Marquesans

“ But how presume to think that the daughter of an old man, the vainest in all Spain of his nobility, would be bestowed on the son of a Parisian grocer? Moreover, the French were hated. The Marquis having been suspected by General G..t..r, who was governor of the province, of organizing a movement in favour of Ferdinand VII, the battalion commanded by Victor Marchand had been stationed in the little town of Menda to overawe the neighbouring districts, which owed allegiance to the Marquis of Leganés. ”

“ You'd like him to have been a fine gentleman—a baronet, or an earl, or a marquis, eh, my blessed boy? A marquis is about the ticket for you, eh? What do you say to a marquis?"
It was not very polite, certainly, what he did say; not quite the tone of conversation to be pleasing to any marquis, or to any noble or potentate whatever, except one, and him, by the laws of polite literature, I am not allowed to mention. ”

“ The Marquis might well allude in his Century to “the melancholy which had lately seized upon him;” his sole desire being to pay his debts and possess “a competency to live according to his birth and quality;” yet every way frustrated, month by month, year by year, even after his last ray of hope was realized in the return of the exiled sovereign. He makes slight allusion to enemies, and none to public neglect. ”

“ The sacred ties of honor are not broken With so much ease, as some would fain persuade me. Marquis, you know mankind. Just such a man As you I long have wished for—you are kind— Cheerful—and deeply versed in human nature— Therefore I've chosen you—— MARQUIS (surprised and alarmed) . Me, sire! KING. You stand Before your king and ask no special favor— For yourself nothing!—that is new to me— You will be just—ne'er weakly swayed by passion. Watch my son close—search the queen's inmost heart. You shall have power to speak with her in private. Retire. ”

“ The marquis’s arguments had very great influence on which side of the question soever he happened to be.—No nobleman, either in that or the English house of peers, ever acquitted himself with greater reputation, or behaved with a more becoming dignity than he did during this session of the Irish parliament.
In consequence of this zeal for the new government, shewn at a time when they stood much in need of men of abilities, and so little expected from the young marquis, the king who was no stranger to the most refined rules of policy, created him a duke, the highest degree of a subject. ”

“ The marquis, dazzled by these reasons, gave up the point, and it was resolved that the young marquis should not misspend his time in endeavoring to become acquainted with Cicero, Horace, and Virgil.
"Then," said the father, "what shall he learn? For he must know something. Might not one teach him a little geography?"
"Of what use will that be?" answered the governor. When the marquis goes to his estate won't the postilion know the roads? They certainly will not carry him out of his way. There is no occasion for a quadrant to travel there ”

“ It was delivered to me by special courier the day after the battle of Montereau."
"And you were created what, sir?"
"Count d'Aumenier, at your service, monsieur."
"Is this an insult?" exclaimed the Marquis, his pale face reddening.
"Sir," said the young man proudly, "it was given me by a man who has made more men noble, and established them, than all the kings of France before him. No power on earth could better make me Count or Prince or King, even."
"Sir! Sir!" protested the Marquis furiously. ”

“ Never was there man more obstinate or more selfwilled than the Marquis. Despite all my friendly persuasion, he was determined to go. And when once settled at the other end of France, he launched out into all sorts of agricultural schemes and enterprises, without even knowing why he did so. He constructed roads, built windmills, bridged over a large torrent, completed the pavilions of his castle, replanted coppices and vineyards, and, besides all this, hunted the chamois, bears, and boars of the Nebouzan and the Pyrenees. ”

“ I suppose it was not at the mention of the Marquis's name for the place of a governor of some province that this Monarch said, "My subjects of that province have always been dutiful; a philosopher shall never rule in my name but over people with whom I am discontented, or whom I intend to chastise." This Prince was not unacquainted with the morality of his sectaries. ”

“ We are sympathetic animals, just on a level with the people of quality. We have our equipages in the same style; we give our little suppers on the same scale; and, on the broad ground, we are just of as much use in civil society. In fact, to draw a parallel between a marquis and a player through the space of four and twenty hours, they are just on a par. The marquis, for three fourths of the time, ranks above the player by political courtesy and sufferance; the player, during his hour on the stage, overtops the marquis in the part of an emperor or a king, which he better knows how to enact. ”

“ His majesty was perfectly charmed with the good qualities of the Marquis, and his daughter was violently in love with him. The king, after having drank five or six glasses, said to him, "My Lord Marquis, you will be only to blame, if you are not my son-in-law." The marquis making several low bows, accepted the honour his majesty conferred upon him, and forthwith, the very same day, married the princess.
Puss became a great lord, and never ran after mice any more, but only for his diversion. ”

“ What! the Marquis de Chamarante, whom I thought one of my friends, has lent himself to such an embassy!”
“The Marquis is a good man, a man of honour; and his essential duty is to please his sovereign, his master. Moreover, at the time when the letters were sent you, time remained to you for deliberation. To-day, all time for delay has expired; you must go away of your own free will, or receive the affront of a command, and a ‘lettre de cachet’ in form.”
“A ‘lettre de cachet’ for me! for the mother of the Duc du Maine and the Comte de Toulouse! We shall see that, my brother! We shall see!” ”

“ Was there any driver? Had I any reason to suppose that he was not lying gagged and bound on the roadside, and the highwayman, with blackened face, who did the thing so quietly, driving me—whither? The thing is perfectly feasible. And what is this fancy now being jolted out of me? A story? It’s of no use to keep it back, particularly in this abysmal vehicle, and here it comes: I am a marquis—a French marquis; French, because the peerage is not so well known, and the country is better adapted to romantic incident—a marquis, because the democratic reader delights in the nobility. ”

