Issoudun, therefore, according to the researches of this antiquary, like other cities of France whose ancient or modern autonym ends in “Dun” (“dunum”) bears in its very name the certificate of an autochthonous existence. The word “Dun,” the appanage of all dignity consecrated7 by Druidical worship, proves a religious and military settlement of the Celts. Beneath the Dun of the Gauls must have lain the Roman temple to Isis. From that comes, according to Chaumon, the name of the city, Issous–Dun — “Is” being the abbreviation of “Isis.” Richard Coeur-delion undoubtedly8 built the famous tower (in which he coined money) above the basilica of the fifth century — the third monument of the third religion of this ancient town. He used the church as a necessary foundation, or stay, for the raising of the rampart; and he preserved it by covering it with feudal9 fortifications as with a mantle11. Issoudun was at that time the seat of the ephemeral power of the Routiers and the Cottereaux, adventurers and free-lancers, whom Henry II. sent against his son Richard, at the time of his rebellion as Comte de Poitou.
The history of Aquitaine, which was not written by the Benedictines, will probably never be written, because there are no longer Benedictines: thus we are not able to light up these archaeological tenebrae in the history of our manners and customs on every occasion of their appearance. There is another testimony12 to the ancient importance of Issoudun in the conversion13 into a canal of the Tournemine, a little stream raised several feet above the level of the Theols which surrounds the town. This is undoubtedly the work of Roman genius. Moreover, the suburb which extends from the castle in a northerly direction is intersected by a street which for more than two thousand years has borne the name of the rue14 de Rome; and the inhabitants of this suburb, whose racial characteristics, blood, and physiognomy have a special stamp of their own, call themselves descendants of the Romans. They are nearly all vine-growers, and display a remarkable15 inflexibility16 of manners and customs, due, undoubtedly, to their origin — perhaps also to their victory over the Cottereaux and the Routiers, whom they exterminated17 on the plain of Charost in the twelfth century.
After the insurrection of 1830, France was too agitated18 to pay much attention to the rising of the vine-growers of Issoudun; a terrible affair, the facts of which have never been made public — for good reasons. In the first place, the bourgeois19 of Issoudun refused to allow the military to enter the town. They followed the use and wont20 of the bourgeoisie of the Middle Ages and declared themselves responsible for their own city. The government was obliged to yield to a sturdy people backed up by seven or eight thousand vine-growers, who had burned all the archives, also the offices of “indirect taxation,” and had dragged through the streets a customs officer, crying out at every street lantern, “Let us hang him here!” The poor man’s life was saved by the national guard, who took him to prison on pretext21 of drawing up his indictment22. The general in command only entered the town by virtue23 of a compromise made with the vine-growers; and it needed some courage to go among them. At the moment when he showed himself at the hotel-deville, a man from the faubourg de Rome slung24 a “volant” round his neck (the “volant” is a huge pruning-hook fastened to a pole, with which they trim trees) crying out, “No more clerks, or there’s an end to compromise!” The fellow would have taken off that honored head, left untouched by sixteen years of war, had it not been for the hasty intervention25 of one of the leaders of the revolt, to whom a promise had been made that the chambers26 should be asked to suppress the excisemen.
In the fourteenth century, Issoudun still had sixteen or seventeen thousand inhabitants, remains27 of a population double that number in the time of Rigord. Charles VII. possessed28 a mansion29 which still exists, and was known, as late as the eighteenth century, as the Maison du Roi. This town, then a centre of the woollen trade, supplied that commodity to the greater part of Europe, and manufactured on a large scale blankets, hats, and the excellent Chevreautin gloves. Under Louis XIV., Issoudun, the birthplace of Baron30 and Bourdaloue, was always cited as a city of elegance31 and good society, where the language was correctly spoken. The curate Poupard, in his History of Sancerre, mentions the inhabitants of Issoudun as remarkable among the other Berrichons for subtlety32 and natural wit. To-day, the wit and the splendor33 have alike disappeared. Issoudun, whose great extent of ground bears witness to its ancient importance, has now barely twelve thousand inhabitants, including the vine-dressers of four enormous suburbs — those of Saint–Paterne, Vilatte, Rome, and Alouette, which are really small towns. The bourgeoisie, like that of Versailles, are spread over the length and breadth of the streets. Issoudun still holds the market for the fleeces of Berry; a commerce now threatened by improvements in the stock which are being introduced everywhere except in Berry.
The vineyards of Issoudun produce a wine which is drunk throughout the two departments, and which, if manufactured as Burgundy and Gascony manufacture theirs, would be one of the best wines in France. Alas34, “to do as our fathers did,” with no innovations, is the law of the land. Accordingly, the vine-growers continue to leave the refuse of the grape in the juice during its fermentation, which makes the wine detestable, when it might be a source of ever-springing wealth, and an industry for the community. Thanks to the bitterness which the refuse infuses into the wine, and which, they say, lessens35 with age, a vintage will keep a century. This reason, given by the vine-grower in excuse for his obstinacy36, is of sufficient importance to oenology to be made public here; Guillaume le Breton has also proclaimed it in some lines of his “Phillippide.”
The decline of Issoudun is explained by this spirit of sluggishness37, sunken to actual torpor38, which a single fact will illustrate39. When the authorities were talking of a highroad between Paris and Toulouse, it was natural to think of taking it from Vierzon to Chateauroux by way of Issoudun. The distance was shorter than to make it, as the road now is, through Vatan, but the leading people of the neighborhood and the city council of Issoudun (whose discussion of the matter is said to be recorded), demanded that it should go by Vatan, on the ground that if the highroad went through their town, provisions would rise in price and they might be forced to pay thirty sous for a chicken. The only analogy to be found for this proceeding41 is in the wilder parts of Sardinia, a land once so rich and populous42, now so deserted43. When Charles Albert, with a praiseworthy intention of civilization, wished to unite Sassari, the second capital of the island, with Cagliari by a magnificent highway (the only one ever made in that wild waste by name Sardinia), the direct line lay through Bornova, a district inhabited by lawless people, all the more like our Arab tribes because they are descended45 from the Moors46. Seeing that they were about to fall into the clutches of civilization, the savages47 of Bornova, without taking the trouble to discuss the matter, declared their opposition48 to the road. The government took no notice of it. The first engineer who came to survey it, got a ball through his head, and died on his level. No action was taken on this murder, but the road made a circuit which lengthened49 it by eight miles!
