Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 144 — page 1: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

LN HA a > i NLS —) rrrper of Wes LDS sa, ; EEE Published Every Week, BY VICTOR HUGO. BOOK I. CHAPTER L THE GREAT HALL OF THE PALACE OF JUSTICE, Ir is this day three hundred and forty-eight years, six months and nineteen days since the good people of Paris were awakened by a grand peal from all the bells in the three districts of the City, the University and the Ville. The 6th of January, 1482, was, nevertheless a day of which history has not preserved any record, There was nothing worthy of note ‘in the everit which so earl set’ motion the bells and the citi- zens Paris. It was neither an assault of the Picards or the Bur- gundians, nor a procession with the shrine of some. saint, nor a mutiny of the students, nor an entry of our “most redoubted lord Monsieur the king,’’ nor.even an execution of rogues of either sex, before the Pal- ace of Justice of Paris. Neither was it an arrival of some bedizened and befeathered embassy, a sight of frequent occurrence in the fif- teenth century. . It was but two days sinee the last cavalcade of this kind, that of the Flemish embassa- dors commissioned to conclude a marriage between the Dauphin and Margaret of Flanders, had made its entry into Paris, to the great annoy- ance of. the Cardinal of Bourbon who in order to please the king, h been obliged to receive this vulgar squad oO Flemish burgomasters with a good grace, and to entertain them at his Hotel de Bourbon with a goodly morality, mummery, and farce, while a deluge of rain drenched the magnificent tapestry at-his door. What set in motion .all the popu- lation of\Paris on the 6th of January was the double solemnity, united from time immemorial, of the Epiphany and the Festival of Fools, On that day there. was to be an ex- hibition of fireworks in the Place de Greve, a May-tree planted at the chapel’ of Braque, and a mystery erformed at the Palace of Justice. ’roclamation had been made to this effect on the preceding day, with sound of trvnpet in the public laces, by the provost’s officers in air coats of purple camlet, with large, white crosses On the breast. That morning, therefore, all the houses and shops remained shut, and crowds of citizens of both sexes were to be seen wending their way toward one of the three placeg specified ‘above. Be it, however, ouserved, to the honor of the taste of the cockneys of Paris, that the majority of this concourse were pro- ceeding toward the fireworks, which were quite seasonable, or to the mystery which was to be represent- ed in the great hall of the palace, well covered in and sheltered, and that the curious agreed to let the poor leafiess May shiver all alone beneatha January sky in the cemetery of the chapel of Braque. All the avenues to the Palace of Justice were par- ticularly thronged, because it was known that the Flemish embassadors, who had arrived two days before, purposed to attend the representation of g@ the mystery, and the election of the Pope of Fools, which was to take place in the great " 2 ne ENTERED AT THE POST OFFICE AT NE ee eS ee a re \ } il i Nl | 4 Z 7 \| | IN It@28!1,e8v.8c oe Se me te eT — 98 WILLIAM STREET, N. Y., July 27, 1881. It was no easy matter on that day to get into this great hall, though then reputed to be the largest room in the world. To the spectators at the win- dows, the palace yard crowded with people had the the mouths of so many rivers, disgorged their living streams. The waves of this sea, incessantly sweiled by fresh accessions, broke against the angles of the houses, projecting here and there like promontories into the irregular basin of the Palace. In the center of the lofty Gothic facade of the palace, the grand staircase, with its double Curent. ascending and ~ =<‘ ’ Ae fr f } a | Hat == ai} i POM HV VHNANLIUDUDLIURUTELUAUASUU CUTTY ARE Mn CM w YorK, N. Y., AT SECOND CLASS MAIL RATES. Geadle G& Adams, Prublishers, os SOAS WMOow “hhh Mmm HA A — Ten Cents a Copy. — _ $5.00 a Year. maneuver, which the provosty bequeathed to the constabulary, the constabulary to the marechaus- see, and the marechaussee to the present gendarm- | erie of Paris. & pearance of a sea, into which five or six streets, like | | ANY mi ELT TM LALIT ot Th) } AAA iii QUASIMODO STOOD UPON THE PARAPET OF THE GALLERY, HOLDING THE SCHOLAR BY THE FEET OVER THE ABYSS. descending, poured incessantly into the Place like a | ing a cascade into alake. Great were the noise and the clamor produced by the cries of some, the laughter of others, and the trampling of thousands of feet. From time to time, this clamor and this noise were @ral outline of the picture; redoubled; the current which propelled the crowd | toward the grand staircase turned back, agitated and whirling about. It was a dash made by an archer or the horse of ore of the provost’s sergeants kicking and plunging to restore order—an admirable ‘é Shales H(i) \ AALLLALTEARS MA ECE A Doors, windows, loopholes, the roofs of the houses, swarmed with thousands of calm and honest faces gazing at the palace and at the crowd, and desiring nothing more,.for most of the good people ’of Paris are quite content with the sight of the spectators; nay, @ blank wall, behind which something or other is going forward, is to us an object of great curiosity. If it could be given to us mortals living in,the year 1880 to mingle in imagination with those Parisians of the fifteenth century, and to enter with them, shoved, elbowed, hus- tled, that immense hall of the palace so, straitened fof room, on the 6th of January, 1482, the sight would not be destitute’ either of in- “ terest or of charm; and all that we should have around us would be so ancient as to appear absolutely new. If it is agreeable to the reader, we will endeavor to retrace in imagina- tion the impressions which he would have felt with us on crossing the threshold of the great hall, amidst the motley crowd, coated, gowned or clothed in the paraphernalia of office. In the first. place, how one’s ears are stunned with the noise—how one’s eyes are dazzled! Over head is a double roof of pointed arches eéiled with carved wood, painted sky-blue, and studded with leurs de lis in old; under foot, a pavement of al- rnate squares of black and white marble. A few pacesfrom us stands 4) an enormous pillar, then another, | and another; in all, seven pillars, intersecting the hall lonitudindiy’ and suppoiting the return of* the double-vaulted roof. Around the first four pillars are shops, glisten- ing with glass and jewelry;- and around the other three,” benches worn and polished by the hose of the pleaders and the gowns of the attor- neys. Along the lofty walls, be- tween the doors, between the win- dows, between the pillars, is ranged the interminable series of all the kings of France ever since Phara- mond; the indolent kings. with pendent arms and downcast eyes; the valiant and warlike kings with Ni heads aud hands. boldly raised to- | nt ward heaven. The .tall, pointed WLAN windows are glazed with panes of a thousand hues; at the ontlets are rich doors, finely carved; and the whole, ceiling, pillars, walls, wain- scot, doors, statues, covered, from top to bottom with a splendid color- ing of blue and gold, which, already somewhat tarnished at the time we behold it, was almost entirely buric: in dust and cobwebs in the year « grace 1549, when Du Breul still e: mired it_by tradition. Now figure to yourself that im. mense oblong hall, illumined by the dim light of a January day, stormed by a motley and noisy crowd, pour- in along the walls, and circling sound the rs, and you will have a faint idea of the gen- the curious details of —. we shall endeavor to delineate more pre- cisely. It is certain that if Ravaillac had not assassinated Henry IV, there would have been no documents of his | (iti) a | i 7 7 - ‘7? 46004 st, pelle } Ht } pi trial deposited in the Rolls Office of the Palace of Jus tice, and no accomplices interested in the destruction , of those documents; consequently, no incendiaries GOmicooo (e “Ss (Elo)