Viscount

“ Now upon the right-hand post the Viscount set his hat and coat, and upon the left, Barnabas hung his. Then, having rolled up their shirt-sleeves, they bowed once more, and coming to where the grass was very smooth and level they faced each other with clenched fists.
"Mr. Beverley," said the Viscount, "you will remember I sighed for muffles, but, sir, I count this more fortunate, for to my mind there is nothing like bare fists, after all, to try a man's capabilities." ”

“ The young Viscount, though eager for the excitement of the coming contest, and all on fire for the cause on which he had embarked, was neither a man of experience nor knowledge, and he betrayed his lack of many of the needful requirements of a politician whenever he addressed a meeting or harangued a crowd. ”

“ Viscount Alain, though he scarce guesses it, is no longer in the field. Remains, Viscount Anne.”
“I see,” said I, “you give a very unfavourable impression of my uncle, the Count.”
“I had not meant it,” said he. “He has led a loose life—sadly loose—but he is a man it is impossible to know and not to admire; his courtesy is exquisite.”
“And so you think there is actually a chance for me?” I asked.
“Understand,” said he: “in saying as much as I have done, I travel quite beyond my brief. I have been clothed with no capacity to talk of wills, or heritages, or your cousin. ”

“ The Viscount's face fell as I spoke to him of these matters, and told him of the assurance Mistress Mary felt, not only of the integrity of the Duke, but of his right to rule the kingdom as the legitimate son of the King; and I saw his face cloud over almost as if with impatience, as he answered sharply and decisively,—
"Why will people persist in believing a mischievous fable? If the King had a lawful son, he would be glad and thankful to proclaim him, and have done with the endless cabals and plots which are making his life a misery. ”

“ The Viscount, impatient to cultivate the acquaintance of a person of such an hospitable appearance, ran before me toward him; when he got up to him, he stopped short, as if surprised, and then, to my utter astonishment, he raised his foot with every mark of [348] indignation, and gave the poor old hermit a violent kick. ”

“ Rowley looked blank.
“But you’re just as much a Viscount as Mr. Powl’s, are you not?” he said.
“As Mr. Powl’s Viscount?” said I, laughing. “O, keep your mind easy, Mr. Rowley’s is every bit as good. Only, you see, as I am of the younger line, I bear my Christian name along with the title. Alain is the Viscount; I am the Viscount Anne. And in giving me the name of Mr. Anne, I assure you you will be quite regular.”
“Yes, Mr. Anne,” said the docile youth. “But about the shaving, sir, you need be under no alarm. Mr. Powl says I ’ave excellent dispositions.” ”

“ With infinite grace the Chevalier put a knee to the ground, and kissed my hand.
‘Madame will be good enough to excuse my present appearance,’ he said, ‘in consideration of its being the only means by which I could put myself on the path of honour.’
‘It is then an evasion?’ said my husband gravely.
‘My dear Viscount, do not give yourself the airs of a patriarch. They do not suit with your one-and-twenty years, even though you are the model of husbands. Tell me, where is your hero?’
‘The Duke? He is before Thionville.’
‘I shall be at his feet in another day. Tell me how goes the war. ”

“ Leonard disappeared during this delicate task.
"Where can he have slipped away?" the young countess wanted to know.
"Where? By some rat hole or bang through the wall!" said the viscount. "As the spirits cut away. Have a care, my dear, lest your headdress becomes a wasp nest, your dress a cobweb, and your carriage a pumpkin drawn by a pair of mice, on arriving at Versailles."
Enunciating this dreadful threat, Viscount Jean got into the carriage, in which was already placed Countess Bearn and the happy woman to whom she was to stand sponsor. ”

“ True, any one of them would have died a hundred deaths rather than have had one acre of the beautiful green diadem of woods felled by the ax of the timber contractor, or passed to the hands of a stranger; but no one among them ever thought that this was the inevitable end to which they surely drifted with blind and unthinking improvidence. The old Viscount, haughtiest of haughty nobles, would never abate one jot of his accustomed magnificence ”

