Beaumagnan

“ Once more the fingers of Beaumagnan were curved like talons and his trembling hands were outstretched to strangle her. But she raged at him, blind and beside herself, and flung in his face the insult of her love.
“I love him, Beaumagnan!” she cried. “The fire which burns you and devours me, too, is a love like your love; with it is mingled the idea of death and murder. Yes, I would rather kill him than know that he was another’s, or than know that he loves me no longer. ”

“ The tribunal of enquiry, the inexorable judges, the sinister executioners, Beaumagnan, Godfrey d’Etigues, the condemnation, the descent down to the sea, the boat sinking in the darkness, what nightmares already dim! They had come to an end in an intimate comradeship of victim and rescuer.
By the light of the lantern hanging from a beam he gave the young woman food and drink and dressed her wound with infinite gentleness. Protected by him, far from the snares and hatred of her enemies, Josephine Balsamo lay back in utter trustfulness. She shut her eyes and fell asleep. ”

“ In spite of your airs of judges and torturers and in spite of the enormous personal interest each of you has in success of your common enterprise, you are at bottom honorable men who would never dare to murder me. You would perhaps, Beaumagnan; because you’re a fanatic who lives in terror of me. But you would have to find here executioners capable of obeying you. ”

“ There are things which a woman cannot accomplish by herself. Owing to the mere fact that you, a woman, are seeking the same end as these men and are consequently at war with them, they have succeeded in forming the most ignoble plot against you. They brought such charges against you and supported them by proofs apparently so sound that for a moment I actually saw in you the sorceress and criminal whom Beaumagnan was overwhelming with his hatred and contempt. ”

“ You think you have done mighty things, but you are wrong! As to the first Knight, his horse stumbled, and he was drowned before you ever touched him. And the other you took from behind, and struck him when he was defenceless.” “Damsel!” answered Beaumains, “you may say what you will, I care not what it is, so I may deliver this lady.” “Fie, foul kitchen knave, you shall see Knights that will make you lower your crest.” “I pray you be more civil in your language,” answered Beaumains, “for it matters not to me what Knights they be, I will do battle with them.” ”

“ So Beaumains conquered Sir Persant of Inde, who brought a hundred Knights to be sworn into his service, and the next morning the damsel led him to the castle, where the Red Knight of the Red Lawn held fast the lady. 'Heaven defend you,' cried Sir Persant, when they told him where they were going; 'that is the most perilous Knight now living, for he has the strength of seven men. He has done great wrong to that lady, who is one of the fairest in all the world, and it seems to me as if this damsel must be her sister. ”

“ You shall yield me this lady, or pay dearly for it; for it does not beseem a kitchen page to ride with a lady of high degree."
"If you want her, you must win her," said Beaumains, [Pg 193] "and much comfort may you get from her tongue. As for me, I am a gentleman born, and of higher birth than you; and will prove this on your body if you deny it."
Then in hot anger they rode apart, and came together with a sound of thunder. The spear of the black knight broke, but Beaumains thrust him through the side, the spear breaking in his body, and leaving the truncheon in his flesh. ”

“ No one in her soft cushioned life had ever dared to gainsay her. At Beaumanoir her word was law. She had loved its rich idleness for the power it gave her. Luxurious as she was, it was no passive luxury that she craved, but the sense of mastery, of being a rare thing set apart. The spirit of the women of Beaumanoir burned fiercely in her.... She longed to set her lover in the forefront of the world. Let him crusade if he chose, but not in a beggars' quarrel. And now the palace of glass was shivered, and she was forsaken for a peasant béguine. The thought set her pacing to the window. ”

“ O thy sweet temper! what would I have given, that Lady had been like thee: seest thou her? that face (my love) join'd with thy humble mind, had made a wench indeed.
Wel. Alas my love, what God hath done, I dare not think to mend. I use no paint, nor any drugs of Art, my hands and face will shew it.
La. Why what thing have you brought to shew us there? do you take mony for it?
Elder Lo. A Godlike thing, not to be bought for mony: 'tis my Mistris: in whom there is no passion, nor no scorn: what I will is for law; pray you salute her. ”

