The Parkus Empire
09-01-2008, 20:03
...(and swashbuckling) Gascon?
D'Artagnan from The Three Musketeers (http://www.online-literature.com/dumas/threemusketeers/), by Alexandre Dumas
Fighting for the king and queen of France, and getting in numerous duels with members of the infamous Cardinal's Guard, d'Artagnan eventually becomes a legendary musketeer.
Quote: "My letter of recommendation! Give it to me, or by God I'll run you all through like birds on a spit!"
Cyrano de Bergerac from the play of the same name (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=38102), by Edmond Rostand.
Poetic, yet short tempered, Cyrano is a soldier in the King's army and prays to someday win the affections of his cousin, Roxanne. But his extraordinarily large nose (any who mentioned it should prepare for death) makes him feel that his hopes are useless.
Quote:
"'Tis enormous!
Old Flathead, empty-headed meddler, know
That I am proud possessing such appendice.
'Tis well known, a big nose is indicative
Of a soul affable, and kind, and courteous,
Liberal, brave, just like myself, and such
As you can never dare to dream yourself,
Rascal contemptible! For that witless face
That my hand soon will come to cuff--is all
As empty--of pride, of aspiration,
Of feeling, poetry--of godlike spark
Of all that appertains to my big nose,
As. . .what my boot will shortly come and kick!"
André-Louis Moreau from Scaramouche (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=39589), by Rafael Sabatini.
"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." Originally a cynic without a cause, Moreau eventually becomes revolutionary in France when he is hunted and his best friend is killed in a duel by a royalist. Hiding out among a Commedia dell'arte group, he assumes the role of Scaramouche in the plays. He begins to take fencing lessons and then proceeds to join the assembly where he gets himself challenged by bullies.
Quote [after a duel]:" M. le Président, my excuses for my late arrival. I have been detained by an engagement of a pressing nature. I bring you also the excuses of M. de Chabriellane. He, unfortunately, will be permanently absent from this assembly in the future."
Etienne Gerard, from various short stories (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=DoyGera.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
"If he has the thickest head he has also the stoutest heart in my army" said Napoléon Bonaparte of his best hussar. Gerard is gallant and brave. He is also unimaginative and vain. For example, he accidentally winds-up in an fox-hunt, and thinks he is a hero among the British for killing the fox (with his sabre) while escaping from them. They thought it unsporting.
Quote:"...down I went, saddled my big black charger, Rataplan, and set off instantly upon my lonely journey.
"My word, it was treat for those poor Poles and Jews, who have so little to brighten their dull lives, to see such a picture as that before their doors. The frosty morning air made Rataplan's great black limbs and the beautiful curves of his back and sides gleam and shimmer with every gambade. As for me, the rattle of hoofs upon a road, and the jingle of bride chains which comes with every toss of a saucy head, would even now set my blood dancing through my veins. You may think, then, how I carried myself in my five-and-twentieth year--I, Etienne Gerard, the picked horseman and the surest blade in the ten regiments of hussars. Blue was our colour in the Tenth--a sky-blue dolman and pelisse with a scarlet front--and it was said of us in the army that we could set whole populations running, the women towards us, and the men away."
Gabriel Feraud from The Duel (aka. The Point of Honor (http://books.google.com/books?id=rXOXmKLaIxYC&printsec=frontcover&dq#PPP1,M1)), by Joseph Conrad.
Also a hussar in Bonaparte's army, Feraud is darker than Gerard. He is arrested by Baron D'Hubert (a fellow hussar) on the orders of their general, for dueling a civilian. He turns on D'Hubert and demands to fight. In the ensuing sabre battle he is wounded. Ever afterwards he stalks the poor D'Hubert, forcing him to to duel, though each fight proves inconclusive.
Quote [right before their first duel]: "Seconds! Damn the seconds! We don't want any seconds. Don't you worry about any seconds. I will send word to your friends to come and bury you when I am done. This is no time for ceremonies. And if you want any witnesses, I'll send word to the old girl to put her head out of a window at the back. Stay! There's the gardener. He'll do. He's as deaf as a post, but he has two eyes in his head. Come along. I will teach you, my staff officer, that the carrying about of a general's orders is not always child's play."
D'Artagnan from The Three Musketeers (http://www.online-literature.com/dumas/threemusketeers/), by Alexandre Dumas
Fighting for the king and queen of France, and getting in numerous duels with members of the infamous Cardinal's Guard, d'Artagnan eventually becomes a legendary musketeer.
Quote: "My letter of recommendation! Give it to me, or by God I'll run you all through like birds on a spit!"
Cyrano de Bergerac from the play of the same name (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=38102), by Edmond Rostand.
Poetic, yet short tempered, Cyrano is a soldier in the King's army and prays to someday win the affections of his cousin, Roxanne. But his extraordinarily large nose (any who mentioned it should prepare for death) makes him feel that his hopes are useless.
Quote:
"'Tis enormous!
Old Flathead, empty-headed meddler, know
That I am proud possessing such appendice.
'Tis well known, a big nose is indicative
Of a soul affable, and kind, and courteous,
Liberal, brave, just like myself, and such
As you can never dare to dream yourself,
Rascal contemptible! For that witless face
That my hand soon will come to cuff--is all
As empty--of pride, of aspiration,
Of feeling, poetry--of godlike spark
Of all that appertains to my big nose,
As. . .what my boot will shortly come and kick!"
André-Louis Moreau from Scaramouche (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=39589), by Rafael Sabatini.
"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." Originally a cynic without a cause, Moreau eventually becomes revolutionary in France when he is hunted and his best friend is killed in a duel by a royalist. Hiding out among a Commedia dell'arte group, he assumes the role of Scaramouche in the plays. He begins to take fencing lessons and then proceeds to join the assembly where he gets himself challenged by bullies.
Quote [after a duel]:" M. le Président, my excuses for my late arrival. I have been detained by an engagement of a pressing nature. I bring you also the excuses of M. de Chabriellane. He, unfortunately, will be permanently absent from this assembly in the future."
Etienne Gerard, from various short stories (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=DoyGera.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
"If he has the thickest head he has also the stoutest heart in my army" said Napoléon Bonaparte of his best hussar. Gerard is gallant and brave. He is also unimaginative and vain. For example, he accidentally winds-up in an fox-hunt, and thinks he is a hero among the British for killing the fox (with his sabre) while escaping from them. They thought it unsporting.
Quote:"...down I went, saddled my big black charger, Rataplan, and set off instantly upon my lonely journey.
"My word, it was treat for those poor Poles and Jews, who have so little to brighten their dull lives, to see such a picture as that before their doors. The frosty morning air made Rataplan's great black limbs and the beautiful curves of his back and sides gleam and shimmer with every gambade. As for me, the rattle of hoofs upon a road, and the jingle of bride chains which comes with every toss of a saucy head, would even now set my blood dancing through my veins. You may think, then, how I carried myself in my five-and-twentieth year--I, Etienne Gerard, the picked horseman and the surest blade in the ten regiments of hussars. Blue was our colour in the Tenth--a sky-blue dolman and pelisse with a scarlet front--and it was said of us in the army that we could set whole populations running, the women towards us, and the men away."
Gabriel Feraud from The Duel (aka. The Point of Honor (http://books.google.com/books?id=rXOXmKLaIxYC&printsec=frontcover&dq#PPP1,M1)), by Joseph Conrad.
Also a hussar in Bonaparte's army, Feraud is darker than Gerard. He is arrested by Baron D'Hubert (a fellow hussar) on the orders of their general, for dueling a civilian. He turns on D'Hubert and demands to fight. In the ensuing sabre battle he is wounded. Ever afterwards he stalks the poor D'Hubert, forcing him to to duel, though each fight proves inconclusive.
Quote [right before their first duel]: "Seconds! Damn the seconds! We don't want any seconds. Don't you worry about any seconds. I will send word to your friends to come and bury you when I am done. This is no time for ceremonies. And if you want any witnesses, I'll send word to the old girl to put her head out of a window at the back. Stay! There's the gardener. He'll do. He's as deaf as a post, but he has two eyes in his head. Come along. I will teach you, my staff officer, that the carrying about of a general's orders is not always child's play."