The Man Who Laughs: A Romance of English History
Ursus and Homo were fast friends. Ursus was a man, Homo a wolf. Their dispositions tallied. It was the man who had christened the wolf: probably he had also chosen his own name. Having found Ursus fit for himself, he had found Homo fit for the beast. Man and wolf turned their partnership to account at fairs, at village fêtes, at the corners of streets where passers-by throng, and out of the need which people seem to feel everywhere to listen to idle gossip and to buy quack medicine. The wolf, gentle and courteously subordinate, diverted the crowd. It is a pleasant thing to behold the tameness of animals. Our greatest delight is to see all the varieties of domestication parade before us. This it is which collects so many folks on the road of royal processions.
Ursus and Homo went about from cross-road to cross-road, from the High Street of Aberystwith to the High Street of Jedburgh, from country-side to country-side, from shire to shire, from town to town. One market exhausted, they went on to another. Ursus lived in a small van upon wheels, which Homo was civilized enough to draw by day and guard by night. On bad roads, up hills, and where there were too many ruts, or there was too much mud, the man buckled the trace round his neck and pulled fraternally, side by side with the wolf. They had thus grown old together. They encamped at haphazard on a common, in the glade of a wood, on the waste patch of grass where roads intersect, at the outskirts of villages, at the gates of towns, in market-places, in public walks, on the borders of parks, before the entrances of churches. When the cart drew up on a fair green, when the gossips ran up open-mouthed and the curious made a circle round the pair, Ursus harangued and Homo approved. Homo, with a bowl in his mouth, politely made a collection among the audience. They gained their livelihood. The wolf was lettered, likewise the man. The wolf had been trained by the man, or had trained himself unassisted, to divers wolfish arts, which swelled the receipts. Above all things, do not degenerate into a man, his friend would say to him.
Victor Hugo
The Man Who Laughs
CONTENTS.
THE LAUGHING MAN.
A ROMANCE OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
II.
III.
IV.
ANOTHER PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
PART I.
BOOK THE FIRST.
CHAPTER I.
PORTLAND BILL.
CHAPTER II.
LEFT ALONE.
CHAPTER III.
ALONE.
CHAPTER IV.
QUESTIONS.
CHAPTER V.
THE TREE OF HUMAN INVENTION.
CHAPTER VI.
STRUGGLE BETWEEN DEATH AND LIFE.
CHAPTER VII.
THE NORTH POINT OF PORTLAND.
BOOK THE SECOND.
CHAPTER I.
SUPERHUMAN LAWS.
CHAPTER II.
OUR FIRST ROUGH SKETCHES FILLED IN.
CHAPTER III.
TROUBLED MEN ON THE TROUBLED SEA.
CHAPTER IV.
A CLOUD DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS ENTERS ON THE SCENE.
CHAPTER V.
HARDQUANONNE.
CHAPTER VI.
THEY THINK THAT HELP IS AT HAND.
CHAPTER VII.
SUPERHUMAN HORRORS.
CHAPTER VIII.
NIX ET NOX.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CHARGE CONFIDED TO A RAGING SEA.
CHAPTER X.
THE COLOSSAL SAVAGE, THE STORM.
CHAPTER XI.
THE CASKETS.
CHAPTER XII.
FACE TO FACE WITH THE ROCK.
CHAPTER XIII.
FACE TO FACE WITH NIGHT.
CHAPTER XIV.
ORTACH.
CHAPTER XV.
PORTENTOSUM MARE.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PROBLEM SUDDENLY WORKS IN SILENCE.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE LAST RESOURCE.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE HIGHEST RESOURCE.
BOOK THE THIRD.
CHAPTER I.
CHESIL.
CHAPTER II.
THE EFFECT OF SNOW.
CHAPTER III.
A BURDEN MAKES A ROUGH ROAD ROUGHER.
CHAPTER IV.
ANOTHER FORM OF DESERT.
CHAPTER V.
MISANTHROPY PLAYS ITS PRANKS.
CHAPTER VI.
THE AWAKING.
PART II.
BOOK THE FIRST.
CHAPTER I.
II.
III.
IV.
CHAPTER II.
II.
III.
IV.
CHAPTER III.
THE DUCHESS JOSIANA.
II.
III.
CHAPTER IV.
THE LEADER OF FASHION.
CHAPTER V.
II.
III.
IV.
CHAPTER VI.
BARKILPHEDRO.
CHAPTER VII.
BARKILPHEDRO GNAWS HIS WAY.
CHAPTER VIII.
INFERI.
CHAPTER IX.
HATE IS AS STRONG AS LOVE.
CHAPTER X.
THE FLAME WHICH WOULD BE SEEN IF MAN WERE TRANSPARENT.
CHAPTER XI.
BARKILPHEDRO IN AMBUSCADE.
CHAPTER XII.
SCOTLAND, IRELAND, AND ENGLAND.
BOOK THE SECOND.
CHAPTER I.
WHEREIN WE SEE THE FACE OF HIM OF WHOM WE HAVE HITHERTO SEEN ONLY THE ACTS.
CHAPTER II.
DEA.
CHAPTER III.
"OCULOS NON HABET, ET VIDET."
CHAPTER IV.
WELL-MATCHED LOVERS.
CHAPTER V.
THE BLUE SKY THROUGH THE BLACK CLOUD.
CHAPTER VI.
URSUS AS TUTOR, AND URSUS AS GUARDIAN.
CHAPTER VII.
BLINDNESS GIVES LESSONS IN CLAIRVOYANCE.
CHAPTER VIII.
NOT ONLY HAPPINESS, BUT PROSPERITY.
CHAPTER IX.
ABSURDITIES WHICH FOLKS WITHOUT TASTE CALL POETRY.
CHAPTER X.
AN OUTSIDER'S VIEW OF MEN AND THINGS.
CHAPTER XI.
GWYNPLAINE THINKS JUSTICE, AND URSUS TALKS TRUTH.
CHAPTER XII.
URSUS THE POET DRAGS ON URSUS THE PHILOSOPHER.
BOOK THE THIRD.
CHAPTER I.
THE TADCASTER INN.
CHAPTER II.
OPEN-AIR ELOQUENCE.
CHAPTER III.
WHERE THE PASSER-BY REAPPEARS.
CHAPTER IV.
CONTRARIES FRATERNIZE IN HATE.
CHAPTER V.
THE WAPENTAKE.
CHAPTER VI.
THE MOUSE EXAMINED BY THE CATS.
CHAPTER VII.
WHY SHOULD A GOLD PIECE LOWER ITSELF BY MIXING WITH A HEAP OF PENNIES?
CHAPTER VIII.
SYMPTOMS OF POISONING.
CHAPTER IX.
ABYSSUS ABYSSUM VOCAT.
BOOK THE FOURTH.
CHAPTER I.
THE TEMPTATION OF ST. GWYNPLAINE.
CHAPTER II.
FROM GAY TO GRAVE.
CHAPTER III.
LEX, REX, FEX.
CHAPTER IV.
URSUS SPIES THE POLICE.
CHAPTER V.
A FEARFUL PLACE.
CHAPTER VI.
THE KIND OF MAGISTRACY UNDER THE WIGS OF FORMER DAYS.
CHAPTER VII.
SHUDDERING.
CHAPTER VIII.
LAMENTATION.
BOOK THE FIFTH.
CHAPTER I.
THE DURABILITY OF FRAGILE THINGS.
CHAPTER II.
THE WAIF KNOWS ITS OWN COURSE.
CHAPTER III.
AN AWAKENING.
CHAPTER IV.
FASCINATION.
CHAPTER V.
WE THINK WE REMEMBER; WE FORGET.
BOOK THE SIXTH.
CHAPTER I.
WHAT THE MISANTHROPE SAID.
CHAPTER II.
WHAT HE DID.
CHAPTER III.
COMPLICATIONS.
CHAPTER IV.
MOENIBUS SURDIS CAMPANA MUTA.
CHAPTER V.
STATE POLICY DEALS WITH LITTLE MATTERS AS WELL AS WITH GREAT.
BOOK THE SEVENTH.
CHAPTER I.
THE AWAKENING.
CHAPTER II.
THE RESEMBLANCE OF A PALACE TO A WOOD.
CHAPTER III.
EVE.
CHAPTER IV.
SATAN.
CHAPTER V.
THEY RECOGNIZE, BUT DO NOT KNOW, EACH OTHER.
BOOK THE EIGHTH.
CHAPTER I.
ANALYSIS OF MAJESTIC MATTERS.
CHAPTER II.
IMPARTIALITY.
CHAPTER III.
THE OLD HALL.
CHAPTER IV.
THE OLD CHAMBER.
CHAPTER V.
ARISTOCRATIC GOSSIP.
CHAPTER VI.
THE HIGH AND THE LOW.
CHAPTER VII.
STORMS OF MEN ARE WORSE THAN STORMS OF OCEANS.
CHAPTER VIII.
HE WOULD BE A GOOD BROTHER, WERE HE NOT A GOOD SON.
BOOK THE NINTH.
CHAPTER I.
IT IS THROUGH EXCESS OF GREATNESS THAT MAN REACHES EXCESS OF MISERY.
CHAPTER II.
THE DREGS.
CONCLUSION.
CHAPTER I.
A WATCH-DOG MAY BE A GUARDIAN ANGEL.
CHAPTER II.
BARKILPHEDRO, HAVING AIMED AT THE EAGLE, BRINGS DOWN THE DOVE.
CHAPTER III.
PARADISE REGAINED BELOW.
CHAPTER IV.
NAY; ON HIGH!
