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An Old Maid-Part7_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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Chevalier de Valois, with many expressions of surprise at the

inutility of her efforts to get rid of them. The garden, about half an



acre in size, is margined by the Brillante, so named from the

particles of mica which sparkle in its bed elsewhere than in the Val-



Noble, where its shallow waters are stained by the dyehouses, and

loaded with refuse from the other industries of the town. The shore



opposite to Mademoiselle Cormon's garden is crowded with houses where

a variety of trades are carried on; happily for her, the occupants are



quiet people,--a baker, a cleaner, an upholsterer, and several

bourgeois. The garden, full of common flowers, ends in a natural



terrace, forming a quay, down which are several steps leading to the

river. Imagine on the balustrade of this terrace a number of tall



vases of blue and white pottery, in which are gilliflowers; and to

right and left, along the neighboring walls, hedges of linden closely



trimmed in, and you will gain an idea of the landscape, full of

tranquil chastity, modestcheerfulness, but commonplacewithal, which



surrounded the venerableedifice of the Cormon family. What peace!

what tranquillity! nothing pretentious, but nothing transitory; all



seems eternal there!

The ground-floor is devotedwholly to the reception-rooms. The old,



unchangeable provincial spirit pervades them. The great square salon

has four windows, modestly cased in woodwork painted gray. A single



oblong mirror is placed above the fireplace; the top of its frame

represented the Dawn led by the Hours, and painted in camaieu (two



shades of one color). This style of painting infested the decorative

art of the day, especially above door-frames, where the artist



displayed his eternal Seasons, and made you, in most houses in the

centre of France, abhor the odious Cupids, endlessly employed in



skating, gleaning, twirling, or garlanding one another with flowers.

Each window was draped in green damask curtains, looped up by heavy



cords, which made them resemble a vast dais. The furniture, covered

with tapestry, the woodwork, painted and varnished, and remarkable for



the twisted forms so much the fashion in the last century, bore scenes

from the fables of La Fontaine on the chair-backs; some of this



tapestry had been mended. The ceiling was divided at the centre of the

room by a huge beam, from which depended an old chandelier of rock-



crystal swathed in green gauze. On the fireplace were two vases in

Sevres blue, and two old girandoles attached to the frame of the



mirror, and a clock, the subject of which, taken from the last scene

of the "Deserteur," proved the enormouspopularity of Sedaine's work.



This clock, of bronze-gilt, bore eleven personages upon it, each about

four inches tall. At the back the Deserter was seen issuing from



prison between the soldiers; in the foreground the young woman lay

fainting, and pointing to his pardon. On the walls of this salon were



several of the more recent portraits of the family,--one or two by

Rigaud, and three pastels by Latour. Four card tables, a backgammon



board, and a piquet table occupied the vast room, the only one in the

house, by the bye, which was ceiled.



The dining-room, paved in black and white stone, not ceiled, and its

beams painted, was furnished with one of those enormous sideboards



with marble tops, required by the war waged in the provinces against

the human stomach. The walls, painted in fresco, represented a flowery



trellis. The seats were of varnished cane, and the doors of natural

wood. All things about the place carried out the patriarchal air which



emanated from the inside as well as the outside of the house. The

genius of the provinces preserved everything; nothing was new or old,



neither young nor decrepit. A cold precision made itself felt

throughout.



Tourists in Normandy, Brittany, Maine, and Anjou must all have seen in

the capitals of those provinces many houses which resemble more or



less that of the Cormons; for it is, in its way, an archetype of the

burgher houses in that region of France, and it deserves a place in



this history because it serves to explain manners and customs, and

represents ideas. Who does not already feel that life must have been






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