Clermont-Ferrand

“ The country round about is volcanic, and the face of the landscape shows it plainly. Clermont-Ferrand, the capital, was a populous city in Roman times, and was the centre from which the spirit of the Church survived and went forth anew after five consecutive centuries of devastation and bloodshed of Vandals, Visigoths, Franks, Saracens, Carlovingians and Capetians. ”

“ Curtains suspended across backs of niches give the artist another colour, while white winding scrolls assist canopy portions in admitting light. Donors are here more important but not yet intrusive, as seen later.
[Pg 160]
CLERMONT-FERRAND
The situation of this city is as beautiful as it is remarkable. Imagine a long, fertile plain from which rises suddenly a great range of hills. The plain is monotonously flat and the hills are abruptly steep, while higher than all their heights towers the round-topped mountain of Puy-de-Dôme, which gives its name to this department of France. ”

“ Louis was married, and looked at the beautiful thirteenth-century glass in the windows, and the strange frescoes; we rushed in and out of Notre Dame du Port, stopping on the way in the Place where the first Crusade was proclaimed, and to gaze at the house and statue of Pascal. Jack would squander some of his extremely hard earned money on a box of the burnt almonds for which Clermont-Ferrand is celebrated; and when we had seen everything I dared stop to see, he ran the car to Montferrand, to show me some ancient and wonderful houses, famous all over France. ”

“ Then we lapsed into silence and watched the place gradually fill with the populace of Clermont-Ferrand. The three top tiers soon became crowded. The rest were but thinly peopled. But there was a sufficient multitude of garlic-eating, unwashed humanity, to say nothing of the natural circus smell, to fill unaccustomed nostrils with violent sensations. A private soldier is a gallant fellow, and ordinarily you feel a comfortable sense of security in his neighbourhood ”

“ But the latter is an out-of-the-way place as compared with Royat, which has the great advantage of being within a quarter of an hour's ride, or walk, of such a real good town as Clermont-Ferrand, whereas La Bourboule and Mont Dore are an hour-and-a-half's drive each of them from their own station, Laqueuille, which is nothing more than a mere country railway station, with a simple buffet, and four hours from Clermont-Ferrand, which I suppose is the market town, and certainly the only place of any importance to which one can go, "there and back again," in a long day. ”

“ The census at Clermont-Ferrand, as at Toulouse, was a pretext for disturbances which broke out on September 13, 1841, and continued the whole of the next day. The rioters attacked the armed force, and many soldiers were killed or wounded; the gates of the town were burnt, and a desperate combat ensued. It became necessary to send considerable military forces to the town to overwhelm the rebels and restore order.
[41] The Marquis and Marquise de Castellane were now resident in Auvergne at their estate of Aubijou. ”

“ As I stood in utter dismay, crushed by the frightful discovery, we heard the door of the antechamber open, and approaching footsteps. In mortal terror Henri clasped my arm and conjured me to save him. Discovery would be his ruin, as I knew, and I hurried to the door and prevented the servant's entrance by telling him of my presence. When the man had gone and I turned round, Clermont had escaped."
"And you did not pursue him and wrest his booty from him? You did not tell the general what had happened?" ”

“ At the bottom of the park, a handsome viaduct of arches, built of lava, spans the valley, seeming to shut Royat in from the outer world, and beyond, the valley broadens out into a wide plain, with Clermont, the capital of Auvergne, in the foreground, and beyond the city, stretching right away to Switzerland, a splendid sea (as it were) of corn and maize and vines and olives, the richest, it is said, in the whole of la belle France. ”

“ But, alas! after four days a sentinel of ours saw, too late, an English knight with nine men slip through the vines, under cover of darkness, and win a postern gate in the town wall. Soon we heard a joy-fire of guns within Clermont town, and foreboded the worst. At midnight came a peasant to Xaintrailles, with tidings that a rescue was riding to Clermont, and next morning it was boots and saddles and away, so hastily that we left behind us the great bombards of the Burgundians. On this they made much mirth; but they laugh best who laugh last, as shall he seen. ”

