Mortain

“ Markets
The following entry in the exchequer book at the time of the Domesday survey marks one of the contrasts between then and now: "In this manor there is a market on Sunday, but it is reduced to nothing on account of the Earl of Mortain's market, which is very near thereto." Robert, Earl of Mortain and Cornwall, held his market by his Castle of Trematon, and so we are confronted with two markets on a Sunday in Sabbatarian Cornwall! The boldness of the folk, with all those petrified pipers and fiddlers and merry maidens to point a moral! ”

“ And it was full, too, of that vague longing for love which stirs the sensibilities of every woman the moment she steps across the threshold of childhood. But of this Fernande de Courson was no more conscious than is the rose-bud when it opens its sweet-scented corolla to the kiss of the sun. Ever since her fair curls had been dressed to the top of her head she had looked on Laurent de Mortain as her future husband. Never in so many words had she plighted her troth to him, but she knew that she loved him with a tenderness that no other emotion in her could surpass. ”

“ It is impossible to form anything like a complete picture of the state of the defences of the duchy upon the eve of the English invasion. Robert of Bellême and William of Mortain, by far the most powerful of the duke’s supporters, were still in undisputed possession of their hereditary Norman dominions. ”

“ In point of fact, William of Mortain and Robert of Bellême appear to have been almost the only really powerful barons in Normandy who still supported the duke, and the loyalty even of the Bellême interests could probably have been shaken had the king so desired. Before Christmas Robert of Bellême paid a visit to England and sought an interview with the king. ”

“ If Laurent is spared this night, I shall devote every hour, every moment of my life, to parting him from you."
"You will remain unjust to the last?"
"Unjust?"—and Denise de Mortain shrugged her shoulders calmly. "Love and hate are never just, and I could never dissociate you from the memories of this night."
She rose from her chair, her whole attitude now one of cool indifference. Ever since she had accepted Fernande's explanation she had made desperate efforts to regain the mastery over her nerves and to conceal every outward manifestation of the burning anxiety which she felt. ”

“ Fernande waited in the hall below while Madame la Marquise went upstairs to see the last of her son. Half a dozen men from the La Frontenay works formed a guard of honour for the dead.
It was impossible even for Fernande, who knew her aunt so well, to guess at what Denise de Mortain felt. Her heart was so little capable of grief, that it was doubtful whether she really mourned Laurent, or whether pride, in that he died a hero's death, acted as a soothing balm upon her sorrow. ”

“ Pessimism led me too far ... no wonder—eh, my dear Baudouin? The spectacle of our ruined home has grated harshly on my nerves. No, no! I did not mean that. King Louis,—may God guard him!—will richly reward those of us who have given up everything for his sake. There will be money compensation for you and money compensation for Laurent ... and, please God, the past splendours of Mortain will one day be revived ... but it will all take time ... years perhaps ... and, in the meanwhile, I think you should talk seriously to Fernande. ”

“ Have I not said that Mme. la Marquise de Mortain knows her eldest son to be wealthy and influential? She will not refuse to be friends with a man who might prove useful to her in her many and varied intrigues. Your lady-mother, my good Ronnay, will pour honey and sugar on you, I have no doubt of that. 'Twas not against an open enmity on her part that I desired to warn you."
"Against what, then?"
"Against her protestations of goodwill and of love."
"Love?" commented de Maurel, with a shrug of his broad shoulders. "I am not like to listen to protestations of love. ”

“ The poor devil, who was woefully ill, was running about madly and trying hard to escape. At last he found himself at the top of the last terrace, right at the top, from which could be seen the immense bay, with its distant towns, sands and pastures. He could no longer escape, and the saint came up behind him and gave him a furious kick, which shot him through space like a cannon-ball.
He shot through the air like a javelin and fell heavily before the town of Mortain. His horns and claws stuck deep into the rock, which keeps through eternity the traces of this fall of Satan. ”

“ These upper reaches of the Tamar are well stocked with trout, and Launceston which, though not on the river, has a stream of its own, not to speak of a special and personal canal, is a good centre for anglers as well as a most interesting old ruin of a place. Its ancient name was Dunheved, and a castle of some sort was crowning this great hill when William the Conqueror gave Cornwall to his half-brother, Robert of Mortain. The most noticeable thing about these Cornish fortifications [Pg 176] is the frequency and ease with which they fell into a ruinous condition. ”

“ When I think of death, Mr Morton, as a thing worth thinking of, it is in the hope of pressing one day some well-fought and hard-won field of battle, and dying with the shout of victory in my ear—that would be worth dying for, and more, it would be worth having lived for! ”

“ Morton, I think I see you now!—I think I hear your muttered curse! Curse on! When you read this I shall be beyond your vengeance, beyond human power. And yet I think if I were mere clay; if I were the mere senseless heap of ashes that the grave covers; if I were not the thing that must live forever and forever, far away in unimagined worlds, where nought that has earth's life can come,—I should tremble beneath the sod as your foot pressed and your execration rang over it. ”

“ I see the light among the trees. The avenger of blood is behind me, and my death certain unless I have refuge there. Now, make thy choice, young man, to shrink from the side of thy father's friend, like a thief in the night, and to leave him exposed to the bloody death from which he rescued thy father, or to expose thine uncle's worldly goods to such peril as, in this perverse generation, attends those who give a morsel of bread or a draught of cold water to a Christian man, when perishing for lack of refreshment!"
A thousand recollections thronged on the mind of Morton at once. ”

“ Morton is described as small of stature, upright in person, and sprightly in motion, preserving the vigour of youth in extreme old age, of a sweet and serious countenance, grave and sober in speech, manifesting a gentleness which won all hearts and disarmed enmity ”

