upon the subject satirized, must necessarily be obsolete when the class itself has become so. The political pamphlet, admirable for one state, may be absurd in another; the novel which exactly delineates the present age may seem strange and un familiar to the next; and thus works which treat of men relatively, and not man in se, must often confine their popularity to the age and even the country in which they were written. While on the other hand, the work which treats of man himself, which seizes, discovers, analyzes the human mind, as it is, whether in the ancient or the modern, the savage or the European, must evidently be applicable, and consequently useful, to all times and all nations. He who discovers the circulation of the blood, or the origin of ideas, must be a philosopher to every people who have veins or ideas; but he who even most successfully delineates the manners of one country, or the actions of one individual, is only the philosopher of a single country, or a single age. If, Monsieur D▬▬▬▬▬▬t, you will condescend to consider this, you will see perhaps that the philosophy which treats of man in his relations is not so useful, because neither so permanent nor so invariable, as that which treats of man in himself." I was now somewhat weary of this conversation, and though it was not yet twelve, I seized upon my appointment as an excuse to depart-accordingly I rose for that purpose. "I suppose," said I to Vincent," that you will not leave your dis cussion." "Pardon me," said he, "amusement is quite as profitable to a man of sense as metaphysics. Allons." CHAPTER XVII. I was in this terrible situation when the basket stopt. WE took our way to the street in which Madame Laurent resided. Meanwhile suffer me to get rid of myself, and to introduce you, dear reader, to my friend, Monsieur Margot, the whole of whose adventures were subsequently detailed to me by the garrulous Mrs. Green. At the hour appointed he knocked at the door of my fair countrywoman, and was carefully admitted. He was attired in a dressing gown of sea-green silk, in which his long, lean, hungry body, looked more like a river pike than any thing human. "Madame," said he, with a solemn air, "I return you my best thanks for the honour you have done me-behold me at your feet!" and so saying the lean lover gravely knelt down on one knee. "Rise, Sir," said Mrs. Green, "I confess that you have won my heart; but that is not all-you have yet to show that you are worthy of the opinion I have formed of you. It is not, Monsieur Margot, your person that has won me-no! it is your chivalrous and noble sentiments-prove that these are genuine, and you may command all from my admiration." "In what manner shall I prove it, Madame,” said Monsieur Margot, rising, and gracefully drawing his sea-green gown more closely round him. "By your courage, your devotion, and your gallantry! I ask but one proof-you can give it me on the spot. You remember, Monsieur, that, in the days of romance, a lady threw her glove upon the stage on which a lion was exhibited, and told her lover to pick it up. Monsieur Margot, the trial to which I shall put you is less severe. Look, (and Mrs. Green threw open the window)— look, I throw my glove out into the street-descend for it." "Your commands are my law," said the romantic Margot, "I will go forthwith," and so saying, he went to the door. "Hold, Sir!" said the lady, "it is not by that simple manner that you are to descend—you must go the same way as my glove, out of the window!" "Out of the window, Madame!" said Monsieur Margot, with astonished solemnity; "that is impossible, because this apartment is three stories high, and consequently I shall be dashed to pieces " "By no means," answered the dame; "in that corner of the room there is a basket, to which (already foreseeing your determination) I have affixed a rope; by that basket you shall descend. See, Monsieur, what expedients a provident love can suggest.' |