The continual lowering of the price of wines drunk in the neighborhood, though it may satisfy the desire of the bourgeoisie of Issoudun for cheap provisions, is leading the way to the ruin of the vine-growers, who are more and more burdened with the costs of cultivation50 and the taxes; just as the ruin of the woollen trade is the result of the non-improvement in the breeding of sheep. Country-folk have the deepest horror of change; even that which is most conducive51 to their interests. In the country, a Parisian meets a laborer52 who eats an enormous quantity of bread, cheese, and vegetables; he proves to him that if he would substitute for that diet a certain portion of meat, he would be better fed, at less cost; that he could work more, and would not use up his capital of health and strength so quickly. The Berrichon sees the correctness of the calculation, but he answers, “Think of the gossip, monsieur.” “Gossip, what do you mean?” “Well, yes, what would people say of me?” “He would be the talk of the neighborhood,” said the owner of the property on which this scene took place; “they would think him as rich as a tradesman. He is afraid of public opinion, afraid of being pointed53 at, afraid of seeming ill or feeble. That’s how we all are in this region.” Many of the bourgeoisie utter this phrase with feelings of inward pride.
While ignorance and custom are invincible54 in the country regions, where the peasants are left very much to themselves, the town of Issoudun itself has reached a state of complete social stagnation55. Obliged to meet the decadence56 of fortunes by the practice of sordid58 economy, each family lives to itself. Moreover, society is permanently59 deprived of that distinction of classes which gives character to manners and customs. There is no opposition of social forces, such as that to which the cities of the Italian States in the Middle Ages owed their vitality60. There are no longer any nobles in Issoudun. The Cottereaux, the Routiers, the Jacquerie, the religious wars and the Revolution did away with the nobility. The town is proud of that triumph. Issoudun has repeatedly refused to receive a garrison61, always on the plea of cheap provisions. She has thus lost a means of intercourse62 with the age, and she has also lost the profits arising from the presence of troops. Before 1756, Issoudun was one of the most delightful63 of all the garrison towns. A judicial64 drama, which occupied for a time the attention of France, the feud10 of a lieutenant65-general of the department with the Marquis de Chapt, whose son, an officer of dragoons, was put to death — justly perhaps, yet traitorously66, for some affair of gallantry — deprived the town from that time forth67 of a garrison. The sojourn68 of the forty-fourth demi-brigade, imposed upon it during the civil war, was not of a nature to reconcile the inhabitants to the race of warriors69.
Bourges, whose population is yearly decreasing, is a victim of the same social malady70. Vitality is leaving these communities. Undoubtedly, the government is to blame. The duty of an administration is to discover the wounds upon the body-politic, and remedy them by sending men of energy to the diseased regions, with power to change the state of things. Alas, so far from that, it approves and encourages this ominous71 and fatal tranquillity72. Besides, it may be asked, how could the government send new administrators73 and able magistrates74? Who, of such men, is willing to bury himself in the arrondissements, where the good to be done is without glory? If, by chance, some ambitious stranger settles there, he soon falls into the inertia75 of the region, and tunes57 himself to the dreadful key of provincial76 life. Issoudun would have benumbed Napoleon.
As a result of this particular characteristic, the arrondissement of Issoudun was governed, in 1822, by men who all belonged to Berry. The administration of power became either a nullity or a farce77 — except in certain cases, naturally very rare, which by their manifest importance compelled the authorities to act. The procureur du roi, Monsieur Mouilleron, was cousin to the entire community, and his substitute belonged to one of the families of the town. The judge of the court, before attaining78 that dignity, was made famous by one of those provincial sayings which put a cap and bells on a man’s head for the rest of his life. As he ended his summing-up of all the facts of an indictment, he looked at the accused and said: “My poor Pierre! the thing is as plain as day; your head will be cut off. Let this be a lesson to you.” The commissary of police, holding office since the Restoration, had relations throughout the arrondissement. Moreover, not only was the influence of religion null, but the curate himself was held in no esteem79.
It was this bourgeoisie, radical80, ignorant, and loving to annoy others, which now related tales, more or less comic, about the relations of Jean–Jacques Rouget with his servant-woman. The children of these people went none the less to Sunday-school, and were as scrupulously82 prepared for their communion: the schools were kept up all the same; mass was said; the taxes were paid (the sole thing that Paris extracts of the provinces), and the mayor passed resolutions. But all these acts of social existence were done as mere85 routine, and thus the laxity of the local government suited admirably with the moral and intellectual condition of the governed. The events of the following history will show the effects of this state of things, which is not as unusual in the provinces as might be supposed. Many towns in France, more particularly in the South, are like Issoudun. The condition to which the ascendency of the bourgeoisie has reduced that local capital is one which will spread over all France, and even to Paris, if the bourgeois continues to rule the exterior86 and interior policy of our country.
Now, one word of topography. Issoudun stretches north and south, along a hillside which rounds towards the highroad to Chateauroux. At the foot of the hill, a canal, now called the “Riviere forcee” whose waters are taken from the Theols, was constructed in former times, when the town was flourishing, for the use of manufactories or to flood the moats of the rampart. The “Riviere forcee” forms an artificial arm of a natural river, the Tournemine, which unites with several other streams beyond the suburb of Rome. These little threads of running water and the two rivers irrigate87 a tract84 of wide-spreading meadow-land, enclosed on all sides by little yellowish or white terraces dotted with black speckles; for such is the aspect of the vineyards of Issoudun during seven months of the year. The vine-growers cut the plants down yearly, leaving only an ugly stump88, without support, sheltered by a barrel. The traveller arriving from Vierzon, Vatan, or Chateauroux, his eyes weary with monotonous89 plains, is agreeably surprised by the meadows of Issoudun — the oasis90 of this part of Berry, which supplies the inhabitants with vegetables throughout a region of thirty miles in circumference91. Below the suburb of Rome, lies a vast tract entirely92 covered with kitchen-gardens, and divided into two sections, which bear the name of upper and lower Baltan. A long avenue of poplars leads from the town across the meadows to an ancient convent named Frapesle, whose English gardens, quite unique in that arrondissement, have received the ambitious name of Tivoli. Loving couples whisper their vows93 in its alleys94 of a Sunday.
