Antoine Perrenot de Chappes

“ Louis Perron, such is life. The young press gaily onward, gathering the flowers, and following the gay butterflies that attract them in the form of pleasure and amusement; they forget the grave counsels of the thoughtful, till they find the path they have followed is beset with briers and thorns ”

“ Quoth the Chapman: If ye bear the man such love and honour, mightest not thou thyself give thyself to him and be such an one to him as thou tellest of? The Knight laughed: Chapman, said he, of such mere skull-splitters as I be hath he enough amongst his men-at-arms, who, I must tell thee, be nowise rascaile, but valiant and well-ordered warriors. What he needeth is one fulfilled of the wisdom of war ”

“ It is true that I drank a little red wine with my meat, but a flagon like that, as big as the dome of a church, it is monstrous, it is cruel, signore!"
The stranger dragged him on, regardless of his distress.
"Courage," he said, "we are going to the police. Trust them to right a wrong, father. To-morrow all Venice shall hear that Scavezzo, the Canon, is in the dungeons of the palace."
The Canon laughed ironically, hysterically.
"I am another then," he exclaimed; "this morning I was Scavezzo, but Scavezzo is dead. He dances on a barrel, and there is a fool's cap on his head. ”

“ Penrose cannot approach either the charming humour of the one or the delicate beauty of the other. On a lower plane her story has its amusing moments, and there is a vein of real tenderness in her picture of the relations of her hero and his faithful lady—a happy relief after the monotonous repetition of matrimonial infidelities dealt out to us by the average novel. ”

“ With this fundamental truth as her background, Mrs. Perrin has drawn, simply but with practised skill, the picture of a young girl who leaves the dull security of Earl's Court to go a-hunting in the plains and the hills, obedient to the call of India, which is in her bones. There, like many another before her, she loves and suffers, and makes sacrifices and mistakes, and (I am glad to say) finds happiness at the last. The strength of Mrs. Perrin's book, apart from the value of its background, lies in the reality of its characters. ”

“ No, said I, you lousie dog, I'll sell you none, if there's any on the ground, seek them up and stap them in a beast's arse: but if ye were a man, I would burn you in the fire, tho' it be in your own house, but as you are a poor taylor and neither man nor boy, I'll do nothing but expose you for what you are. O dear honest chapman, cried his wife, ye maunna do that and I'se gie you cheese and bread. No, no, you thieves, I'm for nothing but vengeance; no bribes for such. So as I was lifting my pack, there was a pretty black cat which I spread my napkin over ”

“ Only a just man is a freeman (pr. 1631) , written, says Chapman in the dedication, “long since,” but never staged.
The Tragedy of Alphonsus Emperour of Germany (see the edition by Dr Karl Elye; Leipzig, 1867) and Revenge for Honour (1654) [2] both bear Chapman’s name on the title-page, but his authorship has been disputed. In The Ball (lic. 1632; pr. 1639) , a comedy, and The Tragedie of Chabot Admirall of France (lic. 1635; pr. 1639) he collaborated with James Shirley. ”

“ JOHN CHEAP the Chapman, was a very comical short thick fellow, with a broad face and a long nose both lame and lazy, and something leacherous among the lasses: he chose rather to sit idle than work at any time, as he was a hater of hard labour. No man needed to offer him cheese and bread, after he curs'd it he would not have it ”

“ On the morning, the old matron got up first, and ordered up the house, then told me to rise now, for chapman and every body was up; then she asked me if I had an use of laughing in my sleep? Yes, said I, when I see any daft like thing, I can look and laugh at it, as well sleeping as waking: A good preserve us, said she, ye're an unco body, but ye need nae wait on our porrage time, I'se gie you cheese and bread in your pouch, which I willingly accepted, and away I came. ”

“ The priest passed through the crowd swiftly, seeming to look neither to the right nor to the left. The brown habit of the Capuchins was his dress, and his cowl was drawn so well over his head that only his eyes were visible—those eyes which stand out so strangely in the many portraits which are still the proud possession of Venice. Though he knew well that an assassin waited for him in the purlieus of the church of San Salvatore, his step was quick and brisk; he walked as a man who goes willingly to a rendezvous, and anticipates its climax with pleasure. ”

