Page 317 - madame-bovary

‘Oh, no!’ cried the clerk.
‘Why not?’ said she. For she clung with her expiring vir-
tue to the Virgin, the sculptures, the tombs—anything.
Then, in order to proceed ‘by rule,’ the beadle conducted
them right to the entrance near the square, where, point-
ing out with his cane a large circle of block-stones without
inscription or carving—
‘This,’ he said majestically, ‘is the circumference of the
beautiful bell of Ambroise. It weighed forty thousand
pounds. There was not its equal in all Europe. The work-
man who cast it died of the joy—‘
‘Let us go on,’ said Leon.
The old fellow started off again; then, having got back to
the chapel of the Virgin, he stretched forth his arm with an
all-embracing gesture of demonstration, and, prouder than
a country squire showing you his espaliers, went on—
‘This simple stone covers Pierre de Breze, lord of Varenne
and of Brissac, grand marshal of Poitou, and governor of
Normandy, who died at the battle of Montlhery on the 16th
of July, 1465.’
Leon bit his lips, fuming.
‘And on the right, this gentleman all encased in iron, on
the prancing horse, is his grandson, Louis de Breze, lord of
Breval and of Montchauvet, Count de Maulevrier, Baron de
Mauny, chamberlain to the king, Knight of the Order, and
also governor of Normandy; died on the 23rd of July, 1531—
a Sunday, as the inscription specifies; and below, this figure,
about to descend into the tomb, portrays the same person.
It is not possible, is it, to see a more perfect representation

1 Madame Bovary