Traces of the ancient grandeur95 of Issoudun of course reveal themselves to the eyes of a careful observer; and the most suggestive are the divisions of the town. The chateau40, formerly96 almost a town itself with its walls and moats, is a distinct quarter which can only be entered, even at the present day, through its ancient gateways97 — by means of three bridges thrown across the arms of the two rivers — and has all the appearance of an ancient city. The ramparts show, in places, the formidable strata98 of their foundations, on which houses have now sprung up. Above the chateau, is the famous tower of Issoudun, once the citadel99. The conqueror100 of the city, which lay around these two fortified101 points, had still to gain possession of the tower and the castle; and possession of the castle did not insure that of the tower, or citadel.
The suburb of Saint–Paterne, which lies in the shape of a palette beyond the tower, encroaching on the meadow-lands, is so considerable that in the very earliest ages it must have been part of the city itself. This opinion derived102, in 1822, a sort of certainty from the then existence of the charming church of Saint–Paterne, recently pulled down by the heir of the individual who bought it of the nation. This church, one of the finest specimens103 of the Romanesque that France possessed, actually perished without a single drawing being made of the portal, which was in perfect preservation104. The only voice raised to save this monument of a past art found no echo, either in the town itself or in the department. Though the castle of Issoudun has the appearance of an old town, with its narrow streets and its ancient mansions105, the city itself, properly so called, which was captured and burned at different epochs, notably106 during the Fronde, when it was laid in ashes, has a modern air. Streets that are spacious107 in comparison with those of other towns, and well-built houses form a striking contrast to the aspect of the citadel — a contrast that has won for Issoudun, in certain geographies, the epithet108 of “pretty.”
In a town thus constituted, without the least activity, even business activity, without a taste for art, or for learned occupations, and where everybody stayed in the little round of his or her own home, it was likely to happen, and did happen under the Restoration in 1816 when the war was over, that many of the young men of the place had no career before them, and knew not where to turn for occupation until they could marry or inherit the property of their fathers. Bored in their own homes, these young fellows found little or no distraction109 elsewhere in the city; and as, in the language of that region, “youth must shed its cuticle” they sowed their wild oats at the expense of the town itself. It was difficult to carry on such operations in open day, lest the perpetrators should be recognized; for the cup of their misdemeanors once filled, they were liable to be arraigned111 at their next peccadillo112 before the police courts; and they therefore judiciously113 selected the night time for the performance of their mischievous114 pranks115. Thus it was that among the traces of divers116 lost civilizations, a vestige117 of the spirit of drollery118 that characterized the manners of antiquity burst into a final flame.
The young men amused themselves very much as Charles IX. amused himself with his courtiers, or Henry V. of England and his companions, or as in former times young men were wont to amuse themselves in the provinces. Having once banded together for purposes of mutual119 help, to defend each other and invent amusing tricks, there presently developed among them, through the clash of ideas, that spirit of malicious120 mischief121 which belongs to the period of youth and may even be observed among animals. The confederation, in itself, gave them the mimic122 delights of the mystery of an organized conspiracy123. They called themselves the “Knights124 of Idleness.” During the day these young scamps were youthful saints; they all pretended to extreme quietness; and, in fact, they habitually125 slept late after the nights on which they had been playing their malicious pranks. The “Knights” began with mere commonplace tricks, such as unhooking and changing signs, ringing bells, flinging casks left before one house into the cellar of the next with a crash, rousing the occupants of the house by a noise that seemed to their frightened ears like the explosion of a mine. In Issoudun, as in many country towns, the cellar is entered by an opening near the door of the house, covered with a wooden scuttle126, secured by strong iron hinges and a padlock.
In 1816, these modern Bad Boys had not altogether given up such tricks as these, perpetrated in the provinces by all young lads and gamins. But in 1817 the Order of Idleness acquired a Grand Master, and distinguished127 itself by mischief which, up to 1823, spread something like terror in Issoudun, or at least kept the artisans and the bourgeoisie perpetually uneasy.
This leader was a certain Maxence Gilet, commonly called Max, whose antecedents, no less than his youth and his vigor128, predestined him for such a part. Maxence Gilet was supposed by all Issoudun to be the natural son of the sub-delegate Lousteau, that brother of Madame Hochon whose gallantries had left memories behind them, and who, as we have seen, drew down upon himself the hatred129 of old Doctor Rouget about the time of Agathe’s birth. But the friendship which bound the two men together before their quarrel was so close that, to use an expression of that region and that period, “they willingly walked the same road.” Some people said that Maxence was as likely to be the son of the doctor as of the sub-delegate; but in fact he belonged to neither the one nor the other — his father being a charming dragoon officer in garrison at Bourges. Nevertheless, as a result of their enmity, and very fortunately for the child, Rouget and Lousteau never ceased to claim his paternity.
Max’s mother, the wife of a poor sabot-maker in the Rome suburb, was possessed, for the perdition of her soul, of a surprising beauty, a Trasteverine beauty, the only property which she transmitted to her son. Madame Gilet, pregnant with Maxence in 1788, had long desired that blessing130, which the town attributed to the gallantries of the two friends — probably in the hope of setting them against each other. Gilet, an old drunkard with a triple throat, treated his wife’s misconduct with a collusion that is not uncommon131 among the lower classes. To make sure of protectors for her son, Madame Gilet was careful not to enlighten his reputed fathers as to his parentage. In Paris, she would have turned out a millionaire; at Issoudun she lived sometimes at her ease, more often miserably132, and, in the long run, despised. Madame Hochon, Lousteau’s sister, paid sixty francs a year for the lad’s schooling133. This liberality, which Madame Hochon was quite unable to practise on her own account because of her husband’s stinginess, was naturally attributed to her brother, then living at Sancerre.
