"Then they will be the scourge of your old age."

Thereupon I quoted a Macaronic verse by Merlin Coccaeus.

"Where's that from?"

"It's a line from a celebrated poem in twenty-four cantos."

"Celebrated?"

"Yes; and, what is more, worthy of being celebrated; but to appreciate it
one must understand the Mantuan dialect."

"I could make it out, if you could get me a copy."

"I shall have the honour of presenting you with one to-morrow."

"You will oblige me extremely."

We had to leave his room and spend two hours in the company, talking over
all sorts of things. Voltaire displayed all the resources of his
brilliant and fertile wit, and charmed everyone in spite of his sarcastic
observations which did not even spare those present, but he had an
inimitable manner of lancing a sarcasm without wounding a person's
feelings. When the great man accompanied his witticisms with a graceful
smile he could always get a laugh.

He kept up a notable establishment and an excellent table, a rare
circumstance with his poetic brothers, who are rarely favourites of