The Vicomte de Bragelonne

The Vicomte de Bragelonne

By Alexandre Dumas, Père

This Begins the Final Volume of the D’Artagnan Series

CONTENTS

Original Transcriber’s Note: Chapter I. The Letter. Chapter II. The Messenger. Chapter III. The Interview. Chapter IV. Father and Son. Chapter V. In which Something will be said of Cropoli. Chapter VI. The Unknown. Chapter VII. Parry. Chapter VIII. What his Majesty King Louis XIV. was at the Age of Twenty-Two. Chapter IX. In which the Unknown of the Hostelry of Les Medici loses his Incognito. Chapter X. The Arithmetic of M. de Mazarin. Chapter XI. Mazarin’s Policy. Chapter XII. The King and the Lieutenant. Chapter XIII. Mary de Mancini. Chapter XIV. In which the King and the Lieutenant each give Proofs of Memory. Chapter XV. The Proscribed. Chapter XVI. “Remember!” Chapter XVII. In which Aramis is sought, and only Bazin is found. Chapter XVIII. In which D’Artagnan seeks Porthos, and only finds Mousqueton. Chapter XIX. What D’Artagnan went to Paris for. Chapter XX. Of the Society which was formed in the Rue des Lombards. Chapter XXI. In which D’Artagnan prepares to travel. Chapter XXII. D’Artagnan travels for the House of Planchet and Company. Chapter XXIII. In which the Author is forced to write a Little History. Chapter XXIV. The Treasure. Chapter XXV. The Marsh. Chapter XXVI. Heart and Mind. Chapter XXVII. The Next Day. Chapter XXVIII. Smuggling. Chapter XXIX. Fear he has placed his Money and that of Planchet in the Sinking Fund. Chapter XXX. The Shares of Planchet and Company rise again to Par. Chapter XXXI. Monk reveals Himself. Chapter XXXII. Athos and D’Artagnan meet once more at the Hostelry of the Corne du Cerf. Chapter XXXIII. The Audience. Chapter XXXIV. Of the Embarrassment of Riches. Chapter XXXV. On the Canal. Chapter XXXVI. How D’Artagnan drew a Country-Seat from a Deal Box. Chapter XXXVII. How D’Artagnan regulated the “Assets” of the Company. Chapter XXXVIII. the French Grocer had already been established in the Seventeenth Century. Chapter XXXIX. Mazarin’s Gaming Party. Chapter XL: An Affair of State. Chapter XLI. The Recital. Chapter XLII. In which Mazarin becomes Prodigal. Chapter XLIII. Guenaud. Chapter XLIV. Colbert. Chapter XLV. Confession of a Man of Wealth. Chapter XLVI. The Donation. Chapter XLVII. How Anne of Austria gave one Piece of Advice to Louis XIV. Chapter XLVIII. Agony. Chapter XLIX. The First Appearance of Colbert. Chapter L: The First Day of the Royalty of Louis XIV. Chapter LI. A Passion. Chapter LII. D’Artagnan’s Lesson. Chapter LIII. The King. Chapter LIV. The Houses of M. Fouquet. Chapter LV. The Abbe Fouquet. Chapter LVI. M. de la Fontaine’s Wine. Chapter LVII. The Gallery of Saint-Mande. Chapter LVIII. Epicureans. Chapter LIX. A Quarter of an Hour’s Delay. Chapter LX. Plan of Battle. Chapter LXI. The Cabaret of the Image-de-Notre-Dame. Chapter LXII. Vive Colbert! Chapter LXIII. How M. d’Eymeris’s Diamond passed into the Hands of M. d’Artagnan. Chapter LXIV. Difference D’Artagnan finds between the Intendant and the Superintendent. Chapter LXV. Philosophy of the Heart and Mind. Chapter LXVI. The Journey. Chapter LXVII. How D’Artagnan became Acquainted with a Poet. Chapter LXVIII. D’Artagnan continues his Investigations. Chapter LXIX. D’Artagnan was to meet an Old Acquaintance. Chapter LXX. Wherein the Ideas of D’Artagnan begin to clear up a little. Chapter LXXI. A Procession at Vannes. Chapter LXXII. The Grandeur of the Bishop of Vannes. Chapter LXXIII. In which Porthos begins to be sorry for having come with D’Artagnan. Chapter LXXIV. D’Artagnan makes all Speed, Porthos snores, and Aramis counsels. Chapter LXXV. In which Monsieur Fouquet Acts.

Original Transcriber’s Note:

The Vicomte de Bragelonne is the final volume of D’Artagnan Romances: it is usually split into three or four parts, and the final portion is entitled The Man in the Iron Mask. The Man in the Iron Mask we’re familiar with today is the last volume of the four-volume edition. [Not all the editions split them in the same manner, hence some of the confusion...but wait...there’s yet more reason for confusion.]

We intend to do ALL of The Vicomte de Bragelonne, split into four etexts entitled The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Ten Years Later, Louise de la Vallière, and The Man in the Iron Mask; you WILL be getting The Man in the Iron Mask.

