Bad taste at the time of Ronsard was represented by Marot; at the time of Boileau, by Ronsard; at the time of Voltaire, by Corneille, and by Voltaire in the day of Chateaubriand, whom many people nowadays begin to think a trifle weak.

O men of taste in future centuries, let me recommend you the men of taste of to-day! You will laugh at their cramps, their superb disdain, their preference for veal and milk, and the faces they make when underdone meat and too ardent poetry is served to them.

Everything that is beautiful will then appear ugly; everything that is graceful, stupid; everything that is rich, poor; and oh! how our delightful boudoirs, our charming salons, our exquisite costumes, our palpitating plays, our interesting novels, our serious books will all be consigned to the garret or be used for old paper and manure! O posterity, above all things do not forget our gothic salons, our Renaissance furniture, M.Pasquier's discourses, the shape of our hats, and the aesthetics of _La Revue des Deux Mondes!_ While we were pondering upon these lofty philosophical considerations, our wagon had hauled us over to Tiffanges.

Seated side by side in a sort of tin tub, our weight crushed the tiny horse, which swayed to and fro between the shafts.

It was like the twitching of an eel in the body of a musk-rat.