酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

Modeste Mignon-Part42_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
altercation; and they spurred their horses to an open space at the



entrance to the forest of Rosembray, famous for its mossy turf, which

was appointed for the meet. The cause of the quarrel was soon



apparent. The Prince de Loudon, afflicted with anglomania, had brought

out his own huntingestablishment, which was exclusively Britannic,



and placed it under orders of the Master of the Hunt. Now, one of his

men, a little Englishman,--fair, pale, insolent, and phlegmatic,



scarcely able to speak a word of French, and dressed with a neatness

which distinguishes all Britons, even those of the lower classes,--had



posted himself on one side of this open space. John Barry wore a short

frock-coat, buttoned tightly at the waist, made of scarlet cloth, with



buttons bearing the De Verneuil arms, white leather breeches, top-

boots, a stripedwaistcoat, and a collar and cape of black velvet. He



held in his hand a small hunting-whip, and hanging to his wrist by a

silken cord was a brass horn. This man, the first whipper-in, was



accompanied by two thorough-bred dogs,--fox-hounds, white, with liver

spots, long in the leg, fine in the muzzle, with slender heads, and



little ears at their crests. The huntsman--famous in the English

county from which the Prince de Loudon had obtained him at great cost



--was in charge of an establishment of fifteen horses and sixty

English hounds, which cost the Duc de Verneuil, who was nothing of a



huntsman, but chose to indulge his son in this essentially royal

taste, an enormous sum of money to keep up.



Now, when John arrived on the ground, he found himself forestalled by

three other whippers-in, in charge of two of the royal packs of hounds



which had been brought there in carts. They were the three best

huntsmen of the Prince de Cadignan, and presented, both in character



and in their distinctively French costume, a marked contrast to the

representative of insolent Albion. These favorites of the Prince, each



wearing full-brimmed, three-cornered hats, very flat and very wide-

spreading, beneath which grinned their swarthy, tanned, and wrinkled



faces, lighted by three pairs of twinkling eyes, were noticeably lean,

sinewy, and vigorous, like men in whom sport had become a passion. All



three were supplied with immense horns of Dampierre, wound with green

worsted cords, leaving only the brass tubes visible; but they



controlled their dogs by the eye and voice. Those noble animals were

far more faithful and submissive subjects than the human lieges whom



the king was at that moment addressing; all were marked with white,

black, or liver spots, each having as distinctive a countenance as the



soldiers of Napoleon, their eyes flashing like diamonds at the

slightest noise. One of them, brought from Poitou, was short in the



back, deep in the shoulder, low-jointed, and lop-eared; the other,

from England, white, fine as a greyhound with no belly, small ears,



and built for running. Both were young, impatient, and yelping

eagerly, while the old hounds, on the contrary, covered with scars,



lay quietly with their heads on their forepaws, and their ears to the

earth like savages.



As the Englishman came up, the royal dogs and huntsmen looked at each

other as though they said, "If we cannot hunt by ourselves his



Majesty's service is insulted."

Beginning with jests, the quarrel presently grew fiercer between



Monsieur Jacquin La Roulie, the old French whipper-in, and John Barry,

the young islander. The two princes guessed from afar the subject of



the altercation, and the Master of the Hunt, setting spurs to his

horse, brought it to an end by saying, in a voice of authority:--



"Who drew the wood?"

"I, monseigneur," said the Englishman.



"Very good," said the Prince de Cadignan, proceeding to take Barry's

report.



Dogs and men became silent and respectful before the Royal Huntsman,

as though each recognized his dignity as supreme. The prince laid out



the day's work; for it is with a hunt as it is with a battle, and the




文章总共2页
文章标签:翻译  译文  翻译文  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号