So saying he pointed to the hideous hat in vogue at the present day.

"Behold the enemy, messieurs," he continued. "How is it that the
wittiest and most satirical people on earth will consent to wear upon
their heads a bit of stove-pipe?--as one of our great writers has
called it. Here are some of the infections I have been able to give to
those atrocious lines," he added, pointing to a number of his
creations. "But, although I am able to conform them to the character
of each wearer--for, as you see, there are the hats of a doctor, a
grocer, a dandy, an artist, a fat man, a thin man, and so forth--the
style itself remains horrible. Seize, I beg of you, my whole
thought--"

He took up a hat, low-crowned and wide-brimmed.

"This," he continued, "is the old hat of Claude Vignon, a great
critic, in the days when he was a free man and a free-liver. He has
lately come round to the ministry; they've made him a professor, a
librarian; he writes now for the Debats only; they've appointed him
Master of Petitions with a salary of sixteen thousand francs; he earns
four thousand more out of his paper, and he is decorated. Well, now
see his new hat."

And Vital showed them a hat of a form and design which was truly
expressive of the juste-milieu.

"You ought to have made him a Punch and Judy hat!" cried Gazonal.

"You are a man of genius, Monsieur Vital," said Leon.