惊婚记 英文版 Quentin Durward
瓦尔特.司各特 Sir Walter Scott
CHAPTER XXX: UNCERTAINTY Page 2
"Well, we will consider," replied the King; "but at least thou hastreached the extremity of your Duke's unreasonable exaction? therecan remain nothing -- or if there does, for so thy brow intimates-- what is it -- what indeed can it be -- unless it be my crown?which these previous demands, if granted, will deprive of all itslustre?"
"My lord," said De Comines, "what remains to be mentioned, isa thing partly -- indeed in a great measure within the Duke's ownpower, though he means to invite your Majesty's accession to it,for in truth it touches you nearly."
"Pasques Dieu!" exclaimed the King impatiently, "what is it? -- Speakout, Sir Philip -- am I to send him my daughter for a concubine,or what other dishonour is he to put on me?"
"No dishonour, my Liege; but your Majesty's cousin, the illustriousDuke of Orleans --"
"Ha!" exclaimed the King; but De Comines proceeded without heedingthe interruption.
"-- having conferred his affections on the young Countess Isabellede Croye, the Duke expects your Majesty will, on your part, as heon his, yield your assent to the marriage, and unite with him inendowing the right noble couple with such an appanage, as, joinedto the Countess's estates, may form a fit establishment for a Childof France."
"Never, never!" said the King, bursting out into that emotion whichhe had of late suppressed with much difficulty, and striding aboutin a disordered haste, which formed the strongest contrast to theself command which he usually exhibited.
"Never, never! -- let them bring scissors, and shear my hair likethat of the parish fool, whom I have so richly resembled -- letthem bid the monastery or the grave yawn for me, let them bringred hot basins to sear my eyes -- axe or aconite -- whatever theywill, but Orleans shall not break his plighted faith to my daughter,or marry another while she lives!"
"Your Majesty," said De Comines, "ere you set your mind so keenlyagainst what is proposed, will consider your own want of power toprevent it. Every wise man, when he sees a rock giving way, withdrawsfrom the bootless attempt of preventing the fall."
"But a brave man," said Louis, "will at least find his grave beneathit. De Comines, consider the great loss, the utter destruction,such a marriage will bring upon my kingdom. Recollect, I have butone feeble boy, and this Orleans is the next heir -- consider thatthe Church hath consented to his union with Joan, which unites sohappily the interests of both branches of my family, think on allthis, and think too that this union has been the favourite schemeof my whole life -- that I have schemed for it, fought for it, watchedfor it, prayed for it -- and sinned for it. Philip de Comines, Iwill not forego it! Think man, think! -- pity me in this extremity,thy quick brain can speedily find some substitute for this sacrifice-- some ram to be offered up instead of that project which is dearto me as the Patriarch's only son was to him. (Isaac, whose fatherAbraham, in obedience to the command of God, was about to sacrificehim upon the altar when a ram appeared, which Abraham offered inhis stead.) Philip, pity me! -- you at least should know that,to men of judgment and foresight, the destruction of the scheme onwhich they have long dwelt, and for which they have long toiled,is more inexpressibly bitter than the transient grief of ordinarymen, whose pursuits are but the gratification of some temporarypassion -- you, who know how to sympathize with the deeper, the moregenuine distress of baffled prudence and disappointed sagacity --will you not feel for me?"
"My Lord and King," replied De Comines, "I do sympathize with yourdistress in so far as duty to my master --"
"Do not mention him!" said Louis, acting, or at least appearingto act, under an irresistible and headlong impulse, which withdrewthe usual guard which he maintained over his language. "Charlesof Burgundy is unworthy of your attachment. He who can insult andstrike his councillors -- he who can distinguish the wisest andmost faithful among them by the opprobrious name of Booted Head!"
The wisdom of Philip de Comines did not prevent his having a highsense of personal consequence; and he was so much struck with thewords which the King uttered, as it were, in the career of a passionwhich overleaped ceremony, that he could only reply by repetitionof the words "Booted Head! It is impossible that my master the Dukecould have so termed the servant who has been at his side since hecould mount a palfrey -- and that too before a foreign monarch! --it is impossible!"
