The grotesque, shunned as undesirable company by the tragedy of Louis the Fourteenth's day, cannot pass unnoticed before her.
_It must be described_, that is to say, ennobled.

A scene in the guard-house, a popular uprising, the fish-market, the galleys, the wine-shop, the _poule au pot_ of Henri Quatre, are treasure-trove in her eyes.

She seizes upon this canaille, washes it clean, and sews her tinsel and spangles over its villainies; _purpureus assuitur pannus_.
Her object seems to be to deliver patents of nobility to all these _roturiers_ of the drama; and each of these patents under the great seal is a speech.
This muse, as may be imagined, is of a rare prudery.

Wonted as she is to the caresses of periphrasis, plain-speaking, if she should occasionally be exposed to it, would horrify her.

It does not accord with her dignity to speak naturally.