Victor Hugo - The Man Who Laughs - Cosmopolitan University 2

having entered the precincts of the privileged compartment, halted. The
Painted Chamber was a spacious apartment. At the farther end, upright,
beneath the royal escutcheon which was placed between the two windows,
stood two old men, in red velvet robes, with two rows of ermine trimmed
with gold lace on their shoulders, and wearing wigs, and hats with
white plumes. Through the openings of their robes might be detected silk
garments and sword hilts. Motionless behind them stood a man dressed in
black silk, holding on high a great mace of gold surmounted by a crowned
lion. It was the Mace-bearer of the Peers of England. The lion is their
crest. _Et les Lions ce sont les Barons et li Per_, runs the manuscript
chronicle of Bertrand Duguesclin.
The King-at-Arms pointed out the two persons in velvet, and whispered to
Gwynplaine,--
"My lord, these are your equals. Be pleased to return their salute
exactly as they make it. These two peers are barons, and have been named
by the Lord Chancellor as your sponsors. They are very old, and almost
blind. They will, themselves, introduce you to the House of Lords. The
first is Charles Mildmay, Lord Fitzwalter, sixth on the roll of barons;
the second is Augustus Arundel, Lord Arundel of Trerice, thirty-eighth
on the roll of barons." The King-at-Arms having advanced a step towards
the two old men, proclaimed "Fermain Clancharlie, Baron Clancharlie,
Baron Hunkerville, Marquis of Corleone in Sicily, greets your
lordships!" The two peers raised their hats to the full extent of the
arm, and then replaced them. Gwynplaine did the same. The Usher of the
Black Rod stepped forward, followed by Blue Mantle and Garter King
at-Arms. The Mace-bearer took up his post in front of Gwynplaine, the
two peers at his side, Lord Fitzwalter on the right, and Lord Arundel of
Trerice on the left. Lord Arundel, the elder of the two, was very
feeble. He died the following year, bequeathing to his grandson John, a
minor, the title which became extinct in 1768. The procession, leaving
the Painted Chamber, entered a gallery in which were rows of pilasters,
and between the spaces were sentinels, alternately pike-men of England
and halberdiers of Scotland. The Scotch halberdiers were magnificent
kilted soldiers, worthy to encounter later on at Fontenoy the French
cavalry, and the royal cuirassiers, whom their colonel thus addressed:
"_Messieurs les maitres, assurez vos chapeaux. Nous allons avoir
l'honneur de charger._" The captain of these soldiers saluted
Gwynplaine, and the peers, his sponsors, with their swords. The men
saluted with their pikes and halberds.
At the end of the gallery shone a large door, so magnificent that its
two folds seemed to be masses of gold. On each side of the door there
stood, upright and motionless, men who were called doorkeepers. Just
before you came to this door, the gallery widened out into a circular
space. In this space was an armchair with an immense back, and on it,
judging by his wig and from the amplitude of his robes, was a
distinguished person. It was William Cowper, Lord Chancellor of England.
To be able to cap a royal infirmity with a similar one has its
advantages. William Cowper was short-sighted. Anne had also defective
sight, but in a lesser degree. The near-sightedness of William Cowper
found favour in the eyes of the short-sighted queen, and induced her to
appoint him Lord Chancellor, and Keeper of the Royal Conscience. William
Cowper's upper lip was thin, and his lower one thick--a sign of
semi-good-nature.