“ The letters which he wrote to him from the camp during the Seven Years' War are among the most charming and touching reminiscences that remain to us of the King. When he returned from that war, his fondest hope was that the marquis would dwell with him at Sans Souci. A few years afterwards this delightful connection was dissolved. But how was this possible? The marquis was the best Frenchman to whom the King had attached himself; a man of honour and of refined feeling and cultivation, truly devoted to the King. But he was neither a remarkable nor a very superior man. ”

“ Very admirable is the marquis of Lû, Reverently displaying his virtue, And reverently watching over his deportment, The pattern of the people.
With great qualities, both civil and martial, Brilliantly he affects his meritorious ancestors [1] . In everything entirely filial, He seeks the blessing that is sure to follow.
5. Very intelligent is the marquis of Lû, Making his virtue illustrious. He has made this college with its semicircle of water, And the tribes of the Hwâi will submit to him [2] . ”

“ The marquis answered, that he did not encroach upon the prince's right, but only defended his own: that he thought his honour concerned, and, as he was a young man, would not enter the world with the loss of his reputation. The prince, exasperated to a very high degree, repeated his commands; but the marquis, with a spirit and firmness not to be depressed or shaken, persisted in his determination to assert his claim, and concluded with declaring that he would do himself the justice that was denied him; and that not the prince himself should trample on his character. ”

“ Day after day he expected to hear of revolts, of which his noble father was doubtless the soul. But the Marquis, though a sincere Legitimist, was by no means an enthusiastic fanatic. He was simply a very proud, a very polished, a very luxurious, and, though not without the kindliness and generosity which were common attributes of the old French noblesse, a very selfish grand seigneur. ”

“ Aside from this timidity, which made him appear to great disadvantage, and which your ladyship should readily excuse, since you yourself were the cause of it, the marquis is an accomplished and estimable gentleman. He is handsome, young, of high birth and great wealth. He would do capitally for my fair sister, and is sure to address himself to the prince—if indeed he has not already done so—as an aspirant to the honour of an alliance with her. ”

“ On the other hand, the Marquis was struck by the handsome and noble appearance of that fine young man, who had raised himself from a sphere comparatively humble to an exalted position—who had led armies to a crowning triumph through the deadly strife of battle—and who was himself the personification of that generous spirit of political freedom which now influences the civilised world from the banks of the Thames to the waters of the Volga. ”

“ His wife, who had been residing at Raglan Castle, obtained leave from the Parliament in 1646 to flee to Paris, where the Marquis also arrived in 1648.
The Marquis was proscribed both as a Papist and a rebel. Throughout his political career the religion of his father and himself had made many weak-minded men their enemies; but that his loyalty should be considered rebellion was nothing more than might be expected from the dominant party of those troubled times: although undoubtedly the result of that great moral earthquake benefited our nation. ”

“ For after the venerable old marquis had fought nobly and surrendered on honorable terms, I am sorry to say he was most dishonorably treated, the conditions of capitulation being disgracefully violated, and the old marquis put in close prison, where he soon died in his eighty-fifth year.—Well, well—there was abundance of such false faith and dark villany on both sides ere the war was over. Be it remembered that these same nobles had kept the honor too closely to themselves, and ridiculed it out of life quite too sharply in the 'base mechanicals' to fairly expect mastery in gentility from them. ”

“ Marquis. Really a man! Why?—What?—Don't I look like a man?
Countess. Yes—that you do—and a sweet pretty man—Come, come, don't be frightened—shake hands—I forgive you—forgive you all your impertinence—and, carry the jest as far as you will, I am resolved not to be angry.
Marquis. I am very much obliged to you—infinitely obliged to you—I assure you this favour—this honour.—I don't know what to say—She absolutely puts me out of countenance. (Aside.)
Countess. What confused?—Come, resume your gaiety—Come, come—
Marquis. Come, come, then. (seizing her.)
Enter DON ANTONIO.
Antonio. Hah!—What! ”

“ It was a great hit, in the second generation of an earldom, to convert the coronet into that of a marquis; but the son of the old chancellor lived in stirring times, and cruised for his object with the same devoted patience with which Lord Anson watched for the galleon. It came at last, as everything does if men are firm and calm. The present marquis, through his ancestry and his first wife, was allied with the highest houses of the realm and looked their peer. He might have been selected as the personification of aristocracy: so noble was his appearance, so distinguished his manner ”

“ The vassals and retainers marched out of the castle in gallant array, and the Marquis's page told him that his charger was prepared, whereupon the Marchioness fainted--dead as a stone. The Marquis waited till she had recovered, and then snatched himself away and departed, while the Marchioness, with flowing tears and streaming hair, stood in the highest tower watching the horsemen till the top of the last spear was hid behind the mountain, and then she came down and said to the servant, "At home to nobody but the Baron." ”

“ The Marquis had, as we say, taken a fancy to me. Such likings at first sight often ripen into lasting friendships. To be sure it was just possible that the Marquis might think it prudent to keep the involuntary depository of a political secret, even so vague a one, in good humour. ”

“ Well, our marquis, then the first gentleman in Great Britain, one of 'the barons of England who fought for the crown,' when in France as particular friend of His Majesty Charles II, went one day on such a party of pleasure, and somewhat annoyed his pretty companion by persisting in listening to the drivelling talk of a madman—one Solomon de Caus—who, while he rattled his chains, talked of a great invention he had made, whereby chariots were to go by steam, and weights be raised, and all manner of brave work be effected, at small cost or labor to man. ”

“ He says he cannot avoid consenting to what the savages do in keeping the English busy and frustrating their advance since the French were restrained from open hostilities by the peace. “I beg you to be assured, Monseigneur,” the Marquis continues, “that I will manage everything so as not to compromise myself and that I will not give up an inch of land that belongs to the king. It is time the limits should be settled and that we should know positively what we are to hold, so as to put an end to all hostilities and to avoid the immense expense that is occasioned.” ”