A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Sterne
page 72 of 148 (48%)
page 72 of 148 (48%)
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grievance,--the thing told himself; so thrusting back the German
instantly with his musket,--he took the poor dwarf by the hand, and placed him before him.--This is noble! said I, clapping my hands together.--And yet you would not permit this, said the old officer, in England. - In England, dear Sir, said I, WE SIT ALL AT OUR EASE. The old French officer would have set me at unity with myself, in case I had been at variance,--by saying it was a bon mot;--and, as a bon mot is always worth something at Paris, he offered me a pinch of snuff. THE ROSE. PARIS. It was now my turn to ask the old French officer "What was the matter?" for a cry of "Haussez les mains, Monsieur l'Abbe!" re- echoed from a dozen different parts of the parterre, was as unintelligible to me, as my apostrophe to the monk had been to him. He told me it was some poor Abbe in one of the upper loges, who, he supposed, had got planted perdu behind a couple of grisettes in order to see the opera, and that the parterre espying him, were insisting upon his holding up both his hands during the representation.--And can it be supposed, said I, that an ecclesiastic would pick the grisettes' pockets? The old French officer smiled, and whispering in my ear, opened a door of knowledge which I had no idea of. |
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