Louis instantly saw the impression he had made, and avoiding alikea tone of condolence, which might have seemed insulting, and one ofsympathy, which might have savoured of affectation; he said, withsimplicity, and at the same time with dignity, "My misfortunesmake me forget my courtesy, else I had not spoken to you of whatit must be unpleasant for you to hear. But you have in reply taxedme with having uttered impossibilities -- this touches my honour;yet I must submit to the charge, if I tell you not the circumstanceswhich the Duke, laughing until his eyes ran over, assigned for theorigin of that opprobrious name, which I will not offend your earsby repeating. Thus, then, it chanced. You, Sir Philip de Comines,were at a hunting match with the Duke of Burgundy, your master;and when he alighted after the chase, he required your services indrawing off his boots. Reading in your looks, perhaps, some naturalresentment of this disparaging treatment, he ordered you to sitdown in turn, and rendered you the same office he had just receivedfrom you. But offended at your understanding him literally, he nosooner plucked one of your boots off than he brutally beat it aboutyour head till the blood flowed, exclaiming against the insolenceof a subject who had the presumption to accept of such a serviceat the hand of his Sovereign; and hence he, or his privileged fool,Le Glorieux, is in the current habit of distinguishing you by theabsurd and ridiculous name of Tete botte, which makes one of theDuke's most ordinary subjects of pleasantry."
(The story is told more bluntly, and less probably, in the Frenchmemoirs of the period, which affirm that Comines, out of a presumptioninconsistent with his excellent good sense, had asked of Charlesof Burgundy to draw off his boots, without having been treatedwith any previous familiarity to lead to such a freedom. I haveendeavoured to give the anecdote a turn more consistent with thesense and prudence of the great author concerned. S.)
While Louis thus spoke, he had the double pleasure of galling tothe quick the person whom he addressed -- an exercise which it wasin his nature to enjoy, even where he had not, as in the presentcase, the apology that he did so in pure retaliation -- and that ofobserving that he had at length been able to find a point in DeComines's character which might lead him gradually from the interestsof Burgundy to those of France. But although the deep resentmentwhich the offended courtier entertained against his master inducedhim at a future period to exchange the service of Charles for thatof Louis, yet, at the present moment, he was contented to throw outonly some general hints of his friendly inclination towards France,which he well knew the King would understand how to interpret. Andindeed it would be unjust to stigmatize the memory of the excellenthistorian with the desertion of his master on this occasion,although he was certainly now possessed with sentiments much morefavourable to Louis than when he entered the apartment.
He constrained himself to laugh at the anecdote which Louis haddetailed, and then added, "I did not think so trifling a frolicwould have dwelt on the mind of the Duke so long as to make itworth telling again. Some such passage there was of drawing offboots and the like, as your Majesty knows that the Duke is fond ofrude play; but it has been much exaggerated in his recollection.Let it pass on."
"Ay, let it pass on," said the King; "it is indeed shame it shouldhave detained us a minute. -- And now, Sir Philip, I hope you areFrench so far as to afford me your best counsel in these difficultaffairs. You have, I am well aware, the clew to the labyrinth, ifyou would but impart it."
This was nearly what the courtier had before stated; but he nowrepeated it in a tone so different that, whereas Louis understoodfrom the former declaration that the reserved duty to Burgundy wasthe prime thing to be considered, so he now saw clearly that theemphasis was reversed, and that more weight was now given by thespeaker to his promise of counsel than to a restriction which seemedinterposed for the sake of form and consistency. The King resumedhis own seat, and compelled De Comines to sit by him, listeningat the same time to that statesman as if the words of an oraclesounded in his ears. De Comines spoke in that low and impressivetone which implies at once great sincerity and some caution, and atthe same time so slowly as if he was desirous that the King shouldweigh and consider each individual word as having its own peculiarand determined meaning.
"The things," he said, "which I have suggested for your Majesty'sconsideration, harsh as they sound in your ear, are but substitutesfor still more violent proposals brought forward in the Duke'scounsels, by such as are more hostile to your Majesty. And I needscarce remind your Majesty, that the more direct and more violentsuggestions find readiest acceptance with our master, who lovesbrief and dangerous measures better than those that are safe, butat the same time circuitous."
"I remember," said the King. "I have seen him swim a river at therisk of drowning, though there was a bridge to be found for ridingtwo hundred yards."
"True, Sire; and he that weighs not his life against the gratificationof a moment of impetuous passion will, on the same impulse, preferthe gratification of his will to the increase of his substantialpower."
"Most true," replied the King; "a fool will ever grasp rather atthe appearance than the reality of authority. And this I know to betrue of Charles of Burgundy. But, my dear friend De Comines, whatdo you infer from these premises?"
"Simply this, my lord," answered the Burgundian, "that as yourMajesty has seen a skilful angler control a large and heavy fish,and finally draw him to land by a single hair, which fish hadbroke through a tackle tenfold stronger, had the fisher presumedto strain the line on him, instead of giving him head enough forall his wild flourishes; even so your Majesty, by gratifying theDuke in these particulars on which he has pitched his ideas ofhonour, and the gratification of his revenge, may evade many of theother unpalatable propositions at which I have hinted; and which-- including, I must state openly to your Majesty, some of thosethrough which France would be most especially weakened -- willslide out of his remembrance and attention, and, being referredto subsequent conferences and future discussion, may be altogethereluded."