“ Her lover was the bravest gallant that ever came out of Brittany; rich too, and well beloved, and kin to de Richemont, the Constable. In the happy days at Beaumanoir he was the leader in jousts and valiances, the soul of hunting parties, the lightest foot in the dance. The Beaumanoirs had been a sleepy stock, ever since that Sir Aimery, long ago, who had gone crusading with Saint Louis and ridden out of the ken of mortals. Their wealth had bought them peace, and they had kept on good terms alike with France and Burgundy, and even with the unruly captains of England. ”

“ At this the Knight whom Beaumains had rescued rode up to the damsel, and begged that she would rest in his castle that night, as the sun was now setting. The damsel agreed, and the Knight ordered a great supper, and gave Sir Beaumains a seat above the seat of the damsel, who rose up in anger. “Fie! fie! Sir Knight,” cried she, “you are uncourteous to set a mere kitchen page before me; he is not fit to be in the company of highborn people.” Her words struck shame into the Knight, and he took Beaumains and set him at a side table, and seated himself before him. ”

“ The dreaming boy made his own world, which was not, like his grandmother's, one of a dark road visited rarely by angels, with heaven as a shining city at the end of it; or, like his brother's, a green place of earthy jollity. It was as if the Breton blood of the Lavals and Rohans had brought to the solid stock of Beaumanoir the fairy whimsies of their dim ancestors. While the moors and woodlands were to Aimery only places to fly a hawk or follow a stag, to Philip they were a wizard land where dreams grew. ”

“ When the bull of the pasture does not suffice, the bull of Phalaris charges in. But Beaumont prefers nature: his images are sweet with April and violets and dew and morning-light, or fields of standing corn 'moved with a stiff gale'—their heads bowing 'all one way.' From the manufacture of books he borrows two metaphors, 'printing' and 'blotting,' and plies them with effective variety: Philaster 'prints' wounds upon Bellario; Bellario 'printed' her 'thoughts in lawn'; Amintor will 'print a thousand wounds' upon Evadne's flesh ”

“ Gos. How soon my light's put out! hard hearted Bruges! Within thy Walls may never honest Merchant Venture his fortunes more: O my poor Wench too.
Enter Gerrard.
Ger. Good fortune, Master.
Gos. Thou mistak'st me, Clause, I am not worth thy Blessing.
Ger. Still a sad man!
Enter Higgen and Prigg, like Porters. No belief gentle Master? come bring it in then, And now believe your Beadsman.
Gos. Is this certain? Or dost thou work upon my troubled sense?
Ger. 'Tis gold, Sir, Take it and try it.
Gos. Certainly 'tis treasure; Can there be yet this Blessing? ”

“ I dread sorely lest you should get some hurt; yet this Sir Persant of Inde is nothing in might to the Knight who has laid siege to my lady.” But Sir Beaumains would not listen to her words, and vowed that by two hours after noon he would have overthrown him, and that it would still be daylight when they reached the castle. “What sort of a man can you be?” ”

“ Bellario weaving garlands by the fountain's side; Philaster's rhapsody in the woods; Valerio's "Come, pretty soul, we now are near our home" to Viola in the Coxcombe, and Viola's "what true contented happiness dwells here, More than in cities!" The same conception marks as Beaumont's the shrewdly humorous conversation in prose between the citizens' wives in A King and No King, beginning—
Lord, how fine the fields be! What sweet living 'tis in the country!—
Ay, poor souls, God help 'em, they live as contentedly as one of us. ”

“ But to such sneers, and to all the scorns and insults of the varlets of the kitchen, Beaumains would answer naught, and was ever quiet and mild whatever he endured. And to all was he ever gentle, both man and child, and he never put forth his great strength in anger.
Thus a year passed, until again it was the feast of Pentecost, and at that time the king held it at his chief city in Wales, Caerleon-upon-Usk. And again the feast was royally prepared in the great hall of the court, but the king would not give the signal to sit to meat until he should have heard or seen some strange adventure. ”

“ Yes, I will go, but 'tis no matter whither: But when I trust a wild Fool, and a Woman, May I lend Gratis, and build Hospitals.
Young Lo. Nay good Sir, make all even, here's a Widow wants your good word for me, she's rich, and may renew me and my fortunes.
Elder Lo. I am glad you look before you. Gentlewoman, here is a poor distressed younger Brother.
Wid. You do him wrong Sir, he's a Knight.
Elder Lo. I ask you mercy: yet 'tis no matter, his Knighthood is no inheritance I take it: whatsoever he is, he is your Servant, or would be, Lady. Faith be not merciless, but make a man ”

