ISBN: 2940012859990

Chapter I. The Letter.Towards the middle of the month of May, in the year 1660, at nineo'clock in the morning, when the sun, already high in the heavens,was fast absorbing the dew from th… More...

Chapter I. The Letter.Towards the middle of the month of May, in the year 1660, at nineo'clock in the morning, when the sun, already high in the heavens,was fast absorbing the dew from the ramparts of the castle of Blois, alittle cavalcade, composed of three men and two pages, re-enteredthe city by the bridge, without producing any other effect upon thepassengers of the quay beyond a first movement of the hand to the head,as a salute, and a second movement of the tongue to express, in thepurest French then spoken in France: There is Monsieur returning fromhunting. And that was all.Whilst, however, the horses were climbing the steep acclivity whichleads from the river to the castle, several shop-boys approached thelast horse, from whose saddle-bow a number of birds were suspended bythe beak.On seeing this, the inquisitive youths manifested with rustic freedomtheir contempt for such paltry sport, and, after a dissertation amongthemselves upon the disadvantages of hawking, they returned to theiroccupations; one only of the curious party, a stout, stubby, cheerfullad, having demanded how it was that Monsieur, who, from his greatrevenues, had it in his power to amuse himself so much better, could besatisfied with such mean diversions.Do you not know, one of the standers-by replied, that Monsieur'sprincipal amusement is to weary himself?The light-hearted boy shrugged his shoulders with a gesture which saidas clear as day: In that case I would rather be plain Jack than aprince. And all resumed their labors.In the meanwhile, Monsieur continued his route with an air at once somelancholy and so majestic, that he certainly would have attracted theattention of spectators, if spectators there had been; but the goodcitizens of Blois could not pardon Monsieur for having chosen their gaycity for an abode in which to indulge melancholy at his ease, and asoften as they caught a glimpse of the illustrious _ennuye_, theystole away gaping, or drew back their heads into the interior of theirdwellings, to escape the soporific influence of that long pale face, ofthose watery eyes, and that languid address; so that the worthy princewas almost certain to find the streets deserted whenever he chanced topass through them.Now, on the part of the citizens of Blois this was a culpable piece ofdisrespect, for Monsieur was, after the king--nay, even perhaps, beforethe king--the greatest noble of the kingdom. In fact, God, who hadgranted to Louis XIV., then reigning, the honor of being son of LouisXIII., had granted to Monsieur the honor of being son of Henry IV. Itwas not then, or, at least, it ought not to have been, a trifling sourceof pride for the city of Blois, that Gaston of Orleans had chosen it ashis residence, and held his court in the ancient Castle of the States.But it was the destiny of this great prince to excite the attention andadmiration of the public in a very modified degree wherever he might be.Monsieur had fallen into this situation by habit.It was not, perhaps, this which gave him that air of listlessness.Monsieur had already been tolerably busy in the course of his life. Aman cannot allow the heads of a dozen of his best friends to be cutoff without feeling a little excitement; and as, since the accession ofMazarin to power, no heads had been cut off, Monsieur's occupation wasgone, and his _morale_ suffered from it.The life of the poor prince was then very dull. After his little morninghawking-party on the banks of the Beuvron, or in the woods of Cheverny,Monsieur crossed the Loire, went to breakfast at Chambord, withor without an appetite, and the city of Blois heard no more of itssovereign lord and master till the next hawking-day.So much for the ennui _extra muros_; of the ennui of the interior wewill give the reader an idea if he will with us follow the cavalcade tothe majestic porch of the Castle of the States.Monsieur rode a little steady-paced horse, equipped with a large saddleof red Flemish velvet, with stirrups in the shape of buskins; the horsewas of a bay color; Monsieur's pourpoint of crimson velvet correspondedwith the cloak of the same shade and the horse's equipment, and it wasonly by this red appearance of the whole that the prince could be knownfrom his two companions, the one dressed in violet, the other in green.He on the left, in violet, was his equerry; he on the right, in green,was the grand veneur.One of the pages carried two gerfalcons upon a perch, the other ahunting-horn, which he blew with a careless note at twenty paces fromthe castle. Digital Content>E-books>Classics>Coll Classics>Coll Classics, SAP Digital >16<

ISBN: 2940012859990

Chapter I. The Letter.Towards the middle of the month of May, in the year 1660, at nineo'clock in the morning, when the sun, already high in the heavens,was fast absorbing the dew from th… More...