"I understand you, my good Sir Philip; but to the matter," said theKing. "To which of those happy propositions is your Duke so muchwedded that contradiction will make him unreasonable and untractable?"
"To any or to all of them, if it please your Majesty, on which youmay happen to contradict him. This is precisely what your Majestymust avoid; and to take up my former parable, you must needs remainon the watch, ready to give the Duke line enough whenever he shootsaway under the impulse of his rage. His fury, already considerablyabated, will waste itself if he be unopposed, and you will presentlyfind him become more friendly and more tractable."
"Still," said the' King, musing, "there must be some particulardemands which lie deeper at my cousin's heart than the otherproposals. Were I but aware of these, Sir Philip"
"Your Majesty may make the lightest of his demands the most importantsimply by opposing it," said De Comines, "nevertheless, my lord,thus far I can say, that every shadow of treaty will be broken off,if your Majesty renounce not William de la Marck and the Liegeois."
"I have already said that I will disown them," said the King, "andwell they deserve it at my hand; the villains have commenced theiruproar at a moment that might have cost me my life."
"He that fires a train of powder," replied the historian, "mustexpect a speedy explosion of the mine. -- But more than meredisavowal of their cause will be expected of your Majesty by DukeCharles, for know that he will demand your Majesty assistance toput the insurrection down, and your royal presence to witness thepunishment which he destines for the rebels."
"That may scarce consist with our honour, De Comines," said theKing.
"To refuse it will scarcely consist with your Majesty's safety,"replied De Comines. "Charles is determined to show the people ofFlanders that no hope, nay, no promise, of assistance from Francewill save them in their mutinies from the wrath and vengeance ofBurgundy."
"But, Sir Philip, I will speak plainly," answered the King. "Couldwe but procrastinate the matter, might not these rogues of Liege maketheir own part good against Duke Charles? The knaves are numerousand steady. -- Can they not hold out their town against him?"
"With the help of the thousand archers of France whom your Majestypromised them, they might have done something, but --"
"Whom I promised them?" said the King. "Alas! good Sir Philip! youmuch wrong me in saying so."
"The improvident idiots!" said the King. "If they have thus neglectedtheir own safety, they deserve not my protection. Pass on -- I willmake no quarrel for their sake."
"The next point, I fear, will sit closer to your Majesty's heart,"said De Comines.
"Ah!" replied the King, "you mean that infernal marriage! I willnot consent to the breach of the contract betwixt my daughter Joanand my cousin of Orleans -- it would be wresting the sceptre ofFrance from me and my posterity; for that feeble boy, the Dauphin,is a blighted blossom, which will wither without fruit. This matchbetween Joan and Orleans has been my thought by day, my dream bynight. -- I tell thee, Sir Philip, I cannot give it up! -- Besides,it is inhuman to require me, with my own hand, to destroy at oncemy own scheme of policy, and the happiness of a pair brought upfor each other."
"Are they, then, so much attached?" said De Comines.
"One of them at least," said the King, "and the one for whom I ambound to be most anxious. But you smile, Sir Philip -- you are nobeliever in the force of love."
"Nay," said De Comines, "if it please you, Sire, I am so littlean infidel in that particular that I was about to ask whether itwould reconcile you in any degree to your acquiescing in the proposedmarriage betwixt the Duke of Orleans and Isabelle de Croye, were Ito satisfy you that the Countess's inclinations are so much fixedon another, that it is likely it will never be a match?"
King Louis sighed. "Alas," he said, "my good and dear friend, fromwhat sepulchre have you drawn such dead comfort? Her inclinations,indeed! -- Why, to speak truth, supposing that Orleans detestedmy daughter Joan, yet, but for this ill ravelled web of mischance,he must needs have married her; so you may conjecture how littlechance there is of this damsel's being able to refuse him under asimilar compulsion, and he a Child of France besides. -- Ah, no,Philip! little fear of her standing obstinate against the suitof such a lover. -- Varium et mutabile ((semper femina): woman isalways inconstant and capricious), Philip."
"Your Majesty may, in the present instance, undervalue the obstinatecourage of this young lady. She comes of a race determinatelywilful; and I have picked out of Crevecoeur that she has formed aromantic attachment to a young squire, who, to say truth, renderedher many services on the road."
"Ha!" said the King -- "an Archer of my Guards, by name QuentinDurward?"
"The same, as I think," said De Comines; "he was made prisoneralong with the Countess, travelling almost alone together."
"Now, our Lord and our Lady, and Monseigneur Saint Martin, andMonseigneur Saint Julian, be praised every one of them!" said theKing, "and all laud and honour to the learned Galeotti; who readin the stars that this youth's destiny was connected with mine! Ifthe maiden be so attached to him as to make her refractory to thewill of Burgundy, this Quentin hath indeed been rarely useful tome."
witness thepunishment which he destines for the rebels."idiots!" said the King.