“ A few more words of passionate admonition he addressed to his patient ere the eye-lids drooped and the breathing became measured as in that profound slumber which succeeds exhaustion.
And thereupon began that extraordinary vigil, during which Morton was conscious of naught save the assured resurrection and possible—he dared not think probable—reincarnation. ”

“ His funeral was attended by the earl of Morton regent, other lords, and a great multitude of people of all ranks. When he was laid in the grave, the earl of Morton said, "There lies a man, who, in his life, never feared the face of man: who hath been often threatened with dag and dagger, but hath ended his days in peace and honour." ”

“ Mor. Kind keepers of my weak decaying age,
Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.
Even like a man new haled from the rack,
So fare my limbs with long imprisonment; ⁠4
And these gray locks, the pursuivants of death,
Nestor-like aged, in an age of care,
Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer. ”

“ But contrary wise, in short time after the hand of God fell heavily upon them, with such a mortall stroake that they died on heapes as they lay in their houses; and the living, that were able to shift for themselves, would runne away and let them dy, and let there Carkases ly above the ground without buriall. For in a place where many inhabited, there hath been but one left a live to tell what became of the rest; the livinge being (as it seemes) not able to bury the The livinge not able to bury the dead. dead, they were left for Crowes, Kites and vermin to pray upon. ”

“ In Mort-Dieu the nights are longer than anywhere on earth; he knew it—why should he not know? This had been so for a year; it was different before. There were so many things different before; days and nights vanished like minutes then; the pines told no secrets of the sea, and the gray birds had not yet come to Mort-Dieu. ”

“ Morton, I am a doomed man. The doctor [51] tells me I have, at best, but a very little while to live—and I feel he is right. I would not hesitate an instant to do what is my duty—but I know I cannot. My weak body will not obey my will. You are young, strong and resourceful. God has led you to this boat, led you to me in my hour of great need. Mr. Morton, I ask you, in the name of humanity, to rescue the girl from the fury of an insane populace—from the nameless horror that might be her fate—I ask you, my friend, to take my place and bring this girl safely out of Roumelia! ”

“ Get on dry clothes as soon as you can, Reuben, for you can be of great service to us upstairs. I'm astonished at you, Mr. Morton, you haven't any nerve at all—you who have dealt in conflagrations, murders, wars, pestilences, earthquakes, writing them up in the most harrowing, blood-curdling style; you have absolutely turned white and faint because the inmates of a farmhouse were shocked. I won't believe you are an editor at all unless you call me within five minutes. ”

“ Where, like broad hips, to hold the juice the platters of the press are laid, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which the mortar sheds. 3. There where the woman marks and leans the pestle's constant rise and fall, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which the mortar sheds. 4. Where, as with reins to guide a horse, they bind the churning-staff with cords, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which the mortar sheds. 5. If of a truth in every house, O Mortar thou art set for work, Here give thou forth thy clearest sound, loud as the drum of conquerors. ”

“ The bodies of the two men lay together, side by side, in the mortuary, the one white and slender, but laid rigidly at rest, the other looking as if every moment it must rouse into life again, so young and unused, from a slumber. ”

“ Errors, iv. 3. 28; morispike, Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 67) . See morisco.
mort (a hunting term) . The note sounded on a horn at the death of the deer, Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 118; ‘He that bloweth the Mort before the fall of the Buck’, Greene, Card of Fancie (Nares) .
mort (Cant) , a girl or woman. B. Jonson, Gypsies Met. 65; a female vagabond, harlot, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen) . Later, written mott (mot) , London slang for a woman of the town, see NED.
mortar: in phr. to fly to Rome with a mortar on one’s head, app. a legendary achievement of some wizard; Middleton, Span. ”

“ Lord Morton is an upright man and a just; but for years he hath tried in vain to curb the wildness of young Sir Boris. Drink and dice have been the young lord’s ruin as of many a better man before. Only a fortnight since, Lord Morton forbade him, on pain of his worst displeasure, to bring any dice, those tools of the Devil, into Morton Hall. More than that, he drove from the very door two of the young bloods from Shrewsbury who had been the young lord’s boon companions in drinking and gaming. ”

“ Mortimer: “ ‘The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God; and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.’ Your imaginations before were not according to the will of God; you never saw any thing lovely in Him, but now He has become ‘altogether lovely’ in your eyes; every imagination that is contrary to His will is subdued, and all brought into obedience to Him. ”

“ Mord, masculine, ‘murder,’ from Middle High German mort (-des) , masculine and neuter, Old High German mord, neuter; compare Old Saxon morth, Dutch moord, Anglo-Saxon and Old Icelandic morð, ‘murder,’ with the common meaning ‘intentional, secret death-blow.’ Gothic *maurþ, neuter, is wanting; it is based on pre-Teutonic mṛto-m, neuter, and originally meant ‘death’ simply, as the root mor, ‘to die,’ widely diffused through all the Aryan languages, indicates. ”

“ In a shroud of mourning liest thou among the woes,
My senses in a horrid darkness trapped expire.
Thy hands are bound, my freedom’s gone; eternal throes
Of death have chained my mind upon a funeral pyre. ”

“ Grim Death my Son and foe, who sets them on,
And me his Parent would full soon devour
For want of other prey, but that he knows
His end with mine involvd; and knows that I
Should prove a bitter Morsel, and his bane,
When ever that shall be; so Fate pronounc’d.
But thou O Father, I forewarn thee, shun
His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope
To be invulnerable in those bright Arms,
Though temper’d heav’nly, for that mortal dint,
Save he who reigns above, none can resist. ”

“ His soul walks not by the side of the master of the funeral ceremonies. To moulder under marble, or to moulder under clay, 'tis still to moulder. To have around one's bier children in red and children in blue, or to have not a creature, what matters it? ”