When Doctor Rouget, who certainly was not lucky in sons, observed Max’s beauty, he paid the board of the “young rogue,” as he called him, at the seminary, up to the year 1805. As Lousteau died in 1800, and the doctor apparently134 obeyed a feeling of vanity in paying the lad’s board until 1805, the question of the paternity was left forever undecided. Maxence Gilet, the butt135 of many jests, was soon forgotten, — and for this reason: In 1806, a year after Doctor Rouget’s death, the lad, who seemed to have been created for a venturesome life, and was moreover gifted with remarkable vigor and agility136, got into a series of scrapes which more or less threatened his safety. He plotted with the grandsons of Monsieur Hochon to worry the grocers of the city; he gathered fruit before the owners could pick it, and made nothing of scaling walls. He had no equal at bodily exercises, he played base to perfection, and could have outrun a hare. With a keen eye worthy44 of Leather-stocking, he loved hunting passionately137. His time was passed in firing at a mark, instead of studying; and he spent the money extracted from the old doctor in buying powder and ball for a wretched pistol that old Gilet, the sabot-maker, had given him. During the autumn of 1806, Maxence, then seventeen, committed an involuntary murder, by frightening in the dusk a young woman who was pregnant, and who came upon him suddenly while stealing fruit in her garden. Threatened with the guillotine by Gilet, who doubtless wanted to get rid of him, Max fled to Bourges, met a regiment138 then on its way to Egypt, and enlisted139. Nothing came of the death of the young woman.
A young fellow of Max’s character was sure to distinguish himself, and in the course of three campaigns he did distinguish himself so highly that he rose to be a captain, his lack of education helping140 him strenuously141. In Portugal, in 1809, he was left for dead in an English battery, into which his company had penetrated142 without being able to hold it. Max, taken prisoner by the English, was sent to the Spanish hulks at the island of Cabrera, the most horrible of all stations for prisoners of war. His friends begged that he might receive the cross of the Legion of honor and the rank of major; but the Emperor was then in Austria, and he reserved his favors for those who did brilliant deeds under his own eye: he did not like officers or men who allowed themselves to be taken prisoner, and he was, moreover, much dissatisfied with events in Portugal. Max was held at Cabrera from 1810 to 1814.1 During those years he became utterly143 demoralized, for the hulks were like galleys144, minus crime and infamy145. At the outset, to maintain his personal free will, and protect himself against the corruption146 which made that horrible prison unworthy of a civilized147 people, the handsome young captain killed in a duel148 (for duels149 were fought on those hulks in a space scarcely six feet square) seven bullies150 among his fellow-prisoners, thus ridding the island of their tyranny to the great joy of the other victims. After this, Max reigned151 supreme152 in his hulk, thanks to the wonderful ease and address with which he handled weapons, to his bodily strength, and also to his extreme cleverness.
1 The cruelty of the Spaniards to the French prisoners at Cabrera was very great. In the spring of 1811, H.M. brig “Minorca,” Captain Wormeley, was sent by Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, then commanding the Mediterranean153 fleet, to make a report of their condition. As she neared the island, the wretched prisoners swam out to meet her. They were reduced to skin and bone; many of them were naked; and their miserable154 condition so moved the seamen155 of the “Minorca” that they came aft to the quarter-deck, and asked permission to subscribe156 three days’ rations110 for the relief of the sufferers. Captain Wormeley carried away some of the prisoners, and his report to Sir Charles Cotton, being sent to the Admiralty, was made the basis of a remonstrance157 on the part of the British government with Spain on the subject of its cruelties. Sir Charles Cotton despatched Captain Wormeley a second time to Cabrera with a good many head of live cattle and a large supply of other provisions. — Tr.
But he, in turn, committed arbitrary acts; there were those who curried159 favor with him, and worked his will, and became his minions160. In that school of misery161, where bitter minds dreamed only of vengeance162, where the sophistries163 hatched in such brains were laying up, inevitably164, a store of evil thoughts, Max became utterly demoralized. He listened to the opinions of those who longed for fortune at any price, and did not shrink from the results of criminal actions, provided they were done without discovery. When peace was proclaimed, in April, 1814, he left the island, depraved though still innocent. On his return to Issoudun he found his father and mother dead. Like others who give way to their passions and make life, as they call it, short and sweet, the Gilets had died in the almshouse in the utmost poverty. Immediately after his return, the news of Napoleon’s landing at Cannes spread through France; Max could do no better than go to Paris and ask for his rank as major and for his cross. The marshal who was at that time minister of war remembered the brave conduct of Captain Gilet in Portugal. He put him in the Guard as captain, which gave him the grade of major in the infantry165; but he could not get him the cross. “The Emperor says that you will know how to win it at the first chance,” said the marshal. In fact, the Emperor did put the brave captain on his list for decoration the evening after the fight at Fleurus, where Gilet distinguished himself.
After the battle of Waterloo Max retreated to the Loire. At the time of the disbandment, Marshal Feltre refused to recognize Max’s grade as major, or his claim to the cross. The soldier of Napoleon returned to Issoudun in a state of exasperation166 that may well be conceived; he declared that he would not serve without either rank or cross. The war-office considered these conditions presumptuous167 in a young man of twenty-five without a name, who might, if they were granted, become a colonel at thirty. Max accordingly sent in his resignation. The major — for among themselves Bonapartists recognized the grades obtained in 1815 — thus lost the pittance168 called half-pay which was allowed to the officers of the army of the Loire. But all Issoudun was roused at the sight of the brave young fellow left with only twenty napoleons in his possession; and the mayor gave him a place in his office with a salary of six hundred francs. Max kept it a few months, then gave it up of his own accord, and was replaced by a captain named Carpentier, who, like himself, had remained faithful to Napoleon.
By this time Gilet had become grand master of the Knights of Idleness, and was leading a life which lost him the good-will of the chief people of the town; who, however, did not openly make the fact known to him, for he was violent and much feared by all, even by the officers of the old army who, like himself, had refused to serve under the Bourbons, and had come home to plant their cabbages in Berry. The little affection felt for the Bourbons among the natives of Issoudun is not surprising when we recall the history which we have just given. In fact, considering its size and lack of importance, the little place contained more Bonapartists than any other town in France. These men became, as is well known, nearly all Liberals.