Chapter I. The Letter.Towards the middle of the month of May, in the year 1660, at nineo'clock in the morning, when the sun, already high in the heavens,was fast absorbing the dew from the ramparts of the castle of Blois, alittle cavalcade, composed of three men and two pages, re-enteredthe city by the bridge, without producing any other effect upon thepassengers of the quay beyond a first movement of the hand to the head,as a salute, and a second movement of the tongue to express, in thepurest French then spoken in France: There is Monsieur returning fromhunting. And that was all.Whilst, however, the horses were climbing the steep acclivity whichleads from the river to the castle, several shop-boys approached thelast horse, from whose saddle-bow a number of birds were suspended bythe beak.On seeing this, the inquisitive youths manifested with rustic freedomtheir contempt for such paltry sport, and, after a dissertation amongthemselves upon the disadvantages of hawking, they returned to theiroccupations; one only of the curious party, a stout, stubby, cheerfullad, having demanded how it was that Monsieur, who, from his greatrevenues, had it in his power to amuse himself so much better, could besatisfied with such mean diversions.Do you not know, one of the standers-by replied, that Monsieur'sprincipal amusement is to weary himself?The light-hearted boy shrugged his shoulders with a gesture which saidas clear as day: In that case I would rather be plain Jack than aprince. And all resumed their labors.In the meanwhile, Monsieur continued his route with an air at once somelancholy and so majestic, that he certainly would have attracted theattention of spectators, if spectators there had been; but the goodcitizens of Blois could not pardon Monsieur for having chosen their gaycity for an abode in which to indulge melancholy at his ease, and asoften as they caught a glimpse of the illustrious _ennuye_, theystole away gaping, or drew back their heads into the interior of theirdwellings, to escape the soporific influence of that long pale face, ofthose watery eyes, and that languid address; so that the worthy princewas almost certain to find the streets deserted whenever he chanced topass through them.Now, on the part of the citizens of Blois this was a culpable piece ofdisrespect, for Monsieur was, after the king--nay, even perhaps, beforethe king--the greatest noble of the kingdom. In fact, God, who hadgranted to Louis XIV., then reigning, the honor of being son of LouisXIII., had granted to Monsieur the honor of being son of Henry IV. Itwas not then, or, at least, it ought not to have been, a trifling sourceof pride for the city of Blois, that Gaston of Orleans had chosen it ashis residence, and held his court in the ancient Castle of the States.But it was the destiny of this great prince to excite the attention andadmiration of the public in a very modified degree wherever he might be.Monsieur had fallen into this situation by habit.It was not, perhaps, this which gave him that air of listlessness.Monsieur had already been tolerably busy in the course of his life. Aman cannot allow the heads of a dozen of his best friends to be cutoff without feeling a little excitement; and as, since the accession ofMazarin to power, no heads had been cut off, Monsieur's occupation wasgone, and his _morale_ suffered from it.The life of the poor prince was then very dull. After his little morninghawking-party on the banks of the Beuvron, or in the woods of Cheverny,Monsieur crossed the Loire, went to breakfast at Chambord, withor without an appetite, and the city of Blois heard no more of itssovereign lord and master till the next hawking-day.So much for the ennui _extra muros_; of the ennui of the interior wewill give the reader an idea if he will with us follow the cavalcade tothe majestic porch of the Castle of the States.Monsieur rode a little steady-paced horse, equipped with a large saddleof red Flemish velvet, with stirrups in the shape of buskins; the horsewas of a bay color; Monsieur's pourpoint of crimson velvet correspondedwith the cloak of the same shade and the horse's equipment, and it wasonly by this red appearance of the whole that the prince could be knownfrom his two companions, the one dressed in violet, the other in green.He on the left, in violet, was his equerry; he on the right, in green,was the grand veneur.One of the pages carried two gerfalcons upon a perch, the other ahunting-horn, which he blew with a careless note at twenty paces fromthe castle. Digital Content>E-books>Literature>Literature>Literature, SAP Digital >16<

ISBN: 2940012859990

THE VICOMTE DE BRAGELONNE THE-VICOMTE-DE-BRAGELONNE~~Alexandre-Dumas Literature>Literature>Literature NOOK Book (eBook), SAP