“ No. 311.— Circlet of a Viscount’s Coronet.
Viscount. The fourth degree of rank and dignity in the British Peerage, in Latin Vice-Comes, introduced by Henry VI., A.D. 1440. Vice-comes is also the Latin word for the office of Sheriff. A Viscount is “Right Honourable,” and is styled “My Lord.” All his sons and daughters are “Honourable.” His Coronet, granted by James I., has a row of sixteen pearls, of comparatively small size set on the circlet; in representations nine are shown: No. 311. The wife of a Viscount is a Viscountess, who has the same rank, style, and coronet as her husband.
157
No. ”

“ But many days had now passed, and instead of the whole of the West Country flocking to him in a body, only the humbler amongst the people had come forward. Not one single gentleman with a following of servants and retainers had placed himself under his standard. The [Pg 266] Viscount was the only man of rank who had joined him since his landing, and he came alone and unattended, in defiance of his father's wishes and conviction, and more from personal desire to be quit of the perplexities of his position than from sympathy for the cause. ”

“ Powl, or Mr. Powl’s Viscount, or anything that is Mr. Powl’s, not to mention Mr. Dawson and the doctor, the treasures of the following despatch-box; and strike me sky-blue scarlet if I do not continually maintain, uphold, love, honour, and obey, serve, and follow to the four corners of the earth and the waters that are under the earth, the hereinafter before-mentioned (only that I find I have neglected to mention him) Viscount Anne de Kéroual de Saint-Yves, commonly known as Mr. Rowley’s Viscount. So be it. Amen. ”

“ The gallant Viscount has at least fully satisfied Her Majesty’s Government that he has a complete grasp of the whole situation, that he knows his own mind, and we accept full responsibility for all that he proposes to do. ”

“ The three succeeding viscounts Clare all distinguished themselves in the service of France. Daniel, the 4th viscount, was mortally wounded at the battle of Marsaglia in 1693; his brother Charles, the 5th viscount (d. 1706) , was killed at the battle of Ramillies; and the latter's son Charles, the 6th viscount (1699–1761) after a brilliant military career, was made a marshal of France in 1757. When Charles, the 7th viscount, died in 1774 the title became extinct. ”

“ Lady Elaine flushed slightly.
“The Viscount thoroughly understands that all hope in that direction—in the direction of an alliance between us—is at an end. He has even been generous enough to hint that I shall ultimately be no loser by my father’s eccentric will.”
“Ah! you surprise me, Lady Elaine; indeed you do. I am astonished that any man can so easily relinquish so great a prize as yourself and a princely income—particularly when that man is so needy as Viscount Rivington. ”

“ The two, viscount and troubadour, laughed, drank, rode, and hunted together, wore the same style of dress, and called each other by the same name. Now, as the crown of his treasures, this gracious viscount possessed a wife, the lady Azalais, who was doubtless supremely lovely. At all events, her rank made her a fit subject for rhymed adulation, and she was celebrated in many a verse by the famous poet Folquet of Marseilles, who was also Bishop of Toulouse. ”

“ I have been trying, ever since the noble viscount spoke, to recollect what those measures could be; and I declare that, with respect to England, particularly, I do not know of a single measure which has been discussed in this house, and rejected by your lordships, that would with any degree of propriety, be called a measure for the redress of the grievances of the people. If there be such measures, let the noble viscount bring them forward again next session, and I am sure they will receive from your lordships every attention. ”

“ I view my deportment throughout this ordeal, in retrospect, with a considerable degree of satisfaction. I have spared no pains to realise my conception of the part. The essential thing about a successful peerage, I take it, is that it should be invested, for ordinary eyes, with a glamour of unreality. A Baron should be perceptibly romantic. A Viscount, if he respects his station should quite envelope himself in the mists of the improbable. As for an Earl, he should live frankly in fairyland. ”

“ An exceedingly fine young man is Viscount L——, but so was his father before him, though I dare say he is altered now. He stood for our county in early life, and I saw him ride round the town the day of his election. ”

“ Of course she had many questions to ask about the Viscount, who had so won upon her a day or two before; and in speaking of him, I could not but say that I feared he was not so hopeful as to the success of the Duke as we were, and that I sometimes fancied he himself looked forward to a death upon the scaffold. ”