In Issoudun and its neighborhood there were a dozen officers in Max’s position. These men admired him and made him their leader — with the exception, however, of Carpentier, his successor, and a certain Monsieur Mignonnet, excaptain in the artillery169 of the Guard. Carpentier, a cavalry170 officer risen from the ranks, had married into one of the best families in the town — the Borniche–Herau. Mignonnet, brought up at the Ecole Polytechnique, had served in a corps171 which held itself superior to all others. In the Imperial armies there were two shades of distinction among the soldiers themselves. A majority of them felt a contempt for the bourgeois, the “civilian,” fully172 equal to the contempt of nobles for their serfs, or conquerors173 for the conquered. Such men did not always observe the laws of honor in their dealings with civilians174; nor did they much blame those who rode rough-shod over the bourgeoisie. The others, and particularly the artillery, perhaps because of its republicanism, never adopted the doctrine175 of a military France and a civil France, the tendency of which was nothing less than to make two nations. So, although Major Potel and Captain Renard, two officers living in the Rome suburb, were friends to Maxence Gilet “through thick and thin,” Major Mignonnet and Captain Carpentier took sides with the bourgeoisie, and thought his conduct unworthy of a man of honor.
Major Mignonnet, a lean little man, full of dignity, busied himself with the problems which the steam-engine requires us to solve, and lived in a modest way, taking his social intercourse with Monsieur and Madame Carpentier. His gentle manners and ways, and his scientific occupations won him the respect of the whole town; and it was frequently said of him and of Captain Carpentier that they were “quite another thing” from Major Potel and Captain Renard, Maxence, and other frequenters of the cafe Militaire, who retained the soldierly manners and the defective176 morals of the Empire.
At the time when Madame Bridau returned to Issoudun, Max was excluded from the society of the place. He showed, moreover, proper self-respect in never presenting himself at the club, and in never complaining of the severe reprobation177 that was shown him; although he was the handsomest, the most elegant, and the best dressed man in the place, spent a great deal of money, and kept a horse — a thing as amazing at Issoudun as the horse of Lord Byron at Venice. We are now to see how it was that Maxence, poor and without apparent means, was able to become the dandy of the town. The shameful178 conduct which earned him the contempt of all scrupulous83 or religious persons was connected with the interests which brought Agathe and Joseph to Issoudun.
Judging by the audacity179 of his bearing, and the expression of his face, Max cared little for public opinion; he expected, no doubt, to take his revenge some day, and to lord it over those who now condemned180 him. Moreover, if the bourgeoisie of Issoudun thought ill of him, the admiration181 he excited among the common people counterbalanced their opinion; his courage, his dashing appearance, his decision of character, could not fail to please the masses, to whom his degradations182 were, for the most part, unknown, and indeed the bourgeoisie themselves scarcely suspected its extent. Max played a role at Issoudun which was something like that of the blacksmith in the “Fair Maid of Perth”; he was the champion of Bonapartism and the Opposition; they counted upon him as the burghers of Perth counted upon Smith on great occasions. A single incident will put this hero and victim of the Hundred–Days into clear relief.
In 1819, a battalion183 commanded by royalist officers, young men just out of the Maison Rouge81, passed through Issoudun on its way to go into garrison at Bourges. Not knowing what to do with themselves in so constitutional a place as Issoudun, these young gentlemen went to while away the time at the cafe Militaire. In every provincial town there is a military cafe. That of Issoudun, built on the place d’Armes at an angle of the rampart, and kept by the widow of an officer, was naturally the rendezvous184 of the Bonapartists, chiefly officers on half-pay, and others who shared Max’s opinions, to whom the politics of the town allowed free expression of their idolatry for the Emperor. Every year, dating from 1816, a banquet was given in Issoudun to commemorate185 the anniversary of his coronation. The three royalists who first entered asked for the newspapers, among others, for the “Quotidienne” and the “Drapeau Blanc.” The politics of Issoudun, especially those of the cafe Militaire, did not allow of such royalist journals. The establishment had none but the “Commerce,”— a name which the “Constitutionel” was compelled to adopt for several years after it was suppressed by the government. But as, in its first issue under the new name, the leading article began with these words, “Commerce is essentially186 constitutional,” people continued to call it the “Constitutionel,” the subscribers all understanding the sly play of words which begged them to pay no attention to the label, as the wine would be the same.
The fat landlady187 replied from her seat at the desk that she did not take those papers. “What papers do you take then?” asked one of the officers, a captain. The waiter, a little fellow in a blue cloth jacket, with an apron188 of coarse linen189 tied over it, brought the “Commerce.”
“Is that your paper? Have you no other?”
“No,” said the waiter, “that’s the only one.”
The captain tore it up, flung the pieces on the floor, and spat158 upon them, calling out —
“Bring dominos!”
In ten minutes the news of the insult offered to the Constitution Opposition and the Liberal party, in the supersacred person of its revered190 journal, which attacked priests with courage and the wit we all remember, spread throughout the town and into the houses like light itself; it was told and repeated from place to place. One phrase was on everybody’s lips —
“Let us tell Max!”
Max soon heard of it. The royalist officers were still at their game of dominos when that hero entered the cafe, accompanied by Major Potel and Captain Renard, and followed by at least thirty young men, curious to see the end of the affair, most of whom remained outside in the street. The room was soon full.
“Waiter, my newspaper,” said Max, in a quiet voice.
Then a little comedy was played. The fat hostess, with a timid and conciliatory air, said, “Captain, I have lent it!”
“Send for it,” cried one of Max’s friends.
“Can’t you do without it?” said the waiter; “we have not got it.”
The young royalists were laughing and casting sidelong glances at the new-comers.
“They have torn it up!” cried a youth of the town, looking at the feet of the young royalist captain.
“Who has dared to destroy that paper?” demanded Max, in a thundering voice, his eyes flashing as he rose with his arms crossed.
“And we spat upon it,” replied the three young officers, also rising, and looking at Max.
“You have insulted the whole town!” said Max, turning livid.
“Well, what of that?” asked the youngest officer.
With a dexterity191, quickness, and audacity which the young men did not foresee, Max slapped the face of the officer nearest to him, saying —
“Do you understand French?”
