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I ordered a splendid wreath of flowers to be brought, which I placed on her brow.
William Cubitt Cooke
1904
13.5 cm high by 10.4 cm wide (5 by 4 inches), vignetted.
Charles Lever's A Day's Ride: A Life's Romance. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1904. Facing p. 498.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
I do not remember — I do not want to remember — all the nonsense I talked, and with a volubility quite new to me; my brain felt on fire with a sort of wild ecstasy, and as homage and deference met me at every step, my every wish acceded to, and each fancy that struck me hailed at once as bright inspiration, no wonder was it if I lost myself in a perfect ocean of bliss. I told Pauline she should be the queen of the fête, and ordered a splendid wreath of flowers to be brought, which I placed upon her brow, and saluted her with her title, amidst the cheering shouts of willing toasters. Except to make a tour of a waltz or a polka with some one I knew, I would not permit her to dance with any but myself; and she, I must say, most graciously submitted to the tyranny, and seemed to delight in the extravagant expressions of my admiration for her. [Chapter XII, "The Ball" facing p. 498]
The high society of Brussels have refused to attend Sir Roger's ball in honour of his son, Digby's birthday, so the master of ceremonies, Monsieur Cleremont, has invited the attractive daughters of Sir Roger's tradespeople, as well as some young officers and young gentlemen from the various embassies rather than let the fine dinner and the wine go to waste. Under the influence of considerable quantities of champagne, Digby becomes infatuated with the beautiful and witty daughter of a Brussels restaurateur, Mademoiselle Pauline Delorme. More than a little inebriated, he crowns her with a wreath of flowers at their table, and proposes marriage as a young officer in the background toasts his gallantry.
Having studied the text, Cooke embeds such details as Digby's not wearing formal evening attire, but the more casual velvet jacket ("it looks nicer than tail-coat," 496) that was then in vogue among the British upper class. In the background, a waltz (introduced from Vienna about mid-century) is in progress as the musicians are "striking up one of Strauss's wildest, quickest strains" (498). The older woman at the table is not identified in the text, but is likely Madame Cleremont.
Lever, Charles. A Day's Ride: A Life's Romance. To Which is Added That Boy of Norcott's. Illustrated by William Cubitt Cooke. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1904.
Lever, Charles James. A Day's Ride; A Life's Romance. http://www.gutenberg.org//files/32692/32692-h/32692-h.htm
Stevenson, Lionel. Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. New York: Russell & Russell, 1939, rpt. 1969.
Sutherland, John. "Charles Lever." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989. 372-374.
Created 28 July 2022