“ But M. Badinot is her uncle; he came yesterday from the country, "answered Micou. "But see, now, what fine acquaintances they have! I told you they were people of style; he writes to a viscount."
"No!"
"Well, look: 'To his Lordship the Viscount of Saint Remy, Rue de Chaillot. Haste, haste! (Private) .' I hope that when one lodges people who have uncles who write to viscounts, one can very well overlook a poor devil in the fourth story who has no passport!" ”

“ It was with mingled grief and resentment that this proud princess realised how real were the Viscount’s rights; moreover, she never forgave him for having taken up arms against her in favour of France; and seeking an opportunity to avenge herself, she found one in giving the Viscount but little satisfaction in the matter of his pretensions.”—Dora Morice’s Histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Bretagne, Paris, 1756, vol. ii. p. 231.—L.
“Whilst in this despair I was sought by one whose lineage would be as good as my own if mutual love were rated as high as a marriage ring ”

“ Viscounts, however, continued for some time to have no more than the status of lieutenants, calling themselves either simply vice-comites, or adding to this title the name of the countship from which they derived their powers. It was not till the 12th century that the universal tendency to territorialize the feudal dominions affected the viscountcies with the rest, and that the viscounts began to take the name of the most important of their patrimonial domains. Thus the viscounts of Poitiers called themselves viscounts of Thouars, and those of Toulouse viscounts of Bruniquel and Montelar. ”

“ I have reached man's estate, and as a man will I woo and win my fair lady. And thou, good Dicon, shalt help me to this, an thou wilt; for men have raised barriers betwixt us that be not easily broken down. Not only have they taken her away and placed her with those who would keep her from me, but they have taught her to think that her sweet love will injure me, and that to wed with her would be to do me grievous hurt."
"Is that so?" I asked, marvelling; and walking our horses at a foot's pace under the green trees, the Viscount told me all his tale. ”

“ These two counsel together how they might stop the current of the Earl’s affection towards his wife, and make a clear passage for the Viscount in his place. To effect which, one Dr. Forman, a reputed conjurer (living at Lambeth) is found out; the women declare to him their grievances; he promises sudden help, and, to amuse them, frames many little pictures of brass and wax—some like the Viscount and Countess, whom he must unite and strengthen, others like the Earl of Essex, whom he must debilitate and weaken; and then with philtrous powders, and such drugs, he works upon their persons. ”

“ I looked at the viscount on hearing this, as wondering how he should take it, for indeed I, as a simple merchant, did give up to him the conduct of affairs now that we were in a strait wherein he, as a soldier, was so much fitter to act than I.
“Let ’em go,” says he. “We might carry ’em on with us by force of arms, but they should be a weakness rather than a strength to us, and might destroy us at some critical point. Do you advise with ’em, sir, and dismiss ’em, as many as desire to leave us.” ”

“ Our Navy bills bearing an enormous discount; our public credit beginning to totter; our commerce day by day becoming worse; our army reduced, and in want of 30,000 men to make up its establishments; our navy, which has been made so much the boast of some men, in such a condition, that the noble Viscount, now at the head of the profession, in giving a description of it, strove to conceal its weakness by speaking low, as if he wished to keep it from going abroad into the world. ”

“ That's what I'd have said in your place, Spicer. The present Viscount Lackington is responsible to himself, and not to the late Lord's widow; and, what's more, he is no flat, without knowledge of men and the world, but a fellow with both eyes open, and who has gone through as smart a course of education as any man in the ring. ”

“ There are no titles for the younger sons of an Earl. His daughters are addressed in the same manner as are the daughters of a Marquis. A Viscount is addressed formally as "My Lord" and his friends and equals address him familiarly as "Lord Roberts." ”

“ But how have you wearied of your captaincie?'
'Because I am weary of my life.'
'With a prisoner so fair in ward—a widow, a virgin widow too—lovely in her weeds and tears!'
'Dundrennan, I will kill you!'
'No, you will not; but you shall listen to me and to reason.'
'Reason from you, Viscount?'
'Yes,' said he, becoming grave; 'is your passion real?'
'Alas, too real!'
'Then conquer it, if it cannot prosper.'
'Folly, Viscount—a real passion cannot be conquered; a fanciful one can alone be stifled.'
'This love affair has been a misfortune to you both, Arthur.'
'True, Viscount ”