They fought near by, in the allee de Frapesle, three against three; for Potel and Renard would not allow Max to deal with the officers alone. Max killed his man. Major Potel wounded his so severely192, that the unfortunate young man, the son of a good family, died in the hospital the next day. As for the third, he got off with a sword cut, after wounding his adversary193, Captain Renard. The battalion left for Bourges that night. This affair, which was noised throughout Berry, set Max up definitely as a hero.
The Knights of Idleness, who were all young, the eldest194 not more than twenty-five years old, admired Maxence. Some among them, far from sharing the prudery and strict notions of their families concerning his conduct, envied his present position and thought him fortunate. Under such a leader, the Order did great things. After the month of May, 1817, never a week passed that the town was not thrown into an uproar195 by some new piece of mischief. Max, as a matter of honor, imposed certain conditions upon the Knights. Statutes196 were drawn197 up. These young demons198 grew as vigilant199 as the pupils of Amoros — bold as hawks200, agile201 at all exercises, clever and strong as criminals. They trained themselves in climbing roofs, scaling houses, jumping and walking noiselessly, mixing mortar202, and walling up doors. They collected an arsenal203 of ropes, ladders, tools, and disguises. After a time the Knights of Idleness attained204 to the beau-ideal of malicious mischief, not only as to the accomplishment205 but, still more, in the invention of their pranks. They came at last to possess the genius for evil that Panurge so much delighted in; which provokes laughter, and covers its victims with such ridicule206 that they dare not complain. Naturally, these sons of good families of Issoudun possessed and obtained information in their households, which gave them the ways and means for the perpetration of their outrages207.
Sometimes the young devils incarnate208 lay in ambush209 along the Grand’rue or the Basse rue, two streets which are, as it were, the arteries210 of the town, into which many little side streets open. Crouching211, with their heads to the wind, in the angles of the wall and at the corners of the streets, at the hour when all the households were hushed in their first sleep, they called to each other in tones of terror from ambush to ambush along the whole length of the town: “What’s the matter?” “What is it?” till the repeated cries woke up the citizens, who appeared in their shirts and cotton night-caps, with lights in their hands, asking questions of one another, holding the strangest colloquies212, and exhibiting the queerest faces.
A certain poor bookbinder, who was very old, believed in hobgoblins. Like most provincial artisans, he worked in a small basement shop. The Knights, disguised as devils, invaded the place in the middle of the night, put him into his own cutting-press, and left him shrieking213 to himself like the souls in hell. The poor man roused the neighbors, to whom he related the apparitions214 of Lucifer; and as they had no means of undeceiving him, he was driven nearly insane.
In the middle of a severe winter, the Knights took down the chimney of the collector of taxes, and built it up again in one night apparently as it was before, without making the slightest noise, or leaving the least trace of their work. But they so arranged the inside of the chimney as to send all the smoke into the house. The collector suffered for two months before he found out why his chimney, which had always drawn so well, and of which he had often boasted, played him such tricks; he was then obliged to build a new one.
At another time, they put three trusses of hay dusted with brimstone, and a quantity of oiled paper down the chimney of a pious215 old woman who was a friend of Madame Hochon. In the morning, when she came to light her fire, the poor creature, who was very gentle and kindly216, imagined she had started a volcano. The fire-engines came, the whole population rushed to her assistance. Several Knights were among the firemen, and they deluged217 the old woman’s house, till they had frightened her with a flood, as much as they had terrified her with the fire. She was made ill with fear.
When they wished to make some one spend the night under arms and in mortal terror, they wrote an anonymous218 letter telling him that he was about to be robbed; then they stole softly, one by one, round the walls of his house, or under his windows, whistling as if to call each other.
One of their famous performances, which long amused the town, where in fact it is still related, was to write a letter to all the heirs of a miserly old lady who was likely to leave a large property, announcing her death, and requesting them to be promptly219 on hand when the seals were affixed220. Eighty persons arrived from Vatan, Saint–Florent, Vierzon and the neighboring country, all in deep mourning — widows with sons, children with their fathers, some in carrioles, some in wicker gigs, others in dilapidated carts. Imagine the scene between the old woman’s servants and the first arrivals! and the consultations221 among the notaries222! It created a sort of riot in Issoudun.
At last, one day the sub-prefect woke up to a sense that this state of things was all the more intolerable because it seemed impossible to find out who was at the bottom of it. Suspicion fell on several young men; but as the National Guard was a mere name in Issoudun, and there was no garrison, and the lieutenant of police had only eight gendarmes223 under him, so that there were no patrols, it was impossible to get any proof against them. The sub-prefect was immediately posted in the “order of the night,” and considered thenceforth fair game. This functionary224 made a practice of breakfasting on two fresh eggs. He kept chickens in his yard, and added to his mania225 for eating fresh eggs that of boiling them himself. Neither his wife nor his servant, in fact no one, according to him, knew how to boil an egg properly; he did it watch in hand, and boasted that he carried off the palm of egg-boiling from all the world. For two years he had boiled his eggs with a success which earned him many witticisms227. But now, every night for a whole month, the eggs were taken from his hen-house, and hard-boiled eggs substituted. The sub-prefect was at his wits’ end, and lost his reputation as the “sous-prefet a l’oeuf.” Finally he was forced to breakfast on other things. Yet he never suspected the Knights of Idleness, whose trick had been cautiously played. After this, Max managed to grease the sub-prefect’s stoves every night with an oil which sent forth so fetid a smell that it was impossible for any one to stay in the house. Even that was not enough; his wife, going to mass one morning, found her shawl glued together on the inside with some tenacious228 substance, so that she was obliged to go without it. The sub-prefect finally asked for another appointment. The cowardly submissiveness of this officer had much to do with firmly establishing the weird229 and comic authority of the Knights of Idleness.