"I believe, my lord," answered the Burgundian, "accordingto Crevecoeur's report, that there is some chance of her beingsufficiently obstinate; besides, doubtless, the noble Duke himself,notwithstanding what your Majesty was pleased to hint in way ofsupposition, will not willingly renounce his fair cousin, to whomhe has been long engaged."
"Umph!" answered the King -- "but you have never seen my daughterJoan. -- A howlet, man! -- an absolute owl, whom I am ashamed of!But let him be only a wise man, and marry her, I will give himleave to be mad par amours for the fairest lady in France. -- Andnow, Philip, have you given me the full map of your master's mind?"
"I have possessed you, Sire, of those particulars on which he is atpresent most disposed to insist. But your Majesty well knows thatthe Duke's disposition is like a sweeping torrent, which only passessmoothly forward when its waves encounter no opposition; and whatmay be presented to chafe him info fury, it is impossible evento guess. Were more distinct evidence of your Majesty's practices(pardon the phrase, when there is so little time for selection)with the Liegeois and William de la Marck to occur unexpectedly,the issue might be terrible. -- There are strange news from thatcountry -- they say La Marck hath married Hameline, the elderCountess of Croye."
"That old fool was so mad on marriage that she would have acceptedthe hand of Satan," said the King; "but that La Marck, beast as heis, should have married her, rather more surprises me."
"There is a report also," continued De Comines, "that an envoy, orherald, on La Marck's part, is approaching Peronne; this is like todrive the Duke frantic with rage -- I trust that he has no lettersor the like to show on your Majesty's part?"
"Letters to a Wild Boar!" answered the King. -- "No, no, Sir Philip,I was no such fool as to cast pearls before swine. -- What littleintercourse I had with the brute animal was by message, in whichI always employed such low bred slaves and vagabonds that theirevidence would not be received in a trial for robbing a hen roost."
"I can then only further recommend," said De Comines, taking hisleave, "that your Majesty should remain on your guard, be guided byevents, and, above all, avoid using any language or argument withthe Duke which may better become your dignity than your presentcondition."
"If my dignity," said the King, "grow troublesome to me -- whichit seldom doth while there are deeper interests to think of -- Ihave a special remedy for that swelling of the heart. -- It is butlooking into a certain ruinous closet, Sir Philip, and thinking ofthe death of Charles the Simple; and it cures me as effectually asthe cold bath would cool a fever. -- And now, my friend and monitor,must thou be gone? Well, Sir Philip, the time must come when thouwilt tire reading lessons of state policy to the Bull of Burgundy,who is incapable of comprehending your most simple argument.-- If Louis of Valois then lives, thou hast a friend in the Courtof France. I tell thee, my Philip, it would be a blessing to mykingdom should I ever acquire thee; who, with a profound view ofsubjects of state, hast also a conscience, capable of feeling anddiscerning between right and wrong. So help me our Lord and Lady,and Monseigneur Saint Martin, Oliver and Balue have hearts as hardenedas the nether millstone; and my life is embittered by remorse andpenances for the crimes they make me commit. Thou, Sir Philip,possessed of the wisdom of present and past times, canst teach howto become great without ceasing to be virtuous."
"A hard task, and which few have attained," said the historian;"but which is yet within the reach of princes who will strive forit. Meantime, Sire, be prepared, for the Duke will presently conferwith you."
Louis looked long after Philip when he left the apartment, and atlength burst into a bitter laugh. "He spoke of fishing -- I havesent him home, a trout properly tickled! -- And he thinks himselfvirtuous because he took no bribe, but contented himself withflattery and promises, and the pleasure of avenging an affront tohis vanity! -- Why, he is but so much the poorer for the refusalof the money -- not a jot the more honest. He must be mine, though,for he hath the shrewdest head among them. Well, now for noblergame! I am to face this leviathan Charles, who will presently swimhitherward, cleaving the deep before him. I must, like a tremblingsailor, throw a tub overboard to amuse him. But I may one day findthe chance of driving a harpoon into his entrails!"
(If a ship is threatened by a school of whales, a tub is throwninto the sea to divert their attention. Hence to mislead an enemy,or to create a diversion in order to avoid a danger.)
(Scott says that during this interesting scene Comines firstrealized the great powers of Louis, and entertained from thistime a partiality to France which allured him to Louis's court in1472. After the death of Louis he fell under the suspicion of thatsovereign's daughter and was imprisoned in one of the cages he hasso feelingly described. He was subjected to trial and exiled fromcourt, but was afterwards employed by Charles VIII in one or twoimportant missions. He died at his Castle of Argenton in 1509, andwas regretted as one of the most profound statesmen, and the besthistorian of his age.)