Gilles Burois (whose hand here holds up an image of Maximin next to the illustration on the wall) for a very interesting description of the iconography of these decorations, in a kind of graffiti style, which may have been produced by Fragonard himself.

The family Isnard appears throughout the history of Grasse. Flowers are still grown and developed for perfume at the Bastide Isnard in the St Christophe quartier (see www.isnardgrasse.com), Isnard Group, located on the Plan de Grasse, specialises in the distribution, storage and commissioning of perfume and there's an Isnard shop at 2 Rue Marcel Journet.

Lyrics to the 'Vicar of Bray':

1. In good King Charles' golden time, when loyalty no harm meant,

A zealous high churchman was I, and so I gained preferment.

To teach my flock, I never missed: Kings are by God appointed

And damned are those who dare resist or touch the Lord's anointed.

(Chorus):

And this be law, that I'll maintain until my dying day, sir

That whatsoever king may reign, Still I'll be the Vicar of Bray, sir.

2. When royal James possessed the crown, and popery came in fashion,

The penal laws I hooted down, and read the Declaration.

The Church of Rome, I found, did fit full well my constitution

And I had been a Jesuit, but for the Revolution.

3. When William was our King declared, to ease the nation's grievance,

With this new wind about I steered, and swore to him allegiance.

Old principles I did revoke; Set conscience at a distance,

Passive obedience was a joke, a jest was non-resistance.

4. When Royal Anne became our queen, the Church of England's glory,

Another face of things was seen, and I became a Tory.

Occasional conformists base; I blamed their moderation;

And thought the Church in danger was from such prevarication.

5. When George in pudding time came o'er, and moderate men looked big, sir

My principles I changed once more, and I became a Whig, sir.

And thus preferment I procured From our new Faith's Defender,

And almost every day abjured the Pope and the Pretender.

6. The illustrious house of Hanover and Protestant succession

To these I do allegiance swear -- while they can hold possession.

For in my faith and loyalty I never more will falter,

And George my lawful king shall be -- until the times do alter.