Beyond the rue des Minimes and the place Misere, a section of a quarter was at that time enclosed between an arm of the “Riviere forcee” on the lower side and the ramparts on the other, beginning at the place d’Armes and going as far as the pottery230 market. This irregular square is filled with poor-looking houses crowded one against the other, and divided here and there by streets so narrow that two persons cannot walk abreast231. This section of the town, a sort of cour des Miracles, was occupied by poor people or persons working at trades that were little remunerative232 — a population living in hovels, and buildings called picturesquely233 by the familiar term of “blind houses.” From the earliest ages this has no doubt been an accursed quarter, the haunt of evil-doers; in fact one thoroughfare is named “the street of the Executioner.” For more than five centuries it has been customary for the executioner to have a red door at the entrance of his house. The assistant of the executioner of Chateauroux still lives there — if we are to believe public rumor234, for the townspeople never see him: the vine-dressers alone maintain an intercourse with this mysterious being, who inherits from his predecessors235 the gift of curing wounds and fractures. In the days when Issoudun assumed the airs of a capital city the women of the town made this section of it the scene of their wanderings. Here came the second-hand236 sellers of things that look as if they never could find a purchaser, old-clothes dealers237 whose wares238 infected the air; in short, it was the rendezvous of that apocryphal239 population which is to be found in nearly all such portions of a city, where two or three Jews have gained an ascendency.
At the corner of one of these gloomy streets in the livelier half of the quarter, there existed from 1815 to 1823, and perhaps later, a public-house kept by a woman commonly called Mere Cognette. The house itself was tolerably well built, in courses of white stone, with the intermediary spaces filled in with ashlar and cement, one storey high with an attic240 above. Over the door was an enormous branch of pine, looking as though it were cast in Florentine bronze. As if this symbol were not explanatory enough, the eye was arrested by the blue of a poster which was pasted over the doorway241, and on which appeared, above the words “Good Beer of Mars,” the picture of a soldier pouring out, in the direction of a very decolletee woman, a jet of foam242 which spurted243 in an arched line from the pitcher244 to the glass which she was holding towards him; the whole of a color to make Delacroix swoon.
The ground-floor was occupied by an immense hall serving both as kitchen and dining-room, from the beams of which hung, suspended by huge nails, the provisions needed for the custom of such a house. Behind this hall a winding245 staircase led to the upper storey; at the foot of the staircase a door led into a low, long room lighted from one of those little provincial courts, so narrow, dark, and sunken between tall houses, as to seem like the flue of a chimney. Hidden by a shed, and concealed246 from all eyes by walls, this low room was the place where the Bad Boys of Issoudun held their plenary court. Ostensibly, Pere Cognet boarded and lodged247 the country-people on market-days; secretly, he was landlord to the Knights of Idleness. This man, who was formerly a groom248 in a rich household, had ended by marrying La Cognette, a cook in a good family. The suburb of Rome still continues, like Italy and Poland, to follow the Latin custom of putting a feminine termination to the husband’s name and giving it to the wife.
By uniting their savings249 Pere Cognet and his spouse250 had managed to buy their present house. La Cognette, a woman of forty, tall and plump, with the nose of a Roxelane, a swarthy skin, jet-black hair, brown eyes that were round and lively, and a general air of mirth and intelligence, was selected by Maxence Gilet, on account of her character and her talent for cookery, as the Leonarde of the Order. Pere Cognet might be about fifty-six years old; he was thick-set, very much under his wife’s rule, and, according to a witticism226 which she was fond of repeating, he only saw things with a good eye — for he was blind of the other. In the course of seven years, that is, from 1816 to 1823, neither wife nor husband had betrayed what went on nightly at their house, or who they were that shared in the plot; they felt the liveliest regard for the Knights; their devotion was absolute. But this may seem less creditable if we remember that self-interest was the security of their affection and their silence. No matter at what hour of the night the Knights dropped in upon the tavern251, the moment they knocked in a certain way Pere Cognet, recognizing the signal, got up, lit the fire and the candles, opened the door, and went to the cellar for a particular wine that was laid in expressly for the Order; while La Cognette cooked an excellent supper, eaten either before or after the expeditions, which were usually planned the previous evening or in the course of the preceding day.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
testimonies
|
|
| （法庭上证人的）证词( testimony的名词复数 )； 证明，证据 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
lesser
|
|
| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
antiquity
|
|
| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
excavations
|
|
| n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 )；开凿；开凿的洞穴（或山路等）；（发掘出来的）古迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
celebrated
|
|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
anterior
|
|
| adj.较早的；在前的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
consecrated
|
|
| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
undoubtedly
|
|
| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
feudal
|
|
| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
feud
|
|
| n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
mantle
|
|
| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
testimony
|
|
| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
conversion
|
|
| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
rue
|
|
| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
inflexibility
|
|
| n.不屈性，顽固，不变性；不可弯曲；非挠性；刚性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
exterminated
|
|
| v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
agitated
|
|
| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bourgeois
|
|
| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
wont
|
|
| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
pretext
|
|
| n.借口，托词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
indictment
|
|
| n.起诉；诉状 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
slung
|
|
| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
intervention
|
|
| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
chambers
|
|
| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
mansion
|
|
| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
baron
|
|
| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
elegance
|
|
| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
subtlety
|
|
| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
splendor
|
|
| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
alas
|
|
| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
lessens
|
|
| 变少( lessen的第三人称单数 )； 减少（某事物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
obstinacy
|
|
| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
sluggishness
|
|
| 不振，萧条，呆滞；惰性；滞性；惯性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
torpor
|
|
| n.迟钝；麻木；（动物的）冬眠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
illustrate
|
|
| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
chateau
|
|
| n.城堡，别墅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
proceeding
|
|
| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
populous
|
|
| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
moors
|
|
| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
savages
|
|
| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
lengthened
|
|
| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
cultivation
|
|
| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
conducive
|
|
| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
laborer
|
|
| n.劳动者，劳工 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
invincible
|
|
| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
stagnation
|
|
| n. 停滞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
decadence
|
|
| n.衰落，颓废 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
tunes
|
|
| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
sordid
|
|
| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
permanently
|
|
| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
vitality
|
|
| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
garrison
|
|
| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
intercourse
|
|
| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
judicial
|
|
| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
traitorously
|
|
| 叛逆地，不忠地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
67
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
sojourn
|
|
| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
warriors
|
|
| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
malady
|
|
| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
ominous
|
|
| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
tranquillity
|
|
| n. 平静, 安静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
administrators
|
|
| n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
magistrates
|
|
| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
inertia
|
|
| adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
provincial
|
|
| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
farce
|
|
| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
attaining
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
esteem
|
|
| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
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： |
|
|
|
|
81
rouge
|
|
| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
scrupulously
|
|
| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
scrupulous
|
|
| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
tract
|
|
| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
exterior
|
|
| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
irrigate
|
|
| vt.灌溉，修水利，冲洗伤口，使潮湿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
stump
|
|
| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
monotonous
|
|
| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
oasis
|
|
| n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
circumference
|
|
| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
vows
|
|
| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
