Martel

“ As Philippe said the action of that day took place on a very old battle-field. The shell which made the sheltering crater doubtless dug up earth untouched for hundreds of years. That it should have dug up the very object which was a tradition in the Martel family and should have laid it in the grasp of a Martel fighting for France with that tradition at the bottom of his mind seems incredible. The story [pg 261] of the apparition of the Maid is incredible to laughter, or tears. No farther light is to be got from the boy, because he believes his story. ”

“ Inasmuch as the ride to San Sebastiano was long, the young men were forced to leave early, but they were scarcely out of hearing before Martel drew his horse in beside Norvin and, laying a hand upon his friend's arm, inquired, breathlessly:
"Well? Come, come, brother of mine! You know I perish of eagerness.
What have you to say? The truth, between man and man."
Blake answered him with an odd hesitation:
"You must know without asking. There's nothing to say—except that she—she is like a golden flame. ”

“ He could never escape the thought that if he had acted the part of a man, if he had resisted with the promptness and vigor of his companions, the result might have been different and Martel might at this moment be on his way to Rome with his bride, alive and well. ”

“ It was a point to his credit, for the story would have been received with hilarity, and he particularly enjoyed making Rose laugh.
The entrance of Mr. Martel put an end to the discussion of the Bartletts. Bitter as was his animosity toward the old lady, he would permit no disrespect to be shown her or hers in his presence. In the garish light of day he looked a trifle less imposing than he had on New Year's eve in the firelight. His long white hair hung straight and dry about his face; baggy wrinkles sagged under his eyes and under his chin. ”

“ He had always taken it for granted that if he should be confronted with peril he would behave himself like a man. It was inexplicable that he had failed so miserably, for he had no reason to suspect a heritage of cowardice, and he was sound in mind and body. He loved Margherita Ginini with all his heart and his resolution to win her was stronger than ever, but he felt that sooner or later he would have to prove himself as manly as Martel had been, and, having lost faith in himself, the prospect frightened him. ”

“ But as to their name and origin I apprehend that (as in the case of Charles Martel, whose blows also fell so numberless and effectual on the heads of enemies, Vol. i., p. 86.) the old Frank word martel is much more likely to have originated the name than any locality, town, or tower, in either Spain or Corsica and the following extract from Dr. Robertson's Life of Charles V. (bk. c. p. 452., 8vo. ed.) should not be passed over in their history ”

“ Within the Downport, Martel had less trouble than he thought. He draped his aircoat over his shoulder so that it concealed the instruments. He took up his scanning mirror, and made up his face from the inside, by adding tone and animation to his blood and nerves until the muscles of his face glowed and the skin gave out a healthy sweat. That way he looked like an ordinary man who had just completed a long night flight. ”

“ But I never will."
"Sure you will," said Tom cheerily. "Brace up, Martel. You won't stay in this old hole forever."
Martel shook his head.
"I'm doomed," he said. "I was in the first stage of consumption when I came here, and the disease is gripping me more tightly every day. Perhaps it's a judgment on me."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Tom, but Martel did not reply except by a shrug of the shoulders.
"Speaking of Auvergne," remarked Tom after a pause, "reminds me that I have a special chum whose mother came from that province. She married an American, too." ”

“ GEOFFREY MARTEL AND POITOU.
The whole story of Geoffrey Martel’s doings in Poitou—his wars and his marriage—is involved in the greatest perplexity. There is no lack of information, but it is a mass of contradictions. The only writer who professes to account for the origin of the war is the author of the Gesta Cons. (Marchegay, Comtes, p. 126) , and his story, so far as it can apply to anything at all, certainly applies to the battle of Chef-Boutonne between Geoffrey the Bearded and William VII. (Guy-Geoffrey) in 1062. ”

