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Title: A Beleaguered City
Being A Narrative of Certain Recent Events in the City of Semur, in the Department of the Haute Bourgogne. A Story of the Seen and the Unseen

Author: Mrs. Oliphant

Release Date: March 9, 2004 [EBook #11521]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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A BELEAGUERED CITY

BEING

A NARRATIVE OF CERTAIN RECENT EVENTS IN THE CITY OF SEMUR, IN THE
DEPARTMENT OF THE HAUTE BOURGOGNE

A STORY OF THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN

by Mrs. Oliphant

1900

THE AUTHOR inscribes this little Book, with tender and grateful
greetings, to those whose sympathy has supported her through many and
long years, the kind audience of her UNKNOWN FRIENDS.

THE NARRATIVE OF M. LE MAIRE: THE CONDITION OF THE CITY.

I, Martin Dupin (de la Clairiere), had the honour of holding the office
of Maire in the town of Semur, in the Haute Bourgogne, at the time when
the following events occurred. It will be perceived, therefore, that no
one could have more complete knowledge of the facts--at once from my
official position, and from the place of eminence in the affairs of the
district generally which my family has held for many generations--by
what citizen-like virtues and unblemished integrity I will not be vain
enough to specify. Nor is it necessary; for no one who knows Semur can
be ignorant of the position held by the Dupins, from father to son. The
estate La Clairiere has been so long in the family that we might very
well, were we disposed, add its name to our own, as so many families in
France do; and, indeed, I do not prevent my wife (whose prejudices I
respect) from making this use of it upon her cards. But, for myself,
_bourgeois_ I was born and _bourgeois_ I mean to die. My residence, like
that of my father and grandfather, is at No. 29 in the Grande Rue,
opposite the Cathedral, and not far from the Hospital of St. Jean. We
inhabit the first floor, along with the _rez-de-chaussee,_ which has
been turned into domes