drop Cap T
THERE exist but a limited number of terms wherewith to describe an infinite variety of natural objects that possess one common character, but differ from one another in every other particular. Needle, spike7, pinnacle8, spire9, obelisk10 have to serve for all rocks that start up from the soil and terminate in a point. Ravine, gorge11, fissure12, chasm13, ca?on have to be employed indiscriminately for those clefts14 in the surface, rents formed by the contraction16 on cooling of the earth's crust, or by the erosion of water. And yet all the difference in the world exists between spires17 of tufa and trap and those of granite18 or of limestone19. The gorge down which swirls20 the river between calcareous walls is one thing, that which is cleft15 into a street lined [Pg 61] with basaltic columns is another, yet the same term must be employed for both.
Basalt, Espaly
If it fell to me to describe all the most remarkable21 sites in Le Velay, I should have to use these expressions ad nauseam, and leave off with the consciousness that I had conveyed to the mind of the reader but a poor idea of the wonders of a wondrous22 land.
Happily for me, my purpose is not so extensive. I have not undertaken to write a guide-book. Baedeker has given us the skeleton of a tour in this region in five pages. Joanne has clothed the bones with flesh and blood in thirteen or fourteen, and Ardouin Dumazet has breathed into it the breath of life in three hundred and seventy. Moreover, a Syndicat d'Initiative exists at Le Puy that distributes gratis24 a capital guide to the sights around. But it does more than this. Throughout the summer, at a trifling25 cost, it organises excursions, provides vehicles to every point of interest that can be visited in a day.
A farmer does not take to market all the corn thrashed out of his stack, but a sample of his produce. He opens his hand and displays the grain to a would-be purchaser, and all I can pretend to do in this chapter is to give a few samples of what Le Velay has to show to a visitor, and I shall begin with Espaly, easily reached by electric tram. There, out of the valley of the Borne, rise two volcanic27 crags, washed by the river. One of these is surmounted28 by a toy castle, a battlemented summer-house that belongs to a gentleman of Le Puy. The other, and by far the finer, was once capped by the castle of the bishops29 of Le Puy. In this a bishop-designate halted the night before making his entry into the city, and here, before he was suffered to enter, the [Pg 62] consuls30 of the town exacted from him an oath to respect its liberties. Charles the Dauphin, son of Charles VI., was staying in this castle in 1422, on October 25th, when, at 7 p.m., he received the tidings of the death of his father, which had taken place five days before. He at once ordered the De profundis to be chanted, and put on mourning, which he quitted on the 27th to array himself in purple velvet31. Mass was performed, and then the banner of France was unfurled to shouts of "Vive le Roy!" After that he departed for Poitiers, where he was crowned.
By far the finest view of the rocks is to be had from the bridge over the Borne.
Of the castle almost nothing remains. It was blown up by order of S. Vidal, and now the fragments are incorporated in a wall set with peepholes, and surmounted by what looks like a gigantic gasholder, but which is intended to serve as a pedestal for a colossal32 statue of S. Joseph.
The Orgues d'Espaly attract visitors. The organ front forms the face of a spur of Mont Denise, and is composed of ranges of basaltic columns. We shall see others far finer in the gorge of the Allier and in the mountains of Vivarais.
Some way up the valley of the Borne stand the well-preserved ruins of the castle of Saint Vidal, the sturdy Leaguer. Near this are a cascade33 of the Borne and the ravine of Estreys.
Antoine, Baron de la Tour, and de Segard, and de S. Vidal, Governor of Le Velay, made a desperate and ineffectual effort, conjointly with the Governor of the Vivarais, in 1572, to capture the castle of Beaudiné in Velay, held by the Huguenot captain, La Vacheresse, [Pg 63] who had secured it by stratagem34, and who from it issued to ravage35 the country, destroy churches, hang priests and monks36, and levy37 blackmail38 on the villages.
Two months later he was wounded at Espaly, as related. In the same year he was successful in dispossessing the Calvinists of five other castles. Then he besieged39 and took the town of Tence, hung the pastors40, and gave up the inhabitants to massacre41.
In 1577 he laid siege to Ambert in Auvergne, but failed to take it, and retired42 discomfited43. By royal command, in 1580 he advanced upon S. Agrève, which had become the head-quarters of the Calvinists in the Vivarais. During the siege he lost an eye. After having taken measures for the defence of Le Puy, which was menaced by Polignac, who was at war with the city, he hastened to the relief of Bédoués in the Gévaudan, that was besieged by the redoubted Captain Merle, but was unsuccessful.
A few years later, in 1586, he left Le Puy with six cannons44 to assist the Duke of Joyeuse in the siege of Malziac. It was taken, and he was appointed governor; he also obtained the governorship of Marvejols, which capitulated after a siege of eight days. In 1588 he was before S. Agrève for the second time, and he took it and levelled the town walls. Devoted46 to the cause of the League, he hotly and zealously47 contested the governorship of Velay with De Chattes, who had been appointed by Henry IV. In 1590 he besieged Espaly again, burnt the town, and blew up the castle. In a negotiation48 in 1591 between the Royalists and the Leaguers the quarrel took so personal a turn that S. Vidal and the commandant of Le Puy challenged De Chattes and another to duel49, and in it S. Vidal fell.
[Pg 64]
Still further up this picturesque50 stream is the Castle de La Roche Lambert, the theatre of Georges Sand's novel Jean de la Roche.
"I may say without exaggeration that I was reared in a rock. The castle of my fathers is strangely incrusted into an excavation51 in a wall of basalt five hundred feet high. The base of this wall, with that face to face with it of identically the same rock, form a narrow and sinuous52 valley, through which winds and leaps an inoffensive torrent53 in impetuous cascades54, athwart delicious meadows shaded by willows55 and nut trees.