alleys
|
|
| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
grandeur
|
|
| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
formerly
|
|
| adv.从前，以前 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
gateways
|
|
| n.网关( gateway的名词复数 )；门径；方法；大门口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
strata
|
|
| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
citadel
|
|
| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
conqueror
|
|
| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
fortified
|
|
| adj. 加强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
derived
|
|
| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
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： |
|
|
|
|
104
preservation
|
|
| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
mansions
|
|
| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
notably
|
|
| adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
spacious
|
|
| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
epithet
|
|
| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
distraction
|
|
| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
rations
|
|
| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
arraigned
|
|
| v.告发( arraign的过去式和过去分词 )；控告；传讯；指责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
peccadillo
|
|
| n.轻罪，小过失 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
judiciously
|
|
| adv.明断地，明智而审慎地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
mischievous
|
|
| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
pranks
|
|
| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
divers
|
|
| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
vestige
|
|
| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
drollery
|
|
| n.开玩笑，说笑话；滑稽可笑的图画（或故事、小戏等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
mutual
|
|
| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
malicious
|
|
| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
mischief
|
|
| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
mimic
|
|
| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
conspiracy
|
|
| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
knights
|
|
| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
habitually
|
|
| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
scuttle
|
|
| v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
vigor
|
|
| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
blessing
|
|
| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
uncommon
|
|
| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
miserably
|
|
| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
schooling
|
|
| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
butt
|
|
| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
agility
|
|
| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
passionately
|
|
| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
regiment
|
|
| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
enlisted
|
|
| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
strenuously
|
|
| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
penetrated
|
|
| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
galleys
|
|
| n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
infamy
|
|
| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
corruption
|
|
| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
civilized
|
|
| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
duel
|
|
| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
duels
|
|
| n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 )；竞争，斗争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
bullies
|
|
| n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
reigned
|
|
| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
Mediterranean
|
|
| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
seamen
|
|
| n.海员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
subscribe
|
|
| vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
remonstrance
|
|
| n抗议，抱怨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
spat
|
|
| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
curried
|
|
| adj.加了咖喱（或咖喱粉的），用咖哩粉调理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
minions
|
|
| n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
vengeance
|
|
| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
sophistries
|
|
| n.诡辩术( sophistry的名词复数 )；（一次）诡辩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
inevitably
|
|
| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
infantry
|
|
| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
exasperation
|
|
| n.愤慨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
presumptuous
|
|
| adj.胆大妄为的，放肆的，冒昧的，冒失的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
pittance
|
|
| n.微薄的薪水，少量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
artillery
|
|
| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
cavalry
|
|
| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
corps
|
|
| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
conquerors
|
|
| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
civilians
|
|
| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
doctrine
|
|
| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
defective
|
|
| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
reprobation
|
|
| n.斥责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
shameful
|
|
| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
audacity
|
|
| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
condemned
|
|
| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
degradations
|
|
| 堕落( degradation的名词复数 )； 下降； 陵削； 毁坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
battalion
|
|
| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
rendezvous
|
|
| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
commemorate
|
|
| vt.纪念，庆祝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
essentially
|
|
| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
landlady
|
|
| n.女房东，女地主 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
apron
|
|
| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
linen
|
|
| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
revered
|
|
| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
191
dexterity
|
|
| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
192
severely
|
|
| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
193
adversary
|
|
| adj.敌手，对手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
194
eldest
|
|
| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
195
uproar
|
|
| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
196
statutes
|
|
| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
197
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
198
demons
|
|
| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
199
vigilant
|
|
| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
200
hawks
|
|
| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
201
agile
|
|
| adj.敏捷的，灵活的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
202
mortar
|
|
| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
203
arsenal
|
|
| n.兵工厂，军械库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
204
attained
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
205
accomplishment
|
|
| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
206
ridicule
|
|
| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
207
outrages
|
|
| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
208
incarnate
|
|
| adj.化身的，人体化的，肉色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
209
ambush
|
|
| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
210
arteries
|
|
| n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
211
crouching
|
|
| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
212
colloquies
|
|
| n.谈话，对话( colloquy的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
213
shrieking
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
214
apparitions
|
|
| n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 )；幽灵；鬼；（特异景象等的）出现 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
215
pious
|
|
| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
216
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
217
deluged
|
|
| v.使淹没( deluge的过去式和过去分词 )；淹没；被洪水般涌来的事物所淹没；穷于应付 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
218
anonymous
|
|
| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
219
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
220
affixed
|
|
| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
221
consultations
|
|
| n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
222
notaries
|
|
| n.公证人，公证员( notary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
223
gendarmes
|
|
| n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
224
functionary
|
|
| n.官员；公职人员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
225
mania
|
|
| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
226
witticism
|
|
| n.谐语，妙语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
227
witticisms
|
|
| n.妙语，俏皮话( witticism的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
228
tenacious
|
|
| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
229
weird
|
|
| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
230
pottery
|
|
| n.陶器，陶器场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
231
abreast
|
|
| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
232
remunerative
|
|
| adj.有报酬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
233
picturesquely
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
234
rumor
|
|
| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
235
predecessors
|
|
| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
236
second-hand
|
|
| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
237
dealers
|
|
| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
238
wares
|
|
| n. 货物, 商品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
239
apocryphal
|
|
| adj.假冒的，虚假的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
240
attic
|
|
| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
241
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
242
foam
|
|
| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
243
spurted
|
|
| （液体，火焰等）喷出，（使）涌出( spurt的过去式和过去分词 )； （短暂地）加速前进，冲刺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
244
pitcher
|
|
| n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
245
winding
|
|
| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
246
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
247
lodged
|
|
| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
248
groom
|
|
| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
249
savings
|
|
| n.存款，储蓄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
250
spouse
|
|
| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
251
tavern
|
|
| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |