answered Dubois, out of "Cinna."


* "Example is often but a deceitful mirror, where sometimes one destroys
himself, while another comes off safe; and where one perishes, another
is preserved."


"Corneille is right," rejoined the Regent. "After all, to do thee
justice, /mon petit Abbe/, example has little to do with corrupting us.
Nature pleads the cause of pleasure as Hyperides pleaded that of Phryne.
She has no need of eloquence: she unveils the bosom of her client, and
the client is acquitted."

"Monseigneur shows at least that he has learned to profit by my humble
instructions in the classics," said Dubois.

The Duke did not answer. I turned my eyes to some drawings on the
table; I expressed my admiration of them. "They are mine," said the
Regent. "Ah! I should have been much more accomplished as a private
gentleman than I fear I ever shall be as a public man of toil and
business. Business--bah! But Necessity is the only real sovereign in
the world, the only despot for whom there is no law. What! are you
going already, Count Devereux?"

"Monseigneur's anteroom is crowded with less fortunate persons than
myself, whose sins of envy and covetousness I am now answerable for."

"Ah--well! I must hear the poor devils; the only pleasure I have is in
seeing how easily I can make them happy. Would to Heaven, Dubois, that