The Project Gutenberg EBook of Maitre Cornelius, by Honore de Balzac

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Title: Maitre Cornelius

Author: Honore de Balzac

Translator: Katharine Prescott Wormeley

Release Date: September, 1998 [Etext #1454]
Posting Date: February 25, 2010

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAITRE CORNELIUS ***

Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny

MAITRE CORNELIUS

By Honore De Balzac

Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley

DEDICATION

To Monsieur le Comte Georges 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.

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 cr