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There is, moreover, in the land, a nobleman of good descent, and fame in warlike affairs, but otherwise, so to speak, Lapis offensionis et petra scandali and a stumbling block of offence to the countries of Burgundy and Flanders. His name is William de la Marck." "Called William with the Beard," said the young Scot, "or the Wild Boar of Ardennes?"
To begin with I went to Antwerp, thence to Brussels, and thence, by the merest chance in the world, to Janenne, a little village in the Belgian Ardennes, at no great distance from the French frontier. I had no idea of staying there, and on the surface of things there was no reason why I should have prolonged my stay beyond a day or two.
An army, when we read of it, seems something far grander than all that can be effected by the best-appointed company of actors. The forest of Ardennes has for us life and motion beyond the reach of the scene-painter's skill. But these necessary shortcomings are no excuse for making no attempt to imitate Nature. Yet hardly any serious effort is made to reach this purpose of playing.
In the imperfect sketch that follows I write of the aspect of Belgium of its cities, that were formerly the most picturesque in Europe; of its landscapes, that range from the level fens of Flanders to the wooded limestone wolds of the Ardennes as I knew these, and loved them, in former years, before hell was let loose in Europe.
He has brought you a basket of truffles from Ardennes. I told him you were on business, but to-night, if you be at home, he could come. 'Vanillette! exclaimed Prevost, starting in his chair, 'our little Vanillette! There is your man, Le-ander. He was my first pupil, as you were my last, my child. Bring up our little Vanillette, Eugenie.
Soignies is not legend-haunted like the Black Forest, nor king-haunted like Fontainebleau, nor sovereign of two historic streams like the brave woods of Heidelberg; nor wild and romantic, arid broken with black rocks, and poetized by the shade of Jaques, and swept through by a perfect river, like its neighbors of Ardennes; nor throned aloft on mighty mountains like the majestic oak glades of the Swabian hills of the ivory carvers.
He could not, however, safely entrust the sacred interests of a commonwealth to such hands as those of Brederode however deeply that enthusiastic personage might drink the health of "Younker William," as he affectionately denominated the Prince or to "Golden Fleece," or to Charles Mansfeld, or to that younger wild boar of Ardennes, Robert de la Marck.
While advancing through the forest of Ardennes, it was ambushed and assailed by a furious multitude of peasants and charcoal-burners, before whose weapons ten thousand of the Norsemen fell in death. This revengeful act of the peasantry was followed by a treacherous deed of the emperor, which brought renewed trouble upon the land.
Had I not left the Countess Hameline of Croye to the charge of those whom she had herself selected as counsellors and advisers, the Countess Isabelle had been ere now the bride of William de la Marck, the Wild Boar of Ardennes." "You are right," said the Countess Isabelle, in her usual manner, "and I, who have the advantage of your unhesitating devotion, have done you foul and ungrateful wrong.
He travelled with me from Edinburgh to London, then from London by the long sea-route to Antwerp; from Antwerp to tranquil little Roche-fort in the Belgian Ardennes; and it was not until I found myself one day with my easel and my paintbox sketching some quaint bulbous old trees in the Avenue des Tilleuls, that I woke up to the fact that I had lost him. He came back to me once more and once only.
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