CCLXXXII. THE TAILORS.

At the first representation of the Tom Jones of Poinsinet, two persons were observed in the pit, one of whom was overheard saying to the other, from time to time, "Shall I cut-Shall I cut?" This suspicious phrase attracted attention, and the pair were just on the point of being arrested as pickpockets. "What have we done?" said one of them: "We are only tailors, and I have the honour of making clothes for M. Poinsinet, the author of the new play. As I have to furnish him with a dress to appear before the public, which will be sure to demand his appearance at the second representation, and as I know very little of the merits of dramatic works, I have brought with me my principal journeyman, a very clever man, for he makes out all my accounts; and I was only asking him from time to time, if he would advise me to cut the cloth in question, which must be paid for out of the profits of the play."

CCLXXXIII. SANCHO PANZA.

In Sancho Panza, a comedy in three acts, by Dufreni, the Duke says, at the beginning of the third act, "I begin to get tired of Sancho "- -"So do I," said a wag in the pit, taking his hat and walking out. This sealed the fate of the piece.

CCLXXXIV. MADAME DE LAMBERT.

The author of a tragedy came to read his manuscript to Madame de Lambert. The piece

began by a princess saying

De l'Arabie enfin en ces lieux arrivée.

Madame de Lambert interrupted the author by this impromptu

Princesse, asseyez vous, vous êtes fatiguée.

in an elaborate criticism of the whole. Frère Romain, a little uneasy, went up to him, and asked him what he thought of it. "Brother," said the Gascon, "I have some important information to give you about this bridge; but I am hungry,-I must dine first." The Frère immediately invited him to dine with him. The Gascon did not require much pressing, and acquitted himself at table to admiration. After dinner was over, Romain led him back to the bridge. The Gascon walked up and down for a few minutes, and then turning to his host, observed, “ My friend, you have done wisely in building your bridge across the river, for if you had tried to build it the long way, the devil's in it if you would have succeeded." He then made his bow and took leave of the confounded architect.

CCLIX. LOUIS XIV. AND THE GASCON.

At a review which took place before Louis XIV., the horse of a Gascon reared up so rapidly, that his rider's hat fell off. One of his comrades presented it to him on the point of his sword. "God bless me !" said the Gascon, "I had rather you had pierced my body than my hat." The King, who heard this reply, asked the meaning of it." Sire," replied the Gascon, "I have credit with my surgeon, but none with my hatter."

CCLX. THE GASCON SKATER.

A Gascon went to skate; some person of his acquaintance pushed him rudely on the ice and overturned him. The Gascon, in a rage, pulled off his skates, went up to the person who had thrown him down, and raising his arm, said, "It is very lucky for you, sir, that I don't dislike falling.”

COLXI. AN INVISIBLE ANTAGONIST.

A Gascon officer, who was present at a skirmish, fired a pistol at one of the enemy; and afterwards boasted that he had killed him. "That can't be," said another, " for not a man was left on the field." "Poh!" said the Gascon, "don't you see-I must have blown him to atoms."

CCLXII. HOW TO PACK A TRUNK.

A Parisian, accompanied by his servant, who was a Gascon, went to spend some days in the country with a friend. On the morning of his return, as he was on the point of departing, he asked his servant if he had packed his portmanteau. The servant replied that he had. "But," said the master, "have you put in everything that belongs to us ?" "Oh yes, sir," said the servant, "at

least."

CCLXIII. THE HEART AND THE FACE.

"My heart," said a Gascon, "is a clock, of which my countenance is the index."

CCLXIV. THE CANNON.

A Gascon, a wit by profession, was at an entertainment. At first they gave him excellent wine, but after the third or fourth glass, mere vinegar. "These good people, I suppose," said he, "take me for a cannon, which they wash with vinegar, after every two or three rounds."

CCLXV. DAGUERRE.

The Prince of Condé, when only Duke d'Enghien, already enjoyed the high reputation which he afterwards sustained. The celebrated Daguerre, a Gascon officer, of the most daring bravery, was anxious to see this prince. Some friends introduced him while the Prince was at table, and while the question was under discussion, whether great

men in general lived long. Just as all present had come to the conclusion that the life of a great man was generally of short duration, Daguerre, who was no longer a young man, taking fire at this remark, and fixing his eye on the Prince, exclaimed, "Well, if I am not dead already, is it my fault?" At these words the Prince, who had never seen him before, exclaimed in his turn, "I wager it is Daguerre who speaks thus ;" and rising from table, he ran to embrace him.

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CCLXVI. HOW TO FIGHT WELL.

Some one proposed to a Gascon who had been successful at play, that he should act as second in a duel. "Yesterday," said he,, "I gained a hundred louis, and I should fight very but go and seek the person from whom I won them-he will fight like a demon, for he has not a sous left."

ill;

CCLXVII. THE GASCON AND HIS HORSE. A Gascon, on an old broken-down horse, crossing the Pont Neuf, met a gentleman upon a beautiful steed. "I will lay ten louis," said he to the gentleman," that I make my horse do what yours won't do." "Well," said the gentleman, looking contemptuously on the Gascon's horse, "I take your wager." The Gascon immediately lifted up his horse, and tumbled him over into the Seine. The gentleman, confounded at this catastrophe, paid the wager.

CCLXVIII. PROOF OF NOBILITY.

A Gascon, in proof of his nobility, asserted that in his father's castle, they used no other firewood but the batons of the different Mareschals of France of his family.

COMEDIANA.*

CCLXIX. THE REHEARSAL INTERRUPTED.

In 1747, a comic opera called the Rehearsal Interrupted, was performed at Brussels, in which a scene was introduced, representing a pretended quarrel between an actor and the prompter. The dispute between them in this case was carried a little too far. The general officer who commanded in the absence of Mareschal de Saxe, having no idea of the nature of the piece, jumped out of his box, called the guard, and sent the two champions, who enjoyed his mistake, to prison, thus exhibiting a scene more amusing than that which was represented on the stage.

CCLXX. THE MISANTHROPE.

It is well known that the Misanthrope of Moliere, was at first ill received by the public, and was only tolerated on the stage by the popularity of the Médécin Malgré Lui. At the first representation of this masterpiece of the comic drama, after the reading of Oronte's sonnet, the pit applauded: In the course of the scene, Alceste shows that the sonnet was in the worst possible taste. The public, confounded and ashamed of their mistake, took a dislike from that moment to the piece.

* Par Cousin d'Avellete. Paris, 1801