“ Mr. Perrin remained discontented, unhappy. He was continually attempting to make the boys fond of him and at the same time to retain his dignity. He never succeeded in this, because so definite an attempt on his part immediately precluded any capitulation on theirs. They thought he was a fool to try, and they resented his airs.
He was really fond of Garden Minimus, he thought, as he sat with his head between his arms in his dingy, dusty room. The dust wove patterns above his head in the pale, dim sunlight. He must go down and watch the football. ”

“ Then he unwound a long coil of thin rope, and attaching the lantern to this, he lowered it into the orifice. Coq le Roi, looking over his shoulder timidly, watched him as one watches a conjuror at his tricks.
“Monsieur,” cried he, “you cannot hide me in the well.”
The unknown laughed scornfully.
“St. Denis,” exclaimed he, “that a man should live five years in a house and yet know nothing of its resources! Do you follow the path of that light, my friend? Well, tell me what you see.”
“The light shows me walls green with slime and fungus,” said the robber. ”

“ Perrin, is a story of the Anglo-Indian life in which she always moves at ease. It is Captain George Coventry's first wife, the golden-haired and "phenomenally" (as the newspaper-men will go on saying) innocent Rafella of the high-perched Cotswold vicarage, who eventually finds her deplorable way down to the Bazaar. ”

“ I said nothing with my tongue, but for a moment I allowed my eyes to say, "But then you're short, sir." He understood, and for the third time he flushed.
[Pg 240]
"I thought as much," said I, and with a bow I began to walk on.
But, as ill-luck would have it, I was not to come clear off from my indiscretion. In a moment I should have been out of sight. But as I started I saw a gentleman pass the guard, who stood at the salute. It was the King; escape was impossible. He walked straight up to me, bowing carelessly in response to M. de Perrencourt's deferential inclination of his person. ”

“ For a moment he stood there, tall, gaunt, haggard, his eyes held by Birkland's, the fire dying from them. For a moment he seemed to hesitate, his lips moved as though he would speak—then, with a helpless gesture of his hand, he moved slowly, with hanging head, down the room, and passed out through the door.
There was silence, and then from his chair in the dark corner Perrin laughed.
CHAPTER XII—MR. PERRIN WALKS IN SLEEP I. WITH examinations there comes a new element into the life of the term—it is an element of triumph in so far as it marks the approaching end of an impossible situation ”

“ In a few weeks' time perhaps—”
“I meant every word that I said this afternoon. This place is scandalous—scandalous—”
“I regret that you feel that. I'm extremely sorry that you feel about it as you do. But at least let me beg you to wait for a few weeks. Write to me. Write to the governors—write to anyone you please. But wait—let me urge you to wait.”
Mr. Moy-Thompson's hand was laid upon Perrin's knee. Again there was silence. Then at last:
“Very well. What does it matter? I will wait. I haven't the strength to break with anything. I'm no use—no good.” ”

“ Why? honey! I feel lots better morally with a full stomach than when I am hungry.”
They climbed into the car and Chapman drove out the boulevard and turned into the Parkville road. It was a lovely morning, not too hot and with only a wind made by their passage, so that the dust only drifted behind the car. They passed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Brandon’s daughter and saw the aerials strung between the house and the flagpole on the garage.
“Keep your eyes open for aerials anywhere, Amy,” said Jessie. “Of course wherever that broadcasting station is, the aerials must be observable.” ”

“ Jacques Perron! listen, listen! Go you up the hill-side—yonder, yonder!” and he pointed with a yellow finger, which seemed to stretch out longer and longer as the smith strained his eyes up the slope, until the digit looked quite as long as the tallest chimney that smoked over Liége. “Listen, listen!” and he sang in a voice like the breath of a huge bellows:
“‘Wine’s good in winter weather; Up the hill-side near the heather Go and gather the black earth, It shall give your fire birth. Ill fares the hide when the buckler wants mending; Ill fares the plough when the coulter wants tending: Go! ”

