Page 97 - madame-bovary

are adorned here and there with a straw mat bearing be-
neath it the words in large letters, ‘Mr. So-and-so’s pew.’
Farther on, at a spot where the building narrows, the confes-
sional forms a pendant to a statuette of the Virgin, clothed
in a satin robe, coifed with a tulle veil sprinkled with silver
stars, and with red cheeks, like an idol of the Sandwich Is-
lands; and, finally, a copy of the ‘Holy Family, presented by
the Minister of the Interior,’ overlooking the high altar, be-
tween four candlesticks, closes in the perspective. The choir
stalls, of deal wood, have been left unpainted.
The market, that is to say, a tiled roof supported by some
twenty posts, occupies of itself about half the public square
of Yonville. The town hall, constructed ‘from the designs
of a Paris architect,’ is a sort of Greek temple that forms
the corner next to the chemist’s shop. On the ground-floor
are three Ionic columns and on the first floor a semicircular
gallery, while the dome that crowns it is occupied by a Gal-
lic cock, resting one foot upon the ‘Charte’ and holding in
the other the scales of Justice.
But that which most attracts the eye is opposite the Lion
d’Or inn, the chemist’s shop of Monsieur Homais. In the
evening especially its argand lamp is lit up and the red and
green jars that embellish his shop-front throw far across the
street their two streams of colour; then across them as if in
Bengal lights is seen the shadow of the chemist leaning over
his desk. His house from top to bottom is placarded with in-
scriptions written in large hand, round hand, printed hand:
‘Vichy, Seltzer, Barege waters, blood purifiers, Raspail pat-
ent medicine, Arabian racahout, Darcet lozenges, Regnault

Madame Bovary