Volume II Part 15 (1/2)

”Ah! pray excuse ht you were the mother of the three”

”You were not mistaken, I am their mother”

As she said these words she looked at Patu, and both burst into hearty laughter which did not make me blush, but which shewed me my blunder

I was a, novice in Paris, and I had not been accustoenerally enjoy Yet mademoiselle Le Fel was not a bold-faced woman; she was even rather ladylike, but she hat is called above prejudices If I had known the manners of the tis were every-day occurrences, and that the nobleeny everywhere were in the habit of leaving their children in the hands of their mothers, ell paid The reater was their income

My want of experience often led me into serious blunders, and Madehed at anyone telling her that I had souilty

Another day, being at the house of Lani, ballet-irls of thirteen or fourteen years of age acco that air of ood education I addressed a few gallant words to them, and they answeredco-bottle, and one of her companions said to her,

”Very likely you did not sleep well last night”

”Oh! it is not that,” answered the nes, ”I think I a this unexpected reply froirl I had taken for a maiden, I said to her,

”I should never have supposed that you were married, madam”

She looked at me with evident surprise for a an to laugh immoderately Ashamed, but for them more than ain to take virtue for granted in a class of wost whom it is so scarce To look for, even to suppose, reen room, is, indeed, to be very foolish; they pride theh at those who are sih to suppose them better than they are

Thanks to my friend Patu, I made the acquaintance of all the women who enjoyed some reputation in Paris He was fond of the fair sex, but unfortunately for him he had not a constitution like mine, and his love of pleasure killed hione down to posterity in the wake of Voltaire, but he paid the debt of nature at the age of thirty

I learned fro French literati employ in order to make certain of the perfection of their prose, when they want to write anything requiring as perfect a style as they can obtain, such as panegyrics, funeral orations, eulogies, dedications, etc It was by surprise that I wrested that secret fro, I observed on his table several sheets of paper covered with dode-casyllabic blank verse

I read a dozen of theh the verses were very fine, the reading caused me more pain than pleasure

”They express the sayric of the Marechal de Saxe, but I confess that your prose pleases reat deal more”

”My prose would not have pleased you so much, if it had not been at first coreat trouble for nothing”

”No trouble at all, for I have not the slightest difficulty in writing that sort of poetry I write it as easily as prose”

”Do you think that your prose is better when you compose it from your own poetry?”

”No doubt of it, it is e that my prose is not full of half verses which flow fro aware of it”

”Is that a fault?”

”A great one and not to be forgiven Prose intermixed with occasional verses is worse than prosaic poetry”

”Is it true that the verses which, like parasites, steal into a funeral oration, must be sadly out of place?”

”Certainly Take the exains his history of Roes habuere' They forreat historian certainly never made on purpose, and which he never remarked when he revised his work, for there is no doubt that, if he had observed it, he would have altered that sentence Are not such verses considered a blemish in Italian prose?”