Volume II Part 14 (1/2)
”Very likely the duchess has no idea of the good she has done”
”Quite the reverse, for it was a cunning artifice on her part The duchess, feeling interested in the newly- to serve her in a delicate ht of that expedient which has ine how kind Parisians are You are now in the only country in the world where wit can enuine or a false article: in the first case, it receives the welcoent and talented people, and in the second, fools are always ready to reward it, for silliness is truly a characteristic of the people here, and, however wonderful it hter of wit Therefore it is not a paradox to say that the French would be wiser if they were less witty
”The Gods worshi+pped here although no altars are raised for them--are Novelty and Fashi+on Let a man run, and everybody will run after him
The croill not stop, unless the man is proved to be mad; but to prove it is indeed a difficult task, because we have a crowd of men who, mad from their birth, are still considered wise
”The snuff of the 'Civet Cat' is but one example of the facility hich the crowd can be attracted to one particular spot The king was one day hunting, and found hilass of ratafia He stopped at the door of a drinking-booth, and by the most lucky chance the poor keeper of the place happened to have a bottle of that liquor The king, after he had drunk a slass, fancied a second one, and said that he had never tasted such delicious ratafia in his life That was enough to give the ratafia of the goodthe best in Europe: the king had said so The consequence was that the hted publican, who is now a very wealthy man, and has built on the very spot a splendid house on which can be read the following rather comic motto: 'Ex liquidis solidum,' which certainly came out of the head of one of the forty immortals Which Gods must the worthy tavern-keeper worshi+p?
Silliness, frivolity, and mirth”
”It seems to me,” I replied, ”that such approval, such ratification of the opinion expressed by the king, the princes of the blood, etc, is rather a proof of the affection felt for them by the nation, for the French carry that affection to such an extent that they believe the here causes foreigners to believe that the French people adore the king, but all thinking h that there is more show than reality in that adoration, and the court has no confidence in it When the king comes to Paris, everybody calls out, 'Vive le Roi!' because soiven the signal from the midst of the crowd, but it is really a cry which has no iiven out of cheerfulness, so hiospel He does not feel co in Versailles, surrounded by twenty-five thousand ainst the fury of that saht very well one day call out, 'Death to the King!'
instead of, 'Long life to the King!' Louis XIV ell aware of it, and several councillors of the upper cha of the states-general in order to find some remedy for the misfortunes of the country France never had any love for any kings, with the exception of St Louis, of Louis XII, and of the great and good Henry IV; and even in the last case the love of the nation was not sufficient to defend the king against the dagger of the Jesuits, an accursed race, the ene, who is weak and entirely led by hisfros of the people in consequence of ine why they should love ht repeat the sa to the aood actually done That candid rehly praised, but soht to have informed him that he was so much loved because he had been surnamed 'le bien aime'”
”Surname or nickname; but are there any philosophers at the court of France?”
”No, for philosophers and courtiers are as widely different as light and darkness; but there are soence who champ the bit from motives of a, M Patu (such was the name of my new acquaintance) escorted ratulatedone of her friends, and we parted coood coaveevery one of them
The name of Crebillon struck my ear
”What, sir!” I said to hiht years you have chared to know you
Listen, I beg 'of you”
I then recited the finest passage of his 'Zenobie et Rhadamiste', which I had translated into blank verse Silvia was delighted to see the pleasure enjoyed by Crebillon in hearing, at the age of eighty, his own lines in a language which he knew thoroughly and loved as e in French, and politely pointed out the parts in which he thought that I had iinal I thanked him, but I was not deceived by his co asked what I had already seen in Paris, I related everything I had done, o onlytime, Crebillon, who had evidently observed better than anyone else the road I had chosen in order to learn the good as well as the bad qualities by his countrymen, said to me,
”For the first day, sir, I think that what you have done gives great hopes of you, and without any doubt you will ress
You tell your story well, and you speak French in such a way as to be perfectly understood; yet all you say is only Italian dressed in French
That is a novelty which causes you to be listened to with interest, and which captivates the attention of your audience; I e is just the thing to enlist in your favour the syular, new, and because you are in a country where everybody worshi+ps those two divinities--novelty and singularity Nevertheless, you ood earnest, in order to acquire a thorough knowledge of our language, for the same persons arh at you”
”I believe it, sir, and that is what I fear; therefore the principal object of my visit here is to devote e But, sir, how shall I find a teacher? I a questions, curious, troubleso that I could meet with the teacher I require, I ah to pay hi out for a pupil such as you have just described yourself, and I would willingly pay you myself if you would come to my house and receive my lessons I reside in the Marais, Rue de Douze Portes I have the best Italian poets I will make you translate the you insatiable”
I accepted with joy I did not kno to express ratitude, but both his offer and the feords of my answer bore the staiant; he was six feet high, and three inches taller than I He had a good appetite, could tell a good story without laughing, was celebrated for his witty repartees and his sociableout, and seeing hardly anyone because he always had a pipe in his mouth and was surrounded by at least twenty cats, hich he would amuse himself all day He had an old housekeeper, a cook, and a ; she never allowed hiave no account of his ether, because he never asked her to render any accounts The expression of Crebillon's face was that of the lion's or of the cat's, which is the sa He was one of the royal censors, and he told me that it was an amuse hiht for his exa when she cae which, in her opinion, deserved his censure, but sometimes they were of a different opinion, and then their discussions were truly a I once heard the housekeeper send away an author with these words:
”Coain next week; we have had no ti a whole year I paid M Crebillon three visits every week, and froe, but I found it iet rid of h when I meet with it in other people, but it flows naturally fro aware of it I am satisfied that, whatever I nize it any more than I can find out in what consists the bad Latin style so constantly alleged against Livy