“ Clermont, when young people, like yourself and Miss Frankland, quarrel together, I take no account of it; but if one can do the other any service, propose the business just as freely as if they were the best friends in the world. ”

“ On coming from Clermont, you enter Varennes by a straight road, which, for more than two leagues, has not a single curve in it, with the exception of where it enters Neuvilly.
All of a sudden as you approach those scattered houses which always foretell a city, the road takes a sudden turn to the right, and falls, as it were, into the midst of the city by the Rue des Réligieuses. ”

“ Perceiving that she could not easily reach the flower, Clermont, who had been fixed in his concealment by the enchantment of the vision, advanced to her view and offered his assistance. She was startled at the sudden apparition, and seized her oar. She did not know his language, but his gentle tones and supplicating gestures, tempted her to come nearer the bank and take the rose he offered, and then like the timid bird that picks one kernel from your hand, not staying for more flowers, which he would have gathered, she flew away over the waters. ”

“ Clermont, and I trace pondering lines upon your brow; may one know what engages your serious contemplation?
MISS FRANKLAND.
⁠The composition, perhaps, of verses for the prettily-bound album of Lady Worrymore.
CLERMONT.
⁠A book that will not have the honour of being opened by a lady who dislikes poetry.
MISS FRANKLAND.
⁠Nay, a lady of such a character might read that book, I believe, with very little offence. But when its pages are enriched with your sonnet, Mr. Clermont, the case will no doubt be altered. ”

“ Clermont?
CLERMONT.
⁠Every one is right to be pleased when he can.
LADY WORRYMORE.
⁠What an observation, applied to the fervour of our admiration!
LORD WORRYMORE (laying his hand soothingly on Clermont's arm) .
⁠Don't be so grave, my dear Sir: have patience —have patience: your pretty sonnet will claim its own share of admiration presently. (Going with great complacency from one person to another.) I hope you like him?—I hope you like the speech. Very good; all very clever. At least, I am told so—it does not become me to speak. ”

“ Men and horses sank to rise no more. Nor did the French marshals fare better than their comrades. While shrieks of dismay and pain rent the air, and intimated to the great army of France the fate that had befallen their van, the Lord d'Andreghen, after being roughly handled, was taken prisoner; and the Lord Clermont, after bravely fighting under his banner as long as he was able, was ultimately struck down and killed on the spot. ”

“ A Count Steinrück is of no more importance to our chief than is any one of his bourgeois officials, and indeed not of as much if the latter happens to have a greater power of application. You must rise from the ranks."
"Yes, you Germans are wonderfully thorough in such matters," Clermont said, ironically. "With us one rises more quickly with a name and connections to aid him. And so you have been intrusted as yet with nothing important?"
"No." Raoul glanced impatiently towards the door that led into the next apartment, as if expecting some one. ”

“ The preaching of the crusade was not the only business of the great assembly at Clermont. A crowd of canons of the usual kind were passed against the usual abuses. Those abuses were not confined to England and Normandy. We are told that in all the lands on our side of the Alps—​and we may venture to doubt whether things were likely to be much better on the other side—​simony prevailed among all classes of the clergy, while the laity had taken to put away their wives and to take to themselves the wives of other men. ”

“ The royal party was already far from Varennes. Surrounded by five or six thousand infuriated peasants, the King was a prisoner in the same vehicle that was to have borne him to safety and freedom. It was only allowed to proceed at a foot-pace, and a whole hour was consumed in reaching Clermont. This town, like all the others through which they passed, was filled to overflowing. Everywhere the shops were closed, the people beside themselves with excitement, and hundreds of frantic voices yelled denunciations against the King, his nobles, and his officers. ”

