"Nor does it fight. How is it, Planchet, that an intelligent
man like you should take any heed of a set of brawlers who
call themselves Rumps and Barebones. The parliament does not
trouble me at all, Planchet."

"As soon as it ceases to trouble you, monsieur, let us pass
on."

"Yes, and arrive at the result. You remember Cromwell,
Planchet?"

"I have heard a great deal of talk about him."

"He was a rough soldier."

"And a terrible eater, moreover."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Why, at one gulp he swallowed all England."

"Well, Planchet, the evening before the day on which he
swallowed England, if any one had swallowed M. Cromwell?"

"Oh, monsieur, it is one of the axioms of mathematics that
the container must be greater than the contained."

"Very well! That is our affair, Planchet."