1759
CANDIDE
by Voltaire
CHAPTER 1
How Candide Was Brought Up in a Magnificent Castle and How He Was
Driven Thence
In the country of Westphalia, in the castle of the most noble
Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, lived a youth whom Nature had endowed
with a most sweet disposition. His face was the true index of his
mind. He had a solid judgment joined to the most unaffected
simplicity; and hence, I presume, he had his name of Candide. The
old servants of the house suspected him to have been the son of the
Baron's sister, by a very good sort of a gentleman of the
neighborhood, whom that young lady refused to marry, because he
could produce no more than threescore and eleven quarterings in his
arms; the rest of the genealogical tree belonging to the family having
been lost through the injuries of time.
The Baron was one of the most powerful lords in Westphalia, for
his castle had not only a gate, but even windows, and his great hall
was hung with tapestry. He used to hunt with his mastiffs and spaniels
instead of greyhounds; his groom served him for huntsman; and the
parson of the parish officiated as his grand almoner.
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