The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of 1830Stendhal
General
The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of 1830
Stendhal
Ambition -- Fiction; Bildungsromans; Church and state -- Fiction; France -- Fiction; Young men -- France -- Fiction
"I accept your promise in the name of the terrible God," added the
bishop in a thunderous voice, and the ceremony was at an end.
The king himself was crying. It was only a long time afterwards that
Julien had sufficient self-possession to enquire "where were the bones
of the Saint that had been sent from Rome to Philip the Good, Duke of
Burgundy?" He was told that they were hidden in the charming waxen
figure.
His Majesty deigned to allow the young ladies who had accompanied him
into the chapel to wear a red ribbon on which were embroidered these
words, "HATE OF THE INFIDEL. PERPETUAL ADORATION."
Monsieur de la Mole had ten thousand bottles of wine distributed among
the peasants. In the evening at Verrières, the Liberals made a point of
having illuminations which were a hundred times better than those of
the Royalists. Before leaving, the king paid a visit to M. de Moirod.
CHAPTER XIX
THINKING PRODUCES SUFFERING
The grotesqueness of every-day events conceals the real
unhappiness of the passions.--_Barnave_.
As he was replacing the usual furniture in the room which M. de la
Mole had occupied, Julien found a piece of very strong paper folded in
four. He read at the bottom of the first page "To His Excellency M.
le Marquis de la Mole, peer of France, Chevalier of the Orders of the
King, etc. etc." It was a petition in the rough hand-writing of a cook.
"Monsieur le Marquis, I have had religious principles
all my life. I was in Lyons exposed to the bombs at
the time of the siege, in '93 of execrable memory. I
communicate, I go to Mass every Sunday in the parochial
church. I have never missed the paschal duty, even in
'93 of execrable memory. My cook used to keep servants
before the revolution, my cook fasts on Fridays. I am
universally respected in Verrières, and I venture to
say I deserve to be so. I walk under the canopy in the
processions at the side of the curé and of the mayor. On
great occasions I carry a big candle, bought at my own
expense.
"I ask Monsieur the marquis for the lottery appointment
of Verrières, which in one way or another is bound to
be vacant shortly as the beneficiary is very ill, and
moreover votes on the wrong side at elections, etc. De
Cholin."
In the margin of this petition was a recommendation signed "de Moirod"
which began with this line, "I have had the honour, the worthy person
who makes this request."
"So even that imbecile de Cholin shows me the way to go about things,"
said Julien to himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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