"This Chateau56 de la Roche is a nest—a nest of troglodites, inasmuch as the whole flank of the rock we occupy is riddled57 with holes and irregular chambers58 which tradition points to as the residence of ancient savages60, and which antiquaries do not hesitate to attribute to a prehistoric61 people.
"The castle of my fathers is planted high up on a ledge62 of rock, but so that the tops of the conical roofs of the towers just reach above the level of the plain. One detail will illustrate63 our situation. My mother having poor health, and having no other place to walk save one little platform before the castle on the edge of the abyss, took it into her head to create for herself a garden at the summit of the crag on which we were perched."
Castle of la Roche Lambert
The castle, which Georges Sand describes as in a dilapidated condition, and a "vrai bijou d'architecture," is small, and its chambers are scooped64 out of the rock. It has been carefully restored, and is a museum of medieval antiquities66, armour67, old cabinets, and tapestry68.
The road from Le Puy to Paris quits the valley of the Borne, and ascends69 the slopes of Mont Denise. As it mounts it commands grand views. To the east is stretched the long chain culminating in Mézenc, and [Pg 65] Mégal with its group of sucs. M. Paulett Scrope's panorama70 should be taken so as to identify the peaks.
After turning the flank of Mont Denise, the most modern of the volcanoes, a basin opens before one, out of which starts up the lava71 mass, like a huge pork-pie, that supports the scanty72 remains of the Castle of Polignac, the eagle nest of this mighty73 family. At the foot of the crag lies the village like a red girdle encircling it. Only the donjon of the fortress74 remains perfect, repaired in 1893-7 by Heracleus Armand XXV., Duke of Polignac. The entire platform was at one time covered with buildings; now only foundations can be traced. But the fallen masses have revealed the fact that this was a stronghold before the Polignacs were thought of. It was certainly a prehistoric fortress, then a Gaulish oppidum, next a Roman station. The name has been supposed to derive75 from Apollo, who is thought to have had a temple here, whence oracles76 were delivered. Within the precincts is a vault77 in which is the mouth of a well 250 feet deep reaching to a spring. It is conjectured78 that a colossal mask of stone, with open mouth, represents the bearded head of a local Apollo, and that priests concealed79 in the subterranean80 chamber59 uttered oracles which were made to issue from the mouth. What is more certain is that an inscription81 of the time of the Emperor Claudius has been found here, and that Roman tablets are built into the walls of the little Romanesque church below the rock.
The Paris road leads onwards to S. Paulien, the ancient Ruessio capital of the tribe of the Velavi. It has little to interest the visitor. A stone now surmounted by a cross is called Lou Peyrou dou tresvirs, the stone of the Triumviri, on which are carved three heads; [Pg 66] the church, reconstructed in the ninth century, stands on the ruins of an edifice82 of the fourth. Some Roman fragments are incrusted in the walls. Above the town, built into modern constructions, are many fragments of the old city. The chapel83 of N. Dame84 du Haut-Solier has been regarded as occupying the site of a temple dedicated85 to the sun, and is built up of Gallo-Roman materials. Hereabouts the spade is continually turning up relics86, among others were found a head of Jupiter Serapis, and inscriptions87, of which one is commemorative of Etruscilla, wife of the Emperor Decius. The chapel of the Sisters of S. Joseph possesses a Romanesque doorway88 with bold zigzag89 ornament90, removed from the ruined commandery of Montredon.
S. Paulien was the birthplace of the sculptor Julien, of whose work some specimens91 may be seen in the museum at Le Puy. He was a shepherd boy, the son of very poor parents, but he had an uncle in the Jesuit Order. One day this priest, walking on a bit of wild moor92 scantily93 covered with coarse grass and juniper bushes, lit on his nephew, then aged94 fourteen, guarding his flock, and engaged in modelling a figure out of clay with a bit of stick. The lad looked up with his brown, intelligent eyes, coloured, and said—
"Sorry, mon père, that the figure is so bad."
"Bad!" exclaimed the priest. "Do you call that bad? On the contrary, I pronounce it admirable. Go on and prosper95." He hastened back to S. Paulien, burst in on the Julien family, and insisted on their surrendering the lad to him. "He is moulding a saint out of clay," said the Jesuit. "Give me that lump of humanity, and I will shape it into a great artist." So the uncle carried off young Julien and committed him [Pg 67] to the sculptor Samuel at Le Puy. The pupil speedily surpassed his master, and went to Lyons, and thence to Paris, where he was under Coustin, sculptor to the King. He was elected to the Academy in 1778, and was highly favoured by Louis XVI. But evil days came, not for nobles only, but also for artists. The Revolution broke out, and men were more busy in framing constitutions than in fostering art. Not till the times of the Consulate97 and Empire was occupation found for sculptors98 and painters. However, Julien had made sufficient money before the upheaval99 to be able to purchase for himself a little estate near Le Puy, and to that he retired till better days came. He was born in 1731, and died in the Louvre, in 1804. His bust100 as a shepherd boy adorns101 a fountain at S. Paulien.
After traversing the basin of Emblavès below Le Puy, the Loire enters a second defile102, where its passage was barred by a great current of clinkstone, or laminated lava, poured forth103 from Mézenc, and of this two colossal remnants exist, the rocks Miaune and Gerbison, rising one on each side of the river to a height of 1,800 feet above it. This enormous dyke104 suddenly thrown across the valley must have caused the waters of the Loire to accumulate into a vast lake, till they effected their escape by sawing through it.
Where, further up, the Arzon flows into the Loire is Vorey, lapped in a fold of the mountains, facing Gerbison, which is striated105 with rills descending106 in small cascades.
On June 16th, annually107, is celebrated108 at Vorey a Mass "de la Lepreuse," which is attended by the people of the hamlets of Vertaure and Eyravazet. Once upon [Pg 68] a time a ragged109 leper woman arrived at the latter cluster of houses and begged for food. No one would give her even a crust of bread or a bowl of milk. She went on to Vertaure, and there fared as ill; and she crept for the night into an abandoned shed, where she remained too exhausted110 to proceed further, and there she died. Whereupon the people dug a deep pit and cast in the corpse111 and the woodwork and thatch112 of the shed, and heaped earth over the grave. The spot is still pointed45 out, and is called Las Cabannas. After that, for several years in succession, hailstorms smote113 the harvests and blighted114 the vines, whereas about Las Cabannas all remained green and flowery. Then the inhabitants of the two hamlets conceived that they were being punished for their lack of charity, and vowed115 a Mass in perpetuity for the repose116 of the leper-woman's soul. Her body was exhumed117, conveyed to Vorey, and there buried in holy ground, and she herself received a popular canonisation as Ste. Juliette.
The Loire receives a goodly addition of water through the Arzon, and below Vorey descends118 through profound gorges119 to Chamalières, a village inhabited by quarry-men, and preserving one of the most curious and interesting Romanesque churches of the department. It is of the twelfth century, and has an arcaded120 clerestory. There are three windows in this clerestory on each side, and between the windows blind arches, some circular, some trefoil-headed. The tower is of two stages, with four windows on the first and two on the second, on each side; it is capped by a curious octagonal stone spire, rising from an octagonal lantern, with trefoil-headed windows, and nothing but a slight moulding indicates the junction121.
Mézenc
[Pg 69]
The Mézenc, the highest of the Cévennes, rises out of a dreary122 plateau. It is, says M. Paulett Scrope:—
"The most elevated of an extensive system of volcanic rocks, resting partly on granite or gneiss, and in part on the Jurassic formation, which by their position and constitution prove themselves to be the remains of a single and powerful volcano, of the same character as those in the Mont Dore and Cantal. Its products, however, are disposed in a somewhat different manner, being spread over an almost equally extensive surface without accumulating into such mountainous masses around their centre of eruption123. Two causes seem to have contributed to occasion this diversity of aspect, namely: first, that the eruptions124 of this volcano appear to have been less frequent than in the other instances; secondly125, that its lavas126 consist either of basalt or clinkstone almost exclusively. They therefore were possessed127 of great comparative fluidity; and having burst out on one of the highest eminences128 of the primary platform, which afforded a considerable slope in most directions, they appear to have flowed to great distances immediately upon their protrusion131 from the volcanic vent23.
"We shall be fully65 justified132, by the universal declination of these volcanic beds from the Mont Mézenc, in fixing the site of the eruptions in its immediate130 proximity133; and on the south-east of this rocky eminence129, in the vicinity of the Croix des Boutières, there still exists a semicircular basin whose steep sides are entirely134 formed of scori? and loose masses of very cellular135 and reddish-coloured clinkstones."
The desolate136 tableland over which one travels to reach Mézenc is well described by Georges Sand in her novel Le Marquis de Villemer, and the backward and unprogressive character of the inhabitants has not altered since her time.
The carriage is left at the village of Les Estables, a [Pg 70] poor and dirty place, where the natives shiver through half the year. Their condition is indeed miserable137. Their cottages, built of lava-blocks, are thatched with straw, or roofed with clinkstone (phonolith). The street is filthy138, encumbered139 with stones and deep in slime. Were it not for the lace industry and for the violet harvest, the place would be deserted140. The cattle are lean and poor in quality, from lack of lime in the soil; the harvests ripen141 so late that when gathered in the crops are frequently spoilt.
At Ste. Eulalie, on the Sunday after the 12th July, is held the Foire aux Violettes. To that stream the cottagers from Les Estables and all the hamlets about Mézenc, laden142 with baskets heaped up with violets, and not violets only, but also the thousand aromatic143 herbs that luxuriate in this desolate region. The violets of Mézenc are so numerous and so large that in spring the mountain is arrayed in royal purple. The Mézenc violet is, moreover, more intense in colour than that of the Alps, and it retains its colour longer when dried. To this fair come the merchants of Lyons, Marseilles, and N?mes. Every kind of simple used by druggists, every herb used for the production of essences, is there to be procured144. But the violet is the staple145 of the trade. The air is scented146 with it, but the sweetness cannot neutralise the bad savour of the village—that defies suppression.
The flowers are gathered at the end of May by women and children. Then they are dried in the hayloft, never allowed so to do in the sun. And when we buy the crystallised violet at Gunters, or try the withered147 flowers as a cure for cancer, ten to one but we are employing the produce of Mézenc, and putting a few [Pg 71] petits sous into the pockets of those leading a hard life in this southern Siberia.
The flora of Mézenc is subalpine, with many gaps. One rare plant alone is found on it, the Senecio leucophyllus, that flowers in August and September, and is found also on the Pyrenees at heights between 3,000 and 6,000 feet. It resembles the Senecio maritimus that grows on the Mediterranean148 littoral149, which is cultivated in our gardens as an ornamental150 plant on account of its imbricated and silvery foliage151.
Oaks here are low-growing and yield acorns152 once in six years, and beech153 once in four, whereas the service tree gives its fruit every year. This arrest of oak and beech is due to spring frosts when the trees are in flower, and an early winter forbids the glands154 and mast to ripen even when formed.
It is quite easy to "do" Mézenc from Le Puy in a day. That admirable institution, the Syndicat d'Initiative, provides a conveyance155, starting from the capital every Sunday morning in summer at 5 a.m., and from Estables the mountain may be climbed in an hour and a half. The conveyance is back at Le Puy at 10 p.m., and the cost of a seat is but five francs. But if the visitor desires to extend his expedition, he should seek the Gerbier de Jonc and the lake of Issarley and return by Le Monastier. But this will occupy two days.
