文档介绍：MAITRE CORNELIUS
MAITRE CORNELIUS
BY HONORE DE BALZAC
Translated By Katharine Prescott Wormeley
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MAITRE CORNELIUS
DEDICATION
To Monsieur te es Mniszech:
Some envious being may think on seeing this page illustrated by one
of the most illustrious of Sarmatian names, that I am striving, as the
goldsmiths do, to enhance a modern work with an ancient jewel,--a fancy
of the fashions of the day,--but you and a few others, dear count, will
know that I am only seeking to pay my debt to Talent, Memory, and
Friendship.
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MAITRE CORNELIUS
CHAPTER I
A CHURCH SCENE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
In 1479, on All Saints' day, the moment at which this history begins,
vespers were ending in the cathedral of Tours. The archbishop Helie de
Bourdeilles was rising from his seat to give the benediction himself to the
faithful. The sermon had been long; darkness had fallen during the service,
and in certain parts of the noble church (the towers of which were not yet
finished) the deepest obscurity prevailed. Nevertheless a goodly number of
tapers were burning in honor of the saints on the triangular candle-trays
destined to receive such pious offerings, the merit and signification of
which have never been sufficiently explained. The lights on each altar and
all the candelabra in the choir were burning. Irregularly shed among a
forest of columns and arcades which supported the three naves of the
cathedral, the gleam of these masses of candles barely lighted the immense
building, because the strong shadows of the columns, projected among the
galleries, produced fantastic forms which increased the darkness that
already wrapped in gloom the arches, the vaulted ceilings, and the lateral
chapels, always sombre, even at mid-day.
The crowd presented effects that were no less picturesque. Certain
figures were so vaguely defined in the "chiaroscuro" that they seemed like
phantoms; whereas others, standing in a full gleam of the scattered light,
attracted at