Candide
or
Optimism
Translated from the German
of Dr. Ralph
with the additions that were found
in the pocket of the doctor
when he died in Minden
the year our Lord 1759.
Chapter 1
How Candide was raised in a beautiful chateau, and how he was driven from it
There was in Westphalia, in the chateau of Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, a young boy to which nature had given the sweetest customs. His physiognomy announced his soul. He had a rather upright judgment, with the most simple mind; it is, I believe, for this reason he was named Candide. The ancient house servants suspected that he was the son of the baron’s sister and of a good and honest gentleman of the neighborhood, which this lady never wanted to marry because he had only been able to prove sixty and eleven quarterings, and that the rest of his genealogical tree had been lost by the injury of time.
The baron was one of the most powerful noblemen in Westphalia, since his chateau had a door and windows. His grand hall was even adorned with a tapestry. All the dogs in his barnyards composed a hunting pack when needed; his grooms were his whippers-in; the vicar of the village was his grand almoner. They all called him, “Monseigneur,” and they laughed when he told stories.
The baroness, who weighed around three hundred fifty pounds, by that attracted a very great consideration, and did the honors of the house with a dignity that rendered her still more respectable. Her daughter Cunégonde, aged seventeen years, was high in color, fresh, fat, appetizing. The son of the baron appeared in all worthy of his father. The tutor Pangloss was the oracle of the house, and the little Candide listened to his lessons with all the good faith of his age and his character. Continue reading
The Grass is Always Greener 