THE COMPANIONAGE.
224
devoir or charge.
Penliguier suggests, the word was originally devoiranis, i.e., members of a
The Sons of Soubise also rejoice in the name of dewrants, but they have gone a step beyond
all
the others in animal nomenclature.
becomes an abject
dignified
slave, takes the
by being termed a fox
the apprentice who is bullied till he
the aspirant is slightly
With them
significant title
of rabbit (lapin)
;
something more valorous than a rabbit, but still of a
His superior, the Companion, becomes a dog, and a master in
(re'tiard),
sneaking cowardly disposition.
the craft, an ape {singe), alluding, of course, to his e.xtended knowledge and cunning, but also
iu
combining with this homage a large amount of the contempt which is apt to be engendered
rude minds when wisdom takes the place of force.^
Consistent in a measure with their assumed types in the animal kingdom, is the
which has obtained in some crafts of howling. This howling would appear to form, in
hal)it
many
an inarticulate and prolonged noise.
also call it chanting, because they thus pronounce certain words in such
Perdiguier says they
a manner that they themselves only can understand them. We shall probably not go far
Of
astray if we assume that these words formed one of their secret modes of recognition.
instances, a part of their cSremonies,
and
to consist of
the primitive corps, the carpenters alone give way to this absurd habit the stonemasons and
But all the
their immediate successors the joiners and locksmiths, do not practise it.
;
comparatively
new
corps
—that
those admitted by the building crafts of Jacques and
It is possible that the same idea underlies this custom as
is,
Soubise, howl without exception.
that which produced the corruption of dcvoirant into devorant, though
an ancient observance which will be presently noticed.
Another peculiarity
They do
prefix "Mr."
except the bare
or ixiys
is,
(country), adding
appellation.
of Maitre Jacques,
"
a survival of
however, style each other "Brother," although in everything
but substitute the curious terms coterie
are a veritable fraternity
;
by preference the Companion's nickname
of both families use the
The stonemasons
Thus a stonemason,
may be
that the Companions, like the Freemasons, abjure the use of the
not,
name they
it
in addressing a fellow,
Pays Pierre
le
would
Marseillais."
"
say,
legal
former, all other crafts the latter.
Coterie
If the
instead of his
La Flcur
de Bagnolet
know
Companion does not
"
;
a joiner
his fellow's
pays is used alone.
most curious, and certainly the most pernicious and unreasonable, of all their
The original of the word topic, topicr, has been left undecided by
customs, was the topagc.
historians of the Companionage, but Larousse, in his admirable Dictionary, suggests tliat it is
name,
coterie or
One
of the
In the French of to-day the
akin to the Spanish Topar^ and he is no doubt correct.
verb toper is seldom or never used formerly it meant to accept, receive, acquire. Almost its
thus je tope is
sole use at the present time is to signify acceptance of a wager or proposition
"
done."
But the Companions use the word as a challenge to mortal
equivalent to our
;
;
combat, and the custom of challenging takes the name of topagc. All the different crafts
"
tope," with the exception of the Sons of Solomon, and even the stonemasons of this division
occasionally tope with those of Jacques, but with none other.
We
will suppose
two journey-
"Ape" is .a common expression of dislike in the Latin countries. The epithets ricux singe and mmw