The Three Musketeers (Translated by Richard Pevear) - Alexandre Dumas [330]
170.Parpaillot: Parpaillot was an insulting nickname given by Catholics to Protestants.
171.Madelonnettes or the Reformed Girls: The convent of the Filles de la Madeleine (“the Daughters of Mary Magdalene”), or Madelonnettes, located on the rue des Fontaines-du-Temple, was opened in 1620 as a refuge for reformed prostitutes; it became a prison in 1793, and was demolished in 1866. In 1494, the convent of the Filles-Repenties (“Reformed Girls”) was installed by the future Louis XII (1462–1515), then Louis II d’Orléans, in a private hôtel belonging to the royal family; in 1572, Catherine de Medicis transferred it to the monastery of Saint-Magloire (see note 130), after moving the monks across the river.
172.the queen mother: That is, Marie de Medicis, who lived in the Luxembourg Palace from 1612 to 1627.
173.“the wisest of the Greeks”: In Homer’s Iliad, the aged Nestor, leader of the contingent from Pylos and formerly a great warrior, is valued above all as a wise councillor: “Nestor/the fair-spoken rose up, the lucid speaker of Pylos,/from whose lips the streams of words ran sweeter than honey” (Iliad, Book I, 247–49; Lattimore translation).
174.Judith: See note 112.
175.Mr. Felton: The character of Felton is largely Dumas’s invention, though his name and some of his deeds are historical. He was an Irishman and lived from 1595 to 1628.
176.Tyburn: The place of public hangings in London until 1783, located near the present Marble Arch at the northeast corner of Hyde Park. The name became proverbial.
177.its mayor: Jean Guiton (1585–1654), a ship’s outfitter, became mayor of La Rochelle on April 30, 1628. During Richelieu’s siege of the town, he stood as the embodiment of unflagging resistance, threatening to put a knife into anyone who spoke of yielding. He was banished after the surrender of La Rochelle in October, and some years later rallied to the side of the king and the cardinal.
178.the Saint Bartholomew massacre…: A massacre of Protestants under Charles IX, instigated by Catherine de Medicis and the Guises, on the night of August 24, 1572, the day after the marriage of the still Protestant Henri de Navarre (the future Henri IV) to Marguerite, daughter of Henri II. All of the chief Protestant leaders were killed.
179.“Divide and rule”: The Latin maxim, Divide ut regnes (literally, “Divide in order to rule”), made current by the Florentine statesman and historian Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527), had been the motto of the Roman senate and became that of Louis XI and Catherine de Medicis. The more common form is Divide ut imperes or Divide et impera—in English, “Divide and conquer.” Dumas attributes it to Tristan l’Hermite, grand provost of the maréchals de France under Charles VII and Louis XI, a ruthless officer who helped to restore order to France after the Hundred Years’ War.
180.“Marion de Lorme nor Mme d’Aiguillon”: The beautiful and clever Marion de Lorme (1613–50) was widely rumored to have been the cardinal’s mistress, though it is unlikely that their relations began as early as Dumas implies. For Mme d’Aiguillon, see note 16.
181.abandoned hope: In Dante’s Inferno (III, 9), the last line of the inscription over the gate of hell reads: Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate (“Abandon all hope, you who enter”).
182.Botany Bay…Indian Ocean: Botany Bay is near Sydney in New South Wales, Australia; it was discovered by Captain Cook only in 1770 and did not become a prison colony until 1787. Dumas’s “Tyburn of the Indian Ocean” is, of course, a figure of speech.
183.Mme Messalina: According to Suetonius in The Twelve Caesars, Valeria Messalina (a.d. 15–48), the third wife of the emperor Claudius (10 b.c.–a.d. 54), was not only guilty of other disgraceful crimes, but, like Milady, had also committed bigamy. Claudius had her executed.
184.the three Hebrew children…: The third chapter of the Book of Daniel tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, three Jews who had a certain official status during the Babylonian Captivity, but who refused to worship the golden