One thing that may be causing confusion is that the etext we have now, entitled Ten Years Later, says it’s the sequel to The Three Musketeers. While this is technically true, there’s another book, Twenty Years After, that comes between. The confusion is generated by the two facts that we published Ten Years Later BEFORE we published Twenty Years After, and that many people see those titles as meaning Ten and Twenty Years “After” the original story...however, this is why the different words “After” and “Later”...the Ten Years “After” is ten years after the Twenty Years later...as per history. Also, the third book of the D’Artagnan Romances, while entitled The Vicomte de Bragelonne, has the subtitle Ten Years Later. These two titles are also given to different volumes: The Vicomte de Bragelonne can refer to the whole book, or the first volume of the three or four-volume editions. Ten Years Later can, similarly, refer to the whole book, or the second volume of the four-volume edition. To add to the confusion, in the case of our etexts, it refers to the first 104 chapters of the whole book, covering material in the first and second etexts in the new series. Here is a guide to the series which may prove helpful:

The Three Musketeers: Etext 1257—First book of the D’Artagnan Romances. Covers the years 1625-1628.

Twenty Years After: Etext 1259—Second book of the D’Artagnan Romances. Covers the years 1648-1649. [Third in the order that we published, but second in time sequence!!!]

Ten Years Later: Etext 1258—First 104 chapters of the third book of the D’Artagnan Romances. Covers the years 1660-1661.

The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Etext 2609 (our new etext)—First 75 chapters of the third book of the D’Artagnan Romances. Covers the year 1660.

Ten Years Later: forthcoming (our next etext)—Chapters 76-140 of that third book of the D’Artagnan Romances. Covers the years 1660-1661. [In this particular editing of it]

Louise de la Vallière: forthcoming (following)—Chapters 141-208 of the third book of the D’Artagnan Romances. Covers the year 1661.

The Man in the Iron Mask: forthcoming (completing)—Chapters 209-269 of the third book of the D’Artagnan Romances. Covers the years 1661-1673.

If we’ve calculated correctly, that fourth text SHOULD correspond to the modern editions of The Man in the Iron Mask, which is still widely circulated, and comprises about the last 1/4 of The Vicomte de Bragelonne.

Many thanks to Dr. David Coward, whose editions of the D’Artagnan Romances have proved an invaluable source of information.

Introduction: In the months of March-July in 1844, in the magazine Le Siecle, the first portion of a story appeared, penned by the celebrated playwright Alexandre Dumas. It was based, he claimed, on some manuscripts he had found a year earlier in the Bibliotheque Nationale while researching a history he planned to write on Louis XIV. They chronicled the adventures of a young man named D’Artagnan who, upon entering Paris, became almost immediately embroiled in court intrigues, international politics, and ill-fated affairs between royal lovers. Over the next six years, readers would enjoy the adventures of this youth and his three famous friends, Porthos, Athos, and Aramis, as their exploits unraveled behind the scenes of some of the most momentous events in French and even English history.

Eventually these serialized adventures were published in novel form, and became the three D’Artagnan Romances known today. Here is a brief summary of the first two novels:

The Three Musketeers (serialized March—July, 1844): The year is 1625. The young D’Artagnan arrives in Paris at the tender age of 18, and almost immediately offends three musketeers, Porthos, Aramis, and Athos. Instead of dueling, the four are attacked by five of the Cardinal’s guards, and the courage of the youth is made apparent during the battle. The four become fast friends, and, when asked by D’Artagnan’s landlord to find his missing wife, embark upon an adventure that takes them across both France and England in order to thwart the plans of the Cardinal Richelieu. Along the way, they encounter a beautiful young spy, named simply Milady, who will stop at nothing to disgrace Queen Anne of Austria before her husband, Louis XIII, and take her revenge upon the four friends.

Twenty Years After (serialized January—August, 1845): The year is now 1648, twenty years since the close of the last story. Louis XIII has died, as has Cardinal Richelieu, and while the crown of France may sit upon the head of Anne of Austria as Regent for the young Louis XIV, the real power resides with the Cardinal Mazarin, her secret husband. D’Artagnan is now a lieutenant of musketeers, and his three friends have retired to private life. Athos turned out to be a nobleman, the Comte de la Fere, and has retired to his home with his son, Raoul de Bragelonne. Aramis, whose real name is D’Herblay, has followed his intention of shedding the musketeer’s cassock for the priest’s robes, and Porthos has married a wealthy woman, who left him her fortune upon her death. But trouble is stirring in both France and England. Cromwell menaces the institution of royalty itself while marching against Charles I, and at home the Fronde is threatening to tear France apart. D’Artagnan brings his friends out of retirement to save the threatened English monarch, but Mordaunt, the son of Milady, who seeks to avenge his mother’s death at the musketeers’ hands, thwarts their valiant efforts. Undaunted, our heroes return to France just in time to help save the young Louis XIV, quiet the Fronde, and tweak the nose of Cardinal Mazarin.