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The Line of Love

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The "line" extends over ten courtships from April 14, 1355 to May 27, 1559 and traverses northern France and southern England during the Hundred Years War,the rise of the French Monarchy and the accession of the Tudor Family to the English Throne. In the first courtship, Sir Adhelmar de Nointel and Hugues d'Arques vie for the hand of Melite de Puysange. Hugues and Melite marry but have to flee to England to save their lives. From this couple a line develops that goes back and forth from England and France. Sylvia, Melite's daughter, and Falstaff are youthful lovers, but marry others. Noel, Sylvia's son, vies with Francois Villon for the hand of Catherine de Vaucelles and wins. And so it goes. The stories around Falstaff, Villon and Will Sommers--court fool to King Henry VIII provide pathos, wild adventure and wit in that order. Cabell makes a magnficent summation of the line: "For they loved very greatly, these men and women of the past. Nature tricked them to noble ends, lured them to skyey heights of adoration and sacrifice. At bottom they were, perhaps, no more heroical than you or I: Indeed, Melite was a light woman, and Falstaff is scarcely describable as immaculate; Villon thieved, and will Sommers was but a fool . . . and yet to each in turn was granted to love greatly, to know at least one hour of pure magnanimity. This work was a favorite of President Theodore Roosevelt and his letter of praise of the work to the author was one of Cabell's prized possessions.