“ They are the dregs; there is the Mafia to reckon with. How will you go about it?"
"I will become one of them, if necessary."
He answered her in a shocked voice. "No, no! You are mad to think of it. If you were a man you might have some chance for success, but you—a girl, a gentlewoman!"
"I am a Sicilian. I am rich, too. I have resources." She took him by the arm as she had done that first time when the thought of Martel's danger had roused her. "I told you no power could save them; no hiding-place could be so secret, no lies so cunning that I would not know. ”

“ Mr. Editor,—Perhaps the subjoined note, extracted from M. Collin de Plancy's Bibliothèque des Légendes, may not be without its value, as tending to correct an error into which, according to his account, modern historians have fallen respecting the origin of the surname "Martel," borne by the celebrated Charles Martel, son of Peppin of Herstal, Duke of Austrasia, by his Duchess Alphéide2:—
"It is surprising," he says, "that almost all our modern historians, whose profound researches have been so highly vaunted, have repeated the little tale of the Chronicle of St. ”

“ It was one of those old associations that one does not like to have destroyed. I could not, however, contradict your correspondents; and remained that very uncomfortable person, "a man convinced against his will." On turning over my Ménagiana, yesterday, I stumbled upon the name "Martel," and, as the passage combines both your elements (being a good note, and producing a query) I beg leave to offer it to you. ”

“ In 1036 Geoffrey Martel had to liberate William the Fat, on payment of a heavy ransom, but the latter having died in 1038, and the second son of William the Great, Odo, duke of Gascony, having fallen in his turn at the siege of Mauzé (10th of March 1039) Geoffrey made peace with his father in the autumn of 1039, and had his wife’s two sons recognized as dukes. ”

“ A town grew around church and monastery, and was named Martel in honour of the founder. In the early days of the Crusades, when princes and barons rivalled one another in virtuous zeal, a Viscount of Turenne decreed that inhabitants of Martel who were convicted of sinning against the marriage tie should be dragged naked through the town. The charter that contains this enactment treats of villeinage also, and orders that whoever has a man for sale within the limits of the viscounty shall fix the price, and shall not change it afterwards. ”

“ As the young men mounted to the loggiato, or covered gallery, a delicate, white-haired Italian lady arose and came to meet them.
"Ah, Martel, my dear boy! We have been expecting you," she cried.
It was the Donna Teresa Fazello, and she turned a sweet face upon Mattel's friend, bidding him welcome to Terranova with charming courtesy. She was still exchanging with him the pleasantries customary upon first meetings when he heard the Count exclaim softly, and, looking up, saw him bowing low over a girl's hands. ”

“ You're mighty decent," said the American with an odd breathlessness. "But do you think she could ever forget Martel?"
"She is not yet twenty."
"Do you think there is any possibility of my winning her? I thought so once, but lately I have been terribly doubtful."
"I should say it will depend largely upon your finding her. We are not the only good men who will love her. They sailed from here to Naples on the trail of Narcone; that much I believe is reasonably certain. I will give you a letter to the police there, and they will help you. ”

“ It has been pointed out that while Charles Martel has been immortalised for having checked a Moorish raid in the West that had nearly spent its force, and that could never have resulted in the permanent subjection of Europe, a much greater man who achieved a much greater feat has missed his laurels, partly because his action as a heretic offended the Church, but no doubt partly also because his achievements were carried out in the East. ”

“ At the moment when Cosmo was leaving his room to escape the haunting vision of an old picture representing a beautiful martyr with a dagger in her breast. Doctor Martel was at work finishing what he called a confidential memorandum which he proposed to hand over to the Marquis d'Armand. The doctor applied very high standards of honour and fidelity to his appreciation of men's character. He had a very great respect for the old Marquis. ”

“ You will come to Sicily. Perhaps the Contessa and I may even go to America. Friendship such as ours laughs at the leagues."
But Blake was pessimistic. "Perhaps she won't like me."
Martel laughed at this.
"Impossible! She is a woman, she has eyes, she will see you as I see you. More than that, I have told her that she must love you."
"Then that does settle it! You have hung the crepe on our future intimacy, for good and all. She will instruct your cook to put a spider in my dumpling or to do away with me by some characteristic Sicilian method." ”