“ I’faith, and Ralph told him on’t before: all the gentlemen heard him.—Did he not, gentlemen? did not Ralph tell him on’t?
George.
Right courteous and valiant Knight of the Burning Pestle, here is a distressed damsel to have a halfpenny-worth of pepper. Wife.
That’s a good boy! see, the little boy can hit it; by my troth, it’s a fine child. Ralph.
Relieve her, with all courteous language. Now shut up shop; no more my prentices, but my trusty squire and dwarf. I must bespeak my shield and arming pestle. ”

“ Young Lo. I am glad of your conversion Master Morecraft: Y'are in a fair course, pray pursue it still.
Mor. Come, we are all gallants now, I'le keep thee company; Here honest fellow, for this Gentlemans sake, there's two Angels more for thee.
Savil. God quite you Sir, and keep you long in this mind.
Young Lo. Wilt thou persevere?
Mor. Till I have a penny. I have brave cloathes a making, and two horses; canst thou not help me to a match Knight, I'le lay a thousand pound upon my crop-ear. ”

“ But Beaumanoir, sitting in the dark with his Smith and Wesson at full cock amid the archives of the house he was concerned to preserve stainless, was aware of none of these tortuous dealings. Had his zeal allowed him to indulge in the luxury of a light, he might have whiled away the time by perusing some of the musty chronicles around him, and have so drawn comfort from the knowledge that if his misdeed was published with the usual trimmings in every paper in the kingdom, he would still compare favorably with some of his race who had gone before. ”

“ Philander,
You look pale; I'll talk no more.
Philander
Pray go forward; I would be your Martyr,
To dye thus, were immortally to live.
Erota
Will you go to him then, and speak for me?
You have loved longer, but not ferventer,
Know how to speak, for you have done it like
An Orator, even for your self; then how will you for me
Whom you profess to love above your self.
Philander
The Curses of Dissemblers follow me
Unto my Grave, and if I do not so.
Erota
You may (as all men do) speak boldlier, better
In their friends cause still, than in your own ”

“ She had a name for holiness as far as the coasts of Italy. Surely from the blood of Beaumanoir one would arise to be in dark times a defender of the Faith, a champion of Christ whom after death the Church should accept among the beatified. Such a fate she desired for her seed more hungrily than any Emperor's crown.
In the younger, Philip, there was hope. He had been an odd child, slim and pale while Aimery was large and ruddy, shy where his brother was bold and bold where he was shy. ”

“ Phi. By all the Oaths that men ought most to keep:
And Gods do punish most, when men do break,
He toucht her not. Take heed Bellario,
How thou dost drown the vertues thou hast shown
With perjury. By all that's good 'twas I:
You know she stood betwixt me and my right.
Pha. Thy own tongue be thy judge.
Cle. It was Philaster.
Di. Is't not a brave boy? Well Sirs, I fear we were all deceived.
Phi. Have I no friend here?
Di. Yes.
Phi. Then shew it;
Some good body lend a hand to draw us nearer.
Would you have tears shed for you when you die? ”

“ Elder Lo. 'Tis done Sir, take your keys again:
But hark you Savil, leave off the motions
Of the flesh, and be honest, or else you shall graze again:
I'le try you once more.
Savil. If ever I be taken drunk, or whoring, Take off the biggest key i'th' bunch, and open My head with it Sir: I humbly thank your worships.
Elder Lo. Nay then I see we must keep holiday. Enter Roger, and Abigal. Here's the last couple in hell.
Roger. Joy be among you all.
Lady. Why how now Sir, what is the meaning of this emblem?
Roger. Marriage an't like your worship.
Lady. Are you married?
Roger. ”

“ When I recalled my wars with him and that terrible battle I must own I was afraid that he would perhaps arrange my death by mixing poison with my food." So spake Bohemund. I have never seen a wicked man who did not act wrongly in all his words and deeds; for whenever a man deserts the middle course of action, to whatever extreme he inclines, he stands far away from goodness.
The Emperor sent for Bohemund and requested him to take the customary oath of the Latins. ”