The Great Fire of London (artist unknown)
No one carved you an epitaph,
For a grave you will never have,
Just a pale pillar raised to the sky,
Until 1830 a bone trophy for a lie.
Fair Eden’s breeze did not reach Rouen,
Where the Maid of Orleans met her end,
For you were a Huguenot, and dare not
Honor her or dream of you her Lancelot.
For the watchmaker had a watch for a son.
Slow ticking and from nature’s bag of tricks
Two arms, a big one and a little one,
One moving, the other stuck at six.
Your uneven legs were no better,
Left straight and thick, the right a stick.
A watchmaker, a clockmaker? Never
would Robert be more than ever sick.
Nor could you play or run with the other boys
In the lanes. Your mind imbued in a grace
That lay in the sublime ticking of papa’s toys
And the plain charm of your mother’s face.
And she died when you were young,
The shield against the city’s scorn and din
of insults that you bore your parent’s sin.
She the patient one that loved so strong.
What do we do with a simpleton?
The family mused on their child like son.
Our lame boy is easy prey for a city’s hate,
Do we pay and pray he meets a better fate?
Thus sent away to his future dungeon
The target, the joke, and the Huguenot.
Robert Hubert, the unlikely Argonaut,
Seeking a fleece in the City of London.
It was said that there you were laborer,
More likely you were just a neighbor.
Our Robert, slow of mind with body tremor,
You never worked, but always labored.
They were not seven, your daily needs,
But what a struggle, these mighty deeds,
To dress, eat and pray with only one arm,
To hide ears and tears from worldly harm.
In 1666, you changed your fortune,
seeking treasure, you sailed for Sweden.
What you hoped to gain we do not know,
No fleece or gold in this land of snow.
A good soul took pity there on your woe,
And paid your passage to Rouen your home.
You called her “Skipper”, the Maid of Sweden,
A name too long for you long to know.
A happy reunion was not to be,
For your passage was blocked by war,
You encountered there upon the sea,
A dreaded English Man-Of-War.
The Maid was forced to London,
to stay at port a while. For trade
with hostile France and Holland
was by royal order stayed.
And standing there on wooden deck
You saw flames begin and spread.
The fire soared and sky turned red,
A glowing oven for the dead.
It was the strangest thing you had seen,
This curling, crackling pyre.
But did no one share that children
Should stay far away from fire?
Your body fluttered toward the flame,
To those who sought someone to blame,
The mob took you there upon the wharf,
A Frenchman, a fool, a limping dwarf.
Good Captain Petersen later swore,
That then and there he washed his hands.
Your keeper no more with you ashore,
The Maid of Sweden left for France.
Into the darkness you were cast,
With no friends but fleas and rats.
In filth and slime a month you stayed,
And to our blessed Lord you prayed.
The only miracle that did occur,
Your confession to an act of war,
“I, Robert”, set the flames you swore.
(Please do not hit me any more)
From France you came with ill intent,
One of twenty three confederates,
No, on further thought it was a trio,
And you of course the lead commando.
For but a single coin of gold,
You would set the town aflame,
A plot of cunning by one so bold,
So true to those with no shame.
I must admit that most did doubt
the tale of this sad and lonely youth,
But what prevailed were those who spout,
That old line, “What is truth?”
Though the great flame had died,
A cloud of hate had spread,
It was best that some had lied,
For a king might lose his head.
It was October twenty seven,
Climb the cart, does your stomach churn?
Who knows? (Today you will be in Heaven).
So off you roll to Tyburn.
The mob blew you stony kisses,
Some flew true, some were misses.
The red ran down onto the rope,
Coiled round one without a hope.
They saluted you with jeers and cheers,
That stung your ears and fed your fears.
For the final ride you were all alone,
You knew at last you would not see home.
The wagon reached the triple tree,
At Tyburn where the gallows rise.
The seats are filled though none were free,
All pay when a doomed man dies.
And from the hills the shades looked down,
With them the Maid and Thomas More,
Martyrs, scapegoats and many more,
Who drain this drink for strange renown.
They stand you up and set the noose,
You have no words to spare them,
The whip is cracked and horse is loose,
It flees the sin and mayhem.
You are too light to break your twig,
So you swing your legs about,
The children prance and do a jig,
The adults sneer and shout.
When at last your dance is done,
Your face is black and still,
It is a race we all must run,
May our end be not so ill.
Jack Ketch laid you out upon the ground,
And stripped your body bare,
Your noose and clothes worth half a pound,
To those who know no prayer.
The surgeons came to take you then,
But the final sale was broken.
The mob surged forward in revenge,
To claim a meager token.
Hands and knives went to work,
And tore your form asunder.
Your heard came free with a jerk,
Your heart was someone’s plunder.
This reddened patch of ugly ground,
With bloody bits spread all around,
Was Robert Hubert’s only grave,
Made by those whom sin make brave.
And far away a dream is broken
By knocking hands, a father woken,
Hears the words that drowns his joy:
“The English hanged your boy.”
Robert Hubert (those are silent “t”s in French) was a French Protestant who was made the scapegoat for the Great Fire of London in 1666. Little is known of him, or why spent much of his adult life in England and Sweden. He most likely was not a watchmaker, despite what Wikipedia might say, though his family included many.
Late 17th century France was a place of rising tension between French Protestants and Catholics. Many French Protestants emigrated to England, Scandinavia and North America. My theory is that Robert was sent away by his wealthy family to live among those communities. A number of French Protestant witnesses participated in his trial, and tried to save him, suggesting he was known to them. One of the many ironies of this scandal was that, though a Protestant, he was accused of being a Catholic spy and received his final absolution at his hanging by a Catholic priest, the Queen’s own confessor.
Based on the recorded descriptions of his appearance and behavior, it seems he was born with cerebral palsy, and had severe motor (hemiplegia) and cognitive deficits. All those in power knew he was innocent, but post-fire, wartime London was boiling cauldron of violence and unrest. Somebody needed to be held accountable for what scholars generally believe was just a tragic accident.
What happened to Hubert was a textbook illustration of the scapegoat concept that French philosopher Rene Girard explored in his study of mythology, religion and literature. During a time of an intense cultural or political crisis, some individual becomes the focus of hate and anxiety of the crowd. After his death, the cloud of anxiety dissipates, and society returns to a measure of equilibrium (until the next crisis and scapegoat). Girard, a believer, wrote that Christ was the ultimate scapegoat since he was completely without blame, and his death was in part intended to point the way for breaking this cycle, which Girard implied was a system of control by the Prince of this World.
Hubert’s family was quite good at watchmaking, and you can find images on the internet of what are either his father or uncle’s watches still present in various museum collections.
I am in a bit of a rut, so say a prayer for me if you have the time. There may not be any posts for a while.
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