The Gerbier de Jonc is a conical clinkstone mountain, not so high as the Mézenc, but commanding quite as fine a prospect156. It has been compared not inaptly to a pine cone157, bristling158 with foils of phonolith that make the ascent by no means easy. Indeed, from the source of the Loire at its foot it is but a climb of 530 feet, but [Pg 72] the dislocation of the rock and the steepness make the climb somewhat laborious159.
Gerbier de Jonc
"Yet—how one is repaid for the labour! The view over the Vivarais is one of inexpressible beauty. No other belvedere offers a view of such an ocean of peaks, puys, ridges160, and precipices161, such folds of mountains, such abysses, and such plateaux. I do not know any impression I have received quite comparable to that produced by the view from the Gerbier. The glare of southern sunlight gives extraordinary relief to the rocks and woods, the vast stretches of turf, to this illimitable world of mountains of every shape. There are panoramas163 more vast and sublime164, but none more striking. The clouds drifting across the sky cast great patches of shadow over the storm-tossed and solidified165 ocean; and when the wind disperses166 the veil, it seems as though the abysses gaped167 suddenly under one's eye, so deep are the clefts, so tumultuous are the crests168 of the mountains. And the Alps! yonder they are, far away on the horizon. To the south is the immeasurable mass of the tossed Cévennes; blue to the north stands the great boundary heap of Mont Pilat. Above the haze169 to the east calcareous walls rear themselves, much hacked170 about, and some heights thrusting forward their cliffs like the beaks171 of birds. On the side of Le Velay is a platform bristling with sucs. At the foot of the Gerbier is the nascent172 rill of the Loire crossing the road and flowing through a vast prairie in which ooze173 forth a thousand springs that plunge174 into the ravine in which the Loire gathers its waters."—Ardouin Dumazet.
The lake of Issarlès is indisputably the most beautiful of the sheets of water in the Cévennes. It is circular, and has no visible exit. It swarms175 with trout176, yet they do not breed in it, as these fish will not spawn177 unless they can go up stream to a suitable gravelly bed, and no stream enters Issarlès.
[Pg 73]
But if no stream issues visibly from the lake, numerous springs rise at the bottom of the bank that bounds it, due doubtless to filtration through the scoria, and unite to form a current sufficient to turn a mill before it reaches the Loire distant three-quarters of a mile.
This beautiful tarn178, 330 feet deep in the middle, has been menaced more than once. The lake belonged in the Middle Ages to the Chartreuse of Bonnefoy, the ruins of which are in the neighbourhood, and which was founded in 1156 by a Seigneur of Mézenc. The Carthusians used the lake not only as a fishpond to furnish their table, but also as a reservoir for the irrigation of their meadows by means of canals.
In 1793 it ran its first risk. With the laudable object of draining marshy179 land and rendering96 such lake bottoms as could be reclaimed180 serviceable for culture, a law was passed on the 14th to 16th Frimaire (4th to 6th December), and at the beginning of 1794 the Citizen Auzillon was deputed to inspect and report on Issarlès. But he was driven back by storms of snow, and obliged to postpone181 his examination of the lake. He started again in July, and was accompanied by the deputy sent down from Paris to organise26 an expedition for hunting out and bringing to the lamp-post or the guillotine the priests and royalists who were supposed to be in concealment182 in the neighbourhood. Auzillon declared in his report that the draining of the lake would cause an unwarrantable expense and prove unprofitable. It lay, he said, in the crater183 of an extinct volcano, and that he had been unable by sounding to discover the depth.
The lake has been again threatened, this time with conversion184 into a reservoir for the water-supply of factories, to be established at a lower level.
[Pg 74]
A scene, however beautiful it may be, always acquires additional charm when with it is connected something of human interest. And this must serve as an excuse for my introducing here a story that attaches to Issarlès.
Beside the lake some years ago resided a man of singular character, a man over whose fortunes Fate seemed to have decreed "pas de chance." A memoir185 of this man was written after his death by an acquaintance. Pierre Noirot was born at N?mes of a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. His father, Jacques, was a descendant of one of the Camisards, who had run his knife into the heart of the Abbé du Chayla at the Pont de Montvert. Noirot père had inherited from his ancestors nothing but an implacable hatred186 of Catholicism. He was a coarse-minded man of a brutal187 character, and was wholly uneducated. Having become a soldier, he passed from barrack to barrack, always quarrelsome, always discontented, always finding fault, so that he acquired the name of Captain Grumbler189. When he left the army, he retired to N?mes and lived on his pension. Inconsistently enough, he married a Catholic, a little needlewoman. Pierre was the fruit of this union. Mme. Noirot had him baptised privately190 by a priest of her religion. Jacques heard of this the same day, and mad with rage he fell on his wife and beat her so severely191, though only just recovering from her confinement192, that she died of the injuries inflicted193 upon her. From this moment the father bore an implacable dislike to his son. He sent him into the mountains to be fostered by peasants in the village of Issarlès, and thenceforth cared no further for him than to send grudgingly194 the meagre sum necessary for his keep.
[Pg 75]
Pierre grew up in rough surroundings. His foster-parents, Antoine and Véronique Vidil, had three children, two boys and a girl, but lost their sons in one day by typhoid fever. Only the little Geneviève remained to them, and the orphan195, Pierre, whom thenceforth the Vidils regarded as their own. But among these rude peasants affection displayed itself uncouthly196. Antoine Vidil was a man who rarely spoke197, and expressed himself in monosyllables only, and when he corrected the children it was without discretion198 and with a heavy hand. The woman Vidil, stout199 and florid, was the reverse of her husband. She was effusive200, noisy, variable in temper. Sometimes she treated the little Pierre with plenty of food and smothered201 him with caresses202, at another time she stinted203 him in his diet and scolded him for nothing at all.