“ The youngest daughter of the Duke of Burgundy had been, in 1386, betrothed to the Comte de Clermont, son of the Duc de Bourbon. But they were too young at the time for the marriage to take place, and meanwhile the quarrels of their families caused it to be broken off. They appear, however, to have been deeply attached to each other, for Bonne de Bourgogne, or, as she is named in her epitaph, Bonne d’Artois, declared that she would have no other husband than the Comte de Clermont, and, after refusing every other alliance suggested to her, died at Arras, 1399. ”

“ During this time, the English, in great force, under the command of the earl of Huntingdon and sir John de Cornwall, marched to the castle of Clermont, which they valiantly attacked, but it was as vigorously defended. The English, having had many killed and wounded, set fire to and burnt the village of St Andrieu, wherein were several handsome mansions, and substantial houses. They then overran the whole county of Clermont, and gained much plunder, with which they returned to the duchy of Normandy. ”

“ However, before this army could arrive, the earl of Shrewsbury and the barons of the Bordelois had subjected most of the places near Bordeaux to the government of the English. The town and castle of Châtillon, in Perigord, then occupied by the French, were surrendered by the garrison, on having their lives and fortunes spared, notwithstanding the count de Clermont did all in his power to resist the English before his reinforcement arrived. ”

“ The country being thus recovered, the king determined on going to Tours, after leaving, for its defence, the count de Clermont his lieutenant general, sir Theaulde de Valpergue, and sir John de Bureau, treasurer of France and mayor of the city of Bordeaux, with a sufficient force of men at arms, archers, and cross-bows. ”

“ FERNEL, JEAN FRANÇOIS (1497–1558) , French physician, was born at Clermont in 1497, and after receiving his early education at his native town, entered the college of Sainte-Barbe, Paris. At first he devoted himself to mathematical and astronomical studies; his Cosmotheoria (1528) records a determination of a degree of the meridian, which he made by counting the revolutions of his carriage wheels on a journey between Paris and Amiens. But from 1534 he gave himself up entirely to medicine, in which he graduated in 1530. ”

“ The archbishop of Rheims, chancellor of France came first to meet and do him reverence in the plains without Senlis, and shortly after came the count de Clermont, with about sixty knights. When they had drawn near to the duke they both pulled off their hoods, bowed their heads, and addressed each other in obliging terms, but did not embrace through love and joy, as those nearly allied by blood are accustomed to do. ”

“ Here also we made some acquaintances, who almost contrived to cheat me into happiness. The delight of Clerval was proportionably greater than mine; his mind expanded in the company of men of talent, and he found in his own nature greater capacities and resources than he could have imagined himself to have possessed while he associated with his inferiors. “I could pass my life here,” said he to me; “and among these mountains I should scarcely regret Switzerland and the Rhine.” ”

“ The count de Clermont, the lord de Saintrailles bailiff of Lyon, the governor of la Rochelle, sir John Bureau mayor of Bordeaux, and sir Guichart le Boursier, were appointed to superintend the erection of these castles. They exerted great diligence to complete them,—and they were so strong that they were thought impregnable, so that the inhabitants were kept in more subjection than they had ever before been. ”

“ Ticonderoga, strong from its situation in the midst of water and marshes, resisted all efforts, but the line of junction between Canada and the Mississippi was effectually cut.
In Europe the same energy was visible. The army of Ferdinand was reinforced by a considerable number of English troops. Prince Ferdinand was opposed by the Count of Clermont, an unusually incapable general, who had in fact never before seen troops in the field. He succeeded in clearing Hanover and driving the French behind the Rhine at Creveld. He there Victory of Creveld. ”

“ Young men should be diffident of themselves, you know, M. Clerval; I was myself when young: but that wears out in a very short time.”
M. Krempe had now commenced an eulogy on himself, which happily turned the conversation from a subject that was so annoying to me.
Clerval was no natural philosopher. His imagination was too vivid for the minutiæ of science. Languages were his principal study; and he sought, by acquiring their elements, to open a field for self-instruction on his return to Geneva. ”