“A murrain on the fire-works!” exclaimed Grainier, turning back to the Pont-au-Change. In front of the houses at the entrance to the bridge they had attached three banners of cloth, representing the King, the Dauphin, and Marguerite of Flanders, and also six smaller banners or draplets on which were “pourtraicts” of the Duke of Austria, the Cardinal de Bourbon, M. de Beaujeu, Mme. Jeanne de France, and Monsieur the Bastard of Bourbon, and some one else, the whole lighted up by flaming cressets. The crowd was lost in admiration.

CRESSET
Matching Terms: Cresselle


Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Definition: \Cres"set\ (kr?s"s?t), n. [OF. crasset, cresset, sort of
lamp or torch; perh. of Dutch or German origin, and akin to
E. cruse, F. creuset crucible, E. crucible.]
1. An open frame or basket of iron, filled with combustible
material, to be burned as a beacon; an open lamp or
firrepan carried on a pole in nocturnal processions.

Starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed With naphtha
and asphaltus. --Milton.

As a cresset true that darts its length Of beamy
luster from a tower of strength. --Wordsworth.

2. (Coopering) A small furnace or iron cage to hold fire for
charring the inside of a cask, and making the staves
flexible. --Knight.