Pierre's sensitive soul was wounded by the injustice204 wherewith he was treated, and he found his only happiness in the society of Geneviève.
The Vidils, without consulting the "Captain," brought up Pierre in the Catholic faith, and sent him to the village school. There from the first he became the butt205 of the children. Pale, delicate, taciturn, and a dreamer, he consorted206 with none, and he obtained the nickname of lou mou, the Dumb One. Endowed with exceptional intelligence, he rapidly made his way, and in three months had learned to read. Then he begged to be sent to college. The case was embarrassing. It was necessary to consult the Captain. Vidil wrote in two lines to the père Noirot: "The child desires to go to college. Where shall he be put?" The Captain replied even more laconically207, "Where you will." The Vidils, at their own cost, sent him to the college at Aubenas; [Pg 76] and by the death of an aunt he was furnished with small means to relieve them and to defray the cost of his education. He was not more happy at Aubenas than he had been at Issarlès. He had no friend. Always alone, he spent his time when out of class in reading. His father held no communication with him, and Aubenas was too far from Issarlès for the Vidils to see him. He tasted of happiness only in the holidays, when he returned to Geneviève. Study was his great consolation208. Philosophy and mathematics proved an irresistible209 attraction to his eager mind. Always first in his class, he surprised the professors, and sometimes alarmed them by his precocity210.
At the age of seventeen he entered the Polytechnic211 School, and was the first to pass in his examination. The régimen of this institution suited him. He spent all his spare hours in the library. Pierre read voraciously212 books treating of the destiny of man and the problems of the universe, even at this early age. He felt assured of being able to enter one of the learned professions, when an event occurred that dashed his hopes. On the eve of All Saints, 1856, he was seated at his examination, when a despatch213, "Very urgent," was put into his hand. On opening it he read: "N?mes, 31st October, 1856. Captain Noirot is dead. Apoplexy. Come at once. Doctor Moulon."
Pierre packed his valise and departed. He found that his father's affairs were in a deplorable condition. He had taken to cards and to drinking. Pierre paid all old Noirot's debts with the money left him by his aunt, but in so doing exhausted that sum. He was consequently unable to return to college, and nothing else was left him but to enlist214. He was, however, too young by six [Pg 77] months, and accordingly returned to the Vidils, who received him with a warm welcome. These good people had planned to marry him to Geneviève, but he was too shy to speak, and when he departed left without a word to her to intimate his affection. He was sent to garrison215 Toulouse. There he proved quiet, orderly, attentive216 to his duties, respectful to his officers, and courteous217 to his comrades-in-arms. But he made no friends. One day he received this letter:—
"Issarlès, May 1st, 1859.
"My Little One,
"I am obliged to apply to the béate, who is more skilled in writing than myself, to inform you that misfortune has overtaken us. Father is dead—may God rest his soul!—and Geneviève has died of a languor218. I am growing old, and am alone. Come and comfort maman Véronique, who loves you, and has none but you left to her in the world.
"V. Vidil.
"P.S.—You will find in a fold of this letter a thousand francs wherewith to buy a substitute."
Geneviève was dead—had died of despondency, perhaps because he had not spoken that which would have given her an object for which to live. From that day no smile ever brightened up his features. He returned to Issarlès. The Vidils had done well, and had amassed219 a little money.
Twenty years passed. In 1879 M. Firmin Boissin, who had been at college at Aubenas with Noirot, went to Issarlès to visit his friend there, the Curé Téraube; and when there learned that his old schoolfellow lived near, but in strange fashion—solitary, speaking to few, spending his time in study and in contemplation, still [Pg 78] wrapped in philosophic220 pursuits. He had brought away with him from N?mes some of the doctrinal books that had belonged to his ancestors, but which père Noirot had not read. All his spare cash was expended221 in the purchase of others.
M. Boissin visited him. Noirot's first words were: "Explain to me, if you can, the contradiction that exists between the foreknowledge of God and free-will in man. How can man be a free agent when his course, his every act is irrevocably predestined?"
The iron of Calvinism had entered into his soul, and was festering it.
M. Boissin and he had many disputes on this perplexing theme. Pierre was ever revolving222 the question in his mind fruitlessly, making no further progress than does a squirrel in its rotating cage. At last, one day, he exclaimed bitterly, "How well I can understand the saying of Ackermann, 'I have lost all faith—I believe now in nothing but in the existence of evil.' And the evil is the Great Cause—is God."
A few days later Pierre disappeared. Mme. Vidil came in alarm to the presbytère to inform the Curé that she could not find her foster-son, and that she fancied he had fallen into the lake. The alarm was given, the whole village turned out, and he was discovered in the water. The Curé managed to drag him out by the hair of his head. Pierre Noirot was conveyed to his bed. Life was not quite extinct. The Abbé Téraube, stooping over him, said, "Monsieur Noirot, do you recognise me?" The dying man made a sign in the affirmative. "Do you commit yourself into the hands of God, and put your trust in the infinite mercy of Christ?"
[Pg 79]
At these words the eyes of Noirot opened; he looked up and said in a whisper: "Je vois—je sais—je crois—je suis désabusé."
The Abbé, laying his hand on the unfortunate man's head, pronounced Absolution. Then kneeling at his side, he recited the Lord's Prayer. At the words, "Thy will be done," the spirit of him, qui n'avait pas de chance, passed away. [5]
Le Monastier is the place whence Robert Louis Stevenson started with his donkey after having spent there a month.
