The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy [209]
my right hand, just without the gate, leading to the Fauxbourg de Vaise--I dispatched Francois to the boat, that I might pay the homage I so long ow'd it, without a witness of my weakness--I walk'd with all imaginable joy towards the place--when I saw the gate which intercepted the tomb, my heart glowed within me--
--Tender and faithful spirits! cried I, addressing myself to Amandus and Amanda--long--long have I tarried to drop this tear upon your tomb--I come- -I come--
When I came--there was no tomb to drop it upon.
What would I have given for my uncle Toby, to have whistled Lillo bullero!
Chapter 4.XXII.
No matter how, or in what mood--but I flew from the tomb of the lovers--or rather I did not fly from it--(for there was no such thing existing) and just got time enough to the boat to save my passage;--and ere I had sailed a hundred yards, the Rhone and the Saon met together, and carried me down merrily betwixt them.
But I have described this voyage down the Rhone, before I made it--
--So now I am at Avignon, and as there is nothing to see but the old house, in which the duke of Ormond resided, and nothing to stop me but a short remark upon the place, in three minutes you will see me crossing the bridge upon a mule, with Francois upon a horse with my portmanteau behind him, and the owner of both, striding the way before us, with a long gun upon his shoulder, and a sword under his arm, lest peradventure we should run away with his cattle. Had you seen my breeches in entering Avignon,--Though you'd have seen them better, I think, as I mounted--you would not have thought the precaution amiss, or found in your heart to have taken it in dudgeon; for my own part, I took it most kindly; and determined to make him a present of them, when we got to the end of our journey, for the trouble they had put him to, of arming himself at all points against them.
Before I go further, let me get rid of my remark upon Avignon, which is this: That I think it wrong, merely because a man's hat has been blown off his head by chance the first night he comes to Avignon,--that he should therefore say, 'Avignon is more subject to high winds than any town in all France:' for which reason I laid no stress upon the accident till I had enquired of the master of the inn about it, who telling me seriously it was so--and hearing, moreover, the windiness of Avignon spoke of in the country about as a proverb--I set it down, merely to ask the learned what can be the cause--the consequence I saw--for they are all Dukes, Marquisses, and Counts, there--the duce a Baron, in all Avignon--so that there is scarce any talking to them on a windy day.
Prithee, friend, said I, took hold of my mule for a moment--for I wanted to pull off one of my jack-boots, which hurt my heel--the man was standing quite idle at the door of the inn, and as I had taken it into my head, he was someway concerned about the house or stable, I put the bridle into his hand--so begun with the boot:--when I had finished the affair, I turned about to take the mule from the man, and thank him--
--But Monsieur le Marquis had walked in--
Chapter 4.XXIII.
I had now the whole south of France, from the banks of the Rhone to those of the Garonne, to traverse upon my mule at my own leisure--at my own leisure--for I had left Death, the Lord knows--and He only--how far behind me--'I have followed many a man thro' France, quoth he--but never at this mettlesome rate.'--Still he followed,--and still I fled him--but I fled him cheerfully--still he pursued--but, like one who pursued his prey without hope--as he lagg'd, every step he lost, softened his looks--why should I fly him at this rate?
So notwithstanding all the commissary of the post-office had said, I changed the mode of my travelling once more; and, after so precipitate and rattling a course as I had run, I flattered my fancy with thinking of my mule, and that I should traverse the rich plains of Languedoc upon his back, as slowly as foot could fall.
There is nothing more pleasing to a traveller--or more
--Tender and faithful spirits! cried I, addressing myself to Amandus and Amanda--long--long have I tarried to drop this tear upon your tomb--I come- -I come--
When I came--there was no tomb to drop it upon.
What would I have given for my uncle Toby, to have whistled Lillo bullero!
Chapter 4.XXII.
No matter how, or in what mood--but I flew from the tomb of the lovers--or rather I did not fly from it--(for there was no such thing existing) and just got time enough to the boat to save my passage;--and ere I had sailed a hundred yards, the Rhone and the Saon met together, and carried me down merrily betwixt them.
But I have described this voyage down the Rhone, before I made it--
--So now I am at Avignon, and as there is nothing to see but the old house, in which the duke of Ormond resided, and nothing to stop me but a short remark upon the place, in three minutes you will see me crossing the bridge upon a mule, with Francois upon a horse with my portmanteau behind him, and the owner of both, striding the way before us, with a long gun upon his shoulder, and a sword under his arm, lest peradventure we should run away with his cattle. Had you seen my breeches in entering Avignon,--Though you'd have seen them better, I think, as I mounted--you would not have thought the precaution amiss, or found in your heart to have taken it in dudgeon; for my own part, I took it most kindly; and determined to make him a present of them, when we got to the end of our journey, for the trouble they had put him to, of arming himself at all points against them.
Before I go further, let me get rid of my remark upon Avignon, which is this: That I think it wrong, merely because a man's hat has been blown off his head by chance the first night he comes to Avignon,--that he should therefore say, 'Avignon is more subject to high winds than any town in all France:' for which reason I laid no stress upon the accident till I had enquired of the master of the inn about it, who telling me seriously it was so--and hearing, moreover, the windiness of Avignon spoke of in the country about as a proverb--I set it down, merely to ask the learned what can be the cause--the consequence I saw--for they are all Dukes, Marquisses, and Counts, there--the duce a Baron, in all Avignon--so that there is scarce any talking to them on a windy day.
Prithee, friend, said I, took hold of my mule for a moment--for I wanted to pull off one of my jack-boots, which hurt my heel--the man was standing quite idle at the door of the inn, and as I had taken it into my head, he was someway concerned about the house or stable, I put the bridle into his hand--so begun with the boot:--when I had finished the affair, I turned about to take the mule from the man, and thank him--
--But Monsieur le Marquis had walked in--
Chapter 4.XXIII.
I had now the whole south of France, from the banks of the Rhone to those of the Garonne, to traverse upon my mule at my own leisure--at my own leisure--for I had left Death, the Lord knows--and He only--how far behind me--'I have followed many a man thro' France, quoth he--but never at this mettlesome rate.'--Still he followed,--and still I fled him--but I fled him cheerfully--still he pursued--but, like one who pursued his prey without hope--as he lagg'd, every step he lost, softened his looks--why should I fly him at this rate?
So notwithstanding all the commissary of the post-office had said, I changed the mode of my travelling once more; and, after so precipitate and rattling a course as I had run, I flattered my fancy with thinking of my mule, and that I should traverse the rich plains of Languedoc upon his back, as slowly as foot could fall.
There is nothing more pleasing to a traveller--or more