“ He had nothing more to do but introduce Sir Arthur Spalding, who would give away the prizes.
Mr. Moy-Thompson sat down, hot and inspired, amidst a burst of frantic cheering and clapping, but was suddenly chilled by the consciousness of Mr. Perrin's eyes glaring at him in the strangest manner across the room. He shifted his chair a little to the left, so that a boy's head intervened. The Governing Body at the conclusion of his speech moved their heads to the right, then to the left, smiled once, and resumed their immovability. ”

“ What rot! what rot! what rot! He could have shouted it to the roof—“Lies! Lies! Lies!”
There was a little stir and rustle as Moy-Thompson finished his speech—ladies' dresses moved against the chairs, boots slipped along the floor—and then a burst of cheering and clapping. Perrin rubbed his hands against one another—they were hot and dry and something rather like a bobbin on a latch went up and down in his throat—his eyes were burning. ”

“ Penrose has peculiarities which put him in a niche quite his own. He eschews conversation as an idle affectation. He dislikes to shake hands, preferring the Chinese fashion of holding his on his own expansive paunch. When he finds it necessary to talk at all he speaks the precise truth as he sees it without consideration for the feelings of those he happens to be addressing. The results are frequently so ludicrous, particularly when he enters a colloquy on the Senate floor, that he is given credit for a much more pronounced sense of humor than he actually possesses. ”

“ I made myself a chapman when very young, in great hopes of being rich when I became old but fortune was fickle and so was I; for I had not been a chapman above two days, until I began to consider the danger of deep ditches, midden dubs, biting dogs and bogles in barns, bangster wives and wiet sacks; And what comfort is it, to ly in a cows ouxter, the length of a cold winter night ”

“ The afternoon drew to evening. Many voices had sounded below his window, but the summer evening was now drawing, softly and quietly, about the world. Voices came like notes of music at long intervals across the darkening lawns. It was nearly seven o'clock and presently it would be time for chapel. The staff always gathered in the Senior common room before chapel and they would all be there now. As he paced his room Mr. Perrin saw them gathered there, talking. ”

“ Mr. Chapman possessed a robust constitution, and practised through life the most temperate habits; he was thus enabled to retain the full enjoyment of his faculties, and to continue employed upon various public works, in drainages, canals, and harbours, up till within a very short period of his decease, which occurred in 1832, in the eighty-third year of his age.—Life of Chapman. London, John Weale.
SIR WILLIAM CONGREVE, BART., F.R.S. Born in Middlesex, May 20, 1772. Died May 3, 1828. ”

“ Gosh, some folks never want anyone to be happy!" He raised himself by painful effort and peered out and down into the gloom. "Sophs, I'll bet," he murmured, falling back again on the cushions. "No one else would sit out here on the grass and sing school songs two days before the end. I hope that idiot singing second bass will get a brown-tail caterpillar down his neck!"
"The end!" observed Steve Chapman. "You say that as if we were all going to die the day after tomorrow, Perry! Cheer up! ”

“ As two Irish soldiers were passing through Chippenham, one of them observing the Borough Arms (which have somewhat the appearance of a hatchment) over the Town-hall door, accosted his comrade with—Arrah, Pat, look up, what is that sign? Botheration, cried Pat, ’tis no sign at all, at all, ’tis only a sign that somebody’s dead that lives there.
720. The Duke of Mantua once observed to the celebrated Perron, that the court-jester was a fellow without either wit or humour. Your grace must pardon me, said Perron; I think he has a great deal of wit to live by a trade that he does not understand. ”

“ Gae awa', cried the lass, he, filthy body at he is, the last chapman that kist me had a horse-pack, but he'll hae naething in his but a wisp of strae, some old breeks, hair-skins, maukin-skins, ony thing that fills the bag, and bears bouk, and yet he would kiss and handle me, hech, I was made for a better fallow; ane of them came by ae day, and fell'd our Meg twa ell and a quarter o' linen to be her bridal sark, for he had nae mair, and when she made it, and pat it on, it widna hide her hech, hech, hech, he. ”