He says:—
"Monastier is notable for the making of lace, for drunkenness, for freedom of language, and for unparalleled political discussion. There are adherents223 of each of the four French parties—Legitimists, Orleanists, Imperialists, and Republicans—in this little mountain town, and they all hate, loathe224, decry225, and calumniate226 each other. Except for business purposes, or to give each other the lie in a tavern227 brawl228, they have laid aside even the civility of speech. 'Tis a mere229 mountain Poland. In the midst of the Babylon I find myself a rallying point; everyone was anxious to be kind and helpful to a stranger."
The book was published in 1879. Since then Legitimists, Orleanists, and Imperialists are no more such. They have acquiesced230 in being good Republicans. Perhaps they have found other themes on which to contend. I do not think that the peasant has much respect for the Republic, but he is content to live quietly under it. As for the deputies he sends to the National Assembly, for them he has no respect at all. [Pg 80] They go up needy231 attorneys and return flush with money.
A peasant said to me one day: "Have you been at a chase and seen the poor brute232 down, all the hounds tearing at it and fighting each other for scraps233 of the carcass? That prey234 is France, and the hounds are the parties."
In 680 Calminius, Count of Auvergne, founded a Benedictine monastery235 under the red crags of La Moulette that rises to the east of the monastery. The abbey buildings which had suffered in the Wars of Religion were rebuilt in 1754 and are characterless. They have been converted into mairie and corn market. Everywhere in France we see Virgil's Sic vos non vobis exemplified. Monks erect236 monasteries237 that serve as barracks and schools, asylums238 and municipal buildings to a future generation.
The abbatial church remains, an edifice of the eleventh century, but with an apse of the fifteenth. The fa?ade is Romanesque with mosaic239 work of lava, and the arcades240 of window and doorway are striped in the same manner.
On the south side of the choir241 is the pretty renaissance242 chapel of S. Chaffre, the second abbot, who was martyred by the Saracens in 732. This chapel with its painted roof dates from 1543. Names of saints became marvellously altered in the south. Theofred has been transformed into Chaffre, we have seen Evodius become Vozy, and in Hérault we come on St. Agatha disguised under the form of Ste. Chatte, and in Ardèche, Mélany is rendered Boloni. At the entrance of the town is another church, built of blocks of lava, of the twelfth century, S. Jean, but it has undergone alterations243.
[Pg 81]
From Monastier one can drive to Goudet and thence walk to Arlempdes, distant but three miles, one of the most picturesque sites, with one of the most interesting castles in the Velay. At Goudet itself are the ruined castles of Goudet and Beaufort. At Arlempdes the Loire has cut its way through a mass of lava exposing prismatic columns, and the village is commanded by a castle flanked by round and square towers on a basaltic rock above it, and looking down from a sheer precipice162 on the Loire that glides244 below. The summit of the rock was irregular, and the feudal245 remains were grouped about on the platform equally irregularly. The chapel of Arlempdes is of the twelfth century. The Lac du Bouchet has been already spoken of. It is visited from Cayres. It is not the only object worth seeing in that direction; three-quarters of a mile off the main road from Le Puy to Langonne at Chacornac are caves excavated246 by the hand of man, that served Mandrin as one of his mints for forged coins. He was a native of S. Etienne; his principal factory of coins was at S. André on the sea coast, but when disturbed there he set up his workshop at Chacornac. Caught repeatedly, he managed to break out of prison again and again, but finally was broken on the wheel in 1755 at the age of forty-one. For some time he used an old castle as his place for coining, first scaring the owner out of it by spectral247 appearances and keeping up the idea among the peasantry around that it was haunted.
Some commotion248 was caused in the spiritualistic world in 1903 by stories circulating relative to a haunted mill at Perbet between Le Puy and S. Front. It was occupied by a miller249, Joubert, and his wife and two daughters, Marie aged fourteen, and Philomène aged [Pg 82] twelve. On November 27th, 1902, three peasants were returning from market at Lausanne, and had reached the glen of the Aubépine, when they heard startling noises issue from the mill of Perbet accompanied by screams of terror, and the bellowing250 of the cattle in the stable that was under the same roof. Next moment they saw the miller's wife—he himself was absent at the time—at the door gesticulating and calling for help. The men hastened to the door, and beheld251 the two girls writhing252 in convulsions on the floor, the crockery flying about the kitchen, and the furniture performing a waltz. Next moment a volley of stones was discharged at their heads. The men, panic-struck, crossed themselves and departed to talk about what they had seen. Next day and during several that followed crowds visited the ramshackle mill of Perbet, to witness the performances that continued till the clock, the sacred pictures, the window-panes, the crockery, every article the poor dwelling253 contained, had been reduced to wreckage254. The children were conducted to the parish priest, who exorcised them, but all to no purpose. The editor of the Radical255 l'Avenir at Le Puy went to the scene, but saw none of the performances. He contented188 himself with collecting evidence from eye-witnesses, and convinced himself that the phenomena256 were due to some supernatural cause.
That the two girls were at the bottom of the diablerie admitted of no doubt. It was obvious to all. When they were removed to their uncle's elsewhere, the phenomena ceased at the mill and recommenced in the house into which they had been received.
Nevertheless it occurred to no one, not even to the free-thinking editor, that all was due to clever legerdemain257.
[Pg 83]
A precisely258 similar exhibition took place in my own neighbourhood many years ago, and was investigated by my father. In this instance there was one girl instead of two who called the performances into existence. My father speedily satisfied himself that they were due to sleight259 of hand. When a stone flew across the room and smashed a window every eye was turned in the direction taken by the projectile260, and the girl obtained thereby261 an opportunity of providing herself with something fresh to throw. Plates and bowls were made to dance by horsehairs which had been attached to them by dabs262 of wax.
In the case of the mill of Perbet, it was noticed that the stones flung were warm, in itself a significant token that they had been in the hands of the children or secreted263 about their persons.
The witnesses at Perbet were doubtless all honourable264 men and disposed to speak the truth, but it is open to question whether there was one among them capable of observing correctly.
An account of the manifestations265 at the mill at Perbet found its way into the transactions of the Psychical266 Research Society in London. But one may say without hesitation267 that the whole "show was run" by Marie and Philomène, and that the only spirits responsible for the disturbance268 and damage done were the spirits of the two mischievous269 girls, who ought to have been exorcised by the use of a stick across their backs instead of Latin prayers.
FOOTNOTE:
[5] Révu du Vivarais, 1893.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
baron
|
|
| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
oracle
|
|
| n.神谕，神谕处，预言 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
sculptor
|
|
| n.雕刻家，雕刻家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
ascent
|
|
| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
flora
|
|
| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
spike
|
|
| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
pinnacle
|
|
| n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
spire
|
|
| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
obelisk
|
|
| n.方尖塔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
gorge
|
|
| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
fissure
|
|
| n.裂缝；裂伤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
chasm
|
|
| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
clefts
|
|
| n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 )；裂口；cleave的过去式和过去分词；进退维谷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
cleft
|
|
| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
contraction
|
|
| n.缩略词，缩写式，害病 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
spires
|
|
| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
granite
|
|
| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
limestone
|
|
| n.石灰石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
swirls
|
|
| n.旋转( swirl的名词复数 )；卷状物；漩涡；尘旋v.旋转，打旋( swirl的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
wondrous
|
|
| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
vent
|
|
| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
gratis
|
|
| adj.免费的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
trifling
|
|
| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
organise
|
|
| vt.组织，安排，筹办 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
volcanic
|
|
| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
surmounted
|
|
| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
bishops
|
|
| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
consuls
|
|
| 领事( consul的名词复数 )； （古罗马共和国时期）执政官 （古罗马共和国及其军队的最高首长，同时共有两位，每年选举一次） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
velvet
|
|
| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
colossal
|
|
| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
cascade
|
|
| n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
stratagem
|
|
| n.诡计，计谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
ravage
|
|
| vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
monks
|
|
| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
levy
|
|
| n.征收税或其他款项，征收额 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
blackmail
|
|
| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
besieged
|
|
| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
pastors
|
|
| n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
massacre
|
|
| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
discomfited
|
|
| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
cannons
|
|
| n.加农炮，大炮，火炮( cannon的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
zealously
|
|
| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
negotiation
|
|
| n.谈判，协商 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
duel
|
|
| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
excavation
|
|
| n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
sinuous
|
|
| adj.蜿蜒的，迂回的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
torrent
|
|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
cascades
|
|
| 倾泻( cascade的名词复数 )； 小瀑布（尤指一连串瀑布中的一支）； 瀑布状物； 倾泻（或涌出）的东西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
willows
|
|
| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
chateau
|
|
| n.城堡，别墅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
riddled
|
|
| adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
chambers
|
|
| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
savages
|
|
| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
prehistoric
|
|
| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
ledge
|
|
| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
illustrate
|
|
| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
scooped
|
|
| v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
antiquities
|
|
| n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
armour
|
|
| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
tapestry
|
|
| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
ascends
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
panorama
|
|
| n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
lava
|
|
| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
scanty
|
|
| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
fortress
|
|
| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
derive
|
|
| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
oracles
|
|
| 神示所( oracle的名词复数 )； 神谕； 圣贤； 哲人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
vault
|
|
| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
conjectured
|
|
| 推测，猜测，猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
subterranean
|
|
| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
inscription
|
|
| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
edifice
|
|
| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
chapel
|
|
| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
dame
|
|
| n.女士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
dedicated
|
|
| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
relics
|
|
| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
inscriptions
|
|
| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
zigzag
|
|
| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
ornament
|
|
| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
specimens
|
|
| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
moor
|
|
| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
scantily
|
|
| adv.缺乏地；不充足地；吝啬地；狭窄地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
aged
|
|
| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
prosper
|
|
| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
rendering
|
|
| n.表现，描写 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
consulate
|
|
| n.领事馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
sculptors
|
|
| 雕刻家，雕塑家( sculptor的名词复数 )； [天]玉夫座 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
upheaval
|
|
| n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
bust
|
|
| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
adorns
|
|
| 装饰，佩带( adorn的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
defile
|
|
| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
dyke
|
|
| n.堤，水坝，排水沟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
striated
|
|
| adj.有纵线，条纹的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
descending
|
|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
annually
|
|
| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
celebrated
|
|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
ragged
|
|
| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
corpse
|
|
| n.尸体，死尸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
thatch
|
|
| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
smote
|
|
| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
blighted
|
|
| adj.枯萎的，摧毁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
vowed
|
|
| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
repose
|
|
| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
exhumed
|
|
| v.挖出，发掘出( exhume的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
descends
|
|
| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
gorges
|
|
| n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
arcaded
|
|
| adj.成为拱廊街道的，有列拱的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
121
junction
|
|
| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
dreary
|
|
| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
eruption
|
|
| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
eruptions
|
|
| n.喷发，爆发( eruption的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
secondly
|
|
| adv.第二，其次 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
lavas
|
|
| n.（火山喷发的）熔岩( lava的名词复数 )；（熔岩冷凝后的）火山岩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
eminences
|
|
| 卓越( eminence的名词复数 )； 著名； 高地； 山丘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
eminence
|
|
| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
protrusion
|
|
| n.伸出，突出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
justified
|
|
| a.正当的，有理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
proximity
|
|
| n.接近，邻近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
cellular
|
|
| adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
desolate
|
|
| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
filthy
|
|
| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
encumbered
|
|
| v.妨碍，阻碍，拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
ripen
|
|
| vt.使成熟；vi.成熟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
laden
|
|
| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
aromatic
|
|
| adj.芳香的，有香味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
procured
|
|
| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
staple
|
|
| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
scented
|
|
| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
withered
|
|
| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
Mediterranean
|
|
| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
littoral
|
|
| adj.海岸的；湖岸的；n.沿（海）岸地区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
ornamental
|
|
| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
foliage
|
|
| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
acorns
|
|
| n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
beech
|
|
| n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
glands
|
|
| n.腺( gland的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
conveyance
|
|
| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
prospect
|
|
| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
cone
|
|
| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
bristling
|
|
| a.竖立的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
laborious
|
|
| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
ridges
|
|
| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
precipices
|
|
| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
precipice
|
|
| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
panoramas
|
|
| 全景画( panorama的名词复数 )； 全景照片； 一连串景象或事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
sublime
|
|
| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
solidified
|
|
| （使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
disperses
|
|
| v.（使）分散( disperse的第三人称单数 )；疏散；驱散；散布 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
gaped
|
|
| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
crests
|
|
| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
haze
|
|
| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
hacked
|
|
| 生气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
beaks
|
|
| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
nascent
|
|
| adj.初生的，发生中的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
ooze
|
|
| n.软泥，渗出物；vi.渗出，泄漏；vt.慢慢渗出，流露 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
plunge
|
|
| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
swarms
|
|
| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
trout
|
|
| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
spawn
|
|
| n.卵，产物，后代，结果；vt.产卵，种菌丝于，产生，造成；vi.产卵，大量生产 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
tarn
|
|
| n.山中的小湖或小潭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
marshy
|
|
| adj.沼泽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
reclaimed
|
|
| adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
postpone
|
|
| v.延期，推迟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
concealment
|
|
| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
crater
|
|
| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
conversion
|
|
| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
memoir
|
|
| n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
brutal
|
|
| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
contented
|
|
| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
grumbler
|
|
| 爱抱怨的人，发牢骚的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
privately
|
|
| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
191
severely
|
|
| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
192
confinement
|
|
| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
193
inflicted
|
|
| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
194
grudgingly
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
195
orphan
|
|
| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
196
uncouthly
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
197
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
198
discretion
|
|
| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
200
effusive
|
|
| adj.热情洋溢的；感情(过多)流露的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
201
smothered
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
202
caresses
|
|
| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
203
stinted
|
|
| v.限制，节省（stint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
204
injustice
|
|
| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
205
butt
|
|
| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
206
consorted
|
|
| v.结伴( consort的过去式和过去分词 )；交往；相称；调和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
207
laconically
|
|
| adv.简短地，简洁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
208
consolation
|
|
| n.安慰，慰问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
209
irresistible
|
|
| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
210
precocity
|
|
| n.早熟，早成 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
211
polytechnic
|
|
| adj.各种工艺的，综合技术的；n.工艺(专科)学校；理工(专科)学校 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
212
voraciously
|
|
| adv.贪婪地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
213
despatch
|
|
| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
214
enlist
|
|
| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
215
garrison
|
|
| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
216
attentive
|
|
| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
217
courteous
|
|
| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
218
languor
|
|
| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
219
amassed
|
|
| v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
220
philosophic
|
|
| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
221
expended
|
|
| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
222
revolving
|
|
| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
223
adherents
|
|
| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
224
loathe
|
|
| v.厌恶，嫌恶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
225
decry
|
|
| v.危难，谴责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
226
calumniate
|
|
| v.诬蔑，中伤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
227
tavern
|
|
| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
228
brawl
|
|
| n.大声争吵，喧嚷；v.吵架，对骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
229
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
230
acquiesced
|
|
| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
231
needy
|
|
| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
232
brute
|
|
| n.野兽，兽性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
233
scraps
|
|
| 油渣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
234
prey
|
|
| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
235
monastery
|
|
| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
236
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
237
monasteries
|
|
| 修道院( monastery的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
238
asylums
|
|
| n.避难所( asylum的名词复数 )；庇护；政治避难；精神病院 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
239
mosaic
|
|
| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
240
arcades
|
|
| n.商场( arcade的名词复数 )；拱形走道（两旁有商店或娱乐设施）；连拱廊；拱形建筑物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
241
choir
|
|
| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
242
renaissance
|
|
| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
243
alterations
|
|
| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
244
glides
|
|
| n.滑行( glide的名词复数 )；滑音；音渡；过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
245
feudal
|
|
| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
246
excavated
|
|
| v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
247
spectral
|
|
| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
248
commotion
|
|
| n.骚动，动乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
249
miller
|
|
| n.磨坊主 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
250
bellowing
|
|
| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
251
beheld
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
252
writhing
|
|
| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
253
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
254
wreckage
|
|
| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
255
radical
|
|
| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
256
phenomena
|
|
| n.现象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
257
legerdemain
|
|
| n.戏法，诈术 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
258
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
259
sleight
|
|
| n.技巧，花招 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
260
projectile
|
|
| n.投射物，发射体；adj.向前开进的；推进的；抛掷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
261
thereby
|
|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
262
dabs
|
|
| 少许( dab的名词复数 )； 是…能手； 做某事很在行； 在某方面技术熟练 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
263
secreted
|
|
| v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的过去式和过去分词 )；隐匿，隐藏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
264
honourable
|
|
| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
265
manifestations
|
|
| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
266
psychical
|
|
| adj.有关特异功能现象的；有关特异功能官能的；灵魂的；心灵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
267
hesitation
|
|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
268
disturbance
|
|
| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
269
mischievous
|
|
| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |