登陆注册
14926100000082

第82章

To divert oneself is to turn aside from oneself, to break loose and to forget oneself; and to forget oneself fully one must be transported into another, put himself in the place of another, take his mask and play his part. Hence the liveliest of diversions is the comedy in which one is an actor. It is that of children who, as authors, actors and audience, improvise and perform small scenes. It is that of a people whose political régime excludes exacting manly tasks (soucis virile) and who sport with life just like children. At Venice, in the eighteenth century, the carnival lasts six months; in France, under another form, it lasts the entire year. Less familiar and less picturesque, more refined and more elegant, it abandons the public square where it lacks sunshine, to shut itself up in drawing-rooms where chandeliers are the most suitable for it. It has retained of the vast popular masquerade only a fragment, the opera ball, certainly very splendid and frequented by princes, princesses and the queen; but this fragment, brilliant as it is, does not suffice; consequently, in every chateau, in every mansion, at Paris and in the provinces, it sets up travesties on society and domestic comedies. - On welcoming a great personage, on celebrating the birthday of the master or mistress of the house, its guests or invited persons perform in an improvised operetta, in an ingenious, laudatory pastoral, sometimes dressed as gods, as Virtues, as mythological abstractions, as operatic Turks, Laplanders and Poles, similar to the figures then gracing the frontispieces of books, sometimes in the dress of peasants, pedagogues, peddlers, milkmaids and flower-girls like the fanciful villagers with which the current taste then fills the stage. They sing, they dance, and come forward in turn to recite petty verses composed for the occasion consisting of so many well-turned compliments.[68] - At Chantilly "the young and charming Duchesse de Bourbon, attired as a voluptuous Naiad, guides the Comte du Nord, in a gilded gondola, across the grand canal to the island of Love;" the Prince de Conti, in his part, serves as pilot to the Grand Duchesse;other seigniors and ladies "each in allegorical guise," form the escort,[69] and on these limpid waters, in this new garden of Alcinous, the smiling and gallant retinue seems a fairy scene in Tasso. - At Vaudreuil, the ladies, advised that they are to be carried off to seraglios, attire themselves as vestals, while the high-priest welcomes them with pretty couplets into his temple in the park; meanwhile over three hundred Turks arrive who force the enclosure to the sound of music, and bear away the ladies in palanquins along the illuminated gardens. At the little Trianon, the park is arranged as a fair, and the ladies of the court are the saleswomen, "the queen keeping a café," while, here and there, are processions and theatricals; this festival costs, it is said, 100,000livres, and a repetition of it is designed at Choisy attended with a larger outlay.

同类推荐
  • 十四经发挥

    十四经发挥

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说大乘十法经

    佛说大乘十法经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 青溪暇笔

    青溪暇笔

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 物不迁正量证

    物不迁正量证

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 雪交亭正气录

    雪交亭正气录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 无冕人生:我的记者生涯

    无冕人生:我的记者生涯

    有一则短信段子曰,人生都是直播而没有彩排。华伟的“记者生涯”直播了,回首堪笑慰;“商海生涯”正在直播,相信会给大家更多的惊喜。
  • 般舟三昧经卷上

    般舟三昧经卷上

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 宫魂恋

    宫魂恋

    一个外表看似平凡的女子应选宫女,进入尔虞我诈的皇宫是为何?她爱笑、爱闹,是天性?还是伪装?平凡的背后又隐藏着怎样惊人的秘密?缘分将她与出众不凡的各皇子牵引、相吸,又会擦出怎样的火花?宿命不饶人,结局是喜?是悲.....若失了心,留魂何用?爱,一个字,包含了千千万万的思绪,解不清,道不明。有人说,世上有种最美的爱恋——魂恋——沁入骨髓的爱……
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 神奇小王爷不要怕

    神奇小王爷不要怕

    女人,你只能是我的。偶然之间,一次利用让他爱上了傻白甜。一次次霸道的告白,张撞击人的心弦,霸道攻下她的心。你这一生,只能爱我一个。
  • 玺笑妍开

    玺笑妍开

    本文为《易是烊光千万玺》的姊妹篇,希望各位继续支持哦!不知道为什么,对于他的存在不只是一般的偶像那么简单,其中总有一些说不出的感觉。这也是我说不出为什么喜欢他的原因吧。是,追星不能浪费青春,所以我的追求是为了让我变得更好。即使你不知道我的存在,我也愿意。有很多的话只能憋在心里,但是对你的爱我一定要传达出来。因为这就是青春。我有目标有理想也想和你一样成为与众不同的人。但是你现在成为了与众不同的人,但是你却再也回不去了。我很心疼你,所以易烊千玺你的好足以对得起你现在所有的成就。和肥鹤们一起飞吧。易烊千玺,我喜欢你!
  • 鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊

    鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊

    鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......鬼啊鬼啊鬼啊......
  • 余梦化蝶之橄榄林里石榴花香

    余梦化蝶之橄榄林里石榴花香

    出狱后,于申第一时间找到了入狱那天被收走的iPhone,在开机画面启动的过程中,于申期待满怀,没等手机的画面跳的桌面,于申直戳微信,进入微信后,于申傻眼了,那里竟没有一条来自苗的留言,想想自己这次坐牢可完全是为了苗啊,于申从监狱出来后本已平静的心,随着回忆起的往事,砰、砰、砰的跳动......
  • 刀客情仇录

    刀客情仇录

    “刀客在哪里?”“在天涯!”“他的刀在哪里?”“在他心里!”“他的心呢?”“在流浪!”“为何流浪?”“为了情与仇!”