“ Then he heard Martel say:
"The shells for the new rifle—Ippolito is a bad shot—take plenty."
When Ricardo had gone and the Count had returned to his seat, Norvin fancied he detected once more that grave look he had surprised in his friend's countenance upon their arrival at the castello.
"What were you telling Ricardo about rifles and cartridges?" he inquired.
"Eh? It was nothing. We are forced to guard our oranges; there are thieves about. I have been too long away from Martinello."
Later, as Norvin Blake composed himself to sleep he wondered idly if Martel had told him the whole truth. ”

“ Miss Nell Martel is one of the daintiest bits of femininity that have flitted behind the footlights in many moons. She has youth and beauty and a certain elusive charm. But the fact remains that she can not act. For the continued success of the really brilliant play, let us hope that the young lady's lover may soon become her husband, and that, having won his prize, he will substitute a professional for the charming young amateur who is in no way up to the rest of the really excellent cast. ”

“ THIS saint, nobly born in Brabant, then called Hasbain, was educated in the abbey of St. Tron, and for his great learning and virtue was made referendary, chancellor of France, and prime minister, by Charles Martel, mayor of the French palace, in 737. He was always meanly clad from his youth; he macerated his body by fasting, watching, and hair-cloths, and allowed his senses no superfluous gratifications of any kind. His charity to all in distress seemed to know no bounds; he supported an incredible number of poor, and was the protector and father of orphans and widows. ”

“ Charles Martel had left a young son, Grippo, whose legitimacy had been disputed, but who was not slow to set up pretensions and to commence intriguing against his brothers. Everywhere there burst out that reactionary movement which arises against grand and difficult works when the strong hand that undertook them is no longer by to maintain them ”

“ He was buried at S. Trond, and there his relics are preserved.
In Art, S. Eucher is often represented contemplating a man in the flames of hell, on account of a legend which relates that he saw Charles Martel undergoing torment in the place of the damned. Sometimes he is depicted lying in his sepulchre, with a serpent marked with the arms of France, symbolising Charles Martel, writhing beneath it. ”

“ Thomas Delf, in his translation of Chev [6] reuil’s Principles of Harmony, etc., of Colors (1847) , signs himself “Charles Martel.”
Martext (Sir Oliver) , a vicar in Shakespeare’s comedy of As You Like It (1600) .
Martha:
“Yea, Lord! Yet man must earn
And woman bake the bread;
And some must watch and wake
Early for other’s sake
Who pray instead.”
Julia C. R. Dorr, Afternoon Songs (1885) .
Martha, sister to “The Scornful Lady” (no name given) .—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Scornful Lady (1616) .
Martha, the servant-girl at Shaw’s Castle.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.) . ”

“ It is small blame to Geoffrey Martel that he was no match for William the Conqueror. Had he, in honest consciousness of his inferiority, done his best to avoid a collision, and when it became inevitable stood to face the consequences like a man, it would have been small shame to him to be defeated by the future victor of Senlac. The real shame is that after courting an encounter and loudly boasting of his desire to break a lance with William, when the opportunity was given him he silently declined to use it. ”

“ She persisted, too, in referring to that imaginary woman, and Blake regretted ever having mentioned her. If Margherita suspected the truth, she could not help feeling his lack of delicacy, his disloyalty to Martel, in confessing his love while the Count was still alive; if she really believed him to be in love with some other woman, it would necessitate sooner or later an explanation which he dreaded. ”

“ The bishop who came from Messina to marry Martel and remained to bury him has joined me. There is a convent at Palermo—"
"No, no!" Blake cried, vehemently. "Not that! That life is not for her.
She must do nothing at all until her grief has had time to moderate."
"It will never be less. You do not know her. But you are the one to reason with her."
Realizing that the old lady was powerless, he returned to the garden and tried once more to weaken the girl's resolution, but without success. It was with a very troubled mind that he took the train back to San Sebastiano that afternoon. ”