Here is a little variety, which I trust will not surprise you:

L'indulgente et sage Nature
A formé l'âme de Ninon
De la volupté d'Epicure
Et de la vertu de Caton.




IX

Ninon de l'Enclos to Saint-Evremond

Stomachs Demand More Attention than Minds


The Abbé Dubois has just handed me your letter, and personally told me
as much good news about your stomach as about your mind. There are
times when we give more attention to our stomachs than to our minds,
and I confess, to my sorrow, that I find you happier in the enjoyment
of the one than of the other. I have always believed that your mind
would last as long as yourself, but we are not so sure of the health
of the body, without which nothing is left but sorrowful reflections.
I insensibly begin making them on all occasions.

Here is another chapter. It relates to a handsome youth, whose desire
to see honest people in the different countries of the world, induced
him to surreptitiously abandon an opulent home. Perhaps you will
censure his curiosity, but the thing is done. He knows many things,